Today in Labor History April 13, 1953: CIA Director Allen Dulles launched the MKUltra mind control program. The program ran from 1953 to 1973. It involved giving human subjects LSD and other drugs, often without their knowledge. Then, researchers would try to “weaken” their minds and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture. Over 7,000 U.S. war veterans were unwitting test subjects, as well as many Canadian and U.S. civilians. The program was a continuation of Nazi mind-control experiments, which utilized mescaline against Jews and Soviet prisoners, hoping it could be exploited as a “truth” serum. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the CIA, recruited many of these Nazi torturers in the wake of World War II to exploit their knowledge and research. MKUltra was headed by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, who later devised plans to kill Fidel Castro with an exploding cigar, and saturating his shoes with radioactive thallium to make his beard fall out. He also tried to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo, with poison. Several well-known liberals and radicals knowingly participated in MKUltra and its OSS predecessors, either as test subjects (e.g., Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Hunter), or as researchers (e.g., anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson). Others who have been alleged to have been victims or volunteers include Sirhan Sirhan, Ted Kaczyinski, Charles Manson, and Whitey Bulger.

For a really fascinating look at Margaret Mead's and Gregory Bateson’s exploration with hallucinogens and their connection to MKUltra, check out the recent book, Tripping on Utopia, by Benjamin Breen. And for a truly amazing documentary on the 1961 CIA-supported coup in Congo, check out the 2024 documentary, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat.” But the film is really about so much more than the coup. It covers Cold War machinations, propaganda, and covert operations in the early 1960s; the superpowers’ jockeying for control of puppet regimes and spheres of influence in the global south; the Pan-African movement; racism in the U.S., the Civil Rights movement, and the repression against it; and, of course, jazz music, including tons of interviews and live footage of Lumumba, Ghanian president and revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah, activist and writer Andree Madeleine Blouin, Malcolm X, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Miriam Makeba, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, surrealist artist Rene Magritte.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #cia #mindcontrol #torture #lsd #mkultra #castro #nazis #oss #allenginsberg #lumumba #malcolmx #coltrane #jazz #imperialism #kenkesey #margaretmead #charlesmanson #mescaline #castro #soviet #coldwar #books #nonfiction #ussr #communism #film #documentary @bookstadon

Today in Labor History March 25, 1957: U.S. Customs seized copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds. Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and City Lights manager, Shigeyoshi Murao, were arrested on obscenity charges for publishing and distributing the poem. Howl was inspired, in part, by a terrifying peyote vision Ginsberg had in which the façade of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, in San Francisco, appeared as the monstrous face of a child-eating demon. The obscenity charges stemmed from homophobic responses to his explicit references to homosexuality. Ginsberg’s first experience with LSD, as well as Kerouac’s and Burroughs’s, was with acid provided by the anthropologist Gregory Bateson, one-time husband of and long-time collaborator with Margaret Mead. You can read more about Bateson and Mead’s early experimentation with, and promotion of, psychedelics (and their collaboration with the CIA) in the recent book, “Tripping on Utopia.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #poetry #howl #lgbtq #allenginsburg #homophobia #lawrenceferlinghetti #citylights #obscenity #censorship #bannedbooks #kerouac #williamburoughs #lsd #peyote #margaretmead #gregorybateson #psycheldelics #books #writer #author #poet @bookstadon

"There is great advantage in moving fast if you move completely, if social, educational, and recreational changes keep pace. You must change the whole pattern at once."

—Margaret Mead, 1954

A great new piece on women in #cybernetics from @theEllamo at the ANU School of Cybernetics: https://reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/the-game-changing-women-in-an-emerging-stem-field

The ASC's 60th anniversary meeting has ended, leaving lasting memories. With over 80 meaningful conversations, it was a significant success.

I'm grateful for everyone's contributions and honored to receive a 2024 Margaret Mead Prize. It is likewise exciting to see awards go to admired colleagues. This year's awards showcase cybernetics' evolving relevance across diverse fields—from technology and neuroscience to management and the arts.

