Coca-Cola must surely represent the ultimate in corporate hypocrisy. It’s an addictive toxic substance which rewarded its makers with $48 billion in revenue in 2012. And while it sounds like the ultimate US enterprise success story, it’s only known positive use is as a degreaser.
Unsurprisingly, the Coca-Cola honchos believe they are entitled to waste without responsibility. With their mates Schweppes and Lion, they recently took the Northern Territory – ie the people – to court over an environmental incentive that reduced the amount of empty bottles ending up in landfill, drains or oceans. The effect of sugar and caffeine addiction can be extreme: a thirty- year-old New Zealand mother of eight, Natasha Harris, died from drinking too much Coke, The Age reported on February 12. ‘Evidence at her inquest showed she drank up to 10 litres of “classic” Coke every day – equal to more than twice the recommended safe daily limit of caffeine,andalmostonekilogramofsugar.’ Thecoronerfoundthatshe died from cardiac arrhythmia, most likely caused from the high levels of caffeine. ‘She suffered from a myriad of medical conditions, including a racing heart and “absent teeth”, which her family says had rotted out from Coke consumption.’ Additionally, controversial artificial sweetener aspartame is found in Diet Coke and Coke Zero, as well as many other soft drinks. Lastly, the India Resource Center has kept a spotlight on Coke’s groundwater extraction and heavy metal polluting practices that affects surrounding villages. Such as Mehdiganj in the state of Uttar Pradesh. On March 7 the centre claimed that Coca-Cola ‘applied to the central and state government to increase its groundwater usage from the current 50,000 cubic metres annually to 250,000 cubic metres annually’. It’s no wonder the Coke corporate record leaves a sour taste in the mouth, driving protesters to leave ‘out of order’ signs on the company’s vending machines. Sugar addiction, as with oil, is part of a diet which is making the planet sick.
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Given the upcoming Nimbin Aquarius Festival celebrations in May, it’s a good opportunity to point out the importance of counter culture.
While not particularly a popular notion these days, it is perhaps the most valuable tool a society has. As Frank Zappa once said, ‘Without deviation from the norm, “progress” is not possible.’ Counter culture is mostly known for the 60s hedonistic drug- taking, which spurred psychedelic music, free loving, mismatched colourful clothing and infrequent personal hygiene practices. But it’s so much more because it challenged the narrative of imperialism, which includes slavery and warfare. Counterculture can also summon that disgusting word intellectualism, the antithesis of slavery and warfare. And anything with the word counter in it obviously means the opposite. Activist Howard Zinn once said, ‘Historically, the most terrible things – war, genocide, and slavery – have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.’ Counter culture’s history includes the The Age of Enlightenment (1650 to 1700), Romanticism (1790 to 1840), Bohemianism (1850 to 1910), the Beat Generation (1944 to 1964) and Hippies (1964 to 1974). And counter culture’s influences were usually fleeting: after the Vietnam war ended in 1972, almost all hippy baby boomers discarded the tie dye for a suit and embraced their planet-wrecking ego. Counter culture is important because it helped to liberate gay rights, among many other things. Oscar Wilde’s 1895 trial and imprisonment for ‘gross indecency’ seems ludicrous now. With any luck the imprisonment of US private Bradley Manning for spreading transparency via WikiLeaks will seem just as stupid in 100 years. As for the counterculture of the present, some current Echo staff were present at the Aquarius Festival all those years ago, as were many who still live in this shire. Activist Harsha Prabhu’s efforts to immortalise this region and festival through a book should be wholeheartedly applauded and supported. It was an important event that generated a significant blip of consciousness forty years ago in May. I didn’t know the federal Liberal Party had any policies until stumbling upon the ‘Real Solutions for all Australians’, released only a few weeks ago on January 27, 2013.
