Since
1995, Hong Kong's first and foremost satirical publication
dedicated to press freedom. Or something.
Mémoire Du Jour
With acknowledgements to Wally Wilde, QQ
(Hemlock), Patsy and other former NTSCMP
staffers.
Protest Brewing? Where To
Buy Your Sniper Rifles In Hong Kong
Accuracy
International's Hong Kong Representative is:
Bowson
International Ltd. Hong Kong, Professional Market
1/F., No. 1, Sixth Lane, Sha Kok Mei, Sai Kung,
Hong Kong. Tel.: 2792 4754. Fax: 2791 7418.
E-mail them now on bowma76@attglobal.ne
Everyone
has seen the usefulness of sniper rifles recently
in Bangkok where Government hit men picked off
protesters in a turkey shoot approach to law
enforcement. But where did they get them? And
where can you get the same on behalf of your own
threatened despotic Government? Accuracy
International is a specialist British firearms
manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire,
England and best known for producing the Accuracy
International Arctic Warfare series of
precision sniper rifles. The company was
established in 1978 by British Olympic shooting
Gold medallist Malcom Cooper (1947-2001), Sarah
Cooper, Martin Kay and the designers of the
weapons, Dave Walls and Dave Caig. All were
international or national target shooters.
Accuracy Internationals high-accuracy sniper
rifles are in use with many military units and
police departments around the world. Accuracy
International went into liquidation in 2005, and
was bought by a British consortium which has
resulted in the original design team now being
back in control of the company. The Accuracy
International rifle system has gained success
due, in part, to the design considerations put
into the overall rifle. First, the rifle stock
design is designed with ergonomics at the top of
the design-list. The comfort in holding the rifle
combined with the reduction in recoil has aided
in the accuracy of those using the rifle. Second,
the barrel is interchangeable with other calibres
and this can be done in the field in about
fifteen minutes. With a clamping of the barrel in
a barrel vice, the removal of the barrel from the
action, the new barrel just screws into the
action and a torque wrench tightens it in place;
this interchangeability allows for a
mission-specific deployment of calibres. Finally,
the inherent accuracy of the rifle is due to the
action being bolted with four screws and
permanently bonded with epoxy material to an
aluminium frame to which all major rifle
components are attached. As it keeps the action
from moving away from zero, the accuracy of the
rifle is very high. Adding a folding stock
handle, this sniper rifle can be used for both
HALO insertions as well as walking deployments of
sniper forces.Accuracy International unveiled
their new AS50 50BMG calibre semi-automatic
rifle at the 2005 Las Vegas Shot Show. The UK
government announced the award of an £11 million
contract to produce rifles for the British Army
in March 2008.
Democracy Is NOT Coming To
The UK
ABOVE: Wait until the
end of the interview to see Rupert Murdoch's Sky
News Political Editor almost assault the Labour
spin doctor. The Murdoch media, having done a
deal with Cameron to dismantle the BBC, were
rabidly anti-Labour in the election campaign.
Pardon our absence, or
rather the lack of updates. We have been gripped
by a real election and real politics in a real
society, in the United Kingdom. One of my old
Hartlepool and Oxford friends, the former
national Treasurer of the Liberals, stood for
election again and I was seriously thinking of
joining him before I realised he is just a closet
Tory. He lost anyway, halving the Liberal vote in
Hartlepool. For a month I have been following
events via the BBC News 24 channel. Sadly, it was
not to be. The Tories have squirmed into power
and it is clear that the Liberals are just Tories
without the toffee noses and Jaguars. How nice it
is to be away from it all. When I next return to
UK I will shrug my shoulders as usual when they
all start complaining of unemployment, high
taxes, rising crime and failing public services.
I'm all right, Jack. It's the British philosophy,
after all. They voted for it. We now enter forty
days of mourning. The Schadenfreude must begin
with the first Tory Budget. Labour will return
before long.
John Pilger Receives The
Sydney Peace Prize
In
a speech at the Sydney Opera House to mark his
award of Australia's human rights prize, the
Sydney Peace Prize, John Pilger describes the
"unique features" of a political
silence in Australia: how it affects the national
life of his homeland and the way Australians see
the world and are manipulated by great power
"which speaks through an invisible
government of propaganda that subdues and limits
our political imagination and ensures we are
always at war - against our own first people and
those seeking refuge, or in someone else's
country".
