tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102744592024-03-08T21:42:44.962+02:00Contrary to Authority"Since 1936 I have fought for wage increases. My father before me fought for wage increases. Now I have a TV, a fridge, a Volkswagen. Yet my whole life has been a drag. Don't negotiate with the bosses. Abolish them."--May '68 graffitiTristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.comBlogger473125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-83060094485118689612008-05-21T10:04:00.001+02:002008-05-21T10:07:54.224+02:00Tariffs and TreacheryEditorial on SA Energy News: Tariffs and Treachery<br /><br />The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) will hold a public hearing on Friday (23/05/08) on the proposed Eskom tariff increases. The SECCP will be there, as will 200 community members from Soweto and Soshanguve, demonstrating against Eskom’s unwise, ill-timed and anti-poor price increases.<br /><br />This Special Edition of SENSE carries our submission to NERSA instead of the usual press reports.<br /><br />The case against Eksom’s proposed tariff increases has a few key components: First, the tariff increases do not adequately protect poor consumers and will bring new hardships to communities already struggling for mere survival. This could be avoided through the implementation of a step-block tariff and an increase of the Free Basic Allocation to 100kWh per person per month.<br /><br />The second main reason to reject Eskom’s tariff increases is the unwise financial planning that structures the increases. By committing itself to a new build programme of coal and uranium power sources, Eskom is effectively locking the entire country into a fossil fuel economy for the next fifty years. Within ten to fifteen years, the costs of solar and wind generation per kWh produced will be below that of coal and uranium, mostly due to the long-term rise of coal, uranium, gas and petroleum stocks. As previous editions of SENSE have pointed out, these fossil fuel commodities are finite, dwindling, and increasingly in demand. An economic genius one needs not be to understand the long-term price implications.<br /><br />The third reason is that Eskom has failed to show any meaningful commitment to cost-cutting measures; the ten million rands in bonuses to top management (who have managed to get coal stockpiles horribly mixed up, invested money in financial instruments instead of maintenance, and have cost the country billions through some bizarrely-timed blackouts) would be a great place to start.<br /><br />The final reason is that the Developmental Electricity Pricing Programme (DEPP) and the related Alcan contract remain on the books. It is economically unsound, socially evil, and environmentally ill-conceived to provide power subsidies to a foreign corporation with minimal job creation while raising prices on the rest of South African society. In effect, why should South African citizens and small businesses have major price increases while foreign corporations are guaranteed profits through artificially low prices?<br /><br />Speaking of the DEPP, SENSE must make mention of a recent agreement between Rio Tinto Alcan and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), the Zwartkops Trust, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) and the Wilderness Foundation. Apparently, these so-called environmental organisations have agreed to welcome in and work with a corporation that was forced out of India by activists, and has laid economic ruin upon the Canadian town of Kitimat. In the name of environmental and social justice, these organisations are willing to essentially build a new coal-fired power plant to service Alcan’s proposed smelter. In the name of combating global warming—a hotter and drier Africa will negatively affect the critters these organisations are committed to saving—they are willing to increase South Africa’s CO2 emissions. Oh thank you, you fine environmental organisations. Thank you for listening to local environmental activists like the Nelson Mandela Bay Local Environmentalists (NiMBLE), who have been campaigning against Alcan for over a year.<br /><br />Further, EWT, the Zwartkops Trust, WESSA, and the Wilderness Foundation have accepted Alcan and the Government’s penchant for secrecy surrounding aluminium smelting. Article 10 of the MOU signed between these organisations and Rio Tinto Alcan states, “…members are expected to refrain from public comment regarding internal debate and deliberations of the NMBCAEA [Nelson Mandela Bay Coega Aluminium Environmental Alliance]…”<br /><br />That’s it for now. I have to attend to my sore and bleeding back….<br /><br />Tristen Taylor<br />Editor<br />SECCP<br /><br />Read the rest (pdf) <a href="http://www.earthlife.org.za/Files/SENSE%2050%20May%202008.pdf">here.</a>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-74398314119842973432008-05-21T10:01:00.000+02:002008-05-21T10:03:46.973+02:00March against xenophobia and hateSocial Movements Indaba<br />March against xenophobia and hate<br />21 May 2008<br /><br />The SMI is mobilising social movements, immigrant communities, NGOs, unions, concerned residents from poor areas around the province for a march this Saturday, 24th of May. The march will gather at Marks Park (Empire and Hospital Road) from 9a.m., proceed through Hillbrow and stop at the Departments of Home Affairs and Housing before ending at the Library Gardens. The message marchers will be conveying is that our struggle is common and knows no borders. Everyone who wants to make their voices heard should join us – our struggle knows no borders.<br /><br />The Social Movements Indaba (SMI) – a co-ordinating national body of social movements, civil society and activist organisations – is organising with its affiliated organisations and immigrant communities to roll back the groundswell of xenophobia. In the years since its formation in 2002, the SMI has linked organisations of the poor in struggle for basic services, international solidarity and against police repression. At its last national meeting in December in Cape Town, the SMI identified xenophobia as a pervasive problem in communities and undertook to campaign against hatred of foreigners. Now that the crisis of hate crime is no longer foreboding and is terrifyingly HERE, there is no time to stall and wish we were better prepared. We are without hesitation committed to the struggles for social justice, internationalism and solidarity with all repressed people.<br /><br />While the police have been deployed to try keep a lid on the pressure that has boiled over, this is no solution to the safety and security of all. As a xenophobic force in Johannesburg pre-existing the outbreak of violence, the police cannot be trusted to be more than the brute barrier between perpetrators and their targeted victims. The South African Police Services and Johannesburg Metro Police harass immigrants to solicit bribes as a matter of practice. Calling on the police to 'do their work' as president Thabo Mbeki and his government have done does not, therefore, address the issues of safety and security amongst immigrant communities. The refugee communities do not trust the police as impartial arbiters of the conflict. The police conducted a brutal raid on the Central Methodist Church on the 31st of January 2008 under the pretext of crime prevention. Criminalisation of immigrants is a smokescreen for deportation and bribery that the police has not cleared.<br /><br />Long-lasting safety and security for all does not include deportation of foreign nationals, whether voluntary or not. Xenophobia's origins lie within the conditions of poverty in which the majority of South Africans live. Immigrants have been targeted for their ethnic difference and for their very similarity with their persecutors. Seen as competitors for scarce jobs and housing, south Africans have misdirected their anger at conditions of poverty that are unchanging. Their fellow brothers and sisters who are enduring the same cannot be responsible for what the economic and political system has created.<br /><br />While we struggle for a change to the neo-liberal capitalist system that has created this reality, rearguard struggles for safety and security of immigrants in the country must continue. The SMI gives thanks for those humanitarian organisations, emergency services and churches that are trying to stem the tide of bloodletting and forced removals. We will organize against the creation of refugee camps and work towards the reintegration of immigrants in our communities. In working to recover our common humanity and restore calm, delegations from the SMI are meeting with community-based organisations in Alex and the inner city, and as the programme of action to roll-back the hate unfolds, the SMI will be going further afield to speak to affected communities. <br /><br />— No one is illegal —<br /><br />The SMI will be convening a press conference about the wave of xenophobic violence tearing through Gauteng and what civil society organisations and social movements are doing to combat it. The press conference will be taking place tomorrow, Wednesday 21 May 2008 - APF offices - 7th floor of Vogas House, 123 Pritchard Street (cnr Mooi) Johannesburg at 11a.m.<br /><br />For directions or other enquiries, please contact the Anti Privatisation Forum on 011 333 8334.<br /><br />For comment, please contact: Silumko Radebe (APF) 0721737268; Mhlobo Gunguluzi (Khanya College) 0843773013; Brian Burayai (Refugee Fellowship) 0732865667<br /><br />------------------------------<br /><br />The Social Movements Indaba includes amongst other organisations: the Anti Privatisation Forum, Jubilee South Africa, Imbawula Trust, Sounds of Edutainment, Umzabalazo we Jubilee, Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, Inner City Resource Centre, Kliptown Concerned Residents, Khanya College, Earthlife Africa (Johannesburg), Palestinian Solidarity Committee, Golden Triangle Crisis Committee, Samancor Retrenched Workers Crisis Committee, African Renaissance Civic Movement, Group of Refugees Without VoiceTristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-55073651861574123652008-05-06T10:33:00.002+02:002008-05-06T10:42:03.451+02:00ZabalazaSome interesting posts online from Jonathon and the crew at <a href="http://www.zabalaza.net/index02.htm">Zabalaza</a> (the self-declared home of Southern African Anarchism).<br /><br />For everyone outside of the South African left, try <a href="http://www.zabalaza.net/leaflets&talks/haymarket_to_sebokeng.htm">this</a>.<br /><br />For those in the SA left, there's been a <a href="http://www.zabalaza.net/leaflets&talks/reply_to_ngwane.htm">tit for tat exchange</a> between Zabalaza and Trevor Ngwane.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-19935030590178419072008-05-05T15:21:00.000+02:002008-05-05T15:22:49.573+02:00End of Prepaid Water Meters: VICTORY!COALITION AGAINST WATER PRIVATISATION<br />PRESS RELEASE<br /><br />Wednesday 30th April 2008<br /><br /><ul><li>Johannesburg High Court declares prepaid water meters unlawful & unconstitutional</li></ul><br /><ul><li>Court finds enforced choice between pre-paid meter and standpipe to be unlawful and unconstitutional and orders City of Johannesburg to provide full range of water delivery service options</li></ul><br /><ul><li>Limitation of free basic water allocation of 6kl per household, per month is set aside & City of Johannesburg ordered to provide 50 litres per person, per day.</li></ul><br />JOHANNESBURG, 30 April 2008 — In a historic and ground-breaking judgement, the Johannesburg High Court today declared that the City of Johannesburg’s forcible installation of prepaid water meters in Phiri (Soweto) is both unlawful and unconstitutional. Judge Tsoka further ordered that the limitation of free basic water to the present 6 kilolitres per household per month, be set aside and that the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water must supply Phiri residents with 50 litres per person per day. Furthermore, the court declared that the choice given to residents of either a prepaid meter or a standpipe for water provision in Phiri is also unlawful and directed the City to provide residents of Phiri the option of an ordinary credit metered water supply. Judge M.P. Tsoka also determined that the City should bear all the legal costs of the applicants since 2006.