Social Commitment

The Lady of Burma*

2006-10-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

On June 19th 2006, Burma's democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, celebrated her 61st birthday. She is now in her eleventh year of detention. She isn't allowed to see family or friends as all visitors are banned. Her phone line is cut and her post is intercepted. More about her bio...

How we can help.

(c) Campaigning for Human Rights and Democracy in Burma

* A play is dedicated to this amazing woman at the Old Vic Theatre in London, on Sunday 12 November.

Crisis Square Mile Run 2006 on 8 june

2006-05-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

I am brave. No doubt about it. Who would sign up for two races in the space of three days without having had any running training at all? Okay. I am brave, but not mad: apparently you are allowed to walk as long as you get to the arrival... So, why not?! The route is very interesting from the scenery point of view and for a very good cause: homeless people! From St Paul to London Bridge passing by Tower of London and City Hall, I will be running (v. slowly) Crisis Square Mile Run 2006 with Amanda, Joseph, Jasmin and other people from work. It will be fun! It will be rewarding!

Route:

Race For Life -- it's getting a healthy habit

2006-03-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

This June I am going to take part to the Race for Life in Hampsted Heath for the third Summer.
Race for Life is a women charity event with the noble aim to raise money toward breast cancer research.

This year I have been more organised than in the past and set up a website to raise money. If for symphaty and compassion you feel like to sponsor me, then click here.

Full report available in June!

If you wanna follow my example and take part to one of the UK Race for Life this Summer, click on the Race for Life Official Website.

Fallujah, The Concealed Massacre

2005-12-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Italian Satellite TV broadcasts film with evidence that the US used phosphorous weapons in Fallujah with interviews of US military personal; one says that "Bodies melted away before us".
© Remember Falluja

The video is available here:

Fallujah, The Concealed Massacre by RAI News correspondent Sigfrido Ranucci

Italian version and English version

(about 30 minutes long)

[Mind that it is a video which shows, and schock.]

Heavy Staff, opps, Stuff

2005-11-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

Airline Weapon

Al Qaeda – The Database
Wayne Madsen Report – November 18, 2005
Shortly before his untimely death, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the House of Commons that "Al Qaeda" is not really a terrorist group but a database of international mujaheddin and arms smugglers used by the CIA and Saudis to funnel guerrillas, arms, and money into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Courtesy of World Affairs, a journal based in New Delhi, WMR can bring you an important excerpt from an Apr.-Jun. 2004 article by Pierre-Henry Bunel, a former agent for French military intelligence. "I first heard about Al-Qaida while I was attending the Command and Staff course in Jordan. I was a French officer at that time and the French Armed Forces had close contacts and cooperation with Jordan . . . "Two of my Jordanian colleagues were experts in computers. They were air defense officers. Using computer science slang, they introduced a series of jokes about students' punishment. "For example, when one of us was late at the bus stop to leave the Staff College, the two officers used to tell us: 'You'll be noted in 'Q eidat il-Maaloomaat' which meant 'You'll be logged in the information database.' Meaning 'You will receive a warning . . .' If the case was more severe, they would used to talk about 'Q eidat i-Taaleemaat.' Meaning 'the decision database.' It meant 'you will be punished.' For the worst cases they used to speak of logging in 'Al Qaida.' "In the early 1980s the Islamic Bank for Development, which is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, like the Permanent Secretariat of the Islamic Conference Organization, bought a new computerized system to cope with its accounting and communication requirements. At the time the system was more sophisticated than necessary for their actual needs. "It was decided to use a part of the system's memory to host the Islamic Conference's database. It was possible for the countries attending to access the database by telephone: an Intranet, in modern language. The governments of the member-countries as well as some of their embassies in the world were connected to that network. "[According to a Pakistani major] the database was divided into two parts, the information file where the participants in the meetings could pick up and send information they needed, and the decision file where the decisions made during the previous sessions were recorded and stored. In Arabic, the files were called, 'Q eidat il-Maaloomaat' and 'Q eidat i-Taaleemaat.' Those two files were kept in one file called in Arabic 'Q eidat ilmu'ti'aat' which is the exact translation of the English word database. But the Arabs commonly used the short word Al Qaida which is the Arabic word for "base." The military air base of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is called 'q eidat 'riyadh al 'askariya.' Q eida means "a base" and "Al Qaida" means "the base." "In the mid-1980s, Al Qaida was a database located in computer and dedicated to the communications of the Islamic Conference's secretariat. "In the early 1990s, I was a military intelligence officer in the Headquarters of the French Rapid Action Force. Because of my skills in Arabic my job was also to translate a lot of faxes and letters seized or intercepted by our intelligence services . . . We often got intercepted material sent by Islamic networks operating from the UK or from Belgium. "These documents contained directions sent to Islamic armed groups in Algeria or in France. The messages quoted the sources of statements to be exploited in the redaction of the tracts or leaflets, or to be introduced in video or tapes to be sent to the media. The most commonly quoted sources were the United Nations, the non-aligned countries, the UNHCR and . . . Al Qaida. "Al Qaida remained the data base of the Islamic Conference. Not all member countries of the Islamic Conference are 'rogue states' and many Islamic groups could pick up information from the databases. It was but natural for Osama Bin Laden to be connected to this network. He is a member of an important family in the banking and business world. "Because of the presence of 'rogue states,' it became easy for terrorist groups to use the email of the database. Hence, the email of Al Qaida was used, with some interface system, providing secrecy, for the families of the mujaheddin to keep links with their children undergoing training in Afghanistan, or in Libya or in the Beqaa valley, Lebanon. Or in action anywhere in the battlefields where the extremists sponsored by all the 'rogue states' used to fight. And the 'rogue states' included Saudi Arabia. When Osama bin Laden was an American agent in Afghanistan, the Al Qaida Intranet was a good communication system through coded or covert messages. Al Qaida was neither a terrorist group nor Osama bin Laden's personal property . . .

