SchNEWS at Ten National Tour 2004
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BACK ISSUES

SchNEWS This Time Last Year

SchNEWS 449, 16th April, 2004
WUD'JA FALLUJA IT? As bombs fly into Falluja, few accurate reports are coming out on the corporate media - SchNEWS investigates and offers alternatives. Also squat updates, Coca-Cola update, NHS telly hell, and more...

SchNEWS 448, 2nd April, 2004
GACK ATTACK SchNEWS looks at the evils of the food industry and food advertising, as well as some alternatives to unsustainable fast- and junk-food industries. Also poll boycott in Indonesia, anti-GM victory, protest camp updates and more...

SchNEWS 447, 26th March, 2004
CROAKER COLA We discover that not only is Coke's fancy bottled water is just filtered tap water but that it's got cancer causing chemicals in it too! If that weren't enough, they'er killing trade unionists in Columbia and stealing villiagers water in India too... Also South African repression, protest camp update and more...

SchNEWS 446, 19th March, 2004
TOTAL PAZ TAKE Bombings in Madrid from a perspective not seen in the corporate media - mass murder siezed upon to remove civil liberties and continue the so called "war on terror". Also Coca Killer, Catakiller, animal killers, "I'm no killer" and more...

SchNEWS 445, 12th March, 2004
MAIZE OF LIES Neo Labour gives the go-ahead for the UK's first GM crop - ScNEWS says (again) GM ain't all it's cracked up to be. Also Aldermaston march, SHAC, first Indymedia Regional Meeting, SchNEWS Tour and more...

SchNEWS 444, 5th March, 2004
MINER SURGERY SchNEWS looks back at the struggle between striking miners and Thatcher's government. Also US involvement in Haiti, camp updates, Bayer update, anti-terrorism case thrown out, and more...

SchNEWS 443, 27th February, 2004
PENTA-GONER A Pentagon think-tank recently issued a report describing climate change as an urgent "national security threat" - whilst Bush and his cronies continue to try and deny it all. Also racist cops cause trouble for Sydney aboriginals, Fortress Road Social Centre still under threat of eviction, fairtrade and more...

SchNEWS 442, 20th February, 2004
SHOP 'TIL THEY DROP Chinese cockle pickers died because they are at the bottom of the food production chain. We look at how the big supermarkets exploit imigrant workers and then everyone else. Also Bayer's anti protest injunction, Thessaloniki arestees charged dropped and more..

SchNEWS 441, 13th February, 2004
SPELLBOUND Road protest camps, the 'Harry Potter ruling' and more... Also: alternative community centre, Birmingham Northern Relief Road, direct action and shoddy journalism in Dublin, clampdown in Argentina, and more...

SchNEWS 440, 6th February, 2004
DUSTING DOWNER More on Depleted Uranium weapons in Iraq and the movement against their usage and in aid of their victims. Also: forced evictions in Chiapas, Mexico, Sydney Opera House "redecoration" case, WHISC worldwide (the School of the Americas), camp updates, and more...

SchNEWS 439, 30th January, 2004
PRIMATE CHANGE Cambridge University finally abandons controversial plans for a primate vivisection lab. Also: Chelmsford travellers evicted, Costain tree-felling, Trident sub trials, Old Kent Road Asda, and more...

SchNEWS 438, 23rd January, 2004
BOMBAY MIX The fourth World Social Forum, held in Mumbai, India, examines the real impact of Globalisation, and also offers “an international alliance to battle the multinationals.” Also: crap jobs, FSB harassment of Russian activists, Monsanto rapeseed case rapes farmer's living, seed swap, free Vanunu campaign and more...

SchNEWS 437, 16th January, 2004
FLAW AND DISORDER The proposed Civil Contingencies Bill, Neo-Labour wet dream come true, would further erode civil rights in Britain. Also: travellers fighting eviction in Coventry, Nine Ladies anti-quarry camp in the Peak District, finger-printing Americans in Brazil, and more...

