UC24 August-September 1977 by Christopher Squire

NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS

DIY Radio SWAP0 MedicineAlternative Energy Protest Kites. Chickens' L i b Forestry. Rural Planning. Cheese & Cider Making Compost & Communism

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An ENERGY FAIR is being organised by the young Liberal Energy Commission and will take place at the Bull Hotel, Peterborough, on October 8-9. There will be Stalls, Books and Mags, Demos and Discussions and they aim to question the way in which energy is consumed, and by whom, how it is used and abused and who controls it. Also they will discuss the alternative means of its control, the envirolunental issues and the alternative energy sources. If your approach to energy and environment is a radical one, go to the Energy Fair - it won't be on the scale of the Energy Show at Olympia, but there should be plenty of things to see and participate in. For more info. contact Andy Wood, 23 1 Elmhurst Mansions, Elmhurst Street, London SW4. Tel:01 720 8256.

MEETINGS IN LEEDS: for information about SERA (Socialist Environmental and Resource Association) in Leeds, contact John Bradbrook, 81 Old Otley Road, Leeds. LEEDS ALTERNATIVE SOCIALISM GROUP meet every Tuesday a t 80, Harehills Avenue, Leeds, and they brought out the 2nd National Alternative Socialism newsletter. You too can get a copy, price 30p including postage, from their address above. KEEPING THE HARVEST is the subject of a one day course on October 15th at Broad Leys, Essex. Organised by David and Katie Thear, it will include lectures given by

leading authorities and an exhibition, plus a guided tour of the small holding. Home economy, preserving and pickling, home brewing and winemaking and wild foods, will all be covered, the cost is Â£1.5 which includes a light lunch* more details from: Katie Thear, Broad Leys Publishing Co., Widdington, Saffron Walden, Essex. CBll 3SP, or phone: Saffron Walden (0799) 40922. A COUNTRY FAYRE organised by the Surrey/Hants Border Group of FOE will be on Saturday, October 8, at the Farnborough Community Centre, Hants. The main theme will be food (yum-yum!), and there will be stalls run bv various organisations concerned with this subject. Cookery demos, free food samolcs and wholefoods (for sale) will be there aplenty. Also - street theatre, folk singing, Morris dancing and chiidrens games. This sounds as if it will be a very good fayre (fate?) so go and enjoy the fun! Contact Lynne Schofield at 88Alexandra Road, Farnborough Hants.,.if you want to know more. The WELWYN WOOD STOVE SHOW will be on October 21-22 (Friday and Saturday) from loam-5pm. There will be an exhibition of slow combustion wood-burning stoves, plus environmental displays on use of waste wood and coppice regeneration in woodlands, which will stress the responsibility of the wood fuel user for minimising ecological diturba?ce, All this, which will be organised by the Country College, will be on show at the Campus West Exhibition Centre, Welwyn Garden City. Tickets are 75p at the door, or only 50p if you order in advance from: Country College, 11 Harmer Green Lane, Digswell, Welwyn, Herts AL6 OAY. Tel: Welwyn (0438 71) 6367. A conference on the OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT and its replacement has been jointly organised by the National Council for Civil Liberties and the NUJ. Provisionally the date is December 3 and the place will be somewhere in London..... The ABC (Aubrey,,Berry and Campbell) DEFENCE COMMITTEE are (notsurprisingly) involved with this conference so fo more information in this and their other activities contact them c/o TIME OUT 374 Grays Inn Road, London WC1 Tel:01-278 2377.

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A leaflet entitled BARBITURATES AND MANDRAX is the second in the series on drug education. It is published by Release Publications, and outlines the different types of barbiturates and warns of the dangers of their use. The pamphlet says that the risk of death is very high because the lethal dose of barbiturates can be as little as twice the prescribed dose. Also, when mixed with alcohol the effect is more than twice as potent. Therefore NEVER mix the two. They are also fairly easy to become addicted to, unfortunately. ~ a n d r a x has similar effects. but also to be in ~ossessionof it is a criminaloffence. You canget the leaflet (and also the one on LSD at lop) from Release Publications, 1 Elgin Avenue, London W9. Price 5p plus SAE. I feel it is necessary if rather horrifying reading. The HABITAT FORUM. School of the Environment is offering a program of scientific educational courses to complement the work of the U.N. Habitat Conference on human problems and solutions. Action for Habitat is an evening course, on Wednesdays Nov. 2 - Dec. 2 (Â£10which will deal with key issues in human settlements planning. The course Energy and Society - energy sources for betterment or abuse, will be led by Gerald Foley on Wednesdays October 19December 7th (Â£5.00)For more details of these and other courses write to Prof. T.L. Blair, Polytechnic of Central London, 309 Regent Street, London W1R 8AL.

If you want any event publicised in 'WHATS ON' or anything put in 'WHATS WHAT' Please don't hesitate to write to Barbara Kern: c/o UNDERCURRENTS 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC4. (NB New address). Events should be'those taking place in December and January, and copy date for everything will be mid October.

UNDERCURRENTS October-November 1977 Undercurrents is published every two months by Undercurrents Ltd., a democratic non-profit cornpan limited by guarantee. ISN 03& 2392

CONTENTS: You are here.

EDDIES: News, scandal and horror from the far side of darkness. Stories you can't read elsewhere.

LETTERS: space set aside for people to disagree with us

EDITORIAL OFFICE: 27 Clerkenwell Close tendon EClR OAT UBSCRIPTION DEPT.: 12 South St, Uley,

NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS: What happens when the hand that rules the world . . . . . slips?

CHICKENS' LIB'. Concentration camps of the new barbarism.

flSTRIBUTION: ~ritishIsles Publications Distribution Co-operative, 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EClR PAT; tel. 01 251 4976. Inited States: Carrier Pigeon, 88 Fisher Ave., oston, Mass 02010; tel. (617) 4459380. ustralia: Book People of Australia, 590 ,ittle Bourke St., Melbourne 3000; tel. 79 249. 'he Rest of the World: please address all nquiries to Chris Hutton Squire at our ditorial Office.

SWAP0 MEDICINE: Preparing formedical care in Namibia after liberation from South Africa.

PLANNING A VICTORY: Rural planners' distaste for human beings i s well-known. But they can be beaten.

RAISING THE ENERGY: A number of recent reports prove beyond doubt that a plutonium economy isn't necessary. These are the alternatives. AIR ON A SHOESTRING: More ideas for a DIY radio transmitter.

Printed by Prestagate Ltd., 39 Underwood Road, Reading, Berks.

UBSCRIPTIONS: letails of the subscription rates and the ppropriate labour-saving form may be found n page 48. lur airfreight agents are Expediters of the rinted Word Inc., 527 Madison Ave., New ork NY 10022. Second Class postage paid t New York. ERSONNEL: lie motley crew responsible for rndercurrents includes Barbara Kern, 'brig Hutton Squire Dave Elliott, lave Kanner, Dave Smith, Duncan 'ampbell, Godfrey Boyle, Herbie rirardet Joyce Evans, Martin Ince, lariyn cartridge, Pat Coyne, Pete h ~ s Peter , Bonnici, Peter Cockerton, Lichard Elen, Sally Boyle, Tony k h a m and Vicky Hutchings. There re also literally dozens of other eople who help out here and there, nd whose only reward is anonymity. [any thanks to them.

DFTORIAL MEETINGS: Indercuirents is cooked up a t weekly meetigs at our editorial office on Wednesday veningt, starting at 7 p.m. Anyone who Ã§ntto do more than simply read the w i n e is welcome to come along. ONTACT: 'o get in contact with us at other times please hone 01-261 6774 during working how! nd ask for Chris Hutton Squire. There will not auaUy be anyone at our editorial office but 'you want to buy copies of the magazine (and ack numbers) you can get them born die DC at die same address. They also stock a '"range of other radical publications

/MTTfiN CONTRIBUTIONS

Undercurrentsdelights in unsolicited conttibut-

luge proportion of the sea received, in line with our aim of being an pen forum for alternative ideas. If possible htegs sent to us should be typed, doublepeed, and on only one side of the paper. MM, and publishes a

Â¥OPYMGH tie entire contents of Undercurrents i the joint copyright of Undercurrents Ltd nd the respective authors. But don't be tightened - that's just to didourage exploiters &rip-off merchants of one sort 01 another. 'ennission to reprint will be joyfully iven to noil-commercial folk who apply i l writing,

banks&r Malvffle Pictures to La Gueule .

17 20

THE EAVESDROPPERS: The original electronic espionage story by Mark Hosenball and Duncan Campbell. Subsequently the former was deported and the latter arrested. I s it a secret? Or is it a matter of grave public concern? Read for yourself and decide. c

MULTI-ROLE PROTEST KITE: How to be subversive on a windy day.

MAGIC MUSHROOMS: just about this time of the year the British countryside flourishes with mildly hallucinogenic plants, endless . . free! Natural

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TIMBERRRRR . . . The case for a massive expansion of Britain' Britain's forests, and the problems' of super-technological tree farming in Canada.

COMPOST AND COMMUNISM: How the ecology movement is being recouped by capitalism. The economic realities of industrial civilisation.

CHEESE ON THE CHEAP. . . . AND CIDER, TOO: You need never enter a supermarket again.

LOOSE ENDS: Whaling, Fusion and Science Fiction.

IN THE MAKING: Cooperative projects that need people, and vice versa.

REVIEWS: New titles that have come our way.

SMALL ADS and SUBSCRIPTION FORM: Why not subscribe and be sure of a copy? It helps our cash-flow, too.

After Malville 10,000 people were waiting quite non-violently for your support at Naussac. Here the plan is to flood 3100 acres of a -valley for a resevoir and, guess what, the water can be used t o cool nuclear power stations i n the summe The peasants naturally want none of it. Naussac is just a spitting distance from the plateau of Larzac, where the fight against the five-fold extension of an army camp is in its seventh year. The enlarged camp would cover about 42,000 acres, like the Purbeck ranges in Dorset. The French Armv has about 670.OOC acres so far compared t o the ~ r i t i s h Army which controls 750.000.103 oeasants have sworn not t o leave their land and the campaign, firmly in their control. can count many successes t o date. One of the most important has been the purchase of strategic blocks of land around the existing camp by a co-op with mass subscription in order t o obstruct the army's compulsory purchase. This technique needs to be considered in the anti-nuclear struggle in Britain. The big day was August 14 when 50,000 people reminded the government that there i s still tremendous support for the Larzac struggle. Larzac through its continuity has proved to be a real focal point for France's alternative society. Back in the July a massive 200,000 demonstrated in Basque country against a local nuclear power station plan. Apparently, this is very much a reflection of the anti-Madrid feeling in Euzkadi. They wouldn't mind a nuke in Southern Spain, just one in Basque country. If you still have any Guilders and D-Marks left over, you may still have time, as you read this, t o get to Kalkar on the Dutch-German frontier by September 24th125th. where there will be (surprise-surprise a demonstration against the proposal for a 300 MW prototype fast-breeder

FREE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

ANTINUCLEAR CONFERENCE The Free International University of Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research set up camp this summeras a side show at the State funded Doc& menta 6 art exhibition, in Kassel, Northern Germany. Dowmenta 6 is the usual collage of trendy nihilism popular among the European intelliqensia, while the Free university represents an attempt "to provide a positive alternative to the old isolated model of culture produced by individual geniuses for a passive public". Sessions planned during the 100 days of activity included a week in July on Nuclear Power and Alternative Technology, which was attended by a number of German, French and Scandinavian anti-nuclear groups, plus representatives from the UK including Dave Elliott from Undercurrents.

Another British contribution was two shop stewards from the Lucas Aerospace plant in Burnlev, who, outlined the ways in which trade unionists in Britain had developed alternative technology proposals to fight off redundancy. Similar campaigns may well follow in Germany as the energy and economic crises deepen and repression spreads. Certainly the German state seems set on maintaining i t s nuclear programme against any opposition -even if it has to use oolice and troops to do <n

Faced with this repression there is a danger that German activist will retreat into paranoia and, ultimately, fatalism. But as

the Free University discussions kept emphasising, the way ahea was not t o wallow in horror sta but rather to develop creative. alternatives, which help mobili; opposition in a positive way. TI means posing and organising an realistic alternatives t o nuclear power - and developing politic muscle in the community and i industry t o ensure their implenr tation. The Free University's program4 continues into October and there are plans for further meetings ' Britain and elsewhere. They h their main base in Ireland but be cOntxd via 8 Ă&#x192;Â§r&b

Plare London SW7

Convoy mystery A friend of a friend of a friend has been telling us about a curious incident observed two years ago. While driving up the M4 from Reading t o London one day in ~ u ~ u s t - 1 9 7they 5 overtook a convoy of two lorries, with a large . police escort, crawling up the inside lanes. The lorries were large, coloured sage green, but not apparently belonging t o the Army. The escort made a big point of hurrying along anyone they found hanging about. Now (here comes the interesting

bit), the cabs of these two trucl had been riddled with bulletho and, what's more, a large numb armed men were guarding every bridae over the motorwav. Our natural curiosity makes us wonder what it wasall about.If anyone can shed any further light on this strange apparition they should sidle up t o us in the street one da and whisper gen send us a postcar Secrets', ommitt" address unless th

Blaenau Ffestiniog grew rapidly in the 19th century llowing the boom in demand for roofing slates in the dustrial cities of England. The population was over ,000 in 1881. Since then i t has experienced a steady !cline in both population and jobs. There are now wer than 6,000 people in the town, many of them derly and crippled with the slate quarrymen's disease, icosis, unemployment stands atover 11%. It is a !pressing mountainous place on a wet Sunday, one the barely walking wounded of our grim industrial 1st. The slate industry has collapsed almost completely, though the original owners of the quarries, many of em English, now rake in the tourists' money by owing them how hard the quarrymen were treated. l i s cruel irony is not lost on the ordinary people of aenau. The young and able leave to find work sewhere. The policy of governments er the past few decades has en t o encourage manufacturing iustry i n t o the t o w n b y soft ins and b y building advance factories for rent at near zero rates. Twoadvance factories, one of 50,000 square feet and the other of 10,000 square feet have been b u i l t i n the 1960s and have been empty ever since. Working people i n Blaenau are demoralised and have few skills, and years of unemployment d o n o t give people self " n f idence. The Gwynedd Right t o Work mpaign (Hawl i Waith) is a movement campaigning that people have a right t o expect work i n Gwynedd if they do n o t want t o emigrate t o other areas. It is trying t o make working people aware that only they themselves will defend their interests. It is committed t o exposing our 'socialist' government's policies of defending private capital at the p'ense o f public expenditure. In area such as Blaenau, w i t h 70% the jobs i n the service sector, cuts public expenditure have a marked 'ect o n employment. The contradictions of our xed economy are clearly exposed b y the empty advance factories b u i l t at public expense for privately owned manufacturing industry. Blaenau, for instance, has hew attractions for industry and even with large grants the policy of encouraging regional development through private enterprise has been a flop. Regional policies in Britain have largely been ineffective. e,enterprise cannot recognise ~e the social need for work tne regions. On Saturday, 18th June 1977 er 3 0 people from the Campaign ak part i n the occupation of one the empty large advance factories. her people, unemployed youths d politically minded school Idren, distributed leaflets roughout the town. The purpose the sit-in was t o bring the case unemployment and the failure regional policies t o public notice; e sit-in was reported in the uerpool Daily Post, on the radio d on Harlech T V

Obcuoations such as this have a galvanic effect on the course of Welsh politics out of all scale t o their size. The Welsh Labour Partv can see itself out-flanked b y the Plaid Cymrb, who are inheriting

the socialist banner. The Welsh Labour Party is being forced t o ask itself whether it has both sold out its principles t o the status quo, andbetrayed the aspirations of Welsh nationhood t o a London based centralism. I t is a sad fact of life that any form of new work i n places like Blaenau (or Windscale?) has t o be welcomed, whether it is owned b y

workers co-operatives, American capital or Slater-Walker. In the short term., and - i n our . - nreqent ,-. - - - ... society, the ideal of fulfilling, socially useful work w i l l be hard t o achieve. Contact: Gwynedd Right t o Work Camnaiun. Secretarv - Selwvn Williams, 'cartref', ~ f o r d dyr ~ r s a f , Llanrug, Gwynedd.

r-- 7rves reverse One ofpritain's worst kept secrets is the war in Oman, in which British contract officers (what's a euphemism, Sir?) helped the appalling Sultan "Castrator" Qabus defeat the People's Front for the Liberation of Oman. Now that it seems to be over and local craftsmen have taken over the last few executions, the reason for all the fuss may be becoming apparent. The reason given for the war was always that Oman has some oil and commands the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz. These give access t o the Arabian Gulf, which has some strategic importance. But rumours have been circulatina i n Muscat that Oman's own oil reserves have been massively understated b y Shell, and that Shell has been responsible for a massive deception of the Omani government. Shell is the operator of Petroleum Development Oman, the o i l concessionaire. and owns 34% of it. The 0man.i government own$51%

and the French the rest. The -conspiracy theory has i t that Shell has systematically understated the reserves, and the possibilities o f new strikes, t o persuade the Omani government t o stick w i t h Shell despite forecasts of declinina oil reserves, production and revenues. On the Shell figures, Oman will be the first significant o i l producing nation t o run out of oil. which should provide useful lessons for nations nearer home. A closer look at the rumours reveals a rapidly thickening plot, since they originate o u t of a report t o Qabus b y Tetratech, a US ~~~

consultancy run b y a former CIA emolovee. Oman is also shown with increasing oil production in the 1980s i n a recently declassified CIA report. The report clashes violently with Shell's forecasts w i t h which the rest of the oil industry has usually agreed. ~ h e C l A ' sinvolvement may be part of a campaign t o get Shell out of Oman so that US oil companies can t r y drilling there, as PDO is carrying o u t very little drilling. It appears that the Omani government wants more drillina even if i t is unlikely t o be successful, t o jolly up the concessions market and encouraoe optimism about the Omani Gonomy. Even with the present level of oil production. the maintenance of anv sort of social progress depends upon an expanding debt base, and the Omanis. especially i n Dhofar. may yet round on Qabus when the oil money is no longer available.

Computing P i f i t s I n 1975 a joint prolect involving Edinburgh University. Inverclyde District Council and IBM, the computer people, devised a computer information system t o let people know what their entitlement t o welfare benefits ought t o be. Over 3 0 different types of benefit are included. The project arose out of concern that many people were not claiming or receiving their full entitlement. The joint project subsequently ended, b u t the system has been

kept up t o date at the University and the documentation and the oroarams are now beinu made available, at a small charge t o cover costs, t o anyone who can make use of them. This will consist o f background material on welfare benefits in the UK, a technical description of the programs, how t o amend the system for different local authority areas, h o w t o keep the system up t o date, and sample assessments made b y the program. Anyohe wishing t o use the

system should have some knowledge of welfare benefits, expertise i n the COBOL computer language, and access t o computing facilities. This could be an individual, a social work department. a claimants' union or a voluntary organisation. I t could greatly simplify the life of anyone needinu t o deal with welfare benefiti. For further details write t o Department o f Social Administratio Edinburah University. 7 Bi-ccleiich Place, Ginburgh 8.

Official support for defence conversion and product "~sificationcampaigns, of the type pioneered by the as Aerospace and Vickers Combine Shop Stewards' ;ommittees has come from the Transport and General Vorkers Union Britain's biggest in a special report in 'Military Spending, Defence Cuts and Alternative employment' prepared from the union's National Ielegate Conference.

The TGWU makes the following demonstration against the lock out xcific recommendations 'The at the comoantes headauarters in lovernrnent should commit itself shidey, ~iin>imm. . 3 corrfoltations with the Trade Although the company made Inions before any planned cutno mows to implement the 1100 acks, closures, or cancellation of this hinted at earlier rejects, with a view to finding yg^, theyare. accordiw t o the Iternative employment for any i- of combineN-, forkers involved. To this end trying split the combine, Government s ~ o u l destablish by offering assistance and encouran office for Defence Conversion, gement to a rival manual hi& would work closely with -bine, while at the same time the existing me Manpower ~WvicesCommission, refugng to recognise the Training Services Association companq-wide combine shop and various training boards and committee. ther government agencies in As far as the Corporate Plan elping plan for conversion. Campaign goes, the manual workers The Government, through its at ^_^,have included in this antrol of British Shipbuilding, -=laimademand for ritish Aerospace and the ordnance deplayrnent of some of Lucm's xtories should help research resources on socially useful products id develop alternative products t o a m a n d ~ ihasd also been taken lversify their operations. up by workers at BAC Preston, In the private sector of the ho are askng for 3% of BAC efence industry (eg Lucas Aeroprofits y, be on socially lace) planning agreementsare a useful R-rctj and Developments. latter of urgency The Government iould use their barmininu oosition ; buyers of d e f e n ~ ~ e q u i p i e to nt fsist on planning agreements. These COMMUNITY TELEVISION ireernents would lay down alteritive products for development. v these companies (Our emphasis) The Government can also help ith contracts, for example for Swindon Viewpoint, tha last iedical equipment for the remaining of the five local cable ational Health Service." Nstations set up i n 1972, will But the TGWU is aware that continue t o operate for a few will not be sufficient just t o months more. It had been announ<y on government -as the Lucas ad i n July that the station would orkers have already found. It will hme t o don btfm October 3 up t o the workers themselves t o bMMMofthebckoffinmc*.but Â¥veloalternative plansand fight Int-ditch meir effort will k ~ p K their im~lementation. For. itinbeingat I m t u n t i i U w a n d o f b i t e the fact that many ind-ividual the year. Ps are sympathetic t o the idea The mainstay of the rescue : defence conversion there are no will be a lottery which is expected atutory powers available t o force t o raise several thousand pounds. .hate companies like Lucas t o In addition Thamesdown district versify or be party t o a planning -'council wifl chin i n Â£2.000and reernent specifying diversification. Radio Rentals, whose cable nethether the governmentwtB take work the station uses, have p the ideas mooted by the promised t o make goodany shortGWY of using its bamainiiw DOG- fall until the end of December. m as the major customer f& the Even so, without regular and ?fenceindustry remains t o be seen. reliable income Viewpoint's The Lucas campaign has of existence will continue t o be burse already attracted official orecarious. Since EMI's initial ipport from AUEW (TASS) and support expired in 1976 (see received several glowing mentions Undercurrents 181, they have last years Labour Partypolicy been hard out to raise the Â£60.00 icument. Several resolutions on which the &tion requires annually. Jcas are being put t o this year's This is more than the local autho" h o u r Party Conference in ritv are oreoared t o give. while the lackpool. Votunmry &rvices U n i t o f the Home ~ffice have declined t o Kk at the ranch provide anything at all. They are Meanwhile at Lucas Aerospace not allowed t o raise monev bv elf the workforce is involved in carrying advertising during . major confrontation with the programme hours, to apart from m n y . A dispute over a bonus beqging more vehemently their ivment/productivitv issue has scone for action is somewhat d to the company locking out restricted. Â £ 6 0 , 0 ~ i sincidentally, XM workers at the Wolverhmpton rwohlv the cost of an hour's I n response the Combine ore&& drama on the national - . . xnmittee organised a protest netwirk.

CLOSDOWN ?

I Tunnel rreaxs mroumout ma land will be swarming t o the Matropolis from October 4 t o 7. when the Post Office railway will. bv soacial amngmmmt. bÃ open t o UNDERCURRENTS rÃ§dÃ§n,Mereerriw at the Newgate Street. EC1 entrance t o the King Edward Building beloam and 4.30pm and show your copy of the magazine. Groups should call 01-278 4311 in advance.

;ommittal Proceedings against he Secrets Three, Crispin Aubrey, lohn Berry and Duncan Campbell, wre again delayed when they ippeaced before Tottenham nagistrates on August 9th. John terry's defence lawyers wish t o ross-examinethe'prosecution's shief witness, referred t o as Lt. :ol. 'A', (presumably of the Signals Corps). So a fuil,rather han a formal. committal will now ake place, and ten days have been et aside beginning November 17th f the case goes t o trial at the )Id Bailey, this will not now take )lace until the spring. A further charge under Section )ne of the Official Secrets Act was irought against Duncan Campbell, hat he possessed photographs and locuments 'which might be of use o an enemv'. I n the meantime clouds continue o loom over the state espionige ndustry. Extraordinary allegations lave been made about Security Service interference in the affairs if Harold Wilson (seep 20, this

issue). as well as a camoaian of tapping and bugging of ~ i ' s , government ministers. trade unioi ists and others bv ubiauitous selfappointed defenders of democrac operating out of Cheltenham. No doubt we haven't heard the half of it, yet.

