Technocracy; n. derived from the Greek words kratia (meaning ‘rule of’) and techno (meaning ‘bad European dance music’)

Europeans have always had an inexplicable affinity with techno. In the 1980s and 90s they had the UFO Club, the Love Parade, Paul van Dyk. Nowadays they’ve got Mario Monti and Lucas Papademos - their love of minimalist electronic beats matched only by their love of minimalist fiscal policy.

The first wave of European techno was a product of its time – advances in electronic instrumentation in the 1980s made musical experimentation possible, and this new direction (I presume) sounded modern and fresh. However I think there’s now broad agreement, amongst all but the heaviest of drug users, that it was rubbish.

The neo-con economic policies of austerity and liberalization were the product of a similar time, coming to prominence in the 1980s as a response to the economic crises of the 1970s. As with European dance music of that era, history has shown that these policies were, for the most part, a very bad idea. (see Argentina).

Yet these are the very same ‘economic solutions’ being offered up by the new-wave European techno-crats. If Einstein’s definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then the only conclusion to be drawn is that Mario Monti et al are insane. Or that they are the heaviest of heavy drug users.

As Paul Krugman said, possibly more coherently:

…the trouble with the alleged technocrats we’re supposed to rely on isn’t just that they’re uninspiring — it is that they have been wrong about everything, again and again…in Europe, the “technocrats” have consistently ignored their own economic models …calling for fiscal austerity and higher interest rates when their own analyses say that unemployment will be high and inflation subdued.

What I think Krugman is trying to say is that European leaders are in a ‘trance’ like state, refusing to accept that their policies just aren’t working. (Krugman would probably also add, with some justification, that attempting to crowbar trance music into the ‘techno’ analogy is probably stretching it a bit too far.)

Possibly more worrying than the economic repercussions of this new wave techno is the repercussions for democracy. Whatever your views on Papandreou and Berlusconi, they were at least democratically elected. In Papandreou’s case, his ultimate downfall was triggered by having the temerity to suggest that, in the birth place of democracy of all places, the people should have the final say over a decision which would dramatically affect their lives.

To borrow from Krugman again, “we need the right ideas, not the right sort of people”. At the same time as Monti and Papademos were being installed as Prime Ministers of their respective countries, Mario Draghi became the new President of the European Central Bank. All three have previously worked within the European machinery as well as leading financial institutions, namely Goldman Sachs. Given their backgrounds, it’s perhaps not surprising that there’s no new ideas or changes in policy direction coming from these “technocrats”. It’s pretty hard to view their ascent to power as anything other than a financial coup d’état.

If only Europe could heed the words of noted social commentator Marshall Mathers III – “Let go, it’s over. Nobody listens to techno”.

Campaigners

Visit stunning Nicaragua, live for a week in a Nicaraguan village, have fun and do your bit for the environment!

Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign

is organising a trip to Nicaragua as part of its work promoting solidarity between UK and Nicaraguan community and environmental activists. This tiny, beautiful Central American country is a great place to learn more about combating deforestation, pollution, food security and small-scale production.

Visit stunning Nicaragua, live for a week in a Nicaraguan village, have fun and do your bit for the environment!

Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign is organising a trip to Nicaragua as part of its work promoting solidarity between UK and Nicaraguan community and environmental activists.

Not only is it a very beautiful country with a history of revolution and victory of the people over dictatorship but it is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Yet - for it’s size (about the same as Wales) - it’s rich in biological diversity:

· A great variety of landscapes are packed within a small area: rugged mountains, lush forested lowlands, coral reefs, coastal mangroves and large lakes (including Lake Nicaragua, which contains over 300 islands).

· The region serves as a “land bridge of the Americas” where species from the north mingle with those from the south. Nicaragua lies at the biological heart of this bridge, and represents a melting pot of plant and animal species.

Nicaragua contains the greater part of the largest tropical rainforest remaining in Central America, and supports populations of animals that have largely disappeared or are endangered elsewhere including the harpy eagle, scarlet and green macaws, the resplendent quetzal, the giant anteater, Baird’s tapir and five species of wildcat.

