Local Zambian Child Receives 135 millionth PermaNet® Bed Net
Vestergaard Frandsen, a world leader in the development of disease-control textiles, observed the first-ever World Malaria Day with a series of events in Livingstone, Zambia on April 24 and 25, 2008.
In collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), Vestergaard Frandsen participated in a press conference in Livingstone, Zambia to profile the Zambezi Expedition, a two-month tour of countries in Africa designed to demonstrate that coordinated cross-border strategies and actions will prove successful in the fight against malaria.
The theme for World Malaria Day is “malaria: a disease without borders.” In recognition of this observation and in celebration of the company’s commitment to defeat malaria, VF staff will presented their 135 millionth PermaNet® brand bed net to a local child in the pediatric ward of the Livingstone Hospital. Additionally, all children at the hospital were given free PermaNet® bed nets on April 24th.
The donation of the 135 millionth PermaNet® demonstrates the success that Vestergaard Frandsen has made in scaling-up production to meet the growing needs of people at risk for contracting malaria in the developing world.
“We are proud to be official sponsors of the Zambezi Expedition, and its role in attracting worldwide attention to both the malaria crisis and the preventable nature of this disease,” said Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, CEO of Vestergaard Frandsen. “I firmly believe that the global burden of malaria calls for a global response, and cross-border strategies provide the best approach to beating malaria and insuring a brighter future for all of Africa’s children. By increasing production of our lifesaving PermaNet® product, Vestergaard Frandsen has bridged the global LLIN supply-gap, saving countless pregnant mothers and children from the ravages of malaria.”
The press conference was also meant to draw attention to the Zambezi Expedition, which passes through Livingstone during World Malaria Day. Sponsored by the SADC and other RBM partners, the Expedition was launched on 27 March 2008 and will navigate its way through Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It will stop in each country to take on board local malaria control staff and journalists for a fact-finding tour of remote river communities exposed daily to life-threatening malaria-carrying mosquitoes. By highlighting both successes and challenges of fighting malaria in these six countries, the Expedition aims to demonstrate that only coordinated cross- order strategies and actions will prove successful in the fight against malaria.
The Expedition will distribute donated PermaNet® brand bed nets in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Malaria kills more than a million people worldwide each year—90 percent of them in Africa, and 70 percent children under the age of five. While being a preventable and treatable disease, malaria causes loss of income and productivity on a scale large enough to slow a country’s economic growth. In such context, World Malaria Day will be a major opportunity for malaria-free countries to learn about the devastating consequences of the disease, for new donors to join a global partnership in the fight and for the scientific community to illustrate advances to both experts and the public.
Vestergaard Frandsen: Vestergaard Frandsen is an international company specializing in complex emergency response and disease control products. The company operates under a unique Humanitarian Entrepreneurship business model. This “profit for a purpose” approach has turned humanitarian responsibility into its core business. Vestergaard Frandsen was founded in Denmark in 1957. From its humble beginning weaving synthetic fabrics for use in work-wear, the company has evolved into a multinational leader focused on helping to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. For more information please visit: www.vestergaard-frandsen.com.
For more information about the Zambezi Expedition please visit: http://www.zambezi-expedition.org/index.html
For more information about the Roll Back Malaria Partnership please visit: http://www.rbm.who.int/
Trashe Bolsas Bags – Product Review
Brilliant Recycled Bagsby Michael Smith (Veshengro)
In the Philippines giant billboards promoting all manner of products and services line the highways. In offices, schools, hotels and shops, banners do the same.
Some of those advertising banners, as far as I can see from some photos that I have seen, are extremely large, much like the huge electronic billboards found in the USA and other countries, and often are the size of walls.
These billboards and banners are printed onto tarpaulins or ‘tarps’ made from canvas coated with polycarbonate.
These tarps, designed to withstand the scorching heat and torrential rain of the tropics, are non-biodegradable.
When the tarps are finished with, they either end up in landfill or are burned, thus releasing harmful greenhouse gases – either way, they contribute to an ever increasing threat to the environment.
Trashe Bolsas is a Livelihood Project that operates within the Earth Day Network, an NGO whose aim is to raise awareness of environmental issues.
Trashe Bolsas transforms used tarps into unique, strong, durable bags giving an income to women living the temporary housing an income, enabling them to become independent.
I met the two ladies and founders who are the moving force behind this project at the recent Promotional Marketing Exhibition in London and had the opportunity and great pleasure to talk with them, see the bags and take a sample home with me.
All bags are cut out from patterns individually by hand and are then individually sewn on sewing machines by the women in the project, many of who have only recently learned how to sew and especially how to sew using a sewing machine.
For that being the case I have to say that I found the quality of the stitching rather good, especially given also that material such as this used is difficult to sew at the best of time and even by professionals with industrial machines.
As the bags are made from advertising banners are all unique and vary in colors. No two bags will ever, I should think, be alike. This means that while this or that bag may be this or that color on the website it does not mean that the bag you order may be the same color. This is something that must be understood and, in my view, makes those bags so great. Any bag anyone may buy from Trashe Bolsas is different and everyone will be getting a unique one of article.
I can but recommend anyone to purchase one (or more than one) of those unique and wonderful bags.
Check out their website at: http://www.trashebolsas.com
© M Smith (Veshengro), Tatchipen Media & Trashe Bolsas, April 2008
London Olympics of 2012 'will not benefit' East London's poorest residents
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
As I have basically predicted concerning the Olympics and the poorer and underprivileged people of that area a study now shows that there will be little if any benefit for the poorest residents of East London.
While the Olympic ministers and all those are telling the world what great benefits the locals will have from this, this is all a load of hogwash, as usual, and they know and knew this very well.
The so-called “trickle down” effect does NOT work and never ever has worked.
The 2012 London Olympics will fail to leave the promised positive local legacy for the poorest residents of East London unless cast-iron guarantees are built into plan, according to a new study.
The Games have been presented by the Government and the Olympic delivery bodies as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help regenerate one of the UK’s most economically disadvantaged areas, London’s Lower Lea Valley.
But the Fool's Gold report by the New Economics Foundation (nef) claims that previous Olympics and other ‘flagship’ UK regeneration projects, whilst boosting international tourism, transport, leisure and telecommunications infrastructure, have failed to improve the lives of the poorest people in host cities.
This is just as we assumed and predicted when it all began, and we can be sure that no good will come of it, no lasting benefit, for the disadvantaged people, especially the young people, of East London. All that is going to happen is that all those venues, that is to say the sporting venues, will become out of reach for any of them to use and, like the Dome, they will either become a white elephant or simply a commercial venture that was paid for, yet again, out of the pockets of the poor men and women in this country, that is to say, the honest taxpayers.