The terrorist actions in Turkey in 2003 were carried out by Turks and the motives were local and not international, unified, or joint. These crimes put the Turkish government in a difficult position vis-a-vis the British and the Israelis. But the attacks certainly intended to 'punish' Prime Minister Erdogan for being a 'toot tepid' Islamic politician. " . . . In the Third World the general opinion is that the countries using weapons of mass destruction for economic purposes in the service of imperialism are in fact 'rogue states," specially the US and other NATO countries. " Some Islamic economic lobbies are conducting a war against the 'liberal" economic lobbies. They use local terrorist groups claiming to act on behalf of Al Qaida. On the other hand, national armies invade independent countries under the aegis of the UN Security Council and carry out pre-emptive wars. And the real sponsors of these wars are not governments but the lobbies concealed behind them. "The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the 'TV watcher' to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US and the lobbyists for the US war on terrorism are only interested in making money." (Our emphasis, Ed.)

In yet another example of what happens to those who challenge the system, in December 2001, Maj. Pierre-Henri Bunel was convicted by a secret French military court of passing classified documents that identified potential NATO bombing targets in Serbia to a Serbian agent during the Kosovo war in 1998. Bunel's case was transferred from a civilian court to keep the details of the case classified. Bunel's character witnesses and psychologists notwithstanding, the system "got him" for telling the truth about Al Qaeda and who has actually been behind the terrorist attacks commonly blamed on that group. It is noteworthy that that Yugoslav government, the government with whom Bunel was asserted by the French government to have shared information, claimed that Albanian and Bosnian guerrillas in the Balkans were being backed by elements of "Al Qaeda." We now know that these guerrillas were being backed by money provided by the Bosnian Defense Fund, an entity established as a special fund at Bush-influenced Riggs Bank and directed by Richard Perle and Douglas Feith.

© The Truth Seeker

If you want to read the article in Italian, go here: http://www.effedieffe.com/interventizeta.php?id=781&parametro=%20esteri

Christmas presents

2005-11-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

Steve and I finally decided the Christmas present for our far away beloved child Anibal Damian: finger puppets with sound (animal impressions). We also finally wrote our letters to him and his natural mum. I did not dare to write it in Spanish to avoid misunderstandings, but I tried to translate it in my Spanish corner.

Since we missed his birthday because of the long mail system (and not because we are bad sponsoring parents ;o P), we are going to send him another present soon.

