L'attivo degli iscritti del MC-PCL nel Lazio vede vincere la componente movimentista contro i trotzkysti. Sono 28 i voti raccolti da quest'ultimi contro i 6 in più ottenuti dalla componente guidata da Monti. I ferrandiani ancora in minoranza... Anche dentro il Partito comunista dei lavoratori.
EL MARCO DE LA DESAPARICION DE JULIO LOPEZ KAOS EN LA RED- ARTICULO-19-10-2006- [2006-10-22 14:45:14] ARTICULO ,, "El Marco De La Desaparicion de Julio Lopez örigen CASAPUEBLOS.dia 19-10-2006.- Hay una apretada semblanza de el PATA MEDINA Y SU FAMILIA POLITICA,,, y sus socios en Argentina.- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Insertar un comentario
Shell Oil is trying to steal local peoples land. Shell dumping Toxic Waste into ocean. Other unsafe and dangerous practices. Stop the Butchers from stealing our land and our resources.
Shell Oil and Statoil are planning to: Take land from local residents and build a high pressure gas pipeline that will go past their houses: The pressure inside the pipeline will be up to four times greater than that of the biggest Bord Gais pipelines. The pipeline will be going through boggy land with a history of landslides. CONSTRUCT A GAS REFINERY ON UNSTABLE BOG: This construction will be using previously untried methods to stabilise the bog surface and involve a massive amount of traffic. Emissions from the refinery will affect the nearby Carrowmore Lake, source of the regional water supply. PUMP TOXIC WASTE INTO BROADHAVEN BAY: A U.C.C. research team found that Broadhaven Bay was an important breading and rearing area for dolphins and whales. They recorded over 220 sightings of seven whale and dolphin species, plus sightings of two seal species, in Broadhaven Bay and north-west Mayo waters. The government is giving them our gas for practically nothing and then we will have to buy it back: From 1975 for oil and gas companies there was a tax rate of 50%, an automatic 50% state stake in any commercial well, and royalties of 6 %– 7%. In 1987, after lobbying by the companies, Ray Burke got rid of the 50% state stake and removed royalties. In 1992 after further lobbying Bobby Molloy reduced the tax rate to 25% and 100% tax write offs were introduced, meaning that the companies can subtract their costs from their tax bill. In other places in Europe the state take can be 55% or even 79% of a field. Shell have been given permission by the High Court to start work on the on land parts of the pipeline in about a months time, construction is due to start on the landfall, where the off-shore pipeline hits the beach, on May 31st. Help the local people to stop Shell! Who Pays the Piper? On a side note this issue totally demonstrates the importance of the independence of Indymedia. Tony O’Reilly, owner of the Belfast Telegraph, the London and Dublin Independents, the Sunday Independent (Ireland), the Independent on Sunday (England), the Sunday World, The Star, The Evening Herald, some of the Sunday Tribune, various local weeklies including The Kerryman and the Drogheda Independent, as well as other media internationally, also owns Providence Resources. Providence Resources are an oil and gas exploration company with interests in potential fields off the south and west coasts of Ireland. There is the possibility that what is happening in Erris, Mayo, will only be the first instance of corporations cutting corners at the expense of the environment and local communities as they exploit the potential oil and gas reserves off the coast, particularly the west coast, of Ireland. More background THE PIPELINE: This is an unprecedented development, normally up stream pipelines of untreated gas do not go over land. The gas pipeline also has adjoining pipelines carrying hydraulic fluid, cleansing acids, and a waste pipe. There will also be electric cables. This is a high pressure pipeline, 345 bar pressure for the gas, 610 bar pressure for the acids and hydraulic fluid. It is untreated, that is, odourless, without the added smell for detecting leaks. This is not the normal run of the mill gas pipeline. In Kinsale the gas is refined at sea, piped ashore at a much lower pressure and odorised. The biggest Bord Gais pipelines, in the so-called Transmission network, bringing the gas cross-country or overseas, run at 16 – 70 bar pressure. This development is so unprecedented the relevant legislation and regulations assumes its non-existence, that is, it applies to off shore upstream pipelines and to on land ones of around the levels of pressure used by Bord Gais. The large pressure is necessary as the pipeline is actually pumping the gas straight out of the field, normally this process takes place completely at sea. This pipeline will pass by peoples’ houses and by villages. It is being built through a bog where there have been landslides. CARROWMORE LAKE: This is the source of the regional water supply, and is protected as a Natura 2000 site under the E.U. habitats directive; it is also on the United Nations list of protected conservation areas. It has already been degraded due to Shell related civil engineering, with a marked decline in fishing and the arrival of algae bloom. It will be on the receiving end of emissions from the proposed refinery at Ballinaboy. BROADHAVEN BAY: Into Broadhaven Bay will be pumped the waste from the refinery, including lead, nickel, magnesium, phosphorus, chromium, arsenic, mercury and the radioactive gas radon, due to the bay’s circular tidal pattern and semi-enclosed nature a large portion of this toxic waste is likely to stay within the bay rather than be washed out to sea. Broadhaven Bay is a Special Area of Conservation under E.U. regulations; it also provides livelihoods to local communities through fishing. According to state heritage agency An Duchas “Broadhaven Bay supports an internationally important number of Brent Geese” as well as regionally important populations of other birds. The Environmental Impact Statement made to the Department of the Marine by Shell as part of the process to gain a licence for off-shore work claimed there was 'no evidence that Broadhaven Bay is of particular importance to cetaceans (whales and dolphins)'. Against this the Irish Whale and Dolphin group pointed out the historic and anecdotal evidence to the contrary, which is sightings by fishermen and the former presence in the area of major whaling stations. However it now turns out that Shell commissioned a study by University College Cork's Coastal and Marine Resources Centre which found the exact opposite from the claim Shell made in its environmental impact statement. Shell neglected to mention the study, though the lack of concrete data on whales and dolphins in their statement was criticised by the departmentof Marine. The U.C.C. research team recorded over 220 sightings of seven whale and dolphin species, plus sightings of two seal species and marine mammals such as basking sharks and a sea turtle in Broadhaven Bay and north-west Mayo waters. This including sightings of the relatively rare Risso’s Dolphin. It found that Broadhaven Bay was an important breading and rearing area for dolphins and whales. The pipeline is to go straight through the machair sand dunes/coastal grasslands at one end of Broadhaven Bay. These are habitat unique to the north west of Ireland and the north west of Scotland. THE REFINERY: The cleaning terminal, a large combustion plant, is a huge project. It will require in excess of 120 MW power to operate. The power will come from burning off the uncleaned gas condensate, full of chemical nasties, such as oxides of carbon and nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, methane and ozone. There are nine chimneys, four of them approximately 140 feet high. They will release carbon dioxide and methane equivalent to the global warming potential of 27,000 dairy cows. The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) from Enterprise Energy Ireland (EEI) notes two houses within a 2 km radius of the station. In fact, there are 16 houses. The waste water problem is twofold. There is a pipe to take waste impurities to sea and a perforated perimeter ditch which will surround the drainage from the site. The waste water storage sump is designed to withstand one hour continuous rainfall, though Crossmolina had 106 days consecutive rainfall last autumn. The overflow will flow into Carrowmore Lake, which feeds the water supply of Erris. This untreated waste water will contain many lethal substances, including lead, nickel, magnesium, phosphorus, chromium, arsenic, mercury and the radioactive gas radon. Both the refinery and the pipeline are to be constructed on unstable bog land, Shell’s plan to stabilise this involves mixing in cement to form a hard surface. This process has only ever had small field trials and lab tests and creates a reaction which produces the very toxic hexavalent chromium. THE DEAL: From 1975 for oil and gas companies there was a tax rate of 50%, an automatic 50% state stake in any commercial well, and royalties of 6 %– 7%. In 1987, after lobbying by the companies, Ray Burke got rid of the 50% state stake and removed royalties. In 1992 after further lobbying Bobby Molloy reduced the tax rate to 25% and 100% tax write offs were introduced, meaning that the companies can subtract their costs from their tax bill. In 1996 the licence for the Corrib Gas field was granted to Enterprise Energy Ireland a subsidiary of Enterprise Oil, which has since been bought out, in 2002, by Shell, and the consortium also includes Statoil and Marathon Oil. Enterprise Oil held major fundraising events for Fianna Fail at the Galway Races in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Other companies involved are also major Fianna Fail donators. Then Minister Frank Fahey granted them innumerable licenses before the planning procedures were over, and gave them 400 plus acres of Coilte land. Bertie Ahern has had meetings with Shell on this issue. The deal is the pipelines after the refinery, running to Dublin and Scotland, will be constructed by the state, that is, Bord Gais, while a good deal of infrastructure, new roads and bridges is already being built by the state, i.e. Mayo County Council. Some of the gas, that which is not exported, will then be purchased back by the state. These companies have a track record of not employing Irish rig workers. According to Mike Cunningham, a former director of Statoil Exploration (Ireland): “No other country in the world has given such favourable terms as Ireland.” In other places in Europe the state take can be 55% or even 79% of a field. Window of Opportunity: In the High Court , in Shell’s case against some of the small farmers upon whose land Shell’s development is to go, Hanratty, barrister for Shell, made the case that they needed injunction proceedings to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Claiming that they have a “window of opportunity” for construction between April and October of this year, and that if the project was delayed until late June there was a “real possibility that it would not be completed in that construction season” and hence would be delayed until next year. He argued that was a real “urgency” to this, that it is “imperative” that this does not happen, lest there be “enormous additional costs.” Construction Dates: Landfall construction of the Pipeline, that is, building at the beach in Broadhaven bay where the pipe comes on shore, is due to commence on the 31st of May 05 and run to the 8 of November 2005. The installation of the pipeline across country was to begin on the 25th of February, of course it hasn’t. Construction of pipeline estuary and river crossings is due to start on the 15th of August and finish on the 30th of September. Construction of the Refinery is due to commence on the 29th of August 2005 and finish on the 14 December 2006. The important thing to remember is Shell had initially planned to have the whole project up and running, finished, completed, built and pumping gas, last year, but have faced considerable delays in the planning appeals process. They claim they will lose 25,000 euro a day, every day, that the construction is delayed for after the 1st of June. Should they be delayed into next year this will cost them a remobilisation fee of 2.5 million euro. There are big bucks involved in this too, in July 2002 Shell had to cancel their hiring of the Solitare, a pipe laying ship, due to a delay provoked by an An Bord Plenala request for further information, and this cancellation resulted in Shell getting hit with a 31 million sterling breach of contract claim. GLOBAL WARMING DESTROYS WINE INDUSTRY http://hamilton.indymedia.org/newswire/display/753/index.php Per the Sustainable Industries Journal, the Pentagon has blocked the construction of 16 Wind Energy sites in the USA. The military claims the Wind Farms are a threat to national security. Maybe the Wind Farms are a threat to Big Oil and Big Coal? WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com FLIM: ExxonMobil Expose and OIL SPILLS http://www.worldoutofbalance.org http://www.betterworldlinks.org/book56w.htm http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1105-04.htm http://www.greenpointvexxon.com http://whyfiles.org/168oil_spill/index.html http://www.loe.org/series/exxon/lessons.htm http://environment.about.com/b/a/256786.htm http://www.jomiller.com/exxonvaldez/ book: Extreme Conditions, Big Oil and the Transformation of Alaska; author: John Strohmeyer Protect your business from the Oil Pirates and Robber Barons. Stop the Bush Oil Barbarians from Ravishing your Family and community's financial budgets. Do not allow your congressman to be George Bush's Lap Dog. Halt the incestuous relationship of sleazy politicians in bed with Big Oil. Do not bend over. Stop Big Oil and Big Coal from Molesting you and your children. Tell Big Oil and King Bush - We want our democracy back. Bush@Enron~Bankruptcy.com http://www.seia.org http://www.awea.org http://istanbul.