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GNN ISSUE 5 : 9-Dec-04 |
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A free monthly email newsletter that provides green news and views so
that together we can create a better world.
Philip Booth, GNN
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired,
signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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FEATURE ITEM - CLIMATE CHANGE - THE CHALLENGE
1. NUCLEAR EMITS 50% MORE CO2 THAN WIND PLUS CHERNOBYL AND NUCLEAR
WASTE
2. OVERFISHING PUTS STRAIN ON LAND-BASED WILDLIFE
3. RECYCLING POLICIES NEED RADICAL SHAKE UP
4. IRAQ: THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES
5. MoD FITS "DOLPHIN DEATH" SONAR TO NAVY FRIGATE
6. PRIVATE FINANCE DEALS IN PUBLIC SERVICES A ROARING FAILURE - EXCEPT
FOR BANKS AND CORPORATIONS
7. VIEW FROM THE PROSTITUTES COLLECTIVE
8. US ELECTIONS WERE RIGGED?
9. BHOBAL - THOUSANDS STILL BEING POISONED
10. PETER MANDELSON AT THE EU
11. GM UPDATES
12. STATE POWERS SET TO INCREASE
13. EU PUSHES AHEAD WITH MILITARY 'BATTLE GROUPS'
14. UK BACKS USA AGAINST TRIBAL PEOPLES
15. CHILE DEMONSTRATE AGAINST BUSH AND MATES
ACTION - EMERGENCY APPEAL FROM NAOMI KLEIN TO SUPPORT THE ZANON WORKERS
ACTION SIGN YOUR NAME ON A WIND TURBINE
ACTION - STOP THE EU FROM BACKING DOWN ON GM FOOD UNDER WTO PRESSURE
AND FINALLY................
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FEATURE ITEM - CLIMATE CHANGE - THE CHALLENGE
Faced with the obvious, Tony Blair has admitted that the Government is
going to fail to meet its own greenhouse gas emission targets by 2010.
The Green Party has been predicting such failure for years, pointing to
the policy contradictions of the Labour Government and its inability to
match its rhetoric with real action. Whilst claiming to care about
tackling climate change, Tony Blair's Government has embarked upon an
unprecedented assault of unsustainable development proposals including
bigger airports, a massive expansion in building on the countryside and
more and larger roads. Labour has allowed road and air traffic levels
to soar whilst abandoning its previous promises to increase fuel
duties. There has been no change in the absurd tax exemption for
aviation fuel. Yet for more sustainable transport such as rail and bus,
fares are rising at above inflation.
Labour have also thwarted the binding energy efficiency targets set in
the Sustainable Energy Act of 2003. They watered down the Home Energy
Conservation Act that the Green Party produced and are ignoring the Air
Traffic Emissions Reduction Bill already passed by the House of Lords.
There are many other examples of where Labour are failing us on climate
change. Just last week we hear they plan to encourage more car use by
putting up rail fares by an average of more than 4 per cent, yet
freezing petrol duty.
Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has used her keynote speech at the British
Environment and Media Awards in London to issue a triple challenge to
the UK media: treat climate change as a security issue, tell us about
human happiness, not share prices – and stop promoting needless
materialism. See www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
Even Charles Kennedy has thrown down the gauntlet of climate change to
the Prime Minister Tony Blair saying, get behind Contraction &
Convergence at the G-8. Contraction & Convergence is the basis of Green
Party climate policy. Is this another attempt to steal the Green
Party's clothes? The CO2 reductions necessary to meet the likely UK
target under C&C (we reckon 85% by 2030, 90% by 2050) are far more than
the LibDems have ever said (60% by 2050), and they don't have the
policies to meet them. They are also committed to policies that go in
exactly the wrong direction - roadbuilding aviation growth, economic
globalisation. Meanwhile Greenpeace has revealed that it no longer
supports Prime Minister Tony Blair on the subject of climate change,
claiming that the current government has 'failed' on several key policy
issues. Kennedy speech at:
http://www.gci.org.uk/speeches/Kennedy_C&C_Speech.pdf
Oil headway will fail to meet demand - report says next six years will
be "constantly tight". Depletion of oilfields is something that is not
widely recognised. Lost capacity has now reached significant
proportions. Essentially these figures say not very surprisingly that
the levels of demand growth are unsustainable. There will not be spare
capacity to maintain either growth or prices at current levels. Prices
are likely to soar. The only thing that could really change the
equation is some kind of global recession that would dampen demand.
