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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 9 Num. 28
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
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[CN transcript of remarks by west coast researcher Dave Emory.]
Now. The first article I'm going to be reading here comes from
"Counterspy" magazine, Volume IV, Number 1. And it was published
in 1980.
This is a statement by a group of radical feminists who called
themselves "The Red Stockings," who (despite the fact that
neither Nip [co-host] nor myself would agree with nor identify
with their ideological underpinnings), they did some excellent
and readily verifiable research. And that research is "front and
center" in the following letter which they mailed to
"Counterspy." (By the way, "Counterspy" is one of the top
publications covering the activities of the U.S. intelligence
establishment. It's now been renamed, "The National Reporter.")
...the following statement from the Red Stockings Collective
(this from September 6, 1979). It's headlined,
STATEMENT
We feel that we must respond to the latest in a series of
attempts to suppress the inquiry into the details and
nature of Gloria Steinem's association with the Central
Intelligence Agency. We are alarmed that the most visible
commentary on these events comes from several well-known
figures in the feminist movement who not only condone but
endorse this suppression.
Because feminism's appeal and impact spring from a
fundamental intellectual honesty, it is particularly
distressing that the suppression of dissent may be seen as
some kind of official feminist position.
In 1975, after Red Stocking researched Gloria Steinem's
affiliations and raised questions about her political past,
Steinem published a "statement," in connection with her
activities on behalf of the Independent Research Service, a
CIA-funded group. Many feminists found this document
neither entirely credible nor to the point, and they have
insisted upon seeking more enlightening answers.
Because of the conscious counter-revolutionary role that
the CIA has played at home and abroad over the years, it
makes sense to expect a participant in the women's
movement, especially one who has come to symbolize it, to
fully discuss her past relationship to the CIA. We are
still waiting to hear Steinem's opinion of the Agency. The
last one she gave characterized the CIA as "liberal" and
far-sighted. [New York Times, Feb. 21, 1967, according to
Emory.]
The events that prompted us to send out this letter
include:
Gloria Steinem, Clay Felker(sp?) (most recently publisher
of Esquire), and Ford Foundation president Franklin Thomas,
were among those who threatened to sue for libel if Random
House allowed the CIA chapters to be published in the
Random House edition of Red Stocking's *Feminist
Revolution*. At the same time, Newsweek and Washington
Post publisher Katherine Graham and Warner Communications
(a major Ms. [magazine] stockholder) also complained. The
offending chapters were deleted. Thus, Steinem and her
powerful supporters successfully used the threat of
litigation to exercise prior restraint over publication.
When Steinem learned that the Village Voice had assigned
journalist Nancy Borman(sp?) to prepare an article on the
censorship of *Feminist Revolution*, her attorneys,
Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst(sp?), threatened suit against the
Voice if any mention of Steinem's CIA association appeared
in this article.
After some delay, to allow the Voice's legal counsel to
review the material, the Voice published the article on May
21st, 1979. And, in subsequent issues, several letter
writers responded with attacks on Borman and the Voice.
In May of 1979, when Heights and Valley News, a New York
City neighborhood paper published by the Columbia Tenant's
Union [CTU], began a series on the material deleted from
*Feminist Revolution*, Steinem's attorneys again threatened
suit. But instead of threatening the Columbia Tenant's
Union corporation, they sent a letter to each of CTU's 32
board members. Board members cannot be individually sued
for a corporation's acts except in a few instances not
relevant here. But Steinem's attorneys stated in their
letter to the board members that publication of the
material "could subject them to individual liability."
Heights and Valley News stood up to this attempt at
intimidation and is continuing the series.
All this legal harassment was in response not to any actual
instance of false, malicious defamation, but to the
potential raising of embarrassing questions about some
feminist relations with the power elite. We think that
Steinem and her associates have not made a convenient case
for cutting off discussion.
And at the bottom they have a few questions they ask about the
implications of this for the women's movement. And there's a
series of signatories to this particular statement. And the only
two names I recognize here are, a woman by name of Marge Piercy
who's a well-known feminist poet, and also a woman named Louise
Billotte, who is a KPFA [radio] staff member.
There are a number of points to be brought up concerning this
particular statement, here in "Counterspy."
First of all, Steinem, as the article pointed out, has never
denied her relationship to the Independent Research Service.
However, people who have attempted to highlight the nature of the
Independent Research Service relationship to the CIA and, in
turn, Steinem's relationship to Independent Research Service,
have been threatened with litigation and have had a lot of
pressure put on them. The pressure in this instance not only
coming from Steinem herself, but also from a man named Clay
Felker (whose role in establishing Ms. magazine we're gonna take
a look at), as well as Katherine Graham. We're gonna take a look
at Katherine Graham, her relationship with CIA, and her
involvement with Ms. [magazine], in just a couple of minutes.
Not only was the book *Feminist Revolution* "leaned on" (I guess
you'd say) by the Ms. axis, but also the Village Voice, when
writing an article about the censorship of *Feminist Revolution*,
also had similar pressure put on them.
And the interesting thing is, the attorneys Greenbaum, Wolf &
Ernst are a law firm that produced some of the people helping to
defend, among others, Richard Nixon, in the Watergate case.
The fact that the Independent Research Service is, for all
intents and purposes, a CIA front, is a matter of record.
If there was nothing to be covered up, why all of the pressure to
cover it up? Even Steinem's own resume will maintain that she
was related to the Independent Research Service.
So keep an eye on these events, and remember the names Clay
Felker and Katherine Graham. We're going to come back to those a
little bit later.
[...to be continued...]
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