Fool’s Gold identifies the ‘trickle down’ economics that underly the approach to regeneration at the heart of the Olympic bid as the root cause of the problem.
This assumes that investment flowing into deprived areas will stay put. In practice, as nef research has shown, it leaks out to consultants, developers and large companies which are best able to exploit new commercial opportunities.
In other words, the poor residents will get no benefit whatsoever but the rich will get even richer, especially those companies that are making a killing from it already.
Small local enterprises are unable to compete and local people who don’t own their own homes are priced out of the housing market because gentrification inflates the cost of living well above their income levels.
Fool’s Gold identifies clear warning signs that London 2012 may be going in the same direction as previous Games in its failure to live up to regeneration promises:
The enormous debts built up by Olympic delivery will have to be repaid, and the easiest way to do this will be to sell off Olympic land to the highest bidder.
Serious doubt has already been cast on the projections used by the Government to calculate the £1.8 billion to be raised by land sales after the Games to repay public and National Lottery money used to buy land for the Olympic site.
A problem the current slowdown in the housing market will only accentuate, placing yet more pressure on the London Development Agency to maximise revenues.
There also remains the other question as to whether the 2012 Olympics can be held in 2020? Why that question? This is quite simple, methinks, for we have yet to see a project such as this to be finished on time and within the budget.
I would love to be able to, come the time, to report that everything has been finished within the set time frame and with the budget not having overrun and also that the locals have benefited and will be benefiting for many years and decades to come from the new infrastructure and that that has been set up. But, I must say that I am not that optimistic and this report certainly does not make me optimistic in that department at all. In fact the opposite is the case. Not as much as to the fact as them getting all the tings ready; that is not really the issue here anyway, but as to the fact of benefits for the poorest of the residents of East London and, like that report, I am afraid that I cannot see it.
Surprise? No... this is New Labour we are talking about... a pink party that has about as much to do with the real Labour party and a party for the people as the state of Israel has with the Israel of the Torah.
© M Smith (Veshengro), April 2008
As I have basically predicted concerning the Olympics and the poorer and underprivileged people of that area a study now shows that there will be little if any benefit for the poorest residents of East London.
While the Olympic ministers and all those are telling the world what great benefits the locals will have from this, this is all a load of hogwash, as usual, and they know and knew this very well.
The so-called “trickle down” effect does NOT work and never ever has worked.
The 2012 London Olympics will fail to leave the promised positive local legacy for the poorest residents of East London unless cast-iron guarantees are built into plan, according to a new study.
The Games have been presented by the Government and the Olympic delivery bodies as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help regenerate one of the UK’s most economically disadvantaged areas, London’s Lower Lea Valley.
But the Fool's Gold report by the New Economics Foundation (nef) claims that previous Olympics and other ‘flagship’ UK regeneration projects, whilst boosting international tourism, transport, leisure and telecommunications infrastructure, have failed to improve the lives of the poorest people in host cities.
This is just as we assumed and predicted when it all began, and we can be sure that no good will come of it, no lasting benefit, for the disadvantaged people, especially the young people, of East London. All that is going to happen is that all those venues, that is to say the sporting venues, will become out of reach for any of them to use and, like the Dome, they will either become a white elephant or simply a commercial venture that was paid for, yet again, out of the pockets of the poor men and women in this country, that is to say, the honest taxpayers.
Fool’s Gold identifies the ‘trickle down’ economics that underly the approach to regeneration at the heart of the Olympic bid as the root cause of the problem.
This assumes that investment flowing into deprived areas will stay put. In practice, as nef research has shown, it leaks out to consultants, developers and large companies which are best able to exploit new commercial opportunities.
In other words, the poor residents will get no benefit whatsoever but the rich will get even richer, especially those companies that are making a killing from it already.
Small local enterprises are unable to compete and local people who don’t own their own homes are priced out of the housing market because gentrification inflates the cost of living well above their income levels.
Fool’s Gold identifies clear warning signs that London 2012 may be going in the same direction as previous Games in its failure to live up to regeneration promises:
The enormous debts built up by Olympic delivery will have to be repaid, and the easiest way to do this will be to sell off Olympic land to the highest bidder.
Serious doubt has already been cast on the projections used by the Government to calculate the £1.8 billion to be raised by land sales after the Games to repay public and National Lottery money used to buy land for the Olympic site.
A problem the current slowdown in the housing market will only accentuate, placing yet more pressure on the London Development Agency to maximise revenues.
There also remains the other question as to whether the 2012 Olympics can be held in 2020? Why that question? This is quite simple, methinks, for we have yet to see a project such as this to be finished on time and within the budget.
I would love to be able to, come the time, to report that everything has been finished within the set time frame and with the budget not having overrun and also that the locals have benefited and will be benefiting for many years and decades to come from the new infrastructure and that that has been set up. But, I must say that I am not that optimistic and this report certainly does not make me optimistic in that department at all. In fact the opposite is the case. Not as much as to the fact as them getting all the tings ready; that is not really the issue here anyway, but as to the fact of benefits for the poorest of the residents of East London and, like that report, I am afraid that I cannot see it.
Surprise? No... this is New Labour we are talking about... a pink party that has about as much to do with the real Labour party and a party for the people as the state of Israel has with the Israel of the Torah.
© M Smith (Veshengro), April 2008
Nazi tactics of the Israeli Security Forces
Nazi-style collective punishment tactics used by Israel against Gaza civilians.
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
After an incursion of Israeli military into the Gaza strip and while those forces, after wreaking havoc were withdrawing, they came into an ambush by Hamas fighters. During the ensuing firefight 3 IDF soldiers were killed.
In retaliation for this Israel, in its usual Nazi tactics, launched air strikes up and down the Gaza border against civilian targets, though obviously the Israeli military and government yet again claim that they were attacking only terrorist strongholds.
This smacks very much of the way the German Fascist war machinery acted against the civilian population of occupied countries as and when partisans and resistance fighters fought with the Nazi military or had attacked some infrastructure targets.
So Hamas partisans and resistance fight against the incursions by Israel occupation forces into the Gaza strip and the Israelis retaliate with Nazi methods against the civilian population of Gaza. This is nothing but collective punishment. The same kind of collective punishment that was so favored by the German Nazis in their fight against partisans and resistance fighters.
And Israel still maintains and claims that this is not something that is akin to the collective punishment tactics of the Nazis who, supposedly, killed six million Jews.