October 2004 was the warmest October since recordkeeping began in 1880.
February was the second hottest and March the third hottest on record.
The average global temperature for the first 10 months of the
year—14.57 degrees Celsius (26.22 degrees Fahrenheit)—makes 2004 the
fourth warmest year on record. These record-breaking readings, which
come from the global series maintained by NASA’s Goddard Institute for
Space Studies, continue a trend of rising global temperatures.
For entire text see http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Temp/2004.htm
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1. NUCLEAR EMITS 50% MORE CO2 THAN WIND PLUS CHERNOBYL AND NUCLEAR WASTE
Nuclear power emits 50% more CO2 than wind-power in a cradle-to-grave
report. See AEA Technology (1998) "Power Generation and the Environment
- a UK Perspective" Volume 1: http://externe.jrc.es/uk.pdf
Chernobyl 'caused Sweden cancers' - More than 800 people in northern
Sweden may have developed cancer as a result of the fallout of the
1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident- see this month's issue of the Journal
of Epidemiology and Community Health, published by BMA and BBC News
on-line 21st Nov 04.
The Times (29/11/04) reports that more than 4,000 child victims of the
Chernobyl disaster legacy are expected to be banned from visiting
Britain in case they pick up what are considered to be dangerous
Western ideas. The children growing up in Belarus, who hope to visit
Britain to recuperate from the effects of radiation, face
disappointment after their President attacked the “consumerist”
influences that he says are corrupting his country’s youth. Doctors say
that even a few weeks’ stay in this country can boost a sick child’s
immune system for up to two years. Belarus, which shares its southern
border with Ukraine, received 70 per cent of the contamination from the
1986 nuclear disaster, which was carried by northerly winds. Radiation
experts around the world estimate that 80 per cent of Belarusian
children are ill. Crops in the south grow in contaminated soil and
mutated genes caused by exposure to radiation can be passed from
generation to generation. The high incidence of illnesses caused by
radiation — thyroid cancer, deformity, leukaemia, heart defects, liver
damage and sudden-death syndrome — is thought to be increasing.
Nuclear waste could be blasted into space according to a Government
taskforce. The committee examined 12 options and rejected five
including burial in arctic. Disposal into space is one of the
remaining possibilities. The option most preferred by
environmentalists is "interim storage" with immediate closure of
existing nuclear power stations and the hope that new technology will
be developed in the future to dispose of it.
The European Commission is poised to launch an investigation into one
of the main planks of the government's energy plans - the creation of a
state-funded authority to oversee a £48bn clean-up of Britain's most
contaminated nuclear sites. The Commission will be looking to see if
rules on state aid have been breached by the takeover of publicly-owned
civil nuclear facilities currently controlled by British Nuclear Fuels
and the Atomic Energy Authority. Greenpeace welcomed the prospect of an
investigation; "Instead of being the nuclear legacy clean-up agency the
government promised it would be, the NDA is in fact a front that would
be used to channel more funding into an industry which
is environmentally damaging and commercially unviable. We hope the
Commission will really put all aspects of the industry's plans under
the microscope - particularly facilities like the mox plant at
Sellafield, which has cost the taxpayer £600m but produced nothing in
return."
Cracked reactors may force closure of nuclear plants - The cracking
problems cover all eight of the company's advanced gas cooled gas
reactors, or AGRs including Hinckley Point B. Only one BE site - at
Sizewell in Suffolk - is not affected because it is a water-cooled
design. See: The Guardian December 2, 2004. British Energy admit it is
"not aware" of any technique that eliminates the problem. Greens
suggest closure.
New FoE briefing on nukes and climate:
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/
nuclear_power_answer_climate_change.pdf
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2. OVERFISHING PUTS STRAIN ON LAND-BASED WILDLIFE
Collapsing fish populations off the coast of west Africa are
endangering wildlife species on land, a 30-year study suggests, with
overfishing by European Union trawlers adding to the pressure.
