|
|
|
GNN ISSUE 10: 12-May-2005 |
|
|
A free monthly email newsletter that provides green news and views so that together we can create a better world.
....................................................
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"Aspire not to have more, but to be more."
Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated 24/03/1980 while saying Mass.
"It seems as though our situation is not yet sufficiently critical to mobilize the collective attention of people around the world. It seems likely, however, that we will soon encounter enough pressure from adversity trends to force us to wake up to our time of choice: Will we or will we not collectively take responsibility for the health of the human family and our planet?"
Duane Elgin, Promise Ahead
......................................................
FEATURE ITEM - THE BRITISH ELECTION
1. CLIMATE CHANGE UPDATE
2. TRANSPORT CHOKING THE PLANET
3. IRAQ - LEGALITY, INSECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
4. DISASTER CAPITALISM, STAR WARS AND MORE
5. ANIMALS
6. HEALTH
7. WORLD TRADE PLUS 'SHAMEFUL ATTACK' ON ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
8. FOOD: PESTICIDES, SUPERMARKETS AND MORE
9. NUCLEAR UPDATES - LIB DEMS TO GO NUCLEAR?
10. MOST COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE STATE OF THE PLANET
11. NEPAL'S WAR WITHOUT END
12. US BLOCKADE OF CUBA SHOWS NEED FOR RADICAL REFORM
13. LABOUR'S HUMAN RIGHTS
14. GREEN PARTY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
ACTION - PUT GREEN INTO TRADE
ACTION - PETITION FOR MAKE MY VOTE COUNT IS STILL RUNNING
......................................................
FEATURE ITEM - THE BRITISH ELECTION
We have a parliament which is clearly failing to represent the diversity of the electorate. Many people care enough to vote Green or for other smaller parties yet their voices are unheard. No wonder people feel disenchanted with the political system when it fails to deliver what they want, from inaction on Iraq and climate change to increasing our capital by the sell-off of public services. The majority are fed up with the business-as-usual politics at Westminster. In 1997 Tony Blair promised to have a referendum on PR and it's well overdue." Keith Taylor, principal speaker of the Green Party
Never before in British electoral history has so much power been secured with so few votes. Labour claimed their majority of 67 seats with little more than 35% of the vote - only 21% of the total electorate - and are the first government whose number of votes is exceeded by the number of abstentions. They have 158 more seats than the Tories who only polled 3% less than them! Indeed the Conservatives gained a net 33 seats on the back of a rise in the popular vote of around 0.6%. The Liberal Democrats increased both their share of the vote, to 22%, and their number of seats, to 62. Greens - who received their best ever general election result, with on average, 3.4% of the vote in their 202 constituencies, and as much as 22% in, for example, Brighton - are still waiting for their first representative in parliament.
Tony Blair in Labour's 1997 Manifesto said: "We are committed to a referendum on the voting system. An independent commission on voting will ... recommend a proportional alternative to the first-past-the-post system."
Labour, despite not delivering on this pledge (repeated again in 2001), at this election called on people to vote tactically. They claimed that if 1 in 10 Labour voters went to the Liberal Democrats, the result would be a Tory Government. In the end more than 1 in 10 Labour voters did swing to the Liberals but the Conservatives did not win by a long shot.
Failing to deliver an election promise is unlikely to break any law in this country. Certainly that is the case in Canada where Ontario Superior Court Judge Paul Rouleau has absolved Ontario premier Dalton McGinty of breaking an elaborately signed contract that promised not to raise or create new taxes. The judge said that anyone who believes a campaign promise is naive about the democratic system, and that it is up to voters, not the courts, to punish governments who fib and fabricate!
Current system fails
Not only does first past the post misrepresent each party's share of the vote, it also distorts people's behaviour, forcing them to vote tactically, and not for what they really believe in. "Fear voting" and the myth of the wasted vote are the single greatest barriers to a Green voice in Westminster. On every doorstep we were told that people desperately wanted a Green voice in Westminster, but were forced to cast a "fear vote" - to keep one or other of the parties out - instead of a positive vote for what they believed in!
Some key issues did not feature in the election at all. Only one key press conference by the Lib Dems was on the environment, neither Tories or Labour dared to focus on it in any of their key press conferences. The media was happy to go along with this. See Caroline Lucas article on this in the next section of GNN.
PR: the way forward
PR comes in many forms and the variations mean that while there is huge opposition from all quarters to the current system there is much less agreement on what should replace it. One system would divide the country into 12 regions, just as it is in European elections, and seats are allocated in accordance with each party's share of the vote in each region with the assumption that a party has to win 5 per cent of the vote in a region before it wins any seats. Under this, Labour's 247 seats would be reduced by 109. The Liberal Democrats would have 148 ie 86 more and the Conservatives, with 217 seats, would be 19 better off. This result is not perfectly proportional. With 38 per cent of the seats, Labour would still have a slight advantage, but Labour would no longer have a majority. A coalition would be formed by parties that between them won over 50 per cent of the vote.
