People and Power - The Great Olympic Greenwash.

Organisers of the London Olympics 2012, boast it will be the most environmentally friendly ever.
But with all the medals coming from one huge polluting hole in the ground in Utah, it could be more greenwash than green.
An investigation by People & Power into alleged violation of environmental standards by a key sponsor of the London 2012 Olympics.
With a little over one month to go untill the games, criticisms of the games sponsors are reaching crescendo. The concept of 'sustainability' will need to stand up to scrutiny if London is to truly achieve its vision of 'the greenest games ever.' How can this happen before any contrarian voices are drowned out by the cheers of Olympic crowds, hovever, is up to us.

The Great Olympic Greenwash
(an investigation).

Related:-

Vote Rio Tinto for Greenwash Gold

 

Rio Tinto is the only Olympic supplier that was able to start production without having an audit in place, according to the watchdog Committe for a Sustainable London 2012. War on Want executive director John Hilary has added ' Rio Tinto's record should disqualify it from being the Olympics medals supplier. No companies should be allowed to wrap themselves in the Olympic flag if they duck their responsibilities over human rights or environmental abuse. 

Floating( A Poem for Midsummer)

Some words that arrived
in the library 10 minutes
ago.

A feather lands softly
upon a wave caught by a fierce wind,
turns into many trees with flowing branches
beyond the warm breeze of terror..

Offers no explanation
follow's earth's ripple,
delivers hope, beyond anger
caused by dark murderous intent..

Sweet invocations
of mystery and mischief
flowing with the scent of memory,
a distant hum, a consistent drum.

Catching breath, unravelling thought
treading softly among inner sanctuary
hiding from danger, finding portions of calm
some kind of nourishment, before tomorrows storm.

The times are hard, and the land lies dark
but a hungry sap will always rise
there are old traditions that carry the truth of seasons
in tandem with the longing of present reason.

Paradise does not need to be lost
each day we make is tailor made,
Albion, Gwalia it's fragrance sweet,
calling, calling, calling.

No to drones at Aberporth - or anywhere

The abhorrent noise of the Watchkeeper 'drones' or 'umnanned aerial vehicles' being flown round above Aberprt and other parts of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Powys and North Pembrokeshire continues. While this constant buzzing - often for hours on end, may no be as piercing and sudden as that of low military jets in mid Wales, the purpose is just as sinister and a constant reminder of how Wales is being abused to further the cause of government sponsored 'remote killing.'

The hateful noise of these cruel machines makes anyone on the ground below wonder:

Do the parents of children playing in their gardens, on the beach or walking on the coast path know that above them, the weapons company Qinetiq is developing a machine to spy on and target victioms in Afghanistan - or wherever else our Government decides to use them?

Is the spying equipment being tried out on the people and properties in Wales?

Why were we told at the Airspace Use ' Public Consultation' that the drones would make no noise? That was patently untrue.

Over £26 million of our money has been spent on developing Parc Aberporth. Fewer than 39 people are employed there to test these offensive killing and spying machines. What a waste of money - we could invest public money in much better jobs for local people, energy efficiency measures for homes and public services.

Is this what we want for Ceredigion and Wales?

We are also told that in future these Watchkeeper drones may be armed. We are constantly reminded of how precise are drones. This means is that there is a high probability that a drone hits the target that it was aiming at. It says nothing about whether the target was the right one to begin with, even if one concedes that a government has the right to target and kill anyone it pleases - as judges jury and executioner.

Let our elected representatives in Wales think again - and think hard. There really are better, more environmentally and morally sustainable ways of investing the fruits of or precious labours on behalf of our children and grandchildren

Thanks to  CND Cymru  from where above article  was borrowed.