Populations of 41 species of wild mammal in six nature reserves tended
to decline more steeply in years of poor fish harvests. If so,
conservationists can take the pressure off wildlife by developing
alternative protein sources such as fish farms. Other experts caution
that this may not work everywhere, because people eat bushmeat for a
variety of religious and cultural reasons as well as for mere
sustenance.
See Bob Holmes; Journal reference: Science (vol 306, p 1180). For more
Related Stories see the New Scientist's website.
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s (RCEP) has warned
this week that UK fisheries require an urgent re-structuring to avoid a
devastating collapse. The RCEP’s report follows numerous similar
warnings in recent years, and growing pressure against the fishing
practice of bottom-trawling. See: http://www.greenconsumerguide.com/
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3. RECYCLING POLICIES NEED RADICAL SHAKE UP
The "BIG Recycle", just launched by the government, aims to raise
awareness of waste management. Environment Minister Elliot Morley says;
"We are at the cusp of a recycling revolution. We know what we can
recycle, we know how we can recycle - now it is time to recycle that
recycling awareness into recycling action."
At present Britain recycles around 13% of its total waste. This is in
stark contrast to countries such as the Netherlands, Austria and
Germany, who recycle more than 50%. Greens argue we need more than
words; a radical shake-up of policy is needed. News that our waste is
being sent to China is not surprising. The recycling industry is no
different to any other industry. If it operates within a globalised
free market then processing will move to the place with the lowest
costs. If recycling is to truly benefit the environment then we need to
bring in regulations that would ensure that processing is done in local
markets. Otherwise, recycling will be the emperor's new clothes that
hides the excesses and destructiveness of the way we currently live.
The UK's new rubbish dump: China. More than a third of the waste paper
and plastic collected by British local authorities, supermarkets and
businesses for recycling is being sent 8,000 miles to China without any
knowledge of the environmental or social costs. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1308243,00.html
A new report by WRAP and Recoup has identified key areas which can be
promoted by local authorities to make household recycling of mixed
plastics more economically viable. See:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/publications/LocalCollPlastic.pdf
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4. IRAQ: THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES
(i) The official American line is that the Fallujah operation was a
success and the insurgency is in retreat. The real story is very
different. Paul Rogers article in which he reminds us why the US is in
Iraq, is at:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-2-2245.jsp
(ii) Idolisation of 'the face of Falluja' shows how numb the US is to
everyone's pain but its own. Read Naomi Klein at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1359871,00.html
(iii) Shocking reports, photos and commentary at
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
(iv) Hugely powerful speech on Accepting the Sydney Peace Prize by
Arundhati Roy. "Today, it is not merely justice itself, but the idea of
justice that is under attack. The assault on vulnerable, fragile
sections of society is at once so complete, so cruel and so clever -
all encompassing and yet specifically targeted, blatantly brutal and
yet unbelievably insidious - that its sheer audacity has eroded our
definition of justice." See more at:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=41&ItemID=6594
(v) Iraqi elections were postponed to save Bush. That led to today's
carnage - Read Naomi Klein at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1350225,00.html
(vi) Far from reducing the WMDs in the world and reducing the
likelyhood of nuclear war US action in the War on Terror are leading to
a new nuclear arms race. See this article on the recent Russian
response to the US missile shield. Is there any wonder that Iran and
other states are feeling threatened by the hawks in Washington and
desire their own nuclear deterent? Read This News:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FK25Ag01.html
(vii) UN: Special Rapporteur produces damning report on how governments
are using the "war on terrorism" to undermine and ignore fundamental
rights. He speicifcally refers to the use of terrorism as a pretext for
justifying torture and inhuman treatment, and on the erosion of the
non-refoulement principle, whereby States should not "expel, return
'refouler', or extradite a person to another State" if there are
"substantial" grounds for suspecting that they may be in danger of
being subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
after their return. See Statewatch Report: The UN Special Rapporteur on
Torture criticises the undermining of the non-refoulement principle and
the use of terrorism as a pretext to justify tortureplus full
documentation: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/nov/un-torture.pdf
(viii) Noam Chomsky on the 2004 Elections - Three quarters of
Americans say that the US should not have gone to war. Full article:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=90&ItemID=6751
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5. MoD FITS "DOLPHIN DEATH" SONAR TO NAVY FRIGATE
A sonar device of a type responsible for killing whales and dolphins
and depleting scarce fish stocks has been fitted to a Royal Navy
frigate in Scotland despite calls for an international treaty banning
their use and a European Parliament vote for an EU-wide moratorium last
month. Green Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas, who led the European
ParliamentÃs call
for an EU-wide moratorium after a study in the journal Nature linked
the devices with the deaths of thousands of marine mammals, criticised
the decision. See www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
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6. PRIVATE FINANCE DEALS IN PUBLIC SERVICES A ROARING FAILURE - EXCEPT
FOR BANKS AND CORPORATIONS
George Monbiot in The Guardian writes of the lack of criticism; "The
Conservatives invented the private finance initiative, so they are
silenced by their complicity. The Liberal Democrats have challenged
some of the details of the scheme, but not the principles behind it.