I am afraid to say that it is, it is the very same tactics that the Nazis used and in using such tactics against the population, the ordinary Palestinians, men, women and children and the old, Israel is no better than Nazi Germany of that dark era in the 20th century. What Israel is doing is exactly the same as what the Nazis did and it is genocide.
I think, and I am sure that I am not alone here, that the Western governments should rethink in the way they interact with Israel and the so-called Jewish state. This is no way that a free and democratic country, which Israel claims to be, should act.
While the West is always very quick to boycott countries, be this trade sanction or diplomatic sanctions, that oppress their population, as has been done in the case of Zimbabwe – though they seem to be unwilling to do more – when it comes to Israel, which is not better, as in fact the ones oppressed are firstly not even in their country but on territory illegally occupied or reoccupied – if even for a few hours or days, in the fight against terrorism, supposedly – they are not even willing to condemn such actions against the Palestinians in any way shape or form. Talk of double standards. Surprising it probably should not be seeing the influences and lobby that the supporters of Israel, in the form of the Jews themselves and then those Christians that could not be more pro-Israel if they even tried because they believe that the “rebuilding” of Israel heralds the imminent Second coming of the Christ, who supposedly is the Messiah. Politicians in the Western world just do not dare to say anything too powerful or act against Israel as they might just lose the support of those powerful voters. It has nothing to do with ethics but all to do with power.
So, if the politicians are not willing to do anything maybe then people power is required. If no official sanctions and trade boycotts then it is up to us as ethical shoppers to boycott as and wherever possible Israeli goods and services, and may be more than just Israeli goods and services. Maybe including the services of any other supporters of the illegal state of Israel (and I do not care that that state has been officially accepted by the UN at that time). Israel is founded on stolen land.
© M Smith (Veshengro) & Tatchipen Media, April 2008
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
After an incursion of Israeli military into the Gaza strip and while those forces, after wreaking havoc were withdrawing, they came into an ambush by Hamas fighters. During the ensuing firefight 3 IDF soldiers were killed.
In retaliation for this Israel, in its usual Nazi tactics, launched air strikes up and down the Gaza border against civilian targets, though obviously the Israeli military and government yet again claim that they were attacking only terrorist strongholds.
This smacks very much of the way the German Fascist war machinery acted against the civilian population of occupied countries as and when partisans and resistance fighters fought with the Nazi military or had attacked some infrastructure targets.
So Hamas partisans and resistance fight against the incursions by Israel occupation forces into the Gaza strip and the Israelis retaliate with Nazi methods against the civilian population of Gaza. This is nothing but collective punishment. The same kind of collective punishment that was so favored by the German Nazis in their fight against partisans and resistance fighters.
And Israel still maintains and claims that this is not something that is akin to the collective punishment tactics of the Nazis who, supposedly, killed six million Jews.
I am afraid to say that it is, it is the very same tactics that the Nazis used and in using such tactics against the population, the ordinary Palestinians, men, women and children and the old, Israel is no better than Nazi Germany of that dark era in the 20th century. What Israel is doing is exactly the same as what the Nazis did and it is genocide.
I think, and I am sure that I am not alone here, that the Western governments should rethink in the way they interact with Israel and the so-called Jewish state. This is no way that a free and democratic country, which Israel claims to be, should act.
While the West is always very quick to boycott countries, be this trade sanction or diplomatic sanctions, that oppress their population, as has been done in the case of Zimbabwe – though they seem to be unwilling to do more – when it comes to Israel, which is not better, as in fact the ones oppressed are firstly not even in their country but on territory illegally occupied or reoccupied – if even for a few hours or days, in the fight against terrorism, supposedly – they are not even willing to condemn such actions against the Palestinians in any way shape or form. Talk of double standards. Surprising it probably should not be seeing the influences and lobby that the supporters of Israel, in the form of the Jews themselves and then those Christians that could not be more pro-Israel if they even tried because they believe that the “rebuilding” of Israel heralds the imminent Second coming of the Christ, who supposedly is the Messiah. Politicians in the Western world just do not dare to say anything too powerful or act against Israel as they might just lose the support of those powerful voters. It has nothing to do with ethics but all to do with power.
So, if the politicians are not willing to do anything maybe then people power is required. If no official sanctions and trade boycotts then it is up to us as ethical shoppers to boycott as and wherever possible Israeli goods and services, and may be more than just Israeli goods and services. Maybe including the services of any other supporters of the illegal state of Israel (and I do not care that that state has been officially accepted by the UN at that time). Israel is founded on stolen land.
© M Smith (Veshengro) & Tatchipen Media, April 2008
Let's hear it for the South African Dockworkers
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
It would appear that in South Africa and Southern Africa the only people willing to stand up against the tyrant Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe are the “little” people in that region, in this case ordinary dockworkers and, it would appear also, the police of the port of Durban. The former for refusing to unload the Chinese vessel with a cargo of weapons bound for the security forces of Zimbabwe and sending the vessel packing again and the latter for not enforcing the unloading of said ship.
The vessel is now, so it would appear, headed for the port of the Angolan capital. Let us just hope that dockworkers and other there have the same courage to refuse to unload the ship.
If the rest of the dockers in the area where the ship could dock to unload and police would do the same, that is to say, refuse to let the cargo be unloaded then sooner or later the ship will have no option as to return with its cargo as undelivered come undeliverable.
While food and other “humanitarian” shipments should not be boycotted, anything that could aid the dictator and his clique in Zimbabwe should be blocked from ever reaching the country. It cannot be that difficult.
It is rather a shame and a shame on them that the politicians in that region just do not have the same courage and the same ethics as do “ordinary” workers and even police officers and their commanders. The politicians of SADEC and the other African political bodies and especially the leaders in the neighboring countries, with President Tabo Mbeke in the forefront, should be ashamed and should go and do penance.
So, let's hear it for the dockers of the port of Durban and their Union and also for the police that did not interfere in the name of “free commerce”.
© M Smith (Veshengro)
It would appear that in South Africa and Southern Africa the only people willing to stand up against the tyrant Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe are the “little” people in that region, in this case ordinary dockworkers and, it would appear also, the police of the port of Durban. The former for refusing to unload the Chinese vessel with a cargo of weapons bound for the security forces of Zimbabwe and sending the vessel packing again and the latter for not enforcing the unloading of said ship.
The vessel is now, so it would appear, headed for the port of the Angolan capital. Let us just hope that dockworkers and other there have the same courage to refuse to unload the ship.
If the rest of the dockers in the area where the ship could dock to unload and police would do the same, that is to say, refuse to let the cargo be unloaded then sooner or later the ship will have no option as to return with its cargo as undelivered come undeliverable.