Souat a boat Response t o our recent item (Uric currents 231 about sauattina boat has been a little dii-pointing. Isn't there anyone who feels the slightest urge t o convert a desert0 hulk into a floating mobile horned Our correspondenthas sent us a list of a further 28 vessels on cani in Lancashire and the North West Midlands. all suitable t o a muter or I w e r degree, for &cupa%on. Again, anyone wishing to know more should write t o Undercurm anclosina a stamned and addrassa envelope, and marking their letter 'boats'.

rlenAuur CTED! I

The Riaht t o Fuel camoaian. . - .renortad oreviouslv in these neoes. still r u m b l f on. It has now got hold of so& of the bmic damit &ads by means of a parliamentary question. John Cunninflham. Minister of State at the Department of Energy, recently produced these figures for all disconnectionsi n the UK. -

1972173 1973l74 1974l75 1975176 1978l77

Gas 32,934 32,701 34.872 39,842 38,951

Electricity 117.369 113,778

103,941

The basil of the sluevkity disconnection figures was changed for 197% and 1976/77 to include only "domestic premises in regular occupation.' The figure for all disconnections for 197516 was 138,399, on a basis directly comparable with 120,330 in 1974B. As well as excluding dereli buifdingq it is possible that this redefinition axdudes squats and occupi~ industrial p r e m k The uf~crupulous may care t o n m that this latter-d version of casting penniless tenants out into the mow seemst o have displaced faster growth over the (ait five years than most other wctorx a the economy.

eddies

The European anti-nuclear movement showed its international solidarity at the Malville demonstration on the'last weekend of July. 50-60,000 gathered in near incessant rain for a non-violent march on the site for the world's first commercial fast-breeder, the 1200 MW Super-Phenix, on the Rhone, east of Lyons. They included 3000-7000 (depending on whom you believe) from Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere outside France. For the first t i m e popular antinuclear action made front-page news i n t h e British press. It required the m a r t y r d o m o f a 3 1 year o l d Frenchman and f o r another t o lose a foot, and a German a h a n d i n the face o f percussion grenades f r o m t h e CRS r i o t oolice. T w o CRS were themselves baoly njured b y a prema1ure.y exploding grenade. A n d i n the five hours o f clashes, the volleys o f tear gas a n d percussion grenades i n j u r e d a further 100. A l m o s t n o h a n d t o h a n d fighting occurred since the police techniaue was t o m a i n t a i n a 5 0 m gap between thp sidfs w i t h a clo~o d f tear gas a.apu b y the occasional urcnade. What drc the lessons n o w f o r t h e anti-nuclear movement i n terms o f organisation, strategy and t h e u l t i m a t e media impact?

Organisation Smashed The basic organisation seemed sound at first: the local villages had organising committees, these were paired w i t h committees f r o m the towns o f the region and f r o m regions o f the country. Everyone was t o assemble around the dozen or so small towns and villages w i t h i n a five m i l e radius of the site. T h a t was u n t i l the Prefect o f the Department o f Isere a goverpment appointed official) decreed that 2 5 square miles between t h e Rhone and R o u t e National 7 5 was a "forbidden zone", a q u i t e unprecedented action. This effectively illegalised' the ensuing demonstrat.~ i o n a n d a t t h e same t i m e smashed the planned organisation. So the assembly p o i n t s were reduced t o the f o u r outside the zone; Montalieu i n the north, Courtenay and Morestel i n the south a n d a small group i n t h e M i d d l e near Poleyrieu, the closest t o the site. W i t h o u t appearing t o o paranoid, the actions of the authorities should be read as an i n t e n t t o discredit the ecologists. It is clear t h a t they chose c o n f r o n t a t i o n rather t h a n negotiation w i t h a legal and nonviolent demonstration. T o understand the apprehension, o understand the thousand or t w o v i t h a m o t o r c y c l e helmets, t h e few hundreds w i t h sticks, and t h e countless w i t h goggles and cloths soaked i n l e m o n juice o r c i t r i c acid or other makeshift gas masks, y o u had o n l y t o listen t o the radio news at the end of the week; 5 0 0 0 CRS and 'gendarmes mobiles' drafted in, even paratroopers w i t h automatic weapons - the reports gloated over the exact calibres. Their task? " T o defend'the site at all costs", The hysteria had been t r u l y whipped u p b y the time the Prefect, i n a press conference, ~

repeated t h e words o f t h e m a y o r o f Morestel, t h a t Morestel had been occupied b y the Germans f o r the second t i m e i n its history. O f interest is Prefect Jannin's background which includes a spell as security chief i n Algeria u n t i l 1962. T h e mistake was t o have all the foreigners assemble a t one place. T h i s anti-German racism continued; anarchists and extremists h a d come f r o m 'over the Rhine', they were well organised commandos, trained b y the Baader gang! T h e police were also shown f i l m o f violence at the B r o k d o r f anti-nuclear demonstration, t o k n o w w h a t t o expect. A statement f r o m t h e Germans a t Malville said i n defence t h a t "Super-Phenix" was p a r t financed b v German capital so. since nuclear power d i d n o t respect frontiers, they were there i n solidar i t y w i t h the French opposition t o 'electrofascism'..

a m i l e around the site. Perhaps this was an enticing trap. A n y w a y , local mayors and councillors at the fore, the f o u r marches merged

grenades contain 8 5 grams o f T N T , and can be 'delivered' i n rifle-like launchers. Despite the panic, t h e ecologists shouted t o m i n d the maize as they ran d o w n the rows. T h e C R S u p o n the police barricade.At the trampled t h e m flat. So the retreat f r o n t the Poleyrieu group, some was announced, although a conflict i n g "stay here' was heard as well, and the dispersal d o w n t h e t i n y the police q u i c k l y b l o c k e d them lane was even m o r e p a i n f u l l y slow :ram b o t h sides. Meanwhile the than the arrival. M i n o r clashes at fields overlooking Faverge filled the f r o n t continued f o r t w o t o three u p a n d as a number o f demonsm o r e hours. Surprisingly, t h e trators began t o move d o w n t h e y villagers o f Faverge were h o r r i f i e d were h i t b v t h e first volley Of tear at action and their - .t h-e- oolice , technology o f repression, percussion support goes t o the ecologists.

~~,td~!~~e ~

;

Dirty Tricks Given the decentralised structure o f the d e m o good communications were paramount. They were n o t achieved and the organisers seemed t o disappear a t the onset o f the clashes. They w o u l d n o t have been aided b y t h e confiscation o f several meaaohones. as it was rurnoured. during the police search f o r weapons at the Morestel campsite. T h e M a y o r of Montalieu had his p h o n e tapped, and so almost certainly was the house where the P o l e y r ~ e uc o m m i ttee operated.

Ill-defined strategy

The lack o f a clear aoal f o r the

confrontation w i t h t h e 'forces o f order'. "(The Poleyrieu group) w o u l d a t t e m p t t o march w i t h o u t provocation a n d t o resist passively i f attacked", i n the w o r d s o f Peace News; "The site. , .should be occupied and all constructed installations destroyed. T h e idea is t o submerge the police b y weight o f numbers a n d determination, w i t h o u t initiating violence", Freedom. Such tactics were entirely pre-empted b y the authorities and t o pursue t h e m was b o u n d t o lead t o confrontation. The lessons o f Seabrook Undercurrents 23 h a d evidently n o t been learnt here. Even there the ' a f f i n i t y groups' showed the

strain when the whole d e m o was arrested. b u t their clear c u t and attainable goal meant some success, (occupy, sit down, a n d await arrest). I n the event a t M a l v i l l e 'les flies' d i d n o t a t t e m o t t o h o l d the entire and iindefendable forbidden zone b u t w i t h d r e w t o a radius o f ~

gas.The Poleyrieu group w h o had done n o t h i n g t o Provoke, received the same treatment and were forced back i n t o the woods. So the few hundred w h o came f o r the fight hurled t h e i r bolts and brandished their sticks b u t never got near the police lines. One o u t o f a batch of M o l o t o v Cocktails f o u n d a target, the car o f a US T V crew. Several thousand looked o n b u t the majo.rity o f the 50000 assembled i n a vast field separated f r o m the b a t t l e b y a small ridge and over 5 0 0 yards. They w o u l d have seen n o t h i n g and heard o n l y the distant bangs o f grenades.Finally, in impatience, the CRS charged and i n true commando style occupied successive fields, launching a volley o f grenades each time, u n t i l they reached the ridge. For those m o n i t o r i n g the

police on rampage I n the evening, the police decided i t was their t u r n t o riot. A r o u n d Montalieu a n d Morestel they b r o k e car windows, especially German once; the police radio message t o immobilise foreign cars was taped, checked papers and generally harassed anyone w i t h m u d o n their boots. Nineteen people were originally arrested b u t six received 3 t o 6 m o n t h s Prison sentences after lightning justice taking o n l y 24 hours. This was possible under the provisions o f the "Riot A c t " where all participants are collectively responsible f o r any damage done b y a few. This contravenes the U N H u m a n Rights Declaration and the soirit o f France's o w n cons tution.

LETTERS

Undercurrents 27 Clerkenwell Cbse London E C l

UN CHRIS WALKERS' EIRE

ONE PERSON'S M E A T . .

P e r h a p s King H e n r y d i d have King's Co1le.g: C h a p e l b u i l t in a s p e c i f i c p o s i t i o n "so t h a t the corre,ct o m p h a l o s c o u l d b e utiUsed (Whose L e y s ? , L e t t e r s U n d e r c u r r e n t s 23), b u t surely this represents t h e exception? BY t h e 1 2 t h C e n t u r y a w a r e n e s s o f ley energy was well o n t h e w a n e : even i n t h e I r o n Age i t h a d already passed its p e a k : T h a t a n existing c h u r c h w a s a m o n g s t t h e buildings d e m o l ished suggests t h a t t h e site w a s a l r e a d y recognised, a n d w h o c a n say n o w w h a t m a y have b e e n originally l o c a t e d

PASSING AND SAVING WATER.

,horn"?

savings. Designs could be evaluated, it p a y even be possible t o design a combined male and female urinal, perhaps in conjunction with the commode.

Peter Mullett Goleen. County Cork, Eire.

William C Morgan

US AND THEM? Pat Covne in his article Chaos i n Nuclear Police (Un(ercurrent8 2 1 , came t o the conclusion that m v "really serious effort to oppose nuclear power is going to have to take the argument into the unions or risk certain failure. Of course, this must be done emphasizing the positive benefits of a non-nuclear future rather than the negative effects of nuclear Dower However t h e statement belieian arrogance that seems common in the anti-nuclear movement. We need only convince the trade unions of the mrrect.nesc of ourarguments and thefwill--~-lorn with us giving as much help is we need only t o be p u t down when we have finished with them. rhis is totally naive- trade unions !ePlied t o the ~ a l i f o r n i a nantinuclearmovement with trenchant apposition because, as Richard Frossman of Environmentalists or Full Employment has explained 'the consider the movement to be 1 threat to their jobs and families ind they are convinced that the inti-nuclear zealots would take the U r n into their elitist and morais*," h " " d ~

AGAINST PARANOIA

e r s e , a narrow w o r l d o f l o i t l o r i z o n s . S o m e w h e r e d e e n in 3ur s u b c o n s c i o u s are t h o u g h t s ~f w h i c h we a r e afraid. a n d k o m w h i c h w e fee t o t h e Ganctuary o f o u r i n d u s t r i a l :astle. T h e r e is n o w i s h f u l h i n k i n g involved - o n c e w e # e r e a s m u c h p a r t o f t h e cosn o s a s a n e y e is o f o u r b o d y ~ u wt e c h o s e t o a m p u t a t e t h e :Ye s o t h a t t h e m i n d c o u l d n o o n g e r see.

Chris Hall $0 Florence Road

Tleet Hampshire G U 1 3 9LQ

. . IS ANOTHER'S POISON still have a great admiration f o r 'our magazine and its approach; ~ u the t balance between mystic eys o n the one hand and the 'olitics of such enterprises as the ,ucas Aerospace Collective, o n the Ă&#x201A;ÂĽthemust n o t be allowed t o wingdrearily t o either side. Both re good t o read about, b u t the rticles o n oreanic farmine and

~ - - -

mall voice may be heard - must emain the backbone of your pubcation! larrow Road West lorking urrev ' d i w s ' note: Pat Coyne is an ctive union member.

Alasdair Coyne rockwood Road ramdean Iresford ants.

3. Ruusevelt did not sah c American capitalism. He began the lust Keynesidn transformation of Ihe economy. The altcrntilivc was -hn,,c

4. America is not yet a corlorate state. If it was, there would have been n o Watereate .rials. 5. Must we really be subected t o a series of unfounded diegations about a gigantic con;Piracy involving the Mafia C.I.A., h e Rockefellers. Onassis and the Cennedys? I would not defend

Political Economic and fommodlties ~ e & r t s in Undercurrents 23 on the grounds that they cost hundreds of dollars a Year. Students and certain other categories of person can suhscrive for very much less than the admittedly high Prices we charge multinational corporations. I n fact a t the reduced rate a COPY of o n e o f our reports costsaround 25p, including postage: which is very much less than, say, Undercurrents.

THE REAL THING

Christopher Roper the Illuminati my shit-detector blows fuse. Having repaired it. I find i t strained again by references t o portents in the sky. The pathetic fallacy, indeed. This is plain

Latin America Newsletters Ltd Greenhill House 90-93 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6BL

LASTING VALUE

Geoffrey HeptonstaU Worthy Farm Pilton Shepton Mallet Somerset

SILLY AND HYSTERICAL This is a silly, hysterical letter.

1. I a m as pleased as the next man t o learn that Mr Heponstall is rational. Congratulations. After that I loose him. 2. Does the 'Mail's' coverage of the S.W.P. a t Lewisham mean that the editor has become a Troskyite. (I find this sneer particularly cheap. A completed book of mine that launched a full-scale attack o n Fleet Street had t h e honour of being personally suppressed by the Chairman of theNewspaper proprietor's Association, Lord Goodman). 3. I t is good t o know t h a t the Keynesian pnvatelstate ca italist system with its assembly fines, and Neutron Bomb, is saving us from chaos. 4. I only say there are certain 'manifestations of the Corporate State l i k e t h e FBIICIA, I don't say Amenca is one. 5. I don't give a tinker's fart whether Mr He onstall believes in conspiracy theories of not the article is about the large number of people that do. and why. 6 . We disagree over agreed meanings. 7. I m amazed his shit-detector managed t o get this far through this letter without disintegrating. 8. I didn't write about the limitations of pluralism(?) transnational corporations. or arms manufacturer, because I was writing about popular millenarianism and conspiracy theories. Before 1 read this slobbering mass of elephantine latinisms I was under the impression that Mr Heponstall was a friend since when the rest of us should heworking, he spends long hours each week a t our place, discoursing in fascinating and profound detail upon his own 'Weltanschaung'. S o b e it: May his cramped parched little Calvinist soul rot a seed a day in hell.

eves so

A PRELAPSARIAN CATHOLIC (John Fletcher)

Counter-cultural values should be eood whoever uses them. So: even if a member of the bourgeoisie uses solar heating t o cut heatin costs it's still better than if he heats the water with energy from nuclear power even if a teacher is as straight as most except that she's more concerned that the children should be creative then this is better than if she's n o t creativity orientated even if the community in which 1 live (a Steiner School for children in need of special care) buys food from the &permarket, wastes petrol, and s o on, kt's still very good that they teach the children t o reject an all-embracing scientific rationality. In short, you don't have t o be a card-carrying member of the alternative t o make some small step twoards an alternative world. S o why are you so concerned about ideological purity? Don't misunderstand me. I'm n o t preparing an ethical escape route t o a future J o b as a bank clerk manager advertising cop writer ovwbatever- I would t o be one of those card-carrying members. But I wonder what t o do when I finish my year a t this school. Some possibilities I've considered include self-sufficiency: b u t what about the unenlightened in the towns? Urban "missionary"

satisfaction of grappling with good and evil?

crop ofradicals will b e demanding something even better). So we all have to compromise ourselves

Martin Ince recommended readers

not to subscribe t o Latin American

Ken Hardy 30 Stanley Street

London

ROAST COCKROACH, ANYONE? For the past two years I have been working for the United Nations in Bangladesh. The image most people have of Bangladesh is one that has been consistently promoted b y the international press, namely that of a pitiful "basket case". But the reality is that Baneladesh is a n incredibly fertile ground f o r the development of appropriate agricultural tecbnoloey. I t is my belief that the experimentation being presently carried o u t here will enable Bangladesh t o export agricultural technology t o the west and elsewhere by the beginning of the next century. With this in mind, many of u s have been to in#to work out unconventionalapproaches which we hope will expedite rural development. One of these concerns the use of cockroaches a s fertilizer, fish-feed. fuel and oossiblv a s a n emergency proteinsourcefor human consumution.

Tony Wed, The Lost World Youth Hostel Queensland Australia

M Kelly Briery Cottage The Sheiling School Ashley Ringwood Hants BH24 2EB

BACK TO BASICS I have subscribed t o Undercurrents since Issue 4. There seems t o have been a gradual shift away from AT at the nuts and bolts level. I find this disturbing as the problems of solar energy arb far from "solved". I am trying t o d o my bit having developed a way t o rewind car alternators f o r windmill use (see small ads). A small contribution but if we all make a small contribution. . As we all know one thing we need is a cheap low-tech method of converting low-grade heat into electricity. Is there anyb.ody o u t there who bas or can build a h o t

SUPER-SAVER

includeone species found incaws and mines, several which grow o n dead trees, and one occasionally attacks rotten potatoes. Could these lead t o fluorescent light without electricity? I read somewhere that molecules of substances which have a bad smell are negatively charged. Is half the power from a methane generator wasted? What next? BO-powered foot warmers? Seriously though I would like t o see more discussion of technical matters. If you have an original idea which you can't harness o n your own. throw i t open: let's all have a go. Maybe someone else bas the idea or hardware you lack. If we develop the hardware, social change must follow.

THINGS WE'D LIKE TO . KNOW..

as a delicacy. Roasted over a n open fire, they taste a bit like crunchy sbnmp. I am sure this idea is n o t new.

Bettyann Lopate c / o Lopate 636 Brooklyn Ave.

F;YYz;3 USA

Don Butler of Willemose ade : 2100 Copenhagen we like t o know where he can buy 1

c en mark

here hasbeen a lot of talk in the last year or so about accidents, real and hypothetical, at nuclear power teas attention is the possibility of unpredictable incidents befalling nuclear weapons. After reading a recent report on the subject by the Stockholm. International Peace Research Institute, Martin Ince reveals why he hasn't yet learned to stop worrying and love the bomb. I

. stallations. Another aspect of life in a nuclear age which receives rather

n a previously quiet day 'in the mid360s' a US Navy F-102 pilot looking ..~r someone to kill i n the Gulf o f Haiphong struck lucky. He saw some gunboats from the now forgotten land o f North Vietnam, and decided t o sink them. He chose one o f his trusty armoury of missiles and fired it. Had there not been 'a crossed wire i n the firing safety mechanism' the missile would most '"'(ely have sunk something and he >uldhave gone home happy. As it was the missile he fired had an atom bomb at i t s front end, and was altogether more suited t o destroying a city

than a small boat. It h i t the water and, not being primed, failed t o go off, just I as its designers intended. Doubtless the crossed wire was soon repaired and the brave pilot lived to bomb another day. But the atom bombing o f Vietnamese territorial waters is only one o f about 125 known accidents involving US nuclear weapons between 1945 and 1976, painstakingly +v.mnented as only SIPRI knows h'ow iri World Armaments and Disarmament: SIPRI Yearbook 1977. This total, o f course, excludes any accidents with nuclear weapons o f other countries either side

o f the Iron Curtain. But anyone who thinks that the nuclear/submarines concentrated in Holy Loch are protecting them from something might contempta the serious fire on USS Canopus, on November 29, 1970, when the Canopus was moored and carrying Polaris missile Two Polaris submarines were moored alongside. The accidents which have happened t o US nuclear weapons alone are pretty comprehensive; but most involve ships and aircraft, with land based missile accidents surprisingly few. One o f the most spectacular acciden at sea was on June 16 and 17, 1968. A US Navy plane, or maybe planes, thoug to have been an F-4, forgot itself so far to sink a US patrol boat and, encourage by this success, went on t o more ambit ious things. It attacked, with missiles, b o t h the USS Boston, a cruiser, and the RAN Hobart, an Australian guided missile destroyer. History does not reveal what damage the heroic F-4 m; aged to inflict, or even why. The reco is also silent on whether the attacks were carried out with nuclear weapons. What is clear is that the Boston and the Hobart both carry Terrier, a surface t o missile with a nuclear warhead, so that the Vietnam war's answer t o the loss of the Hood in 1944 could have been a very nasty bang indeed. The problem fc the attacked ships was that the Ter missile was the only weapon they h-- board capable o f downing an F-4. Firin off atom bombs hard by Vietnam woul have been far too dangerous politically, and the ships, which were not expectin] or equipped for air attack, were presurr ably left defenceless. It doesn't help one understand the accidents which have happened - not that we are supposed t o understand them - that details o f most o f them art sparse indeed. I n 1969, for example, what are we t o make o f 'explosions on board' USS Enterprise, a carrier which' is propelled by nuclear power and v ' carries nuclear weapons? That was a January 14 later that year, on November 10, a US Navy A7 fell into the sea o f f Sicily; Italian sources say i t was carrying nuclear weapons, and th'e Americans insist that it was not. I n the air, things don't seem an\ safer. A report i n something called La Tribune des Nations, February 23 1968 says that there was an i'ntc nal US Department of'Defense repi

, /

Perhaps of more general relevance is the fact that BS2s cannot attack the Red heartlands without refuelling en route, so that refuelling exercises are constantly carried out, even over the South o f England. One such exercise became the great Dorset UFO o f 1969. Apart from one accident described as 'Date, unspecified, Weapon System, unspecified, Place, in the UK, Remarks, unspecified', the eventswhich have come nearest to accidental Armageddon have been with missiles. Once an 'operational ICHM blew up on i t s launching pad', presumably in circumstances when the weapon was armed. It was unlikely to have been less than a megaton, as compared t o the 10kt bomb which necessitated extensive rebuilding works after its use at Hiroshima. Much work has been done on how small an atom bomb can be; some is described i n The Curve o f Binding Energy, a text which no amateur atom bomb builder should be without The answer seems t o be that a kiloton is about the lower limit, and the usual tables o f missile weapons give no clue that even the smallest anti-aircraft nuclear weapons are any "smaller. So even accidents involving these missiles are potentially very Hasty, and there are two o f them which we aren't allowed to know anything about. Qne involved anti-aircraft missiles which had 'misfired several times'. In the other, there were 'at least two cases i n which nuclear-tipped antiaircraft missiles were actually launched by accident'. Time, place and further - details have n o t been revealed. , Naturally, the military are better

1.~72serious metal fatigue failures' B52s in 1966 and 1967 alone. These "aft, as seen i n Vietnam and Dr igelove, are one third of the threeongedUS deterrent whose other iments are Polaris and Minuteman ther horrors wit$ airborne weapon ite back t o August 5, 1950, when ling 'unspecified' happend at Id-Suison Field, California. 1956 a B-36 went so far as t o drop i a t is bluntly described as an atom )mb on what is now barren terriry (and, they say, was before) i n , ,exico. Z%iks+ -air collisions are also imrnon with aircraft carrying sapons, as they seem t o be wi d submarines likewise equipped. The ost famous such accident was on luary 17, 1966, at Palomares, on the anish coast. A B52 h i t a refuelling 'craft in airspace near the town. One the four Hydrogen bombs it was rrying h i t the ground and was recoverI undamaged in a dry river bed near e town. Two others h i t 'a populated .& ea' and broke open, releasing radiolive material. The last landed i n the a and was recovered by a submersible ter &massive search. Opinion differs Ă&#x201A;ÂĽouhow Large the bombs were, with ,me reports going for J.5Mt each, id others f o r 20Mt:ju~for,the bomb s t i n the-*a. Pravda-'letl ts'custornary.

7 -

ig a picture o f some medieval ear the town with a caption ng that they were the devastated ins o f Palomares itself. Palomares is still blase enough t o be ie home o f a nuclear power station.

at looking after dangerous objects than most o f us would be; they are better trained for it and have more practice. Nobody is suggesting that the US Air Force, for instance, is as lousy at looking after radioactive materials as the custodians o f Windscale. So the fact that there have been over ahundred known nuclear weapons accidents i n . thirty years by US forces alon%suggests that it is not possible, irrespective o f training, for people to look after nuclear weapons safely. Add t o this the horrific stories o f the stoned, the pissed, and the careless being let loose with nuclear weapons and the picture is even less reassuring. Tales o f dope and even acid trips being taken by custodians o f ICBMs in the US Midwest have been circulating freely for years. I n Europe, Peace News has reported a tale, doubtless without foundation, o f several tactical nuclear warheads being left in the basement o f a US Army office block in Germany secured only with a Yale lock. As a spokesman for the criminal classes put it, 'This is not really enough'. The massive deployment o f nuclear weapons on Cruise Missiles ;id in other small scale delivery systems will invarthat the number o f nasty increase over the next decade. The increasing number o f countries with nuclear weapons, and haven't learnt how to handle them, will have the same effect. But o f course, our security does depend on them, $0we'd better make the bestof i t . .

