Yes, Pete, agree, I am not sure about fear being the real motivating factor. I hope the directors of the human rights orgs. aren't just being polyannas, but I do know they have studied this for more years than I have known about it and that's a lot, so I am sure there is some validity to their belief. But, as you pointed out, with such elements, how can one ever be sure of how rational they really are? I personally am cautious about assuming they are rational at all! Thanks for your wish of luck. They really are scary. Many of them hide behind a facade of fundamentalist religion; one even has a radio broadcast which reaches quite a bit of the world, esp. North and South America.

Most Americans are not aware of them as an organised movement either. Most think it is isolated to a feww incidents like the white supremacists who held out on the farm in North Dakota a couple of years ago.

Now, for the really intersting part! Which Margaret Atwood book did you have in mind? I love her books. Have you read Alias Grace? I lived in Northampton MA when Handmaid's Tale, the movie came out. Watched it in a tiny arts theatre full of lesbians and feminists. Quite popular there.

katl