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| Newsletter | February 2002 |
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Attend any council meeting and you will find the local community treated with arrogant contempt. Occasionally a councillor, assuming they are awake and understand the proceedings, will speak out on behalf of the local community, but the event is so rare as to be newsworthy in its own right.
It was put before the council that members of the local community should be allowed to speak at council meetings, the norm in other boroughs, eg Guildford. The council were having none of it, councillors fell over backwards to speak against community involvement.
The last local election with its dismal turnout showed the contempt in which the local community hold their councillors. No doubt we will once again witness the unedifying spectacle of councillors wringing their hands at the lack of interest in local elections.
Hopefully, if a few independents or Greens stand, we will have the opportunity of kicking out this bunch of shits.
Over the past 20 years, the majority of Britain's most prominent greens have been hired by companies whose practices they once contested. Jonathon Porritt, David Bellamy, Sara Parkin, Tom Burke, Des Wilson and scores of others are taking money from some of the world's most destructive corporations, while boosting the companies' green credentials. Now they have been joined by a man who was, until last week, rightly admired for his courage and integrity: the former director of Greenpeace UK, Lord Melchett. -- George Monbiot
Peter Melchett the former head of Greenpeace UK made famous for helping to trash genetic crops in Norfolk has turned coats and become a consultant for Burson-Marsteller - the biggest public relations (PR) company in the world. -- SchNEWS
Burson Marsteller's core business is defending companies which destroy the environment and threaten human rights from public opinion and pressure groups like Greenpeace. -- George Monbiot
Burson-Marsteller is the company that governments with poor human rights records and corporations in trouble with environmentalists have turned to when in crisis. -- John Vidal, environment editor of The Guardian
How can you have a man who is on the board of Greenpeace International and a policy adviser to the Soil Association taking money from the GM industry and companies with some of the worst records imaginable. -- Kate Jones, GM campaigner
Hiring activists is a crude but effective way to derail potentially meddlesome opponents. Melchett and other like him are being led up the genetically modified garden path. -- Greenwatch
The majority of NGOs and activists do not understand how public relations firms are helping corporations manipulate them. This is a fundamental strategic mistake. -- Andy Rowell, author of Green Backlash
It is easier and less costly to change the way people think about reality than it is to change reality. -- PR adviser Morris Wolfe
No one would dispute that Peter Melchett did good things whilst at the helm of Greenpeace. When he left it was to retire to his organic farm for a well earned rest, or so we were all led to believe. But it was not to prove so, Melchett is to head a consultancy group for Burson-Marsteller. His role will be to defuse attacks from environmental groups.
Burson-Marsteller invented greenwash. They specialise in defusing criticism from environmental and human rights groups. Clients include:
Burson-Marsteller specialise in making their clients look good without having to change their evil ways. Image is more important than underlying facts. Burson-Marsteller advise their clients to concentrate on 'stories - not issues' and 'symbols - not logic', that way the real issues don't get into the media and the media can perform its usual function of concentrating on trivia and human interest and lifestyle stories with the real issues never discussed.
Melchett offers added value to Burson-Marsteller whilst he remains on the board of Greenpeace International and acts as a policy adviser to the Soil Association.
On Radio 4 Tony Juniper (FoE) gave a stomach churning defence of Melchett's actions, even worse adding that corporations have a right to determine how society is run. Was he reflecting FoE policy or simply preparing the way to follow in Melchett's footsteps? Maybe a bit of both. Ironic when only a couple of years ago Juniper was jumping on the corporate bandwagon with a vicious attack on Greenpeace in general and Melchett in particular for trashing GM crops. George Monbiot put Juniper in his place by highlighting that we still live in a democracy. [Radio 4 Sat 12 January 2002]
Des Wilson rushed to defend Melchett. Well he would wouldn't he having gone from the chair of FoE to work for BAA. Like Melchett at Greenpeace, no one would deny Wilson did good work at FoE but that does not justify his taking the Judas silver. Wilson has called those who attack Melchett childish. He claims the environment won't advance unless we work within corporations. Many will have noticed how the attitude of the corporations has improved over the last decade or so since people like Wilson turned coats. We only have to mention the WTO and all that it has brought in its wake, or the way corporations now own governments lock stock and barrel. The sabotaging of climate talks by Exxon, or BP opening up sensitive Arctic areas of Alaska for oil exploration, or Balfour Beatty wanting to build the Ilisu Dam, or the pushing for GATS by the service sector clearly never happened, or if it did it supports Wilson's premise of the failure of environmentalists to work on the inside. The proof of the pudding lies in Wilson's own defection to BAA. We have all noticed how BAA decided not to go ahead with Heathrow Terminal Five and has argued for a cut in aviation (higher aviation fuel taxes, more home produced food etc) to reduce the massive environmental impact of the heavily subsidised artificial growth in air traffic and of course BAA would not dream of arguing for a relaxation of the planning system to give local communities less say in major planning applications, on the contrary thanks to the influence of Des Wilson working hard on the inside they are now seeking more accountability.
With too many large supposed environmental organisations they appear little different to global corporations, the only difference being their product is environmental campaigning, a product they sell to a gullible public to bring in more funds. Many of the employees are careerists with no interest in the environment, to them it is just a job, they would be just as happy working at Tesco screwing farmers. In the early days when FoE was a genuine and effective environmental group it operated from a handful of desks in Poland Street, Charles Secrett was available and approachable. Now go to any FoE meeting and they spend more time promoting FoE than anything else and Charles Secrett hides behind a PA (unless there is a media opportunity), and what little campaigning does take place only emerges after months of internal bureaucratic wrangling having first been sifted by PR people, accountants and IT people. WWF (established by the great and good who were worried by the impact of loss of wild areas on big game hunting) is only too happy to take money from big business, it will even distort its campaigns to keep its sponsors happy. FoE would if it could, but so far has been stopped by its members, the scandal of the new logo (BVEJ newsletter #0020 January 2002) shows it is already a long way down the road.
WWF accepted $1 million from oil firms Chevron and BP for a conservation project in Papua New Guinea (between them BP and Chevron make over $20,000 million profit per year). In return, leaked documents from Chevron revealed, 'WWF will act as a buffer for the joint venture against ... international environmental criticism'. In 2000 WWF held back publication of a damning report on tropical forest destruction, for fear of upsetting the companies it named. The depressing picture is that these are not isolated examples.
What little inroads are being made into corporate domination are being made through the heroic efforts of a handful of individuals working either on their own or together in small groups, backed by the wider public when called upon to help. Genetic crops trials have not ground to a halt through handwringing on the sidelines by FoE but through crop trashing (the only role played by Tony Juniper was to trash the crop trashers). Greenpeace only joined in late in the day when they were rapidly losing all credibility for direct action, though with hindsight there is now the awkward question of was it purely to raise the market value of Melchett?
Melchett joins a growing list of little Melchetts who gain their reputations on the backs of the environmental movement then when the price is right change sides - Tom Burke (FoE, Green Alliance - UK Government, Rio Tinto Zinc, BP), Jonathon Porritt (Green Party, FoE - UK Government), Des Wilson (Shelter, FoE - BAA). Melchett (whose grandfather helped found ICI) will find himself in good company at Burson-Marsteller - Richard Aylard (former head of the Soil Association), Gavin Grant (former head of communications at the Body Shop). Thank God for honourable people like Teddy Goldsmith (founder of The Ecologist) who have devoted their life's work to the environment and are still battling away.
Sharon Beder, Global Spin, Green Books
George Monbiot, Business of betrayal: Greens who defect to the corporate world jeopardise the very survival of environmentalism, The Guardian, 15 January 2002
Andy Rowell, Green Backlash, Routledge
SchNEWS, Full of Melchett, SchNEWS issue 337, 11 January 2002
Des Wilson, This juvenile posturing is for punks: Environmentalists can best effect change from within, The Guardian, 16 January 2002
Late News: Melchett has been removed from the board of Greenpeace International.
I am incredibly nervous that we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals. -- Sherron Watkins
If Enron robbed the bank, Arthur Anderson drove the getaway car. -- US Senator
The cozy relationship - in which a Bush campaign adviser, being paid by Enron, placed an Enron idea on the candidate's agenda - served as one more reminder of the political influence and reach of the once-giant energy company. Its ties extend deep into President Bush's staff, appointments, Cabinet members, friends, family - and his own past. -- Dana Milbank and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Where do we start, the corporate shredding of documents by Enron executives, the shredding of audit documents by the auditors Arthur Anderson, the Bush administration with their snouts deep in the Enron trough, the regulators, ex-Enron executives, who now regulate Enron, the law enforcement officers and judges who have taken the Enron coin? George Bush alone has taken $500,000 from Enron
The sudden collapse of Enron, which in the end appears to have been little more than a criminal conspiracy, sheds a little light on the inner workings of big business. How many more big corporations would look the same if their inner workings were suddenly exposed to daylight?
