This issue’s features: |
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The PRIVATE Sector White
Gold Privatisation of water utilities
in South Africa. |
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News
In Brief... Occidental gives up on
U’wa land, Road rot
continues, MuckDollars news, BNFL’s nuclear waste storage
‘unsatisfactory’, says report |
Babylonian
Times - the CW tabloid
section... |
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Babylonian
Times
WTO to
go! Tuesday 21st May proved a noteworthy day for those involved in
the global struggle against trade liberalisation. It saw a representative
of the World Trade Organisation announce the dissolution of his
organisation to a shocked, but supportive, audience in Sydney. He stated
that the WTO would be reconstituted with human rather than business
interests as its bottom line. The shock announcement has had global
repercussions, sparking debate in the Canadian Parliament, where MP John
Duncan questioned ‘what impact this will have on our appeals on lumber,
agriculture and other ongoing trade disputes.’ At that point, WTO
headquarters in Geneva denounced the ‘representative’ as an impostor from
‘The Yes Men’, although they said they could appreciate his sense of
humour. Andy Bichlbaum, who ‘represented’ the WTO in Sydney was adamant
however that ‘it isn’t humour this time…We really do want to dissolve the
WTO.’ The Yes Men, who describe themselves as a ‘network of
impostors’, have previously represented the WTO at two international
conferences (see Issue 5) and on mainstream TV, despite WTO attempts to
shut down their parody site at www.gatt.org. After overcoming their
initial shock, the audience of Australian accountants reportedly expressed
enthusiasm for the dissolution of the WTO, offering many suggestions as to
how world trade could benefit the poor. ‘I’m as right-wing as the next
fellow’ said one of the accountants ‘but it’s time we gave something back
to the countries we’ve been doing so well from.’ Strange how a concept
derided as crazy and unworkable when espoused by grassroots campaigners
suddenly becomes acceptable when the speaker dons a grey suit and claims
mainstream credentials… Check out: http://www.theyesmen.org/ or http://www.gatt.org/
MONEY
WORSHIP It’s an organisation worth £4,739 billion. This includes 7 per
cent of the habitable surface of the planet. They say they want to
concentrate on ‘socially responsible investments’ and have set up a forum
specifically to deal with this hot issue in the age of globalisation. What
does this group sell? Pharmaceuticals? Weapons? No. The money spinning
product in question is - God. The International Interfaith Investment
Group is an amalgamation of major religious organisations known
collectively as 3IG. They plan to ‘find investment opportunities in areas
such as renewable energy while maintaining a market return.’ It’s not
quite pure-hearted charity, perhaps, but it’s a start.
ALL PAY AND NO
WORK... The
Financial Times front page screams ‘Argument for Top Pay is Hooey.’ Well,
we knew that, didn’t we? It tells us the justification for the grotesque
wads paid to incompetent bosses (Railtrack, Vodaphone etc) is increasingly
impossible to justify to a sceptical public. Well spotted. Truth is being
a CEO now clearly comes under the category of unskilled labour. In the
same way burger chains have ensured their employees need virtually no
skill - it’s the same for Chief Executives. This explains the ease with
which people like Gerald Corbett can flit from catering boss to Railtrack
boss to Woolworths boss without a single day’s retraining. Doubtless the
FT will soon be campaigning for CEOs to be paid the minimum wage and not a
penny more...
ALL WORK NO PAY
MAKES MTV A NICE PROFIT The Guardian reports
‘though well esablished in the US internships, sometimes called vacation
placements, are a new concept to most people in the UK.’ A CBI spokeswoman
says they’re ‘a more structured form of work experience’. Companies regard
internships as ‘extended interviews’ - very extended given some last up to
a year. But let’s get down to business, what it really means for employers
is ‘cost effective low risk recruitment’. Or as we used to call it - slave
labour. Apparently some internships pay ‘very little, if at all’. Yet
sources at MTV say the only people who can afford to work internships
there are the sons and daughters of the wealthy. In other words, as is the
pattern in Blair’s Britain, social mobility is becomeing harder, not
easier. Because if you’re a hard up poor person, you need to work for
money, not ‘the opportunity to make contacts’. That’s why you stay
poor.
TELL ME WHY I DON’T
LIKE MONDAY: Ridiculing the renaming of companies is easy sport – but let’s
have a go anyway. PWC Consulting (closely related to
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who are rumoured to have removed the space bars
from all their office computers) would like to be known henceforth as
Monday: And yes, that colon is part of the title. Actually maybe it does
all make sense. Everyone knows what eventually comes out of a
colon.
Stop Esso
Does this
look like an SS symbol? Exxon claim it does, and are suing Greenpeace
France for abusing their logo. Even PR Week think it’s a stupid
idea…
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