[alternet-l] AlterNet News # 71

[Adrian Harris]

THE ALTERNET NEWS - ISSUE # 71

This issue:

HOT SITES/
TOBIN ADVERT BANNED/
ENRON + WORLD BANK + BUSH.../
DESERT MARATHON/
FILM FESTIVAL/
US MAY STRIKE FIRST WITH NUKES/
POWER OF FORGETTING/
SURVIVAL NEWS/
ASYLUM CONFERENCE
SOIL AND SOUL UPDATE/
WIND POWER/
QUOTE/UNQUOTE/
DIARY/

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HOT SITES

Guerrilla News Network is an US based underground news organization that
aims to expose people to important global issues through 'guerrilla
programming' on the web and on television:

-->www.guerrillanews.com/

The Film Festival Video Club supplies classics from Bergman and
Eisenstein, together with many environment related films such as The China
Syndrome and The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. Videos cost £6.00 to hire
for 7 days (including postage both ways):

-->www.filmfestivalvideoclub.co.uk

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TOBIN ADVERT BANNED

War on Want have launched a radical advert, featuring McGregor and Radiohead,
to highlight ‘Tobin Tax Day’ on March 13 th.

The film has been banned from TV because of its political message, while
cinema censors have demanded that it be cut.

The film calls for a tax on currency speculation, which destabilises the
economies of developing countries in the name of grotesque profits for
Western speculators. A small tax of a fraction of one per cent could calm
currency markets and raise funds for development.

The Belgian government has announced its intention to legislate for a
currency speculation tax, and Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allen will
introduce a Ten Minute
Rule Bill in the House of Commons calling for a similar tax.

The advert can be seen on the War on Want web site.

Tobin Tax at War on Want:
--> www.waronwant.org/ftobin.htm

Banned Advert:
--> www.waronwant.org/press/tvad.htm

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ENRON + WORLD BANK + BUSH...

Greg Palast, a journalist for the BBC and Observer, claims that a huge
conspiracy links the World Bank with Enron and George W. Bush. 

Palast spoke to Joe Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank,
shortly after he left the organisation. The insights from Stiglitz together
with "a giant stash of secret documents" revealed the secret agreements
that countries must sign to access international borrowing.

Palast claims that countries must agree to sell off their key assets, and
that the water system of Buenos Aires was sold off cheap to Enron because
"they got a call from somebody named George W. Bush."

"We are exposing that they are systematically tearing nations apart,
whether it's Ecuador or Argentina"


Full story:

--> www.infowars.com/palast.htm

Related stories:
--> gregpalast.com/

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DESERT MARATHON

Frank Russell, director of the Centre for African Development Research and
Education (CADRE), will be running in the 17th Marathon des Sables in the
Sahara desert between 4th - 15th April.

Described as the 'toughest race on earth', the race will cover over 140
miles over 6 days, which is equivalent to 5½ marathons. Frank will
experience temperatures of up to 120 o F during the day, running or walking
over rocky, stony ground or in sand dunes.

Frank is raising funds for CADRE and to help those suffering from Noma, an
acute and ravaging gangrenous infection affecting the face.

If you would like to sponsor Frank, or find out more, see:
--> www.cadrenetwork.org/marathon.htm

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FILM FESTIVAL

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has become a leading
venue for distinguished fiction, documentary and animated films and videos
with a human rights theme. These films help to put a human face
on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of
the human spirit and intellect to prevail. 

"We seek to empower everyone with the knowledge that personal commitment
can make a very real difference."

More:
--> www.hrw.org/iff/

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US MAY STRIKE FIRST WITH NUKES

A classified report warns that the US must be ready to use nuclear weapons
against China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria and also in
an Arab-Israeli conflict.

The report, requested by US Congress in September 2000, is now being used
by the US Strategic Command to prepare a nuclear war plan.

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said:
'America has said that it can now act unilaterally and that it could use
nuclear weapons against nations who do not have nuclear capability. Britain
will have to think very carefully now about its support for systems such as
the national missile defence system.'

Experts said the report may trigger a new arms race. They warned that such
moves could dangerously destabilise the world by encouraging other
countries to believe that they, too, should develop weapons. 

'This is very, very dangerous talk. Dr Strangelove is clearly still alive
in the Pentagon.' said John Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable
World.

