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WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Its Yer Mouldy SCHNEWS
Published in Brighton by Justice? - Brighton's Direct Action collective
ISSUE 291, FRIDAY 26th January, 2001
LAW OF THE LAB
'Practically speaking, all animal experiments are untenable on a
scientific basis, for they possess no statistical validity or reliability
whatsoever. They merely perform an alibi function for pharmaceutical
companies, who hope to protect themselves thereby from legal liability.'
Herbert and Margot Stiller, ‘Vivisection and Vivisector’
Last week showed just how far governments are prepared to go to protect
private business interests from campaigners who expose their unethical
practices. Science Minster Lord Sainsbury stepped in to shore up the
sinking vivisection agency Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), whileTony Blair
underlined the company’s right to conduct legitimate research as the
government pressured the Royal Bank of Scotland to extend the company’s
overdraft and forked out an extra £1 million to help the Cambridgeshire
police protect the company’s laboratories. If only Britain’s public
transport, organic farming, and alternative energy industries received
such commitment.
HLS’s appalling cruelty to animals has been exposed 3 times in the past
ten years by undercover researchers. In 1997 the Channel 4 ‘Countryside
Undercover’ programme caught HLS staff red-handed on film punching animals
and falsifying data with one worker admitting on tape 'You can wipe your
ass on that data.'
Despite last weeks rescue from a secretive US-based financial backer (who
SchNEWS predicts won’t remain anonymous for very long), HLS are still in
deep shit. The Daily Telegraph’s less than compelling advice for anyone
thinking of buying shares in the company is 'One for the brave or the
mad'. The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaigners sure ain’t
going to go away in a hurry, promising 'If anyone is reading this and
considering baling out HLS, be warned. We are prepared for a long fight,
and while our goal is HLS, we will take on anyone who gets in our way.'
So why is the government so keen on backing a company widely seen as the
dregs of the capitalist barrel? On the surface they talk about preventing
business and jobs from being lost if HLS and similar companies are driven
out of 'legitimate' scientific research which will result in the medical
breakthroughs needed to save lives. In reality HLS are a commercial
contract laboratory who carry out experiments for big business clients
from all over the world. A A lot of this work is tests on the toxicity of
new paints, detergents, adhesives, solvents and other consumer products.
SchNEWS wonders just how many lives a new brand of bathroom cleaner is
going to save?
Tony Blair says the government is 'on the side of science' over animal
research. However, much of today’s medical research is directed towards
treatments for ‘lifestyle’ diseases such as cancer or into new brands of
headache tablets, anti-depresssants, and appetite suppressants. Often
these drugs don’t actually cure patients - they just alleviate the
symptoms of an illness. And while we’re talking about saving lives, the
drugs companies spend only a fraction of their research budgets on cures
for really big killers such as malaria and sleeping sickness which infect
people with no money who live in far away parts of the world.
How much effort is going into promoting low-cost traditional methods of
healing which aren’t based around the use of chemical drugs, such as
Chinese medicine which have been applied successfully for thousands of
years? As usual, Tony is talking baloney and this has nothing at all to do
with saving lives - just allowing big business to carry on as usual
developing new products to part the sick from their money and using junk
science to hoodwink the public.
BARBARIC & USELESS
'Vivisection is barbaric, useless, and a hindrance to scientific
progress,' says Dr Werner Hartinger, German Chief Surgeon, which is not
surprising when you consider how different humans are from laboratory
animals such as cats, dogs, and marmosets. You don’t need to have a PhD in
applied biochemistry to be able to work out that if drugs can have
different effects on different people, they will also have different
effects on different species. The Fund for the Replacement of Animals in
Medical Experiments and the RSPCA have reported that in 92% of experiments
the use of animals does not provide any additional relevant information
whatsoever about drug toxicity. Alternatives to animal experiments using
cell cultures, artificial medical systems, and mathematical and computer
models do exist, but the government would rather bale out HLS than force
the medical industry to use more humane research methods.
Last week Mark Matfield of the Research Defence Society, the organisation
that represents vivisectionits, asked: 'Do you want to have a biotech
industry in this country or not?' It’s time to show the vivisectors that
if biotechnology means the unnecessary killing and torture of animals, the
answer is simply NO.
* Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty 0121 632 6460 www.welcome.to/shac *
Demo against Huntingdon Sun, Feb 11th. Meet noon at Christ Church
School, Rickmansworth Rd (A404) two mins from M25 J18
* Recommended reading: 'Secret Suffering: Inside a British Laboratory'
by Sarah Kite. Details 8 months undercover work in Huntingdon,
available from British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection 0207
700 4888 www.HelpTheDogs.org
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CLAMPING DOWN
Protests against HLS have attracted massive support, so guess what
Labour’s answer has been. In response to calls for action from the
vivisection industry, Jack ‘Boots’ Straw wants to pass new laws to clamp
down on troublesome campaigners. Just how many laws do they want? The
police can already stop protests using the Public Order Acts, the Criminal
Justice Acts, the Criminal Damage Act, the Harassment Act, the Interfering
in Fat Cats Making Money Act, numerous trade union laws, and long-standing
legislation outlawing obstruction, conspiracy, and breach of the peace
(OK, we made one of them up). Even Ann Widdicome has raised concerns about
the human rights implications of the proposed new laws! And coming soon is
the Terrorism Act (see SchNEWS 268) which one MP described as 'potentially
turning activist movements into terrorist movements'.
