No 40, October 2001
War a load of twaddle!
SO what’s this war all
about, then? Why exactly are we wasting billions of pounds of our badly needed
resources raining destruction on a small, impoverished country thousands of
miles away from our own glorious land of disintegrating railways, crumbling
health service and teetering economy? If you want to know the answer, the last
place you want to look is on the telly or in the papers. You can kiss goodbye
to any small traces of truth that may once have accidentally leaked into their
news flow. There’s a war on, you know. It is their patriotic duty to fly
the flag (in this case mainly the Stars and Stripes), reassure the public and
not rock the boat with any awkward questions that might undermine Mr
Tony’s war effort. But anyone who really does believe in freedom and
democracy will not stop asking questions just because it is inconvenient for
those in authority. And they will not allow their memory to become so
short-term that they gullibly swallow every convenient half-truth and
distortion presented to them by opportunist and manipulative spin doctors. For
instance, on October 8, the morning after the bombing of Afghanistan began,
the BBC reported Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as saying the war was being
waged on behalf of the poor starving people of that country, suffering under
the Taliban regime. This was a new one to most people. Surely we all knew what
the war was about - it was a response to the attacks on New York and
Washington, wasn’t it? If that hadn’t happened, there would never
have been a war on Bin Laden and Afghanistan, would there? Errr, well not
quite. A crucial investigation published by The Guardian on
September 22 - and strangely not picked up by the BBC, ITN or The Sun - showed
that it was in the pipeline anyway. At a meeting in Berlin in July - two
months before the supposed "cause" of this war - the Americans threatened
to launch military attacks on the Taliban if they did not hand over Osama bin
Laden. Ex-President Bill Clinton also confirmed (The Guardian,
Sep 26) that the USA had already tried and failed to get bin Laden. He said:
"I authorised the arrest and, if necessary, the killing of Osama bin Laden
and we actually made contact with a group in Afghanistan to do it." So
much for the world changing on September 11! That event may have speeded up US
attacks on the Taliban, but it was clearly not the cause, as they
pretend. Another well known "fact" is that the British public support the war.
Or do they? David Miller of the Stirling University Media Research Unit
(david.miller@stir.ac.uk) has uncovered a systematic "misreading" of opinion
polls. While the headlines, even in the liberal Guardian and
Observer, chose to highlight support for specific action against
the terrorist groups behind the US attacks, they failed to report other poll
findings that reflected people’s reservations. When asked about
"massive air strikes", a majority were opposed. Adds Miller: "Public
opinion on the causes of the current crisis is also notably at odds with most
media cheerleading. In the YouGov poll, a majority blame the US (62%) and
Israel (52%). Fully 70% agreed that ‘in the past, the US has been far
too arrogant and selfish in the way it has treated the world’s poorest
countries.’ None of these responses made it into print."
"Truth is the first casualty of war" is an old adage, but no less
relevant for that. We urge our readers to take care over what they believe in
the weeks ahead. As a dissident in George Orwell’s classic
novel 1984 points out: "It’s always one bloody war after another and
one knows the news is all lies anyway."
Gather for Peace!
in Montague Place,
Worthing
at 2pm on Saturday, October 13
and 11am on Sunday November 11
non-sectarian, non-partisan events.
all welcome.
Some interesting links
No To War
Stop The War
Indymedia UK
Porky Pie’s Top Tip of the Month!
HOW TO BECOME A GREAT
WORLD STATESMAN LIKE MR TONY BLAIR
- Do what you’re told.
- Look smug.
- Talk total rubbish at all times.
