[diggers350] Land rights and the climate camp

Wed Aug 29 22:06:23 BST 2007

Hello Simon, Tony and everyone... 

  I think the climate change issue is an important one for all.

  Some scientists say its human caused and others say its due to periodic solar activity but let them argue about that if they want, reminds me of the saying "fiddling while Rome burns".. The stark reality is that this planet is approaching a rather large crisis --- in some parts things are heating up and in others cooling down for example in Chile some 6 hours south of Santiago they have just had the coldest winter in living memory with snow falling in places where snow never falls. The certain thing is that there is an imbalance that has unpredictable effects beyond the methodical predictions of scientists....

  The climate change issue appeals to many types of people for many different reasons but the way in which it concerns groups like TLIO is that certain capitalist and US led think tanks have already earmarked climate change is the ideal excuse to impose more Globalisation and even a world government... Clearly the concern of the super rich millionaires, private property magnates and industrialists is SHRINKING RESOURCES which means more control needed in order to have CONTROL OF RESOURCES... This always starts with the land and extends to EVERYTHING ..... They have many ways to do it, for example in Colombia where I live the US government has "given" funds for various projects relatinmg to "conservation" and "protection" of important zones rich in water and with high biodiversity but this is only a front to make sure they have control of fresh water and material useful for Genetic experiments.... 

  What is important is that people campaigning on climate change or any other issue understand the wider and bigger picture on a planetary scale so that they don't play into the hands of others that use those issues for other ends....

  For me a group like TLIO is potentially a leader of mass protest and civil disobedience on all these issues that concern public access to land and other resources and also our access to decision making.

  In Venezuela they have had some success in organising local groups that thye call "BOLIVARIAN CIRCLES" with the aim of activating the people toward a participative democracy. This idea has taken root because they have a sympathetic government but it has also spread round Latin America and is instigating the growth of a mass movement on a continental scale. 

  If I were a member of TLIO and had a say in its policy I would look at ways of broadening the scope and appeal of this movement and capitalising on these kind of ideas.. The scope you have and the mandate you have as a group to help people wake up to what is going on is MASSIVE, Go for it!!!

  What we need is more revolution... lots more.

  All the best, Inti

Simon Fairlie <chapter7 at tlio.org.uk> wrote:
          Its about time I replied to the message below from Tony, specifically the statement that Climate Change is a long haul flight away 
from Land Ownership and distribution.   

  The mission statement of TLIO is to "campaign peacefully for access to the land, its resources, and the decision-making processes affecting them, for everyone, irrespective of race, gender or age. ."

  I have always understood that "the land and its resources" includes the global commons (ie the sea, the atmosphere and the heavens). If it doesn't. then they should be expressly included in the mission statement, because the same issues of equitable access and enclosure apply to the liquid and gaseous parts of our planet as apply to the solid parts.

   In any case, land = biomass = renewable energy = carbon-neutral atmosphere, so access to land means access to atmosphere.

  The climate debate (and hence the camp) is directly relevant to TLIO since it is about how limited resources are shared between people. The aviation industry is particularly relevant since it involves one small section of humanity collaring resources that currently, and perhaps indefinitely, can't be made accessible to everybody.

   Tony is entitled to be a climate sceptic and hence to think that the atmosphere, to all human intents and purposes, is limitless. It is possible, though perhaps less than likely,  that 95 per cent of the world's scientists have got it wrong. But even if you think that global warming is a false alarm, that doesn't stop the climate debate being a matter of equitable access to resources, since both the body of opinion and the precautionary principle dictate that we should be finding a way of sharing out access to atmosphere amongst everyone, irrespective of race, gender or age.

  Simon

    On 21 Aug 2007, at 17:04, Gerrard Winstanley wrote:

          Simon,

The an umbilical link between building runways and marauding 
housebuilding companies truly is stretching a point. No it's a 
different constituncy and I'll wager you won't find much support for 
the Heathrow protest in Tewkesbury. 

Most of the people who care about corporte housebuilding excesses 
don't buy into the whole extended climate change agenda which IMHO is 
diverting activists from civil rights into pseudo-science. The fact 
that the ecnonomy is about to collapse, Britain has introduced 
internment, Brian Haw is under seige, the Russians are pulling out of 
the European Peace Treaty signed after world war two and the Israelis 
and Yanks are could be about to nuke Iran. 

Anyway - I'm sure you don't agree with some of that but its more 
reason why this list should stick firmly to TLIO's original aims and 
not get sidelined by Climate Change which is a long haul flight away 
from Land Ownership and distribution which is at the root of so much 
of the nation's problems.

When Britain started getting colder it wasn't any more to do with 
'global warming' became 'climate change'. I don't know enough about 
the science to get excited about it - but there is no science or 
pseudo-science necessary to fight for land rights.