Greens support an Additional Member System, which allows people one vote for their constituency MP, and one vote for the party that they really believe in. It is successfully used in German and Scottish parliament and London Assembly elections - giving each voter a constituency vote and a "top-up" vote. MPs would be elected from constituencies as at present, but each party's representation would be topped up on a regional basis by additional members to bring its number of seats up to its proportion of votes polled, provided that proportion was above a minimum qualifying level.
There are other systems that might be used. Another possibility is the Single Transferable Vote, supported by Lib Dems but not seen as truly proportional by many. This is where in constituencies that elect between, say, three and six MPs, voters do not just say which candidate they like best, but place the candidates in order of preference. It is already used in Northern Ireland for all elections other than to the House of Commons, and will be used in Scottish local elections from 2007. However this works against smaller parties like the Greens and would benefit Labour and the Liberal Democrats - Labour would still have a 98 majority. No doubt the willingness of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters to support each other's candidates may help to explain why some in the Labour Party, including Peter Hain, favour a variant of STV known as the Alternative Vote.
Critics of proportional representation who argue passionately against the fact that it tends to force parties into coalition and compromise must face up to the fact that 21st century politics is headed that way whichever system is used. Sign petition - see ACTION below nearly at the bottom of this email.
Local results
For a London based media it's easy to get swept up in the General Election and forget that local elections were held all over England on May 5th as well. Results are now in across the counties, the Conservatives have cemented their position as the biggest party of local government, with 24 of the 37 councils elected, while the Liberal Democrats have made advances, they now control of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, despite not running any counties beforehand. The number of NOC councils (in No Overall Control) has plummeted, from 13 (around a third) to 4 (about 10%). The Greens made a net gain of 6 seats in the often larger, and therefore more difficult to win, County Divisions. 8 County seats have been won overall and none lost. Oxford Green Party now holds 12 seats, 7 on Oxford City Council and 5 on Oxfordshire County Council.
Green vote in elections:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4519869.stm
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/1976
UK Election Result Good for Gay Rights Says OutRage!
http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2005may/0601.htm
Ukip goes Green in C4 election blunder:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,12123,1473552,00.html
Galloway and the abusive Paxman interview:
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php
Tony Blair won't be re-elected on Thursday. However, he will remain in office. Blair doesn't want to be Prime Minister. He wants to be governor in London of America's 51st state. Read Greg Palast at:
www.GregPalast.com
......................................................
1. CLIMATE CHANGE UPDATE
- One of the world's leading energy analysts yesterday called for an independent assessment of global oil reserves because he believed that Middle Eastern countries may have far less than officially stated and that oil prices could double to more than $100 a barrel within three years, triggering economic collapse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1470330,00.html
- David Bellamy's inaccurate and selective figures of glacier shrinkage are a boon to climate change deniers. The World Glacier Monitoring Service say: "Despite his scientific reputation, he makes all the mistakes that are possible." Read Monbiot at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1480376,00.html
- Climate change poses a greater threat than terrorism, yet it has barely registered as an election issue - excellent Guardian article by Caroline Lucas:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1474641,00.html
- The May edition of Mother Jones, As The World Burns includes a chart of think tanks that receive funding from ExxonMobil. It makes fascinating reading.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/exxon_chart.html
Call ExxonMobil to account: http://www.stopexxonmobil.org/
- Greenpeace volunteers scaled the roof of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's house, in the week before the election, to install solar panels and deliver the message: "Oi, 2 Jags, hit targets not voters!" The Deputy PM says climate change is a grave threat to Britain and lectures the world about the need to tackle it, but when it comes to meeting climate targets he hasn’t got his house in order. The average British house is responsible for more greenhouse gas than the average car, with a quarter of climate damaging emissions coming from homes. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott could change all this by making sure the millions of new houses that will be built in coming years are 100% climate friendly and ensuring existing homes are a lot more energy efficient. But so far he's in danger of simply ensuring that the government misses all of its climate targets. Send an online fax to Prescott at:
http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=1762&s=gen
- The carbon counter - measures the second-by-second rise of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The global economy’s appetite for fossil fuels is accelerating. The good news is that it has been and continues to be repeatedly demonstrated that more efficient use of energy, new technology and more thoughtful forms of development sharply reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, at the same time as improving wellbeing and increasing profitability. The bad news is that powerful vested interests want to prevent this from happening, and that denial and indifference are pervasive.