The Enron/Arthur Anderson scandal extends well beyond the US. The Tory government banned Arthur Anderson from any government contract because of their involvement in the DeLorean gulf-wing car scam, something Neo-Labour has only been too keen to make up for. A mere coincidence that Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt was a former head of Anderson Consulting. Enron has been a major contributor to Neo-Labour. A mere coincidence that Neo-Labour allowed Enron to buy Wessex Water or that Neo-Labour reneged on its pre-election promise to stop the 'dash for gas' of which Enron were major beneficiaries.
It's well known in corporate circles that cash to Neo-Labour gains access to ministers.
The only way to stop this corruption is to stop all corporate payments to political parties.
As predicted, Nats is rapidly becoming the Railtrack of the skies. Nats is now asking for millions of pounds from the taxpayer to bail it out.
Prior to part-privatisation, CAA warned ministers that the scam was not viable and would not be able to survive a catastrophe.
Nats is paid on tonnage, ie it has a vested interest in aviation expansion. The more and the heavier they are the planes that fly into Farnborough (or any other airport) the more Nats gets paid.
Only the suicidal will be flying over the next few weeks whilst the bug-ridden Swanwick air traffic control system (six years late and $200 million over budget) is tested using live passengers. There is an unwritten rule in complex software design, if a complex project contains x number of bugs it will always contain x number of bugs. They may not be the same bugs but any attempt to fix the system simply disturbs the system and creates bugs elsewhere.
The unions are wrong, wrong, wrong, to go on strike. The only ones suffering are the long suffering passengers who suffer enough just travelling on the trains. No-one one disputes that SWT is a crap company with shit management, so hit the management not the passengers. Take a leaf out of direct action activists and target the management.
One suggestion, instead of pulling everyone out, just instruct the ticket collectors not to sell any tickets on strike days. This would hit the board where it hurts and not inconvenience passengers, indeed it could prove very popular with passengers.
In an appallingly cavalier attitude to safety SWT are using blackleg managers as strike breakers. Union strikers are being threatened with the sack.
SRA's big new vision was no big deal - old projects regurgitated as new, most of the money goes on normal running costs. A project not considered - an east-west London crossing which requires reinstating 9 miles of former track. The new SRA boss was previously in charge of Virgin Trains.
Connex was kicked out, cheers all round. The replacement was no better and has had its fares pushed down. It has more than made up for this by pushing up (unregulated) car parking fees.
Up North is little better. If you catch a train, you expect, well, a train. Not if you go by Arriva, many of the routes are by bus. The predecessor was a bus company. Their first act was to lay off large numbers of staff to save money, they then found they had no crew to run the trains. One of the scams was to lay off trains as it was found to be cheaper to take the hit from the regulator than to run the trains.
Why SWT had their franchise renewed is anyone's guess. To have running water in the toilets would be an achievement. Central Trains are running trains so dirty they make SWT look clean.
Railtrack have no money for the rail network, and yet can find the money for property speculation at Farnborough Station.
National Passenger Strike Day: 1 March 2002
EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom placed a bet with a group of schools - she agreed to cycle to work every day for a week if 88 schools managed to reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 8% in 8 months. The schools won, 88 out of 300 schools met the target. Had the schools lost they would have had to carry her to work in a rickshaw for a week.
The schools failed on their overall target which was to reduce CO2 emissions by 8 million kg.
The steps taken by the schools were simple and inexpensive (something we all can do) - lowering heating, fixing leaking taps, switching to low-energy lamps, adding extra insulation.
The EU is required under the Kyoto protocol to reduce carbon emissions by 8% over 8 years.
A number of music CDs now have data protected files to prevent copying. Such CDs are faulty as they do not comply with the Red Data Book for CDs and whilst they may play on a bog standard music CD player they will not play on other machines that read the data tables.
If you find such a faulty CD complain to the store, take it back and demand your money back. The main offender is BMG. Faulty CDs may have in tiny small print a mention of data protection.
For the first time since they were launched the sales of CDs dropped before Christmas. Hardly surprising considering the rip-off price if you buy full-priced CDs and that the world market price for blank recordable CDs has dropped to 15p.
If you wish to buy brand new CDs the best value is offered by Sainsbury's at 9-99 (but limited range). On the net try CD-Wow at 8-99. Better still buy second hand. Ben's Records (Tunsgate Guildford, also in Farnham) is recommended. One of the joys of second hand is that you can never find what you want but there is always some gem begging to be bought to widen the repertoire.
Burger King are attempting to turn the derelict Jolly Farmer at Camberley into a drive-through. They are exploiting a loophole in planning law. If a pub has served food, and most do, they don't need planning consent for a McBurger joint. If locals don't want it they should follow examples elsewhere in the country. Round-the-clock occupation of the site until Burger King withdraws. This has worked elsewhere with McDonald's.
This month's Hypocrites of the Month award goes to McDonald's in Camberley. They have donated a bath to the children's ward in the local hospital. To wash away the smell of their greasy food? The same McDonald's that was successfully prosecuted last year for exploitation of children.
The large amounts of free car parking offered by existing out-of-town supermarkets gives them an enormous competitive advantage over city centre stores. In addition supermarkets at these sites generate more car use, making the situation on already congested roads worse. -- Select Committee on Environment, Transport and the Regional Affairs
For every job 'created' by a superstore 1 1/2 jobs are destroyed in the local community. The jobs created are lower paid thus less money ploughed back into the community. Superstores drain money from the local community, local businesses recycle money within the local economy.
ASDA is still making life hell for local residents in Farnborough town centre with out-of-hours deliveries and 24-hour operation. As usual the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor has been turning a blind eye to the noise of the fork lift truck beeping at all hours like a demented Dalik and the breach of planning consent with late night and early morning lorry deliveries.
By a casting vote of the chairman and ignoring the wishes of local residents, ASDA has obtained 24-hour operation in North Hykeham (near Lincoln, North Kesteven District Council). Help from Farnborough residents was a little late in the day and too late to prevent planning consent being given. The North Hykeham store is in the middle of a residential area and the residents will now suffer the same hell as do town centre residents in Farnborough.
Farmers for Action are targeting Tesco for their low farm gate prices. A major Tesco distribution centre was hit in Chepstow just before Christmas. ASDA is likely to be next in line.
Far from increasing the price paid to farmers Tesco are trying to lower prices. Last year Tesco made a profit of more than £1 billion, this year it is expected to exceed £1.2 billion. Terry Leahy, Tesco chief executive, was knighted last month for 'services to retailing'. NFU (No fucking Use in the trade) are major Tesco shareholders (a possible explanation of their attempts to infiltrate and discredit Farmers for Action).
We can help Farmers for Action by boycotting Tesco. Also e-mail Terry Leahy and tell him what you think.
Tesco had a little local difficulty recently in Clapham where they wished to build on the site of a former women's hospital - four years, two public inquiries and stiff local opposition and Tesco still had not got their way. Terry Leahy raised the matter as a general whinge as to how planning impedes business at a CBI business last November. Also present was Lord Falconer (the buffoon responsible for the Dome) whose contribution was a promise to relax the planning system in favour of big business. 1 December 2001, Falconer delivered Tesco the Christmas present they were hoping for, planning permission for the Clapham Tesco. A mere coincidence that Tesco bailed out the Dome with a £12 million contribution to the Learning Zone or that the boost to Tesco profits has any connection with the fact that Falconer sits on the Neo-Labour competitiveness think-tank. [Private Eye 1045 11-24 January 2002]
Locally Tesco have been turned down for a planning application to extend their Aldershot store (they are appealing). Somewhat hypocritical of the councillors to express their concern for the impact on the town centre as it was they who gave planning permission for the store.
Tesco is the only major supermarket chain not to support the Organic Targets Bill (30% organic food production by 2010).
At a time which is the English leek season Sainsbury's are air-freighting baby leeks from Kenya.
BUDD are coordinating action to stop the latest dodgy proposal by Sainsbury's at the derelict Brighton Station site.