However the country suffers hugely from deforestation, weak international environmental regulations, extreme weather conditions and violation of the rights of many indigenous groups who live in the more remote parts of Nicaragua.

But Nicaragua is also the home of thousands of well-organised and coordinated grass roots community groups working on social, environmental and political projects. For example our Nicaraguan partner organisations are the Nicaraguan Community Movement and the young environmentalist movement (see below).

If you are interested in experiencing all this, the visit will take place from 1^st – 14^th June 2012 and will consist of a week living in the rural community of Guadalupe Abajo working with women on a backyard gardening project, which aims to overcome food shortages, improve nutrition and food self-sufficiency and build self-esteem.

The second week will be spent visiting projects of the participants’ choice (as far as possible) for example on: recycling, indigenous seed production, community tourism, Fairtrade , endangered turtles and renewable energy.

The group will also take part in a ‘National Fair for the Earth’ organised by the Young Environmentalist Club, on International Environment Day (June 5^th).

Not including flights, costs will be around £680 for preparation in the UK, and in Nicaragua: accommodation, all meals, interpreting and accompaniment. (It would be helpful but not essential to speak Spanish but we encourage everyone to learn at least a little before they go).

Go to www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/tours%20&%20volunteering/index.htm and apply SOON!

Fair Trade, Empowerment and Human Rights

“Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible” - UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Examine the Principles of Fair Trade and it quickly becomes apparent the intention of Fair Trade is to EMPOWER disadvantaged producers and their communities. The principles reflect business practices free from exploitation; are based on respect for universal human rights, women’s rights, child rights, minority and migrant rights, rights of the disabled, and labour rights; embrace gender equality; and incorporate environmentally sound practices. However, the fact remains that for many of our producers their rights are not well known; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains an abstract idea, an international convention far from their immediate reality.

When our producers are unaware of their rights, there is opportunity for exploitation. In the field of International Development, programs and projects are often designed to target root causes. One increasingly popular approach is a Rights-Based Approach (RBA) which recognizes poverty as injustice and includes marginalization, discrimination, and exploitation as central causes.

As Fair Trade supporters and advocates, it is nice to believe that we are leading the way in making ethical consumer choices a reality in the global marketplace. Admittedly, many of our producers reside in countries which are not well known for upholding those rights. However, unless we support our producers with knowledge of their rights, we fail to follow the principles of Fair Trade. Look at this from the perspective of our producers:

Fair Trade is a partnership, not a charity. As set out in our shared Principles, Fair Trade importers, wholesalers, buyers, and retailers are required to provide for the development of producer groups in order that they are empowered, self-sufficient trade partners capable of conducting international trade in ways which are beneficial to them and their community free from any form of exploitation. To integrate a Rights-Based Approach is to strengthen our trade partners not only in trade relations, but in their quality of life; to enjoy the freedoms internationally recognized as inherent to all human beings. Taking a closer look at our Shared Principles we see that our principles are based on UN Human Rights Declarations and Conventions, and the ILO Conventions. For a comprehensive analysis read Journey for Fair Trade: Human Rights Framework.

Saturday, December 10, 2011 is Human Rights Day

(http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx).

This year, let’s make it a point as a global Fair Trade movement, to not only join the celebration, but integrate a Rights-Based Approach into Fair Trade; Join together in an effort to raise awareness of Universal Human Rights with our trade partners and their communities!

Here is an idea for Fair Traders regardless of where you reside – empower your trade partners directly: the United Nations has translated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into 131 languages. Download and print a copy in the language of your trade partner, take an extra step to creatively decorate it, and mail it to them. What a great way to personalize your trade relationship:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/SearchByLang.aspx.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been translated into 58 languages and is available from UNICEF on their child-friendly page. UNICEF has made the CRC available in an easy to read English poster which is quite colorful and attractive. If you have trade partners whose first language is not English, download a copy and take the extra step to print it out in their language on a poster size paper, decorate and laminate it, and mail it to them! What a terrific way to let them know you support and care for their children:

http://www.unicef.org/magic/briefing/uncorc.html

To advocate for a Rights-Based Approach to Fair Trade it is vitally important that Fair Traders know what the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is and how it works, particularly when it impacts 51% of the global population, yet women are often considered to be in the minority. To see how this convention works to empower women, read Journey for Fair Trade: Understanding CEDAW. The national UNIFEM offices have translations of CEDAW in printed locally available - they have a budget for printed materials, so don’t hesitate to make a request!

