> I wonder if these people realize that income equality is one of the best
> ways of limiting population growth.
When I did the figures a couple of years ago, Germany was growing by more people per year than Peru. Of course, that was immigration vs. a higher birth rate. Anyway, in Germany we see anti-immigrant racism, in Peru we've seen government sponsored mass sterilisation.
My point? Population growth is a political, not a statistical, concept - always represented as 'too many of them' and 'not enough of us'. It is not possible to have a sensible argument about population growth in today's world, because the 'logic' to be applied differs fundamentally depending on your point of view.
E.g. in Zimbabwean peasant society (where my step-mother-in-law comes from) a higher birth rate make sense, as children are a major labour force (both on the land, and in the cities, where they send money back to their family in the rural areas). A higher population, however, doesn't make sense for the Zim ruling class - they've already got too much surplus population. Population growth always revolves around this - the concept of 'surplus population'.
As a socialist, I don't see anyone as 'surplus'... so - more rights for women, yes. An alternative to living off the land (which is a pretty shitty existence), yes. Free access to birth control and abortion, yes! Government sponsored 'population control' policies - never!
Peter -- Peter van Heusden : pvanheus at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk : PGP key available 'The demand to give up illusions about the existing state of affairs is the demand to give up a state of affairs which needs illusions.' - Karl Marx