|
|
|
|
My sympathies go to all those affected by the events of 7 July 2005 and my admiration goes to the Emergency services, who have to deal with this act of lunacy. My admiration goes to the people of London for their reaction, of resolve, and comradery.
Many, young and old, from a range of ethnic backgrounds are still missing after the attacks. Relatives and friends have gone from hospital to hospital searching for clues. I hope you are found safe and well...
|
| Flashback: Fascist Gianfranco Fini meets The Queen
Tuesday March 15, 2005
|
-
The Queen became embroiled in a row over fascism and football when she met Italy's foreign minister, Gianfranco Fini, the leader of the neo-fascist National Alliance, at Buckingham Palace.
Mr Fini and his wife Daniela arrived in London [..] accompanying Italy's president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on a three-day state visit.
"He waved at us and managed to hold himself back from his normal salute," said the joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, Weymouth Bennett. "It is a very dangerous precedent that someone like him, who has swapped his black shirt for an Armani suit, should be able to claim respectability by meeting the Queen."
Palace officials admitted the Queen would have shaken hands with Mr Fini when the Italian party was introduced to the monarch at Buckingham Palace.
"He is here in his official capacity as foreign minister and the Queen is effectively looking after the guests of the Italian president," a palace spokesman said.
- guardian
Prescott plays into fascist leader's hands
Secret Warfare
|
|
|
Forza Italia has a president (actually Silvio Berlusconi), a vice-president, a Presidential Committee (Comitato di Presidenza) and a National Council. Moreover it has thematic departments and regional, provincial or metropolitan coordination boards plus a lot of affiliate clubs (Club Azzurro) all over Italy. In at least one occasion, Berlusconi used his own financial means to pay debts accumulated by the party, drawing criticism from other political forces about the party being too closely related to one person only.
It is claimed that Forza Italia has no internal democracy, because there is no way of changing the leader of the party from below. Instead, key posts in the party structure are appointed by Berlusconi or his delegates. Party conventions normally do not have elections to choose the party leadership, but are more like events arranged for propaganda purposes. However, Berlusconi is highly popular among his party fellows, and it is unlikely he could be overthrown if such an election were to occur. - wikipedia
|
Daniel Singer of 'The Nation' on Berlusconis coalition winning the election: April 11, 1994
I had come to witness the collapse of a discredited regime, an expression of the people's revulsion against the corruption of politics by money. Though the now-despised system had been dominated for nearly half a century by the Christian Democrats, in the past decade its most symbolic figure was probably the party's "Socialist" ally, Bettino Craxi, yesterday prime minister, today one of the many politicians awaiting trial in the corruption scandal that's rocked Italian politics for two years.
Now, Craxi is a man of the past. Judging by the 'campaign thus far, the man of the future is none other than Craxi's favorite television tycoon, Sua Emittenza (his broadcasting highness) Silvio Berlusconi, the Citizen Kane the electronic age, who, like Kane, has turned to politics. What we have seen in this campaign has been the marketing of a would-be prime minister-Berlusconi--and a new political movement, Forza Italia.
And yet it would be wrong to conclude that the election was much ado about little. A victory by Berlusconi and his allies--Umberto Bossi and his Northern League, Gianfranco Fini and his neo-Fascists in the South--would mean a big change in Italy, and for the worse. The corrupt but rather tame moderate right that had been running ItaIy would be replaced by the hard right.
|
Fascist cops at G8 in Genoa 2001
Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, who was the G8 summit host, has promised there will be no cover-up but has repeatedly declared that the riots were the fault of "those who were the attackers, not those who were attacked".
He has firmly defended both Claudio Scajola, the Interior Minister, and Gianni De Gennaro, the Italian Chief of Police. The parliament agreed yesterday to hold its own commission of inquiry into the violence, despite increasing hostility between the parties.
Leading figures on the Centre Left opposition openly accused the post-Fascist Alleanza Nazionale, which is a key element in the ruling coalition, of encouraging its followers in the police and security forces to "crack heads" in Genoa.
Luciano Violante, the former Speaker, called on Gianfranco Fini, the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Alleanza Nazionale, to explain why some police officers were heard to shout "Long live the Duce" as they charged. Signor Fini said although the Alleanza Nazionale was descended from Mussolini's Blackshirts it was a reformed and democratic party and that the charges were absurd. - Genoa riot inquiry criticises police
Take a look at Great Britain in 2005
are we there yet?
|
flashback April 2005
This episode had the working title Aliens of London Part One (World War Three being Part Two).
Rose and the Doctor talk on the roof of her tower block, where she expresses her frustration at not being able to tell her mother because she would not understand. Nobody else on Earth knows that there are aliens and spaceships and things... just as a massive cruiser-like spaceship roars overhead, trailing black smoke. The craft zooms through Central London, its wing cutting into the side of the Clock Tower that holds Big Ben, ringing the bell before it finally careens and splashes down into the River Thames. The river is cordoned off by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment, and the Doctor and Rose have to watch the events unfold on the television.
