FELLOW-TRAVELLERS

Keith Durham

Broadside One

Keith Durham and his wife Brenda are long-term motorhomers, travelling in a Hobby 650. Self-retired from work in further education teaching and management training, Keith combines his travels with a deep concern for personal freedom and social justice, both of which can be subjugated by economic and political decisions. He expresses this concern in a series of Broadsides, which he describes as 'some unspun facts for busy people who care about the world in which they live'.

If any of his writing grabs your attention, excites or frustrates you, Keith would love to hear from you – email: . In addition to discussing his ideas, he can put you on his emailing list so that you receive future Broadsides directly.

Did you know? …

… 90% of US citizens do not have a passport? Arguably this makes it difficult for 221 million Americans to have an informed view of other countries and their cultures.

… 6 months after test results were made known to them Disney is refusing to withdraw children's pyjamas, on sale in 19 countries and which contain toxic chemicals causing liver, kidney and testicular damage? I'm not sure that Walt would have wanted to put profit before the lives of children.

… 5,000 children were abducted in Uganda last year alone and forced to fight as soldiers? This happens in many African and Asian countries – most of whom are supplied with arms from the UK. What is/should your MP be doing to address these issues.

… McDonald's new Ranch Salad with dressing contains 396 calories and 19 grams of fat compared with their cheeseburger which only has 299 calories and 11.5 grams of fat. Perhaps you, like McDonald's, believe their 'new healthy eating' is the US/UK's answer to obesity.

… the largest civil rights case in US history has been launched against Wal-Mart (ASDA in UK) for discrimination against women in pay, promotions and training. Do you really want to shop at ASDA who profit from illegally discriminating against 50% of the world's population?

… Merdeka is the Papuan word for Freedom? Despite killings, torture, rape and brutal repression by Indonesian government troops, being forced from their land by companies such as Shell and BP who pay militia to shoot anyone near their perimeter fences and the world's ignorance of their plight, the Papuans believe that one day they will have Merdeka. Hopefully they will be right however, unless we do something to prevent it, Papua is in danger of becoming the next East Timor.

More than 4,000 scientists, including over 20 Nobel Prize winners, have signed a petition accusing George Bush of twisting and manipulating science for his own extreme ideological ends.

In December 2003 both the Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) and the Non-Prescription Drugs Advisory Panel voted overwhelmingly in favour of selling 'the morning after pill' (called Plan B) without prescription. However, despite this wealth of expert opinion, last month the Bush Administration took the unprecedented step to reject the committee's view. Michael Greene, Harvard Professor and chair of FAC said 'the decision is blatantly contrary to the science and the facts, and so blatantly politicised.'

As early as four days after his inauguration this born-again Christian fundamentalist reinstated a policy which denies federal funding to family planning groups that provide abortion counselling. The Bush administration also altered the National Cancer Institute's website to suggest that there was a link between abortion and breast cancer. It was later forced to change the website following a huge outcry from scientists that there was no such link.

Bush has continued to 'wage war' against any form of liberal approach to reproductive health. Under his leadership condoms have been condemned as 'ineffective' and only those sex education programmes which promote the 'official' approach i.e. abstinence have been funded – to the tune of $100 million.

A recent report has identified over 20 different topics ranging from agricultural policy to ecological problems where 'the Bush administration has repeatedly suppressed, distorted or obstructed science to suit political and ideological goals.' The report cites numerous examples where the membership of Advisory Councils has been manipulated; many have 'not been reappointed' and have been replaced by those with known vested interests in the industries which they are supposed to monitoring. Similarly there are many examples of where funding has been blocked. So much for freedom and democracy – US style.

If this government had wanted to generate national paranoia and heighten racial tension throughout the country then it couldn't have found a better way of doing it than through the introduction of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Over the past few months there has been a 300% rise in the number of Asians who have been stopped and searched by the police: only 1% is ever prosecuted for any offence.

