BOYCOTT BODY SHOP?

Campaigners from Baby Milk Action are protesting against the sale of the Body Shop to L'Oreal, a company that is over a quarter owned by Nestle. In a letter to Baby Milk Action, Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick has hit out against the protests, saying that 'Boycotts rarely work and the people you hurt are primarily the weak and frail', and advises campaigners to only boycott companies that are 100% owned by Nestle. However, Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Coordinator at Baby Milk Action, has said, 'We cannot ignore the fact that buying Body Shop products will put money in the coffers of Nestlé, the world's least responsible company. Our supporters want to know where their money goes, and 99% in an on-line survey we conducted said they would add Body Shop to their personal boycott list and seek ethical alternatives.'

For more information see www.babymilkaction.org

IRISH POTATOES SAVED FROM GM

On the 8th of May Meath County in Ireland became a GMO-free zone, after two motions were unanimously passed by its council. This decision puts a stop to the attempt this year by German agri-business BASF to start developing patented GMO potatoes in the Summerhill area of Meath.

Hailed as a victory for campaigners, this vote makes Meath the sixth county in Ireland to prohibit GMO seeds and crops, along with Cavan, Clare, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Roscommon, and the towns of Galway, Navan, Newry and Clonakilty.

For more information see www.gmfreeireland.org

LABOURSTART - EVENING UP THE ODDS

One of the groups using the internet to bring corporations down to size is the pro-trade union group LabourStart. From their website, www.labourstart.org, they publish not only information about the latest actions by workers against corporations, but support activists with well-targeted avalanches of protest emails. Recent ones have included supporting Thai campaigner Junya Lek Yimprasert, sued for 'defamation' by French PR giant Publicis Groupe for publishing criticisms on a website; and also protesting against union-busting by Australia's GrainCorp.

To see the latest campaigns, and take part by sending your message, go to www.labourstart.org/actnow.shtml

GET THE DIRT ON THE BUSH-BOTS

The Bush Agenda, a fact packed and hard hitting analysis of the pro-corporate rulers of the US has just been released in the UK. The author is Antonia Juhasz, a US direct action anti-war activist and expert on international finance policy. The Bush Agenda covers themes including the way defence corporations overlap with the US government, the plans behind the invasion of Iraq, and the current economic 'restructuring' of this oil-rich nation by a US government made up of ex-oilmen.

Published by Duckworth (www.ducknet.co.uk). Why not order it for your local library?

WE WANT YOUR MEMORIES OF CORPORATE WATCH

How long have you been a reader of Corporate Watch? We know that some of our readers have followed us right from the start in 1996. Any comments about the highlights (and lowlights) of our work would be very useful for our 10-year anniversary issue, to be published in November. How has Corporate Watch changed in its ten years? How has the world of corporations changed? Have you seen supermarkets and chain-shops colonise your high street - or private agencies muscle in to your local school? Or maybe you'be been involved in one of the campaigns that has pushed back corporate power. Please get in touch.

NEXT NEWSLETTER - CORPORATE CLIMATE CHAOS

Despite the best efforts of greenwashers such as BP to pretend otherwise, the vast majority of carbon emissions come from corporations and from the oil that they pump. Our climate is being massively altered for the sake of private profit. And now that there is major public concern over the issue of global warming, corporations are lining up to sell us 'solutions' to the problem that they themselves have created. In the August-September issue of Corporate Watch we'll be tackling these topics. If you've got any articles, letters or know of any other material on this theme that you'd like to see us publish, please get in touch with news editor Loukas before 21st July.