Happy New Year?

Bart Simpson tells it like it is

A Happy New Year? It seems most of us bleated this trite sentiment at the beginning of 2006 and, whilst meaning well, fully understood that for many 2007 would bring nothing but misery.

Reflecting on the year 2007 is like re-reading the front pages for 2006. The year 2006 closed with the execution of Saddam Hussein, 2007 closes with the execution of Benazir Bhutto. Try as you might you cannot dismiss the oil profits dimension to either death. Would Bhutto be dead if Pakistan’s links to the Islamic fundamentalists of Afghanistan, a country strongly linked to the oil rich Caspian, were not so evident? And, still with oil, the price of black gold will close the year on a record high after reaching $99.29 per barrel last month, almost double the level at which it began the year

The biggest headlines seem to be reruns of previous years, adding emphasis to the Marxian dictum: “history repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce”: scandal in the Labour Party, war in Iraq and the threat of the extension of the ‘war on terror’ into Iran, continuing war in Afghanistan, the US refusing to budge on climatic change, civil unrest from Latin to America to Myanmar, crime, poverty, hunger disease, waste, planned obsolescence. And the damnable One World Report statistics seem never to improve, nor do they look likely to for the foreseeable future.

Over in the US, the mind-numbed masses are in for a year of scum-raking electioneering as democrats and repukes fall over one another’s promises in the race to the White House. Republican candidates offer more or less the same as has been presented during the 7 years under the current lobotomised incumbent’s reign.

Indeed, Michael Tomasky editor of Guardian America comments in today’s Guardain: ‘…Republican candidates are running on exactly the same policies that Bush has pursued. Consider this list. All the major Republican candidates want to "stay the course" in Iraq, denouncing any discussion of withdrawal as evidence of pusillanimity. All see the fight against terrorism in more or less Bushian terms. All want to make the Bush tax cuts, now scheduled to sunset in 2010, permanent…All have promised the leaders of the Christian right that they will appoint supreme court judges "in the mould of" Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas

‘It’s pretty astonishing, really – we’re at the tail end of a failed presidency and the people running to succeed it are promising to continue its failed policies.’

So, 2008 looks to be no different from 2007 for one major reason - Capitalism is still very much on the agenda. This means that every aspect of our lives in 2008 will be subordinated to the worst exigencies of the profit system. Businesses will only run so long as they have the competitive edge on their rivals; wars will take place because the executives of the capitalist class realise this is simply an extension of the global search for raw materials, foreign markets and areas of influence. The state and their pals in the media will think of new laws to keep us in line and new ways of distorting facts and hoodwinking us, for the simple reason that our isolation and ignorance is an important component in maintaining the status quo. Our unwillingness to unite as a globally exploited class, our indifference to the excesses of the master class, will be the victories they celebrate in 2008.

We will reach December 31st of 2008 and look back on a year in which millions died of starvation; in which hundreds of thousands were killed in a dozen conflicts; in which millions died from curable disease. On December 31st 2008 the US war machine will still be hobnail- booting it all over the world, the Labour Party in Britain will be recovering from another scandal and there will still be homelessness and crime and every other social ill you can imagine. Despite all the reforms of the previous 100 years, despite all of our scientific, technological and medical know-how, we will still find it easier to launch a $100 million space probe on a journey to the furthest galaxies than to feed and inoculate a starving, disease-ridden African village for a few dollars.

Spiderman to the rescue

Where would be without Spiderman? Wherever he goes, god-fearing Americans gasp in awe and bad guys wet their pants. Such is his ubiquitous reputation for rooting out evil, that the UN have enlisted his help, via Marvel Comics, to boost their image and to help them fight global conflict and disease.

Apparently 1 million copies of a special comic will be distributed free to US schoolchildren, with a storyline based in a fictitious country, ravaged by war and portraying Spiderman and other superheroes, battling the ills of the 21st century alongside Unicef and the UN’s blue hat peacekeepers.

The FT reports: “The UN’s goals are somewhat different: according to its website, it hopes the comics will teach children the value of international co-operation and sensitise them to the problems faced in other parts of the world.”

Of course, this is not the first time US comics have been used for political ends. During World War 2, superheroes were shown taking on the Nazi Wehrmacht, with Superman and Captain America seen kicking the shit out of Hitler (they never did that good a job, incidentally, for Hitler took his own life).

If capitalism can now call upon superheroes to perpetuate the idea that war, poverty, hunger and disease can be tackled via the usual mechanisms, and which have failed miserably for the last 100 years, what future for the socialist cause? Just where can socialists look for a similar ally? Hold on a sec, a clue comes from the November issue of the Socialist Standard. Seems old JC himself is sanctioning the publication, so there may be hope yet. A million copies of the Standard being distributed free to US schoolchildren? Now you’re talking!

And I jest not. Who is best placed to teach kids the "value of international co-operation" and to "sensitise them to the problems faced in other parts of the world"? A Socialist or a UN worker?

John Pilger lambasts the corporate media

This to me is Pilger at his best. Here he is speaking in Chicago at Socialism 2007: Socialism for the 21st Century and ripping into the corporate media. Any SPGBers reading this - please don't snub this coz its not a WSM related conference. This is a first class talk and you'll get some useful quotes from it.

Here we are 130 years after John Swinton's famous attack on the press and sod all has changed. One night, probably in 1880, John Swinton, then the pre-eminent New York journalist, was the guest of honour at a banquet given him by the leaders of his craft. Someone who knew neither the press nor Swinton offered a toast to the independent press. Swinton outraged his colleagues by replying:

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.

"The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."

Benazir Bhutto - articles from the radical sites

As I write, Znet is unusually quiet on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Elsewhere, Information Clearing House, posts a savoury piece entitled Aunt Benazir's False Promises from Fatima Bhutto, the niece of Mrs Bhutto that originally appeared in the LA Times.

