About This Issue

About This Issue

by The Editorial Collective

‘Science for the People’ Vol. 4, No. 4, July 1972, p. 2 – 3

The American government’s latest maneuvers in the Indochina War reaffirm that the calculated genocide is no mistake of foreign policy. The highly mechanized air and sea warfare kills and maims indiscriminately. The use of mines, plastic anti-personnel bombs, people sensors, defoliants, and weather manipulation (as reported in this issue by the Science for Viet Nam group) should emphasize to all of us in science and engineering that our work is used by by the U.S. to suppress popular movements around the world. We regret a lack of material related to the latest developments in Indochina. We support and encourage demonstrations to express our continuing abhorrence of the the actions of the U.S. government and solidarity with our Vietnamese brothers and sisters.

Three articles in this issue concern health in the United States; they report the priority of profit and self-interest over health. Included is an article about discrimination against women in chemistry. Another article suggests how science education can be made a tool whereby students would learn to critically question and evaluate their environment.

The womens collective which produced the article about women in chemistry, is interested in having an issue of Science for the People devoted to women. They would like to hear from people who have suitable articles, information, suggestions or comments.

EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE: Karen Buckley, Dan Calore, Margie Devereaux, Alan Gonsalves, Paul Good, David Hall, Jim Moore

CONTRIBUTORS: Britta Fischer, Science for Viet Nam, the Chicago Collective, Ana Berta Chepelinsky, Victoria Franchetti-Sicignano, Marian Lowe, Nancy Tooney, Martha Verbrugge, Al Huebner, J.A Gross, Joel Swartz, Jon Felthelmer, the ACS Collective

 DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Alphabet

PHOTO CREDITS: Mark Jury, Viet Nam Photo Book, Grossman Pub., pages 16, 34; Philip Jones Griffiths, Viet Nam Inc., Collier Books, pages 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 18, 20, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30, 31; American Friends Service Committee, pages 7, 17; U.S. Air Force, courtesy of N.E.A.R. (New England Action Research on the military industrial complex) pages 18, 33

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 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 descrimination is applied to 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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