I also did some more shopping on the catalogue and bought the Women of Africa and the Women of Latin America CD plus the children's world greetings cards. I like this way of shopping because a percentage of the profit goes towards the various PLAN UK projects.

I have also started some Christmas shopping for friends and family. For example, I ordered the CD of Mondovino for my nonnetto (grandpa) who used to be a wine producer himself. I am sure he will appreciate it, even though the theme about the globalisation of taste is not very promising. Steve and I watched this film at the London Film Festival 2004 and deeply enjoyed it because the director and the main character were present at the screening, and a nice discussion followed the viewing.

Doing More with Less

2005-10-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Extract from the Green Paper on Energy Efficience

Change our electric bulbs, our boilers and our refrigerators, insulate our houses, buy less polluting cars, use public transport: these are some of the things we should do if we want to protect the environment and guarantee a stable supply of energy for our children. The market alone will not enable us to make these energy savings. The prices of electricity or petrol, certainly expensive for part of the population, do not reflect the genuine cost of energy for our society and do not encourage consumers to make sufficient savings. Action by public authorities is therefore essential in order to influence our behaviour and to ensure that the most efficient technologies, that is those which make it possible to use less energy, are systematically used by industry.

The European Commission decided today to relaunch the initiative on saving energy by publishing a new Green Paper. This document analyses the situation and draws up a whole series of actions to be discussed, commented on and supplemented by all stakeholders. It is already clear that, at the end of this consultation, Europe will have to find a way to put an end to this waste of energy through measures and actions at all levels of society and in all sectors of the economy.

Why give priority to energy saving?
Today the European Union imports about 50% of its energy needs, which amounts to approximately 240 billion euros each year. If nothing is done, 70% of the EU energy needs could be covered by imports by 2030. Our dependence increases each day. With the development of transport, oil remains our main energy source while the price per barrel of crude takes off and the environment deteriorates. The European Union is also confronted by a significant growth of energy consumption while energy sources are becoming scarce. The EU has limited room for manoeuvre on the energy supply side. Renewable energy has not evolved enough to replace oil and gas in a sufficient quantity. Therefore the Commission had already proposed in November 2000, in its Green Paper "Towards a European strategy of energy supply", to act mainly on the energy demand side. Saving energy is indeed the most rapid, easiest and most effective way to answer the challenge of our energy dependence. And the potential for saving energy is considerable.

An average household can easily save an amount ranging between 200 and 1000 euros a year according to its consumption level. Energy consumption is also the main reason for the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

By saving 20% of energy consumption, it would be possible to secure 50% of the necessary reductions of CO2 emissions. European industry has already started to develop advanced technologies in the field of energy saving.

Saving 20% of energy consumption would also strengthen the competitiveness of our economy and facilitate the creation of one million jobs in Europe.

We face a real drift: the consumption of energy in Europe increases by 1 to 2% a year. The growth of transport and electricity demand represents the most worrying trends. If nothing is done to reverse the tendency, energy consumption could still increase by about 10% over the next 15 years. Transport alone represents almost one third of the total EU consumption. However, 98% of the transport market depends on oil. Hence,transport, a vast majority of which is by the road, is responsible for 26% of CO2 emissions. Mobility experienced a very strong growth over the last 30 years and this is mainly by road. If 30 years ago one travelled on average 17km per day by car, today wetravel up to 35km on average. Road transport also accounts for almost 45% offreight transport and this should still increase by 2010. The supremacy of road transport is today synonymous with congestion and pollution and costs the European economy around half a point of the G(ross) D(omestic) P(roduct) per year. The demand for electricity also experienced considerable growth in recent years. In fact, more than two thirds of the energy needed to generate electricity are lost in production, transport and distribution. Finally the building sector alone takes 40% of the energy consumed in the European Union for its account. Too much energy continues to be wasted in buildings because of inefficient heating systems and lighting. One should add certain new phenomena which contribute to the drift of our energy consumption, such as increasing use of air conditioning, the craze for large 4x4 vehicles or the introduction of the stand-by mode for electrical equipment which today represents almost 7% of total electricity consumption on its own.
A potential of 20% savings by 2020
It is possible to save up to 20% of our energy consumption (a saving of 60 billion euros a year).