<br /><br />As jubilation at the judgement ripples across Phiri and the rest of Soweto, the City will be sitting shell-shocked. Johannesburg Water's Operation Gcin'amanzi cannot continue in its present form and an entirely new system for water provision has to now replace it. The pitiless pre-paid meters have finally been consigned to the dustbin they deserve. If the City had followed the writ of the law in implementing their water services, consulting with the community and listening to the voices of protest, they would not be sitting with egg on their faces and a R320-million loan for pre-paid meters they now can't install. The City chose rather to deploy the Red Ants, private security companies and police in Phiri at the onset of Operation Gcina'manzi in August 2003 to protect their misshapen project. The fact that Phiri residents were gagged in their own homes as work proceeded against their wishes, enduring arrest and detention, has redounded to the City's loss. What needless waste! This crisis is one of their own making.<br /><br />The Coalition Against Water Privatisation would like to extend its heartfelt thanks and congratulation to our advocate in the case, Wim Trengove, and to all the attorneys and paralegals at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at Wits University who pulled together the legal arguments that proved so persuasive. When government implements by managerialist command and disregards the interests of the people it is meant to serve, the Bill of Rights can mean little more than the paper it is written on. Thank you to the Coalition's legal team for helping to make the Constitution real again.<br /><br />As CALS stated in an earlier press release, this is the first time, ‘in which the constitutional right to water has explicitly been raised’ and the judgement itself provided meaningful and clear reasons for the orders issued. Judge MP Toska ‘criticised the municipality for its discriminatory approach to the provision of water’, finding that: “the underlying basis for the introduction of prepayment meters seems to me to be credit control. If this is true, I am unable to understand why this credit control measure is only suitable in the historically poor black areas and not the historically rich white areas. Bad payers cannot be described in terms of colour or geographical area”. The Judge went on to say that, “25 litres per person day is insufficient for the residents of Phiri …to expect the applicants to restrict their water usage, to compromise their health, by limiting the number of toilet flushes in order to save water is to deny them the rights to health and to lead a dignified lifestyle.” The Judge further found that the consultation leading up to the adoption of pre-paid meters was inadequate, stating that the process was “more of a publicity stunt than consultation”. He also criticised the City’s “big brother approach” to the residents of Phiri.<br /><br />The greatest credit for this extraordinary legal victory must go to the residents of Phiri that resisted the installation of the pre-paid meters, and to all the other residents of poor communities, both in Johannesburg and across the country, who have been fighting for accessible, affordable and sufficient water provision/delivery . The Coalition Against Water Privatisation formed around the water crisis in Phiri and the struggle was given life by Phiri's strength.<br /><br />While the Coalition knows that this judgement will most probably be appealed by the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water all the way to the Constitutional Court, this does not detract from the political and social significance of this victory. We are confident that this judgement will be upheld and that water provision will now no longer be delivered in a discriminatory, patronising and inhumane manner. The fact is that water service delivery, not only in Johannesburg but across the entirety of South Africa, can never be the same.<br /><br />WATER IS LIFETristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-21734496695057595462008-04-24T11:53:00.001+02:002008-04-24T11:55:54.621+02:00Press Release: Resistance Against Unfair Tariff Hikes Grows<p><span style="font-style: italic;">I'll post some pictures soon (I hope).</span><br /></p><p><br />Press Release: Resistance Against Unfair Tariff Hikes Grows<br />Earthlife Africa Jhb, Anti-Privitisation Forum<br />21st of April 2008</p> <p>On the 23rd of April 2008, approximately 2,000 members of the Anti-Privitisation Forum (APF), Earthlife Africa Jhb (ELA Jhb), the Landless People's Movement and The Greenhouse will be hitting the streets in Johannesburg to protest against Eskom’s proposed and unjust tariff hikes.</p> <p>The march will begin at Library Gardens at 10am, moving to City Power (Jorrisen Street) and then to Eskom (Smit Street). In addition to this protest in Johannesburg, protests will take place in Pretoria (to DME and NERSA), Durban and Cape Town on the same day.</p> <p>These events will be preceded by pickets on Tuesday (22nd of April) in Pretoria (DME & NERSA), in Johannesburg (Eskom & DME) and the Vaal (Eskom). All of these pickets will commence at 10:00am, please contact APF Organiser, Silmuko Radebe (see below) for more information.</p> <p>The proposed tariff hikes of 60% in real terms will negatively affect the living standards of poor households and will be at odds with efforts towards poverty reduction. Eskom will be placing a burden on consumers who cannot already afford electricity. Despite the Government and Eskom’s repeated boasts about electrification, 30% of South Africans are still without electricity. Of the 70% who do have electricity, many poor users suffer from disconnection. Furthermore, users of prepaid meters disconnect themselves (due to lack of funds to feed the meter), thus transferring the onus of disconnection from the state to the citizenry. The Free Basic Allocation of 50kWh a month per household is widely regarded to be inadequate; 50kWh doesn’t stretch that far between six to eight people.</p> <p>APF Organiser, Silumko Radebe, states that, “The restructuring and preparation for the privatisation of ESKOM has led to the present crisis. Following the dictates of GEAR and ASGISA and the Washington consensus that gave birth to the neoliberal policies, the energy sector was opened to foreign investments through privatisation and deregulation. The motivation for restructuring Eskom was that there is a need to introduce competition into electricity provision. Eskom was, therefore, broken up into its generation, transmission and distribution divisions and corporatised. The current crisis is borne of these efforts to create a power market where scarcity of energy resources ensures a ‘competitive environment’ and profitability for the generators and distributors of electricity. The restructuring of the distribution division set up regional electricity distributors (REDs) that would be financially and organisationally independent of one another and the state. In other words, electricity is treated as a commodity rather than a public service.”</p> <p>A social ill will only be increased by the proposed tariff structure. In response to rising electricity prices, many poor consumers will turn towards alternative energy sources such as paraffin, coal, and biomass. This will have enormous financial and social consequences: For example, in 2000, there were 46,000 paraffin fires, 50,000 paraffin burns, and at least 4,000 children died from drinking paraffin. The total cost to the economy of paraffin related incidents is R100 billion a year. Our children are being physically scarred for life or are dying because Eskom refuses to supply adequate electricity to its poorest and most marginalized citizens. </p> <p>This move of Eskom’s is surprising and foolhardy. There exists a set of reforms, which if implemented, can alleviate the power crisis and the lack of access crisis that besets this country. They are:</p> <p>1) A step-block tariff with a free basic allocation of 100kWh per person per month.<br />2) The opening up of Eskom’s secret contracts with large-scale users and tariff increases on the 25 companies that consumer 40% of our electricity generated.<br />3) The scrapping of subsidised electricity for foreign corporations under the Developmental Electricity Pricing Programme, and, in particular, the Alcan contract.<br />4) The abolishment of pre-paid metres.<br />5) The reorganisation of Eskom within the state so that it operates as an agent of social construction and not a profit-making business.<br />6) Investment in renewable energy instead of the costly fossil fuels of coal and uranium.<br />7) No member of Eskom management shall be paid a bonus.</p> <p>Tristen Taylor, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg’s Energy Policy Officer, states, “As much as electricity tariffs needs increase to address infrastructure maintenance needs, the proposal from Eskom is either vague or at odds with endeavors for poverty eradication. It is of utmost importance that Eskom addresses the issue of indigent users access and affordability of electricity supply and unless Eskom adequately addresses its electricity-generation strategy that is at the heart of its long-term financial ill health, Eskom’s proposals should be rejected by NERSA.”</p> <p><br />For more information, please contact:</p> <p>Tristen Taylor<br />Energy Policy Officer<br />Earthlife Africa-Johannesburg Branch<br />Email: <span style="text-decoration: underline;">contrarytoauthority@gmail.com</span></p> <p>Silumko Radebe<br />Organiser<br />Anti-Privatisation Forum<br />Email: <a href="mailto:khethokuhle@gmail.com">khethokuhle@gmail.com</a></p>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-67606854621785897842008-04-16T13:18:00.003+02:002008-04-16T13:27:28.181+02:00Press Release: SA Lesbian and Gay Community on Zimbabwe16 April 2008<br />LGEP PRESS STATEMENT: SA LESBIAN AND GAY COMMUNITY CONCERNED ABOUT DEMOCRACY CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE<br /><br />The South African Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP), formerly known as the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE), is concerned about the deepening political, economic and social crises in Zimbabwe. We express our full solidarity with the lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, women, workers and all the people of Zimbabwe. We add our voice in condemning the unjustified delay in the release of the 29 March elections. As Zimbabwean Independence Day approaches on 18 April 2008, Zimbabweans have nothing to celebrate in honour of their heroic liberation struggle and historic achievement of freedom and democracy.<br /><br />The actions of the government of Zimbabwe, the police, the army, the judiciary and the Zimbabwean Elections Commission are against universally accepted democratic principles and practice. The Zimbabwean government is responsible for the social and economic crises facing that country. The crises are rooted in actual social stratification processes and ZANU-PF policy choices that support them. These originate from the early 1990s adoption of neo-liberal Structural Adjustment Programmes by Mugabe's government. They have been reinforced by the failure of that government to transform that country's economy into one at the hands and service of the needs of the overwhelming majority of the people. It is under such conditions that principles of democracy, equality and non-discrimination get sacrificed and political leaders look for easy scapegoats to hide their failures. No wonder then that Mugabe's first targets were lesbian and gay people in Zimbabwe.