Home | Friday 5th November 2004 | Issue 472

WAKE UP! TIME FOR THAT SAME OLD YANK...

SchNEWS
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Story Links:
NIGHTMARE ON BUSH STREET | I'm a Believer! | Crap Arrest of the Week | Isle Be Back | Positive SchNEWS | Pop Yer Clogs | SchNEWS in brief | ...and finally...

NIGHTMARE ON BUSH STREET

“In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power.” - ‘The Power of Nightmares’ documentary

It was victory for fear and loathing this week, as President Bush was given another four years to rule the world. A victory for fear – those terrorists are out to get us! A victory for loathing – gay marriage, abortion and other such liberal nonsense are bringing America to its knees.

The Christian right is no stranger to Washington’s corridors of power, but a combination of a born-again Bush and a massive family-values movement, has delivered unprecedented influence to Americas religious fundamentalists with dozens being quietly installed in key positions. These fanatics want to roll back the clock to the middle ages. So under pressure, the National Park Service has approved the display and sale of a creationist book that claims the Grand Canyon was formed by the flood that launched Noah’s ark. Religious groups receiving federal funds are legally allowed to refuse to hire Jews, gays, unmarried mothers, or anyone who fails to meet their moral code. Doctors sent to restore social services in Iraq were vetted to make sure they were anti-abortion.

More worryingly for Americans, while much of the Christian right’s influence could be quickly reversed with a change in administration, Bush’s crusading makeover of the federal courts will undermine women’s and gay rights —and bolster the corporate agenda —for decades to come.

I'm a Believer!

The Bible-belters are bedfellows (but only opposite sex ones) with the Neo Conservative power hungry who believe that the US should use its position as the world’s only superpower to shape all events of the 21st century, ensuring they’re favorable to America’s principle interests. As Pentagon adviser and arch neo-con Richard Perle purred “If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don’t try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war ...our children will sing great songs about us years from now.”

As the recent documentary ‘The Power of Nightmares’ pointed out politicians used to sell us dreams, now they use nightmares to keep us all in line, and the war on terror is one which Bush continually sold to the US electorate. But as one sceptical observer in the British security services commented “All they need is a big bomb every 18 months to keep this going.” While Jonathan Eyal, director of the British military think-tank the Royal United Services Institute said “There is a long tradition that if you divert all your resources to a threat, then you exaggerate it.” And with $143 billion plus on “defense.”-that’s a helluva lotta exaggerating to do.

Adam Roberts, professor of international relations at Oxford, says that governments often believe struggles with terrorists “to be of absolute cosmic significance”, and that therefore “anything goes” when it comes to winning. The historian Linda Colley adds: “States and their rulers expect to monopolise violence, and that is why they react so virulently to terrorism.”

American journalist Arianna Huffington points out “What the president calls faith is actually nothing of the sort. It is fanaticism, pure and simple. The defining trait of the fanatic is an utter refusal to allow anything as piddling as evidence to get in the way of an unshakable belief. This zealot’s mindset is what allows President Bush to take in the death and destruction in Iraq and see them as ‘freedom on the march.’”

“This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy,” explained Bruce Bartlett, a policy advisor to Bush. “He understands them because he’s just like them.”

* Making a killing: the corporate invasion of Iraq with No Logo author
Naomi Klein. Friends House, Euston Road 24th November 6:30pm £5/£3 unwaged www.waronwant.org/naomiklein

Texan Chain-Saw Massacre

The US has begun a new campaign of assaults on Iraq’s cities which’ll cause more civilian casualties than the invasion. An attack on Fallujah is imminent and British troops are to be accessories. If the attack on Fallujah last April is anything to go by, this will be yet another bloodbath. Forty-ton battle tanks and helicopter gunships were used against slums. Aircraft dropped 500lb bombs, marine snipers killed old people, women and children, ambulances were shot at. The marines closed the only hospital in a city of 300,000 for more than two weeks, so they could use it as a military position. 600 people were killed. This was ‘a military operation’, against ‘foreign militants’ and ‘insurgents’, never against civilians and Iraqis defending their homes and homeland.