"Organize and fight for what's right, for as the famous cultural anthropologist #MargaretMead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

https://www.podcastics.com/episode/299438/link/

"Organize and fight for what's right, for as the famous cultural anthropologist #MargaretMead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

PODCAST https://www.podcastics.com/episode/299438/link/

Today in Labor History April 13, 1953: CIA Director Allen Dulles launched the MKUltra mind control program. The program ran from 1953 to 1973. It involved giving human subjects LSD and other drugs, often without their knowledge. Then, researchers would try to “weaken” their minds and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture. Over 7,000 U.S. war veterans were unwitting test subjects, as well as many Canadian and U.S. civilians. The program was a continuation of Nazi mind-control experiments, which utilyzed mescaline against Jews and Soviet prisoners, hoping it could be exploited as a “truth” serum. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the CIA, recruited many of these Nazi torturers in the wake of World War II to exploit their knowledge and research. MKUltra was headed by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, who later devised plans to kill Fidel Castro with an exploding cigar, and saturating his shoes with radioactive thallium to make his beard fall out. He also tried to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo, with poison. Several well-known liberals and radicals knowingly participated in MKUltra and its OSS predecessors, either as test subjects (e.g., Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Hunter), or as researchers (e.g., anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson). Others who have been alleged to have been victims or volunteers include Sirhan Sirhan, Ted Kaczyinski, Charles Manson, and Whitey Bulger. Margaret Mead's connection was discussed in the recent book, Tripping on Utopia, by Benjamin Breen.

#cia #MindControl #torture #lsd #MKUltra #castro #nazis #oss #AllenGinsberg #kenkesey #margaretmead #charlesmanson #mescaline #castro #soviet #coldwar #books #nonfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History March 25, 1957: U.S. Customs seized copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds. Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and City Lights manager, Shigeyoshi Murao, were arrested on obscenity charges for publishing and distributing the poem. Howl was inspired, in part, by a terrifying peyote vision Ginsberg had in which the façade of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, in San Francisco, appeared as the monstrous face of a child-eating demon. The obscenity charges stemmed from homophobic responses to his explicit references to homosexuality. Ginsberg’s first experience with LSD, as well as Kerouac’s and Burroughs’s, was with acid provided by the anthropologist Gregory Bateson, one-time husband of and long-time collaborator with Margaret Mead.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #poetry #howl #lgbtq #allenginsburg #homophobia #lawrenceferlinghetti #citylights #obscenity #censorship #bannedbooks #kerouac #williamburoughs #lsd #peyote #margaretmead #gregorybateson @bookstadon

Quote from People and Places (1959)

Margaret Mead, On Civilization

“Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture.

The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no…”

#margaretmead #civilization #politics #Philosophy #Culture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead

its late nite #pillastorytime kiddos! first up we have #MargaretMead talking about how to make sure kids dont pick up stereotypes (its hard!) #ARapOnRace

this is so brilliant. give kids the ability to create without making it dependent on their technical abilities. be a secretary for a child and make their dreams a reality that isnt overshadowed by 'cute' spelling errors #margaretmead #cathybateson #withadaughterseye

gregory bateson and margaret mead were constantly pioneering new social constructs. here, for example, is a horny jail they made for themselves where if you try to escape you get malaria #hornyjail #gregorybateson #margaretmead #withadaughterseye

Its dead af at the bar tonight so im working my way through #ARapOnRace. Big thoughts from Baldwin about the fractionation of american society and how it contributes to marginalization of every minority group #JamesBaldwin #MargaretMead #pillastorytime

Vi behöver inte acceptera tanken att krig är en biologisk eller historisk nödvändighet. Thomas Wedérus lyfter fram antropologen Margaret Meads tanke att krig, liksom matlagning, giftermål, rättegång och begravning är en mänsklig uppfinning.

#margaretmead #peace #war #anthropology

https://www.dn.se/kultur/thomas-wederus-sjalva-iden-med-krig-kan-utmanas-och-kanske-besegras/

humans everywhere are hardwired to want to be that bitch with the long blonde hair #pillastorytime #ARapOnRace #MargaretMead

holy shit margaret mead is a fuckin gangster. i would simply perish instead #pillastorytime #ARapOnRace #MargaretMead