This piece was written back on 13th December. Says the niece:

“Perhaps the most bizarre part of this circus has been the hijacking of the democratic cause by my aunt, the twice-disgraced former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. While she was hashing out a deal to share power with Gen. Pervez Musharraf last month, she repeatedly insisted that without her, democracy in Pakistan would be a lost cause…..“Ms. Bhutto's political posturing is sheer pantomime. Her negotiations with the military and her unseemly willingness until just a few days ago to take part in Musharraf's regime have signaled once and for all to the growing legions of fundamentalists across South Asia that democracy is just a guise for dictatorship…. Ms. Bhutto's repeated promises to end fundamentalism and terrorism in Pakistan strain credulity because, after all, the Taliban government that ran Afghanistan was recognized by Pakistan under her last government -- making Pakistan one of only three governments in the world to do so. ….And I am suspicious of her talk of ensuring peace. My father was a member of Parliament and a vocal critic of his sister's politics. He was killed outside our home in 1996 in a carefully planned police assassination while she was prime minister. There were 70 to 100 policemen at the scene, all the streetlights had been shut off and the roads were cordoned off. Six men were killed with my father. They were shot at point-blank range, suffered multiple bullet wounds and were left to bleed on the streets…”

Some decent article on the Bhutto assassination can be found on Counterpunch, the more analytical being Wajahat Ali’s A Pakistani Requiem . Some quotes from that piece:

Reports indicate that the United States, Musharraf and Bhutto recently agreed to a brokered power sharing deal, whereby Musharraf would retain his Presidency, Bhutto would be named Prime Minster and her numerous corruption charges would bypass the courts and be "dropped" due the creation of the "National Reconciliation Ordinance." The deal was suspect from the beginning and only further deteriorated with Bhutto's return from exile to Pakistan in October: thereafter, triggering a devastating assassination attempt on her life, still unsolved, leaving nearly 140 people dead. The nail in the coffin was hammered by Musharraf, who unilaterally implemented a State of Emergency in November. Experts state his action was motivated by the Supreme Court's adverse ruling regarding his eligibility to lead Pakistan, thereby denying him a right to lead as both President and Chief of Army Staff, a title he relinquished only recently. As a result, The United State's democratic ally, Musharraf, undemocratically suspended the Constitution, ousted and jailed Supreme Court judges and lawyers critical of his policies and leadership, detained nearly 2,000 human rights activists, and silenced independent media and news stations. Although publicly reprimanding Musharraf's "questionable," or one could say "undemocratic," actions, the White House remained loyal to their dictator-of- choice, because the U.S. has provided Pakistan with nearly $10 billion in aid as "good will currency" in its support to hunt Al- Qaeda and extremists within Pakistan's borders. Specifically, President Bush said he wants democracy in Pakistan, but "at the same time, we want to continue working with [Musharraf] to fight these terrorists and extremists."

Two weeks before the State of Emergency prompted his unlawful arrest, incarceration and subsequent kidney failure, Muneer Malik, Pakistan's former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and prominent critic of Musharraf, gave me an exclusive interview, in which he proclaimed a statement shared by many in Pakistan: ‘The U.S. supports dictatorships that suit its interests. It is never interested in the masses of Pakistan. The power sharing between Benzair and Musharraf will only perpetuate military hegemony. The mindset of the politicians is that the road to Islamabad [Pakistan's capital] leads from Washington and not from the streets of Pakistan.

A grand irony results from observing this alliance: the United States wants to support democracy in Pakistan by allowing Musharraf to implement undemocratic measures and dictatorial practices to ensure Pakistan's future democracy. That is akin to endorsing an avowed pacifist who feels forced to purge his enemies through murder and violence in order to bring peace.

“…before returning to Pakistan in October, Bhutto had publicly stated she would allow the United States within Pakistan's borders to assist in hunting Al-Qaeda operatives and terror cells. Bhutto said, "I would hope that I would be able to take Osama bin Laden myself without depending on the Americans. But if I couldn't do it, of course we [Pakistan and US] are fighting this war together and [I] would seek their co-operation in eliminating him." Her critics questioned her sincerity and motives in potentially allowing Pakistan's sovereignty to be threatened by inviting America to strike within Pakistani soil.

The critics responded by calling her America's "stooge" and "puppet": a woman willing to appease Western nations by any means to ensure her political power.

This charge and allegation of "servitude to the United States" arguably ensured her assassination, or at the very least, cemented her unpopularity amongst an extremist political segment of Pakistan.

Bhutto changed her tune. In her final speech on the day of her assassination, she passionately declared, "Why should foreign troops come in? We can take care of this [referring to resurgent Al Qaeda extremists in Pakistan], I can take care of this, you [Pakistani citizens] can take care of this."

This recent tragedy has further destabilized the country prompting mass protests and vandalism thereby giving Musharraf a rationalization and excuse, according to his critics, to impose Martial Law yet again if he so chooses and curb the democratic process. Since the United States has no political allies in Pakistan that it feels it can remotely trust, one can argue they will be forced, out of necessity and desperation, to tacitly endorse Musharraf and promote him as an "ally against terrorism" and "hope for democracy." The West fears that the nuclear weapons and technology of Pakistan will fall in the hands of an extremist minority that will align itself with Taliban and Al-Qaeda

Iraq, Iran, Pakistan. What the hell is Bush up to?

This interview, made recently, goes some way, I think, to explain yesterday's assassination in Pakistan of Benazir Bhutto.

THE MYTH OF DOUBLE DEVOLUTION - a community activist tells it like it is

A mock up postcard I did this time last year

"I call it 'double devolution' - not just devolution that takes power from central government and gives it to local government, but power that goes from local government down to local people, providing a critical role for individuals and neighbourhoods, often through the voluntary sector." (David Miliband, MP for South Shields, speaking in The Guardian, 21st February 2006).

At 10.30 pm last night, 25th December, Christmas day, my wife was assaulted on her way to my daughter’s house a few streets away, walking past floodlit shops and by two youths, one of whom threw her up against a wall, ripped her coat from her and held a knife to her throat.

Welcome to Lukes Lane estate, Hebburn, South Tyneside. I’ll not cite the myriad harrowing official statistics that accompany the mention of the estate – relating to poor health, unemployment, crime etc – let’s just say the estate suffers a lot from social deprivation and ranks as one of the most socially excluded areas in the country.