<br /><br />The homophobia promoted by ZANU-PF is not divorced from the oppression of women, the exploitation of workers and the gross violation of human rights that the same government has been responsible for. Beyond majority numbers, democracy is also about progressive values of equality, freedom, human rights and non-discrimination.<br /><br />We call on the lesbian and gay community in Zimbabwe to emerge and add their principled voice in the struggle for democracy, freedom and equality in Zimbabwe.<br /><br />Zimbabwean political protagonists will have to map out their own process and ordinary Zimbabweans must settle their scores with their oppressors. But South and Southern Africans have an important role to play:<br /><br />1. First, the South African government must take a principled position on Zimbabwe, an approach that is radically different from its current approach. Whilst continuing to foster dialogue and negotiations between various Zimbabwean forces, the South African government must make it clear that democratic principles are not for sale and must not show any equivocation in publicly condemning the undemocratic actions of the Zimbabwean government. It is for these reasons that the LGEP welcomes the 14 April 2008 statement of the ANC National Working Committee.<br /><br />2. Secondly, a wide range of progressive forces and voices in South Africa must do more to build and express solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. This must start with political pressure on the South African government and the diplomatic representatives of Zimbabwe in South Africa.<br /><br />3. Finally, as progressive South Africans we must engage our Zimbabwean and Southern African comrades in struggle around the affirmation of democracy, people’s power, social justice, equality, non-discrimination, and the removal of all forms of oppression in the much-needed new constitutional framework that Zimbabwe needs.<br /><br />We therefore call on the entire lesbian and gay community in South Africa to add their voice in support of democracy, freedom and equality in Zimbabwe.<br /><br />FOR COMMENTS, CONTACT:<br />Phumzile S. Mtetwa<br />Email: phumi@equality.org.za // admin@equality.org.za<br />Website: www.equality.org.zaTristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-76902309682305934472008-04-16T09:26:00.001+02:002008-04-16T09:26:57.233+02:00Press Release: Zimbabweans Demonstrate and March To Call for Urgent InterventionMEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT <br />15 April 2008<br /><br />Zimbabweans Demonstrate and March To Call for Urgent Intervention<br /><br />PROGRAMME<br /><br />Tuesday 15 April - underway as of today until Friday<br /><br /> # March from Bela-Bela (outside Pretoria) to Musina. Marchers are due to arrive in Musina on Friday 18 April (Zimbabwean Independence Day). Co-ordinated by The Peace and Democracy Movement of Zimbabwe. Includes members of the Zimbabwe Exiles' Forum, the Zimbabwe Action Movement and the Southern African Women's Institute for Migration Affairs (SAWIMA).<br /><br />Contact: Diyani Ncube - Acting Project Co-ordinator<br />Cell: 074 434 6008 or: 079 665 8870 - Gilbert Moyo's phone<br /><br />Wednesday 16 April from 10h00<br /><br /># Demonstration outside Zimbabwean Embassy, Pretoria. Time: 10h00<br /># Demonstration outside the Union Buildings, Pretoria (time to be confirmed)<br /># Demonstration outside the UN offices, Pretoria (time to be confirmed)<br /><br />Participants include Zimbabwe Exiles' Forum, Global Diaspora Forum, SAWIMA.<br />Contact: Gabriel Shumba - Zimbabwe Exiles' Forum / Human rights lawyer. Mr Shumba was personally tortured by the regime.<br />Cell: 072 6393 795<br /><br />Contact: Grace Kwinjeh - Chairman of The Global Diaspora Forum. Ms Kwinjeh was seriously beaten en route to the Save Zimbabwe prayer meeting on 11 March 2007.<br />Cell: 079 434 4508 <br /><br />Contact: Mrs Joyce Dube - Director, Southern African Women's Institute for Migration Affairs (has recently been in Zimbabwe and is fully up to date).<br />Cell: 079 873 9021<br /><br />Thursday 17 April from 11h00<br /><br /># Demonstration outside the Pan African Parliament in Pretoria. From 11h00. Revolutionary Youth Movement of Zimbabwe.<br /><br />Contact: Simon Dread Mudekwa - President of the RYMZ<br />Cell: 079 619 2955<br /><br />The message of the marches and demonstrations:<br /><br /># The situation in Zimbabwe is no longer serious, it is desperate<br /># United Nations intervention is needed immediately<br /># Thousands of lives, livelihoods and homes are at stake<br /># The healthcare system has collapsed and the hospitals cannot cope with the mounting injuries<br /># The crisis poses a serious threat to the region.<br /># If the violence perpetrated by the Zimbabwean regime is not halted, the refugee crisis will escalate dramatically<br /><br />Note: Demonstrations are also taking place at the Zimbabwean Embassy in London.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-53983048436885601122008-04-15T10:09:00.002+02:002008-04-15T10:12:46.856+02:00Mugabe and Zanu PF now constitute a coup<span style="font-style: italic;">By permission of Briggs Bomba... </span><br /><br />Mugabe and Zanu PF now constitute a coup<br />Briggs Bomba<br />April 07, 2008<br /><br />The unfortunate, yet predictable drama unfolding in the wake of Zimbabwe’s March 29 elections resurrects Josef Stalin’s ghosts reminding us of his uncanny words that ‘Its not who votes that counts, its who counts the votes’. Mugabe’s crafty actions since the elections evidently show that he is determined to win the count after losing the elections.<br /><br />Seven days after peacefully casting votes in the most anticipated election since 1980, Zimbabweans still await the official announcement of the results. The profound sense of hope that characterized the voting day is now turning into downright bewilderment as it becomes clear that President Mugabe and his Zanu PF are doggedly bent on disregarding the people’s sovereign will as expressed on March 29.<br /><br />The revelation from State media that Zanu PF ordered the Zimbabwe Elections Commission (ZEC) not to announce the presidential election results is baffling to anyone with a sense of how the Zimbabwean elections process must work. ZEC is a constitutionally mandated body tasked to independently administer elections. For such a body to take orders from Zanu PF whose legal status in this case is a mere contestant demonstrates what is wrong not only with elections but with everything in Zimbabwe. It is this rotten state of democratic institutions and the subordination of state bodies to the ruling party that is at the heart of the country’s decay.<br /><br />The important point that must be made now is that President Mugabe’s continued hold on power, after an election he visibly lost, now constitutes a coup. Zimbabweans, supported by the international community must immediately act to thwart this violation of the people’s democratic will. The unprecedented and unconstitutional move by Zanu PF’s to bar the ZEC from announcing the presidential election results is clear evidence of mischief and unwillingness by hardliners in Mugabe’s regime to respect the sovereign will of the people of Zimbabwe. By heeding this illegal request, ZEC has failed the crucial test of independence, thus confirming the longstanding fears by Zimbabwe’s civic society that the elections body will sacrifice Zimbabwe’s democracy at the alter of partisan interests.<br /><br />Zanu PF’s calls for a recount and already ongoing preparations for a presidential election rerun, before the results are known, is not only bizarre but also evidence of utter contemptuous disrespect to not only Zimbabweans but also the whole world. With the current machinations, the Mugabe regime has reached the height of illegality because they have in actual fact staged what is essentially a ‘veto coup’. By definition this is when ‘people’s mass participation and social mobilization to govern themselves’ is vetoed.<br /><br />By refusing to bow to popular will Mugabe is daring the people of Zimbabwe who have demonstrated legendary restrain and patience under the most unbearable living conditions. The March 29 elections presented a singular opportunity for many to peacefully speak out and entrust the future of the country in a leadership of their choice. The consequences of frustrating and thereby rendering irrelevant such a democratic arena of struggle are dangerous not only to Zimbabwe but, potentially to the whole of Southern Africa. Mugabe’s reckless actions risks destabilizing the whole region by provoking people to extra democratic means in Zimbabwe with certain adverse spill over effects in the region. As such the responsibility to defend the March 29 vote goes beyond Zimbabweans. SADC, the AU and the United Nations, as bodies with longstanding commitment against illegal usurpation of power must play a key role in breaking the impasse in Zimbabwe. If these bodies are to remain relevant it is they speak out now to pressure Mugabe to release and accept the election results, otherwise they will be faced with a serious crisis of legitimacy.<br /><br />At this very late hour, statements by South African President Thabo Mbeki that ‘the situation in Zimbabwe is manageable’ and that ‘it is time to wait’ are not only unhelpful but a slap in the face for long suffering Zimbabweans, who at considerable risk and sacrifice went out to vote on March 29. There cannot be any plausible reason why results are not known seven days after voting! No, Mr President, this is not ‘a time to wait’; neither is it a ‘manageable situation’. This is more like a time bomb that can only be defused if the people’s vote is respected.<br /><br />President Mbeki’s unfortunate statements and the deafening silence from other African leaders in SADC and the AU raises serious problems of accountability with the current crop of African leaders. Where is the moral outrage in this clear case of daylight robbery? Diplomacy seems to have been redefined to ‘see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil’ within the old boys club. Africa is not helped by this blind, uncritical support amongst its leaders.<br /><br />The opposition in Zimbabwe must now show decisive leadership. While it is commendable that we have not seen ‘Kenyan style’ violence in the post election period, Zimbabwe’s opposition must learn from Kenyan opposition that the business of appealing to an incumbent’s courts does not work. There are pending cases in courts from the 2000 elections. In fact, with a compromised judiciary, such as Zimbabwe’s, court appeals only serve the purpose of disarming people’s vigilance by creating a distracting sideshow and reinforcing illusions of mitigation. Already a dilly dance has started in the courts with all sorts of delaying tactics meant to buy Mugabe time until its too late, rendering the court challenge academic. The opposition is best advised to resort to peaceful mass mobilization of people power to defend the vote. The opposition must lead unions, students and the full range of civic society in defending the people’s vote. Mugabe will only pay attention if he is convinced that he can no longer govern in the old way, therefore the strategy must be to paralyze the state through effective, peacefully direct action. I personally hope that Professor Masunungure will be proved wrong on his recent assertion that Mugabe will get away with mischief and fraud because Zanu PF is ‘risk taking’ whereas the opposition is ‘risk averse’.<br /><br />The despicable levels of suffering by many Zimbabwean make resolving the current impasse in Zimbabwe an urgent matter. Having been on the ground myself for two weeks around election time, I can attest that the humanitarian disaster I witnessed is heartbreaking. An old man I talked to in one of the rural areas told me that “now we wait to see which bush the goats are feeding on, and we eat that because we know it will not be poisonous”. Their village had always voted Zanu PF, this time they voted out one of Mugabe’s ministers despite all their fears of what could happen. They voted to restore their dignity.<br /><br />It is time to defend the vote.