Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
Boycott the Gap -->>> MOMENT OF TRUTH <<<-- Protest the G8
Posted by Mary Bull (chalicenew@earthlink.net)
Monday, June 17, 2002
Greetings, Earth Defenders and Global Justice Activists!
It's been over three months since our last newsletter. In the midst of such horrific world events--and horrendous US policy decisions--it's difficult but crucial that we not allow critical local struggles to be completely overshadowed!
We are at a MOMENT OF TRUTH in the campaign to save 235,000 acres of redwood forestland from the Fishers of Gap, Inc. The Fishers have begun negotiating with the federal government for an EXEMPTION from the ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, that is, a LICENSE TO KILL endangered species and to destroy their habitat WITH IMPUNITY! This process is the prelude to FINAL LIQUIDATION & DEVELOPMENT. But the Fishers aren't even waiting for that on their Sonoma holdings--they have already begun the process of CONVERTING FORESTLAND to HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS in the Willow Creek watershed. Throughout all this, the Fishers have been escalating their logging--a 50% increase in acreage in 2001 over 2000--with 59 of their 69 logging plans containing all or partial clearcutting. (see below for full reports on all these dire developments).
Meanwhile, GAP IS GOING DOWN IN FLAMES financially: Three weeks ago CEO Millard Drexler RESIGNED. Profits have steadily declined since Jan 2000, with Gap's CREDIT RATING degraded to JUNK status in Feb 2002. The Gap is also losing ground on the SAIPAN SWEATSHOP LAWSUIT--their efforts to dismiss, stall, and block 19 other retailers from settling have all been stopped by FEDERAL COURT ORDER; now they MUST SETTLE too or go to trial! Another Fisher investment, EDISON SCHOOLS, a PRIVATIZATION SCHEME that sought to turn a profit from public education, in which Gap founder and Chairman Don Fisher sunk a reported $20 MILLION, is now facing BANKRUPTCY amidst a HUGE SEC SCANDAL. The question is, what's going to happen to the THOUSANDS of KIDS who attend those 133 schools across the US??? ....children, wildlife, fish, forests, water, air, human dignity, a living wage--THERE ARE SOME THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFIT!!!
***We will be doing MAJOR ACTIONS at the G8 SUMMIT in Alberta this month--making the links to global deforestation, the world water crisis, and worker exploitation world-wide! Later this summer in San Francisco we'll be teaming with Global Exchange to create a SUMMER 2002 FESTIVAL of RESISTANCE to Gap/Fisher Stupidity!!!" We will call for SOLIDARITY ACTIONS around the globe!!! Check out http://www.gapsucks.org to be part of it!!! THANK YOU!!!****
The GROUP OF 8 (G8) is the seven most industrialized nations and Russia. Their agenda is one of corporate economic globalization and military aggression. They serve mega-corporations like the Gap, Bechtel, Boise Cascade, Chevron, Enron, and So-on. According to the UN, their policies are responsible for the deaths of 19,000 children a day. They are meeting in Alberta on June 26 to re-slice the global pie, decide the fate of Africa, and plan terror--their "war on terrorism," that is, their war to sustain global corporate piracy.
In this newsletter and call-to-action:
-Jun 21, SF: Bay Area Goes to the G8 - KICK-OFF Event & Speak Out!!!
-Jun 20-24, MT: Global Justice Action Summit (Countering G8) - Missoula!
-Jun 21-24, AB: G6B (Group of 6 Billion!) People's Summit - Calgary!
-Jun 25-27, CAN: MASS ACTIONS AGAINST THE G8 - Calgary & Ottawa!!!
***COUNTLESS CREATIVE PROTESTS are planned in both cities from EWOKS to BIKESHEVICKS!!! RADICAL KNITTING (TREE COZIES) to TRIANGLE TRASH!!!***
-Jun 25, AB: ***We'd Rather Wear Nothing Than Wear Gap!!!***
-Jun 25, SR: STUMP ACTION at ESA Hearing/Call for Comments!!!
-Jun 26, internat'l: ***GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION Against G8 Policies!!!***
-Aug TBA, internat'l: ***Global Week of Action Against Gap!!!***
-The Gap Fishers' LICENSE TO KILL: REPORT & Call to Action!!!
