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NEWS
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July 19th 2001 Byers does a U-turn on the bypass Transport Minister Stephen Byers endangered traffic last week by pulling a swift U-turn on the Hastings bypass. Indicating that even motoring-mad New Labour can occasionally see the light, he has withdrawn plans to build two bypasses around the ancient Sussex town, through an area of outstanding natural beauty. Full story 'Smoking is good for your [economy’s] health’ According to a new report released this week by consulting firm Arthur D Little International, smoking may in fact be beneficial to the economy, as smokers who die young use less public services than they would if they lived past retirement. Full story Campaigns - Policy that stinks With foot and mouth disappeared from the mainstream media – cases continuing at the same level as just before the election no longer ‘count’ it seems – the slaughter policy is still spreading its poison around the country. The carcasses continue to mount up – and many of them are being dumped on a site just outside Tow Law, near Bishop Auckland, to spread toxic gases around the surrounding area. Full story Editorial - Greenwash and GO! Positive engagement types were no doubt intially overjoyed at last week’s launch of the FTSE4Good Index, intended to provide a guide for ethical investors. Good idea, you may think, except that only about a third of the companies currently in the FTSE All-Share are excluded. Full story Cop 6.5 – fiddling while the world sinks While the climate talks in Bonn drown in the diplomatic doldrums, with the US insisting they want carbon sinks ( but really wanting OIL), actions are taking place around the world to pressure governments to get serious on climate change. Full story Around the Web GM safety standards at risk…Bayer in Aventis takeover bid…Exxon in Indonesia…Relaxing rules on marketing prescription drugs…Plutomiun stolen from German nuclear plant…Reporting violence in the corporate media. Read on CORRECTION In the news updates on 6/7/01, in the report ‘Toxic Waste for All (1)’ we wrote that Newport council is a Labour-Lib Dem coalition, with both parties supporting the planned move of Durham Road School to a former toxic waste dump. We have since been informed that Newport council is Labour controlled and the Lib Dem opposition is against the move. The information provided in the article on the parallel case involving Conwy Council – that it is a Labour-Lib Dem coalition with both parties supporting the move of Ysgol John Bright – is correct. We apologise for any confusion caused. |
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| July 6th 2001 Toxic Waste for All (1) Parents and children at two Welsh schools are getting increasinly concerned about their helath – and the health of the democratic process – in the light of plans to move the schools to sites previously used for dumping toxic waste. Read more Toxic waste for all (2) BBC’s Newsnight revealed this week that incinerator ash contaminated with cancer-causing dioxins from burned PVC has been used in construction materials. The toxic ash was scattered on allotments (helping it straight into the food chain…), used to build a bypass at Waltham Abbey and car parks at the Ford factory in Dagenham, Essex as well as incorporated into blocks widely used in the building industry. Read more Brazil victory in drugs battle The US pharmaceuticals lobby were wringing their hands last week after the US government withdrew its patent infringement claim against Brazil. Brazil is now effectively free to continue its enormously successful AIDS treatment programme, which, by relying on cheap locally-produced versions of patented drugs, has managed to cut AIDS deaths by half since 1995. Read more Ilisu dam EIA released The long awaited Environmental Impact Assessment of the Ilisu Dam was released this week. According to the Ilisu Dam Campaign, a preliminary review of the EIA summary suggests that it fails to provide assurance that the UK Government conditions of December 1999 will be met. Read more Bush announces oilfields plan George Bush has announced plans to further reward the oil companies who funded his campaign by opening up one and a half million acres (nearly 600,000 ha.)of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling. Read more Car lobby attempts to block safety rules Car manufacturers appear to have succeeded in convincing EU Enterprise Commissioner Erkii Liikanen to let them run a voluntery code for safety improvements in vehicle design rather than legislating. Safety campaigners have been pressing for EU laws to enforce design improvements to bonnets and bumpers which it is estimated could save over 2000 lives of pedestrians and cyclists a year. Read more Co-op moves to restrict pesticide use In a move that sets it apart from the usual run of supermarkets, the Co-op announced this week that it is banning the use of over 20 common pesticides on its fresh produce and restricting about 30 more. It took the decision based on surveys showing over 70% of their customers are concerned about pesticides in food. Read more Genetix RoundUp ™ Decontaminations across Europe…all Aventis NSL trials in England destroyed…acquittals for crop-pullers in Dorset and Essex…Wivenhoe rally…Aventis in secrecy shocker… Read more Book Review - Taming Global Financial Flows – A Citizen’s Guide by Kavaljit Singh Ever since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in 1970s there has been an explosive increase in global financial flows. Today, $1.49 trillion is traded on the foreign exchange markets alone every day. Singh’s book looks at how this works and what people can do about it. Read more Link of the fortnight: Focus on the Corporation – a weekly column by Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, and Robert Weissman, editor of Multinational Monitor magazine. Latest column: here Get info, subscribe to the column on email, or read old columns: here Around the Web: Commons pension fund invests in BAe…Occidental in Colombia…CCTV in Manchester…Corporate Europe Observer…privatised schools… Read more |