* The Terrorism Act comes into force on Feb 19th. Call 01273 298192 for
more info or http://go.to/ta2000
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CRAP ARRESTS OF THE WEEK
For having a piss. A young reveller was recently arrested after answering
a call of nature against a bush outside a house party in America. Surely a
case of over zealous cops taking the piss(er).
For Raising a Flag! A protestor at Bush’s Inauguration was arrested for
raising an anarchist flag at the Navy Memorial.
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NO CHOKE
How would you feel if you knew that over the coming weekend your health
would be seriously at risk, hospital admissions would increase and
sufferers of heart and lung conditions could face premature death? You may
have missed it, but these were precisely the conditions over much of
Britain last weekend.
The dangerous concentration of traffic and power station pollutants,
brought on by the high pressure of the previous week resulted in the worst
air pollution incident since 1991. A recent study by economists at St
Andrews University revealed that air pollution is responsible for up to
19,500 premature deaths a year in Britain alone.
* Climate change is high on the political agenda, following last year’s
failed negotiations at the Hague and the publication of a three year
report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report,
written by 639 authors, paints a bleak picture and serves as a harsh
warning for the future of the planet. It concluded that human
activity was primarily responsible for global warming and that the
scale of the damage would be significantly higher than first
estimated. Temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise and ice
sheets will shrink for thousands of years, even when the
concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has eventually
been stabilised. It is hoped the report will add some strength to the
implementation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocal of reducing greenhouse
emmissions, which is due to be discussed later this year. Apparently
the US is trying to delay the talks because they are not ready yet!
* Mass destruction of the Amazon rainforest looks on the cards thanks
to
a huge ‘regeneration’ plan. ‘Advance Brazil’, would see the
construction of roads, railways, waterways and hydroelectric dams
over a seven year period. Aimed at connecting the inhabitants of the
rainforest to the populated areas of Brazil, the plan would leave 28%
of the forest destroyed, 28% untouched and the rest with varying
degrees of destruction. 'If these development plans go through, we’ll
lose the largest remaining wilderness on Earth...And that doesn’t
even consider the enormous impacts on the carbon cycle, global
climate and greenhouse warming,' said Scott Bergen, a scientist at
Oregan State University.
* Rising Tide have called for March 21 to be a day of international
action against climate change. Coinciding with the International Day
Against Racism, the Season Of Carbon Action will be launched and
groups and individuals are asked to organise their own actions.
www.risingtide.nl
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NO CHOKE TWO
* Climate Change Campaigners held an ‘Inauguration Day’ Protest last
Saturday at the U.S. Embassy, London, to protest against the U.S.
wrecking the Climate Talks in the Hague and Bush’s links with oil
companies. Protests will continue every Saturday 1-4pm at the US
Embassy. 0208 533 7274 www.goatbyte.net/climatedemo
* Farnborough based TAG Aviation have recently secured permission for
the expansion of Farnborough Airport. Previously the MOD owned
airport served as a training ground for it’s aviation and aerospace
research body, it is set to become a large regional airport serving
the European business community. The development will result in the
loss of 170 acres of a SSSI, the destruction of endangered and
protected species and the removal of the tops of three hills. That’s
not to mention the increased noise and air pollution for the
residents of Farnborough. A college, old people’s home and numerous
houses will now be situated dangerously close to the flight path.
Green MEP Caroline Lucas has lended her support to the campaign and
succeeded in winning approval in European Parliment of her report on
aviation with calls environmental tax on EU flights, noise pollution
reduction guidelines and a tax on aviation kerosene amongst other
measures. To get involved contact North Hants Green Party, 49 York
Road, Aldershot, Hants, GU11 3JQ, 01252 653144
* January 30-31 will see the Amsterdam Hilton host an interesting
conference entitled ‘Aviation and the Environment’. Topics for
discussion include ‘Airlines-The Sustainable Future’, ‘The Control of
Emissions-Finding Solutions Market-Based Options’ and ‘Sustaining the
Air Transport Industry’. If you can’t make it you can buy the
documentation material for the bargain price of £330 plus VAT!
* 4-5 Feb Demo against the opening of the 2nd runway at Manchester
airport. More details 0161-226-6814
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SPOR SQUATTERS
The vault emptied, doors flung wide, the un-Co-Operative Bank in Ship
Street, Brighton, and sprouting shrooms. Spor have a community space for
fun, freedom and creative explorations of solutions to global injustice.