Sainsbury's are pushing for GM foods back on the shelves. February last year five Sainsbury's distribution centres were shut down in response to Sainsbury's refusal to give a date by which they would withdraw GM from animal feed.
The Rotten Borough of Rushmoor has granted planning consent for a massive B&Q superstore off Victoria Road on the old Solartron site. The wishes of residents on Victoria Road have been ignored. The store will be a massive traffic generator on Victoria Road plus the increase in heavy lorry traffic.
Once again Rushmoor planners have proved to be the developers best friend.
Read George Monbiot's excellent The Captive State (now available in paperback) for an excellent analysis of how the superstores have corrupted the planning process and more general the Big Business takeover of Blair's Neo-Labour. Also John Humphrys' excellent article in the Sunday Times on Tesco v farmers and what we can all do about it.
John Humphrys, The supermarkets have got to be told where to get off, Sunday Times, 13 January 2002
Late news: The Farmers for Action blockade and the consumer boycott of Tesco has been called off. The threat of a blockade and fear of a widespread supporting consumer boycott has forced Tesco to the negotiating table but watch this space.
A well attended meeting was held in the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons to decide where we go now. Speakers included Nicholas Hildyard, Mark Thomas, Jean Lambert MEP, Alan Simpson MEP, Jenny Tonge MP, Tony Juniper, Kerim Yildiz.
Tony Juniper got a cool reception. Hardly surprising when a meeting highlighting the ills of global corporations is addressed by someone who felt the need to rush to the media to defend turncoat Melchett. For groups to work together there has to be trust. Apart from the damage his defection has caused, Melchett has also in the wake of his defection done much to damage the trust between groups and individuals.
ECGD underwrites about 2% of UK trade. ECGD underwrites nigh on 100% of the shitty projects - arms exports, power stations etc.
Rules have to be applied to ECGD covering human rights and the environment and development. If ECGD won't comply then it has to be wound up. Currently ECGD does not even insist that companies obey the law of the land in the countries in which they operate. The whole process has to be transparent and accountable to civil society.
ECGD take a pick and mix approach to which rules if any they apply - World Bank here, World Commission on Dams there.
Companies provide information to ECGD. This information is covered by 'commercial confidentiality'. If companies want taxpayer funding then this information has to be placed in the public domain.
Failure to provide information is seen as a de facto breach of the Human Rights Act. A test case needs to be taken through the courts.
Shareholders may be prepared to listen if the case is well presented. Whether they will vote against a board is another matter. At the last Balfour Beatty AGM major shareholders abstained, this was sufficient to send a strong message to the board.
Companies will accept rules, albeit reluctantly, if all adhere to the same rules.
Ilisu was a success because there was cooperation among a diverse range of groups. Ilisu was only a partial success. Balfour Beatty may have backed down but ECGD have not. They would be only too happy to underwrite another company if one were to step into the breach.
AMEC are seeking funds for the Yusufeli Dam. The arguments are no different than for the Ilisu Dam. AMEC are to be targeted at their next AGM. AMEC are about to suffer as did Balfour Beatty. Write to Patricia Hewitt MP (DTI) to object to ECGD funding for AMEC.
Shares are available for the AMEC AGM (expected to be held some time early May 2002). Funds are wanted to buy more shares. More on this soon.
Balfour Beatty are not yet off the hook. They are still killing workers around the world. In the UK the lax attitude of HSE to enforcement gives a green light to companies like Balfour Beatty. If you want to kill someone do it at work as you stand the best chance of getting away with it.
The construction industry is the most hazardous in the UK. Last year 120 workers were killed, so far six have been killed this year.
Balfour Beatty did not back down because the board one morning decided to express a concern for human rights, they backed down because a dedicated bunch of people were prepared to take direct action.
The Export Control Bill (currently passing through Parliament) needs 'sustainable development' introduced as a controlling clause. But beware: corporations regard 'sustainable' as sustaining their profits, and if you sustain profits you develop, and hence hey presto, sustainable development.
The very concept of aid and soft loans is being questioned, it goes to dodgy companies, for dodgy projects, to dodgy regimes. Corporate welfare. Should not big companies bear the risk, not expect the taxpayer to bail them out? Aid imposes unwanted projects on countries that can ill-afford them, it distorts local economies, develops export markets for Western companies. Aid is used as a weapon. At the recent WTO talks in the Middle East, at least one African country had its delegate determined by the UK.
As part of the anti-terror campaign Kurds in the UK are being harassed and intimidated. Could the Ilisu Dam campaign be next? Members of HADEP, a Kurdish political party, are being sent back to Turkey to certain imprisonment and torture and possible death. When a Kurd attempted to walk into the Commons carrying a copy of Kurdistan Report (recommended reading) he was stopped on the grounds that he was carrying 'terrorist material'. A meeting takes place in the Commons to consider the clamp-down on human rights post 11 September 2001. Grand Committee Room, 7pm Tues 12 February 2002.
The campaign goes on. You don't have to be a member of an organisation or join in demos and direct action (though its great fun), just talking to your mates down the pub, 'hearts and minds' as the Yankee PsyOps would call it, reading this newsletter and passing on what you learn, hammering corrupt politicians and kicking them out.
The meeting took place in the Commons. That's where the enemy lies, they and the people who work for government, and big business that buys up corrupt politicians. The people have to take back power.
Kate Geary was thanked for the efforts she has put in as campaign co-ordinator for the Ilisu Dam campaign. If it was not for Kate there would be no campaign. FoE have been quick to claim the credit. The credit lies with Kate and behind Kate, Mark Thomas and Nicholas Hildyard, and behind them all the hard working campaigners and the Kurdish community.
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
Many of the issues raised in connection with the Ilisu dam may also arise over the Yusufeli dam. ECGD and Ministers must not only be even-handed as between the two projects, but be seen to be even-handed, in view of the strong feeling we have heard expressed in Turkey that Ilisu is a political football. -- House of Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry
The Turks appear to have learnt nothing from the Ilisu Dam, this time it is Georgians who are the minority group who are feeling the Turkish jackboot stamping on their necks. All the same arguments apply against as for the Ilisu Dam - social, resettlement, environmental.
Yusufeli is part of a wider scheme on the Coruh river in north east Turkey. 15,000 people, mainly Georgians, will be forced from their homes. A further 15,000 people are likely to be indirectly affected. 18 towns and villages, including Yusufeli, will be destroyed or partially destroyed. A vast archaeological heritage will be destroyed. The dam will have a detrimental affect on the Coruh river. The surrounding area is rich in wildlife including red vultures, brown bears, wild boars, wolves, jackals and pine martins.
The UK government is refusing to release either the Environmental Impact Assessment or details of the resettlement programme. AMEC, as one of the international consortium awarded the contact, has applied to ECGD for $99 million (the total value of the project is $838 million).
An independent film crew that tried to film in the area was harassed by Turkish security and eventually forced to leave the area.
Please write to Patricia Hewitt MP (DTI) asking for this project to be refused. Standard letters are available.
The AMEC AGM (expected early May 2002) is to be targeted.
An organisation is currently being set up to oppose the Yusufeli Dam. Watch this space.
The tribal warrior cultures of the native Papuans would rather die fighting than live another minute under the brutal, destructive and genocidal Indonesian regime. I have to say I agree with them. -- Friends of People Close to Nature activist in West Papua
The story of West Papua is a familiar story to students of East Timor - invasion by Indonesia in 1963, 300,000 killed, the country opened up for exploitation by the West. When an Indonesian trade delegation held a reception at the Grosvenor Hotel in London hundreds of representatives of British corporations turned up.
The Lorentz National Park is classed as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. It is Indonesia's largest national park. Home to more than 350 bird species (20 endemic), and at least 123 of West Papua's 150 mammal species are found here.
Conoco has been granted a concession of 150,000 hectares for oil drilling.
RTZ the world's biggest and most environmentally destructive mining company has with US-based Freeport McMoran been mining the highlands for copper and gold for over 30 years. RTZ is a minority shareholder with 40% of the extensive expansion rights. 210,000 tonnes of ore are mined a day! In protest at the massive land and river contamination and destruction local people have stormed the mine several times and been beaten back by the military.
Turncoat Tom Burke left FoE for RTZ.
The Indonesian state oil company Pertimina is the world's largest marketeer of LNG with 50% of the Asia-Pacific market. During 1997/98 ARCO and British Gas announced proved gas reserves in excess of 18 trillion cubic feet (one of the largest in the world) in West Papua. Production is expected to start in 2004. Major players are Pertimina, BP (BP own ARCO) and BG Group. ARCO are headquartered in Guildford outside Guildford Station.
