8/25/01
11:32:56 AM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
WORLD'S GREATEST ONLINE UNION FESTIVAL
Web site review by Al Paulson, Laborday.aflcio.org
-- Rejoice in the contributions you and fellow workers have made to this country with the second annual online Labor Day celebration courtesy of the AFL-CIO. The celebration features music, games, "online actions" and other attractions.
THE MAMA DILEMM
by Beth Lucht, Hip Mama
-- Though financially motivated, working also helped one mother regain a sense of self after being a stay-at-home mom.
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?
by Patricia Chui, The Nation
-- Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," talks about the societal and health-related impact of noshing at your local processed, ubiquitous, franchised restaurant.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
8/31/01
5:03:18 PM
Freelance Conservationists
The Economist
Private parks are springing up all around the world. If conservationists are to achieve their goals, therefore, they must work with the private sector
In the days of Captain Cook, Hawaii's native goose, the nene (pronounced neh-neh), was abundant. By the 1950s it was almost extinct. What nearly cooked this particular goose was not, however, the Hawaiian habit of baking it in underground ovens for supper, but the loss of its habitat—most of which has become farmland. Today, successful captive breeding programmes have produced hundreds of nene, but that is only half the battle. If the goose is to prosper, it must be returned to the wild. That means restoring its habitat. And that, in turn, means dealing with the private landowners on the island of Molokai whose property is the most suitable for nenes to live on.
According to researchers at a meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology held in Hilo, on Hawaii, earlier this month, the nene is not alone. Many conservationists see government-run national parks as the key to the survival of endangered species. In America, however, between a third and a half of such species are believed to live only on privately owned land. And in many other countries the role of private reserves is even more crucial. The national parks in impoverished tropical countries are often poorly protected or even poached with the connivance of corrupt officials—and some exist only on paper. In these places, private parks may actually offer better protection to wildlife than their publicly owned counterparts. Governments that care (or wish to be seen to care) about wildlife conservation would thus do well to encourage the growth of private reserves.
Money isn't everything
As Jeffrey Langholz, a researcher in international environmental policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in California, told the conference, private reserves already constitute about an eighth of the total amount of land on which wildlife is protected around the world. And in some countries, notably Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Kenya and South Africa, their area is growing fast.
Unfortunately, while many governments would like to encourage private conservation, they often have little idea how to do it. That, in turn, is due to a misunderstanding about why people have set up such reserves in the first place. For example, Dr Langholz has surveyed the owners of many private reserves in Costa Rica, where they protect some 640km2 of land. He found that government offerings to these owners—in the form of tax breaks, protection against occupation by squatters and access to technical assistance—had little incentive value.
That was because the majority of owners are not motivated primarily by money. Only 30% of them rely on their reserves for a steady stream of income, in the form of revenue from “ecotourists”. (This may be abnormally low: a wide-ranging survey of private reserves in Africa and Latin America suggests that 59% of those that host ecotourism are profitable.) Most owners say they are more concerned about threats to biodiversity, and what they see as the failure of governments to promote conservation. One, who prefers to remain anonymous, used to run one of the largest logging operations in the Amazon. Now he is dedicated to protecting his private reserve of 10km2 of Costa Rican forest in penance for his earlier career.
Even profitable reserves frequently have their revenue devoted to conservation, rather than the owner's bank balance. Some idea of the economics involved can be gathered from the example of a Costa Rican reserve that made profits of more than $3m in its first six years of operation. The owners used $1.2m of that to pay off the loan for the original land purchase. But instead of spending the rest on champagne and cruises, they invested another $1.1m in an endowment fund that is intended to pay for the reserve's protection in perpetuity.
Costa Rica is not alone in this potential misunderstanding between governments and landowners, though the details differ from place to place. In the United States, for example, landowners' perceptions are often that the government is doing too much for conservation, not too little.
A few years ago a scheme for registering natural landmarks, including the habitats of endangered species, in America, backfired because it failed to take account of the country's strong tradition of property rights. Even today, after the scheme has been made voluntary (it was originally compulsory) it is still regarded by some landowners as part of a conspiracy by the government to acquire control of their property.
A similar problem was encountered with the Endangered Species Act. Initially, this had the perverse effect of making it harder to persuade people to agree to promote habitat conservation on their land. The fear was that the arrival of a rare species would restrict the use an owner could make of that land in the future. An experimental scheme is now trying to get round this, granting exemptions from such restrictions for those who “invite” rare species on to their property.
Not all American landowners feel the same way. In Hawaii, regarded by some as the “world capital” of extinction because of the number of unique species it has lost since it was first settled by people, the largest private landowner in the state is prepared to compromise profit for conservation. Kamehameha Schools is a trust that owns 1,500km2 of land (originally a legacy from one of Hawaii's last princesses). The trust's income is used to run schools for Hawaiian children. Most of this income, though, comes from investments rather than land exploitation. As a result, half of the trust's land is kept for conservation purposes and generates no revenue at all.
This apparent contradiction of the trust's official purpose is justified, according to Peter Simmons, its senior land manager, because, as Hawaiian landowners, the trustees “care spiritually, and in some cases religiously, about the land”. This, he says, is connected to the belief that livelihood and quality of life are directly related to the quality and life of the land.
Noble sentiments. And ones that seem to motivate many custodians of private reserves in other countries, too. Whether they will be enough to re-establish the nene, remains to be seen.
Source: http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=748602
8/31/01
4:35:01 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
SAVING PRIVATE LION
Private reserves, rather than public ones, may be the key to survival for many endangered species, according to researchers who presented at the Society for Conservation Biology in Hawaii earlier this month. Jeffrey Langholz of the Monterey Institute of International Studies said private reserves already account for about an eighth of the world's land dedicated to wildlife protection. In the U.S., between a third and a half of all endangered species are believed to live only on privately owned land. Some observers believe ecotourism could help encourage private landowners to conserve biodiversity. In Africa and Latin America, for example, a survey of private reserves found that 59 percent of those involved with ecotourism were profitable. But Langholz argued that many people who set aside land aren't motivated to do so by financial considerations.
straight to the source: Economist, 23 Aug 2001 <http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=748602>
do good: Take action to protect private forest lands from development in the U.S. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.asp?source=daily#private>
JAKARTA FOUR: THE HEARSE
In a big victory for the Indonesian environmental group Walhi, an Indonesian court this week found that mining giant Freeport Indonesia had given false information to the country's parliament about a fatal mining accident last year and ordered the company to improve its toxic waste management. Four workers died in a landslide at the mine last year, but Freeport told legislators that no fatalities had occurred. Freeport yesterday denied that it didn't care about worker safety and that it was harming the environment; the company said it would appeal the ruling.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 31 Aug 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12226/story.htm>
OILY TO RISE
It seems likely that the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will approve a plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Reuters predicts the vote will be 12-11 in favor of drilling, with Democrat Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) crossing party lines in support of drilling and Republican Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.) opposing drilling. Drilling opponents still believe they will prevail on the Senate floor and block efforts to open the Arctic Refuge. Meanwhile, in other oily Alaska news, a coalition of local and national environmental groups want state and federal leaders to bill ExxonMobil another $100 million to help clean up after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 30 Aug 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/621684.asp>
do good: Take action to save the arctic refuge <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#arctic>
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Doug O'harra, 31 Aug 2001 <http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/673932p-716241c.html>
VICTOR VICTORIOUS
Mexico's environmental minister, Victor Lichtinger, is trying to slow down sprawl by actually enforcing environmental laws on the books. For example, he has closed or suspended 19 hotel and condo developments, including a 1,400-room complex that would have been built alongside a federally protected sea turtle sanctuary in Cancun. Lichtinger said his moves were meant to be a "signal to entrepreneurs and society that there is law in Mexico, and that the law will be respected, independent of the importance of investment in Mexico." But Lichtinger may have to give some ground to Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has cooked up plans for at least three huge tourism projects.
straight to the source: New York Times, Tim Weiner, 31 Aug 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/international/americas/31MEXI.html>
8/31/01
4:28:07 PM
Help with your pet care
VetCentric is a great resource for pet owners who want to educate themselves about preventive care, diseases, grooming, and more. The site includes an encyclopedia of health problems, a knowledge base containing answers to common questions, and discussion forums in which veterinarians participate (a free registration is required for the forums). Go to:
8/31/01
4:10:31 PM
Study On Income Disparity
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has analyzed a new Congressional Budget Office study that includes the best data that any agency or institution has compiled on income and tax trends in recent decades. It shows that the average after-tax income of the richest 1 percent of Americans grew by $414,000 between 1979 and 1997, after adjusting for inflation, while average after-tax income fell $100 for the poorest 20 percent of Americans and grew a modest $3,400 for those exactly in the middle of the income spectrum. In percentage terms, after-tax income grew an average of 157 percent over this period for the top 1 percent of the population, rose a modest 10 percent - about 1/2 of 1 percent per year -for the 20 percent of Americans in the middle of the income spectrum and was effectively unchanged for those in the bottom fifth.
For the analysis by The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, go to:
http://www.centeronbudget.org/5-31-01tax-pr.htm
8/31/01
3:33:21 PM
A list of major U.S newspapers and the people who read them:
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they ought to run the country.
4. USA Today is "read" by people who think they ought to run the country but don't understand the Washington Post.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country, as long as they do something scandalous.
9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it.
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country.
Source: http://www.SoJo.net
8/31/01
3:29:54 PM
High-Tech Workers Feel The Heat
by David Batstone
The tech industry has fallen on hard times around the globe. Entrepreneurs who spent the latter half of the 1990s in stock option euphoria are now seeing the flip side of the coin.