While food and other “humanitarian” shipments should not be boycotted, anything that could aid the dictator and his clique in Zimbabwe should be blocked from ever reaching the country. It cannot be that difficult.
It is rather a shame and a shame on them that the politicians in that region just do not have the same courage and the same ethics as do “ordinary” workers and even police officers and their commanders. The politicians of SADEC and the other African political bodies and especially the leaders in the neighboring countries, with President Tabo Mbeke in the forefront, should be ashamed and should go and do penance.
So, let's hear it for the dockers of the port of Durban and their Union and also for the police that did not interfere in the name of “free commerce”.
© M Smith (Veshengro)
TUC welcomes South African union action on Zimbabwe
Commenting on the refusal by South African dock workers to unload a shipment of arms destined for Zimbabwe's armed forces, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'While others just talk about Zimbabwe, unions in South Africa are actually doing something.
'The dock workers' refusal to unload arms destined for Mugabe's thugs is a positive move. It should shame politicians around the region to stop talking and start acting on Zimbabwe's crisis.
'The TUC supports fully the South African trade union movement's practical solidarity with Zimbabwe's trade unions.'
'The dock workers' refusal to unload arms destined for Mugabe's thugs is a positive move. It should shame politicians around the region to stop talking and start acting on Zimbabwe's crisis.
'The TUC supports fully the South African trade union movement's practical solidarity with Zimbabwe's trade unions.'
What's wrong with the British Labour Party?
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Maybe it would be better for this question to be “what's right with the British Labour Party? For there the answer would be simple; little to nothing. This is no longer the Labour Party we had grown to love.
The very party that came out of the struggle of the labour unions and others for a decent life all and here especially for the working classes, those that were always downtrodden, has definitely thrown all its principles to the wind to such an extent that the founders and especially the old stalwarts of the likes of Hardy, Bevan, Brockway and Salter would turn in their graves if they but knew. The British Labour Party of today has committed high treason on the working classes of this country.
The Labour Party, or New Labour, as it re-branded itself under Tony Blair, is new indeed. So new that real Labour men and women would never ever recognize it again. It is more right wing nowadays than parties that were once seen as on the right, such as the Tories, for instance. Over the last decade or so Labour, and especially the Labour government of this country, has developed more and more as a party and the government of Britain a people control complex, needing to more and more put the people of this country on a tight reign, with an attempt of a National ID card system, something that freedom-loving Britain has never had, except during the crisis of World War II, in an attempt to know the whereabout of most people most of the time in an instant, and of every subject of Her Majesty as to where they go, what they do, etc.
It may be high time that Her Majesty, our Queen, made use of the Powers that are Hers by right of being the Sovereign, to “do the right thing for the people and by the people” from the principle that the Sovereign can do no wrong.
DNA databases of all people, starting with the youngest children already is not the way to go. The people must realize that themselves by now, I am sure, and it is they that must do something about it.
Traditional and long established freedoms and such are being eroded by this government in the supposed attempt to fight terrorism. What terrorism? This is not a government for the people; this is a government against the people. What the Nazis could not achieve in this country, in that our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc, gave their lives in order to retain the freedoms in this country, the government is now taking away. Hitler and his ilk would be proud, that is all I can say.
When a minister of a Labour government can publicly state that the “Freedom of Speech” in the UK, that we all, and especially those of us in the media, take for granted and have taken for grated for ages and centuries, is not a freedom and right of the people but just a privilege granted to them that can as easily be curtailed or revoked then we must sit up and take note and realize as to what is going on, for then we are in serious trouble of entering a fascist state.
There was a time when Labour was the party of the little man, of the downtrodden man, the man who was oppressed. This is not longer the case, it seems. Rather it is Labour, in government, who now is doing the oppressing.
© M Smith (Veshengro), April 2008
Maybe it would be better for this question to be “what's right with the British Labour Party? For there the answer would be simple; little to nothing. This is no longer the Labour Party we had grown to love.
The very party that came out of the struggle of the labour unions and others for a decent life all and here especially for the working classes, those that were always downtrodden, has definitely thrown all its principles to the wind to such an extent that the founders and especially the old stalwarts of the likes of Hardy, Bevan, Brockway and Salter would turn in their graves if they but knew. The British Labour Party of today has committed high treason on the working classes of this country.
The Labour Party, or New Labour, as it re-branded itself under Tony Blair, is new indeed. So new that real Labour men and women would never ever recognize it again. It is more right wing nowadays than parties that were once seen as on the right, such as the Tories, for instance. Over the last decade or so Labour, and especially the Labour government of this country, has developed more and more as a party and the government of Britain a people control complex, needing to more and more put the people of this country on a tight reign, with an attempt of a National ID card system, something that freedom-loving Britain has never had, except during the crisis of World War II, in an attempt to know the whereabout of most people most of the time in an instant, and of every subject of Her Majesty as to where they go, what they do, etc.
It may be high time that Her Majesty, our Queen, made use of the Powers that are Hers by right of being the Sovereign, to “do the right thing for the people and by the people” from the principle that the Sovereign can do no wrong.
DNA databases of all people, starting with the youngest children already is not the way to go. The people must realize that themselves by now, I am sure, and it is they that must do something about it.
Traditional and long established freedoms and such are being eroded by this government in the supposed attempt to fight terrorism. What terrorism? This is not a government for the people; this is a government against the people. What the Nazis could not achieve in this country, in that our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc, gave their lives in order to retain the freedoms in this country, the government is now taking away. Hitler and his ilk would be proud, that is all I can say.
When a minister of a Labour government can publicly state that the “Freedom of Speech” in the UK, that we all, and especially those of us in the media, take for granted and have taken for grated for ages and centuries, is not a freedom and right of the people but just a privilege granted to them that can as easily be curtailed or revoked then we must sit up and take note and realize as to what is going on, for then we are in serious trouble of entering a fascist state.
There was a time when Labour was the party of the little man, of the downtrodden man, the man who was oppressed. This is not longer the case, it seems. Rather it is Labour, in government, who now is doing the oppressing.
© M Smith (Veshengro), April 2008
We need power to detain people longer demands Home Secretary
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Thirty terror plots the British Home Secretary claims to be active against Britain and that is, why she claims, the police need and demand more powers and the powers to detain suspects for longer.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told a British Sunday tabloid – to call it a newspaper would do injustice to those papers that are indeed newspapers – that the security services were investigating 30 active terror plots as she made the case for giving them extended powers to combat extremists.
