Nexus - 0222 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Might events such as these be intentionally created to serve The author argues that Jonestown was the final field experiment exactly such a purpose, amongst others? Serious allegations con- _in the CIA's MKULTRA behaviour-modification program, and that cerning the role of covert government influence in triggering both Jim Jones was a long-serving CIA asset whom Ronald Reagan's these events, as well as questions regarding the peripheral involve- Californian administration had covertly cooperated with for some ment of government-linked ‘cult specialists’, have not been _years before the tragic finale in Guyana. For example, Meiers addressed in any open manner by the agencies or individuals _ reports that in 1965 when Jones and the People's Temple first involved. moved to the Ukiah, California, area: But what really took place at Jonestown? In a study of the "the group immediately infiltrated the Mendocino State Mental People’s Temple published in the Journal for the Scientific Study Hospital which would provide not only test persons (TPs as the of Religion in 1980, Professor James T, Richardson, Professor of Nazis called them) for his (Jones) preliminary medical experi- Sociology at the University of Nevada, noted: ments, but also a training ground for the medical technicians "Because of the negligence of US officials in not ordering imme- needed for the ultimate experiment. Within a very short period diate autopsies on those who died in Guyana, we will never know of time, every employee of the hospital was a member of the how many died by suicide and how many were murdered. Dr People’s Temple. From nurses to therapists, from counsellors to Leslie Mootoo, Chief Medical Examiner for the Guyana cleaning women, every worker on the facility was replaced by a Government and the first medically- trained person to arrive at Temple member. California virtually gave the Mendocino State Jonestown after the event, Mental Hospital to Jim Jones. r told reporters, ‘I‘do not SNe "The Mendocino Plan was a pilot pro- believe there were ever more in other words, any individual J gram of the federal government designed than 200 persons who died to evaluate the feasibility of deinstitu- voluntarily’. He said this who communicates to any group af) iionalising the mentally ill. (het Oren he ren | Feligious, spiritual or political Foret servicce, has speculated thr ihe of the deaths. This question view that is undesirable in the Mendocino Plan was the sole reason that has been most fully discussed : _ Jim Jones moved to Ukiah. in a series of articles by eyes of establishment power "By 1972, the absence of mental patients Deira Geena be Wachas brokers can be labelled not only ot Mentasiow ~~ Mespined prompt or! lovember, n-Governor Ronald Reagan to close 22 December 1978), a series asa ‘cult! member, but may also the facility which, after all, was the cation, both on the mental patients in their care and on the general congrega- which also poses some ques- i i desired result of the Mendocino Plan. tions about possible CIA be classified se having a "The Temple's medical staff conducted involvement in the Jonestown psychiatric disorder. several experiments in behaviour modifi- tragedy. Griswold, who accuses the US Government of deliberately destroying evidence by not performing autopsies, tion during the organisation's stay in California. points out a number of intriguing ties between People's Temple "Sensory deprivation was also widely employed as a means of and the CIA. She suggests that some of the white leaders in breaking a test subject. Early Temple experiments in sensory Jonestown may have been CIA agents, and Jonestown may have deprivation are not well-documented, but it is known that Jones been a tragic pawn in political struggles involving the US, Cuba imparted his knowledge to Donald DeFreeze, who utilised the and Guyana.” technique to brainwash Patricia Hearst... Tom Grubbs, a psy- Richardson concludes the paper by stating: chologist with the University of California, was in charge of “the "| would add that the well-publicised ‘official studies’ of the 0x". Grubbs, who was also principal of the Jonestown school, tragedy only briefly address the conspiracy question, and they do personally constructed Jones’ sensory deprivation chamber." not raise the medical examination problem at all. Such reports Renowned psychologist R. D. Laing, author of The Politics of only seem interested in absolving certain groups and individuals Experience, once stated during an interview in Omni magazine: of any blame while scapegoating others... Only someone who “In the late ‘sixties it became apparent to the elite with responsi- has security clearance to read the many classified sections of the bilities for ‘control of the nin i - 2 . population’ that the old idea of putting House Staff Investigative Group Report of the Committee on people in the proverbial bin and keeping them there for life— Foreign Affairs and other classified material can possibly give Wwareiansla , . : 1g people—wasn't cost-effective. The Reagan those answers. Efforts I have made to delve fur ther into those Administration in California was one of the first to realise this. aspects of the tragedy have not been fruitful, in part because of $0 they had to rethink just what the name of the game was. That not having the security clearances". has led to a schism between what is said to the general public and what is practised by the executive in control of mental Bier Gs saps ones Domes RS on 6 oe eos health. The same problem prevails across Europe and the Third that the public are frightened of groups that get labelled as ‘cults’, World. and subsequently classify their members as potentially psycholog- “To = what iy egemee 2 " n x pening, look at the textbook or manual called ically dangerous. The hansen PERENE, however: are all non- DSM-III: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual on Mental eee religious and political organisations worthy of the Disorders (third edition, published by the American Psychiatric label or have the public been manipulated into accepting this nar- Association). Translated into economic and political terms, TOW point of view? . . mental disorder means undesired mental states and behaviour. Allegations of CIA involvement in Jonestown, agency support The criteria for mental disorder in DSM-III include any unusual of Nazi racial ideology, and the possibility that a well-controlled perceptual experience, magical thinking, clairvoyance, telepathy, mass medical experiment was performed at the Jonestown com- sixth sense, sense of a person not actually present. You're mune are explored thoroughly in the book, Was Jonestowna CIA _ allowed to sense the presence of a dead relative for three weeks Medical Experiment?: A Review of the Evidence, by Michael after their death. After that it becomes a criterion of mental dis- Meiers.’ order to have those feelings. After the tragic horror of Jonestown it is not at all surprising that the public are frightened of groups that get labelled as ‘cults’, and subsequently classify their members as potentially psycholog- ically dangerous. The question remains, however: are all non- mainstream religious and political organisations worthy of the label or have the public been manipulated into accepting this nar- row point of view? Allegations of CIA involvement in Jonestown, agency support of Nazi racial ideology, and the possibility that a well-controlled mass medical experiment was performed at the Jonestown com- mune are explored thoroughly in the book, Was Jonestown a CIA Medical Experiment?: A Review of the Evidence, by Michael Meiers.’ 18 ¢ NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1994