21st Century Vision

Taking On The Giant Corporations

Felicity Lawrence’s book “Not On The Label” has shown the power of the supermarkets in the Western world and particular on the food industry. Their power has put the quality of our food at risk; made infected food more likely, put farms and suppliers out of business and created a new slave labour force amongst migrant workers. Such is the power of the mighty global corporation.

In his latest documentary Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price, director Robert Greenwald doesn't explicitly state that Wal-Mart is "like some mystical evil force." But his portrayal of the awesome degree of power Wal-Mart wields is nevertheless devastating. The opening scene shows a packed shareholders' meeting applauding Wal-Mart CEO, Lee Scott, for minutes on end. Such is their zeal, they could be mistaken for a cult following. Scott tells them, "I promise you this: we're going to stay the course. And this company is going to continue to grow.

It is this conviction in Wal-Mart's own sense of purpose, and its desire for growth – at any cost – that Greenwald seeks to expose. However, this documentary is more than an exposé of bad business practices. It also explores, though interviews with grassroots campaigners and union workers, how the world's largest retailer and the largest private employer in the US, can be confronted.

As a result of the film and other campaigns including Wal-Mart Watch,

Wal-Mart has launched a massive PR campaign defending itself against various allegations and trying to promote the company image. As part of this, Wal-Mart has assembled "a war room" team of PR specialists, who have extensive experience of running political campaigns.

"They've attacked me pretty viciously, almost all of it wrong," says Greenwald. "They've put thousands of dollars into trying to discredit me, but it comes with the job. You take these things on."

However, Greenwald's message isn't anti-capitalist – a number of his subjects stress that they believe in capitalism – rather it's a warning of what can happen when power is unchecked and when "American values" are compromised. "This film focuses on greed, which Americans don't support, and on breaking the rules, because Wal-Mart doesn't play by the rules."

Vox populi?

The people spoke in Enfield on 4th May, but what did they say?

The headline story is that a Conservative council was re-elected. Against the national (and London) tide, Labour gained three seats, while a one-issue campaign to prevent the closure of a local hospital A&E department (Save Chase Farm, or SCF) broke the mould and gained two seats on the 63 member council. The Conservatives (34 seats) now have a majority over Labour (27) and SCF (2) of 5 seats: comfortable, but not overwhelming.

That however is not the whole story. Suppose we ask how well the electoral system expressed the preferences of local people. To do that we can first compare the Conservative and Labour performances directly, since each contested all three seats in every ward. The Conservatives polled 97,162 votes against Labour’s 69,413. On that basis the Conservatives should have received 1.4 times as many council seats as Labour; in fact they received only 1.26 times as many. The electoral arrangements favoured Labour, giving them three or four seats more than their support justified.

But other parties stood as well. Are we to conclude that those who won no seats enjoyed no significant support? None of the smaller parties contested all wards, so we cannot compare their aggregate votes with those of the major parties. We can however compare their performance with the major parties and with each other in terms of votes per candidate. These were as follows –

Conservatives, 1542
Labour, 1102
Liberal Democrats, 507
Green, 560
SCF, 1386
Others, 217

These figures may overstate support for the major parties, since many voters in wards where their preferred minor party had fewer than three candidates would have opted for the least-worst major party alternative. On the other hand it is possible that some normally major party electors deliberately decided to vote for one minor party candidate in their ward, and would not have voted for a second, had there been one.  However, if seats in the council chamber were distributed according to the actual support obtained per candidate it would look as follows –

Conservatives, 18
Labour, 13
Liberal Democrats, 6
Green, 7
SCF, 16
Others, 3

We must be cautious. No doubt the smaller parties fought wards where they thought they would do better, and avoided those where they expected little response, while ward sizes vary somewhat. Moreover, if the electoral system allocated seats on a strictly proportional basis the behaviour of voters and parties would change. Perhaps the system we have reflects an unspoken preference for strong single party local government, even at the cost of stifling wider debate.

But can anyone be confident that the outcome of the 4^th May elections in Enfield well represents the range of views of its electors?

