"It is a poor service to the memory of the victims of the holocaust to adpot a central doctrine of their murderers"

- Noam Chomsky

Record of a shooting

Watchtower
'It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward'

Operations room
'Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?'

Watchtower
'A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death'

Captain R (after killing the girl)
'Anything moving in the zone, even a three-year-old, needs to be killed

Justice takes another slow and ponderous step towards putting Mark Thatcher in an African jail hell hole

Mark Thatcher to face coup questions, Mark Oliver and agencies,Wednesday November 24, 2004

Sir Mark Thatcher must face questioning by investigators from Equatorial Guinea over charges he helped finance a foiled coup plot there, a South African court ruled today.

How a Republican election supervisor manipulated the 2004 central Ohio
vote,
in black and white
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
November 23, 2004

The Republican head of the Board of Elections in Franklin County, Ohio,
manipulated the supply of voting machines on November 2, denying
thousands of likely Democrats the right to cast their votes in a fair
and
timely manner.

As indicated in the sworn testimony below, offered here for the first
time, the
election was engineered to make voting as difficult as possible for
inner city
residents, and to drive away those who could not afford to stay away
from
work or families, or whose health made it imprudent or impossible to
endure
the long, cold, wet lines.

INDIA FIGHTS BACK (From SchNEWS)
“Nothing in its [the corporation’s] legal makeup limits what it can do to others in pursuit of its selfish ends, and it is compelled to cause harm when the benefits of doing so outweigh the costs.” - Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation.

Joel Bakan’s recent book and film ‘The Corporation’ have shown the inability of corporations to consider people or the environment in their actions. The film explores how the legal structure of corporations makes them responsible only to their shareholders.

At SchNEWS we’ve always had a healthy skepticism of corporations. This week we’ve got reports on some of the biggest, meanest corporate killers and the resistance to them in India, where the locals aren’t taking corporate rule lying down…

Bayer
“Bayer’s decision to give up the GM ghost in India isn’t surprising because the writing has been on the wall for years. Like almost everyone else, Indian people aren’t prepared to accept GM foods and Bayer realised it had to stop flogging a dead horse.” Doreen Stabinsky – Greenpeace

Genetic pirates Bayer Crop Science announced that they are stopping trials of GM vegetables in India. The company has taken the radical and innovative decision to concentrate on conventional plant breeding. Bayer claimed that the decision was “due to changes in our global research strategy”.

SchNEWS reckons that it might have had something to do with protests at the end of September, when Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the Mumbai headquarters of Bayer to demonstrate against the crop trials. The activists spent 11 hours in chains, only releasing themselves after arranging a meeting with truth-resistant Bayer management wonks and an assurance that their questions would be answered.

This is Bayer’s third climbdown over GM crops in a year. In March they announced it would not be commercialising GM maize in the UK because its future was “economically non-viable.” Three months later the company stopped all trials of GM oilseed rape in Australia, effectively ending any chance of the crop’s widespread cultivation.

Bayer’s withdrawal from GM research is part of a global trend of companies deciding that GM food wasn’t such a good idea after all. Everybody hates it and the firms are made to look like twats when a bunch of hippies halt crop trials, and force them to admit that the science is bollocks. Earlier this year, Monsanto abandoned GM wheat research and trials of GM oilseed rape in Australia.

* Greenpeace Press Office: 020 7865 8255, Divya Raghunandan
* Greenpeace India: draghuna@dialb.greenpeace.org
* Coalitiona against Bayer Dangers

Dow ‘N’ Out

The people of Bhopal know all about corporations’ lack of respect for anything other than the pursuit of profit; in particular Dow Chemicals who now own the infamous Union Carbide...

The 3rd December will be the 20th anniversary of the disaster at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal where four thousand people died after an explosion and toxic gas leak at the pesticide factory. Thousands more have been seriously ill or died since then.

Union Carbide was supposed to be responsible for cleaning up the site, but 20 years on toxic waste is still stored unsafely, poisoning the nearby town’s water supply.

A recent BBC investigation uncovered levels of contamination 500 times higher than World Health Organisation recommended limits. Local people who have to drink the water every day are exposed to the chemicals and many suffer from liver and kidney damage.

Union Carbide says that when it handed the site back in 1998 it “found no evidence of groundwater contamination” .