-From CLEARCUTS to HOUSING Developments: Fishers Pave the Way!!!
-Logging & Lawsuits: Fishers Escalate/Public Retaliates: REPORT!
-WORLD WATER CRISIS / Corporate Water Grab from Cochabamba...
......to the Redwood Coast: SPECIAL REPORT & Call to Action!!!
Jun 21, SF: Bay Area Goes to the G8 - Kick-off & Speak-out!
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Fri, Jun 21, 12 Noon. Powell & Market, SF. Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap (SRBG) is going to the G8 Summit in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, from June 22--28, to protest G8 policies, to attend the G6B People's Summit, and to bring international attention to GLOBAL DEFORESTATION, the resulting WORLD WATER CRISIS, and the proliferation and abject misery of SWEATSHOPS world-wide!!! We're inviting all Bay Area activists who are going and those burning the torch at home to come to this Bon Voyage & SPEAK-OUT! The FISHER REDWOOD STUMP WILL BE OUR STAGE (since CANADA is CRACKING DOWN on CIVIL RIGHTS, including confiscating props at the border, we can't take it with us)! Come and connect the dots between G8 policies, global trade policies, and corporate economic globalization, as witnessed in mega-corporations such as the Gap!!!
***CNN plans to cover our actions from SF to Calgary, providing a tremendous opportunity for reaching mainstream America! They will most likely be at this action! This will also be a great opportunity to do outreach against fast-track, the FTAA, and other ruinous trade agreements such as NAFTA--and, of course, for any June 26 G8 solidarity action Bay Area activists are planning!!!***
PLEASE COME!!!
Jun 20-24, MT: Global Justice Action Summit (Global JAS) - Missoula!!!
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This sounds like it's going to be a GREAT EVENT! If they kick us out of Canada, we'll head on over!!! From Partners for Global Justice and Sustainable Communities (edited): Global JAS is a Forum on sustainable alternatives to economic globalization, a Fair on Sustainability, and a Festival and Celebration of action for change. There will be music, games, exhibits, demonstrations, workshops, and field trips that focus on methods to help communities work toward greater sustainability, self-sufficiency & voluntary simplicity! Speakers will include Kevin Danaher (Global Exchange) -- Njoki Njoroge Njehu (50 Years Is Enough) -- Marie Clarke (Jubilee USA Network) -- Molly Dhlamini (young Christian justice activist, South Africa) --Walden Bello (Focus on the Global South) -- Corbin Harney (Shoshone Elder / Shundahai Network) -- Percy Schmieser (Canadian anti-gmo farmer) -- Helen Waller (Montana Farmer, Northern Plains Resource Council) -- Miguel Altieri (UC Berkley, Agroecology) -- Neil Sorensen (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) -- Francisco Solis (Coastal Range Coalition, Chile). There will also be A Sustainable Transportation Caravan to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (US/Canada) for a Peace and International Solidarity Gathering, & Ceremonies and Prayers for World Peace. More info: 406-541-2001 www.globaljas.org
Jun 21-24, AB: G6B (Group of 6 Billion!) People's Summit!!!
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This is happening at the University of Calgary, and the line up of lectures and workshops is AWESOME!!! Like Global JAS in Missoula (see above), there is a strong emphasis on sustainability and alternatives to corporate monoculture, and all that implies. The schedule is 6 pages long - check it out at www.g6bpeoplessummit.org. We'll be squeezing in as many of these as we possibly can!
Jun 25-27, CAN: ***G8 MASS PROTESTS - Calgary & Ottawa!!!***
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The G8 is a group of the seven most industrialized nations and Russia. Their agenda is one of corporate economic globalization and military aggression. According to the UN, their policies are responsible for the deaths of 19,000 children a day. There are going to be mass protests and festivals of resistance in Calgary, very near Kananaskis, the sequestered ski resort where the G8 are actually meeting to re-slice the global pie, decide the fate of Africa, and plan terror (i.e., their "war on terrorism"). Activists are also staging wild and wonderful mass actions in Ottawa, Ontario, the capitol of Canada, where they are calling their event "TAKING THE CAPITAL!"
