Stop the free ride
Although, as Pipeline cowboys (NI 361) explained, the World Bank is heavily involved in oil pipelines, export credit agencies (ECAs) – the new kids on the international financial block – are also scrambling to provide public funds.

Friends of the Earth International (Position Paper July 2001) estimates World Bank support for fossil fuel and mining projects (1995-99) to be $5.95 billion. ECA support for oil and gas development – not including mining – for a similar period (1994-99) is $40.5 billion.

Export credit agencies are government-backed corporations that assist domestic companies operating overseas by providing loans, credit insurance and political risk insurance. They exist solely to increase exports and many have no environmental or social policies. Due to a total lack of transparency, communities affected by the projects and taxpayers have no opportunity to comment on the projects, let alone know when and where they are happening.

ECAs have to become a target of community opposition if we are to turn the funding tap off and stop the free ride of the ‘pipeline cowboys’.

Kate Walsh
AID/WATCH,
Sydney, Australia

Illegal propaganda
Thank you for recommending a book examining the issue of war propaganda (Mixed Media, NI 361). Few people realize that such propaganda is a violation of our human rights. Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with which 149 countries are bound to comply, states: ‘Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.’ The UN Human Rights Committee says this refers to ‘all forms of propaganda threatening or resulting in an act of aggression or breach of the peace contrary to the Charter of the United Nations’ (excluding advocacy for self-determination). Signatory states must pass laws making it clear that war propaganda is ‘contrary to public policy’, while specifying appropriate sanctions for breaking this law. Governments may sign human-rights treaties, but it’s up to us to hold them to account.

Olivia Ball
Melbourne, Australia

Action is the key
David Ransom’s review of Samantha Power’s book A Problem From Hell (Mixed Media, NI 361) exposes some extremely dangerous prejudices about the US that currently exist on the Left. Ransom argues that there is little evidence to suggest that if America had acted to prevent genocide, things would have turned out much better. General Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian in charge of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, said that had he been authorized to do so, he could have prevented the violence with only 5,000 troops; this was later backed up by the UN’s own investigation. America refused to act in Rwanda because the country had no relevance to its imperialist interests. Had the weight of public opinion been such that America was forced to act, then intervention could have averted a genocide without serving the imperialist aims of the US.

The 1949 UN Convention on Genocide obliges all states to ‘prevent and punish’ acts of genocide when they occur. We should be campaigning for all countries, including America, to fulfil their obligations in this regard.

Chris Wilkinson
London, England

the majority of Zimbabweans are now suffering under the rule of Mugabe. They have barely anything: no food, no money and no jobs

Mugabe offends
The introduction to your Worldbeaters article on Paul Biya (NI 361) implied that the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, ‘offends’ only a particular ‘group’ – white farmers.

This is far from the truth. He is starving his people (apart from those who support his party) and although the trouble began with the commercial farmers, the majority of Zimbabweans are now suffering under the rule of Mugabe. They have barely anything: no food, no money and no jobs. The economy in Zimbabwe has got so bad that it is in fact cheaper to wipe your arse with money than with toilet paper. (Someone really worked that out!)

Although I miss my home, I know that I am one of the lucky ones: able to move to the UK. I have freedom of speech, a safe home, food, opportunities to receive a good education and everything I need. All I ask is that people understand that this is not merely a racial conflict between white farmers and war veterans: it is about a madman running a country to the ground.

Erin Turner
Marlborough, England

Socialist worker
Katharine Ainger’s strategy of community self-help (Keynote, Reinventing power, NI 360) just doesn’t measure up to the urgent needs of billions of ordinary people in today’s world. She is right to say the strategy of electing governments to steer the existing state in radical directions ‘seems less feasible than ever’. The state isn’t neutral. It is a capitalist state which defends the capitalists’ interests. That is why it can’t be ignored but must be overthrown. But that electoral strategy has a long and disastrous history and still has a powerful influence on our movements. That is why we need a socialist workers’ party to work systematically with people who want change but still have faith in failed strategies, while simultaneously fighting for change from below.

Peter Smith
Swindon, England

Take power
Community based support (‘The power of the cooking pot’, NI 360) seems like a good idea for those places where it will work, though we need to be careful to avoid developing a new tribalism with it (I’ve seen the adverse consequences of old-style tribalism in Papua New Guinea).

However, we should not give up on trying to change the broader political situation.

Representative democracy is only pseudo-democracy because once elected the majority of so-called ‘representatives’ act in their own interests and those of their parties’ financial backers rather than those of the voters who elected them. But we now have the technology to enable people in developed nations to vote on individual issues – we need somehow to persuade the politicians to relinquish their power and give it to the people instead. People in developed nations need to be made aware that it is actually possible to take power from the politicians so that people-power movements will develop and bring about the necessary change to true democracy.

Peter Schaper
Biggenden, Australia

DIY
Urvashi Butalia conveyed the oppressive heat and difficult conditions of New Delhi (‘Hot and bothered’, View from the South, NI 360) and how hard it is especially on the poorest members of society. But we who live in the wealthier parts of the world and those like Ms Butalia who are privileged in the less industrialized nations have to ‘walk the talk’. It’s not good enough to wait for the right politician or to complain about all the cars as we drive our vehicles. We need to take the next step beyond awareness and sympathy and continue the change on a grassroots level: carpool, walk, take the bus at least some of the time, accept some discomfort, conserve water even if one is not paying for it directly...

I remember a conversation with a middle-aged man who stated: ‘I’d drive my car less if I was ordered to.’ That ‘order’ ideally comes not from guilt, force or policy but from the heart.

Alan Sirulnikoff
Vancouver, Canada

A transport system based on individually owned motor vehicles is very prodigal of urban and rural land

Pay to drive
I disagree with S J Lees (Letters, NI 360) that relatively environmentally friendly fuel for cars – such as cooking oil produced renewably – should be exempt from tax, even though it should be taxed at a lower rate than conventional fuel.

A transport system based on individually owned motor vehicles is very prodigal of urban and rural land. It is right and proper that users of motor vehicles should pay – and much more than they do at present – for this and for the noise and danger they impose on pedestrians and cyclists. This is the only way we can secure people-friendly communities for the future instead of the motorized racetracks that our towns and cities have been turned into.

Simon Norton
Cambridge, England

Fuelled up
As a studying artist, I am constantly scouring my world for new sources of inspiration and the NI has never let me down. I was inspired to write and to paint, by your Sounds of dissent issue (NI 359). It was my first exposure to many of the featured artists and it sure won’t be the last. Thank you for providing one struggling artist with the fuel to produce the images of dissent in our daily fight for global justice!

Jasmine Duncalfe
Tweed Heads, Australia

Stark choice
I resent the accusation that Westerners are ‘shopping’ for babies in India (Currents, NI 359). If a couple in this overpopulated world is infertile, the socially responsible thing to do is not to go for fertility treatments but to adopt a child from an orphanage in a poor country. Some nations are so war-torn that international adoption is impossible but others have competent governments able to handle the investigations and red tape necessary to adopt. Would a child be better off in an orphanage or, worse, begging on the streets?

S Schnur
Islesboro, US

Nuisance value
After reading about Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions (Climate Change Solutions, NI 357) I have never been more ashamed of living where I do. I believe I am going to start making a nuisance of myself to my local representatives until we sign the Kyoto agreement and go even further.

Casey Neave
Cairns, Australia