It’s a glossy 52-page brochure that includes ubiquitous images of boardrooms, hard-hats, baby-kissing, open-cut mining and veggie gardens. And its 15,750 word count has plenty of gushing rhetoric and motherhood statements, along with openly fascist phrases such as, ‘We need to address Australia’s growing workplace militancy.’ It’s basically an uncosted promise of a utopian life, free of pesky unions, lower taxes and wait for it – no carbon tax (it’s mentioned 26 times). A slightly weird ‘Costed Fully Budgeted’ watermark stamp also appears throughout, obviously as an attempt to correct the seven billion dollar black-hole impression which is yet to be corrected. It’s light on substance, bereft of big ideas and an all encompassing vision that reflects who we really are. But such is the state of current Australian politics. Anyway, the Mad Monk Abbott team also reckon the nation’s top priorities are more efficient government, building modern infrastructure and improving health and education services. Improving border security, manufacturing innovation, agriculture exports, world- class education and research are also featured as desirable outcomes for Abbott’s vision. But of course not a word on culture and arts. To pay for it all, they unsurprisingly plan to boost mining exports to the rapidly growing Asian middle-class. Apparently it’s a golden opportunity to send them as much fossil fuels as they can choke on. ‘...estimates suggest that Asian demand could almost double our net energy exports over the next 20 years.’ And the answer to address our obscenly high carbon emissions and climate change complicity is to ‘establish a 15,000-strong Green Army to clean-up the environment.’ Presumably that means dole-bludging moochers will be asked to plant trees or something. What corporate suck-hole stupid fuckwits. Achieving such ambitious prosperity goals, according to them, is to all but give up on curbing emissions. Their goal of five per cent by 2020 is far behind most other western countries, such as Spain, who in the last three months saw windfarms produce more electricity than any other source for the first time. The UK’s Guardian reports that the country remains on track to meet its goal of generating around 40 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2020. So okay, Spain is an economic basket case. But if they can achieve that, the Liberals/Nationals obviously just don’t give a shit about future generations or don’t understand CO2. While the federal Lib/Nat coalition is committed to a renewable target of 100 per cent ignorance, the federal Labor Party’s White Paper (found at www.ret.gov.au) provides the clearest indication yet that the mining industry owns both the major puppet parties.
‘Over the next two and a half decades,’ the exec summary proudly boasts, ‘Australia’s energy production is projected to more than double, largely due to export growth. We are the world’s largest coal exporter and third-largest uranium producer, and in future years will be the world’s second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter.’ Holy fuck. Meanwhile, the Australian Conservation Foundation said this week that tax breaks for exploration and prospecting have increased from $320 million last year to $550 million this year, while accelerated depreciation for fossil-fuel-intensive assets is now costing the taxpayer a whopping $1.3 billion per year. We have to remember here that it’s also the federal government’s bright idea to expand fossil fuels, not just the state. But the federal government has a Clean Energy Future Plan, which claims has begun the ‘necessary long-term transition to a clean energy economy.’ Really? Does it have to be ‘long term’? No. According to Beyond Zero Emissions’ Zero Carbon Australia Staionary Energy Plan (available at unimelb.edu.au), in ten years we could supply Australians with 100 per cent renewables, including baseload. The plan is based on information from the German Advisory Council on Global Change, and suggests wind and concentrating solar thermal (CST) with molten-salt storage as the two primary technologies. The climate-change debate often gets muddled by idiotic denialists, but we’re past that now. Low-cost renewable technology will prevail because it is economically more viable. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki reckons zero carbon is the go. I’d trust a scientist over yabbering idiotic denialists such as Andrew Bolt any day. Remember the inconvenient Al Gore? He’s written a new book entitled The Future – Six Drivers Of Global Change, and was on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show last week (which you can only get here by paying for Murdoch’s Austar/Foxtel channels).
The two brought up the current global system which, as we all know, is inherently flawed. When Jon Stewart said capitalism was a ‘voracious overeater’, Gore launched into an interesting tirade. ‘We have two powerful tools to shape our future. One is democracy, the other is capitalism. And the alternatives to democracy have been tried and found to be disastrous. The alternatives to capitalism have also been not so great. Capitalism as we all know allocates resources efficiently, balances supply and demand, is more conducive with higher levels of freedom and it unlocks a higher level of human potential. But in spite of that, it is now associated with market disruptions which are bigger and more frequent... Short-termism is one example. ‘Thirty years ago stocks were held on average for seven years. That was rational. And now it’s seven months. Here in New York and in London, 60 per cent of the trades on the stock exchange are now made by these algorithmic “flash trades” – it happens in milliseconds. That’s not really investing. So we have a flash crash where the market drops a thousand points and comes back again in 20 minutes and they have no idea why it is happening...’ ‘Capitalism the way it currently operates needs to be reformed’, Gore says. ‘Our democracy has been hacked – it’s been taken over. ‘It no longer operates the way our founding fathers intended it to. Anonymous donors, big corporations, big money, might makes right... the lobbyist and special interest groups are now in control. ‘You can’t do anything without begging for permission and it’s time that we took our democracy back. And it can be done.’ ‘Only the little people pay taxes,’ said the late American billionaire Leona Helmsley in 1983, who ironically spent jail time for tax evasion. Since then, there is little doubt that elaborate tax evasion methods have become more complicated and seemingly less regulated for the super rich and corporations.
