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| Newsletter | December 2001 |
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. -- Voltaire
Balfour Beatty have pulled out of the Ilisu Dam.
BVEJ are back on line. We also now have a list server.
The al-muhajiroun reference (BVEJ news #0017 October 2001) was not complete. Should have read:
We neglected to give credit to SchNEWS for Courtin' trouble (BVEJ news #0018 November 2001). It was purloined from SchNEWS Issue 326 Fri 12 October 2001.
We also gave the wrong web adress for Farnborough Airport (BVEJ news #0018 November 2001). Should have read:
Find something wrong, tell us, and we correct it.
We are now back on-line. Not everything will be functioning as we are reconstructing the site and updating some of the pages. Not all of the BVEJ newsletters are yet available as web pages but they are on the site as text pages.
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Over the centuries, people have sacrificed their lives for many reasons -- love of country, devotion to their faith, or commitment to a political ideology -- but now people are being asked to give their lives for something new: patent protection.Dean Baker
Post 11 September 2001 many anti-globalisation and environmental campaigners put everything on hold, the World Bank/IMF demo did not go ahead and the Labour Party Rally was a very low key affair. So soon after 11 September 2001 it was felt to be inappropriate and insensitive to do otherwise. Big business showed no such reticence, on the contrary, it was seen as the ideal opportunity to ram things through.
Securicor, who are responsible for security at many US airports, have threatened to sue if security is placed in Federal hands. Securicor was fined for employing convicted felons, continues to employ staff without security checks and continues to lie about the fact to regulators.
The beleaguered airline industry is to receive a $15 billion dollar bailout.
The House 'stimulus' Bill is pushing $25 billion of tax breaks (some put it as high as $200 billion) mainly to Big Business and the very wealthy. The bulk of this money will go to mining an energy companies.
The Interior Department will no longer be able to veto mining projects on public land.
A Bill is being pushed through that will enable oil exploration in sensitive Arctic regions of Alaska.
The administration has acted to protect the Bayer monopoly on Cipro.
For the last election, the pharmas spent $200 million on lobbying, employ 625 registered lobbyists (more than any other industry).
All these measures are being pushed through as 'anti-terrorism' measures. Anyone who opposes is labelled 'unpatriotic'.
The last election was bought by Big Business. Hidden by all the anti-terrorism noise was the announcement that Bush had indeed stolen the last election.
I have thrown myself into my work wholeheartedly,' he wrote to his bosses at Bayer headquarters. 'Especially as I have the opportunity to test our new preparations. I feel like I am in paradise. -- Dr. Helmut Vetter, SS doctor at Joseph Mengele's inhuman medical experimentation on concentration camp prisoners at Auschwitz in an enthusiastic communication to his bosses at Bayer
Some principles are so important that they cannot be violated even in a time of national emergency. One of those, it now appears, is the principle of patent rights for multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies. -- Mark Weisbrot
Relying on just one manufacturer to produce our entire supply of the pharmaceutical is simply not the best way to ensure an adequate supply. -- US Senator Charles Schumer
Over the centuries, people have sacrificed their lives for many reasons -- love of country, devotion to their faith, or commitment to a political ideology -- but now people are being asked to give their lives for something new: patent protection. -- Dean Baker
The US government forced Bayer to drop the price of Cipro, but it wasn't the big deal it appeared to be. [BVEJ news #0018 November 2001]
It was the US government, among others, who tried to force the South African government to back down over its policy on Aids drugs and was about to force a WTO showdown with Brazil on cheap generic drugs. The US government could have forced a much better price but didn't. Why? [BVEJ newsletters passim]
The reason why is that Bayer is a major contributor to party funds.
Bayer cannot even meet the demand for stockpiles until January. And that is assuming there is no major outbreak of anthrax. On the other hand Indian suppliers can meet the demand for Cipro now, at a much lower price, ten times lower, than Bayer's discounted price.
In the war on terrorism civil liberties can go to hell, but God forbid there be a clampdown on profit, even if it means people dying.
According to the Health Education Alliance for Life and Longevity:
At the 1947 Nuremberg Tribunal 24 of the managers of Hoechst, Bayer and BASF and other IG Farben executives were accused of the following crimes against humanity: planning and leading the war, mass murder, conducting criminal experiments on innocent inmates of concentration camps, grand theft and plundering, slavery and other crimes. The US lead prosecutor Telford Taylor said in the Nuremberg Tribunal against these IG Farben executives:
Not the Nazi lunatics but these accused are responsible for this war. And if they are not punished for these crimes the harm they will do to future generations is much greater than Hitler could ever have done if he were alive.
The IG Farben Cartel was dismantled and split by the Nuremberg Tribunal into the daughter companies Hoechst, Bayer and BASF. With the help of Nelson Rockefeller, their former business partner and US Undersecretary of State after the war, all convicted IG Farben managers were released from prison in 1952 and reassumed positions in the highest levels of German industry.
Bayer, the exclusive manufacturer of Cipro, lobbied for the US patent-extension legislation and has spent $3.7 million on campaign contributions and lobbying since 1999. A six-month patent extension for Cipro would pay for all of Bayer's contributions and lobbying since 1999 in just two days.
2 October 2001, Bayer acquired Aventis Crop science from Aventis. Aventis was responsible for releasing the unapproved GM Starlink into the human food chain, provided seeds for the discredited UK GM farm scale trials, is pushing for commercial GM crops in the UK. But just in case this seems to let Aventis of the hook, now rebranding itself as a pharma, it was one of the companies that tried to block cheap Aids drugs in South Africa, trialed drugs in Buenos Aires without patient consent, and was recently fined $33 million by the US regulatory authorities for health fraud. [BVEJ newsletters passim]
Mark Weisbrot, Protecting Pharmaceutical Companies from the Threat of Bio-Terrorism, Common Dreams News Center, 26 October 2001
Dean Baker, Dying for Patents, Common Dreams News Center, 30 October 2001
I had not been exploring Big Pharma for more than a couple of days before I was hearing of the frantic recruitment of third world 'volunteers' as cheap guinea pigs. Their role, though they may not ever know this, is to test drugs, not yet approved for testing in the US, which they themselves will never be able to afford even if the tests turn out reasonably safe. -- John le Carre
In the US it costs on average $10,000 per patient to conduct a clinical trial, in Russia $3,000, and in the poorest parts of the world, much less. -- Keith Parkins
It costs a lot to get a new drug to market. Anything that can be done to cut corners is a bonus. Testing in the old Communist Bloc or using subjects in the Third World is one way to cut corners.
Swiss pharmas Novartis and Roche have been using corrupt doctors in Estonia to bring guinea-pigs to Switzerland for drug trials. It is a breach of the Helsinki Convention to fail to properly inform ie informed consent and to trial away from home where follow up medical care may not be available.
Eastern Europe, with its lax controls, is proving to be a bonanza for drug trials. Corrupt doctors are being bribed to provide guinea-pigs. The trial subjects are often not aware they are participating in a trial.
Pfizer jumped on the bandwagon of a meningitis outbreak in Nigeria. The patients or their guardians thought they were getting treatment, not participating in a trial. A doctor employed by Pfizer was fired when he questioned the trials.
The West pays a price. Drugs that have not been properly trialed circumvent strictly controlled trials in the West but can go on sale in the West.