During a business luncheon this week, the CEO of a high-tech company gloated to me about how easy it was for him to find low-cost labor. "People are so desperate I don't even have to pay them a salary any more; I put them all on pure commission." To make sure I got the point, he added with a smile, "We're really ruthless when it comes to employment."
The concept of working for a low salary and yet being compensated by stock options worked as long as company values rose steadily. In fact, not long ago many people in the high-tech industry were willing to take that risk voluntarily, in hopes of sharing in the wealth that they were creating. Now there are no options but stock options. But with no end in sight for current down market conditions, stock options seem more like tissue paper than adequate compensation.
Beyond being callous, I believe the CEO in question is a poor excuse for an entrepreneur. Particularly in the world of high-tech start-ups, business success is highly contingent on a robust workforce, people who tie their personal success to the success of the company. Loyalty and identity within the company - what management consultants call "believing" in the company - increases the likelihood of strong performance and retention. In this case, the CEO treats his employees like replaceable cogs. He may very well discover one day that a constant change in cogs leads to a clunky machine.
As for the high-tech employees, I hope they use their experience to understand better the plight of lower-income workers around the globe. Day laborers are accustomed to being squeezed by unjust employers who refuse to pay them a living wage. They often are forced to labor on pure piece-work (the poor person's commission); cogs in a machine, used, abused, then tossed aside by the forces of profit.
For most of us, this territory is not a distant shore. And if not for us, surely a generation or two back that was the plight of our kin. Don't forget. That's the way to begin your Labor Day.
*David Batstone, a founding editor of Business 2.0 magazine, is executive editor of Sojourners/SojoNet.
Source: http://www.SoJo.net
8/31/01
2:40:10 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
POWER FAILURE: AMERICA'S FUTURE UNDER THE BUSH ENERGY PLAN
-- President Bush's energy plan is like a sinister robot, goose-stepping across America's wild lands and coasts, chanting "Dig, Drill, Destroy! Dig, Drill, Destroy!" Find out what effect this disastrous plan will have on our environment and explore the simpler, safer alternative.
COLIN-ECTOMY?
-- As Secretary of State Colin Powell is slowly slipping out of the spotlight in the White House's foreign policy team, everyone in Washington is speculating on the likeness of his resignation.
CULTURAL TIES
-- In an attempt to celebrate cultural diversity among artists, London art dealer Kapil Jariwala asked 240 artists to design, of all things, neck ties.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
8/31/01
2:37:55 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
NEW ENGLAND, EASTERN CANADA PLEDGE ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
WESTBROOK, Connecticut, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - New England governors and Canadian premiers have adopted a Climate Change Action Plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the region shared by the two nations. The government officials also agreed to slash emissions of mercury from power plants and incinerators by 75 percent by 2010.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-06.html
INSECTS MAY NEED REFUGE FROM BIOTECHNOLOGY
CHICAGO, Illinois, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - Crops which have been genetically modified to resist pests are only useful until the bugs outsmart them, developing their own protections against the toxins produced by the plants. A Michigan entomologist argues that some crop eating insects must be protected in order to keep them all from becoming resistant to engineered crops.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-07.html
ECUADORIAN NAVY ORDERS SEA SHEPHERD OUT OF THE GALAPAGOS
PUERTO AYORA, Galapagos, Ecuador, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - Ecuadorian naval personnel have given Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Captain Paul Watson a written order to leave Ecuador aboard his ship the Ocean Warrior by 0800 hours on Friday.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-02.html
EUROPEAN CHEMICALS REPORT UNDER INDUSTRY FIRE
BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - Europe's chemical industry has made its first official response to hard line proposals for tougher EU chemicals policies by Swedish Green Member of the European Parliament Inger Schörling.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-04.html
SATELLITE TRACKING SHOWS MARLIN VULNERABLE TO LONGLINERS
HOBART, Tasmania, Australia, August 30, 2001 (ENS) - A satellite tag found by a beachcombing dog has recorded the journey of a black marlin tagged last November off Cairns. The pop-up archival tag was attached to the fish for a month before detaching automatically.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-03.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 30, 3001
Hidden Cracks Could Plague Nuclear Power Plants
DOE Seeks Cooperation from South Carolina Over Plutonium
Shortages Cause Gas Prices to Rise
Wildfires Force Evacuations, Burn Homes
Yellowstone Business Owners Protest Planned Drilling
Wisconsin Promotes Fish Passageways on Dams
New Technology Treats Dairy Wastes, Odors
Saggy Tires Reduce Fuel Efficiency
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-30-09.html
8/31/01
2:27:36 PM
Global GM Market Starts To Wilt
Static profits, tighter laws and consumer health doubts slow growth of disputed technology - except in US
by John Vidal, The Guardian
The global GM food bubble may have burst after almost 10 years of exponential growth. Companies are investing less in research than five years ago, profits are static, countries are tightening up labeling and import laws, the promised new generation of crops which could bring health benefits is still years away, and no major new markets are expected to develop for some time.
Paradoxically, Guardian research has also found that the acreage of GM crops is still growing in the US and, at more than 109m acres now across the world, is 25 times what it was five years ago. The industry, moreover, has now convinced almost all governments and world bodies to back the bitterly disputed technology.
But Sergey Vasnetsov, Wall Street's leading chemical industry analyst with Lehman Brothers, says: "The outlook [for the GM food industry] is less certain than it was three years ago. The euphoria has gone. Growth has fallen significantly. The industry has overstated the rate of progress and underestimated the resistance of consumers.
"Acceptability will only come with new products but that seems to be something the industry cannot achieve. The crops that will benefit people [as opposed to farmers] are still three or four years away. The market is not expanding and research budgets are down 5-7% on five years ago. Conceptually, the value [of GM foods] has come down," says Mr Vasnetsov.
Benedict Haerlin, Greenpeace International's GM analyst, agrees: "The wonder times are over. The promises have not materialised. There are still only four major crops being grown. The world market is reducing in terms of delivery.
Scathing
But the GM food companies are confident they can overcome regulatory hurdles and global opinion. World leader Monsanto, whose seeds were planted on more than 80m acres last year - but which has had to slash costs, cut back on research and fire almost 700 people - is conducting field trials in many developing countries and reported an 11% increase on acreage. The global GM acreage is thought to be 17% higher than in 2000. Most of the new plantings, however, have been in north America.
Mr Vasnetsov is scathing of the claims made by the UN, chemical companies and scientists that GM crops will alleviate hunger in developing countries. "Let's stop pretending we face food shortages. There is hunger, but not food shortages. GM food is for the rich world. The money from GM is in developed countries. The battle is in Europe," he says.
Greenpeace's Benedict Haerlin agrees. "No GM company is going to produce varieties for poor countries unless it sees a market," he says.
US analysts fear that GM crops, after 10 years of plantings, are still a north American phenomenon, with the rest of the world proving increasingly cautious. The US now has 80% of all plantings, followed by Canada, Argentina and China. Ten other countries grow small amounts.
Overcoming Europe's five-year-old moratorium on new commercial plantings is crucial for the development of the crops. EU draft laws announced last month would allow imports with 1% contamination of conventional crops by GM organisms, but while allowing new GM crops to be grown, they could increase to up to three miles the buffer zone between them and conventional ones which could put most farmers off. The companies are expected to lobby to relax the limits.
US growers and government fear that their £30bn food export industry is being undermined as countries try to substitute their exports for those of the US. Despite the objections of the US government and lobbyists, many countries are now trying to turn the screw on US agriculture by increasing regulatory pressure.
Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, is bringing in strict laws on labeling and traceability; Algeria, a large food importer, may ban completely their import, manufacture or sale; Japan, which takes 20% of all US food exports worth $11bn a year, has imposed tough labelling rules on 24 product categories and new Chinese laws may delay GM maize for several years. In Sri Lanka, the government has come under intense pressure from the World Trade Organisation and business not to reimpose a ban on imports and growing of the crops.
Wariness
The US government and farm organisations admit that GM has severely hit exports. Europe, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have largely switched to buying non-GM maize and soya from Brazil and China rather than the US. The US department of agriculture recently lowered its maize export forecast by 50m bushels as a result of GM's unacceptability.
Meanwhile, legal uncertainties surrounding the testing of GM crops are leading some European biotech and seed companies to shift their research to north America. "We won't be carrying out any more field trials in Germany for this year," said seed company Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht (NPZ).
The companies say farmers are happy with the performance and profitability of the crops, but the global wariness has prompted even biotech supporters to question GM. A recent survey of the 14,000 members of the American Corn Growers' Association suggested 78% would abandon GM to recover lost export markets.
While animosity to growing the crops may have peaked in Europe, consumer support is waning in the US. An ABC poll in June found 52% saying GM foods were "not safe to eat," and only 35% expressing total confidence. A year earlier, a Gallup poll found the reverse, with 51% seeing no health hazard.
The hoped-for "ethical" GM crops which have been promoted by governments and scientists are also reported to be years away from markets. Subsistence farmers will not be able to benefit from Syngenta's much-hyped "golden rice", modified to include vitamin A for the benefit of people in developing countries, for at least four years because at present it is only viable in temperate climates.
Monsanto is preparing to introduce GM wheat within two years but US and Canadian farmers, who dominate world exports, are cautious. More than 200 Canadian groups, including the National Farmers' Union and the Canadian Wheat Board, want the test plantings to stop, fearing GM wheat will damage exports.
In the past month, the UN has claimed GM crops could significantly help developing countries, the EU has taken the first steps to ending its moratorium on new plantings, Britain has sanctioned 30 more major trials in readiness for commercial growing, and the New Zealand government has strongly backed the crops.
