Corporate Watch's round-up of this month's news.

ELSEWHERE:

ACRONYMS UN-UNITED: WEF, WSF and the ESF
The World Economic Forum has started in the wintersport mountain town of Davos, in Switzerland. The WEF, which 'plays a key role for developing new economic, political, cultural and social tendencies and strategies', invites CEOs of major corporations, hundreds of top international government officials and just plain rich people. It was accompanied by a variety of protests. In contrast, the World Social Forum has just taken place in Mumbai, India. The WSF, an assembly of more than 100,000 social activists, was a week of workshops, protests, and events. It addressed issues such as child labour, indigenous struggles, homelessness, the G-20, art and resistance videos, gay rights, sex workers and the Coca Cola boycott. There has been some controversy over the fact that it was funded, among others, by the Ford Foundation which, as well as being involved with the World Bank, is obliged by statute to abide by US policy and promote US interests abroad.

Meanwhile the European Social Forum (ESF) is gearing up for its next meeting in London in November, accompanied by criticism that it is turning into a 'front' for the SWP. 'The ESF involves normal people in non-hierarchical ways of working and structures which present a real alternative to corporate control' said one non SWP activist. 'There has been a bit of trouble, because there are people coming in who're inspired by the new way of working, but who still have the old rank and file mentality.' Still, the very size of the nascent Forum (60,000 people at the ESF in Florence) suggests that hardline SWP-ers will find themselves in a powerless minority. 'It's probably where they're most comfortable' said another activist, kindly.

UK:

HUTCHISON: 'IF THE COMMUNITY DOESN'T WANT US, WE DON'T GO AWAY'
Telecommunications companies like nothing better than erecting masts, especially Hutchison 3G UK. It proudly claims to use film-set techniques to pretend the masts are everything from chimneys to clock towers. So next time you're at the bus stop, don't be surprised if the boring person standing next to you turns out to be a mobile phone mast.
The move to 3G networks 'expands' the things mobiles can do, as they are now effectively always connected to the network. Picture it. You're sitting, yet again unentertained, with family and friends, when suddenly.. Wow! A video clip of a Premiership goal appears on your handset! Or maybe you're feeling lonely when.. Yeah! Miniature dancing naked people just for you!

In conjunction with its partners '3' has undertaken one of the fastest network rollouts in European telecoms history. Up to 200 base stations are being installed per week. Hutchison 3G UK recently completed its 5,000th radio base station, while UK analysts expect that up to 35,000 new masts will be needed.

For the people who live near the masts, however, this isn't the greatest of news. Residents in Bath, who have already fought off two of Hutchison's attempts to erect masts, have discovered that the fight is only beginning.

'They tried to put one on top of a grade one listed church,' said Sian Meredith, a representative of the aggrieved locals. 'The residents got this withdrawn so they just tried again 200m down the road. They put in hundreds of planning applications and even the planning office admitted to me that it's sick of them.' A spokesman for Hutchison agreed: 'If the community does not want Hutchison 3G we don't go away.'

Perhaps this attitude is to be expected. Hutchison 3G is part of Hutchison Whampoa's global 3G group owned by the Chinese billionaire, Li Ka-shing. Li, known as 'Superman' in Hong Kong, is also the world's largest independent port operator, with facilities everywhere - from China to Panama to Britain. He has control of Canada's Husky Energy Inc. and it is estimated that he owns at least one third of downtown Vancouver. When 'the world's most extensive fibre-optic network', Global Crossing, became the fourth largest bankruptcy in US history, mirroring the Enron Saga in every way, right down to the document shredding, Li was there to buy it up.

According to an October 1999 'Intelligence Assessment' prepared by the U.S. military Southern Command, the Hong Kong billionaire is a potential threat to America. This ran alongside the Clinton White House's denial that Li was working for the government in Beijing. The White House press secretary labelled such accusations as 'silly' and said 'this is the kind of thing you see around here from time to time.'

Recent testimony before the U.S. Senate however, revealed that Li Ka-Shing 'and his Hong Kong based company and subsidiaries are closely associated with the Beijing regime and have a history of acting as sources of funding or acting as intermediaries in deals for the People's Liberation Army.' Li is a board member of the China International Trust and Investment Corp., a principal funding arm of the Chinese government and a technology acquiring source for China's military.

The '3' network is a make-or- break investment for Hutchison, which is expected to spend up to $3 billion on the business to make it viable. It has already suffered handset shortages during the crucial Christmas period and has raised tariffs on '3'. The company is currently considering legal action over a survey by the Australian Computer Society, which found a low level of customer satisfaction with the new network.