Go to the full Enfield council election results

Sad State Of Local Government

Local Elections are now over and we are being told that it is a judgement on the Labour Government and the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown tells us the electorate is telling us something and the Labour Government should listen. Of course he is right the electorate is telling us something but not what Gordon Brown thinks. They are telling us that Local Government is in such a sad state in the UK that they use local elections to caste judgement on national issues rather than to hold local government itself to account.

This really highlights the dependent state of the local government in the UK. In some other countries – particularly those in Scandinavia – local government is treated seriously. Local authorities often raise 80% of their own revenue from local sources and thus have a high degree of political autonomy. In the UK, the opposite is true and local government is largely dependent on national finance. As a result national government looks upon local authorities as an administrative arm of their own policies rather than autonomous units that can make decisions themselves and be held accountable.

Consequently in Scandinavian countries, the turn out for local elections can be 70% plus whilst in the UK it is below 40%. Electorates use local elections to therefore make judgement on national government and this is unhealthy for local democracy. At a time when local authorities need to forge policies within an interdependent global context, autonomous local government is important.

Of course electorates also use local elections to express their real feelings about central government. At General Elections, voters rarely stray away from the major parties because the first past the post system means that smaller parties do not stand a chance. But in local elections they do and because there is no deposit, almost anyone or any party can stand.

Increasingly local voters are using this to express the real diversity that is in British society. As a result, Parties like the Greens can score very well, one issue candidates (Like the Save Hospitals, Stop the Motorway campaigns) can also find themselves elected. Also significant fragments of the electorate like the white working class in East London can drift towards populist and right wing extremism to express their disenchantment with a Government that has left them behind in their panic to achieve an unsustainable and ephemeral form of modernity.

What we really need is substantial local government reform that has as its guiding principle respect for local communities, faith in local government and an understanding of the global context in which local government increasingly finds itself, but no major Party has shown willingness to modernise in such an imaginative and appropriate way. So we are left with the dregs of local democracy and who can blame the electorate when they use their votes to express feelings and ideas that have nothing to do with what the election is ostensibly about – local government itself.

Writing On The Wall ......

Do we always get the politicians we deserve or do they somehow have a life of their own that disregards the world and people around them?  After the first World War, Turkey had become weak and fragmented and in the vacuum that the fall of the Ottoman Empire had created, the Greeks attacked Asia Minor to create the dream of a Greater Greece – a political entity that the Greeks of Asia Minor (who called themselves Ottomans) did not want. The result was the brutal massacre of the Muslim population and this was later followed by a retaliatory massacre of Greeks and Armenians on mainland Anatolia.

Most of the world opposed the Greek attack on the dying Ottoman Empire but one politician stood out in its support and that was the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George. Most people opposed him including many of his Cabinet and particularly Winston Churchill – but it was the Prime Minister that drove British Foreign policy.

How like today that is. A British Prime Minister against the wishes of the majority of the world, his own people and members of his Cabinet took his country to a war that has led to massacre and carnage daily. The actions of politicians after the First World War set the scene for an almost half century of strife. The actions of the present British Prime Minister and a messianic President Of The United States suggest we are on that same tragic road.

After the First World War, the world became a more dangerous place and when economic depression hit the world, the dangers of brutal nationalism became only too apparent. We do not yet have that depression but it may not be far off. A think tank Report has shown that Britain lives far beyond its means in terms of self-sufficiency and a Parliamentary Report shows that we will have an energy deficiency gap very soon. If this happens then economic depression is not far away – and this will happen on a world scale.

We already see the growth of extremism – the fundamental religious extremists of the United States, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalists and in Europe the seeds of secular extremism through the far right – in France and many other countries. Even in Great Britain a Joseph Rowntree Report has shown that up to 25% of the electorate has at times considered voting for the British National Party because of despair with conventional politics.

We are gradually getting to a crossroads that requires more vision than we have at the moment from our politicians and the willingness to work in harmony with the international community through the United Nations. If we do not change soon and get the politicians that we desperately need, then the writing may well be on the wall.

Learning From Others Globally

Well Bird flue has hit the British Isles demonstrating yet again that events beyond our borders can impact on our national life. Today our world is even more interdependent than ever before.  From climate change to international terrorism and from the migrations of people to the spread of disease the world depends on international co-operation and global understanding more than ever.

