We live in a free society, with a free media -- everyone knows that. But somehow... certain stories seem to just 'happen' to slip through the gaps in our free press, and remain in obscurity; and this often includes important stories about corporate and government power. There's a reason for this: the press feeds off official releases from reputable bodies, such as government departments, major companies and NGOs; investigating and publicising stories not already made safe and acceptable is far more expensive in terms of resources.
Project Censored, a US based media research group, has, since 1976, been looking at the stories that failed to make it -- the front page news that didn't make the news. Project Censored's judges have included Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Their latest list of the top 25 'lost' stories of 2005 has just been published.
Here Corporate Watch takes a look at a few of the 25.
(For a full list see http://projectcensored.org/censored_2006/index.htm) No. 8 'Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates'
After the invasion of Iraq, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, under Neo-Con Paul Bremer, instituted a series of orders, designed to make Iraq a corporate paradise. One of the more significant but less talked about of these measures was Order 81, which protected patented varieties of seeds, including GM crops and modern hybrid crops, and made it illegal for Iraqi farmers to re-use seeds from such crops. Coupled with the destruction of traditional farming practises, and programmes to 're-educate' Iraqis in modern faming methods, Order 81 is part of a move away from Iraqi food security towards dependence on companies such as Syngenta for seeds. Corporate Watch covered this story in 'Eating Iraq', July 2003 (http://archive.corporatewatch.org/news/iraq_food.htm) No. 12 'Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators'
Mercenary companies have been rushing to cash in on the honey pot that is occupied Iraq. Many former US and UK officers have used their contacts and training to set up private military companies (PMCs). Among the people these firms employ are former South African paramilitary police, and other figures from the shady world of anti-insurgent warfare. Although the use of PMCs is judged to be essential to the protection of corporations in Iraq, the mercenary soldiers for hire are not covered by military law, and there have been numerous cases of abuse of prisoners and attacks on civilians by these corporate gunmen. Corporate Watch covered this story in 'Iraq: A Mercenary's Paradise, June 2004 (http://archive.corporatewatch.org/news/mercenery.htm) No. 13 'Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges'
It is becoming increasingly clear that events such as the G8, Live8 and talk of global 'poverty reduction' are simply PR exercises by the rulers of rich countries. 'The wealthiest of nations have continuously signed international statements pledging to increase foreign aid to 0.7 percent of their gross national income in order to eliminate the crippling debts of third world countries. Repeatedly, they have broken their promises.' Corporate Watch has run extensive coverage of the G8 con during and after the Gleneagles summit, see www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=1262 No. 22 Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities But Health Effects Need Scrutiny
The manipulation of material at the molecular scale has become increasingly easy, ever since IBM rearranged xenon atoms on a nickel surface to spell out 'IBM' in 1990. New materials, new machines, possibly a whole new industrial revolution is on the cards. However, techno-euphoria has a nasty tendency to leave us with a bad hangover -- one that ordinary people usually have to clear up. In the corporate-led drive towards rolling out nanotechnology, very little attention has been paid to possible safety issues. Tiny nano-particles are currently being rolled out in a range of products, including sun-block, tennis raquets and clothing. Research has shown that these tiny particles could pose major health risks -- due to their tiny size and novel make up the body may have few defences to being contaminated at the nano-scale. Since only 1 per cent of nanotechnology investment is going on health risk assessment, and the UK government recently ignored a Royal Society report that raised worries about the speed of introduction of nanotechnological products, this seems to be another area in which human needs are taking a back seat to a corporate-driven approach of getting new products on the market ASAP. Corporate Watch has covered this issue in some depth, including in the recent article, 'Government commissions, ignores, nanotech report' http://archive.corporatewatch.org/newsletter/issue23/part7.htm
(For a full list see http://projectcensored.org/censored_2006/index.htm) No. 8 'Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates'
After the invasion of Iraq, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, under Neo-Con Paul Bremer, instituted a series of orders, designed to make Iraq a corporate paradise. One of the more significant but less talked about of these measures was Order 81, which protected patented varieties of seeds, including GM crops and modern hybrid crops, and made it illegal for Iraqi farmers to re-use seeds from such crops. Coupled with the destruction of traditional farming practises, and programmes to 're-educate' Iraqis in modern faming methods, Order 81 is part of a move away from Iraqi food security towards dependence on companies such as Syngenta for seeds. Corporate Watch covered this story in 'Eating Iraq', July 2003 (http://archive.corporatewatch.org/news/iraq_food.htm) No. 12 'Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators'
Mercenary companies have been rushing to cash in on the honey pot that is occupied Iraq. Many former US and UK officers have used their contacts and training to set up private military companies (PMCs). Among the people these firms employ are former South African paramilitary police, and other figures from the shady world of anti-insurgent warfare. Although the use of PMCs is judged to be essential to the protection of corporations in Iraq, the mercenary soldiers for hire are not covered by military law, and there have been numerous cases of abuse of prisoners and attacks on civilians by these corporate gunmen. Corporate Watch covered this story in 'Iraq: A Mercenary's Paradise, June 2004 (http://archive.corporatewatch.org/news/mercenery.htm) No. 13 'Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges'
It is becoming increasingly clear that events such as the G8, Live8 and talk of global 'poverty reduction' are simply PR exercises by the rulers of rich countries. 'The wealthiest of nations have continuously signed international statements pledging to increase foreign aid to 0.7 percent of their gross national income in order to eliminate the crippling debts of third world countries. Repeatedly, they have broken their promises.' Corporate Watch has run extensive coverage of the G8 con during and after the Gleneagles summit, see www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=1262 No. 22 Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities But Health Effects Need Scrutiny
The manipulation of material at the molecular scale has become increasingly easy, ever since IBM rearranged xenon atoms on a nickel surface to spell out 'IBM' in 1990. New materials, new machines, possibly a whole new industrial revolution is on the cards. However, techno-euphoria has a nasty tendency to leave us with a bad hangover -- one that ordinary people usually have to clear up. In the corporate-led drive towards rolling out nanotechnology, very little attention has been paid to possible safety issues. Tiny nano-particles are currently being rolled out in a range of products, including sun-block, tennis raquets and clothing. Research has shown that these tiny particles could pose major health risks -- due to their tiny size and novel make up the body may have few defences to being contaminated at the nano-scale. Since only 1 per cent of nanotechnology investment is going on health risk assessment, and the UK government recently ignored a Royal Society report that raised worries about the speed of introduction of nanotechnological products, this seems to be another area in which human needs are taking a back seat to a corporate-driven approach of getting new products on the market ASAP. Corporate Watch has covered this issue in some depth, including in the recent article, 'Government commissions, ignores, nanotech report' http://archive.corporatewatch.org/newsletter/issue23/part7.htm