http://www.cndcymru.org/cndcymru/no-drones-at-aberporth-or-anywhere

Amnesty International and my local group have been campaigning for the last few years, with others, concerning the use of Parc Aberporth near Cardian as a devlopment and testing site for inmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) commonly referred to as Drones. Drones are used by Israel against innocent civilians in  Gaza and their use constitutes human rights abuse. This coming Saturday 23 June Cymdeihas y Cymod, Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales, will hold a service of repentance by the drones  testing site in the farm yard of Hendre farm, Blaenannerch, SA43 2AN, at 3 0'clock. I will be there under our group banner, join us if you want.
For further details and directions please see

http://www.cymdeithasycymod.org.uk/diary.htm

Furthermore Drones are immoral and intolerable and are vehicles for spying. As remote killing machines they represent a further and cruel devolution in human behaviour, escalating conflicts causing fear and resentment and contribute nothing towards any long term solution.
They kill innocent civilians indiscriminately and are dehumanising for the operator as well as target victims and those under surveillance. Operated by satellite, they escalate the use of space as a theatre of and platform for killing and war. They are big business across the world and are certain to herald the development (marketing & sale) of 'anti-UAV weapons'.
Military drone attacks are calculated by some to kill 50 civilians for every combatant killed. However, a senior administration official has said that the number of civilians killed in drone strikes in Pakistan under Mr Obama was in  'single digits'.. This is because the US military counts all military age males in a strike zone as combatants ... men, women and children can all be considered 'terrorists'unless 'there is explicit intelligence postumously proving them innocent'.
50,000 people live uner the new 500 sq mile UAV fly zone. Two drones crshed in the first months of flying out of Parc Aberporth so there are serious local concerns about safety. The Welsh Assembly has not carried out any public assessments drone flying over Wales. No infomation was made available about crashes or known accidental fatalities.
The type of drone flown at Parc Aberporth (Hermes?Watchkeeper) has been used by the Israeli military to target civiliands during its attacks on Gaza.
The European Convention on Human Rights makes public organisations responsible for not invading our privacy. Watckeeper drones carry powerful cameras and other tracking equipment for surveillance, monitoring and reconnaissence exercises. Welsh Assembly Government (Wag) has not given assurances that they will act within the law on this issue.

LIVING IN THE NO FLY ZONE -  Harry Rogers

LIVING IN THE NO FLY ZONE
HEAR THE SOUND OF A DRONE
NEIGHBOURS MAKE A GROAN
BEEN LEFT ON HIS OWN

HAPPENING MORE AND MORE
LIVING ON THE FLOOR
UNDERNEATH A DOOR
THIS IS MODERN WAR

DON'T WANT NO UCAV
BOMBING YOU AND ME
DON'T WANT NO RFID
TRACKING YOU AND ME
DON'T WANT NO CTTV
WATCHING YOU AND ME
ALL WE WANT YOU SEE
IS A COUNTRY THAT IS FREE

SOLDIERS HAVE ALL GONE
BUT THIS WAR CARRIES ON
THE CEASEFIRE IS A CON
IT'S OUR ARMEGEDDON

DON'T WANT NO UCAV
BOMBING YOU AND ME
DON'T WANT NO RFID
TRACKING YOU AND ME
ALL WE WANT YOU SEE
IS A COUNTRY THAT IS FREE

Copyright:
Harry Rogers -5/6/12

An earlier post on this issue can be found here.
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/first-minister-challenged-over-drones.html

Can you name these Corporate Brands? Can you name these Trees?

Got me thinking this did, might have to go for a lie down.
Answers please.
Happy Fathers Day.

Release Mahmoud Sarsak

At this moment in time many people in the UK are enjoying the UEFA Euro 2012. But also happening is the fate of a young Palestinian fotballer named Mahmoud Sarsak, he is currently in a critical condition after 89 consecutive days of hunger strike. This follows his detention under 'administrative  detebtion' procedures, where he is being held by Israel without charge and without trial. He has been detained since July 2009, when he was detained at a checkpoint as he travelled from his home in Gaza to join the national Palestinian squad for a match at Balata in the Northern West Bank. In their first home international last year, an Olympic qualifying match against Thailand, the Palestinian team was without eight key players, all of whom had been refused permission to travel from Gaza to Ramallah.
The 25 year old had once hoped to push the ranking of his national team back to a reasonable standing. If Palestinians ever deserve to be called fanatics, it is in relation to their love of soccer.Their struggle to play it, is linked with their struggle for freedom. Palestines ranking at 164th in the world is testament not to any lack of passion for the game, but to Israel's constant attempts at destroying even this pastime, and passion.
Growing up in refugee camps it is through sports like football that many Palestinian youth are enpowered.