Smith said the threat from Islamist fanatics was growing at such a rate that the police would be unable to cope within a year unless they were given new powers to detain suspects for longer.
"We now face a threat level that is severe. It's actually growing," Smith told the News of the World weekly tabloid.
This is, obviously, just the right – and right is the operative word here – tabloid to tell such scare stories to, as it will get the great unwashed to believe that we indeed face such threat and it also will increase racial and ethnic tension. Thanks, Home Secretary, for being that thoughtful.
"There are 22,000 individuals who are being monitored. There are 200 networks and 30 active plots."
Now is that indeed so Home Secretary? Then why don't you tell Parliament and the public more details. Each and every time it is this vague “x-amount of terror plots aimed against the UK” or “x-amount of terror plots stopped”, etc. Never more than that. This is not the truth, is it. What is going on is that we, the people, are being further softened up to have more of our liberties eroded and more of our freedoms taken away by a government of a party that once was the party of the little man. Now all that Labour is is the party of people control.
Smith is facing a backbench rebellion in the governing Labour Party over plans to extend the time terror suspects can be held without charge from the current 28-day limit to 42 days.
If there really is a need for longer detention maybe we need to adopt a European model of the “investigative detention”, known in Germany, for instance, as Untersuchungshaft. Everyone suspected of a crime can be held in prison proper – in Untersuchungshaft – until either evidence is there to charge that person or he or she has to be released, and then with apology.
Tony Blair suffered a damaging defeat in 2005 over plans to extend the limit to 90 days and Gordon Brown, his successor as prime minister and Labour leader, could do without a repeat, though it would be nice if Labour MPs would have enough guts to stand up against the whips and such like and make their voices hear that they will not go along with this, and together with the opposition parties tell their leader and the other control freaks where to stick it.
"The danger has increased over the past two years," Smith said. "Since the beginning of 2007, there have been 57 people convicted on terrorist plots.
"Nearly half of those pleaded guilty – so this is not some figment of the imagination. It is a real risk and a real issue we need to respond to.
Now, who are you trying to kid? Accuse me of conspiracy theories but we only have the word of the government to go on that those people (1) did plead guilty and (2) that they are indeed “terrorists” and not some government setup.
"Because we now understand the scale of what is being plotted, the police have to step in earlier – which means they need more time to put evidence together," she explained.
"If they (the police and security services) say to me it's getting more and more difficult, we need more time to investigate thoroughly, it is my duty to provide them with the tools they need."
Why then, Home Secretary, is it actually the case that whenever the senior officers of police and security services go on the record on this matter that most of them, if not indeed all of them, state that they have enough time and enough powers? Why, Home Secretary, are you asking, officially on their behalf, to give them more?
Let's tell the public the truth: the reason is that the current Labour government, ever since ex-PM Blair led the Labour Party into government a little over a decade back, the Labour government has been working on some hidden agenda to enslave the people of this country and to erode more and more of the freedoms that we have come to take for granted.
As I said, freedoms that we, the subjects of Her Majesty, have come to take for granted. The are not rights, however, as the people always understood them, so it seems. A minister of her department even said that as much as regards to the “Freedom of Speech” issue when she said that against all popular belief it was not a right of the people actually but just a privilege and that it could easily be curtailed or even revoked.
The real truth about all the “anti-terrorism” issue is nothing but trying to get the British people to believe in that and therefore allow themselves to be stripped of all those freedoms which may, or may not, actually be rights granted to the general public. We all know, though apparently the majority of the population don't, that the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights were never meant for the ordinary people, the serfs, the villains, but were just for the nobles, the aristocracy. The majority of British people have come to understand, and as precedences have been set I am sure that those privileges actually, through common law, are now rights of the people, that those are their enshrined rights, enshrined in an unwritten “constitution”.
She added: "There is a massive increase in the way they (terrorists) are using technology and encrypting evidence. It takes time to get the evidence you need to charge somebody."
If the stuff is encrypted the law says that the person assumed to be a felon has to hand over the encryption key. So, if that is what the law states make them do so. If not then, fine, charge them with that as an offence for starters and what we need in addition, is the permission to continue investigation past initial charging, maybe. As I said before, we may need to consider the system of “investigative detention” - for lack of a better English term, so far.
The Home Secretary said she would announce on April 16 a new deal struck with the Pakistani government allowing moderate Islamic clerics to come over to Britain to help imams fight extremism.
She said the vast majority of Britain's Muslims were of Pakistani origin and working with the Pakistani government could help both combat radicalisation and spread "the right messages about what it means to be a British Muslim."
© M Smith (Veshengro), April 2008
Thirty terror plots the British Home Secretary claims to be active against Britain and that is, why she claims, the police need and demand more powers and the powers to detain suspects for longer.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told a British Sunday tabloid – to call it a newspaper would do injustice to those papers that are indeed newspapers – that the security services were investigating 30 active terror plots as she made the case for giving them extended powers to combat extremists.
Smith said the threat from Islamist fanatics was growing at such a rate that the police would be unable to cope within a year unless they were given new powers to detain suspects for longer.
"We now face a threat level that is severe. It's actually growing," Smith told the News of the World weekly tabloid.
This is, obviously, just the right – and right is the operative word here – tabloid to tell such scare stories to, as it will get the great unwashed to believe that we indeed face such threat and it also will increase racial and ethnic tension. Thanks, Home Secretary, for being that thoughtful.
"There are 22,000 individuals who are being monitored. There are 200 networks and 30 active plots."
Now is that indeed so Home Secretary? Then why don't you tell Parliament and the public more details. Each and every time it is this vague “x-amount of terror plots aimed against the UK” or “x-amount of terror plots stopped”, etc. Never more than that. This is not the truth, is it. What is going on is that we, the people, are being further softened up to have more of our liberties eroded and more of our freedoms taken away by a government of a party that once was the party of the little man. Now all that Labour is is the party of people control.
Smith is facing a backbench rebellion in the governing Labour Party over plans to extend the time terror suspects can be held without charge from the current 28-day limit to 42 days.
If there really is a need for longer detention maybe we need to adopt a European model of the “investigative detention”, known in Germany, for instance, as Untersuchungshaft. Everyone suspected of a crime can be held in prison proper – in Untersuchungshaft – until either evidence is there to charge that person or he or she has to be released, and then with apology.
Tony Blair suffered a damaging defeat in 2005 over plans to extend the limit to 90 days and Gordon Brown, his successor as prime minister and Labour leader, could do without a repeat, though it would be nice if Labour MPs would have enough guts to stand up against the whips and such like and make their voices hear that they will not go along with this, and together with the opposition parties tell their leader and the other control freaks where to stick it.