For those who have trade partners in developing nations, I encourage you to do some online research of Women’s Rights Organizations, to include Rights-Based Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in their country and put them in touch with your trade partner. Contact the UNIFEM national office if you need a referral to a local NGO which conducts workshops in women’s rights. It is important that as Fair Traders we unite with the Rights-Based Organizations in their efforts to make change happen and put an end to gender inequality and social  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm

To integrate a Rights-Based Approach to Fair Trade begins by raising awareness of the rights we are all entitled to enjoy; the rights which form the very foundation of our Shared Principles. Take a stand for human rights and begin raising awareness with a celebration on Human Rights Day, December 10^th, 2011. For ideas and information read Journey for Fair Trade: Fair Trade Celebrates Human Rights Day.

Mitch Teberg, MA

WFTO Associate Member

Sustainable Development / Fair Trade / Women’s Rights and Gender

Researcher / Trainer / Consultant

www.journeyforfairtrade.blogspot.com

The Egyptian Twitter Revolution?

Much has been written about social media’s role in the Arab spring. Few but the most hardline technodeterminists genuinely believe the existence of Twitter, Facebook and the like are solely responsible for the mass uprisings.

However,  a view persists that these tools played a fundamental role. Several news sources, the BBC and Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) among them, proclaimed social media’s impact in Tunisia’s so-called Jasmine revolution.

Let’s look at a couple of facts:

- Twitter activity abou the Jasmine uprising peaked on 15th January 2011 - the day after Ben Ali was deposed and a full three weeks after the protests began. The peak broadly correlates with Western Media’s interest in the Tunisian uprising. Stats here.

- The Sidibouzid hashtag that CPJ flags up as being critical in the revolution was only created on 27th December 2010, ten days after Mohammed Bouazizi set fire to himself and the day the protests reached the capital, Tunis.

Both these facts suggest there was no Twitter revolution in Tunisia. It was utilised primarily as a broadcast medium for westerners to follow events.

But what about Facebook?

This is rather more difficult to assess as Facebook does not make its data public. Tangential evidence suggests Facebook did play a significant part.

In 2008 there was another uprising in Tunisia in the mining town of Gafsa. Causes were similar - lack of employment and frustration at the corrupt regime. With an election pending Ben Ali took no chances, shutting down Facebook and sending in his forces. And the strategy worked. Ben Ali crushed the uprising and went on to win the election.

So what was the key difference?

In 2008 there were 28,000 Facebook users in Tunisia; in 2010 the were 2 million. By shutting down Facebook in 2010 Ben Ali risked politicising a fifth of his population, many of whom may have been apolitical to that point. However, by allowing users to post emotive videos, share links and formulate strategy online he allowed what he sought to avoid; apolitical citizens being politicised.

The sheer volume of Facebook users put Ben Ali in an impossible position. And this may indeed be social media’s strength - its latent potentiality. The vast majority of content being passed around on social media is in no way political but the dense interconnectivity of social media facilitates means messages can and do spread quickly if the offline environment creates the appetite for protest.

David Cameron’s call to ban social media during riots fell into the same trap. Such a move would irritate people who previously had no reason to protest, likely swelling the numbers involved in any uprising. In this sense, social media’s stength may well be in its numbers.

Hi, I’m Megan, a new media activist volunteer for People  & Planet - I will be sharing my thoughts,  ideas and experiences with you for the next year! At the moment I am president of Cardiff Uni’s People and Planet society and hoping to create some fun and magic for the newbies in September, as well as keeping the rest of the UK up to date on the Buy Right campaign.