Crime-wise, things here have deteriorated of late and I can’t recall incidents on the current scale being this bad in years. Most of it just never makes the press, like there is some big bloody official conspiracy of silence. My wife’s case just takes the fucking biscuit. I say this because for well over two years I’ve been heavily involved, with a small band of local residents, in trying to get this damned estate sorted out via our participatory appraisal work and our community action group efforts, not least of which has been the Community Safety Forums we have attended and which have turned out to be little more than talking shops. Neither will I cite the amount of work we, the Lukes Lane Community Group, have done since September 2006 – I’ll let our AGM report speak for itself.

I flicked through my diary earlier and began counting. Between January 5th and December 18th this year, I attended 218 meetings, forums, conferences and events with regards putting this community right and, more, I play an active part on six committees and panels. And if there is one thing I can say, hand on heart, it’s that ‘double devolution’ is a load of bollocks. It’s a phrase which is about as empty as the George Bush Book of Wisdom.

I attend a lot of action planning forums. These are meetings attended by an assortment of service providers and council officers, each meeting focusing on one of the topics of concern that arose from the participatory appraisal work we carried out here over twelve months (safer streets, employment, healthy lifestyles, children etc). And ‘double devolution’ is a phrase that is bandied about a lot at these and similar meetings I go to; which is understandable as the phrase comes from David Miliband, the Blairite MP for South Shields, and South Shields is where South Tyneside council is headquartered So its like here is where they are trying out double devolution big time.

The local authority is quite simply devolving jack shit to the local community groups. If anything it wraps up community groups in red tape and nonsensical legislation, terrified we begin to function as we wish; terrified we start to make a difference – which is quite easy really if they left us alone – less we make their roles look surplus to requirements.

Whilst we on Lukes Lane have phrases like double devolution rammed down out throats, we are constantly reminded by council officials of the minimum role we have at the community house on our own estate.

First of all we are told, when the facility first opened back in February of this year, that we could use one of the rooms in the new community house as a base and we then secured NRF funding to furnish the room with office equipment and computers. We are then promised a phone and broadband connection. And before you know it the council come along and hand over the room to their own staff and CVS come along and tell us they’re taking the office equipment back – the latter palaver is a tit-for-tat move by CVS, because, as we were informed at our AGM, they considered my annual report to be critical of them. And as for the phone and broadband connection? – a figment of our imagination.

We have a key to the facility, which is helpful when we have group meetings or are organasing for something like a fete, but must use it as sparingly as possible and must never be there when other service providers are there. Its really got fuck all to do with privacy and everything to do with the fact that here is a group of community activists who know the estate better than every council official and service provider together, who know well the issues here and have a better insight than anyone into how to sort them within the confines of a profit-driven market system. Me, I’ve lived here since 1967, others were literally born here – yet our role as “service providers” (their words) in our own right is given lip service.

When we first set up a community group website – not the current one cited above – I began uploading photographs of the area and commenting on them (some included in the postcard above) and also posting the minutes of our community group meetings - Crikes, we just wanted to be open and democratic! Within a flash we had thought police, officers from South Tyneside Homes, who now manage council housing stock in the borough, visiting us to tell us what we should and should not post on the web site.

On hundreds of occasions now, myself and other members of our group, have been contacted directly by residents who want an issue resolved with the council or some other problem looking into it. And we’re right on the ball, using our own phones and making the right connections and with some success. And you tell the council officials what you’re doing, as a way of showing why you really need a base at the community house – because people trust their own kind and not some overpaid and indifferent, unfeeling bureaucrat – and they’ll say: “Well, that isn’t really what your role is. If they need advice they should come and see service providers at the community house.” Little wonder that the group here is united in finding the approach of town hall officers to us to be sometimes insulting, sometimes condescending and a lot of the time patronising. They simply need us to make themselves look good. We help them tick the boxes, so to speak.

Earlier this year the community group were interviewed by officers from the Audit Commission, carrying out one of their regular service inspections (seeing how central government cash is being spent). The local council brought them to see us because here was a new community house in operation - well "operation" is maybe an overstatement -and with an active community group. All the town hall top brass were asked to leave the community house, where were were being interviewed, throughout the visit, so we had a chance to speak candidly to them. And what we told them! – mostly about the bollocks we have to put up with, the constant cock ups and let downs we encounter at the hands of council staff and service providers. It was a lengthy interview and we well articulated our concerns. But did any of what we imparted appear in their report. No fucking way.

The Audit Commission, in their own words, “assessed South Tyneside Council as providing a ‘good’, two-star service that has promising prospects for improvement.”

The report stated: “The Council has introduced an innovative approach to neighbourhood and area working which takes a holistic, sustainable approach, develops the capacity of the community, and is targeted on benefiting the most disadvantaged first.”

Read the report here. Personally, speaking as a community activist, I think it’s a crock of shit. A whitewash! You just can’t win.

I’ve written this hastily and maybe with an anger that precludes objectivity– I could probably get a Phd thesis out of the ‘double devolution’ bollocks I’ve encountered in the last two years, so maybe I will return to the topic later. When we set up our nascent community group – this was back when we got involved with the PA work – we had a motto: “Putting the unity back into community.” When we became ‘official’ we changed it to “One Community, One Voice”. We were deadly serious both times – all of us who got involved had a genuine desire to help sort things out here, to address problems that have been ignored since the estate was built in the mid 60s. We believed the estate and its people were worth it. The community group is all too aware that people are more than capable of identifying the problems they face each day, are more than capable of taking care of their own destiny, of sorting out those problems collectively and without the interference of leaders and bureaucrats, though we often despair that more local residents will not get involved. And this is what makes a mockery of double devolution, because whilst the high ranking bureaucrats and control freaks patronisingly tell us they are giving us 'more power', the sad and depressing truth is that we, the workers, the little people in the deprived communities, already have power, a real though latent power that lies in our collective strength, in our shared experience of the rat-race, in our pooled knowledge and skills. We don’t need these confusionists in Whitehall or in the town hall, the lackeys of capitalism, giving us 'power' – we already bloody possess it and one day we’ll hopefully use it to wrest control of our communities and indeed our planet from them.