We describe the state of affairs in Argentina and the next thing we know the people are out on the streets banging their pots and pans and bringing down the government. [BVEJ newsletter #0020 January 2002]
The mainstream media of course got it all wrong. The impressions given was that of a wayward wastrel son who had spent all what a doting father had given and was back for more. No mention of the imposed austerity by the IMF, the forced sell-off of state assets at knockdown prices to Western interests.
The people of Argentina have declared war on an entire political class. For banging their pots and pans they were gunned down in the streets.
A red and black anarchist flag flew briefly from the top of the Argentinean embassy in London last month. A group of anarchists calling themselves 'Those Pesky Kids' occupied the Embassy in solidarity with the people of Argentina, who are protesting against the government and IMF imposed reforms. They gave the Argentinian Ambassador his very own personal reception, giving him a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates in a parody of the classic advert .... 'oooh, with these chocolates you are really spoiling us.'
For this harmless little stunt six protesters received bail on condition they don't go within 100 metres of any embassy. Still, at least the magistrate had the sense to drop another condition imposed by police and allowed the defendants to talk to each other!
To call Robert Mugabe a corrupt, evil, fascist bastard who has lost his marbles is now a criminal offence in Zimbabwe.
EU has threatened to block Mugabe funds in Europe. Sufficient advance notice has been given to ensure the funds are long gone. Mugabe is to be banned from travel to Europe. A region to which he is unlikely to travel for fear of arrest on human rights charges.
Our old friend Beyond All Ethics (aka BAE Systems) has lived up to its name and got the go-ahead from the UK government for an unwanted air traffic control system in Tanzania that the country can ill afford. World Bank has criticised the system as overpriced and unsuitable, a military system that will ill serve its intended civilian use. An independent report commissioned by the World Bank said the system should be a quarter of the price being charged.
Tanzania has been granted debt relief. The money saved on debt relief, financed by the taxpayer, will go straight back out to cover the loan for the air traffic control system, money borrowed from Barclays Bank at commercial rates.
Were the Control of Exports Bill to contain the magic words 'sustainable development' the BAE Systems air traffic control system could not go ahead. If the Tanzania government default on the loan it will be picked up by the UK taxpayer through export credit guarantees, if not the Tanzania citizen will pay, money will be diverted from much needed primary health care, primary education, and rural development.
We now know what Blair meant by a 'scar on the conscience of Africa' and making Africa a priority.
The money loaned for the air traffic control system is dwarfed by a loan from the World bank to encourage coffee growers into chemical fertiliser dependency. Tanzania has large stockpiles of pesticides that were dumped when they were banned from use in Europe.
Blair's historic trip to India and Pakistan (or an extension to his Egyptian site seeing trip) followed by a secret trip to Afghanistan (so secret that the TV crews had to be beaten back by troops to prevent the Blair entourage being mobbed) was Blair hypocrisy at it's worst.
Last year the demoted Fat Engine Controller was hard lobbying India to take unwanted Hawk Jets from Beyond All Ethics (aka BAE Systems), the Indians having a disgraceful preference for cheaper Russian MiGs (the Hawk contract is worth at least £1 billion). This month a British taxpayer funded defence export exhibition opens up shop in New Delhi (Defexpo). On sale will be tanks, small arms, anti-aircraft guns, howitzers, artillery, combat vehicles, missiles and pyrotechnics. The organisers are keen to emphasise the opportunities opened up by Kashmir and tensions on the Pakistani-Indian border. The demoted Fat Engine Controller will be on hand to promote the case for BAE Systems, officially he is flying out to India for a conference on sustainable development.
A second arms jamboree this month will be organised by SBAC (organisers of the Farnborough International Airshow and major backers of TAG Aviation in their development of Farnborough Airport).
India and Pakistan have been targeted by DESO (an MoD agency) as prime customers for British arms exports as instability in the region is seen as good for business.
These two exhibitions are only the most recent arms export efforts to the region. Last year the British contingent was the largest at Air India 2001.
The New Year Honours list contains a long list of rogues for services to warmongering and profiteering. The list includes Major General Alan Sharman who runs the arms lobby Defence Manufacturers Association (CBE, arms to regional hot spots including India, Pakistan and Israel), Peter McLoughlin BAE Systems in-house government lobbyist (OBE, unwanted air traffic control system to Tanzania and contributions to Neo-Labour), another BAE Systems salesman Brian Tucker gets an OBE for services to warmongering and profiteering. [Private Eye 1045 11-24 January 2002]
Arms exports to an unstable region are a breach of Neo-Labour ethical foreign policy.
According to the Indian press, Blair was lobbying for the BAE Systems Hawk sale during his 'peace mission' to India.
One thing we know for certain is that if he [Osama bin Laden] is not in Afghanistan, he is in another country or he is dead. -- US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
Bush and his poodle Blair declared a war against terrorism. Strange then that the combatants captured are not prisoners of war but 'unlawful combatants'. By whose law one is tempted to ask. Bush and Blair need to be careful as most of the recent UK/US actions against other countries, especially US dirty wars around the world (often with UK help), are illegal under international law.
Many of the fighters with the Taliban recruited overseas were young idealists fighting the great Satan. Misguided yes, led astray by rabid Mullahs yes, but young idealists just the same.
Taliban and Osama bin Laden recruited through Mosques, Israel is recruiting through an office in London (for action in occupied Palestine condemned under too many UN resolutions to number). What is the difference?
One of Osama bin Laden's recruits sets out on a mission to cause maximum mayhem and destruction, a US fighter pilot sets out to cause maximum mayhem and destruction. What is the difference? One of Osama bin Laden's recruits bombs a building killing innocent civilians, a US fighter pilot drops cluster bombs killing innocent civilians. What is the difference, apart from the delivery system?
Afghans fighting with the Taliban were local villagers following orders from a local warlord, without a clue of what goes on beyond the village let alone in the outside world. The same could be said of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, an ignorant local peasant with little knowledge of the outside world. The attackers of the World Trade Center were well educated Saudis. Spot the difference.
The US houses POWs in wire mesh cages. The US criticises the Taliban for behaviour not appropriate to a civilised world.
The US cannot understand the criticism of its treatment of POWs. It is easy to see why. In the US prisoners are brutally beaten, by the standards of the US these POWs are being well treated. Such is the behaviour of the 'civilised nation'.
The Geneva Convention was not to make us treat the guys we don't like well, it was do as you expect to be done to you. Imagine the outcry if 'our boys' were locked up in cages.
The degrading treatment follows a familiar pattern, that of dehumanising the enemy. Germans were portrayed as animals who ate babies, Palestinians are 'two-legged beasts', 'nests of terrorists' that need exterminating. If you dehumanise the enemy then whatever treatment is meted out is acceptable when they are subhuman and not subject to the same emotions and feelings as us of a more civilised race.
One of the few beacons of light in these dark days was the relatives of victims killed in the Saudi terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center who went to Afghanistan (against strong US opposition) to meet with relatives of victims killed in US bombing of Afghanistan.
The Taliban came to power as a reaction to the brutal warlords who were terrorising local Afghan people. Once again warlords are terrorising local Afghan people.
The score so far (figures for mid-December 2001):
Although local people claim there are no Taliban in the area, the bombing of southern Afghanistan continues day after day.
The war against terrorism continues.
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
The world does not need a war against 'terrorism', it needs a culture of peace based on human rights and justice for all. -- Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General
The events of 11 September 2001 and the campaign against terrorism are being used across the world as an excuse for governments to bring in more repressive laws, along with redefining and widening who the terrorists could be. And if that means taking away the very freedoms that governments claim to be defending, well, that's surely a price worth paying.
In Britain we can feel proud that we are leading the way in the race to the bottom of the civil liberties barrel. The week before Christmas the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act became law - two days later eight people became the lucky winners in the 'we've decided you're a terrorist so were locking you up without trial' Christmas draw.
This hotchpotch of a bill includes not just internment (SchNEWS 331), but a whole host of civil liberty busting BLAH. As Raif Smyth from the Coalition Against the Terror Act said 'The truth is, the mandarins at the Home Office have used the Bill as a Trojan horse to get into law all the dodgy proposals at the bottom of their filing cabinets.'