<br /><br />* Briggs Bomba is a Zimbabwean born Economist working for Africa Action in Washington DC, and writes here in his personal capacity. He can be contacted at briggsbomba@yahoo.com<br /><br />*Originally posted at: <a href="http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/opin/080407bb.asp?sector=OPIN">http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/opin/080407bb.asp?sector=OPIN</a>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-43347188422116599272008-04-11T11:48:00.003+02:002008-04-11T12:22:42.992+02:00Tibetan FeudalismGo <a href="http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7355">here</a> for a very good left analysis of historical Tibetan feudalism. Here's an snippet:<br /><br /><blockquote>One common complaint among Buddhist followers in the West is that Tibet’s religious culture is being undermined by the Chinese occupation. To some extent this seems to be the case. Many of the monasteries are closed, and much of the theocracy seems to have passed into history. Whether Chinese rule has brought betterment or disaster is not the central issue here. The question is what kind of country was old Tibet. What I am disputing is the supposedly pristine spiritual nature of that pre-invasion culture. We can advocate religious freedom and independence for a new Tibet without having to embrace the mythology about old Tibet. Tibetan feudalism was cloaked in Buddhism, but the two are not to be equated. In reality, old Tibet was not a Paradise Lost. It was a retrograde repressive theocracy of extreme privilege and poverty, a long way from Shangri-La.<br /><br />Finally, let it be said that if Tibet’s future is to be positioned somewhere within China’s emerging free-market paradise, then this does not bode well for the Tibetans. China boasts a dazzling 8 percent economic growth rate and is emerging as one of the world’s greatest industrial powers. But with economic growth has come an ever deepening gulf between rich and poor. Most Chinese live close to the poverty level or well under it, while a small group of newly brooded capitalists profit hugely in collusion with shady officials. Regional bureaucrats milk the country dry, extorting graft from the populace and looting local treasuries. Land grabbing in cities and countryside by avaricious developers and corrupt officials at the expense of the populace are almost everyday occurrences. Tens of thousands of grassroot protests and disturbances have erupted across the country, usually to be met with unforgiving police force. Corruption is so prevalent, reaching into so many places, that even the normally complacent national leadership was forced to take notice and began moving against it in late 2006. </blockquote>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-31101193735184341552008-04-08T19:48:00.000+02:002008-04-08T19:50:27.998+02:00Comparing Israel and Tibet- Absurd!Comparing Israel and Tibet- Absurd!<br />By Tristen Taylor, Tibetan Solidarity Activist<br /><br />The recent South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) advert in the Vuvuzela (University of the Witwatersrand, 04 April 2008) showing the Dalai Lama praying at the Wailing Wall and comparing the plight of repressed and brutalised Tibetans to that of Israeli Jews is propaganda at its most vile. <br /><br />As the latest protests in Tibet have shown, Tibetans have a genuine desire to self-government, religious independence, and freedom from the yoke of repression. The people of Tibet have flooded onto the streets, armed only with their religion and the knowledge of a just cause, and have stood up against the superior military might, arbitrary detention, and extrajudicial killings of the Chinese military. Tibet is a country invaded, economically and environmentally exploited, and whose culture is being swamped by hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese migrants. Tibetans are prisoners within their own country.<br /><br />Are Tibetans really like Israelis? Is the condition of Tibetan protesters that of Israeli soldiers enforcing collective punishment on an entire people- the Palestinians? No, and to compare the two is not only misleading but also an outright lie.<br /><br />If SAUJS were prepared to admit the truth, it would see that the conditions of Tibetans and Palestinians were very comparable. Both groups of people are ruled over by an external military force which illegally invaded their country. Both Tibetans and Palestinians are marginalised economically, are subjected to religious and racial persecution, and live in Apartheid-like societies. The arguments for Palestinian and Tibetan liberation are fundamentally the same.<br /><br />If one were genuinely willing to look at the facts, one would have to admit that the Israeli occupation of Palestine is nothing but a series of crimes against humanity; similar to Chinese crimes against Tibetans.<br /><br />A more appropriate ad—an ad seeking to expose the suffering of innocents— would be of Ehud Olmert and Wen Jiabao standing respectively over a Palestinian and Tibetan child, and betting who could crush that child’s skull the quickest with their jackboots. <br /><br />Oh, and by the way, SAUJS’s interest in the plight of Tibetans was witnessed by its conspicuous absence from a recent Free Tibet activity on campus last month.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-6948550681241710482008-03-28T11:05:00.000+02:002008-03-28T11:07:19.586+02:00Press Release: Electricity is a right and the poor must have access to clean, alternative energy. South Africa needs democratic control of energy forPress Release: Electricity is a right and the poor must have access to clean, alternative energy. South Africa needs democratic control of energy for all!<br />Anti Privitisation Forum<br />20th of March 2008<br /><br />The issue of electricity in South Africa, in particular with ESKOM, is about the generation and distribution of electricity in Africa. As indicated in our country’s Constitution (in the bill of rights) electricity is a right. ESKOM has an attitude that electricity is a privilege not a right hence the ridiculous tariff increment of wanting to charge more than 53%. The Anti Privatisation Forum is condemning this increase and it is mobilising its constituencies against this proposed increase. This comes after ESKOM last year proposed an 18% tariff increase and the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa granted a 14% increase. The recent electricity black-outs in the country has promoted a public debate around the issue of the consumption of energy but have ignored the main source of the problem. The Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) has been struggling for the past eight years to ensure that poor communities have access to basic free electricity and that the poor are aware of their constitutional and human rights in attaining this service.<br /><br />Many of our people in the country are unemployed and live below the poverty line. It is a fact that at least 50% of the population has become worse off since 1994, with most struggling to survive on a daily basis. Many of our constituencies have been living in squalid conditions where they have no roof over their head, use coal & paraffin for fire, candles for studying at night and little or no access to water & sanitation. Despite recent reports from the government on achieving their targets, many communities (Kliptown, Boiketlong, Kwa-Masiza, Tembalihle, Protea South, Khayelitsha QQ residents, Joe Slovo, Ikageng, Delft, Kennedy Road & Crossmoor) and many more informal settlements are at a disadvantage and have lost hope. Around 30% of South Africa’s population has absolutely no access to electricity, while many more than do have access will not be able to afford the proposed tariff increases.<br /><br />The recent noise about load-shedding in the country is because big-business has been affected (where some have been forced to run their operations at 90-95% capacity). This has been viewed as a problem because it will affect production and decrease profitability resulting in a decline in the country’s economic growth. Even louder noises have been made that this will result in job losses and investors will be scared to risk their investments in the country. <br /><br />WHO IS TO BLAME?<br /><br />It comes as no surprise that ESKOM CEO, Jacob Maroga, who recently met with 131 business executives from the ESKOM’s top 38 industrial and business customers in Midrand to discuss solutions to the power crisis, consciously excluded community and social movement organizations. Agriculture and the business sector combined get 83% of all electricity while the citizenry must scavenge for the remaining 17%. Then we wonder why the community is told to sleep early, switch of the geyser, use light saving bulbs, report illegal connections (“izinyoka”) and utilise less electricity during peak hours when they only use 17% of electricity. But also the message is directed to the poor who use minimal amounts of electricity as compared to the rich who have Jacuzzi’s, warm swimming pools, air conditioners, under floor heaters and many other electricity-eating gadgets. But this is not the point, we can’t compare this consumption to that of big business who clearly are being given first preference by ESKOM in terms of pricing policy. While big business is being provided electricity at less than 15 cents per kilowatt/hour, poor rural residents have long been charged 48 cents per kilowatt/hour. During recent power cuts, we have seen President Mbeki saying that it is a national crisis and all must play a role in taking equal responsibility for the crisis – we agree, there is a crisis, but it is not poor people who should bear equal burden for that crisis. The APF backs the call of the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) for ‘civil society’ to be part of the Electricity Forum – the voices of the poor must be heard.<br /><br />The main sources of energy consumption/use in our modern lives are petroleum, natural gas and coal - all fossil fuels which are diminishing and with few/no alternatives energy sources in mind. In addition, ownership and control of present energy sources is monopolized by a few corporates and ultra-wealthy individuals. In South Africa, the government is responsible for producing 90% of the country’s electricity output, mostly all through coal-fired power stations. The additional 5% comes from nuclear-generated power (Koeberg) and hydro resources. This means that our government, through ESKOM, has the sole discretion as to how to distribute electricity output – and we can all see what decisions that have taken (agriculture gets 3%, commerce gets 10%, transport gets 2% and industry, a whopping 68%). The government’s macro-economic policy -GEAR – provides the overall framework for such choices of electricity distribution.<br /><br />A classic example of this is the recent ALCAN-Coega deal with ESKOM that was signed on the 24th November 2006 (but which has since been delayed). The proposed Alcan-Coega aluminum smelter requires 1300MW of coal-generated power, enough to supply a small city, with Alcan only paying 0.02 to 0.06 cents per kilowatt/hour. What this clearly reveals is that there is no democratic process in decisions regarding electricity generation, distribution and pricing.<br /><br />ALTERNATIVE ENERGY<br /><br />The only long term solution is to address both the environmental and human justice concerns, as part of addressing the political economy of energy/power. One of the factors that most all are agreed on, is that there are major socio-economic inequalities in South Africa. For example, poor people have been, and to a lesser extent continue to be, deprived of quality education and thus of the possibilities of being able to learn about the political economy of energy. Issues of energy have to be taken down to the community level. In the APF local government electricity platform we have clearly outlined our demands and alternative sources of energy. Addressing the immediate nature of the present crisis and its anti-poor ‘solutions’, requires a change in the distribution policy of ESKOM and government, reduction of electricity cut-offs, lower residential tariffs (especially for the poor) and an increase in the life-line allowances.