Under the Act no British citizen has the automatic right to a trial; they can be held indefinitely, without charge and without access to a lawyer or family. Having an Asian or Arab sounding name is often sufficient for Britons to be incarcerated in Belmarsh prison and for their presence there to be denied. This isn't Guantanamo Bay or a gulag in Stalinist Russia; this is Britain today  - albeit 'Orwellian'.

'For us there are two sorts of people in the world; there are those who are Christians and support free enterprise, and then there are the others.' [John Dulles, major architect of post war US Foreign Policy.]

'F*** your parliament and your constitution … If your prime minister gives me talk about democracy, parliament and constitution he, his parliament and constitution may not last very long.' [President Lyndon Johnson to the Greek Ambassador to the US]

'I don't see why we should stand by and watch a country go communist just because of the irresponsibility of its own people.' [Henry Kissinger, Presidential Advisor re- the probable election of Salvador Allende as President of Chile. Subsequent CIA intervention ensured that he was not elected]

'We levelled it, there was nobody left just dust and dirt.' [US Major Gen. Franklin Hegenbeck following the destruction of 3 villages in Shahikot Valley, Afghanistan]

'Only fear will re-establish respect for the United States.' [James Woolsey, Defense Dept Policy Board – 2 months after bombing started in Afghanistan]

'The challenge to the post-modern world is to get used to the idea of double standards. When dealing with the more old fashioned kinds of states outside of Europe we need to revert to the rougher methods – force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the 19^th Century.' [Robert Cooper, Senior British Diplomat and Advisor to Tony Blair]

'The United States must refuse to abide by certain international conventions, like the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto accord on global warming. The US must support arms control, but not for itself. It must live by a double standard' [Robert Kagan, leading light of the American Foreign Policy establishment]

No one can ever condone the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein (SH) and it is right that, given where we are today, he should be brought to trial. However, given Bush and Blair's rhetoric regarding freedom it will be interesting to see just how open the trial will be, for such a potentially public event provides a threat to the US and UK Governments of exposure for their own amoral actions. Or will many aspects of the trial be censored – for 'security reasons' of course. For example, that;

- The CIA's intervention in Iraq 1968 helped the Ba'ath Party, and SH gain power over the more popular Communist Party

- Britain and the US supplied SH with chemicals, weapons and equipment, including those for torture, for over twenty years and specifically for his war with Iran. Neither did they object to his threat to invade Kuwait..

- Donald Rumsfelt was in Iraq concluding arms deals shortly after SH had gassed 6,000 Kurds – as a reprisal against their 'terrorist' activities in seeking their own independent state.

- The US encouraged and funded uprisings by the Kurds and the Shias in an attempt to remove SH following his withdrawal from Kuwait in 1992. SH's retaliation 'against his own people' resulted in many of the deaths for which he is now accused.

- Over 1 million of the Iraqi deaths, of which SH has been accused, were the direct result of the severest sanctions ever imposed by the UN on a nation state – by UNESCOs own admission.

- The invasion of Iraq had been planned since Bush's inauguration in 2000 - well before the bombing of the Twin Towers – in order to have access to Iraqi oil

- Much of US intelligence was based on the word of Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi exile living in the US. He is now part if Iraqs interim government despite being wanted for fraud in Saudi Arabia.

- The pre-emptive strike by the coalition used the same excuse as that used by the Japanese on Pearl Harbour.

- A leading Downing St lawyer resigned after her verdict that the planned invasion was illegal was ignored by Tony Blair.

- No weapons of mass destruction were found despite being the reason for the invasion, neither was there any links to Al Qaida or to the Twin Tower bombings

- Whilst SH had ignored 17 UN resolutions the Israeli government ignored 64.

- Why George Bush had 142 Saudi nationals, including 24 members of the Bin Laden family, evacuated from the US the day after 9/11 and before they could be interviewed by CIA?

- Why haven't they yet found the multi-millionaire Osama, who, it is widely known, has a kidney problem and regularly needs dialysis?

- Why have the US built 14 bases in Iraq and established the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad i.e. 3,000 staff?