UK Election Comedy
Berk Of The Week
Ash Cloud Therapy From
Hovhaness
The opening chords of Alan
Hovhaness's Symphony No.50 ('Mount
St Helen's') may reduce you
to tears and I rarely progress to the shattering
sound of the 'eruptive' third movement, one of
the loudest things ever composed or recorded. Here
is the beginning of that opening movement,
in Windows Media, vastly superior to MP3 (2.2 MB)
but of course never as good as the CD you are
going to buy.
Good News For The Catholic
Church
The number of scouts in the UK
has increased by 16,500 since the start of 2009,
the biggest growth in 38 years, according to
figures. Membership has now risen for five
years in a row, taking levels to nearly 500,000,
the Scout Association said. The surge was largely
due to a record level of interest from teenagers,
who now number more than 65,000, it said. But it
warned the need for more adult volunteers
meant waiting lists to join the movement were at
an all-time high. More...
Where to Buy Your Guns,
Planes And Tanks In Hong Kong
Call EuroMandarin now on 2143
6878 or go round for a cosy chat to the 7th
Floor, Harcourt House, 39 Gloucester Road,
Wanchai.
Citizens getting you down with
clamours for more democracy? Breakaway regions
tired of being suppressed and starved of
investment? Need to show off military might to
discourage neighbouring states? With the UK and
much of Europe blocked to air traffic, step
forward BAE Systems' regional
office in Hong Kong to help you out. Do the
shopping, have a massage, order some howitzers
and get back on the plane to Rangoon, Jakarta or
Bangkok. In 1998 the old British Aerospace, now
the other part of BAE Systems, established a
joint venture called EuroMandarin with First
Mandarin, a Hong Kong trading and project
management company. Although it planned to start
with civil aerostructures, it was acknowledged
that the relationship 'could help support' future
military aerospace deals. BAE plays important
roles in military aircraft production. The
company's Typhoon, Tornado and Harrier
fighter-bombers are justly famous for bombing
East Timor for example. BAE is a major partner in
the F-35 Lightning II programme. Its Hawk
advanced jet trainer aircraft has been widely
exported. In July 2006, the British government
declassified the HERTI (High Endurance Rapid
Technology Insertion), an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) which can navigate autonomously. BAE
Systems' interests in commercial aviation are
vested in BAE Systems Regional Aircraft. This
unit no longer produces aircraft, however it
continues to lease and support its products, the
BAe 146/Avro RJ family, BAe ATP, Jetstream and BAe 748.BAE
Systems Land and Armaments manufactures the M2/M3
Bradley fighting vehicle family, the US
Navy Advanced Gun System (AGS), the
M113 armoured
personnel carrier (APC), the M109
Paladin, the British Army's Challenger
II, Warrior
Tracked Armoured Vehicle, M777
howitzer and the Panther
Command and Liaison Vehicle. Happy
shopping!
Obama Maintains Afghan Abuse, BBC
Reports
Afghan prisoners are being abused
in a "secret jail" at Bagram airbase,
according to nine witnesses whose stories the BBC
has documented. The abuses are all said to
have taken place since US President Barack Obama
was elected, promising to end torture. The US
military has denied the existence of a secret
detention site and promised to look into
allegations. More...
Meanwhile In Britain
Hong Kong Money Launderers: The Man
For You
Andrea Marco Benanati of Bank
Julius Baer Hong Kong. Call him now on 2899 4788.
Got a bag of stash you don't know
what to do with? Tax authorities getting you
down? Swiss private banks are there to help you
in your time of need. Principal amongst these is
the biggest Swiss private bank which has now set
up shop in Hong Kong. And they will go to any
lengths to stifle criticism for you, even
attempting to shut down web sites which want to
spill the beans. Contributors
to Wikileaks alleged that their disclosed
documents provided evidence of the bank
facilitating asset hiding, money laundering and
tax evasion. Ten account holders in the United
States, Spain, Peru, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong
and Switzerland have been identified so far. In
early February 2008, lawyers for the bank won an
injunction in the USA that forced Dynadot, the
domain registrar of Wikileaks.org, to
disassociate the site's records from its servers,
preventing use of the domain name to reach the
site. Unfortunately, the bank's actions roused
media and cyber liberties groups to defend
Wikileaks' rights under the USA First Amendment
and brought renewed scrutiny to the documents the
bank hoped to shield. A judge lifted the
injunction and the bank dropped the case on March
5, 2008. More... Come on
Bank Baer. Bring it on. You can do better than
that.