Testing times - 25,000 trials in 40 countries
•The genetic modification of plants involves transferring DNA from a plant, bacterium, or even an animal, into a different plant species
• The four main GM crops are corn (maize), cotton, soya bean and canola
• More than 109m acres of GM crops are grown worldwide
• The main planting areas are in the US, Canada, Argentina and China
• Since 1985, when genetically engineered plants resistant to insects, viruses, and bacteria were first tested, 25,000 trials have been carried out in more than 40 countries
• In 1995 the EU approved the importation and use of genetically modified soya
• The UN development programme, and all major national scientific bodies, believe GM crops can benefit farmers and consumers
• This year more than 30 test sites have been wholly or partly destroyed in Britain
• Apart from all major crops, tests have been done on most vegetables, as well as trees and fish.
The four types of GM crops
• Bt crops: Protected against insect damage and reduce pesticide use. Plants produce a protein - toxic only to certain insects - found in the common soil bacterium bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt
• Herbicide tolerant: Allow farmers to control weeds without harm to the crop
• Disease-resistant: Armed against destructive viral plant diseases with a "vaccine"
• Nutritionally enhanced: Foods that could offer higher levels of nutrients and vitamins
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,543222,00.html
8/31/01
2:18:11 PM
Alpine Eden Proves Mother Nature Knows Best
Quote from this article below: "If people would only realize that if one leads a life in cooperation with nature and not against it, then nobody in the world need die of starvation."
By Reuters
RAMINGSTEIN, Austria -- In the coldest part of Austria, a farmer is turning conventional wisdom on its head by growing a veritable Garden of Eden full of tropical plants in the open on his steep Alpine pastures.
Amid average annual temperatures of a mere 39.5 Fahrenheit, Sepp Holzer grows everything from apricots to eucalyptus, figs to kiwi fruit, peaches to wheat at an altitude of between 3,300 and 4,900 feet.
Once branded a fool, fined and threatened with imprisonment for defying Austrian regulations that dictate what is planted where, he is now feted worldwide for creating the only functioning "permaculture" farm in Europe.
Permaculture, an abbreviation of permanent culture, is the development of agricultural ecosystems which are complete and self-sustaining.
"Once planted, I do absolutely nothing," Holzer told Reuters. "It really is just nature working for itself -- no weeding, no pruning, no watering, no fertilizer, no pesticides."
His 110 acres of land in the mountainous Lungau region in the province of Salzburg are classed by European Union directives as unfit for agricultural cultivation due to the steep gradient and poor soil.
When Holzer inherited the farm -- then 44.5 acres -- 39 years ago, it was only used for the grazing of the family's cows and sheep. He carved terraces out of the steep inclines --like the ancient Incas and Maya of South and Central America --to stop erosion and trap rainfall.
He rejected the use of pesticides and fertilizers, which he considered poisonous, and the concept of monoculture -- the cultivation of just one plant type over an expanse of land --because he believed it sapped the soil of all nutrients.
Instead he began growing a host of timber and fruit trees, shrubs and grasses all mixed up together.
"Everyone said I was mad and I had to pay numerous fines because the authorities said that it was illegal to plant such a combination," Holzer said.
"When I bought this patch of land off a farmer, it was not fit for the cows and sheep grazing on it. People scoffed that I was neglecting my land -- but now they come to harvest cherries from June to October."
"This is the worst type of soil, which just goes to prove that there is no bad soil, just bad farmers," he added.
PROOF IS IN EATING OF PUDDING
Most of the plants Holzer and his wife Vroni grow at his "Krameterhof" holding are not meant to flourish in Alpine conditions, according to experts.
In winter, the temperature can fall to below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit and a blanket of snow lingers into May. Snow can even fall in the height of summer.
Holzer said he found agricultural textbooks and his own years at agricultural college virtually useless.
"I followed their advice initially, but my trees started dying off. I then realized that I had to eradicate from my memory all that I'd learnt at college," he said.
Enlightenment came one winter during one of Holzer's routine moonlight strolls, when he noticed that the only apricot tree faring well in the harsh winter conditions was one he had forgotten to cut back according to ministerial regulations.
Unlike the pruned trees whose main lower branches snapped off under the weight of snow, the "neglected" tree's branches were intact.
Their unrestricted length had allowed them to droop with the tips touching the ground for support while the snow slid off, Holzer found. Allowing natural vegetation to grow around the trunk provided further support and nourishment for the tree.
"If people would only realize that if one leads a life in cooperation with nature and not against it, then nobody in the world need die of starvation," he said.
LET NATURE TAKE ITS OWN COURSE
Holzer's philosophy is that nature knows best and needs negligible interference from Man.
"We're born into paradise, but are destroying its foundation, the soil. The soil can look after itself, there's no need for Man to tamper with it."
Giant stone slabs pepper the landscape and serve as incubators by absorbing the sunlight and giving off warmth. The trees do their part as well in keeping the ground warm. Fallen foliage helps keep frost from reaching the roots.
Tree stumps dot the plantations to regulate irrigation. Like
a sponge they soak up water and later distribute it.
Animals too have a role in the Holzer ecosystem. Scavenging pigs till the soil in place of a tractor, while grass snakes were reintroduced to keep voracious slugs and mice in check.
Holzer is modest about his achievement which has led to projects in more than 40 countries and lectures on "the elimination of poverty in agriculture." He has rejected suggestions that he should have his method of permaculture patented.
"I would consider that as theft from nature. It's not my possession, I got it from nature and have an obligation to pass this knowledge on," the bearded 59-year-old said.
INSPIRATIONAL, BUT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE?
Holzer says his method of organic farming produces a much higher quality of crops than conventional farming, and at a fraction of the cost and effort.
He says his rare strain of grain contains 12 times the goodness of conventionally grown grain and as a result fetches a price 100 times higher.
His success means that he no longer lives directly off the crops in his sprawling garden, or the rare fish in his Alpine ponds and lakes.
People pay to pick their own fruit from his land, experts visit to study "Holzer Permaculture," and the man himself regularly holds seminars when not in a far-off country such as Colombia solving chronic problems of the soil.
And only one thing has so far stumped the man with green fingers.
"Bananas," he said with a shrug of his burly frame. "They froze. It's no surprise as they need an average temperature of 30 degrees. But I'm still working on it."
8/31/01
2:09:12 PM
Intercepted Missiles Could Fall On Europe
By Adrian Cho, New Scientist
Missiles targeted at US cities and intercepted by President Bush's proposed missile defence shield could fall on Europe, Canada or middle America instead, arms researchers warn.
Bush's missile defence plan includes a system to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) just minutes after launch, while their rocket boosters are still burning. This "boost-phase interception" should be easier than targeting missiles in mid-flight because tracking a flaming rocket is easier than homing in on a relatively cool and easily disguised warhead sailing high above the atmosphere, experts say.
. But destroying only the booster could leave the warhead zinging across the sky, says Ted Postol, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Precisely where the warhead would land would depend on when the booster was destroyed during its 4 to 6-minute burn. That would be difficult to control, so the warhead could potentially hit anywhere between the launch site and the target city, Postol says.
This means that a nuclear missile fired at the US from North Korea could explode over Alaska or Canada, while one fired from Iraq might strike Britain or mainland Europe. "Even if you knew all the details, you couldn't be sure of what would happen in any given engagement," Postol says.
Booster Busting
The US is considering several options for boost-phase interception. One is a powerful airborne laser mounted inside a modified Boeing 747 that the Air Force is developing to intercept shorter-range missiles. The laser's beam could burn a hole in the thin skin of an ICBM's booster, says Geoff Forden, a physicist at MIT. But it cannot destroy an ICBM warhead, which is designed to withstand tremendous heat while re-entering the atmosphere, he says. To destroy the warhead itself during the boost phase would need a larger and more manoeuvrable interceptor than anything the US is currently developing, Postol says.
It would have to be launched from the ground or the sea, and then specifically target the warhead - perhaps by aiming a stream of shrapnel at it. "There are technologies that overcome this narrowly defined problem," Postol says, "but they look nothing like what the Bush administration is considering."
Success Or Failure
Researchers disagree on whether a system that simply caused the warhead to fall short could be judged a success or a failure. If it hit land, the warhead would most likely hit a relatively uninhabited area and kill far fewer people than intended, says veteran physicist Richard Garwin, who helped develop the American H-bomb. That fact should deter nations such as North Korea or Iraq from launching a missile at the US, he says, if they were ever tempted to do so.
But Forden questions this. "The guys who might launch this thing probably won't care enough to say if it doesn't hit New York, I don't want to launch it at all."
The shortfall problem could, however, increase tensions between the US and its allies, says George Lewis, a physicist at MIT. "If you ask how many people are going to be killed, on average, you're clearly better off having the warhead fall short," he says. "But the people who it's going to land on may have a different view."
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns999
8/31/01
1:54:24 PM
The entire text of ENERGY & RESOURCE QUALITY has been scanned and is now online (in .gif format) at
http://www.bu.edu/cees/book/contents/contents.html
WORLD OIL FORECAST #6
by Rich Duncan
ABSTRACT: World Oil Forecast #6 concludes the following: (1) 23 out of 44 nations [representing 99% of world oil production in 2000] have passed their production peaks, (2) 3 out of the 7 regions of the world have passed their peaks, (3) 4 out of 11 OPEC nations have passed their peaks, (4) Non-OPEC production will peak in 2003, (5) OPEC production in 2017, and (6) world oil production in 2005.
