[alternet-l] ALTERNET # 54

[Adrian Harris]

THE ALTERNET NEWS - ISSUE # 54

This issue:

HOT SITES/
WHALE MEAT/
GM 'COULD END ALL LIFE'/
USA SWEATSHOP/
SACREDNESS & SUSTAINABILITY/
BLOOD SPORTS/
VIRUS WATCH/
GOLD MINE/
GREEN MACHINES?/
FASLANE BLOCKADE/
QUOTE/UNQUOTE/
DIARY/

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Back issues are on-line at: 
---> http://www.gn.apc.org/activities/alternet

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HOT SITES

GroundUp is a new information tool for anti-GE activists from ASEED Europe.
The site includes a cartoon book, a directory of GE resistance, information
on biotech corporations and background on the Resistance is Fertile campaign.
--> http://www.groundup.org/

GroundUp is the latest web site from the GreenNet Design workshop:
--> http://www.gn.apc.org/design

The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs site carries extensive
information on indigenous issues including a wide selection of publications.
--> http://www.iwgia.org

GreenChoices offers practical advice on green choices you can make in your
everyday life, with information on DIY, gardening, jobs and lots more...
--> http://www.greenchoices.org

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WHALE MEAT

The Norwegian Government has announced it will resume trade in whale meat
and blubber despite an international ban. Whale meat is a high value
commodity, and international trade provides the cover for pirate whalers
who catch all species regardless of how rare they are.

If Norway resumes export in minke whales it provide a cover for pirate
whalers and generate huge pressure to kill more whales . Norway's chief
whaling scientist has suggested that the quota could be increased from 500
a year to 3,000 a year and the whalers are already demanding that they be
allowed to hunt additional species.

---> http://cybercentre.greenpeace.org/t/s/ams/e?a=NorWhaleAlerts=s01

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GM 'COULD END ALL LIFE'

A scientist reporting to the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification
claims that all life on Earth could be destroyed by genetically modified
bacteria.

Soil ecologist Elaine Ingham gave a chilling example of a plant-killing GM
bacteria that her research team prevented from being released into the
environment.

The GM klebsiella planticola was created to make alcohol from post-harvest
crop residue. The leftover organic sludge, containing the bacteria, was
intended be returned to fields as fertilizer.

The regulatory authority hadn't tested the bacteria on plants and it was
approved for field trials. But when Dr Ingham's team tested the bug, they
discovered its lethal effects. 

"After seven days, all wheat plants turned into slime."

She believed the widespread plant deaths caused by the bacteria would in
turn affect all life on Earth. 

More:

-->
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=170916thesection=news&th

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USA SWEATSHOP

250 Vietnamese women workers took their employers to court alleging
sweatshop conditions and human rights violations. But as soon as the trial
began their employers announced the company could not continue operating
and would shut down immediately.

The Vietnamese women still live in a compound owned by the company, which
previously provided their meals. With the company closed, they are relying
on local charities, but the charitable sources will not last much longer.

Young Vietnamese women paid recruitment fees of up to US$5,000 for the
opportunity of a job in the factory. In return they earned a pittance,
while the company took a slice of earnings for substandard food and
crowded, pest-infested housing. At times the workers laboured for several
months without any pay at all. Yet because American Samoa is a U.S.
territory, the clothes produced are "Made in the USA".

The workers sewed garments carrying the J.C. Penney, Sears and MV Sport
labels. 

Vietnam Labor Watch released a report which describes the conditions at the
factory, including this eye-witness account from a Christian Missionary:

"...we observed three or four girls sitting immediately inside the security
gate. The Korean guards began kicking and hitting the girls. About five
minutes later, approximately thirty Vietnamese girls came to the gate
crying and begging for help. Many of the young women were scratched,
bruised, and bloody. When I asked what was going on, the guards started
hitting the girls again." 

More:

Vietnam Labor Watch report:
-->http://www.vlw.org

--> http://www.sweatshopwatch.org 

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SACREDNESS & SUSTAINABILITY

In a BBC Reith lecture Prince Charles argued that we will never achieve
sustainable development without a rediscovery of the sacred:

"...if we are to achieve genuinely sustainable development, we will first
have to rediscover, or re-acknowledge, a sense of the sacred in our
dealings with the natural world and with each other." 

Full text:
--> http://www.garynull.com/Documents/LAPIS/Sacredness.htm

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BLOOD SPORTS

When hunt supporters march in London on Sunday March 18th, many of their
opponents will be out enjoying the peace and quiet in the countryside.

The Animal Cruelty Investigation Group are organising Reclaim our
Countryside Day to encourage a peaceful show of strength by those who are
against blood sports.

More:
--> http://www.acigawis.freeserve.co.uk

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VIRUS WATCH

"This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it..."

Or is it? The web is the perfect breeding ground for hoaxes and urban
legends, so it's well worth checking if that virus is for real before
warning the world.