<br /><br />We need to be clear that there is no shortage of energy. There are existing alternative energy sources/ technologies (solar, wind, biogas etc.) and there are also methods of using energy with much greater efficiency, which have the potential to change the political economy of power. Moving forward on this front is going to require public sector/state support and subsidisation - especially for further research and development. We need to decentralise the generation of electricity to the local level of municipalities, town villages and households. Wind and solar energy provide two of the potentially best alternative sources, because they are free to all and they can’t be controlled by a few. Individual citizens and communities must have the ability not only to set their own electricity requirements but also to meet their own needs. People must have direct control of the electricity sector.<br /><br />As the APF we say:<br /><br />Forward to democratic control of renewable energy for all!<br /><br />For more information please call Silumko Radebe (APF Organiser) @ 011 333 8334; Patra Sindane (Coalition Against Water Privatisation) @ 011 333 8334 Also contact Tristen Taylor (Earthlife Africa) @ 011 339 3662Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-62997874047919409332008-03-17T15:26:00.002+02:002008-03-17T15:31:04.624+02:00Earthlife Africa Welcomes Delay of Alcan Smelter<span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Press Release: Earthlife Africa Welcomes Delay of Alcan Smelter<br />Earthlife Africa Jhb<br />17th of March 2008<br /><br />In this time of electricity supply crisis, the reported (SABC, 17/03/08) construction delay of the Alcan smelter at Coega is to be welcomed as a first step towards a rationalised electricity supply and distribution system.<br /><br />For over two years, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg has been campaigning against the sale of bulk electricity to Alcan at low tariff rates. In late 2006, the Government & Eskom signed a host of deals with Alcan under the Developmental Electricity Pricing Programme (DEPP). These deals ensured Alcan 1350MW of power (enough to run a small city) at low rates. The estimated special tariff for Alcan is 12c/kWh.<br /><br />While the details of these deals remain secret—due to dubious confidentiality clauses within the DEPP policy—delaying construction of the proposed smelter gives the Government the time to scrap the DEPP. This will enable the Government to replace the DEPP with an open, transparent policy on industrial electricity supply that will ensure industrial customers meaningfully contribute towards paying for the expansion of Eskom’s generating capacity.<br /><br />In particular, the time has come to ensure that Eskom increases the generation of electricity from renewable resources, in particular Concentrated Solar Thermal, and that the tariff system is brought into line with the new realities.<br /><br />Earthlife Africa Jhb believes that as commodity prices rise over the next five years (oil, coal, natural gas, and uranium) and as South Africa comes under increasing pressure to cut CO2 emissions, South Africa will have to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable forms of energy.<br /><br />Government policies like the DEPP prevent this. The underlying assumption behind the DEPP and the subsequent Alcan deal is that the Apartheid system of providing heavy industry with dirty, cheap electricity from coal-fired power stations is applicable in the 21st Century. This is not the case. South Africa cannot afford the Apartheid-style of electricity system under current global energy trends.<br /><br />However, the converse is also true. South Africa can afford to invest heavily in an industrial plan to design and manufacture renewable energy technology. Only last week, the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies in the Western Cape announced the possibility of generating 10,000MW of electricity from wave power alone.<br /><br />Our national resources should be invested in promoting this kind of research and development. Showering tax credits and cheap, polluting energy on foreign users in return for very few jobs is an economic model best left in the 1980s.<br /><br />For more information, please contact:<br /><br />Tristen Taylor<br />Energy Policy Officer<br />Earthlife Africa-Johannesburg Branch</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span><br /></span>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-88708202500278854922008-03-17T10:16:00.001+02:002008-03-17T10:20:18.079+02:00Editorial on SA Energy NewsMarch Editorial on SA Energy News<br /><br />Two issues of SENSE (#47) ago, SENSE warned about the coming global shortage of petroleum. Those who still don’t believe have yet to fill up their gas-guzzling four by fours; bigger shocks ahead folks, like the possibility of petrol going to R10 a litre in the near future.<br /><br />The peak of oil production is not alone; the coal price is going through the roof with the price of thermal coal tripling in the last year, while the price of coking coal doubling over the same period. This has prompted Eskom to call for another round of tariff increases.<br /><br />The collective belt tightening that Eskom management calls for does not extend to their own corporate bonuses; maybe the top execs need the extra millions to pay for the increased power costs of running their mansions, swimming pools and ten-metre plasma TV screens.<br /><br />Which brings us to the Eskom approach to domestic tariffs in general; a.k.a. the sledgehammer approach. Eskom raises tariff prices with barely a nod of the head to South African’s social and economic conditions. Fifty percent of the population lives in poverty, and can hardly meet their nutritional requirements, let alone the municipal electricity bill. Without employing the insanely revolutionary, utterly insurrectionary and wickedly irresponsible tactics of an increased free basic allocation and a step-block tariff, Eskom’s tariff increases will squash any hopes of eradicating poverty this side of the new millennium.<br /><br />Turning to one of the SECCP’s favourite topics—the proposed Alcan smelter at Coega—it seems that it is only Cabinet and Alcan that are in favour of the actual smelter and its fantastic consumption of electricity at low, low rates. Veteran energy analyst Andrew Kenny stated recently that, "SA's number one thing for investment was cheap power. We have lost that. The Coega smelter must be scrapped."<br /><br />On the nuclear side of things, Patrick Moore has been in South Africa touting his Greenpeace credentials (he says he’s a founder) and punting the joys of reactors, cost overruns, nuclear proliferation worries, and the long-term health benefits of nuclear waste. Here’s what Greenpeace has to say about its self-declared founding fathers:<br /><br />“Patrick Moore was one of the people involved in sailing the ship 'Phyllis Cormack' to Amchitka to protest planned US nuclear weapons nuclear tests in 1971. However, his claim to be a Greenpeace co-founder is untrue. The initiative against those nuclear tests began in 1969, and only two years later did Moore send a letter in which he introduced himself as a student and asked if he could join.<br /><br />“Since leaving Greenpeace in 1985, Moore has been a paid propagandist for a number of polluting industries, including: defending clear-cut logging of forests in British Columbia, downplaying deforestation in Amazonia, supporting controversial mining projects, and promoting genetic engineering. On some occasions he has even been in the Climate Sceptic camp.”<br /><br />The good news is that scientists at the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies might have found a way to generate 10,000MW of electricity from wave power alone.<br /><br />We have alternatives to fossil fuels.<br /><br />Tristen Taylor<br />Energy Policy Officer<br />SECCP<br />Earthlife Africa Jhb<br /><br />Read the entire newsletter <a href="http://www.earthlife.org.za/Files/SENSE%2049.pdf">here</a>.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-56793390162661858922008-03-14T08:10:00.000+02:002008-03-17T10:12:13.754+02:00Press Release: Poor residents of Rammolutsi (Free State) resist evictions by MunicipalityCOALITION AGAINST WATER PRIVATISATION<br />PRESS STATEMENT<br />Wednesday12th March 2008<br /><br />Poor residents of Rammolutsi (Free State) resist evictions by Municipality - 4 arrested this morning<br /><br />Johannesburg- Yesterday residents of Freedom-Park Square (Rammolutsi) near the small farming town of Viljoenskroon (Northern Free State) faced evictions by Moqhaka Municipality. Three men and one woman, including CAWP activist, Bramage Sekete, were arrested for resisting the evictions and will appear before the local magistrate’s court on 19 March 2008.<br /><br />Residents were officially given the land on the 26th of October 2006 by the Mayor of Moqhaka Municipality, Mantebo Mokgosi. Soon after however, the community were surprised to find out that the land had been leased back to the previous farm-owner, Mr. Roux, for a period of five years, evidently for “agricultural purposes”. Residents then decided to occupy the land on the 26th September 2007 after a community meeting, attended by the Mayor.<br /><br />Late in 2007, the High Court ruled in favor of the Municipality, which had brought an application seeking to legalise evictions. Yesterday, despite community resistance, a municipal tractor was used to destroy and demolish the shacks which residents had been living in. The four comrades who were subsequently arrested and locked-up in police cells, had earlier tried to negotiate with the police. This morning, the four made their first appearance in court, were denied bail, and informed that their case will be heard on Wednesday 19th March.<br /><br />The CAWP, which has consistently supported residents of Rammolutsi in their ongoing struggles for clean and accessible water from the Moqhaka Municipality, is now supporting the community’s struggle for decent housing and the right not to be evicted from their homes. CAWP unreservedly condemns the Municipality’s unwarranted and inhumane actions in destroying the homes, and evicting, poor residents. The poor should not be punished for government’s failure to provide land and houses. The actions in Rammolutsi are part of a national crisis in which poor communities across our country (some of the latest examples being communities like Delft & Joe Slovo in Cape Town and Kennedy Road in Durban) are being treated as criminals and deprived of their democratic and human rights. In the face of the unwillingness of the various levels of government to deliver what they have long-promised and to uphold the rights of the poor, resistance will continue.<br /><br />For more information please contact CAWP Organiser - Patra Sindane on 073 052 7005Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-81157719170119199522008-03-12T07:23:00.000+02:002008-03-11T20:29:20.266+02:00Free Tibet SpeechBelow is a short speech I made on Tibet at the University of the Witwatersrand last week. Btw, I'm not a Buddhist, died black in materialism.<br /><br />Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Tibetan Photo Exhibition hosted by Students for a Free Tibet. Thank you for coming, and I hope that you enjoy these excellent representations of Tibetan culture.<br /><br />My name is Tristen Taylor, and I am a South African human rights campaigner. I have been asked by the Office of Tibet in South Africa to briefly discuss human rights abuses in Tibet.<br /><br />The situation in Tibet continues to deteriorate in regards to the basic human rights of the Tibetan people and the prospects for self-rule or independence are still remote.