8/31/01
1:46:04 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
FEATURE - Nuclear waste recyclers target consumer products - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12219/story.htm
ANALYSIS - US auto sector aluminum demand to fall in '01 - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12221/story.htm
FEATURE - NASA climate satellite keeping tabs on wildfires - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12222/story.htm
Bush close to Senate panel win for Alaska drilling - survey - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12228/story.htm
UPDATE - Ameren says plans for Church Mountain plant are off - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12229/story.htm
US reaches accord on endangered species - NYT - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12233/story.htm
UK floods last year worst since 1947, government says - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12220/story.htm
"Health freak" polar bear steals toothpaste - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12225/story.htm
Fate of Swiss activist a riddle in Malaysia jungle - MALAYSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12224/story.htm
US corn exports to Japan hit hard by StarLink - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12227/story.htm
Freeport to appeal Jakarta court ruling soon - INDONESIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12226/story.htm
Leopard Strayed into a Congested Town in Eastern India - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12223/story.htm
German nuclear waste reaches French plant - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12234/story.htm
UPM set to sell Finnish forest land if buyer found - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12236/story.htm
8/30/01
7:02:44 PM
A Nation Behind Bars: the buried talents of a population
Mumia Abu Jamal, a black man, is on death row after a trial that represented the extreme of procedural unfairness. A convicted cop killer, it is impossible to say for sure that Mr. Abu-Jamal is guilty, because our vaunted "due process" was suspended in his case. And it was clearly suspended because, unlike so many prominent black figures, he simply would not compromise with American racism. He would not moderate his appearance, his dress or his beliefs in exchange for a ticket to the mainstream. As a member of the Black Panthers, and later as a radio journalist covering the Move bombing in Philadelphia, he uncompromisingly identified racism wherever he saw it and would not shut up.
Writing of the beatings, torture and occasional murder of prisoners by guards in Pennsylvania's maximum security prisons, Mr. Abu-Jamal says in his book Live From Death Row, (Addison-Wesley 1995), p. 105:
"..But all [prisoners] found out how fragile the very system that stole their very freedom was when the state committed crimes against them. All found out that words like 'justice,' 'law,' 'civil rights,' and, yes, 'crime' have different and elastic meanings depending on whose rights were violated, who committed what crimes against whom, and whether one works for the system or against it.
For those people, almost a million at last count, who wear the label 'prisoner' around their necks, there is no law, there is no justice, there are no rights.
We must keep our vigil of faith and courage.."
Please join the struggle. A single candle seems very alone, but together we can roll back the night.
SEE the Mumia Links and Online Resources at this excellent website:
http://members.tripod.com/RobtShepherd/mumia.html
8/30/01
6:46:13 PM
TomPaine.com
READY FOR YOUR LAST SUMMER BBQ? GET THOSE ANTIBIOTICS OUT OF MY HAMBURGER!
<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/23/1.html>
Pigs, Chickens, and Cattle Are Eating the Antibiotics You Might Need One Day to Treat Your Children
by Tamar F. Barlam <mailto:tbarlam@cspinet.org>
Instead of forcing the FDA to prove that agricultural uses of antibiotics are unsafe, a new law is needed to ban the drugs unless the manufacturer can prove they are safe.
Dispatch: Havana
HANDING CASTRO AMMUNITION
<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/14/2.html>
U.S. Funding Would Help Cuban Officials Smear Dissidents as American Lackeys
by Joe Davidson
Senators Jesse Helms and Joe Lieberman want to send U.S. aid directly to dissidents in Cuba, a move that promises to delay the day when the two countries might once again be trading partners.
<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/14/2.html>
ENVIRONMENTALISM IS NOT JUST FOR TREE-HUGGERS
<http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/08/20/index.html>
by Ken Midkiff
The Endangered Species Act recognized that we are not self-sufficient. A very wise man a couple of millennia ago stated: What you do to the least of these, you do also to me.
And from the TP.c Archive...
Op Ad Redux: This week we're reposting, "The Secret Life of AAA," to mark the return of that longstanding American tradition: the Labor Day traffic jam.
AAA, Americans' favorite roadside helper, is going to get a lot of calls this weekend. Did you know that as busy as AAA is with towing and repairs, it also keeps busy lobbying in Washington?
As Michael A. Rivlin reports in his story, originally published by The Amicus Journal, "AAA weighs in on highway funding, suburban sprawl, mass transit, car design and safety, air pollution, and global warming. Almost without exception, critics say, it advocates policies that damage the environment and endanger health."
Read Rivlin's detailed report:
<http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/01/index.html>
AAA had a response:
<http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/01/4.html>
Jennifer Bauduy reports on plans for an environmentally minded alternative to AAA - the Triple E.
<http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/01/5.html>
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman review Jack Doyle's book, "Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution."
<http://www.tompaine.com/history/2001/05/01/index.html>
HAVE A GOOD LABOR DAY HOLIDAY!
8/30/01
6:32:18 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
WALL-TO-WALL CARPING
Can a 12,000-square-foot house really be eco-friendly? What about Bill Gates's 40,000-square-foot house built of salvaged wood? Architect Will Bruder says adding green features like geothermal heating and solar panels to mongo homes with five-car garages is merely a way "to rationalize decadent expenditures." Daniel Chiras, an enviro professor, says, "[I]f it's a 5,000-square-foot-house, it has to be furnished, heated, cooled, and maintained. That takes a lot of resources and energy. They're fooling themselves if they think it's okay." Others are all for thinking big. Architect William McDonough says, "Size doesn't have to matter." David Warner of Redhorse Constructors in San Rafael, Calif., agrees: "If a guy with a home over 10,000 square feet who doesn't think of himself as green still decides to use photovoltaic power sources, I consider that a victory."
straight to the source: New York Times, Julie V. Iovine, 30 Aug 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/garden/30BIG.html>
FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES?
Betcha never knew that, on average, it is more energy-efficient to fly across the U.S. than to drive alone. But don't rush to board a plan just yet: Pollution controls on planes sure aren't pretty things. For example, planes release hundreds of millions of gallons of smog-producing chemicals a year just landing and taking off. If you must travel, it'd be far better for the environment if you took a bus; buses are nearly six times more energy-efficient than planes. Unfortunately for the bus industry and the environment, however, U.S. air travel is expected to increase by 85 percent in the next 20 years. Read more fun facts about flying on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: Fun plane facts -- in our Counter Culture section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/counter/counter082901.asp?source=daily>
DO YOU SEED WHAT I SEED
Sixty-three percent of Canadians would be less likely to buy a genetically engineered food item than a conventional one, according to a poll released today. The biotech industry is listening. Faced with increasingly skeptical consumers and tighter regulations worldwide, the industry is scaling back its plans, bypassing most genetically engineered crops in favor of big moneymakers like corn and soybeans. Some critics applaud the industry's decision to hold back on new biotech foods, saying that the delay will give science a chance to better determine the environmental and health impacts of altering plant genes.
straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Laurent Belsie, 30 Aug 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0830/p3s1-usgn.html>
8/30/01
6:26:25 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
UNEXPECTED PACT BENEFITS 29 RARE SPECIES
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - In a painstakingly negotiated truce, federal officials and a coalition of environmental groups have reached an agreement that will provide new protections for dozens of rare species and their habitat. The settlement, announced today, will relieve some of the legal pressure on wildlife officials, while expediting protections for species in urgent need of help.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-07.html
ZAPPING ZEBRA MUSSELS WITH RADIO WAVES
CHICAGO, Illinois, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - Low energy radio waves can help kill invasive zebra mussels which have caused millions of dollars in damage to boats and power plants in the United States, researchers said yesterday.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-08.html
FRANCE CONSIDERS TIGHTER GM CROP TEST CONTROLS
PARIS, France, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin promised Tuesday to consider further biosecurity requirements for field test sites of genetically modified crops as national debate over the issue reached a new peak.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-01.html
WHALE EATERS IN NIGERIA RISK ILLNESS
By Abiodun Raufu
LAGOS, Nigeria, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - Nigerian health officials fear an outbreak of illnesses following the mass consumption of a dead baby blue whale washed ashore on busy Victoria Island, Lagos on the night of August 13.