- Was it to rid the country of the Taliban or was the real reason for the invasion to build an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.

Linda Ronstadt, the US singer was 'escorted' from the Aladdin Hotel/Casino where she was performing, for 'urging her audience to go and see Michael Moore's new film - Fahrenheit 911'. She was removed from the hotel and not even allowed to return to her room. So much for the freedom and democracy that Bush is prepared to kill for.

Britain locks up a larger percentage of asylum seekers than any other western European country and is the only one to lock up children.

The invasion of Iraq cost the British tax payer £3,200,000,000 and has continued to cost us £5,000,000 per day since i.e. some 450 days and rising; you can do the sums – OK it's £2,250,000,000 – a grand total of £4.5 billion of our taxes.

The average of cost of building a new hospital in this country is £30,000,000. How many brand new hospitals could have been built in the UK if we had not invaded Iraq? (Answer: 75)

There is sufficient food available to feed the entire world population one and a half times over. I fail to understand therefore why we, in the 'civilised world' starve to death 18,000 children per day under the age of five – that's probably the equivalent of your Childs entire year group at school just in the time it has taken you to read this newsletter.

In 1998 the G8 (world's wealthiest nations) agreed to spend 0.7% of their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on helping the developing countries. Despite this pledge the UK still only spends 0.3%.

Since the end of WWII the US has dropped bombs on China (twice), Korea, Guatemala (3 times), Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Grenada, Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Bosnia, Sudan, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan (twice) and Yugoslavia. All in the name of freedom and democracy of course.

Somalia has no effective national government, justice system or police force. Armed factions kill, rape and loot with impunity and many of their leaders have been accused of was crimes and crimes against humanity. The situation continues to deteriorate; in the past two months 100 civilians have been killed and thousands displaced. Why then, even after the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that people from Somalia should not be forced to go back there, has this government changed its policy and forcibly returned male Somalis to the capital, Mogadishu?

Albania, Jamaica and Ukraine are now back on the UK's 'safe country' list and refused asylum seekers are similarly forcibly returned. In Albania women are subjected to domestic violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking. Women and girls are being sent back to the family members, the very ones who sold them into slavery in the first place. Lesbians and Gays who escaped persecution in Jamaica are also being returned; they face being beaten, cut, burned, raped and shot because of their sexuality. Such violence is openly condoned by the police who stand by and watch. In the Ukraine and throughout Russia, domestic violence is accepted as natural, and women are usually blamed for having provoked it.

Those asylum seekers (not to be confused with economic migrants or illegal immigrants) who are not forcibly returned are held in prisons throughout the UK and Northern Ireland and treated as criminals. Their only crime is to flee from persecution or war ravaged countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. (Coincidently most of these countries appear on the list of those bombed by the US)

And Blair has the audacity to suggest that we are part of the civilised world and asks us to 'rejoice' in his political decisions. I obviously have a somewhat different perception of humanity, freedom and civilisation and find little in the above in which to rejoice.

How often have we now heard this phrase from Teflon B.Liar? However, it seems already that other liars who are caught out, are using the same feeble excuse. Take for example, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, board member of the engineering company Weir Group. On 22^nd July 2004, Weir was forced to issue a statement admitting that they made £4.2million worth of irregular payments to the Saddam Hussein regime. The chairman of UK based company stated that 'It is most regrettable that previous statements, whilst made in good faith, were incorrect.' Under the UN's 'Oil for food' scheme introduced in 1992 it is estimated that hundreds of UK and US companies have given billions of dollars to Baghdad in bribes … sorry  … in good faith. Wow, thank goodness Saddam's gone and these companies can get back to making 'decent' profits – whatever they are. Of course it would be cynical to believe that this was still happening with other regimes in other countries – wouldn't it?

Today there are 39 countries engaged in war or other bloody conflicts.

