A Boycott BandwagonByRichard C.Lewontin and Richard Levins

MARLBORO, Vt.-Dne of the waysin which a government pursues its ob­jectives is by co-optingcommunities ofintellectuals into direct action on itsbehalf. Sometimes this action is con.crete, as during the Vietnam Warwhen the National Academy ofSciences conducted war researchwhose existance and content was keptsecret from most members.

At other times, intellectuals serveona more ideological plane by directparticipation in diplomatic strugglesclothed in intellectual or moralisticguises. The current actions of theAmerican scientific establishment infurtherance of the ColdWar policies ofPresident Carter and ZbigniewBrzezinski, his national security ad.viser, is a case in point.

The interchange between Americanscientists and those in socialist coun­tries has been rather free and open reocently. Even China and Cuba havebeen opened to exchange. Almostovernight, however, there has been areversal of policy. In May, a delega­tion .of physicists from the NationalAcademy of Sciences cancelled a tripto the Soviet Union and only a monthlater a number of prominent geneti­cists announced a boycott of the Inter­national Congress of Genetics that willbeginin Moscowon August 21.

American scientists, it seems, areusing what political power they haveto uphold the cause of human freedom.Yet there is a curious inconsistencythat shouldgive us pause.

American scientists who suddenlyboycott the Soviet Union in May andJunewere not born in April. They haveknownthe nature of Soviet society andare surely aware that socialist soct­eties have a very different understand­ing of political and cultural hetero­doxy.

For many years, poets, writers andartists have asserted their oppositionto Soviet norms and some have beentried and convicted for their activities.Yet the Widely publicized trials ofthese intellectuals did not appear tostir the moral senses of American ge­neticists who have planned and adver­tised the Moscow Congress for severalyears.

Worse yet, the question of "humanrights" appears to arise only whenelite intellectuals are involved, but not

when it COncerns poor peasants andworkers. The 1976 International Con­gress of Human Genetics in MexicoCity was attended by many of thisyears' boycotters despite the MexicanGovernment's armed eviction.of poorcampesirlOs from land granted to themthrough Government "land-reform"measures.

It is remarkable!oo,;wnatfinepolit­ical distinctions one's moral sense canmake. In West Germany, no one whoopposes "the basis of the state" is al­lowed to teach at any level. Yet ourcolleagues have taken no steps againstthat repressive policy. Moreover,many have worked in-Franco's Spain,Iran, junta-ruled Greece and othersuch repressive states.

And what about the other end of thepolitical spectrum? While scientistsare boycotting the Soviet Union, asScience magazine reported on June 30,in response to "unofficial advice fromindividuals at the NAS and the StateDepartment," the Carter Administra­tion announces a high level visit ofscientists to China.

The brazen 'contradiction betweenthe attitude of the scientific establish­ment toward China and the SovietUniongives the show away. Partly be­cause of real or imagined power strug­gles in Africa. .Prestdenr Carter andMr. Brzezinski have intensified theCold War against the Soviet Union.They have exploited the "humanrights" issue in a selective way to lineup American liberal opinion for an es­sentially reactionary campaign,"playing the China card" ina terrify­ing game of polittcal poker •• The scien­tific establishment is not only a directinstrument of this policy, but is usingits internal power to enforce acquies­cence.

With academic jobs scarce, howmany young geneticists will dare to at­tend the Moscow Congress and riskbeing accused of complicity in the sup­pression of freedom? They are beingcoerced into becoming tools of a dan­gerous and adventurist foreign Policymasked as a moral crusade. It is themorality of convenience.

Richard C. Lewonlin (].ltd RichardLcvin.~ are prtlfessors Of =(lology andoopulation studies, respecti\'l!ly,atHarvard.

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Reprinted with permission from the New York Times; July 23, 1978.

SEPTEMBER 1978

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