31/05/2023
"I think probably the greatest single threat to life on the planet is the over proliferation of us." So said Doctor Brian May, the astrophysicist, campaigner and musician with legendary rock group Queen. He is quoted in this month's electronic bulletin from Population Matters, a group which campaigns for sustainable levels of humans on earth, and which has long pointed out the dangers of heterosexual political fanatics who want there to be larger and larger families. As well as features on biodiversity and the environment, the organisation takes aim at swivel eyed Conservative MP Miriam Cotes, who addressed the far right rabble of the National Conservative Conference (which has only tenuous links to the Parliamentary Conservative Party, it should be noted). Population Matters blogs about such people's activities, in a column called Gilead Watch, cheekily named for the Christian fundamentalist state that features in Margaret Atwood's novel (and now, hit television drama), the Handmaid's Tale. They said "A quick look around Europe and further afield shows how dangerous this rhetoric can be, and how it’s often laced with nationalism and prejudice. Victor Orban has shut Hungary’s borders and is actively encouraging the white, Christian, heterosexual population to reproduce. He’s done this through tax exemptions for families with more than four children, creating barriers to abortion, talking down education and economic equality for women, and all while trying to erase LGBTQ identities and espousing the racist “Great Replacement” theory. It’s not just Hungary. Poland has severely restricted access to abortions and contraceptives. In Turkey, President Erdogan said that his wife’s “career is to give birth to children”. Abortion access has become much harder in Italy since Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party won power last year, and her party has engaged in rhetoric talking up Italian identity and demonising immigrants."