<br /><br />In 1950, the People’s Republic China invaded the independent nation of Tibet, with the public aim of abolishing feudalism within Tibet. It was assisted in this invasion—an invasion that killed between 400,000 and 1.2 million Tibetans—by Tibetan communists, also seeking to end serfdom within Tibet. In a sign of the repression that has come to dominate Chinese oppression, many of these Tibetan communists were arrested by the Chinese for advocating a free and independent Tibet.<br /><br />In 1959, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was forced to flee from Tibet, and throughout the reign of Mao Zedong the predominantly Buddhist religious and cultural institutions of Tibet were systematically attacked and destroyed; approximately 6,000 monasteries were destroyed. Detention, forced labour in re-education camps, executions, torture, forced relocations and extra-judicial killings became depressingly commonplace. These crimes are still being committed today. Right now, as I speak to you, it is a crime to possess a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tibet.<br /><br />Today, several key human rights are being violated in Tibet by the Chinese Government.<br /><br />The right for workers to organise and assemble is denied to Tibetans and other Chinese workers. There is one trade union in Tibet, subordinate to the Chinese Central Government, and its current aim is to facilitate business, not stand up for the rights of workers. Tibetan workers must be allowed to form their own independent trade unions.<br /><br />The right to religious freedom is being denied on a whole-scale and systematic basis. Monks are permitted to practice Buddhism only if they do not challenge China’s rule of Tibet, renounce the Dalai Lama, and stay within proscribed boundaries. Recently and in a widely distributed film clip, Chinese soldiers shot and killed monks as they were attempting to flee to India. Tibetan civil servants are not allowed to practice Buddhism.<br /><br />And, Tibetan Muslims have been forced into exile for practising their faith as they see fit, not as Beijing wishes Islam to be practiced. Tibetans must be allowed to practise their religions as they desire.<br /><br />Tibetans human rights are being violated by China’s current policy of forced land evictions and the destruction of the Tibetan herding economy. Tens of thousands of Tibetans have been forced off their land, forced to slaughter their herds, and relocated to Chinese built and controlled urban settlements, where they have sunk into poverty and dislocation. This Chinese policy aims to reinterpret Tibetan society into a more acceptable society; i.e. turn self-sufficient Tibetans into low-wage construction and service workers, marginalised and dispossessed. Over 350 people a day die in Chinese factories.<br /><br />The right to a clean and healthy environment is being made a mockery of by the Chinese State. Currently, China uses Tibet as its industrial backyard, locating heavy and polluting industry within Tibet. In particular, aluminium smelters are poisoning harvests and grasslands with fluoride emissions. With over 150 millions tons of oil located in the Tibetan basin and one-third of China’s copper reserves, China is seeking to exploit Tibetan natural resources for use in China’s eastern provinces. This is an example of the brutal colonialism that we Africans only know too well. China will exploit and use Tibet’s resources to enrich itself; little of this wealth will remain in Tibet.<br /><br />As His Holiness the Dalai Lama has pointed out, there is a form of Apartheid existing in Tibet. The Chinese Government brings Han Chinese migrants into Tibet, drastically changing the demographic dynamics, and favours Han Chinese in the business and political realms. For example, the powerful Central Communist Committee of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, is dominated by Han Chinese. An overclass of Han Chinese has emerged in Tibet; a racial power relationship eerily similar to Apartheid.<br /><br />At the heart of all these human rights abuses is the fervent desire of Tibetans to democratically administer their own country. This right is well-recognised within international relations. If Kosovo, Palestine, Ireland, Catalonia and Kurdistan can all have either independence or self-rule, why not Tibet?<br /><br />We can understand this desire for freedom in Africa. For hundreds of years we have been exploited and colonised by foreign powers in the name of civilisation. Our resources have been stripped and provide the basis for Europe’s current development. Our labour, rubber, gold, oil, timber, and diamonds have made Europe wealthy and Africa poor. We have been trapped in foreign, illegitimate debt for generations; food and medicine has literally been stolen from our children’s mouths.<br /><br />It is in the spirit of solidarity against repression and colonialism that all South Africans must support Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call for China to recognise the inalienable right for Tibetans to administer their own affairs. Like millions of ordinary people across the world supported our struggle against Apartheid, we millions of South Africans should support the Tibetan struggle for democracy and freedom.<br /><br />Thank you very much.<br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-43290447400294711902008-03-11T12:24:00.000+02:002008-03-11T12:30:04.776+02:00Earthlife Africa and Greenpeace on Patrick MoorePress Statement - Patrick Moore in South Africa<br />Earthlife Africa Cape Town<br /><br />Cape Town, 10 March, 2008 - Patrick Moore is in South Africa at a time when the country is experiencing electricity shortages and when decisions must be made about investing substantial amount of resources into new energy capacity. Patrick Moore's visit is also at an opportune time as South Africa reviews its premier energy policy document - the 1998 white paper on energy<br />policy.<br /><br />As much as Patrick Moore has the right to an opinion, Earthlife Africa Nuclear Energy Cost the Earth Campaign (NECTEC) object to a number of matters associated with his visit to South Africa. Firstly, we would like to clear that Patrick Moore is not a Greenpeace founder and that he is simply providing public relation services to the nuclear industry and other controversial issues including genetically modified organisms (GMOs). We are concerned that the public is being misinformed that Patrick Moore, who left the organisation more than 20 years ago, is paraded as a Greenpeace founder.<br /><br />"Patrick Moore was one of the people involved in sailing the ship Phyllis Cormack against Amchitka nuclear tests in 1971, but his claims that he is a co-founder are not true. The initiative against those nuclear tests origins in 1969, and only two years later Moore sent a letter in which he introduced himself as a student and asked if he could join. Both his application from March 16, 1971, and a response from "Greenpeace/Don't Make a Wave Committee" dated March 24, 1971 have been archived. And it is a matter of fact that co-founders do not have to write applications to join" said Jan Beranek, Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner.<br /><br />Moore, who once denied the existence of climate change, is in South Africa on a mission to save the world from the wrath of global warming by pursuing rigorous nuclear programs, as well as projects to plant genetically modified trees that can absorb more carbon from the air. "This comes from a man who carries a counterfeited Greenpeace co-founder card which he uses to hide the fact that he came to South Africa to mislead the nation aided by the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA)," said Sibusiso Mimi acting nuclear spokesperson.<br /><br />For more information visit: www.earthlife-ct.org.za<br /><br />From: Earthlife Africa<br />Nuclear Energy Cost the Earth Campaign Media Desk<br />021 447 4912<br /><br /><br />Press Release: Patrick Moore's pro-nuclear tour of South Africa<br />Greenpeace<br /><br />Cape Town, 6 March 2008 - Greenpeace today, urged South Africans to ignore the highly paid pro-nuclear preaching of Patrick Moore, who uses a false claim of being one of the organisation's founders to bolster his opinion for industrial hire.<br /><br />Patrick Moore was one of the people involved in sailing the ship 'Phyllis Cormack' to Amchitka to protest planned US nuclear weapons nuclear tests in 1971. However, his claim to be a Greenpeace co-founder is untrue. The initiative against those nuclear tests began in 1969, and only two years later did Moore send a letter in which he introduced himself as a student and asked if he could join.<br /><br />Since leaving Greenpeace in 1985, Moore has been a paid propagandist for a number of polluting industries, including: defending clear-cut logging of forests in British Columbia, downplaying deforestation in Amazonia, supporting controversial mining projects, and promoting genetic engineering. On some occasions he has even been in the Climate Sceptic camp.<br /><br />Moore is listed and offered by the Global Speakers Agency that asks big money for public performances.<br /><br />Greenpeace has reviewed its anti-nuclear stance in light of both global warming and energy security and found that nuclear power is a deadly distraction from the real energy solutions to these problems. While world-wide climate change is being used as the new rationale for nuclear power, in South Africa, the rolling black outs are the most pressing problem, but power cuts cannot be addressed by nuclear power which will not be available until 2016, at the earliest. Renewable energy and energy efficiency can deliver quickly and cheaply.<br /><br />Nothing has changed with the nuclear industry, it remains deadly, dangerous, expensive, a nuclear proliferation threat and leaves a legacy of nuclear waste that will threaten the lives and livelihoods for many generations to come. South Africans would be well advised to ask what is happening to the deadly nuclear waste pilling up at the Koeberg plant and to ask how in the event of an accident the residents of Cape Town are to be evacuated and to see the nuclear books of Eskom?<br /><br />Greenpeace has shown that there is a path to achieving a 50 per cent reduction in the world's global warming emissions by 2050, while at the same time phasing out nuclear power. Greenpeace's Energy [R]evolution blueprint shows that renewable energy, combined with greater energy efficiency, can deliver half of the world's energy needs by 2050.<br /><br />Notes to editors:<br /><br />To find out more about Greenpeace's Energy revolution see:<br />http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change<br /><br />Contact information:<br /><br />Jan Beranek, Greenpeace nuclear campaigner<br />Tel: 00 31 65 11 095 58Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-45135750118201323012008-03-07T11:14:00.000+02:002008-03-07T11:15:48.279+02:00Press Release: Namibian Government Approves NukesPRESS RELEASE<br />Earthlife Namibia<br />05.03.2008<br /><br />In response to a recent announcement by Cabinet regarding power generation and uranium beneficiation in Namibia, Earthlife Namibia wants to express its absolute shock about Government’s approval to build a nuclear power plant and to allow uranium enrichment in Namibia. There are many reasons speaking against nuclear power generation in our country.<br /><br />Nuclear energy is unsafe and dangerous!<br /><br />High-level nuclear waste remains radioactive for a long time. Worldwide there is no solution of safe disposal. Nuclear waste is a problem that does not go away because it remains dangerous for at least 200 000 years. Thus we burden many generations to come with a problem we create today. <br /><br />There is a risk of low-level radiation in all stages of the nuclear power process. Research shows that low-level radiation does have health and environmental implications. <br /><br />Nuclear accidents are mostly a combination of technological and human failure, so they can never be ruled out completely. A nuclear accident can have terrible impacts on many generations to come. The consequences of the nuclear explosion at the power station of Chernobyl 20 years ago still burden many people and the environment.