***The CANADIAN Government has deployed 5000 MILITIA, ROCKET LAUNCHERS, & MISSILES throughout the sensitive ecosystem surrounding Kananaskis to defend their Corporate Oligarchy from us, civil society, peaceful protestors, the public: THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN -- AND WILL -- STOP THEM!!!***
More info, Calgary: http://g8.activist.ca More info, Ottawa: 613-788-3310 takethecapital@tao.ca www.takethecapital.net To get on the G8 Planning listserve, send emails to g8-plan-on@list.nisto.com and g8-announce-on@list.nisto.com (For a terrific brief history/analysis of the G8 and a glorious call to action, see the Global Day of Action announcement from NYC below!).
PS: DON'T MISS IT!!!
Jun 25, AB: ***We'd Rather Wear Nothing Than Wear Gap!!!***
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Tues, June 25, 12 NOON. TD Square Gap (on the promenade side of the mall on Stephens). 317 7th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta. In this PRE-G8 WARM-UP ACTION, protestors will STRIP for REDWOODS and WORKERS RIGHTS, focusing international attention on the proliferation of SWEATSHOPS, GLOBAL DEFORESTATION, and the resulting WORLD WATER CRISIS. Members of the SRBG Core Group will be arriving in Calgary on June 21 & 22, where we will meet with Alberta Gaptivists on our net and our Canadian host/organizers! Contact info in Calgary: 415-509-1188 (cell; local number TBA). We have received an INCREDIBLE WARM WELCOME from the CANADIAN ORGANIZERS, many of whom are planning to join us to create a POWERFUL GAP ACTION!!!
The CANADIAN government won't let us bring any props or costumes, that's why we settled on our PROP & COSTUME-FREE number: "We'd rather wear nothing than wear Gap!" We'll have songs, chants, and a few key speakers (see below) to BUILD to the CLIMACTIC MOMENT when we STRIP for REDWOODS & WORKERS RIGHTS! Those stripping to just UNDERWEAR (note: by going further we may risk arrest for indecent exposure--awaiting word from Legal on this), please consider wearing fun, funny, sexy, or politically incorrect undies! Complimentary CRAP tees for the first 10--15 Canadians who join in the strip action! WE NEED DRUMS & DRUMMERS, too! ALL ARE WELCOME, clothed or unclothed!!!
Speakers: So far, we've asked Tony Silvaggio secretary/treasurer of Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment (Steelworkers and Earth-Firsters!!! YEAH!!!) and STARHAWK (global justice activist extraordinaire!!!); we're also trying to get someone from CPAWS, a Canadian group working on local forestry issues, someone from the Canadian Labor movement to speak on global worker issues, and the Council of Canadians to speak on water privatization issues, Bechtel's lawsuit against Bolivia, and the link between deforestation and the world water crisis! DON'T START YAWNING - Speakers will be limited to FIVE SPELLBINDING MINUTES EACH, and we'll pepper the talk with our great, FUN anti-Gap/anti-corporate SONGS & CHANTS!!! ...ALL BUILDING to that climactic moment, when we strip for JUSTICE IN FOREST & FACTORY!!!!
IT'S GOING TO BE WONDERFUL!!! PLEASE COME!!!
Jun 25, SR: STUMP ACTION at ESA Hearing/Call for Comment!!!
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Jun 25, 7PM--9PM, State of California Rattigan Bldg, 50 D Street, Santa Rosa, CA. For those not going to the G8, PLEASE try to get to this Action & Hearing regarding exempting Fisher Logging from the Endangered Species Act!!! MARK & ERIC will be bringing the STUMP; if you are travelling from SF, you can catch a ride with them! Contact Eric at brookse@igc.org or Mark at 415-550-6850. Activists coming from Mendocino, contact Mary Pjerrou about car-pooling 707-877-3405. WE NEED A FEW GOOD ACTIVISTS!!! Those who can't come, please fax/mail comments (details below)!
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) are hosting three public scoping sessions (Ukiah 6/26, Ft. Bragg 6/27 -get locations from info lines below) in the course of gathering information for their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Environmental Impact Report (EIR). WE NEED TO BE THERE to tell them WHY THEY SHOULD NOT ISSUE an "incidental take permit" to Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC, the Fishers' logging company). The reason is simple: the already extremely degraded state of their forestland, where endangered species are currently hanging on by the thinnest of threads! (Contact me for the complete notice if you plan to comment in person or by letter!)
