May 28, 2023

From Antifascist Fighter Pilot to Gene Ecologist: The Erna Bennett Story

42 minutes

This episode of "The Poor Proles Almanac" introduces Erna Bennett, a lesser-known figure whose life intersected with major historical events and intellectual currents. The episode highlights Bennett's unconventional path, starting with her adventurous (and occasionally fabricated) military career, and moving towards her significant contributions to the field of genecology, a discipline that explores the relationship between genetic variation and environmental factors. Throughout the episode, the hosts emphasize Bennett's sharp wit, rebellious spirit, and unwavering commitment to her principles, even when those principles put her at odds with powerful institutions.

**The episode begins with a humorous acknowledgement of Bennett's obscurity, noting that finding meaningful information about her life requires digging through a "treasure trove" of obituaries, scholarly articles, and a four-hour audio interview held by the National Library of Australia. **

A Rebellious Youth: Early Signs of Bennett's Independent Spirit

The hosts trace Bennett's rebellious streak back to her childhood in Belfast, where she described the city as "rather awful." Her father, a socialist and policeman, encouraged her to challenge conventional thinking, a value that would shape her trajectory. **Her willingness to question authority is illustrated by an anecdote involving a priest who visited her home for her baptism. Rather than passively accepting religious doctrine, the teenage Bennett engaged in a spirited debate about creationism, ultimately driving the priest away. **

Wartime Adventures: Deception, Defiance, and a Growing Political Consciousness

Bennett's adventurous spirit took center stage during World War II. She lied about her age to enlist in the British army, and later, when relegated to kitchen duties, she boldly claimed to be a skilled pilot, despite having only a "theoretical" understanding of flying. Her first flight was a chaotic test of the plane's limits, leaving her instructor speechless and terrified, while she discreetly vomited in a corner. This episode in her life highlights both her audacity and her capacity for learning on the fly (pun very much intended by the podcast hosts).

**Her wartime experiences in Greece proved to be a political awakening. ** Assigned to British intelligence, Bennett's task was to identify Greek activists who were sympathetic to British interests. However, this work exposed her to the brutal realities of power politics and the manipulation of resistance movements. Witnessing the British government's collaboration with the Nazis to undermine leftist factions within Greece, she became disillusioned with the Allied cause.

Defection and the Embrace of a New Cause

Driven by her evolving political convictions, Bennett made the radical decision to defect from the British army and join the Greek partisans. She acknowledged the risks and moral complexities of her actions, recognizing that her work with British intelligence had been harmful. She expresses gratitude towards the Greek partisans for accepting her despite her past. This period solidified her commitment to socialism and exposed her to the richness and resilience of traditional agriculture, which she saw being threatened by "progress" imposed by outside forces.

Post-War Struggles and a Forging of a New Path

Upon her return to England, Bennett faced consequences for her desertion, being court-martialed and ostracized by former friends. The onset of the Cold War further compounded her difficulties, as her communist affiliations made her unemployable in many fields. Despite these setbacks, she pursued her education, earning degrees in botany from London and Durham Universities. She persevered through financial hardship and isolation, eventually securing a position at the National Library of Science and Technology, where her linguistic skills proved valuable.

The Scottish Plant Breeding Station: Laying the Groundwork for Genecology

Bennett's career path led her to the Scottish Plant Breeding Station, where she worked with Jim Gregor, a renowned geneticist known for his studies on microevolution. It was during this time that she began to articulate her ideas around genecology, a branch of ecology that examines the interplay between genetic diversity within species and their distribution across varied environments. This work focused on understanding how plants adapt to specific ecological conditions, and how those adaptations might be lost in the context of domestication and monoculture agriculture.

The Looming Threat of Genetic Erosion: Bennett Sounds the Alarm

**By the 1950s, Bennett was already raising concerns about the potential negative impacts of the Green Revolution, which was rapidly expanding across the globe. ** Her focus was on the alarming loss of genetic diversity within crops, as traditional varieties were replaced by high-yielding but genetically uniform cultivars. She saw parallels between the destruction of traditional agriculture in Greece and the processes unfolding in other parts of the world, as industrial agriculture spread its reach. Her research highlighted the importance of preserving the genetic resources found in wild and locally adapted crops, which could hold the key to future resilience in the face of disease and environmental change.

Joining the FAO: A Platform for Advocacy and a Watershed Moment

The episode concludes with Bennett joining the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1967, a position that allowed her to advance her ideas on a global scale. Her work with the FAO centered around collecting and preserving plant genetic resources, particularly in the Mediterranean region and Central Asia. **She observed firsthand how the introduction of "improved" crops was leading to the displacement of local varieties, resulting in a homogenization of agriculture that posed significant risks for food security. **

The 1967 FAO Technical Conference marked a pivotal moment in Bennett's career and in the growing awareness of the importance of genetic diversity. It was at this conference that the term "genetic erosion" was coined, underscoring the urgent need to protect the genetic resources that underpinned global food systems. Bennett delivered a powerful keynote address, warning of the long-term consequences of neglecting genetic conservation and urging the agricultural community to adopt a more holistic and ecologically sound approach.

**The episode foreshadows the conflicts and challenges that Bennett would face as she continued to advocate for her vision of a more sustainable and diverse agriculture, a vision that ran counter to the dominant logic of the Green Revolution. **

To hear her own autobiographical retelling of her story, tune in here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvPtCF4i-UZl8qEepMmXuVgHs9gGVK-VK

For sources, transcripts, and to read more about this subject, visit: www.agroecologies.org

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