John le Carre, The Constant Gardener, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001
Keith Parkins, Pharmas, April 2001
[File on Four BBC Radio 4 Tues 20 November 2001, BVEJ newsletters passim]
We have seen an aerial attack on a building, and the threat that a nuclear facility may be attacked in a similar manner now must be considered a serious security threat. -- Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA head
They were not designed with this kind of attack in mind, and it is foolish to make statements, like some in the industry have, that plants could withstand that. -- Ed Lyman, scientific director for the Nuclear Control Institute
Nuclear power stations are designed to withstand a crash by a light aircraft, some possibly even by a fighter jet, but not by a large passenger jet. At the time the probability of such a crash was regarded as beyond the bounds of reasonable probability. Even if a crash did not split open the reactor core, there is a strong likelihood of knocking out the control equipment which could lead to core melt-down.
In the US air exclusion zones have been declared around nuclear facilities, in France anti-aircraft missiles ring sensitive nuclear installations. In the UK no precautions. Flights for Bristol Airport and Cardiff Airport regularly overfly Hinkley Point.
Only a few miles north of Farnborough Airport lies the military nuclear facilities of Aldermaston. Here nuclear warheads are refurbished. How many minutes flying time from Farnborough Airport where the lax security is a hijack begging to happen?
The worst case scenario would be a crash on Windscale which would release many orders of magnitude of radioactive material more than the melt-down at Chernobyl.
Peter Bunyard, The Plane Truth, The Ecologist, November 2001
There must be an urgent rethink of this action. There is evidence from Kosovo and the Gulf War that the components of these weapons are prone to missing their targets and fail in significant numbers to explode. They then pose a serious long-term threat to civilians and ground forces alike. -- Andrew Purkis, chief executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
The presence of highly sensitive unexploded cluster munitions will increase the number of casualties caused by the severe landmine problem in Afghanistan for years to come, and will deny people facing starvation the use of their land. -- Richard Lloyd, Landmine Action
The unexploded bomblets effectively turn into landmines, ready to detonate on contact, causing death and injury to civilians and ground forces. --Richard Lloyd, Landmine Action
It's appalling that, despite the well-known problems with these weapons, the US is still dropping them on Afghanistan from planes based in UK territory. -- Richard Lloyd, Landmine Action
During the Indo-China War (aka Vietnam War) the most heavily bombed area was the Plain of Jars in northern Laos. A favoured munitions, and by far the most lethal, was the cluster bomb. According to Honeywell who made them, they had a 20-30% failure rate. Now it is difficult to believe a high-tech weapon can have such a high failure rate unless it is by deliberate design. The failures lie in the fields waiting to explode. Even now, Laos has casualties running at 50,000 a year, more than half of which end in fatality, the majority of casualties are children.
Two months after Nato bombs stopped raining down on Kosovo they were still killing people. As many as 20,000 unexploded cluster bombs are thought to be scattered about the province. Every day, somebody - more often than not a child - is killed or injured.
Cluster bombs each contain about 200 smaller bomblets weighing 1.5 kilograms, which are designed to spray out shrapnel and set fire to any combustible material nearby. The bomblets, weighing around 1.5kg each, are bright yellow and the size of coke cans, making them very attractive to children.
Cluster bombs are no different in practice to anti-personnel landmines which are now banned by international treaty.
Afghanistan is covered in landmines from twenty years of conflict, only a very small percentage of the country has been demined. In what is supposedly not a war against the Afghan people the country is being bombed with cluster bombs. The bomblets are bright yellow. The food rations that have been dropped on Afghanistan are, you've guessed, bright yellow.
According to the New York Times there are 7 to 8 million people in Afghanistan on the verge of starvation. That was true actually before September 11th. They were surviving on international aid. On September 16th, the Times reported, I'm quoting it, that the United States demanded from Pakistan the elimination of truck convoys that provide much of the food and other supplies to Afghanistan's civilian population. -- Noam Chomsky
We are not at war with the Afghan people. If not, why are we waging genocide on the Afghan people?
Aid agencies warned that if food supplies did not get through before the winter, 7.5 million people were at risk of dying of starvation. One of the first acts of Bush post 11 September 2001 was to ask the Pakistanis to stop all aid convoys. Even without that instruction, the truckers were unwilling to be blown up by American bombs.
7.5 million people, more than three times the number Pol Pot killed, thirty-five times the number who died in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, ten World Trade Centers every day for 150 days, these are the numbers of Afghans Bush and Blair sentenced to death.
The food parcels Bush dropped at the start of the war were seen as a sick joke. The colour and size were similar to the clusters bombs, both were bright yellow, the only difference, one was rectangular in shape the other a cylinder.
No one expected the Taliban to melt away over night, though if they were familiar with Afghan history it would not have been such a surprise. It is only the sudden collapse of the Taliban, the US military expected the fight to go on until at least the spring, that has allowed food convoys to roll again. And even then it is touch and go whether they will be able to supply before the winter sets in.
It is only the sudden collapse of the Taliban that has prevented genocide of the Afghan people.
My cause will continue after my death, they think they will solve this problem by killing me. It's not easy to solve this problem. This war has been spread all over the world. -- Osama bin Laden
There is no war on terrorism. If there was, the SAS would be storming the beaches of Florida. -- John Pilger
"Air campaign"? "Coalition forces"? "War on terror"? How much longer must we go on enduring these lies? There is no "campaign" - merely an air bombardment of the poorest and most broken country in the world by the world's richest and most sophisticated nation. No MIGs have taken to the skies to do battle with the American B-52s or F-18s. The only ammunition soaring into the air over Kabul comes from Russian anti-aircraft guns manufactured around 1943. -- Robert Fisk
The Anglo-American attack on Afghanistan crosses new boundaries. It means that America's economic wars are now backed by the perpetual threat of military attack on any country, without legal pretence. It is also the first to endanger populations at home. The ultimate goal is not the capture of a fanatic, which would be no more than a media circus, but the acceleration of western imperial power. That is a truth the modern imperialists and their fellow travellers will not spell out, and which the public in the west, now exposed to a full-scale jihad, has the right to know. -- John Pilger
It was wrong to give up Czechoslovakia to appease Hitler. It is not wrong to withdraw our military from the Middle East, or for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories, because there is no right to be there. That is not appeasement. That is justice. -- Howard Zinn
Elation over the Northern Alliance's march toward Kabul obscures America's real gain in the war on terrorism: responsibility for 7 million starving Afghan refugees. Our horrific cluster bombs and missiles have driven these people to the borders of their country, where they stand begging to get out. If for no other reason than to keep up appearances, the Bush administration will have to feed and clothe them, provide them with shelter, and protect them for years to come. As a writer with Working for Change put it, the 7 million are three times the number of people Pol Pot killed and 35 times the number who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or look at it this way: A twin towers tragedy every day for almost four years. We get to start the century by defending ourselves from charges of genocide. -- James Ridgeway, Village Voice
There is now doubt that the Northern Alliance have 'liberated' the people of Afghanistan, they were out on the streets cheering. But would you boo your 'liberators'? The Northern Alliance, at least at the moment are well behaved, at least whilst the western media is watching, certainly better behaved than the scum English squaddies on a night out in Aldershot or Ayia Napa (Cyprus). But we should not forget that only a few years ago the Taliban were cheered when they liberated Afghanistan from the Northern Alliance. And the Taliban did for a time bring stability, albeit at a very high price.