Z1idrnt&il

Martin

S t a r k describes t h e work o f a g r o u p dedicated to h e l p i n g t h e m o s t i t e d a n d miserable of our domestic animals: the b a t t e r y hen.

ached our way through wonders, modern progress has not se! ed the connection entirely and as the on eggs; the average demand for eggs has risen in recent yi Ie nowadays buy their so the care of laying birds has underg ped in crackly plastic six-boxes and i t is a fairly safe bet that the only chickens many urban egg-eaters ever see are plucked clean and served hot on dinner The consumer society has largely suceded in taking the chicken out of eggs, isolating the feathered producer from er product so that the egg-buying public asily forgets there's a squawking hen

by economic necessity, but i t i s one which raises disturbing moral questio about human's rights over fellow creatures and also one about which British egg eaters remain either comp ly ignorant or blithely indifferent. Laying chickens, until the 1950's, ed almost entirely on 'free range' farr They were kept in the open air in rur pecking the ground, scratching for fo

Bob Walker thinks those who &pose : factory farming are sentimentalists who 2 Credit chickens with needs they-haven't ; got and then claim the hem are badly treated and frustrated. In fact he says . $, . chickens are sensitive but simple creatures whose free range instincts are either well cared for By the battery system or have been bred outby genetic selection. 'If people are going to eat eggs at anything like an economic level - then this i s how they-are going to have ems vroduced !' he insists. 'The free

die calls these '&Isen-like prisons'. 'ifdomestic petswerekept in compar-

The battery chicken has risen as +ngly quickly. By 1967 only one teen of the nation's laying hens were freedom of movement to turn round

tic feeders dispense into trough. oblivious t o <tĂ&#x192;Ë&#x2020;es

idetcutrent. !,s.mde& recommendations that &&lchhnsetf condemned as a 'corn=tee for \vhich no case other thar mmercial expediency exists'. daire Druce also does not doubt i t big business interests are to blame ;the'G&ernment1s backpedalling. @battery system, she believes, was vel6ped simply to maximise profits

--*

. -

+---. -.

uce expiains.'the tactics: 'Wha -difficulties of rousing the average English ^:-we are trying to do is to get people to ' ;"Bo things fhatactuafly hurt.. Ifwe get conscience, (wtidrtarty when it means -enough peoplckining this-scheme the sacrificinttheir daily E for-B. 'It seems to me that people will accept :Minktry willbe inundatedTTtliurts'to: Epliea: . to $pend,'t(tni~writingffie almost an thing without ce&y thinking .'^:have ~b?ioujly,one does not just want to about it i everybody else is doing it, ..bring theMinistry to a halt. We really

firsrshe wants comprehensive legis-

istant secretary for health of SV'APO, the

. Geoff Watts talked to her in London

nearly complete, but the surgery of

care. -5 wiien I spoke recently in L ir Libertine Amathila, assista try for health of the South West ,frican People's Organisation, she told ie, 'The doctors now in Namibia are rhite. They will probably leave at ' Ă&#x201A;

Come. the en# of that war, a League &Nations mandate gave South Africa, control of the country, charging it with the 'sacred trust o f civilisation'. Smuts apparently rZgarded.this trustee

peaceful means were nil; 1966 saw he birth of a guerilla army which has sen fighting a war of liberation ever Ă&#x192;Ë&#x2020;ce

proper control in the,mines.

re itself inadvance.

BACK TO THE LANDERS soon discover that the last thing rural plan3rs want are real live messy people cluttering up their unspoiled countryde. Gary Burton tells how organic farmers Ian and Suzi Ward took on the tanning monster in single combat - and won.

- .--.z*++-

--- :,.

., - -. ,..a:-..-.*2 *.. - -,a -,-..iythis sort o f attitude that one.has ,

s.>.*

> ' . h

J^y:

Old Cwm Farm is a 1316 acre smallilding beautifully situated at 1100 feet the Black Mountains above Hay-onye. Ian and Suzi Ward and their son lonie moved there i n about November 373. The farm comprised an area o f 'ugh pasture with nothing i n the way fencing, track, water supply, power, house. They bought it for Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ650 ith the intention o f turning it into market garden. The old farmhouse consisted o f four umbling walls and nothing more, so )me has been and still is two caravans; ley had no idea that planning perission was required t o live in the ravans, or indeed t o rebuild a ruin. fter all it was their land. Inevitably 'the Authorities' paid em a visit. A National Park Warden otted their caravans whilst on patrol, ked 'have you got permission t o be ;re?', and instructed them t o apply for anning permission and a site licence. iis was i n 1974 and it took till Februy 1977 t o establish their right t o live 1 their own land. The first points t o make are that the ight never have been noticed if they id thought to disguise the caravans i t h for example, dull green or brown lint, and that if they hadn't applied ir planning permission they couldn't ive been refused. In March 1975 they iplied for planning permission for the iravans whilst 'farming the land and building the farmhouse'. This was fused i n May 1975. I became involved ;ring that summer and i n September e applied for an 'agricultural worker's veiling formed by renovation o f :relict farmhouse'. This was refused March 1976. Our prospects looked r y gloomy at this stage, especially so this latter application had been well ought out and was accompanied by )od supporting evidence, using my ofessional planning experience t o ve thecorrect impression. The problem is how t o p u t forward convincing case, and it i s obviously of eat assistance if one understands what ie planning officer is looking for an an iplication o f this kind. He i s accustom1 t o dismissing out o f hand an applicaon which smacks o f goddamn hippies, )mmuhes, back-to-the-landers, etc. fter all these people don't really iderstand the complexities o f modern rming, and we really don't want them .actising i n our area, coming along ith all their friends, making a mess, i d then going away again. I t i s precise-

to overcome in the planning system. Self-sufficiency is not regarded as a viable agricultural system, and living lightly without society's consumer durables is viewed suspiciously. The only lifestyle or agriculture the planners support i s the conventional high-input high-output kind. Superficially the prospects o f a market garden at 1100 feet must have looked unlikely, b u t the application did at least have the support o f the Ministry o f Agriculture. Their evidence is absolutely critical i n a case o f this kind. I n determining an application like phis the planning authority will usually consult the Min. o f Ag. for their impartial appraisal of the farm and its operation, Ian and Suzi are good organic farmers and they made a good impression on the Min. o f Ag. official who inspected the farm. His written report to the planning authority supported their claim that the farm was economically viable. However, even though the principal government circular on the subject states that planning authorities should provide the applicant with a copy o f the report, this authority did not. Both the Min. o f Ag. and the planning authority refused t o supply copy o f the report t o Ian Ward. A copy was eventually obtained from the Min. o f Ag. following the intervention o f the local M.P. We appealed against the first refusal in November 1975, and against the second i n September 1976. The second appeal statement itself ran t o 1 0 typed pages, Ian wrote a 6-page account o f the farm, and i n addition there were other notes, photographs, plans, letters o f support, etc. The first appeal was held i n abeyance pending submission o f the second, and the two were eventually heard at a public inquiry held i n Hayon-Wye i n January. In the meantime Ian and Suzi worked the land, established a goat herd, and generally improved the farm, and with ,the passage o f time the more convincing became their case. I n addition they gathered support, amongst prominent local people, other market gardeners, neighbours, etc The part played by Mr Caerwyn Roderick M.P. (Brecon, Labour) was important because o f the weight behind his voice. He was sympathetic to the cause, and a willing ally. He visited Old Cwm, wrote letters i n their support, and was prepared t o appear at the inquiry in their support. In summary the appeal statement argued three points. Firstly, that the appli-

cation is based on 'viable agricultural needs',"secondly that it is necessary tha Ian and Suzi live on the farm itself, and thirdly that the'new house would not spoil the appearance o f the countryside The key t o the whole problem is provid by the first point: what is meant by 'agricultural viability'? It is not difficult therefore t o understand the problem wi had i n getting t o see the Min. o f Ag. report. The appeal statement provided description o f the farm, its developmen t o date, and future plans. It enumei head o f stock, acreages o f crops, an interpreted both i n terms o f Standard Man Days. With 365 days i n a year, a farm enterprise needs something over 300 smd's a year t o be considered viabli But the planning authority will look at other factors besides, and so it may be necessary t o provide any amount o f additional information in support o f one's case. We were able to quote direci from the expert and impartial report of the Min. o f Ag. as to the viability o f the proposed enterprise. I n addition we reported how the farm produce i s and will be sold, suppprted by written evidence from wholefood shops, etc. We emphasised the fact that organicallygrown food commands an above averagi price, and that demand for good quality food was increasing. Ian Ward's written evidence was enti led 'Specimen farming system and accol based upon proven crops and livestock' It described a part-horticulture partdairy goat enterprise, utilising an eight stage rotation, and organised on the principles o f organic farming. The repol included theoretical accounts, based on actual market prices o f a typical year's work, i n order to show that a satisfacto income can be had o f f working the farn After due consideration o f the facts, and a visit to the farm itself, the Welsh Office Inspector gave his decision whict was t o allow both appeals (i.e. approve both applications). Readers attempting the same sor thing may draw a number o f conclu from this experience:1) If the land has no house or includes a derelict they should consider whether they stand a better chance o f getting planning permission, or o f getting away with not applying at all. 2) If an application is made, the need is to put forward a very convincing case t o the Authorities that one is a serious farmer. The Min. o f As. inspection is important, and they consider n o t only the capability o f the land but the capat ity o f the applicant also. 3) That t o succeed at all requires an enormous amount o f work, i n presentir the case, and i n developing the farm. 4) That the problem is very much a chicken-and-egg situation. One needs tc develop the farm in order t o convince, butdhat one May be unwilling t o do so until the uncertainty i s resolved. 5) That it i s important t o gain the support of local and/or influential people. Gary Burt For advice on these matters please ring Gary Burton on Munderfield (Herefordshire) 617.

ie of the dramatic leitmotifs which permeates the V1indscale public enquiry is criticism of the nuclear powe ogramme, alternating withl-it ual assertions by BNFL that environmentalists haven't got anything better to . .i t that merely demonstrates that the pro-nuclear pundits are- falling behind with their reading. Godfrey Boyle and Dave E l l i o t t describe some of the latest alternative energy assessments.

WHO SAYS the alternative techholÂ¥ movementisn't

capable of coming > with a satisfactory substitute f& <clearpower? Whatever justification ~ x may e have been in the past for the <clearlobby's jibe that the environentalists are good at criticising nukes t t bad at offering constructive ternatives, that justification is fast sappearing. A couple of years ago, it seemed, we ere being bombarded by official ports demonstrating that alternative chnology was simply not on. The rtergy Technology Support Unit at arwell, for instance, concluded that e most we could expect from solar at, geothermal, wind, wave and ial power was '6 6 8 per cent o f e overall energy demand 25 years snce, if all the options are followed

)'.

But now, the balance seems t 6 be wing the other,way. The first salvo i n the AT counter^ig: tack was fired in 1976 by the U K e >tar Energy Society in their bulky id impressive report 'Solar Energy UK ~ssessment'~, (see Underm a t s 20) which suggested that Jar energy could contribute some !million .... - tonne - - -- of - coal - -- eauivalenl - -. energy (=260 x lo9 kwh, or 260 irawatt-hours (TWh) b y a e year w). misisabout 14% ofour present Â¥ consumption of energy, curren nning at around 1800 TWh a yea A t t h i s point, before we dive an rther into the midst of the megaatts and the megajoules and the megains o f coal equivalent so beloved of rergy analysis, see fig 1 which explains lout howenergy is wasted and about e various different ways of measuring lergy consumption.

a f t Technology

Following the UK 1SES Report, 1977

s seen several major contributions to e energy debate from the alternative chnology lobby. Taking an internationperspective are Denis Hayes' report for e Worldwatch Institute i n Washington, term: the Â¥SolaProspect3, which sues cogently that solar power can conibute 75% o f world needs by 2025, id -Amory Lovins' Soft Eneray Paths, wards a Durable peace4 (published the UK in August by Penguin) which, ough crammed with enough figure? satisfy the most demanding numberuncher, still leaves room to include is almost poetic conclusion: 'Su-?light leaves an earth unravished, islanded, renewed. It leaves a people imutatkd, convivial, evin illuminated.

Above all, it respects the limits that are always with us on a little planet; the delicate frailty of life, the imperfection of human societies, and the frailty of the human design .'

The Official Future Nearer home, Soft Technologists in the UK, their minds concentrated wonderfully by the demands of the Windscale inquiry, have also been making major dents in the cosy image of our electronuclear future peddled by 'experts'. from the Department of Energy and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The most striking feature of these 'official' energy projections is the supposed 'need' for an enormous growth in nucleargenerated electricity, mainly to compensate for North Sea oil and Gas depletion, but also to allow some growth in energy consumption - without which, the Department of Energy appears to believe, the end o f civilisation as we know it looms nigh. As Fig. 2 shows, the projected contribution of nuclear power stations t o our electricity generating capacity by the year 2025 i s reckoned to be no less than 365GW (365 x 106 kW). This is some 50 times our present nuclear capacity (about 7GW, which has taken 25 years to build) and implies the construction of some 280 power stations of the size of our current AGRs (1.25MW each) over the next 50 years or so. (Incidentally, the waste heat these stations would produce is aboutequal to the entire net energy demand!) Even by AD 2000, some 105GW of nuclear generation caoacitv (equivalent to some84 AGRs) would,itisestimated, ,be required - quite a tall order for the National Nuclear Corporation (NNC), even with the mighty Sir Arnold Weinstock (Chairman of GEC, the NNC's major shareholder) at the helm. Indeed, the number of nuclear power stations needed may well be far greater than these figures suggest, and far more than the UK nuclear industry can hope to construct in the time available, if a recent paper5 in Nature by Sir Martin Ryle (Astronomer Royal turned AT enthusiast) i s anything to go by. Ryle's paper points out that official estimates of the nuclear capacity required in future years do not take into account the largepeaks in energy demand which will have to be met by nuclear power stations i f they are required to supply space heating loads previously fed by oil and gas. These peak demands would necessitate many more nukeshan would be necessary t o meet the average demand - in

other words, there would have to be a large number of nuclear power stations sitting around'doing nothing for most of the year, ready to swing into action on a few cold days in the depths of winter. Ryle reckons that instead of needing 105 GW of nuke capacity by AD 2000, we would need a staggering 266 GW, which implies the construction of some 200 AGR-type power stations in the next 23 years - 'a programme which does not seem feasible', as he delicately phrases it in the dry language of Nature-ex. He then demonstrates that the only way nuclear power can hope to meet the projected AD 2000 space heating demand is if short-term (about 6 days duration) heat storage is provided at the point of use, to . average out all the peaks and troughs. (The stores he envisages would take the form of simple insulated water tanks, connected to the grid, and activated to coded pulses transmitted down the mains wires whenever the ,grid has a surplus of energy available. Such storage, he demonstrates, could reduce the number of nukes needed by more than 50%). Ryle then goes on to play his master-stroke, which in effect amounts to standing the arguments of the nuclear brigade on their head. If energy storage must be provided, he demonstrates convincingly that f i e cheapest form of energy to supply that storage is not nuclear energy but (loand behold) windpower! As he puts it, A s soon as such storage is introduced. a system based on wind turbines i s very much cheaper, in both capital and running costs, than a nuclear system.. .' Moreover, wind turbines could be produced far more quickly than nuclear power stations: after an 18-month R&D phase, costing some Â£1- million, production of 1MW windmills 'could build up over a 5 year period to 2,000 units a year (repre senting in both cost and tonnage of steel, 10-15% of that of the UK motor industry) and divided approximately equally between the structural steel, the electrical and the aircraft industries'. 'By 1985', Ryle contends, 'wind energy could be providing more than 107GJ (2.8TWh) annually, and the energy consumed in the manufacture of each unit would be repaid by it in 6 to 12 months', And by 1991 'the wind system discussed, with a production of 2,000 units per annupi, would . be producing an annual output of 2 x 1 0 8 (56TWh).' ~ ~

-..

ktifewfby iai-fety et?mf*g'w%e" An bternative Future in energy conversion an+ddistribution (i.e. mainly by reducing the wastage ,* Ip view of his enthusiasm for wind t^)wer, it's no surprise that Ryle is of heat from power stations by intro-' . me of the authors of another telling -- - ' h c i n g small Combined Heat and 0" contribution to the energy cont%-,~ Power (CHP) stations). It's important t o stress that the 'ersy: the National Centre"for Alters* - - NCAT's proposed net energy consum@ive Technology's recently-published ption by the year 2025 is about the flternutjve Energy Strategy for the same as we have now. 'Ws, then, is Jmted Kingdw ,which maps out no hair-shirt, back-to-the-stene-age i 'soft energy path' for the UK in "" energy strategy, nuch the same way as Lovins has pro--:Nor does the NCAT strategy rule msed for the USA. , - out some ecohomic growth, for it The NCAT-Strategy has been worked w t by a team of acknowledged experts anticipates that improvements in n renewable energy sources. It differs appliance efficiency at the point of 'om orthodox energy projections i n use +make energy available for

_ '

Future clemand would :b& met'@ '&' combination of renewable energy sources plus coal. The 'mixi 4mks something like this: Solar energy, for spas, water and process heating could, say NCAT, provide about 200 TWh a year by 2025. * Wind power, they say, could contribute a total o f 106 TWh, which woutd'come partly from 'clusters' of 2.5MW wmdmifls (10,000 of them-in all) moored up to 50kM offshore, and partly from some'4,500 land-

-T

could provide 400 TWh a year by the end o f the centuryk generated by strings o f floating wave-power generators several hundred kilometres long, moored mainly to the West and North

>e met by a combination of coal and ﾃつ･enewablenergy sources, rather than

Gross energy c 0 i p t i o n i s the total anpunt of energy-theoretically availableaa from the primary fuels (mainly coal, oil,--* natural gas, anduranium, plus a little bit

UK homes is still ﾃッad Art thy-waste S-Amole than 50%the energy supplied to them :* by domestic fadappliances. Ami t h w appliances themselves waste alot of the of hydro-power) consumed in the countey - energy that's (applied tq them. Open fires, - for instance, usually have in-efficiencyof each yeat. Of course, not all this energy acwally gets to the members of the public , only 20% orlegs 80% of the energy in who consume it, in their homes and the coal goes up the chimney. Even modem factories, carsand trains.Wastage occurs central heating boilers waste 20 to 40%of in two major ways: in e n e w conversion and the fuel energy supplied to ttiem. tranamisslon; and in appliance inefficten-by at the point of use.

team, eealdgenerate 6TWh a year or -more. - + > / .- ,* --- , Bid-fuels, eqkn at a_niod&t-l% photosynthesis efficiency andgrown on only -5 10%of our land area, could contribute 2 111TWh a year, with afurther 111 lWh$ available from organic waste?, And Heat pumps, according t o NCAT,? -. could contribute 250 TWh a year *'enough t o provide half our present " demand for heating buildings'.

ill; will soon be .cheap enough -to makehighly-significant contribution to the ~ergywe can expect from renewable mrces. Another promising renewable lergy technology which goes unmenoned in the NCAT report is ocean ~ermalpower generation. Adding up the contributions of the newable resources considered by CAT, then, we get a total of 837-TWh?+f ; year, which leaves roughly 1000 TWh year to be supplied by cod. As the CAT authors point out, 'The National Board i s of the view that coal out~tin Britain could be raised t o over 50century, million tonsper year by theend of such an output would

-'We can conserveat least 25 MTCE per year simply by using proper insulation in our homesand factories'.

Despite the immense financial handicaps suffered by those involved in AT research, (until recend~the government was spending only Â£300,00 a year on alternative energy assessment, to many hundreds of millions on nuclear Power), the case fw alternative energy technology looks increasingly positive. obviously there is much work to be done, and we ww of overenthusiasm: it will not be easy to make the ~ ~ n v e r s i oton a society based on alternative technology. If we oversell our ideas we would be faced with a ive a calorific value o f 1192 TWh a political backlash should AT prove untar and could be maintained for about able to provide an acceptable lifestyle. SO years.' We need to make a sober and respon Although the NCAT doesn't say so, assessment of what AT can really propresumably considers that over the vide, and how soon. This is more difficult ixt 250 energy source with the meagre technical and financial in be improved inscope and efficient resources available to AT and environ,entually to meet allour needs. I,,ah mental groups, and faced with a barr ise, it's not really possible to say anyof hostile propaganda from the nude ling of value about what energy reurces, or indeed energy demands, cg-Z%lobby' What we have to do (and to some ill be like in 250 years ti extent it has already happened) i s to force the nuclear power proponents onhe Coal Option to the defensive. It is increasiftgly clear The *Ove programme that we that AT could provide a d b l e option tly heavily on coal while solar power ts for the future, and that support for sveloped - it provides a 'nucfear-free nuclear power is based not so much ridge' to the solar future. If this is to economic rationality as OR political thenmoney must be $pen expediency. Nuclear power provides n improving mining safety and intro'technical fix' to keep society operat ~ c i nmore remote handling equiproughly as it is, although only for a lent, such as the Remotely Operated while, and at a high cost. The side ongwall Face system (ROLF), with effects - environmental impact, ie long-term aim of completely autosecurity problems etc. - can be 'deal ated mining. Pollution control and with' superficially if enough cash is ie more efficient burning of coal in spent and appropriate social me;awmc uidized bed combustion systems are taken. so essential - as well as amove to Indeed, the increased need fo. ombined Heating and Power Systems security (armed guards, screening of :HP) which would raise the energy conthe workforce, surveillancesf antiirvation efficiency from the present . nuclear groups and so on) might be 3% to (perhaps) 80%. seen as a positive gain by some autho In this context it is interesting t o tarian minded people. For their own 'view the submission made to the part some radicals, clinging to a hardindscale enquiry by Arthur Scargill, line rendition o f Marxist determinism, *esidentof the Yorkshire NUM. He the gdLet ar@e-*at this is a'' w e d that we have enough coal resewi t s means the capitalist system develop for at least 300 years, given current of (energy) production and distribu)nwmptiOn rates' prwide tion to the full, they say. In the process 3% of the country's energy needs; it will develop deeper and deeper conir example, 250 million tons a year tradictions, which will force more and ~tof the predicted 500 million tons more people to challenge it. 'coal equivalent that may be needed But for tho& o f us not prepared to / the year 2000. Oil and gas could wait for revolutionary catharsis, nuclear 'ovide 150 and 90 million tons of power represents a here-and-now )al equivalent (MTCE) respectively, example of capitalist technology. An it has contradictions in the here-and now which can be effectively exploi such as the fact that, being capital intensive (Â£600,00 per job) it creates fewer jobs per pound invested than would-alternative technologies (at, say Â£6,00 per job), Furthermore, many capitalist firms are already moving out ,,' : -of nuclear power because of the everorld's energy welt into the 21st rising costs of providing safety and security systems, which they believe, Scargill is thus not arguing, as might will makeit unprofitable. 9the cornive been expected, just as a partisan petitive ethic and the desire for a - :?-6. coal. Apart from backing solar power 'trouble-free~ technology, tine.one not.-p -~ l ~ n goal g he points ~ ~ out ~ that <Ã &$itaay mi * ), -%>: " %. -- -

---%

...

are at loggerheads." In the end it will be market forces that stop nuclear power. The first mmbiing of concern over a 'solar energy gap' have already been heard. For example, Dr-A Strub, chairman of the EEc Technical committee on Energy, pointed out recently, 'It i s nota case of Britain needing a national policy in solar development in order to keep pace. She i s already so far change will behind that a major POI~CY be needed just to give her industry a chance'. Of course, market forces are not autonomous - they reflect human actions and desires. One reason for the ever-increasingcost of nuclear power is construction delays because of legal rrassment byenvironmentalists, and demands for increased safety nd security measures. The alternative technology movement however, faced with a problem: it i s o t just concerned with technical alter ives, but also political, social and nomic alternatives. Alternative chnology only makes sense in (he context of a physically and politically decentralised society, which can make use of naturavy distributed'ambient energy sources. Alternative technology plies alternative patterns of social d environmental economic organisaion - or also, it, too, will be simply technical fix, enabling existing societ continue unchanged. At the very ast this means a move to decentralise production, altering the ip between consumer an doing away with planner nce and spurious 'conspicuou consumption. These social changes will completely alter our patterns of energy use, sp it is difficult to make accurate prediction ture energy needs. Maybe this is teal reason why few people are pted to put pen to paper and draw blueprints', apart, that is, from hav ealthy dislike of prescriptive blueprints in the first place. The last thing we want is a rigid fifty year plan. But there is surely some value in an assessment, ideally by people involved in community and industrial struggle, bf future energy needs and alternative wa! of meeting them. Dave Elliott

-ferences

Godfrey Bowl*

Alternative JK Dawson, Energy head Sources of ETSU, forHawffl. the UK, A by ~O,

4. 5.

no. 231,Januaiy 1976. Solar Energy, a UK assessment, UK International Solar Energy Society, 2 1 Albem; Street, London W1X 4BS, 1976, Â£10.0 Energy, the Solar Prospect, by Dtinis Hay Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusset Avenue NW,Washington DC, 20036,197 $2.00. Soft Energy Paths: towards a durable by Amory B. Levins, Penguin Books 197 Â£0.95 Economics of Alternative Energy So by Martin Ryle, Nature Vol. 267, 11 May, 1977. An Alternutive Energy Strategy for the IJK, National Centre for Alternative Technology, bhynlleth, Powys, 1977, Â£0.60 - .r. =

. .