10% savings could be carried out by fully implementing the measures already set out by Europe in the building, domestic appliances, heat production and transport sectors.
To save the remaining 10%, new measures must be outlined using all possible levels of action.

© European Communities, 2005

What can I do?
Well, at a personal level, keep the data below in mind:

Type of Equipment: Old TV Set
Standby: 6 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 43.6 kWh (20 hours per day in standby)
Annual Energy Cost: (€)5,6 €
Type of Equipment: New TV Set*
Standby: 2 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 14.6 kWh
Annual Energy Cost:1,9 €
Type of Equipment: DVD
Standby: 2 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 17.5 kWh
2,3 €
Type of Equipment: VCRs Old
Standby: 8 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 70 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 9,1 €
Type of Equipment: VCR New*
Standby: 3 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 26 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 3,4 €
Type of Equipment: Hi-Fi system
Standby: 3 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 26 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 3,4 €
Type of Equipment: Hi-Fi system new*
Standby: 1 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 8.7 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 1,14 €
Type of Equipment: ADSL modem
Standby: 2 W to 10 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 73 kWh (20 hours in per day standby)
Annual Energy Cost: 9,5 €
Type of Equipment: Set Top Boxes
Standby: 5 W to 20 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 146 kWh (20 hours in per day standby)
Annual Energy Cost: 19 €
Type of Equipment: PC (soft off-mode)
Standby: 1 W to 5W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 36.5 kWh (20 hours in per day standby)
Annual Energy Cost: 4,7 €
Type of Equipment: Printer (sleep mode)
Standby: 2 to 10 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 87.6 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 11,4 €
Type of Equipment: External Power Supply
Standby: 0.2 to 2 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 17.5 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 2,3 €
Type of Equipment: Microwave Oven
Standby: 2 W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 17.5 kWh
Annual Energy Cost: 2,3 €

Total (Worst case and with 5 external power supplies, one new and one old TV)
Standby: 81W
Type of Equipment Consumption: 646.8 KWh
Annual Energy Cost: 84 €

Data © European Communities, 2005

Anibal Damian Avalos ~ (sad) news

2005-09-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

Since 2003, Steve and I have been sponsoring a child. His name is Anibal Damian Avalos. He is 4 years old and lives in Paraguay with his grand dad and young mum. I won't post a picture of him here, because we decided to protect his privacy, but we can assure you that he is gorgeous! We currently correspond with his gran dad who writes us in Spanish, and we hope to receive a letter from him as soon as he learns to read & write. Our dream is to go and visit him, one day. This is a reason why I ma learning Spanish.

If you want to follow our example, you can do it through Plan UK.

This morning a letter from Plan UK made my day: inside the envelope I found two fab photos of little Anibal Damian who moved me. He has grown up a lot since last time and he is more handsome than ever. He has got such a penetrating and cheeky look. The letter was from the local staff member updating me about Anibal Damian's family.

Here is the letter:

Anibal Damian's mother Elida told us that Anibal Damian enjoys playing with toys, but does not help his family with chores because he is too young. Anibal Damian has been healthy over the last year. He is attending a growth monitoring programme. The very sad news is that Miguel Avalos, Anibal Damian's grand father passed away last year due to cancer. He will be much missed by his fmaily.

The family uses a hole in the ground for their toilet facilities. There is enough water during both rainy and dry season. It comes from a domestic connection officially installed. The water is safe to drink at all times. The nearest health worker is a trained worker about two hours away.

Plan UK is working at different level to help Anibal Damian and his community.

Projects include training:
1. the local community members in project administration; and
2. the health promoters; and
3. the volunteers in maternal and infant care + communication;

The association though the local representatives and workers offers assistance in cases of emergency health, supports house-to-house vaccination campaigns, implements clean drinking water systems, constructs household sanitary facilities and supports early childhood stimulation activities as well as improving the quality of primary school education.

I am going to write a letter to him very soon and send a gift. I will keep you posted.

Le amiche di Carmilla -- in progress

2005-09-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

I am very proud of my lady friends and I want to dedicate this page to them and their biography...