Within 48 hours the euphoria over the 'liberation' had turned to concern.
What we are seeing is one lot of thugs replaced by another set of thugs. The only real difference is that one lot may understand who their western masters are better than the last lot did and display better table manners. Only a couple of years ago the West was only too happy to deal with the Taliban to access oil to the north.
On the world stage, the Taliban are only marginally worse than the intolerant, bigoted thugs who run Saudi Arabia. The only real difference is that the Saudi Royal family are our thugs.
The hijackers who destroyed the WTC and part of the Pentagon were wealthy Saudis and an Egyptian, not an Afghan among them. Their 'training camps' were in Germany and Florida. Why has there been no bombing raids on Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Germany and flight training schools in Florida? The Taliban are backed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, these two countries provide the money, the training and the logistics. Why has there been no bombing raids on Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?
The guys who trashed the WTC and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 were in the main wealthy, well-educated Saudis. Not an Afghan among them. Why terrorise Afghanistan?
Mohamed Atta, one of the 11 September 2001 hijackers, was trained to fly at Huffman Aviation, Venice, Florida. Why travel all the way to Florida to learn to fly? Did a covert operation at the two Venice flight schools serve as a portal into an informal military training network?
Shaikh Omar Abdel Rehman the blind Islamic cleric who masterminded the bombing of the WTC a few years back (February 1993) was denied entry to the US by Immigration. Immigration were overruled by the CIA. Why? In his defence his legal team argued that he was guilty of no more than 'his interpretation of scripture'.
Osama bin Laden was a protege of the CIA and the Saudi royal family. CIA, MI6 and the Pakistani ISI helped to create his terrorist network. Saudi Arabia together with Pakistani ISI are the main backers of the Taliban.
The FBI have been warned off any investigation into the Saudi connection. Why?
Farnborough Airport has a Saudi connection. The Saudi connection has its roots in 1980s Middle East financing and arms deals. Add MoD, BAE Systems to the melting pot. Is this why TAG get everything they want and a blind eye is turned to lax airport security and planning infringements? Is there another major arms deal in the offing? European Fighter Aircraft for Saudi? [BVEJ newsletters passim]
Farnborough town centre is Kuwaiti owned. Is this another Saudi connection? [BVEJ newsletters passim]
I watched the CIA protect drug traffickers ... I have put thousands of Americans away for tens of thousands of years for conspiracy with less evidence than that available against Ollie North and CIA people. -- Michael Levine, former DEA agent
The CIA and its allies, in order to help finance the proxy US-Soviet war, tolerated the rise of the biggest drug empires ever seen east of the giant Colombian cocaine cartels. While the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and other narcotics agencies were spending billions of dollars to stem the tidal wave of narcotics from South Asia, the CIA and its allies were turning a blind eye or actively encouraging it. -- John K Cooley
We hear a lot on terrorism and even more on the state sponsorship of terrorism, but what we hear very little of are the real sponsors of state terrorism, or the links with drugs trafficking. CIA/MI6 and the Pakistani ISI were the sponsors of the Mujaheddin during the Jihad against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As with the Indo-China War (aka Vietnam War) arms were shipped one way, drugs came back the other. CIA did not just turn a blind eye, they were part of the racket. The same happened with the Contras in Nicaragua. The Pakistani controlled BCCI, the most corrupt bank in the world, not only was used to channel funds for the Jihad, it also handled funds for CIA projects, arms dealers and drug traffickers. As well as supporting the Mujaheddin, CIA/MI6 and the Pakistani ISI together with the Saudis were the creators of Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network. Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan the Mujaheddin tore the country to pieces in a bloody civil war paving the way for the Taliban a decade later. The Taliban were to impose a repressive Islamic regime, even worse than though closely modelled on the Wahabbi fundamentalism of Saudi Arabia. Pakistani ISI together with the Saudis have been the main backers with money and arms to the Taliban. The Taliban are trained in Pakistan. In flows money and arms, out flows opium and heroin. Afghanistan is now Europe's main source of heroin.
Some recommended reading to redress the balance:
William Blum, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Intervention Since World War II, Common Courage Press, 1991
William Blum, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Common Courage Press, 2000
Alexander Cockburn, White-Out: CIA, Drugs and the Press, Verso, 1997
Leslie Cockburn, Out of Control, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987
John K Cooley, Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism (2nd ed), Pluto Press, 2000
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, Verso, 1991
Noam Chomsky, Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs, Pluto, 2000
Mark Curtis, The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy Since 1945, Zed Books, 1995
Brian Fremantle, The Fix: Inside the World Drug Trade, Tim Doherty Associates, 1983
Michael Levine & Laura Kavanau-Levine, The Big White Lie: The CIA and the US Cocaine/Crack Epidemic, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993
Alfred McCoy & Alan Black (eds), War on Drugs: Studies in the Failure of US Narcotics Policy, Westview Press, 1992
George Monbiot, Backyard Terrorism, The Guardian, 30 October 2001
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, School of Assassins, Orbis Books, 1997
John Pilger, Hidden Agendas, Vintage, 1998
Ahmed Rashid, Dangerous Liaisons, Far Eastern Economic Review, 16 April 1998
Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Yale University Press, 2000
Ahmed Rashid, Osama Bin Laden: How the U.S. Helped Midwife a Terrorist, The Public-I, 13 September 2001
Holly Sklar, Washington's War on Nicaragua, South End Press, 1988
Gary Webb, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, Seven Stories Press, 1998
Bob Woodward, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987, Simon & Schuster, 1987
You don't have to spend long in Pakistan to realize that the Pakistani press gives an infinitely more truthful and balanced account of the 'war' - publishing work by local intellectuals, historians and opposition writers along with Taliban comments and pro-government statements as well as syndicated Western analyses - than The New York Times; and all this, remember, in a military dictatorship. -- Robert Fisk
During the Falklands war in 1982, the BBC's Weekly Review Board met to discuss how the war should be presented to the public. The minutes show that senior executives decided that the news ought to be shaped to suit "the emotional sensibilities of the public" and that the weight of BBC coverage would be concerned with government statements of policy. An "impartial style" was felt to be "an unnecessary irritation". -- John Pilger
One of Bush and Blair's oft-repeated lies is that "world opinion is with us". No, it is not. Out of 30 countries surveyed by Gallup International, only in Israel and the United States does a majority of people agree that military attacks are preferable to pursuing justice non-violently through international law, however long it takes. That is the good news. -- John Pilger
You cannot force people to obey by violence, as the Soviet system tried to do. So you need systems of indoctrination to ensure that they agree to what the ruling groups want to do. -- Noam Chomsky
During the Falklands War an ITN poll showed that 76 per cent of those questioned wanted the United Nations to occupy the Falklands while Britain and Argentina negotiated. This was never reported. Nor was it reported that Argentina was prepared to accept a peace plan put forward by Peru bar three points.
During the Gulf War Saddam Hussein was willing to negotiate a withdrawal. This was never reported. Iraqi opposition leaders travelled to Washington. They were sidelined, no one wanted to talk to them.