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/145767.php http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=25381 http://english-cyprus.indymedia.org/newswire/display/251/index.php http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=en&article_id=570479 Solar Home Tours and Links http://milwaukee.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/205706.shtml http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2006/07/25901.shtml http://rogueimc.org/en/2006/07/6867.shtml ------------------- With the introduction of the Strategic Infrastructure Bill and the reverses in democratic participation that it embodies, the legislative framework for such a state is already partially in place. In this context, where Shell to Sea will go, other peaceful and democratic objections will follow: heavy-handed policing backed up by complicit media coverage whose aim is to invert the truth of what is happening. If this goes unchallenged, all we will be left with is the danger and the pollution, the despoliation of some of the most beautiful parts of the country and a handful of smug, newly made millionaires. A prominent member of the Shell to Sea campaign has said he believes intelligence files are being gathered on behalf of Shell in respect of anyone who challenges the current Corrib Gas project. It is also believed that many phones are being tapped. A number of people have been told directly by the Gardai that they are being watched and one man has been told that his ‘number is up’. Garda cars have been parked outside the homes of some of the protestors for hours at a time. One protestor has been told by his employer that if he does not give it up, his job is on the line. Journalists – in both national and local papers - who have been prepared to write accurate accounts of what is happening have been leaned on to stop. Again’ it is not news but worth remembering that the smearing of Frank Connolly by Minister McDowell under cover of Dail privilege followed directly from the publication of his Centre for Public Inquiry’s publication of a damning report on the safety of this same project. It was alleged that Connolly had travelled on a false passport to Columbia in support of illegal IRA activity although no charges have ever been brought against him. Nevertheless, the philanthropist who was funding the CPI withdrew his support following a private audience with Bertie Ahern. These undemocratic methods of suppressing information and silencing objection are becoming increasingly blatant in Ireland and it is time, surely, for the Irish people to signal that they are no longer willing to submit to this treatment. The issue is not just about the Corrib gas field, it is about all of the oil and gas finds off the west coast and the manner in which these finds will be got ashore. It is imperative that the foreign corporates involved are made to conduct their drilling and extraction in a way that will not damage significant parts of the west coast. Bear in mind that none of these companies would be allowed to do to the coast of the USA what they are being encouraged to do by our present government in Ireland. The Dunquin field alone, the licence for which was recently sold at a huge profit by Sir Anthony O’ Reilly to Exxon Mobil, is estimated to be worth Euro 500billion, of which he retains a 16% share – an accrual of personal wealth which dwarfs his entire business empire to date. The northern tip of the Slyne field – well number 27/5-1, is thought to be the most lucrative find of all – a massive oil field lies there said to be worth trillions. How is all this to be got ashore? The Shell to Sea campaign is not about preventing the mining of gas in the Corrib field, it is about ensuring that it is done safely at sea so as neither to put the local community in danger nor to damage the countryside. This will cost Shell more, but only a fraction of the profit which would be made and the same principle needs to be applied to all of the other projects off our coastline. It has also been alleged that the reason exploration licences were issued on such disadvantageous terms is that the fields off the west coast are difficult and dangerous to drill. Not so. In comparison to drilling taking place in the Shenzi field off the Louisiana coast, to give just one example, where the ocean goes to a depth of 7K feet and the well itself to a depth of 27K feet - drilling in the Corrib field, where the sea is just 200 meters deep, is the industry equivalent of ‘taking sand off a beach with a spade’. One Statoil representative has admitted, at an EPA oral hearing, that there is no technical difficulty or obstacle involved in mining the fields – the geological environment poses no problem beyond what is entirely normal. And yet extreme technical difficulty is the reason cited for the undoing of established state policy which would have secured a 40/60 split between the Irish state and the drilling companies, respectively. The scale of the mismanagement involved might be partly explained by the fact that the Irish government appointed as its adviser a Mr David Fox, a man whose day job was advising exploration companies on how to secure the best possible terms from governments. As conflicts of interest go, this one is a real stinker. To this very day, no cost-benefit analysis for the state has been done by the Irish government for any of these multi-billion dollar projects. In planning to push the commencement of building of the refinery through, it’s clear that a strategy had been devised in advance to intimidate the objectors and to ensure that media coverage was sympathetic to the commercial interests involved. Shell had lost the argument and were looking nasty having sent five people to jail. The hostile and inaccurate reporting from most of the media which accompanied the Garda action is hardly a coincidence. RTE coverage has been strikingly biased at times. For example, coverage of the press conference at Bellanaboy last Monday, at which five elected TDs were intimidated at close quarters by Garda filming – even while being filmed themselves by our national broadcaster – was atrociously unrepresentative of the actual event. The shocking revelation by a local business man that he had been offered 15K Euro to support the Shell project and told that nobody would have to know anything about it, should have been at the top of the RTE news coverage and front page headline news in every national newspaper the following day. Instead it has passed by with barely a murmur. Ciaran Murphy, a former army officer and member of the Air Corp, stressed that this was the means by which Shell were attempting to divide the local community – with secret bribes. What additional pressures will have been brought to bear on the media? It is highly unlikely that Shell have been idle in that direction - or are the likes of Paul Williams only too pleased to prostitute themselves to foreign corporates at the expense of his fellow Irish citizens? Kevin Myers has long since descended into a complete parody of the ranting buffoon that he is, but he excelled even himself in recommending a baton charge in Bellanaboy. And what, as ever, about the newspapers owned by Sir Anthony? ‘Independent’? Hardly, as we are all so weary from pointing out. Aware perhaps of the damage that Ciaran Murphy’s testimony could do to their scheme, Minister Noel Dempsey went about some negative spinning later that day to the effect that the Shell to Sea campaign had proved more difficult to bring to mediation than Gerry Adams and Ian Paisely – a distortion of the truth and a comparison that seems calculated to resonate with the past violence of the Northern Irish situation. In fact, this appears to be the favoured smearing theme of the Shell/government agenda. Shell to Sea have also been accused of being hijacked by Provo sympathisers – a completely unfounded accusation. Shell to Sea have met seven times with the government appointed mediator, Mr Cassells, despite their misgivings about the severely limited terms of that mediation. The central safety concerns have not been adequately addressed – despite the claims of government and Shell to the contrary and the relatively minor concessions that they were forced to make previously. This tactic of offering essentially false mediation in these situations is a well-worn one, whose only objective is to paint the objectors into a corner where they appear unreasonable. Now we have also heard from Minister Dempsey that he and others have received death threats. Frankly, that claim is simply not credible if it is being suggested that Shell to Sea are responsible. The only violence in this situation has been the violence dealt to the protestors – not the other way around. At one of the regular Shell to Sea meetings held last Sunday night it was a striking experience to witness how composed and constructive local people were in the face of the physical and media violence that is now being done to them and their community. They are adamant that they will do nothing to discredit themselves and are understandably offended at what Shell and the government are now doing and also at how they are being portrayed in the media. Will Shell to Sea in Mayo re-invigorate the democratic process or will it be the death knell of all future civil involvement in the management of our natural resources and amenities? The exploration and other companies have only one simple point to take on board: that they must conduct their business without endangering or destroying local communities. They have simply to invest what would be a tiny fraction of their profit (even at a couple of billion dollars) to secure the harmonious outcome that Shell to Sea and the people of County Mayo are anxious to see. If our government have conducted themselves foolishly in this matter, let the people of Ireland show these circling corporate sharks that we will be treated with the respect we deserve, after all. ------------------- POLITICS OF OIL AND MONEY Another sub-title for this article could well be "a study in state monopoly capitalism." A book of the author, Dan Briody, focused on the Carlyle Group, the spectacularly well-heeled firm that includes former President George H.W. Bush, his crony James Baker and a veritable rogues’ gallery of washed-up politicians and businessmen of questionable integrity who blatantly trade upon their inside knowledge of government for private gain in yet another textbook example of state monopoly capitalism. Yet, their money-grubbing pales in comparison – and chutzpah – to Halliburton, a firm formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, a firm that is frequently in the headlines in light of the lucrative contracts they have been awarded by Cheney’s government in the theater of