DEADLINE FOR WRITTEN COMMENT: July 8, 2002. Snail-mail or fax them to Eric Shott, NMFS, 777 Sonoma Ave, Room 325, Santa Rosa, CA 95404, or John Hunter, FWS, 1655 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA 95521. FAX: (707) 822-8411. More info: Eric Shott, NMFS, at (707) 575-6089 or John Hunter, FWS, at (707) 822-7201.
Jun 26, internat'l: ***GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION Against G8 Policies!!!***
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SNAKE MARCHES in CITIES throughout the WORLD are planned for this DAY!!! Here's one GLORIOUS call to action and SUCCINCT ANALYSIS of the G8 from New York City's Direct Action Network / Another World Is Possible, who hosted the WEF mass protests in February:
JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE G8 IN NEW YORK! Wed, June 26, 5 p.m., march from International Monetary Fund offices, E45th Street and Second Avenue to the Consulate General of Italy at 690 Park Avenue in solidarity with activists gathering around the world in opposition to the summit of the world's chief terrorists! On June 26 and 27, the Group of 8 - the so-called leaders of the industrialized world - will gather under massive security in the secluded Canadian ski resort of Kananaskis for their annual meeting. They can run, but they can't hide.
Last year in Genoa and the year before that in Prague, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin, and their fraternity brothers were greeted by massive direct-action protests. Not just in those cities but in others all over the world, outrage at the rapacious, corporate-dictated agenda being hatched by our political "leaders" spilled over in rallies, marches, occupations, and festivals that brought hundreds of thousands of people together. This despite an escalation of state violence that reached its height when Carlo Giuliani, a young Italian activist, was gunned down by police in Genoa. This year, the Kananaskis gathering of the G8 will once again be the focal point of global protests. And once again, New York City activists will be gathering in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Canada and around the world, sending an unmistakable message that we reject the G8 and its plans for our future.
Why march? Why the G8? Much has changed since the last G8 Summit. The world leaders gathering in Kananaskis are now partners in a "war on terrorism" that threatens a semi-permanent campaign of repression against indigenous peoples from Palestine and Iraq to Chechnya, Tibet, China, and the Philippines. This summit of the world's warlords can only advance a global strategy that began with the "retaliatory" campaign in Afghanistan last fall and has since broadened into a post-Cold War remilitarization of the planet.
The G8 is about trade as well as terror - the corporate-led trade agenda that is crushing indigenous communities, workers' rights, and economic self-determination around the planet. The IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization - all take their marching orders from the ministers gathered at the G8 Summit. And each year, the G8 attempts to dress up its economic demolition project with pathetically inadequate, token efforts at "debt relief" and "development initiatives" for developing countries. This year the focus will be on Africa, with the so-called "New Partnership for Africa's Development."
G8 leaders have declared democracy dead by forging a policy of zero tolerance for mass dissent against their schemes. Since the anti-WTO actions in Seattle three years ago, that policy has escalated into an undeclared war on activists who dare to bring their message directly to the G8. Carlo Giuliani's death was only one of many that the global justice movement has suffered - over 30 died in anti-IMF actions in Argentina last December, for example. But Carlo's death, and the shocking failure of the Italian authorities to enforce any accountability for this crime, underscore the fact that the life of an activist is considered less important than the ability of the G8 heads of state to drink their cocktails in quiet.
The G8 has served above all to cement the global overlordship of the United States. By endorsing Bush's phony "war on terrorism" without consulting their own people in any way, the leaders of these "democracies" have cleared up any illusion that their people have the right to self-determination. By cutting deals giving the U.S. the latitude to invade Iraq in exchange for free rein in his genocidal war on Chechnya, Russian President Putin has created a new partnership for repression that the U.S. has already extended to client states like Turkey, Israeli, and the Philippines. With it, the people of these countries lose their ability to choose any but the future of corporate takeover and financial servitude that Washington has prescribed for the rest of the world.