I used to work in Aviation and hate to see the excesses the 
privatisation of BAA has led to. Most of the expansion has been quite 
literaly fuelled by the oil companies, as well as wealth being 
chanelled into business rather than private hands with business 
expense accounts accounting for over 80% of bums on plane seats now. 

Anyway I hope we can agree to differ.... Can we concentrate on our 
snappy little house prices campaign and make something of it. Mark 
promised to organise a meeting in Somerset which hasn't materialised.

Tony

--- In diggers350 at yahoogroups.com, Simon Fairlie <chapter7 at ...> wrote:
>
> Pity they didn't come to Heathrow, it would have made more publicity 

> for both causes.
> 
> Simon
> 
> 
> On 18 Aug 2007, at 22:04, Tony Gosling wrote:
> 
> > Thousands take part in Tewkesbury flood plain protest
> >
> > INCLUDING Intl. Economic meltdown briefings
> > http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.TCzAjLnkKY
> > http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2304.shtml
> >
> > March against flood-plain housing
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/6952502.stm
> >
> > Residents of one of the worst-hit towns during last month's 
flooding
> > crisis have staged a march against any plans to build on flood 
plains.
> >
> > Thousands of people walked through Tewkesbury in the rain on 
> > Saturday to
> > urge the government to review its policy on such development.
> >
> > Organisers wanted to highlight the devastation caused by flooding.
> >
> > The government has not ruled out using flood plains under plans to 

> > build
> > three million new homes by 2020.
> >
> > The march began at 1400 BST and a moment's silence was held for 
> > those who
> > lost their lives in the floods.
> >
> > It does need the government to look at the issue again
> > Philip Workman Tewkesbury town councillor
> >
> > Tewkesbury resident Mary Daff, 59, told BBC News that her house 
had
> > flooded and she was not expecting to be back in until December.
> >
> > "There has been a good turnout for the march and the mood is 
> > cheerful,"
> > she added.
> >
> > Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged in Tewkesbury after 
the
> > Rivers Severn and Avon burst their banks in July.
> >
> > Chuck Pavey, who sits on the town council, said: "Any change has 
> > got to
> > come from the top down.
> >
> > "Ministers who say we shouldn't rule out building on the flood 
plain
> > should come and live here.
> >
> > "There were over a thousand homes flooded here - many of them 
brand 
> > new -
> > and some of the businesses will never reopen."
> >
> > 'Better alternatives'
> >
> > Town councillor Philip Workman added: "We have been through an 
> > absolutely
> > awful time in Tewkesbury.
> >
> > "Many, many hundreds of people have been flooded out and it is a 
> > case of
> > highlighting the fact that this is a very real problem for us."
> >
> > The government should think "out of the box" when considering 
> > building on
> > flood plains, he said.
> >
> > "It is a difficult problem, but it does need the government to 
look 
> > at the
> > issue again to review its policy on building on flood plains 
> > because it
> > just seems to the average person a nonsensical thing to do," he 
added.
> >
> > In July, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper told MPs no new building 
> > should
> > take place in areas with severe flood risks, although the 
government's
> > Housing Green Paper is less definitive.
> >
> > It says it should be avoided "if better alternatives can be found 
> > in the
> > same area".
> >
> > Ms Cooper had earlier said some new homes would be built on flood 
> > plains,
> > subject to appropriate flood defences.
> >
> > A spokesman from the Communities and Local Government department 
> > added:
> > "It is councils who decide whether to give planning permissions 
for 
> > new
> > housing developments, but we have introduced the strongest 
planning 
> > rules
> > ever to ensure they properly manage the risk of flooding.
> >
> > "The new planning rules require councils to consult with the 
> > Environment
> > Agency before allowing new building in flood risk areas."
> >
> > Story from BBC NEWS:
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/ 
> > 6952502.stm
> > Published: 2007/08/18 14:52:05 GMT
> >
> > 5.27PM - THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN FLOODS PROTEST MARCH
> > http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp? 
> > 
nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231754&home=yes&more_n 
> > odeId1=231776&contentPK=18140197
> > Thousands of people have taken part in a march in Tewkesbury to 
> > protest
> > against any plans to build on flood plains.
> > Residents and politicians braved the rain in the hope of 
persuading 
> > the
> > Government to review its policy on such developments.
> > Current policy has not ruled out using flood plains in plans for 
three
> > million new homes to be built in the next 13 years.
> > The march began at 2pm with a minute's silence for the victims of 
> > the July
> > floods.
> > For the full story, please see Monday's editions of the 
> > Gloucestershire
> > Echo and the Citizen.
> >
> > -- 
> > www.public-interest.co.uk
> > www.new-byzantium.org
> > www.radiodialect.net
> > www.cultureshop.org
> > www.evnuk.org.uk
> > www.tlio.org.uk
> >
> > BRISTOL
> > +44 117 944 6219
> >
> > ï¿¼
>

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