Paying The Price: Killing The
Children Of Iraq
As usual, John Pilger was reporting
on this years before anyone else. An
uncomfortable truth is that cuddly Clinton - like
most 'liberal' Amercian presidents - was the most
warlike US President in recent times. Obama
lovers, please note. The slogans and the colour
and the PR mean nothing. The only means of
judging governments, especially American ones, is
how many innocent people they kill. Americanism,
the unspoken and undefined taboo ideology of the
USA since 1945, knows no party lines in America
and it was the main theme of Obama's election
pitch, not 'change'. Americanism - destructive,
imperialist and bloodthirsty - remains Obama's
principal policy still.
Thinking The Unthinkable
Confession and repentance
are not among the Christian virtues practised by
the pope. He has apologised for the rape
of children by Catholic priests in Ireland; but
this is one of the few paedophilia scandals now
shaking the church in which neither he nor
members of his inner circle were involved.
He condemned the Irish bishops' "grave
errors of judgment" and "failures of
leadership", but of his own grave errors and
failures – in Munich, Wisconsin and California
– he says not a word, except to dismiss the
issue as "petty gossip". His response
to this scandal reminds you of the origins of the
verb to pontificate. Shut out of his closed,
self-regulated world, the victims of sacerdotal
rape could only rage in frustration. Until now.
Over the weekend, the authors Richard Dawkins and
Christopher Hitchens announced that they've asked
lawyers to prepare a case against the pope.
Recently, in the Guardian, Geoffrey Robertson,
the barrister they are consulting, explained that
senior churchmen who protected paedophile
priests, swore their victims to secrecy and
allowed the perpetrators to continue working with
children, committed the offence of aiding and
abetting sex with minors. Practised on a large
scale, this becomes a crime against humanity
recognised by the international criminal court.
This is the general Vatican policy over which the
then Cardinal Ratzinger is accused of presiding.
When Benedict comes to the UK in September he
could, if Dawkins and Hitchens get their warrant,
be arrested. At last we are waking up to what
international law means. For the first time in
modern history the underlying assumption of
political life – that those who exercise power
over us will not be judged by the same legal and
moral norms as common citizens – is beginning
to crack. More...
Sun Hung Kai Buys Rights To Fritzl
Flat Design
Leading Hong Kong flat builder Sun
Hung Kai has bought the rights to the infamous
Josef Fritzl dungeon which incarcerated his
daughter and children for years. 'This design has
everything', a spokesman for SHK told NTSCMP. '
It is innovative, modern, tailored to the Hong
Kong consumer and really uses precious space. We
intend to build 1500 of them on a deserted
landfill somewhere soon. By our calculations, the
total floor area is 25,000 square feet per unit,
which puts our proposed 'Fritzl Vista'
condominium in the super-luxury niche.' Lee Shau
Kee is ugly but very, very rich.
Junk Politics And Brand Obama
Only In Hong Kong
This week: Kwai Chung
German With Joseph
This week: Vergangenheitsbewältigung
('Fer-gang-en-heights-be-velt-ee-gung')
English: 'Dealing with the past'.
A lovely vord, my little liver
dumplings! Zought you ought to know about ze long
words in German as zoon as possible. Zer are so
many of zem! Some people have a lot to deal with
ven it comes to ze past. Ve have ze nasty brown
shirt past and ve have zat messing mit der
choirboys past. I didn't know anyzing about zat!
I vas only taking orders. In fact, I took holy
orders. Geddit? Just my little joke.
Oh, how did zat get in here? Anyvay,
zat's all for this veek, my little potato
pancakes. See you next Sunday!
We Too Were Hacked - By A Turk?
The Chinese Communist Party's Cyber
'Red Visitors'
Just as it occasionally uses triad
thugs in Hong Kong as deniable 'hooligan
elements' to do its dirty work, the Chinese
Communist Party manipulates 'patriotic youth' on
the Mainland to hack into hundreds of Western web
sites. Al-Jazeera reports.
Collateral Murder: The New
All-American Video Game
WikiLeaks has released a classified
US military video depicting the indiscriminate
slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi
suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters
news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the
video through the Freedom of Information Act,
without success since the time of the attack. The
video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site,
clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded
Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young
children involved in the rescue were also
seriously wounded.
The Cathay Attendant's Prayer
Oh send us compliant punters
Who don't complain about the seats,
Businessmen with large wallets
Nursing mothers with plenty of
teats.