http://opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2434.jsp
- Aubrey Meyer on the urge to converge: http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2462.jsp
- Mayer Hillman on the UK government's failings: http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2460.jsp
- Time to get down to business – Prof. Sir David King, chief scientific advisor to the UK government, says climate change is a real and present danger, requiring urgent and committed action.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2488.jsp
- The other CO2 problem – unchecked fossil fuel combustion is making the oceans more acidic. This could have catastrophic consequences:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2480.jsp
- Most climatologists are convinced that global warming is mainly due to humans, but we need critical evaluation and some scepticism:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2490.jsp
- Arctic Dreams – Sounds and pictures of a changing world by Max Eastely and David Buckland:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2483.jsp
- The UK roundtable – activists ask, have we failed? Where do we go from here?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2472.jsp
- Archbishop says "think green" - Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, intervened in the election calling on voters to give politicians electoral incentives to tackle environmental issues.
See: http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=630141
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/sermons_speeches/050426.htm
- Canada: Taxpayers bear brunt of weak Kyoto plan
http://main.greenparty.ca/index.php?module=announce&ANN_id=29&ANN_user_op=view
......................................................
2. TRANSPORT CHOKING THE PLANET
- The world’s transport system wastes lives, health, and money – and is choking the planet. Citizens need to take control, says the Green party's John Whitelegg: "3,000 people are killed every day in road-traffic accidents, air pollution from vehicles is bathing most if not all cities in a chemical soup and deaths from respiratory diseases exceed deaths in traffic accidents. This would be a high price to pay for a perfectly functioning transport system that delivers people and goods speedily and efficiently but this is not the case. All countries and cities spend a lot of money for a transport “solution” that has failed. In a rare example of global unity and shared experience car commuters in Los Angeles are stuck in traffic jams in the same way as they are in Bangkok, Delhi, Beijing and Rio.
"Donald Appleyard, in his famous book Livable Streets (1981), described how people living on streets with light traffic had more friends and acquaintances than people in cities with heavy traffic. They lived in more sociable, friendly and community-based environments. Citizens know this instinctively and seek out high-quality environments away from the noise, dirt and danger of cars and lorries. The problem is that this privilege is usually only available to the rich, which is why 90% of the people killed in road-traffic accidents are likely to be poor, cyclists, pedestrians or bus users in developing countries. Transport has become a socially polarised experience with poor people living in poor-quality environments whilst richer people drive past them, cocooned in their cars on the way to a rich variety of destinations inaccessible to the poor."
Another road is possible. Read more of John Whitelegg at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-129-2454.jsp
- New statistics - The Department for Transport has just released the 2005 Focus of Personal Travel statistics, which includes little gems such as: the proportion of households with access to one or more cars increased from 59 per cent in 1980 to 74 per cent in 2002; the average annual distance travelled by people as car drivers rose by 15 per cent during the 1990s; the average distance walked fell by 20 per cent during the 1990s; the distance travelled by bus declined by 11 per cent. Both declines reflect increased car use; Bus and rail fares rose by a third in real terms between 1980 and 2003; the overall cost of motoring remains at or below its 1980 level; The school run accounted for 21 per cent of car use in urban areas during peak times in the morning in 2002/03; the lowest levels of household car ownership were among single elderly people, where two thirds do not have access to a car, and single parents, where half are without a car. About 20 per cent of households without a car have difficulty accessing supermarkets or their doctor.
Check out the statistics on: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/page/dft_transstats_037492.hcsp
- Fuel protests - Despite fuel duty being frozen since 2000 and the urgent need to tackle transport's contribution to climate change, a handful of fuel protesters were out trying to make fuel prices an election issue. The protests were very small, unsupported, and annoyed the media as they had been promised something bigger. See Road Block press release at http://roadblock.org.uk/pressreleases.htm
......................................................
3. IRAQ - LEGALITY, INSECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
- The legality of the Iraq war explodes into the UK election:
Geoffrey Bindman dissects the tortuous case for war made by Tony Blair's chief legal officer:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-3-126-2423.jsp
Dan Plesch sheds fresh light on the shadowy UK/US
intelligence partnership:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-3-126-2450.jsp
- Greens legal advice to Tony Blair:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/content/view/547/2/
- Greg Palast - The facts were fixed:
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=426&row=0
Blair hit by leak of secret war plan:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1592904,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1592724,00.html
Proof Bush Fixed the Facts:
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/21945/
Burying the legal advice. How the media took the lead from the two main parties to move on from discussing Iraq. Read Medialens:
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/05/050504_burying_the_legal_part1.php
- Iraq’s state of insecurity - renewed insurgency, cowed security forces, and stuck politics. The current spiral of violence in Iraq is sending a long-term message to United States forces. Evidence suggests that we are still in the early years of a potentially decades-long conflict:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-2-2444.jsp
http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-2-2459.jsp
- Green Party of California mourns the loss of 'activist's activist' Marla Ruzicka in Iraq
http://www.gp.org/press/states/ca_2005_04_18b.html
- Journalism, Civil Liberties and the war on terrorism - Special report by the International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch. This 64 page report includes an analysis of current policy developments as well as a survey of 20 selected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin Amercia, the Middle East and the USA. Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary said: "An atmosphere of fear and uncertainty is being created and civil liberties are being torn to shreds, even in states with a reputation for tolerance and pluralism". Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director said: "This report is an alarm call to democracies. In the name of the 'politics of fear' we are in great danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society while the democratic values we have taken for granted are being sacrificed in the 'war on terrorism'".