Earlier this year, the UN determined that Israel's policies in the occupied territories amounted to a violation of the UN's convention prohibiting apartheid.
Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director, Philip Luther on Mahmoud said

' After almost three years in detention, the Israeli authorities have had ample opportunity to charge al-Sarsak with a recognisable criminal offence and bring him to trial. They have failed to do so, and instead repeatedly affirmed his detention order on the basis of secret infomation withheld from him and his Lawyer.'

He has also been denied proper access to medical treatment repeatedly during his hunger strike. For someone on the verge of death, this amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Israel's international obligation.

Time is not on his side and the matter gets urgent by each day, the international community has daily been speaking out, with Eric Cantona, Red Card against Racism and the FIFA President all speaking out against his continual detention.

You can support Mahmoud today by following this link, and try and help release him so that he can return to his family and friends. Asking your MP to make urgent representations to the Foreign office now.

http://psc.iparl.com/lobby/84

Eric Fromm (23/3/00 -18/3/80) -The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

"This new type of man. . . turns his interest away from life, persons, nature , ideas- in short from everything that is alive; he transforms all life into things, including himself and the manifestations of human faculties of reasoning, seeing, hearing, tasting, loving. Sexuality becomes a technical skill . . . feelings are flattened and sometimes substituted for by sentimentality; joy, the expression of intense aliveness, is replaced by 'fun' or excitement; and whatever love and tenderness man has directed towards machines and gadgets. The world becomes a sum of lifeless artefacts; from synthetic food to synthetic organs, the whole man becomes part of the total machinery that he controls and is simultaneously controlled by. He has no plan, no goal for life , except doing what the logic of technique determines him to do. He aspires to make robots as one of the greatest acievements of his technical mind, and some specialists assure us that the robot will hardly be distinguished from living men. This achievement will not seem so astonishing when man himself is hardly distinguishable from a robot.
   The world of life has become a world of 'no-life'; persons have become 'nonpersons', a world of death."

Reprinted from
' The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness'
Jonathan Cape , 1974.

Incidentally this blog is 3 years old today, so thanks to all who have dropped by, left a comment, shown encouragement and to all the other blogers who have given me inspiration, you know who you are.
Am beginning to run out of steam, but will plough on for a bit. Time to lose control.

End military recruitment in Welsh Schools

On Friday 1 June 2012, Cymdeithias y Cymod ( the Fellowship of Reconciliation) launched a petition against army recruitment in schools at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff. The UK is currently the only country in the European union and in NATO to recruit 16 year olds to the armed forces. The petition on the National Assembly's website declares:

" We call on the National Assembly of Wales to urge the Welsh Government to legislate to stop the armed forces from going into schools in Wales to recruit children to join."

Arfon Rhys, Secretary of Cymdeithas y Cymod, said : " The UN Committe on the Rights of the Child has aked the UK to consider stopping the recruitment of children aged 16 to the armed forces and not to target children from ethnic and deprived backgrounds. This is why we will submit the petition to the Assembly on United Nations Day on 24 October. Cymdeitas y Cymod is an organisation that on the basis of our faith believes in the power of love and non-violent ways of resolving conflict in our world."

The petition is also supported by CND Cymru, the youth branch of Plaid Cymru, and a whole host of social organisations.

This morally indefensible practice should not be allowed to continue. Education is one of the Welsh Assembly's, key areas of responsibility, so here is a good reason to raise the matter of MOD recruitment programmes aimed at minors. Children should never be used and manipulated in this manner. Schools should be a place of learning and education. There is absolutely no place for militarisation in schools or in association with schools. It is immoral and unjust. In a world of conflict and exploitation, I feel children could do with more engagement with the issues of peace and social justice.

If you would like to sign the petition you can go here

https://www.assemblywales.org/epetition-list-of-signatories.htm?pet_id=754

http://www.cymdeithasycymod.org.uk/

http://www.cndcymru.org/