The Symantec site has the latest virus news:
--> http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html

But meanwhile, beware the Klingerman Virus, which infects and kills those
who open a package that contains a blue sponge. Watch out too, for
flesh-eating bananas and the deadly spiders that lurk under the toilet
seats on planes. Or maybe just have a chuckle at the urban myths that
travel the web:

Urban myths:
--> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,41200,00.html?tw=wn20010116

Virus Hoaxes:
--> http://www.vmyths.com/

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GOLD MINE

The delta Gold mine on Timbarra Plateau is in the news again.

The mine, which is in a unique wetland habitat in Australia, recently
ceased operating, but heavy rains mean the cyanide solutions stored there
may leak.

Water from storage dams at the mine is overflowing and being released into
Nelson Creek which eventually joins the Clarence River. 

Delta Gold CEO Lou Rozman reports that they are "struggling... The reality
is, that it is out of our hands to take further control."

The situation would be disastrous if the mine were still operating.

"Fortunately, unlike when the mine was operating in February 1999, the
neutralization of cyanide solution has now neared completion." said Kate
Kirkwood of the Alliance to Close Timbarra.

But environmentalist Peter Hardwick believes the situation is still grim:

"Even with the mine not operating, no one knows what effect existing
pollutants will have on several rare frog species living in the wetlands
immediately below the gold mine."

Previous AlterNet report:
--> http://www.gn.apc.org/activities/alternet/052%2004-01-01.html

More:
--> http://www.nimbinaustralia.com/timbarra/

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GREEN MACHINES?

A new study finds that computers constitute only 2 percent of U.S.
electricity use. The findings contradict a previous study, which said the
Internet alone was gobbling up 8 percent of the country's electric power.

--> http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41623,00.html?tw=wn20010206

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FASLANE BLOCKADE

Trident Ploughshares and Scottish CND are confident that Monday's Big
Blockade of Faslane naval base will live up to its name and will be the
biggest direct action at a UK nuclear weapons base since the "Reclaim the
Hills" mass action in 1986. The aim is to close the base for a day.

Faslane is the base for the UK's four Trident nuclear weapon submarines,
each of which has enough firepower to kill millions of people. Weapons such
as Trident, which cannot distinguish between civilian and military targets,
are barred by international law. The British government continues to defy
international law by refusing to take practical steps to decommission its
weapons of mass destruction.

Activists from all over Europe will be joined by church leaders and Members
of the Scottish Parliament, many of whom are willing to be arrested.


Contact:
davidmc at enterprise.net

--> http://www.tridentploughshares.org/  

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QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"Work like you don't need the money, dance like nobody's watching and love
like you've never been hurt".

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DIARY DATES:

Reclaim the Streets: 020 7281 4621; rts at gn.apc.org
LONDON MEETING EVERY TUESDAY 7pm - Cock Tavern pub, Phoenix Road,

FEBRUARY

9 th: 
Trade Justice roadshow parked all day outside the University of Newcastle
Students Union playing music and videos, giving out free fairtrade tea and
coffee and raising awareness on Trade Justice. 
Followed by Trade Justice teach-in (interactive talk), to take a more in
depth look at Trade Justice at 5PM in Claremont bridge (room 229).


11 th: 
Stop Huntingdon Life Sciences Animal Cruelty, national demonstration at
Woolly Rd., Alconbury. Meet 12 noon 0121 632 6460 
--> http://www.welcome.to/shac


12 th: 
The Big Blockade at Faslane nuclear base, near Glasgow. Transport from
Newcastle late on Sunday. CND Glasgow 0141 433 2859

24 th:
War on Want conference on Globalisation and World Poverty.
10am-5pm, University of Westminster, London.
Keynote Speakers include Rt. Hon Clare Short MP, Larry Elliott Economics
Editor, The Guardian, Jyoti Mhapsekar Co-ordinator, Bombay Ragpickers
Project, Giampiero Alhadeff Director, SOLIDAR European NGO Network.
Details:
--> http://www.waronwant.org/fnews.htm

24 th: 
I Love CUBA cabaret organised by Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Camden Centre, Bidborough Street, London NW1
World sounds from John Williams and friends, comedy from Kevin Day, Salsa
from Merengada.
More special guests to be announced.
8.30pm - 2am, doors open 7.30pm
Advance tickets on 020 7263 6452 or 020 7281 4057
£15/£12 conc. (£18/£14 on door)


MARCH

8 th:
International Women's Day will be celebrated with the second Global
Women's Strike. Contact: Wages for Housework Campaign, 0207 4822496 or
womenstrike8m at server101.com

19 th: 
Car Free Day: people all around the world stay out of cars as part of a
co-ordinated global statement that we need viable transport alternatives
and a clean energy future.

24-25 th: 
Milan. European Meeting of People's Global Action. Everyone interested in
making contact and supporting future activities invited. 
--> http//www.agp.org

More Diary Dates on GreenNet:


http://webboard.gn.apc.org:8086/default

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