News in Brief for August 24, 2005

ROSSPORT 5 -- JAILLED FOR OPPOSING SHELL

Five people are curently being held in prison in Ireland for refusing access to Shell to build a pipeline across their land (see 'Sea Shells and Pipe Dreams,' last newsletter, www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=1870).

You can write letters of support to them:

Brendan Philbin McGrath
Vincent McGrath
Philip McGrath
Willie Corduff
Micheál Ó Seighin

All at
Cloverhill Prison
Dublin 22
Ireland

You can also read an open letter by them at www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=205.

ECONOMIC OCCUPATION OF IRAQ ON TRIAL

On the 14th of September four anti-war activists go on trial, accused of disrupting the activisties of Windrush Communications, the company that organises conferences where corporations can buy up tasty morsels of Iraq (see http://archive.corporatewatch.org/newsletter/issue22/issue22_part1.htm).

The defendants, Steven Barnes, Nick Gill, Ewa Jasiewicz and Yasmin Khan, will argue that their 'crime' -- refusing to leave Windrush's offices when asked by the police -- was to prevent a greater crime, namely the plunder of Iraq, illegal under the Hague Regulations (1907). Windrush have previously dropped a similar case against Pennie Quinton and Ewa Jasiewicz over their disruption of Windrush's 'Iraq Procurement Conference' in London, April 2004. The corporations are clearly scared that they will not win this one.

For More information, go to www.radicalactivist.net/corporateiraq.shtml

9/11 TO BE CORPORATE COMPASSION DAY?

In an attempt to divert the grief over terrorist attacks into pro-capitalist PR, a gang of corporations, including JPMorgan Chase and KPMG, are supporting the 'One Day's Pay' campaign. The campaign encourages the creation of 11th September as an international day of charity, and is supposedly directed by relatives of people who died in the attacks on the Twin Towers. However, it is strongly corporate-led, featuring executives of major PR firms on its advisory board. These include Harold Burson, founding chairman of Burson-Marsteller -- a firm known for helping the Saudi and Indonesian dictators cover up terrorist atrocities. Equally at home with atrocities is corporate partner Time Warner, part of the US corporate media that has stayed silent during the carnage visited on Iraqi cities such as Fallujah. Another corporate partner, AT&T;, must also bear some of the balme for the growth of terrorism in the world, having donated $5.4million to the Republican Party since 1999.

CHANNEL TUNNEL VISION

Residents in Stratford have been suffering from the construction of the nearby Channel Tunnel Rail Link by Swedish construction company Skanska. Although the private contractor claims that 'The environmental standards adopted [in Stratford] are at the forefront of those commonly applied to major infrastructure projects' , local people have complained about the way piles of rubble removed from the tunnel have been simply piled next to the station. As a result, clouds of dust have been spotted pouring onto nearby houses. Despite a series of complaints since May 2005, including a petition signed by 50 local residents, Skanska have yet to address the matter.