A recent letter sent by representatives of the people of Fallujah to the UN secretary general Kofi Annan said “On the night of 13 October a single US bombardment destroyed 50 houses and their inhabitants. Is this a crime of genocide or a lesson about US democracy? The US is committing acts of terror against the people of Fallujah for only one reason - to force them to accept the occupation.

“The whole world knows that the US and their allies have destroyed our country on the pretext of the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Now, after their own mass destruction and the killing of thousands of civilians, they have admitted that they have not found any. But they have said nothing about the crimes they have committed. The whole world is silent, and even the killing of Iraqi civilians is not condemned. Our representatives have repeatedly denounced kidnapping and killing of civilians. We have nothing to do with any group that acts in an inhumane manner. We call on you and the leaders of the world to exert the greatest pressure on the Bush administration to end its crimes against Fallujah and pull its army back from the city.”

* This Sunday (7) Parliament Square, London 2pm 07818651124 stoptheattacks@fastmail.fm

* On the day of the promised massive assault vigil 5pm-7pm, opposite Downing Street www.stopthewar.org.uk

* For some direct action meet 7pm Edith Cavell statue (opp the entrance of the National Portrait Gallery). 5-7pm, Picadilly Gardens,Mancester

* Sunday 14th London Nonviolent Direct Action Training Workshop, 7a Rampart Street, E1, 11am-4pm, 0845 458 2564, www.voicesuk.org

Crap Arrest of the Week

For throwing a wet sponge!
Two people were arrested last Saturday for lobbing wet sponges at a George Walker Bush impersonator during a peaceful anti-war protest in Leeds town centre. While the public clearly thought it was a laugh the police failed to see the funny side, when a highly agitated police officer proved how big ‘n’ tough he was by singling out a 16 year old girl and arresting and cuffing her.

ISLE BE BACK

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

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

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

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

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

While the Diego Garcians have been prevented from returning to their island, others have been welcomed. The US military for one, along with thousands of Filipino and Mauritian workers who have been brought in to build and maintain the base. Ironically, the Diego Garcians are now twiddling their thumbs in the Jobcentre in Crawley. Multinationals such as Cable and Wireless also have a presence on the island serving the bases. Recently there’s been a plan to allow tourists to visit the island, which means anyone will be able to go there, except the people whose homeland it is. Oh yeah- anyone who can afford the £4,500 cost of the cruise that is.

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

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

A Demonstration was held yesterday outside Downing Street to ask Tony Blair to consider doing them the massive favour of just lifting the HRT for them. The issue has started to get into the public eye and after 30 years, some of our upstanding MPs are starting to ask questions about the issue.

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

SchNEWS accountants worked out that to put all the Diego Garcians in the world on full benefits for a year would cost roughly 1 million pounds- about the cost of 2 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Bearing in mind that most of those currently in Crawley are working and don’t need benefits, and most of the rest wouldn’t need a full years’ worth, then the cost would never be that high anyway.

* Write to your MP or to Bill Rammell the Overseas Territories Minister about this: rammellb@parliament.uk

* Donate money to help the Diego Garcians legal costs and get by without benefits: British Indian Ocean Territory Islanders Movement, Barclays Bank, Sort Code 20 23 97, Account Number 93391558

* There’s an awareness raising party for the Diego Garcians in the Synergy Project (which is a fundraiser for South London community projects), SeOne Club London (London Bridge tube), Nov 19, 9-6, £10/12/15 featuring live Diego Garcian music, art, films and photos about their story, and then DJs. www.festival-of-flight.org

Positive SchNEWS

BeyONdTV, the crew who brings you quality home entertainment featuring stories and reports that tend not to crop up in the corporate media are celebrating their 5th Annual Video Activist Documentary Festival. The lively event consists of a variety of documentaries, community video, music, short movies, dance, subverts and animations from the world’s most radical producers which are overlooked by mainstream broadcasters. It’s happening November 19th-20th Patti Pavilion, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, Wales, UK 01792 455900 beyondtv@undercurrrents.org