In the UK the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen. In 1923 61% of the countries wealth was in the hands of 1% of the population; by 1986 this had fallen to 18%. However, since Thatcher the figure steadily climbed back to 23% and has continued under B.Liar's 'Tory' government. As crime increases as the gap between rich and poor increases, it is difficult to see how B.Liar can blame the rise in crime on the '60's.

Pakistani military (close allies of the Bush regime in their search for Bin Laden) are accused of torturing children in front of their parents in an attempt to force them to give up their rights to land they own. Some villagers have been 'starved out' and four farmers have been shot dead.

According to nutritionists an average person would have to run 9.5 miles to burn off the 1140 calories in a McDonalds 'Big Mac' meal.

During 1988 Iraq-Iran conflict (when the Iraqis used chemical weapons) US warships blew up two Iranian oil rigs, destroyed an Iranian frigate and sank a missile boat and a US cruiser shot down a civilian plane killing 300 people. With such support from the US it was hardly surprising that Saddam was confident enough to invade Kuwait in 1990.

Shell, which made $4 billion profit in the first quarter this year have been fined £84 million for misleading the stock market over its reserves of oil. Yet another example of where acting in good faith 'pays dividends' – shares rose by 2.6%'

Halliburton have been fined $7.5 million for obstructing an investigation into their failure to disclose an accounting change in 1998 resulting in an inflated profit of $210m. Dick Cheney, then chairman and CEO left with $36m severance pay. Whilst two senior finance officers await their fates, Mr Cheney will not face any charges – there's a surprise.

Whilst it seems difficult for McDonalds to stay out of the news for long, albeit for all the wrong reasons e.g. deforestation on a massive scale, forcible removal of indigenous people, exploitation of labour and marketing as 'healthy meals' food containing more fat than their burgers, Wal-Mart, (owners of ASDA) and KFC seem bent on getting in on the act.

Wal-Mart/ASDA, is not only facing the largest civil law suite ever brought to the US courts over sex discrimination but they have just had a ruling against them in the Canadian Courts. They were found guilty of harassing, intimidating and retaliating against employees trying to start a Trade Union. Back in the US they are accused of forcing employees to clock out and then insisting that they carry on working unpaid overtime – doubtless also uninsured. They are accused of breaching child labour laws by employing under aged children and 12,000 of their employees in California are on such low wages that are able to claim state benefit, housing benefit and assisted medical care. Until recently when another threatened law-suit became unavoidable, they were profiting from what they called 'dead peasant' insurance policies – they took out life insurance on their employees and when they died the company took the money, not the employee's family.

In Africa, garment workers sewing clothing for ASDA work 14 hours/day, 7 days/week for which they are paid $14; this doesn't meet half their basic needs. On Sundays they are forced to work but are not allowed to clock in to avoid detection of overtime hours. Whilst that might be – 'ASDA price' – someone else is paying a much higher price. Continued patronage of such unscrupulous employers endorses their behaviour. Have you tried the Co-op?

Kentucky Fried Chicken or Kentucky Fried Carnage as they are now known has run into trouble again with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Video footage shot in the factory of their suppliers, shows live chickens being thrown against a wall, having their beaks ripped from their faces, being jumped on so that their entrails covered the floor, having paint sprayed in their eyes, having their heads ripped off and the gushing blood used to write graffiti on the walls, being squeezed as tightly as possible so as to spray their faeces over other birds. Apparently these are just some of the hundreds of acts of cruelty that have lead to Pamela Anderson and Richard Prior to speak out against KFC and for the Dalai Lama to request the company not to open an outlet in Tibet. Enjoy your meal.

On 7 July 2004 Tony B.Liar said that he had pressed George 'Dubya' Bush for the release of the four Britons still held in Guantanamo Bay on the grounds that justice in the US did not meet British Standards. However, he also felt that he could not guarantee that the four would be found guilty of terrorist activities if they were tried in the UK and therefore would have to be released. As a consequence therefore he is quite happy for Dubya to continue holding them against US, UK and International Law.