More info: www.anotherworldispossible.com
-Aug TBA, internat'l: ***Global Week of Action Against Gap!!!***
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****As Fisher Exploitation Comes to a Head, SRBG & Global Exchange will be teaming up this Summer to pressure Gap to settle the Saipan sweatshop suit and the Fishers to abandon their development plans and make their redwood holdings a wildlife preserve. We will be calling for solidarity actions around the globe!!! JOIN the FESTIVAL of RESISTANCE against Gap/Fisher Stupidity!!! Sign up for an action--from letter-writing to banner hangs--at http://www.gapsucks.org !!!****
***A LICENSE TO KILL: Report!!!***
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>>>>>The "Good Stewards" Request Exemption from the Endangered Species Act<<<<<
Republican President Ronald Reagan invented the waiver of the Endangered Species Act, benignly calling it an "incidental take permit." Democrat Bill Clinton issued more than any other American President. To get one, the CORPORATE PILLAGER files a document deceptively called a "Habitat Conservation Plan" (HCP) for a $25 filing fee. The Federal and State Agencies then put on a DOG & PONY SHOW - MOCKERY of DEMOCRACY that costs tax-payers $1000's, at the end of which, the Agencies RUBBER-STAMP THEIR APPROVAL! ***And that's how the planet goes down the tubes, folks, American-style!!!*** ...It's such an absurd charade:
According the US Depts. of Commerce and the Interior, the HCP must address the following: (1) The impact of the taking, (2) steps the applicant will take to minimize and mitigate the impact; (3) funding available to implement the steps; (4) what alternative actions to the taking the applicant considered and the reasons why they were not taken; and (5) any other measures NMFS or FWS may require as being necessary or appropriate for the purpose of the plan (16 USC 1539). To issue a permit, NMFS and FWS must find that: (1) the taking will be incidental, (2) the applicant will minimize and mitigate impacts of the take to the maximum extent possible; (3) the applicant will ensure adequate funding for the HCP; (4) the taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of the species (THAT'S A GOOD ONE!); and the applicant met other measures required by FWS and NMFS.
According to the Depts' Announcement, "....The proposed 80-year HCP/NCCP will encompass 220,000 to 240,000 acres of lands owned by MRC on and after the granting date of the incidental take permits, and may cover up to 19 fish and wildlife species and up to 59 plant species...." (For a complete list of the species that the Fishers are up for destroying and all the watersheds affected, contact me!) ...This process will continue through the end of the year, and there will be several opportunities to speak TRUTH to POWER. Check out GAPSUCKS for a SPECIAL ACTION ALERT being designed now and scheduled to go up in two weeks! Meanwhile, BOYCOTT GAP, BANANA REPUBLIC, & OLD NAVY, spread the boycott message, and let the Fishers know what you are doing and why, by dropping them a note: 3456 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94118.
From CLEARCUTS to HOUSING Developments: Fishers Pave the Way!!!
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Literally.... When the Fishers bought the forestland, we surmised that they viewed it as a real estate investment and that, as soon as they logged the last merchantable timber, they would start converting it to vineyards and subdivisions, with a few land trust/tree zoos thrown in at public expense to show what terrific environmentalists they are. They are beginning that conversion process now with their holdings in Willow Creek in Sonoma County.
A few years ago the Fishers spurned overtures from the community and its state representatives to buy their holdings in Willow Creek for a state park. About four months ago, they approached the County with an offer to sell. The process has not become public yet--the first public hearing will probably be at the end of summer. So, everything that follows is unofficial info that we've received from the Sonoma County Agriculture and Open Space District (OSD) and the community organizers who have been trying to save Willow Creek from the start. We plan to talk with key Sonoma County Supervisors next week. Trust for Public Lands is representing MRC, the Fishers' logging company, in the negotiations with OSD. The County Supervisors will make the final decision.
The Fishers are offering to sell 3,000 acres to the public. The Fishers are willing to sell, if the public ponies up enough money. An unofficial figure of $20 Million was mentioned for the 3,000-acre parcel. This would constitute 7 times what the Fishers paid for it before they logged it. The Fishers are also willing to sell to the public their timber rights to two 1,000-acre parcels on either side of the 3,000-acre parcel. However, they wish to retain ownership and development rights for the two 1,000-acre parcels, and THEY PLAN TO BUILD HOUSES ON THEM.
