-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 53 - September, 2000
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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LUVeR Alternative News is offering a daily audio show using selected
stories from RadTimes & other non-mainstream sources. Check it out!
<www.luver.org>
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Contents:
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--FBI v. protesters
--More Arrests As IMF/World Bank Meeting Ends
--Learning From The Prague Protesters
-Human Rights Watch: Five New Reports
--Anti-union repression persists worldwide says report
--Energy Dept. Posts Weapons Site List
--EU Details World Crises Plans
--reader commentary
Re: Gun control is global flop [RT # 41]
Linked stories:
*Space ventures vie for media dollars
*Spy Cams Planned for Honeymooner Haven
*Pollution From Urban Sprawl Threatens Aquatic Life In Major U.S. Cities
*Global warning: 'furious' climate changes predicted
*States With No Death Penalty Share Lower Homicide Rates
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Begin stories:
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FBI v. protesters
From: mike burke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In an attempt to squash the debate about globalization
the U.S. government, according to both police
officials and activists, has begun using
counterintelligence means in order to closely monitor
the moves of anti-globalization by using such forces
as the US Army Intelligence and Security Command.
To many the covert tactics mirror the government's
highly controversial and murderous COINTELPRO efforts
in the late 1960s and 1970s which targeted many
radical movements including anti-war protesters and
black nationalists.
Since the massive World Trade Organization protests
in Seattle last fall, the Federal Bureau of
Investigations has switched its focus away from
violent right-wing domestic terrorists to a movement
that often cites Gandhi as an inspiration.
"Virtually every resource that the FBI has available
will be put into play," said Thomas J. Harrington,
the assistant special agent-in-charge in the FBI's
Philadelphia office told the Philadelphia Inquirer
prior to the Republican National Convention which
attracted thousands of protests in late July and
early August. "After the Atlanta Olympics it was bombings
that were the main focus. . . . Now protesters have
become more of a focus."
Any why are counterintelligence efforts needed?
``There are people who may do more than exercise
their First Amendment rights,'' said David Yarnell, a
department spokesman for the Philadelphia police explaining
why the department took preventive measures during the
convention.
"We were watching. We were making surveillance
efforts. It's just prudent preparations for anything," Yarnell
told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
What may be most alarming is who the "we" Yarnell is
talking about.
According to a May report in the French publication
Intelligence Newsletter, "the Pentagon sent around
700 men from the Intelligence and Security Command
at Fort Belvoir to assist the Washington police on
April 17, including specialists in human and signals
intelligence. One unit was even strategically located
on the fourth floor balcony in a building at 1919
Pennsylvania Avenue with a birds-eye view of most
demonstrators."
The Intelligence Newsletter report also noted that
"to justify their interest in anti-globalization groups
from a legal standpoint, the authorities lump them
into a category of terrorist organizations. Among
those considered as such at present are Global
Justice (the group that organized the April 17 demonstration),
Earth First, Greenpeace, American Indian Movement,
Zapatista National Liberation Front and Act-Up."
Similar surveillance techniques were used in Europe
prior to the September 26 protests in Prague. The
Prague IndyMedia Center recently reported that the
Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic made an
unexpected visit to an Italian web firm that hosted
the Prague IMC site.
Foreign protesters have also been prevented from
entering the Czech Republic on various legal
technicalities, the Prague IMC has reported.
In addition to tracking such organizations, police
officials have taken draconian measures in raiding
buildings used by demonstrators to organize and
often condemning the buildings, on what protest leaders
often claim to be trumped up violations done not to
protect the public safety but to curtail free speech.
On April 15, a day before the April 16 Washington D.C.
protest against the International Monetary Fund, a
them of officials from federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, the Washington Metropolitan
Police Department and the Washington Fire Department
raided and condemned a warehouse used by
demonstrators citing building code violations.
Police claimed they had found material used to make
molotov cocktails.
"They found a plastic bottle that had rags in it
that were being used to get paint off of people's hands,"
one protest organizer said at the time.