Federica

Magali

Beatrice

Vanessa

Laura

Arianna

Melanie

Simona

Francesca

Valentina

Movimento per la Decrescita Felice ~ MANIFESTO

2005-09-09T02:51:00.000-07:00

18 dicembre 2004

Ciao Silvia e a tutti i tuoi corrispondenti.
Sono Maurizio Pallante. Per le vie misteriose della rete mi è arrivato il tuo e-mail in cui alla fine ti chiedevi chi io fossi. Ti invio un profilo pubblicato sulla quarta di copertina di un mio libro e allego il Manifesto del Movimento per la Decrescita Felice, di cui il testo sulle acque in bottiglia è uno sviluppo.
Un caro saluto e auguri di buone feste.
Maurizio Pallante

P.S. penso che tu faccia bene a distillarti in casa l'acqua del rubinetto

Maurizio Pallante, Roma 1947, vive da qualche anno in una cascina tra i boschi e le colline del Monferrato astigiano, dove coltiva qualche ortaggio per autoconsumo, legge per lo più libri di eretici del pensiero, scrive di tanto in tanto saggi per riviste a circolazione limitata e qualche libro: da Bollati Boringhieri: Le tecnologie di armonia, nel 1994; Scienza e ambiente. Un dialogo, con Tullio Regge, nel 1996; L’uso razionale dell’energia. Teoria e pratica del negawattora, con Mario Palazzetti, nel 1997; dal manifestolibri: Ricchezza ecologica, nel 2003; dagli Editori Riuniti: Metamorfosi di Bios, nel 2003 e Un futuro senza luce?, nel 2004; da Scheiwiller: I Tallone, nel 1989; dalle Edizioni del Leone di Venezia: Moesta et errabunda. Concerto per voce recitante e orchestra (poesie) nel 1986; L’estraneità, la ricerca e il tempo, poesie con 19 acquerelli di Gabriella Arduino, nel 1991; da Priuli & Verlucca editori: Un'idea di Roma, con acquerelli di Gabriella Arduino, Ivrea 2003.

Manifesto del Movimento per la Decrescita Felice
Maurizio Pallante

Lo yogurt prodotto industrialmente e acquistato attraverso i circuiti commerciali, per arrivare sulla tavola dei consumatori percorre da 1.200 a 1.500 chilometri, costa 5 euro al litro, viene confezionato al 95 per cento in vasetti di plastica quasi tutti monouso, raggruppati in imballaggi di cartoncino, subisce trattamenti di conservazione che spesso non lasciano sopravvivere i batteri da cui è stato formato.

Lo yogurt autoprodotto facendo fermentare il latte con opportune colonie batteriche non deve essere trasportato, non richiede confezioni e imballaggi, costa il prezzo del latte, non ha conservanti ed è ricchissimo di batteri.

Lo yogurt autoprodotto è pertanto di qualità superiore rispetto a quello prodotto industrialmente, costa molto di meno, contribuisce a ridurre le emissioni di CO2 perché non comporta consumi di fonti fossili per il trasporto e per la produzione dei contenitori usa e getta, non produce rifiuti.

Tuttavia questa scelta, che migliora la qualità della vita di chi la compie e non genera impatti ambientali, comporta un decremento del prodotto interno lordo: sia perché lo yogurt autoprodotto non passa attraverso la mediazione del denaro, quindi fa diminuire la domanda di merci; sia perché non richiede consumi di carburante; quindi fa diminuire la domanda di merci; sia perché non richiede confezioni e imballaggi, quindi fa diminuire la domanda di merci; sia perché fa diminuire i costi di smaltimento dei rifiuti.

Ciò disturba i ministri delle finanze perché riduce il gettito dell’IVA e delle accise sui carburanti; i ministri dell’ambiente perché di conseguenza si riducono gli stanziamenti dei loro bilanci e non possono più sovvenzionare le fonti energetiche alternative nell’ottica dello «sviluppo sostenibile»; i sindaci, i presidenti di regione e di provincia perché non possono più distribuire ai loro elettori i contributi statali per le fonti alternative; le aziende municipalizzate e i consorzi di gestione rifiuti perché diminuiscono gli introiti delle discariche e degli inceneritori; i gestori di reti di teleriscaldamento alimentate da inceneritori, perché devono rimpiazzare la carenza di combustibile derivante da rifiuti (che ritirano a pagamento) con gasolio (che devono comprare).

Ma non è tutto.