Terrorist suspects continue to be detained across the UK, meanwhile a blind eye continues to be turned to the lack of security at Farnborough Airport. But then Farnborough Airport has Saudi connections and links to the international arms trade. [BVEJ newsletters passim]
Derogation from human rights obligations amounts to a de facto declaration of a State of Emergency.
In Europe, heads of state are pushing ahead with an 'anti-terrorism road map' with plans to add two new databases on the Schengen Information System (SIS - see SchNEWS 312). SIS already holds files on nearly one and a half million people. One of the new databases would cover public order and protests and lead to, 'Barring potentially dangerous persons from participating in certain events.' Such as anti-capitalist protests outside international summits by any chance? 'Targeted' suspects would be tagged with an 'alert' on the SIS computer, barring them from entering the country where a protest or event was taking place. Such targeting and barring has already taken place.
A Swedish man was banned from 14 countries for putting up a poster advertising an anti-EU meeting! Per Johansson put up the poster outside a Belgian police station shortly before the demonstrations against the EU Summit. For this heinous crime he was not only expelled from Belgium, but will also not be able to travel in Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Finland and Denmark - all members of the Schengen agreement.
In the Czech Republic, a new law permits the prosecution of people expressing sympathy for the attacks on New York, or even of those sympathising with the sympathisers! Already one Czech journalist, Tomas Pecina, a reporter for the Prague-based investigative journal Britske Listy, has been arrested and charged for criticising the use of the law, on the grounds that this makes him, too, a supporter of terrorism.
Meanwhile in Turkey, that well known human rights haven, just publishing a book by Noam Chomsky could land Fatih Tas with a fine or spell in prison, under the country's anti-terrorism laws. Chomsky apparently overstepped the mark when he wrote in US Interventions 'the Kurds have been oppressed throughout history... but that changed (in 1984) tens of thousands of people were killed, two or three million had to migrate, 3,500 villages were destroyed ... an intense ethnic clean-up.' So while it's OK for the Turkish state to carry out attacking the Kurds, it's terrorism and 'separatist propaganda' to talk about it.
526 Kurdish students were detained by the Turkish military after handing in a petition to be educated in their native Kurdish language. Recently over 20,000 Kurdish students have petitioned their universities requesting that Kurdish be recognised as an optional subject, many are being threatened with expulsion unless they withdraw their demands.
In good ol' USA, more than 1200 people have so far been held in connection with the attacks on 11 September 2001 - most because of the colour of their skin. The majority of those arrested have nothing to do with terrorism, but have been jailed for minor visa violations that normally would be ignored.
Take Ali Al-Maqtari, a Yemeni immigrant who spent eight weeks in jail. Al-Maqtari told the Senate Judiciary Committee about being interrogated for 12 hours, lied to by the FBI, accused of beating his wife, then locked up unable to contact his wife or solicitors. All because his wife wore a head scarf to a recruiting centre when she enlisted in the Army, spoke in a foreign language (French), and because soldiers found box cutters and New York City postcards in their car.
Or what about Samir Khalaf, a Palestinian who worked at a gas station in Connecticut. He went to the hospital with chest pains on 12 September 2001. People thought he was acting suspicious. They called the police, who called the FBI. After his emergency operation, the Feds took him - against doctors' advice - to jail. There he remained, charged with failure to get a work permit. However, he was in the country legally and was quickly cleared of terrorism suspicion and an immigration judge ruled at the beginning of October that he could go home. But then the Immigration and Naturalization Service wouldn't let him go until November.
Michael Boyle, lawyer for Al-Maqtari, told the US Senate meeting discussing the Department of Justice actions that these aren't isolated incidents, but are 'part of a pattern of excessive detention and disrespect for the rights of non-citizens.'
POWs forcibly removed from Afghanistan are being kept in wire mesh cages on a US military base on Cuba. Why Cuba? US Constitutional Rights don't apply.
Future dictators, the type of people the US has traditionally supported across the world, need do no more than copy Bush's military tribunals.
The war on terrorism has become a war on people - if you're the wrong colour, have the wrong views, or are merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, then you better watch out because you could potentially be the next terrorist.
Stop the War on Dissent, a public meeting to discuss the clamp-down on human rights and the threat to civil liberties, will be held in the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons, Tues 12 February 2002 at 7 pm.
[SchNEWS #336 21 December 2001, BVEJ newsletters passim]
11 September 2001 has been used as an excuse to carry out a massive clamp-down on human rights and political dissent. The Terrorism Act (2000) and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (2001) have turned the UK into a police state. The more Draconian measures are never intended to be used, or so we are told, merely to intimidate and deter political dissent, but if that be the case, why are they there?
To discuss these issues, a meeting hosted by Jeremy Corbyn MP will be held in the Grand Committee Room in the House of Commons at 7pm on Tuesday 12 February 2002.
Information: 020 7586 5892 knklondon@gn.apc.org
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
Belgium has contributed little to the world apart from Brussel sprouts, paedophile rings to which the legal and political establishment turns a blind eye and hosting the hated and despised EU Commission. At the end of last year the Belgium presidency of the EU finally expired, the end being terminated by the usual excuse for a shindig an EU summit. Little reported was the mass anti-EU demos on the streets (an estimated 50,000). As previous summits, undercover cops were out on the streets acting as agent provocateurs (BVEJ newsletters passim) only this time they got a little bit more than they bargained for.
Undercover cops, dressed in black, were seen directing protesters to smash up the Palace and attack shops, only this time the international black bloc were having none of it. Instead of following their instructions protesters surrounded the 15 cops and herded them into a corner and held them there until riot cops had to rescue their mates.
The World Economic Forum is, in a way, a big cocktail party for the global corporate elite. As an organisation, it has no power to actually set policy, but it creates a space in which international 'leaders' can hash out their vision for the rest of us. In their own words, 'they are fully engaged in the process of defining and advancing the global agenda.' More specifically, it's our globe, but it's their agenda. -- NYC Indymedia
The WEF is in for a surprise the movement for global justice is alive and well and growing, and ready to stand in the way of their five-day corporate cocktail party! -- Another World is Possible
WEF is usually held in Davos, but this year, for the first time in 31 years it is to be held in New York as a gesture of solidarity from big business. Post-11 September anti-globalisation protesters may have backed off a little as a mark of respect to those killed, but not big business, 11 September is seen as yet another business opportunity.
WEF is where business leaders gather together with media moguls and sleazy politicians to decide how the world will be run.
WEF, who helped create the notorious World Trade Organisation and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, say that their meeting this year will focus on finding ways to 'reverse the global economic downturn, eradicate poverty, promote security and enhance cultural understanding'.
Another World is Possible, one of the groups organising the protests against the meeting, sees it rather differently:
They'll be looking to rescue failing corporate giants, exploit working people, clamp down on dissent, and puree the diverse communities of our world into a single, American-style consumer culture.
After 11 September the world's mainstream media have been saying that the anti-capitalist movement is dead - but with 100,000 at Brussels for the EU summit in December, 50,000 in India during the WTO meeting in Doha - protests, big and small, have continued around the globe. New York will show that global resistance is back in business.
2 February 2002: universal day of action against the WEF.
WEF Counter-Summit and National Student Mobilization, 31 January to 3 February at Columbia University, New York City.
At the last Davos summit a counter-summit took place in Port Allegre in Brazil organised by World Social Forum under the title Another World is Possible. WSF will be organising another counter-conference this year at Port Allegre to coincide with WEF in New York. 31 January - 5 February 2002.
A major trade war between the USA and EU looks on the cards after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) once again ruled against US corporate tax breaks. Companies like Boeing and Microsoft have been cashing in on 'illegal subsidies' to the tune of $4 billion. So what's going on here is the US preaching free trade to the rest of the world, whilst stuffing the pockets of its own companies. This is the third time that the WTO have ruled against US subsidies. One influential US businessman said if this isn't sorted out 'things could easily get out of hand'. While Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative said this could unleash 'a nuclear weapon on the trading system'.
Candadian organic farmers have launched a class action suit against Monsanto and Aventis to seek compensation for damages caused by their genetically engineered canola (oil seed rape) and to obtain an injunction to stop the introduction of genetically engineered wheat by Monsanto.
Two Saskatchewan organic farmers Larry Hoffman and Dale Beaudoin have filed a class action against Monsanto and Aventis on behalf of all certified organic farmers in Saskatchewan. The class suit seeks compensation for damages caused by Monsanto and Aventis genetically engineered canola, and an injunction to prevent Monsanto from introducing GE Wheat in Saskatchewan.
