Activism

Brits Propose Law to Shut Up Protesters

The Independent of England has obtained a copy of a secret internal memorandum circulating in the UK's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which proposes an "urgent" change in the law by November to crack down on objections to the genetically modified crops.

No

PBS's "Commanding" Conflict of Interest

PBS has applied its "conflict of interest" guidelines to refuse programming that receives sponsorship from unions, lesbians or battered women, on grounds that these groups have a "vested interest in the subject matter of the program." When it comes to corporations, however, the network follows a different standard. Currently the network is premiering a six-hour series about the global economy which was sponsored by major corporations that have a clear interest in the show's content.

No

Helping Oppressed Corporations Fight the Mighty Activists

Nick Nichols, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Group, Ltd., has a book out titled Rules for Corporate Warriors: How to Fight and Survive Attack Group Shakedowns, which purports to offer advice for the once-proud corporations hunted into near-extinction by the overwhelming power of left-wing activists and their allies in the anti-corporate media.

No

Modern Day Muckrakers

Theta Davis chronicles the rise of the Independent Media Center (IMC) movement, which sprang to life in Seattle, during protests there against the World Trade Organization in the fall of 1999. "After Seattle, IMCs began to pop up around the world, from South Africa to New York City. At current count there are more than 60 centers in 25 different countries. Some, like Seattle and New York, have permanent, physical offices.

No

Ashcroft's Attack on Dissent

In his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, Attorney General John Ashcroft argued that critics of the Bush administration's domestic anti-terrorism measures "only aid terrorists." The next day, Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker told journalists that they had mischaracterized Ashcroft's statements and, in doing so, "became a part of the exact problem he was describing." Such statements by a leading public official and a prominent spokesperson for the administration constitute an attempt to shut down rational debate over the administration's policies by as

No

Media Coverage and Old Growth Forests

Environmental activists are stereotyped sometimes as head-in-the-sand hippies, but the protesters who are blockading logging in Western Australia are "some of the most organised and tactically smart activists around," according to Aizura Hankin, who profiles Louise Morris, a self-described "media liaison (media slut), police/industry liaison, and lock-on wench" for the anti-logging campaign.

No

Toxic Sludge Plant's Toxic PR Defames Colorado Activist

Environmental activist and college instructor Adrienne Anderson has been the victim of an "outrageous" defamation campaign at the hands of the PR department of Colorado's largest sewage plant, and a judge has hit the plant with a $450,000 damage award. According to the Denver Post, the judge has ordered the sewage district "to publicly apologize in a full page ad." The Post notes that the judge "singled out Metro's public relations director Steven M.

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BIO-Justice or BIO-Devastation

Recent anti-globalisation protests have been met by an increasingly militarised state response aimed at deflecting attention from the issues. Corporate Watch's Lucy Michaels reports back from the BIOjustice protests against the US biotech industry in San Diego.

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