SchNEWS 436, 9th January, 2004
UP THE INJUNCTION Bayer wins an injunction severely limiting the rights of anti-GM protesters. SchNEWS takes a look at Bayer's legal history. Also: "strategy of tension" steps up in Italy?, IDF sniper arrested for murder of ISM volunteer, and all the usual...

SchNEWS 435, 19th December, 2003
FUEL BE SORRY Bigger airports, failed Climate Change summit, no plans for tax on flying, stinking carbon sinks and more all add up to a bright future sun cream sales in Scotland. Shame about the 120,000 deaths a year. Also US repression of Iraqi trade unions, tidal electricity and festive cheer...

SchNEWS 434, 12th December, 2003
RIGHTS SAID FRED A run down of the human rights abuses metted out/supported by President Bliar and Emperor Bush while Bliar spouts off about "Freedom not tyranny. Democracy not dictatorship". Also info on writing to prisoners, the media ignoring terrorist suspects releases and more...

SchNEWS 433, 5th December, 2003
FUEL'S GOLD With Western oil supplies shrinking and reserves declining, the petrochemical junkies must look elsewhere for their fix - and they've got qutie a few strategies for doing just that. Also - Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, positive SchNEWS from Costa Rica, anti-awards for mining companies, and more...

 

Home | Friday 23rd April 2004 | Issue 450

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YER SIZE IT UP...

SchNEWS
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Story Links:
It's a Big 'Un! | Mr. Lobby | Crap Arrest of the Week | Nice Little Earner | Positive SchNEWS | MayDay Devolution | SchNEWS In Brief | SchNEWS Tour Latest | ...and finally...

 


IT'S A BIG 'UN!

“Once again the European Business Summit succeeded in creating and developing strong and more harmonious links between political decision makers and business leaders.” European Business Summit website.

“Fascism should more properly be called ‘corporatism’, since it it the marriage of government and corporate power” Benito Mussolini, 1932.

It’s party time in Dublin on May 1st - with the Irish government organising a street festival and a “Day of Welcomes” for the 10 new European countries who’re joining the European Union. Problem is that for some reason thousands of undesirables are promising to gatecrash the party and spoil the fun.

This will be a party with a difference with armed Gardai patrolling the streets as part of an unprecedented security operation. Nearly eight thousand cops will be ready to combat the ‘violent protesters’ which the Irish media has been busy inventing. Surveillance will be mounted on ports, hotels, and guesthouses to target the protestors with a special unit monitoring websites - and if protestors start to get hot under the collar, water cannons.


Mr. Lobby

So why are people getting so mad?

It’s estimated that the European Parliament in Brussels - hosts 500 industry lobby groups employing 10,000 professional lobbyists. Their job is to make the EU more industry-friendly - and they do it very well. In Dublin next weekend a different sort of “lobbyists” will be “lobbying” for equality, ecological policies and accountability, y’know the sort of outrageous demands that have already got them labeled as criminals, terrorists and violent anarchists.

Safely behind the castle doors, the Irish Government will be using their presidency to push forward the “Lisbon” agenda, which wants “a more dynamic and competitive EU economy.” The problem is, to make us all more ‘competitive’, big business has come up with the idea that the EU should abandon anything that gets in the way of profit making, and instead have “self-regulation and non-binding recommendations.”

Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information, reckons that “traditional regulation is increasingly called into question by the demands of globalization.” This is the globalisation that governments and economists like to keep quiet about. The globalisation where corporations just up sticks and move to where workers are cheaper and there are less troublesome regulations such as health and safety and trade union rights. (Although these new countries joining the EU have had to open their borders to the free flow of money, it’s a different story when it comes to the free flow of people).

Last month the Irish minister for Enterprise and Trade, Mary Harney received rapturous applause at the third European Business Summit taking place in Brussels when she pledged to “ensure that the agenda of business is taken on board by the EU’s Council on Competitiveness”, which she chairs. “Let us look at all legislation…to see, ‘do we need it, and if so how much of it’ ?” The conference’s official theme was “Research and Innovation”, but that didn’t stop industry leaders from using session after session to call for downscaling environmental, consumer and social protection in order to serve corporate competitiveness. Industry’s list of ‘obstacles to competitiveness’ range from chemical safety rules to ‘insufficient’ military budgets. The hostility of European consumers towards GM food was also highlighted as a major obstacle to EU competitiveness!