Facendo diminuire la domanda di vasetti di plastica e di imballaggi in cartoncino, l’autoproduzione dello yogurt fa diminuire ulteriormente la domanda di petrolio. Sia quello che serve per produrre la plastica (due chili di petrolio per chilo di plastica), sia quello che serve per il carburante necessario a trasportare vasetti e imballaggi dalle fabbriche in cui vengono prodotti alle fabbriche in cui viene prodotto industrialmente lo yogurt. Comporta quindi una ulteriore diminuzione delle emissioni di CO2 e del prodotto interno lordo.

Ciò disturba una seconda volta i ministri delle finanze e dell’ambiente, i sindaci, i presidenti di regione e di provincia per le ragioni già dette.

Ma non è tutto.

I fermenti lattici contenuti nello yogurt fresco autoprodotto arricchiscono la flora batterica intestinale e fanno evacuare meglio. Le persone affette da stitichezza possono iniziare la loro giornata leggeri come libellule. Pertanto la qualità della loro vita migliora e il loro reddito ne ha un ulteriore beneficio, perché non devono più comprare purganti. Ma ciò comporta una diminuzione della domanda di merci e del prodotto interno lordo. Anche i purganti prodotti industrialmente e acquistati attraverso i circuiti commerciali, per arrivare nelle case dei consumatori percorrono migliaia di chilometri. La diminuzione della loro domanda comporta dunque anche una ulteriore diminuzione dei consumi di carburante e un ulteriore decremento del prodotto interno lordo.

Ciò disturba una terza volta i ministri delle finanze e dell’ambiente, i sindaci, i presidenti di regione e di provincia per le ragioni già dette.

Ma non è tutto.

La diminuzione della domanda di yogurt, di vasetti di plastica e di imballaggi in cartoncino, di purganti e della quantità di rifiuti, comporta una riduzione della circolazione degli autotreni che li trasportano e, quindi, una maggiore fluidità del traffico stradale e autostradale. Gli altri autoveicoli possono circolare più velocemente e si riducono gli intasamenti. Di conseguenza migliora la qualità della vita. Ma diminuiscono anche i consumi di carburante e si riduce il prodotto interno lordo.

Ciò disturba una quarta volta i ministri delle finanze e dell’ambiente, i sindaci, i presidenti di regione e di provincia per le ragioni già dette.

Ma non è tutto.

La diminuzione dei camion circolanti su strade e autostrade diminuisce statisticamente i rischi d’incidenti. Questo ulteriore miglioramento della qualità della vita indotto dalla sostituzione dello yogurt prodotto industrialmente con yogurt autoprodotto, comporta una ulteriore diminuzione del prodotto interno lordo, facendo diminuire sia le spese ospedaliere, farmaceutiche e mortuarie, sia le spese per le riparazioni degli autoveicoli incidentati e gli acquisti di autoveicoli nuovi in sostituzione di quelli non più riparabili.

Ciò disturba una quinta volta i ministri delle finanze e dell’ambiente, i sindaci, i presidenti di regione e di provincia per le ragioni già dette.

Il Movimento per la Decrescita Felice si propone di promuovere la più ampia sostituzione possibile delle merci prodotte industrialmente ed acquistate nei circuiti commerciali con l’autoproduzione di beni. In questa scelta, che comporta una diminuzione del prodotto interno lordo, individua la possibilità di straordinari miglioramenti della vita individuale e collettiva, delle condizioni ambientali e delle relazioni tra i popoli, gli Stati e le culture.

La sua prospettiva è opposta a quella del cosiddetto «sviluppo sostenibile», che continua a ritenere positivo il meccanismo della crescita economica come fattore di benessere, limitandosi a proporre di correggerlo con l’introduzione di tecnologie meno inquinanti e auspicando una sua estensione, con queste correzioni, ai popoli che non a caso vengono definiti «sottosviluppati».

Nel settore cruciale dell’energia, lo «sviluppo sostenibile», a partire dalla valutazione che le fonti fossili non sono più in grado di sostenere una crescita durevole e una sua estensione a livello planetario, ne propone la sostituzione con fonti alternative. Il Movimento per la Decrescita Felice ritiene invece che questa sostituzione debba avvenire nell’ambito di una riduzione dei consumi energetici, da perseguire sia con l’eliminazione di sprechi, inefficienze e usi impropri, sia con l’eliminazione dei consumi indotti da un’organizzazione economica e produttiva finalizzata alla sostituzione dell’autoproduzione di beni con la produzione e la commercializzazione di merci.