We used to be so glamorous
The red suit was all it took,
But now we're ageing harridans
And no one gives a f***.
A.J. Moist-Towelette, 50,000
Feet
Welcome To Apple World
It's a world where you can consume
but you can't create, where you can have but you
can't own, where everything whizzes but never
stings. It's bright and plastic but built to last
because machines are more important than the
people who use them.
You wouldn't want to listen to
classical music on an iPad as it sounds crap. You
wouldn't want to write a novel on an iPad as it
is as inspiring as a TV set. You can't really
create a web site on an iPad either as that isn't
what people are for.
People are made to exploit, control
and emasculate. The Web looked like a good idea
but within a few years it ought to be just like
all the other media: managed, controlled and safe
for corporate culture.
iPad anyone? It's so... shiny!
Says It All
Phoney Doctors
This week: Allan Semen
The British Empire Today
First Kill The Pets Then Remove The
People
If That Doesn't Work, Make It Into A
'Nature Reserve' And Stop People From Fishing
There Because Fishing Is Their Livelihood
George Galloway often tells the joke
about The Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets, the
British Empire, which we think has been
dismantled but which in reality is, like the
American and French empires, still doing well and
taking on new guises and forging new
partnerships. Galloway says that the sun never
set on the British Empire because God would never
trust the British in the dark.
Today, 2nd April 2010, even the BBC,
the summit of British state propaganda, highlights the
British move to make the Chagos Islands into a
'marine reserve'.
The
former residents of the islands, who were evicted
from the British overseas territory between 1967
and 1971 to make way for the US Air Force base on
the largest island, Diego Garcia, have fought a
long-running battle in the UK courts for the
right to return.
Of
the islands, only Diego Garcia, which has played
a key role in the US-led operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, is currently inhabited.
After years of litigation, the
courts in the UK ordered the British Government
to return the Chagos Islands to the islanders.
They had been deported to the slums of Mauritius
because the British got an eleven million pound
discount on missiles from the Americans for
selling Diego Garcia to them so that it could be
made into a base for decades for bombing runs
into Iraq (long before there was any official
'war').
This
is of course buried low down in the article. The
truth is that the British first killed the pets
of the islanders, then rounded them up and
bundled them off across the ocean. If the
Argentinians had done the same to the Falkland
islanders, bombs would have been dropped on
Buenos Aires. But the Chagos islanders are black.
They just don't count, as we all know. And the
British Empire sails on and the longest runways
in the world get their deliveries of
bunker-busting bombs because Obama is for peace
and justice and a new age is upon us. Yes we can,
they say in Whitehall.
And Whilst We're On The
Subject...Cringe Video Of The Month
Former NTSCMP Columnist Patsy Says '
I Am Gay'
We are all shocked and writing to
the Daily Mail about it. For Patsy's former
columns, which give none of his sexuality away,
please go to the archives.
AlterNet http://www.alternet.org
AlterNet.org is a project of the
Independent Media Institute, a
nonprofit rganization dedicated
to strengthening and supporting
independent and alternative
journalism. AlterNet's online
magazine provides a mix of news,
opinion and investigative
journalism on subjects ranging
from the environment, the drug
war, technology and cultural
trends to policy debate, sexual
politics and health issues.
ACIJ http://www.reportage.uts.edu.au
The Australian Centre for
Independent Journalism (ACIJ) is
fully committed to the principle
that democratic societies require
independent, critical and
investigative journalism of the
highest standard.
The Activist http://www.theactivist.co.uk
Encouraging active participation
in political and economic issues:
globalisation, Western economic
imperialism, oppression,
injustice.
Appeals Worldwide http://www.appealsww.com
Appeals Worldwide specializes in
producing appeals letters based
on Amnesty International cases,
for you to send to the
authorities in the countries
concerned. No two letters that we
produce are identically worded,
and you can further adapt them to
your own requirements. Never
before has it been so easy to act
on behalf of human rights
victims.
Antony Loewenstein http://antonyloewenstein.com
Antony Loewenstein is a
Sydney-based freelance
journalist, author and blogger.
His book on the Israel/Palestine
conflict, My Israel Question, is
released by Melbourne University
Publishing in 2006.
Arab Media Watch http://www.arabmediawatch.com
AMW was set up to tackle a
proliferation of traditional
bias, ignorance and
misunderstanding in the British
media regarding Arab issues. The
need to restore a measure of
balance to its coverage is as
urgent as ever in view of the
power of the media to shape and
influence public opinion.