war that is Iraq. The story begins in Texas where a predecessor firm of Halliburton, Brown & Root, was catapulted into prominence – and obscene profitability - because of a tight relationship with former Senator, then Vice President and President, Lyndon B. Johnson. Large scale construction and oil services were the two pillars on which this giant company was built. Routinely the government handed out handsome "cost plus" contracts, e.g. building the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, to this corporation. "Cost plus" means that the contractor could recoup all expenses plus a guaranteed profit based on a pre-negotiated percentage. This eliminates risk for the contractor and erodes the necessity to eliminate wasteful billing which, says the author, is "great for the contractor, not so great for the taxpayer." "Basically, it’s a blank check from the government….when your profit is a percentage of the cost, the more you spend, the more you make." Brown & Root reaped a bonanza of wasteful contracts during the war in Vietnam, which – coincidentally – Johnson prosecuted as vigorously as Cheney has done in Iraq. By 1967 this firm was the largest employer in South Vietnam. Yet even then there was an obvious downside to relying so heavily upon the private sector to perform the clear government function of waging war: motivated by the lust for profit their employees were "manipulating currency and selling goods on the black market," among other transgressions. Johnson was so helpful to this company that the author argues that actually he was "working for Brown & Root, not the people of his district or the state." Something similar used to be said about another leading Democratic Party politician, the late Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington, who was referred to as the "Senator from Boeing." Obviously today we are in dire need of deeper examinations of the ramified ties between various sectors of state monopoly capitalism and leading political figures and parties, along the lines of the work at hand. Brown & Root was also viciously anti-union. At one time, for example, progressive formations e.g. the National Maritime Union, played a pivotal role in Texas politics but after Brown & Root and their confederates pushed through anti-union legislation in the 1940s, the political complexion of what is now the second largest state began to change to the point where it has now become a reliable Republican redoubt and, not coincidentally, the home of both the current President and Vice-President. But as profitable as it had been, when Dick Cheney left the Pentagon in the 1990s to become head of Halliburton, this company was catapulted to a new level of profitability. A staunch conservative, while a member of Congress Cheney avidly opposed imposing sanctions against apartheid South Africa while pushing aggressively for sanctions against socialist Cuba. Before leaving the Pentagon, which he headed during the administration of George H.W. Bush, he accelerated the privatization of core military functions in a way that – coincidentally – aided the company he was about to lead. "They made $109.7 million in Somalia…$6.3 million from Operation Support Hope in Rwanda…..Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti netted the company $150." Halliburton was "becoming another unit in the US Army" and reaping millions from war and misery, providing a perverse incentive for an increase in such pestilences. "From 1995 to 2000, Brown & Root" – now part of Halliburton—"billed the government for more than $2 billion in services. The company did everything from build the [military] camps to deliver the mail, with 24-hour food service and laundering. It provided firefighting services, fuel delivery, sewage construction, hazardous material disposal, and the maintenance and delivery of equipment." War in the Balkans was the "driving force" for Halliburton’s increased profitability and heightened profile. "Halliburton’s government business doubled while Cheney was CEO." Yet Cheney also left this firm with a basket of problems after he was elected Vice-President and this may have given him incentive to steer contracts in Halliburton’s direction in order to lessen the pain inflicted on his firm. He pushed through a merger with Dresser Industries, a profoundly disastrous maneuver, given the backbreaking liability for asbestos related lawsuits that this company carried. Coincidentally – that word again – Dresser was "the company that gave George H.W. Bush his first job." After Cheney left Halliburton a "grand jury investigation into over-billing and a Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] investigation into Halliburton’s accounting practices while Cheney was CEO" ensued. That is not all. The company was accused of bribing a "Nigerian tax authority in exchange for contracts to build a liquefied natural gas plant." A French magistrate "was looking into the possibility of bringing charges against Dick Cheney for complicity in the bribery case and allegations that $243 million in secret commissions were paid from the late 1990s to 2002….the United States Justice Department and the SEC are looking into accusations that Halliburton made $180 million in illegal payments to win other contracts in Nigeria." This points up another festering problem with Halliburton. The French investigation of Cheney’s alleged malfeasance has complicated Washington’s already deteriorating relations with Paris, while Halliburton’s chicanery has contributed mightily to a culture of corruption in West Africa. After Cheney left, Halliburton stock plummeted precipitously and given the millions of stock options that he still holds, this jeopardized his own personal fortune, not to mention the fortunes of his fellow executives with whom he had become quite close. Though the author does not stress this, his study reveals a critical fault line within state monopoly capitalism. For when Halliburton began to feed ravenously at the government trough, other firms in the same business became angrily resentful, which helped to fuel congressional investigations and adverse publicity. For example, during the Reagan years, Bechtel was the government contractor of choice, as suggested by the prominent role in his administration played by two of their former executives – former Secretary of State George Schulz and former Pentagon chief, Caspar Weinberger. "The rapid rise" of Brown & Root, for example, "brought on a fit of jealousy" from their "biggest rival, Bechtel of San Francisco." Reference book: The Halliburton Agenda, The Politics of Oil and Money author: Dan Briody 2ND BOOK: OIL, THE BUSHES, AND THE RISE OF TEXAS Halliburton is of Brown & Root, a company that obtained government contracts via Lyndon B. Johnson during the New Deal. They also took most of the government contracts during the Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War. It was all done by controlling the chairman of key Senate Committees and having their people holding key posts in the government such as Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Treasury. Not that this is common knowledge. This group of Texans (sometimes known as the Suite 8F Group) bought into Operation Mockingbird (a CIA project to control the US domestic media). However, the web has undermined this project. The key point made by Bryce and Briody is that this is really an economic issue. The politics of all this is about making money out of their ideology. It does not matter who the US is fighting, it is the spending this goes on it that is important. Global military spending is $956bn and rising. US spends 40% of this. Most is spent with companies based in Texas. In 1963 John F. Kennedy tried to deal with the Texas stranglehold over government policy. However, he underestimated the power of the Suite 8F Group. References book: Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas; author: Dan Briody book: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; author: John Perkins book: Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War; author: Michael Isikoff book: State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III; author: Bob Woodward book: The One Percent Doctrine; author: Ron Suskind book: The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina; author: Frank Rich --------------- stop ELECTION FRAUD, support Honest elections. http://www.verifiedvoting.org http://www.votevets.org http://mediamatters.org http://www.blackboxvoting.org http://www.investigatethevote.org http://www.votersunite.org http://www.citizensact.org http://www.solarbus.org/election/cd/test/videos.html http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Texas_redistricting_scandal state info: http://manila.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=31260 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/121775.php How much political campaign contributions (bribes) is your congressman receiving http://www.campaignfinance.org/states http://www.publicintegrity.org How much money (bribes) are the Republicans and their friends receiving from big companies? http://www.campaignfinance.org/states http://www.publicintegrity.org book: Heist, Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican Allies, and the Buying of Washington author: Peter H. Stone DVD: Capitol Crimes by Bill Moyers The fall of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff has exposed what may be one of the biggest political scandals in America's history. What does the dizzying scope of corruption say about how laws are made and who really owns the U.S. government? Bill Moyers and his team of investigative journalists untangle the web of relationships, secret deals, and political manipulation to open a disturbing window on the dark side of American politics. http://www.shopthirteen.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=47610&storeId=10552&catalogId=10101&langId=-1 OIL PRICE SURGE. Bush- not my fault. http://arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20177/index.php http://www.binghamtonpmc.org/newswire/display/46/index.php http://maineindymedia.org/newswire/display/4406/index.php Waste Not, Want Not http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/17530.php http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/50509.php Food Banks need your help. http://hawaii.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/5894.php ARE AMERICANS IGNORANT? Intelligent Policies http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/38087/index.php http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/18295.php http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/24833.php DVD: Is God Green? Millions of evangelical Christians in America have taken on care of the environment as a moral and biblical obligation. They believe that as Christians it is their duty to oppose global warming, the loss of species, and toxic chemicals in the air, food, and the water. But many of their brothers and sisters in the faith disagree with their stance - some because the perceived imminence of the End Times and the Rapture makes stewardship unnecessary. http://www.shopthirteen.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=47612&storeId=10552&catalogId=10101&langId=-1 ------------------- STOP THE BABY KILLERS Agent Orange is killing children The enduring presence of Agent Orange is just one terrible legacy of Vietnam's ill-fated war. The USA used the toxic defoliant to unmask guerrilla fighters by stripping forest cover. But children are still being born with terrible deformities. Families are denied compensation from the USA. The USA denies responsibility. Stop the baby killers ---- http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/agentorange032102.cfm http://www.studentsforbhopal.org http://www.bhopal.net/campaigns.html http://www.usvetdsp.com/agentorange.htm http://vvof.org/vvofaopg.htm http://www.agent-orange-lawsuit.com http://www.njaoc.org COMPANIES SUPPLYING AGENT ORANGE TO THE GOVERNMENT: Monsanto Company Dow Chemical Hercules Inc Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Uniroyal Thompson Chemical T-H Agriculture and Nutrition Company Note, some of the above companies (or their subsidiaries) produce drugs, toxic chemical, herbicides, insecticides and fertilizer. First, they poisons you with their Chemicals. Then, they will help you with their drugs for an exorbitant price. MONSANTO MEN in USA Government The Bush administration's could be called the Monsanto Cabinet, per Robert Cohen, author of “Milk, The Deadly Poison” which details the horrid politics behind the contamination of our nation's milk and beef supply with bovine growth hormone. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was president of Searle Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by Monsanto. Rumsfeld was also the Secretary of Defense under President Ford. Rumsfeld is believed to have earned around US$12 million from the sale of Searle to Monsanto. Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly received $10,000 for his senatorial campaign from Monsanto in the mid 90s. Ashcroft's contribution from Monsanto was five times that of any other congressional hopeful. Ashcroft, and Sr. Bush Supreme Court appointee Clarence Thomas were instrumental in gaining Food and Drug Administation (FDA) approval for Monsanto's controversial artificial sweetener aspartame, which has been linked to over 200 ailments that include Alzheimer's disease, juvenile diabetes, depression, epileptic seizures, blindness, memory loss, excitability, weight gain, multiple sclerosis and lupus (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000). Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman was on the board of directors of Calgene Pharmaceutical, another company currently owned by Monsanto. Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson is the fourth member of the Bush cabinet to have direct ties to Monsanto. The former governor of Wisconsin designated his state as a “biotech zone” for the use of Monsanto's bovine growth hormone even though dairy farmers in his state opposed the designation by a 9-1 ratio. Thompson reportedly received $50,000 from biotech companies during his election campaign. Bovine growth hormone, which does increase the productivity of dairy cows, has also been linked to many health problems in children and adults (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000) and makes cows sick. Bovine growth hormone has been outlawed in most countries, but not the U.S. And as Cohen points out, another player in the Monsanto-studded Cabinet is Rep. Richard Pombo, who will head the Agriculture Subcommittee on Dairy, Livestock and Poultry. Pombo is also a Monsanto boy, having taken campaign money from it while stalling a 1994 bill to make labeling mandatory for milk or milk products containing Bovine Growth Hormones. Pombo helped kill the bill in committee. Monsanto also holds the patent on the “terminator gene” which prevents plants from producing viable seed so that farmers, and therefore people, will be dependent upon the multinational corporation for their food supply. Monsanto has proven to be one of the most greedy, ruthless and environmentally irreverent corporations in world history. One cannot serve the interests of Monsanto and serve the interests of people at the same time. --------------- Racketeering charges have been filed against Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Monsanto, NutraSweet Co., the American Diabetes Association and Dr Robert Moser for distributing toxic aspartame, in a class action representing many plaintiffs, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California seeking $350 million in damages. The suit charges the defendants with manufacturing and marketing a deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption, while they assured the pubic that aspartame (also known as NutraSweet/Equal) contaminated products are safe and healthful, even for children and pregnant women. Present US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is mentioned throughout the lawsuit. As evidence, an explosive affidavit from a former translator for the GD Searle company - the developer of aspartame - was made recently public and revealed the following. For 16 years, the Food and Drug Administration denied approval of aspartame because of compelling evidence of its contributing to brain tumours and other serious disabilities. Donald Rumsfeld left President Ford's administration as Chief of Staff to become the CEO of aspartame-producer GD Searle Co. in 1981. Shortly after, Rumsfeld became the CEO, and the day after President Reagan took office, aspartame was quickly approved by FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes over the objections of the FDA's Public Board of Inquiry. Hayes had been recently appointed by the Reagan Administration. Shortly after aspartame's approval by the FDA, Hayes joined NutraSweet's public relations firm under a 10-year contract at $1,000 a day. In January 1977, the FDA wrote a 33-page letter to US Justice Department Attorney Sam Skinner: "We request that your office convene a Grand Jury investigation into apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act." Skinner allowed the Statute of Limitations to run. Three FDA Commissioners and eight other officers and Skinner took jobs in the aspartame industry shortly after it was approved. The FDA once listed 92 adverse reactions from 10,000 consumer complaints and would send the list to all inquirers. In 1996 the FDA stopped taking complaints and now denies the existence of the report. Seizures, blindness, sexual dysfunction, obesity, testicular, mammary and brain tumours and death, plus dozens of other dread diseases named in the suit, arise from the consumption of this neurotoxin. Defendant Moser, past CEO of NutraSweet, is cited for misrepresenting facts to public and commercial users with full knowledge of the deceptions. Aspartame/Nutrasweet is sold to Bayer, Con Agra Foods, Dannon, Smucker, Kellogg, Wrigley, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods (Crystal Light), Conopco (Slim-Fast), Coke, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Wyeth (to name a few), who use it in some of their products, including children's vitamins. These entities are named in other suits now in Californian courts. Defendant American Diabetes Association is meant to care for diabetics. A 35-year ADA member, diabetic specialist HJ Roberts, MD, FACP, discovered aspartame can precipitate or aggravate diabetes and its complications, or simulate the complications (especially neuropathy and retinopathy). His report, intended for the Annual Scientific Meeting of the ADA, was rejected for presentation - and even publication of the abstract - but was later published in another medical journal. DIET SOFT DRINK POISING http://www.bibleplus.org/health/ms_lupus.htm http://www.organicconsumers.org/BTC/cocacola082405.cfm http://www.killercoke.org MONSANTO ATTACKS FARMERS http://www.percyschmeiser.com http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/seedsaving031405.cfm http://manila.indymedia.org/?action=newswire&parentview=3763 http://www.seedsofdeception.com JUST SAY NO TO THE EVIL DRUG EMPIRE http://ritalindeath.com http://www.organicconsumer.org/epa6.cfm Health Crusader Journal; http://www.healthliesexposed.com Well Being Journal; http://wellbeingjournal.com book: Undue Risk, Secret State Experiments on Humans; author: Jonathan Moreno http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articles/Moreno.html book: The Truth About the Drug Companies, How They Deceive Us; author: Marcia Angell http://www.bcaction.org/Pages/SearchablePages/2005Newsletters/Newsletter086E.html Please email this web page to a friend. Thank you.
Conclusasi la mostra di Pastorello, la Galleria Marconi prosegue con le mostre del progetto Nudi come vermi, per il secondo appuntamento sarà presentata la personale dellartista olandese Bert Feddema, la mostra, che è curata da Gloria Gradassi, e si avvale dei testi critici di Gloria Gradassi e Sander Boschma, è organizzata in collaborazione con la Galerie De Meerse di Hoofddorp in Olanda.
Conclusasi la mostra di Pastorello, la Galleria Marconi prosegue con le mostre del progetto “Nudi come vermi”, per il secondo appuntamento sarà presentata la personale dell’artista olandese Bert Feddema, la mostra, che è curata da Gloria Gradassi, e si avvale dei testi critici di Gloria Gradassi e Sander Boschma, è organizzata in collaborazione con la Galerie De Meerse di Hoofddorp in Olanda, dove contemporaneamente sarà inaugurata la personale di Hanry Walsh, dando vita ad uno scambio sinergico delle esperienze portate avanti dalle due realtà. Bert Feddema propone un’arte a forte impatto sociale, che si esprime in una profonda critica all’attuale società dei consumi, che ha generato un tipo di sviluppo isterico e difficilmente sostenibile. La tecnologia, che viene commercializzata dalle multinazionali, è sostituita velocemente da prodotti più sofisticati, che, con il martellante intervento dei media, arrivano a sembrare indispensabili. “Il lavoro di Feddema, attraverso il meccanismo dell’imitazione, impone un cortocircuito estetico allo spersonalizzante ciclo di produzione/comunicazione/consumo delle società contemporanee. Portando nell’arte la comunicazione e il linguaggio delle multinazionali Feddema opera uno slittamento linguistico che produce esiti stranianti. Il primo atto è quello che l’artista compie mutando il proprio nome in HTBT (High Tech Brain Technilogies). HTBT è il nome di una immaginaria multinazionale, una sigla dal sapore commerciale che ruba l’identità all’artista, come le multinazionali con il loro potere ci privano della libertà di autodeterminazione. Bert Feddema scompare dietro HTBT, in una sigla anestetizzata che colloca l’artista in una posizione appartata e distante. Come ci spiega Feddema: «…diventando una multinazionale Bert Feddema ha la possibilità di riflettere sul potere manipolatorio del mercato globale e della comunicazione; E ciò lo rende capace di porsi nella posizione di un osservatore esterno… Un aspetto importante del lavoro di Feddema è l’uso dei colori fluorescenti. Essi rappresentano in senso concettuale la parte esteriore della tecnologia e ne rappresentano anche l’inumanità». L’opera d’arte assume i connotati della realtà rendendone assoluti alcuni aspetti spersonalizzanti. HTBT individua in alcuni colori (Radiated Orange, Active Yellow, Atomic Blue, Genetic Pink, Neuro Green), gli elementi linguistici ai quali ridurre il mondo e mette in atto un poderoso progetto di riscrittura del reale attraverso identificazioni cromatiche. La provocazione di Feddema è nel sostituire la realtà con una sua alterazione cromatica, con una geometrizzazione della visione, e con un’identità artistica virtuale che è il suo alter ego creativo. (Gloria Gradassi) “Nudi come vermi” è un progetto che tende a creare un ponte fra diverse realtà artistiche, facendo nascere un contatto tra artisti giovani ed affermati e incontrando anche l’arte al di là dei confini nazionali. Lo scopo è riuscire a vedere ed estrapolare il bello anche dalle più cupe realtà che ci circondano, in questo modo quello che normalmente è un modo di dire dispregiativo assume una nuova valenza estetica e diventa un nuovo canone di bellezza scheda tecnica curatore: Gloria Gradassi testo critico: Sander Boshma, Gloria Gradassi interviste e ufficio stampa: Dario Ciferri traduzione di: Patrizia Isidori, Giulia Wilkinson relazioni esterne e promozione delle attività: Stefania Palanca fotografia: Marco Biancucci riprese video: Stefano Abbadini allestimenti: Marco Croci progetto grafico: maicol e mirco webmaster www.siscom.it dal 29 Ottobre al 26 Novembre orario: lunedì-sabato dalle 16 alle 20 Galleria Marconi di Franco Marconi 63012 Cupra Marittima (AP) tel 0735778703 e-mail galmarconi@siscom.it web www.siscom.it/marconi LOW TECH HANDMADE OBJECTS Sure Creative Lab (nudi come pidocchi) Le mani raccolgono il cibo, estirpano le erbacce, catturano le prede, scavano nella terra, sollevano pesi, plasmano la materia, simboleggiano la potenza, accarezzano i visi, indicano una meta, dipingono capolavori, trasmettono segnali, scrivono cifre e pensieri. Le mani accendono il fuoco della conoscenza. “L’umano è la traccia che l’uomo lascia nelle cose, è l’opera, sia essa capolavoro illustre o prodotto anonimo d’un’epoca. E’ la disseminazione continua d’opere e oggetti e segni che fa la civiltà, l’habitat della nostra specie, sua seconda natura. Se questa sfera di segni che ci circonda del suo fitto pulviscolo viene negata, l’uomo non sopravvive.” (Italo Calvino, La redenzione degli oggetti, 1981) Louse Gallery c/o Galleria Marconi, dal 28 ottobre.