The trade unions, the Greens and Plaid Cymru oppose it, but if a policy
doesn't divide the major parties, it doesn't make the news. Public
bodies, which depend on money from the initiative, won't criticise it
openly. We listen for informed dissent, but we hear only the great
shuffling sound of the establishment closing ranks. Corporations, with
the Treasury's help, are robbing the public of tens of billions of
pounds. And they are getting away with it. "
Even the sector the government liked to talk about most, highways, has
been found to be seriously flawed. Researchers discovered that by 2002
the roads companies were making an average operating profit from the
eight projects of over 68%.
Bad value for money has been disguised by a couple of clever accounting
devices.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1362538,00.html
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7. VIEW FROM THE PROSTITUTES COLLECTIVE
"The government has pre-empted the consultation process and already
changed the law in a number of areas, including drastically increasing
the sentence from six months to seven years for brothel-keeping which
is used against women working together (and more safely) from premises.
You may also know about the grave injustices that are arising from the
widespread use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders which particularly
target prostitute women and young people. A civil standard of proof is
used to impose the order, but the penalty for breaking it is a prison
sentence of up to five years. Criminal ASBOS are imposed on women in
court, often in their absence, after they have been convicted of
loitering and soliciting and based on their record and an assumption
that they will re-offend.
"Other laws such as anti-trafficking legislation is primarily being
used to deport immigrant women. At the same time, the government paper
retains legislation which has been widely condemned: the shocking
labelling of women accused of loitering and soliciting as “common
prostitutes”, i.e. guilty before proven innocent and the law which
criminalizes children and young people for prostitution – a measure
vehemently opposed by children’s charities, the Magistrates Association
and many others.
"Despite acknowledgement that 60 prostitute women have been murdered in
the last 10 years (a conservative figure in our view) there is no
proposal to end the criminalisation that makes sex workers more
vulnerable to violence. Statistics are used selectively. The figure
that 74% of off-street sex workers "cited the need to pay household
expenses and support their children" is mentioned in passing then
ignored. But claims that 80-95% of street prostitutes are drug users
frame many of the recommendations. Yet this figure is a distortion.
Women who work on the street and do not use drugs, rarely go to the
Home Office funded projects on which this figure is based because they
do not want to compromise their anonymity for the sake of free condoms.
The figure on drug use implies that sex workers have a unique problem
with drug addiction. No comparison is made with people in other jobs."
The report continues arguing that the punitive approach the UK
government has adopted, following the US lead of bullying in civil
liberties and criminal justice issues, means women and young people can
expect the worst; more Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, more prison, more
deportations, higher prison sentences for women working from premises,
military style boot camps. They say "it is time to stand united against
our being divided between those of us labelled “bad” and those labelled
“respectable”. No bad women, no bad children, just bad laws!" Their
full response covers all these issues and is available at:
<http://www.prostitutescollective.net.>
www.prostitutescollective.net.
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8. US ELECTIONS WERE RIGGED?