B
Black Rhinoceros http://www.blackrhinoceros.org
The largest directory on the Net
of environmental actions in the
areas of Biodiversity,
Conservation, Energy,
Environmental Justice, Habitat
and Pollution.
C
Campaign for Press
and Broadcasting Freedom (UK) http://www.cpbf.org.uk
The Campaign for Press and
Broadcasting Freedom is an
independent voice for media
reform working to promote
policies for a diverse,
democratic and accountable media.
They campaign for a media which
is more accountable to the people
it is meant to serve; the breakup
of media concentration to promote
greater media diversity; rights
of citizens to redress for unfair
coverage; and rights of
journalists to report freely.
Membership is made up of
individuals who care about the
media and democracy, and
affiliated organisations. These
include national trade unions,
local trade union and Labour
Party branches as well as media,
cultural and educational
organisations.
The Campaign for
Press and Broadcasting Freedom
(Canada) http://presscampaign.org
The Campaign for Press and
Broadcasting Freedom represents a
common front of readers and
viewers, those working in the
media industries, and labour and
community groups concerned about
the increasing concentration of
media ownership in Canada.
Chomsky Info http://www.chomsky.info
The official archive of articles,
speeches and interviews by Noam
Chomsky.
ColdType.net http://www.coldtype.net
ColdType.net publishes e-books,
essays, photojournalism and its
own 64-page monthly e-magazine,
dedicated to 'Writing Worth
Reading From Around The World'.
Its many contributors include
John Pilger, Chris Hedges, Robert
Fisk, Norman Solomon, Ray
McGovern, Tom Engelhardt, George
Monbiot, Frida Berrigan and many
others. The site contains
hundreds of high-quality pdf
downloads and everything is free.
Corporate Europe Observatory http://www.corporateeurope.org
CEO is a Amsterdam and
Madrid-based research and
campaign group targeting the
threats to democracy, equity,
social justice and the
environment posed by the economic
and political power of
corporations and their lobby
groups.
CounterPunch http://www.counterpunch.org
Muckraking US leftist newsletter
edited by Alexander Cockburn and
Jeffrey St. Clair.
Crisis Forum http://www.crisis-forum.org.uk/index.html
Crisis Forum believe that
humankind is in serious trouble
due to an economic and political
system which is destroying our
ability to sustain our existence
on this planet. Aims are: to
bring together committed people
from diverse college-based,
academic disciplines, as well as
independent researchers, to
analyse the nature of the crisis
in a genuinely holistic way; to
put that knowledge to positive
use so that ordinary people can
apply global knowledge to local
contexts; to develop this
initiative as an independent
research-based 'centre' through
projects, publications and study
programmes.
D
Dahr Jamail's Iraq
dispatches http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com
News From Inside Iraq. Weary of
the overall failure of the US
media to accurately report on the
realities of the war in Iraq for
the Iraqi people and US soldiers,
Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to
report on the war himself. His
dispatches were quickly
recognized as an important media
resource and he is now writing
for the Inter Press Service, The
Asia Times and many other
outlets. His reports have also
been published with The Nation,
The Sunday Herald, Islam Online,
and the Guardian to name just a
few. Dahr's dispatches and hard
news stories have been translated
into Polish, German, Dutch,
Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese,
Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On
the radio, Dahr is a special
correspondent for Flashpoints and
reports for the BBC, Democracy
Now!, and numerous other stations
around the globe. Dahr has spent
a total of 8 months in occupied
Iraq as one of only a few
independent US journalists in the
country.
Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org
A daily news and TV programme on
over 350 stations pioneering the
largest community media
cooperation in the US. Hosted by
award-winning journalists Amy
Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.
F
FAIR http://www.fair.org
Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting, based in the US, has
been offering well-documented
criticism of media bias and
censorship since 1986.
Robert Fisk http://www.robert-fisk.com
Website dedicated to articles by
Robert Fisk - Middle East
correspondent for the Independent
newspaper in the UK.
Foreign Policy in
Focus http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org
US journal with many in-depth
articles and much analysis of
American foreign policy. Working
to make the U.S. a more
responsible global leader and
partner.
G
Glasgow Media Group http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Sociology/units/media.htm
The Group consists mostly of
people who have worked in the
unit at Glasgow University, plus
broadcasters and others who have
published with them. The purpose
of its work is to promote the
development of new methodologies
and substantive research in the
area of media and communications.