Now thankfully the population, at least in the UK, have had enough. US coffee corporation Starbucks has been copping public protests after paying ’no corporation tax in the UK for the past three years,’ The Guardian reports. Along with Amazon and Google, they were accused by a committee of British MPs of an ‘immoral’ use of secretive jurisdictions, royalties and complex company structures to avoid paying tax on British profits. What’s wrong with paying taxes? Let’s be real: government is a type of socialism. We pay taxes because we all use roads and hospitals. It’s considered part of the social contract, a theory that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and in part addresses the authority of the state over the individual. Clearly society suffers when rich individuals and corporations aren’t taxed at comparable rates to an ‘ordinary’ individual. And fewer taxes for the rich fits neatly into the idiotic narrow conservative views peddled by simpletons such as Hockey and Abbott – ie ‘investment will suffer’. There is no evidence to that claim and is simply a scare tactic by the greedy. Also the social contract is not talked about by politicans because by and large they are are failing at it. Greek philosopher Plato is reputed to have said, ‘When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.’ Given that sound logic, stimulating or reviving economies couldn’t be simpler: make super-rich corporations pay more tax by closing the loopholes. Change in the short term here is unlikely of course because the Liberal, Nationals and Labor parties – along with mainstream media – know who their masters are. Since Australia swapped riding the sheep’s back for coal trucks, enormous PR budgets and legislation became necessary to protect resource extraction revenue and quell dissent. Indeed it takes mass collective hypnosis to convince ourselves that the planet should continue to be polluted with fossil fuels when renewable technology is available.
An interesting hiccup in that unevolved narrative was activist Jonathan Moylan’s prank on the NSW coal industry last week; governments and corporations appear confounded and have yet to figure out what to do about his actions. He faked a press release from ANZ to highlight the bank’s complicity and investment in destroying the Leard State Forest, west of Armidale, for mining profits. The result was it temporarily wiped $314 million off Whitehaven Coal shares, which is an ANZ investment. While the government was quick to seize his computer and mobile phone, why haven’t charges been laid? It’s because legal precedent is yet to be established on such activity, Crikey’s Sally Whyte reports. ‘According to Associate Professor Keturah Whitford at the Australian National University’s College of Business and Economics, Moylan could be charged under Section 1041E [of the Corporations Act 2001], but could also face civil action from stakeholders under Section 1041H of the [Corporations] Act. There isn’t an Australian precedent to foreshadow the likelihood of conviction or possible sentences. Whitford says it’s “hard to predict sentencing, but the extent of damage including losses to investors would be taken into account and the fact that he wasn’t personally profiting”.’ Moylan’s inventive media activism is somewhat similar to that of the Yes Men, who use parody and satire to highlight psychopathic corporate behaviour. In the long term, the fossil fuel industry will lose the battle against renewables simply because renewable energy provides a means of production. It’s a simple economic premise not even relevant to environmental destruction. And in case this all sounds too whacky, James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, said in 2008: ‘CEOs of fossil-energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.’ Well said, can’t wait, bring it on. As in previous years, Byron Shire again danced the mambo of environment versus development while holding ground against outside political and corporate interests. And so sets the stage for a year of wins and losses.
A big win in 2012 – which favours a more sober Shire – included Byron’s unanimous rejection of a Dan Murphy’s mega-booze outlet in the CBD. While Byron’s tenacity paid off, that decision was ultimately at the behest of the NSW liquor and gaming authority. But reasonable given the national media attention last year over alcohol-fuelled violence on Jonson Street. As for Council, they marched onward and awkward despite teetering finances and a public barney between the then-mayor and general manager. It culminated with the GM’s sudden departure and an election in September. Council correctly defended knocking back a 27-room boarding house development in Bruns too. But its draft local environment plan (LEP) copped a lot of public flak over out of date mapping and complicated zonings. And there was a reversal on Council’s decision on its flawed tender process for surf schools and kayaking. Thankfully that allows the Byron Bay Surf School back in the water. Large festival events also featured last year, with Splendour’s site in Yelgun being given the go-ahead for this year by an independent panel, despite equally noisy opponents. Public infrastructure pressed ahead with the opening of Council’s $17 million Byron Regional Sport and Cultural Complex (BRSCC), although many teething issues continue throughout the year such as soggy fields. Heavy rain washed away a section of Wilsons Creek Road on Australia Day but Lighthouse Road fully reopened – six-and-a-half years later – in February. But by far the most frustrating part of the year was the slow churning bureaucratic pace at which the state government operated. Still to be sorted is the Bruns caravan parks saga, which is wrapped in state government inaction, arrogance, greed and belligerence. Another was the mooted video-conferencing replacement of Mullum Hospital’s night doctor, which took from May until November to be decided. But hey, at least that’s a win. So it wasn’t all such a bad year, as long as you don’t count the planned expansion of the non-renewable CSG industry by the state government. Thankfully public activism against the insanity of polluting land and water gained momentum throughout the year. Will we see the continuing austerity measures the state Liberal/National government has assumed? Most likely. At least Byron Shire maintains a point of difference against the bullshit narrative that economic rationalism delivers. And finally, farewell to all those we lost last year and welcome to all those that are found. The NSW Nurses Association rightly prevented health district chief executive Chris Crawford from replacing Mullum’s night doctor with teleconferencing technology.