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| June 23 2001 Exxon Mobil on torture charges The world’s largest oil company, Exxon Mobil, is to face charges of complicity in human rights abuses in Aceh province, Indonesia. The US-based International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) is bringing the charges in Washington on behalf of 11 Acehnese villagers, holding Exxon Mobil accountable for torture, murder, imprisonment and sexual abuse by members of the Indonesian army unit assigned to protect Exxon’s operations Read more The EU meeting in Gothenburg comment by a Swedish activist – For 3 days the EU summit in Gothenburg was the number one news item in the UK. But we have heard scarcely any analysis of the summit itself. What came out of the great event that would tackle EU enlargement and the oxymoron of ‘environmentally-friendly economic growth’? Read more Campaigns – Muckdollars Welsh farmers and Gwynedd and Mon EF! take on McDonalds in Bangor… read more Around the Web – government plans to end public enquiries…Tories’ business backers…Brighton binmen beat SITA…Gap marketing…corporations and the California energy crisis… read more Analysis - Silent Democracy It’s sociologically interesting, though scary’, said the actor Anthony Sher in an interview, ‘that you can be inside an evil system and be somehow unaware of it.’ South African by birth, Sher was talking about the former systemof apartheid. But what if the same could be said of our ‘liberal-democratic’ western society? David Cromwell and David Edwards look into the warped psychology of the corporate media. Full article Book Review - Naming the Enemy Anti-corporate movements confront globalization by Amory Starr. Zed Press/Pluto. £16.95. 2000 Starr - an American sociology teacher and activist - has tried to describe the movements against corporate globalisation and show how they can improve their strategy. Initially this looked like an interesting book but as I read further I found it edging ever nearer to the bin – ultimately, this is a lesson in the dangers of lazy scholarship. read more |
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| June 23 2001 Exxon Mobil on torture charges The world’s largest oil company, Exxon Mobil, is to face charges of complicity in human rights abuses in Aceh province, Indonesia. The US-based International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) is bringing the charges in Washington on behalf of 11 Acehnese villagers, holding Exxon Mobil accountable for torture, murder, imprisonment and sexual abuse by members of the Indonesian army unit assigned to protect Exxon’s operations. Read more The EU meeting in Gothenburg comment by a Swedish activist – For 3 days the EU summit in Gothenburg was the number one news item in the UK. But we have heard scarcely any analysis of the summit itself. What came out of the great event that would tackle EU enlargement and the oxymoron of ‘environmentally-friendly economic growth’? Read more Campaigns – Muckdollars Welsh farmers and Gwynedd and Mon EF! take on McDonalds in Bangor… Read more Around the Web – government plans to end public enquiries…Tories’ business backers…Brighton binmen beat SITA…Gap marketing…corporations and the California energy crisis… Read more Analysis - Silent Democracy It’s sociologically interesting, though scary’, said the actor Anthony Sher in an interview, ‘that you can be inside an evil system and be somehow unaware of it.’ South African by birth, Sher was talking about the former systemof apartheid. But what if the same could be said of our ‘liberal-democratic’ western society? David Cromwell and David Edwards look into the warped psychology of the corporate media. Full article Book Review - Naming the Enemy Anti-corporate movements confront globalization by Amory Starr. Zed Press/Pluto. £16.95. 2000 Starr - an American sociology teacher and activist - has tried to describe the movements against corporate globalisation and show how they can improve their strategy. Initially this looked like an interesting book but as I read further I found it edging ever nearer to the bin – ultimately, this is a lesson in the dangers of lazy scholarship. Read more |
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| May 11 2001 Balfour Beatty hit the buffers over Ilisu May 2nd saw a landmark victory for the campaign against the Ilisu Dam project in south east Turkey, with protesters dominating the annual general meeting of Balfour Beatty and some institutional investors supporting a Friends of the Earth resolution against the company’s involvement in the scheme. Full story Shell Shocks In the same week as announcing record £2.69bn quarterly profits, oil giant Shell has seen defeat in Pakistan while old crimes come back to haunt it in Nigeria. Full story Genetix RoundUp ™ Two of the three planned GM farm-scale trials in Wales were called off this week after landowner Tony Marlow, a former Conservative MP, pulled out. Meanwhile, the battle to protect the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) experimental organic gardens at Ryton in Warwickshire is continuing. Full stories Cock-ups and hand-outs The British public may be forced to refund up to £5bn of tax to overseas corporations including AstraZeneca, Monsanto, Siemens, Total Oil and Deutsche Bank in the light of an EU ruling on corporation tax. Full story Biotech backlash The biotechnology industry has weighed into the election debate with a ‘manifesto’ saying they effectively want to ban protest against companies. Ostensibly aimed at ‘violent animal rights activists’, the Bioindustry Association’s proposal aims to make it an offence to ‘organise a campaign purely to attempt to cause the demise of a legitimate business’. Full story ‘Managing Managing Activism’ Book review (Denise Deegan, Managing Activism Kogan Page, Institute of Public Relations 2001), and analysis by Derek Wall on how PR attempts to co-opt anti-corporate activists, and how to fight back. Read more Around the Web Mayday…Bush’s Corporate Cabinet…stop GM maize…NTL cuts 2000 jobs. Read on |