Traduca traduzca traduisez übersetzen vertaal http://babelfish.altavista.com The enduring presence of Agent Orange is just one terrible legacy of Vietnam's ill-fated war. The USA used the toxic defoliant to unmask guerrilla fighters by stripping forest cover. But children are still being born with terrible deformities. Families are denied compensation from the USA. The USA denies responsibility. Stop the baby killers ---- http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/agentorange032102.cfm http://www.studentsforbhopal.org http://www.bhopal.net/campaigns.html http://www.usvetdsp.com/agentorange.htm http://vvof.org/vvofaopg.htm http://www.agent-orange-lawsuit.com http://www.njaoc.org Companies supplying Agent Orange to the government: Monsanto Company Dow Chemical Hercules Inc Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Uniroyal Thompson Chemical T-H Agriculture and Nutrition Company Note, some of the above companies (or their subsidiaries) produce drugs, toxic chemical, herbicides, insecticides and fertilizer. First, they poisons you with their Chemicals. Then, they will help you with their drugs for an exorbitant price. How much political campaign contributions (bribes) is your congressman receiving from these companies? http://www.campaignfinance.org/states http://www.publicintegrity.org How much money (bribes) are the Republicans and their friends receiving from these companies? http://www.campaignfinance.org/states http://www.publicintegrity.org DVD: Capitol Crimes by Bill Moyers The fall of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff has exposed what may be one of the biggest political scandals in America's history. What does the dizzying scope of corruption say about how laws are made and who really owns the U.S. government? Bill Moyers and his team of investigative journalists untangle the web of relationships, secret deals, and political manipulation to open a disturbing window on the dark side of American politics. http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2511327 http://www.shopthirteen.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=47610&storeId=10552&catalogId=10101&langId=-1 MONSANTO MEN in USA Government The Bush administration's could be called the Monsanto Cabinet, per Robert Cohen, author of “Milk, The Deadly Poison” which details the horrid politics behind the contamination of our nation's milk and beef supply with bovine growth hormone. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was president of Searle Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by Monsanto. Rumsfeld was also the Secretary of Defense under President Ford. Rumsfeld is believed to have earned around US$12 million from the sale of Searle to Monsanto. Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly received $10,000 for his senatorial campaign from Monsanto in the mid 90s. Ashcroft's contribution from Monsanto was five times that of any other congressional hopeful. Ashcroft, and Sr. Bush Supreme Court appointee Clarence Thomas were instrumental in gaining Food and Drug Administation (FDA) approval for Monsanto's controversial artificial sweetener aspartame, which has been linked to over 200 ailments that include Alzheimer's disease, juvenile diabetes, depression, epileptic seizures, blindness, memory loss, excitability, weight gain, multiple sclerosis and lupus (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000). Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman was on the board of directors of Calgene Pharmaceutical, another company currently owned by Monsanto. Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson is the fourth member of the Bush cabinet to have direct ties to Monsanto. The former governor of Wisconsin designated his state as a “biotech zone” for the use of Monsanto's bovine growth hormone even though dairy farmers in his state opposed the designation by a 9-1 ratio. Thompson reportedly received $50,000 from biotech companies during his election campaign. Bovine growth hormone, which does increase the productivity of dairy cows, has also been linked to many health problems in children and adults (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000) and makes cows sick. Bovine growth hormone has been outlawed in most countries, but not the U.S. And as Cohen points out, another player in the Monsanto-studded Cabinet is Rep. Richard Pombo, who will head the Agriculture Subcommittee on Dairy, Livestock and Poultry. Pombo is also a Monsanto boy, having taken campaign money from it while stalling a 1994 bill to make labeling mandatory for milk or milk products containing Bovine Growth Hormones. Pombo helped kill the bill in committee. Monsanto also holds the patent on the “terminator gene” which prevents plants from producing viable seed so that farmers, and therefore people, will be dependent upon the multinational corporation for their food supply. Monsanto has proven to be one of the most greedy, ruthless and environmentally irreverent corporations in world history. One cannot serve the interests of Monsanto and serve the interests of people at the same time. --------------- Racketeering charges have been filed against Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Monsanto, NutraSweet Co., the American Diabetes Association and Dr Robert Moser for distributing toxic aspartame, in a class action representing many plaintiffs, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California seeking $350 million in damages. The suit charges the defendants with manufacturing and marketing a deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption, while they assured the pubic that aspartame (also known as NutraSweet/Equal) contaminated products are safe and healthful, even for children and pregnant women. Present US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is mentioned throughout the lawsuit. As evidence, an explosive affidavit from a former translator for the GD Searle company - the developer of aspartame - was made recently public and revealed the following. For 16 years, the Food and Drug Administration denied approval of aspartame because of compelling evidence of its contributing to brain tumours and other serious disabilities. Donald Rumsfeld left President Ford's administration as Chief of Staff to become the CEO of aspartame-producer GD Searle Co. in 1981. Shortly after, Rumsfeld became the CEO, and the day after President Reagan took office, aspartame was quickly approved by FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes over the objections of the FDA's Public Board of Inquiry. Hayes had been recently appointed by the Reagan Administration. Shortly after aspartame's approval by the FDA, Hayes joined NutraSweet's public relations firm under a 10-year contract at $1,000 a day. In January 1977, the FDA wrote a 33-page letter to US Justice Department Attorney Sam Skinner: "We request that your office convene a Grand Jury investigation into apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act." Skinner allowed the Statute of Limitations to run. Three FDA Commissioners and eight other officers and Skinner took jobs in the aspartame industry shortly after it was approved. The FDA once listed 92 adverse reactions from 10,000 consumer complaints and would send the list to all inquirers. In 1996 the FDA stopped taking complaints and now denies the existence of the report. Seizures, blindness, sexual dysfunction, obesity, testicular, mammary and brain tumours and death, plus dozens of other dread diseases named in the suit, arise from the consumption of this neurotoxin. Defendant Moser, past CEO of NutraSweet, is cited for misrepresenting facts to public and commercial users with full knowledge of the deceptions. Aspartame/Nutrasweet is sold to Bayer, Con Agra Foods, Dannon, Smucker, Kellogg, Wrigley, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods (Crystal Light), Conopco (Slim-Fast), Coke, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Wyeth (to name a few), who use it in some of their products, including children's vitamins. These entities are named in other suits now in Californian courts. Defendant American Diabetes Association is meant to care for diabetics. A 35-year ADA member, diabetic specialist HJ Roberts, MD, FACP, discovered aspartame can precipitate or aggravate diabetes and its complications, or simulate the complications (especially neuropathy and retinopathy). His report, intended for the Annual Scientific Meeting of the ADA, was rejected for presentation - and even publication of the abstract - but was later published in another medical journal. Please email this web page to a friend. Thank you. --------------- POLITICS OF OIL AND MONEY Another sub-title for this article could well be "a study in state monopoly capitalism." A book of the author, Dan Briody, focused on the Carlyle Group, the spectacularly well-heeled firm that includes former President George H.W. Bush, his crony James Baker and a veritable rogues’ gallery of washed-up politicians and businessmen of questionable integrity who blatantly trade upon their inside knowledge of government for private gain in yet another textbook example of state monopoly capitalism. Yet, their money-grubbing pales in comparison – and chutzpah – to Halliburton, a firm formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, a firm that is frequently in the headlines in light of the lucrative contracts they have been awarded by Cheney’s government in the theater of war that is Iraq. The story begins in Texas where a predecessor firm of Halliburton, Brown & Root, was catapulted into prominence – and obscene profitability - because of a tight relationship with former Senator, then Vice President and President, Lyndon B. Johnson. Large scale construction and oil services were the two pillars on which this giant company was built. Routinely the government handed out handsome "cost plus" contracts, e.g. building the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, to this corporation. "Cost plus" means that the contractor could recoup all expenses plus a guaranteed profit based on a pre-negotiated percentage. This eliminates risk for the contractor and erodes the necessity to eliminate wasteful billing which, says the author, is "great for the contractor, not so great for the taxpayer." "Basically, it’s a blank check from the government….when your profit is a percentage of the cost, the more you spend, the more you make." Brown & Root reaped a bonanza of wasteful contracts during the war in Vietnam, which – coincidentally – Johnson prosecuted as vigorously as Cheney has done in Iraq. By 1967 this firm was the largest employer in South Vietnam. Yet even then there was an obvious downside to relying so heavily upon the private