Perhaps they just didn’t notice the thousands of tons of toxic waste on the abandoned site, the pools of mercury lying on the ground, skips full of poisonous material and bags of highly toxic chemical waste. Rainwater washes these chemicals into puddles and streams and eventually into the ground water.

The more than 570,000 victims of the disaster have only recently started to receive compensation. From the 15th November, £188 million is being distributed to victims.
“We never want to see another Bhopal,” the survivors have said from the beginning.

The 3rd of December is a Global Day of Action when trade unions, community organizations and others will hold protests, events and actions in cities in India, including Bhopal, and around the world. Visit the campaign website to learn 20 things you can do to help make Dow face responsibility for Bhopal

You Must Be Choking... Coca Cola

“Drinking Coke is like drinking farmer’s blood in India” - Nandlal Master, of Lok Samiti and the National Alliance of People’s Movements

In India a pattern has emerged as a result of Coca-Cola’s operations. Communities living around bottling facilities experience severe water shortages and the little remaining groundwater, along with the soil, is polluted by Coca-Cola’s practice of dumping its wastewater into the nearby fields.

One of the worst examples was the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, South India (SchNEWS 360). The plant was eventually shut down after an epic 600 day protest by more than 1000 families.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are also angrily denying allegations that their products manufactured in India contain toxins far above the permitted levels in the developed world.

India’s Centre for Science and Environment announced research in August which showed that Pepsi’s soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under EU regulations and Coca-Cola’s had 30 times the level. The pesticides residues can cause cancer and immune system breakdown. The same products in the US don’t have these added ‘extras’.

Unsurprisingly, Indian people are getting pissed off with Coca Cola. And they’re organizing...

Between the 15-24th November there’s a 250km march between two Coke factories, to bring attention to the many problems created by Coca-Cola in India. The march will end on 24th November with a rally in Mehdiganj.

The demonstrators want the government to withdraw Coca-Cola’s license to operate because of the damage to communities caused by water shortages and pollution, and the determined Indians have got the big corporations on the run...

“Coca-Cola will pay for its crimes in India and internationally,” said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, a group that helps coordinate the campaign internationally. “We will take this battle to where it hurts Coca-Cola the most - the US and the EU, its largest markets.” They have also joined forces with the Colombian trade union, Sinaltrainal, who are fighting Coca-Cola over its complicity in the murder, torture and intimidation of trade union organizers in Colombia (SchNEWS 447).

* India Resource Centre
* Amit Srivastava - amit@IndiaResource.org
* KillerCoke

"in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven" [Mt 22:30]

Highly-charged, jam-packed hearings held here in Columbus have cast serious doubt on the true outcome of the presidential election.

On Saturday, November 13, and Monday, November 15, the Ohio Election Protection Coalition’s public hearings in Columbus solicited extensive sworn first-person testimony from 32 of Ohio voters, precinct judges, poll workers, legal observers, party challengers. An additional 66 people provided written affidavits of election irregularities. The unavoidable conclusion is that this year's election in Ohio was deeply flawed, that thousands of Ohioans were denied their right to vote, and that the ultimate vote count is very much in doubt.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions

John Perkins describes himself as a former economic hit man - a highly paid professional who cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars.
20 years ago Perkins began writing a book with the working title, "Conscience of an Economic Hit Men."

Perkins writes, "The book was to be dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been his clients whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits - Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. We Economic Hit Men failed to bring Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in.

John Perkins goes on to write: "I was persuaded to stop writing that book. I started it four more times during the next twenty years. On each occasion, my decision to begin again was influenced by current world events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop."

But now Perkins has finally published his story. The book is titled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. interview from Democracy Now

Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.
The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build
up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard
work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or
scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many
skies have fallen".

Check this wacky site out... it's hilarious, the introduction says...

We're Americans and we're pissed off!

"This pro-American page is dedicated to guiltlessly and righteously defending America!
(If you can't take it in here then go to your yoga class and burn some incense)
This page also serves to counterbalance traitors, cowards, and confused puppets of misinformation..."

it also includes news items:

"9-1-03 - Arab and Muslim women hijack a Russian school, torture and kill as many as 350 grade school children. This is further confirmation that Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia should be nuked ASAP. These people are lower animals."