]

-^-.

L .

t Undercurrents 23 David Gardnerdescribed the baste circuit for a smatl, tutti-purpose self-build radio transmitter. I n this .second article he answers riticisms of the first instalment, and goes on to describe further applicaof the device.

~~&.cadfo '(ÃˆÃmigktactuafty serve In Part 1 (he circuit and construction . mitter unit in anurnber o f dif jects, the reader's attention is to weaken'the positionof those who use f h two-transistor V:H.F-?f?h i $tie. two small oversights in Part 1 ,ere discussed and a wumbfcr 07 uses . -' thenit Ãwell 'as &ich Ican Imagine ' 'was Sot indicated in Fig. 1 (P 'sted for the'unit. In'tHis second paftiA+drCIW1Ãˆtance (for example where fife . the crystal microphone in at stake), in which their employment ill go on to give a more detailed "*;Â connected. The insert shout might% quite justified. There ire, after . i m e n t of these projects, as well 3s -=ed between points Y and Z ffering some pointers regarding possible '^' at[, Other'values as well as privacy which (below). Shielded cable sho might sometimes have tocome first. irections for development and improve- f6r the microphone wiring with the The principal t i i t a t i o n of the circuit .---+ braiding going to point Z (the battery tability. Depending on negative line). Secondly, no details were c&tricted and how given in Part I regarding the aerial to bed In to metal box the used with the unit. A stiff vertical rod some tendency to 'drift' w l d like to'take up some points of aerial about 1 metre tang (or tess) fa it warms up, at tfi rites" riticism made after the a p p f t d e of frequency as a result of. generally satisfactory. Its length must n 'art 1. Firstly, and perhaps most ing &Whedor fncwk?dphysicalt~w be ahred aftef the unit has been tuned ant&, with'regard to the po& havingffor example) the length of it's on to frequency as a $%all frequency sM mposed oh radio-piracy offe old W F i r s t - t i m e r s average Â rial altered. Constructors should be Ãˆ may.result. \ .'- ; ~ Ã of this limitation, but it would be fie% days'. may be mi-* my

;rn Ireland and somephat out 'wthennore, it appears that t - ape entitled h d ~ t h e mobile r -,+, operate within the P.M. broadcast .~d ip this country, making the risk, ,f being heard by, or of causing interfc- ^ srice to, one of these somewhat greater fian was,suggested in Part 1. 1 apologise fcerefore for any false irfipressionwhich mgiven. Both these points ffmy be mrwed in the article on tactics in "a

Jndercurreflts8.

extensively by the - and Others Over the course Of the last two Years, and this has never caused scrim difficulties. There ate'at least WO G M of action which Could be , takwJaegminate this problem:

Another point was regatr'$@tk@mtir?! esponsibi1i;y of pubtbtung'&taiis o?-* ww to construttei^tlia listening 'bug' My own feelinsare that there are ndeed Mmitations as to what one should Publish I"wouldobject, for example, :o the publication o f an article on how io pgson a city's water supply - but he dissemination of information about

a empiwed

building the system u p as a numberaf discrete subsystems than of getting - -scratch. every'ttting to work q u-i c k l y , ~ t . t i gf -fey<;

However ofar baslif%an&jt@r unit; as makes the task just about as simple can ever be. YOU w i require ~ two ~ a s i c Transmitter Units ( h e y f o r t h referfey to as 'Basic TXs'), tweVHF portable radios, and two switches. Things could scarcely be simpler than that. The generatphilosophy is to mod each of the VHF radios so that i t i

a tittle outside that of the 'first-time' constwtor for whom this article is primarily intended. :.'- & a fpt note,b&fore proceeding to the question o f the use of thebasic trans-

+ %

It is best to choose fairly large^& not massive) portable radiogfur conyei ston, (a) because the& is likely to'be more'room to house ex* ifems either inside the case or bolted externally, (B because they tend to be more sensitive -and stable anyway and hence better receivinfcweak signals at distance, and (c) because they usually work on 9 v@ or more, whi'ch obviates tbetieetLfat*-

the negative rail, or (b) by connecting the transmitter aerial to the coil L1 at a point nearer to the positive rail of the chassis (i.e. further from the side connected to TR1) This latter method sacrifices a little power but effects a dramatic3mprovement in frequency stability. ' Usually, in a two-way set-up like this one, the two transmitters operate nominally on the same frequency, but there i s no reason why they must do so. There is no necessary limit on the number of sets which can intercommunicate, but obviously if more than two are involved then a common frequency does become a necessity. The microphone is quite sensitive enough mounted inside the receiver case as described, but can also plug into the side of the set as an external unit on i t s own cable, Sound quality is good and the range, while very predictable, never drops below about 2 kilometres, even through built-up city topography. In short, it i s about equal to the medium priced 'Citizen Band' equipment imported occasional ly from Japan and the United States, but more versatile by reason of operating on ap ordinary domestic waveband and being tunable in frequency.

Local Broadcasting

advantage is that the loudspeaker tends to be quite large, providing a useful ' pace behind the speaker grille (and nside' the speaker cone) to house the rystal microphone insert. The Basic TX's should be housed in mall met$ (e.g. aluminium or tin) boxes or thistroject, the boxes being connectcd to the negative battery rail. Also this is the only project for which the value of C1 is important. If it is greater than about 50 MFd the TX will not switch on and o f t instantaneously, but will tend to 'fade' up and down. For all other projects C1 may be any capacitor to hand up to about 1000 MFd, provided the working voltage is greater than the intended supply voltage. For this project a crystal microphone insert (high output type if possible) is connected between points Y and Z'(X is not used). Shielded cable must be used, he outer braiding going to the negative ail (point Z). Only two switching operations are wuired, aerial changeover and battery igeover, Both are accomplished by Jse of a 2-pole 2-way toggle switch T similar. Theorists may be appalled at i e idea of switching VHF currents in t h i s ray, but none o f the problems which -en might have expected has actually shown up in practice, so I will not take *ace here to deal with these hypothetiits. Suffice it t o say that slider switches r very tiny ('sub miniature') toggle witches are not recommended. Rotary 'av&hanae switches have been found

quite satisfactory electrically, though the circular movement of the hand neededto switch over is a bit awkward. If the receiver uses a low supply voltage (e.g. 4.5 or even 3 volts) it will be necessary to have additional batteries come into circuit in the 'transmit' position, as shown in Fig. 2. Otherwise the row of batteries at the bottom of the diagram can be omitted. 12 volts is a safe figure to regard as an 'upper limit'. Strictly even this is a bit high if C l has a working voltage of 12, and i t might be safer to employ a 25 or 50 volt component in this position if higher supply voltages are envisaged. The actual procedure involved in assembling the two-way'system i s more or less self-evident from the plates and diagrams. The Basic TX boxes can be mounted inside the receiver cases if space permits, but in practice it is usually necessary to mount them externally , (Plates.1 and 2). The wiring involv aerials should be kept very short an direct, and t h i s factor should be the deciding one in choosing a mounti position for all the items. If the hand is brought very close to the aerial wiring (e.g. in switching from 'receive' to 'transmit') it is possible that the proximity of same will pull the transmitter very slightly off frequency. . Should this prove a nuisance it can be reduced in two ways: (a) by fitting metal shieldine behind and around , the switch ancfaerial wiring'(e.g. copper foU) yhjch is then earthed to , *., . -- . . - . - -.

~--.

Local Broadcasting' is a rather pretentious way to describe what can be ,achieved with these units, but if a good aerial site is available a coverage of a few kilometres radius is possible. Aerial height and position i s the most important factor in determining range, output power coming a poor second. Fig.'2 illustrates the basic broadcast technique. The transmitter i s located at the top of a mast of some kind, at the centre of a 'dipole' aerial, and power as well as the programme material or 'audio' are fed to it by means of a single two-core shielded cable. This eliminates one major source of inefficiency or 'loss', namely the cable which is usually necessary to link the transmitter to i t s aerial. The set-up has been drawn as all outdoor, but this is for reasons of clarity only some or all items may be indoors if necessary, though there i s a worthwhile advantage in having the aerial out of doors and in the clear. Powe~may be derived from one or more car batteries, which can stay on charge while the station i s transmitting, and the audio can come from a cassette recorder or some more elaborate assembly such as a mixer fed by microphones, tape-decks, record decks or whatever is desired. (Fig. 4). Before building the Basic TX unit for use in this project, a decision must be made as to the voltage on which it will operate, Table 1 gives the results of a series o f tests to measure radiated output at different battery voltages and using the two alternative transistor' It will b;seen that radiated output power increases sharply with supply

;

SupplyVoltage 2.8 6.0 9.0 12.0 12.0. 15.0 18.0 24.0

Relative Output Power ' (unit commeiices to oscillate) 0.3 (0.5 1.O ' 0.8 (typical) 2.0 3.0 6.0

-2N2219 2N2219 2N2219 2N2219 2M3053 2N3053 2~3053 2N3053

Table 1 Relative Power ~ u t p u (1 t 2". using 2N2219 = 1.0) voltage, but constructors should be aware that an increase in radiated output of 100% is only just perceptible to a distant listening station. Signal , strength follows a similar logarithmic N to the human ear. Whatever voltage i s chose,^, C1 should have a rating of at least 10% -,--+more than this voltage, and C5, C6 an& C7 should have a rating of at feast half the supply voltage (preferably slightly more). The BC107 is the best choice f-r TR2 i f suoolv, voltaees - in excess 15 are envisaged. I f the supply voltage is in excess of out 15 volts heat dissipation may come a problem in TR1. Small comircial cooling-fans can be added to nduct this away, and i f necessary the lue of R2 can be increased to about '-18 kirohms, which will give a further duction in heat dissipation, Embedaing the unit in epoxy resin gfves it yet a further heat sink, but any cooling fins on the transistor should-be left above the resin to allow air to There are j u t two further modifica)ns to the circuit of Fig. 1 when it is used i n this project: Firstly, it has been found advantageous to use link-coupling for the dipole aerial, as shown in Fig. 5. The aerial can be made metre and a half of brass curta or stout copper wire, em edde epoxy r e i n for support. h r e aerial systems have been tried without noticeable improvement ,

Secondly, if the unit i s to be fedfrom the 'earphone' or 'monitor' socket of a cassette recorder or some other fairly high output device it i s best to omit C6 entirely. This reduces thegain of TR2 and lessens the likelihood-of audio overload or distortion, There i s little need fo~,.electrical shielding when the Basic TX i s used in this way, and it may be housed in a plastic box with bracketsconnected for fixing to the mast. When everything has been thorouehlv tested-the box mav be sealed and completely weatherproofed with a coating of silicone rubber sealer, (cotjunonly sold for caulking baths and wash-basinsand for sealing , aquariums). .

. .

.Radio 'Bug'

This is the sfmplest application of the Basic TX, and the circuit of Fig. 1 may be used without modification, with 3 crys microphone (high output type) wired across points Y and Z and a 9 volt batte such as the PP3 or PP9 supplying the power. tf the unit i s concealed in a room (and therefore not touched etc.) shielding i s again relatively unimportant and the circuitry can be 'bare' as shown in Plate 1 Undercurrents 23. The-aerial can be a metre or so of wire hanging from the unit, or if very short range, is all that is required it can be omitted . entirely. Fig. 6 shows a circuit for an additional microphone amplifier which can be

added if extra sensitivity i s desired. I f t h i s circuit i s added then C7 on the Basic TX circuit board must be reversed (i.e. the positive side should not face TR2"but the new R8 of Fig. 6). This will givebetter pick-up of distant voices, but can cause distortion o f very nearby voices, and also seems to exaggerate any 'echo' or 'live acoustic' . ich a room may have. Even greater n is possible i f a capacitor similar to is wired across R7, but on several prototypes this caused instability and/ or pick-up of 'mains hum' and i s therefore not recommended, In general the unit should be conceal ed in a high position (e.g. on top of a wardrobe or pelmet) with the micropho facing out into the room and the aerial wire hanging down out of sight. It should not be concealed close to mains wiring as this can cause hum pick-up in the audio stages. David Gardn

TRANSMITTER POWER AND RANGE in heavily built-up Ranges obtained at VHP can be disappoin areas. The results shown below were obtainedat a typical central London location with the transmitting aerial m the roof of a threestorey building,a favourable location. The receiver was a sensitive domesticportableatgroundlevel.

TRANSMITTER

OUTPUT

-POWER "..

TYWCAL RANGE

-m-

Ap mx. 50m line of q t . Reception difficult in the Wadow of adjacent buildings. Reception up to 100m but unreliable lOmW close to or insidelarge buldings. Reliable reception possible within a 100 fflW radius of approx. 200m. 1W aid consistent aignal was =:at att locations wiwi a 2 S h radiua. Maximum up to to SOO~mdependent on con ibons. The ran s decreased considerably when the transmitter was located at ground level. This suggests that the ranges quoted in the article are optimistic, although it must be itreaaed that range depends on many fibtors and cannot be accurately predicted. The transmitter shown in Fig. 1 could be expected to deliver about 50 mW to a matched aerial with the specified component values and a 9 volt battery. Increasing Rl will decrease the power output and increase battery life. The . power radiated by the aerial can increase dramatically if the aerial it tuned for the frequency in use by adjusting the ength to give msmi signal strength at a remote receiver equipped with a level meter. The optimum teapof theaerialinfig5youldvaiy fromabout l 3 m a t f@BMHz to t.5ttHt 100MHz. 1mW

I TABLE 2 Additional Components needed for F& 6 Resistors R7

Capacitor

Transistor

2k C8 4 M F d 6 BC107, 1.5k BC108, or 1m ~~309. ,. kigh-o~tputcrystal microphone insert)?

Undercurrents 24

The largest espionage network in B r i t a i n is not the Special Branch, nor wen MI5 or M16, but a n enormous e l e c t r o n i c intelligence g a t h e r i n g operan c o n t r o l l e d f r o m a c o u n t r y town in the Cotswolds. I n the London ..-gazine Time Out, d a t e d M a y 21st, 1976, D u n c a n C a m p b e l l a n d M a r k -losenball t r a c e d t h e o r i g i n s of t h i s n e t w o r k in a n a r t i c l e c a l l e d The !a vesdroppers. Subsequently Hosenball, who i s an American, was served with a deportation order )y Home Secretary IVerlin Rees on the grounds that his activities as a journalist were arejudicial t o the security of the state. A t a special tribunal t o review the case ;ampbell gave evidence that The Eavesdroppers was written almost entirely by him.elf, without using secret information. On February 8th of this year he repeated his :estimony on the I T V programme Worldin Action. Less than two weeks later, on February 19th, he was arrested and charged with offences under the Official Secrets

RAF Chicksands, between Bedford and Hitchin, could be a pleasant day trip Here we are reprinting the original Eavesdroppers article, together with notes from London. The sixteenth century .bowing the publicly available sources from which the information was derived or . priory i s open, and you won't be disturbnferred. Also, for the first time, we are printing Duncan Campbell's testimony t o ed by overflyirig aircraft. Instead Chicktie secret government tribunal which reviewed the deportation order against P a r k sands is domiinated by a giant hilltop iosenball. - monolith, a steel circle a quarter o f a There are many reasons why we think it i s important t o publish this information. mile wide. N o t far off, i n a long low Senerally speaking the value of a free press, able t o investigate the activities of -building, 200 operators o f the United lovernments and officials, has been amply demonstrated i n recent years. Without 5 - States Airforce-Security Service s i t over he Washington Post, for example, Nixon's crooked regime would have survived radios monitoring theether from their nchallenged. And without Private Eye the seedy web of corruption in British public giant 'Steelhenge'. ife surrounding the affairs of John Poulson would, in all likelihood, have been (The location ofChicksands is obvious. :overed up. Anyone driving Afough the area simply can't miss it. Its function is also readily inferred But there are more specific rwsons, too, why the Eavesdroppers and i t s aftermath from itsdesign.) ire of vital public concern. In the last couple of years certain pieces i n a very large Chicksands is the largest listening ind complex jigsaw puzzle have come t o light. The pattern which emerges is of a post in Britain o f t h e US National fast covert conspiracy by the United States and her English-speaking allies, (or Security Agency. NSA is responsible for ather, by representatives of their ruling classes), t o tighten the grip on their sphere .directing A ~ r i c a n j n t e l d g e n c e ,from if economic interest. In part this process consists of actual interference with the spy 'hips. Last summer* :ivil and political rights of individuals who oppose the sort of social system t o which former C I A director William Colby told hese powers remain committed. a US Senate Committee that NSA monThe undermining of Allende's socialist government i n Chile by agents of the CIA itored all phone calls to and from the s well-documented. There are literally dozens of lesser examples of such intervention. US. intercepted commercial communi Vhat i s of particular interest t o us i s the extent t o which these governments, or their cations, and raided embassiesfor code igents, are prepared t o infiltrate, manipulate or suppress legitimate political activity books. rf their own, or each other's, countries. I n Undercurrents 23 we described the (From the official report of evidence to the 'fforts of the CIA and the US National Security Agency t o 'destabilise' the governSenate Committee). it of Gough Whitlam i n Australia. No-one i s immune, n o t even America's - closest allies. Former NSA analyst blow the trail moves nearer home. IVany startling things have happened since the 2 inal publication o f The Eavesdroppers. There were deportations, of course, and Windsor Peckworked in the late sixties arrests. And then, sensationally, on July 17th and 24th this year, The Observer o it the US Air Force installation near arried articles quoting Harold V'ilson i n his claim that f"15, the British internal Istanbul, another station in'thc chain o f ecurity force, had been engaged i n a plot against him and his entourage while he -12 key NSA sites that includes Chickvas Prime Minister. sands. On a recent visit t o Britain he Subsequently, i n the Daily Express on July 29th and 30th, Chapman Pincher described t o TimeOut top secret lists o f evealed that 10 Downing Street and Wilson's private room at the House of Commons monitored U K commeicial conmunicalad been bugged by security agents. Furthermore their interest in Parliament had tions kept at the Turkisii site. railed xtended to the tapping of MP's private telephone conversations. Pincher said that TEXTA, tl~eselists revealed that the U K his had been done through the connivance of the Government Communication business communications were apparentheadquarters i n Cheltenham. GCHQ i s a vital part of the espionage network which l y being intercepted from eastern ncludes Pine Gap, i n Australia, and which featured i n the overthrow of Whitlam. England. (Peck i s ah imp6rtantsource o f infonndi s also the subject of The Eavesdroppers. The jigsaw puzzle begins t o f i t together. -tion about NSA activities. On 30th June, - n July 31st the Sunday Times reported the existence of a branch of GCHQ nown as the Diplomatic Telecommunications Waintenance Service. They are esponsible for the electronic screening of all government offices, t o which, herefore, they have complete access. On August 11th Chapman Pincher, again in The Home Office i s the only Bntish agency he Daily Express, identified NSA bases in Britain, which are all disguised as nilitary or naval establishments. They are part of the network which includes iCHQ. They are used, according t o Pincher, 'for surveillance of British Trade Jnion leaders, MP's including ministers, and others suspected of Communist ffiliation . . . The NSA monitors all British radio and telephone traffic. This may iclude the millions of private calls beamed out of GPO Tower and other links h i c h now form a microwave network covering Britain'. kt.

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I n August 23rd. M r Callaghan, the Prime Minister, issued a statement denying that the local Post Office. With 300 special vans, L'ilson had been bugged, and asserting that there was no cause for alarm at the conduct many equipped with telescopic direction if the Security Services. The following day Pincher repeated his story. A t the time finding aerials and s ecialsweillance equipif going t o press there is considerable confusion, b u t whatever the outcome of the ment, they can trackdown sources of interfelo. 10 bugging story the basic facts about GCHQ and the NSA remain. rence. I n important cases, such as the time a %- p-:Ă&#x201A;ÂĽ<~}ocafactory was accidentally jamming There i s no Prospect of significant social change i n this country while such an ~ ~ c o m m u n i c i t t i oto n aircraft s landing at *~ """"they spionage ring retains its hold on political life. have spent six months pinning down the source of dangerous interference. .

-L

Duncan Campbell: Stat

am 24 yea EA 1st class in Physics Hvezsitv. , an MSc in Ofkiaiiuiral i ~ c ~ t u from dt the UTH. versity of Sussex. 1 first met Mark Hosenba in about "November 1975. We have written one 8 Eavesdropi. in Ti Iso assisted

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'HQ, and tf The sumects are science and technotm .~-. cummu~ii'ations. maritime and defent My priman/ -*.cialisation is in all asp&.- ", iclec ions. I have written for Â¥Vi'i Si iet 'ilmuii. Turn'Otii, and made '1. also prepared course magazines. material ar aks for the systems he - -.-, nmunicatio ne held a D ~

icornmunii is inteHigwce as til c o q e r a t e d and endeavoured to do

conceal whatsoever to n~e,Gar anyom Â that I know of, that flus artcte appear.Subsequently I have had I iroact 1 or any other emmi coneating the cte. The I

r that the article i nis provic

gather tqge of isd!****/* had e work ng was a w 1 did 90% c wire of w< use fl id are it the resea published. - * a o h s was ir

that it isÃ§ Mished sou1 avauabte, itrfom rfficially, and hi 1 sources such as "ticulaii~ sood e man ofthe hi -7-- ---Kingdom showing communications intelligence and monitvrine sites. Th< hh.h...n -*.i^ and might be regai i f security can in fact ires of the Post Office

was done almost A Hosenbafl's pi

me metm entry und

> Cliellenh.im than i s Slough.

Another British company to do fell out o f the boom in electronic ipionage is Plessey, who manufacture I aerial system for eavesdropping. ~ecial-Plesseyaerial - an array o f I a 500 foot circle which can pinp ie bearing o f any signal was originly developed under a secret GCHQ intract and codenamed PUSHER. ow affectionately known as 'Pushie' is sold widely t o African and Middle astern countries building up their ivn surveillance systems.

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(This sort of information is widely avail~ l efrom advertising material published by companies like Racal and Plessey, which can be picked up a t the promotional exhibitions which the British Government is fond of running. The information is also frequently published in glossy 'defence* magazines such International Defence Review. .

. Some o f the most advanced surveilnce equipment has been used recant13 i t to monitor Soviet satellites, but th. tivities o f the IRA. A few months ago e IRA started detonating bombs by remote radio control. Before such a bomb i s placed, however, the radio control is tested - and i f the monitoring stations can capture this signal, record and analyse it, army and GCHQ electronic warfare experts can simulate the 'quite sophisticated' control signal making the bomb go off prematurely. Or they can find a way o f jamming the radio bomb so that the real signal can't get through - but the jamming must be done cleverly, or the bomb will detonate before i t can be defused.

(Much of this is inferred from the wellknown fact that the West German security forces were using the same method to counter Baader-Meinhof bombs. The basic objection to this technique is that whereas a terrorist might intend a bomb to destroy property without causing personal injury, by telephoning a warning, for example, premature detonation by security forces is haphazard and even more dangerous than "ori ism. It runs the risk qf a bomb explod:in transit in a crowded street, for the ubtful advantage of scoring what the army Northern Ireland call an 'own goal'.)