Buy Right for Workers Rights

I am quite a passionate person and therefore will be exposing my anger or delight at the way the world is evolving. I would call myself a feminist, green human rights activist who is also very focused on having fun, therefore I hope to fit in well in the happiness of national People & Planet. Today, upon my first day of training, I learnt about the successes of People & Planet since 1968 and felt so proud to become part of such a productive and worthwhile organisation, where hopefully I can make a small impact myself

Since singing at a Fairtrade event at 14 I have felt determined to make human rights a priority, especially when thinking about the tiny things I can do to help. Therefore I will be spreading the word and mobilising students to put pressure on their university to join the Workers Rights Consortium, just as Sheffield are about to, and making sure that all the People & Planet’s across the country are making the most of Fairtrade Fortnight in February.

However I will probably be letting out some anger, perhaps just against statements made on Question Time by ignorant right wing individuals or expressing my constant disbelief at people who are so apathetic about climate change and human rights issues - in a hope that one individual, one day, might read my blog and start thinking differently and make a small change of their own.

Here’s to a year full of hope and ambition with my fellow media activists at People & Planet

Cheers!

The last couple of days in Beaver Lake have been fascinating - and packed - so lots to catch you all up on. We’ve pitched camp by the beautiful Beaver Lake and an old church. Our hosts - including Shawna from the local health centre - have been so generous and caring, thinking of every little detail to make us welcome here. On our first day on the reservation we attended a community meal in the local sports centre where we met quite a few people - elders and young alike - and had a chance to explain the purpose of our visit.

On Thursday we had our first real experience of the amazing boreal forest in the area when we took a trip out to Churchill Walk. It’s a beautiful peninsula covered in forest, marshes and beaches. We took a boardwalk trail through the forest and ended up at a golden beach on the lake from where we spied pelicans and other wildlife. The mosquitoes were out in force too, unfortunately, but nothing could dampen the natural beauty of that spot. It gave us a real sense of the nature that’s threatened by the tar sands north of here.

Yesterday we got to see just what’s at stake as we set off for our first sighting of the massive tar sands operations, driving north of Conklin into huge expanses of boreal forest. There are well over 34,000 oil and gas well sites within the traditional territories of the Beaver Lake Cree that covers an areas roughly the size of Switzerland. Their vast territory includes two tiny remaining herds of woodland caribou that are being particularly threatened by the in-situ tar sands exploration and extraction sites. The two remaining herds within their territory are estimated to number as few as 250.

In situ tar sands mining is largely responsible for this and is predicted to reduce the herds to below 50 caribou by 2025. In-situ extraction differs from the huge open cast extraction projects further north - it involves piping steam underground in vast quantities to loosen the bitumen and bring it to the surface. It doesn’t look as shocking as the images we’ve all seen of the open pits where giant trucks dig out the tar sands but the impacts are far worse - both for the wildlife and in producing at least 5 times more carbon emissions than conventional oil.

As we drove northwards, every few hundred meters we’d see long strips of forest cut down and stretching out in long lines to the horizon. These ’seismic lines’ have been cut crisscrossing the landscape to test the levels of bitumen underground. Our driver and Chief Al explained that dymanite is used to test the quality of the sands underneath, and these gashes in the forest result in huge loss of habitat for the woodland caribou as they are known to avoid habitat within 250 metres of these linear features. To find out more about this there’s an excellent report published by The Co-operative’s Toxic Fuels campaign and Beaver Lake Cree Nation.

Later that evening, it was time to head back for the Grand Opening ceremony of the annual Beaver Lake Cree Pow Wow. Cree Nations from all over Canada and the United States gather here to celebrate their traditions, to meet family and friends old and new, but most of all.. to dance! In a custom-built round arena, everyone gathered together in their finest regalia with a ring of drummers around the outside. So many eagle feathers, bird claws, colours and ribbons everywhere - an amazing sight to behold!

As the drumming began we were ushered into the ring, dancing in behind the visiting Chiefs of local ‘bands’, other dignitaries, Mounties and princesses from nearby. What a sight we must have been, 10 awkward Westerners trying to immitate the dancers in our common clothes among the sea of traditional headdresses and gowns. At one point a nearby Chief gave me a quick lesson in the steps and I soon fell into the right rhythm. Gradually the circle filled with dancers until it reached a crescendo - loud drumming and traditional songs in high pitched throat-singing - and we were introduced to the crowd.