Full-report/request printed copy: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2005/may/03ifj-statewatch.htm
......................................................
4. DISASTER CAPITALISM, STAR WARS AND MORE
- The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein - Disaster, it seems, is the new terra nullius - A group calling itself Thailand Tsunami Survivors and Supporters says that for "businessmen-politicians, the tsunami was the answer to their prayers, since it literally wiped these coastal areas clean of the communities which had previously stood in the way of their plans for resorts, hotels, casinos and shrimp farms. To them, all these coastal areas are now open land!" And Shalmali Guttal, a Bangalore-based researcher, said: "We used to have vulgar colonialism. Now we have sophisticated colonialism, and they call it 'reconstruction."
Read article at: http://www.alternet.org/story/21768/
- EU's arms embargo on China: Widespread opposition to lifting of arms embargo
http://greens-efa.org/en/press/detail.php?id=2438&lg=en
- Rocket Roulette - Unlike the rest of the planet, who generally agree that space should be used for peaceful and beneficial purposes, the US still think that it would make a nice location to fire missiles from. The fact that the US had signed the Anti-ballistic Missile treaty hasn't acted as an obstacle. Star Wars bases are being established all over the world including, thanks to Tony Blair, Britainhas contributed key sites at Flyingdales, the US ground-based radar in North Yorkshire and a communications installation at Menwith Hill. China with Russia are hoping to renew a new global veto on weapons in space. Fortunately despite $10 billion a year is being spent on star wars the missiles are refusing to take off. The US now accounts for 43% of world military spending and it seems they thought they'd save themselves a bit of cash, relying on commercially proven motors. These haven't worked.
More from SchNEWS at: www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news494.htm
And more at: www.stopstarwars.org/
- The Iranian government threatened to provoke a full-blown international crisis this week by confirming that it is to resume its suspended nuclear programme. Plus pressure to restart N Korea nuclear talks. Greens argue Iran could be persuaded to abandon its uranium enrichment activities with the offer of transferring renewable energy technologies to Tehran and similar fuel guarantees to North Korea could come in exchange for a renunciation of nuclear technology.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1481127,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1480141,00.html
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/content/view/553/2/
......................................................
5. ANIMALS
- UK: Labour 'broke pledges on animals'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4459719.stm
- Boycott of KFC continues with Pamela Anderson
http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/anderson-vid.asp?int=action_alert_enews
- EU states should stop using fish as feed in tuna farms, which risks spreading exotic viruses to the Mediterranean, environmental group WWF.
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30690/story.htm
And on Salmon farms threatening wild fish:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1447801,00.html
- Boycott the Eurovision Song Contest - Later this month the Ukrainian capital Kiev is to host the Eurovision Song Contest and the city is being "cleansed" of animals. Poisoned meet is being used. The Kiev animal rights group SKA (Stop Killing Animals)
say it's not just strays that are getting sick and dying, it's also pets, wild birds and other urban wildlife.
......................................................
6. HEALTH
- Brazil has rejected $40 million in U.S. funds for fighting AIDS because of demands that it condemn prostitution, a key participant in its flagship AIDS program. The move is seen by some observers as a rejection of Washington's head-in-the-sand linkage of neo-con morality and foreign aid.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/21965/
- School meals also an issue in New Zealand: 10 teaspoons of fat 20 of sugar for school lunch, survey shows:
http://greens.org.nz/searchdocs/PR8620.html
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_politics_story_skin/539402%3fformat=html
- Mental health: an 'unfinished revolution':
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1480529,00.html
......................................................
7. WORLD TRADE PLUS 'SHAMEFUL ATTACK' ON ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
- Consumer and Environmental Protection Under Threat In New Trade Talks - Governments including Japan, Korea, Mexico and the US are planning to use new World Trade Organization negotiations to dismantle a wide range of national laws protecting the environment, social well being and health. Laws they are seeking to dismantle include: register new and existing chemicals, conserve natural resources and promote local economic development in developing countries by restricting exports of forest and mineral products, ensure manufacturers collect and recycle scrapped cars, ban imports of skins from animals killed using inhumane hunting practices, ensure all home appliances are labelled showing their energy efficiency ratings, promote fuel efficiency by reducing taxes that `give a competitive advantage' to cars with small engines, ensure high standards for the certification of medicines, permit consumers to know which containers and products can be recycled and allow developing countries to direct and control foreign direct investment in the automobile and petroleum oils sectors.
