Subject: Re GATS Privatising all Services (Philips)(Johnson).
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 134628 -0600
From: Roy Beavers
To: guru , gephardt@mail.house.gov
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Carolyn:
Your experience with the INDIFFERENCE of officials who
were not, themselves, affected by RFR ... reflects the smug
ideology of an oligarchy that believes they CANNOT be held responsible for their
actions......!!! We have the same
in America!!!!
That is what guru has been trying to say about the importance
of the "political/economic" dimension of the EMF problem......
It is NOT just a matter of solving the "science" questions.
We must be prepared to challenge an oligarchy that simply
"doesn't care." They don't care because they are not
affected; and because they have control over the science
as well as the politics. That is why that issue consumes
so much space on this list......!!!
Carolyn, don't you sometimes feel like a serf??? Or a peon???
Or a "cog" in a big machine called: PROFIT$$$$$$.....?????
The fact is -- Americans (and citizens of most of the Western Democracies) ARE
RAPIDLY LOSING NOT ONLY THEIR FREEDOMS but
also their control over their own health and well-being ...
to an indifferent oligarchy ($$$$$$$$) that has taken
over the control (or is well along in the process) of their government......
George W. calls such words: promotion of "class warfare."
George, the fact is: I consider that the "American Democracy"
has become a VICTIM of class warfare....!! And your present policies in
Washington are NOT reassuring in that regard..... Including your TAX PROPOSALS
(which really would affect ME
very little).....
Nevertheless, I can clearly see that the division between the GREAT WEALTH "at
the top" ... and the bulk of the rest of our
society (the "middle class")... will WIDEN EVEN FURTHER AND
FASTER under your proposals than they have over the past two decades......
In a word -- the RICH will get RICHER faster than the POOR
or the "middle class" will improve their lot..... If George
W.'s proposed changes to the inheritance laws are enacted as
he has submitted them ... the "class war" will be over.....!!
And the people will have lost.......!!!!!!
The "gap" -- which has widened in recent decades -- will
widen even faster..... That should NOT be our national policy......
Folks, to prevent that situation from getting any worse --
we MUST be prepared to get the Republicans OUT of control
of the House and Senate in the next election ... in just
two years....
So ... to Gephardt and the rest of the Democrats I reluctantly say:
"Stall him!!! Stall and delay. Fight a rear guard action for just another two
more years...... Don't give in.....
Don't compromise away the middle class' (perhaps) last chance
to preserve and defend the rights and freedoms we inherited
from our forefathers....."
If George W. Bush's agenda is enacted -- there will be only
two classes left in America in thirty years: the "we have
a whole lots!" and the "we have what little is left"......!!
George W. is NEVER going to be able to represent the American "middle class" as
he claims.....
He IS part and parcel of the "class war" which he claims to
wish to avert!!! That war is ALREADY in progress. It has
seen a virtual "explosion" of wealth in America in the top
ten percent. Even more-so in the top two or three percent.
Meanwhile, the bottom third of our society has been mired in
"minimum wage" land. And the so-called "middle class" has
accumulated record debt -- which the oligarchy now proposes
to collect by "tightening" the bankruptcy laws.
(Why is that necessary? I see no evidence that the banks or credit-card
companies have suffered?????? Or are in any difficulty??????)
But, "Wall Street George" ... continues dedicated to -- and
serving -- one "side" in that war: the $$$$$$$ oligarchy
that contributed more than $100 million (we NOW know) to his campaign ... in
defiance of calls to change a ONE-SIDED
set of campaign contribution laws ... that he is determined
to preserve ... even in the face of his HOLLOW and INSINCERE
promises to John McCain!!!!!
"Class War" -- he wants to call it...... Class War, indeed!
That is what it has been for nearly twenty years.....
Cheerio......(Carolyn: I apologize. I did not mean to get
onto this "tirade" when I started out. It was just that ...
your story (below) reads like it does in the USA..... And,
I believe ... like MUCH of the Western World. If we can't
all recognize what is happening ... then I fear ... we do
not deserve to have the freedoms we are losing...)
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com
http"//emfguru.com
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: GATS Privatising all Services (Philips)....
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 02:55:50 -0500
From: "Carolyn Johnson"
To:
References: <3A9F9CF2.E2037033@emfguru.com>
Roy,
Thank you for this email, it brings to mind a recent visit to Canberra....
having spent several weeks with some of Mr Howard's Ministers, raising an
important issue that in a big way relates to what has been said here. The
issue of privatisation in our Public Service.
One of the areas overlooked by our Australian Government is in the OH&S
requirements of these Contractors and it's verification. It is apparent that
all Government Contracts awarded to private enterprise where the Service or
Process is carried out on Commonwealth Land... or within Commonwealth
Buildings places the Employees or Sub Contractors of these Private Companies
in a position of disadvantage.