Somehow in Great Britain there is an insular instinct that rejects and resists this just a little and a much larger resistance in the USA. For nations with a recent imperial history and those making their own at this moment, there is still that feeling that self-sufficiency works and there is no need for others.

In Great Britain that attitude was very strong after World War Two and there is still a semblance of it here now. In the present incident of bird flue I wonder how much that instinct of isolation was in play. Recent outbreaks of bird flue in France and Germany were identified early and dealt with quickly. Yet in Scotland, the dead swan was lying there for a week before the authorities took action. The Police rather than take matters into their own hands told the person who reported it to phone the RSPCA.

Now that suggests that the government had not developed a contingency plan that went down to the local level. They may have an emergency plan to deal with a crisis once it takes hold but not to contain it at the earliest of stages. They are good at dealing with horses after they have bolted but not competent at stopping them from bolting in the first place.

This sounds a little like the old British attitude of officials knowing best and keeping bad news from people until it is absolutely essential. This is a peculiar British disease and one that stops officials involving local communities at an early stage in disaster planning.

Now we need to find out why this happened and why other European countries were off the mark much more quickly when dead birds were found. It is in the international exchange of information and good practice that improvement lies but it needs some humility from national officials and a willingness to learn from others globally.

The international flow of information and good practice is a part of the modern world and the most important way to tackle global problems. Scientists are very good at it but politicians and bureaucrats very bad. That is something that needs changing and fast. 

International Women's Day Report

Millions of women around the world, including those in the UK and other Western countries, are being denied effective representation because of the low numbers of female politicians, judges and employers, the United Nations has warned. Campaigners say that unless urgent action is taken on the status of women, the Millennium Development Goals on reducing poverty, infant deaths and standards of education will not be met.

To mark International Women's Day on March 8^th , the UN has published a report that says rates of female participation in governments across the developed and developing world are still appallingly low. The report says that for women to be adequately represented in their country, at least 30 per cent of parliamentary seats should have a female representative.

In Britain, only 18 per cent of MPs are women, while only 8 per cent of MPs in Arab countries are female. Just 20 nations - including Rwanda, Mozambique, Guyana and Burundi - have reached or exceeded the 30 per cent mark and only three countries (Chile, Spain and Sweden) have complete gender parity in government.

Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said: "The rate of progress overall is slow. Women are every bit as affected as any man by the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century - in economic and social development, as well as in peace and security - often they are more affected."

He added: "The world is starting to grasp that there is no policy more effective in promoting development, health and education than the empowerment of women and girls, and no policy is more important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has ended."

United Nations figures also show that 70 per cent of the world's 1.2 billion people who are estimated to live in poverty are women and children. A woman dies every minute from complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth, and HIV rates are now rising faster among women than men. Charities say that 700 million women are living without adequate food, water, sanitation and education.

Even in the developed world, women face endemic discrimination. Full-time female workers in Japan earn just 51 per cent of the wages of their male counterparts, while only one in five managers in Italy is a woman and just 14 per cent of the seats in the US Congress are taken by women.

In a speech to mark International Women's Day in Britain, Lady Barbara Thomas Judge, who chairs the UK Atomic Energy Authority, said that girls still suffered from discrimination in schools and work. She told a conference organised by the Aurora Network for women in business that 30 years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act in the United Kingdom, women account for half of the working population but for just one in four managers, 9 per cent of the judiciary and 10 per cent of senior police officers.

Lady Judge highlighted the fact that only 14.5 per cent of people employed in the fields of technology and engineering are women, despite evidence that when they do enter the professions, female engineers earn more than men. "Research indicates that those girls that are interested in maths and science are channelled into medicine, nursing and veterinary science because these are perceived as "caring" professions," she said.

"Girls have few role models that show that women can be engineers and there are few companies that provide work experience for women in engineering. If we are to survive as a leading nation in this global- ised world, we must utilise this country's intellectual capability to the fullest extent."

Julia Häusermann, the president of the human rights charity Rights and Humanity, said: "We have much to celebrate on International Women's Day.