<br /><br />Nuclear energy is not the answer to climate change!<br /><br />Cabinet in its press release states: “Energy produced by nuclear power stations is considered carbon free, especially if its fuel is processed using nuclear generated electricity. Products made or mined using this power qualifies for special consideration in terms of carbon credit.” <br /><br />The nuclear industry lobby and pro-nuclear politicians want to make us believe that nuclear power is climate friendly. This is not true. On the international market no carbon credit is given for nuclear power generation. <br /><br />The whole fuel cycle of nuclear power, from mining uranium to the decommissioning of the power station, releases three to four times more carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than renewable energy. <br /><br />Nuclear energy is very costly!<br /><br />Nuclear energy is, on average, between two and four times more expensive than electricity produced from fossil fuels. The enormous costs of decommissioning the nuclear power station and dealing with nuclear waste are not included. The social and environmental costs associated with nuclear power, from uranium mining to disposal of nuclear waste, are never included in the project costs.<br /><br />Nuclear energy needs high skills!<br /><br />Technology for renewable energy is available and already proved itself in Namibia and intensive research for local application is taking place while the high technological capacity for nuclear power generation is completely absent in the country and would have to be developed in Namibia or imported at very high cost.<br /><br />Nuclear energy is not sustainable!<br /><br />Given current global demand, it is estimated that the world’s uranium resources - both those currently available and possible new reserves – will be exhausted within 60 to 70 years.<br /><br />Earthlife Namibia urges Government to not make nuclear energy generation an option. Namibia has many sustainable and climate friendly resources which should be utilized to the benefit of the country, its people and the environment. <br /><br />Enquiries:<br />Earthlife Namibia<br />Bertchen Kohrs<br />Tel: 061 – 227913<br />Cell: 081 293 8085<br />E-mail: earthl@iway.naTristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-84560104170607286012008-03-05T17:30:00.000+02:002008-03-05T15:43:58.420+02:00Ski Slopes of MarsWith global warming threatening skiing on Earth--the slopes are melting, go <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1661704.stm">here</a> and <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/31991/">here</a>--you would have thought that the in-crowd would start wondering about their carbon footprints and general rape of the planet (including 99.5% of the human population, they've been giving it to me since before I was born). But, no. They've got a better plan, a master plan to get the hell off of Earth and enjoy a new start, while the rest of us stay behind and choke down toxic waste from their industrial, radioactive, nightmare of a global theme park.<br /><br /><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/03mar_avalanche.htm?list955127">NASA recently released the first pictures ever of an avalanche on Mars</a>. Yup, prime powder to be plowed there, and no poor people to get in the way.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-88102167682216473152008-03-03T11:04:00.003+02:002008-03-03T11:16:00.760+02:00A Government Deluded<span style="font-style: italic;">This was published by <a href="http://www.enviropaedia.com/default.php">enviropaedia</a> today.</span><br /><br />A Government Deluded: Alcan’s Continued Threat to South Africa’s Energy Security <br />- 28 February 2008<br />By Tristen Taylor<br />Energy Policy Officer, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg<br /><br />The recent energy shortage highlighted the utter economic insanity of the proposed Alcan aluminum smelter at Coega. The proposed smelter will consume 1350MW of electricity, or 4% of the nation’s total usage. One smelter employing a thousand people will need as much electricity as the entire city of Port Elizabeth requires.<br /><br />Simply put, there is not enough electricity in the current system to supply present needs, as witnessed by the recent rolling blackouts that plunged this nation into a crisis and surely whittled down the prospects of economic growth for 2008. Adding another large scale user into the system will add further pressure to an already shaky electricity supply situation, resulting in more blackouts and possible job losses. In fact, there would have been no blackouts in December 2007 and January 2008 if existing aluminum smelters had been turned off.<br /><br />Local and national opposition to the proposed smelter has been ongoing since 2006, and the question of Alcan’s electricity grab is now part of the national agenda. The technical experts, civil society, unions and the general public are all in agreement, power for existing users before multinationals like Alcan. Even the business press—natural supporters of industrial development and foreign direct investment—has rounded upon the Government and Alcan....<br /><br />Read the rest <a href="http://www.enviropaedia.com/news/article/default.php?pk_news_type_id=1&pk_news_id=172">here</a>.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-49024941841352871122008-02-28T09:25:00.002+02:002008-02-28T09:42:24.699+02:00Eskom's War on the PoorI wrote a piece last year for <a href="http://www.amandla.org.za/">Amandla!</a> magazine--a new progressive magazine in South Africa--on Eskom's tariff increases and their effects on the poor. Amandla! mutilated the piece; so, if you read it and wondered what the hell, trust me, you are as confused as I am. Anyway, <a href="http://www.sangonet.org.za">SANGONeT</a> has just published the entire piece. Go <a href="http://www.sangonet.org.za/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8938">here</a> to read it, and this is how it starts:<br /><br /><blockquote>“Any civil, religious, or military official in government employ, who serves the state from vanity, or, as is most often the case, simply for the sake of the pay wrung from the harassed and toilworn working classes (all taxes, however raised, always fall on labor), if he, as is very seldom the case, does not directly rob the government in the usual way, considers himself, and is considered by his fellows, as a most useful and virtuous member of society.” - Leo Tolstoy<br /><br />On 22 November 2007, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) held its last public hearing on Eskom’s massive rate hikes. The outlook for poor users of electricity is grim and marks yet another salvo in the Government’s unrelenting war on the poor.<br /><br />Eskom and municipalities are planning to increase dramatically electricity tariffs to poor households (defined by NERSA as domestic low users, 100kWh of usage), often at rates above that of domestic high users (800kWh). The new average tariff for domestic low users, based on the projected 16.5% rate hike, will be 48.17c/kWh. For domestic high users, the average tariff will be 45.5c/kWh.<br /><br />Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, an environmental and social justice NGO, opposed this rate hike for poor users in written submissions to NERSA and made an attempt to speak at the public hearing in Pretoria. When an Earthlife Africa representative (Sibusiso Mimi) tried to make a presentation, NERSA officials denied him the right to do so. Mimi summed up the public hearing as, “A NERSA and Eskom tea party.”...</blockquote>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-28836157592549952042008-02-27T10:06:00.000+02:002008-02-28T10:23:06.109+02:00Say Goodbye to Butterflyfish, Sharks, and Antarctic Marine LifeI haven't done a "Goodbye to" post for a while, it is a truly depressing activity. Anyway, no good news this time. The Butterflyfish, nine species of shark (including the hammerhead), and the Antarctic marine ecology are all on the way out, most likely within our lifetimes. The cause, as usual, is us.<br /><br />The Butterflyfish is out because we are destroying its food supply:<br /><br /><blockquote>The case of the Chevroned Butterflyfish is a stark example of how human pressure on the world’s coral reefs is confronting certain species with ‘blind alleys’ from which they may be unable to escape, says Dr Morgan Pratchett of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.<br /><br />In a study published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology Dr Pratchett and Dr Michael Berumen of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) warn that the highly specialized nature of the feeding habits of this particular butterflyfish – the distinctively patterned Chaetodon trifascialis - make it an extinction risk as the world’s coral reefs continue to degrade due to human over-exploitation, pollution and climate change.<br /><br />“The irony is that these butterflyfish are widespread around the world, and you’d have thought their chances of survival were pretty good,” Dr Pratchett said.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080225072629.htm">Link</a><br /><br />Sharks are out due to bycatch and the love of shark fin soup:<br /><blockquote><br />Nine more species of shark are to be added to the endangered list as scientists warn that oceans are being emptied of the fish by overfishing and finning.<br /><br />The scalloped hammerhead shark, which has declined by 99% over the past 30 years in some parts of the world, is particularly vulnerable and will be declared globally endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) list.<br /><br />"Sharks are definitely at the top of the list for marine fishes that could go extinct in our lifetimes," said Julia Baum of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California and a member of IUCN shark specialist group. "If we carry on the way that we are, we're looking at a really high risk of extinction for some of these shark species within the next few decades."<br /><br />At the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston yesterday, Baum said that in addition to the scalloped hammerhead, other shark species that will be added to the revised IUCN endangered list later this year are the smooth hammerhead, shortfin mako, common thresher, big-eye thresher, silky, tiger, bull and dusky. There are already 126 species of shark on the IUCN's list.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/18/conservation.aaas">Link</a><br /><br />The sharks demise is happening in African waters:<br /><br /><blockquote>"While the shark net catches have impacted on some species more heavily than others, most of the species that are caught in the shark nets are wide-ranging, with the tropical species inhabiting Mozambican and Tanzanian waters, where exploitation levels may be very high."<br /><br />For example, their data showed that the great hammerhead shark not one of the nine had undergone a significant decline in catch rates in the nets, Cliff said.<br /><br />"Between 1978 and 1993 we caught an annual average of 13 great hammers. Since 2000 we have only caught two per annum, with none since 2004.<br /><br />"This species, very much a tropical one, has either changed its dispersal habits and is no longer visiting our waters, or it has been heavily fished to the north of us."<br /><br />The local nursery ground of the scalloped hammerhead included the Tugela Banks, where the prawn trawlers had caught large numbers of neo-nates (baby sharks), he added.<br /></blockquote><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=vn20080226113235828C531722"><br />Link</a><br /><br />Global warming is heating up Antarctic seas, allowing predatory crabs and fish to move in on a marine system unprepared for such an assault.