Two rigged votes, two reactions: in the USA, Democrats suck their
thumbs and say sorry, while the Ukraine is in uproar.
American Greens are trying to expose the US's own possible electoral
weaknesses. There is a growing body of evidence based on the
discrepancy between the exit polls and final tally that supports the
hypothesis that the computers on which the vote was calculated were
hacked. There is also the inadequate access to the poll and
malfunctioning machines in Democrat areas. Kerry, having conceded too
early, is sitting on $50 million unspent electoral money, while the
American Greens have raised $150,000 by public subscription to get a
recount in Ohio. An introduction, with links, to the topic is up on:
http://www.greenhealth.org.uk/PolBushFraud.htm and
http://greenerblog.blogspot.com/
Steven Freeman, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, whose
areas of expertise include research methods, has looked at the
difference between the exit polls and the tallied vote in 11
battleground states. Freeman focuses on three of these key states:
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. His conclusion, based on probability
analysis, is that it is highly unlikely that the difference between
the exit polls and the tallied vote could be as wide as it was reported
in all three of these states. Freeman’s paper can be found at:
http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/articles/exit-poll-
discrepancy-1110.pdf
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9. BHOBAL - THOUSANDS STILL BEING POISONED
Four thousand people died after an explosion and toxic gas leak at a
pesticide factory owned by US company Union Carbide in 1984. Thousands
of Indians around Bhopal remain at risk of poisoning 20 years after a
major disaster in the city and thousands of tonnes of toxic waste are
still stored inadequately nearby, poisoning the town's water supply.
Although they know the water is unclean, they say they have no other
source to drink from.
"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the
lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that"
Lawrence Summers, Chief economist of the World Bank, 1991.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4010511.stm
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10. PETER MANDELSON AT THE EU
Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas had voted to reject the entire EU
Commission after its President Jose Manuel Barroso failed to remove
four “deeply flawed” commissioners – including UK Commissioner Peter
Mandelson. This was over-ruled.
Peter Mandelson gets the rhetoric right, but unfortunately his smooth
talk bears absolutely no relation to the current direction of EU or UK
trade policy, casting serious doubt over the integrity of his evidence.
Peter Mandelson constantly repeats the mantra of wanting "freer and
fairer" trade, without acknowledging that fair trade can often require
the protection of vulnerable markets, rather than the EU's current
strategy of forcing them open. Mandelson charges us to "challenge
globalisation in a benign way". Yet the futility of such a strategy is
amply demonstrated by his own Prime Minister's inability to control
investment in and out of the UK - witness the wringing of hands when
the manufacturer Dyson relocated from Wiltshire to Malaysia. The same
trend is also accelerating in the service sector, as today's coverage
of the planned relocation of NHS administrative jobs to India
demonstrates (Deal transfers 400 NHS jobs to India, Guardian, November
23)
The truth is that the only way of "challenging" globalisation is to
replace its current goal of ever greater international competitiveness
at any cost, with a new aim of protecting and rebuilding sustainable
local economies in both rich and poor countries. This would require a
complete overhaul of the WTO's rules which currently put free trade
above all other social and environmental considerations. This is the
logical conclusion of Mandelson's own rhetoric, so Greens can surely
look forward to working with him to achieve precisely that?!
On the announcement of Mandelson getting the post a demonstration,
organised by the World Development Movement, Friends of the Earth and
Corporate Europe Observatory, portrayed Mr Mandelson as a ‘corporate
puppet’ with his strings being pulled by corporate lobbyists and
multinational companies. He immediately attracted the ire of fair trade
campaigners for his decision to address a business audience on removing
barriers to trade in Brussels.
Read more at: www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
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11. GM UPDATES
See action at end of gnn.
The US Government’s Food and Drug Administration Plans to allow
contamination of human food crops with biotech or genetically modified
(GM) experimental crops grown on ‘test’ sites. If the proposal is
accepted it could to lead to GM pollution of food consumed in Europe.
