A REAL HORROR SHOW

Werewolves, Dracula and Frankenstein monsters; over the years Hollywood has produced spine-chilling movies to frighten its audiences. In real life capitalism produces sciences that dwarf any special effects that Hollywood may dream up. "Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Inside this city's earthquake-cracked psychiatric hospital, a schizophrenic man lay naked on a concrete floor, caked in dust. Other patients, padlocked in tiny concrete cells, clutched the bars and howled for attention. Faeces clotted the gutter outside a ward where urine pooled under metal cots without mattresses. Walking through the dilapidated public hospital, Dr. Franklin Normil, the acting director, who has worked there for five months without pay, shook his head in despair. "I want you to bear witness," he told a reporter. "Clearly, mental health has never been a priority in this country. We have the desire and the ability, but they do not give us the means to be professional and humane. Haiti's earthquake has exposed the extreme inadequacies of its mental health services just at the moment when they are most needed." (New York Times, 19 March) RD
Capitalist society spends billions of dollars in weapons of mass destruction yet cannot deal with the sufferings of these poor wretches. Truly, capitalism is a Frankenstein society. RD