Friends of the Earth International's Trade Campaigner Ronnie Hall said:"The WTO is finally showing its true colours. This is a breath-taking and shameful attack on social and environmental standards world-wide. Chemical pollution, climate change, deforestation, depleted fish stocks, waste - none of these seem to matter in the slightest when it comes to the all-important business of accessing new markets and making a quick buck. We simply - and literally - cannot allow the WTO to continue like this. Our future is at stake."
See more at:
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/consumer_and_environmental_15042005.html
- Euro-MPs have launched a parliamentary bid to block the appointment of leading US neo-con and Iraq war cheerleader Paul Wolfowitz to the top job at the World Bank. Green MEP Caroline Lucas said Mr Wolfowitz’s nomination was ‘an insult to
the world’s poor’. See: www.greenparty.org.uk
- The year 2004 was a milestone for the world economy, which grew by 5.1 percent—the fastest in nearly three decades. Among the leaders were China, expanding at 9.5 percent, Argentina at 9 percent, and India at 7.3 percent.
For entire text see http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Econ/2005.htm
- Greg Palast interviews' Ecuador's new President - sitting on more than 2 million barrles of oil - yet Ecuador is required to pay 70% of its new oil money to foreign bondholders. See exclusive interview and more at:
http://www.gregpalast.com/ecuador.html
- Adopt a chicken!! Trade justice video - Read the little fact cards:
http://www.mailorderchickens.org/
- Green MEPs help scrap Britain's "opt out" of 48 hr working week. Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London and Green Co-ordinator for Committee for Employment and Social Affairs, comments: "The Green vote represents a clear opposition to British long hours culture which poses a clear threat to workers health and safety. Unlike the other parties, Greens have consistently voted against the opt out clause in the European parliament, and we are delighted that Britain will no longer be able to opt out of letting its' workers work reasonable hours. Clear evidence suggests that the so called 'voluntary' opt-out has been abused by UK employers, and that long hours seriously compromise workers health and wellbeing, yet Greens were the only major UK party to consistently vote agains the opt-out clause."
See: www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk.
......................................................
8. FOOD: PESTICIDES, SUPERMARKETS AND MORE
- From the guy who swum one of Americas longest rivers: "I remember thinking, "If it takes swimming a contaminated river to get me to buy organic orange juice, what is it going to take the average person?" I never found a great answer, but I started playing with food examples in my public presentations. When folks asked me what they could do for their own creeks and rivers, I said, 'Shop for a clean river. Buy organic.' When they frowned at such a glib answer, I told them about the pesticides and about my swollen lymph node, and I pointed out that, in the aggregate, their total lifetime food purchases would likely dwarf their charitable contributions to environmental causes. 'Look,' I would say. 'If you pay another dollar for organic butter, you get cross, sure. So why do it? Because you are not just buying butter, you are creating an economic incentive for farmers to stop using the cancer-causing chemicals. That means cleaner creeks, cleaner air, healthier citizens, better wages for laborers, and viable family farms. And lots of you are donating to those causes already.' I told them that if I lived to be 77, and bought $500 of organic food every month, that one broke swimmer would contribute $250,000 to the cause of clean water during that time. People would nod, but I wasn't always sure I had them.
More at "An Aquatic Epiphany" By Christopher D. Swain, Resurgence
http://www.alternet.org/story/21908/
- Tesco made £65 profit every second last year and their bosses claim they are making customers shopping trips easy and less expensive. But it's what lies behind this 'success' that Tesco is trying to hide: monopoly, monotony and greed; destroying communities, the environment and working conditions in the process. Oh and the food's not great too. Read more in SchNEWS:
www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news493.htm
To find out more read Joanna Blythman's "Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets" and visit:
www.corporatewatch.org.uk
- Oil and food - From farm to plate, the modern food system relies heavily on cheap oil. Threats to our oil supply are also threats to our food supply. As food undergoes more processing and travels farther, the food system consumes ever more energy each year. The U.S. food system uses over 10 quadrillion Btu (10,551 quadrillion Joules) of energy each year, as much as France's total annual energy consumption. Growing food accounts for only one fifth of this. The other four fifths is used to move, process, package, sell, and store food after it leaves the farm. Some 28 percent of energy used in agriculture goes to fertilizer manufacturing, 7 percent goes to irrigation, and 34 percent isconsumed as diesel and gasoline by farm vehicles used to plant, till, and harvest crops. The rest goes to pesticide production, grain drying, and facility operations.