GCHQ also decodes considerable lountsof commercial traffic just like >A, according to a senior ex-diploit. The results get t o British companformally or informally - 'It's bound happen'. Commuhications interception is the )nt line of intelligence work, and operirs and analysts can't be deceived out 'enemy' intentions. They know Iy too well the shallow lies and public /ths which remain outside. For years Ă&#x192;Ë&#x2020; knew and said that the Vietnam r was unwinnable, that the US was

GCHQs' history starts i t the Government Code and Cyphw School in Bletchley Park, Bucks, and its enormous wartime codebreaking effort. At the peak, more than six thousand people worked at Bletchley decoding German signals - thiswas the Ultra secret that only emerged in detail in 1974. At Hanslo~ePark'north of Bletchlev and Barnet. in North London, a still secret unit codcnamcd SCU-3 co-oidinated the monitoring and locating of enemy secret transmitters. A key monitoring site for Ultra was Chicksands, east of Bletchley, still the important US base today. During the war a series of computers called Colossus was devised to solve the daily changing key to the German Enigma machine. Even now the eovernment refuses to reveal how the ~ o l o & smachines werebuilt, al-though it is known that the 1940 machines read information from oaoer taoe at a rate five limes faster than i<n6rmaltoday. The immense secrecy which still surrounds the Bletchlev onerations mav be due t o t h e developmentof decoding t c c h ~ u e s ot value today. Britain's criicking of the Enigma cypher was not revealed for 30

ears because electronic versions of the nigma cypher were being sold to Third World countries by European firms such as Crypto AG of Switzerland - and thus were an easy target for GCHQ and NSA codebreakers. Headquarters was formed at Eastcote in the north west of London. In 1953 it moved to Cheltenhamrand c o " ~ ~ solidated its control of Britain's conimunications intelligence services. The tradition-of having the biggest and the best in computing goes back to the original Colossus. On numerous occasions, new generations of computer equipment from the US have been delivered in quan,. tity to Cheltenham before being 'officiallv' marketed in Britain. With at least five major computer installations, GCHQ h; the electricity requirement of a mediur sized town. (Information about Ultra is historicand generally available, supplemented by details actually given to Duncan Campbell by a GCHQ official spokesman while researching the article. All the facts about computers come from the computer trade and technical magazines-1

Loop aerials at the Foreign Office's Training Establishment in communications intelligence a t Pou

the wholesale &cr

imitating the most highly developed techniques (". . .methods of handling, tian of large areas of forest. Nowadays we rarely make use of wood, exploiting and processing-mustbe either as a building material or as a natural converter of solar energy. ' .efficient, and this implies that the latest Â ¥ Asome stage in the future we wiH have to learn to livewith trees again technology must be applied wherever forb assuming there arekany left. Here Colin Price makesthe possible. . . "). The super-machinesgreat .exoansion of forestry in Britain. white Robert faehtke describes some l y economize on labour, but the cost o f of the envir~nrnentaj'~roblems associated with ultra-mod the machinery itself completely overfarming. whelms the labour cost element. and even normal accounta'ncy ascribes to it b e provision ot jobs - and consequent productivity, coupled with a fairly static ashigherunit cost than that of a sequenc maintenance of the rural economy - has output of timber from a given area. of simpler operations. .figured in past forestry programmes,notEconomies in the labour force employThere remain, however, operations , ably during the 1930's. It has become a ed per 100 hectares have been achieved which in commercial terms are certainlyo f Britain's forestry poticy ever i n two ways. Firstly, owing to increasfag. major cheaper to'rnechanize. The odd thing is sin* the 1972 cost-benefit study declared labour costs and to economic reappraisal that labour cuts on these grounds have strongly against forestry as a commercial of benefits, certain silvicultural operataken place during a period when com;Activity. tions, notably brashing (pruning of lower mercial justification of afforestation in , Given the importance netw attached /' branches), have declined or vanished, overtly t o the rural stabilization policy, Some operations with a high labour & - ~ general has been resigned in favour o f social arguments. Implicit in the governthe Forestry Commission's recent record tent, such as selective thinning, have teen ment's attitude to continued afforesta:&-not impressive. From a high point of partially replaced by methods like line tion is a belief that employment provide; <13*6y in 1954, the Commission's industhinning which can beapplied more benefits t o the national, regional and trial labour force has now fallen below rapidly. Even the form of silviculture has rural economy. i t would be consistent been simplified'to avoid situations, like 6.000.Figures for the private sector, if this belief was reflected at the forest cropping of mixed species, which require which manages a roughly equal area of level in decisions made about intensity productive woodland, are harder to come, careful treatment. Secondly, many operaof operations and choice of technique. tions have switched from labour-henby, as workers are often attached to an sive to capital-intensive methods. A f q entire estate, rather than exclusively to Putting a price on Labour and its forest component. ft is likely that a f Capital silpilar downward trend in private emplwment was checked during the 1960's In addition to alleviating the psycholc - @&&&tress by the expansion of investment forestry, of unemployment, job crea"mily to be reinforced in the m i d - r n tion r e l i i the Exchequer of unemploy %the uncertainties conseyient 9' merit benefit obligations and brings in W g e s in tax law. Present emplflyment ' & tax revenue, so that the financial cost to Alfthew changes have been based on m y be tentatively put at arodfid 15,000 the government of the labour force is Â¥includinthe employees of timber the arguments of: substantially less than the wage and merchants and contractors. labour overheads bill. To the extent that increasing output and wage of (i) In theface o f this decline, calls for forestry provides jobs in upland areas individual workers increased afforestation have come from where unemployment is customarity t state and private sectors; from politicians, tii> in heavytokw job creation is also less likely to divert _ (iii) the inexorable progress of techlandowners, management and unions labwr force from other worthwhile nicd innovation towards bigger alike. This is not just the pursuit of secoccupatiom. At the regional level, rural machines tional interest either, since the jabs dispopulation and income assist maintend in sheep-farming and keepering @) economizing on expensive labour of social and private +.,-,,ices while ; deer and grouk moors would be Taken in isolation, (i) is admirable. Nor , locally a job created or retained benererfitively few. A target of 4 million qould one argue seriously against (ii). fits the rest of the rural population by hectares - more than twice the Present Draining, ploughing and road-building spreading the cost of shared services and forest area, and about 17%of Britain's --are obvious candidates for heavy mechaw by contributing to a viable social u n i t Jand surface -has found considerable fzation, on humane grounds: though it it. The policy o f stemming rural depopasupport. Yet the number of jobs provid7 lation and regional decline has complex still physically possible to undertake sdib clearly not a simple function o f these works by pick and shovel methods, roots, and there are many arguments on forest area, which has been increasing both sides. While the government persists and for at least some of the tasks it is &tinuously since the formation of the arguable that effort-savinghand-tools with the policy, however, there are bwnt .Forestry Commission in 1919. Nor i s it would have been &vised under a differ- . t o be costs in-subsidized sewices and totally dependent on area planted, for, ent set of imperatives. subventions to private employers. Saving! despite fluctuations over the period of in thesedirect payments made possible The illusion embodied in flii) is always job decline, this haSthown no marked plausible. The forestry equivalents of . by promoting the vigour of the local downward trend. As fof the area ready economy are also part of the benefit the combine harvester, developed for for intensive harvesting operations, that conferred by employment. work in theuniform tracts and under the has actuary been increasing rapidly as So much represents the conventional high wages o f Scandinavia and North %he Commission's early ~rmtingsmature. America, are ofÃˆ unsuited to British wisdom o f rural development economics, ' fhe reason for the reduced employbut the ease for employing more labour conditions; but the notion persists that, oh a given forest area is stronger still. improvement always c o w s through ;(^at fe a steady increase in labour

O u r reliance on industrialisation runs parallel with

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While the necessities o f life can be sustaine d labour is a renewable resource, whose use has no adverse implications for future production. Not so the machinery, fuels and materials that play an increasingly dominant role in forest management. Under any system o f costing less myopic in its view o f future scarcities than the market mechanism, the high price our descendents may have t o pay for stock resources would place a high premium on their conservation. T o undertake operations making copious use o f depletable resources when alternatives exist which are economical in -7ergy and materials seems irresponsible, en if there were no other cause t o nploy labour instead. Arguments about resource depletion have raged inconclusively: it has yet t o be demonstrated that technology can, or cannot, solve the problems. But it is the very uncertainty of future resource . values that should enforce a cautious attitude t o exploitation, that will see us through crises, should they arise. This safety-first viewpoint has excellent credentials i n the field o f business economics, and it is strange that economists on the whole have so pointedly

sptte its predominance i n political

arguments, simply extending th+forest area cannot provide stable long-term job-prospects in the face o f advancing mechanization. The possible extent o f forest is limited, not just by the area o f Britain, b u t at one extreme by the . climatic limits o f useful timber growth, and at the other by the high value o f fertile soils for-food production. Estimates o f the available land within these limits differ widely, but a doubling o f forest area would be very opti. mistic, given the need to maintain a viable upland sheep-economy, the pressures from environmental groups and, on catchment areas, probably increasing resistance from water boards t o wholesale planting with a heavily water-consuming tree crop. With present forestrypractice, even this ambitious target would do no more than restore employment t o the Ie of the early 1950's. A very rapid ing programme would, i f feasibl require a much larger labour for

initially, b u t would of course be follow ed by a long depression i n job prospectq as plantable land ran out. The harvesting phase ot the production cycle brings another peak of activity. There will be a natural trend to increased employment in the Cornmission's early plantations, and i n some forests there is already reported to be a shortage o f skilled men. Even if no extension o f the forest estate tool ilace, about 12,000 jobs i n harvesting sould be sustained at the present level o f mechanization. Themooted shortage o f timber and the low social cost o f forest labour together suggest the re-.introduction of many former silvicultural practices which resulted i n higher yields or better quality timber. Under the heading come careful matching o f species site, planting o f odd pieces of land o t suitable for mechanized treatment. eplacement o f small areas of crop ailure, and pruning o f trees destined

Forertirv CommiMion Forest Ale* Ud Employment since 1920.

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oflarge poles or quality saw-logs, ogether with a more meticulous pivesting of all the final crop.. Variations on the theme of substitutng labour for capital, i n decreasing irder of feasibility are as.follows: 1) Avoid a preoccupation with nachinery for machinery's sake. This s most likely to influence the harvesting ector, where less cap'ital-intensive nethods may produce short-term finan.ial savings as well as socially more lesirab'le deployment of resources 2) Develop new techniques.with :nefgy-economy rather than labour\ iconomy in mind. This may call for nore effective hand tools, rather than (chicle-mountedmachinery, for jobs vhich are still quite cheaply done by ~and,^uchas planting out young trees 3) Replace blanket treatment of rops or sites, as in aerial spraying for ocalized mineral deficiency or disease jutbreaks, by'more careful attention o and treatment o f affected groups )f trees 4) Economize on capital-intensive aerations and counteract adverse ffccts with labour-intensiveoperaions. For example, wider spacing of ~lantingfurrows could be instituted, vith hand pruning to control large ide branches, and selective cutting rithin the rows replacing systemat emoval of complete rows at first binning 5) Revert to former practice. ;round preparation by spade and nattock, weeding by reap-hook, fellng by handsaw, and extraction by lorse could all reclaimtheir places 6) Devise even more labour-intenivemethods, presumably using men . imply as sources of power I

,llthese not only provide more jobs, but conomize on the really scarce resources. 1) - (4) might be feasible, and certain perations under (5) mi@t be demrchaned trt selected circumstances. This light return employment i n forest itablishment and maintenance tathe vels per hectare prevailing when the ommission's labour force reached i t s eak, implying a total employment in ritain's forests, state and private, of bout 50,000. The harvesting employlent would be additional to this. It is often said that one job in arestry creates several jobs in allied idustries. Care should be taken, howrer, in interpreting figures which show alue added in different phases of recessing, as the largest values are ormally attributable to the high capital itensity of industries such as chemical ulp and paper-making. As our concern principally with rural employment, ieexistence o f processing industries less signi icant than their location. Firstly,te might look at the indue *ieswhich supply inputs to forestry. t i s sometimes argued that mechaniz OH does not cause unemployment, hce jobs are consequently created in te machinery industries: an over&

simplification this, because the distribution o f rewards between wages and profits may be adversely affected by the change. Moreover, for the Present argument what matters is the concen- ' tration of such industries in urban areas where, whatever they achieve in job creation, they will have no impact on unemployment. simplerepairs of small machinesmay well be *ithi^ the capabilities of local mechanics, but the maintenance of the specialist monster machines i s likely to depend on the original manufacturers. Even within the forest, operations do not necessarily contribute much to rural stability. More than a third of felling and harvesting in Commission forests i s undertaken by contractors who if their catchment area i s wide, ire unlikely to become settled .nembers of the local community. The Commission's and the investment companies' own employees may also commute from nearby towns. Whatever these activities contribute to regional development, therefore, they do nothing to maintain the viability o f small settlements. Transport o f timber to the processing point i s even more pfecatigusly tied rural htion, indifferently attached as it is to points of loading or delivery. . Drivers directly employed by the forest enterprise, who can be responsible for transport of the whole outpi of a forest, whatever its destination, certainly have a stronger incentive to settle permanently in an adjacent village. About 350,000 jobs in Britain ace said to be attributable to processing of forestproducts, though this includes industries which also depend on other substantial material inputs. The m&ity of the jobs are concerned with processing imported timber, and so in the present situation are little influenced by British forestry. Two trends, however, should be noted. (i) developing potential shortfall. of world timber production in relation to rising demand (ii) increasing tendency of timberproducing countries to export only

commodities. . highly processed Both threaten asubstantial proportion of British processing jobs. By the end of the century, British forests would produce enough timber to sustain .about 100,000 processing jobs, if the proportion between timber volume an& labour input were maintained. If the forest area were to be increased to 4 million hectares, the dependent jobs might eventually approach % million. Because of the weight-losses occurring in processing, the forest-products industries have a strong incentive to locate close to the raw material. On the other hand, scale economies and the advantages o f integrating several production lines tend to concentrate processinginto ever-larger complexes, which are neither necessarily located in rural areas, nor specially suitable

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to sustaining a dispersed settlement area. These are, in any case, highlycapitalized industries which provide relatively little employment from a given forest area. The Forestry Corn. mission has among its term of reference: "to stimulate and support the local economy in areas of depopulation by the development of forests, including new plantations, and o f wood-using industry".

Impact on Other National Objectives As the gymnastics of fiscal and monetary programmes continually remind us, full employment i s mot an objective that can be pursued regardless of other elements o f national economic policy. Balance-of-payments,inflation and growth are all prominent concerns on which forestry and the jobs therein have some impact. Contrary to the assertions o f many foresters, the impact of further afforestation on balance-of-payments is almost certainly negative in the short term. Many of even the simpler forest tools are imported. As plantations involve wage payments without immediately increasing the production o f saleable goods, part o f the created spending power will increase the net demand for imports. For the same reasons, forestry investment will in the short term have a more adverse effect on price stability than forms of job creation which produce saleable goods. The effect on demand of government disbursements will be exacerbated ifmore costly labourintensive methods are introduced, though the impact on balance-ofpayments of reduced use o f machinery would be beneficial. Certain trade effects, such as suppression o f demand for tropical forest products, would have an undesired impact on Britain's less insular development objectives; and could, indeed be seen as an attempt to export our unempJoyment problem. Again, if we are concerned with growth of net output, forestry has nothing to offer in the short term, and indeed will reduce agricultural output on land taken over from hill farming. The claimed benefits to agriculture of integrated farm/for~ land use result from injection of capital, rather than from any physical synergy. Forestry may economize on some inputs compared with agriculture of equal labour intensity - it leads to net fixation of energy, in contrast to the deficit of calorific . value between British agriculture's output and input. But if energyconservation is the aim, it is the form o f present forestry, not i t s extent, that is the obvious candidate for economy measures. f.4t-h.as Colin Price Lz -- + -^.i--

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Acknowledgement Thanks are due to Eric Huggard for supplying information and discussing some of these ideas. What1 have done with them is sot his fault. 10

Meanwhile, in Canada.. I

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fortunes. The first paper mill was opened in Lachute, Quebec, in 1803, and the industry has grown constantly since then. The forest industry is the largest industry in British Columbia, one of the country's richest provinces. The paper for half of the newspaper pages in the "free world" is produced in Canada. In every province except tiny Prince Edward Island, the pulp and paper industry i s a leading industry. Ten percent of the world's productive forests can be found in canada, as can 17 percent of the world#s coniferous gowing stock. Yet, incredibly we are now rapidly approaching the pointwhere we are cutting each year as much we grow. The total growth of this massive forestis7.4 billion cubic feetof wood per year. The projected harvest for 1985 is 6.9 billion feet,with fires consum. ing an additional 0.5 billion cubic feet on the average. Obviously, that i s the maximum sustainable yield, even assuming that reseeding, replanting, or some forms rf natural regeneration take place. But many fear that "forest farming" is in arge measure a forest-industry public .elations myth and thafrsustained-~ield ~ilviculturei s practiced by only a few vlatively more progressive companies. A closer look bears out these fears. Ontario, - generally a comparatively mlightened political jurisdiction - in [973/4.367,000 acres o f forest were dear-cut, 76,000 were selectively cut, and 11,000 were partially c u t 272,000 of h s e acres were designated by the Ontario dinistry of Natural Resources as requiring egeneration. Yet, in that same period, mly 132,000 acres were replanted, reeeded, or otherwise regenerated, by the ninistry's own account That leaves unwched 140,000 acres which required egeneration. We may reasonably assume hat less i s done in Quebec or New Brunstick and in western Canada many of the rees which are cut take centuries t o row (the British Columbia coastal west, with 2 percent of forest area, ~pplied prior to the recent economic

now. Recently, the grievances against the forest industry have come t o a head in three Separate ai,id as Yet unresolved public issues - one in New Brunswick " and-two in Ontario. In New Brunswick, the massive air-spraying of the forests to kill off the-spruce budworm may well have been responsible for the deaths.of several schoolchildren. Needless to say, , there i s a widespread public outcry, and lately there has been considerable national / media attention surrounding this particular incident and the practice as a whole. More and more people are directly questioning the wisdom of the practice. Unfortunately, New Brunswick is a desperately poor province with a forest industry that is firmty entrenched politically. But New Brunswick i s also the home of a very active environmental movement, and the issue is faf from settled Yet In nearby Prince Edward Island, which may well be the most environrnentally enlightened political jurisdiction in North America, no spruce spraying i s being done, and a massive reforestation program in other species is being planned. Furthermore, the province will burn dead spruce trees to produce the bulk of its electricity requirements. When the spruce SUPPIY dwindles, the boilers will be fired by scrap from the new forest industry , based on the reforestation program.

Green Pauer Ltd. The two incidents in Ontario are even more incredible in that they both focus on the same corporation: the giant British-based multinational, Reed Paper, with forest and related operations in 88 countries, including Rhodesia and South Africa. Reed's subsidiary, Dryden Chemicals, produced caustic agents for breaking down' wood pulp using the chlor-alkali process and is believed by many tobe the source of the mercury pollution o f the English-Wabigoon river system of north-' western Ontario: This excellent fishing area is now closed, and hundreds of

Native Canadians have been left with no means of livelihood. Many of these people have high mercury levels in their bood as well. An excellent study of this problem has been produced by theOntario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG); it i s entitled Quicksilver and Slow Death and i s available from OPIRG at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. There now have been extensive contacts between the Native Peoples of Northwestern Ontario and the Minimata (Japan) Mercury Victims Association. Much o f the outcry about mercury pollution took place in 1975 and 1976, and some corrective measures have been taken; but, incredibly, in the autumn o f 1976, the Ontario government announced that it was considering the granting of cutting rights to 19,000 square mites of previously uncut forest land to none other than Reed Paper. (In Canada, 90 percent of existing forests are on public lands, and the control of those lands sts solely with the provinces.) The ue stirred a considerable political f u n r in Ontario. The man who was minister of natural resources at the time has been shifted to another post, but the government bas not yet backed off an is awaitingenvironmental impact studies on this proposal. The area in question, which is as big as Nova Scotia, i s quite far north, and serious questions have been raised about how readily i t will grow back, even i f carefully replanted. The native people of the area have proposed that the land be selectively cut to supply small, locallY controlled mills rather than releasing i t to the giant clear-cutting multinational. The reply, of course, i s that such activity is not "economical" and will not earn large amounts of money on the foreign exchange markets. (CanadaexPortS nearly 90 percent of i t s forest products.) a ''lid coa\itiOn native peoples, environmentalists, nationalists, and Social Democrats (New Democratic Party) is building 07 this issue, and it seemspossible that# the giants may be trying to bite off more tnan they will be allowed to chew. Mr Justice Patrick Hartt of the Supreme Ontario heads the inl u i into ~ the environmental and social impacts of the proposed project He Proposes to carry out a Berger-style study which will take from two to five years to complete. The model his is following i s that of the study of the potential im-' pacts of the Mackenzie Vally Pipeline by Mr Justice Thomas Berger. In such a study, those who are most affected are given a real chance to be heard before a decision is made. Further information i s available from Grand Council Treaty No. 9, 20 Holly Street, Toronto, Ontario. This native people's group is taking the lead in re search and lobbying on t h i s issue an^ needs financial and moral support. Robert Paehlkt $ed fromEnvironment, 438 N. .year: Blvd., St. Louis,Missouri 63130.Ten issues per blO.00 in US;$12.00 to Rest of World

idercurrents 24

he environmental movement is-just another prop to shore up flagging capitalism, according to Tom Athanasiou, te need to look behind the happy liberal facade; at the economic forces which really determine what's going on.

ie 'ecology movement' has had a con-

categories of 'nature' - something foreign to human society, static and her oppositional groups within society, complete within itself - that can 'set nding to align itself with either the limits' and define relationships. Like a hformists' (those who believe that socieladder - with God at the top and the can be cleaned up without being serfs at the bottom - 'nature' will sically overhauled), or the 'utopians'. ultimately fix the parameters of human society. topian' has always been a two-prongconcept, on the one hand denoting In terms of the 'eco-crisis', this desire to transform the whole qf life, ideology takes the form of 'natural - . limits' and 'soarcity'. It becomes possd not merely i t s economic aspects ible for a study the future of human wipare this-to the vulgarization of the cialist project by the left, which has society to be taken seriously even en too willing to defer consideration though human society'itself i s omitted from the computer model. An examinathe core of socialist revolution - the tion of the ways in which society profttion of new social relationships til 'after the revolution'). On the duces scarcity i s rarely made2 and thus her hand, 'utopian' has also come to capitalism, which i s responsible for note those radicals who are so concernmuch of the current crisis, is never brought into question. with their vision of a new world that are incapable of analysing the The left, on the other hand, has )rid they live in. Uttered in a mildly long labored under an insufficient risive tone, 'utopian' evokes a slightly understandingo f i t s own goal - comxked idealist or adecentralist who is munism -here used interchangeably with 'socialism'. Jack Mundey, the I trying-to avoid confronting the tlities of capitalism. Australian labor leader o f the Green Ban movement, is a good example. In While the utopians have been impohis essay 'Ecology, Capitalism, Com. nt to achieve socialism and the econmunism', Mundey correctly points out nic left has, for the most part, forthat workers are very much involved itten it, the capitalist system has in the ecological crisis, whether they weloped into a global crisis that has know it or n o t Thus h&dispels some dished the separation b&ween the of the bad bloodbetweet4 the ecology &rent op,qositional groups. As the movement and the l e f t But Mundey's argument flounders when he tries to ipie crisis of ecology, economy id culture has emerged, the left has argue that there are 'socialist countries' gun to concern itself with the enHaving made t h i s error, he is at a loss , to explain the similarities between *onmentand the ecology movement 5 begun to challenge the global Russia and China and what he considers _ t o be the capitalist world; i n fact, ganization of production. As long as the left addresses only observation of the ways in which olitical' and 'economic' questions Russia and China are being buffeted , d the ecology movement is only conby international capital will show that rned with preserving the environment, the term 'socialist country' is acontra, ith will be incapable o f achieving their diction in terms. The integration of the world market insures that even a 4s. The task itself compels the unilarge and resource-rich country like .ation of the defense of the environmust depend on the rest o f the snt with the defense of the popula- . - -China world for the g o d s and technologies )n. Any radical ecology movement it needs to become fully developed. I1 have to consider not only people's - Capitalism has become a world system: lncern about the environment, but communism can be no less. .o their interests as workers. The 'jobs growth' question must be reformuCarterand ~onspirac~ in Context :ed. and thisaan't be done without An example of the dilemma conallinging the existing relations of fronting the ecology movement i s duction. The apolitical analysis shared by America's new president. Mr Carter's bid . ich of the ecology movement prefor office was supported by most environides a strategy of qualitative transmentalists who saw in him a chance for a far-reaching shift insprioritiesSubserfnation. Those who cannot see their @r dear to examining the dynamics quentf~,Carter has prepared an energy -mistingsociety stop short of a full policy with %effects o f 1) increasing the power o f the administrative branch

sed and contradictory relationship with

the deployment of fission and coal technologies^ and 3) relying heavily on increased regressive taxation (tax which is not proportionally related to income, e.g. a sales tax) and on consumption limitations to redress the short-term energy crisis. As forthe long term, he has added a new coherence to the 'national planning process' while proposing only token funds for the research and development of alternative energy sources. In order to understand Carter's policy in greater depth, we will have to look past the merely 'environmental' consequences of his administration. Carter is a confidente to the largest capitalists in the world and a member of the internationalist Trilateral Commission. Founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller as part of aresponse to changing global conditions (the end o f the cold war, the cartelization of resources and declining profitability), the Trilateral Commission represents the most far-sighted members of the ruling classes of the US, Japan and Western Europe. I t has begun to formulate long range plans for managing the shifting fortunes of capitalism, notably increased power for world financial institutions tike the IMF, the minimization o f trade restrictions throughout the world and the management of what the Trilateralists have called the 'crisis of dem~cracy'~ the'problems caused by the widespread desire for participation i n government in the face of their need for more complete transnational control. The energy policy is part o f a plarrmore rooted in political-economic than ecological considerations, yet most environmentalists attempt to understand it as if its entire meaningcould be found in energy conservation. While awareness of this 'new world economic order' i s common among the left, environmentalistshave shown an appalling tendency to gloss over the structural implications o f the energy policy i n favour of the illusion that we have an environmentalist president The Vietnam war and Watergate were hard acts to follow, but the planners of the Carter administration are having some success in turning the opinion polls around. Carter's new look in American presidents comes complete with environmentalist accessories and old time religion. Whatever sincerity there is in Carter's concern for the environment comes from the realization that this-society really is i n danger of drownink in its own poisons. But it is clear that '&ologyl is being used as pan of a calculated stralew to relegitimize

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e latest and most far-sighted capitalists appear in some time.

here, we listen to the lay pwew Mr Schumacher, who tells us te-itop moving altogether.

