The Dominion - 12

Canadian News

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:41:48 +0000

Farms Produce More, Earn Less: Farmers' Union

Faemers say they are contantly sttaining greater efficiency, but all possible profits are taken by powerful agriculture technology corporations and declining prices from nearly-monopolized buyers.

A report released last week by the Farmer's Union of Canada says that while revenues have increased on a per farm basis, actual income is quickly approaching zero.

The report, entitled "The Farm Crisis, Bigger Farms,and the Myths of'Competition' and 'Efficiency'" says that farmers find themselves in a double bind. They must constantly invest in technology and expansion todeliver more produce for less money, but must also make do with falling prices.

Most farmers, the report says, "arestruggling with the worst farm income crisis since the 1930s."

Prices paid to farms have held steady since the 1960s, while all other prices have gone up. The price of a loaf of bread, for example, has more than tripled since 1975. By contrast, wheat prices have hardly changed during the same period.

The report finds similar trends in corn and cornflakes, barley and beer, and hogs and porkchopspork chops. In each case, the price of the processed product has more than tripled, while the commodity itself has stayed at aconstant low price.

The Farmer's Union pins these trends on elementary principles of economics. While economies of scale result in greater efficiencies, the resulting large entities hold a greater concentration of power.

This, according to the studies cited by the report, can result in higher prices despite lower costs of production. "Given the opportunity to charge less, but also the power to charge more, corporations will act predictably."

Under "free trade" deals like NAFTA, Canadian family farms must compete with each other and with farmers worldwide for a very small number of powerful buyers.

In Canada, for example, two multinationals pack the vast majority of Canadian beef. Similar concentrations exist in almost all sectors.

While multinationals consolidate control over distribution through mergers, the report argues, farmers are constantly forced to compete with more of the world.

Shortly after the report was released, Maple Leaf Foods began a takeover of Schneider's, a move that would give the corporation control over 80% of slaughter capacity in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Independent hog farmers say the deal will take away "even the pretext of competition".

Dru Oja Jay

National Farmers Union:

* * *

Martin Axes Housing Minister, Creates Privatization Czar

Upon taking office as Prime Minister, Paul Martin hasundertaken a radical cabinet shuffle. One of his most radical changes has been the elimination of the secretary responsible for housing. Mississauga MP Steve Mahoney, previously in charge of housing, was dropped from cabinet along with his job. Responsibility for the housing portfolio will fall to Environment Minister David Anderson, a move the Toronto Star called an "odd fit".."

Housing activists say that the change indicates a de-emphasis on affordable housing. Murray Dobbin, author of CEO for Canada, called it a cynical move, since "Martin eliminated all federal funding for social housing" while Finance Minister. The Prime Minister has said that he intends to "build a society based on equality, not privilege."

Meanwhile, Martin has created a new position: "Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance with special emphasis on Public Private Partnerships (P3s)." Covered by almost no major media outlets, the new position will be filled by John McKay, an MP from Scarborough East. Little information is available about the position, but in a news release the new "P3 Czar" named "affordable housing" and "electric power" as being among several areas that could benefit from P3 deals.

P3s involve offloading government services onto private-sector firms. P3 advocates say that the deals are necessary when governments don't have enough money to fund important projects. Opponents claim that P3s are significantly more expensive in the long term, move government funds to the private sector, and provide a short-term excuse to cut social programs. (Toronto Star, John McKay, MP)

Press Release:

Toronto Star:

* * *

BC Great-Grandmother Chooses Jail Over Promise not to Protest

Betty Krawczyk will spend Christmas in jail, declining an offer of parole in exchange for a promise not to protest anymore. The 75-year-old great grandmother was arrested while protesting the logging of numerous forests in British Columbia.

Krawczyk has previously spent a total of two years in jail for various other protests, and will likely not be released until mid-February. She is launching a Charter of Rights challenge to the fact that she was charged with criminal contempt of court, as opposed to civilecivil contempt, which carries lighter sentences.

Increasingly, those arrested en masse at demonstrations in Canada are finding they cannot get out of jail without signing away their right to protest. Some activists have been denied the right to associate with certain people in order to get out of jail; others have travel restrictions. (Canadian Press)

Canadian Press:

International News

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:23:21 +0000

Uruguay Votes Against Privatization

Uruguayans at a rally opposing an IMF-backed plan to privatize the nationally-owned oil company. Photo: Indymedia Uruguay

In a referendum on the privatization of Ancap, the Uruguayan national oil company, Uruguayans voted decisively to keep the company's monopoly on oil import and export. In a plan backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-a body that grants loans to countries when certain conditions are met-the government had decided to terminate Ancap's control over oil in Uruguay in order to make it more efficient.