No one could say how exactly the whale died on the beach beside the commercial and restaurant area, but many believe it may have been injured after colliding with a large ship.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-02.html
800 PHILIPPINE PROTESTERS UPROOT TRANSGENIC CORN
MALTANA, Mindanao, Philippines, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - About 800 farmers, church members, students and other citizens stormed Monsanto's experimental field in the southern Philippines this morning, uprooting all genetically engineered Bt-corn plants.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-03.html
AFRICAN DUST CLOUDS FEED TOXIC ALGAE BLOOMS
TAMPA, Florida, August 29, 2001 (ENS) - Saharan dust clouds travel thousands of miles and fertilize the water off the West Florida coast with iron, which kicks off blooms of toxic algae, shows a new study funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The researchers say the international dust contributes to deadly red tides that can kill millions of fish and other sea creatures.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-06.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: AUGUST 29, 2001
Landfill Loses Landmark Status Due to Superfund History
Two Pilots Killed Fighting California Fire
FDA Proposes New Blood Supply Guidelines
Hecla Mining to Pay What it Can Afford for Cleanup
Judge Upholds California Anti-Soot Rules
$10 Purchase Will Protect Florida's Ichetucknee Springs
NMFS Finds Funds to Survey Hawaii's Fisheries
Florida Stabilizes Abandoned Phosphate Plant
Zapping Zebra Mussels With Radio Waves
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-29-09.html
8/30/01
6:14:26 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
FuelCell shares jump on Q3 results - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12217/story.htm
Green group challenges Florida 'polluter' tax - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12208/story.htm
US attache outlines Australia's GM labeling rules - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12218/story.htm
Senate panel to meet on utility pollution limits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12213/story.htm
UPDATE - Foot-and-mouth threatens UK rural life - report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12216/story.htm
Anti-personnel mine ban said gaining support - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12212/story.htm
South Korea says to label GM fish products from Sept 1 - SOUTH KOREA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12205/story.htm
US farm group to hold Asia-wide biotech conference - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12206/story.htm
DSM, Siemens launch paper waste-to-fuel venture - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12214/story.htm
Kazakh nuclear woes remain a decade after closure - KAZAKHSTAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12204/story.htm
UPDATE - Isuzu to make diesel engines for Renault - paper - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12215/story.htm
E.ON says will be almost emissions-free by 2006 - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12210/story.htm
France's Biogemma to sue after GM crop uprooted - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12209/story.htm
German nuclear waste train crosses into France - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12211/story.htm
Teck-Cominco probes contamination at Trail plant - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12203/story.htm
Argentine advocates healthy GM products - ARGENTINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12207/story.htm
8/30/01
6:08:49 PM
U.S. Headed Down Lonely Road In Its Drug Crusade
by Nicolas Eyle
Canada's recent decision to permit the sick access to medical marijuana is just the latest in a long series of refutations by other countries of America's drug policies. It comes on the heels of Portugal's decriminalizing the personal possession of small quantities of all drugs. It follows Mexican President Vicente Fox's call for drug legalization as the way to break the black market. The Conservative Party in Great Britain is arguing heatedly about whether marijuana should be decriminalized, removing penalties for its use, or legalized, which would permit a legal distribution system to be set up, ending the contact marijuana users now have with sellers of harder drugs. All over the world, countries are looking at the disastrous results of America's "War on Drugs" and shifting their drug policies to avoid making the same mistakes.
In fact, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany and nearly every other country in Western Europe have some form of decriminalization of personal possession of drugs in place, and the results are certainly encouraging others to move in this direction. In the Netherlands, marijuana is sold in hundreds of "coffee shops" over-the-counter, and their teen-age marijuana use is half of what it is in the United States. In Switzerland, a program to supply hard-core heroin addicts with heroin has been so successful at lowering health-care costs and reducing the crime associated with that drug's use that its biggest and most vocal supporters are the police and the insurance companies. Recently even the Ukraine, long one of Europe's toughest drug warriors, announced that it was going to release some 35,000 drug offenders from prison in September and make drug use "a non-arrestable offense."
In the United States, nine states have approved medical marijuana use. A recent conference of U.S./Mexico border-state governors organized by New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson agreed that the drug problem should be a public health issue more than a law-enforcement one. Individual counties have gone even farther. Mendocino County in California made marijuana offenses the lowest priority possible for law enforcement. If you are a police officer looking into a possible marijuana crime and a little old lady calls because her cat is stuck in a tree, you have to forget the marijuana and help the cat.
America is in an increasingly difficult position internationally because of the drug war. We purport to be the leader of the free world, yet with five percent of the world's population, we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners, more than half serving sentences for drug-related offenses. Our troops, arms and money fuel civil wars in Latin American countries like Colombia in the name of ridding the world of drugs. Many of our cities are in turmoil, and minorities are targeted for drug offenses in painfully obvious, unjust proportions. And with all this, America's kids have better access to illegal drugs than to beer.
So who are our allies in our naive quest for a drug-free America through prohibition? Iran, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, China and a handful of other notoriously repressive nations. These countries execute drug users regularly, and have for years. These countries still have large and growing drug problems because, like America, they refuse to accept the fact that prohibition does not work.
If America is serious about protecting its children from the problems associated with drugs, then we had better start looking around us. Look at what other countries are doing and see what works and what doesn't. With adolescent drug use up and drugs purer, cheaper and more available than ever before, it should be obvious to us, as it seems to be to most of the rest of the world, that prohibition is not the way to solve the problem.
America has gone down the wrong road many times in its history. There was a time when women were not allowed to vote, when it was quite permissible for white people to own black people, for segregation to exist. A time when Americans were forbidden to drink alcohol. Fortunately, we came to our senses about these things, changed our laws and became a stronger, better country for it.
Sociologist Thomas Sowell once said that the difference between a policy and a crusade is that a policy is judged by its results, but a crusade is judged by how good it makes the crusaders feel. It's becoming hard to refer to what we do with regard to drugs in America as a policy. What we have is clearly a Jihad -- a holy war with no basis in logic or sense. No interest in results or costs. No concern that the medicine may be far worse than the disease. Why is it so hard for us to see this and reconsider how we handle these drugs in America?
Nicolas Eyle is executive director of http://www.Reconsider.org
8/30/01
5:29:28 PM
Prison Policy In A Media-driven America
by Arthur Stamoulis, LiP Magazine
It doesn't matter where you live. It makes no difference what your education, age, gender or income is. Within any demographic group, people who watch a lot of television are more afraid of crime than people who don't.
According to studies by communications professor George Gerbner, people who watch more TV are more likely to believe that their neighborhoods are unsafe, to state that fear of crime is a very serious personal problem and to go out and buy new locks, watchdogs and guns for protection.
And if you think these people are just better informed, think again. No matter what the neighborhood, heavier television viewers are also more likely to overstate their chances of involvement in violence and to assume that crime is on the rise, regardless of the local facts.
This unjustified level of panic among TV viewers makes perfect sense. Gerbner explains that people who watch just a moderate amount of primetime television drama are "entertained" by an average of 21 violent criminals each week, who (together with the "good guys") commit approximately 150 acts of violence, including 15 murders.
If television make-believe can influence Americans' level of anxiety, perhaps it also influences their views on prison policy. Ever wonder why a person could support a justice system that boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world, at a cost of billions of dollars to taxpayers each year, despite the fact that violent crime is down and two-thirds of prisoners are actually locked up for nonviolent offenses? Just consider the world that media consumers are confronted with every day.
Hardasses or Hard Copy?
Reality shows like America's Most Wanted paint the nation as filled to the brim with depraved murderers, brutal serial rapists and career con artists -- all with callous indifference to their ever-increasing stream of victims.
Dramas like Law and Order, CSI and NYPD Blue leave viewers expecting to find a body no matter what corner they turn. Police and victims are depicted as having to battle against a mountainous number of unfair technicalities and uncaring defense attorneys, while alleged perpetrators are most often shown to be common thugs.
Even shows like The Practice -- which sends the radical message that any person accused of a crime deserves a good defense -- also send the message that any person accused of a crime gets a good defense. Lawyers from the program's expensive private law firm constantly take on the cases of indigent defendants, getting them acquitted from all sorts of charges even though the lawyers, clients and viewing audience all know the person is guilty.
Our "objective," "neutral" and "balanced" mainstream news doesn't do much to correct this slanted image of the world either. In fact, most television news works to actually increase America's culture of fear.
If it Bleeds, it Leads
Paul Klite, the late Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Media Watch (RMMW), once pointed out that "Murder, one of the least common crimes, is the number one topic on newscasts." According to the group Children Now, while the homicide rate dropped 33% during the period between 1990 and 1998, news coverage of homicides actually increased by 473%.
An RMMW study of local TV newscasts across the country shows that 40-50% of all news airtime is devoted to violent topics. It's little wonder that heavy television viewers are more afraid of crime than less frequent viewers in the same demographic.
Children Now recommends that parents speak with their kids about the levels of violent crime reported in the news and explain to them that crime reporting is not accurate representation of reality. Perhaps parents should speak with their adult friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives as well.
Anyone working for progressive prison reform has undoubtedly run up against individuals with a "lock 'em up and throw away the key" attitude. We should keep in mind that this position -- while not necessarily well thought out from a public policy perspective -- does seem understandable for a person that believes violent indifference and criminal brutality are pandemic.
The fact that newspapers like The New York Times, Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times have all used the phrase "country club prison" in headlines also makes the calls for more harsher punishment for prisoners seem somewhat reasonable.
The Idle, Carefree Life of the Prisoner
The prison coverage by Fox News several years back was not atypical. It aired James Fotis of the Law Enforcement Alliance of America stating that "some prisons are like hotels." Guests on the show highlighted prisoners' access to perks like television, videos and tennis courts.
A report that aired multiple times on 20/20 in the 1990s which, according to host Hugh Downes, was about "thieves, child molesters, [and] murderers" suing prisons over "petty gripes," quoted an Attorney General explaining the situation quite clearly:
"What we've got here is a system in this country where prisoners -- the worst of the worst of our society -- have been given special privileges across the board. They get free everything."
You almost expect the next exposé to be about people trying to get into prison. Never mind being locked away from one's family, told when to eat and sleep, having absolutely no privacy, forced to submit to humiliation on a regular basis, living at the mercy of the mood swings of individual prison guards and other prisoners -- you get "free everything"!
As long as people view the "justice" system through the mainstream media's skewed lens on the world, America's insane prison system will continue to seem right to an awful lot of people. Government policies will continue to focus on warehousing and punishment, rather than education, rehabilitation and victim services.
The "prisoners get what they deserve" attitude that is so prevalent in our society, "isn't because of any natural consequence of people's thinking process," explains Prison Legal News editor and Washington state prisoner Paul Wright. "Rather, it is the carefully inculcated notion that comes after years of bombardment on what to think by the media."
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11413
8/30/01
5:26:38 PM
Nuke Train
by Geoff Schumacher, In These Times
A series of recent high-profile accidents involving trains and trucks carrying hazardous cargo has given new ammunition to opponents of the federal government's plan to build a national high-level nuclear waste dump in the Nevada desert.