At a charged press conference organic farmer Arnold Taylor, President of the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate (SOD), who is supporting the class action suit, went through the claims against Monsanto and Aventis:
'Organic farmers believe the same thing will happen to wheat if GE wheat is introduced', stated Arnold Taylor. He said, 'Since wheat is the cornerstone of prairie agriculture, and essential for organic crop rotations, losing wheat to genetic contamination would devastate organic farming in Saskatchewan.'
Arnold Taylor further stated, 'We've been forced to live with GE canola. We've asked for a moratorium on GE wheat, we've lobbied to change the variety registration process, and we've just hit a brick wall. We feel we have no choice left but to pursue legal action. This is a matter of survival for organic agriculture in Saskatchewan.'
The Statement of Claim declares: 'the defendant, Monsanto Canada, unless restrained by this honourable Court intends to release its GM wheat into the Saskatchewan environment on an unrestricted basis, without regard to the damage its gene may cause to wheat crops values and certified organic farmers'.
If the action is certified as a class action by the Court under Saskatchewan's recently enacted Class Actions Act, all certified organic farmers in Saskatchewan will be represented, with the possibility that other Canadian certified organic grain farmers residing outside Saskatchewan being given the option of participating at a later date.
The suit seeks to hold Monsanto and Aventis responsible for any GM contamination on multiple grounds including negligence, nuisance, trespass, pollution under the Saskatchewan Environmental Management and Protection Act and failure to conduct an environmental assessment and seek ministerial approval as required by the Environmental Assessment Act of Saskatchewan.
Terry Zakreski, legal counsel representing the Plaintiffs, indicated that the next significant step in the process is to request that the Court certify the action as a class action under the Act, which he anticipates will take place within a few months.
He also stated, 'If the Federal government wishes to proceed with the approval for the unconfined release into the environment of GE Wheat we would apply to ask that decision be set aside relying on federal environmental legislation.'
Marc Loiselle, a SOD director and organic farmer from Vonda, Saskatchewan stated, 'in Saskatchewan we are directly affected by the introduction of GE herbecide tolerant canola and possible wheat in the very near future if it is not stopped soon. GE Canola and other GE crops can not be contained within specific fields because of the genetic drift of their novel traits, such as the RoundUp Ready gene, by the spreading of pollen and seed and GE Wheat will be no different.'
'We cannot put our faith in a post-harvest segregation system for GE Wheat, when it can not even be segregated in the field when it is growing', said Marc Loiselle.
Marc Loiselle stated, 'If farmers do not take a stand on limits to patenting and how biotechnology is used to alter seeds such as wheat; we risk losing our market access, loss of income, loss of choice, as well as losing control over what we produce, how we produce it, what value it has, and who will buy it. this would also be an unacceptable situation for consumers who are ultimately the market for the product we produce.'
'We are formally asking the federal government to do a full environmental assessment that considers the overall socio-economic impact of GE Wheat', said Loiselle.
Marc Loiselle concluded, 'We want the right to farm GMO free and the right to eat GMO free.'
Joan Harrison, a non-farmer member of SOD discussed the significance of the class action suit for urban consumers saying 'as a consumer I feel it is very important to support organic farmers in their efforts to stop the introduction of more GMO food crops'.
'Wheat is a very basic food. It is hard to eat a meal that does not include it in some form. If genetic engineered wheat is registered in Canada and grown on the Canadian prairies, then the inevitable pollution will occur and local farmers will lose a very important crop and consumers will be in the ridiculous position of having to buy organic wheat elsewhere', said Joan Harrison.
She pointed out that consumers are demanding organic products. Organic sales are growing by 20% annually and will reach 3.5 billion dollars by 2005. A recent US study shows that one third of consumers are buying some organic items which are commonly available in many supermarkets. Western Europeans have embraced organic food enthusiastically, with the Danish leading the way.
Given the Canadian and Saskatchewan reliance on the export of wheat and other crops the class action suit targets the vulnerability of this export market if it is contaminated by GE varieties and the economic and social jeopardy that farm communities are facing. The introduction of GE Wheat will destroy the ability to produce certified organic wheat.
SOD is confident that there is mass support for their class action suit from the organic farmers of Saskatchewan, conventional farmers who will have their crops polluted as well by GE Wheat, and from consumers who want non GE food. Arnold Taylor stated, 'We are asking organic farmers, conventional farmers, processors, traders and consumers to support this action with all they have got - our very future is at stake. We are trying to build a grand alliance and this alliance is anticipated to become world-wide'.
Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser suffered genetic contamination of his oil seed rape, to add insult to injury he was sued by Monsanto for theft of their genetic material. [BVEJ newsletter #0012 May 2001, BVEJ newsletter #0014 July 2001 and BVEJ newsletter #0016 September 2001]
1300 GM potato plants have been destroyed at a research lab in New Zealand.
Given that the UK has paltry separation distances, that UK farmers cannot get insurance against GM contamination and that we have found ourselves consistently blocked from having a GM producer liability regime by the industry that wants to pursue the trials, could we have an urgent debate in order to dispel the public myth and criticism that UK policy is increasingly either in the pay or pockets of a biotech industry that is currently driven by a bunch of crooks and shysters. -- Alan Simpson MP
GM foodstuffs have been removed from supermarket shelves, consumers have said no. That should be the end of the matter (apart from a little matter of it slipping in via the backdoor of animal feed stuffs) but this is the reality world of corporate domination, and contrary to the views of Des Wilson and the activities of a few corporate turncoats corporates are not now seeking to create a better world. Corporates are seeking a PR blitz (maybe this is where the little Melchett's services will be required) to convince us all of the wonderful merits of eating GM food.
Niall FitzGerald, chairman of Unilever, has called for the GM food debate to be revisited. He has expressed concern over the 'failure to reach the consumer' with GM crops, and called upon those with a vested interest to communicate 'directly and honestly' (a role for Melchett surely). Ironic that it was a Greenpeace boycott that forced Unilever to drop GM and every other major food processor followed suit within days. Now according to turncoat Wilson such tactics are childish and do not work, it is only through taking the corporate shilling and working within that corporates are forced to act responsibly. Unilever are a client of Burson-Marsteller, so let's see Melchett convince them of the error of their ways. In Wilson's fantasy world Unilever will be seeing the benefits of a GM free world and actively promoting organics and sustainable farming (even promoting local production on family farms at fair trade prices but let's not get too carried away).
David Joll, managing director of Bernard Mathews (well known as beacons of light in animal welfare), has told industry insiders that he is upset at 'being bullied into refusing to accept genetically modified soya' as feed for his battery poultry. First time we have heard 'meeting consumer demand', which is what the 'free market' is allegedly about, referred to as 'bullying'. On the other hand force feeding the public with unwanted GM shit is not bullying.
Peter Davis, Sainsbury's group chief executive, wants to reopen the GM debate to get consumers 'off the irrational hook' which led them to reject the 'advantages' of GM foods. Advantages to whom we wonder. Sainsbury's are another client of Burson-Marsteller. Looks like Melchett has his work cut out.
50 more farm scale trials have been declared in the UK. The produce has no market, on the other hand if Melchett is to persuade the consumers 'off the irrational hook'.
Jose Bove has been sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for trashing a filed of GM rice in southern France in 1999.
Our schools are being privatised not for the benefit of our children, but for the benefit of our corporations, and the export economy to which, the government hopes, they will one day contribute. -- George Monbiot
Connexions is just one corner of a well-designed jigsaw puzzle which, when complete, will reveal a picture of education from which all freedom, all notions of public service and accountability to an electorate have vanished. The family silver is long gone, and now our children are being sold off. -- Action on Rights for Children in education (ARCH)
Lately, our public servants appear to have gone surveillance-crazy, particularly where our children are concerned. It seems that hardly a week goes by without the announcement of yet another database to monitor selected groups of children in some way - small wonder that the Data Protection Commissioner has just announced her resignation. -- ARCH
A sterile debate often takes place on the pros and cons of private versus state education. If you throw as much money at educating kids as they do at Eton then you expect good education, similarly if you spend very little as in sink estate comprehensives then don't be surprised at the results. There are good state schools as there are bad private schools. What we are seeing now is not private v state but the creeping privatisation of state schools, education has very little to do with what is happening. Education and health are two of the areas not yet exploited by big business. Rich pickings are to be had, even better, if and when GATS is agreed these companies will have a head start when these sectors are forced onto the market in other countries.