The production team had intended to suggest that the murdered Prime Minister in this episode was current real-life incumbent Tony Blair. On the DVD commentary for the following episode, producer Phil Collinson explained that they had hired an actor to play the dead body on the understanding that the man was a Tony Blair lookalike. When the resemblance proved disappointing, they decided to avoid showing the body clearly. The suggestion that the body is Blair's remains in Harriet's line "I'm hardly one of the babes," a reference to the large number of female Labour Party MPs who entered the House of Commons in Labour's 1997 general election victory, who were dubbed "Blair's Babes" by the British media.
|
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWERS...
Glastonbury the Ultimate Gated behavioral consumer zone?
Javol! Der Englanders Music ist so doubleplus contemporary Ja?
|
you can stick your 'zeitgeist' moment up your arse!
is this really
The spirit of the time; the taste and characteristic of a generation?
what a tit!
Manchester student Cat Camp has put her breasts up for sale on eBay as advertising space during the Glastonbury Festival - story
|
Maybe Franz ferdinand will headline dressed in those nice clean cut Germanic styles...
Hey guys when Bowie did it it was considered somewhat original,
Glastonbury didn't cost JACK SHIT & you could walk around nekked if you wanted to...
back then those ID card would soon become arse based SWIPE CARDS...if you get my meaning!
or Interpol with their nauseating Joy Division rip-off act,
although their name caused quite a stir...
I don't recall JD wearing armbands...or using RED WHITE & BLACK
quite so obviously...
|
|
Geldof clears consiounse
Lift your hands and say together,
'make poverty history'."
WOW! THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE!!! |
Geldof rallies Glastonbury crowd [as in Nazi rally?]
Bob Geldof has addressed crowds at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, urging tens of thousands of fans to "make poverty history".
Festival-goers joined hands and chanted his slogan after the Live 8 organiser appeared on the event's main stage.
All performances stopped to allow artists and crowds to take part.
"I want you to individually believe you can change the condition of the most put-upon and beaten-down people on this planet," Geldof told the crowd.
"I want you to grab the hand of the person beside you," he said.
"Not as some big hippy rock festival thing, but because you want this to happen. Lift your hands and say together, 'make poverty history'."
Geldof's Live 8 concerts, which take place around the world on 2 July, aim to put pressure on world leaders to eliminate poverty in Africa.
BBC
Glastonbury founder rues flooding [ one man dead so far...]
see this page for more hypocricy
so...why should we demand to be entertained because of others suffering?
why should we make goods to sell for profits that only give a small percentage to the poor?
How much cash would be generated if 112,500 fans DID NOT attend this shite for just for one year,
as a sacrifice, but, instead gave the ticket money straight to
those that need it?
112,500 X ticket price [£112] = £12.6 million
add the cost of hiring all that bullshit too, well...
|
How Ironic...The War on Terror: Refugee Camp 'Democracy'
How much did these people pay for a ticket?
"Bono acknowledged that Bush is limited by
the expense of war and growing U.S. debt."
|
Geldoff says Bush has done most for Africa
Big News Network.com Sunday 19th June, 2005 (UPI)
Live 8 organizer Bob Geldoff says President George W. Bush has done more for Africa than any other U.S. president. In an interview with Time magazine, Geldoff said he recently defended Bush in France on that score.
"They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American president for Africa," said Geldoff. But it's empirically so.
U2 singer Bono, who also participated in the interview, said Bush could still show more commitment to Africa.
"He feels he's already doubled and tripled aid to Africa, which he has," said Bono. "But he started from far too low a place. He can stand there and say he paid at the office already. He shouldn't, because he'll be left out of the history books."
Bono acknowledged that Bush is limited by the expense of war and growing U.S. debt.
"But I have a hunch that he will step forward with something," said the Irish rocker.
Geldoff, Bono and screenwriter Richard Curtis are the main organizers behind the upcoming Live 8, a series of free concerts scheduled for July 2. A show in London will feature Pink Floyd reunion on a bill with U2, Coldplay, Madonna and Paul McCartney. Live 8 is intended to build public support for debt forgiveness and other aid for Africa by the world's major economic powers.
- bignewsnetwork
|
| Totally ignored:
|
The World Tribunal: Istanbul 23-27 June 2005
The tribunal is a serious international public inquiry into the invasion and occupation, the kind governments dare not hold. Its expert, eyewitness testimonies, said the author Arundathi Roy, a tribunal jury member, "demonstrate that even those of us who have tried to follow the war closely are not aware of a fraction of the horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq." The most shocking was given by Dahr Jamail, one of the best un-embedded reporters working in Iraq. He described how the hospitals of besieged Fallujah had been subjected to an American tactic of collective punishment, with US marines assaulting staff and stopping the wounded entering, and American snipers firing at the doors and windows, and medicines and emergency blood prevented from reaching them. Children, the elderly, were shot dead in front of their families, in cold blood.
Imagine for a moment the same appalling state of affairs imposed on the London hospitals that received the victims of Thursday's bombing. Unimaginable? Well, it happens, in our name, regardless of whether the BBC reports it, which is rare. When will someone ask about this at one of the staged "press conferences" at which Blair is allowed to emote for the cameras stuff about "our values outlast [ing] theirs"? Silence is not journalism. In Fallujah, they know "our values" only too well. - John Pilger via Indymedia
worldtribunal.org
|
Battle of Trafalgar bicentenary
a Stalinist show of Military force
|
Ceremony honours sea war victims
29th June -
People killed at sea during wars have been honoured by maritime veterans, royals and children in a ceremony for the Battle of Trafalgar bicentenary.