The opposition campaign noted that Ancap provides the government with a substantial part of the income used to fund pension plans, health care, and education. The IMF has considerable clout in Uruguay due to the country's massive foreign debt, most of which is left over from the rule of US-backed military dictators in previous decades.

San Francisco Indymedia Center

* * *

Cost of Climate Change to Exceed Global GDP by 2065: Study

Insurance companies in the US and UK are increasingly questioning their ability to insure against weather-related catastrophes. According to the Reinsurance Association of America, insurers paid $57 billion for weather-related losses in the first half of the 1990s. In the whole of the 1980s, they paid $17 billion.

With weather-related damages growing by 10 per cent per year over the last decade, insurance companies are increasingly refusing to insure vulnerable areas like Florida and the Caribbean. A report released by the Chartered Insurance Institute of the UK estimated that economic losses from extreme weather will exceed the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2065.

In recent years, climate scientists have increasingly concluded that human-created greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming, leading to increased occurrence of "extreme weather events." (Engineers Australia)

Engineers Australia:

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Unions Banned in Iraq

As many as 7 million Iraqi workers-70 per cent of the country's workforce-do not have jobs. Those workers who have hoped to find security or improved situations by forming unions have been disappointed in recent weeks by the US-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) enforcement of a Hussein-era law banning the formation of unions in state-owned enterprises. Currently, most working Iraqis are employed in such enterprises.

The CPA has also passed a measure to hold anyone who "incites civil disorder" as a prisoner of war, a charge that many Iraqis say could be interpreted in order to target union organizers. According to an Iraqi organizer interviewed by phone, one union office experienced a raid by 10 personnel carriers and Humvees. Files and equipment were seized from the office of the Transport and Communications Workers union, and organizers were arrested and held without explanation overnight.

US Congress recently appropriated $87 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq. None of the money was set aside for unemployment relief. Most Iraqis employed by CPA earn $60 per month, which many say is not enough to provide the bare essentionals for a family. Many of the firms with reconstruction contracts shy away from hiring Iraqis, prefering to bring in subcontractors from Pakistan and India.

Many Iraqis have expressed alarm over the US policy of rapid privatization aimed at attracting international investment. The manager of one oil refinery claimed that if his firm were privatized, he would have to lay off 1500 of his 3000 workers. "In America, when a company lays people off, there's unemployment insurance and they won't die from hunger. If I dismiss employees now, I'm killing them and their families." (The Progressive, Pacific News Service)

Z Magazine:

Pacific News Service:

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Indian Court Orders Coke to Stop Depleting Water Supplies

The top court in the Indian state of Kerala has ordered Coca Cola to stop drawing groundwater. The court said that the Coca Cola bottling plant, which used 400,000 gallons of water daily, was depleting groundwater in the area, leading to a regional water shortage. (ENN)

Environmental News Network:

Barn-Raising on Air: the Prometheus Radio Project

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:42:33 +0000

Prometheus Radio Project volunteers working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to build Radio Consciencia. photo: JJ Tiziou

A recent trip with The Prometheus Radio Project to 'barn raise' a community radio station in Immokalee, Florida has me thinking about low-power radio regulations in North America. I am mostly thinking about pirates. Radio pirates in the United States actually prefer the term 'micro broadcaster', and consider their transmissions an act of civil disobedience. There are many pirate / micro-broadcasters in the US, forced to seize a frequency because their country's media regulations won't grant low-power radio licenses. I don't know as many radio pirates in Canada. Some would-be Canuck pirates have campus/community radio stations in their towns. Others are trying to finish up their CRTC license application. As I learn more about current low-power policies in the States, it's obvious who the real pirates are- and it isn't the kid next door with the 2 watt transmitter.

I was working for CHMA Radio in Sackville, NB when I first heard about the Prometheus Radio Project in West Philadelphia. Apparently a radio pirate named Pete TriDish had mobilized low-power radio supporters in an attempt to challenge the Federal Communication Commission's ban on new low power stations. Hiding out in an attic for 2 years, clandestine Radio Mutiny beamed through West Philly neighborhoods shaking a modulated fist at the FCC, the media regulatory body in the United States. Community radio advocates claim preferential treatment is given to multi-million dollar Big Media owners while low power, community-based FM hopefuls are forced to broadcast illegally or not at all. In 1998, the FCC literally kicked down the studio door and seized Radio Mutiny's transmitter. As the FCC dismantled what was Philadelphia's only volunteer-run, community radio station, Prometheus Radio Project emerged from the cinders.

photo: JJ Tiziou

At the same time corporations like Clear Channel-which owns nearly 1,200 radio stations and effectively controls the rock radio market-were pressuring the FCC to loosen media ownership rules. As Big Media began to gobble up small stations at an alarming rate, Prometheus Radio lobbied the FCC to change policies protecting the airwaves from homogeneous commercial monopolies and began an aggressive campaign for low power, community-based frequencies in the United States.