<br /><br /><blockquote>Predatory crabs and fish are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters for the first time in millions of years, threatening the shallow marine ecosystems surrounding Antarctica. Antarctic marine communities resemble the primeval waters of millions years ago because modern predators - crabs and fish - are missing.<br /><br />...Antarctic marine communities are functionally Paleozoic - typical of around 250 million years ago,' says paleobiologist Rich Aronson. 'If the crabs' invasion succeeds, they will devastate Antarctica's spectacular Paleozoic-type fauna and fundamentally alter its ecological relationships.'<br /><br />In January 2007 Dr Sven Thatje and a group of ocean biologists from NOCS and BAS discovered crabs massing in deeper slightly warmer waters, ready to move into the Antarctic shallows should they warm up sufficiently.</blockquote><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217200926.htm"><br />Link</a><br /><br />Oh fuck.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-46141892797443002402008-02-22T18:29:00.000+02:002008-02-22T14:34:25.688+02:00From Resistance to Alternatives. Historical overview by Éric Toussaint<a href="http://www.cadtm.org/">CADTM</a> has published a paper by Eric Toussaint (whom I worked with during my Jubilee days) on globalisation and resistance, worth a look at. Here's a snippet:<br /><br /><blockquote>Clearly, the living conditions of a significant part of the population are deteriorating, as much in highly industrialized countries as in other parts of the world. This deterioration affects salaries, employment, health, nutrition, the environment, education and access to culture. It affects people’s fundamental rights too, whether as individuals or communities. The decline is also evident in ecological equilibrium and in relationships between States and citizens, with the large powers resorting to military aggression. The United States is not the only aggressor; it has allies in Europe, where several countries participated in the aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan, and some are still actively participating today. And then there is state terrorism exercised by the Israeli government against the people of Palestine, and the Russian authorities’ intervention against the Chechen people.<br /><br />Signs of barbarity surround us every day<br /><br />Goods, services and capital flow freely across the globe, but people from impoverished countries are blocked from going to wealthy countries. It is a form of contemporary barbarity to grant complete free circulation to capital and goods and to deny it to human beings.<br /><br />In Western Europe and in the United States, it is particularly deplorable to see how asylum seekers are denied justice.<br /><br />It is especially disgusting to hear many political leaders, including on the left, give credit to the idea that we cannot accommodate all of the world’s suffering and therefore it is acceptable for countries of the North to massively refuse asylum and to collectively turn away or bar entry to anyone not benefiting from this right. This type of barbarity leaves asylum seekers stranded at the European Union’s borders. Consider the people killed by firearm while trying to climb over EU-erected barriers in the Spanish enclaves in Morocco in 2005. Consider the thousands of people who lose their lives trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar or attempting to reach the Canary Islands. This situation is obviously not limited to Europe. It is also happening along the Rio Grande at the southern United States border.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.cadtm.org/spip.php?article3130">Link</a>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-52773327014146025492008-02-22T11:37:00.002+02:002008-02-22T11:44:27.358+02:00Patrick Moore in SAThe <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moore_%28environmentalist%29">sellout</a> is coming to SA. See the <a href="http://theantidote.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/nuclear-power-pundit-patrick-moore-in-sa/">Antidote</a> for details, and here's a taste:<br /><blockquote><br />Having been in the doldrums for decades after the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the atomic energy industry in the USA, in a now rather familiar strategy, has been spending millions of dollars on political lobbying, establishing pro-nuclear organisations and “media outreach”. In 2006, the Nuclear Energy Institute, representing the US atomic energy industry, launched the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, which is co-chaired by Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace.<br /><br />Moore, who left Greenpeace in 1986 to start a consulting firm that has worked for the logging, mining, biotech and nuclear industries, is frequently quoted in the media as an environmentalist and former Greenpeace activist who has come to the conclusion that atomic power is our only solution. The media also very commonly forget to mention that Moore now happens to be employed by the atomic power industry.<br /><br />In a pro-nuclear article in this year’s January to June [2007] issue of the South African glossy magazine Greenprint, for example, Moore is quoted as a co-founder of Greenpeace, while his financial attachment to the industry he promotes is not mentioned.</blockquote><br />Enough said.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-36855466371249272752008-02-22T07:23:00.001+02:002008-02-22T11:27:03.710+02:00SAMWU statement on The Budget<a href="http://www.samwu.org.za/">SAMWU </a>Press Statement <br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">20th February 2008 </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">SAMWU statement on The Budget</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trevor Manuel’s ‘stormy’ budget speech represented continued downpour on the poor and balmy weather for the rich. His defence of the conservative macro-economic programme of GEAR shows that despite what happened in Polokwane, government is still committed to furthering the interests of the wealthy against that of the poor.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The argument that GEAR macroeconomic policy implemented since 1996 has prepared a cushion for the general population against the current storm in the global economy is plainly wrong. GEAR has led to close to two million job losses, the destruction of large parts of the manufacturing sector, high interest rates, relaxed exchange controls that has deepened poverty in the country. South Africa is the third most unequal country in the world and this is because our government refuses to spend suficient amounts on the poor. SAMWU does not believe that the government should be perpetuating the notion that a budget surplus is healthy. The budget “surplus” must be spent on job creation, basic services, housing and relief for those in need.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The fact that VAT remains at 14% despite it being a regressive tax falling more heavily on the poor is contrary to government’s stated intention of providing poverty relief. Government income through VAT increased by 5c to 76c per loaf of white bread after the recent bread price hikes. Government will earn R1,29 billion in VAT on white bread alone this year. This is unacceptable given that it is a staple food in the country.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whereas the Finance Minister refused to give up the R1, 29bn in white bread VAT, he has willy-nilly increased the allocation to the 2010 World Cup by R2bn, bringing the 2008/2009 budget for the World Cup to over R19 billion. Last year’s allocation was already over R5 billion more than the predicted 2009/2010 expenditure on housing, which Manuel said would be R12.5 billion. It was 29 times or R16.8 billion more than last year’s allocation for the electrification programme, and R16 billion or almost 13 times the amount allocated for bulk water and sanitation infrastructure last year. With service delivery protests reaching record highs, it is astonishing that Manuel has continued to fritter away the country’s budget on a sports event that will benefit mainly multi-national corporations.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">SAMWU is also dismayed that there is no specific emphasis on eradicating the bucket system. Last year a Municipal Infrastructure Grant of R400 million was allocated for a “final push to eradicate the bucket system”. This did not eradicate the bucket system. Instead the goalposts were shifted to say that this money was for eradicating the bucket system in “formal” informal settlements only. Government failed to do even that and now has not allocated any money to complete the programme.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instead, an additional R6 billion was allocated for housing, water and general built environment infrastructure. This will have to cover the eradication of the bucket system and the housing and water backlog. Given that the housing backlog has been costed at R50 billion, with an additional 200 000 homes per year adding to the backlog, the union believes that the additional R6 billion for housing, water and general built environment infrastructure is a pathetic drop in the vast ocean of need.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last year, government said that they were planning for a budget surplus in the coming fiscal year to “create space for our future social security reforms and allows for rising funding levels for public sector infrastructure, improvements to education and other government priorities”. However, there is no social security reform! There is no basic income grant. And pensions and disability and child support grants have increased by only R70 and R20 per month respectively (with the R20 being phased in). Pensions have thus increased by a measly 8% whereas inflation currently stands at 9%. This means that state pensioners receive a 1% cut in real term. Child support grants increase by an annualised amount of 7,5%, a 1,5% cut in real terms. These measures are currently the major source of redistribution and their below inflationary increases will impact negatively on working class communities.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">SAMWU notes that the equitable share of revenue to local government is again not equitable at all given the vast array of services local government is expected to provide. Only R6.5 billion has been allocated to local government through the equitable share, whereas defence and intelligence get R30.4 billion!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Finance Minister referred to the inflation rate as being 7% and then later in his speech said the rate was somewhere between 5% and 11%. In fact the CPI rate is currently 9%. The budget increases are therefore not meaningful increases in real terms once inflation and the backlog in services is taken out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, business has once again benefitted from the budget. A further reduction in company tax rate from 29% to 28% shows us who the real winners are in Trevor’s budget. Capital does not have to give Trevor tips, he does it all for them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because of the failure of the government to sieze upon opportunities for redistribution, we are preparing ourselves to campaign for them. We cannot accept further delay, our people have waited long enough, and now is the time to enforce redistribution from below.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">For comment please call the SAMWU National Collective Bargaining Officer Dale Forbes on 021 6971151</span>Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10274459.post-2002281518909564412008-02-19T08:35:00.000+02:002008-02-19T12:37:27.818+02:00Power to the PeopleHere's a new blog for you all to check out: <a href="http://power-2-people.blogspot.com/">Power to the People</a>, an African anarchist stranded in America.Tristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05725834166480146817noreply@blogger.com0