The International Drumhead Ceremony, held next to the Naval War Memorial in Portsmouth, remembered casualties from all nations. Commander Tim Peacock said the event marked the "illustrious achievements" of maritime veterans. Thousands of spectators watched Tuesday's fleet review off Portsmouth.
The Duke of York, Prince Michael of Kent and around 11,000 veterans attended Wednesday's ceremony on Southsea Common. The event involved a mixture of veterans on parade, schoolchildren, sea cadets, live choirs, and a large Royal Marines band.
Representatives of around 40 nations, from as far afield as Australia, were also present. In contrast to the party atmosphere of Tuesday's fleet review and re-enactment, the ceremony was dominated by sombre reflection. The Right Rev Kenneth Stevenson, the Bishop of Portsmouth, led the formal Drumhead act of worship accompanied by representatives of other faiths. Children from around the UK had produced the ceremony's centre-piece, the Memory Mast, as well as art work and creative objects on display in the Veteran Centre. Their contribution comes after Royal Navy veterans visited schools to talk about their personal experiences as part of the Veterans and Schools initiative, aimed at forging links between generations.
|
|
|
|
'Tearful' memories
The event's finale included a steam-past by a Royal Navy aircraft carrier and a fly-past by former and modern military aircraft. Leslie Duddridge, who served as a cook aboard fleet auxiliary ships in the Second World War, travelled from Bicester, Oxfordshire, to attend the ceremony. "For me it was a bit tearful as I remembered some of my crewmates that I lost," said the 80-year-old veteran.
His wife, Ellen, who served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATC) between 1942 and 1945, added: "I think it was good to get the children involved - I think they should know about the war because at the moment I think many do not."
|
er...are they getting
ready for something? |
Cdr Peacock, the director of the International Drumhead Ceremony, said: "I am proud to have the privilege to organise such an event to honour maritime veterans of all nations and remember their illustrious achievements."
The Drumhead ceremony is thought to date back hundreds of years to when soldiers on the battlefield would parade on three sides of a hollow square. On the fourth side, drummers would arrange their drums in the shape of a pyramid to make an altar, draped with regimental colours.
It is now a form of service used on ceremonial occasions.
On Tuesday fusillades of gunfire, blasts from cannons and fireworks helped re-enact the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar victory over France and Spain. Prior to the event, the Queen conducted a massive international fleet review. She and Prince Philip sailed from Portsmouth on HMS Endurance to conduct the review of 167 naval, merchant and tall ships from 36 countries. - BBC
|
This is small for whats coming next... |
|
G8 - 'make poverty history'
A NWO put up job...
|
Stuart Hodkinson wrote in Red Pepper: July 2005:
inside MPH the revelations were no surprise. For the past six months, some of the UK's leading development and environmental NGOs have expressed their unease about a campaign high on celebrity octane but low on radical politics. One insider, active in a key MPH working group, argues there is a divergence between the democratically agreed message of the campaign and the spin that greets the outside world: 'Our real demands on trade, aid and debt, and our criticisms of UK government policy in developing countries have been consistently swallowed up by white bands, celebrity luvvies and praise upon praise for Blair and Brown.'
This is surely not what campaigners had in mind in late 2003 when Oxfam initiated a series of meetings with charities and campaigning organisations to consider forming a coalition against poverty in 2005 to coincide with the UK presidency of both the G8 summit and EU, and the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. The outcome was launched in September 2004 as the Make Poverty History coalition, the UK mobilisation of an international grouping, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (G-CAP), led by Oxfam International, Action Aid and DATA (Debt Aids Trade Africa) - the Africa charity set up by U2 frontman Bono and multi-billionaires George Soros and Microsoft's Bill Gates.
Make the G8 History.
|
Geldof -
The Man who would be king
|
At midday, a group of spiritual and community leaders met in Cramond, just outside Edinburgh, to hold a vigil in advance of the opening of the G8 summit in nearby Gleneagles. At the vigil organised by Christian Aid, a group of traditional drummers from Ghana, Kakatsitsi, performed a Libation Ceremony in which they called on their ancestors to lend their spiritual support to the Make Poverty History campaign. After their ceremony, Bon Geldof made a short speech before talking informally to the assembled media, dignitaries and local people.
During his speech, Geldof announced that in Ghana, people think of him as a King, referring to the village of Besseasse in the Ashanti region of Ghana, which Geldof visited while making his BBC documentary series. At the end of the vigil, Geldof was approached by members of Kakatsitsi asking him to arrange for them to perform a similar ceremony at the Murraryfield Live8 later that evening. Kakatsitsi had performed such a ceremony in partnership with Drop the Debt in Genoa in 2001, at the opening of Edinburgh City Council's events in the run up to the G8 and at the front of the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh on Saturday. Their proposal was to spend one minute leading the assembled crowd in a simple call and response interplay, summoning the spiritual power of the Ancestors to focus the minds of the G8 leaders on the negotiations ahead. The ceremony was to provide much needed African cultural and spiritual leadership within Live8, which has been the subject of considerable criticism for the predominantly Anglo-Saxon and celebrity line-ups, resulting in the exclusion and marginalisation of African voices or the inclusion of mere token representation.