The biggest player in the corporate lobby is the all-powerful European Roundtable of Industrialists who mentioned the Kyoto Protocol as an example of policy “initiated and adopted with little thought of the consequences for industry”. Hey presto! EU climate change policies are the first to be singled out and “re-assessed”. The Employers federation UNICE, in a jubilant reaction, said the decision was “an important first step that should lead to a review of the EU climate change policy if necessary”. With Russia dragging its feet over ratifying the Protocol and the US refusing to sign point blank, corporations complain that the EU’s ‘international competitiveness’ is at stake - ignoring the consequences of climate change.

Typical of this years’ Business Summit was the session on “Environmental technologies: how to exert leverage on Europe’s leadership worldwide”. Colin Humphries of the chemical industry federation was one of many industry speakers to launch attacks on the proposed new EU chemicals regulation (REACH). REACH, still to be discussed and approved by the European Parliament, intends to regulate about 100,000 chemicals. Forget that the release of thousands of new chemicals each year has serious health impacts. Forget that the costs of implementing REACH are negligible compared to what society saves by reducing cancer levels. Forget all that - what about shareholders bloody profits!

Another session ‘Defence and security: how to work together for a secure Europe’ focused on the opportunities arising from the “guaranteed supply chain of insecurity”. Discussion soon got round to how to boost EU military spending to US-levels. Scott Harris, European director of Lockheed Martin the world’s biggest weapons producer (see SchNEWS 402/3) highlighted the difference between the EU and the US spending on arms, complaining about “the lack of resources”. Don’t worry Scott, there’s a creeping militarisation of the EU with the creation of the European Agency for Armaments and Strategic Research. The draft EU Constitution also states “Member States shall undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities”.

While the new countries joining the EU were told they had to privatise essential services if they wanted to be welcomed (SchNEWS 287), the Lisbon agenda also specifically targets “gas, electricity, postal services and transport” as ripe for privatisation (although they like to use the friendlier term ‘liberalisation’.) The first step in privatisation is forcing people to pay for public services to make them profitable and attractive to investors. So who cares if privatisation results in worse working conditions, greater inequality of services, lay-offs and wage cuts - people need to make a profit!

In Britain we are fed nonsense about saving the pound and promised a vote on a treaty which most of us find baffling. Behind the scenes big business is pushing its own EU agenda. As the Dublin Grassroots Network (who are co-ordinating the May Day protests) put it “We are struggling with others across Europe for a different type of Europe, one that puts people before profit and does away with top-down decision making. Join these protests in the struggle for an alternative Europe.”

Crap Arrest of the Week

For feeding the homeless...
In Tampa, Florida police arrested three people from Food Not Bombs who were handing out free food to the homeless, they were arrested as they didn’t have a permit to hand out food. The police and city say that it is for health reasons, but a homeless person whom had been fed commented “I think I know what’s healthy for my body, and going hungry isn’t healthy. The city isn’t out to protect anyone’s health. They just want to pretend we are not here.” Another said “If there’s a law about feeding the homeless and going to jail, this is a backward world.” www.foodnotbombs.net

Nice Little Earner

Bit of a bash in London next week you might be interested in. HM government, bless ‘em, are hosting a meeting of top gangsters - sorry business community members - from across the world, invited here to divvy up the loot from a big job from last year. Iraq Procurement 2004 - Meet the Buyers from 26th to 28th April will see the US and British governments, who sorted the muscle for the job, hand over the loot to the ‘Mr Bigs’ of the corporate world who have been planning this job for years. The booty is contracts for billions of dollars to run Iraqi industries, nicked - sorry, privatised, got to get this new lingo right! - when the muscle leant on the locals big time. These contracts allow corporations to rob the place rotten then export 100% of the lolly - bad news for Iraqis, but a nice little earner for the boys from the corporate mafia!

