Magazine Issue 4: Babylonian Times

Magazine Issue 4 - Summer 1997

Babylonian Times

If Smells could Kill...
French actress Emmanuelle Beart - star of Manon de Sources - was recently photographed being removed by police from a Paris church where she had been protesting alongside visaless Malians on hunger strike against the French govemment's plans to ship them home. The house of Christian Dior, who pay Emmanuelle to wear their products, are now threatening not to renew her contract and replace her with Isabelle Adjani. The reason? Apparently Dior was upset not so much with the political protest as by the fact that Beart - pale from lack of sleep - was not sporting any make-up at the time. -Guardian, 5-4-97

Charity begins at Lloyds
By donating less than 1% of their record profits to charity Lloyds TSB are set to overtake Glaxo Wellcome as the UK's largest cash giver with handouts set to top £60m over the next three years. This record breaking generosity is the result of Lloyds' takeover of TSB last year. TSB came complete with four charitable foundations and rules committing the bank to pay out 1% of the mean profits of the previous three years. See p.26 for more tales of kindness from the Black Sheep (I mean Horse). Other top donors include British Telecom, NatWest, M&S, Barclays, and BP. - Guardian 8-3-97

When the Shit hits the can
Zeneca Plc has quietly applied to the Govemment for permission to sell their genetically manipulated 'longlife' tomatoes in the UK. If they succeed, the majority of tinned tomatoes on our supermarket shelves will be genetically modified within two years. This tomato includes an antibiotic resistant gene, prompting fears that natural gene transfer with bacteria could create a 'superbug'. Thanks, Zeneca! Coincidentally, Zeneca are also facing legal action for dumping millions of gallons of largely untreated sewage into the Carron estuary near Grangemouth after a chemical plant accident discharged effluent into a nearby sewage works. - Independent 22-2-97 & Scotsman 18-3-97

No Greenwash about it
Corporate Watch is mightily impressed to learn that Shell has finally changed its ways and committed itself to sustainable development. Shell wished to address the problems of localised and global environmental damage, said spokesman for the Royal Dutch/ Shell Group, Cor Herkstroeter. "Shell companies will commit themselves to pursuing the goals of causing no harm to people and to protecting the environment...As with our business principles, new procedures are being adopted to help ensure that our deeds match our aspire lions," he told an audience of business students at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He added that Shell realised energy emissions risked changing the global climate, making action essential. Shell has now ended all oil production and distribution. All companies withir the Group are breaking up into locally based co-ops producing organic veggitables. paperweights and ethnic knick-knack~ Plans are being considered to tum Shellhaven refinery into a theme park (John Jennings models jesus sandals, P.94)- Roosters 17-3-97

What could be more natural?
Gale's Honey, a branch of the monstrous Nestle corporation, are collaborating with the National Trust in a three year sponsorship deal. In exchange for publicity and help with meadow conservation initiatives, the NT will be promoting Nestle and allowing Gale's to "add value" to their brand with the "natural, wholesome" image of the Trust. "We are proud to be associated with the National Trust, " says Gale's. "The sponsorship demonstrates our commitment to the environment." One wonders how proud the NT are to be associated with an earth-raping multinational long stigmatised for its association with child deaths in the developing world... - Grocer 22-3-97

BP gets Heavy with Greenpeace
Greenpeace has been warned by BP that direct action against the new Foinaven oil field will result in legal action. In a scruffy hand written note passed to Peter Melchett during a meeting, Chief Exec of BP and home-loving mother's boy, John Browne, warned that stopping oil production would cost _1.5m per day. Greenpeace, who will not comment on future actions, allege that rumours of direct action had actually been started by BP. Greenpeace had its application to manage the Atlantic Frontier oilf~elds turned down by the Dti on the grounds that it intended to leave all the oil where it was. The Herald 24-3-97 & Reuters 25-3-97

World Leaders' Secret Summit
You wont be hearing about this on the news, but on the 12th June, at the Renaissance Pine Isle Resort, 50 miles from Atlanta Georgia, The Bilderberg Group held their annual AGM. This exclusive club of 120 men (and they are all men...) is made up of the fattest of cats from our western Plutocracy. Forget governments - these are the people who really rule the world. Last years members included the president of the World Bank, Barclay's CEO, the director of News Corporation, Reuters' CEO, the chairmen of Ford and Unilever, and several heads of state. No, they will not be deciding how to end the arms trade, stop global warming or halt the extinction crisis - instead they will be taking measures to increase the group's secrecy, fast track european monetary union, and further extend the influence of TNCs and big banks over western politics. One cannot help but be a little suspicious...

