Good globalresearch.ca article

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8224

Ulrich Beck

Here is the link to an Ulrich Beck lecture, in which can be found such little gems as: "Global risk has the power to tear away the facades of organised irresponsibility."

link to wind/hydro project comments

For future use:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/enla/ea/CBWindHydro.asp

Emails between the Citizens Liason Committee and Mayor Morgan

[This post will be of particular interest to Cape Bretoners. As usual my own comments can be seen in green on the original blog page for this note.]

I thought you might like to read a correspondence between Paul MacDougall, the only confirmed member of the Citizens Liason Committee, and Mayor Morgan. The Mayor and Council had requested a meeting with the CLC, and sent a letter to Mr. MacDougall, since he is the only publicly known member. It's a real eye opener as to why concerns of citizens are not being heard... Take care...

From: Paul MacDougall [mailto:pmacdougall@mvosprey.com]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 5:27 PM
To: John W. Morgan
Subject: CLC Point Aconi surface mining operation

Mr. Morgan: It has resently come to my attention that either the c-a-s-m group or yourself and council were wondering if the clc would consider holding a public meeting sometime in the near furture. The questions that were E-mailed to me , read , as follows: Question # 1: Will the clc consider having a public meeting in the future? { Basically to inform what is going on at the site , how water is handled, what tests, frequency of blasts ETC.} Question # 2 Are any of the unknown members considering releasing their names? Mr. mayor , these questions were forwarded to me by Inspector Brad langil of the DOEL. Sydney. I did respond to him on this issue , but not at the lenght i am responding to you. He was not at liberty to reveal the name of the person or persons that put forth the questions . After seeing the last council meeting and reviewing the c-a-s-m website I can assume that it came from one or the other. I have choosen you to respond to on these questions and with respect as to who you show this E-mail to i really do not care. The answer to the first question is NO! To explain the reasoning for this answer allow me to point out some facts to you Mr. mayor. Fact: From the outset of the formation of the clc we have been relentlessly attacked by members of the c-a-s-m group . My co-chair was observing one of their protests at the site and was immediately recognized and was verbally abused so bad he felt for his safety and had to leave. After which one Richard Collis publicly called for a boycot of his place of employment. Fact: Some council members decided to jump into the fray and were making a few comments before we even got started on the job at hand. Fact: At a meeting I had with miister Parent, I was asked if there was room for another clc member so the minister could offer it to c-a-s-m to put one of their members on the committee. To the best of my knowledge they refused. Fact: Over the last two years they have escalated their process of attacking us, for example, I still have the bill for the vandalism done to the company vechicle i drive, I still have the two-inch screw nails that were thrown in my driveway putting both myself and my family and friends at risk. Fact : A contact number has been in place for one year now and there has been no effort on the oppositions part to make any kind of contact with me in a civilized fashion. Fact : The attacks in the media by the likes of Leroy Peach, Richard Collis, Sharon MacLeod and Kevin Sacary { Council} and a few more I could name has reached the point of being slanderous. { But that is for my legal council to determine} Fact : To Date It has been Pioneer Coal who has been following all the rules as layed out by our government with no devations at all to the conditions put on them. [No conditions] That info comes from making the effort to work with the company and the Gov. depts. involved in this. If you know it or not they are a contributor to the economy of the CBRM mr. mayor. I ask you sir , are these the actions of reasonable . rationable people? I think not! I Can go on Mr. mayor but I would be all day at this and with the few facts that I have given you I think you can understand why at this point in time I refuse to have a public meeting with either c-a-s-m or council. By the way Mr. mayor there are thirty + local people working there to date in very good paying jobs for the next seven to ten years. What will you say to them if and when the opposition puts them out of work? They are tax payers and supporters of the economy of the CBRM also. What about Pioneer coal itself , are they not paying taxes in the CBRM , are they not supportting local businesses in the area of supply and services, have they not been complying with the rules and regulations as layed out by our departments in government. Mr. Mayor a man of your caliber should be paying more attention to this and lookat it from all sides instead of just one. To conclude sir there will be no public meeting that I will attend until such time the the council and the c-a-s-m has a severe attitude change toward this CLC. Question #2 : After what you have read above sir do you blame those people for wanting to remain anonymous. The anonymity issue is not really an issue in my eyes. It is just their way of trying to find somebody else to harass and it will not work. These people have given their time and effort in this process to try and look out for their friends and neighbors and for that they would be harassed and abused . I for one refuse to expose them to what I personally have been threw. I look forward to your responce to this E-mail { If any } and if you would like to discuss it further in a one on one , feel free to contact me. With Respect: Paul MacDougall Chairman CLC Point Aconi Surface mine opertion