They apparently fall outside the OH&S requirements & Private Enterprise
Workers Compensation processes, in the event of an incident or accident, and
of course do not fall within the Government responsiblity either. They the
Government called it a GREY AREA...
An Investigation of such accidents or incidents is hindered by this
situation, hence a worker has no legal rights to an fair investigation. My
Husband and fellow workers were placed in this situation, having been
exposed several times by high levels of RFR during a Military upgrade
involving an Israel Company, while working for a British Company on a
Military base here in Australia. Hence my first hand knowledge of this
issue.
Discussing this issue with the Ministers concerned to seek approval for an
investigation of the poor OH&S practises of both Private Companies
concerned, (this included the Shadow Ministry) fell on deaf ears, one
answer was "how were we to know this would happen".
If you are dealing with Companies with Integrity then you would think that
they would have address this as a Risk Management issue, however todate all
we see is them hiding behind this immunity "they don't need to Risk Manage a
grey area", instead they can do things how they like, when they like, and
cut costs by reducing OH&S practices and placing their workers in
unacceptable risk environments. If they are prepared to do this to their
fellow humans then God Help our environment for the sake of a Dollar.....
The Companies that have these contracts can hide behind these Government
immunities or grey area that no one wants to address. If you can't
investigate an injury or loss of human life then it would appear that they
have no value other than the almighty Dollar, and our environment would not
rate consideration either.
Carolyn Johnson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roy Beavers"
To:
Sent: Friday, 2 March 2001 8:15
Subject: GATS Privatising all Services (Philips)....
>
>
>
> .......From EMF-L.......
>
> The GATS has been in existence for decades..... But as an
> international treaty that "defines" the terms of trade between
> nations, it has continued to expand its scope until -- as you
> see below -- it would substitute the profit$$$$ principle into
> the area of public services and other traditionally "non-profit"
> activities...... I think the writer below is correct in raising
> the question whether we (mankind) really want a world that is
> totally profit$$$$$ driven??? That (implicit) assumption is
> too evident in the arguments that reach the public arena about
> EMF hazards, for example.
>
> Those of us who see a world wherein limitations SHOULD be set
> upon profit$$$$$-making enterprise when the PUBLIC HEALTH AND
> SAFETY (as well as some environmental considerations) is at
> stake -- are frequently "marked" by the government/industry
> forces that measure all success in profit$$$$$ terms.... We
> are accused of being "anti free market" or "anti free enterprise."
>
> I, for one, am NOT anti free market. I well understand and
> believe that the "capitalist" free market has been ONE of the
> most powerful "engines" of progress as well as production for mankind.
>
> BUT!!! It is NOT the ONLY such engine for promoting mankind's good --
comfort,
> health, happiness and welfare!!!
>
> And, it certainly does not provide the most useful "value
> system" for measuring mankind's QUALITY OF LIFE......
>
> As Alasdair suggests below, we all need to start voicing our concern about
a
> world that is being "defined" ONLY in a profit$$$$$$ "value system." Such
a
> system serves GREED much
> more than it does QUALITY OF LIFE.........guru.......
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: GATS Privatising all Services
> Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 09:11:47
> From: Alasdair Philips
> To: Roy Beavers
>
> The following disturbing item is from The News Report, Issue 279,
Wednesday
> 28 February 2001 (Australia) and is of importance to everyone. It is high
> time that we all contacted our elected representatives about the
> implications of political actions - or lack of them. From Alasdair
Philips.
>
> Feedback:
> G.A.T.S.. Privatising all Services!
>
> In secret, governments are negotiating the end to all not-for profit
public
> services. In less than 2 years, 130 plus governments expect to quietly
sign
> an agreement called GATS, General Agreement on Trade in Services. This
> binding and irreversible treaty will lay all government services open for
> international tender, and no doubt international labour, that is, foreign,
> lower paid nurses, teachers, builders, water technicians, posties, media,
> maintenance, childcare and transport workers.
>
> Public services are next in line for the WTO's corporate battering ram.
> Global corporations have been so successful in persuading governments
> everywhere that their agendas are the same - that the pursuit of corporate
> profit and the good of society are one and the same - that their access to
> many areas of public life has already been improved. Quality of service
and
> democratic access has not necessarily improved.
>
> Services is the fastest growing sector in international trade, and employs
> 72% of Australians. Services offer rich pickings for canny corporations.
And
> of all public services, health, education and water are shaping up to be
the
> most lucrative. Global expenditures on water services now exceed $1
trillion
> every year; on education, they exceed $2 trillion; and on health care,
they
> exceed $3.5 trillion. Since multinationals pay little tax, these services
> are becoming increasingly hard for governments to provide.