"The danger has increased over the past two years," Smith said. "Since the beginning of 2007, there have been 57 people convicted on terrorist plots.
"Nearly half of those pleaded guilty – so this is not some figment of the imagination. It is a real risk and a real issue we need to respond to.
Now, who are you trying to kid? Accuse me of conspiracy theories but we only have the word of the government to go on that those people (1) did plead guilty and (2) that they are indeed “terrorists” and not some government setup.
"Because we now understand the scale of what is being plotted, the police have to step in earlier – which means they need more time to put evidence together," she explained.
"If they (the police and security services) say to me it's getting more and more difficult, we need more time to investigate thoroughly, it is my duty to provide them with the tools they need."
Why then, Home Secretary, is it actually the case that whenever the senior officers of police and security services go on the record on this matter that most of them, if not indeed all of them, state that they have enough time and enough powers? Why, Home Secretary, are you asking, officially on their behalf, to give them more?
Let's tell the public the truth: the reason is that the current Labour government, ever since ex-PM Blair led the Labour Party into government a little over a decade back, the Labour government has been working on some hidden agenda to enslave the people of this country and to erode more and more of the freedoms that we have come to take for granted.
As I said, freedoms that we, the subjects of Her Majesty, have come to take for granted. The are not rights, however, as the people always understood them, so it seems. A minister of her department even said that as much as regards to the “Freedom of Speech” issue when she said that against all popular belief it was not a right of the people actually but just a privilege and that it could easily be curtailed or even revoked.
The real truth about all the “anti-terrorism” issue is nothing but trying to get the British people to believe in that and therefore allow themselves to be stripped of all those freedoms which may, or may not, actually be rights granted to the general public. We all know, though apparently the majority of the population don't, that the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights were never meant for the ordinary people, the serfs, the villains, but were just for the nobles, the aristocracy. The majority of British people have come to understand, and as precedences have been set I am sure that those privileges actually, through common law, are now rights of the people, that those are their enshrined rights, enshrined in an unwritten “constitution”.
She added: "There is a massive increase in the way they (terrorists) are using technology and encrypting evidence. It takes time to get the evidence you need to charge somebody."
If the stuff is encrypted the law says that the person assumed to be a felon has to hand over the encryption key. So, if that is what the law states make them do so. If not then, fine, charge them with that as an offence for starters and what we need in addition, is the permission to continue investigation past initial charging, maybe. As I said before, we may need to consider the system of “investigative detention” - for lack of a better English term, so far.
The Home Secretary said she would announce on April 16 a new deal struck with the Pakistani government allowing moderate Islamic clerics to come over to Britain to help imams fight extremism.
She said the vast majority of Britain's Muslims were of Pakistani origin and working with the Pakistani government could help both combat radicalisation and spread "the right messages about what it means to be a British Muslim."
© M Smith (Veshengro), April 2008
Beware when throwing away Promo CDs
UMG says throwing away "promo" CDs is illegal
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
In a brief filed in federal court recently, Universal Music Group (UMG) states that, when it comes to the millions of promotional CDs ("promo CDs") that it has sent out to music reviewers, radio stations, DJs, and other music industry insiders, throwing them away is "an unauthorized distribution" that violates copyright law. Yes, you read that right – if you have ever received a promo CD from UMG, and you do not still have it, then UMG thinks you're a pirate. That you have committed and act of “unauthorized distribution” of their music.
UMG seems to argue that the “first sale doctrine” does not apply to prom CDs to which it slapped the label of “promotional use only” and any subsequent sale, even if those have been found or whatever, infringes copyright law. The Supreme Court first recognized the first sale doctrine when a book publisher tried the same thing with a label stating "may not be sold for less than one dollar,” and we've seen patent owners trying the same trick, unsuccessfully, as far as we know, on printer cartridges.
UMG apprently thinks that by simply slapping the "promotional use only" label onto a CD it somehow gives it "eternal ownership" over the CD. While this might make sense to a goblin living in Harry Potter's world, it is not the law under the Copyright Act.
According to the first sale doctrine, once a copyright owner has parted with ownership of a CD, book, or DVD, whether by sale, gift, or other disposition, they may not control further dispositions of that particular copy (including throwing it away). It's thanks to the first sale doctrine that libraries can lend books, video rental stores can rent DVDs, and you can give a CD to a friend for their birthday. It's also the reason you can throw away any CD that you own.
I mean, erm, excuse me for a moment. It was sent to me, to review, I no longer wanted it and threw it in the trash but by doing so I break the law? Someone somewhere is having problems in the upper ranges of his or her body, methinks.
However, despite the fact that this may be the law, e.g. regarding the “first sale doctrine”, no doubt this is not going to be the last time that someone, some huge company, will try this trick, especially on someone smaller than themselves.
I personally have seen the stamps in review copies of books that stated “review copy only – not for resale”, and in some cases the mere acceptance of the book, it was claimed, for review, was agreement to this policy and that any gifting and especially sale of such a book would be a felony under copyright law, etc.
I must say that, in general, I very rarely ever part with books, CDs, etc. that have come my way for review but I am damned if I allow some such statement to have any influence on me as to what I do with this book or whatever product that, by virtue of having been given to me for review on the understanding that it become the reviewer's property – we do not do reviews of articles loaned – it is then up to me what I do with the book or product afterwards. Ownership has passed to me from the previous owner, whether it is a publisher, manufacturer, or vendor, and this even whether or not a review is forthcoming.
So, folks, don't get yourself browbeaten by the big boys. If need be get good legal advice and there are enough precedents set to fight such lawsuits.
© Tatchipen Media, April 2008
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
In a brief filed in federal court recently, Universal Music Group (UMG) states that, when it comes to the millions of promotional CDs ("promo CDs") that it has sent out to music reviewers, radio stations, DJs, and other music industry insiders, throwing them away is "an unauthorized distribution" that violates copyright law. Yes, you read that right – if you have ever received a promo CD from UMG, and you do not still have it, then UMG thinks you're a pirate. That you have committed and act of “unauthorized distribution” of their music.
UMG seems to argue that the “first sale doctrine” does not apply to prom CDs to which it slapped the label of “promotional use only” and any subsequent sale, even if those have been found or whatever, infringes copyright law. The Supreme Court first recognized the first sale doctrine when a book publisher tried the same thing with a label stating "may not be sold for less than one dollar,” and we've seen patent owners trying the same trick, unsuccessfully, as far as we know, on printer cartridges.