Questa prospettiva comporta che nei paesi industrializzati si riscoprano e si valorizzino stili di vita del passato, irresponsabilmente abbandonati in nome di una malintesa concezione del progresso, mentre invece hanno prospettive di futuro più ampie degli stili di vita moderni che li hanno sostituiti, non solo nei settori tradizionali dei bisogni primari, ma anche in alcuni settori tecnologicamente avanzati e cruciali per il futuro dell’umanità, come quello energetico, dove la maggiore efficienza e il minor impatto ambientale si ottengono con impianti di autoproduzione collegati in rete per scambiare le eccedenze.

Nei paesi lasciati in stato di indigenza dalla rapina delle risorse che sono state necessarie alla crescita economica dei paesi industrializzati, un reale e duraturo miglioramento della qualità della vita non potrà esserci riproducendo il modello dei paesi industrializzati, ma solo con una crescita dei consumi che non comporti una progressiva sostituzione dei beni autoprodotti con merci prodotte industrialmente e acquistate. Una più equa redistribuzione delle risorse a livello mondiale non si potrà avere se la crescita del benessere di questi popoli avverrà sotto la forma crescita del prodotto interno lordo, nemmeno se fosse temperata dai correttivi ecologici dello «sviluppo sostenibile». Che del resto è un lusso perseguibile solo da chi ha già avuto più del necessario da uno sviluppo senza aggettivi.

Per aderire al movimento è sufficiente
- autoprodurre lo yogurt o qualsiasi altro bene primario: la passata di pomodoro, la marmellata, il pane, il succo di frutta, le torte, l’energia termica e l’energia elettrica, oggetti e utensili, le manutenzioni ordinarie;
- fornire i servizi alla persona che in genere vengono delegati a pagamento: assistenza dei figli nei primi anni d’età, degli anziani e dei disabili, dei malati e dei morenti.
L’autoproduzione sistematica di un bene o lo svolgimento di un servizio costituisce il primo grado del primo livello di adesione. I livelli successivi del primo grado sono commisurati al numero dei beni autoprodotti e dei servizi alla persona erogati. L’autoproduzione energetica vale il doppio.
Il secondo grado di adesione è costituito dall’autoproduzione di tutta la filiera di un bene: dal latte allo yogurt; dal grano al pane, dalla frutta alla marmellata, dai pomodori alla passata, dalla gestione del bosco al riscaldamento. Anche nel secondo grado i livelli sono commisurati al numero dei beni autoprodotti e la filiera energetica vale il doppio.

La sede del Movimento per la Decrescita Felice viene stabilita presso….. (preferibilmente un’azienda agricola, o un laboratorio artigianale, o un servizio autogestito, o una cooperativa di autoproduzione, una bottega del commercio equo e solidale, ecc.)

settembre 2004

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY ~ MANIFESTO

2005-09-07T04:09:00.000-07:00

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

TRADE JUSTICE. DROP THE DEBT. MORE & BETTER AID.

Today, the gap between the world’s rich and poor is wider than ever. Global injustices such as poverty, AIDS, malnutrition, conflict and illiteracy remain rife.

Despite the promises of world leaders, at our present sluggish rate of progress the world will fail dismally to reach internationally agreed targets to halve global poverty by 2015.

World poverty is sustained not by chance or nature, but by a combination of factors: injustice in global trade; the huge burden of debt; insufficient and ineffective aid. Each of these is exacerbated by inappropriate economic policies imposed by rich countries.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. These factors are determined by human decisions.

2005 offers an exceptional series of opportunities for the UK to take a lead internationally, to start turning things around. Next year, as the UK hosts the annual G8 gathering of powerful world leaders and heads up the European Union (EU), the UK Government will be a particularly influential player on the world stage.

A sea change is needed. By mobilising popular support across a unique string of events and actions, we will press our own government to compel rich countries to fulfil their obligations and promises to help eradicate poverty, and to rethink some long-held assumptions.