History repeated itself on Aug. 1 when just hours
before a scheduled direct action campaign in
Philadelphia, police raided a warehouse dubbed the
"house of puppetganda" where demonstrators were
making puppets and signs for displays at the afternoon
demonstration. Police arrested xx and claimed the
warehouse was used for criminal activity although
recent reports appear to show the police backing
down on their original claims.
According to many scholars who study the FBI, which
Howard Zinn has called the Federal Bureau of
Intimidation, the department's current actions
should come as no surprise.
In fact one of the most damning reports on the FBI's
illegal and immoral tactics, came from a former
agent M. Wesley Swearingen who published the book FBI
Secrets after leaving disillusioned the agency he
joined as part of his patriotic duty.
"I did not know, when I joined, that I would learn
the expertise of burglary, or that former Director J.
Edgar Hoover would instruct agents to violate
extortion and kidnapping laws," Swearingen wrote. "I
did not know then that FBI agents would plot
assassinations of American citizens and put innocent
individuals in jail just because their skin is black
or because they are Native Americans."
Such covert measures taken by the FBI against often
law-abiding U.S. citizens challenges the notion of
democracy in our country.
"Democracy is based on openness, and the existence
of a secret policy, secret lists of dissident citizens,
violates the spirit of democracy," Zinn has written.
"It's a peculiar kind of democracy. Yes, you vote.
You have a choice. Clinton, Bush and Perot! It's
fantastic. Time and Newsweek. CBS and NBC. It's
called a pluralist society. But in so many of the little
places of everyday life in which life is lived out,
somehow democracy doesn't exist. And one of the
creeping hands of totalitarianism running through
the democracy is the Federal Bureau of Investigation,"
Zinn wrote during the 1992 election season.
"The FBI has names of millions of people," Zinn
said. "The FBI has a security index of tens of thousands
of people- they won't tell us the exact numbers.
Security index. That's people who in the event of national
emergency will be picked up without trial and held.
Just like that. The FBI's been preparing for a long
time, waiting for an emergency.You get horrified at
South Africa, or Israel, or Haiti where they detain
people without trial, just pick them up and hold
them incommunicado. You never hear from them, don't know
where they are. The FBI's been preparing to do this
for a long time. Just waiting for an emergency."
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More Arrests As IMF/World Bank Meeting Ends
Friday 29 September 2000
The IMF/World Bank summit in Prague ended yesterday with the number
of arrested protesters rising to 858, more than 500 of them Czech.
During the week, in addition to the 300 would-be protesters who were
denied entry by the Czech Aliens' Police - many of them because they
figured on a list of "undesirables" compiled by the Czech police,
with the help of the globalised FBI's Prague office and Interpol - a
further 100 activists were deported.
140 demonstrators were injured as a result of police violence, with a
total of 10 police and 10 demonstrators hospitalised. The injured
police were visited in hospital yesterday by the IMF's Director
General, who congratulated them on their "courage and
professionality". Czech president Vaclav Havel also visited a police
detachment to commiserate with them.
Yesterday's issue of the American-owned weekly The Prague Post
included a graphic account of police violence in Wenceslas Square on
Tuesday evening, when police swept down the square from the National
Museum, using dogs, tear gas and concussion grenades. "Demonstrators,
restaurant patrons and bystanders ran to adjoining side streets in an
attempt to escape the police, who grabbed and beat people as they
ran.
"Bystanders caught in the crossfire were bewildered. 'I was just
having a bloody coffee!' said one British tourist, as another round
of explosions startled the crowd into another sprint up Stepanska
Street.
"Police continued, shoulder to shoulder in a riot line, and the crowd
slowed to a jog. The brief standoff ended when pedestrians realized
that another line of police was approaching from the opposite
direction, trapping the crowd between them.
"The police lines stood silently for several minutes, terrifying the
crowd, many of whom darted into doorways and passages seeking refuge,
After ordering the press to leave, the police closed in and began
systematic ID-checks and arrests."
Those arrested include a number of tourists.
