Web update

Web update Jane Affleck
Thanks to Terry Hanstock and David Turner for contributions. Comments and details of interesting websites are welcome: my email address is
101521.3515 @compuserve.com

Freedom Of Information

Campaign for Freedom of Information
http://www.cfoi.org.uk

‘The Campaign for Freedom of Information campaigns against unnecessary secrecy and for greater public access to official and other information. In particular we are working for a Freedom of Information Act to give the public an effective right of access to information held by government and public bodies.’

The CFI has promoted Bills, some of which have become law, providing rights of access, for example to housing and medical records and environmental information. The Campaign monitors existing rights to information and provides guides to help people use their rights. They provide many of their publications on this website.
Briefings on:
FOI White Paper; FOI and Open Government; Access to Personal Files; Whistleblowing; Environmental and Safety Information; Local Government; FOI overseas;

Publications list; press releases; links to related sites.

Public Concern At Work, http://www.pcaw.demon.co.uk/.

a charity that provides support and advice to employees wishing to report malpractice etc, is at

Freedom of Information White Paper – Your Right To Know
http://www.nationalpublishing.co.uk/document/caboff/foi/foi.htm

Full text of the FOI White Paper, which has met qualified approval from the CFI and others.

Cabinet Office FOI Unit
http://www.open.gov.uk/m-of-g/foihome.htm

Government’s commitment to an FOIA, press release, summary of White Paper. A draft FOI Bill is to be published later this year for further consultation. Link to ‘Have Your Say UK FoI Consultation Homepage’

UK Citizen’s Online Democracy’s Electronic Consultation on the White Paper
http://foi.democracy.org.uk/

An independent website supported by the Cabinet Office, to allow the public to provide the government with feedback on the proposals within the FOI White Paper. Responses, and discussion of WP on this website.

Citizen’s Guide to using the US Freedom of Information Act
http://wiretap.area.com/Gopher/Gov/foia.cit

The useful and comprehensive guide to using the US FOIA and Privacy Act of 1974 to request US government records.

Parliament and Legislation

Public Bills before Parliament
http://www.parliament.the-stationeryoffice.co.uk/pa/pabills. htm

Gives titles and full text of Bills currently before Parliament and note of the stage which the Bill has reached. Also link to HMSO website which provides full text version of recent Acts of Parliament (see below).

House of Commons Weekly Information Bulletin
http://www.parliament.the-stationeryoffice.co.uk/pa/cm/cmwib.htm

WIB produced weekly when the House is in session and includes recent and forthcoming business of the HoC and some HoL business.

HMSO http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts.htm

All Public General Acts (plus Data Protection Act 1984) in full text, from 1996 inclusive. Also summaries of a range of earlier Acts. Aim is for all new Acts to be published on the Internet within 10 working days of their publication in printed form. Search engine – will search text of all Acts and Statutory Instruments on this site.

Politics/History

PROfiles
http://ihr.sas.ac.uk/pro/profiles/welcome.html

The PRO, HMSO, and the Institute of Contemporary British History have embarked on a project to put a selection of government documents released annually under the 30-year rule onto CD-rom. These CD-roms contain large amounts of government archival material, eg Cabinet Papers, Prime Minister’s files and briefs of the FO and Chiefs of Staff.
Details 1964 PROfiles (now available) and how to obtain the CD ROMS (very expensive, £900 for whole series).

Public Record Office
http://www.pro.gov.uk/

Other Archives on the Web
http://www.pro.gov.uk/readers/wwwarchives.htm

Links to other National, European and International archive resources, eg Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

Cold War International History Project
http://cwihp.si.edu/default.htm

‘CWIHP was established at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC in 1991. The project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War, and seeks to disseminate new information and perspectives on Cold War history emerging from previously inaccessible sources in the former Communist bloc. This web site is the latest initiative taken by CWIHP to make available these docments.’
The CWIHP Virtual Library is a searchable collection of documents, working papers, and articles from the CWIHP bulletin. Covers numerous topics related to the Cold War. Categories include arms race, Cold War origins, intelligence, Krushchev era, Stalin Era.