Of course, you don’t put together a job like this without greasing a few palms to make sure it all goes smooth. The Met are in on the deal of course, and will be doing their best to make sure no have-a-go-heroes try to spoil the meet with whinges about human rights, international law and all that malarkee. Let’s hope the overtime they’ve bunged the plod keeps things sweet. Iraq has the world’s second largest oil reserves and could become a prosperous, democratic society if it wasn’t being robbed blind by corporate capitalism - thank God we’ve got the British army, Neo-Labour government and the Bush gang in on the deal to make sure that doesn’t happen!

Fancy becoming a gangster yourself? I tell ya, nothing impresses the big boys like a bit of initiative, so why not blag your way into this meet and impress everyone with your ingenuity - they’ll all be there, Shell, Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco, Marconi and US arms manufacturer Raytheon. It’s happening at London Hilton Hotel, 22 Park Lane between 6-9pm next Tuesday. So get along to the big nosh up, remembering, of course, that’s it’s considered polite to bring your own pies and, you know, “share”. See you there!

  • Join the demonstration - speakers to include: Ewa Jasiewicz (activist recently returned from 8 months in Iraq) and representatives from the Union of the Unemployed of Iraq, the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, Jubilee Iraq, and the Green Party. 0845 458 2564 www.theirpayday.org
  • Give George Bush Senior the Reception He Deserves! Tuesday May 18 4.30-6.30pm, Landmark Hotel, 222 Marylebone Road, London NW1 (nearest tube Marylebone Road). Bush Senior, the architect of the first Gulf war, is coming to London to raise money for his son’s re-election campaign. He will be the main guest at a dinner party hosted by Republicans Abroad - tickets for the event are $1000 each! www.stopwar.org.uk

Positive SchNEWS

Undercurrents celebrate their 10th anniversary by launching their Undercurrent News Network (UNN). This alternative news video offers documentaries, animations and subverts from radical producers around the world.
For example, the case of student protests that increased wages of low paid workers, bringing one of the wealthiest corporations in the world to its knees, will be reported. Laughs are guaranteed when George and Tony’s ‘special’ relationship is revealed.

For copies of the video 01792 455900 www.undercurrents.org/unn

  • The video will be shown at the Cowley Club, London Road, Brighton this Monday (26) at 6:30 pm. * And on 28th April in Manchester, Arch Bar, 7.30 pm. * Also in Norwich on 30th April, 7pm, for more details norwichanarchists@hotmail.com

MayDay Devolution

In Chicago in May 1886 police fired on workers protesting against poor working conditions and struggling for an eight-hour day. Many protestors were killed and anarchists were accused of the catch-all of conspiracy and executed. That’s why Mayday is now a commemoration of these Haymarket Martyrs.

This year the corporate media have decided that Mayday has been cancelled, so instead of the usual fun and games in the Capital, events are happening all over the country (and Dublin of course). Highlights include:

Lancashire Reclaim Mayday Roadshow (30 April – 2 May): A Mayday March and a huge picnic are planned but also children’s and political films, displays, discussion and bands. 01772 734130 http://mysite.freeserve.com/LancashireSF/index.jhtml

30 April Shutdown Spearhead for Mayday! DSEi action, 8:30am onwards, Apex Tower New Malden, London. Spearhead Exhibitions has recently been bought by Reed Exhibitions. So, from 1pm onwards, the celebrations will move to Reed Exhibitions, Oriel House, 26 The Quadrant, Richmond (opposite Richmond station). www.dsei.org BM Box 3679, London WC1N 3XX 07817 652029.

Traditional Mayday Trade Union march in London (including a Libertarian bloc) Meet Clerkenwell Green 12 noon then march to Trafalgar Square. MayDay Picnic 3pm St.James Park. London Animal, Protest against human and animal exploitation under the banner, ‘Kill Capitalism, Not Animals!’ Piccadilly Circus, by the statue of Eros 12 noon.