Controls on the media during the Gulf War were not for reasons of military or national security, they were for political reasons. Some of the many lies or distortions: the military were avoiding civilian targets (no mention of the long-term effect on the population), statistics on the success rates of weapon systems were doctored, deployment of Patriot missiles were not effective (and may have caused extensive damage), repeated showing on CNN of precision guided laser bombs smack on target (over 90% of bombs used were conventional dumb bombs), 80% success rate of missions (figure nearer 40% and the definition of 'success' needs to be redefined), etc, etc.
In the action to take out General Noriega in Panama there were 'few civilian casualties', in fact, more than 2,000 civilians were killed by American helicopter gunships in the shanties of Panama City. Like Saddam Hussein, Noriega was 'our kind of guy' in fact a George Bush senior stooge, until like Saddam he stepped out of line and forgot who his masters were.
Intelligence sources have 'hard evidence' that Osama Bin Laden was behind the World Trade Center destruction. Presumably the same hard evidence that had a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory as a factory for biological and chemical weapons. The US has suppressed a report on the numbers killed in the US missile attack on the plant.
Blair repeatedly claims we have the world behind us. Opinion polls across the world show the only countries where there is support are the UK and US, the two countries lacking a free press, and even here the support is waning. And Gallup finds that 82 per cent say 'military action should only be taken after the identity of the perpetrators was clearly established, even if this process took several months to accomplish'.
Fox TV has warned its reporters to express caution when reporting Afghan civilian casualties. No such caution is expressed when reporting claims from the Pentagon.
An anti-war news agency operating from a web site out of Canada had its web site closed down and three journalists who where working for the agency were fired from their mainstream jobs.
CNN has repeatedly warned its journalists to back off on Afghan casualties but to keep reminding viewers of the WTC bombing.
A 15-year old school girl was banned from school for wearing an anarchist anti-war t-shirt.
The supposedly left-wing Guardian failed to cover anti-war demos.
As Rudyard Kipling observed, truth is the first casualty of war.
But it is not just war. War by its extremes is better at highlighting what is normal everyday for the mainstream media. A military state can use extreme force to coerce the population, in the supposedly free states more subtle means of mind control have to be employed.
Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies, South End Press, 1989
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, Verso, 1991
Noam Chomsky & David Barsamian, Propaganda and the Public Mind, Pluto Press, 2001
Noam Chomsky & Edward S Herman, Manufacturing Consent, Pantheon, 1988
Philip Knightley, Tell Them Nothing Till It's Over And Then Tell Them Who Won, The Public-I, 31 October 2001
Howard Kurtz, CNN Chief Orders 'Balance' in War News, Washington Post, 31 October 2001
John Pilger, Hidden Agendas, Vintage, 1998
Jacqueline Sharkey, Will Truth Again Be First Casualty?, The Public-I, 21 September 2001
Katie Sierra, a 15 year old US schoolgirl, has been kicked out of a West Virginia school for expressing anti-war feelings. She turned up at school wearing an anarchist anti-war t-shirt and that was enough to have her kicked out. She is now appealing to the West Virginia Supreme Court. No doubt if she had been wearing sweat shop fashion that would have been deemed patriotic consumerism.
Here's how you can help:
If you want to send letters of support to Katie:
Katie Sierra c/o Roger Forman P.O. Box 2148 Charleston, W. VA 25328
If you want to send polite letters of support for Katie's rights of free speech, free association and equal treatment:
The Kanawha County Board of Education 200 Elizabeth St. Charleston, W. VA 25311 attn.: Superintendent Ron Duerring
or to:
The West Virginia Supreme Court 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E. Capitol Bldg. 1 Room E317 Charleston, W. VA 25305 Attn.: Roy Perry, Clerk, West Virginia Supreme Court
Contributions to the West Virginia Civil Liberties Union:
P.O. Box 3952 Charleston, W. VA 25339
on your check or money order you should note that this contribution is designated for 'Katie Sierra's case'.
Katie's First Ammendment Rights have been violated. TWAT is fighting terrorism, fighting for all that we in the democratic civilised West stand for!!
The First Amendment absolutely does apply to student political expression. For a direct case-cite to back that up, try: Tinker v. Des Moines School District (393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969)). To quote from the majority opinion:
"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. This has been the unmistakable holding of this Court for almost 50 years. ...
"In our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students in school as well as out of school are 'persons' under our Constitution. They are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State. In our system, students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate. They may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially approved. In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views."
Notably, the facts in this case are virtually identical to those under discussion here. Specifically, the students that brought this case had been suspended for refusing to comply with a "no black armbands" rule that had been imposed by school authorities (to prevent students from showing opposition to the Vietnam war). The Justices held that this was not Constitutionally permissible, even though the school administrators feared that this speech would be "disruptive".
The full text of this case can be found:
This is a fundamental violation of the rule of law, our rights and traditional British values,' he said. 'There is no evidence of direct plans to commit atrocities against Britain. -- John Wadham, director of Liberty
Very much as we expected, there is to be a massive clampdown on human rights. Blunkett is applying to remove the protection of the Human Rights Act, more Terrorism legislation is to be rushed through. In the US, Canada and many other countries, similar moves are taking place.
All in the name of democracy.
The government is using this bill firstly to introduce the indefinite detention of suspects on the say-so of the security services, and secondly to introduce a whole series of new powers which have nothing to do with terrorism. -- Statewatch
With the UK now under a 'State of Emergency' Home Secretary David Blunkett this week announced another brand spanking new terrorism bill, this time with added internment - that's trial without jury - for any foreigners suspected of being terrorists. Those lucky enough to be locked up would be able to appeal to a special immigration tribunal but not have access to the security information that led to their arrest in the first place! Even better, the suspected terrorist could remain in prison indefinitely, subject only to six monthly reviews.
The emergency order which says the events of 11th September are 'threatening the life of the nation', is a technical twist to allow Britain to opt out of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which rather inconveniently bans detention without trial.
Still, we've seen internment before during the Gulf war. Writer Abbas Shiblak was one of more than 100 Iraqis and Palestinians who were said to be linked to terrorism and detained without trial in the UK. Shiblak had in fact been a critic of Saddam when the UK was still busy selling weapons to Baghdad (Saddam was still considered a good guy then). After months of imprisonment the suspects were released without a single one of them being charged or deported.
Internment was also re-introduced in Northern Ireland in August 1971 as an attempt to crush the IRA. During one night the Army sealed off whole areas raiding homes and taking away hundreds of Catholic men for detention without trial. All were subjected to brutal treatment, 12 in particular were selected for 'special' treatment. These twelve were secretly moved from the internment clearing centres to an unknown destination and held for seven days. They had hoods on their heads throughout, had no idea where they were and were kept completely isolated. They were severely beaten, forced to stand spreadeagled against walls until they collapsed, given hardly any food and subjected to 'white noise', which prevented them from sleeping. All the while being constantly interrogated. It was a new technique of sensory deprivation designed to disorient the mind and help the authorities to find the 'truth'. By March 1972, when London took over direct rule of Northern Ireland, some 924 people were interned. The vast majority were Catholic who were eventually released without being charged. The mass arrests led to widespread rioting, twenty-three deaths and increased support for the republican movement. As Amnesty International pointed out, 'Internment measures have resulted in human rights violations and failed to deter political violence in several parts of the world.
It's only been 16 months since the last Terrorism Act was passed (SchNEWS 268, BVEJ newsletters passim) and it's already been used on peaceful protestors. The existing Act defines terrorism as 'The use or threat of action, designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause.' Which is why at a recent EU Terrorism Summit after September 11th one of the Prime Minister's spokesmen boasted 'we have some of the toughest laws anywhere in the world.' But obviously not tough enough for Blunkett who's got even more (Santa) clauses on his Christmas wish-list.