Yesterday's peaceful demonstration of solidarity with the 300 foreign
protesters being held at Plzen, 90 kms west of Prague was attended by
200 protesters. It was immediately banned by the police. Many of the
demonstrators refused to disperse, claiming that they had received
reports that the prisoners had been brutalised. They sat down in the
roadway, whereupon they were removed by police in riot gear. Some of
the demonstrators were arrested.
The Spanish consulate in Barcelona was occupied by demonstrators in
solidarity with the Plzen prisoners. PP has also received reports of
demonstrations of solidarity with the Prague protesters in Portland,
Oregon (USA), where at least 20 people were arrested and several
demonstrators and police hurt, and in Tel Aviv (Israel), where mainly
young people from 30 organisations came together in the first ever
such anti-IMF rally and march in the city.
While the IMF/World Bank was able to claim that it had held its
summit, attendance by delegates on Wednesday was restricted after the
previous day's demonstrations. A gala reception planned for Tuesday
evening was cancelled after 1,500 demonstrators blocked the entrance
to the venue, the State Opera House.
Ritual professions of concern about the world's poor were made by
IMF/World Bank leaders. A World Bank spokesperson said that, as well
as poverty, the conference had discussed the Euro and oil price
crises. She said she hoped the European Union would stop the practice
of some of its member states in linking aid to lucrative commercial
contacts. The World Bank had committed itself to halving the number
of the world's poor by the year 2015, and the number of countries
getting debt relief would be extended from 10 to 20.
The Czech Republic's Communist Party, the KSCM, which distanced
itself from the protests because of its fear of a right-wing backlash in
Senate and regional council elections in November, has promised to
"evaluate" the conference and protests at tomorrow's festival of its
daily paper, Halo noviny.
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Learning From The Prague Protesters
Instead Of Vilifying The Prague Protesters, We Could Learn From Them
Published on Friday, September 29, 2000 in the Guardian of London
by Katharine Viner
Prague is over; the IMF/World Bank meeting has shut down early, thanks
to pressure from activists who travelled from all over the world to protest
against the bank's policies in developing countries. To most people it
looked like yet another set-piece confrontation between a ragtag bunch
of scruffy protesters and hard-headed cops in riot gear; after Seattle and
Washington came S26, the Battle of Prague.
Yes, there was violence. "Black block" anarchists threw rocks and
Molotov cocktails at the police; police charged and beat protesters, fired
teargas and water cannon. But even the wildest of commentators estimate the
number of violent activists as 1-2% of the 15,000 protesters. Almost all of the
many hundreds of NGOs, trade unions and affinity groups attending were
peaceful. Yesterday reports were coming out of Prague about police
brutality and human-rights abuses against arrested protesters. Members of
Ya Basta, a popular group of Italian activists who were extraordinarily
well-disciplined and restrained in their direct action, have been labelled
"terrorists" by the Czech authorities.
But much of the protest was a positive affair: there was a samba band, a
pink cardboard tank, upbeat trade unionists from Mexico to Manchester;
there were well-attended counter-summits, with intellectuals and philosophers
theorising on the nuts and bolts of the movement. Many of the
demonstrators could give, on demand, a sophisticated critique of the global
economy.
Focusing on the violence makes it easy to demonise the demonstrators as
something dangerous and "other". They are dismissed in a variety of
contradictory ways: they're rioters, they're rich middle-class kids with
nothing better to do, they're crusty undesirables, they're disorganised,
they lack vision, they're Luddites. But by condemning them in such crude
terms, we condemn ourselves to misunderstand the most significant
political movement to emerge in a generation.
The Telegraph casts the activists as "highly educated, bourgeois
offspring rejecting the ways and wealth of their parents' generation". Well,
you do have to have the fare to get there. But when it comes to
anti-globalisation, the developing world has led the way. The west is playing
catch-up. Anti-IMF/World Bank protests have been held all over the global
south for more than a decade, from Indonesia to Brazil, from the Philippines to
Bolivia.