In 2000, pressure from community radio advocates forced the FCC to open a window for low-power FM radio license applications in late 2000. This was a one-time only window, and the FCC was flooded by hundreds of thousands of applications, which, in 2003, they are still processing. Under the act, new LPFM stations could not be placed on frequencies that were three channels removed from an existing station, eliminating about 75% of opportunities of the frequencies available for new LPFM stations. However, hundreds of applicants in rural areas were granted low-power licenses as they posed little threat of signal interference.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community-based farmworker organization in southwest Florida, was a successful low-power radio applicant. From December 5-7, Prometheus Radio Project barn raised its fifth low-power/community radio station. Like an old fashioned gathering where neighbors pitch in to construct a building, CIW's Radio Conciencia in Immokalee, Florida was assembled by volunteers, from the antennae mast to the microphones. The station will be an integral tool in CIW's struggle to organize migrant farmworkers . Their members are largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida. They fight for fair wages and the right to organize.

When Pete TriDish, Sue and I pulled into Immokalee a couple days before the barn raising was to begin,

Everything seemed incredibly unresolved. About 100 or so volunteers from across the country were about to arrive in Immokalee for the barn raising and CIW hadn't yet decided where the new studio was to be. But who can blame them? CIW had just returned from a 34 mile march from Fort Lauderdale to Miami to protest FTAA meetings. Just months before, they had organized a 10 day hunger strike in front of Taco Bell headquarters, protesting the franchise's refusal to pay an extra penny per pound for tomatoes.

"An organization just like Prometheus," Pete said "They're too busy to do anything but fly by the seat of their pants!" As I headed out to scour pawn shops for decent cassette decks for the new station, I had an internal freakout. How would we be on the air in 3 days?

In the end, we all became honorary midwives by pitching in and sharing whatever skills we've picked up along the way, birthing a radio station in the process. Communication was a two-way rush of Spanish and English as the mast was raised, the board was wired and cables were soldered. Workshops about interviewing, radio production and governance happened in behind construction scenes. Experienced radio gurus worked with keen beginners to teach skills and pass on information. The Prometheus barn raising philosophy puts emphasis on skill sharing and teaching rather than simply having engineers build the whole station.

On Sunday at 7:15pm, members of CIW sat behind the microphone and began the inaugural broadcast of Radio Conciencia. First words spoken were a mixture of disbelief and celebration.

In the past 2 days, we had experienced the magic of community collaboration. In a time when the airwaves are becoming increasingly monopolized, Radio Conciencia represents an accessible space and a powerful local resource, as well as a viable model for other communities.

Janna Graham helps the Prometheus Radio Project out with a radio barnraising in Immokalee, Florida.

The Uptown

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:35:17 +0000

"The Uptown," by Heather Meek

Democracy and Fascism

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:29:19 +0000

<cite>Myth, Propaganda and Disaster</cite> provokes controversy in Australia

The burning of the Reichstag by terrorists allowed Hitler to sieze power. Myth questions similar themes in contemporary America from an Australian perspective.

Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America: A Drama in 30 Scenes made headlines because each of the major theatres in Sydney failed to pick it up for 2004, even though it completed successful runs at both The Playbox Theatre in Melbourne and The State Theatre Company in Adelaide. Australian playwright Stephen Sewell only increased debate on the issue by claiming that he was 'being blocked from the main stages here in Sydney.' He said, 'I am being blocked, have been for some time, because I don't fit into their agendas, which is to reinforce their audience's beliefs.' Myth was finally brought to Sydney audiences during a three-week run at The Stables on a voluntary, co-operative basis by cast and management.

So, why all the controversy?

The main character in Myth is Talbot Finch, an Australian expat living in America. As Max, a fellow Australian tells us, Talbot's life is good. He has a cushy academic job in the politics department of a prestigious American university, an American wife who married him so that he could stay in America and a beautiful apartment that offers a clear view of the site of the former World Trade Centre. It's a life that Max envies and wants.

Talbot, however, is less than satisfied. He has written a book, which lends its title to the title of the play, and seems almost unaware that his argument outlines the evolution of contemporary America into a fascist state similar to Nazi Germany. Talbot, in fact, seems unaware that he is living in a post Sept-11 world, and that words are no longer innocent – a point that is driven home to him when a stranger enters his office, threatens him with a gun and bashes him in the head. This incident sets Talbot down a spiraling path of paranoia, conspiracy and fear.