And after two years of hard-slog community activity, bar increasing a sense of community, we’ve honestly sorted no problems out, and in many ways I can’t help but feel I’ve betrayed people and was partly to blame for the incident my wife endured last night. Someone has to feel guilty – its certainly not going to be the perps, and less still the damned bureaucrats we have to work "in partnership" with.

Update

The police phoned up this afternoon (27th December). They say they have looked at the footage from a brand new security camera that faces the shops and that the incident is "out of range". Which is utter bollocks - they know it and everyone on the estate knows it - because they have not been able to get a signal for any security camera they have installed here, ever. They have never captured one incident on camera. Moreover, this particular incident happened within 27 metres of the camera (see photo below - the white lines hows the distance from the camera to the scene of the attack). Christ, this is exactly what the camera was set up for - to monitor anti-social behaviour at the shops on the estate. Not to worry, the word is out and we'll soon have the perps ourselves.

HUMAN EXPERIMENTS IN THE USA (2)

Yup, I know its late on Xmas day – and we’re all supposed to wearing our hedonist hats – but when the hell did capitalism ever take a day off robbing us or murdering us. Anyway, I digress, the previous article had me researching more into the subject of human experimentation and the www certainly throws up a lot of info- perhaps a fraction of what is on record. One thing I unearthed is that the US government seemingly has the right to experiment on its citizens without them knowing it, but I’m unsure if this has been tested in the US Supreme Court, though I somehow doubt it. Check out:

CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAMME

"The use of human subjects will be allowed for the testing of chemical and biological agents by the U.S. Department of Defense, accounting to Congressional committees with respect to the experiments and studies."

"The Secretary of Defense [may] conduct tests and experiments involving the use of chemical and biological [warfare] agents on civilian populations [within the United States]."

SOURCE:
Public Law 95-79, Title VIII, Sec. 808, July 30, 1977, 91 Stat. 334.
In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 91, page 334, you will find Public Law 95-79.

Public Law 97-375, title II, Sec. 203(a)(1), Dec. 21, 1982, 96 Stat. 1882.
In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 96, page 1882, you will find Public Law 97-375.

It seems many, desperate to earn a few bucks, will literally sell themselves to the drug and chemical testing companies for peanuts. Thus, back in 1998, many Nebraskan college students answered an advert in their college newspaper which stated they could "earn extra money" by volunteering for a study. They were given a lengthy consent form to sign (which none read) and got a bottle of pills to take home.

The pills were made by Dow chemical and the trial sought to prove that their top cockroach killing ingredient (chlorpyrifos) in Raid (pictured) was safe.

Yup, these dozy, though impecunious, college students were ingesting pesticides for the Dow Chemical Corporation. Oh yes, and earning $460.00 for the pleasure.

The story was briefly covered in Time Magazine. From the article:

‘Since 1997 pesticide makers have submitted more than a dozen human studies to the EPA. What has never been established, however, is whether it is acceptable—legally or ethically—to conduct clinical trials that offer no potential benefit to participants (other than monetary gain) and could end up harming individuals in the name of public health.’

And:

‘Meanwhile, chemical companies could still be quietly conducting human trials. ‘There's no telling because there's no system for tracking studies that aren't federally funded," says Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, which opposes the pesticide tests. "There's no protocol on how they should be conducted. We're talking about the wild, wild West here.”’

A bit more searching and Wired Science back in August reported

“A common pesticide, re-approved by the EPA in 2001, sickens farm workers, say unions and activists who will file a lawsuit against the agency today, reports the Associated Press.

“ ….The EPA agreed to look at these results because they didn't have money to do the testing themselves and because, under Bush-picked agency head and former tobacco industry pet scientist Stephen Johnson, testing chemicals on humans isn't as inhumanly unethical as it used to be.

Chlorpyrifos was also found at unusually high levels in cancer victims in Churchill, Nevada, the location of a controversial "cancer cluster in which 17 kids were found to have been diagnosed with leukaemia

I wonder how many of those students who took part in the Nebraska trial are still with us today?

And, looking at the historical data on human experimentation in the previous article, don’t be misled into thinking this just started in the 20th century. Here’s just a cursory glance at human experimentation.

1718 George I offers free pardons to any inmates of Newgate Prison who agree to be inoculated with infectious small pox in a variolation experiment..

1796 Edward Jenner injects healthy eight-year-old James Phillips first with cowpox then three months later with smallpox and is hailed as discoverer of smallpox vaccine.

1845-1849 J. Marion Sims, the "Father of Gynaecology" in the United States, conducts gynaecological experiments on slaves in South Carolina.

1865 French physiologist Claude Bernard publishes "Introduction to the Study of Human Experimentation," advising: "Never perform an experiment which might be harmful to the patient even though highly advantageous to science or the health of others.

1874 Cincinnati physician Roberts Bartholow conducts brain surgery experiments on Mary Rafferty, a 30 year-old domestic servant dying of an infected ulcer.

1891 Prussian State legislates that a treatment for tuberculosis cannot be given to prisoners without their consent.

1892 Albert Neisser injects women with serum from patients with Syphilis, infecting half of them.

1896 Dr. Arthur Wentworth performs spinal taps on 29 children at Children's Hospital in Boston to determine if the procedure is harmful.

1897 Italian bacteriologist Sanarelli injects five subjects with bacillus searching for a causative agent for yellow fever.

1900 Walter Reed injects 22 Spanish immigrant workers in Cuba with the agent for yellow fever paying them $100 if they survive and $200 if they contract the disease.

1906 Dr. Richard Strong, a professor of tropical medicine at Harvard, experiments with cholera on prisoners in the Philippines, killing thirteen.

1915 U.S. Public Health Office induces pellagra in twelve Mississippi prisoners. All the prisoners are, however, volunteers and after the experiment they are cured (with proper diet) and released from prison.

1919-1922 Testicular transplant experiments on five hundred prisoners at San Quentin

HUMAN EXPERIMENTS IN THE USA

Check out also Chapter 15 of Bill Blum's brilliant Rogue State below, which has more on chemical and biological experiments on humans in the USA. To operate this feature - Move the slide bar to enlarge the text or click on the little square in the top right hand corner of the page to get a full screen view. This book was reviewed by the Socialist Standard.