Quizzes, which are just amazing:

"If you were President:
How should America respond to a Chechenia type attack on American school children?
*Do nothing, blame ourselves
*Dust for evidence, bomb select Middle East targets with smart bombs.
*Go ballistic on select cities that clearly give moral support to terrorists (Tehran, Demascus, etc)
*Anonymously wage bio terror on select cities that clearly give moral support to terrorists *Comply to terrorist's demands, withdraw troops, etc."

Scathing attcks on celebrities who are anti war... and some great graphics



"Shame, shame, shame on the anti-American Dixie Sluts ... Deport them to France."

It also provides advice to the government on how to deal with terrorism:

"10-04-02 - (below) Group of "naturalized Americans" wearing Alah beards, Arab bed sheets, and funny looking Islamic beanie hats get arrested in Oregon. Dick Chenney has said that future terrorist attacks are inevitable and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Bull shit! Round up ALL of the Muslim towel-heads that the INS let in going back over the last 5 years and send them back to Mecca. Then stop letting these psychopathic killer bees into our country!"

it goes on and on and on, confirming every stereotype you ever had about the USA.

John Swift (1729):

A MODEST PROPOSAL

FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC

As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in the computation. It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year, with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of 2s., which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.

[...]

a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.

fantastic!

Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you're born and when you die
You know, they never seem to hear even your cry

Sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get myself what's mine
The harder they come
the harder they'll fall,
One and all
harder they come
harder they'll fall,
One and all

And the oppressors are trying to track me down
They're trying to drive me underground
And they think that they have got the battle won
I say, forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done

chorus

And I keep on fighting for the things I want
Though I know that when you're dead you can't
But I'd rather be a free man in my grave
Than living as a puppet or a slave

chorus

"Among those primitive peoples who lead satisfactory, unimpaired sexual lives, there is no sexual crime, no sexual perversion, no sexual brutality between man and woman; rape is unthinkable because it is unnecessary in their society. Their sexual activity flows in normal, well-ordered channels which would fill any cleric with indignation and fear, because the pale, ascetic youth and the gossiping, child-beating woman do not exist in these primitive societies. They love the human body and take pleasure in their sexuality. They do not understand why young men and women should not enjoy their sexuality. But when their lives are invaded by the ascetic, hypocritical morass and by the Church, which bring them 'culture' along with exploitation, alcohol, and syphilis, they begin to suffer the same wretchedness as ourselves. They begin to lead 'moral' lives, i.e. to suppress their sexuality, and from then on they decline more and more into a state of sexual distress, which is the result of sexual suppression. At the same time, they become sexually dangerous; murders of spouses, sexual diseases, and crimes of all sorts start to appear." Reich, Children of the Future

Home Office sought to wipe out 'beastly' commune!

Home Office officials tried to shut down a prototype "free: love" hippy commune in the 1920s, according to official papers released yesterday. Files from the 1920's released to the Public Record Office showed that officials regarded the Whiteways Colony in Gloucestershire as a security risk. The commune had been created in the Cotswold Hills near Stroud around the turn of the century, attracting an assortment of socialists, pacifists, "free thinkers and refugees." "Manners had they none and their customs are beastly," wrote an official in 1925.Police paid a husband and wife £400 to infiltrate the commune in the hope of finding evidence of their unspeakable activities.The couple emerged claiming that "promiscuous fornication " was indeed a feature of life in the colony, but they were unable to produce proof. The Home Office could not even work up popular agitation against the commune, as local residents viewed members as cranks rather than as objects of fear.

Morning Star March 12 1999

in countries which do not enjoy Mediterranean sunshine idleness is more difficult, and a great public propaganda will be required to inaugurate it



Bertrand Russell:

I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. [...] The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery.

in praise of idleness (1932)

Joy of life... depends upon a certain spontaneity in regard to sex. Where sex is repressed, only work remains, and a gospel of work for work's sake never produced any work worth doing. [...] The psychology of adultery has been falsified by conventional morals, which assume, in monogamous countries, that attraction to one person cannot coexist with affection for another. Everybody knows that this is untrue.

similarly,

i have always been fascinated with the bikini atoll (marshall islands), which could have been a beautiful palm-treed island with real people growing up sexually. instead the necrophiliac protestant yank whore came around, resettled the locals to a faraway locus which- unfortunately- was still close enough to the nuclear explosions to be nastily contaminated during the ensuing tests.