Geldof replied that he had been bombarded by numerous Hollywood stars and other celebrities wishing to be included in the line-up and that it was therefore not possible to include the African drummers. At this point, the manager of the drummers intervened to point out that the purpose of the Make Poverty History campaign was not to support Hollywood stars or rich music-industry celebrities but to tackle the poverty and marignalisation facing African people. Surely, he suggested, empowering African people to speak for themselves and empowering them to solve their own problems rather than this being the remit of the 'white man's burden' of guilt ridden super-rich rock-stars was of the utmost importance.
Geldof, apparently surprised by this criticism, replied that this was not part of his agenda. Just to clarify matters, Kakatsitsi's manager asked again. "Do you not think that issues relating to African representation are important ?. Geldof replied "Not for me. "
- Geldof declares African empowerment and representation "not important"
|
|
Live8 is a mind control operation
The following is an excerpt from a Make Poverty History Teaching Guide:
|
Educ8 for Live 8
And help Make Poverty History
Aim
Following the massive media coverage, this assembly aims to give students a better understanding of Live 8, Make Poverty History and white bands and how they are part of a global action on poverty at the G8 summit. Live 8 and Make Poverty History also offer students a unique opportunity to explore their role as Global Citizens, make up their minds about the issues and potentially take action.
We hope teachers will support Make Poverty History and Live 8 by organising an assembly in as many schools as possible across the UK between 1st and 8th July.
Skills, knowledge and understanding
Live 8 is more than white bands and pop stars: what have the G8 Summit, Live 8, Make Poverty History, and white bands got to do with global poverty?
Live 8 and Make Poverty History are about the inequalities between rich and poor countries. The rallies, concerts and G8 summit are a special moment where people can ask for a fairer world and an end to extreme poverty.
More than half the world's population live on less than £1.30 a day, and 100 million children are out of school. It is unfair that some people miss out on a decent standard of living because of poor education and health care, whilst others have more than they need.
Many rich countries have helped create economic systems, which mean that they are getting richer, whilst poor countries are made poorer. Make Poverty History and Live 8 are asking for the rules to be changed to give all countries the same chance to provide for their citizens.
As a school community we can speak up about inequalities and unfairness through Make Poverty History. We can ask G8 leaders to make the changes to enable everyone to live happier, healthier lives.
Structure
Combine the components to create an assembly suitable for your students, depending on time and any actions your school might be taking.
Introduction: introduce students to what's going on: Live 8, Make Poverty History, white bands and the G8. [3-5 minutes]
Make Poverty History: explain the issues that many people are asking the G8 to act on. [5-7 minutes]
Inspiration from Nelson Mandela: a short film about why this is all happening. [4 minutes]
Conclusion / What we can do to change the world: explain what students can do. Choose whatever is appropriate for your school setting. [3-4 minutes]
Preparation
The assembly can be led by teachers with student input, or entirely by students.
They can read from a script but a run-through beforehand would be helpful.
You will need
2 large pieces of paper and pens,
musical instrument,
a CD player,
white band (or a picture featuring one),
PC/laptop and data projector
(or the script for Mandela's speech). To download Mandela's film click here
1. Introduction
Remind students about all the exciting things happening - world leaders visiting Scotland and pop stars doing concerts.
Have the audience heard of any of these?
Do they know the names of anyone involved (e.g. Tony Blair, Sir Bob Geldof)? What are they doing?
A group of students now explain what is happening.
Student 1: [holding a large piece of paper with the eight G8 countries' names written on it - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA] There's an important meeting happening [soon/at the moment] where the most powerful leaders in the world get together. It's called the G8 summit, and this year it's in Scotland.
Student 2: [holding a large piece of paper with 'Make Poverty History: more and better aid; trade justice; drop the debt'] A big group of charities, faith groups and loads of other people have come together to remind the leaders of the G8 countries what they can do to help make people's lives in poor countries better. They're called the Make Poverty History Coalition.
Student 3: [wearing a white band or holding a picture of someone wearing one, e.g. a celebrity wearing one] Make Poverty History is asking everyone for help to tell world leaders that we think it's wrong that people live in poverty to show we care what happens. They've asked everyone to wear a white band, like this one. People all over the world are wearing white bands.
Student 4: [holding a musical instrument or microphone] Loads of famous pop stars support Make Poverty History too, so they're putting on Live 8, which is the biggest pop concert the world has ever seen in eight countries across four continents!
Do you know who's performing? (You could play a pop track by one of the artists, eg U2 or Joss Stone. Check out www.live8live.com/ for a full list)
source
|
|
|
John Pilger writes: 22 Jun 2005
The front page of the London Observer on 12 June announced, "55 billion dollar Africa debt deal 'a victory for millions'." The "victory for millions" is a quotation of Bob Geldof, who said, "Tomorrow 280 million Africans will wake up for the first time in their lives without owing you or me a penny...". The nonsense of this would be breathtaking if the reader's breath had not already been extracted by the unrelenting sophistry of Geldof, Bono, Blair, the Observer et al.