USA set to bomb evil Worthing
SHOCKING new evidence has
emerged of Worthing’s links to Osama bin Laden. And the
"incontrovertible proof" means the town can expect to be the next target for
the US airforce. We can reveal that they will not just be dropping bombs but
also leaflets - advertising American line dancing classes at the Pavilion
Theatre. The link between the world’s most wanted man and the South
Coast’s least popular seaside resort has been made by investigative
wordsearch fanatic and amateur chiropodist Doris Dorothy of Goring. She
revealed how a man she is now sure was bin Laden himself sat next to her at a
Car Maintenance for Beginners evening class at Heene Road Community Centre in
1994. She recalled: "He didn’t have a beard at the time, I suspect he
has since had plastic surgery on his nose, and his skin was a little darker in
those days, but I am 100% sure it was him. He didn’t seem very
interested in cars at all and kept asking the tutor how to disable
transponders on commercial passenger aircraft." Added Mrs Dorothy: "He did
mention to me in the coffee break that he was the head of a secretive
worldwide ring of fanatical Muslims aiming to undermine the very core of
Western society through a merciless campaign of global terror, but I
didn’t think anything of it at the time. It was only when he was all
over the TV and the newspapers that I decided to come forward with my
incredible story." Mrs Dorothy has also discovered a vital piece of paper - a
note from bin Laden to the US hijackers wishing them luck on the mission "that
I dreamt up all those years ago down The Mulberry." Said Mrs Dorothy: "It must
have been blown from the cockpit of one of the planes as they crashed,
survived the resulting inferno, got caught in a freak current of transatlantic
wind and been finally deposited next to my shed here in Goring. I sometimes
just have to pinch myself. This all seems so totally unreal."
Councillors stuff snouts deeper in trough
WORTHING
Borough Council’s splendid elected members aren’t too
worried about global war or recession - they are planning to double their
allowance payments! The pay hike at the town hall will cost the ratepayers of
Worthing an extra £80,000 (Worthing Herald, September 27).
But they are so confident that we all feel they deserve it that they, of
course, won’t bother consulting us as to whether we want to hand them
the cash - they will just vote on it themselves, in the best traditions of
British democracy! More good news is that we will also be chipping in up to
£10,000 to buy laptop computers for "leading councillors" (ie members of
the ruling Tory clique). Said Tory executive member for resources Steven
Waight: "Each executive member will be asked whether they think it necessary
for them to have a laptop to carry out their functions. If they agree, the
council will agree to supply one." Meanwhile a public meeting about changes to
election boundaries in Worthing, much hyped in the Worthing Herald on
September 6, only attracted four members of the public. Councillors seemed
surprised at the lack of interest in the latest minor changes to their totally
discredited "democratic" system. You’d have thought they would have got
the message by now...
How They Rank
Popularity league table of attendance at
recent events in Worthing
- Fifty Years Worth of Confiscated Pornographic Filth with Anthony
Anthonies...42,043
- Worthing’s First Annual Big Smoke...112
- Doris Dorothy - My Memories of Osama bin Laden...47
- Rotary Club Monday Night Paint-Drying Display...6
- Worthing Borough Council’s Vital Meeting on Election
Changes...4
Winston Sensible’s War Diary
SENSIBLE was deeply moved
by the sensitive and well-chosen words chosen by Mr Timothy Loughton MP on the
occasion of the destruction of New York’s fine World Trade Center by the
unwashed heathen horde. His reflection that "Evil has been taken to new
heights" was a highly appropriate comment to place alongside a photograph of
one of the aircraft crashing into the lofty skyscraper in the Worthing Herald
on September 13 and not in the least bit distasteful.
SENSIBLE was pleased to hear that the BBC had courageously apologised to
the United States of America for the untimely outbreak of public opinion
allowed to spoil the Question Time television programme immediately following
the calamitous events of September 11. The corporation has wisely concluded
that it was vastly irresponsible to allow such unauthorised views to be
transmitted live. The discussion should, of course, have been recorded and
edited before transmission, thus allowing officials to censor out any
unwelcome anti-American or anti-Israeli comments in the interests of the
freedom and democracy which we are all fighting to preserve.
SENSIBLE was bemused by the attention given by certain sections of the
press, notably The Guardian on September 27, to the following report: "Coffee
giant Starbucks has been forced to apologise after it was revealed that rescue
workers were charged £88 for water to treat the victims of the World
Trade Centre attacks." Further outrage was apparently sparked by the report on
CNN that a woman fleeing the scene of the disaster, her throat choked with
dust, was charged for a glass of water at another venue. Do these whining
self-appointed moral guardians not realise that the freedom for Starbucks and
other businesses to make money in any way they see fit is the very freedom the
democratic world is now united in defending?