More on the history of secret human experimentation in the USA...this comes from the ICH website:

1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.

1932 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.

1935 The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty- striken black populations.

1940 Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.

1942 Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.

1943 In response to Japan's full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.

1944 U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.

1945 Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.

1945 "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.

1946 Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word "experiments" to "investigations" or "observations" whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation's veteran's hospitals.

1947 Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.

1947 The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge. [Operation Artichoke]

1950 Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.

1950 In an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Franciso. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.

1951 Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.

1953 U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.

1953 Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.

1953 CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings.

1955 The CIA, in an experiment to test its ability to infect human populations with biological agents, releases a bacteria withdrawn from the Army's biological warfare arsenal over Tampa Bay, Fl.

1955 Army Chemical Corps continues LSD research, studying its potential use as a chemical incapacitating agent. More than 1,000 Americans participate in the tests, which continue until 1958.

1956 U.S. military releases mosquitoes infected with Yellow Fever over Savannah, Ga and Avon Park, Fl. Following each test, Army agents posing as public health officials test victims for effects.

1958 LSD is tested on 95 volunteers at the Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories for its effect on intelligence.

1960 The Army Assistant Chief-of-Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorizes field testing of LSD in Europe and the Far East. Testing of the european population is code named Project THIRD CHANCE; testing of the Asian population is code named Project DERBY HAT. [Opeation Dirty Tricks]

1965 Project CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.

1965 Prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia are subjected to dioxin, the highly toxic chemical component of Agent Orange used in Viet Nam. The men are later studied for development of cancer, which indicates that Agent Orange had been a suspected carcinogen all along.

1966 CIA initiates Project MKOFTEN, a program to test the toxicological effects of certain drugs on humans and animals.

1966 U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.

1967 CIA and Department of Defense implement Project MKNAOMI, successor to MKULTRA and designed to maintain, stockpile and test biological and chemical weapons.

1968 CIA experiments with the possibility of poisoning drinking water by injecting chemicals into the water supply of the FDA in Washington, D.C.

1969 Dr. Robert MacMahan of the Department of Defense requests from congress $10 million to develop, within 5 to 10 years, a synthetic biological agent to which no natural immunity exists.

1970 Funding for the synthetic biological agent is obtained under H.R. 15090. The project, under the supervision of the CIA, is carried out by the Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, the army's top secret biological weapons facility. Speculation is raised that molecular biology techniques are used to produce AIDS-like retroviruses.

1970 United States intensifies its development of "ethnic weapons" (Military Review, Nov., 1970), designed to selectively target and eliminate specific ethnic groups who are susceptible due to genetic differences and variations in DNA.

1975 The virus section of Fort Detrick's Center for Biological Warfare Research is renamed the Fredrick Cancer Research Facilities and placed under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) . It is here that a special virus cancer program is initiated by the U.S. Navy, purportedly to develop cancer-causing viruses. It is also here that retrovirologists isolate a virus to which no immunity exists. It is later named HTLV (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus).

1977 Senate hearings on Health and Scientific Research confirm that 239 populated areas had been contaminated with biological agents between 1949 and 1969. Some of the areas included San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Key West, Panama City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.
1978 Experimental Hepatitis B vaccine trials, conducted by the CDC, begin in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ads for research subjects specifically ask for promiscuous homosexual men.

1981 First cases of AIDS are confirmed in homosexual men in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, triggering speculation that AIDS may have been introduced via the Hepatitis B vaccine

1985 According to the journal Science (227:173-177), HTLV and VISNA, a fatal sheep virus, are very similar, indicating a close taxonomic and evolutionary relationship.

1986 According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (83:4007-4011), HIV and VISNA are highly similar and share all structural elements, except for a small segment which is nearly identical to HTLV. This leads to speculation that HTLV and VISNA may have been linked to produce a new retrovirus to which no natural immunity exists.

1986 A report to Congress reveals that the U.S. Government's current generation of biological agents includes: modified viruses, naturally occurring toxins, and agents that are altered through genetic engineering to change immunological character and prevent treatment by all existing vaccines.
1987 Department of Defense admits that, despite a treaty banning research and development of biological agents, it continues to operate research facilities at 127 facilities and universities around the nation.

1990 More than 1500 six-month old black and hispanic babies in Los Angeles are given an "experimental" measles vaccine that had never been licensed for use in the United States. CDC later admits that parents were never informed that the vaccine being injected to their children was experimental.

1994 With a technique called "gene tracking," Dr. Garth Nicolson at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX discovers that many returning Desert Storm veterans are infected with an altered strain of Mycoplasma incognitus, a microbe commonly used in the production of biological weapons. Incorporated into its molecular structure is 40 percent of the HIV protein coat, indicating that it had been man-made.

1994 Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War .

1995 U.S. Government admits that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research.

1995 Dr. Garth Nicolson, uncovers evidence that the biological agents used during the Gulf War had been manufactured in Houston, TX and Boca Raton, Fl and tested on prisoners in the Texas Department of Corrections.

1996 Department of Defense admits that Desert Storm soldiers were exposed to chemical agents.

1997 Eighty-eight members of Congress sign a letter demanding an investigation into bioweapons use & Gulf War Syndrome.

Fuck Christmas (2)

Shopping in Morrisons for vegetables with my son John on Saturday, I asked him to point out anyone in the supermartket he saw smiling or who looked happy – I wanted to reinforce my arguments that for the majority of people Christmas is not a time of cheerfulness. The place was packed, thrice the usual Saturday crowd, and most shoppers had trolleys that were overflowing, full of produce meant to make them happy. The queues at the till were predictably long and it was staggering to see just how much yer average shopper was spending. The couple in front of me spent £230.00 and looking at what they packed their bags with you just knew that most of that would be binned – unless they were intending on feeding the street. Neither did they look joyous or in festive mood.

Needless to say, we saw no smiling customers; not even the staff on the tills who looked quite pissed off with their lot and were no doubt wishing they were elsewhere. We went from there to South Shields and, walking up King Street towards the market, I again asked him to point out any smiling shoppers. But again we saw none, just shoppers looking anxious, frustrated and I assume wishing they were elsewhere.