See more at: http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2005/Update48.htm
......................................................
9. NUCLEAR UPDATES - LIB DEMS TO GO NUCLEAR?
- This Tuesdays' Independent reports that Charles Kennedy, in his quest to ditch policies he believes are not vote winners, is now contemplating dropping the party's opposition to nuclear energy (now that the election is over of course). This will leave Greens as the only serious party taking a stand against nuclear power.
See Kennedy's musings at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=637183
Immediate return to nuclear ruled out:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1481051,00.html
- To make a significant contribution to energy supply nuclear energy would have to expand by such a scale that the lifetime of the uranium resource, along with issues such as the management of radioactive waste and the control of fissile materials, are always going to be problematic. Unlike plant safety or the emission of radioactivity, which can be controlled through better engineering or management, the basic issue of how much energy can be produced from nuclear sources is limited by physical laws and the scale of current global energy demand.
See Paul Mobbs' paper, "Uranium Supply and the Nuclear Option, March 2005" also "Energy Beyond Oil" at:
http://www.fraw.org.uk/mobbsey/index.html
- Good article: Melting Down the Myths - Might we really need nuclear power? Hannah Bullock cuts through seven layers of loose thinking in search of a firm conclusion:
http://www.greenfutures.org.uk/features/default.asp?id=2157
- Chernobyl is in Ukraine - so you'd think they'd think twice about new nuclear weapons but, overturning a previous resolution banning new nuclear development, in 1993 the moratorium was cancelled, and nuclear projects were renewed. They used Chernobyl as a tool of shameless political bargaining. Western governments and international bodies, which insisted on the closure of Chernobyl, were told it would only be possible after receiving the funds needed for K2/R4. Loans from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development will be used. A nice cosy deal: Europe gets cheap energy, the
Ukrainian government some cash for exporting energy they don't need, Western companies get contracts. The Ukrainian people have the loans and debts to repay, 15 nuclear power stations and three nuclear waste storages. Read more about Russia and Belarus in SchNEWS:
www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news495.htm
And check out: www.bankwatch.org
- Nuclear plans slated amid emergency closure - Euro-MPs have demanded the UK government launches an immediate inquiry and abandons plans to commission a ‘new generation’ of nuclear power stations after the THORP nuclear reprocessing facility at Sellafield was closed down following a massive radioactive leak. Green MEP Caroline Lucas said the accident highlighted the daily health, security and environmental risks of the nuclear power industry:
http://www.greenconsumerguide.com/index.php?news=2563
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,1479527,00.html
www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
- No Nukes Is Good Nukes - An interview with longtime anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott:
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/05/03/dicum-caldicott/index.html
......................................................
10. MOST COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE STATE OF THE PLANET
The report found that growing populations and expanding economic activity have strained the planet's ecosystems over the past half century, threatening international efforts to combat poverty and disease. The landmark study reveals that some two-thirds of the world's ecosystems that support life on Earth - such as fresh water, fisheries, and air, water and climate regulation - are being degraded or used unsustainably. These trends are projected to worsen if policy responses are not forthcoming.
- 1360 scientists in 95 countries using over 16,000 satellite photos, and analysis of a wide range of statistics and scientific journals and backed by the United Nations and the World Bank.
- fisheries and supplies of fresh water are now so degraded that they are already well beyond levels that can sustain existing demands, let alone provide for future needs. At least a quarter of all fish stocks are overharvested. In some areas, the catch is now less than a hundredth of that before industrial fishing. An estimated 90% of the total weight of the ocean's large predators - tuna, swordfish and sharks - has disappeared in recent years.
- an estimated 12% of bird species, 25% of mammals and more than 30% of all amphibians are threatened with extinction within the next century. Some of them are threatened by invaders.The Baltic Sea is now home to 100 creatures from other parts of the world, a third of them native to the Great Lakes of America. Conversely, a third of the 170 alien species in the Great Lakes are originally from the Baltic. Invaders can make dramatic changes: the arrival of the American comb jellyfish in the Black Sea led to the destruction of 26 commercially important stocks of fish.
- 60 per cent of the planet's natural products and processes that support life such as water purification - are being degraded or used unsustainably.
- water withdrawals from lakes and rivers has doubled in the last 40 years. Humans now use between 40% and 50% of all available freshwater running off the land.
- the degradation increases the risk of abrupt and drastic changes such as climate shifts.
- an estimated 24% of the Earth's land surface is now cultivated.·
- since 1980, about 35% of mangroves have been lost, 20% of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed and another 20% badly degraded.
- deforestation and other changes could increase the risks of malaria and cholera, and open the way for new and so far unknown disease to emerge.
