Date sent: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 10:05:10 GMT
Send reply to: schnews-l@gn.apc.org
From: "Jo Makepeace"
Subject: SchNEWS 292, Friday 9th February, 2001
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WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Its Yer Priceless...
SchNEWS
Published in Brighton by Justice? - Brighton's Direct Action collective
ISSUE 292, FRIDAY 9th February, 2001
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FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
GOOD, BAD & THE UGLY
"The IMF-imposed policies, carried out by the Ecuadorian government in
exchange for more loans, have resulted in more than 50% of Ecuador’s
national budget going to pay off the foreign debt, have burdened the
country with the highest rate of inflation in Latin America, the highest
levels of corruption, the most advanced rates of deforestation and
environmental degradation, and the worst example of maldistribution of
wealth on the continent... and this disaster, the result of your policies,
is repeating itself throughout the Third World in which you have
intervened to 'help us rise out of poverty.'" - Ivonne Yanez, Acción
Ecológica
Ecuador is currently under a state of emergency after thousands of
protestors took to the streets to demand the government withdraw sweeping
price rises across the country. Thanks to yet another one of those
structural adjustment programmes so beloved by the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), the price of cooking fuel has doubled, petrol prices have
risen sharply and bus fares have increased by 75%.
However, the government has stated that their economic policy was not
negotiatable "as it constitutes the fundamental backbone of the
stabilisation plan for dollarisation and the predictions of growth", as
agreed with the IMF.
Freedom of association has been suspended, and the army is arresting
anyone leading the protests. Once again it is the indigenous people of
Ecuador - who make up around forty five per cent of the population - that
are leading the protests. Obviously they aren’t listening to the UK’s
Development Minister Clare Short who reckons complaints against
organisations like the IMF are from those "sitting predominately in the
wealthy parts of the world."
Large areas of the country have been paralysed by blockades and 5,000
people are in the University of Eucador with the police and army firing
thousands of bullets and tear gas at them.
Just over a year ago, over one a half million Indians marched on the
capital against the privatisation of the water supply and the
dollarisation of the economy. Their protests toppled the president. Vice
president Gustavo Noboa took over promising that the water of Ecuador
would never be sold off to multinationals, small farmers would be forgiven
their debts to the government and fuel prices would be frozen for 2 years.
However, at the same time the army was given a huge pay rise with the help
of US "aid" and the promises and signed accords were forgotten. Since then
the currency has been dollarised, trade unions banned in the mines and oil
fields (all of which are 100% USA owned) the price of petrol was raised by
200%. For poor farmers who depend on getting their produce to market that
increases have been devastating. The US is also busy building 11 new
military bases in the country under the cover of "fighting the war on
drugs"
The Ecuadorian government have warned that "all subversive agents who are
responsible for formenting destabilisation...will be arrested for
disturbing the peace."
Surely the ones destabilising the economy and formenting unrest are the
IMF? SchNEWS reckons it’s about time they were shut down, their policies
locked up and the key thrown away.
For more on what’s happening check out www.conaie.org/ or
http://pages.hotbot.com/edu/stopwto/eduador1.html
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NICE BLOKE
Marc Helie is a partner of Gramercy Advisors, who refused to agree to a
one month extension of the pay-out on the Ecuadorean bonds that his firm
held. He openly brags that he is, "the man who brought Ecuador to its
knees, single-handed". In a article in The Globe & Mail Helie’s firm is
described as, ".. specialising in making money from economies on the brink
of disaster.."
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On The Piste
The World Economic Forum (see Schnews 233) in the Swiss ski resort of
Davos recently took place in "fortress"-like conditions. In a temporary
suspension of democratic rights, hundreds of armed police "effectively
privatised" the area, turning up to 1000 people away from the border who
were not "normal-looking" or carried suspicious reading material. After
deeming them abnormal and unworthy of entry into the chic resort, police
had hoped to spray these folk with horseshit, but were scuppered when
local farmers refused to provide manure.
Messages submitted worldwide to a Swiss website were laser-beamed onto the
mountain which overlooks Davos. These included suspiciously
non-commercial, environment and people-based propaganda, submitted by
people probably not wearing suits.
Meanwhile in Brazil a counter-conference called the World Social Forum
pissed all over Davos by bringing together 12,000 people from 120
countries. Militant farmers from all around the globe then went on to join
Brazilian peasants from the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Rio Grande,
storming a Monsanto biotech research station. They trashed GM corn and
soybeans and took over the research centre setting up beds and hammocks.
Another 5000 protesters marched through Madrid to coincide with the WEF,
demonstrating against Davos, and the opening up of borders for profit but
not for people. White monkey activists dressed in white overalls with
helmets and balloons for protection scaled 15 storey buildings, hanging
huge banners against immigration laws and capitalism. The police tried to
detain 70 white monkeys but had to return them to the crowd after the
sound system truck stopped in the road along with 5000 demonstrators and
refused to move on.