Mistaken identity
IS there no limit to the cynical
opportunism of the powers-that-be in trying to turn Britain into a police
state? The dust had barely settled on the thousands of dead bodies in New York
before some bright spark in Whitehall saw the chance they had been waiting
for. Jets hijacked by (probably) Middle Eastern people crash into big
buildings in America. Therefore people in Worthing should have to carry ID
cards before they can be treated at hospital. No, you’re right, it
didn’t make any sense at all, so much so that they have had to drop this
scheme - for the time being. But it’ll be back and it is up to us all to
make sure it is strongly resisted every time it is wheeled out. More info
from: Statewatch, Po Box 1516, London N16 OEW (www.statewatch.org);
Privacy International, PO Box 3157, Brighton BN2 2SS
Privacy International
site
optional-identity
site
Support Neil Bartlett
NEIL Bartlett, from Angmering, is
currently languishing on remand in HMP Lewes charged with making phone calls
disrupting the business of four animal abusing companies and one environmental
polluter. Needless to say, the authorities regard making such phone calls as a
major crime, while torturing animals or destroying the planet
are praiseworthy examples of enterprise. The maximum sentence is seven years
per charge, making a possible total of 35 years. Neil is considered to be such
a dangerous user of the telephone that bail has been refused time after time.
A trial date has not been set. Neil welcomes letters of support which should
be sent to FW7083 Bartlett, Hospital Wing, HMP Lewes, BN7 1EA.
PORK-SCRATCHINGS
LOVELY to see that Govia, the
new train company taking over from Connex in this area, have got their
priorities right. The trains may run late and the toilets may not work, but
passengers have been delighted to see that the traditional re-painting of the
trains in the new corporate colours is well underway. This time the old
slam-door carriages are being painted shades of green to recall the good old
days of Southern Railways. They needn’t have bothered with
the paint. If they stripped away the layers on their antiquated rolling stock
they should find the original paintwork still intact underneath.
* * *
REASSURING words in the Worthing Guardian (September 21) from
Sussex Police’s assistant chief constable Nigel Yeo about
Captor, the new mis-labelled "pepper spray" (it is in fact a gas made from
the chemical Nonivamide) now issued to his officers. He coos: "The public
have absolutely nothing to fear from Captor." Two paragraphs later we learn:
"Officers who have been sprayed describe the stinging experience as nasty
and painful and their eyes are forced shut." Nothing to fear?
* * *
WHERE were you on September 11? Several members of The
Porkbolter team were up in London protesting, appropriately enough,
against the horrors of war outside the DSEi arms fair in the
Docklands. Notably, while various football matches and other big events were
postponed out of respect for the dead, the arms fair was not affected and went
ahead as planned. No doubt business was positively booming and the weapons
industry is looking forward to making a real killing in the months to come.
* * *
The next meeting hosted by Worthing eco-action will be on
Tuesday November 6 at 7.45pm at the Downview pub, opposite West Worthing
station. A guest speaker will reveal some of the less well known agendas
behind the current war in Afghanistan, followed by discussion and socialising.
See you there!
* * *
FREEDOM lovers from Worthing are heading up to London on October 20 for the
20th annual Anarchist Bookfair, which is being staged from 10am
to 7pm at the Camden Centre, Euston Road - near King’s Cross station.
This is a big free event, which outgrew its previous venue and will feature
stalls, meetings, workshops, videos, cds, web access, food, bar, creche and
evening social.
* * *
OUR benefit gig on September 20 proved a big success. Thanks to all those who
helped arrange it and particularly the excellent grunge-punkers Becomes
the Water of Death. They’re playing again at The Tunnel
Club in Marine Parade, Worthing, on Thursday October 18, from 10pm.
Keep an eye out for them. They’re porkin’ excellent.
Warning: Enduring Misery
The Ministry of Infinite
Justice announced this week that due to the international situation
the right to smile had been suspended. It said: "This is a small price to
pay for the enduring freedom and democracy that will be assured by the
Glorious Jihad Against Terrorism and Various People We Don’t Like."
The Pigger the Better - subscribe!
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and finally ...
Beware - truth is the first casualty of war!
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