The accident that received the most attention from anti-nuclear forces was the July 18 derailment of a freight train in a tunnel beneath Baltimore. The train carrying hazardous chemicals burned for several days at temperatures of up to 1,500 degrees. If the train had been carrying nuclear waste, opponents suggest, the steel casks designed to protect radioactive waste could have been breached. "I hope everyone recognizes the tremendous tragedy that was just barely averted in Baltimore," Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) told reporters after the derailment. "Hydrochloric acid is bad, but not as bad as nuclear waste. A speck the size of a pinpoint would kill a person."
Then, on August 5, a train derailed outside Houston, spilling thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals and forcing the evacuation of 100 homes. Three days later, a tanker truck carrying hazardous chemicals overturned on a busy freeway in Chicago, shutting down area roads and forcing the evacuation of nearby housing complexes. "While these incidents were extremely serious and dangerous," said Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nevada), "one could only imagine the ramifications if any one of these trains contained nuclear waste."
After Berkley made that statement, a truck transporting low-level nuclear waste from New York to Nevada was discovered to be carrying a cracked container. The driver noticed white foam on the truck bed and called authorities, who found an inch-long crack in one of the containers. DOE inspectors said they did not detect radiation around the truck, but the incident nevertheless fueled renewed concerns.
Reid, who recently ascended to the post of majority whip, has cited the Baltimore train accident and the cracked nuclear-waste container as "a wake-up call" about the dangers of transporting high-level nuclear wastes from reactors across 43 states to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Reid's newfound clout -- he's now the No. 2 person in the Senate behind Tom Daschle -- has put any legislative movement regarding the nuclear waste dump on hold. But studies of Yucca Mountain continue, and nuclear regulators are pushing forward with the licensing process. As a result, Reid and other dump opponents are always looking for new ways to attack the plan. Yucca Mountain's opponents maintain that it would be safer to simply keep the waste at the reactor sites than to transport it to Nevada.
Following the Baltimore accident, Reid introduced an amendment to a transportation appropriations bill to study the risks of transporting hazardous materials and to determine whether the nation's emergency response systems are sufficient. The amendment passed 96 to 0.
Meanwhile, the government of Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, recently released a study outlining the human and financial toll of a worst-case accident in Las Vegas involving high-level nuclear waste. The U.S. Department of Energy's planned routes to bring the waste to Yucca Mountain run through the middle of the gambling mecca.
The study looked at the effects of a collision involving a truck carrying nuclear waste and a gasoline tanker on Interstate 15, which runs parallel with the neon-drenched Strip. The accident would expose more than 1,000 people to radiation and result in more than $1 billion in cleanup costs and economic losses.
Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com
8/30/01
4:34:40 PM
Filtered For Your Viewing Pleasure
by Maia Szalavitz, Village Voice
Strange things happen when you seek drug policy information using filters meant to protect kids from the evils of the Net. Try reaching the drug law reform think tank the Lindesmith Center using Cyber Patrol, the highest-rated online screening product --- which is now part of AOL's family filter and used by 9 million people. You can't connect. Try to hit drug czar Barry McCaffrey's site, which takes the opposite political perspective, and the site loads easily. Attempt to access the Lycaeum, which includes information on personal drug experiences and even methamphetamine manufacture, and you can access it without a problem.
A search for "marijuana" using Searchopolis, the free Web-based search meant to be safe for children, also produces surprising results. Searchopolis uses the same technology as Bess, the server-based filter that leads the market for educational and library filtering and was recently tested in the city's public schools. Though unfiltered searches find a predominance of marijuana law reform sites as well as government institutions and think tanks, on Searchopolis, the top 10 hits are government and anti-marijuana sites. Presuming student laziness while researching homework -- quite often a sound assumption -- you can figure that most NYC kids are safe from alternative perspectives online.
However, if you do click to the next page, you get "Slick Willie Brand" marijuana bags (a party gag? or perhaps the search engine likes Republican perspectives?) and then, finally, some reform sites. An advertisement for the stealth government site freevibe.com, which pretends to offer unbiased information but is actually a project of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, appears.
If they worked as advertised, these filters would be dangerous, with the ability to exclude some political perspectives while offering access to others. Though many people assume these blockers exclude only porn, they can also keep out information that "promotes" drug use, offers recipes for bombs or contains violence or even information on sex education. As the Cyber Patrol example indicates, the technology isn't quite there yet -- but it is clear that drug warriors, upset over the dominance of the reform perspective on the Net, are fighting back.
Used only by parents in their own homes, this software is simply a tool to screen out information inappropriate for kids. But there has been a great push to install it in schools and libraries; and while one bill to mandate it in these institutions recently failed in Congress, presidential candidate John McCain is pushing another. (Yet another bill, which passed the Senate and was introduced in the House, would impose criminal penalties on owners of Web sites that "directly or indirectly advertise" drug use.)
Filtering software is estimated to reach one-third of American households with Net access. Filter manufacturers have focused on schools and libraries and are currently aiming their marketing efforts at getting businesses to buy the software to "increase productivity" by limiting Net access. Schools have already begun to recognize the problems with these filters as students find that access to research material they need is blocked. New York City public schools currently use a program called I-gear, made by Symantec. Recently, students found that they could access Operation Rescue but not Planned Parenthood, and that drug-related sites, the National Rifle Association, and even a reference from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath were barred. The filter also blocked access to major news organizations and scientific and medical groups.
Other districts have had difficulties as well. Jonathan Wallace of Censorware.org, a collaborative that examines and fights blocking software, says his group was contacted by high school students in Ohio who were having difficulty researching teen drug use for a homework assignment because so many sites were blocked by Bess. While allowing searches for "marijuana," Bess is set not to search the word "heroin" or "cocaine," and bars pages that contain these words.
Some software manufacturers recognize the political nature of their products and let users see the criteria that determine which sites are blocked and customize the filter. One filter, Surfwatch, says explicitly on its Web site that it doesn't block sites devoted to drug legalization, recognizing this as political, rather than drug-promoting, speech.
Susan Getgood, vice president in charge of Cyber Patrol for the Learning Company, says, "Our criteria are carefully crafted based on the appropriateness for children. Medical marijuana isn't blocked and policy material wouldn't be blocked, but it has to be appropriate for a 12-year-old."
Bess's manufacturer, N2H2, says that there is no political agenda in its filtering criteria. "It's based on choice," says CEO Peter Nickerson. "Schools can set up different levels of filtering and can override them if need be. These issues are all subjective, and what someone decides is appropriate to block in South Carolina may not be appropriate to block in California."
Other manufacturers recognize the political potential of filters and use it to their own ends. The most notorious of these is Cybersitter, which would not allow you to read this page on the Web, nor Mother Jones, the NOW site, any gay or lesbian sites, or even sites devoted to arguments about software filters. When one teenager set up a site in 1996 to protest filtering software, his name and site were blocked by Cybersitter and the company contacted his service provider to try to cut his account. Two years later, the company sent an e-mail bomb to another opponent. (Cybersitter said it was done by a "frustrated technical support employee.") Cybersitter's right-wing agenda is not mentioned on its site or in any of its promotional material, and since it keeps its filtering criteria private, consumers can't easily tell how it skews searches.
"Almost all of these products have a political agenda," says Wallace. "With some of them, it's more balanced, but still it's de facto censorship: letting one point of view through and blocking another."
So far, legal judgments have favored Censorware's position that enforced use of these products, at least in libraries, is unconstitutional. In Loudoun, Virginia, where the library board had mandated the use of filters on terminals in the adult section, a federal judge ruled that this violated the First Amendment. "We were beaten like a rented mule on this lawsuit," a town trustee told the Washington Times. In Livermore, California, a mother sued the library for providing unfiltered Net access, which her son used to download porn. She lost too, though she has appealed.
Despite this unfavorable legal atmosphere, Congress is still attempting to mandate filtering in schools and libraries as a prerequisite for receiving funding in the bill pushed by Senator McCain.
In the early days of the Net, cybergurus were fond of claiming that the Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it. So far, this holds true -- but many powerful forces are working against it. How free information remains --particularly information that contradicts government perspectives on drug policy -- is an open question.
Maia Szalavitz is a journalist who has written for New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday and The Village Voice, among others
Source: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11380
8/30/01
4:04:07 PM
The Secret Behind The Sanctions
by Thomas Nagy, The Progressive
Over the last two years, I've discovered documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country's water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway.
The primary document, "Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities," is dated January 22, 1991. It spells out how sanctions will prevent Iraq from supplying clean water to its citizens.
"Iraq depends on importing specialized equipment and some chemicals to purify its water supply, most of which is heavily mineralized and frequently brackish to saline," the document states. "With no domestic sources of both water treatment replacement parts and some essential chemicals, Iraq will continue attempts to circumvent United Nations Sanctions to import these vital commodities. Failing to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much of the population. This could lead to increased incidences, if not epidemics, of disease."
The document goes into great technical detail about the sources and quality of Iraq's water supply. The quality of untreated water "generally is poor," and drinking such water "could result in diarrhea," the document says. It notes that Iraq's rivers "contain biological materials, pollutants, and are laden with bacteria. Unless the water is purified with chlorine, epidemics of such diseases as cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid could occur."
The document notes that the importation of chlorine "has been embargoed" by sanctions. "Recent reports indicate the chlorine supply is critically low."
Food and medicine will also be affected, the document states. "Food processing, electronic, and, particularly, pharmaceutical plants require extremely pure water that is free from biological contaminants," it says.