"All over the world, women are making progress in political participation, economic empowerment and increased access to education. But wherever we turn, poverty, violence and Aids have a woman's face.

"The empowerment of women is the single most effective tool for development. There is increasing evidence that securing women's rights benefits not just women and their immediate families, but the wider society and national economies."

Women's Day in brief

• Women are better prepared for retirement than men, according to research. Only 16 per cent of women expect to rely on state pensions, compared to 22 per cent of men. One in five women have already consulted their bank about their retirement plans, compared to only 16 per cent of men, a survey for HSBC found.

• An End Violence Against Women campaign by the Fawcett Society today reached its target to get 200 MPs to back an Early Day Motion which calls for the Government to take more action on the issue.

• The Birds Eye View Film Festival, launched today at the NFT, is a female film festival,which features short films, documentaries and feature films, including the Oscar- nominated Badgered by Sharon Colman.

• The yachtswoman Dee Caffari, who left Portsmouth 107 days ago in an attempt to become the first woman to complete the Aviva Challenge - single-handedly sailing against prevailing winds - is expected to finish in May.

• The National Archives in London has digitised more than 7,000 records of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in the years from 1917 to 1920 for Women's Day.

Find out more about International Women's Day

The UN and The EndTime

America is going through a period of sickness and paranoia as fundamentalists take a stronger grip on Government and the culture of many Americans. One of signs of this is that many Americans are gripped by fiction that tells about the “rapture” when Jesus Christ swoops back to earth and Christians are all taken up to heaven, as foreseen in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The rest fight among themselves - some eventually join Jesus and some are taken off to eternal damnation.

Fifty million copies have been sold in the US of a series of novels, which dramatise the 'end times' as fundamentalist Christians calls them. Tim Lehaye is the author of this series of books. The books also deliver a strong political message.He believes that as the end of the world approaches, it will be presided over by a world government.

"The Bible is very clear that is the last days there is a world government - it could be the United Nations, because the UN is totally an anti-Christian organisation, and has been from the beginning."

According to the story, the leader of the UN becomes the Anti Christ presiding over a lawless and evil world until rescued by the second coming of the messiah.

The fact that so many Americans believe this and these are novels read by the born again President of the United States is a major worry to the rest of the world and demonstrates that fundamentalism is not the monopoly of the Islamic world. Thanks goodness there are many Americans who oppose this irrational view. One American recently wrote to me saying,

“We have the millions who believe in "The Rapture" which is the day god comes and sucks his followers off the earth into heaven while the rest of us writhe in agony, roasting on the devil's rotisserie. (I think the people who go to heaven get to take their guns and some beer.)

At least we'll be writhing with the Henry Millers and the Rudolph Nureyevs. The heaven-bound will have Tammy Wynette music and lots of tattoos I think..”

Thank God (or whoever) for American humour. It may yet save the day!

Our dying democracy

From an article by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC in The Independent, 27th February 2006, on the recent report of the Power Commission, which she chaired

The people are not the problem. They are interested in politics. They do care about the bread-and-butter issues that affect their lives; they do care about their communities and neighbourhoods, their country and the world, but they are totally alienated from the political system. We heard it up and down the country - formal democracy is failing the people.

The disenchantment cuts across all sections of society, but the political class just do not get it. They do not realise how deep the alienation runs. A bit of reinvention by the political parties will not be the answer. More fundamental reform is needed if we are to re-establish a democracy fit for a 21st-century People.

Power to the People calls for three essential shifts: more power to the people, more power to parliament and more choice.

There has to be a new emphasis on public engagement in politics. Not only should all public bodies be required to involve citizens in their decision-making processes, but clear processes should exist which allow people to challenge decisions and set the agenda. This is why we recommend the use of a far-reaching Citizen's Initiative, through which people can launch their own local and national referendums, public inquiries and hearings.