Letter from Mayor to Paul MacDougall‏:
Mr. MacDougall: Thank you for your e-mail in response to the questions posed during the most recent meeting of CBRM Council. I note your commentary that you do not oppose distribution of the e-mail to the individuals referenced in it and, thus, I have forwarded your comments to the individuals concerned. From my perspective, I want to emphasize my perception that the overwhelming majority of the citizens of this region oppose strip mining of coal due to the environmental impacts which have been well-detailed. I am concerned that the secret committee may be providing a false impression to government officials that the community supports the actions of Pioneer Coal. I hope your committee will make it clear to the Minister that the municipal government and the citizens of this region oppose the actions of Pioneer Coal and also oppose any expansion of the coal strip mining operation to other locations within our region. I have noted that the provincial government discontinued similar operations in Digby in response to community opposition. It is regrettable that the provincial government does not respond to the wishes of the citizens of this region to have their environment protected in a similar manner. I do want to thank you for taking the time to respond to the inquiries during our Council meeting and I hope your committee will clearly communicate the opposition of the residents of this region to the strip mine during your meetings with the Minister of Environment and Labour. Mayor John W. Morgan Cape Breton Regional Municipality

A question and a note

White House Press Release: As he noted in his State of the Union address, the President will be hosting the North American Leaders’ Summit on April 21-22 in New Orleans. This fourth meeting of North American leaders since 2005 will continue our work on Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) initiatives. It will also serve as an opportunity for the three leaders todiscuss hemispheric and global issues of importance to North America.

Question:

Does the White House Press Release mean there will be no protest in Montreal on February 16th?

And now for something completely different:
A new report from the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB) estimates that "between 300 and 700 New Brunswickers die every year [from]... illnesses caused by pollution, pesticides or contamination of food and water." The report is based on research by Simon Fraser University Professor David Boyd and University of Alberta Medical Professor Stephen Genius who determined that "between 10,000 and 25,000 [Canadians] die from environmental factors annually." The study used World Health Organization factor-analysis and Canadian health statistics to estimate that environmental illnesses cost the country as much as $251 million between 1999 and 2003. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, "researchers are finding that... exposure to pesticides and toxic substances play an increasingly significant role in the incidence of disease." CCNB has asked the Provincial Legislative Committee on Wellness to establish a Wellness Plan that will "ban cosmetic use of pesticides and foster public awareness about the role environmental factors can play in wellness."

link to CESAGen

[for future use]

http://www.cesagen.lancs.ac.uk/index.htm

People must empower themselves, not wait for government

by Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front

[I have long been a fan of Zabalaza, largely due to the fact that it was in one of their publications that I first came across the notion of organizing to unionize natural resource industry workers, as a tactic to slow environmental destruction. Unfortunately, it's a tactic which can't be used on Cape Breton Island to stop open/near surface mining, a.k.a. strip mining. Below is a statement with regards to situations in South Africa. It's far, far away, but Zabalaza's language could be used honestly by Cape Bretoners. Furthermore, this specific issue should catch the attention of everybody concerned by the use of food crops for biofuel, etc. - Tim]