The document addresses possible Iraqi countermeasures to obtain drinkable water despite sanctions.
"Iraq conceivably could truck water from the mountain reservoirs to urban areas. But the capability to gain significant quantities is extremely limited," the document states. "The amount of pipe on hand and the lack of pumping stations would limit laying pipelines to these reservoirs. Moreover, without chlorine purification, the water still would contain biological pollutants. Some affluent Iraqis could obtain their own minimally adequate supply of good quality water from Northern Iraqi sources. If boiled, the water could be safely consumed. Poorer Iraqis and industries requiring large quantities of pure water would not be able to meet their needs."
The document also discounted the possibility of Iraqis using rainwater. "Precipitation occurs in Iraq during the winter and spring, but it falls primarily in the northern mountains," it says. "Sporadic rains, sometimes heavy, fall over the lower plains. But Iraq could not rely on rain to provide adequate pure water."
As an alternative, "Iraq could try convincing the United Nations or individual countries to exempt water treatment supplies from sanctions for humanitarian reasons," the document says. "It probably also is attempting to purchase supplies by using some sympathetic countries as fronts. If such attempts fail, Iraqi alternatives are not adequate for their national requirements."
In cold language, the document spells out what is in store: "Iraq will suffer increasing shortages of purified water because of the lack of required chemicals and desalination membranes. Incidences of disease, including possible epidemics, will become probable unless the population were careful to boil water."
The document gives a timetable for the destruction of Iraq's water supplies. "Iraq's overall water treatment capability will suffer a slow decline, rather than a precipitous halt," it says. "Although Iraq is already experiencing a loss of water treatment capability, it probably will take at least six months (to June 1991) before the system is fully degraded."
This document, which was partially declassified but unpublicized in 1995, can be found on the Pentagon's web site at www.gulflink.osd.mil. (I disclosed this document last fall. But the news media showed little interest in it. The only reporters I know of who wrote lengthy stories on it were Felicity Arbuthnot in the Sunday Herald of Scotland, who broke the story, and Charlie Reese of the Orlando Sentinel, who did a follow-up.)
Recently, I have come across other DIA documents that confirm the Pentagon's monitoring of the degradation of Iraq's water supply. These documents have not been publicized until now.
The first one in this batch is called "Disease Information," and is also dated January 22, 1991. At the top, it says, "Subject: Effects of Bombing on Disease Occurrence in Baghdad." The analysis is blunt: "Increased incidence of diseases will be attributable to degradation of normal preventive medicine, waste disposal, water purification/distribution, electricity, and decreased ability to control disease outbreaks. Any urban area in Iraq that has received infrastructure damage will have similar problems."
The document proceeds to itemize the likely outbreaks. It mentions "acute diarrhea" brought on by bacteria such as E. coli, shigella, and salmonella, or by protozoa such as giardia, which will affect "particularly children," or by rotavirus, which will also affect "particularly children," a phrase it puts in parentheses. And it cites the possibilities of typhoid and cholera outbreaks.
The document warns that the Iraqi government may "blame the United States for public health problems created by the military conflict."
The second DIA document, "Disease Outbreaks in Iraq," is dated February 21, 1990, but the year is clearly a typo and should be 1991. It states: "Conditions are favorable for communicable disease outbreaks, particularly in major urban areas affected by coalition bombing." It adds: "Infectious disease prevalence in major Iraqi urban areas targeted by coalition bombing (Baghdad, Basrah) undoubtedly has increased since the beginning of Desert Storm. . . . Current public health problems are attributable to the reduction of normal preventive medicine, waste disposal, water purification and distribution, electricity, and the decreased ability to control disease outbreaks."
This document lists the "most likely diseases during next sixty-ninety days (descending order): diarrheal diseases (particularly children); acute respiratory illnesses (colds and influenza); typhoid; hepatitis A (particularly children); measles, diphtheria, and pertussis (particularly children); meningitis, including meningococcal (particularly children); cholera (possible, but less likely)."
Like the previous document, this one warns that the Iraqi government might "propagandize increases of endemic diseases."
The third document in this series, "Medical Problems in Iraq," is dated March 15, 1991. It says: "Communicable diseases in Baghdad are more widespread than usually observed during this time of the year and are linked to the poor sanitary conditions (contaminated water supplies and improper sewage disposal) resulting from the war. According to a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organization report, the quantity of potable water is less than 5 percent of the original supply, there are no operational water and sewage treatment plants, and the reported incidence of diarrhea is four times above normal levels. Additionally, respiratory infections are on the rise. Children particularly have been affected by these diseases."
Perhaps to put a gloss on things, the document states, "There are indications that the situation is improving and that the population is coping with the degraded conditions." But it adds: "Conditions in Baghdad remain favorable for communicable disease outbreaks."
The fourth document, "Status of Disease at Refugee Camps," is dated May 1991. The summary says, "Cholera and measles have emerged at refugee camps. Further infectious diseases will spread due to inadequate water treatment and poor sanitation."
The reason for this outbreak is clearly stated again. "The main causes of infectious diseases, particularly diarrhea, dysentery, and upper respiratory problems, are poor sanitation and unclean water. These diseases primarily afflict the old and young children."
The fifth document, "Health Conditions in Iraq, June 1991," is still heavily censored. All I can make out is that the DIA sent a source "to assess health conditions and determine the most critical medical needs of Iraq. Source observed that Iraqi medical system was in considerable disarray, medical facilities had been extensively looted, and almost all medicines were in critically short supply."
In one refugee camp, the document says, "at least 80 percent of the population" has diarrhea. At this same camp, named Cukurca, "cholera, hepatitis type B, and measles have broken out."
The protein deficiency disease kwashiorkor was observed in Iraq "for the first time," the document adds. "Gastroenteritis was killing children. . . . In the south, 80 percent of the deaths were children (with the exception of Al Amarah, where 60 percent of deaths were children)."
The final document is "Iraq: Assessment of Current Health Threats and Capabilities," and it is dated November 15, 1991. This one has a distinct damage-control feel to it. Here is how it begins: "Restoration of Iraq's public health services and shortages of major medical materiel remain dominant international concerns. Both issues apparently are being exploited by Saddam Hussein in an effort to keep public opinion firmly against the U.S. and its Coalition allies and to direct blame away from the Iraqi government."
It minimizes the extent of the damage. "Although current countrywide infectious disease incidence in Iraq is higher than it was before the Gulf War, it is not at the catastrophic levels that some groups predicted. The Iraqi regime will continue to exploit disease incidence data for its own political purposes."
And it places the blame squarely on Saddam Hussein. "Iraq's medical supply shortages are the result of the central government's stockpiling, selective distribution, and exploitation of domestic and international relief medical resources." It adds: "Resumption of public health programs . . . depends completely on the Iraqi government."
As these documents illustrate, the United States knew sanctions had the capacity to devastate the water treatment system of Iraq. It knew what the consequences would be: increased outbreaks of disease and high rates of child mortality. And it was more concerned about the public relations nightmare for Washington than the actual nightmare that the sanctions created for innocent Iraqis.
The Geneva Convention is absolutely clear. In a 1979 protocol relating to the "protection of victims of international armed conflicts," Article 54, it states: "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive."
But that is precisely what the U.S. government did, with malice aforethought. It "destroyed, removed, or rendered useless" Iraq's "drinking water installations and supplies." The sanctions, imposed for a decade largely at the insistence of the United States, constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention. They amount to a systematic effort to, in the DIA's own words, "fully degrade" Iraq's water sources.
At a House hearing on June 7, Representative Cynthia McKinney, Democrat of Georgia, referred to the document "Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities" and said: "Attacking the Iraqi public drinking water supply flagrantly targets civilians and is a violation of the Geneva Convention and of the fundamental laws of civilized nations."
Over the last decade, Washington extended the toll by continuing to withhold approval for Iraq to import the few chemicals and items of equipment it needed in order to clean up its water supply.
Last summer, Representative Tony Hall, Democrat of Ohio, wrote to then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright "about the profound effects of the increasing deterioration of Iraq's water supply and sanitation systems on its children's health." Hall wrote, "The prime killer of children under five years of age--diarrheal diseases--has reached epidemic proportions, and they now strike four times more often than they did in 1990. . . . Holds on contracts for the water and sanitation sector are a prime reason for the increases in sickness and death. Of the eighteen contracts, all but one hold was placed by the U.S. government. The contracts are for purification chemicals, chlorinators, chemical dosing pumps, water tankers, and other equipment. . . . I urge you to weigh your decision against the disease and death that are the unavoidable result of not having safe drinking water and minimum levels of sanitation."
For more than ten years, the United States has deliberately pursued a policy of destroying the water treatment system of Iraq, knowing full well the cost in Iraqi lives. The United Nations has estimated that more than 500,000 Iraqi children have died as a result of sanctions, and that 5,000 Iraqi children continue to die every month for this reason.
No one can say that the United States didn't know what it was doing.
See for Yourself
All the DIA documents mentioned in this article were found at the Department of Defense's Gulflink site.
To read or print documents:
1.go to www.gulflink.osd.mil
2.click on "Declassified Documents" on the left side of the front page
3.the next page is entitled "Browse Recently Declassified Documents"
4.click on "search" under "Declassifed Documents" on the left side of that page
5.the next page is entitled "Search Recently Declassified Documents"
6.enter search terms such as "disease information effects of bombing"
7.click on the search button
8.the next page is entitled "Data Sources"
9.click on DIA
10.click on one of the titles
It's not the easiest, best-organized site on the Internet, but I have found the folks at Gulflink to be helpful and responsive.