sector to perform the clear government function of waging war: motivated by the lust for profit their employees were "manipulating currency and selling goods on the black market," among other transgressions. Johnson was so helpful to this company that the author argues that actually he was "working for Brown & Root, not the people of his district or the state." Something similar used to be said about another leading Democratic Party politician, the late Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington, who was referred to as the "Senator from Boeing." Obviously today we are in dire need of deeper examinations of the ramified ties between various sectors of state monopoly capitalism and leading political figures and parties, along the lines of the work at hand. Brown & Root was also viciously anti-union. At one time, for example, progressive formations e.g. the National Maritime Union, played a pivotal role in Texas politics but after Brown & Root and their confederates pushed through anti-union legislation in the 1940s, the political complexion of what is now the second largest state began to change to the point where it has now become a reliable Republican redoubt and, not coincidentally, the home of both the current President and Vice-President. But as profitable as it had been, when Dick Cheney left the Pentagon in the 1990s to become head of Halliburton, this company was catapulted to a new level of profitability. A staunch conservative, while a member of Congress Cheney avidly opposed imposing sanctions against apartheid South Africa while pushing aggressively for sanctions against socialist Cuba. Before leaving the Pentagon, which he headed during the administration of George H.W. Bush, he accelerated the privatization of core military functions in a way that – coincidentally – aided the company he was about to lead. "They made $109.7 million in Somalia…$6.3 million from Operation Support Hope in Rwanda…..Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti netted the company $150." Halliburton was "becoming another unit in the US Army" and reaping millions from war and misery, providing a perverse incentive for an increase in such pestilences. "From 1995 to 2000, Brown & Root" – now part of Halliburton—"billed the government for more than $2 billion in services. The company did everything from build the [military] camps to deliver the mail, with 24-hour food service and laundering. It provided firefighting services, fuel delivery, sewage construction, hazardous material disposal, and the maintenance and delivery of equipment." War in the Balkans was the "driving force" for Halliburton’s increased profitability and heightened profile. "Halliburton’s government business doubled while Cheney was CEO." Yet Cheney also left this firm with a basket of problems after he was elected Vice-President and this may have given him incentive to steer contracts in Halliburton’s direction in order to lessen the pain inflicted on his firm. He pushed through a merger with Dresser Industries, a profoundly disastrous maneuver, given the backbreaking liability for asbestos related lawsuits that this company carried. Coincidentally – that word again – Dresser was "the company that gave George H.W. Bush his first job." After Cheney left Halliburton a "grand jury investigation into over-billing and a Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] investigation into Halliburton’s accounting practices while Cheney was CEO" ensued. That is not all. The company was accused of bribing a "Nigerian tax authority in exchange for contracts to build a liquefied natural gas plant." A French magistrate "was looking into the possibility of bringing charges against Dick Cheney for complicity in the bribery case and allegations that $243 million in secret commissions were paid from the late 1990s to 2002….the United States Justice Department and the SEC are looking into accusations that Halliburton made $180 million in illegal payments to win other contracts in Nigeria." This points up another festering problem with Halliburton. The French investigation of Cheney’s alleged malfeasance has complicated Washington’s already deteriorating relations with Paris, while Halliburton’s chicanery has contributed mightily to a culture of corruption in West Africa. After Cheney left, Halliburton stock plummeted precipitously and given the millions of stock options that he still holds, this jeopardized his own personal fortune, not to mention the fortunes of his fellow executives with whom he had become quite close. Though the author does not stress this, his study reveals a critical fault line within state monopoly capitalism. For when Halliburton began to feed ravenously at the government trough, other firms in the same business became angrily resentful, which helped to fuel congressional investigations and adverse publicity. For example, during the Reagan years, Bechtel was the government contractor of choice, as suggested by the prominent role in his administration played by two of their former executives – former Secretary of State George Schulz and former Pentagon chief, Caspar Weinberger. "The rapid rise" of Brown & Root, for example, "brought on a fit of jealousy" from their "biggest rival, Bechtel of San Francisco." Reference book: The Halliburton Agenda, The Politics of Oil and Money author: Dan Briody 2ND BOOK: OIL, THE BUSHES, AND THE RISE OF TEXAS Halliburton is of Brown & Root, a company that obtained government contracts via Lyndon B. Johnson during the New Deal. They also took most of the government contracts during the Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War. It was all done by controlling the chairman of key Senate Committees and having their people holding key posts in the government such as Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Treasury. Not that this is common knowledge. This group of Texans (sometimes known as the Suite 8F Group) bought into Operation Mockingbird (a CIA project to control the US domestic media). However, the web has undermined this project. The key point made by Bryce and Briody is that this is really an economic issue. The politics of all this is about making money out of their ideology. It does not matter who the US is fighting, it is the spending this goes on it that is important. Global military spending is $956bn and rising. US spends 40% of this. Most is spent with companies based in Texas. In 1963 John F. Kennedy tried to deal with the Texas stranglehold over government policy. However, he underestimated the power of the Suite 8F Group. References book: Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas; author: Dan Briody book: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; author: John Perkins --------------- GLOBAL WARMING DESTROYS WINE INDUSTRY http://hamilton.indymedia.org/newswire/display/753/index.php Per the Sustainable Industries Journal, the Pentagon has blocked the construction of 16 Wind Energy sites in the USA. The military claims the Wind Farms are a threat to national security. Maybe the Wind Farms are a threat to Big Oil and Big Coal? WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com ARE AMERICANS IGNORANT? Intelligent Policies http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/38087/index.php http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/18295.php http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/24833.php
Geert Lovink: “300 nuove università nascono in Cina oggi: è con loro che si ridiscute la proprietà intellettuale. Iran, Irak e Al Quaeda sono solo invenzioni per distoglierci dal cuore decisore delle nuove regole mondiali!" Intervista al massmediologo olandese alla vigilia della pubblicazione del suo nuovo saggio, in uscita a giugno 2007 a NY, Zero Comments, in occasione di un tour di presentazioni napoletano. articolo completo: http://www.pressreleaseundercover.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=74&Itemid=83
Il Comitato Vivaio Soderini si è formato nel giugno 2006, in opposizione al progetto per l'edificazione del "Polo dell'Innovazione" (Provincia di Mi), un'opera "faraonica" da costruirsi sulla piccola area verde compresa tra le vie Soderini e Strozzi, con un impatto disastroso, data la spiccata caratteristica socio-educativa assistenziale del quartiere.
SALVIAMO L’AREA DELL’EX VIVAIO SODERINI DAL “POLO PROVINCIALE DELL’INNOVAZIONE”! Il Comitato Salva Vivaio Soderini nella disperata lotta per la difesa dell’ultimo spazio pubblico di verde Da circa cinquant’anni chi abita nella zona di Milano compresa tra le vie Soderini, Strozzi, D’Alviano si trova davanti una vasta area di circa 72.000 mq recintata, all’interno della quale si sono avvicendati vari servizi gestiti da Enti pubblici (Regione Lombardia, Provincia di Milano). Negli anni ’50 una residenza per dimessi dai sanatori, successivamente centri di formazione professionale e, nella parte a verde (ca. 23.000 mq.), un vivaio (da qui la sua denominazione). Da qualche anno, quest’ultima porzione di area, dopo il trasferimento delle attività vivaistiche, è stata lasciata incolta, senza alcun che la rendesse fruibile alla cittadinanza. Il muro ha continuato a dividere e ad allontanare la possibilità di godere di uno spazio verde in una zona che ha visto negli ultimi decenni un alto tasso di urbanizzazione. Circa tre anni fa la giunta Colli elaborò un progetto di utilizzo, che prevedeva la costruzione di un Polo formativo, espositivo, congressuale, altrimenti detto “Polo Provinciale dell’Eccellenza per l’Innovazione, la Formazione e il Lavoro ”, che avrebbe occupato quasi tutta l’area, salvo una parte destinata a campo sportivo. La Giunta Penati ha fatto proprio il progetto, prevedendo altresì di alienare la porzione dedicata all’attrezzatura sportiva alla Camera di Commercio per la costruzione di un edificio, il c.d. “Palazzo dell’Innovazione”, da adibire ad uffici. In questo nuovo progetto il verde è ridotto a manto di copertura (in salita fino ai 6 metri) della struttura sotterranea, a sua volta sovrastata da due enormi vele in acciaio bianco che toccano l’altezza di 18 metri. Inoltre il Progetto prevede anche un ‘ridimensionamento’ dei giardini pubblici di Via Strozzi. La volumetria edificata prevista, circa 100.000 metri cubi tra fabbricati, autorimesse di pertinenza ed eliporto. Il quartiere adiacente potrebbe definirsi “zona ad alta densità socio-educativo-assistenziale”. Infatti vi sono presenti, in un raggio di 200 m., due strutture sanitarie e riabilitative di rilievo nazionale, l’Istituto Redaelli (Via d’Alviano) e l’Istituto Cottolengo Don Orione, la Scuola media “Cardarelli”, la Parrocchia di San Benedetto con Oratorio, Polisportiva, Centro per Anziani e Bocciofila, Centro Ascolto, Consultorio Familiare Decanale, Scuola