So shut up CND - time to forget about letting people know that nuclear trains might be running through their towns. Beat it peace campaigners, no more protesting outside nuclear bases. Stop whinging Amnesty, who cares about foreigners being locked up without trial? Put a sock in it Privacy International, what's wrong with telecommunications companies storing every e-mail, phone call, or fax we've ever made? So don't you airy-fairy lot forget that in order to safeguard our civil liberties against the terrorist threat we must...er, take liberties away.
See the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act in full:
[SchNEWS issue 331 Friday 16 November 2001]
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies, much less to render them necessary. -- Adam Smith
The rich nations are still negotiating primarily in the interests of their major multinationals. And they are still shutting the poor nations out of the negotiating process. The more cynical trade watchers say that this is the way trade negotiations have always been conducted. -- Barry Coates, World Development Movement
Today the members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have sent a powerful signal ... we have removed the stain of Seattle. -- Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative
For the world's poorest countries ... little has changed - their exports are blocked, their businesses are wiped out by foreign multinationals and their farmers are driven off their land by subsidised exports from the rich countries ... The EU and US have exploited the vulnerability of poor countries in order to force their agenda on them. Even where it appears that developing countries may benefit, the Declaration is so riddled with holes and get-out clauses that the gains are likely to be illusory. -- Barry Coates, World Development Movement
Qatar was an appropriate location, a repressive country playing host to a repressive organisation.
For those who couldn't get there, which was virtually everyone, a virtual sit-in of the WTO was organised.
Places for NGOs was extremely restricted and many of those places were taken by corporate front organisations.
Demos took place in over 40 countries around the world. The final agreement, with poor countries strong-armed into signing, was a kick in the teeth for the poor and vulnerable, who amount to the vast majority of the planet's population.
The success of the WTO aided and abetted by its sister organisations the World Bank and IMF can be seen by the fact that more than 80 countries now have per capita incomes lower than a decade ago and, as the United Nations development programme points out, it is often those countries which are highly 'integrated' into the global economy that are becoming more marginal. For example in spite of the fact that exports from sub-Saharan Africa, have reached nearly 30% of GDP the number of people living in poverty there continues to grow. Even the IMF admits, 'in recent decades, nearly one-fifth of the world population has regressed.'
Greg Palast, an investigative journalist exposed the corporate agenda behind WTO and how deep the links go. Between April 1999 and February 2001 the Liberalization and Trade in Services (LOTIS) committee held a series of private meetings in which they discussed strategy to impose a pro-business agenda on the WTO rules governing services. A confidential memo from the World Trade Organization Secretariat shows, that after a series of secret meetings with top business executives, European trade negotiators accepted the corporate position on a key provision in the General Agreement on Trade in Services. That provision, known as the 'necessity test', would undermine national environmental and labour laws, according to free trade critics. The confidential document was not supposed to be leaked to executives.
WTO have tried to shut down the WTO parody site. No coincidence that this was a few days before the WTO shindig. No free speech in a corporate world.
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
The Mexican government lost its appeal against a decision made under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the free trade area covering Canada, USA and Mexico. Like the WTO, NAFTA removes 'barriers to trade', such obstructive unnecessary things like labour laws, environmental and health regulations. All poor old Metalclad Corp wanted to do was build a toxic waste dump in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Local people took direct action to stop it being built because it would poison the local water supply and forced the local government to refuse planning permission and declare the site part of an ecological reserve. This was however - thanks to NAFTA - a barrier to trade, an infringement of the corporations rights (yes, corporations feel pain as well you know) and illegal. So the company sued for $90 million in damages, including compensation for lost profits and future business! They got $16.9 million in the end, but we're sure for the Californian based company that will do nicely thank-you-very-much.
[SchNEWS Issue 332 Friday 23 November 2001]
Only a fool or a sophist could find a clear moral distinction between that and Saddam Hussein's treatment of Iraqi Kurds. Yet Turkey remains a valued Nato ally, and the leaked word is that the Ilisu deal must be done hurriedly to secure Turkish loyalty lest its air bases are needed for air strikes on Iraq. -- Matthew Norman, Evening Standard
Blair's Messianic rhetoric about creating a new world order takes on an intriguing flavour when juxtaposed with his eagerness to collude in an act of cynical vandalism against the already poor and oppressed. If he is planning to slip this one through while no one is looking, let's hope he is in for a shock. -- Matthew Norman, Evening Standard
Now there have to be big doubts over the project. We think it is fantastic news. -- Kerim Yildiz, executive director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project
Balfour Beatty was embarrassed by the campaign against Ilisu. We hope this sends a message to other companies and governments not to get involved. -- Kerim Yildiz
The Ilisu dam is bad for human rights, bad for the environment, bad for regional peace and bad for Britain. The Government should make its views clear that there can be no British backing for such a controversial project. -- Ann Clwyd
The story of the Ilisu dam project shows the need for laws which require British companies to adopt clear ethical and environmental standards in their work abroad as well as at home. -- Charles Secrett, FoE
With appropriate solutions to commercial, environmental and social issues still unsecured and no early resolution likely, Balfour Beatty believes that it is not in the best interests of its stakeholders to pursue the project further. -- Mike Welton, Balfour Beatty chief executive
Prior to the Balfour Beastie pullout, Amnesty International had added their voice to the mounting criticism against the dam. AI notes the failure to consider human rights. Had the government granted Balfour Beatty the money they could have faced a legal challenge for breach of the Human Rights Act.
Blair was determined to push the dam through as a sweetener to the thuggish Turks to keep them on message on TWAT and to keep his big business cronies happy.
The decision therefore by Balfour Beatty to pull out (taking with them their Italian partner Impregilo), excellent news to the Kurds and everyone who has campaigned on their behalf, came as a huge blow to Blair.
Swedish construction giant Skansa pulled out some months ago, saying it 'will abstain from participating in construction projects when, in our judgement, a project will result in serious risks to the environment or society'.
Apart from the massive opposition Balfour Beastie and DTI have met to the project a further determining factor may be Balfour Beastie's dire financial straits.
DTI have let it be known that any other British company looking to take part in Ilisu are unlikely to receive government backing.
The Ilisu Dam is now not likely to go ahead. But,there are 22 other dams planned in the Tigris and Euphrates basins in Turkey that must be stopped. Amec, another British construction company, want to build a dam in Uyseffely in the Jordanian minority region of Turkey. If their plans go ahead they will displace 12-15,000 people and its predicted environmental impact goes off the scale. They are trying to secure a £68 million export credit guarantee from the taxpayer - that means if Turkey defaulted on the payment, taxpayers will foot the bill.
The Ilisu Dam indicates the way forward on Heathrow Terminal 5. Critical in the campaign against the dam has been the presence of protesters at the last two Balfour Beastie AGMs. Balfour Beastie could not face a third. The Mark Thomas Dambuster tour has also helped to pile on the pressure. HACAN need to look carefully at what has been achieved and apply the same shareholder pressure at the next AGM. Ironically BAA and Balfour Beastie share the same office block outside Victoria Station (London).