Global Echo http://www.globalecho.org
UK-based progressive site with
news and current affairs from
around the world.
Global Research http://globalresearch.ca
The Centre for Research on
Globalisation (CRG) is an
independent research and media
group of writers, scholars and
activists. It is a registered non
profit organisation in Quebec,
Canada. Their website publishes
news articles, commentary,
background research and analysis
on a broad range of issues,
focusing on social, economic,
strategic, geopolitical and
environmental processes.
Green Books http://www.greenbooks.co.uk
Publishers of books about the
environment, ecology, gardening,
organics, conservation and green
issues. Publishers of 'The
Compassionate Revolution' and
'Free To Be Human' by David
Edwards.
H
Hacktivismo http://hacktivismo.com
Hacktivismo is a group of
international hackers, human
rights workers, artists and
others who seek to further the
goals of human rights through
technology.
Hands Off Venezuela! www.handsoffvenezuela.org
The Hands Off Venezuela Campaign
was established in December 2002
to counter lies and
misinformation about the country
in the local and international
media and to campaign against
imperialist intervention by the
United States.
I
Indymedia UK http://uk.indymedia.org
Indymedia UK is a network of
individuals, independent and
alternative media activists and
organisations, offering
grassroots, non-corporate,
non-commercial coverage of
important social and political
issues.
International Human Rights
Seminar https://www.oxfordunivhumanrightsseminar.org.uk
IHRS is based at the Centre for
Socio-Legal Studies at the
University of Oxford and
organised by students and
foward-thinking academics and
headed by Dr William Pepper, an
International Human Rights
Lawyer.
Islam Online (in
English) http://www.islam-online.net/english/index.shtml
All the information you need
about Islam and its
civilizations, the universe and
its changes, current affairs and
their analyses, and general
information and services.
J
Justice Not
Vengeance http://www.j-n-v.org
Justice Not Vengeance (JNV) is an
anti-war group which has
developed out of ARROW (Active
Resistance to the Roots of War).
JNV opposes the US-UK 'war on
terrorism', and campaigns for a
peaceful resolution of
international conflicts, based on
justice and equality."
Includes excellent media reviews
and other articles by Milan Rai.
M
Media Alliance http://www.media-alliance.org
Media Alliance is a 25-year-old
nonprofit training and resource
center for media workers,
community organizations, and
political activists. Our mission
is excellence, ethics, diversity,
and accountability in all aspects
of the media in the interests of
peace, justice, and social
responsibility.
MediaChannel http://www.mediachannel.org
MediaChannel is a media issues
supersite, featuring criticism,
breaking news, and investigative
reporting from hundreds of
organizations worldwide. As the
media watch the world, we watch
the media." Includes link to
'News Dissector' blog by Danny
Schechter.
MediaLens http://www.medialens.org
MediaLens is a response based
on the conviction that
mainstream newspapers and
broadcasters provide a profoundly
distorted picture of our
world. MediaLens are convinced
that the increasingly
centralised, corporate nature of
the media means that it acts as a
de facto propaganda system for
corporate and other establishment
interests. The costs incurred as
a result of this propaganda, in
terms of human suffering and
environmental degradation, are
incalculable. MediaLens hope that
this website will help to turn
bystanders into compassionate
actors.
Media Studies http://www.mediastudies.com
The purpose of MediaStudies.com
is to help advance research and
education in media studies and
critical thinking. The site
serves as a hub - providing links
to educational guidelines, global
news outlets and other resources
for media educators, students,
researchers, and the wider
community.
The Middle East
Research and Information Project http://www.merip.org
In the words of French journalist
Eric Rouleau, "No person,
specializing or not in Middle
Eastern affairs, can afford
ignoring Middle East
Report." Professor Rashid
Khalidi, a leading American
scholar, says "Middle East
Report is the best periodical (in
English) on the Middle East --
bar none."
News Alternative http://www.asia-stat.com
Access to a diverse range of news
media from around the world.
The New Standard http://newstandardnews.net The New
Standard is a unique, independent
hard news website. Dedicated to
current events reporting and
investigative journalism, TNS
provides up-to-date news from a
journalistic perspective that
emphasizes the public interest.
TNS is a reader-funded
publication -- that is what makes
it truly independent. Because it
receives no funding from
government, corporate or
foundation sources, TNS remains
free from outside pressures and
accountable to its readership.
