About This Issue
by The Editorial Collective
‘Science for the People’ Vol. 5, No. 5, September 1973, p. 4
The summer took its toll on this issue of the magazine. Wrapped up in the melodrama of Watergate, or weakened from the effects of spiraling food prices, or stranded at some empty gas pump, our friends neglected to send the material we depended upon to put together this issue. And probably for the same reasons (plus summer vacations) we also had trouble assembling an editorial collective. So the mc2 filled the void by becoming the major part of a collective, and we’ve put out a somewhat shorter than usual magazine. You’ll find in this issue a report of actions at the imperial science meeting in Mexico and a discussion of a London conference on technical aid to Indochina. We’ve printed some great letters and, for the first time ever, a cumulative index for Science for the People.
But we hope you give most thought and consideration to the questions raised in these first few pages of the magazine, including those raised in the call for position papers for the upcoming northeast regional conference.
EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE: Sara Miller and the SftP Magazine Coordinating Committee (Britta Fischer, Herb Fox, Susan Graesser, Bob Park, Joe Passafiume, Ginny Pierce, Al Weinrub).
CONTRIBUTORS: Minna Goldfarb, Ted Goldfarb, Midwest contingent of the AAAS/Mexico City Action Group, Minneapolis SVN/SftP Collective, SftP Magazine Coordinating Committee.
PICTURE CREDITS: Tricontinental: cover, pgs. 3 & 20; Posters on pgs. 11, 15, & 18 are from the Mexican student left.
Special thanks to Esther John for a week of typesetting.
EDITORIAL PRACTICE: Each issue of Science for the People is prepared by a collective, assembled from volunteers by a committee made up of the collectives of the past calendar year. A collective carries out all editorial, production. and distribution functions for one issue. The following is a distillation of the actual practice of the past collectives.
Due dates: Articles received by the first week of an odd-numbered month can generally be considered for the magazine to be issued on the 15th of the next month.
Form: One of the ways you can help is to submit double-spaced typewritten manuscripts with ample margins. If you can send six copies, that helps even more. One of the few founding principles of SESPA is’that articles must be signed (a pseudonym is acceptable).
Criteria for acceptance: SESPA Newsletter, predecessor to Science for the People, was pledged to print everything submitted. It is no longer feasible to continue this policy, although the practice thus far has been to print all articles descriptive of SESPA/Science for the People activities. Considerably more discrimination is applied tn analytical articles. These are expected to reflect the general political outlook of Science for the People. All articles are judged on the basis of length, style. subject and content.
Editorial Procedure: The content of each issue is determined by unanimous consent of the collective. Where extensive rewriting of an article is required, the preference of the collective is to discuss the changes with the author. If this is not practical, reasons for rejection are sent to the author. An attempt is made to convey suggestions for improvement. If an article is late or excluded for lack of space, or if it has non-unanimous support. it is generally passed on to the next collective.
Editorial statements: Unsigned articles are statements of the editorial collective.
Opportunities for participation: Volunteers for editorial collectives should be aware that each issue requires a substantial contribution of time and energy for an eight-week period. Help is always appreciated and provides an opportunity for the helper to learn, and for the collective to get to know a prospective member. There are presently plans to move the magazine production to other cities. This will increase the opportunity for participation. For legal purposes Science for the People has become incorporated.
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