This was followed by a series of ‘inter-tribal’ dances which we were invited to join and most of us got quite into the swing of it with the infectious drums pounding out an earth-thumping rhythm! Dance competitions went on late into the night as first women, then children and different age groups competed to show off their dancing skills and regalia. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of!

The Pow Wow lasts until the end of Sunday, after which we’re heading up to Fort McMurray to visit one of the biggest tar sands sites Suncor. More on that soon and watch out for the next video of our trip to the in-situ sites which should be up very soon on Tarmageddon.

You really couldn’t make it up. March 21st – 27th has been designated as a “Week of Action” on climate change in the UK. The eco-warriors behind this rebellious project? Why, it’s those well-known champions of environmental justice: Tesco, EDF Energy, Kellogg’s, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The Oil & Gas Bank sponsoring Climate Week?

Tesco, whose entire business model is based on the mass transportation of goods halfway across the globe, and on driving a race-to-the-bottom in environmental and labour standards in farming worldwide. Kellogg’s, who cheerfully champion energy-intensive and chemical-soaked industrial agriculture over small-scale, sustainable farming. EDF, who operate two of the five biggest coal fired power stations in the UK. RBS – RBS! – who are the UK’s leading investor in fossil fuel projects, and one of the world’s biggest financial backers of the disastrous Canadian Tar Sands project. These are the people telling us we need to spend a week “doing our bit” for the climate – essentially, encouraging us all to rally round and help clean up the mess they’re busy making. Sadly, some environmental and social justice groups (though thankfully not too many) seem to have fallen for this spin.

It’s as though the worst gang of bullies at school have announced in assembly that they’re setting up an anti-bullying campaign. They’re hoping to enjoy lots of praise from the teachers all morning, then go out at breaktime and carrying on pushing the rest of us off the swings and nicking our lunch money. Are we really going to let them get away with it?

This whole affair is particularly well-timed for RBS, who have been facing increasing criticism over their support for climate-wrecking Tar Sands extraction. By pouring a few buckets of cash into Climate Week, they’ve gained more than just a nice bit of eco-sponsorship to help distract us from their dirty funding record – they’ve got Climate Week founder Kevin Steele defending them publicly in the media. This is a real PR coup for the bank – the cherry-picked facts and figures Steele is spouting come straight from RBS headquarters, but appear to be an “independent” assessment of the company’s climate record. It’s not surprising that People & Planet – the environmental campaign network that Steele used to work for – have called for a week of anti-RBS action instead.

Climate Week is, sadly, a perfect example of why big business isn’t going to solve climate change for us. As explained in my new book, The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change, public corporations are required by law to maximise shareholder profits at all costs. Unless tougher regulations, changes in the economic system, or public protest forces them to do otherwise, they will always choose a bit of green window-dressing over the real change we need – a rapid transition to cleaner (but less profitable) ways of generating energy and growing food.

While researching the book I found that this transition is not only possible, but highly desirable. If we do this properly, then a zero-carbon world should mean better-quality homes, good public transport, healthier food, and a calmer pace of living, where we work fewer hours and have more leisure time. It should mean access to sustainable energy for the people of the Global South, and a reclamation of the lands and livelihoods of small-scale farmers and Indigenous peoples worldwide. There is enough renewable energy potential to give the whole world a good standard of living – but only if it’s shared out fairly. The wealthy Northern countries (and Southern elites) will need to use significantly less energy to allow the rest of the world to catch up. This can theoretically be done while still preserving all the important things in our lives, but getting there is obviously going to be pretty challenging.

But get there we must – and soon. The first section of the No-Nonsense Guide sets out the current state of the science; I’ve tried to explain in friendly, jargon-free terms how all the different bits of evidence stack up to create an urgent case for action. These chapters also explain why some common misconceptions about climate science aren’t true, and take a peek into the murky world of the people spreading climate change misinformation.

The next bit of the book lays out where we need to get to (we need to pretty much stop using fossil fuels by 2030) and asks the question: why haven’t we managed it yet? The science is clear, the majority of the public agree that change is necessary, the technology we need already exists, and many of the solutions should improve our lives and make the world a significantly fairer place.