Join the CND demonstration 'Don't Start Wars' in London on 30th March

CND press release:
--> www.cnduk.org/PRESS/press88.htm

Full report from The Observer:
--> www.observer.co.uk/bush/story/0,8224,665180,00.html

Noam Chomsky on Rogue States:
--> www.southendpress.org/books/rogue.shtml

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THE POWER OF FORGETTING

The Unbearable Weight of Memory - The politics and power of forgetting: how
communities in conflict deal with the past, cope with the present, and

create a bearable future, with Peggy Owens, human rights lawyer, and
Michael Marten, Middle East advocate.

5-11 October, Iona, Scotland.
For further details, contact the MacLeod Centre Bookings Secretary:
ionacomm at iona.org.uk

--> www.iona.org.uk

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SURVIVAL NEWS

BOTSWANA:
The Botswana government is cutting off water supplies to Gana and Gwi
Bushman communities in the central Kalahari, as part of its long campaign
to drive them off their ancestral land:
--> www.survival-international.org/latest.htm

>From Wednesday 13th March there is a weekly vigil outside the Botswana High
Commission to protest against their treatment of the Bushmen. Noon- 2pm, 6,
Stratford Place, London W1 (nearest tube is Bond Street).

INDIA:
The isolated nomadic Jarawa live on the rainforested Andaman Islands. A
road built illegally through their land is now exposing them to disease,
poachers and logging.

--> www.survival-international.org/jarawauab0202.htm

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ASYLUM CONFERENCE

Conference to Defend Asylum Seekers. Manchester, Saturday 23 March.
Arming Activists with the Arguments. Building Greater Co-ordination Across
Campaigns. Working with Refugees, Migrants and Asylum Seekers.

Cross Street Chapel, Unitarian Church, Cross Street, Manchester M2.
10.00am-6.00pm. Plus evening social at same venue.

Cost (including creche)
Asylum seekers: free
Individuals: £10 (£5 unwaged)
Trade union delegates: £20
Entrance includes an evening social of music and dance.

More information and bookings
E-mail: info at defend-asylum.org

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SOIL AND SOUL UPDATE

Scottish Environmentalist Alastair McIntosh is running a workshop, based on
his book, 'Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power', at Woodbrooke
Quaker Study Centre (Birmingham), Fri-Sun, 1-3 Nov. The cost is £120
(bursaries available).

Contact:
enquiries at woodbrooke.org.uk

--> www.woodbrooke.org.uk
--> www.alastairmcintosh.com/soilandsoul.htm

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WIND POWER

Wind power now accounts for the energy demands of over 10 million homes
around the world, and is the fastest-growing energy source. 

Wind turbine installations worldwide have soared by 45 percent, or 6,500
megawatts, in 2001, bringing global total wind power capacity to 24,000 MW.

--> go.hotwired.com/news/culture/0,1284,50891,00.html/ascii

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QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest
astonishment."

Celia Green

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DIARY DATES

Walk in Peace for Peace
Every first Sunday of the month. Meet at Speakers’ Corner (by Park Café),
Hyde Park 10.45am for 11am. The walk will take about an hour.
If you arrive a bit late don’t worry, you’ll see the Walk on ‘Broad Walk’
going south from Speakers’ Corner.
Enquiries: Clare Brunt 020 8755 0353


The Campaign for Co-operative Socialism Campaign meet at The Global Cafe in
London's Golden Square every Wednesday from 11-1:

-->www.cooperative-socialism.org/

MARCH

16th:
We Can't Keep Silent: Stop the Palestinian Holocaust 
Organised by: The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) & Friends of al Aqsa 
Location: mass picket opposite 10 Downing Street
Time: 2.00pm - 5.00pm 
Nearest tube station: Charing Cross or Westminster 

Healing UK Medical Training Weekend: 22-24 March -  Friday 22nd to
Sunday 24th March
London Activist Resource Centre
corner of Fieldgate and Parfett
St's, London, E1
(nearest tubes: Whitechapel or Aldgate East)

Contact: healinguk at hotmail.com
--> groups.yahoo.com/group/healinguk/

30th:
CND March and Rally Easter Saturday. End Terrorism - Abolish Nuclear
Weapons. Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, opposing US Foreign Policy,
particularly Star Wars, and nuclear weapons.

Details e-mail: nigel at cnduk.org; 
--> www.cnduk.org/diary.htm

Workers' Memorial Day on April 28th
-->  www.hazardscampaign.org.uk

SUMMER FESTIVALS:

Buddhafield
July 17-21st Devon VACANT or ENGAGED?
Free tickets are available to contributors, total numbers are limited and
advance booking strongly recommended.  For more information contact
info at buddhafield.com or check also www.buddhafield.com for latest updates.

Eastern Green Gathering
August 29th, 30th & 31st. Near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

More Diary Dates on GreenNet:


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

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