Declassification of CIA critique on Bay of Pigs
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/news/19980222.htm

Withheld for 36 years, this 150pp report, officially known as ‘The Inspector General’s Survey of the Cuban Operation’, written by IG Lyman Kirkpatrick in Oct 1961, so offended senior CIA officials that then CIA Director John McCone ordered all but one copy be destroyed. The report was obtained after a 2 year FOIA effort by the National Security Archive.

The report is at: http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/latin_america/cuba/ig_report/index.html
On-line version: http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/latin_america/cuba/ig_report/images/Cuban_Operation.htm

Cuban Missile Crisis
http://oyez.nwu.edu/history-out-loud/jfk/cuban/

Includes audiofiles documenting the crisis between Oct 18-29 1962, including JFK’s conversations with staff.

David Turner’s Homepage
http://www.canterbury.u-net.com/

Website of David Turner, a phd student researching thesis on the Communist Party of Great Britain in the Medway Towns 1920-45. Includes useful historical material relating to the Far Right and Left, (particularly the the CPGB), the Secret State and twentieth century British history, including details of specialised libraries of archival material and academic theses on these subjects.

Free trade, globalisation and TNCs

Maiglomania
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/mai/

Briefing by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). The MAI has been negotiated in secrecy since 1995 within the OECD (Paris-based international organisation made up of 29 rich countries) and would require countries to open their economies to investment, and allow unrestricted movement of capital, thereby extending existing international trade treaties eg General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The MAI would greatly increase the power of transnational corporations (TNCs), allowing them to move their operations around the world without hindrance of government regulation, and to override many federal, state and local requirements, eg on wages, minority rights, environmental and human rights laws. It would give TNCs the right to sue national governments for damages/compensation at an international tribunal, where they are in breach of the agreement.

There is considerable opposition to the MAI, especially from environmental and development organisations, amid fears that its provisions could damage environmental quality, social welfare and labour standards, and its progress has been slowed. Currently (May 1998) the MAI has not been signed, and seems likely to be further delayed, largely due to the massive campaign against it. However, the powerful forces behind the MAI will continue to try and advance it, and tactics may include introducing the MAI into other international forums, eg the WTO or Lome Convention.

Corporate Europe Observatory Homepage
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/ CEO is a small Amsterdam-based non-profit organisation set up to monitor and report on the political activities of European Corporations and their lobby groups.
Includes Maiglomania; CEO Resource list – useful list of relevant organisations, including ASEED Europe; FoE International; Transnational Inst; International Forum on Globalisation; Corporate Watch. Web links to related organisations, and EU and other institutions, including World Trade Organisation, OECD (see below).

Europe, Inc.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/eurinc/eurint.html

Summary of Europe, Inc., ‘CEO’s report on the disproportionate influence of corporate lobby groups on EU institutions.’ (Extracts were published in Lobster 34) Examines the extent to which corporate lobby organisations, such as TNCs, exert economic and political power at the expense of national governments.

Public Citizen Global Trade Watch
http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/tradehome.html

‘Founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, Public Citizen is a non-profit citizen research, lobbying and litigation organisation based in Washington DC. Global Trade Watch works to promote the needs and interests of citizens in international trade agreements in every public forum: Congress, the courts, government agencies and news media, and distributes materials on how international trade agreements affect food, health and safety, jobs and wages, the environment and the democratic process. GTW has been educating Congress about MAI…also GATT/WTO issues. eg Recent rulings against the US under the WTO and GATT have challenged US environmental laws.’

Preamble Center for Public Policy
http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/4pgr.htm

A lot of info on the MAI: IMF: Questions and Answers on IMF, Stop IMF Expansion Kit, IMF Links including FoE’s

• IMF Reform Campaign http://www.foe.org/ga/imf.html
• Third World Network http://www.southbound.com.my/souths/twn/twn.htm TWN Economics http:/www.southbound.com/my/souths/twn/econ.htm

NAFTA Related links including:

• MAI Info Centre http://www.islandnet.com/~ncfs/maisite/ Includes overview, a history, pros and cons, campaigns, viewpoints and links
• Environmental Introduction to the MAI
  http://www.vcn.bc.ca/wcel/mai/welcome.html
  S Environmental implications of the MAI.
  Other links relating to free trade and the environment, including GATT text, WTO Homepage, Third World Network, Earth Island Inst

World Development Movement
http://www.oneworld.org/wdm/

British-based organisation which campaigns against world poverty. Info on MAI, also campaigns on companies, arms, debt, aid/trade; Corporate Accountability.