n Imaginary Dialogue Consider, for a moment, the notion of Kahn through a telescope iwth. Clearly, growth contains both . alitative and quantitative aspects HI a This same f e t i h m af tbequantitati're ~tuallyirreducible rerationship. Popular abe seen from the other side in Herage, though, loses sight o f t h i s dialectic m& Uahn's recent ecologically oriented' d reduces growth to its merely quanti<<ark, The Next -Tyw Hfindred Years. ive aspect. The obvious need to conThis i the same Herman^K#n who once u c i a civilization that is adaptive to the ~alledh imself 301pounds of thermoo-system as a whole still allows for a ~ e t e o fun r avene~able'capitalfet de range of development scenarios. Who technocrat with his roots in some of the uld disagree with StewartkBrandwhen most notorious 'think tanks' of the 50's-*and 60'5. Yet here he is before us claims that /ocaI/y adaptive systems ve a long-termadvantage of complex transformed! Kahn has grown a beard multiple feedbacks and rapid local reqen- arjd 'leurned from his critics' and is now ses to perturbation5? System flexibility ' mpeaZkqgtf?t we have already heard and stability are functions of the forms a thousan times: that purely quantitao f relationship that exist between the tive growth will solve all our problems elements of a system. But the decentralwithout any substantive changes in our ism movement has responded to this social relationships. Explicitly presentwidely understood truth only in terms ing himself as an alternative to the of scale.'This quantitative reductionism poverty o f the classical hippy vision, s reached i t s logical extreme in the Kahn makes himself believable by eology of E.F. Schumacher. refining* "progrowth' po@ion. He agrees thatgrowth wilt end, that'values will &jange, that analysis will be global. achumacher through the He assures us that we Will be able to clean microscope it dl qp by the time we reach our peak Three years ago, E.F. Schumachei planefairy population - of 16 billion is just another name on the dooksheff &! The tasfi shead, he says, is simply of the Ecology Center. Today,-he has the to persuade those who use -the air and ear of not only Jerry Brown, but o f water that they must pay the costs to Jimmy Carter as well6, a fact that delights clean what they hws fwleifi. ffiSwy i n the ecology movement. It Really, is this a high school debate? ~eemsto be a sign that finally 'we are Kahn is i n precisely the position, to see k i n g taken seriously' and that 'soon that aslong as the marketplace, and its f :'I1 have so& real changel.,'But a closer laws, mediate the production process, it ok will lead to some different conis ridiculous to expect the nasty by~SionS. products of capitalism to go away with Schumacher stretches the quantitative .stricter regulation. In words of Marx tionale ,to encompass an explanation of that many 'flarxists'seem tohave ford i a l alienation. He argues that the origins gotten, 'The laws of capital confront of alienationcan be found hi the total tht capitotist-himself as an alien and number of bilateral relationsh<M between o a p r e a *force ! When businessmen /ndlvJduafs. Thus, he says, we cannot s p k @ usthat I iheji have to lay off workers, + together in groups larger than twelve VMStea/costs being (because Christ had twelve disciples) with^f <te C.wlrwiwnta1 --rt Introducing alienation, hierarchy and Protection Agency wflf-nake ft tewfsefficiency7. ible for them to turn a fair pmfit.W SchuroStcher's call for quantitative are not tying! (The lie comes in when -. imility as the solution to the compulsive they imply that there's sue gigantism of the marketplace would be a fair prof@. ridiculous were it not so powerfuf in its appeal. Not only alternative technologists, Through the l o o k i n g but millions of others throughout the - Kahn*S work is only the flip developed wortd have been left predinposed t o this kind o f quantitative rationality Schumacher's: bothaccept the eternal by their lifelong immersion in a civilizaexistence of the capitalist marketplace tion which has indexed the 'value" of and this at exactly the time when its every entity on the planet in terms of .continued existence is becoming most money. Eco-freaks here fall prey to the manifestly doubtfut both accept a me ethos which has given us positivist quantitative view o f progress - Schuhilosophers' and stock market analysts. macher wants things smarter, Kahn Moreover, there is a Certain attraction wants them bigger; and both believe the inevitability in which this analysis that a resurgence'of-Ualigiousl values results. An awareness of the crisis withoat will be necessary in the Immediate future ifwe,are to cope with the newany substantive sense of its causes leads found power of-b~'r^pecies~~. Their to a sense of guilt, the sense that H is differemsesemerge as differences of ' h u m ~ m t u r ethat ' has led to the miserable state o f affairs we have inherited: , style and, as we all krtow, (here-is room in the markewtace for more than Without the sense o f possible qualitative one fashion. ' OWth - which implies a transformation Still, Kahn%is the voice of.the old i Aose very relationships which SchuvcWt.& eaHfrfor bonein@ ow* &erreduces to a question of number a s a+w$Mng we opt insĂ&#x192;Ë&#x2020;a Tor an end to all gtftwft.* M n+n*t

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(or profitabitity ) crisis-grindgforward.'. Growth has always been the cosiest refuge of the capitalist apologists bf cause as long as the pie continued to get bigger, it was always possible to convince people that their slice, small as it might be, would continue to grow, But new, the increasing inability of the^stemito fulfil even i t s crass promise of a middle class utopia forever greater numbeis has assured that the' economic crisis i s simultaneously a crisis of legitimation. The'real meaning of ideologies of, 'lowered expectations' is that capftalism will not be able to fulfil the desires that it has itself instilled in people throughout the world. There may be indeed serious resource shortages on the horizon, b a t i t remains true that these shortages are created by the current-system o f production - inevitable 'side effects' of an economy fixed onty on the production of profit. As the promise of upward'mobility fades, there y e those like Schumacher and Brown (and manyin the UK) who call for a reduction of desire in order to prolong the inevitable closing of the capitalist circle. They present the shrink ing standards of living as a joyous ritual of cotnmunal sacrifice. Although many are jumping on the bandwagonmf lowered expectations now, while it is mostly a matter o f flowery words, it is doubtful that they will so easily be taken for a ride when the harsh realities o f austerity begin to manifest themselves more fully.'.

A Bit of Theory Capitalism i s used here to mean a . system o f socia! relationships which is first of all a way of organizing prodtiction, and which currently prevails every where on the.planet. While there are significant distinctions to be made between the China/Cuba/Vietnam/ Soviet bloc vis-a-vis Japan and the West, the state management of a 'national economy' does not constitute socialism. T b modern nation-state-is a function of the capitalist world market and grew up alongside it. Wage labor, the heart of capitalism, persists in these economies, despite their,centralty managed and partially non-mercantile character. Thus, as the crisis' deepens. the workers of these countrieshave res( ted to ever more aggressive assdults on the state to defend their standards of living, just like their Western counterparts (cf. Poland 1976, China 1974-5, etc.).

, Nice guys don't win

If the heart of capitalism is wage labor, then its brain-iscompetition. , Capitalism rests on separation, both of fhe producers from the means' of production and of the units of production from one another - as separate units 'of capital. The imperative of wmpetition fin spite o f the existence of natio or even multinational mon~pdies) forces each e n t e w to ~ i n m a w its share of the market or BO under. I f i S

is imperative that i s the root of pitalism's need for continual expanin. Competition forces each enterise to constantly improve,the 'cost fectiveness' of production by increasg the productivity of its workers. In actice this usually boils down to the troduction of ever more sophisticatmachinery which serves the dual nction o f displacing some workers d 'disciplining' the ones that remain.^ Competition thus tends over the i g term to drive the price of commodes towards their average social labor s t of production. This i s what Marx lied 'the law of value'. I t s corollarv that profitability rather than coniditions of social usefulness determines iat will be produced and how, or in irx's terms, that exchange-value 'minates use-value. 'Use-value' i s just ancy way o f saying quality in rela>nto human need - foodness, shoess and so forth. 'Exchange-value', I the other hand, represents the quanlive market value of the products of man labor, their exchangeability, iich, as we have seen, is fundamentaldetermined by the average amount time necessary to produce them. the capitalist, then, the goods his )rkers produce are not first and fore)st objects of human need, but a m of exchange-values which he must ilize through sale on the market in der to pay his bills and obtain his ofit. It is clear from this that there plenty of room for contradiction tween use-value and exchange value 2 i e most glaring example being the struction of 'surplus' food products lile millions starve).

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italism rampant Fact, the different periods in story o f capitalism can be exissed in the different ways in which ise two qualities can be related to ;h other: the phase of ascendance d the phase of descendance and cadence. During the ascendant phase, ~ i c hlasted roughly from the midbteenth century until about 1910, ise two qualities were, within (he item at least, in a sort of unstable rmony. It i s true that at the periery of the capitalist market, in the lonial territories of Africa, Asia d America, whole populations were ~ t e dand destroyed in what econost6 politely call 'primary accumuion' - a process which continues this day i n a more sophisticated ise. Nevertheless, despite all the ocities committed in the quest rfitability, it remained generally re that if you wanted to realize r o f i t on the open market, you had produce a use-value that actually ved some ournose. Reeardless of %factthatall you wereinterested in, s making a profit, you were still mpelled to make shoes, or tools, or ne other useful object to embody

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&Pitalists t o expand i n order to survive ompetition, also compelled the tevelopment o f the forces o f producion (especially scientific knowledge) nd the growth o f material interdepenency among the human species. Duri g this period, capitalism was thus , iistorically progressive', albeit i n pite o f itself.

way o f controlling a sometimes milk tant working class. But now, for the first time, the productivity o f labor is so high that it threatens t o create a huge and permanent class o f nonworkers. This is dangerous t o a society which has plenty t o fear from those with enough leisure time t o reflect on their own real interests. Thus, paradoxically, labor intensive technologies become attractive t o capitalists just at the time when the potential amount o f social free time is skyrocketing - n o t as a technological necessity, but as a means o f social control.

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The internal dynamics o f the sy oon p u t a halt to this state o f affairs. competition compelled each capital t o get larger i n order t o survive, and also t o get more 'capital-intensive' i.e. t o multiply the productivity of. i b o r thowgh the continual displacelent o f labor by machinery. As larx showed i n such elaborate detail ver a hundred years ago, this process lust eventually result i n acrisis o f e'creasedprofitability, in which the sheer mass o f profit created, however gigantic. is no longer sufficient t o over both new productive investment nd the huge losses incurred through the obsolescence o f the old, less productive fixed capital. Since the nd o f the nineteenth century, thereire, each new surge o f productive ivestment has resulted i n a catasophic devaluation o f fixed assets, fhich i h turn has led t o depression nd global war twice in the last iventy years - wars which served i purge the obsolete capital from i e system. Capital i n its descendant Â¥erio continues t o develop productive forces - witness the tremendous breakthroughs in electronic cornmunications and data processing, for 'istance - but only at the price o f iducing t o utter misery a greater -nd greater proportion o f humanity. For every brilliant creative innovation, hundreds o f thousands o f people have had their creativity maimed and crushed b y stupefying work, hunger, disease, and mass laughter.

Dump it ywhere but the accounts

The history o f capital during this 3.WhiIe it is generally believed that Carter century has been, then, not so much is opposed to the development of breeder the history o f the develonment o f nrrt- -re-reactors. this. too. is an illusion. As ban^ m o k r poin&d'out in his analysis of ductive-forces (witness the efforts ational plan in the May 29 de-emphasize solar and fusion power ton Post, Carter's commitment to in the research and development e light water reactor will inevitably lead budget o f the United ~tates12)but to me of the breeder in the foreseeable future: With Uranium supplies depleting rather the history o f capital's attempts, and rapidly %ingin price. it would then to displace itsprofitability crisis inevery be necessary to extend the supply o f flssionpossible direction. Thus, the crisis is disablefiiels [by the end of the century - T.A. by adding breeders to the system. Commone placed onto the Third World through underlines that $he actualwording of the imperialism and nec-coloqialism, i n which profits are increased by the super~ ~ ~the exploitation of labor and the extraction fundim for ...exivtine . ...-....- breeder , ....-...* , - ..- .. mneram --.-..-. - . .the and to redirect it towards evaluation o f o f r a w materials at a cost substantially alternative breeders, advanced converter below their real cost of production. The< ""reactors and other fuel cycles. (Quoted in crisis is displaced onto the ecosystem%$-$-Â¥ p,talzst Technology and the Poverty of as a whole, both i n terms of the o m i s ~ & ~ ' - z - -D~I C~ Roberts.InternationalPress ~~ ~ . sion o f 'ecological costs' from the ~ ~ ~ , ~ ~ ~ f o r r e s ~ o21n July, d e n1977). c e , porate ledgers wherever possible, and r&$$ One of the main theoretical works of the --Trilateral Commission, The Crisis o f Demoi n terms o f the damage done by the <* &racy; Report to the Trilateral Commission production and an end'ess sz-f&n the Government of Democracies (Huntins stream o f commodities which have no .-.~on,crozler, Wtanuki;~ewyork ",,iversity function except the procurement of a g- 4 ~ ~ ,7isemeciallv 5 1 fascinating. profit- aerosol deodorants, World Trade 5. CO-~volution Quarterly, Fall 1976, p.17. Centers, and (at this point) the energy 'if.National Public Radio announced in industry as it exists. The crisis i s displac- .&^larch that Jimmy Carter had met with E.F. "' -&chumacher during the latter's tour of the ed onto the population as a whole, by United States. the lowering o f real wages through infla%partic^ 'joke, at tion, by cutbacks i n social services, and ~irtuallyall of Schumacher's California lecb y the further relaxation o f already lax tures this spring. environmental standards. Finally? the . 8. The Next 200 Years by Kahn, Brown and Marfel; William Morrow & Co., 1976; crisis is displaced by war, which allows quoted in Co-Evolution Quarterly, Fall 1976 tremendous short-term profits t o be p.lO. generated by the same process that 9. The Totality is Beautiful: 'Small'is a destroys tremendous amounts o f obs coy, Capitalist Crisis Studies, PO Box 754 lete fixed capital and surplus worker rkeley, Ca 94701, p i-6. And now, as even these tortuous and 0. Schumacher's pitch for 'spiritual values' well known; Kahn's is much less pervasive bloodstained roads t o profitability , t nevertheless interesting. (See Co-Ewlutic become too overcrowded or too wrterly. Spring 1977, p34). dangerous, the crisis is displaced into 11. For an extensive and scholarly analysis the future through increased deficitstudy of this process in the United States see spending and debt-financing - not 0 Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capi talism, Monflily Review Press, 1974. by irttMviduals, b u t by corporations, cities, and entire nations. 12. The Fusion Energy Foundation Newsktter (231 West 29th Street, New York, MY I n the light o f this analysis, it be10001) is an excellent source of news on all comes obvious that capitalismhasgxects of the fusion story. It provides detail hausted its historical usefulness. The 1reporting not only of the attempts to . 'progress' which was its ideological suppress fusion still being made by the US government, but also of theoretical developjustification from the beginning, that - ments in the field of plasma physics. Theis, its ceaseless development o f the Fusion E n e m Foundation are unabashed productive power o f human labor and fanatics, beii associated with the National its creation o f world economic interCaucus of ~ a t oCommittees r - which is another long story. They argue, for instance, dependence, has proved its own unthat the National Environmental Policy Act doing. If human social evolution-is t o should be repealed because it is pro-barbarcontinue,it must be evolution beyond m , anti-scientit'iclegislation Unfortunately, capitalism. there seems to be some truth to their Tom A&anasiou arguments that environnrentalists ale mindksdy anti-bigtechnology.. ParfJl willappear Hi Uqdefcuften-tt2B

to:

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ime to reflect As Marx p u t it, descendant capital lore and more 'enfetters' the prouiictive forces, because its actions in pursuit o f profitability less and less coincide with the actions appropriate t o the expansion o f the actual and potential wealth o f society as a whole. This is because the sheer bulk o f fixed capital invested i n the existing processes constitutes an investment in their continued existence, regardless o f whether the new processes are preferable from the point o f view o f social and ecological considerations. Moreover, the introduction on a large , scale o f these new processes (such as automation) creates another problem, y&ich is that i t tends t o displace huge numbers of workers who cannot be @ofitably employed and who therefore become both a cost t o the State a d a social powder-keg. This displace;merit o f labor from production has =.atwavs been - .-... useful . t o capital as a "

1. The concept of the triple crisis surfaced more or less simultaneously in a number of separate works. See, for example, "TheThree fold Crisis' in Small is Beautiful (E.F. Schumacher, Harper and Row, 19731, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (Danie Bell, Basic Books, 1976), and Inquiry into the Human Prospect (Richard Heilbromer, W.W. Worth & Co., 1974). 2. Bmy Commoner's latest book. The Povel of Power: Energy and the Economic Gins Alfred A. Knopf, 1976) is an introduction to the processes by which the capitalist market produces scarcity. While Common er's formulations are not beyond criticisni, particularly his artificial separation of the production system' (good) from the 'economic system*(bad). the thrust of his argument remains valid,even in sections of the economy kss capital-intensive than eneigy. For a much more rigorous d i i s sion see Marx and Keynes by Paul Mattick (Porter-Sargent, 16, 'Technology 1976), and theparticularly Mixed Economy'. Chapter

comes in a variety of different guises. The off-the-$& with levi overalls, Habitat furniture and Palter Gabriel food-growing kits, can cost an awful lot. Put making cheese and cider, at least, does not require expensive equipment ingredients, as John Fletcher and Hugh Tripp explain. An sted to be believed.

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thing'wbe raiizgLabo'ut'" - pound notes at employees before office where the temp adding or detracting hot water, but in staff arrive in the morning is also said ,. ~. ng is thif, for every pound . eese you make, you to work wonders. roost of the stages of cheese making, Being i n the wonderful EEC I'm sure except thelast, a more accurate way of will need 1 gallon of milk. Unless you controlling temperature is really needed everyonebaware that #e are surroundcantherefore get access to cheap mitk The best apparatus is the old-fashioned ed by mountains of skiimed milk, aid there islittle point in it.jfyou have a Burco boiler, which can be picked up at cow or a frienkwith one - preferably + -'that skimmed milk= milk = cheese. (If local sales for a quid or t\yo. h hey are a Jersey, Guernsey, Ayre* or Short- a, :, your milk has a low solid content, especdso excellent for beer and wine making, horn, .then by judiciously saving'and - - ,,:;-?-5@ly in winter, skimmed milk or lactose Christmas and stem puddings, and even can be added). Bought wholesale, by my cooling the milk over two or three days'" -";Â¥Â¥washing clothes). you' can have enough non-acFd milkat. - f'.calcuiations, skimmed milk works out a t There is also the idea, which haven' ; 26p-apound, and you can make agallon . the end to make a worthwhile 10 Ib - from apound. Now that's what Icall tried, of using a plastic dustbin or bucke truckle. Also, some farmers milk their (usually used for winemaking), and dm; viable! Check my calculations first cows off on-Qec. 31st and bring them ling a waterproof element of some sort . Again, with the ending of cheese subsidback on stream on April 1st (it's all to in it Ishould imagine industrial ones an 'res, if you buy direct from the farmer do with juggling around the complexproduced. They should be at the bottorr atthepriceheflogsbilktotheMilk ities of farm subsidies) so that for two as a fair amount of stirring goes on, but MarketingBoard, then youshouldbe or three days after Tan. 1s t and before not in too much contact with the plastic able to justaboutbreak even. Many April 1st they will haveagood quantity A thermometer is also needed, and Ifin6 of milk they can't dispose,of. We split, .l.".sfaryrs are surprisingly sympathetic to by far the best are the cheap floating methods and tastes, and t" ' ,A~~old-fashioned ones sold in pet shops for tropical fish. ' . .-if you can woo them with cheese you For measuring the acidity of milk, have already made, then they might be' the equipment is staggeringly cheap. The to trade cheese for milk. - -.--. prep* , most expensive things needed will be tht chemicals. These will be a small bottle

:ts, and might be-preparedto I off-to you atacheap rate. Waving

cost about a pound,

The acid measuring equipment is extremely simple. You willneed an eye/ nose drip, capable of dropping single drops at a time, a ten or five miuilitre plastic syringe with markings on it, and a one millilitre or twoinillilitre plastic syringe, callibrated to at least one tenth of a millilitre. AS vets and doctor-

You need a white saucer, and a clea

- ,-spoon or somethingfor stirring. Using

the 5 or 10 miflititre syringe, put 10 millilitres of the milk into the saucer. Using the drip, put two drops of the phenol phthalein into the milk and stir it in. Then, slowly, having filled , the one or two millilitrq syringe with Sodium Hydroxide and stirring all the time, squirt Ihe Sodium Hydroxide into the milk until the milk goes a distiw* pink.T+nreadofftbeampntof 8,.

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take a large and fearsome long-bladed could be taken from the lid. Punch a .knife and cut the cyrd.mto a vertical few holeijn ooe of them, and (ilace this and horiicqtrffctt(cewo(l(, social it at die bottom o f the chedt Thejcheese incharound. shotjl&* wrapped in xcome consists 06 G U ~ S~fabatif? Now starts* hfi. Your cloth, {a bat thicker and strongerjhan in tÃÂeÃ§RÃô This i$wie^FAe washttfgap cloth), that fias already . abeen great sensual experiencesof life, and shaped to the size of the chestL makes you dream o t swimmingpool W . Pat it all into the chesit, and place on sized cheese vats in which you could disfs. Oq tOf? of , wallow for all eternity. S t i r h l y fnS ; ilower' ofThe sme langerousiy, w t f y breakingup any be a*r . * 3ff,sf^Tnch thick,s.shW larger f m a e ~ < rcmpfe, f *an*& Ã and of strong, * &a HÃˆ temperature;in Ae first 20 wood. On top of this put amatl s t minutes, from 84OF to 9@F, in the ptate of about 2 inches diameter, so *second20 minuter from 90' to 100Â° that the wood does not have to take Keep curds from congregating-and the full pressure'of the jack. burning on the surfaces close to the Alternative p*' heat source. At 100O leave the gorgeou s t a f f to soak +nits own juices. Watt This'shoutd now be placed i n the . until the acidity of whey squeezed preis. Â¥fthneeconsist of no more from a curd {through a sieve or somethan a position where a car jack can ." tffrng) is 21, then drain off rhe whey- -' be placed under an iron bar or wooden , (Whey is called Pigs Champagw, and beam, so that full pressure can be is also good slurped o f t y w r garden). applied,downwards on the cheese. . A tin tray or something should be ' placed under the chesit to pick upthe ' whey that runs out. Alternatively, A more elaborate press can be fairly simply constructed. (See illustration). . Tw&substantial beams-ofwood, about temperature surprisingly welt)*Veil 3 inrihes by 4 inches are required, -; are now in what is called 'adfeddaring about 2 feebin length'. They should be joined by two 2 foot steel bolts, about situation'. Cover the bucketwitfi a towel;and every twenty minutes or 314-in. diameter, with a thread at . so Slice the curdgiftto-two inch cubes . either end fornuts. Holes-aredrilled or so, and drain off tffc whey; main- . . ,'A in both ends of the two beams, * through which the bolts are then pautaining a steady temperature, squeez ed, and the nuts tightened on them. ing the cwds back together before On the bottom beam of this rectangle replacing the towel. Over the next a platform should be built to rest tht . two hours or so, ttw acidity of the cheÃîton "OK cheese can.then be whey will sttadily rise. l.f youwant f Ã§either using a jack levered on the mild cheese, go for an acidity o< 35, '3 a mature .75,or if you're still dirty top beam, or, i f the threads on the top 4 and dangerous, go up to -85.-This . of the bolts are s$stantial, forcing - 7 down the top beam by screwing down the top nuts, and using a brick or a piece of wood to transmit the pressure in 102 of salt to every 4 Ib of curd. to the top of the cheese. You are now Now a description of the equipm the prourftt&ssessor of a press and -= needed for the second part o f the operchesit which will enable you not only . ation, f t e p r d n f c Wha to press cheese, but also fruits, grapes, is needed fs a rn9uM-w a apples, spouses, etc. press. M e t . &sits o f t .For the first few hours, the (>res~irÃ (about 10 tbs) orlaigarcan be Sbtaiflshould be light as the whey runs, ed from Self Suffictmty Supplies new, gradually increasing the pressureu -* or second hand at sales or from'fanns it i s about a third of full. Leave it in cheese m<(kingareas for about Â£ ," overnight. The next morning pot it up or C3. Alternatively, you can make tofull.Intwenty-fourhoure,takeout . one for yourself, fairly simply. (See *the cheese, wash i t in hot water for -about thirty seconds, and put it back, illustration). A truckle sized chesit i about ten indies talt, and seven inches 'cloth and all, upside down. Press at ful for another day. You should now have or so 31diameter, being round. It w d s to withstand about two t o n s somethtn resembling a handsome truckle. #&e it out. Wash it, rub i t all of pressure. A clean and robust tin *- m r With terd, sew a sin& layer of of these dimensionscould be used, dieese cloth on it, and put it on a cool strengthened with two steel belts Aeff. Turn it every day for aimonth, welded or otherwise flrtnly secured Iten every other day for a month. It around the outside. Small holes, of d now floats in a large, smooth shotild be By now mouldy and gor on top of the yellow greek not more *aft l/Sth of an inch in A good cheese should be eaten bet diameter, should be punched from ither by running a tiny por' six months andeighteen months. Chec the ins/& out on thesides and v off from the tao at the ' the contents every few months with bottom to help it to drain. Leaving bottom of the burco, or droppings an apple corer, remembering to stick a rim of about 314 of an inch, tfie bottom

odium hydroxide you have used. Each oillilitre of sodium hydroxide you k d before the solution turns means -ou have an acidity of .I. AsAe yringe is calibrated down to .I of a nillilitre, this means you can read off 6 a .O1 of the acidity: Fresh milk ftould have an-acidity of about .15, o get some practice at the start. This night sound immensely complex, but ,who loathed the chemistry lab at chool with an intensity I now no longer ind baffling, mastered it in five minutes. In the Burco/dustbin/bucket the nitk should now be heated to 84O?. itir regularly to pkvent cream fordping. fw now have to make adecision. I f ,eu want'to be sure of a d cheddar, 'ou should use fresh mil ,and add a tarter. I f you live'in-a dairy or cheesenaking area you can obtain'tfiese from he lorries which colfect milk or Iticai heesemaking. Or you can often get a tarter (a cultute like yoghurt) from an gricultural college. You can get them ty post from Chris Hanson Laboratories .td, 476 Basingstoke Road, Reading, nit they are expensive at something ike Â£2At what I beHevfete arttMs&r trice you can also c(t?er iquid 'deep froBen^w'd rom Unigate Foods Ltd., (Cheese Â¥tarteUnit), Bailey Gate, Sturminster W a l l , Near Wimborne, Dorset. You an begin a family of starters from hem for future cheesemakings. . However, if you are determined to ive dirty -and dangerousthen either the" nilk will have started to go slightly acid Fit is old, or you have to sit around tntil it does. (Even i f you do add a tarter you sometimes haveto s i t around , OT up to six hours anyhow. Cheese nakers either need a strong grounding n Zen %I &&stand nerves; or lotsfff W ,since milk is as lugubriou$arf iloody-mindeda phenomenonas the ow it conies from). Whether using a starter or not, with he temperature at 84OF, you mast wait until the acidity reaches .20-22, and then add rennet This is obtainable from the same sources as-the starter, and very cheap. It should be added in quanities of 2 fluid ozs of rennet mixed rith the same amount of water to everyten gallons of milk. Stir the Staff in by . hand and deep stir until you sonfadUS the milk ding to your hand, when ou widdle your fingers around the top mtil i t starts to set, at which time get" hand out quick! This process can anything from 2 minutes to one r. Keep temperature at 84O, but do panic at sudden fluctuatidns, as all heat goes into the curd while the

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test theihicfrwitha hydrometer to gefthe sugar content. The ihost you are likety to get is a specific gravity o f 1.065 wh&h could give &5% alcohol, 01 about 15 proof. You can, of course, add sugar to boost the initial strength up to this figure, oreven higher to -make a wine.(ion After-the hasse.d initial youbkxt of fermentafita fermnlock, or m ~ r e - t r ~ ~ t r o ~ a l ~ , an over* barrel. K~~~it topped, up, ~ f t h ~ , . ~ , ~ no bite to ^ , us waterit apple,. Sorfe people rack off, wtrawfer the partially fekented,cider toJresh-containem, this practice is not universal and -a , - should not be necessary.