Worst of the worst
A Sunday Times investigation has identified ICI as the worst polluter in the UK. Their Runcorn chemical factory on Merseyside, was found to have broken the law an astonishing 472 times since 1995, with frequent releases of toxic chemicals into neighbouring communities. In spite of a _1bn environmental improvement programme announced six years ago ICI has still been the subject of at least 16 formal legal actions brought by the government in that time. Other repeat offenders discovered by the Sunday Times include Blue Circle, Castle Cement, Rhone-Poulenc, and Coalite. Michael Meacher subsequently criticised the Environment Agency for failing to effectively punish offenders. "I made it clear that I expect the agency to take a tougher line on enforcement and prosecution in future," he said. -The Heald 24-3-97 & Reuters 25-3-97

Store wars
While supermarket giants Tes co and Sainsbury are colonising ever more of the food market by now offering banking services to customers (Tesco in conjunction with Royal Bank of Scotland and Sainsbury with Bank of Scotland), the rebel alliance is growing. C of E priest John Papworth spoke out in March to say that it is not necessarily a sin to steal from large superstores, as it constitutes "a badly needed reallocation of economic resources". He described the Church of England as "spiritually deficient" for not highlighting the evil of large superstores, and added "Jesus said love your neighbour; he didn't say love M&S". [Radio 4, Ipm News, 15/3/97]. Then this month Britain's 8,000 chippies agreed at the National Federation of Fish Fryers conference to oppose out-of-town stores. - Guardian, 14-5-97 (See 'What's wrong with Tesco?', CW issue 3).

In Brief
The UK Steel Association has urged Chancellor Gordon Brown to block EU energy tax proposals at the finance ministers meeting. I wonder why...?
Guiness and Grand Metropolitan have agreed a £22bn merger to form GMG Brands, which will be the worlds 7th largest food and drinks producer, and the UK's 8th largest company, and will have a virtual monopoly over UK spirit brands.
A joint report by English Nature, RSPB and the Joint Nature Conservancy Council blames the vast decline in the populations of 11 once common species of British Birds on pesticides, which kill their insect prey. The species include Lapwing, Swallow, Skylark, Turtle Dove, Grey Partridge and Blackbird

Nestle get Nasty with Netscafe
The owner of a small cybercafe in Gloucestershire has been threatened with legal action by the odious Nestle corpo ration. Apparently the cafe's name, Netscafe, infringes the copyright on Nestle's Nastycafe brand of coffee. The cafe owner has said he will not back down. Another blow to the nasty ones was delivered by Edinburgh University students. Like many other universities they recently voted to ban all Nestle products from their campus in response to Nestle's appalling baby milk "marketing" in the Third World.

About Trucking Time!
Somewhere in the Freight Transport Association a brain cell is stirring... At the FTA conference in March, Alan Jones, boss of TNT UK, wamed that, "We have got too many roads, and are in danger of concreting over the country." He went on to identify the culprit in increasing congestion - private car owners. They must be stopped or the lorries will never get through. - International Freighting Weekly 10-3-97

Nuclear Beer
Scottish Nuclear noticed "an anomaly" on February 20th when it was discovered that a leak of radioactive CO2 might have contaminated a tanker used for the carbonation of beer for three Scottish breweries and a Coca-Cola manufacturer. Whilst slightly raised levels of radioactivity were found in cylinders at the Alloa CarlsbergTetley plant the public has been assured that no dangerous levels have escaped. - Guardian 6-3- 97 & 8-3-97

Curse of the Borneo Gold
Within days of the mysterious death of chief geologist, Michael de Guzman, Canadian mining company Bre-X' shares had crashed from an all time high to stock-market suspension at 10 cents each. On March 19th de Guzman, who had been overseeing Bre-X' giant gold discovery in the jungles of Kalimantan, plunged to his death from a helicopter. The Indonesian authorities concluded that he had taken his own life. One week later an independent report on the gold find, which had been thought to be possibly the largest ever discovered, found gold deposits to be "insignificant". The affair has since been branded a hoax. The Indonesian government has now frozen Bre-X' activities in Borneo and has begun a fraud investigation. - Jakarta Post 25~27&30-3-97 & Guardian 7&9-5-97 (from 'Solly', CW's S.E.Asian correspondent)

Sea Empress update
While the Sea Empress has been repaired at a cost of £20m (none of which will be paid by the guilty parties) and renamed Sea Spirit, the Environment Agency has finally decided that it will prosecute over the spill. Details yet to be released; it is thought that prosecutions will be against the Ministry of Transport and the Milford Haven Port Authority.