The US supplies Saddam Hussein with the materials for his chemical and biological weapons programmes. The UK supplies the parts and machine tools for the Iraqi Super Gun and for the nuclear programme.
According to a 1994 Senate report, private American suppliers, licensed by the US Department of Commerce, exported a witch's brew of biological and chemical materials to Iraq from 1985 through 1989. Among the biological materials, which often produce slow, agonizing death, were:
Also on the list: Escherichia coli (E. coli), genetic materials, human and bacterial DNA, and dozens of other pathogenic biological agents. "These biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction," the Senate report stated. "It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program."
The report noted further that US exports to Iraq included the precursors to chemical-warfare agents, plans for chemical and biological warfare production facilities, and chemical-warhead filling equipment.
The exports continued to at least November 28, 1989, despite evidence that Iraq was engaging in chemical and biological warfare against Iranians and Kurds since as early as 1984.
The American company that provided the most biological materials to Iraq in the 1980s was American Type Culture Collection of Maryland and Virginia, which made seventy shipments of the anthrax-causing germ and other pathogenic agents, according to a 1996 Newsday story.
Other American companies also provided Iraq with the chemical or biological compounds, or the facilities and equipment used to create the compounds for chemical and biological warfare. Among these suppliers were the following:
The following companies were also named as chemical and biological materials suppliers in the 1992 Senate hearings on "United States export policy toward Iraq prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait":
Additionally, several other companies were sued in connection with their activities providing Iraq with chemical or biological supplies: subsidiaries or branches of Fisher Controls International, Inc., St. Louis; Rhone-Poulenc, Inc., Princeton, NJ; Bechtel Group, Inc., San Francisco; and Lummus Crest, Inc., Bloomfield, NJ, which built one chemical plant in Iraq and, before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, was building an ethylene facility. Ethylene is a necessary ingredient for thiodiglycol.
In 1994, a group of twenty-six veterans, suffering from what has come to be known as Gulf War Syndrome, filed a billion-dollar lawsuit in Houston against Fisher, Rhone-Poulenc, Bechtel Group, and Lummus Crest, as well as American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and six other firms, for helping Iraq to obtain or produce the compounds which the veterans blamed for their illnesses. By 1998, the number of plaintiffs has risen to more than 4,000 and the suit is still pending in Texas.
Gerald James, In the Public Interest, Warner Books, 1996
David Leigh, Betrayed: The Real Story of the Matrix Churchill Trial, Bloomsbury, 1993
Alan Friedman, Spider's Web: Bush, Saddam, Thatcher and the Decade of Deceit, Faber & Faber, 1993
EU had intended to scrap the moratorium on GM imports and commercial crop planting, but they reckoned without the resistance of member states, a majority of which have said no. One of the exceptions being UK the Big Business paradise where Blair and Krebs (FSA) have welcomed the imports and blocked any comprehensive labelling scheme.
EU is threatening member states, US is threatening EU with WTO trade sanctions. Let battle commence. A major battle will rip apart both the EU and WTO and bring home to the public attempts by Big Business to ruin the world.
Monsatan has taken out a fundamental patent on soya.
Stephi Roth, Wake up to reality, The Ecologist, December 2001/January 2002
October was the hottest since records began.
Algeria has been hit by extremely heavy rainfall and flooding.
Cuba was hit by a very powerful hurricane, late in the year for hurricanes.
The small island of Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean has become the first victim of climate change. The island's 11,000 inhabitants are being forced to abandon their homes as sea level rise has caused coastal erosion, increased storms and salinization of their drinking water. New Zealand has agreed to accept all of the island's residents. Tuvaluans are laying the blame on the US: '... they've effectively denied future generations of Tuvaluans their fundamental freedom to live where our ancestors have lived for thousands of years.' Current estimates reckon that sea level could rise up to 1 metre during this century this could this would inundate not only islands but large parts of countries such as Bangladesh which could cause millions of climate refugees.
[SchNEWS Issue 332 Friday 23 November 2001]
Will Railcrap shareholders stop whinging. Could they not see that Railcrap was a crap company, that it was likely to go under, or were they hoping for a taxpayer bail-out? Anyone with any sense would have got out. Did they not realise that shares go down as well as up, that holding shares is a risky business? Or did they expect to reap all the profit and the taxpayer to take all the risks.
Railcrap investors must have been as dumb as those who were foolish enough to hang on to shares in FreeServe.
Alistair Morton is going. He too is whinging. He claims that the City will not be pleased. Now was his role not as a regulator, to look after the interests of the long suffering travelling public? Morton cocked up the Channel Tunnel, did he do any better for the railways?
Stephen Byers appears to be backing down on turning Railcrap into a not-for-profit company.
A recent report has identified the UK with the worst congested roads in Europe and among the highest fares for bus and rail in Europe.
An atomic bomb dropped at Heathrow could not spread devastation more widely than the disruption caused by the construction of an airport on this spot. -- Middlesex Gazzette, 1947
For weeks Stephen Byers has been floating in the media that the T5 decision was about to be announced, but the time never seemed quite right. There was never enough bad news around in which to bury the announcement. Finally the news came through with a statement to Parliament (afternoon Tues 20 November 2001). It seemed something was needed to take the heat off the Railcrap cockup.
Byers and Neo-Labour business cronies came out with the usual nonsense on Heathrow of the need to remain a world leader, it faces stiff competition worldwide. Airports do not compete worldwide, they act together to generate traffic, one source one destination.
An extremely badly briefed Charles Secrett (FoE) appeared that evening on BBC Radio 4 PM. If FoE is going to put someone forward at least use Paul de Zylva who knows what he is talking about and isn't jumping on the T5 bandwagon. John Stewart (HACAN) on the Radio 4 Six O'clock News was not much better saying the cap on the number of flights was good news. Urgh, come again John. Thank God for Caroline Lucas MEP who gave a very robust and comprehensive response to the T5 decision later that night on Radio 4 Ten O'clock News, The World Tonight.
A week later on Radio 4 You and Yours (Mon 26 November 2001) Paul de Zylva gave an excellent performance on a discussion on the Future of Aviation. Someone please have a word in the ear of Charles Secrett that there are more important issues than his own media profile, and in future not to refuse to be briefed.
The questions Charles Secrett was unable to handle:
Heathrow is in competition with Paris etc
Heathrow is NOT in competition with any of these airports. If travellers wish to travel to London or England they fly into a London airport. The numbers travelling through London airports are way ahead of any European airports. [BVEJ newsletter #0018 November 2001]
Heathrow T5 means jobs
If we take T5 claims at face value, they may be exaggerated, then we are looking at massive job creation. But where are the jobs to come from? There are not the people in the catchment area. Therefore illegal immigrants, poaching from nearby companies, inflow to the area, all of which exacts a high social cost.
The same myths were put out on the atrocious Westminster Hour on the preceding Sunday night. HACAN need to keep their web site up to date so people are much better briefed. HACAN produce excellent material but what is the use of it if it is not readily available and no one sees it? At the time of the T5 decision the most up to date information on the HACAN web site was the BAA AGM last summer!
With the aviation industry in meltdown what is the need for T5 other than the area's largest shopping centre?
Byers spoke of Heathrow becoming the gateway to Europe. So not only are people forced to fly through London to visit the rest of the British Isles, they will soon be forced to fly through London en route to Europe. UK is signed up to albeit measly reductions in greenhouse gases. Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. T5 will lead to an increase in greenhouse gases.