Africa's imperial plunder and tragedy have been turned into a circus for the benefit of the so-called G8 leaders due in Scotland next month and those of us willing to be distracted by the barkers of the circus: the establishment media and its "celebrities". The illusion of an anti establishment crusade led by pop stars - a cultivated, controlling image of rebellion - serves to dilute a great political movement of anger. In summit after summit, not a single significant "promise" of the G8 has been kept, and the "victory for millions" is no different. It is a fraud - actually a setback to reducing poverty in Africa. Entirely conditional on vicious, discredited economic programmes imposed by the World Bank and the IMF, the "package" will ensure that the "chosen" countries slip deeper into poverty.
|
Are John Pilger & Stuart Hodkinson
now 'conspiracy theorists?
Is it any surprise that this is backed by Blair and his treasurer, Gordon Brown, and George Bush; even the White House calls it a "milestone"? For them, it is an important facade, held up by the famous and the naive and the inane. Having effused about Blair, Geldof describes Bush as "passionate and sincere" about ending poverty. Bono has called Blair and Brown "the John and Paul of the global development stage". Behind this front, rapacious power can "re-order" the lives of millions in favour of totalitarian corporations and their control of the world's resources.
There is no conspiracy; the goal is no secret. Gordon Brown spells it out in speech after speech, which liberal journalists choose to ignore, preferring the Treasury spun version. The G8 communique announcing the "victory for millions" is unequivocal. Under a section headed "G8 proposals for HIPC debt cancellation", it says that debt relief to poor countries will be granted only if they are shown "adjusting their gross assistance flows by the amount given": in other words, their aid will be reduced by the same amount as the debt relief. So they gain nothing. Paragraph Two states that "it is essential" that poor countries "boost private sector development" and ensure "the elimination of impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign".
THE G8 SUMMIT: A FRAUD AND A CIRCUS
|
|
Update: Make poverty history
was a psyop - they admit it!
|
'Make Poverty History' message banned in Britain
Mon Sep 12, 2:53 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - The coalition at the forefront of a British campaign to fight poverty in Africa has been banned from advertising on radio and television after the nation's media watchdog decided it was a "political" organisation.
Make Poverty History, a coalition of more than 500 charities and social groups, said Monday it was "disappointed" by the decision from OFCOM, just days before world leaders gather in New York where the plight of the world's poor is on the agenda of the World Summit at UN headquarters.
Its advertisement -- in which the likes of rock star Bono and model Claudia Schiffer snap their fingers every three seconds, symbolising how often a child dies as a result of poverty somewhere in the world -- has been on the air for several months.
Despite the fact that no one lodged a complaint, OFCOM said Make Poverty History was "wholly or mainly political" in that it sought to "achieve important changes" to British and Western government policy.
For that reason, it said, the advertisement can no longer be aired.
Adrian Lovett of the development charity Oxfam, a member of the Make Poverty History coordination team, said the global poverty issue was not "party political", but seen by millions as "the great moral issue of our time".
"We're disappointed with this decision," he said. "This advertisement simply highlights the fact that a child dies every three seconds because of preventable poverty."
Make Poverty History was behind a large peaceful march in Edinburgh in July that called for robust action on aid, trade and debt from the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations to combat endemic poverty in Africa. - Yahoo
|
|
|
(6/7/2005) Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives at Gleneagles, Pershire, Scotland at the start of the G8 Gleneagles Summit. Pictured being greeted by Peter Lederer MD of Gleneagles Hotel and Chairman of Vistit Scotland.
A chinook Helicopter offloads Riot cops at Gleneagles |
G8 Summit 2005
Note: I made this image on 2 October 2004 - [freaky!]
|
|
|
Diageo, the major UK drinks multinational which owns Gleneagles, has much to gain not only from hosting the G8 event itself but also from the policies being discussed at the Summit. It also make a shitload of booze which it sells to Africa.
|
|
In 1998 Diageo was involved in the negotiations for the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI); this agreement would have meant increased investment rights and free trade globally, and more power passing to private corporations.
Diageo also has a major stake in opening up Africa for investment. It is already among the most powerful corporations operating in Africa, with its subsidiaries frequently listed among the very top companies in regional stock exchanges. As well as providing "phenomenal" economic growth,25 Africa is used by Diageo as evidence that it is a model global citizen, most notably because of its so-called 'Water of Life' programmes, and because it provides free AIDS drugs to its African workforce.26
As usual though, the PR myth doesn't match up to the reality. Breweries and distilleries are among the worst consumers and polluters of water;27 alcohol has a well-documented role to play in the spread of HIV;28 and beside all the rhetoric about poverty and blighted opportunity,29 its aggressive promotion of branded alcohol is likely to have a devastating effect on the small-scale production of home-brew, which provides a valuable source of income for the poorest in society. If, as seems inevitable, the 2005 G8 summit favours the removal of barriers to foreign investment in Africa, and leaves responsibility as a matter for voluntary codes and glossy PR shoots, then Diageo will profit not only financially through its ownership of Gleneagles, but will directly benefit from its policies.