Pop Yer Clogs

Farmers in India have found a novel use for Coca Cola – killing bugs. Cotton and Chilli farmers in Andhara Pradesh and Chattisgarh are spraying their plants with the sugary drink and saving a fortune on pesticide costs. “I observed that the pests began to die after the soft drink was sprayed on my cotton” said one. And it’s not just Coke that kills the bugs. Pepsi, Thumbs Up and other locally produced soft drinks all have the same effect. One theory is that the sugar in the drinks attracts red ants which feed on insect larvae. Coca Cola don’t endorse the use of their drink as a pesticide and say: “Soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops. There is no scientific basis for this and the use of soft drinks for this purpose would be totally ineffective”

While some farmers have been using cola to kill bugs, many others want to kick Coca Cola out of India. Coke have been depleting water reserves – effectively stealing water from local communities. A massive march of 250km will take place 15th-24th between their two bottling plants in the state of Uttar Pradesh. www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke

SchNEWS in brief

• Cartoons by Kate Evans: 10 years of sketchiness’ with stuff about Palestine, breastfeeding, anarchist disorganization and good ol’ road protesting, opens at the Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton Monday (8) night www.cartoonkate.co.uk
• ‘Stop the Database State’ – talk at the Cowley Club, next Thursday (11) to find out how we can stop Neo Labours obsession with ID Cards
• Benefit gig for SchNEWS at The Glebe (nr train station), Glebe Street, Stoke On Trent next Sat (13) Bands include Zounds and Bastards Trained By Bastards, £4
• Interested in a new Leeds Social Centre? Then get along to a meeting 18th November 7.30pm, Holy Trinity Church Cafe, Boar Lane, 07963 951267 leedsarc@yahoo.co.uk
• Want to get involved in a new direct action youth group in Exeter - then get along to a meeting on 18th 5pm in the Phoenix Centre in the drama studio exenet@hotmail.com
• SchWHOOPS! We got the website for Brasil de Facto wrong last week, it should have been www.brasildefato.com.br If you want to help the financial situation of the independent paper, email assinaturas@brasildefato.com.br
• Anarchist Polish Solidarity Night at the 1 in 12 Club, Bradford with speakers, Polish food, music and vodka 7.30pm 20th, £3.
• Roadblock - Conscious UK hip hop and reggae with Carpetface, Le Magnifique, Underground Alliance + DJ Pierre, in aid of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 24th November, 7 ­ 12pm, The Windmill, Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, £4
• Book Talk: American Dream or Global Nightmare? With Ziauddin Sardar and Melanie Phillips, 8pm, 9th at University College School Theatre, Frognal, Hampstead. £4.50 adv/£6 door 01763 207151 helen.sampson@iconbooks.co.uk
• Halloween at Shannon warport, west Ireland, was celebrated in true pagan style by two banshee peace activists. They managed to construct a shrine to the war dead near the runway before being discovered by airport security.
• ‘Defend Travellers’ Rights’: public meeting to organise a London action group to oppose the evictions and persecution of Travellers. Bring your ideas about how to resist evictions, bailiffs and the councils responsible. Sat, 13th Nov, 7pm, @ London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate St, Whitechapel, (Corner of Parfett st). nooneisillegal2003@yahoo.co.uk www.travellersupport.org.uk
• The next planned eviction is at the Twin Oaks Site nr Borehamwood, Herts on Monday 8th. Travellers legally purchased the site but the council wants the land and is withholding planning permission. People wishing to help in the sites’ defence can phone Jim on 07733 454151

...and finally...

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter thinks that liberals are becoming ‘increasingly violent and hysterical’ over the US election, recently claiming “I don’t think this is a fight they want to pick. We’ve got the guns and we’ve got the men.” !

Unfortunately (for Coulter) this rather smug warning didn’t manage to stop Tuscan terrorists ‘Al Pi-eda’ rising from the audience at the University of Arizona last week and giving her a good walloping with cream pies. Coulter, whose latest work is titled ‘How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)’, was giving a speech at the university when the pies connected with her left shoulder and face. The protestors, unable to make a hasty escape, were promptly arrested and charged with criminal damage, disorderly conduct, vandalism, and assault without injury. Subsequent to the tasteful attack, cops found in a post-arrest search “pieces of paper (propaganda) involving Coulter’s name and the explanation of ‘Al Pi-eda’”. No further weapons of mass confection have been discovered as of yet…

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