Tales from the front
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Seriously’s quote of 2003 comes from a 40-year-old veteran of the US Marine Corps in a letter to anti-war comedian Michael Moore: ‘No wonder the world hates us, who do they get to see? Young assholes in uniforms with guns, and rich, old, white tourists! Christ, could we put up a worse first impression?’
Runner-up quote of the year goes to a Specialist in the US Army, who also wrote to Mike Moore about the capture of Saddam Hussein: ‘Wow, 130,000 troops on the ground, nearly 500 deaths and over a billion dollars a day, but they caught a guy living in a hole. Am I supposed to be dazzled?’
Read more of these extraordinary letters at [www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/dudewheresmycountry/ soldierletters/index.php] (http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/dudewheresmycountry/soldierletters/index.php)
Tales of sheer front
Meanwhile, another kind of effrontery has been going on in the state of California where an internal American Chemistry Council (ACC) memo has been leaked to campaigners in the Environmental Working Group. The memo exposes PR firm Nichols-Dezenhall’s proposal to create a phoney ‘front group’ that could forestall attempts to regulate the chemical industry.
The front group, the memo says, would be a ‘watchdog group to act as an information clearinghouse and criticize the [Precautionary Principle] in public and media forums?’ but would appear to be independent from the chemical industry. The Precautionary Principle is a policy that says new chemicals should not be allowed on the market unless they have been proven safe. Over 100 companies are members of the ACC, including Dow, Du Pont, Bayer, BASF and Monsanto.
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