“Nobody looks happy,” he said, at last.

I looked at him and smiled. We both agreed it was one huge wallet-emptying charade with the only ones really smiling, bar the wee bairns opening the presents on Xmas day, being the profit mongers who were clearly raking it in.

**********

Just came across these facts and figures. They’re a bit dated – scven years old – but they say much about the festive (or should that be ‘fetid’) season.

* In the seven days running up to Christmas, Asda estimates it will have sold 750,000 tonnes of Christmas pudding (1) - that’s equivalent to the weight of 1,875 jumbo jets (2).

* Marks & Spencer estimates it will sell more than 500 tonnes of sprouts over the Christmas period (3), that’s as heavy as 125 double decker buses.

* In preparation for the festive rush Tesco stores have stocked up with 2.25 million fresh and frozen turkeys, 72 million mince pies and 16 million Christmas crackers (4). If all these Christmas crackers were laid end to end, they would stretch for 3,082 miles – that’s the length of the entire UK coastline.

* Between 20% and 30% more glass jars and bottles are collected over the Christmas period (5).

* During the Christmas period, we’ll cook 6,711 tonnes of fresh whole turkeys and 12,472 tonnes of frozen whole turkeys (6).

* This Christmas the UK will consume almost 5.5 million jars of mincemeat, 12 million jars of pickles and 6.5 million jars of cranberry sauce all packaged in glass, but only a small percentage will get recycled (7). The weight of all these jars is equivalent to the weight of 59,500 Santa’s, weighing an average 18 stone each. And if all these glass jars were recycled, it would save enough energy to boil water for 60 million cups of tea (8).

* Royal Mail delivers around 150 million cards and packets during the pre-Christmas period. It is estimated that up to 1 billion Christmas cards (17 for every man, woman and child) could end up afterwards in bins across the UK (9). If all the Christmas cards were laid end to end they would span from London to Sydney and back more than five times!

* Over six million trees were bought last Christmas in the UK, most of which were thrown out after December (10) creating over 9,000 tonnes of additional rubbish, almost five times the weight of the London Eye (11).

* It is estimated that over Christmas as much as 83 sq km of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey (12) or enough to cover Hyde Park 33 times (13).

* The waste created in Britain over Christmas is equivalent to 400,000 double decker buses, stretching all the way from London to New York City! And even though half of this waste could easily be recycled, almost 90% will actually end up in the dustbin. Parties and presents account for a 30% increase in the number of bottles and cans binned, not to mention the Christmas trees, extra packaging, paper and card thrown out across the capital (14).

* Around 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging are thrown away over Christmas - that's the equivalent weight of more than 50,000 festive polar bears!!! When buying gifts, try to avoid items that are excessively packaged (15).

* Around 4,200 tonnes of aluminium foil gets thrown away in the UK each Christmas (16).

Source (like I said, these stats are a bit dated, but I doubt there's been much improvement):

1 Guardian Unlimited, 24/12/02

2 Research Machines plc and based on an average jumbo jet take-off weight of approx 400 tonnes,i.e. 1875 jumbo jets

3 Guardian Unlimited 24/12/02

4 Guardian Unlimited 24/12/02

5 Waste Watch

6 British Turkey

7 British Glass

8 Waste Watch

9 Waste Watch

10 Durham County Council

11 BuyImage.co.uk

12 Waste Watch

13 Friends of the Earth

14 Recycle For Cheshire - http://www.crewe-nantwich.gov.uk/main.asp?page=1704

15 Durham County Council

16 Durham County Council

And…

The Downside of Christmas

Christmas pressures mean divorce in January

A study has shown that January 8th is the busiest day of the year for divorce lawyers when up to one in five couples will enquire about divorce after the pressures of Christmas. The enforced intimacy of Christmas, coupled with the start of a new year is thought to be the main trigger. The other peak in the year is after the summer holidays. Adultery, lack of sex, abuse and boredom were the main causes of divorce enquiries. Studies show that fewer than 40% of those who divorce will be happier.
Reported in the Daily Telegraph 8 January 2007

The cost of Christmas

The average Briton spends around £600 on presents alone at Christmas, much of that going on a credit card or loan. Around 10,000 people were predicted to end up bankrupt and insolvent in the three months following Christmas due to their spending over Christmas and the New Year. Recently, record levels of debt and those in serious financial trouble have been registered with 110,000 falling into insolvency in 2006, the first time the figure has topped 100,000.
Reported in the Daily Mail 3 January 2007

American Leadership and War

I posted this on my previous Revolutionary Act blog site, but somehow lost it when changing sites. I found it a helpful tool at the time - wading into arguments between Democrats and Repukes in Yahoo's US political chat rooms and countering the arguments of democrats that the repukes were the real war mongers. This chart of leadership and war clearly shows that both parties are neck deep in workers' blood, with the Democrats, serving as the executive of US capitalism when in power, coming off as the biggest murderers.

HSTORICAL SPREAD OF RELIGION

Five thousand years of religion in 90 seconds? Now there's a thing. If only the history of religion on the planet had have lasted 90 seconds!

Fuck Christmas

There is a memorable scene in the film Liam, set against the backdrop of the 1930s depression in Liverpool, when Pa Sullivan, played by Ian Hart, rises to his feet during his son’s first Holy Communion and launches into the priest who is praising the assembled communicants.

Says the priest: “I'd like to say how nice the children look. The girls in their frocks..the boys in their lovely white shirts. You've done them proud.”

To the shock of the catholic congregation, Pa Sullivan rises at the back of the church and screams: “Wanna know how we paid for it? Jesus Christ has got us all skint, Father. You kit them out for Christmas, and you finish paying by Easter. You do it for Easter, and you're finished for Whit. You do it for Whit and it's Christmas again before you know it. And you're getting deeper and deeper. And Jesus Christ is a millstone round your neck...And tomorrow morning, all these clothes are going in the pawnshop.”

If I’m guilty of nicking and over-using one line from a film it has to be “Jesus Christ has got us all skint”. I uttered it the other day whilst talking to a group of local single parents, who were comparing their notes on the Christmas experience and how they’re all “up to their eyes” in debt accommodating their kids’ whims or Christmas; debt that will take a year at least to pay off, that’s if you don’t miss a payment.