Prior to Byers' announcement, support had come from an unexpected source. The Inspector for Terminal 4 had come out strongly against T5. He said the people have suffered enough and there should be no further expansion. Had he been aware of T5 when he ruled on T4 he may have come to a different conclusion. At the time of the T4 Inquiry government gave assurances that there would be a cap on aircraft numbers. An assurance that government subsequently reneged on.
Byers has said there will be a cap on numbers at Heathrow. A meaningless statement which everyone knows will not be honoured. What will be next, simultaneous use of both runways, a third runway?
T5 is earmarked for the exclusive use of British Airways. As BA can barely keep afloat what need for T5?
T5 is to be built on an old sewage works. Like the politics the site stinks.
And if T5 was not enough Byers wound up by announcing the planning process was to be streamlined to benefit big business.
By one of those strange quirks of fate Byers announced the T5 decision in the same week that HACAN were due to hold a demo in Whitehall to protest T5. According to BBC News around 700 people turned up.
The Ilisu Dam indicates the way forward on Heathrow Terminal 5. Critical in the campaign against the dam has been the presence of protesters at the last two Balfour Beastie AGMs. Balfour Beastie could not face a third. The Mark Thomas Dambuster tour has also helped to pile on the pressure. HACAN need to look carefully at what has been achieved and apply the same shareholder pressure at the next AGM. Ironically BAA and Balfour Beastie share the same office block outside Victoria Station (London).
Planning does not have to follow the Byers/Neo-Labour/Big Business model.
The Planning for Real process has been used in many areas to get local people together to talk about what they'd like to see happen to improve their communities. Using a scale model of their area people can identify problems and then discuss what they'd like to see happen and how that can be made to happen.
Now just think what we could achieve in Farnborough, the airport would be shut down, the Arab town centre owners would get the boot ....
Help and advice on how to run a Planning for Real event available from:
The Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation The Poplars Lightmoor Telford TF4 3QN 0870 7700339 www.nifonline.org.uk
Read George Monbiot's excellent (now available in paperback) The Captive State.
Belgian carrier Sabena, one of Europe's oldest carriers, has gone bust. BA is struggling to keep afloat. Lufthansa staff are facing massive layoffs.
BA concentrated on business aviation and as a result is having to rethink its entire strategy. Business aviation is the hardest hit sector. At the CBI annual shindig business aviation was seen as having no future. Why fly when there is teleconferencing and Eurostar? Go was formed as a spoiling operation for Ryanair and easyJet. Since splitting off from its parent company BA, Go has made a greater profit than BA.
If business aviation has no future, what future TAG Aviation? In the US Bush has grounded business flights, not that anyone wanted to use business flights post 11 September. In the UK there are now hardly any flights at Farnborough. Like many operators, TAG were rumoured to be in financial straits before 11 September. What future do they have now, especially as their Farnborough operation is now in jeopardy?
Noise has more than an annoyance factor, there are measurable health and physical effects. Within a 70 dB contour would expect to find hypertension among specific subgroups and ischaemic heart disease among susceptible individuals. Learning ability and business efficiency is affected by worsening noise levels. Young children at schools in the flight path of busy airports have a reading age 9 months behind those of their peers attending schools in a quieter environment.
To put the TAG figures in context, Slough Estates, as part of their planning application for the DERA Factory Site, consider an increase in noise levels of 1 dB to be 'significant' and show that their proposals will only increase background noise levels by a fraction of a dB.
There is a growing awareness of and sensitivity to aircraft noise. Various case studies have shown that at Heathrow although the population affected has gradually reduced the number of complaints has grown, similarly at Munich although the noise level is decreasing the number of complaints is not. There is a trend worldwide to reduce aviation noise on the surrounding population. At Manchester the area covered by the noise contours is being progressively reduced. US Airways is replacing its ageing Boeing 727 Boston to New York shuttle service with Airbus A320 aircraft. The Airbus A320 will have a 75-decibel noise footprint that affects 10 times less area at Boston and 17 times less area at LaGuardia (New York).
B Ben Baldanza, US Airways senior vice president of marketing:
These modern, environmentally friendly aircraft [Airbus A320] significantly reduce overall noise and pollutant levels, while establishing unprecedented levels of customer comfort and convenience.
The next generation of Rolls-Royce engines due in 2010 will be 10 dB quieter than today's engines. 10 dB is a noticeable decrease in noise. Any technological advances should be available to those in the ground as smaller noise footprints and lower peak noise, not for the operators to turn into more movements
There is a growing body of national and international rules that prohibit any increase in noise and point to a decrease.
Within the UK, PPG 24 'Planning and Noise' regards schools as noise sensitive. The upper limit for noise sensitive areas is 60 dB.
At Farnborough, TAG, moving against international trends, wish to increase the noise exposure for the local community. TAG wish to enlarge the noise footprint, then as quieter aircraft come along, retain the same enlarged footprint with more movements.
TAG use meaningless terms to label their noise contours - 'high annoyance', 'medium annoyance', 'low annoyance'. These are meaningless within the context of Farnborough where people on or close to the flight path are already subject to an intolerable level of noise and any increase would not be acceptable. Residents outside of the 1997 57 dB contour 'low annoyance' are subjected to an extreme degree of annoyance every time a noisy plane flies low overhead (the extent of the annoyance is radio is blanked out, conversation becomes impossible, stress levels rise). Noise contours extending over Farnborough would have to be less than 57 dB.
TAG's 57 dB contour for 20,000 movements (ie not the requested 25,000 or granted 28,000) covers a large area of Farnborough and extends right out to Mytchett and just touches Church Crookham.
Health Council of the Netherlands, Assessing noise exposure for public health purposes, Health Council of the Netherlands, 1997
Health Council of the Netherlands, Public health impact of large airports, Health Council of the Netherlands, September 1999
Every cloud has a silver lining. 11 September 2001 has hit aviation, especially business aviation, hard. TAG is no exception. Flights at Farnborough have dwindled down to near zero. With a bit of luck TAG Aviation may follow Swissair and Sabena and go bust.
Night time working at Farnborough Airport has been stopped. After months of the lives of the local community being made hell and hours of lost sleep TAG has been forced to stop work at night. This is probably less Rushmoor taking note of the local community, even though many complained, and more a case of fear of further litigation. Curiously Rushmoor has gone through the route of environmental health enforcement, ie noise nuisance, rather than simply enforcing the outline planning consent granted last year, ie no night working. Rushmoor appear to be deliberately avoiding planning enforcement. Why? But even now Rushmoor insist on taking the piss out of the local community by conceding TAG can carry out some work at night so as to not lose day time flying hours.
Rushmoor have submitted their papers to the High Court in London challenging the grounds for a judicial review. TAG have submitted identical papers. Further evidence, if any were needed, of the collusion between Rushmoor and TAG. [BVEJ news #0018 November 2001]
Summer 2000, a month before Rushmoor considered TAG's planning application, the MoD Regulator decided he could no longer give special dispensation for Farnborough Airport, it was not safe, urgent action had to be taken to deal with obstacles, mainly trees, in the flight path. No restrictions were placed on flying.
TAG are pushing more water downstream into Cove Brook. This is going to an area downstream that the Environment Agency has already identified as at risk of flooding.