UK:

BUYING A NEW COMPUTER?
British Health and Safety Executive report December 2001. Brain cancer in men: four times the expected rate. Lung cancer in women: two or three times the expected rate. Stomach cancer in women: four to five times the expected rate. The place: Greenock, Scotland. The company: US National Semi Conductor. The 5000 strong workforce: still left stranded over two years later, as attempts by the HSE to carry out a further, conclusive study remain in negotiation.

National Semi Conductor make silicon chips. To make a single chip not only takes enough energy to supply an average household for two months; the manufacturing process uses a range of toxic chemicals, from arsenic to sulphuric acid. In every single computer (over 100 million made each year), and every mobile phone, is a silicon chip. Chip manufacture, which started in Silicon Valley in the 70's, is now one of the world's fastest growing industries. The transnationals have spread rapidly to countries as far flung as Malaysia, Costa Rica - and the British Isles. There are now around 47 semi conductor manufacturing plants in the UK alone.

Three years ago, IBM, another chip manufacturer, settled out of court in a 40 million dollar lawsuit brought by two former US employees, whose son was born blind, and with severe facial deformities. The employees claimed that their son's birth defects were as a direct result of their being exposed to toxic fumes while working in one of IBM's plants. Around 200 IBM employees in the States are currently bringing similar suits.

Despite such cases, the 'inconclusive' 2001 HSE investigation into Greenock is, curiously, the most detailed health study yet performed, either here or in the States. US campaigning group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) are calling for proper studies to be carried out. They, at least, are in no doubts about the hazards.

'The dark side of high technology' says their website, 'reveals polluted drinking water, waste discharges that harm fish and wildlife, high rates of miscarriages, birth defects, and cancer clusters among workers. The high-tech electronics industry uses vast amounts of dangerous chemicals and significantly depletes natural resources to fuel its global expansion and rapidly changing product lines. There are few other products for which the sum of the environmental impacts of raw material extraction, industrial refining and production, use and disposal is so extensive.'

Another HSE investigation of 23 manufacturers of semi-conductors in Great Britain in 2002, attempted to strike an upbeat note. It was, say the HSE 'no worse than any other manufacturing industry.' Only 2% of the report's findings were 'unacceptable'. But it still showed that in 21% of cases, the minimum legal requirements were not being met. Only five out of 23 sites complied with minimum legal requirements for every issue. And as the SVTC point out, in places like Costa Rica, there are fewer safety standards, little or no monitoring, and no money for investigations or lawyers.

Even with UK monitoring, it is proving hard to establish the facts at Greenock. Female workers there first began suing National Semi Conductor in 1998, citing cancers and reproductive illnesses which they say resulted from their work. Scottish trade unionist Jim McCourt, who took up the women's fight, subsequently discovered a leaked document showing that National Semi Conductor had been keeping him under surveillance, and had also discussed how to sabotage a BBC Frontline investigation into the plant.

Workers, campaigners and lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic are now waiting with extreme interest for the HSE's proposed new study (which will take into account lifestyle factors, among others). 'We are working hard to get the study started. It has taken longer than anticipated' said the HSE spokesperson carefully. 'We are asking National Semi Conductor for their co-operation. They could withdraw it at any time.'

Links
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/nsukleaf.pdf
www.hse.gov.uk/fod/eng-util/semicon.pdf
www.svtc.org/

Just Out: Cafod report into computer manufacture abroad:
www.cafod.org.uk/cleanup

Nine Ladies: Eviction Imminent
On 12 December 2003, the quarry company Stancliffe Stone submitted a scheme to the Peak District National Park Authority, PDNPA, for working the quarries at Endcliffe and Lees Cross. They want to extract 3.2 million tons of rock from a 12.95 hectare site within 100m of the Nine Ladies Stone Circle. The resultant scar will be 100m deep, devastating the environment of this treasured site for ever. Stancliffe Stone who intend to open the quarries, want the stone to build a shopping mall and a church in America. They also have plans to open another 70 sites for quarrying. The eviction of the protest camp which has been there since 1999 will cost millions (literally). There are specialist climbers and tunnellers who will work with the bailiffs and police to evict the protesters.

People who want to help are encouraged to write to the PDNPA and tell them why you are opposed to this development. The Peak District National Park Authority, Aldern House, Baslow Road, BAKEWELL, Derbyshire DE45 1AE Tel: 01629 816200 email: aldern@peakdistrict-npa.gov.uk If you want to be on the phone tree (to be informed when eviction starts), please get in touch via the site mobile number: 0700 5942212. www.nineladies.uklinux.net/ Stancliffe Stone Stancliffe Stone Co.Ltd Grangemill Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 4BW Tel: 01629 653859 email: enquiries@stancliffe.com

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STOP PRESS: The story has just broken that plans for the primate lab at Cambridge University have been cancelled. The university and the scentists remain 'committed' to the research.