Critics of the movement can't bear the anarchy of it; they see its
disparateness as cluelessness rather than a deliberate attempt to
overcome traditional hierarchies. But if a movement can force such powerful
institutions as the IMF and World Bank to come to a halt early, and if
protesters can get inside the conference centre in spite of 11,000 riot
police, 5,000 army back-up and a few tanks, their organising skills
might be considered rather impressive.
In the run-up to Tuesday's demonstration I attended the convergence
centre, where "spokes council" meetings took place, and found the sense of
community and organisation there astonishing and moving. Every "affinity
group" -
NGO or group of friends - sent a spokesperson to meetings to make decisions
and work out strategy. It sounds impossible to contain, and it was
laborious, but it worked and consensus was found. It felt like proper
democracy in
a way that the ballot box does not.
I was aware, too, of something different about the experience of S26,
but it wasn't until the journey home that I realised what it was. No one had
tried to sell me anything. The night-time parties weren't sponsored by a beer
company. Nothing was branded.
The movement's umbrella is a huge one, which can accommodate a vast
array of opinions. Is that so terrible a thing? The Zapatistas - heroes to many
protesters - say that anti-globalisation demonstrators are made up of
"one no, many yeses". The no is to rampant capitalism, the yes is to
different kinds of societies. It's web-like, it looks like the internet, and it
couldn't exist without it.
The movement needs to ask itself where it goes from here. It must find a
role that is not only, as Naomi Klein, chronicler of anti-corporatism,
puts it, turning up at international meetings like Deadheads following the
Grateful Dead. But this is a new movement, and it's in no hurry. Whether
it burns out or turns into the next big thing will take time to see.
Clare Short says that the protesters are "today's Luddites ... their
call to halt historical change and tear down our international institutions
offers no solution" - as if neoliberal globalisation were an inevitability. It
isn't. It's a particular form of economics, of human behaviour and
development - as Nelson Mandela pointedly told Labour's conference in
Brighton yesterday - and resisting it might just be more modern and
radical than critics of the anti-globalisation movement dare to think.
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Human Rights Watch: Five New Reports
In September, Human Rights Watch posted five new reports on their
Website. The first, _Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and
Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps_, is a 151-page
indictment of the United Nation's High Commission for Refugees and
the Tanzanian host government's failure to address violence against
Burundi women refugees in Tanzanian camps in a "timely and effective
manner, despite ample evidence that women's lives were in danger in
their homes and in the general camp community." _Owed Justice: Thai
Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan_ also deals with the
violation of women's rights as it examines the trafficking of Thai
women who are delivered under false pretenses into atrocious labor
conditions in Japan where they are often forced to work for years to
pay off the "debt" of their transport. _Turkey: Human Rights And The
European Union Accession Partnership_ is a 31-page report detailing
Human Rights Watch's recommendations for the EU's Accession
Partnership Document laying out the human rights criteria Turkey will
have to meet to be granted EU membership. _Nipped in the Bud:
Suppression of the China Democracy Party_ examines the situation of
more than 30 people imprisoned for their role in the China Democracy
Party and argues for their immediate release. Turning to US issues,
_Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United
States under International Human Rights Standards_ reports on
nationwide repeated violations, across all levels of employment, of
federal laws and international standards protecting workers's rights
to organize, to bargain collectively, and to strike.
_Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in
Tanzania's Refugee Camps_
<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/tanzania/>
_Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan_
<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/japan/>
_Turkey: Human Rights And The European Union Accession Partnership_
<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/turkey2/>
_Nipped in the Bud: Suppression of the China Democracy Party_
<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/china/>
_Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United
States under International Human Rights Standards_
<http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/uslabor/>
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Anti-union repression persists worldwide says report
By Gustavo Capdevila
Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 13 (IPS)— Anti-union
repression in 1999 cost the lives of 140 women and men
around the world, charges the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in its
annual report on the global problem of labor rights
violations.
The trade unionists "were assassinated, disappeared, or
committed suicide after they were threatened, because
they had the temerity to stand up for workers' rights
against the state or unscrupulous employers,'' says the
document.