UMG apprently thinks that by simply slapping the "promotional use only" label onto a CD it somehow gives it "eternal ownership" over the CD. While this might make sense to a goblin living in Harry Potter's world, it is not the law under the Copyright Act.
According to the first sale doctrine, once a copyright owner has parted with ownership of a CD, book, or DVD, whether by sale, gift, or other disposition, they may not control further dispositions of that particular copy (including throwing it away). It's thanks to the first sale doctrine that libraries can lend books, video rental stores can rent DVDs, and you can give a CD to a friend for their birthday. It's also the reason you can throw away any CD that you own.
I mean, erm, excuse me for a moment. It was sent to me, to review, I no longer wanted it and threw it in the trash but by doing so I break the law? Someone somewhere is having problems in the upper ranges of his or her body, methinks.
However, despite the fact that this may be the law, e.g. regarding the “first sale doctrine”, no doubt this is not going to be the last time that someone, some huge company, will try this trick, especially on someone smaller than themselves.
I personally have seen the stamps in review copies of books that stated “review copy only – not for resale”, and in some cases the mere acceptance of the book, it was claimed, for review, was agreement to this policy and that any gifting and especially sale of such a book would be a felony under copyright law, etc.
I must say that, in general, I very rarely ever part with books, CDs, etc. that have come my way for review but I am damned if I allow some such statement to have any influence on me as to what I do with this book or whatever product that, by virtue of having been given to me for review on the understanding that it become the reviewer's property – we do not do reviews of articles loaned – it is then up to me what I do with the book or product afterwards. Ownership has passed to me from the previous owner, whether it is a publisher, manufacturer, or vendor, and this even whether or not a review is forthcoming.
So, folks, don't get yourself browbeaten by the big boys. If need be get good legal advice and there are enough precedents set to fight such lawsuits.
© Tatchipen Media, April 2008
UNESCO promotes use of free software in Latin America and the Caribbean
Montevideo, Uruguay, April 8, 2008
UNESCO Office in Montevideo, Uruguay, in cooperation with the network of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in Latin America and the Caribbean, published the Guía práctica sobre software libre: su selección y aplicación local en América Latina y el Caribe (Guidelines on free software: how to choose it and apply it locally in Latin America and the Caribbean).
Authored by Fernando da Rosa and Federico Heinz, the book has its genesis in the regional FLOSS conference LACFREE 2005 organized in Recife, Brazil, where the need for such publication was discussed.
This easy to read and practical guide promotes FLOSS contribution to sustainable development. It gives practical advice on the selection of adequate FLOSS solutions with the requested functionality and addresses the issue of migration from proprietary software to FLOSS. To facilitate the exchange of experience, the book offers a list of organizations and country related contacts. It also gives an overview of the thematic and regional landscape of the FLOSS community through the hints on annual FLOSS conferences in Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to Richard Stallman, founder of Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, who wrote an introduction article for the book, the society "needs information that is truly available to its citizens - for example, programmes that people can read, fix, adapt, and improve, not just operate". FLOSS offers today a broad spectrum of programmes covering various areas: audio, video and design; networks and connectivity; office applications; file management; operating systems; mail and web server management, etc. FLOSS applications contribute therefore to digital opportunities in education and public administration, and support social inclusion of people with special needs.
The Guidelines were presented and distributed in several regional FLOSS events and are available online on many local websites. To download the book in Spanish, please click here.
<<>>
UNESCO Office in Montevideo, Uruguay, in cooperation with the network of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in Latin America and the Caribbean, published the Guía práctica sobre software libre: su selección y aplicación local en América Latina y el Caribe (Guidelines on free software: how to choose it and apply it locally in Latin America and the Caribbean).
Authored by Fernando da Rosa and Federico Heinz, the book has its genesis in the regional FLOSS conference LACFREE 2005 organized in Recife, Brazil, where the need for such publication was discussed.
This easy to read and practical guide promotes FLOSS contribution to sustainable development. It gives practical advice on the selection of adequate FLOSS solutions with the requested functionality and addresses the issue of migration from proprietary software to FLOSS. To facilitate the exchange of experience, the book offers a list of organizations and country related contacts. It also gives an overview of the thematic and regional landscape of the FLOSS community through the hints on annual FLOSS conferences in Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to Richard Stallman, founder of Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, who wrote an introduction article for the book, the society "needs information that is truly available to its citizens - for example, programmes that people can read, fix, adapt, and improve, not just operate". FLOSS offers today a broad spectrum of programmes covering various areas: audio, video and design; networks and connectivity; office applications; file management; operating systems; mail and web server management, etc. FLOSS applications contribute therefore to digital opportunities in education and public administration, and support social inclusion of people with special needs.
The Guidelines were presented and distributed in several regional FLOSS events and are available online on many local websites. To download the book in Spanish, please click here.
<<>>
The Olympic Torch, Beijing Olympics and Police Brutality
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
On Sunday, April 6, 2008, during the Olympic Torch relay that took place on the streets of London, England, we saw how much malign influence China has over the free West.
During this Torch Relay the brutality of the British Police, in this case primarily Metropolitan Police of the Capital, that we saw used again those few and in no way really violent protesters of the Free Tibet Movement was something akin to what we saw in the last decades of the last century when the Poll Tax riots were in full swing.
In addition to that the Olympic Torch was surrounded by a phalanx of young Chinese men in blue track suits which the BBC claimed, initially, to be Chinese Olympic athletes. Olympic athletes my foot. Anyone who believed that statement, I am sure, must also believe in the Easter Bunny and in the Tooth Fairy.
Mind you, by Tuesday, April 8, 2008, we were finally be told the truth and it was being openly admitted that whose were indeed personnel of the Chinese crack anti-terrorist commandos, in other words, agents of the Chinese security apparatus. They too did their share of the beating of protesters, it would seem, and especially in France.
The question that we all must ask of our governments, whether here in the UK or across the Channel in France, is why thugs of the Chinese security apparatus were permitted to act as guardians of the Olympic Torch here on the streets of both the British and the French capital cities?
In their attempt to stop protesters reaching the torch and especially this was the case in Paris, it would appear, where together with the CRS and others units of the French Gendarmerie many of the protesters, according to pictures seem, were beaten bloody, with one protester bleeding profusely from his mouth, for instance.
The police and security personnel tried to stop filming of such brutality, even to the extent of gloved hands of CRS personnel attempting to cover up the lenses of camera crews.
Why, why is the “free” West allowing this to happen? This has nothing to do with upholding the Spirit of the Olympics and the Torch to pass freely but it has everything to do with communist Chinese influence.