There are art installations, videos and lots of info. This Saturday (27)
has a climate change theme, with talks and action ideas from 1pm. Lots of
kidz events: kids forum theatre in the morning, juggling in the afternoon
and story telling later. There are also workshops on Forest Gardening
(3-4pm) Alternative Education (5pm), Biodiesel (5pm), Self help housing
(6.30pm). Radio 4A have a workshop at 1pm and will be broadcasting live
from 8pm on 106.6FM. On Sunday there will be more videos and workshops.
Details 01273 321112 www.spor.org.uk
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SHEIK IT UP
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) got together this week to decide where
they’re gonna hold their next round of trade talks. Not that there was
much choice as after the kicking they got in Seattle and Geneva, hardly
any of their 140 member countries were actually willing to have them.
Except Qatar!
Here’s your quick SchNEWS guide to activities that are frowned on by the
government of Qatar: political demonstrations are a no no; there are
severe limits of freedom of assembly and freedom of association; political
organisations critical of the Arab government are banned; private clubs
must be registered with government so they can be monitored by security
forces.
A spokesman for the WTO reckon however that this doesn’t mean opposition
will not be heard, as they’re going to make sure that Qatar will allow
NGO’s approved by the WTO to attend. The meeting is set for the 5-9th
November.
* STOP PRESS: SchNews has heard unconfirmed reports that those naughty
anarchist black block who spoil things for the rest of us god-fearing
protestors are ‘over the moon’ with the decision as they will be able to
cover themselves in black veils and dress as Muslim women. Off with their
heads! For advice on how to get into Qatar see SchNews 247.
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SchNEWS TRAINING DAY
Live in Brighton? Want to get involved in your favourite weekly direct
action newsheet? Then come along to our next training day on Wednesday 7th
February - 12 noon. To book your place and get directions call the office.
(It’s National Doughnut Week so no-one will be allowed in the office
unless they bribe us with a doughnut or two).
Help! We currently need help with putting SchNEWS on the web every
Thursday evening, and need someone to drop SchNEWS round Kemptown once a
week.
* We are putting our 6th book together at the moment. So if you’ve
pictures, cartoons, articles etc you think would be suitable. Send ‘em to
us along with your name and address on the back if you want stuff returned
to SchNEWS Towers (please write on photos where and when they are from)
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SchNEWS in brief
* A new Norwich collective has taken on editing the Earth First! Action
Update, details of yer actions can be sent to: EF!AU, PO Box 487,
Norwich, NR2 3AL, actionupdate@gn.apc.org
* On 3rd March the National Front is having a demo at Nottingham
Prison,
Perry Road. There will be a counter demonstration to stop them
spreading their racist bullshit. If you want to go contact
NAFA@veggies.org.uk
* University of East London Dayschool on political activism and social
movements, Feb 3rd at the Docklands Campus. This free event focuses
on
South Africa, also with a speaker from International Union of Sex
Workers, indigenous rights and Venezuelan constitution, Kashmiri
refugees, speakers on carnival, samba bands, human revolutions. Event
10:30-4:30 bring your own grub. j.burnett@uel.ac.uk
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A (mouldy) MESSAGE FROM SchNews TOWERS
There’s water pouring through the roof, mould on the walls, 3 out of our 4
computers very ill, no web or email access, and mice in our bin - but
somehow in the face of adversity we’ve got an issue of SchNEWS out this
week. However, next week we are taking a break to repair the damage.If
you’ve got any spare PC’s, printers or a de-humidifer then feel free to
donate them to us.
* We’re still looking for people to help put SchNEWS on the web every
Thursday evening. If you want to learn how to do it, we’ll teach you
cos we’re nice like that.
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...and finally...
In their attempts to spread their brand further all over the world Nike
now will personalise your shoes. So Jonah Peretti asked for the word
'sweatshop' to be stitched into his shoes. However, he was told that his
order was cancelled because he had used 'inappropriate slang'.
Jonah pointed out that sweatshop means 'a shop or factory in which workers
are employed for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions'
and its proper English, innit! And that the Nike iD program is 'about
freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are.' Nike didn’t agree
and said that they may reject personilisations if they just don’t want
that word on their products. Jonah eventually had to choose another iD but
asked instead if they could send him a colour snapshot of a typical
ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes Nike shoes? He received no reply.
So if you can think of any words you’d like to have on yer Nike’s go to
www.nike.com, but remember kids asking for 'inappropriate slang' words
just isn’t clever.
* No Sweat is a new UK based campaign against - sweatshops. They have
already worked with Manchester United supporters around the Nike
shirt deal. Actions are planned in the next couple of weeks. Contact
them on 07958 556756 www.nosweat.org.uk
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Last updated 26th January 2001
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