Connexions - coming soon to a high street near you, a re-mix of careers, benefits, housing and welfare advice for all you teenagers out there. Connexions, yet another scam from Neo-Labour, the idea behind this one is to provide teens with a personal mentor and a 'one-stop shop' to help them get on the careers ladder. Introduced in pilot areas by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in the Spring of last year it is now to be extended throughout England. On the face of it is just an upgrading of the old careers offices, but behind the glitz, big business is muscling in.
The Learning and Skills Act 2000 gave the DfES unprecedented powers to gather information about students from all schools, Local Education Authorities, social services, Young Offender Teams, probation services, police and benefits agencies. This gives government the chance to build up comprehensive records on every aspect of the lives of the population between the ages of 13-19.
As ARCH points out 'The Connexions database has already introduced what is effectively a national identity scheme for teenagers. The implications for all citizens if it is maintained into adulthood are extremely worrying.'
So who will have access to all this confidential information? Will it be deleted? And can individuals check its accuracy? The DfES haven't even bothered to reply to letters from ARCH. Terri Dowty from the group said 'They say the idea is to give youngsters a 'joined-up service' but it's all about tracking. They are saying things like 'no young person should be invisible to us'.
But we're sure some of the 'business partners' involved in Connexions are rubbing their hands at all that handy market research. Take 'Young Enterprise', a so-called charity set up by business whose board consists entirely of representatives from Nestle, Marconi, Bull UK, KPMG and more of the usual suspects. Or what about the 'Careers Enterprise Group' whose parent company is Vosper Thornycroft, who do a good line in warships.
In May last year the government awarded a £100 million contract to Crapita to develop a Connexions smart card scheme for over-16s. In return for attendance and achievement, students earn points, which are recorded on their Connexions card. They can then hot-foot it to a website to obtain consumer goods and discounts on such essential items as a Big Mac'n'fries. While they watch the screen, the screen watches them and draws up consumer profiles based on the pages they choose. Crapita insist that young people can opt out of this monitoring - but run the risk of losing discounts if they do on the sort of crap that teens have been brainwashed into buying. As ARCH point out 'The incentives to join the scheme are almost irresistible to teenagers; the opportunities to collect vouchers or discounts on goods and services is a blatant marketing ploy directed at young people and one which encourages a shallow association of education with consumerism, rather than building an ethos which fosters the right to education.'
Big business has been gagging to break into education for decades. EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, has said that education is 'ripe for privatisation' while Gerhard Cromme, the Chair of the European Round Table of Industrialists - the most influential pressure group in Europe - said last year that all schools should be privatised and subjected to market forces like any other business! Cromme also took a pot shot at 'lazy' students who study subjects which have no relevance to industry. As ARCH said 'In view of the increasing control which the business sector is gaining over education, and the size of the profits enjoyed by 'edubusiness', it is not unreasonable to ask whether our children are regarded as individuals, or merely as raw materials in the development of the economy. The direction and content of education needs to be in the hands of democratically elected representatives and not multinational corporations.'
The police are also into the monitoring business. London cops are planning a register of kids who exhibit 'criminal potential' Anyone caught tagging, skipping school or even talking back to teachers runs the risk of being put on a database so cops can monitor their behaviour as they grow up! The plan was unveiled by Ian Blair, London's deputy police commissioner last November. Director of Privacy International, Simon Davies, said the registry was tantamount to police 'profiling gone mad'.
A government's wet dream of complete surveillance of their citizens is making massive progress under Neo-Labour. At the end of last year we had Connexions cards for teenagers, and at the beginning of this year the government has sneaked into the Annual School Census the personal details of pupils which is usually anonymous.
The School Census is always carried out for statistical purposes but in this year's forms schools need to supply names and addresses with all the information which will then be stored on a central database. From starting school each child will now be issued with their own personal student ID number which will follow them through their childhood (and possibly further). ARCH (Action for Rights on Children) reckon this is a 'National Identity Scheme' and want the DfES to halt the census until there is open honest debate. But don't hold yer breath.
Connexions is just one of the dodgy scams Neo-Labour is test marketing for its business chums in our schools, others include franchising (Kings Manor in Guildford was one of the first), dodgy 'free' educational material (Biotechnology and You, 2000,000 free copies distributed to Scottish schools pushing biotechnology), management of education authorities, privatised school inspectors, PFI of schools which are then leased back, e-learning etc.
Tapton comprehensive in Sheffield is one of the PFI 'successes'. All the kids were sent home because Interserve failed to pay the phone bill and all the lines were cut. A dispute between Interserv and Onyx has resulted in piles of rotting refuse at the school gate. The school dinner service at Tapton and nearby King Edward School was so bad that pupils missed the first lesson of the afternoon. The £45 million PFI contact runs for 25 years. So impressed is the local council that they are going to hand over two more comprehensives for PFI. [Private Eye No 1046 25 January - 7 February 2002]
Inside the school is the Holy Grail to GAP, Nike, McVomit and all the other crap companies. Now they are stopped at the school gate. If they could only get inside they would have a captive audience 5 days a week. Last year Crapita told the Times Education Supplement that companies such as McDonald's and PlayStation Magazine would have 'the opportunity [via the Connexions scam] of seeing what young people take up. They can be a very difficult group to reach.'
UK schools is estimated to be worth around an annual £25 billion to 'investors', the US school system $700 billion, worldwide education is measured in trillions of dollars.
Naomi Klein, No Logo, Flamingo, 2000
George Monbiot, Schooling up for sale: The creeping corporate takeover of education is being fostered to build up exports, The Guardian, 8 January 2002
SchNEWS, Cash for Connexions, Issue 335 Friday 14 December 2001
When TAG resurfaced and levelled the main runway (causing sleepless nights for local residents) they found they had a problem - quicksand that could cause the runway to collapse at some time in the future. A second problem is that the runway is periodically under water. CAA are aware of both problems and won't grant a licence unless resolved. The only solution is to push more water downstream into Cove Brook. The Environment Agency has highlighted areas downstream of the airfield as prone to flooding and wish to see less water sent downstream. Aware of the problems of flooding and ever willing to aid TAG, Rushmoor have now engaged a consultant to counter charges coming from the local community.
Several days of rain, followed by two days of heavy rain and Merrow Brook (draining the town and Slough Estates) was swollen and laden with silt. Where Merrow Brook joins Cove Brook on Southwood Golf Course Merrow Brook had turned into a lake. The golf course was under water. Additional culverts are being put under the main road to increase the flow of water of Cove Brook into the golf course at the point where it flows off the airfield. The Basingstoke Canal has an overflow where it goes under the main Farnborough Road (A325). This was like a raging mountain torrent. The water flows onto the airfield and into Cove Brook. The scorched earth policy has devastated the heathland west of the airfield, an area that drains into Fleet Pond and the Basingstoke Canal (all three locations are SSSIs). Denuded of trees the rate of runoff has increased, leading to siltation of Fleet Pond and when the canal is high more water into Cove Brook.
Houses alongside Cove Brook, Giffard Drive and West Heath area, are now at greater risk of flooding due to increased runoff from the airfield and the connivance of the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor.
TAG have (in their Environmental Impact Assessment) proposed reed beds to filter out pollutants, conveniently ignoring the fact that reeds die back in the winter, thus do not function at a time when most needed. The reed beds at Heathrow have died, killed off by an overdose of pollutants.
The accident at Birmingham International Airport involving a 20-seater Canadair executive jet translocated to Farnborough would have occurred on the Swan pub or the main Farnborough Road. A few more seconds into the flight and it would have taken out the college or local residential areas.
The Crossair crash involving a BAE 146 on the approach to Zurich was 100m below the glide path. At Farnborough it would not have made the runway as it would have ploughed through parts of the residential area on the approach.
In both recent crashes the type of aircraft were what regularly use Farnborough Airport.
The judicial review against Rushmoor re air safety and planning consent has for the moment ran its course. Rushmoor were asked to carry out an independent ground safety study to include societal risk. They refused. Instead they offered to seek 'independent advice', an entirely meaningless gesture. Why do Rushmoor have no concern for the safety of the local community?
The local community should be demanding:
Anything less is not a proper safety study.
Rushmoor are unwilling to authorise a proper safety study because they know it will show the airport poses an unacceptable risk to Farnborough.
Chauffair have gone bust. Claimed to be the largest operator in the UK, Chauffair were based at Farnborough Airport. We can but hope that with the fall in business TAG Aviation go the same way. TAG saw a 4% drop in numbers last year. The liquidation of Chauffair should drag the figures lower still.