ZACF on the recent Young Communist League (YCL) Statement on the Unjustifiable Increase of Bread. --- "We call on government to empower our people, especially through community cooperatives with the necessary inputs for bread production, namely land, tractors and seeds to plough wheat." - this was the demand made by the Young Communist League (YCL) in their recent Statement on the Unjustifiable Increase of Bread. --- The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) agrees with the YCL that "This increase will have negative consequences on the majority of our people, especially the working class and the poor youth who rely on bread as a source of living." We support the YCL and Cosatu in defying this price increase. We regard the vast and repeated increases in the bread price, and in the prices of maize meal, other grains and food in general, as a direct attack by capitalist profiteers on the very survival of workers and the poor. An attack against which workers and the poor need to defend themselves. But the YCL does not seem to recognise the inherent contradiction in its statement. The YCL stated its concern "that government is not protecting our people and allows the capitalist market to undermine our struggle of building sustainable livelihoods as a results of excessive prices of bread and other basic commodities", but they are missing the point. If government did anything other than protect market interests, the YCL would have reason for concern. But that is not the case; the government is protecting the interests of the market at the expense of the people it is supposed to serve. This is what us anarchist communists have been saying all along, and this is where we differ with the state socialists. Government cannot, and will not protect the people from the capitalist market, as the very purpose for government is to protect the capitalists, or capitalism, from the people. Government, by its very nature, disempowers people by controlling and regulating their lives, limiting their freedom to move and live as they please and by making decisions that affect people's lives without first consulting them. By acting on our behalf, and denying us the opportunity to act for ourselves, governments - of all colours and ideological leanings - undermine our ability for individual and collective empowerment. Meaningful and lasting empowerment cannot come from anywhere other than through the self-organised and self-managed activity and mobilisation of the people themselves, of a people in search and in struggle of a better life for all. Whatever workers and the poor have won from the bosses or the government: higher wages, shorter hours, electricity, water, houses, lower rent, the defeat of the apartheid regime, they have won in struggle, not because the government decided out of a sense of responsibility or the goodness of its heart to give us these things. If we want bread, we must fight for bread. As a result of our struggles or otherwise, the government might back a community cooperative, as the YCL suggests, by providing it with the "necessary inputs for bread production, namely land, tractors and seeds to plough wheat". But if we just rely on the government and do not continue the struggle, what is likely to happen is that those people will be expected to operate their cooperative according to market values, and sell their produce on the market instead of feeding themselves and their community. Government might subsidise a few small cooperatives, the participants in which might have access to a better life, but the government will never socialise all the "necessary inputs for bread production", and so the vast majority of the people, those in urban areas for example, will not benefit from these symbolic acts of empowerment. If we do win support for co-operatives, or cheaper bread, or even free bread, we must carry on the fight. As long as the government and capitalists are in place, whatever we force them to give us, they can still try to take back. For anarchist communists the only way to empowerment, and the only way for people to protect themselves from the capitalist market is to organise collectively to rid the world of that market; a market that tramples on the needs and rights of the many to satisfy the profits of the few. We hold that people must collectively organise themselves, across all the industries of the land - both urban and rural - in every school and in every township, to take control of the "necessary inputs of bread production" and the necessary inputs to satisfy all our needs, and place them under the collective ownership and control of the people. No government, whether socialist or not, can ever do this as the sole reason for existence of government is to protect the rich from the poor, and so it is up to the people themselves to create a better life for all. To create a free socialism, without bosses or politicians. Let us wait no longer for government to act, let us act ourselves. The anarchist revolutionary Emma Goldman once said "If they don't give you bread, take bread." Today we take bread; tomorrow we take the farms, the factories, the railways, the roads, the ships, everything that we ourselves built, that was taken from us, that we need to run our own lives. Onward to the collective appropriation of all the necessary inputs for a better life for all. You cannot empower people, people must empower themselves. http://www.zabalaza.net/