Rushmoor Local Plan [FA2.2(D)]:
'Proposals for flying which would result in the 1 in 10,000 pa risk contour at either end of runway 07/25 extending to areas where people live, work, or congregate or beyond the eastern end of the runway where Policy FA1 applies will not be permitted.'
'Proposals for flying which would result in the 1 in 100,000 risk contour extending beyond the operational aerodrome will only be permitted where the adverse effects on the safety of the surrounding area are outweighed by reasons of overriding public interest, including any economic and employment benefits of the proposals. A thorough assessment of benefits would need to accompany any planning application for use of the the airfield for business aviation.'
At no time has it been demonstrated that a business airport at Farnborough is in the 'overriding public interest'. The government was not even able to demonstrate that night flying at Heathrow was in the national economic interest (BVEJ newsletter #0018 November 2001). Whilst there may be a private benefit to TAG and their customers there is no benefit to the local community. Indeed the local community suffers massive disbenefits: noise, pollution, risk of a crash, loss of local amenities, destruction of heathland, risk of flooding, health deterioration etc. The Local Plan Inspector made it very clear that the 1 in 100,000 risk contour should not extend over Farnborough.
The Planning Inquiry Inspector ruled that there should be a cap on the number of flights to ensure that the the 1 in 100,000 risk contour would not extend beyond the airfield boundary. His reason was that otherwise the risk contour would extend over residential Farnborough. Rushmoor took legal advice to enable them to ignore the inspector's advice.
Rushmoor have always claimed that enforcement action could not be carried out against TAG for their change of use (and many other matters beside) on the grounds that these activities are taking place on Crown Land. This lie has been exposed by the manner in which Rushmoor has dealt with Crown Land adjacent to Ively Gate, Ively Road, Farnborough, currently used for vehicle parking and storage. Enforcement Notice was served and the matter went to appeal. But, 'Because of the Crown's interest in the land the matter was determined by the Secretary of State, who agreed with the Council that the development was not immune from enforcement action ...' Once again the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor exposed, yet again one rule for TAG another for everyone else. [Agenda Item 4, Rushmoor Planning Committee, 28 November 2001]
It was my intention to discuss the plans for Christmas at Kingsmead, unfortunately Christmas caught up with us ... -- James Darby, chief clown, Kingsmead
Steel barricades have been erected around the Old Post Office site indicating work is about to commence. The barricades are obstructing the highway. Rushmoor Highways have given consent for this obstruction. No public consultation. Key Properties have told retailers that work is starting. All this is news to GOSE who have no yet given consent for deregulation of the highway. [BVEJ news passim]
A couple of weeks after erection of the barricades demolition work started, the top end of town covered in dust. Contractors turned up on site on a Sunday to remove the asbestos. Key Properties have no planning consent to work on a Sunday. Within ten minutes Keith Holland (Rushmoor Head of Planning) was on site reading the riot act to the contractors.
It has taken the Arabs four years from when they bought the town centre to start work. On the very first day that they start work they cannot get it right.
A so-called craft market selling overpriced crap has opened up in Kingsmead in the last month running up to Christmas. Shops selling cheap junk have also opened up. Christmas is the one time struggling shops look forward to, when they hope to make enough to cover their rent. Key Properties kicks their retailers in the teeth by letting out temporary retail space over the Christmas period, to let outsiders cream off the business.
An instruction has been issued to the retailers to wear fancy dress costumes during the month leading up to Christmas. Entertainers have been engaged. No consultation with the retailers but the retailers are expected to foot the bill. The pathetic excuse from James Darby, centre manager, who spends all day sat in his office twiddling his thumbs, for the lack of consultation, is that he got caught unawares by the arrival of Christmas!
It would seem Key Properties can do nothing right. Simon Rutter has been asked to meet with objectors to discuss the deregulation of the highway between the Pizza Hut and the Old Post Office site. To date Rutter has proved incapable of either arranging a meeting with the objectors or answering their legitimate questions. About the only thing Rutter has managed to achieve is to alienate retailers and the local community and to empty the town of retailers and shoppers.
Even Rushmoor are making it known that they have no confidence in either Key Properties or Simon Rutter.
Rushmoor have given the go-ahead for a skateboard park on the remaining grassy area in the town centre. [BVEJ news passim]
So little has been heard from them of late that it was rumoured they had curled up in a corner and died, but no they are still around. The Winter newsletter is out, no explanation or apologies as to why no newsletters since the Spring newsletter.
The Bonn Climate Talks are declared a great success! Could this be something to do with BVFoE making fools of themselves on the streets of Bonn? Only the oil companies see Bonn as a success, to everyone else it was a bloody disaster.
But not to worry, BVFoE intend to make up for their inaction by direct action to shut down an Esso petrol station for the day on Saturday 1 December 2001.
Government has pushed people into private pension scams. Robert Maxwell showed how easy it is to plunder these schemes. More recently companies have been dipping their dirty fingers into the pension pot when they claim it has a surplus or declaring funding holidays for themselves.
Final Salary pension schemes guarantee a pension based on final salary, but as many pensioners are finding to their cost these guarantees are worthless. Pensioners are receiving 20-50% of what they expected to receive as a pension.
If there is a shortfall in the pension fund, and many are now in shortfall due to previous company plundering, companies are obliged to top up the fund. Many companies are failing to do so, or unable to do so. The worst case is British Airways where their pension obligation is 25 times pre-tax earnings.
Many companies are now pushing their employees off Final Salary schemes into schemes where the company pays less money into the scheme and the pensioner takes on board all the risks.
[Money Box Special, BBC Radio 4, Mon 26 October 2001]
We have a mediaocracy not a democracy. Politicos spend most of their time raising money from Big Business. What do they spend their money on? Advertising. Where do they spend their money? With the media. Who owns the media? Big Business.
What the media wants is consumers not citizens, spectators not activists. It tells how to consume not how to participate, it persuades but does not inform.
Ten years ago the media was spread across 50 companies, now it's down to around four to five conglomerates. The media is dependent upon advertising revenue. The media itself is composed of conglomerates, it is Big Business, its editorial is in the image of Big Business and represents Big Business.
We have a lot of channels, a lot of choices, but very few voices. Everyone speaking with one voice, the voice of Big Business.
Independent producers are repeatedly being told you have produced good works but it is not for us.
The government has recently announced a relaxation of the media rules allowing conglomerates to swallow even more of the industry. Grenada and Carlton will be able to merge, Murdoch will be able to obtain terrestrial TV channels. What we actually need is a strengthening of the regulations, where no magnate can own more than one weekly and Sunday paper, where no publisher can also own a TV channel.
With McCarthyism stalking the land it is more important than ever that we turn to alternative media sources.
Emma Bircham and John Charlton (eds), Anti-Capitalism: A guide to the movement, Bookmarks Publication, 2001
A series of essays providing analysis and history of the anti-globalisation movement. Contributors include George Monbiot, Susan George, Ronnie Hall, Barry Coates and Ann Pettifor, to name but a few. The diversity of the contributors shows how far the anti-globalisation movement has come in only a few years.
Go Mad, The Ecologist, 2001
365 tips, from gardening to refrigeration, on how to improve your lifestyle and save the planet.
If you subscribe to The Ecologist (if not why not?) you will already have received a copy. If not you will have to go out and buy your own copy.
@nti copyright - information for education and action - copy and distribute