Fall the alcoholic beverages, cider must i the most primitive in its mode of from y o W nearest cider company. The mufacture and some would say in the only remainingoption is that you ality of the product Of cow?, we have access to the odd non-cidef apple ?t talking abou~ndtural,rough, farmtree that produces grotty frwit^eyond. use cider, often known as scrumpy, it the sweet, carbonated, commercial the culinary pate. The first caveat is ,,that the resulting cider probably won't bbish. The distinction is very clear -taste much like scrumpy, but that may en you realize that natural cider is be an advantage, There used to be some Â¥elike yoghurt It continually changes two thousand different varieties of character and taste as the fermenta, Oder.appks and perry pears (only a i n progresses over the course o f the few still survive) that have Been selected ar. It is particularly unstable i n Ae over some 2,500 years for their high esence of air, which can account for sugqr a@ tannin contents which make me of the unpleasant experiences -+ for a potent-and tasty brew. However, be had by drinking cider,@? *.has Fermentation . - . -k n so exposed. ,' -\ Bramleys and Tom Pudds oftwi get The management of the finaf stages mixed in with cider fruit, so be not As an intoxicant, cider i s well em=' - ' dismayed, it's got to be worthwhile of fermentation dependsupon the inched at the cheap and nasty end the spectrum. The 'high', or some _-/, - . to makt cider with any old fruit, i z e and type of container you have. With good sized barrels that are going rather than let it rot. Aqy feedback ould say the 'low', is noted for its ' Ãˆ X& a while to empty, it is a good on the outcome of such experiments imbing qualities that has earned i t e title 'liquid lobotomy' in these would be most welcome (no samples . idea complpte the fermentation OTxter pressure so that the cider is through the post please!). Based in w*. If this description doesn't put force6 but under i t s o ~ 9 . f ~ ~ the heart o f the cider country, I can >u off, then you must be an addict only offer encouragement and advice ce me, and you may as well continue pressure without letting-Tfany ait.The ,/ based on the traditional methods we Ming this as an aid to making your barrel has t o be good and tight t o take bit even cheaper.- %-:=-: .:a --, this sort of pressure and the top hung Ideally, cider apples are picked off - will need smothering with hot wax to Saving money is the usual motjve , the ground after falling. This ensuÃˆe r doing something yourself. However, +seal-itproperly. If pwssure is lost, one peak ripeness, and bruises don't matter - - can displace the cider with C% from a you live in a traditional cider making Ãthft fruit is going to be pulped. But ea, you will probably find it so cheap Sparklets Corkmaster stuck through if you on& have a few treesand want I buy from the farm that there is f .tie incentive to compete. You should : to Process all the fruit in a%ig batch. . Â ¥lower t price from the small pro- . it's OK to shake or knock down the. , jeers (less than 1500 gallons/year) [ice they are exempt from Aity and AT. H o y e r , if you are determined .1 make your oyn one strategy k t o -,, iy (tax free) freshly pressed juice

wof

use.-

astic containers that dairy farmers it disinfectant in to transport the

ice. No money is saved by t h i s method Your supply i s on the spot If You ive access to the odd cider apple tree defunct orchards or gardens you tould be able to get the fruit pressed cally 'for a small charge. Alternative ifyou have access to the 1a sharing basis you should be able make cider for about 35p per gallon hich is about half the going rate sumirtg that you buy the apples (Â£4 !r ton and it takes about 20 Ib to ake 1 gallon) or even cheaper if you ck them yourself. We found a very . eep, abandoned orchard that just x 1st us a lot of sweat to pick, even iffi the assistance of a don key.

PPl= Anyway, i f you're in cider country au should have no difficulty in finding Bples, equipment and advice. The rest Fthis article is intended for aspiring der-heads who reside outside the m m p y zone. As a long term Stratme@$

again in the spring, which.usually brings traditional cider mill, but one it into peak condition for drinking in should be able to improvise sometfung early summer. For a whil$it actually with choppers, hammers and garden tastes amazingly good but then gets rollers, depending on the quantity of progressively drier and harder to drink. apples. Likewise, the type of press A final word concerning all those that one needs to improvise will d e jocular jibes about dead rats that have of fruit. A small pend on become partof the cider drinking wine or cheese press would do (see machismo complex. Such organic John Fletcher's article above). The . additives (chicken shit will do lustas simplest way to contain the pulp i s t o well) will enhance fermentation if chuck it all into a hessian sack and tie the juice is lacking in nitrogen for some &up. It has been suggested that in this reason. Yeast% like all creatures, need form you could pass it through an some protein i n their diet in order to old-fashioned clothes mangle to press grow and multiply. Wemade 400 it. Commercial cider makers build up gallons last yearand it's nearly all several alternating layers of hessian . (or straw, originally) and apple pulp - - gone Iforget how many rats. to form a stack known as a 'cheese'. / Hugh Tril Run the juice off into containers, preferably wooden barrels that are If you're thinking of stating a cider apple clean, sweet and sound, but strong orchard you have to make sure you get the plasticcontainers will do. Mother right variety of~ trees.% ~ followinglsupplier!, -~ nature does the rest ~ wild ~ ~ wffl be able to help: Scotts Nurseries ~ t d . , yeasts will get to work within a few M d o t t , Crewkerne, Somerset, Long Ashtot days and a stream of froth will spew Research Station, LongAshton, Bristol, and Showrings, of Shepton Mallet. All these are out o f the top - so leave it open. If e West Country, which is fine if you are I

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1, 111. , I1 1 1 1 1~ .d ~l 1 \ \ . ' )L .: .,><.I, .,:..I I ' !: '.I > [ l ~ ~\\11,,:,,, ~ l l l , I . < , * I 1 I I , < , -L I I lo<. \,I.. I \\i1 8 ,, . L I \.. . < L i t , , \ill.. 11.. -.....--, -'..:. - .., . .,,l,ll, , l ! , ! 1 1 [ 3 , * 1 ~ : Ill<I [ ~ ~ c ~ . I .Cl. ,-,:.7.<<. : . ;. , . :.. < .'. ; < ,, ?.:,'. *x>y-e .> -..::.i-.:. . ;, ... .: ..-.; I .IP. M'l I,. I I,, -I.' \I I'r.,, .lll -I I<l, .I( ', n \ I ) < I' I); I. . 11 \,, :p r , i ; , ~C, !111, ) 11 ,I~.II..: 11 1 1 i c ~ . ,~I>L,I ,I>:.. > .I,<, - .a - .-* ..a= December 1946, a 14 g o v e r n m e n i ~ ~ t 6 n testablished i~n &c*^;&~nerally depleted as much as, 01 in some cases more than, ;International WhalingCommisstcin to safeguard for f~ture"~*""""'those of the Sperm Whale. Fortunately Biitcimdoes not import their primary products, though we do import manufai-tured legations 'the great natural resources represented by the - - goods containhg bits 0 f whale. The USA and New Zealand tale stocks', and to protect whales from the overfishing ;y had experienced up until that2time.The convention have banned the import of all primary whale products as te imrnediateprotectiotito the already commercially ex- ' our Government should have done long ago ct Right andGrey Wales. Friends o f the Earth have consistent!\ dl rued tor the need of a TO year moratorium on all whiling This was supported That the actions o f the 1wC have been inadequate i s by the United NationsConferenceon the Human Environment her more indicated by the fact that, b y 1976, they foundi n 1972 at Stockholm. The moratorium would give time for iepessary t o 'protect' Fin, Sei, Minke and Bryde's whales whale stocks to Start recovering their numbers, for more much of their range; and that Humpback and Blue whales searchinto whale pop~l~itioris, their numbu'i 'ind ecology, re been hunted to commercial extinction. As a member nd for research intoa more clficient and Ie'is cruel way of the commission Britain shares the guilt forthis obvious . -a_s.killingwhales. Astime passes the need foi a moratorium grows smanagement. ,--*-.L- -. . -.r xemore blatantly apparent and its minimum period :rows As you know, whales are air-breathing mammals with a i o u s system in many ways comparable with u ~ own. r longer Fifty bears now seems more realistic Clearlv the in<re i s no iin.ilogy tor the sickeningly ciuel method by effective IWC should be replaced by a United Nations bod\ which would manage the resources of the sea with icqard to ich whales re killed There is only the reality, that a 160 harpoon with a four-barbed head enteis the animal at i t s complex ecology, and for the "pnerdi '~,ood niph where 1' g~enadein the warhead explodes Death Jon Bar/dc I\ take several harpoons and over thirty minutes Such Wildlife Consultant to Friends of the Eartt Â¥ani ~ i cnot toleriited for slauehterine domestic livestock this county, and most societies wod li consider it trageous. It is slightly to the credit of Her Majesty's ~overnment it in 1973 the import of some whale products was banned "u t anotableexception was spermoil, from the heads of.% lerm whalei According to HM Customs and Excise statiss, Britain imh.r.ted 8,527,736 kg of sperm oil in 1976. e Sperm whale - probably one of the most intelligent o f animal species.- is enormously overexploited. It is said' kt the Sperm whale is not in danger o f extinction and sow 65%o f world fusion funding is being misspent on on s may be so'- a t the momtit. Recall for'a moment, approach - the tokamak - a device "too large, too costly, >ugh, that the populatf~nofPassenger pigeons was reducand possibly too unreliable", in the words of Clinton Ashwortti . from some nine thousand million animals to something , senior technical adviser for the Pacific Gas and Electricity 5 than one animal within a period o f sixty years. We should .a - >- .*--, Company, and adviser to the fusion:study programme of the )id being blase about this thing. w&&$lectricity Power Research Institutes;-*-:% ,- In the UK sperm oil i s used in some gear oils and as a.:.:<?-sac - ~ u sthe t other day, a t the WorldsE-lectrotech"icq~Congress, -.y^ac tener f o r pnqe'dleather. Sqbstitute? exist fpr almost all , :-*-a;fusion research w& said to be within a-factor of ten o f the 's - agdfpr-snmeof its.uses it (t>ayTiot in fact beneCesWrY ^%ondition.s f o f ~ ~ p o w ereactor, r H p w e ~ e r ~i9wise ~ i t to * lilt from t$'leatkr Industry there i s great resistance to ' *&examine this c{ose$y: To achieve,usefuj fusion,.charge(t ng-kubsti;utes. The cost argument grows very much weaker --<atoms-('r~s),;f~r instance o f deuterium, have-tobe packed Sperm'whdts<&ecoMscarcer. IWC catch quotasare annual- %very densely together but kept moving very rapidly (high wised do@kar&.'suppties of the oil decrease, and thecost Â¥?:?-.kineti energy), fora~nsiderablelength o f -tirpe (inthe order ;s.The priesftef.~moiTin the UK rose b y 72%between-, seconds). So'altmgh-high*densities~fr a ~ i d ymoving ions whave.-been achieved, for~nstanc+a~fe'cfy&to~bove, -they sruary 76 &d~~bruary'ZY.Another part of the argument' hat the quafiB of leatherfalls-if sperm oil is not used -,- ? e x i s t e d for minute fractionsaf we&~d4TO"'s] only. t customersare given rro choice^TRe Minister o f Agriculture, -5 Satisfying Zl}.three ~onditi6n~t86nsity~ kinelfcenergy, -: heries and Food, who deals withwhale matters in this containment time1 a t once - no mean achievement - is the , intry, has stated that one cannoLtell the difference between problem that will stretch into the 21st century. By-then, ated'and untreated leather and, though I hats to be predic- the stark simplicity of combining two fight atoms into one Ie, i t seemfentirely fatuous slightly heavier atom, plus energy and a subatomic particle .** -- that the oil should 'therefore used at all. -5 , ., (often a neutron), will have becomea labyrinthineprocess. Oil isn't the only subsg~% from Sperm whales used in this with almost as many drawbacks as nuclear fission. untry. Somewomen smear the wax'from the beast's foreThe easiest fusion reaction to achieve uses deuterium and , ad on their faces and dab i t s intestinal juices behind their tritium, the last being very radioactive. Energy from the s. The former, spermaceti; the latter, ambergris. I n other fusion is carried away by high energypeutrons, which would rts o f Europe various whale products are used in the making be absorbedby a blanket of lithium acting as a heat-exchanger. margarines, cooking fats and pet foods. The answer to this Unfortunately this in turn p.roducesJritium;prove~ lithium Buy British. reserves arewry limited, and the blanket of lithium will There is currently an Early Day Motion (no.44) in the have to be regularly reptaced. Neutrons passing through the immogs, 'That this House i s of the opinion that the GovernbJittlfcet may embrittle surrounding materials forcing their !nt should impose a ban on the import of all whale products . replacement. Similar problems would shorten the o thiscountry, and as a matter of priority impose such a ban =life - of.containfngelectromagnets - which are the import of sperm whale oil'. If you care, do ask your MP =-@&jg<eeniyt.Rlowl;effe@tsareproducql &.am-

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Retaining walls can by 'sputtered' away, "especially by the wvel hazard of 'chunky sputtering' which involves the physical removal of thousands of atoms at a time". There i s an approach to fusion, other than b y laser iiriptosion or tokamak, that has performed as well as either at a fraction o f the cost, and might be commercially available in ten or fifteen years time. Called migma fusion, it is the outcome of work by Dr Maglich and the Fusion Energy Corporation (FEC) using the controlled collision of erium ions. Ultimately hydrogen and boron ions might ied to produce doubly charged helium (alpha particles) ich could be directly lead off 3s electricity without the of a lithium blanket (and with practically no pollutio ! immediately, helium ions would collide to give alph . -.cles and protons. Unfortunately this requires the production o f helium from deuterium, a high-energy process producing undesirable tritium. Three experimental rigs have been built with funding, to the tune of $ 5 million, fcom Swiss Aluminium Ltd., Saline Water Conversion Corporation of Saudi Arabia, and miscellaneous American stockholders. Beams of deuterium ions have been bent to collide with themselves. The stage has been reached where a new, and more expensive rig has to be tried out. Financing this requires the approval, and later the backing, of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). Twice ERDA have refused to do either, without giving a detailed, ntific rebuttal. Dr Maglich has suggested that the elty of migma fusion is seen as a threat to the fusion iarch establishment in America, many of the staff of ich will have retired long before plasma fusion i s put to the test o f market conditions. Now the whole migma project is in limbo, kept alive for the time being by Swiss minium Ltd. f o the cynical, however, part of FEC's financial problems, including ERDA's behaviour, might be because of FEC's desire to retain ownership o f the process. Nevertheless, environmental and financial problems of tokamak and r-implosion fusion devices are such that it is hard t o rstand ERDA's reluctance to hedgefheir bets, and at investigate a very promising alternative; for as Clinton hworth remarked: "It i s possible that a fusion reactor /one in this country (US) i s going to want to buy is yet to be invented." In the UK we are spending only s minute amount on ision research. We are part o f the joint EuropeanTorus ,,ET) project to build a uropean tokamak deviceto examine the problems o nuclear fusion. Mind you, the problem of finding a suitable site for it that will appease the nationalistic instincts of several of the EEC countries "ivolved may itself be insurmountable. If t h i s is the case, i d JET is abandoned, it won't be much o f a loss after all.

Second, the very name science fiction. A great many people aren't interested in science, and others are intimidated by it. Sf sprang from the concern with the development of human understanding aria manipulation of the world. The two are associated, and the inclusion of the label 'science' within the name is sufficient toelicit that association.

Dave Smith

Is there still something faintly iisrcpuhbie about science Fiction? If so, three possible factors suggest themselves. First, i f art. Visual stimuli have more impact than literary anes. It is easier to look at the cover o f a book than to read it, and it is often easier to recall it later. The artwork o f the American pulp magazines o f three and four decades ago was vividly coloured, sensational, and frequently downright 't I n an attempt to lure the observer further into the gazine, it relied on the stereotypes which could be tified by the potential buyer at a glance - the villain, tero, the lady in distress, the monster. A l l are pre-sf Smblems. So the passing non-sf reader equated the stories within with this type o f cover. He still does. In turn, the artwork itself became stereotyped. The publisher was aiming at the lans: yes, this is that sort of magazine. The fact that the cover Illustrationsby and large came to have no connection with the @xt,.andindeed were interchangeable, ceased to matter; 'n t

I f you dislike science you are likely to be repelled by the labelling. This applies even ifyou are an avid reader of other forms of literature. Suppose that you read nothing except E.M. Forster, Kipling, Jack London or Drury; you will probably not wish to read stories-about plasma jets, non-stick frying pans or nuclear holocausts. If someone points out that these authors all wrote science fiction as well, you may begin to be convinced. ,Thirdly, the curious way i n which sf television, radio and cinema are decades behind the written form. Visible images are more powerful than visual ones, and so are auditory ones. "Unwritten" sf chooses one of two options. It either imitates the written variety, or branches out on its own. Both usually fail. The former option, which is cuspmarily chosen fails because it insists on reverting to old models, horribly reminiscent of thepulp ewers. Worse still, it may employ earlier, non-sf models, just as the pulpillustrators did. "Star Trek", one o f the worst offenders, apart from having only half a dozen possible.plots, seems to have arrived at these by transposing the Western, the Detective Story, the War Story, the Fairy Story, the Horror Story and the Love Story - often explicitly - to the galactic stage. (At least this is marginally better than "Space 1999" which has only one plot, i.e. they find a guest celebrity stranded on an unknown planet But 1 digress.) If theother option is chosen, that of making its own way, it nevertheless makes the same mistake. It seeks to astonish by cinematic or radiophonic gadgetry. A particular silly and irritating example i s the selection of whining and buzzing noises, presumably synthesized, to be heard currently on the Radio 4 repeat o f Asimev's "Foundation" trilogy. One aspect of this atavism i s that on the few occasions wh-.. unwritten sf raises itself from the ooze, it does so by basing i t s efforts on an established work of written sf. Some o f us will recall the abrupt decline in the standard of the BBC-2 "Out of the Unknown' series for a few years back when the stories began to be written expressly for the programme, rather than being adapted from published pieces. The impression given was that the television witers believed that there was only a handful of possible stories, which the audience would conveniently have forgotten by the time the next seriesstarted. Things do not appear to be improving. The nostalgia boon has resuscitated thepulp cover styles o f the Thirties and Forties for the paperback market We have swung away from the forms derived from abstract painting and experimental photography, and back to the tired old spaceships, robots, death rays and galactic battles. (One must admit that, largely owing to the efforts o f the estimable Chris Foss, the spaceshi now have rivets in them.) As for any hope of progress in the media: Star Wars is upon us. A t least it's popular. Tony Fletchi

H~A+

Undercurrents 24

RURAL INDLSTR'i New Mills is a centre fÃ‡;Ãˆudfi problems and o~tortnriities iM~1 r.11

the Rational Technalogy Group

1 - 2 andl co-ooerative - - -.concerned .-~ ~~

with the way society is duping

Ib envimnmenl. Wuteftil u s of natural resources combined with the environmental dunage caused technology presents man with

Lost. nuurmountlble problems f a the future. It is-to these problems that

?heGroup addresses itself. Whilst our individual skills and interests are varied and wideranging, we are concernedessentially with the rationaland demo-

cratic use of energy r w s . We are involved thereford wifli the analysis of fuel use mid with the development of energy conamation measures such as the thermal design of buildings; , renewable ene collection (sun, wind, water) second level measures like material re-cycling and muse. Furthermore, we b e l e e that the politics motivating society are as important as its technology and that it is eisential for alternafive forms of organisation to be developed at a more relevant and human level. Thus local, individual and user control over the whole range of activitiesconcerning building, hardware manufacture,, food production us of vital importÃ‡n in our work. To thisend

and

diversitiothrn rattier thrtspccittÂ¥astioIs an rttitude we endeavour to cultivate.

Asa Group, we h p no one

* on

angle policy we & -

strata-

miad our methods of involvement. Nevertheless, thee on be stated , i* occuiinK under one or more of the geneniholdingsRESEARCH, DESIGN, EDUCAITON AND INFORMATION. PUBLICATION. In the 'Education' field, the Grow are offan 'educ*tioa pa&$ ~eivice.It hopes to mm educational institutionswho i interestediq mnning conraw indrelated

EZiiWmexpmtiae. Ihew might involve lectures, aeminara and oafctical work:

F o r further details ofthe Group,p l e a contact (endosing

a?.):.

Brian Fort, RTG, 45/47 Brunei Road,Rothertiithe, London

5E16 4LD

TRADING COLUECTIVE Good news from the trading collective - a group of people who

set out to investteate the demand. pattern, and economics of alternative co-operatives. (fee Undercurrents.20. page 40). A b k eatharim has been held to establish national c&rditing body and, on a mere practical level, the-plea in Underaswents foi use of a narrow boat also brought results. A trial run of wholefoods from London to Brum has already happened. For those interested in using or helping run the wllective, (to people to contact are: Batges: Sue, 72 Princes Road, London NW6 (01-624-7933) V m s c/o S m a , 11/13 Wharf St. Lead*2.ThereIstlnoaTrÃ§nn>or

The first supplement to In TheMaking.4, our acttawy of& operativeYkqects, if nmprinted: 28 packed Ã§itinfo about

riew projects, 'contacts',latest-i *%fo alook at reader^ criticisms of ITM4.

and d i i datesialso

Supplements-aresent to all subscribers to ITM4 (see subscription rates below) and single copies are also available (price 16p + A5 s.a.e.)

from the tTM address. Welt be starting to collect entries for a new directory soon; so please if you know of any co-operativeprojects, on-going or 'in the making' in your area. put us in touch.