The victims numbered fewer than in 1998, when 157
people died due to their union activities, but the
Brussels-based ICFTU stresses that the anti-union
climate is intensifying and workers' rights continue to
erode as the years pass.
The global organization considers it "paradoxical'' that
international agreements on union rights are ratified by
more and more countries, but are respected less.
In the 113 countries studied for the report, some 3,000
workers were arrested, more than 1,500 were injured,
beaten or tortured, and at least 5,800 suffered
harassment due to their legitimate union activities in
1999.
Bill Jordan, the British secretary-general of the ICFTU,
said the report reveals the "prevailing hypocrisy which
sees government officials parading at international
gatherings, ostensibly promoting basic workers' rights,
while those who actually defend those fundamental rights
at home are being harassed, attacked, threatened,
sidelined or silenced--sometimes forever.''
The international union leader denounced "the ruthless
repression in Latin America, attacks and interference in
Asia, arrests and imprisonment in Africa, severe
restrictions and non-payment of wages in Eastern
Europe and a growing trend of 'union-busting' activities
in industrialized countries.''
According to the ICFTU report, Latin America
continues to be the most dangerous region for unionists.
In 1999, it was once again the stage for anti-labor
violence, worker exploitation-- especially in the banana
industry and maquiladoras (export processing zones)--
and the negative impacts of globalization and structural
adjustments.
In Latin America, increasing numbers of trade unionists
are murdered with each passing year. The victim total for
1999 reached 90, twice the number of similar deaths on
any other continent.
Last year, at least three union leaders were assassinated
in Guatemala, police shot a teachers' union leader to
death in the Dominican Republic on the eve of a general
strike, and the murder of rural unionists in Brazil
continued.
The Nicaraguan police force and army violently
suppressed striking transportation workers, leaving two
dead and hundreds injured.
But the gloomiest picture is found in Colombia, where 69
unionists were assassinated-a few less than in 1998, but
a chilling situation nonetheless, comments the ICFTU.
Massive protests in various provinces of Argentina to
demand payment of back-wages met with brutal police
repression, claiming five lives and leaving 25 people
injured.
The United States, meanwhile, saw approximately 40
percent of public sector employees denied the right to
collective bargaining last year, as well as reports of cases
of extreme exploitation.
Nearly 80 percent of all unionist arrests last year
worldwide took place on the African continent, which
was also home to the same portion of all prison
sentences handed down against trade union activities.
The ICTFU stresses in its report that
government-imposed structural adjustments led to
privatizations across Africa, and that cuts in public
spending drove up unemployment and non-payment of
wages -- leading to a burgeoning informal economic
sector in which workers lack basic protections.
Additionally, the average African holds out hope that the
growing clamor to cancel the foreign debt of the poorest
nations will produce tangible results.
A ban on independent trade unions in Equatorial Guinea,
Sudan and Libya remained in place through 1999. In the
Central African Republic, meanwhile, the government
"continued to target the USTC union central, and its
leader, Theophile Sonny-Cole, was beaten up and
prevented from attending international conferences.''
Zimbabwe is yet another country that saw labor rights
drastically deteriorate last year. Three leaders of the
leading central union were attacked after taking part in a
labor strike, an activity the government declared illegal,
says the ICFTU.
The Zimbabwean union denounced that the country's
export processing zones, where most workers are
women, saw an increasing number of unfair labor
practices.
In these areas, which are under fiscal protection,
workdays are long, overtime is paid at the normal rate,
strikes are banned and workers are denied legal
representation in disputes with employers.
In the Asia-Pacific region, at least 37 trade unionists died
last year due to strike-related incidents.
In Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries, workers do
not enjoy union rights in the export processing zones,
while in countries such as Fiji, India, Sri Lanka, and
Thailand unions are not allowed to operate in the zones.
Strikes and demonstrations in the region were savagely
repressed last year, and in 19 of the 25 countries
evaluated, anti-union legislation predominates, according
to the ICFTU.