Myth aims to explore both the environment within America and the relationship between America and Australia post Sept-11. The character of Max encapsulates Australia's subordinate role – easy-going, careful to say the right things, eager to learn the American way. The stranger who continues to harass Talbot is almost supernatural – he is a government agent never seen by other characters, so elusive that he could almost be a figment of Talbot's imagination. Talbot himself is an idealist whose beliefs in social justice have become a threat, to himself most of all.

Parallels are drawn early in the play between Talbot's situation and that of Joseph K. in The Trial. Like Joseph K, Talbot doesn't understand what his crime is. He is incapable of seeing the practical implications of his theories, nor can he see how dangerous other people find the truth.

Once he recognizes that he is being persecuted, he finds that other people have the same reluctance to believe that they live in a world that continues to resemble a fascist state. When he tries to tell his wife that somebody is trying to silence him she dismisses this notion saying, 'This is America!'. The implication being, of course, that things like that just don't happen in America.

Is it true that Sydney theatre companies were simply too scared to bring this play to Sydney audiences? Is it a reflection, perhaps, on the extreme conservatism and reluctance to face up to harsh realities that this very play attacks?

The artistic directors of major Sydney theatres have denied Sewell's charges that Myth was deemed too contentious for the Sydney stage. And, while Myth does succeed in raising important issues about the willingness of the public of both Australia and America to accept that their countries are the defenders of freedom ad democracy, it is possible to see why all the major theatres declined to include it in their 2004 programs.

While the first half of Myth is an exciting mix of social commentary and interesting suspense, the second half descends into a series of monotonous rants that take on the one-sided and dogmatic appearance of another form of propaganda. Myth played to sell-out audiences at The Stables. It is hard to tell whether it would have been as successful during a longer run in a larger theatre, without the controversy surrounding its performance.

Lynda Ng is currently studying at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Myth, Propaganda and Disaster provokes controversy in Australia
Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America: A Drama in 30 Scenes made headlines because each of the major theatres in Sydney failed to pick it up for 2004, even though it completed successful runs at both The Playbox Theatre in Melbourne and The State Theatre Company in Adelaide.
- by Lynda Ng -

Proffessor Undressor

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:19:34 +0000

Sumi-E Experiment (2003)

Many of today's most acclaimed electronica albums are recorded in the cramped bedrooms of computer-literate music nerds. Meanwhile journalists have invented the curious genre of "laptop music" to describe the trend. As far as I can tell, the term is not actually restricted to music made exclusively on laptops but rather refers to any synth-oriented music made on a person's home processor instead of the expensive computer workstations that are now ubiquitous in professional recording studios.

Now meet New Brunswick-based Jay Arnold, who has created the persona of Proffessor Undressor in a playful attempt to challenge and poke fun at these assumptions. Outfitted with a full vest, tie, pocket protector (!), and a beard that would rival even the tweediest of male university profs, Arnold begins to come into his own on his second album, The Sumi- Experiment.

I like Sumi-E most for its surprises. When you expect a funky folktronica bounce, you're hit with a lush Tricky/Bjork-style ballad, the melody soaring over patches of Aphex Twin-esque beats. When you expect a Roland 909 drum machine, you get a soundscape of static with jazz trumpets played backwards. Most surprising of all is that these odd juxtapositions actually work.

Sounds that are surprisingly satisfying are surely a hallmark of good music, in which case the Proffessor's experiments have proven successful, and are certainly worth your time.

Sumi-E Experiment (2003)
Many of today's most acclaimed electronica albums are recorded in the cramped bedrooms of computer-literate music nerds. Meanwhile journalists have invented the curious genre of "laptop music" to describe the trend.
- by Matt Brennan -

Mustard Gas and Seismic Blasts

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:15:44 +0000

The threat of chemical dumps in Atlantic waters

Corroded barrels of mustard gas like those scattered along the Atlantic coast.

The coastal waters of Atlantic Canada have been polluted with a legacy of chemical, biological and nuclear weaponry. The primary culprits include the Canadian, American and British militaries, which have obsessed over our safety from alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, while the communities and eco-systems of the Atlantic region have been under attack from the very same weapons of mass destruction since the 1940’s. Now, with corporations being given permission to do seismic testing in Atlantic waters, the impact of these dumpsites may be compounded.