Materna, Casa Albergo per Lavoratori, tutti situati in Via Strozzi, la scuola materna di Via Caterina da Forlì, il Cinema Teatro Orione. Entro un anno sarà anche completata l’erigenda Casa di Riposo della Comunità Ebraica sita sulla via d’Alviano. A motivo dei numerosi insediamenti la Via Strozzi è attualmente a traffico limitato con dissuasori di velocità: il Progetto provinciale prevede invece che la strada diventi “di viabilità primaria ad alto traffico”. Segnaliamo che quotidianamente, negli orari scolastici di entrata ed uscita e in tutte le ore pomeridiane, tale via è continuamente attraversata da bambini, ragazzi e adulti e anziani che frequentano i vari servizi suindicati. Inoltre, sempre in Via Strozzi, ogni martedì si svolge il mercato all’aperto, luogo di incontro e socialità, anche per i disabili dell’Istituto Cottolengo. È ovvio che tutto questo contesto sarà sconvolto. Come abbiamo sottolineato, la ‘vocazione’ della zona è di natura specificamente sociale, educativa e sanitaria. Il Progetto della Provincia ne stravolgerà la fisionomia, introducendo servizi e funzioni a carattere espositivo-fieristico, totalmente estranei alle esigenze del quartiere e che comportano un alto indice di utilizzo dello spazio, con conseguente forte aumento di traffico, inquinamento, rumore. Senza dimenticare che un “polo dell’innovazione” è già previsto, con ben altra ampiezza di spazi e di potenzialità, presso l’ex area dimessa della Bovisa, in sinergico collegamento con l’Università. Da anni la cittadinanza della zona Sederini attende di essere coinvolta nella destinazione dell’area e constata con rammarico un grave ‘deficit di democrazia’ nell’elaborazione del Progetto. Nessuna assemblea pubblica è mai stata indetta per rendere edotti gli abitanti di quanto si andava predisponendo e chi, qualche mese fa, ha incominciato ad occuparsi della questione fondando un Comitato, si è trovato davanti una cortina di disinformazione. Ora che le intenzioni programmatiche sono chiare si è potuto attuare un’opera di informazione che nel giro di pochi giorni ha prodotto una raccolta di oltre duemilacinquecento firme tra i residenti, seriamente preoccupati per le conseguenze che i nuovi insediamenti avranno sulla loro qualità della vita, e ha altresì incontrato la solidarietà di molti e qualificati operatori dei servizi sociali già elencati sopra. Ci si chiede perché l’area, di proprietà pubblica, non venga destinata a verde, attrezzature sportive e servizi sociali e culturali. È noto infatti che la zona non possiede una biblioteca rionale. È scandaloso inoltre che in mezzo all’inquinato spartitraffico di Via Caterina da Forlì, strada a forte passaggio veicolare, sia collocata una scuola materna, che potrebbe essere appunto trasferita nell’area libera. Lampante è poi in quartiere la carenza di strutture sportive pubbliche: la piscina comunale più vicina è in Via Cardellino, con l’annesso campo sportivo ormai in stato di abbandono. L’Unione Sportiva Don Orione registra ogni anno l’impossibilità di accogliere tutte le domande di inserimento di ragazzi/e nelle proprie attività sportive per insufficienza degli spazi dedicati. Manca inoltre un Centro Aggregativo per Anziani: queste considerazioni sono alla base della mobilitazione in corso, che non è contro l’innovazione ed il lavoro, ma poggia su un sentimento di doppia espropriazione: per non essere stati consultati nel merito del Progetto, né tanto meno informati. E per la constatazione che tale Progetto aumenta lo ‘stress ambientale’ a cui la zona verrebbe sottoposta. A tale riguardo si fa presente che lo standard di verde per abitante previsto dalla L.R. 20/2000 di 15 mq pro capite è qui ben lontano dall’essere rispettato (attualmente 3,2 mq pro capite) e che verrebbe così ulteriormente diminuito. Per saperne di più (e partecipare): http://comitatosalvavivaio.blogspot.com Per vedere il progetto: http://www.europaconcorsi.com/db/pub/scheda.php?id=5671 Firma e fai firmare (stampa la petizione): http://www.msacerdoti.it/soderini24petizione.doc
Abbiamo appreso dei fatti avvenuti all'interno del liceo Albertelli e delle motivazioni che hanno spinto gli studenti a occupare il proprio liceo. il progetto "Rotta Indipendente" del liceo Democrito di Roma esprime la propria solidarietà all'azione degli occupanti, rivendicando il pieno diritto dell'azione portata avanti dagli studenti. Legittimiamo e comprendiamo la lotta dell'Albertelli, perchè viviamo la stessa situazione all'ineterno del nostro liceo. Dall'inizio dell'anno scolastico sono già entrate in agitazione nella zona litoranea Enriques, Labriola, l'Anco Marzio e noi del Democrito, rivendicando i problemi sull'edilizia scolastica e l'autoritarismo delle nostre presidenze. Convinti che i risultati si ottengano solo con una lotta ferrea e unitaria, inoltriamo l'invito di partecipazione all'assemblea del 21 OTTOBRE ore 13.00 davanti il liceo Albertelli comunicato progetto "Rotta Indipendente" liceo Democrito di Roma
Incontro precari dei media oggi a Milano
OGGI,, 19 OTTOBRE, A MILANO, ALLE 20.30, ASSEMBLEA TRA FREE LANCE, GIORNALISTI PRECARI E PRECARIZZATI DEl PERIODICI, E COMITATI DI REDAZIONE. L'INCONTRO SI TERRA' AL CIRCOLO DELLA STAMPA, IN CORSO VENEZIA 16, MILANO
IL DOCUMENTO DI CONVOCAZIONE DELLA SERATA CON UNA SERIE DI RIVENDICAZIONI "DI BASE" DA CUI PARTIRE Nel giornalismo italiano il lavoro dei free-lance - "scriventi" e fotografi - rappresenta una quota rilevantissima: sono infatti ormai 30 mila i giornalisti "precari", non dipendenti da alcuna azienda editoriale, più del doppio dei colleghi giornalisti assunti. A differenza di quanto accade in quasi tutti gli altri paesi occidentali, però, nel nostro Paese, la figura del collaboratore (a parte qualche "firma" d'eccezione) non ha mai goduto di grande considerazione e troppo spesso questa è vissuta come una professionalità debole, di "serie B", quasi che il fatto di non essere assunti da un'azienda sia la conseguenza di esperienza, capacità e serietà inferiori rispetto a quelle degli "interni". Conseguenza di ciò è che tra le due parti - dipendenti e "liberi" - si realizzi quasi sempre un rapporto che più che di collaborazione è di vera e propria sudditanza. E che il free-lance si trovi a sottostare a innumerevoli comportamenti vessatori e di sfruttamento che sviliscono la sua professionalità e la dignità della persona nella sua interezza. Negli ultimi anni la situazione è ulteriormente peggiorata. In parte perché la "salute" del giornalismo in Italia è scaduta nel suo complesso, in parte perché il numero di giornalisti "liberi" è aumentato notevolmente inflazionando il mercato, in parte perché molti di noi si sono resi colpevoli di accettare passivamente il "ricatto" delle aziende editoriali e dei colleghi dipendenti. E in parte anche perché non ci siamo mai coalizzati e organizzati - in gruppi o associazioni - facendo sì che tra noi prevalesse la competizione più che la solidarietà. È un fatto che oggi la qualità della vita lavorativa di noi collaboratori sia divenuta sempre più scadente e si renda ormai indispensabile un'inversione di tendenza. Rafforzare la figura del free lance, trovando modo di limitare concretemente i meccanismi di ricatto impliciti nella forma ormai general- mente assunta dalla prestazione lavorativa "autonoma", significa, tra l'altro, rinsaldare l'intera categoria dei giornalisti. E in questo senso più ampio, significa rimettere al centro il ruolo, il significato della cultura e della qualità dell'informazione, in questo Paese. Indipendentemente dal successo che avranno le battaglie che la Fnsi sta conducendo per il rinnovo del contratto mirate all'introduzione di un riconoscimento dei collaboratori, è importante che si apra un dialogo con i Comitati di redazione. Per questo vogliamo porre loro precise richieste e concrete assunzioni di responsabilità affinché le condizioni di lavoro di noi free-lance possano migliorare, affinché ci sia riconosciuta la dovuta professionalità e si instauri tra le due parti un reale rapporto di collaborazione (nel senso letterale di "svolgimento di un'attività intellettuale comune"). È perciò necessario avviare una serie di momenti di incontro e di discussione tra i giornalisti precari, i Comitati di redazione e le strutture sindacali. Questi momenti potrebbero essere propedeutici anche a generare forme di autorappresentazione dei freelance, all'interno della compagine sindacale. A questo scopo chiediamo ai Cdr di impegnarsi a monitorare la situazione nelle redazioni che rappresentano e adoperarsi per la realizzazione dei seguenti dieci obiettivi: 1.Che i compensi per le collaborazioni siano "decorosi" e commisurati al tipo di esperienza e specializzazione del collaboratore, che è necessario definire in rapporto alla specificità della prestazione (notizia, articolo, inchiesta) e al mezzo di diffusione (quotidiani, periodici, giornali elettronici). Va stabilito un livello minimo di retribuzione sotto il quale non sia possibile scendere, per impedire forme di dumping salariale. 2.Che i pagamenti vengano effettuati entro e non oltre i 60 giorni dalla pubblicazione del pezzo o del servizio fotografico: ricordiamo che la normativa europea indica il termine di 30 giorni, si tratta quindi già di un'ampia deroga! 3.Che i servizi (fotografici e scritti) concordati e commissionati siano retribuiti, se non pubblicati, entro un mese di giacenza dalla consegna per i settimanali; 2 mesi di giacenza dalla consegna per i mensili 4.Che i servizi fotografici non vengano tenuti "in visione" per oltre un mese (che la risposta sia immediata invece per i servizi di attualità) 5.Che le proposte e le scalette richieste al collaboratore vengano commissionate al collaboratore stesso e nel caso siano realizzate dalla redazione vengano retribuite 6.Che non vengano pubblicati servizi ottenuti gratuitamente (mai, in nessun caso a opera di uffici stampa) 7.Che le collaborazioni vengano affidate di preferenza a collaboratori free-lance, e solo in caso di una specifica e insostituibile specializzazione vengano commissionate a colleghi che hanno un rapporto di dipendenza o a colleghi in pensione 8.Che in caso di sospensione di una rubrica o una collaborazione fissa si dia un preavviso di almeno un mese al titolare della stessa 9.Che l'entità del compenso venga sempre dichiarata e pattuita prima della commissione del servizio 10.Che per i rapporti di collaborazione fissa e quelli che superano i 5 mila ¤ l'anno, quando richiesto dal collaboratore, sia applicato il diritto d'autore o venga sottoscritto un contratto
DIABOLIK ED EVA KANT ALLA MASSA NOTTURNA!
GIOVEDI' 19 OTTOBRE ORE 21.00 PIAZZA PALAZZO DI CITTA'
Il vento della guerra sulle vicende degli uomini. Chiunque, dopo aver letto l'introduzione, fosse interessato, può scaricare in pdf il testo del recital.