To find out more www.forumsocialsmundiale.com, www.ainfos.ca
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CRAP ARRESTS OF THE WEEK
For eating...Police in Holland arrested 13 people in a shopping mall for
the crime of handing out or eating free food. The activists from Free Food
Utrecht were ordered to leave as police believed they were in breach of
trade regulations. A judge later called for their release, stating that
free food did not constitute trading. Free Food said that they would
continue to hand out ‘nice dinners’.
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Casualty
Members of a London Unison branch are bracing themselves for a struggle
against the ongoing march of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Three
London hospitals stand to be privatised by the end of the year in a £500
million project which will result in 750 non-clinical jobs being moved to
the private sector. The scheme, which affects the Royal London Hospital,
St Bartholomews and the London Chest will see the Royal London completely
rebuilt and the closure of the London Chest, a respiratory unit. Phil
Burrows, Branch Secretary of the local Unison group, says the plans are
shrouded in secrecy, "As a Unison branch, we’re supposed to be kept
informed, when we had a meeting with management of the hospitals we were
told that they had already started informal talks with potential
partners." Although the members of the future consortium are not yet
decided, previous PFI schemes have shown that partners are likely to be
large banks and companies not best known for their commitment to
healthcare. "The NHS are jumping ship to the private sector," said Tim
Martin, Unison’s press officer, "this has all the ingredients for a great
scandal. They want to take everything, not just the building, money is
going to be sucked out of the NHS into private hands."
* ’Our NHS is not for sale’ - public meeting on the future fate of
these
hospitals. Thursday 15th February, 7pm at the Jagonari Centre, 183
Whitechapel Road, nearest tube Whitechapel. Speakers include Geoff
Martin from Unison and a Dudley Hospital striker.
* Contact Phil Burrows, branch secretary, Unison Office , Royal London
Hospital, London, F1 1BB. phil@solidarity.co.uk
* Workers at the Dudley group of hospitals (see SchNEWS 278) have
announced that they will start another strike this Saturday (11). The
Trust is on the verge of signing contracts with consortium Summit
HealthCare and staff transfers are set to begin on the 12th of April.
01384 244350.
* Change your mind and we’re sue yer : One of the consortiums bidding
to
buy part of the London Underground has threatened the government with
legal action and a £30 million bill if substantial changes are made
to the partial sell off of the tube.
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MoD Vs Ruckus
Just in case you still aren’t feeling safe on the streets despite the vast
array of police powers and acts (see SchNEWS 291), rest assured - the MoD
Police are coming your way. That’s right, the Armed Forces Bill which is
currently making its way through parliment could see extended powers
granted to the 35,000 MoD officers. Currently their duties are restricted
to the investigation of crimes involving service people and defense
contractors, intervention within the wider community is prohibited. Under
the proposed legislation, officers would be able to stop and search and
assist in the breaking up of large demonstrations such as last year’s fuel
crisis.
* If this wasn’t enough, the Government will soon be extending similar
powers to the 2,500 British Transport Police.
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Cheers
Thanks to everyone for offers of help after our computer disasters.
Because of our week off we’ve got dates coming out of our ears, so go to
the party and protest section of our website to find out what’s happening
(apologies to all you lot not on the internet - but SchNEWS would just be
a list of very interesting dates otherwise)
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SchNEWS in brief
* Ex members of punk band CRASS have managed to buy Dial House and are
going to ‘develop’ it into a centre for a large array of cultural and
community activities. It cost £158,000 with money leant by friends
which will have to be paid back and they are organising benefit
events over the coming year. Check out
www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/ for regular updates of news and
events
* The Bogus Woman is a play "from a war-torn African state to conflict
in a British detention centre, one asylum seeker tells her
gut-wrenching story..." It’s on at the Bush Theatre, Shepherds Bush
Green from 10 Feb - 3 March. For tickets call 020 7610 4224 (there
are some pay what you can nights)
* SHIWA, a ground breaking club night, will combine psychedelic,
trance,
techno, electronica, breakbeat, hip hop, drumming, dub and ambient in
4 different rooms all in the aid of Amnesty International, 10pm til
6am, 16th February @ The Depot, Bristol. Tickets £7 advance from
Replay Records, Katze or Subway or £8 on the door. More info 07968
303275.