The US/UK Governments know how many 'innocent people' Saddam killed but yet don't even bother to count how many civilians they kill because they 'don't feel that it serves any useful purpose'. B.Lair asks us to 'rejoice' in his political decisions – to kill at least 12,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, not to mention the 100,000 maimed by the jagged metal from shrapnel which tears off limbs or embeds itself in human flesh; and the thousands more Afghanis, Serbs, Croats and Muslims. However, spare a thought for the suffering of our 'brave lads' who continue to inflict this, witness the results and deal with smell of human flesh burning.

Nestlι were responsible for the deaths of 1,000,000 babies in developing countries as a direct result of their misleading and unethical marketing practices. But don't worry they now have their own 'Ethical Policy' which they themselves monitor. By the way have you tried Nestlι's 'new bottled water' - that reduces your weight?

There are currently 30,000,000 people worldwide with AIDS but only 400,000 getting drugs. As 95% of the victims live in Sub-Saharan Africa and who can't afford the drugs, they are sentenced to death by 'the civilised world' ruled by amoral politicians and greedy shareholders.

In the 13 weeks following 6 April 1994, 1,000,000 Rwandans were butchered. I don't recall the US/UK being outraged enough to want to bring freedom and democracy to this country.

150,000,000 homes in the European Union could meet all their electricity needs from wind and sea power by 2020.

British single-hull oil tankers are being phased out but the work of scrapping them is far too dangerous to be undertaken in the EU as they contain toxic materials such as asbestos. Not to worry we've sent them to India where boys aged 13 do the job for £1/day, without protective clothing and where they are expected to die of cancer.

It is now three and a half years since an estimated 660 men and children, some as young as 13 years old, from 42 different countries were kidnapped and transported 11,000 miles. In an attempt to give some sort of legitimacy to this heinous crime which runs contrary to the Geneva Convention, international law on Human Rights and Americas own legislation, the US invented the term 'enemy combatants'. These civilians are being held in Cuba which although it is an American base, Bush decided that as it was not on American soil it was not subject to American law.

It is three years ago that Lord Justice Steyn asked 'Ought our government to make plain publicly and unambiguously our condemnation of the utter lawlessness of Guantanamo Bay?' The US still refuses to tell any other country, including the UK 'with whom we have a special relationship', how many people are being held there let alone their names or ages. Little wonder that the US military guards are able to claim unequivocally 'we can easily kill you because no one knows you are here.'

Tony B.Liar and Jack Straw, both devout Christians, appear to be unconcerned for these men and children, mainly Muslims, and the fact that they are held illegally, indefinitely and being tortured. Their incarceration involves 'short shackling' i.e. being forced into squatting positions in chains for hours or sometimes days; put in solitary confinement for months; held naked in freezing air conditioning; deprived of sleep; fed almost starvation rations; enforced injections; enforced shaving of hair and beards which is often against their religion; family mail withheld and used to secure 'confessions'; refusal of medical attention; beaten; interrogated with guns pointing at their heads; allowed 15 minutes exercise twice/week; subjected to white noise for long periods; psychological torture and sexual humiliation, whilst we good men do nothing. After all this time and all this torture not one of them has yet been charged. And we have the effrontery to present ourselves to other nations as the 'civilised world' and models of democracy and freedom.

US judges have finally ruled that these detainees DO have human rights under international law. Amnesty International, Medcines sans Frontieres, Oxfam, the Red Cross and other NGO's together with many of the British political parties continue to fight this evil. If you don't want this evil to thrive why not visit any of the NGO's web sites and find out what you can do to stop it.

The following is a paraphrased version of poem written by a Baptist Minister reflecting on the growth of the Nazi Party during the 1930's (my apologies for the clumsy paraphrasing to anyone who knows the poem.)

'First they came for the communists; I was not a communist so I did nothing. Then the came for the Trade Unionists; I was not a trade Unionist so I did nothing. Next they came for the Jews; I was not a Jew so I did nothing. Finally they came for me; I looked around and there was no one there to help me'.