excerpts taken from this corporate watch article
|
Japanese delegates of the G8, staying at the Sheraton Hotel
in Edinburgh were met by 60-100 protesters as they
attempted to make it to the G8 Conference. |
|
...it is July 2005, The G8 conference is under way. Pictures of protestors being abused and trampled have littered the TV. The Strange juxta-position with the Live8 gloss is gut-wrenching. Thousands of Police have been rediverted to the Scottish Hills from Cities...What next? The Instigation of Patriotic fervour.
|
|
Bomb scare leads to city gridlock
The centre of Sheffield came to a standstill during rush hour traffic on Tuesday after a suspect bag was found outside official buildings. Army bomb disposal units were called to Bridge Street after a package was found near Home Office buildings and the police headquarters in the city.
A 100m cordon was put around the site with main bus routes and roads closed.
Police said the city was "gridlocked" for two hours with diversions in place. The bag turned out to be a empty. A spokesman said two controlled explosions were carried out at the scene which was also near the city's magistrates court. - BBC
|
the BBC, ran with the following
on their Evening News
Tuesday 5th July
1. lead story - Olympic Bid
[report hooraying the bid showing the celebrity sports fuckwits]
2.Riots in Edinburgh
[ooh those naughty clowns]
3.climate change [G8 propaganda]
followed by a magazine style piece
4. China using too much energy
and buying consumer goods
[a ladies car was referred to her bug eyed baby]
5. UK spending down shocker
[is this cos we're being scared by climate change stories or what?]
6.Iraq war casualties
[paul wood, propagandist...presented a story about
limbless soldiers referred to as peacekeepers]
and finally
7. Live 8 artists have announce record profits and sales after the concert
|
|
|
|
British sport's joy and hope after Olympic bid victory
Jul 7 2005 By Jim Van Wijk, Daily Post
BRITAIN'S sporting bodies yesterday expressed a collective voice of support and hope for the future after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics.
Some £2.375billion is set to be spent on new facilities for the Games following the announcement by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge from Singapore at lunchtime yesterday - a surprise result as Paris had been an odds-on favourite. The Olympics have not been staged in Britain since 1948 and the Lea Valley area of east London will now undergo a massive regeneration over the next seven years. With a lasting sporting legacy set to be left for future generations to enjoy, it is hoped the London Games will act as a catalyst for the country to develop Olympic champions in 2012 and beyond.
|
|
British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes was in Singapore as part of the London delegation and said: "This will provide tremendous impetus for swimming in Great Britain. "The work on constructing the Olympic pool in Stratford will start immediately and good progress has already been made on the design which is absolutely stunning and world class. "It is a great day for London and a great day for sport. This is destined to become a catalyst for sport and swimming to move forward in Great Britain."
Four-times Olympic rowing gold medallist Matthew Pinsent, who sat on the International Olympic Committee from 2001 until after the Athens Games, said: "There are so many kids who have now got an Olympics Games in their future at home and that's so exciting - it's the beginning of something huge. "A London Games will be the biggest thing for sport that there's ever been," he added.. "We've produced the best quality bid and now we start a seven-year campaign to produce the best Games we can."
|
|
|
|
Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes believes the youth of Britain will be inspired by the decision to hand London the 2012 Games. Holmes swept to glory in both the 800 and 1,500 metres in Athens last summer, and was in Trafalgar Square to hear yesterday afternoon's announcement from Singapore. "I was so nervous at one point I thought I was going to be sick," said Holmes, one of the ambassadors for the London bid. "I did cry and I was very emotional. We just didn't know what was going to happen and it was nerve-racking just waiting for the decision. "But Seb (Lord Coe) and his team have pulled off a fantastic win and they deserve all of the credit for coming from behind and winning. It's going to change so many people's lives in this country. "I think from now on children are going to want to be at the Olympics in 2012."
|
|
Wimbledon will host the tennis tournament and Lawn Tennis Association chief executive John Crowther will welcome the Olympians to SW19 in the hope it will inspire a new generation of Tim Henmans and Andy Murrays. Despite cricket not currently figuring on the roster of Olympic sports, Lord's will host the archery events in 2012.
And England captain Michael Vaughan commented: "I believe that sport in this country will benefit enormously with London hosting the Olympics. "It's a great honour and something we can take great pride in as a country."
Martin Johnson, who led England to rugby World Cup glory in 2003, commented: "Getting the Games is fantastic and Seb Coe and his team did an awesome job to make London 2012 a reality." Britain's Amir Khan and Audley Harrison are two boxers whom have won Olympic medals at recent Games and fight promoter Frank Maloney believes funding must be set aside to help find the champions of the future.
"It will be a great occasion, but I just hope that not everything will be put into building it and more money will be put into the development of young talent," he said.. "That would produce future gold medalists at those games - there's no point being the bridesmaid at your own wedding."