The Millennium Assessment concludes: 'human activities threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations'. According to the report we have 5 or 10 years to start making the changes - or it will be too late. The report lists 74 actions needed. See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4391835.stm
http://www.EcologicalInternet.org/
http://www.millenniumassessment.org/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1447863,00.html
......................................................
11. NEPAL'S WAR WITHOUT END
- Nepal is teetering on the edge of becoming a failed state as a result of the 1 February military takeover by King Gyanendra. A new phase in the nine-year civil war is imminent, one with the potential to create a regional hotspot that could drag in India and China.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-3-33-2436.jsp
http://www.opendemocracy.org/debates/article-3-33-2477.jsp
- Fighting the bloodiest since King Gyanendra seized power three months ago - India ends arms ban on Nepal:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1481007,00.html
......................................................
12. US BLOCKADE OF CUBA SHOWS NEED FOR RADICAL REFORM
From Richard Lawson: The annual US-driven condemnation of Cuba by the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) has just taken place, enabling America to justify its blockade of its Communist island neighbour. Cuba does commit human rights violations – but then, so does America. Some of America’s violations occur, ironically, on the island of Cuba, at Guantanamo Bay, while others take place in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in arrests and kidnappings of suspects around the globe, who are then “rendered” to countries where the CIA hopes that useful information will be extracted from them by torture. There have been no verified accounts of torture in Cuba since 1959.
This ridiculous and hypocritical charade in the UNHCR shows the extent to which politics corrupts the important process of making accurate and objective judgements about human rights abuses by governments. The UN needs to reform the procedure by taking it out of the hands of politically driven committees and entrusting it to a specialist agency which can collate, evaluate and index human rights abuses in every country in the world, not just a few countries chosen arbitrarily by America for purposes of political convenience.
The resulting Index of Human Rights, put forward annually as an official UN publication, would have the same effect that league tables have on hospitals and schools. They would be unpopular, and countries would complain that they had been unfairly assessed. In response to this, the UN could fix a time to come and inspect their prisons. Prior to the inspections, regimes would release prisoners in order to obtain a better score. In this way, the sheer existence of the Index of Human Rights Abuses would lead to a lessening of the burden of injustice and oppression throughout the world. There would be other beneficial effects, as people could check on the Index before booking their holidays, or choosing which of two similar countries to trade with and could choose not to deal with countries which were not scoring well.
When well established, the Index could be used as the basis for legal investigations of the worst performers, providing another motive for abusive regimes to clean up their act.
The UN is beginning of a process of self reform. Much of the reforms will be driven by its own bureaucrats and national representatives . No abusive Government is going to vote for an Index of Human Rights that will cramp its style. The impulse for the Index must come from civil society – from concerned, intelligent citizens, and from the Non Governmental Organisations like Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and the World Development Movement. It will be a long campaign to establish the Index, but the journey of 10,000 miles must start with a single step – and America’s absurd machinations over Cuba are as good a place as any to start the process.
See Richard Lawson's blog:
http://greenerblog.blogspot.com/
US lies about Cuba - and Cuba's willingness to work with EU:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1474598,00.html
US embargo against Cuba scuppers Britons' holidays:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1480153,00.html
......................................................
13. LABOUR'S HUMAN RIGHTS
One of the last acts of Neo Labour before announcing the General Election was to clampdown even more on protests. Hidden in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill are clauses relating to 'behaviour in the vicinity of Parliament' primarily aimed at removing Brian Haw, the Parliament Square peace protestor, who has spent nearly 4 years in a continuous anti-war protest vigil opposite the Houses of Parliament. Other measures have also been included that will no doubt have wide-ranging implications on protest elsewhere.
Brian won a landmark High Court case to carry on his protest in October 2002 and has been supported by many including Green party members. This latest action by Labour will have implications for Brian, but also will seriously curtail the rights of everyone to protest in Central London, whatever the issue. Demonstrators will now have to give 6 days notice (or 24 hours if not 'reasonably practical' to give 6 days) to the Metropolitan Commissioner, who will say whether a protest may go ahead and, if so, under what restrictions. These restrictions include how many people may turn up and how many placards they may carry. Restrictions may be placed if the protest is seen as likely to cause a 'disruption to the community'. As most protest causes some disruption by its very nature, this law will have wide-ranging implications. A single police officer may be able to change any of the restrictions at the time of the protest. The restrictions will apply to any protest within 1km of Parliament Square, covering all government buildings and much else besides. The penalties for breaching the restrictions are severe - up to a year in prison and substantial fines.