I went to meet the people from this island the other day ...





“Tony Blair wanted to restore peace, freedom and democracy for the Iraqi people, he wanted to get rid of that brute Saddam Hussein. He spent millions on that, but he says he can’t pay for us who are British citizens to go home” Allen Vincatassin – representative of the Diego Garcians.

The Diego Garcians were exiled from their island in the 1970’s after deals between Britain, Mauritius and the US, Mauritius got it’s independence from Britain in 1965, but let Britian keep the Chagos Islands, of which Diego Garcia is one. In return Britain paid Mauritius £3 million. Then the thrifty British government agreed to lease the island to the US for military use in return for an £11.5 million discount on nuclear submarines.

The people of Diego Garcia were tricked and forced off their island to make way for an air base. All the animals on the Island were gassed, contract workers were brought in and two of the longest runways in the world were constructed, recently many of the bombers that have been flattening Iraq and Afganistan took off from Diego Garcia.

The Diego Garcians were sent to Mauritus, where they have lived in slums for the last 30 years. They lived in extreme poverty, starved, died or committed suicide. The British government maintained the pretence that the island had no permanent residents, and the Diego Garcians were visiting workers from Mauritius.

In 2000 the high Court ruled that their expulsion from the Islands was illegal. Neo Labour, invented a ‘feasibility study’ to decide whether the islands could be resettled, it decided that it would be ‘too expensive’ to repatriate the Diego Garcians, it would be harmful to the local ecology (the B52s apparently aren’t), and anyway the islands are in danger from global warming.

While the Diego Garcians have been continually prevented from returning to their island, others have been welcomed. The US military for one, along with thousands of Filipino and Mauritian workers who have been brought in to build and maintain the base, which is ironic, as the actual Diego Garcians are now in the Jobcentre in Crawley. Multinationals such as Cable and Wireless also have a presence on the island serving the bases. Recently there’s been a plan to allow tourists to visit the island, which raises the sick idea of anyone being able to visit the island, apart from the people whose homeland it is, oh yeah anyone who can afford the £4,500 cost of the cruise to get there!

Now they are arriving in Britain, from the slums of Port Louis in Mauritius, in search of a better life. The Diego Garcians were ‘graced’ with full British citizenship, a token gesture for being forced to renounce their rights for access to their island. The first group, including Allen Vincatassin arrived in 2002, they were told by the Overseas Territories Minister, at that time, Baroness Amos, that they would be given no help by central government. Luckily the local council were more sympathetic and gave them temporary accommodation until they found work.

Since then, 200 Diego Garcians have landed in Gatwick and are living in Crawley. Many of them, and the most recent arrivals face destitution, denied access to any benefits from the government who exiled them from their homes, despite the fact that they hold British citizenship. They have been denied benefits because they fail the DSS Habitual Residency Test (HRT) they cannot prove they have been resident in Britain for more than a month, the Diego Garcians are currently challenging this legislation and asking the government to allow them benefits from the moment they arrive.

There are disputes between West Sussex County Council (WSCC), who are currently footing the bill for temporary hotel accommodation, and central government. The government says that they won’t pay and that WSCC have no responsibility either. WSCC have been looking after the Diego Garcians so far, but are worried about the costs of looking after the one thousand more Diego Garcians who might come. It was a central government decision to displace the Diego Garcians in the first place, so financial responsibility should rest with them. By passing all responsibility onto the local councils the government might turn local people against the Diego Garcians, as they might resent having to pay for their benefits, although when SchNEWS went to meet them, the Diego Garcians reported that locals had been friendly and sympathetic.

SchNEWs accountants worked out that to put all the Diego Garcians in the world on full benefits for a year would cost roughly 1 million pounds, that’s about the cost of 2 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Bearing in mind that most of the Diego Garcians currently in Crawley are working and don’t need benefits, and most of them wouldn’t need benefits for a year, the cost would never be as high as 2 cruise missiles, scrap one, and the Diego Garcians would probably be fine.

lots more information and photos from GlobalSecurity.org

also on znet

Despite Republican Victory, Bush Supporter Has Tiny, Tiny Penis