OECD
http://www.oecd.org

MAI Homepage
http://www.oecd.org/daf/cmis/mai/maindex.htm

MAI and the Environment
Includes a defence of the MAI against criticism by environmental NGOs claiming ‘MAI should be fully compatible with the pursuit of high environmental standards both in a national context and via international environmental agreements. The negotiators fully subscribe to the goals of sustainable development as expressed in the Rio declarations and Agenda 21’, and claims that ‘a strong body of evidence suggests that foreign direct investment can enhance environmental quality through an expansion of technological choice ….and the speedier adoption and diffusion of cleaner technologies.’ (www.oecd org/daf/cmis/mai/wwpress.htm)

McLibel Support Campaign
http://www.mcspotlight.org/home.html

Info on the 313 day McDonalds libel action, including transcripts and witness statements, and issues examined in the trial – nutrition, animal welfare, environment, employment, global trade, international expansion and capitalism.
Interview with spy who infiltrated activist meetings to gather evidence for the ‘McLibel’ trial. Info provided by people who infiltrated London Greenpeace led to the serving of libel writs on 5 members of the group, leading to the trial.
Also:
Campaigns – against McDonalds and other multinationals, resources for activists and ‘What’s Wrong With McDonalds’ leaflets (the distribution of which led to the libel action).
Company – info on McDonalds, including company history and previous legal actions.
Beyond McDonalds – links with arms trade; environmental destruction; worker exploitation; animal suffering; irresponsible marketing; supporting oppressive regimes. Other multinationals, such as pharmaceuticals, oil, tobacco, food and drink, chemicals.
Links – useful selection of weblinks eg on anti-nuclear, animal rights, anarchist, civil liberties, development, direct action, food issues, human rights, poverty, unions/labour, left/socialist.

Political Control

Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control
http://jya.com/stoa-atpc.htm

Commissioned by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee, and prepared by the Omega Foundation in March 1997, the report comprehensively examines all aspects of political control, including surveillance technologies, telecommunications interception (including ECHELON – see elsewhere in this issue); crowd control and ‘less than lethal’ weapons including MW and accoustic disabling systems; prisoner control and torture and interrrogation techniques. Report proposes further research into certain areas including: the constitutional issues raised by the US NSA’s access and facility to intercept all European telecommunications; the implications of further privatisation of the technologies of political control; the extent to which Europe-based countries are complicit in supplying equipment used for torture and other human rights violations; the use of electroshock weapons by EU member states; human identity recognition and tracking technologies; advanced area denial and less-than-lethal weapon systems. Also calls for increased regulation and licencing of technologies, and greater accountability.

Magazines and Journals

Red Pepper
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/

London-based magazine of the ‘green and radical left’. Extensive and useful Directory with Web links.

Covert Action Quarterly
www.caq.com
www.lbbs.org/caq.htm

Leading American journal of radical critiques and research into American imperialism, intelligence etc. Up to issue 64 – but recently owners fired the workers. See ‘Sources’ section in this issue.

Squall
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~squall/

UK-based magazine. ‘The purpose of Squall is to tool you up. With accurate information and positive inspiration. To expose hidden agendas and highlight new initiatives….to give fair voice to those who have none, have gone hoarse or are frightened to speak. To battle for a better environment – countryside, urban and psychological.’
Includes Underground Update (events and actions – environmental, animal rights); Features (eg No. 15 includes Manchester Airport protest, surveillance, BP in Columbia).