WE BELIEVE that the Global Commons, which include forests and water, among other natural trust resources, belong to the Earth--they should not be privately held, bought and sold. Further, at this point in history, with 80% of our forests destroyed or so damaged they can no longer be logged sustainably, and with the world suffering from a GLOBAL WATER CRISIS that's rapidly growing, we cannot afford to pave over anymore watersheds, and must begin an intensive course of protection and restoration!
***We will continue to pressure the Fishers to abandon their development schemes, and to instead permanently protect all or most of their forestland at no additional expense to the public--we've already paid TOO HIGH A PRICE in species extirpation and environmental damage!!!**** We have a number of CREATIVE ACTIONS planned to this end! Check out http://www.gapsucks.org to be part of the "Summer 2002 Festival of Resistance to Gap/Fisher Stupidity!!!"
Logging & Lawsuits: Fishers Escalate/Public Retaliates: REPORT!!!
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Meanwhile, back in the forest... The Fishers are logging as if there is no tomorrow--and soon there won't be for the Coast Redwood ecosystem, which should be a World Legacy. Mary Pjerrou of the Greenwood Watershed Association reports that the Fishers filed logging plans on 12,000 acres in 2001, a 50% increase over 2000. She further reports that 59 of the 69 plans filed contain all or partial clearcutting. We'll be posting a new damning picture of a horrendous Fisher Family clearcut at the gapsucks web site soon--as part of their phony PR campaign, the Fishers call it "variable-retention," a 90% clearcut, but even the California Department of Forestry requires that in their timber harvest plans they call it what it is, a clearcut. This photo shows the truth--It will sicken you.
Linda Perkins of the Albion River Watershed Protection Association reports that at the present rate of cut, the Fishers will be cutting 75-80% of some watershed areas in as few as 9 years. RAPACIOUS!! Specifically, in the four years of their ownership, the Fishers' logging company, MRC, has filed harvest plans on 33.9% of their land in the South Fork Albion; 44.7% of their land in the middle Albion; 35.8% of their land in the lower Albion. This means that, at their present rate of cut, they will have entered 100% of their land in just under 12 years in the South Fork; in less than 9 years in the middle Albion; in just over 11 years in the lower Albion. Because the Fishers own about 75-80% of the land in South Fork Albion and the middle Albion, this means that the entry rates for the entire watershed area of the South Fork will be 75-80% in 12 years, and 75-80% in 9 years in the middle Albion. VERY HIGH ENTRY RATES!
***Why the Albion??? Because thanks to years of community activism, it contains the highest percentage of big trees left on Fisher lands, and the Good Stewards are going for these last of the last. ***
The Greenwood Watershed Association (GWA) won a case in May 2000, in which a Superior Court judge found three Fisher logging plans illegal for inadequate cumulative impacts assessment and no long-term watershed plan. ***Since that ruling, MRC has filed over 100 plans containing the same illegalities!!!*** GWA is back in court trying to get that ruling enforced on three of those new plans. According to Mary Pjerrou of GWA, they are employing slime-wad legal tactics to get the lawsuit thrown out on a technicality. On top of this, they can't find a judge in Mendocino County who can try the case: Two have had to recuse themselves for conflict of interest (prior to becoming judges, they either worked as counsel for the Fishers' logging company or for their predecessors); two judges were removed by peremptory challenge; and two pro-timber judges recently retired. ...That's what forest defenders are up against in Mendocino County!
WORLD WATER CRISIS / Corporate Water Grab...
...From Cochabamba to the Redwood Coast: SPECIAL REPORT
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Last, but certainly not least. The world is facing a GLOBAL WATER CRISIS--even Forbes magazine is saying water will be to this century, what oil was to the last--that this century's wars will be over water... And the transnational corporations, who are in large part RESPONSIBLE for this crisis through DEFORESTATION, DIVERSION of rivers for industrial uses, industrial water POLLUTION and irresponsible use of chemicals, intense URBANIZATION caused by global TRADE POLICIES that RUIN RURAL ECONOMIES--are already circling for the kill: PRIVATIZING WATER and PROFITEERING from the crisis--encouraging their customers to consume, not conserve (see New Yorker, "Leasing the Rain," April 8, 2002)--profiteering from this BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.