Non-Violence Help http://nonviolencehelp.tripod.com/index.html
This site draws together some of
the available on-line resources
on the history, theory and
practice of nonviolence. It is
both an introduction to
nonviolent social change and a
resource for trainers and
activists.
O
Open Democracy http://www.opendemocracy.net
An independent, not-for-profit
magazine dedicated to free
dialogue across the globe about
the major issues in the world
today.
Private Planet http://www.private-planet.com
Excerpts from David Cromwell's
book Private Planet: Corporate
Plunder and the Fight Back (Jon
Carpenter, Charlbury, 2001).
PR Watch http://www.prwatch.org
Investigative reporting on the
Public Relations industry
R
Relief Web http://www.reliefweb.int
ReliefWeb is the world's leading
on-line gateway to information
(documents and maps) on
humanitarian emergencies and
disasters. An independent vehicle
of information, designed
specifically to assist the
international humanitarian
community in effective delivery
of emergency assistance, it
provides timely, reliable and
relevant information as events
unfold, while emphasizing the
coverage of 'forgotten
emergencies' at the same
time.ReliefWeb was launched in
October 1996 and is administered
by the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs.
Jeff Rense http://www.rense.com
Web site of the Jeff Rense
Program - the US radio show
Resist http://www.resist.com.au
Resist is a not for profit entity
whose aim is to help facilitate
some form of non-violent
resistance to the growing
neo-conservative empire.
Andy Rowell http://www.andyrowell.com
Articles by campaigning
journalist Andy Rowell, author of
Green Backlash, who has had many
stories published in newspapers
and magazine across the world.
S
Schnews http://www.schnews.org.uk
The weekly newsletter from
Justice? - Brighton's Direct
Action collective
Scientists for
Global Responsibility http://www.sgr.org.uk
SGR promotes the ethical practice
and use of science and
technology. We develop and
support initiatives which make
science more open, accountable
and democratic. Our work involves
research, education, lobbying and
providing a support network for
ethically-concerned scientists.
Links to Science and Ethics
related web sites and
organizations.
Spinwatch http://www.spinwatch.org
SpinWatch exists to provide
public interest research and
reporting on corporate and
government public relations and
propaganda. Spin techniques are
much more extensive than is
generally realised, encompassing
media management, lobbying,
corporate social responsibility,
investor relations and corporate
dirty tricks and spying. We aim
to foster greater public and
political awareness of spin and
to campaign against the
manipulations of the PR industry
in the public interest.
SQUALL http://www.squall.co.uk
SQUALL Magazine Online is a forum
for radical quality journalism
and photography. It presents
accessible and factually reliable
investigations into issues which
the mainstream media dare not
touch.
T
Take Back The Media http://www.takebackthemedia.com
"The US media has abandoned
their responsibility to the
country. The view that gets
advanced is no longer the view of
the 'little guy' - it's the view
of ownership, of top management,
of major corporations. Editorial
decisions are made with one eye
on the political slant that will
best benefit the company, and one
eye on the bottom line. The
corporate view is tainted, in
that it looks for the best way to
advance the corporation's
financial interests. The result
is this - instead of behaving as
the Watchdog of Democracy, the
media has become the Lapdog of
government."
U
Union of Concerned
Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org
Citizens and scientists for
environmental solutions.
Voices in the
Wilderness (UK) http://www.voicesuk.org
Voices in the Wilderness has been
campaigning - both here and in
the US - against US/UK policy
towards Iraq since the
mid-nineties. First, against the
economic sanctions and US/UK
military strikes on Iraq and,
more recently, against the
invasion of Iraq.
W
War In Context http://warincontext.org
Alternative perspectives on the
'War on Terrorism' and the Middle
East conflict.
World Socialist Web
Site http://www.wsws.org
The World Socialist Web Site is
the Internet center of the
International Committee of the
Fourth International (ICFI). It
provides analysis of major world
events, comments on political,
cultural, historical and
philosophical issues, and
valuable documents and studies
from the heritage of the
socialist movement.
Brian S. Wilson http://www.brianwillson.com
Writings by peace activist Brian
S. Willson, a former United
States Air Force officer who
served in Vietnam.
Z
ZMAG http://www.zmag.org
Z Magazine's web site: an
independent political magazine of
critical thinking on political,
cultural, social, and economic
life in the United States and
around the globe.