Meanwhile there was a guarded welcome from the local athletics' community for London's winning bid for the 2012 Olympics. "The venue is less important for the competitors than for the bid team. Competing in the UK obviously has an advantage over travelling abroad but good athletes will compete well wherever the Games are held," said one local coach.
Up-and-coming teenage internationals such as Mike Rimmer (LPS), Alexandra Russell (Wirral), Anyika Onuora (Liverpool) and David Forrester (St Helens-Sutton) will now be dreaming of competiting at London if their careers continue to develop at the present rate.
source
|
|
|
Britain has won the Olympic bid to stage the Games in 2012.
On the 6th July the City was fuller than normal with people waiting to hear of the news. Surely a TERROR TARGET, No?
Wednesday 6th July 2005 witnessed scenes of jubilation in Trafalgar Square as London won the contest to host the Olympic Games in 2012. Thousands gathered under big screens to watch the announcement.
Mr Blair is said to have "danced a jig" at the result.
- londontown.com
London is now a theme park? With Rides? |
|
Thousands of Police are still rediverted from the major cities as they 'deal' with the protesters in the G8 arena. A place despite huge security operation is a convergance of ALL the worlds 'power' and would be a target for TERROR.
The G8 protest has been in planning for a year.
but then these are places we would EXPECT to be hit...
now...If I were to ask you the one thing that the whole world associates with London...
|
|
|
Just how far are they willing to go?
Mr Clarke defended the tough new law. He reminded MPs that the Madrid bombings took place during the Spanish general election campaign.
"Maybe such things can always be possibilities here too," he said. February 2005
Next: The London Bombings 7- 7 - 2005
|
Is this Birmingham or the new Spielberg Movie...?
so hard to tell these days
Tens of thousands of people living in the city centre - IRA obviously mentioned a lot ...hang on ...weren't the Birmingham 6 found innocent?
so WHO REALLY DID THE BIRMINGHAM BOMBINGS? YOU HAVE TO ASK, DON'T YOU?
|
The Day After: 20,000 evacuated from Birmingham
Charles Clarke, the home secretary, defended the decision to evacuate the city centre. "There was a serious threat," he said. "That is why the police acted as they did."
Chief constable for the West Midlands Paul Scot-Lee said the suspect packages were "incidental" to the evacuation, which had been triggered by intelligence information. "The threat that we responded to was very specific," chief constable Paul Scott-Lee said on Sunday. "It was specific about the time and also the locations. The people of Birmingham were in danger."
Business travellers staying at the Malmaison Hotel in the exclusive Mailbox development on Smallbrook Queensway were among those caught up in the bomb alert, huddling on the pavement, some of them in nightclothes or wrapped in duvets. Tens of thousands of people living in the city centre, where a large number of expensive apartments have been built in recent years, were warned to stay in doors and keep away from the windows and the danger of flying glass.
The evacuation took place smoothly and the police called the all-clear just after 6 am on Sunjday morning. Sensitivity to bomb threats has been high in Birmingham since IRA pub bombings in the 1970s. A large bomb placed by the Real IRA failed to explode in the city centre three years ago. Islamic extremists have been active on the fringes of Birmingham’s large Muslim community since the 1990s. Four men held by the US at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of fighting for Al Qaeda, but released without charge, came from the West Midlands conurbation. - ft.com
|
Of course the Authorities would never
lock innocent away without fair trials, without evidence or legal rights... would they?
Question: How do you 'win' a global war on terror?
Answer By re-modelling / enlarging a security state to a global level
|
Al-Qaeda is believed to be a loosely-based network dedicated to a violent re-modelling of the Muslim world and the West.
- BBC
|
Robin Cook spells it out...
July 8, 2005 - [excerpt]
Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden's organisation would turn its attention to the west.
.
The danger now is that the west's current response to the terrorist threat compounds that original error. So long as the struggle against terrorism is conceived as a war that can be won by military means, it is doomed to fail. The more the west emphasises confrontation, the more it silences moderate voices in the Muslim world who want to speak up for cooperation. Success will only come from isolating the terrorists and denying them support, funds and recruits, which means focusing more on our common ground with the Muslim world than on what divides us.
.
The G8 summit is not the best-designed forum in which to launch such a dialogue with Muslim countries, as none of them is included in the core membership. Nor do any of them make up the outer circle of select emerging economies, such as China, Brazil and India, which are also invited to Gleneagles. We are not going to address the sense of marginalisation among Muslim countries if we do not make more of an effort to be inclusive of them in the architecture of global governance.
- The Guardian [of what?]
|
Here we go, Iran, Iran, Iran...round and round we go...
UK policy invited attacks - Iran
Ayatollah Kashani attacked the West's war on terror
Iran has condemned the bomb attacks in London as inhumane, and offered its condolences to the victims. But one of the country's top clerics, Ayatollah Mohammed Emami-Kashani, said they were the direct result of the UK's support for US and Israeli policies.
The ayatollah called al-Qaeda an "illegitimate child" of the West.
The Friday prayer leader said it was divine justice that a group which had nothing to do with Islam had now conspired against its backers.
The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says Iran's view is that US funding for extremist Sunni Muslim groups opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s set the stage for the emergence of the Taleban and al-Qaeda.