It turns out that the real barriers to change are not a lack of “awareness” but – surprise surprise – the politicians and corporations who are set to lose out in the short-term if we shift away from fossil fuels. Carbon-intensive industries pour millions of dollars into politicians’ campaign funds, and promise them short-term economic boosts to placate the public; in return, governments subsidise dirty industries with billions of dollars, making their fossil-fuelled products and services seem artificially cheap. This all happens within an economic system based on the impossible dream of endless growth on a finite planet; a system that is stripping out the planet’s resources and trashing the climate in order to generate short-term wealth that overwhelmingly benefits the minority at the top.

We can overcome these barriers and shift to a safer, fairer way of doing things – but only if everyone who cares about this stuff starts working together to challenge the power of corporations and promote genuine alternatives. Initiatives like Climate Week do the very opposite of this – they help polluting businesses deflect blame away from their dirty activities and onto the public instead. “Hey kids, if we can just get everyone to recycle a bit more then RBS can keep profiting from its Tar Sands investments!”

So to any local action groups, schools, and workplaces thinking of taking part in Climate Week I say: go for it, celebrate your achievements, organise some great events and spread the climate message. But don’t do it under RBS and Tesco’s dirty Climate Week banner – make your own publicity that gives the credit to you and your community instead. And if you’ve not yet got anything lined up, why not join People & Planet in organising some anti-greenwash actions at your local bank or supermarket? The only way to beat the climate bullies is to show them that we’re not afraid, and that we can see through their bluster. Like all bullies, underneath it all they’re just scared – they know that once we stand together we can take them on and win.

This guest blog is provided by climate activist, author and former P&Per Danny Chivers and first appeared here. Danny has just released his new book ‘The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change’ which you can get hold of here

For Open Democracy

Watch the video

It is commonly accepted that a basic tenet of democratic society is the ability of its citizens hold those in power to account. Many people’s first engagement with doing so will be the simple act of collecting petitions in the street.

Yet this basic form of democratic engagement is gradually being made illegal. As shopping streets are increasingly owned by private companies, landowners are using the laws of trespass to ban any activity on their property that does not make them a profit.

For example, from 2006 - 2008, People & Planet ran a campaign asking Topshop to guarantee that no forced child labour is used in the production of their garments, following a spate of reports showing that clothes made from cotton picked by child labour in Uzbekistan was being sold in the UK.

Reasonably enough, small groups of students gathered outside Topshops to politely gather petitions from customers. When shops were situated on the high street, this passed without incident. When shops were part of shopping centre complexes, students were forced out, sometimes physically, by private security.

Therefore, the recently released video (above) of a group of campaigners being ejected from Birmingham Bullring shopping centre after just 38 seconds of attempting to collect petitions was unsurprising, but no less shocking. So too the stories circulating the internet of the library assistants outside their workplace being moved on by Westfield heavies, the Jubilee Debt Campaign activists requested to move a street stall 40 centimetres forward and countless others.

However now there is something that can be done about it. The government has announced a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill in their legislative programme, which, amongst other things, promises to restore the right to campaign.

People & Planet is supporting a petition, hosted by 38degrees.org.uk for the inclusion in the Freedom Bill of a legal right to protest in areas which are freely open to the public but which are privately owned, such as the walkways of shopping centres.

Please do sign the petition and join the campaign for the right to campaign

The laboratory is political - say Mitchell and Webb...

People & Planet volunteers are starting to uncover the hidden connections between research and corporations at our Universities.

Freedom of information requests sent to 17 universities shed light on £50.7 million of funding from the UK’s five biggest oil, weapons, and pharmaceutical companies.

This includes research grants of £5.2 m from oil company BP and £2.7 m from weapons manufacturer BAE Systems. (Reclaim Research study, June 2010)

Interviews with PhD students and academics at Birmingham and Edinburgh tell a story about how this funding is influencing research. One participant said “funding bodies are increasingly looking for immediate, tangible benefits from research”, and another:

“We are being asked to justify the benefit to society [prioritising] more applied research [...] which will tend to be more commercial.” (Reclaim Research study, June 2010)

The increased pressure on researchers to produce marketable research comes at a time when the Government is planning to make historic cuts to University funding. The Government is depending on corporations to fill the funding gap.

