Category: Archive

Globalisation after 9/11

admin /18 September, 2006

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-09/10sharma.cfm

By Devinder Sharma

Two days after the Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation had begun at Seattle, and that was in 1999, I was caught in the mayhem that erupted after the police fired some teargas shells to disperse the wall of protesters. I recall that it was almost midnight when I was walking back to my hotel in the Capitol Hill. I took a turn on one of the labyrinth of city streets to find myself in the midst of the police action.

Protesters of all ages, a majority of them teenagers, were running away to avoid the pungent fumes. As I stepped back, I came face to face with a reporter from an American television channel. Asked, what as a foreigner I thought of the trade talks in the midst of such massive protests, I replied: "While the strong-arm tactics of the American government in the streets is muffling the voice of the peaceful protesters, the high-handedness of the American bureaucracy in the Convention centre is silencing the voice of the developing countries."

Indian State decrees Open Source

admin /18 September, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/business/worldbusiness/29cnd-india.html?ex=1314504000&en=794e5fc8622c44c2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
By AMELIA GENTLEMAN, International Herald Tribune

NEW DELHI, Aug.29 - In a new attack on multinational corporations, the
Communist government in India's southern state of Kerala is campaigning
to eliminate Microsoft from use in public institutions, just weeks after
it imposed a ban on Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

As part of a drive against "monopolistic" organizations, schools and
public offices across the state are being encouraged to install free
software systems instead of purchasing Microsoft's Windows programs.

Taskforce to revitalise ailing Torrens River

admin /18 September, 2006

A top-level River Torrens Taskforce has been established to investigate and deliver an action plan to revitalise the ailing river system, The Advertiser (16 September 2006 p31) reported.

Chronic plague of pollution: The taskforce was ordered by Environment and Conservation Minister Gail Gago after The Advertiser Watch in April, May and June highlighted difficulties in fixing the problem of rubbish and toxic algal blooms that have plagued the Torrens for several years.

Taskforce membership: A taskforce set up by the Government’s Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board held its first meeting late last month. Chaired by renowned international water quality expert Professor Don Bursill, the nine-member taskforce includes representatives from the state’s three universities, the SA Research and Development Institute and government departments.

Boils down to dollars: NRM board general manager Kym Good said the taskforce would meet monthly and hoped to report to Ms Gago by the end of March next year. “The fundamental question is ‘how much does the community want to pay to restore the River Torrens’?”

The Advertiser, 16/9/2006, p. 31

Source: Erisk Net  

Qld’s pool cover regulations impossible to police

admin /18 September, 2006

According to Matthew Warren and Asa Wahlquist in The Australian (16 September 2006 p12), Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke said the new pool cover regulations would be impossible to police, with authorities reliant on people doing the right thing.

You can lead a pool owner to a cover but you can’t make him … He said such a regime would need to be policed by aerial surveillance, but if the authorities inspected a house without a pool cover, the owners were likely to say that they had just been swimming. “How do you stop that?” he asked.

Gold Coast swimming in it at 89pc capacity: Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam is now only at a quarter of capacity – enough water for only two years – while the Gold Coast’s Hinze Dam is 89 per cent full. Mr Clarke said mayors in the region had originally campaigned for a total ban on watering outdoors, before accepting strict control on outdoor watering.

The Australian, 16/9/2006, p. 12

Source: Erisk Net  

Pope Benedict’s lecture

admin /18 September, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI’s lecture entitled Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections at the University of Regensburg, Germany, has turned into an Islamic controversy. Read what the Pope really said

Corporates lap up Inconvenient Truth

admin /17 September, 2006

More than a dozen Australian companies have held screenings of former US vice-president Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, to bolster their environmental credentials and educate employees and clients about climate change, reported The Age (14/9/2006, p.2).