The Human Rights organisation Liberty say that they cannot see how these measures "can be compatible with Article 11 of the Human Rights Act (the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association)." As Baroness Shirley Williams said it was "bizarre and ironic" that such rights to protest are "praised in the Lebanon, in the Ukraine, in Kyrgyzstan and elsewhere" but "we are now beginning to make (them) almost impossible in our own country."
- People are needed to join a rota to defend any threatened eviction of Brian Haw - see:
www.parliament-square.org.uk
www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news493.htm
- A report on democracy, rights and trust in politics. A look at the different parties policies:
http://www.new-politics.net/general-election/20050429040043.pdf
- During the general election campaign, Government ministers have repeatedly vowed that bringing back the "ID cards" legislation would be a priority for the new parliament. The reduced majority, and the fact that it is given by the smallest ever vote for a winning party, means there is no plausible mandate for a radical change to our whole way of life without proper scrutiny. If MPs and the media can be made to take the matter seriously, parliament will reject another rash attempt to force through enabling legislation.
See: http://www.no2id.net/
- The exceptional and draconian become the norm - G8 and EU counter-terrorism plans - Statewatch analysis:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2005/mar/exceptional-and-draconian.pdf
......................................................
14. GREEN PARTY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Germany: Greens demand withdrawal of US nuclear arms
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=19694
Germany: Choice of pope 'joyful news' for many Germans
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/04/19/news/react.html
Among those who expressed disappointment were Christa Nickels, a member of the Green Party in coalition with Schröder's Social Democrats. She told the newspaper Berliner Zeitung: "Ratzinger was very hard-line against people of different convictions. He has buried the hopes of many women, of Catholic reformers and lay people."
Sweden: Green Party split on feminist approach
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1383&date=20050505
Finland: KOK Drops, Governing Alliance Firm In Finland - poll
Green League is on 9.6%
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=6822
Canada: The growing greens
http://www.macleans.ca/switchboard/columnists/article.jsp?content=20050509_105130_105130
http://thetyee.ca/News/2004/12/10/WhereWillGreenVotersGo/
http://www.whistlerquestion.com/madison%5CWQuestion.nsf/0/AA94F9116136BDE488256FF80063587E?OpenDocument
Australia: Bob Brown – world’s most inspired politician
http://www.commonground.ca/iss/0505166/cg166_BobBrown.shtml
Australia: Treasurer set to take from the poor
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15237968-5000198,00.html
New Zealand: Greens criticise Thai deal
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_business_story_skin/508820%3fformat=html
http://greens.org.nz/searchdocs/PR8551.html
New Zealand: Rape is rape no matter what gender the victim is
http://greens.org.nz/searchdocs/PR8539.html
USA: The Biggest Media Sin
http://www.gp.org/articles/smith_sam_2005_04_27.html
...........................................................................
ACTION - PUT GREEN INTO TRADE
When Peter Mandelson started his job as the EU's new Trade Commissioner, he inherited a European temple of trade built upon three pillars: economic, social and environmental. Or in other words, EU trade policy would generally try to consider the needs of each although the last two of those always lost out to some extent. Mandy however reckons trade policy should put the needs of big business clearly above all of these and only consider social and environmental issues if they improve business competitiveness.
For example, if big business thought that risk assessments on chemicals would eat too much into their profits, then weakening the testing requirements could take priority over people's health. Friends of the Earth think Mandelson should know that without the social and environmental pillars, his trade temple will fall down. The green needs to be put back into trade to ensure that the trade system works for the environment and people, and doesn’t only benefit big business.
Email Mandelson now:
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/global_trade/press_for_change/email_mandy/index.html
Also tell Tony Blair you want Green Trade Justice. Current trade under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is widening gaps between rich and poor, stripping rights from people and plundering the Earth’s natural resources. Rich countries and big business are forcing their agenda of free trade and open markets upon the world, but this model is failing with devastating results. Email him now:
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/global_trade/press_for_change/trade_justice/index.html
........................................................................
ACTION - PETITION FOR MAKE MY VOTE COUNT IS STILL RUNNING
Make Votes Count is the coalition that campaigns for referendum on a more representative voting system. It has brought together all the organisations campaigning for reform, these are: Charter88, Christian Socialist Movement, Electoral Reform Society, Fawcett Society, Green Party, Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, the Liberal Democrats, New Politics Network, and Plaid Cymru. Make Votes Count also has over ten thousand individual supporters.
Our goal is to reform the House of Commons with a voting system that balances the principles of:
* Broad proportionality
* Stable government
* Extending voter choice
* Maintaining a constituency link.
Go to: http://www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/about.html
..........................................
GNN has grown out of a Green news service first established on 13th November 2001. To contribute to this news service (or to subscribe or unsubscribe) - contact the editor, Philip Booth on 01453 755451 E-mail: <philip.booth2@virgin.net>.
|
|
|
Home 
News 