Alcune considerazioni a mo’ di introduzione Ciò che vi apprestate ad ascoltare inizia con una delle parole più belle della nostra lingua, “sorriso”, una parola che risuona con la stessa dolcezza nel nome che gli uomini hanno inventato per designare quel concetto e quella realtà: “sonrisa”, in spagnolo, “sourire”, in francese, “smile”,in inglese, “lacheln, in tedesco… quasi che gli uomini nei loro diversi idiomi abbiano voluto, nella delicatezza di questi suoni, evocare quanto di più bello e prezioso hanno, il sorriso, appunto. Tanto più bello e prezioso in quanto, nella storia dell’umanità fino ad oggi, è stato continuamente e costantemente minacciato e contraddetto da quel vento che spira sulle vicende degli uomini, e che sentirete cominciare a soffiare nel corso di quanto vi dirò: un vento in cui risuona l’eco dei nomi delle antiche battaglie, cioè delle crisi ricorrenti della follia dell’umanità, in ogni tempo e sotto ogni latitudine, che è la guerra. Sentirete hiròshima, il bombardamento atomico che tutti conosciamo, kadesh, la battaglia del 1293 A.C. in cui il faraone Ramesse sconfisse gli hittiti, verdun, la carneficina della prima guerra mondiale e così via. A un certo punto il vento della guerra si farà impetuoso e imporrà quindi una riflessione sull’origine e sulla logica di questa violenza che è la malattia dell’umanità. Una logica che nella poesia sull’aquila di mare è posta fuori dalla storia, in un passato mitico –un gruppo, sentirete, di marinai, forse degli ulissiadi, che uccidono, che schiacciano un animale marino. Perché questa è la logica della guerra: uccidere e schiacciare il nemico che viene considerato fuori dal consorzio umano, o meglio da ciò che io ritengo tale secondo la mia fede e i miei valori, mentre il mio nemico è né più né meno che un animale da schiacciare, da distruggere, da oltraggiare, da pisciargli addosso, da trascinare nudo al guinzaglio, come abbiamo purtroppo recentemente visto tutti. Una logica per cui l’unico sguardo autorizzato in tempo di guerra è quello attraverso il mirino di un’arma puntata contro un bersaglio. Se questa logica è posta nella poesia fuori dalla storia, tuttavia nella storia dell’umanità si è continuamente e costantemente ripetuta. L’origine così remota di questa logica ci dice altresì quanto avesse ragione Carlo Marx nel dire che la storia dell’umanità finora non è altro che una lunghissima preistoria prima del mondo compiutamente umano che sempre gli uomini, o per lo meno i migliori fra gli uomini, hanno sognato. Centoquarant’anni prima di Marx uno di questi uomini saggi e buoni, Giovan Battista Vico nella Scienza nuova, si poneva a sua volta il problema di che cosa avesse trasformato “gli irsuti bestioni” scampati al diluvio in uomini civili, in uomini che vivono in società. E Vico ravvisava in humus, terra, e humare, seppellire, l’etimologia della parola uomo. Cioè, diceva Vico, gli uomini sono diventati tali da quando hanno preso a inumare, a dare sepoltura ai loro morti. Fantasiosa o meno che sia questa etimologia, essa ci dà ancora oggi un suggerimento prezioso: solo quando gli uomini daranno finalmente sepoltura ai loro morti, cioè agli infiniti corpi che “giacciono a braccia larghe con gli occhi fissi al cielo” delle innumerevoli guerre che hanno sconciato la storia del mondo, e quando daranno finalmente sepoltura alla parte morta che c’è in ognuno di noi e che ci spinge a quella logica di sopraffazione e a quella violenza che è la guerra, solo allora gli uomini si trasformeranno da quel branco di bestie feroci che si sbranano a vicenda, come vediamo ogni sera alla televisione, in consorzio umano che viva in pace e in armonia. Un sogno questo che l’umanità ha sempre coltivato, pur nel fragore delle guerre e nel sangue delle battaglie. “Volgiti a me ed abbi pietà di me”, gridava Davide al suo Dio, nella poesia che ascolterete costruita coi versi dei Salmi del giovinetto con la fionda. Ebbene, occorre che non a Dio ogni uomo rivolga questa implorazione, bensì al proprio simile. Occorre cioè che gli uomini imparino la compassione, cioè a compatire, ovvero a soffrire insieme, in modo da riconoscere nella sofferenza dell’altro un oltraggio fatto a se stesso, e rimuovere le cause di questa sofferenza. E, soprattutto, riconoscere l’unica cosa che, nella diversità di pelle, di razza, di lingua, di religione, accomuna tutti gli uomini, “la voglia buona”, come diceva il mio maestro Fortini, che rende simili gli uomini nella loro diversità. Tutti gli uomini, e basta pensare a noi stessi da bambini, vengono al mondo con la voglia, e col diritto, di essere felici. Una volta riconosciuto questo, dobbiamo agire perché le condizioni di questa felicità corale e collettiva si realizzino. Se faremo questo, il vento della guerra sarà sconfitto dalla musica sottile di quella brezza che sentirete spirare nell’ultima poesia, e che nella poesia è adombrata dal ripetersi di quei suioni che i fonetisti chiamano “scibilanti”: SCIa, peSCE, esaudiSCE, uniSCE, svaniSCE… e allora davvero quella parola, “sorriso”, con cui vado incominciare, si allargherà sulle labbra di tutti.
Veltroni e la sua banda tutti intenti a costruire la Roma finta in stile reality con le sue notti bianche e feste del cazzo, chiede di ospitare le olimpiadi, gli europei del calcio e tanto la gente muore. Muore andando al fottuto lavoro aspettando i fatiscenti mezzi di trasporto, muore lavorando per due soldi, muore per un'ambulanza che non arriva o per le liste di attesa a 1 anno minimo, muore ammazzato per strada dalla cieca violenza razzista che prolifera malgrado il buonismo veltroniano. bastardi http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/10_Ottobre/17/metro.shtml http://www.repubblica.it/2006/10/dirette/sezioni/cronaca/incidentemetro/incidentemetro/index.html
Da otto giorni a milano il livello delle polveri sottili supera di quattro volte i limiti europei; La giunta Moratti, il cui bilancio si regge sulle multe per divieto di sosta, pur di continuare a fare cassa non impone il blocco della circolazione; Denunciamo collettivamente il sindaco alla corte europea per attentato alla salute pubblica
Censura sistematica di un blog di una testata giornalistica
Il giornale locale della mia citta', Pavia, attua, nel blog che ha da poco attivito, la censura sistematica: provate a scrivere qualcosa che sia in un qualche senso scomodo e il vostro commento sara' prontamente cancellato dal bravo giornalista di turno. Ma la cosa piu' grave e' che il moderatore del forum del CSA Barattolo sembra approvare questa pratica liberticida. Davvero vivo in un brutto posto.
Su quanto sta accadendo a Roberto Saviano, sul dibattito, sull'assenza degli intellettuali, su "Gomorra", sulla verità
Bertolt Brecht ha scritto: "Beato quel popolo che non ha bisogno di eroi". Questa frase mi piace interpretarla in due modi: "Beato quel popolo che, purificato, non ha bisogno di riconoscersi in nessun eroe", ma anche "Beato quel popolo che non ha bisogno di singoli che si sacrifichino a nome della collettività". Noi popolo napoletano - che abbiamo interiorizzato il codice del sopruso e della rapina che altri hanno fatto ai nostri danni dai tempi dei tempi - abbiamo invece sempre voluto ardentemente i nostri eroi. In entrambi i sensi. L'eroe che viene a riscattarci, vincendo laddove la nostra paura di vivere non ce lo permette (se restiamo nel Novecento mi vengono in mente da Croce a De Curtis, da Lauro a Bassolino); l'eroe che viene a salvarci, ma che poi dobbiamo uccidere per non imbatterci nelle ire del nostro padrone (Masaniello, Maradona...). Roberto Saviano non ha avuto paura di imbattersi nelle ire del padrone e ha saputo gridare, con incredibile onestà intellettuale e con profondo senso civico, i nomi e i cognomi dei colpevoli a casa loro. "Gomorra" ha spiegato per filo e per segno i meccanismi di accumulazione del capitale flessibile, del denaro che viaggia su scala globale e collega in un solo istante la Cina, Aberdeen, Casal di Principe e via Cupa dell'Arco. Saviano ci ha insegnato un metodo, un metodo di ricerca e di scrittura: e nessun scrittore o giornalista potrà prescinderne, da oggi in poi. Purtroppo, come è consuetudine, le firme più prestigiose, gli uomini di poter (nelle istituzioni e nelle amministrazioni), i grandi intellettuali non hanno detto nemmeno A, quando - guarda che strano - sanno benissimo gettare giù pagine intere di cazzate da fiction o da lettore medio-borghese. Altri si sono prodigati in poche righe di generiche attestazioni ipotizzando le soluzioni più originali (più polizia, più intelligence... cioè: repressione senza prevenzione). Le uniche dimostrazioni di stima (ma io direi: le uniche promesse di lotta) sono state quelle di chi da sempre è presente sul territorio e combatte la camorra, la miseria e la criminalità. Penso alle associazioni napoletane nei Quartieri Spagnoli e a Scampia, penso alle Onlus, penso agli scrittori che hanno aperto il dibattito, penso alle scuole, penso agli studenti anticamorra. "Eroe" è un brutto termine, che sicuramente spiacerebbe a Roberto perché lui stesso, con il suo lavoro, ha voluto smontare e demitizzare il fascino epico che il Sistema costruisce attorno a sé.L'altra sera gli A67 hanno urlato d'indignazione su quanto stava succedendo, dal palco dove stavano tenendo un concerto. Ecco, abbiamo bisogno di questo. Non di "eroi". Abbiamo bisogno di urla di rabbia, di urla che gridino la verità ad alta voce. La nostra verità. La vera verità. Quella che non si legge sui giornale, non si vede in televisione, non si sente per strada. La verità di cui "Gomorra" e tutte le inchieste di Roberto Saviano parlano. Perché "Gomorra" insegna come non essere più eroi. Perché "Gomorra" insegna come non avere più bisogno di eroi.