Mayday in Bradford (29 April-3rd May) Celebrations starting with the launch of the renovated Anarchist Library, punk bands, cabaret, disco and a Mayday party and picnic on Infirmary Fields from 1pm. Tel: 01274 734160 www.1in12.com

Annual May Day street party, 1pm, Buchanan St Underground Glasgow’s annual anti-capitalist street festival takes over the streets, with sound systems, performers and YOU. www.liveinthemoment.org

SchNEWS In Brief

  • Tonight (23) the Seaside Tribe & Campaign Against Arms Trade present Peace Revolutions @ The Brixton Telegraph, 228 Brixton Hill, London 8pm – 4am £5/8. www.seasidetribe.org
  • There’s a Glasgow Autonomous Project Benefit gig on Saturday (24), 3pm – 6pm, Stereo bar, 11 Kelvinhaugh St. www.glasgow-autonomy.org
  • Dissent! A Network of Resistance Against the G8, a holding a national gathering in Manchester, this week-end 24th-25th April, at the Manchester Environmental Resource Centre If you want to attend IT IS ESSENTIAL that you let them know in advance, g8gathering@yahoo.co.uk www.dissent.org.uk
  • Two family members of a Colombian SINALTRAINAL union leader were assassinated on Tuesday and three of their children wounded. The unionists have been in dispute with the Coca-Cola bottle industry for several months (see SchNEWS 447). www.killercoke.org/
  • What has been the impact of 9/11, the invasion of Iraq and the ‘war on terrorism’ on Britain’s Muslim community? A talk and discussion with Kadeer Arif, chair of the Uni. of Sussex Islamic Society next Tuesday (27) 7.30pm St Joseph’s Church Hall, Milton Road, Brighton. page53@ntlworld.com
  • There’s a meeting on Israeli Apartheid Wall also next Tuesday (27) at Hargrave Hall, Hargrave Rd N19 (Archway tube) 8pm Speakers include Jocelyn Hurndall whose son was killed by the Israeli Defence Force. 02077006192 www.palestinecampaign.org
  • Come and listen to the people who wrote ‘Hotlines: Discussion on a workers inquiry into call centres’ talk about capitalism and resistance at work, Technology, “new factories” and class struggle. At the Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton next Thursday (29) 6pm
  • Next week the ‘Fairford five’ anti-war campaigners will appear in Bristol Crown Court to argue for the right to use international law in their defence in their trials. A five-day hearing will establish whether UK foreign and defence policy can be examined when the defendants come to trial in the summer. Support appreciated, 9am @ Bristol Crown Court. www.b52two.org.uk

SchNEWS at Ten Tour Latest

Don’t forget the last few SchNEWS at Ten tour dates. Catch us at Edinburgh (tonite) (24) Newcastle, (25) Leeds, (26) Sheffield, (27) Nine Ladies Protest Camp, (28) Manchester, (29) Nottingham, (30) Norwich and May Day in Ipswich. “The tour is drug fueled in traditional rock and roll sense, mostly echinacia and vitamin C as we’ve all got a cold.”

...and finally... Pay attention at the back!

What would you expect from a group of aspiring anarchists on the first day of an anarchy course? Refuse to hand in their assessments, of course.

This is what happened on the ‘Deconstructing Systems in the Pursuit of Anarchy’ course at the Fort Lewis College, Durango, Arizona, when students were told by Professor Mark Seiss that he’d have to hand in a sample of student’s work. The students agreed by consensus to not hand in their work and Professor Seiss supported them. Seiss wrote “I find this personally offensive to be surveilled by a group appointed as the Thematic Studies Thought Police”. It remains unclear what decision will be made in regards to students’ refusals. College rulemakers seem reluctant to pursue the issue further and will most likely accept the class decision.

The course was designed to do away with many of the misconceptions about anarchy in general and what it means. Josh Rankin, one of the students in the class, talked about some of those misconceptions, “I was hitchhiking to school this semester and someone picked me up and asked me what class I was going to I said I was going to anarchy class. She got this panic stricken look on her face and said “you mean devil-worshipping?” “I think as a society we’re taught that anarchy is a really destructive thing, so it can be lumped into the same group as terrorism or something like that.” Josh’s words accurately describe the way governments and the media treat anarchist protestors. Check out coverage of mayday in Dublin, where the bullshit is already flying thick and fast.

Disclaimer
SchNEWS warns all readers we always do our homework, get good grades, but we’re never teacher’s pet... Honest!


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