Canada has played an integral role in the development and production of biological and chemical weapons. "Almost every biological agent that you hear talked about in today's news as a threat from terrorists and that kind of thing, was actually first developed (and) thought of here in Canada," says John Bryden, former journalist and editor at the Toronto Star who is currently an MP from Ontario. His 1989 book "Deadly Allies" exposed Canada's pioneering role in the development of chemical and biological weapons. Bryden also chronicled the delivery of 2800 tons of mustard gas from Stormont Chemicals in Cornwall, Ontario to where it was dumped off the Coast of Sable Island in 1946.

After the Second World War, Canada and Britain declared much of their chemical and biological stockpiles as surplus and dumped them both inland and in the ocean. There is an estimated one billion pounds of mustard gas and related chemical weapons munitions at the bottom of the world's oceans, but more insidiously, there is a large number of dumpsites that were never officially recorded. According to Cape Breton resident Myles Kehoe, who formed Myles and Associates to actively bring attention to the perils of oil and gas exploration over military dumpsites, even the Department of National Defence is unsure as to what lies on the ocean floor. "They don't have a clue where the stuff is, or even what's down there, it's terrible."

Recently, some efforts have been made to address the problem. The military has created the Warfare Agent Disposal Project "to identify and assess water and land-based sites where chemical and/or biological warfare agents may still exist as a result of past defence activities." Last year, an engineering firm contracted by the Department of National Defence, identified 1,200 munitions disposal sites along the Atlantic coast including 70 locations with unexploded weaponry and the possibility of mustard gas.

The Bras d'Or Lake region on Cape Breton Island was also used as a dumping ground for mustard gas, but to what extent is unknown. There are two locations in the lake itself that are known to have been disposal sites for mustard gas, Johnston and Kempt Head. These sites are close to two Mi'kmaq communities that have always depended on the fish in that area for their survival.

Mustard gas and the by-products resulting from its breakdown are carcinogenic and teratogenic and many people are concerned about the impact of this toxic waste on both human health and marine eco-systems. Aboriginal communities along the Bras D'or Lakes, and on Cape Breton Island in general, have the highest cancer rates and the lowest life expectancy in the country.

Senior DFO scientists have been baffled by the increasing death rates among young cod dying off the coast of Nova Scotia, reporting to the Chronicle Herald in December 2000 that: "it's a mystery; a unique phenomenon that I don't think has been observed anywhere else in the North Atlantic." John Bryden suspects that "there might be a connection between it [the mustard gas] and the mysterious disappearance of the cod stocks [considering] the huge amount of munitions now known to have been disposed of and the number of sites involved." The Minister of Fisheries reported in June 2002 that the "DFO has not conducted any studies on the toxicity or behavior of mustard gas in water as DFO's labs are not equipped to deal with such highly toxic substances."

This month, fishers and environmentalists have raised grave concerns about the decision to allow oil companies to employ seismic tests off the Coast of Cape Breton in their search for oil. "Seismic guns generate sound waves strong enough to penetrate the earth's surface two to five km down and back again–these are powerful blasts. There is relatively little known information about the impact of a sound wave passing through barrels of chemicals that have been lying on the ocean floor for 50 years," explains Mark Butler from the Ecology Action Center. "When there is uncertainty or lack of knowledge, the precautionary principle tells us 'don't do it'. It would be wise for oil companies to pay heed to that."

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NSOPB) regulates petroleum resource exploration permits. They do not believe that seismic blasting poses a threat to human or marine health, nor have they explored the impact of seismic testing on chemical and biological contaminants in munitions dumps. They have granted licenses for Corridor Resources and Hunt Oil to engage in oil and natural gas exploration. The Department of National Defence has informed the C-NSOPB of the locations of known dumpsites with the intent that these areas be avoided. According to Hunt Oil's Environmental Impact Assessment of June 2003, the Sydney Bight is home to 16,000 tons of mustard, 7,500 tons of arsenic containing the blistering agent lewisite, and a few barge loads of nerve gas. Nevertheless, the company plans to continue exploratory activities. Hunt Oil has also announced its intentions of conducting seismic blasting over a known dumpsite north of the Magdellan Islands. "That's pretty hard to believe that they're allowed to do that and nobody is stopping them," says Kehoe.

The threat of chemical dumps in Atlantic waters
The coastal waters of Atlantic Canada have been polluted with a legacy of chemical, biological and nuclear weaponry. The primary culprits include the Canadian, American and British militaries, which have obsessed over our safety from alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, while the communities and eco-systems of the Atlantic region have been under attack from the very same weapons of mass destruction since the 1940's. Now, with corporations being given permission to do seismic testing in Atlantic waters, the impact of these dumpsites may be compounded.
- by Pierre Loiselle -

December 22

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 20:48:39 +0000

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