Source: http://www.Progressive.org
8/30/01
3:58:22 PM
FBI's New Generation Of Cointelpro
by Hank Hoffman, In These Times
Is the FBI back in the business of trying to squelch political dissent? An obscure paragraph in congressional testimony this past spring by departing FBI Director Louis Freeh has fanned fears that the agency is planning a surveillance and disruption effort against anti-globalization groups similar to Cointelpro, which focused on the anti-war and Black Power movements in the '60s and '70s.
Freeh delivered his testimony on the "Threat of Terrorism to the United States" before the Senate Appropriations committee on May 10. In the section on "domestic terrorism," Freeh identified "right-wing extremist groups," such as the World Church of the Creator and Aryan Nation, as "representing a continuing terrorism threat." One of the two paragraphs dealing with "special-interest extremists" focused on the eco-sabotage of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. In contrast, extreme anti-abortion groups, with their record of murder and clinic bombings, merited only a passing mention.
But it was the final paragraph in Freeh's assessment of "left-wing extremist groups" that raised eyebrows among anti-globalization activists: "Anarchist and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers World Party, Reclaim the Streets and Carnival Against Capitalism -- have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States," Freeh said. "For example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle."
"These are extremely dangerous and inappropriate comments," says Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the Washington-based Partnership for Civil Justice. Verheyden-Hilliard is the lead attorney on a lawsuit against the FBI and other police agencies for civil rights violations during the April 2000 protests at the Washington meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Noting that Freeh's remarks were made in the context of an appropriations hearing, she says that he "may be trying to legitimate funding for a government-sponsored war against the social justice movement."
Freeh's comments do provoke serious concerns. No justification is offered for the naming of Workers World Party, a Marxist group, and Reclaim the Streets, a network founded in London in 1995 that merges protests and raves, as representing potential threats. Freeh seemingly criminalizes all anarchists based on vandalism during the Seattle WTO protests. "By demonizing this movement and suggesting these folks pose a threat," says Verheyden-Hilliard, "they justify declaring some form of martial law [during large demonstrations]."
Verheyden-Hilliard notes that protests in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington have been met with excessive police response: illegal arrests, intrusive surveillance, pepper spray and the employment of agents provocateur. Washington police traveled to Philadelphia, Quebec and Genoa to observe protests, while local and state police are cooperating with the FBI on "joint anti-terrorism task forces." She adds: "It appears there's been substantial funding, sending people all around the country."
According to Jon Weiss of New York Reclaim the Streets, activists' initial response to Freeh's testimony was fear "because the phrase 'domestic terrorism' is usually just a packaging tool for the mass suspension of civil liberties."
Weiss suspects the FBI cribbed the terrorist tag from Scotland Yard, based on actions that devolved into riots. Reclaim the Streets' actions in Britain had been nonviolent since the network's founding in 1995, but that changed on June 18, 1999. As part of an international "global street party" to protest the G8 meeting in Cologne, Germany, 10,000 gathered in London's financial district. What started as a street party ended in the trashing of several businesses, including a McDonald's and a bank.
Chuck Munson, an anarchist and co-editor of Alternative Press Review, says the feds are grasping at "broad terms to tar and feather" the movement and dismisses as "demonization" the "insinuation that all anarchists are violent." The real violence, Munson argues, is perpetrated by the police. "They're the ones who bring guns, bullets, gas, dogs and water cannons to protests," he says, "and they use them."
FBI spokesman Steven Berry would not elaborate on Freeh's reasons for targeting anarchists, Workers World and Reclaim the Streets beyond drawing attention to Seattle. But their inclusion wasn't random. "There are a lot of groups in the anti-globalization movement who have exhibited some potential to commit a terrorist incident," Berry insists.
Asked whether these groups or others are under investigation or subject to counterintelligence operations, Berry says, "We don't comment on specific investigations." Berry denies that Freeh's comments were a politically motivated smear. "We recognize that every group has the right to assemble, the right to meet, has the right to exist no matter how abhorrent their message is," Berry says. "The FBI only gets involved when there is a violation of federal law."
Says Weiss, "If blocking a road or having a party constitutes a terrorist act these days, I suppose we're guilty. The FBI is trying to get their mind around the concept that there is a global democracy movement, and they don't quite understand it yet."
Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com
8/30/01
3:57:19 PM
AlterNet Headlines
CORN: BUSH'S SURPLUS LIES
David Corn, AlterNet
New economic projections have caught Bush red-handed in his lies about the budget surplus, Social Security and tax cuts.
POWERING THE WHITE REVOLUTION
Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet
Record labels are sprouting up not to capitalize on the pop music scene, but to help recruit white supremacists. "White power music" has become the movement's greatest recruiting tool.
WHEN WORK GOES GLOBAL
Tamara Straus, AlterNet
Telemarketers in India with perfect West Virginian accents. American cyber-boys paving the high-tech road in Africa.
A new PBS series, "PlanetWork," explores the changing nature of employment.
FOOTING THE BILL
Kate Silver, Las Vegas Weekly
Lacking insurance, sufficient wealth and a helping hand from Medicaid or Medicare, Paul Morgan will amputate his injured feet himself. Watch it on the Web for $19.99!
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11381
THE SIX-YEAR ITCH
David Moberg, The Nation
Despite bumps in the road, John Sweeney is turning the labor movement towardf more aggressive organizing, political molbilization and advocacy for working people.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11386
DARN, I FORGOT TO HAVE BABIES!
Sharon Lerner, Village Voice
For women hoping for both a career and a family, the conflict between biology and the workplace can provoke a frenzied midlife crunch.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11412
SCIENTOLOGY INC.
Jim Evans, Sacramento News and Review Publishing executives in Folsom are spreading the word on technology in government. But some employees say it's actually the gospel of L. Ron Hubbard.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11392
THE SECRET BEHIND THE SANCTIONS
Thomas Nagy, The Progressive
Recently discovered Defense Intelligence Agency documents show how the U.S. intentionally destroyed Iraq's water supply after the Gulf War.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11398
NONE OF YOUR BEESWAX
Jennifer Foote Sweeney, Salon Certainly we have better things to do than judge each other's feminist credentials.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11405
SO, YOU WANT TO BE A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER...
Tracie McMillan, City Limits
A new generation of organizing academies asks: Does making the good fight your life's work have to be a one-way ticket to martyrdom?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11342
SEEDS OF PEACE
Julie Joy, WireTap
What happens when you attend a summer camp with the very people who you have been told are your enemies?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11385
WHY JOHNNY CAN'T STAY IN SCHOOL
Donna Ladd, Village Voice
Under the guise of leaving no child behind, Congress quietly passed two Education Bill amendments this summer that would leave more minority and disabled kids without services -- and deny families legal recourse.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11403
FBI'S NEW GENERATION OF COINTELPRO
Hank Hoffman, In These Times
The FBI may be planning a disruption effort against anti-globalization groups similar to Cointelpro, which focused on the anti-war and Black Power movements in the '60s and '70s.
*In D.C. Protests: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11411
FILTERED FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE
Maia Szalavitz, Village Voice
Net filtering software censors much more than sex and violence. It also blocks alternative political perspectives from reaching one-third of American households.
*In MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11380
NUKE TRAIN
Geoff Schumacher, In These Times
A series of accidents involving hazardous cargo-carrying vehicles is increasing opposition to the Fed's plan to build a nuclear waste dump in the Nevada desert.
*In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11406
PRISON POLICY IN A MEDIA-DRIVEN AMERICA
Arthur Stamoulis, LiP Magazine
Although violent crimes are decreasing, Americans continue to support strict prison policy -- thanks to the media, which has us looking for bloody psychos and bodies around every corner.
*In HumanRights USA: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11413
U.S. IS ON A LONELY ROAD IN ITS DRUG POLICY
Nicolas Eyle, AlterNet
All over the world countries look at the disastrous results of the U.S.'s "War on Drugs" and shift their drug policies to avoid making the same mistakes. It's time for us to catch up.
*In DrugReporter: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11400
THE MULTITASKING MAN
Gabriela Bocagrande, Texas Observer
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is shepherding the FTAA trade agreement with one hand and carrying the corporate flag with the other.
*In Globalization: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11379
SOLOMON: THIRTY YEARS LATER, MEMORIES OF ATTICA CRY OUT
Norman Solomon, AlterNet
"The Ghosts of Attica" -- premiering nationwide Sept. 9 on Court TV -- is an historically accurate look at the bloody prison uprising and an indictment of what has passed for journalism in reporting on prison-related events.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11409
GARCIA: TORTILLA SOUP SAVORS LATINO CULTURE
James E. Garcia, AlterNet
A new movie savors Latino culture.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11414
TECHSPLOITATION: TALK TO ME
Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
I was plunged into geek space, a familiar social location where we could talk to our heart's content about drivers and free software and visualization programs for cell biologists.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11390
WEISBROT: RETURN OF THE LOCKBOX
Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet
Both parties need to rethink the shaky economics of using the mythical Social Security "lockbox" to pay off the national debt.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11383
HIGHTOWER: THE MIDDLE-CLASS FUTURE IS UP TO US
Jim Hightower, AlterNet
Lest we allow years of labor progress to go wasted, workers must continue to fight to keep the promise of a prosperous future.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11395
8/30/01
1:57:17 PM
THE MYTH OF THE DEMOCRATIC INTERNET
The Internet is far from being a decentralized and democratic forum for communication. Plus: The commercialization of search engines. (From FAIR [Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting], Online Journalism Review)
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#myth
MICROSOFT'S ASTROTURF?
As new reports emerge of Microsoft's phony anti-trust campaign, we revisit MediaChannel's debate on in