Stinging attack
A commentary on Iranian state radio, meanwhile, blamed the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, for the attacks.
It said Mossad was the only group capable of carrying out such operations in London and had often tried to attract attention to its opponents during G8 meetings in the past. Ayatollah Kashani condemned the blasts, but also launched a stinging attack on Western foreign policy, punctuated with cries of "death to America, Britain and Israel". "You talk about al-Qaeda. Have you forgotten who has bred al-Qaeda?" he asked, in remarks addressed to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It's the illegitimate child of America and Israel, but you name it Islam. This savagery is not Islam. It is coming from inside of you and it is now punching you."
'Change your ways'
He said the West had also nurtured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by supplying him with weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. "You armed Saddam with every weapon against us," he said. "But your feet are still bogged down in the Iraqi quagmires and you cannot get out."
He also attacked US George W Bush's war on terror and Middle East policies. "Where have you reached by cracking down on terrorism? It has happened again because you do not want to use your head." "You train terrorists and state terrorism. If you want to succeed you have to leave Palestine alone," he added.
"Acting against terrorism must be honest ... and you will not succeed unless you wise up and change your ways." - BBC [Propaganda unit via the RENDON GROUP]
|
2 days after - Memorial Day - more sick
use of patriotism and the blitz linked to the Bombings
A day of worship |
Bombings evoke war-time spirit as WWII is marked
10 July, 2005 LONDON: Two days after the worst-ever terrorist attack on British soil, the Bishop of London prayed yesterday for the bombed capital at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. "This is a grave day for London," the bishop, Richard Chartres, said at a ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth II to dedicate a huge memorial to the women of the war era in Whitehall. "We pray for the bereaved and the injured, for the anguished and the grieving and we give thanks for those in the police, emergency services and caring services who have striven to save life with such courage, to minister to the suffering and to do their duty, as the women of World War II did in their own time," he said.
After the queen unveiled the memorial marking the sacrifice of British women during the war, military helicopters with all-female crews flew past down the route of Whitehall in central London. The death toll from the attacks, at four locations during the Thursday rush hour in central London, stands at least 50 and with bodies still lying in the wreckage is expected rise much higher. Some 700 people were injured.
The bombings and people's attitude since them have re-awoken feelings of a time when Britons showed similar resilience under a far greater threat.
July 9, 2005 has been named by Britain's government as National Commemoration Day to mark the end of World War II in Europe on May 8, 1945, with July 10, 2005 (today) honouring the end of the war in Asia on August 15.
The weekend was chosen because it falls between the two dates.
|
The biggest event will take place today, some 16,000 veterans will take part in events marking the anniversary, with over 100,000 people expected to watch.
Queen Elizabeth and other members of the royal family are due to attend a series of war-related commemorations, a number of them having spent much of Friday in hospitals visiting those injured in this week's bomb blasts. Many have noted the similarity between the defiance shown by Londoners following the attacks and the spirit of their ancestors in World War II.
More than 20,000 Londoners died in "the Blitz" - German for lightning - when Nazi bombs rained down during World War II, especially in 1940 and 1941.
With the government failing to provide adequate shelter for many people, the city developed a famous ethic of self-reliance and fortitude, the so-called "Blitz spirit".
On Friday, the government minister with responsibility for war veterans, Don Touhig, said that Londoners today are inspired by those who saw out World War II.
"This week we remember the sacrifices that previous generations made so that we can remain a free people, as the tragedy unfolds in London we look to them for inspiration: they have faced much worse," he said. "It's important to keep up the spirit they showed us in the dark days between 1939 to 1945."
Visiting blast victims on Friday in an east London hospital, the 79-year-old monarch evoked the spirit of a war she herself lived through as a child.
"I want to express my admiration for the people of our capital city who in the aftermath of yesterday's bombings are calmly determined to resume their normal lives," she said. "Sadly, we in Britain have been all too familiar with acts of terror and members of my generation, especially at this end of London, know that we have been here before." She concluded: "But those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life." - AFP
|
|
Just a coincidence....nothing to see here, move along, move along!
|
|
detail of Buckingham Palace |
|
Thanks to Ickey!
|
|
|
World Commemorates Srebrenica Massacre Victims
Monday 11th July saw the memorial ceremony in Srebrenica for Muslims killed in Bosnia.
If the London bombings are not quite what the mainstream media and indeed the government, would have us believe they are, then the timing of this ceremony should also be viewed with some caution.
Inasmauch as any war needs the opposing armies to be sufficiently motivated in order to kill each other, then in a week in which we are all once again being urged to fear the Muslim bogey man, it seems to have a warped symmetry that followers of Islam should be reminded that the west was complicit in the murder of their brethren.
While on the sidelines, those who continue to stir the hatred with a well oiled media spoon, sit back and rub their hands in anticipation of the highly profitable conflict to come.
Nothing that is presented to us is ever done without a very clear psychological, political or emotional objective. Posting by Pentos
Isn't it a shame that the Situation in the Balkans was a stage-managed ethnic war created to divide & Rule, as so to enable the raping and control of valuble resources in the area
|
Captain Wardrobes
Down with Murder inc.
|