Bill Freese, Research Analyst with Friends of the Earth US said:
“Allowing conventional food to be contaminated by experimental crops is
a recipe for disaster. What is even more unbelievable is that the Bush
Administration wants to promote this policy around the world as an
international model." A briefing paper with more information is
available at: http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/contamination.pdf
New research blows a hole in the myth that GM foods are well tested and
well regulated in the United States. It also raises serious question
marks over the safety of genetically modified foods that the European
Commission is forcing onto the market. See:
http://www.intercept.co.uk/gb/
not.asp?id=RS6LS3L6S6ROFD&rec=oui&pos=0&refer
er=%2Fgb%2Fdetail.asp%3Faction%3Dcurrent
GM firms finally give up on planting in Britain. See:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=585086
A new report reveals that the Government is to ignore concerns raised
by a Select Committee of MPs over GM contamination and liability.
Instead, the Government gave its clearest indication yet that it is
preparing to allow widespread GM contamination of non-GM crops and food
- including organics. It also made clear that it will do nothing to
help establish GM Free areas. Once again the Government has ignored the
democratic process in its desperation to push GM crops onto the British
public. Serious concerns raised by the public, local authorities and
now a Select Committee of MPs have simply been ignored. The Government
should think again before allowing widespread GM contamination of our
crops and food, and instead do all it can to protect our food, farming
and environment." See:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmenvfru/
607/60702.htm
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/
scarecrows_lobby_parliamen_20072
004.html
The European Commission with UK support has called on the Council of
environment Ministers to insist Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, France
and Greece lifted precautionary bans on the sale and planting of GM
sweetcorn. The move was rejected by 12 votes to eight, with five
nations abstaining. Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas said: “This is the
ninth time since 1998 that member governments have rejected plans to
allow a GMO product to be marketed in the EU. The majority of consumers
and farmers are opposed to the introduction of GMOs – and with the
majority of national governments also hostile it’s time the Commission
got the message and prioritised safeguarding organic and conventional
crops from contamination.”
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12. STATE POWERS SET TO INCREASE
Statewatch has learnt that the European Parliament has been asked by
the Council of the European Union (the 25 EU governments) to use its
"urgency" procedure to rush through the measure on mandatory
fingerprinting and biometric passports for all EU citizens. The reason
is strong "behind the scenes" pressure on the parliament to meet US
demands for biometric passports. See:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/nov/10biometric-rush.htm
Civil Contingencies Bill: Britain's Patriot Act - revised, and just as
dangerous as before - see Statewatch critique of Bill:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/jan/12uk-civil-contingencies-bill-
revised.htm
Simon Jenkins in The Times writes: "Once they kept us from fear. Now
our leaders want to frighten us senseless."
See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1059-1371827,00.html
Statewatch now have an excellent searchable database with over 23,000
items. See: http://database.statewatch.org/search.asp
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13. EU PUSHES AHEAD WITH MILITARY 'BATTLE GROUPS'
Defence Ministers are expected to commit up to 165,000 troops to make
up a series of EU 'battle groups' which can be deployed to the World's
hot spots. France, Italy, Spain and the UK are to set up their own
groups which are likely to be ready before 2007 - possibly by 2005
according to EU military sources. This article and related links can be
found at: http://euobserver.com/?aid=17811&sid=9
John Norris, the Green party's international coordinator, underlined
that "The Greens are an unashamedly internationalist and pro-European
party, but we are very sceptical about the existing arrangements in the
EU. We want more decisions taken lower down, closer to the people most
affected by them. We want the EU to take its proper role in dealing
with issues that cross national boundaries, like human rights and
environmental protection, and promoting peaceful and constructive ways
to prevent conflict. We are not in favour of an EU army - not even an
EU army euphemised a 'rapid reaction force".
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14. UK BACKS USA AGAINST TRIBAL PEOPLES
From Survival International: Tribal peoples are appealing to the
British government on UN Human Rights Day (December 10) to stop
following the USA in opposing their rights. The UK and the USA are
together blocking an historic UN declaration on indigenous rights,
claiming that collective human rights do not exist. Collective rights
are essential for the survival of tribal peoples.
This year marks the end of the UN Decade of Indigenous Peoples, during
which a draft declaration on their rights was completed following
hundreds of consultations with indigenous representatives. If agreed
upon it would stand beside the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
marking a turning point for indigenous peoples. But at the latest round
of talks in Geneva last week the UK and the USA continued to stall the
declaration's progress.