This research forms part of the Reclaim Research project which aims to uncover, challenge, and change the ways in which our Universities are working to create profit, instead of striving for truth.

People & Planet started the Reclaim Research project after students voted to “Reclaim Education” at the Forum in Cardiff, 2009.  It’s now entirely run by volunteers in the Reclaim Research Working Group.

What can you do?

• Interested in research and corporate power? You can get the conversation going in your group by showing this brilliant Mitchell and Webb comedy sketch.

• Want to do stuff on research at your uni? Want help or have some ideas? Why not come along to the second Reclaim Research skype chat, 8pm on Sunday 21 November. You’ll need a cheapo microphone and to download Skype (for free) at www.skype.com. Then just add ricjameslander to your contacts.

• If you’re one of the Universities listed, Reclaim Research already has some info about research funding at your Uni. You can discuss this in your local groups by downloading it from here (files correspond with two letter codes in brackets below).  University of Wales, Aberystwyth (Ab); University of St. Andrews (An); University of Bath (Ba); University of Birmingham (Bh); University of Bristol (Br); Cardiff University (Cd); University of Cambridge (Cm); University of Derby (Db); University of Durham (Dh); University of Edinburgh (Ed); Lancaster University (La); University of Loughborough (Lb); University of Leeds (Ld); Oxford Brookes University (Ob); University of Oxford (Ox); University of Sheffield (Sh); University College London (Ul).

A member of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army overlooks the Panguna mine.

To re-open the notorious Panguna mine or not. This is the question for the people of Bougainville. Are the prospective financial benefits of the mine enough for the people to want it opened? Will the islanders be able to keep control of the mine or will it open the doors for the mining companies to dominate and operate unaccountably as they have done in the past?

In the late 1980’s and 1990’s what was described as the first eco- revolution took place on the Pacific Island of Bougainville. The story was similar to so many places on earth, exploitative multinational company takes the resources of a land without any regard for the local inhabitants or their environment.

In Bougainville’s case it was copper and in their case they decided they had had enough of the mine and starting with homemade weapons they forcibly closed the mine and defeated first the Papua New Guinean army then the Australian army brought in to take the mine back for BCL a subsidiary of the British company Rio Tinto.

After the Bouganvillians had taken control of their island Papua New Guinea imposed a naval blockade on the island to make the people there suffer with hope that they would turn against the revolutionaries. It had the opposite effect, reinforcing the peoples will, and creating fertile ground for human ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness. Forcing the population to live at one with their land, making use only of what they had with no imported goods.

Remarkably they managed to create their own electricity and found a way to drive cars with coconut oil. The result was a small example of people effectively being forced to live in a sustainable way. Unable to aqquire imported goods they resorted to their imagination, creativity and hard work to rebuild their society in harmony with their environment. They proved that a society with creativity can make plenty of electricty with water and can fuel essential vehicles with renewable oil.

The mine was closed in 1989. On several occasions the re-opening of the mine has been raised. Recently an article appeared on the Australian network, ABC, suggesting that the mine might be re-opened. The islanders belived that the income would help finance their moves for full political independance. The former president of Bouganville, Joseph Kabui, stated back in 2005 that if they re-opened the mine Bouganville could become the ‘Kuwait of the Pacific.’ Whether the mine is reopened or not, it will rightfully be the desicion of the islanders and not the trans-national  companies.

All over the world from Chile to Africa to Papua, indigenous people, the ones who know how to manage their land wisely, are shamefully brushed aside and treated as an obstacle for development (a common pseudonym for natural resource theft). That the people of Bouganville are considering re opening the Panguna mine shows that people are not per se against the use of their environment for their benefit. It’s a matter of the overall control of the resource and fair distribution of the benefits that is at the root of natural resource conflicts such as that which ignited the revolution in Bouganville. Precisely two points which are in direct conflict with the accepted norms of the shareholder demands that drive international business.

If those in power in transnational business do not change the way they operate then people all over the world are entitled to follow in the footsteps of the people of Bouganville and take their land back.

Watch this film