The usual thing round here, bar the loan from the DWP social fund, is the Provident loan. They give their loans to anyone, no questions asked and the interest rate is a staggering 68%. I know parents who have taken out a loan from the social fund as well as the “provi” loan. The former is interest-free and is deducted from your benefits at source. The two together amount to a hefty milestone when you’re struggling to survive on benefits.

So, if you’re on state benefits, it’s like your whole year centres on Xmas day, if not preparing for it then paying for it and having to do without essentials just to meet the loan agreements. I jest not – for many families Jesus Christ, or rather what takes place in his name, has them skint year in, year out. I know parents who quite literally dread this time of year, who curse its approach. Do they know it’s Christmas? as Bob Geldof and co once sang. Too fucking right they do – they pay for it every day of their adult lives.

And how this wonderful consumer society serves the poor, forever exposing the emptiness of their lives and kindly providing the means by which their lives can be enriched and how they too can enjoy happiness over Christmas, just like the well-to-dos. As the Citizen Advice Bureau has found, interest on this ‘happiness’ can rise to as much as 1800 per cent a year.

Just where the fuck would we be without the advertising industry who continually alert us to needs we never even knew we had and who constantly remind us that our lives are really less satisfactory than we had hitherto imagined. Thank God for Nintendo 3, ipods, male face creams and the myriad gadgets we have amazingly managed to live without for 2 million years – just how the fuck did our species survive without them. Sheesh!

The unremitting onslaught of advertising exerts constant pressure on parents in particular who, fearful their kids will be labelled, belittled and humiliated if their pressies are not up to scratch when they compare notes in the school yard, are more than ready to satisfy the most outlandish want and bugger the cost and inconvenience for the next 52 weeks.

And the sad thing is, we all know Christmas marketing is just one big profit-oriented scam, benefiting manufacturers, stores, and huge corporations, while driving individuals into debt. You don’t need a degree in ethics to realise that the Chrimbo "wish lists" and "gift exchanges" demeans the concept of giving. We know this annual orgy of consumption – 40% of what we buy is binned, unused – is detrimental to the environment, filling landfills with useless packaging and discarded gifts. We know Christmas means misery for millions of families, depression for hundreds of thousands – the Samaritans say they receive an 8% increase in calls between Christmas day and New Year. Yet still we tag along with the damned charade, still we passively acquiesce in the madness. Even socialists take it seriously, for fuck’s sake. I know SPGB members, my comrades, who actually send out the conventional Christmas cards.

Seems the workers just need this annual fix, this distraction from the rat race, even if they do know its all bollocks

Me, I’m fed up with the unified bleatings of friends and associates, who mockingly call me "Scrooge" when I fail to fully endorse their ritual orgy of consumption or utter the hackneyed “are you set for xmas yet?” type of remark. For I’m one of those dole wallahs with kids and grandkids who can say “Jesus Christ has got me skint.” And being a convinced atheist, a Marxist, it smarts just that little bit more.

For more anti-Chrimbo musings from yours truly click here

Jon Cruddas calls for the Electoral Commission to investigate the BNP

Here's the full speech that Jon Cruddas made to Parliament on the 18th December in regards the recent activities of the BNP, accusing it of financial irregularities and the party's leadership of illegal activities. The party is five month behind in making any report on its finances and an estimated £17,000 is unaccounted for. Just a shame this is a Christmas Recess Debate, with the majority of the house on their Chrimbo hols - it might have attracted more attention to the nazi scumbags

Says Cruddas, concluding: "What is being uncovered in the internal workings of the British National Party appears to be illegal in terms of data protection, bugging, theft and the operation of the Political Parties, Elections and referendums Act 2000.

"This is not the behaviour of a mature political party and I would like to see the police and the electoral commission investigate these charges.

"The fact that this is being orchestrated by the leader of a political party is most shocking. The BNP leadership and Nick Griffin in particular, are showing us its true colours."

Fair's fair, however, and I reckon any politico could have made just as damning a speech about the Labour Party and their underhand shenanigans. Not think so? Check out Labour Sleaze then have a look at the Iraqgate files

Update:

But when it comes to in-fighting, the BNP wins hands down. Someone should do a sit com about this bunch of nutters. Check out this report on the recent BNP bun fight in Leeds. What a damned shame nobody secretly video recorded this gem.

Connie Talbot (aged 6) sings Imagine

Connie Talbot's CD is out now. Some good stuff here from a bairn the same age as my granddaughter Rosa. Alternatively the CD can be downloaded at The Pirate Bay . Makes a pleasant change from reading up on the BNP - akin to sailing through a sewer in a glass submarine - and, say what you want, Imagine has long since been claimed by many a socialist as there theme song.

Nazis continue to fall out

“Chairman’s Column”, the personal blogsite of BNP leader Nick Griffin has been silent of late. At a time when the BNP is in crisis, with 48 BNP councillors, officials and organisers tendering their resignations since Sunday you’d think King Nick would have stepped forward and made some troop-rallying “once more unto the breach” kind of appeal to the demoralised nazi rank and file of the BNP, but no. The crisis escalates.

Were it not enough that the homes of two BNP members were burgled by the party’s security department – made up of ex-South African police officers – we learn from the ‘enoughisenoughnick’ blogsite – set up by the rebel faction, that Griffin had gloatingly sent Matt Single, fiance of Sadie Graham (see previous post) a personal message informing him of the ghastly deed.

Writes Mr Single on the blogsite today:

“Many people have commented as to why I have been so muted ever since I received a text message from Nick Griffin on the 9^th December at lunchtime, informing me that my home had just been successfully raided by Party Security at his request.

“My immediate reaction of disbelief shortly followed by one of anger still has not diminished today, but has instead been joined with feelings of total betrayal. In retrospect, I am relieved that I have taken some quiet time to reflect on the situation fully and not be drawn into thoughts and words clouded in desires for unconsidered retribution.

“Act in haste, repent at leisure; these are wise words that I have adhered to during this difficult period.”

“…I at the drop of a hat would have given my life for Nick as his personal security, so to realise the vile and horrible way in which he has stabbed Sadie and I in the back leaves me almost speechless.