Inuit woman Dalee Sambo Dorough from Alaska says, 'Is British foreign
policy simply to follow the US? They are safeguarding the profits of
the multinationals, not human rights' Is this Tony Blair's idea of
spreading what he calls the values of freedom, democracy, the rule of
law, and justice for the oppressed?'
Six indigenous people have been on hunger strike at the UN in Geneva in
protest at the UK and other governments' blocking of an historic UN
declaration on indigenous rights.
See: www.survival-international.org
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15. CHILE DEMONSTRATE AGAINST BUSH AND MATES
From SchNEWS: An estimated 60,000 demonstrators marched against
capitalism in Santiago de Chile last Saturday as the country played
host to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC). George Bush
was in town with his mates from 21 other countries, to discuss trade,
terrorism and other ways to screw the poor. Although between them these
countries control 47% of world trade, they're eager to get their hands
on the other 53%, and to help them along their way they organised the
weekend's forum to discuss the creation of a Pacific wide 'free trade'
area by 2010. The demo was one of Chile's largest since the ending of
the country's seventeen year military dictatorship in 1990.
20% of its population live in poverty, 5% of Chileans live on the edge
of starvation, their country exports apples, grapes and wine to the US
and salmon to Europe, in a desperate bid to earn foreign currency so
that the country can repay its $38 billion debt to Western Banks. In
comparison, last year Chile spent less than $3 billion on education and
one in ten Chileans still do not have access to drinking water. Rather
than tackling poverty, APEC leaders instead proposed a host of trade
related anti-terrorism measures that are likely to justify clampdowns
on future anti-capitalist actions.
See: www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news475.htm
Read an interview with John Perkins:
www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251&mode=thread&tid=25
........................................................................
...
ACTION - EMERGENCY APPEAL FROM NAOMI KLEIN TO SUPPORT THE ZANON WORKERS
The Zanon ceramic tile factory, a democratic, worker-run factory in
Patagonia, is facing a serious threat of eviction, and the workers have
asked us to gather international support for their struggle. To sign
the petition, please click here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/zanon/petition-sign.html
........................................................................
...
ACTION - SIGN YOUR NAME ON A WIND TURBINE
Go to: http://www.embracewind.com/index.html
........................................................................
...
ACTION - STOP THE EU FROM BACKING DOWN ON GM FOOD UNDER WTO PRESSURE
Please take action by sending a letter, fax or email to your
Environment Minister today, demanding them to vote NO! to proposals by
the European Commission to end national bans on risky GM food!
Email your minister at
http://www.foeeurope.org/dont_put_my_health_at_risk
Also see how to destroy Mexican corn, reap maximum profits, and buy a
university in one easy lesson. See:
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3287 - Plus action to save
Mexican-born microbiologist Ignacio Chapela and stand up for academic
freedom: http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=7
........................................................................
AND FINALLY..............
From SchNews: Blunkett launched his new ID card crusade, at the same
time as computer failures were casting doubts over whether such a
scheme is even workable. Civil servants in the Department of Work and
Pensions (DWP) had to write out thousands of giro cheques and process
benefit claims by hand, after a software failure left them without
computers. This has been described as the biggest government computer
failure yet, but it's by no means the first.
Electronic Data Systems (EDS), the firm responsible for the software
has a ten year contract with the government, worth £2bn. Many might
question whether this is value for money considering they've created
chaos at the Child Support Agency and the National Air Traffic Control
System, and been sacked by the Inland Revenue Service. So guess what
EDS is trying to get its useless mitts on now? Yep the biometric ID
card scheme.
..........................................
The GNN editorial team includes: Philip Booth, Stroud, Gloucestershire,
Lesley Davies, Cirencester, Gloucestershire and Vivien Pomfrey,
Launceston, Cornwall. Each edition will not necessarily include input
from each editor. To contribute to this news service (or to subscribe
or unsubscribe) - contact Philip Booth on 01453 755451 E-mail:
<philip.booth2@virgin.net>.
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