From the Council of Canadians' "Blue Gold" by Maude Barlow:
"Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth. According to the United Nations, more than one billion people on earth already lack access to fresh drinking water. If current trends persist, by 2025 the demand for fresh water is expected to rise to 56% more than the amount that is currently available..." She attributes this drastic depletion to the "drying of the earth's surface" from "intensive urbanization, deforestation, water diversion, and industrial farming." Elsewhere, pollution is part of this list.
"As the water crisis intensifies, governments around the world - under pressure from transnational corporations - are advocating a radical solution: the privatization, commodification, and mass diversion of water. Proponents say that such a system is the only way to distribute water to the world's thirsty. But, in fact, experience shows that selling water on the open market does not address the needs of poor, thirsty people. On the contrary, privatized water is delivered to those who can pay for it, such as wealthy cities, and individuals, and water-intensive industries, like agriculture and high tech. As one resident of the high desert in New Mexico observed after his community's water had been diverted for use by the high-tech industry: 'Water flows uphill to money.'" (Download the entire paper from http://www.canadians.org and get other excellent info on the water wars.)
COCHABAMBA and the BECHTEL v. BOLIVIA lawsuit. About three years ago, under pressure from the World Bank, Bolivia decided to privatize the waterworks in its third largest city, Cochabamba. The only bidder was a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation. Bechtel took over and quickly raised rates as much as 300%. The people rose up and protested en mass in the streets. The Bolivian government sent in the militia, who wounded many, and killed a seventeen-year-old student. This tragic event precipitated a general strike, road blockades, and more demonstrations. (Please see http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/index.htm for a detailed account of this heroic, victorious people's movement against water privatization, and their powerful and beautiful "Cochabamba Declaration," adopted by global justice activists around the world!)
Bechtel left the country, and has since filed a $25 MILLION LAWSUIT for LOST *FUTURE* PROFITS in the Cochabamba waterworks, to be tried in a World Bank court (Bechtel was careful to set up a phony corporation in the Netherlands, a country that has a bilateral trade agreement with Bolivia, as the US has no such agreement--but they weren't careful enough, they set up the corporation AFTER they invested in the Cochabamba waterworks).
BECHTEL ACTION! Civil Society is mobilizing for the Bolivians! PLEASE JOIN US!!! San Franciscans, please contact your Supervisors and urge them to adopt the "Bechtel resolution," a resolution urging Bechtel to drop the lawsuit. For the resolution text and the SF Supervisors' contact info, see http://www.citizen.org/california/water/articles.cfm?ID=7844 Others can check out http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/index.htm for actions you can take to stop this travesty!
CORPORATE WATER GRAB on the REDWOOD COAST! With Big Timber squeezing the last nickel out of the redwood forest, who should come marching in, but Big Water to drain our already beleaguered watersheds, and ship the water by barge to sell to San Diegans in Southern California. The entrepreneur behind this water privatization scheme, Rick Davidage, has worked for the US Dept of the Interior, the State of Alaska, and evidently is pals with members of California State Water Resource Board, who reviews permit applications that claim "excess water." Davidage has filed permits to take water from the Gualala River and Albion River. For details and an URGENT ACTION ALERT coming in early July, see http://www.gualalariver.org or www.albionnation.org To subscribe to the "Clean Water, Healthy Forests" listserve, send a blank email to cwhf-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
More very soon on these CRITICAL issues!
***FINAL NOTE: 70% of the ocean's fisheries are fully fished or over-fished. Monterey Bay Aquarium has put out the Seafood Watch Card - a nifty little card you can peruse before buying seafood, so that you make a choice that's good for the ocean and its fisheries! Please check it out at http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp ****
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For Planet, People, and Democracy!
Mary Bull
Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
415-731-7924 chalicenew@earthlink.net www.gapsucks.org
FOR REDWOODS & WORKERS,
BOYCOTT GAP, BANANA REPUBLIC, & OLD NAVY!
FOR PEOPLE & PLANET,
STOP "FAST TRACK" & THE FTAA! www.stopftaa.org
(Note: There is going to be another House vote on fast-track!
On Dec. 6, fast track won by one vote! Don't let that happen again!
Call your House rep NOW!!!) www.citizen.org/trade/fasttrack/action/
TO END INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM,
DISMANTLE THE PRISON - INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! www.booksnotbars.org
For questions and comments please e-mail us!
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