>
> The USA might suggest a model for the dismantling of public services which
> GATS will unleash all over the world. In fact, much of the GATS policies
and
> the World Trade Organization policies are designed to increase USA mega
> corporation domination of world markets.
>
> In America, health care has already become a huge business, with giant
> healthcare corporations registered on the New York Stock Exchange. Rick
> Scott, the president of Columbia, the world's largest for-profit hospital
> corporation, is clear that health care is a business, no different to any
> widget manufacturer. He has publicly vowed to destroy every public
hospital
> in North America - doctors, he says, are not 'good corporate citizens'.
> Americans spend twice as much on Health as a percent of their bloated GNP
as
> Australia, yet over-service the rich, and cannot really care for 40
million
> of their own increasingly large poor segment of society.
>
> Meanwhile, investment houses like Merrill Lynch are already predicting
that
> public education will be globally privatised over the next decade the way
> public health has been. They say there is an untold amount of profit to be
> made when this happens. The European Union recently announced that every
> publicly- run school in Europe must be twinned with a corporation by the
end
> of the decade. The conquest of foreign market and support of big business
> has now become a key common strategy among universities around the world.
So
> much for academic freedom!
>
> Disturbingly, GATS also includes authority over 'environmental services'
and
> natural resource protection. Our parks, wildlife, river systems, and
forests
> could all become contested areas as global transnational 'environmental
> service' corporations demand the competitive model. The fate of our sacred
> and essential soil and water is at great risk.
>
> Many parts of the 'Third World' have been forced to dismantle their public
> infrastructures in recent decades under International Monetary Fund -
> imposed structural adjustment programs. In order to be eligible for debt
> relief, for example, dozens of 'developing' countries have been forced to
> abandon public social programs over the last 20 years. Foreign
corporations
> have come in and sold their health and education 'products' to wealthy
> elites''consumers'. Billions are now without basic social services, with a
> lower standard of living than 20 years ago in 100 countries! Latin
American
> countries are currently experiencing an invasion of US healthcare
> corporations.
>
> Asian countries allow branch plants of foreign-based university and health
> care chains. Recently, the World Bank has been forcing the same countries
to
> privatise their water services and are openly working with corporate water
> giants like Vivendi and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, to establish their
'rights'
> to profiteer in the Third World. Bolivian people have been shot protesting
> water charges that cost a third of their wages. Water may be bought and
> internationally shipped according to WTO rules. When the market rules, the
> rich get most of whatever is valuable!
>
> Now, through the GATS negotiations, these corporations want binding and
> irreversible rules guaranteeing them access to government service
contracts
> everywhere in the world. And they are succeeding. Already, over 40
> countries, including all of Europe, have listed education within the realm
> of the GATS, opening up their public education sectors of foreign based
> corporate competition. Almost 100 countries have done the same with
> healthcare. As the new talks progress, it will be very hard for any
country
> to swim against the tide - even if any are brave enough to try.
>
> Frighteningly, there can be no local restrictions on quality of graduates
> and service standards, this would be seen as a "barrier to free trade".
Does
> the WTO want us all to live and shop like Americans? Or die if we're too
> poor to do so? If we all lived like Americans we'd need three planets!!
How
> will 72% of Australian workers in health, environment, childcare,
transport,
> tourist, broadcast, social work, dentist, teaching, office staff feel if
> cheap foreign labour can come in? How can we complain when, like
Australian
> refugee / prison workers are controlled by a USA corporation like
Wackenhut,
> which is brutal to staff and refugees and prisoners in its "care". And to
> whom can you complain if governments have given away all their serious
> roles; perhaps we will just have a branch office of the WTO; secret,
> undemocratic and only interested in money.
>
> We better start spreading the word soon!! While we still have shreds of
> democracy and objective media and unions. Ask your cowardly pollies why
they
> are silent on this issue!! Remember Beasley and Howard wanted us to sign
the
> MAI Treaty, later shown not to be Australia's interests!! Perhaps some of
> the 700 billion dollars that has come into Australia in the last three
> decades to buy our industry and land, the profits of which leave Australia
> untaxed, has influenced Canberra. Perhaps its their superannuation! What
do
> you think? What will your children think?
>
> Please reprint this and pass on!!
>
> Dr E. Elliott with Maud Barlow, catcher@norex.com.au.
> http://www.communitycauldron.com
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Alasdair Philips, BSc(Eng), DAgE, MIAgE
> Advisor to Foundation for Children with Leukaemia
> Director, UK Powerwatch, (aphilips@gn.apc.org)
> EMC Engineer and EMF-bioeffects researcher
> http://www.powerwatch.org.uk
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com