MakePovertyHistory urges the government and international decision makers to rise to the challenge of 2005. We are calling for urgent and meaningful policy change on three critical and inextricably linked areas: trade, debt and aid.

1. Trade justice
Fight for rules that ensure governments, particularly in poor countries, can choose the best solutions to end poverty and protect the environment. These will not always be free trade policies.
End export subsidies that damage the livelihoods of poor rural communities around the world.
Make laws that stop big business profiting at the expense of people and the environment.

The rules of international trade are stacked in favour of the most powerful countries and their businesses. On the one hand these rules allow rich countries to pay their farmers and companies subsidies to export food – destroying the livelihoods of poor farmers. On the other, poverty eradication, human rights and environmental protection come a poor second to the goal of ‘eliminating trade barriers’.

We need trade justice not free trade. This means the EU single-handedly putting an end to its damaging agricultural export subsidies now; it means ensuring poor countries can feed their people by protecting their own farmers and staple crops; it means ensuring governments can effectively regulate water companies by keeping water out of world trade rules; and it means ensuring trade rules do not undermine core labour standards.

We need to stop the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) forcing poor countries to open their markets to trade with rich countries, which has proved so disastrous over the past 20 years; the EU must drop its demand that former European colonies open their markets and give more rights to big companies; we need to regulate companies – making them accountable for their social and environmental impact both here and abroad; and we must ensure that countries are able to regulate foreign investment in a way that best suits their own needs.

2. Drop the debt
The unpayable debts of the world’s poorest countries should be cancelled in full, by fair and transparent means.

Despite grand statements from world leaders, the debt crisis is far from over. Rich countries have not delivered on the promise they made more than six years ago to cancel unpayable poor country debts. As a result, many countries still have to spend more on debt repayments than on meeting the needs of their people.

Rich countries and the institutions they control must act now to cancel all the unpayable debts of the poorest countries. They should not do this by depriving poor countries of new aid, but by digging into their pockets and providing new money.

The task of calculating how much debt should be cancelled must no longer be left to creditors concerned mainly with minimising their own costs. Instead, we need a fair and transparent international process to make sure that human needs take priority over debt repayments.

International institutions like the IMF and World Bank must stop asking poor countries to jump through hoops in order to qualify for debt relief. Poor countries should no longer have to privatise basic services or liberalise economies as a condition for getting the debt relief they so desperately need.

And to avoid another debt crisis hard on the heels of the first, poor countries need to be given more grants, rather than seeing their debt burden piled even higher with yet more loans.

3. More and better aid
Donors must now deliver at least $50 billion more in aid and set a bindingtimetable for spending 0.7% of national income on aid. Aid must also be madeto work more effectively for poor people.

Poverty will not be eradicated without an immediate and major increase in international aid. Rich countries have promised to provide the extra money needed to meet internationally agreed poverty reduction targets. This amounts to at least $50 billion per year, according to official estimates,and must be delivered now.Rich countries have also promised to provide 0.7% of their national income in aid and they must now make good on their commitment by setting a binding timetable to reach this target.

However, without far-reaching changes in how aid is delivered, it won’t achieve maximum benefits. Two key areas of reform are needed.

First, aid needs to focus better on poor people’s needs. This means more aid being spent on areas such as basic healthcare and education. Aid should no longer be tied to goods and services from the donor, so ensuring that more money is spent in the poorest countries. And the World Bank and the IMF must become fully democratic in order for poor people’s concerns to be heard.

Second, aid should support poor countries and communities’ own plans and paths out of poverty. Aid should therefore no longer be conditional on recipients promising economic change like privatising or deregulating their services, cutting health and education spending, or opening up their markets: these are unfair practices that have never been proven to reduce poverty. And aid needs to be made predictable, so that poor countries can plan effectively and take control of their own budgets in the fight against poverty.

MakePovertyHistory is a unique UK alliance of charities, trade unions, campaigning groups and celebrities who are mobilising around key opportunities in 2005 to drive forward the struggle against poverty and injustice.

Text by © Make Poverty History

i-to-i

2005-08-19T01:22:00.000-07:00

i-to-i, an award-winning organisation providing opportunities to volunteer and work abroad, and training for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)