China represses any attempt to create independent
unions and imprisons labor leaders. Hundreds of Chinese
workers were injured during confrontations with the
police as they protested factory closings that meant
layoffs for millions of people, says the report.
Unions are practically non-existent in the Middle East,
where legal barriers prevent workers from organizing or
staging strikes.
In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates,
Oman and Qatar, foreign workers make up at least
two-thirds of the labor force, but they have almost no
rights, nor are they covered by existing collective
agreements, says the ICFTU.
In Europe, seven people died last year as the result of
their trade union activities, and two others committed
suicide to call the government's attention to labor
problems.
Four trade unionists were assassinated in Russia in 1999,
and the authorities there ignored striking workers'
demands for payment of back-wages owed.
The ICFTU is relating its latest report to the campaign
underway to promote linking respect for basic labor
standards with international trade agreements.
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Energy Dept. Posts Weapons Site List
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
Associated Press Writer, September 22, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP)
The Energy Department posted a list on its Web
site Thursday of more than 500 government and commercial sites
across the country that may have been used to help build nuclear
weapons.
The department created the list in 1995, when the agency was
trying to determine sites for an environmental cleanup program. The
list is identified as a working document subject to revision.
That specific cleanup program has since been moved to the Army
Corps of Engineers, but the Energy Department does clean up sites.
Currently, the department is reviewing the list to see which
sites need to be cleaned up.
The list documents weapons activity that took place as early as
the 1940s, when the government was building the first atomic bomb.
Some small, private businesses secretly participated in the effort
known as the Manhattan Project.
File and field reviews of the sites on the list began in the
early 1970s, when government officials realized the sites should be
evaluated to determine the risks posed to workers and the
environment.
The department still is trying to sort out which sites need to
be cleaned up, according Carolyn Huntoon, who oversees cleanup
issues for the department.
``We are reconstructing the history of these former and present
sites to see if questions remain about contamination,'' Huntoon
said. '' ... In the near future, we expect to have a more thorough
and comprehensive list and a plan for addressing health and
environmental concerns.''
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said earlier this month he
wanted to publicize the list. Huntoon said the agency did not want
to delay posting it any longer ``in an effort to be candid with
workers.''
DOE list: <http://www2.em.doe.gov/sitelist>
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EU Details World Crises Plans
<http://www.defencenews.com/?action=display&article=3655705&template=defence/stories.txt&index=recent>
The Associated Press, Fri 22 Sep 2000
ECOUEN, France (AP) — Defense ministers from the European Union on Friday
detailed the number of planes, ships and troops a proposed EU defense force
would need to ensure it can tackle world crises.
The 15 member states are expected to announce the resources each will commit
to a rapid reaction force of between 50,000 and 60,000 troops, able to
deploy within 60 days and sustain itself for a year. The corps is due to be
operational by 2003.
The new force will mean that the EU is able to take military action when the
United States does not want to get involved, a key factor in promoting the
bloc's credentials on the world stage.
After a six-hour meeting north of Paris, French Defense Minister Alain
Richard said ministers had approved a list of resources, drawn up by the
bloc's military experts.
A supply of 80,000 soldiers will be needed for humanitarian crises, rescue
operations, peacekeeping and peacemaking.
About 350 planes and 80 ships will be required, Richard said.
``Each country will now be invited to give its answer ... detailing the kind
of units it will commit, their number or size, their availability and the
year we can expect this contribution,'' Richard said.
Some countries have already put numbers on the table — from Germany's pledge
of 18,000 troops to Belgium's commitment of 3,500 troops.
The EU's decision to create the force is a political statement as much as a
military necessity.
Stung by Europe's failure to react swiftly or independently to the Balkan
crises, EU leaders decided last December to create the force in order to be
able to take action when the United States does not want to get involved.
The plan was at first greeted cautiously by Washington and some European
countries that are NATO members but not part of the EU. There were fears the
new force might cause the EU to drift away from the alliance and adopt a
go-it-alone strategy.
But Javier Solana, the EU's foreign and security policy chief, and a former
NATO secretary-general, said such concerns had evaporated.