“Nick Griffin sent under ‘chairman’s orders’, five members of my own Security Department, men I have stood by through thick and thin and helped to train, to steal belongings from Sadie and I while we were away. Her computer has been accessed and Sadie’s private personal account read by dishonourable people paid by Griffin to dig around to publish information in order to hurt her. This level of betrayal by Griffin cannot be understated.”

It gets worse:

“At last years conference in Blackpool, I witnessed Collett and Hannam [the two Nazis at the centre of the split] attempt to have sexual relations with two girls that were obviously under the age of sexual consent. These vile acts and others are not only illegal, they fall completely outside of the very ethos of nationalism that is supposed to represent family values and morality."

Meanwhile, Dagenham’s Labour MP Jon Cruddas has today called on the police to look into possible illegal acts by the British National Party leadership. As previously alluded to on this site, leading officers in the BNP have been secretly recording phone conversations of some of its officials and monitoring their emails.

Saturday gone, 8 December, members of the BNP security team also gained access to the home of BNP official Sadie Graham, one of Nick Griffin’s detractors, and removed personal belongings, including a computer. Sadie Graham is a borough councillor in Broxtowe and much of her council work was on the computer. Nazi hierarchs have subsequently gone through the computer reading emails and documents, including emails that have arrived since the computer was stolen. Griffin has even boasted about reading these emails on the party website.

Cruddas’ call comes as the crisis that is tearing the BNP apart grows. On Sunday the BNP sacked two of its leading officers “on the grounds of gross misconduct.” Sadie Graham, the party’s group development officer, and Kenny Smith, the party’s head of administration, were sacked after they had begun to openly criticise the performance and behaviour of three other full-time party workers. Despite allegations of financial mismanagement, including £17,000 which appears to have gone missing from the BNP 2006 accounts (which have yet to be submitted to the Electoral Commission), Nick Griffin refused to investigate.

Instead, he set his ‘Intelligence Department’, run by former South African police officers, to look for evidence against his critics.

If Griffin thought that the sacking of Graham and Smith would end the rebellion he was deeply mistaken. Almost 50 councillors, branch organisers, regional organisers and party officials have publicly backed the duo.

“The BNP leadership is showing us its true colours,” says Jon Cruddas. “They appear to be monitoring phonecalls and emails of their members and removing computers from private households. This is not the behaviour of a normal political party and I would like to see the police investigate this.”

Cruddas is particularly concerned with the allegation that a computer with private council business and personal correspondence from voters is being scrutinised by the BNP leadership. “This is totally deplorable and must be stopped immediately. These fascistic bullyboy tactics should have no place in our political system.”

Sources:

Stop the BNP

Enoughisenoughnick

The BNP fallout so far

Andrew Gatward (West Lindsey Organiser)

Bev Jones (North West Regional Fund-Raiser, Tameside Secretary, Manchester North Fundraiser and Ex-North West Regional Organiser)

Brian Riley (Glasgow Organiser)

Charlie Baillie (Glasgow Fundholder)

Cllr Chris Beverley (Yorkshire Elections Officer, Leeds Organiser - Mark Collett's local Branch - and Advisory Council Member)

Cllr Dave Brown (Broxtowe)

Cllr Graham Partner (North West Leicestershire Fundholder)

Cllr John Ryde (East Midlands Press Officer and Education & Training Officer)

Cllr Lewis Allsebrook (Amber Valley Organiser)

Cllr Nina Brown (East Mids Regional Secretary and Broxtowe Organiser)

Cllr Roger Robertson (South East Regional Organiser and Advisory Council Member)

Cllr Sadie Graham (Head of Group Development, East Mids Regional Organiser and Advisory Council Member)

Danny Lake (YBNP Leader)

Dave Jones (National Data Protection Officer, North West Regional Secretary, Regional Press Officer and Tameside Fundholder)

Dave Taylor (Bradford Contact)

Gary Pudsey (Bridlington Organiser)

Ian Dawson (Yorkshire Regional Secretary, Former Head of Group Support and Advisory Council Member)

Ivan Winters (Bradford Fundholder)

Kenny Smith (Head of Administration, Scottish Regional Organiser, Scottish Elections Officer and Advisory Council Member)

Kieran Dinsmore (Ulster Regional Organiser)

Lee Haggan (Doncaster Organiser and Great White Records Recording Artist)

Lesley Dathan (Sunderland Fundholder)

Louise Scott (Scarborough Secretary and Northern Regional Voices Correspondent)

Malcolm Porter (West Lindsay Fundholder)

Mark Payne (Former Assistant National Treasurer)

Mark Wain (Melton & Rutland Press Officer)

Mark Westbury (Nottingham Secretary)

Matt Single (Department of Security Secretary and Training Officer)

Michael Clarke (Ashfield Organiser)

Mike Cooper (Hull Fund-Holder - Dave Hannam's local Group)

Neil Craig (Bradford Organiser)

Nicholla Smith (Managing Director of Excalibur, Falkirk Organiser and Advisory Council Member)

Nick Walsh (Hull BNP Organiser - Dave Hannam's local Group)

Paul Harris (Barnsley Organiser)

Peter (Boston, Holbeach & Spalding Fundholder)

Peter Hollings (Yorkshire Regional Fund-Raiser and Leeds Secretary - Mark Collett's local Branch)

Richard Chadfield (North West Regional Fundholder and Former Stockport Organiser)

Rick Foster (Lincoln Organiser)

Rob Walker (Wellingborough Contact)

Robert Walker (Huddersfield Organiser)

Sammy Shaw (Falkirk Fundholder and Forum Moderator)

Scott McLean (Former Deputy Chairman, Scottish Regional Organiser and Advisory Council Member)

Steve Blake (Web Editor, Head of Education & Training and Advisory Council Member)

Steve Thomson (Aberdeen Organiser)

Stuart Russell (Former National Press Officer and Advisory Council Member))

Tom Linden (Harrogate & District Organiser)

Trisha Scott (Scarborough Organiser)

Wendy Russell (East Midlands Regional Fundraiser, Regional Information Officer and Peacock Club Chairman)