SchNEWS
http://www.cbuzz.co.uk/SchNEWS/

‘weekly newsletter from Justice?, Brighton’s Direct Action collective’
Includes:
This week; update (latest news); archive (recent issues, plan to put all online; diary (upcoming events, links to organisations); GAndALF. Issues covered include Direct Actions, with details of contacts, eg anti-fascist, labour disputes, animal rights, environmental campaigns, anti-road actions, green consumerism, miscarriages of justice (M25 Three campaign). Extensive Activist Database includes alphabetical list of contacts on eg environment, anti-road campaigns, squatters, animal rights, anti-nuclear, anarchist, peace camps. Also weblinks.

Green Anarchist (GAndALF) case
The GAndALF (Green Anarchist and Animal Liberation Front) case was, to their discredit, largely ignored by the mainstream media, despite having serious implications for press freedom. In November 1997, 3 editors of Green Anarchist magazine (Saxon Wood, Steve Booth and Noel Molland), were convicted and sentenced to 3 years in jail after being found guilty of conspiracy to incite ‘persons unknown’ to commit criminal damage, for reporting details of environmental and animal rights direct actions. Public Interest Immunity Certificates were used to suppress evidence, eg of MI5’s role and intelligence-gathering methods such as surveillance and informers. The 3 were freed on bail pending appeal in March ’98 after serving 4 1/2 months. Two other defendants were expected to be tried in the spring of 1998.It seems that the potentially far-reaching conspiracy and incitement laws are being used selectively against an ideology/movement the State wishes to suppress, whilst other material/publications which could more justifiably be considered to come within their reach, is ignored. This case has serious implications for free speech in the UK. Several websites, including Index on Censorship, contain extracts from GA, including some of those cited as evidence against the defendants:

SchNEWS: http://www.cbuzz.co.uk/SchNEWS/hotstuff/gandalf/index.hm

Index on Censorship: http://www.oneworld.org/index_oc/greenanarchist.html

Mc Spotlight: http://www.mcspotlight.org/campaigns/current/gandalf/

Oneworld Online: http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/nov97_gandalf.htm

GA issue 49-50: ‘Under “Operation Washington” (codename of police investigation), reporting news or expressing opinion is criminal incitement and knowing others doing it….is conspiracy. Because conspiracy/incitement is assessed on intent not effect, proof of intent can be derived from private records and evidence of association and life-style… who you know, what you think, not what you’ve done.’

‘Conspiracy: People who have never met, people who attended the same rally but never spoke, someone who received a 9 second phone call, who bought an ALF T shirt, people who never knew of each other’s existence are all linked. It is not what you said in that innocent letter, but the fact that you wrote it at all. The whole concept of conspiracy depends upon guilt by association.

‘This affects you: It is inevitable that techniques and legal shit used in “Operation Washington phase 2” will be used against other radical publications or groups. Eventually, if this carries on, all the radical media channels will be rolled up. If you have any interest in freedom, you’d better start protesting against this now! Today Green Anarchist, tomorrow it could be you.’

Intelligence

Global Power and the NSA
http://www.tlio.demon.co.uk/strigas.htm

Eclectic – covers subjects including NSA; Echelon (article by Nicky Hager); censorship; freemasons; Bilderberg. A lot of links to NSA-related info.
Sections of the revised and expanded version of William Blum’s book about the CIA, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Intervention Since World War 2, can be read at
http://members.aol.com/bblum6/American_holocaust.htm

Censorship

Ohio University
http://www.tcom.ohiou.edu/OU_Language/project/censorship.html

Large resource on censorship, especially internet censorship

Censorship and the Internet
http://www.dis.strath.ac.uk/control/

Controlling access to the Internet, and Internet censorship worldwide. Includes articles on Internet censorship and regulation, with many good links.

Banned Books Online
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/spok/banned-books.html

A representative, rather than exhaustive, list of banned books.

Alliance to Expose Government Corruption and Corporate Crime
http://www.well.com/user/pfrankli/

Provides info on high level corruption and crime; eg Danny Casolaro case (INSLAW, PROMIS etc); Iran-Contra affair; BCCI; Panam flight 103; Savings and Loan Industry failure; CIA; NSA; FBI: government corruption during cold war, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s etc.
Extensive links, including material on conspiracies, mind control, media censorship.