``All the (NATO) countries are now very relaxed, they have the same point of
view and are on the same wave length,'' he said.
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reader commentary
Re: Gun control is global flop [RT # 41]
I really enjoy reading Rad Times on the EF! list as a rule. I balked at the
anti-gun control article though. I'm British, have been living in the US for
3 years, and see a lot of "statistics" being put about by the pro-gun lobby
in the US to the effect that gun-related crimes have increased in the UK and
Australia (the other favorite target for flak) since their hand gun bans
were instigated.
That argument doesn't follow, for two very simple reasons. Firstly, even
before the ban, very few people in the UK owned a hand gun or kept any kind
of gun, with the exception of the relative few who do target shooting or
hunt - I have never known of any family member or friend who had a gun in
their house, it simply isn't a part of the culture. So the idea that the ban
would lead to a crime increase because the population was suddenly
"disarmed" is pretty ridiculous and most Brits I know are amazed that
Americans are pointing the finger at them like this. Secondly, it's true
that there's been an increase in criminal gun use in the UK and other
European countries. That pattern had been developing since at least the 80s
though when I remember reading about armed 12-year-olds in my native
Liverpool holding up gas stations. It didn't start with the handgun ban and,
most of all, it is nowhere near figures for the US with its pro-gun
legislation...
Maybe rather than pointing the finger at the ban we should be looking a
little deeper for social reasons for all this. Instead of playing into NRA
propaganda, shouldn't we be considering instead the fact that increased gun
use coincided with years of anti-social policy by the Thatcher/Conservative
government (not to mention the "Labour" party that replaced them) with, for
example, efforts to keep unemployment figures down by forcing people into
dead-end jobs with rock-bottom pay? Or the disastrous state of inner-city
housing projects? Or just the general amount of violence people, especially
kids, are being increasingly subjected to by TV culture, and the resulting
element of "hipness" that brings to the notion of carrying/using a gun?
I guess my opinion is somewhat fueled by the fact that we're probably the
only house that doesn't have a gun in our street in Pittsburgh. Yet just
last week a guy was shot two streets down, and that happens a lot; a couple
of years ago it was four young kids in this neighborhood in one year... I
hate to be lumped in with all the Hollywood liberal PC do-gooders, but
having lived in both cultures, I can't ignore the blatant short-sightedness
of accusations like this and I hate to see the "alternative" community get
dragged into them.
Just my two cents. Rebecca
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Linked stories:
********************
Space ventures vie for media dollars
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/464133.asp>
The market for media from space is quickly becoming as competitive as, say,
network TV — even though the risks are sky-high and the potential payoffs
are still
cloudy. The buzz over "Destination Mir," a proposed reality-TV series that
would end up
sending an ordinary person into space, has turned the spotlight to at least
three ventures
vying for network dollars.
********************
Spy Cams Planned for Honeymooner Haven
<http://foxnews.com/national/092200/eye_love_ny.sml>
Friday, September 22, 2000 By Patrick Riley
NEW YORK — A government plan to post high-tech surveillance cameras along
the Niagara River to scan for illegal immigrants sneaking in from Canada has
neighbors furious — and drawing their blinds.
********************
Pollution From Urban Sprawl Threatens Aquatic Life In Major U.S. Cities
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/09/000929073033.htm>
Pollution from traffic congestion is getting into waterways, where it
can poison animal and other aquatic life, according to research presented
in the current (October 1) issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a
peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's
largest scientific society. (Science Daily)
********************
Global warning: 'furious' climate changes predicted
<http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_70706.html>
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says that climate change is already
altering the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. (Ananova)
********************
States With No Death Penalty Share Lower Homicide Rates
<http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/national/22DEAT.html>
The dozen states that have chosen not to enact the death
penalty since the Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that it was
constitutionally permissible have not had higher homicide
rates than states with the death penalty, government
statistics and a new survey by The New York Times show.
********************
======================================================
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
======================================================
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
-Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
======================================================
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
-J. Krishnamurti
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