The overweening dominance of the executive has to be checked by allowing Parliament the necessary powers to do its job, acting as the eyes, ears and mouth of citizens at the heart of power. We must also revive local government by letting locally elected representatives implement the wishes of local people, not Whitehall. People will only re-engage with formal politics if they can see that their MPs and councillors are people who can really effect change. We have to be honest about the necrosis within the main political parties. Parties have many roles in a democracy, but one of the most crucial is acting as a channel of dialogue between governed and governors. This just does not happen any more. Our evidence is clear: these are unloved organisations which the majority regard as unprincipled, too similar to each other and literally out of touch. Our voting system lets them maintain a monopolistic grip on political power. We need electoral reform that will widen the choice for voters and let new voices and new alliances emerge.

Helena Kennedy is the author of Just Law (Vintage 2005)

Article in full

UK economy boosted by influx of workers from eastern Europe

By Nigel Morris and Stephen Castle in Brussels

Published: 09 February 2006

The influx of workers from central and eastern Europe has boosted Britain's economy, relieved skilled shortages and cut dole queues, the European Commission says.

Britian had reaped the benefit of fully opening its borders to citizens of new EU member states, the commission said, and it urged countries that had imposed tough restrictions to follow Britain's lead.

The Government initially predicted that as few as 13,000 workers a year could head to this country after the EU expanded to take in 10 new members.

They comprised eight former Communist states - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia - as well as Malta and Cyprus.

The actual numbers have far outstripped forecasts with almost 300,000 workers - half from Poland - heading to this country in the 16 months after EU enlargement in May 2004.

But the commission report concluded that, far from increasing unemployment and wrecking prospects for British workers - as critics predicted - the arrival of newcomers has stimulated the economy.

When the EU expanded, only Britain, Ireland and Sweden decided not to impose work restrictions. But the commission noted those nations had " experienced high economic growth, a drop of unemployment and a rise of employment".

Yesterday's document said workers from new nations could help by " relieving labour shortages in certain areas" and highly skilled workers contributed to "business creation and long-term growth". They " did not crowd out national workers" but encouraged those working in the black economy to legalise their status and pay taxes.

Vladimir Spidla, European commissioner for employment and social affairs, said: "After enlargement, we have seen in all aspects positive tendencies. Employment is on the rise and economic growth is accelerating. The UK even shows that interest rates, due to enlargement, have remained relatively low."

Lower wage costs could have exercised downward pressure on inflation, thereby helping to keep down the cost of borrowing.

The commission noted that, since May 2004, the rate of employment had increased in the UK. It also said migration has not been higher into countries with open borders than those with tough restrictions.

Overall, it said the number of workers from the new EU members was equivalent to just 0.4 per cent of the UK workforce, lower than in countries such as Germany (0.7 per cent) and Austria (1.4 per cent) which introduced work permits.

The accession of 10 countries into the EU provoked a crisis for the Government as critics protested over Britain's decision not to impose sanctions as tough as those other countries, such as France and Germany.

The Government decided to have a registration scheme to monitor the number of new arrivals and the jobs they filled. The numbers outstripped ministers' original expectations, but fears that the influx could jeopardise the labour market have not materialised.

Tony McNulty, the Immigration minister, said the report "vindicated the success of the UK's policy in opening up our labour market. Accession workers are continuing to go where vacancies exist, helping to fill the gaps in our labour market."

Danny Sriskandarajah, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: "From the Polish plumber to the Lithuanian au pair, workers from accession countries have filled critical labour shortages in key sectors of our economy up and down the country."

The numbers

Total numbers of east European workers who have come to work in the United Kingdom since the EU expanded

Poles 162,870

Lithuanians 37,275

Slovakians 29,395

Latvians 18,480

Czechs 16,385

Hungarians 8,200

Estonians 3,855

Slovenians 270

Total: 290,695

Figures cover period between May 2004 and September 2005. They do not take into account seasonal and short-contract workers who have since returned home

The influx of workers from central and eastern Europe has boosted Britain's economy, relieved skilled shortages and cut dole queues, the European Commission says.

Britian had reaped the benefit of fully opening its borders to citizens of new EU member states, the commission said, and it urged countries that had imposed tough restrictions to follow Britain's lead.

The Government initially predicted that as few as 13,000 workers a year could head to this country after the EU expanded to take in 10 new members.

They comprised eight former Communist states - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia - as well as Malta and Cyprus.