But instead of an apology to the community for the anxiety caused, Mr Crawford instead explained to The Echo that ‘Mullum is not ready at the moment to do it on a doctor-to- nurses basis.’ And while Mullum Hospital nurse Shauna Boyle told The Echo that nurses were not against telehealth per say, they were opposed to having to operate the video-link system without a doctor. Here’s where the message was lost: she also added that staff at other hospitals using the system told them it was never meant to replace a doctor. So – was the rollout of this technology meant to complement existing staffing levels or replace them? Clearly in Mullum’s case it was to replace, while other hospitals that didn’t have a night doctor, it was a complement to existing staffing levels. Cost-cutting under the guise of ‘new technology’ is austerity by stealth, and while Mr Crawford may have been given the hatchet job to try to skim a budget, The Echo suggests he could start with his own salary. According to www.abc.net.au on November 24 this year, the latest salary increases granted to top bureaucrats in New South Wales rose by nearly $12,000. ‘The [bureaucrat] heads of the premier’s department, Trade and Infrastructure NSW are now all being paid well in excess of $500,000,’ claims the article. Labor’s Walt Secord told the ABC reporter, ‘A 2.5 per cent increase to a nurse or a teacher does not compare to a bureaucrat on $400,000 a year. You cannot compare them,’ he said. ‘That is coming at a time when the state government’s cutting 5,000 public sector jobs and slashing $1.7 billion from education.’ Mr Secord also said that the director-general of Premier and Cabinet will now earn $545,000. ‘That’s substantially more than the premier,’ he said. Fortunately this outcome was not decided by bureaucrats but by nurses, who are paid much much less. A prospecting application by the Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is on public submission with the intention to frack ‘n mine most of NSW.
This can be viewed in a variety of ways. Here are just two: Red pill The push behind applying for five prospecting mining rights across NSW is to end Aboriginal poverty, NSWALC CEO Geoff Scott said in a release on November 6. ‘We owe it to ourselves, and to future generations of Aboriginal people... We can sit on the sidelines or we can take an active role to become part of the real Australian economy.’ He’s correct to say the real economy is mining. According to an article on www.asx.com.au, Top 10 ways to profit from mining boom, ‘Almost 90 per cent of last year’s 96 initial public offerings (IPOs) were resource-related companies and the top performers gave shareholders well over 500 per cent returns.’ Author Toni Case (TheBull.com.au) continues, ‘In fact, the entire materials sector has been a standout performer, with an annualised return of 10.99 per cent to 31 March 2011.’ And the future looks to be still powered by coal or gas, with the claim that ‘The Federal Treasury believes the mining boom could have another 15 years to go; demand from China and India shows no sign of slowing.’ Thankfully, this is a free country. Mr Scott is entitled to pursue whatever means neccessary to ensure the future prosperity for the future generations of Aboriginal people. Blue pill You have to wonder who will benefit from the Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC)’s plans to mine ‘n’ frack the state of NSW, because it will not be the wider Aboriginal community. Locally, the traditional Aboriginal custodians of this region, the Arakwal people of Byron Bay, have said they do not want CSG or mining in this region and have distanced themselves from the NSWALC. What isn’t addressed in NSWALC CEO Geoff Scott’s PR is that his organisation is already self-funding, was set up by the government, and earns income from its investments. This is not about poverty, it’s about greed. The real benefactors of this will of course be the overseas mining corporations who are nervously watching the public-awareness campaign on CSG grow. Public submissions on this prospecting application end on December 5, so get in fast. Visit www.resources.nsw.gov.au for more. |
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