Britain, once the bastion of liberty in the enlightenment and France, the country of “liberte, egalite et fraternite”, both showed where they stand. Business interests are put before the interests of the people, at home and abroad, and especially here in countries where they are being oppressed.
It is a shame that we cannot even call for a boycott of Chinese made goods, for instance, as we would then have, literally, nothing that we could buy anymore, bar a few small exceptions. Even the parts of the very computer, for instance, on which this article has been written are “Made in China”.
© M Smith (Veshengro) & Tatchipen Media, April 2008
On Sunday, April 6, 2008, during the Olympic Torch relay that took place on the streets of London, England, we saw how much malign influence China has over the free West.
During this Torch Relay the brutality of the British Police, in this case primarily Metropolitan Police of the Capital, that we saw used again those few and in no way really violent protesters of the Free Tibet Movement was something akin to what we saw in the last decades of the last century when the Poll Tax riots were in full swing.
In addition to that the Olympic Torch was surrounded by a phalanx of young Chinese men in blue track suits which the BBC claimed, initially, to be Chinese Olympic athletes. Olympic athletes my foot. Anyone who believed that statement, I am sure, must also believe in the Easter Bunny and in the Tooth Fairy.
Mind you, by Tuesday, April 8, 2008, we were finally be told the truth and it was being openly admitted that whose were indeed personnel of the Chinese crack anti-terrorist commandos, in other words, agents of the Chinese security apparatus. They too did their share of the beating of protesters, it would seem, and especially in France.
The question that we all must ask of our governments, whether here in the UK or across the Channel in France, is why thugs of the Chinese security apparatus were permitted to act as guardians of the Olympic Torch here on the streets of both the British and the French capital cities?
In their attempt to stop protesters reaching the torch and especially this was the case in Paris, it would appear, where together with the CRS and others units of the French Gendarmerie many of the protesters, according to pictures seem, were beaten bloody, with one protester bleeding profusely from his mouth, for instance.
The police and security personnel tried to stop filming of such brutality, even to the extent of gloved hands of CRS personnel attempting to cover up the lenses of camera crews.
Why, why is the “free” West allowing this to happen? This has nothing to do with upholding the Spirit of the Olympics and the Torch to pass freely but it has everything to do with communist Chinese influence.
Britain, once the bastion of liberty in the enlightenment and France, the country of “liberte, egalite et fraternite”, both showed where they stand. Business interests are put before the interests of the people, at home and abroad, and especially here in countries where they are being oppressed.
It is a shame that we cannot even call for a boycott of Chinese made goods, for instance, as we would then have, literally, nothing that we could buy anymore, bar a few small exceptions. Even the parts of the very computer, for instance, on which this article has been written are “Made in China”.
© M Smith (Veshengro) & Tatchipen Media, April 2008
Coca-Cola Aims for 'Water Neutrality'
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) released a report recently detailing the evolution of The Coca-Cola Co.'s water management strategy.
The report, "Drinking It In: The Evolution of a Global Water Stewardship Program at The Coca-Cola Company" follows the company's efforts to achieve "water neutrality" across its worldwide operations while facing challenges from global water quality, availability and access.
During the past five years, so it is said in the report, Coca Cola has begun developing a more holistic look at its water strategy because of three issues: it has acquired water brands; communities in India protested as regards to a Coca-Cola bottler there because of appropriation and pollution issues; and it began reporting water issues as a material risk to investors.
The company, Coca Cola, they say in the report, created a survey for its plants and bottlers to gather information on efficiency, compliance, watershed, supply reliability, supply economics and social and competitive contextual information.
By the year 2007, the Coca Cola developed an integrated water strategy focused on plant performance (water use efficiency, water quality and wastewater treatment), watershed protection, enabling access to clean drinking water and working to drive global awareness and action to address water challenges. Its system-wide goal is to return all water used in its operations back to nature. Its mantra: reduce, recycle and replenish.
For the year 2008 Coca Cola has set itself a goal of becoming the most efficient company in the world in terms of water use in the beverage industry. It plans to be fully aligned with global wastewater treatment and reuse standards by the end of 2010. It will support projects and investments that focus on rainwater collection, reforestation, protecting water sources and local access to them and the efficient agricultural use of water.
I am not sure as to whether one should laugh or cry here. This is nothing but GREENWASH of the highest order. One can but wonder how much Coca Cola did pay the so-called researchers who did this report. This about a company who uses tap water and “reverse osmosis” and then sells it at huge profits in cans and from a company whose operations in India have lowered the water table by meters and this lowering of the water tables and other issues are the cause of drought conditions in the area where they have operated.
Anyone believing in Coca Cola's green credentials must have just fallen off the turnip wagon or, alternatively, be the recipient of large substantial hand-outs from the company or its agents.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
The report, "Drinking It In: The Evolution of a Global Water Stewardship Program at The Coca-Cola Company" follows the company's efforts to achieve "water neutrality" across its worldwide operations while facing challenges from global water quality, availability and access.
During the past five years, so it is said in the report, Coca Cola has begun developing a more holistic look at its water strategy because of three issues: it has acquired water brands; communities in India protested as regards to a Coca-Cola bottler there because of appropriation and pollution issues; and it began reporting water issues as a material risk to investors.
The company, Coca Cola, they say in the report, created a survey for its plants and bottlers to gather information on efficiency, compliance, watershed, supply reliability, supply economics and social and competitive contextual information.
By the year 2007, the Coca Cola developed an integrated water strategy focused on plant performance (water use efficiency, water quality and wastewater treatment), watershed protection, enabling access to clean drinking water and working to drive global awareness and action to address water challenges. Its system-wide goal is to return all water used in its operations back to nature. Its mantra: reduce, recycle and replenish.
For the year 2008 Coca Cola has set itself a goal of becoming the most efficient company in the world in terms of water use in the beverage industry. It plans to be fully aligned with global wastewater treatment and reuse standards by the end of 2010. It will support projects and investments that focus on rainwater collection, reforestation, protecting water sources and local access to them and the efficient agricultural use of water.
I am not sure as to whether one should laugh or cry here. This is nothing but GREENWASH of the highest order. One can but wonder how much Coca Cola did pay the so-called researchers who did this report. This about a company who uses tap water and “reverse osmosis” and then sells it at huge profits in cans and from a company whose operations in India have lowered the water table by meters and this lowering of the water tables and other issues are the cause of drought conditions in the area where they have operated.
Anyone believing in Coca Cola's green credentials must have just fallen off the turnip wagon or, alternatively, be the recipient of large substantial hand-outs from the company or its agents.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
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