US FAA have warned of a scam where clapped out second hand aircraft parts are sold as certified new. The users are usually small airlines and fleets, just the sort who fly into Farnborough.
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
Farnborough Business and Community Panel is the interface between Rushmoor and local business and the community. This is where matters affecting the town centre are aired, so-called 'consultation'. The panel supposedly represents the interests of local people, it is loaded with councillors, council officials, big business and developers, local people, small traders are noticeable by their absence. Few people are even aware of the existence of this panel let alone its deliberations.
The next meeting of the panel will be at 7pm on Wednesday 6 February in the council offices. Please make the effort to attend. Please check first with Rushmoor that the date and time has not been changed.
It's taken a long time in coming but the hacks at the Farnborough News have finally woken up to the fact that there is something wrong in Farnborough town centre. It makes a change from regurgitating the crap fed to them by KPI. KPI are none too pleased with the truth being told. [Farnborough News Friday 11 January 2002]
The Rotten Borough of Rushmoor has given planning consent for a B&Q superstore on the old Solartron site off Victoria Road. Hell for the local residents with increase in traffic and heavy delivery lorries. Rushmoor is still turning a blind eye to the nuisance that ASDA are causing local residents with their 24-hour operation and out-of-hours lorry deliveries.
Noise is not the only nuisance that ASDA is causing local residents. Litter from the loading bay at the back of the store blows around the town. Supermarket trolleys litter the town and local watercourses. Complaints to ASDA are ignored. When dumped trolleys are found and ASDA informed they make no attempt to collect. The Rotten Borough of Rushmoor turns a blind eye. When one local resident walked into a meeting at ASDA and asked that collection of trolleys be placed on the agenda, the only response of ASDA was to call security and have the resident manhandled off the premises for trespass.
PPG6 is a government planning document that sets out guidelines for town centre and retail developments. The stopping up of the highway between the old Post Office site and the Pizza Hut fails on numerous counts:
Contrast this with a statement by Simon Rutter (KPI) to one of the objectors: 'I do reiterate that in my opinion the stopping up of these areas of public highway, the service provided by them and the purpose of their use is not materially affected by this development.'
The overall town centre redevelopment of which the carbuncle on the old Post Office site is part is even less compliant with PPG6. This raises big questions against Rushmoor planning department as not only do they fail to heed the local community they also fail to comply with government planning guidelines.
The town centre development is no less compliant with PPG3 (Housing).
The derelict old Post Office site post demolition is supposedly made secure (a condition set by the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor but no attempt to monitor let alone enforce). The flimsy dog-legged metal barricade around the site (which is failing to keep out local yobs) is secured to the wall by a piece of bent coat hanger one end and with a flimsy wire to a drainpipe the other! During the recent gales the flimsy barricade almost took off, the noise like a cacophony of all the steel band players in Jamaica striking up at once kept the town centre awake. A local resident had to go out at 1-30 in the early hours of the morning with a socket set in hand to secure the site. Had he not done so the barricade would have gone through the plate glass windows of Boots opposite. On the unsecured site are 12 inch deep pot holes and loose sections of steel scaffolding poles - ideal as weapons, jemmies, or javelins to hurl through shop windows.
Know the joke about the man who cuts the tree branch sitting on the wrong end? A new variant. Jokers from KPI, including the shopping centre manager (the first time anyone has seen him do any work), straitened up the flimsy barricade around the old Post Office site. They then found they had barricaded themselves in and had to climb over the wall into the back of Lloyds TSB Bank, much to the amusement of watching neighbours.
Poppins have been given a (draft) lease to sign for the old Post Office site. The planning consent is for Class A1 (non-food) retail use (Rushmoor planner Daryl Phillips: 'Planning permission will be required to use any part of the development as a cafe'). Poppins have been assured by the developers that obtaining a change of use is not a problem as Rushmoor always give them what they want. Are we to assume from this that Rushmoor are in the pocket of the developers?
Residents at Firgrove Court (back of the town centre) saw the New Year in with three month eviction notices to clear the site for a car park as part of the unwanted town centre redevelopment. The notices are worthless bits of paper and the residents should stay put and fight.
Doors at two of the entrances into Queensmead are not working, have not been for weeks. A serious fire hazard and an obstruction to disabled access. Possible breaches of fire regulations, health and safety and disability rights. Rushmoor Environmental Health are one of the regulatory authorities. At least one person in the department was aware of the problem 'I see it everyday' but failed to communicate the problem to her colleagues. The situation has been like it for weeks. A symptom of KPI's cash flow problems?
KPI were granted planning consent for the unwanted bar/cinema complex several months ago, since then nothing has happened. Simon Rutter (KPI) claims to have a cinema group lined up, but when pushed is unable to name the group. With cinemas planned for Aldershot and Camberley, existing cinemas in Bracknell and Guildford, is there a need for a cinema/bar complex in the centre of Farnborough? Wet sand beneath the site has escalated the building costs. Highways are demanding money up front for junction alterations before the development goes ahead. Serious doubts have been raised as to whether KPI has the funding to go ahead.
KPI have been summoned to appear before the council to explain themselves. The councillors are not best pleased. It is one thing for them to make fools of themselves, quite another for someone else to do it for them. The date and time or whether open to the public is not known. Please check with Rushmoor. Simon Rutter (KPI) is blaming local objectors for the sorry state of the town, Rushmoor (privately) are blaming KPI and Rutter.
It is no surprise that the shares of the parent company of KPI are falling. Farnborough has been removed from the company web site. Has it become too much of an embarrassment?
As we predicted the farmers market held a couple of days before Christmas was a bloody disaster. [BVEJ newsletter #0017 October 2001]
Nationally retail sales were up by 10% over the Christmas period. In Farnborough those who were lucky broke even, ie saw zero per cent growth, others were down 30 per cent and even 50 per cent over the same period the previous year.
Since Christmas several more stores have announced they are pulling out, one, Riley's Art and Photographic, has been trading in Farnborough for more than 30 years. Several of the 'High Street names' are now considering pulling out of Farnborough.
Fingz Fashions have lodged a law suit against Rushmoor for non-refund of rates (the rateable value of the town centre has been halved to reflect its derelict state) and human rights violations (small traders are being discriminated against, also contrary to government planning guidelines which call for mixed diverse development).
Workmen have been digging up the road in Cedar Road (just outside the town centre) to put in larger diameter pipes. The problem is one of flooding. This water feeds into Merrow Brook in the town centre, and eventually into Cove Brook. The whole network is extremely sensitive. Were the unwanted development on the old Post Office site to go ahead, and Merrow Brook to be diverted and restricted to a narrow alleyway, access would be virtually impossible. As this work was being undertaken Merrow Brook, just outside the town centre where it flows into Cove Brook, was heavy with silt and up near the top of the banks.
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
Railtrack have announced a massive development on the station car park - massive office block, multi-storey car park, housing apartments.
The massive office and retail development being built by Slough Estates is already going to cause problems. The office space will only be filled if companies relocate out of London. Where are the people to live? Assuming the people commute rather than live locally Farnborough will be in permanent gridlock from dawn to dusk, the pollution levels on the A325 (already the worst polluted road in the southeast outside of London) can only get worse.
Railtrack is a bankrupt company in receivership. Where is the money to come from? If they have the money, why is it not being invested in the railways? Does Byers know of this frittering away of Railtrack funds?
In favour of Railtrack at least this development follows government guidelines on integrating office and housing development and does at least attempt to integrate with public transport, which is far more than can be said for the KPI disaster which has destroyed Farnborough town centre.
Railtrack are holding an exhibition of their proposals in Queensmead, 7-9 February 2002.
Stephen Lloyd, New image unveiled for station site, Farnborough News, 18 January 2002
Farnborough News, as with other papers in the group, eg Surrey Advertiser, has a new cleaner image.
That's the cosmetics dealt with, now let's have, as claimed by the masthead, a paper serving the local community.
Larry Collins, Tomorrow Belongs To Us, HarperCollins, 1999
The temptation is to put this book down after a few pages as yet another trashy novel, but persevere and you will be well rewarded. The strong point is that the book is well researched. Mad Muslim fanatics hell bent on destroying the West, their operations financed by Afghan opium, the only difference from the story today is that the direction comes from Iran not Afghanistan and the weapon is a crude nuclear device aimed at Israel rather than a hijacked plane aimed at New York.
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