* People have occupied Atherden Road nursery in Hackney which has been
closed as part of the Councils public service cutbacks. The occupiers
plan to use the building as a community space. Tel: 020-8525-0247
* Human Scale Education are running a series of introductory workshops
for parents and teachers interested in setting up their own
educational project. The first one is on 24th Feb in London, then
24th March in Bristol and 12th May in Edinburgh. It’s £45, contact
them on 01275 332516 www.hse.org.uk
* If you’er in Brighton and yer interested in getting involved in
activities against genetics this year then come along to The Branch
Tavern next Thursday (15th) at 7:30pm to find out more
* The new financial backer of Huntington Life Sciences has been
revealed
as The Stephens Group, a US based investment firm. They have an
office in London and so a campaign against them is starting. There’s
a demo next Thursday (15th), meet 11am, outside Stephens Inc, 63 St
James’s Street, London SW1, bring megaphones, whistles, horns. There
is also a call for a phone blockade on that day their numbers 0207
3553377
* Demonstration against Sodexho (asylum voucher schemes and prisons),
Bristol Demo on 24th, meet 11am Queen Square. Bring placards, flags,
banners, noise etc. sod-action@fsmail.net . Theres a Sodexho campaign
meeting at 76, Shacklewell Lane, London at 8pm this Sunday (11th)
* Third World Debt is Fraud a meeting of the Campaign Against IMF and
World Bank Fraud, Saturday 24th, 2pm at SADACCA , 48 The Wicker,
Sheffield S3 Contact 0114 222 7942. Children Welcome
* McDonalds Workers Resistance is a group of McDonalds workers who are
hoping to unite workers in the organisation. They have produced a
paper called McSues. They are looking for help in distributing it out
to McDonald workers. E-mail them at mwrposse@yahoo.co.uk
* Wiltshire police have been cracking down on the crop circles. Matthew
Williams, who writes ‘The Truthseekers Review’ which tells you how to
make crop circles without the help of aliens, has become the first
person to have ever been tried for making a crop circle. He was
charged £100 in court for causing £180 worth of damage to a farmers
field. www.truthseekers.freeserve.co.uk/
* The new Terrorism Act becomes law on Monday 19th . There will be an
Anti- Anti Terrorism Act demo on the 17th, meet 12pm Band stage,
Castle Green, Bristol
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Inside SchNEWS
On February 6th Leonard Peltier will have spent 25 years behind bars. He
was found guilty of killing two FBI agents, despite the fact that the
government say they do not know who is responsible for the deaths.
In the 1970’s native American Indians began organising in a Pine Ridge
reserve against European domination. The government were none too pleased
with this and began waging a low intensity war against tribal traditions.
Between 1973 and 1976 over sixty native people were murdered on Pine
Ridge. Leonard went to the reserve to help defend his people and
subsequently got involved in an exchange of fire in which two FBI agents
got killed. Leonard was convicted of the murders on false evidence.
Leonard is now very ill and it had been hoped that Bill Clinton would have
given Leonard a pardon before he left office, but despite calling for
racial unity, he failed to do so. Write to Leonard Peltier #89637-132, PO
Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66048, USA. * To find out more
www.freepeltier.org * Recommended reading "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse"
by Peter Mattheisom.
* Satpal Ram has been reassessed as a category C prisoner and moved to
another prison write to him at Satpal Ram, HMP Wellingborough, Doddington
road, Wellingborough, Northants NN8 2NH
* Mark Barnsley have been moved yet again this time to Wakefield high
security prison. The Mark Barnsley Campaign are asking for letters of
complaint to be sent to David Shaw, The Govenor, HMP Wakefield, 5 Love
Lane, Wakefield, WF2 9AG. Letters of support to Mark should be sent to him
(prisoner number: WA2897) at the same address.
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Shell-out Shell
Protesters in Nigeria have occupied three of Shells oil pumping stations
forcing them to close. In a statement on Monday, the protesters called for
the provision of amenities such as schools and roads, as well as jobs for
local people. Despite huge revenues being gained from oil production,
indigenous people see none of the benefits. Many villages close to oil
wells still have no electricity, clinics or other basic services.The
protests are reported to be costing the oil company 40,000 barrels a day.
Not that Shell will notice this much as they have just announced record
profits up 85 percent from last year. Shell are said to be holding talks
with representatives from the community.
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...and finally...
And they say cannabis doesn’t rot your brain...
A man who left bags of cannabis in a taxi after running off without paying
has been caught thanks to his own quick thinking.
First he rang the taxi firm asking if they’d found the bag. They directed
him to the lost property department at Brighton police station where he
duly turned up! Dor!
Unknown to Mr.Dopey, the taxi driver had looked inside the bag, and found
12 packets of cannabis and grassed him up to the cops.
Officers were waiting when he turned up at the station and he is now
helping with inquiries. One officer commented "He gambled no one had
looked inside the bag which was pretty stupid if you ask me."
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STOP PRESS...Police raid bank!
Spor resisted court order resulting in police smashing door and sending in
the dogs. All protestors manage to escape and re-group, ready to return.
www.spor.org.uk
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Cor-blimley-they’re-practically-giving-them-away book offer SchNEWS Round
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(US Postage £4.00 for individual books, £13 for all four). In the UK you
can get the fist three for £15 inc. postage. And finally.... The Schquall
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book contains articles, photos, cartoons, a "yellow pages" list of
contacts, comedy etc. All the above books are available from the Brighton
Peace Centre, saving postage yer tight gits.
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