The actual numbers have far outstripped forecasts with almost 300,000 workers - half from Poland - heading to this country in the 16 months after EU enlargement in May 2004.

But the commission report concluded that, far from increasing unemployment and wrecking prospects for British workers - as critics predicted - the arrival of newcomers has stimulated the economy.

When the EU expanded, only Britain, Ireland and Sweden decided not to impose work restrictions. But the commission noted those nations had " experienced high economic growth, a drop of unemployment and a rise of employment".

Yesterday's document said workers from new nations could help by " relieving labour shortages in certain areas" and highly skilled workers contributed to "business creation and long-term growth". They " did not crowd out national workers" but encouraged those working in the black economy to legalise their status and pay taxes.

Vladimir Spidla, European commissioner for employment and social affairs, said: "After enlargement, we have seen in all aspects positive tendencies. Employment is on the rise and economic growth is accelerating. The UK even shows that interest rates, due to enlargement, have remained relatively low."

Lower wage costs could have exercised downward pressure on inflation, thereby helping to keep down the cost of borrowing.

The commission noted that, since May 2004, the rate of employment had increased in the UK. It also said migration has not been higher into countries with open borders than those with tough restrictions.

Overall, it said the number of workers from the new EU members was equivalent to just 0.4 per cent of the UK workforce, lower than in countries such as Germany (0.7 per cent) and Austria (1.4 per cent) which introduced work permits.

The accession of 10 countries into the EU provoked a crisis for the Government as critics protested over Britain's decision not to impose sanctions as tough as those other countries, such as France and Germany.

The Government decided to have a registration scheme to monitor the number of new arrivals and the jobs they filled. The numbers outstripped ministers' original expectations, but fears that the influx could jeopardise the labour market have not materialised.

Tony McNulty, the Immigration minister, said the report "vindicated the success of the UK's policy in opening up our labour market. Accession workers are continuing to go where vacancies exist, helping to fill the gaps in our labour market."

Danny Sriskandarajah, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: "From the Polish plumber to the Lithuanian au pair, workers from accession countries have filled critical labour shortages in key sectors of our economy up and down the country."

The numbers

Total numbers of east European workers who have come to work in the United Kingdom since the EU expanded

Poles 162,870

Lithuanians 37,275

Slovakians 29,395

Latvians 18,480

Czechs 16,385

Hungarians 8,200

Estonians 3,855

Slovenians 270

Total: 290,695

Figures cover period between May 2004 and September 2005. They do not take into account seasonal and short-contract workers who have since returned home

Human Rights Day, 10th December 2005

On Saturday December 10th the Enfield & The Barnets UNA will be holding a day of activities with the Enfield Cicil Society Forum to celebrate Human Rights day as well as the 60th anniversary of the UN. The programme for that day is,

1.00 to 2.00 pm	Reception (Sam Daws, Executive Director UNA UK and speaker from Amnesty International), celebrating UNA 60 th anniversary (with refreshments)
2.00 to 2.45 pm	Co-operation Games - children & parents
2.45 to 3.15 pm	Human Rights Quiz
3.30 to 4.00 pm	"Our Lady at Muswell" Folk Group
4.00 to 4.20 pm	Poetry Reading (collaboration with Palmers Green Bookshop) Poems read by Myra Schneider and Katherine Gallagher
4.30 to 5.30 pm	“Long Route to Freedom” (play performed by Lifelines, followed by brief discussion: performers with disabilities on a theme of asylum and flight)
5.30 to 6.0 pm	Tea/music
6.0 to 7.45 pm	Contemporary human rights debate (with David Burrowes MP, Colum McAndrew (Amnesty International) and Tony Colman, Hon President London and SE Region UNA UK)
	Close
Other activities – Stalls, including: Enfield Disability Action, Amnesty International, UNA, EREC, Red Cross, O-Bay, Enfield Women’s Centre, Oxfam, CEPO, etc Fair trade stall (collaboration with London Co-op) Human Rights prize competition Mosaic to be produced collectively in collaboration with Art Start, to form a permanent ceramic Human Rights symbol on display in the Civic Centre