At DGH we believe there is an intrinsic relationship between art, health, education and Human Rights. Art, in its various forms, inspires our daily work. Every other issue we’ll share some of the books, movies and music that have touched us. We invite you to recommend some works that have moved and enlightened you. Send your suggestions with a brief description to Monica Sanchez at newsletter@dghonline.org.
Bad Blood, by James Howard Jones, Free Press, 1993, Nonfiction, ISBN: 0-0291-6676-4. For many years the US Public Health Service enrolled African American men, mainly in the south, to participate in a study of the long term physical and mental effects of syphilis. Enrollees in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study were not treated, despite the existence of penicillin. It is a brusque reminder that despite having codified human rights documents in place, abuses can and do take place.
The Treatment: The Story of Those Who Died in the Cincinnati Radiation Tests, by Martha Stephens, Duke University Press, 2002, Nonfiction, ISBN: 0-8223-2811-9. Thirty years ago the author, then an assistant professor of English, acquired a large set of little-known medical papers at her university. These documents told a grotesque story. Cancer patients coming to the public hospital on her campus were being swept into secret experiments for the US military; they were being irradiated over their whole bodies as if they were soldiers in nuclear war. This is a moving account of all that transpired during this epic battle between medicine and human rights.
The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women: Exploding the Estrogen Myth, by Barbara Seaman, Hyperion Press, 2003, Nonfiction, ISBN: 0-7868-6853-8. In June 2002, a large, randomized study of a synthetic estrogen was stopped early because the risks to the postmenopausal women involved were outweighing the benefits. Many women who had been taking estrogen for years were left confused and angry. Seaman, a veteran women's health journalist, illuminates today's 'menopause industry,' tracing the history of estrogen use from its early purveyors, including a well-meaning British doctor who inadvertently led to the DES baby crisis, to Nazi experimentation with women and estrogen, to the present.
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Left: Kailash Satyarthi. Photo by Eddie Adams.
These photos are part of the "Speak Truth to Power" traveling exhibit. For more information, read the story in the sidebar. |
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The Greatest Story Never Told-A People's History of the American Empire, 1945-1999, by Michael K. Smith, Xlibris Corporation, 2003, Nonfiction, ISBN: 0-7388-5979-6. A mosaic of written snapshots unfolding in present tense narration, highlighting the themes of racism, sexism, militarism, imperialism and class domination. Five "overview" essays interspersed with the narrated events give a general orientation to the author's point of view, but the preponderant reality is of a ring-side seat at some of the greatest events of the 20th Century. To order call 1-888-795-4274 or visit www.xlibris.com.
The Health of Nations: Why Inequality is Harmful to Your Health, by Ichiro Kawachi and Bruce P. Kennedy, New Press, 2002, Nonfiction, ISBN: 1-5658-4582-X. Applying to the US the kind of scrutiny that Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen has devoted to developing countries, this book demonstrates that growing inequality is undermining health, welfare, and community life in America. It reviews the social costs of inequality, revealing that the US and other wealthy countries with high levels of social inequality have lower general health than do more equitable societies, rich or poor.
Bread and Roses, Directed by Ken Loach, Starring Adrien Brody, Benicio del Toro, Pilar Padilla, Elpidia Carrillo, 2001. Loosely based on a 1990 janitor's strike at Century City, the story is seen through the eyes of Maya, a young Mexican woman who gets a job at an office-cleaning company, where the largely undocumented Latino work force labors without benefits for $5.75 hour and lives in constant fear of their brutal boss. Even so, the arrival of union organizer Sam is hardly greeted with elation by the workers, who know how easily they could be fired were they found at a union meeting. As the workers debate the risks and rewards of joining the union, Maya finds herself drawn to the humorous, but intensely dedicated union organizer Sam.
Behind the Sun (Abril Despedacado), Directed by Walter Salles, Starring Jose Dumont, Rodrigo Santono, Rita Assemany, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 2001. This period film is about a decades-long dispute between two families in the Brazilian desert. Set in the early 20th Century, a 20-year-old man is tested: he must avenge the death of his older brother by killing a member of the rival family. But he knows this action will only perpetuate the violence and conflict that for so long has kept his family at war, so he hesitates. Based in part on the novel Broken April, by Ismaïl Kadaré.
Love, Women and Flowers, Directed by Marta Rodríguez and Jorge Silva, 1988. Flowers are Colombia's third largest export. Behind the beauty of these highly sought after commodities sold in the US and Europe lies a horror story of hazardous labor and environmental conditions for the 60,000 women working in the industry. This powerful documentary evokes with urgency and intimacy the testimonies of the women fighting to organize and bring attention to the harmful pesticides and fungicides that have caused drastic environmental and health consequences in their communities.
Crisis in Montes Azules, Directed by Paul Hixson, 2003. Hixson's video offers an excellent look at the latest developments in the Chiapas rainforest where indigenous peoples are threatened with forced relocation by the Mexican government. It tells the story of how indigenous peoples of the region are being accused of destroying the rainforest by 'environmental' groups and includes the indigenous peoples' response to those allegations, along with the findings of the Global Exchange Emergency Delegation to the region. What is really at stake there are the area's natural resources, such as timber, water, oil, uranium and "green gold" (biodiversity that pharmaceutical corporations want to privatize and patent for profit). To order, send $20 check to ASEJ/Montes Azules Video Order, Action for Social and Ecological Justice, P.O. Box 57, Burlington, VT 05402.
Drop the Debt, Various Artists, World Village Productions, 2003. Some of the world's poorest countries in Africa and Latin America owe billions of dollars to the World Bank and IMF. For some nations, the debt is so large that paying it off seems impossible. Over the past few years, a movement has been growing calling for these large financial institutions to forgive debt to developing countries. This new CD is one such effort. African and Latin American artists, many of whom are stars in their own countries, contributed songs about debt to the CD.
Conspirando con Ternura (Conspiring with Tenderness), Grupo Jilguero, ASTAC Association Productions, 2003. This second production is a project of the communities where the non-profit group ASTAC works to promote socio-cultural advancement by recuperating and protecting historical memory in El Salvador. This new CD provides up-to-date commentary on the recent 9-month strike of physicians and other health care workers in El Salvador, and lack of support for the needs of civil society by now-president Paco Flores. The song, La Diarrea, received numerous positive comments from callers to a local radio program. Also featured on this upbeat CD are long-time Salvadoran favorites Todavía Cantamos and El Sombrero Azul.
This multi-media project is a tribute to the achievements of human rights activists around the world. It celebrates the people of great valor and heart, committed to noble purpose, with long records of personal sacrifice, who walk among us in every country of the world.
The project includes a book, Speak Truth to Power, by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo. With photographs by Eddie Adams, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, the book captures the beauty and dignity evident in the faces of each person, and brings us face-to-face with an extraordinary group of courageous individuals. The photos from the book are also on display as a traveling exhibition.
In addition, the project includes a play by Ariel Dorfman that portrays the human rights defenders, and an educational advocacy packet to be distributed to 10,000 schools and colleges across the country in association with Amnesty International.
The photos on these pages are from the book (visit www.speaktruth.org
Use this link to purchase recommended books, CDs and videos, and earn referral fees for DGH–at no extra cost to you.