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| April 27 2001 Beyond Parody The breathtaking hypocrisy of BP’s £400m ‘Beyond Petroleum’ brand makeover came back to haunt them last week when their AGM was dominated by questioning from Greenpeace, wanting to know exactly when and how the oil monster intends to go ‘beyond petroleum’. Full story Feeding or Fooling the World? Some of the events that took place around the World Agriculture 2020 Conference at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. Tickets were £300 which made this debate on the future of agriculture rather an exclusive affair, so alternative events took place. Full story People power beats big pharma in South Africa Campaigners around the world celebrated last week when the 39 drugs companies suing the South African government dropped their case after talks with the government. They were challenging a law allowing South Africa to import cheap generic versions of patented druge in cases of health emergency such as the AIDS crisis – in other words, the pharmaceutical transnationals wanted to preserve their profits at the cost of the lives of South Africans dying for lack of drugs. Full story Russian parliament votes to become nuclear waste dump In defiance of a nationwide campaign against waste imports, the Russian parliament voted last week to allow the import of up to 20,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from around the world. Full story Brief Guide to the FTAA Last week 34 American leaders signed a treaty which will allow corporations effectively a free hand in the Western hemisphere (excluding Cuba) Tens of thousands turned up to protest. Corporate Watch takes a look at what all the fuss was about. Full story Around the Web Corporate GM propaganda hits Scottish schools…Boycott Bush…Re-writing Kyoto – Pronk courts Dubya. Full story And Finally… Even foot-and-mouth has a silver lining. Full story |
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| April 19 2001
Tesco Drives Health Centre Out Of Pulborough Apparently piqued by being refused planning permission to build a second supermarket in a village of a few thousand inhabitants, Tesco is sitting on the only available patch brownfield land where a much needed health centre could be built. Full story Leeds Metropolitan University links with Burson-Marsteller Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) is joining forces with the world’s largest PR company, Burson-Marsteller. As part of the partnership with LMU, Burson-Marsteller will provide input into LMU’s courses, share research, provide visiting lecturers and offer training programmes. The University is also awarding a Visiting Professorship to the company’s founder Harold Burson, ‘to celebrate the partnership’. Full story Blair government backs drug companies With the South African pharmaceuticals court case adjourned for the companies to gather evidence proving the fairness of their pricing policies, the UK government has charged into the general debate on access to medicines - on the side of the drug giants. Full story IBM and the Holocaust – Book Review Edwin Black’s history of information technology in WWII shows how IBM provided the technology that rounded up Germany and Eastern Europe’s Jews, homosexuals and Gypsies for extermination, earning its chairman a Third Reich medal in the process. History for the ‘information age’. Read on Genetix RoundUpTM What’s happening in the double-helical world of biotech. Read on Around the world…Around the web Marshall Islanders to sue US tobacco companies…WWF in illegal logging scandal…Turkish environmentalist jailed for opposing goldmine…The global media ownership chart. Read on |
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| April 10th 2001 Wealth Before Health (1) Tesco Drives Health Centre Out Of Pulborough 9 April 2001 Apparently piqued by being refused planning permission to build a second supermarket in a village of a few thousand inhabitants, Tesco is sitting on the only available patch brownfield land where a much needed health centre could be built. Read on Leeds Metropolitan University links with Burson-Marsteller Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) is joining forces with the world’s largest PR company, Burson-Marsteller. As part of the partnership with LMU, Burson-Marsteller will provide input into LMU’s courses, share research, provide visiting lecturers and offer training programmes. The University is also awarding a Visiting Professorship to the company’s founder Harold Burson, ‘to celebrate the partnership’. Read on Wealth Before Health (2) Blair government backs drug companies With the South African pharmaceuticals court case adjourned for the companies to gather evidence proving the fairness of their pricing policies, the UK government has charged into the general debate on access to medicines - on the side of the drug giants. Read on IBM and the Holocaust – Book Review Edwin Black’s history of information technology in WWII shows how IBM provided the technology that rounded up Germany and Eastern Europe’s Jews, homosexuals and Gypsies for extermination, earning its chairman a Third Reich medal in the process. History for the ‘information age’. Read on Genetix RoundUpTM What’s happening in the double-helical world of biotech. Read on Around the world…Around the web Marshall Islanders to sue US tobacco companies…WWF in illegal logging scandal…Turkish environmentalist jailed for opposing goldmine…The global media ownership chart. Read on < Latest News l More News > |