MOVING TOEIRE? Bruce Barnes offers heto tornbody thinking of moving to Eire to

start a ptojectiHÃwrites: 'Lanil her b m is a totÃ‡HMpÃthan it )Ãin Englandand.flÃˆcni,islotso old empty property to rent or to buy which is ideal for cirftman'a cooperatives, market gardens, small holdings, artists co-ops, etc. Prices vary (along with the weather from county to county but I can help anyone who Is into moving over here - e.g. providing info on social security, unemployment

1 CO-OP ON A SOUTH SEA ISLAND &I ITH reader at piesnt living in

Bristolcomesfr asmallisland i n ~ e ~ o ukt&!# th and wants to start a co-op 'flOte6vhen begets

back. Its a,smaU community of only 5000 people and a group of them have already started a self-help , building scheme on an informal basis. They want it to expand to include fanning and a wholefood store. Any help or @vice would be much appreciated. . Box BG, In TheMaking ,

benefit, health services.finding property to rent or to buy, and maleing contacts then I will be happy to-do so. Brace Barnes, Kealkil, Nr Bantry.Co. Cork, Eire. HOUSEWIVES CWP? An ITH reader from Co. Dublin wriuS 'I ion a housewife in my &te Â¥thirtie@use family is now

LET YOU FIftGEKS DO THE wALKmG.. A great idea from Merseyside. News From Nowhere have published a Peoples Yellow P e e s - a list of useful addresses, telephone numbers

and usually a brief description of the organization concerned. s Categories of the entries include: help and'information, workshops and skills,publications, community, ~ l d- ' titop%aad entertainment. Also an be very grateful fox any ideas oft. @njLaLexperiments,any literature which might Ie helpful, etc. Box AM, In The Making

miPedh%m 281.

44)

NORTHUMBRIA Northambria Hafttat & a new?" charitable gkoup which aimsto itself up as a resource

lay-

to e-ine waysof restoring.. .. vitality and employment to ran areas and of revXing their ew@ The residents at New Mfflaart initiating research and :%Id @( in the locality of the Centra -a, Exrodor National Park - an af6d suffertag from depopulation, &k' of employment, sad a run-down of public services, qad hope that thw work may initiate id-srelevant to other rural areas. People interested in contrfbutin to the objectives of the Centre can become members of The New Mills Association; there is also sea~ae,for voluntary work at the cfintre ahd facilities for relevant research work to be carried out. Those at Nt* Mills will be pleased to discs~sany ideas and explain their activities. Courses and conferencesare often held at the centre, a d some of the tentative plans they hdm fat the future could attract Undercurrents readers. They , include events on The RuralBuild ing Trades', 'Rural Industriesfrom Local Resources' and a series of design and construction seminars on such topics as 'woodburning stoves', 'funiiturMnakaig^,'heatpumps', "water tmbines', 'sob panels' and *wind-generatedetectrii ity'. Further details (with 8-a.e.) from: The Warden, New Mills, Lux-

a nuclear based society, making energy decisions less open to public influence. and further concentrating economic

1 crackng-~p The Fissile Society. Walt Patterson. Earth Resources Research Publication '1977. 177 pp. Â£1.50 Walt Patterson's new book continues the foray into the nu learestablishment started in Nuclear power (Penguin), with the focus here much more on the situation in Britain. It includes detailed critical analysis of the electrical supply industries' structure and policies, illuminating some o f the many management errors and policy blunders that have been part of the history of what i s +theUK's largest industry, in terms 01 assets, and the 11th largest in the USA/UK combined. It's a useful book, packed full of 'insights into the thinking and policies of the technocrats who run the industry. Patterson argues relentlessly that . ,centralized technology of this sort is bad for society in terms of civil liber-

and When political power power i s concentrated in fewer hands. in this ' way, trade unions, who in some way reflect the system they seek to influence, likewise become more centralised, and at the same time more prone to unofficial 'wild cat' action at the grass roots. I question whether technical decentralisation, and devolution provides astrategy for social change when faced with a well organised power structure, who can quite easily co-opt alternatives

and turn them to serve their own purposes? Patterson does not explore these political implications, for his main cc cern is to remain within the convention, social democratic' arena. He wants to be able to communicate with the b u r r crats, and shift policy by reasoned arguments. Maybe this i s possible for specific policies, but it seems unlikely that major social changes can be brough about in this way. 'You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs' . Maybe fission has to occur before fusion. '

The Solar Home Book. Brucc Anderson. Prism Press. Â£5.0 (paper). 304pp.

docs a lot emphasize what called the 'alternative' side of solar

simple techniques it advocates. Apart from that problem, which i s central to the whole AT movement, the only serious drawback to the book i s that it is American. Since all the data in the book are in, Imperial and US

eless it i s intcrestr-ig iiqn

is neithektoo academic nor tire-

solar power i s not viable, at least f ~ ' most people. He argues that viable systems can be bought for $3000-

,sly chatty. Some recent solar

louses arcdescribed in detail, indud$6000 from around 56 small companie ng a good number of relatively unand points out thatthe big companies cnown buildings as well as such old . . W i t ) official agencies simply do not tie$ds.as the ludicrously etimplicated have the technical elan (or the will) to Jniversity of Delaware house* ' So'ar Conspiracy' John Keyes.Morgan prcdud cheap, simple. practical systefl The best feature of the book is its a d Morgan, N.Y. 172 pp. $3.95. tmphasis on building design, construc~utgiven'the $3,OOO^OO.W markt Sinister conspiracies indulged in by ion and siting as means of reducing for dar collectors thatKeyw wed mdti-national monopolies.. intimida;nergy demand, and then meetirtg that for the US, things may be different tion, corru~tion~ all th< there. Whether one can talk usefull etkiced demand with simple systems fun of the paranoia fair. 'Conspiia<l% hat avoid the need for pumps, fans, a 'conspiracy to-steal the sun' i s an'. -. question. clearly when the companies emperature differential controllers, thrive only in didmess' Q Y ~John - Ke~es in The Solar Cor~&pMw, which mti-scal&valves, selective coatings do decide to take up solar power (presi to shine some light on.*tJCeye* . ably after they have extracted the tnd the other expensive hardware of-, sees as a campaignby the monohe rapidly growing solar in$ustry. maximum possible profit from nuclear -~obies in the US sq(l the'dedopment ~ e rthey ) will want to have a monorhere are evendesigns"for collectors - of seta;power. o-supply domestic hot water based poly over the technology. But the >nthe same principles. Mos-kof these source, unlike oil, coal or uranium, .&yes* main k p l a i n t is that the imple passive solar housesand solar big firms and their experts have momled :requires no miningor distribution, only reenhouses (conservatories to conversion. Obviously i f the big coma massive publicity campaign, partly by rumour, to discredit the do-it-yourself panics squeeze out the small businesses 'Jndereurrentsreaders) tend to be in places like New Mexico where it may they will h&ve control over the 5-' ATapproach, by hinting that the cost w cold ii~ winter but it is also clear figures and energy yields that are being of pdduction' of energy, and that i s md sunny so there is less of a long quoted by the small scale manufacturers fairly cruciaf.,But we will not be found are technically incorrect. Keyes' allegaerm heat storage problem. On an with the usual situation where control ptimistic note St George's school, tion of a smear campaign are of course of mineral energy resources defines a tellasey get* 50% of i t s heating from hard to prove, and certainly, as Undernation's poll ical and economic power. currents pointed out before, there are - The d u s e f u l section of the book hesun, even i f the temperature of the lots of 'sharks'around in theUsolacfield ;lassrooms does sometimes drop to 11Â°C is the appendix which contains some rhat solar greenhouses work in our who deserve to be exposed. But what dow-to-earth practical advice on 'way is visible is the ERDA very expensive doudy dimate'was discovered fay someto cut your fuel bill in half and 'tips 'solar house demonstrationproject', >ne at Brunei University back in the in designingan efficient and practical lays before a conservatory was a must which, says Keyes, at$76,923 per unit, solar home.' "W autarkic house and collectivised @a; Elliott 3s tantamount to demonstrating that terrace alike. When he built one onto his wngalow because he wanted to grow tomatoes, he found his heatingbill was reduced by 40%. This is the first solawnergy book I lave seen which concentrates on simple -.. - - -- - whniques in preference to engineering alutions~and on conservation of energy Modern Medicine, A Doctor's Dissent 1 picked up in the book's 133 pages xfore i t s collection. tt is refwing to ' only one thing Ihadn't known before. &Wet Davies.4dd-Schuman, Find the suggestion that people cod# James1apparently did not reckon a itose and open a few shatters now &<t ;London. f^.1% .* hen, or put on an extra sweater. So tol to Bonnt's poet l f s apooiy written, o h ~ a t Gamma minus,-1 -w. n a n solar ~ house projects are designed _;_ g~ western medicine, ko ensure that the occupants.willnever futi of errors and non-sciem. That inspect that their heat comes from, the there'sa lot wrong with today's m. Once thjs alienated approach is doctoring no-one is disputing of; butjiscwded the.building itselfbecomes anyone writing OB the topic must sh the collector and most of the hardware evidence of actuallyhaving read and, ;an be thrown away. - understood 1flich's Medical Namesis.: By stressing the siltiple approach and Ivan Illich gave medicine a thor nd~tb&?~,~rLQlneach year or >y looking in detail at the adaptation going over, though Dr Davies weartfi k now more than zf solar techniques to existing buildings, (Q have grasped that it waswiat and flO&miltfen: What are we getting for tie difference is emphasized between still more structural iatragenesis, not w r m o n d Accordingto Coleman, the 'soft technology' approach and the clinipal kind, that tllich was mainly hundredsof small -cialist journals, that used by governmentsand hdustry, indicting. an increasin amount-of information which channel their money into projects There are three ways i n which lllich's &very i i d e in the,way of dissemvhich wilt use as much expensiveequipsuccessors might improve on him: with bation 4practice of what's already nent as possible. An uncharitable better references, with a better presenknown. ' Sbsefver mightsuspect this i s ssrthat tation, or with a realistic,suggestion as There is dn in il s i hn ig return on inh e solar projects will be sure to prove to what might rtplace high-technology vestment! future research programmes ~opelesslyuneconomic and the way -medicine (a topic on which Illich is seem unlikely to be as productive as :an be paved for an expansion of the as enigmatic as the Sphinx, perhaps those i n the past, and they're costing mclear programme. More likely because he hasn't a clue what might). . more all the time. Mosfimportant, the. . icademicsand engineers concerned D i Davies' book falls down on, all typeof solution now being sought is r e incapable of thinkingsimple three. We are entitled to references to too expensive to be made available olutions to simple problemslike primary sources and a number yf key to all the people in need. teeping people warm. At least Th reports (from early 1976). A d any posiThe direction ofxurrent research is wlw Home Book shows there are

Â¥

idercurrenua -.

There are ethical oL,~...ions too: linxless and often dangerous produres carried out on humans, and despread animal experimentation a t is too often redundant or irpvant. ' 'xearch emphasis is more often iding a cure than on reducing naence rates.. which are increasing " r many tumours, for example. iroughout the book he illustrates the ly new solutions create new problems. ? should spend our research mone studying the effects and metho control o f environmental pollu ' ad additives, harmful Substances work, road accidents etc., the ectiveness o f current medical ictices, and the possibility of such in@' subjects as acupuncture and 'dilation. lbc6e who envisage radically ferent methods o f health care an !study of i t s problems won't fin ' ich here t o excite them; this ok i s a p l h for the re-ordering of orities and lines of control in the sting system. People interested in what we ge our taxes and National Insuran itributions and people who drop M into research charity collection (es should read it, but the price -*& fit stop them. -

Beth Theis

rkers'Power. Energy Group of the .^-' nference of Socialist Economists, :co-operation with AU EW-TASS, Trafd Park,Manchester. 22 pp. Big Flame. This is an attempt to develop an

rfford Park, !Ãˆ<anchester it reviews, im anexplicitly socialist perspective, !problems currently faced by the, ikr a i d turbo-generator industry, lieti it sees as the inevitable result of - anarchy of m ~ n o p d ycapital. The tion is not just natipna!iqtion.,but t~onalisationand planningunder irkers' control, so that the worke ias about alternatives, in both tec logy and management, can h a w luence. The pamphlet reviews the industries inions for employment, concluding kt, while wind, wave and tidal power, jether with various energy storage hniques, for example fly wheels, are candidates, sotar power technol5 unlikely to be of significance workers in heavy engineering. lear power is assessed cautiously. \ 6 authors feel that if left in (state?) ritalist hands then you'll get the qerWS xa:i&*, mdefsaCia1im it ght be possffle'touse the somewhat er SGHWR, or even to move to the

Not a big bo . control to pest control that need few

Lik Lik Buk. For and by rural development workers in Papua New Guinea. Wantok Pub. Â£4.50 270pp. Distributed by Third World Pubs, 151 Stratfog Road, Birmingham 1 1.

-resources except knowledge and some experience; Lik Lik Buk i s especially strong on agricultural and animal (i.e. food)development methods in Papua New Guinea. Advocates of 'appropriate In Papua New Guinea the mass of technologies' in Europe have for several the people still live in villages growing years realised that the information they food on a subsistence basis. Now that publish is far away from grass roots inter-tribal warfare has been silenced by implementation. This book takes the the muzzle of Pax-Australians's gun and business a step nearer, acting as an despite the paranoid prejudice that information exchange centre for the continues as strong as aver between field level development workers on the tribes, their social life has many admirground, to assist, and encourage them able features. The old, the sick and the in their efforts. I t shows people in Papu young alike are looked after on the New Guinea actually 'doing it1.The Lik extended family basis - social security Lik Buk Information Centre recognizes in the villages. Bertrand Russell remarkthat it i s one thing to invent tools, ed once that these 'Papuan savages' machines, processes and another thing had lost all sense of personal identity again to 'animate' the process of because of their strong soc@lties, but development in the villages. Papua New anyone who has lived in the villages Guinea has been spared the worst exwill disagree with this. They will also cesses of colonialism and with its large take it as a commonsense notion that resources has a better chance than most the good features of the social organicountries to make a good life for i t s sations should not be destroyed by peoples. 'progress', that the villagers should be This i s the sort of book that every encouraged to maintain their traditions country should endeavour to produce, yet improve those areas of life, such as drawingon both local and international health, that cause the greatest risks. experience. Anyone going to work abro This requires village level development. &a< in a tropical country would do well to It has taken an heroic effort to persuade those in power that economics Simon W, should not be placed before human values - that with a sensible use of

people like Schumacher, whatever.W may think o f their politics (or lack of them). , The book reviewed here is a con~pifation of brief descriptions of village level, self help improvements from birth . mand for a rational energy polic, e possible through nationalisation r workers' control - incongruousupled with a desperate depen-

slow breeder' thorium based reactor They consider that fast breeder reac

fusion reactor.

is the most desirable of the varioo?

options; for, it argues, this must be decided by the workers themselves. The authors hope that their report will stimulate workers in the relevant industries to produce a much more detailed set of alternative proposals, along the lines pioneered at LUCAS. It is written in an uncompromising style that should make it an effective agitatlonal tract for use in the labour movement. It clearly outs politics first Whether this will be enough to enable the workers to resist the divide and rule tactics being used by Weinstock et at remains to be seen. Looked as they are in a life and death struggle, it is nataffprttilig Wt-. the alternative technology ideas have so far been less prominent than the ,-

Personally, I would argue that there are clear material and political reasons for workers to begin to consider the decentralised alternatives. This may not happen rapidly, and may take a somewhat different form than that prescribed by the AT movement. It also won't happen unless people in the AT movement can relate their ideas directly to the problems faced by the workers involved - a process which I feel, would help to change the ideas of both groups as to what is 'appropriate'. ~ a ~ there b e is still a considerable gap een the world views of the utoAT freak and the labour activists, the gap is closing. Whoever would have thought five years ago of workers n engineering

- .

izero-sum game. More t o t h e a puini for most real wars, electronic

ie Electronic Battlefield. Paul Dickson. arion Boyars Publishers Ltd, Â£2.9 iperback. An American book on comparatively ascure form of warfare is unlikely t o scome a best seller even among Underirrents readers. Perhaps that is a pity, scause Dickson's book is a workmanke look at a fast-moving and oppresve technology which will probably scome more important through the s t of this century. Surprisingly, it i s so a competent examination of the S decision to build electronic weaons systems and The subsequent (pansion, partly under cover, of ectronic warfare budget. After the racy introduction of tort story about an electronic s t n Euzkadianguerillas, the book lost of its space ona chronologi arrative o f the developme~tof ele onic weapons, mainly in Vietn is-clear that the electronic battleeld was always seen as a cheap an olitically OK way of winning the

first by closing the demilitarized z then by reinforcing existing bases, finally by widespread use on the Ho Chi Minh trail and in strategic positio throughout the South. The electronic option was first backed mainly by Jason, a group of US academics, mai ly physicists, who supply advice to t US government at a very high lev Much of the advice i s military and a lot of it, like the ideaof thÃ electronic battlefield, is not ve* good. But from this inauspic*&s beginning an electronic warfare budget was created which has grown steadily with time, and been

seabed, in remote piloted aircraft 2 in reinforced ground locations being directed by shirt-sleeved officers sippiq coffee in the Pnetagon or Whitehall. It would all feel at least as remote as launching ballistic missiles at the enem) d would be almost emotionakly free r the people letting the weapons loosi the enemy of the hour. All t h i s i s well explored in Dick book, as is the technology o f thee How t h i s spending is protected by an ,- ig battlefield. The main problempisthat industry lobby q d a powerful politic '- :most of the book is about Vietnam and need. Dickson draws the limits of the much of the rest is about Americaelectronic battlefield very wide, inclu Nothing i s mentioned about the Warsav ing the Cruise Missile, which'has c o r n pact electronic effort, about which quil as a convenient pawn in the salt negotialot i s known, and little about efectror..., tions. k unlike the usual armagedd arfare by other Nato countries. It would discussed there, it may have nice to know a bit more about Ire[& ilitary significance outside th it i s hard to believe that infrared detectors lookin2 Long-Kesh and arms cad the whole story, we' "-

In the final chapter W. admits that t moral judgements have power over noone but himself. He hopes in writing hi book tohave opened the eyes of his cc eagues to the implications o f their wor ,He offersfew guidelines: computers should not be used to substitute for ter-personal relationships; large comuter systemscarf grow into Leviathan eyond the comprehension of any one individual and thus enslave their huma (rollers; computer scientists alone d not determine what research i s or applied; computers be used to invade personal restrict freedoms. None of these is new. What i s iicnif cant i s that a leading member ot the technological-scientificestablishment t said them. And perhaps most importar of all, W. has shown an appreciation of the subtlety with which ideas can mob and change a culture. During the Midd Ages and the Renaissance the Chu attempted to suppress ideas inimic its own system. Quiscustodit custodes scien

'amputee Power and&an Reason. ?omjudgement to c1Ã‡ffflationJoseph feizenbaum. Â£7.50W.H. Freeman. - 300pp. :there any limits to the digitat computer's ability to simulate intelligent human behaviour? What influence have computers on those societies that extensiv employ them? Should we impose restrictions what we use computers for?

These three questions - technical, x i a l and ethical, form the principal tones o f this book, and you are o doubt as to which problem the auth igards as most important. W,who is not -social thihker or philosopher but aprossor of computer science at MIT, is oncerned to demonstrate the danger of HoWing ourselves to fall into the trap Wiokiflg ? b ~ u tthe world and each

inviting: the computer's universal applicability as a logical engine mirrors some of our own powers, including those that are highly valued in industrial socie - The core of the book consists ' discussion of the factors limiting extent to which computers can in@gently and in-the light of these limitations what human activities cor p u w s should be allowed to take ove W. shows that in solving intellectual problems, making decisions, or-just i going about everyday ljfe, we drak upona vast collection of acquired knowledge of facts and principles, o f intuition and feeling which is not susceptible of representation within a computer. This, W. argues, is sufficient to debar computersfrom takingpartin essentially human concerns such as psychotherapy and judicial decisionktzdcing. But ultimatefy,the issues are.nQt>echtticaf or sei&S$tffebutJSog$: <wfc&> not (tow

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weNudeWorld kcotopia by Ernest Callenbach, (Banyan Tree Books, Berkeley, California) 167pp. $2.75. America 1999: ace reporter Will Weston braves it among a nation o f crazed hippie environmentalists who by nuclear threat have seized two and a half West fcoast states and declared independence. He thinks he can lay their women without absorbing their insane ideas. But Ecotopia ~WK him from America, with i t s own gutsier brands o f sex and violence, and he throws up the three best loved things in his life -job (hard to break with), mistress (easier) and family (a relief, almost) - t o stay in paradise. Wilf finds that the motorized aggression of America's highways has nothing on the ritual war games (real spears, real Mood, real death) o f Ecotopia's menfolk. And his New York swinger Francine can't give Will what he gets making love under the redwoods with catlike, super-liberated Ecotopienne Marissa Brightcloud. Ostensibly an ecological Utopia with thesame non-plot as Bellamy's Looking Backward or Skinner's Walden Two, this is also the story o f an Oedipal, woman-

dominated American male rediscovering his masculinity, and maybe his adulthood . too. A t one point Will even complains that Marissa "won't let me use my mouth on her breasts". "You're not a baby" she . says as she pushes him away. Growing up, for Will, requires him to be blooded on the ritual battlefield, and bedded by Marissa and sundry other Ecotooian women. All this he undertakes with the gusto of a newly unfrocked monk. Meanwhile he tries to get the hang of Ecotopia's stable-state, total-recycling, ' dope-smoking, small-is-beautifulsociety. footopia negates everything Will thinks of as the American Dream, b u t the powerful vibes of the place begm to work on him. We follow his spiritual rebirth through his private diary, while in his newspaper articles he struggles to cling on to 'objectivity'. Chiefly from the snide and cynical newspaper stories we form a picture of Ecotopian society. A t first it seems no more thanan amalgam of well-known early-seventies counterculture trends, but then the place begins to come tolife. If you read Undercurrents, you can

don't fit into this category, don't be put off. If you want the facts on what your rights are YOU will find them here. you will not however find this guide strong on the politics o f unemploymentor on organisation of the unemployed, though there is a country-wide index o f rights groups and Claimants' Unions.

On the Dole. Peter Lawrie. Kegan Page, 1976.75~. Michael Hanks One way for the unemployed to fight demoraHsati~n,~and that socially-induced sense of failure, is to fight the welfare system instead. Peter L a h i e sets out to describe the range o f benefits available and how to go about obtaining them, and on tfie whole it succeeds in what is sets out to do. However, the figures relate t o November 1976, and soon become out-ofdate. . Fight Blight. Charles McKean. Kayeand "the opening chapter is a step-by-step lire; why to register as Ward. 192 pp. Â£3.95 . . the first place, and, having Squatters - Myth and Fact. 10p plus large s.a.e. from Self Helu Housing &mso,hswte &k away through the @simdhlminefield of tiêâ^Ãôt^^ ex- ~GearchLibrary, ~ o o m406, ' ~&th change and the Social Security offtce. For example: what documents to take wild : you to interviews, what to tell theclaim clerk t o ensure you get the maximum relaxed by the Doâ‚ w w is just one o f benefit This is followed up with a detailed the signs that perhaps the government , run-down o f benefits available; basic, has noticed that the housingproblem. may be beyond a r e by their present ' earnings-related, child allowances, and Supplementary Benefit The information policies. ' So Charles McKean may well be isgenerally put overclearly. right to emphasize, in Fight Blight, +- One chapter is on coping with being how people can take the housing probwtof work: you might call It the lifelem into their own hands, with and style o f unemployment. It's a r m without council assistance. The , straight and subdued though, indeed housingproblem is just part o f a strain runs right through the book: general bureaucratic and popular $$came away with the strong impressiolt, paralysis that allows many of our inner sat& was Written with the middle-class city areas to remain run-down, semimale (grad@e?)in mhd. derilict He &es examples of how ~~tif the ninety-what. property speculators, tardy planners, ever percentage o f unemployed who

Urban

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--*

probably skip the bits about how Ecotop; ians build their houses and generate their energy: much more interesting are the human relationships. Emotions are freely expressed. Ecotopians laugh, cry, hug, touch and shout at each other a lot. Families are big and not necessarily biologically related. Sex i s without shame, deception or jealousy. Women are tough, liberated, and in total control of their owr bodies. But i s the whole thing a male fantasy? We never really get it from the woman's point o f view, since even Marissa is more a symbol than a realistic character. No wonder Will decides to stay, with lovely chicks offering themselves at every opportunity, especially when he's been brave in a ritual spear-fight. Oh, those spear-fights! They are the one thing in t h i s otherwise predictable book which shock, provoke, really stick in the throat. Callenback is, a deliberatepessimistic must be, statement about human nature when he implies that the expression of violence is necessary (for males at least) even in paradise. Love we can hope for, but'peace never, he seems to say. Tony Durham

ckimsy'procedures, broke councils bent on requisitioning houses but withouxhe money to renovate them, grandiose slum clearance schemes, and architecture on an inhuman scale have all helped to make our cities as dreary as they are. However, many groups have taken the initiative to improve the areas here they live, examples of which occupy most of the book. Waste land has been turned into gardens, play. grounds, allotments or city farms; neglected houses repaired and improved; walls painted with murals; and canals restored; and all mainly by volunteer labour. Perhaps most encouraging of I the examples in the book i s the - account o f how ten houses are being self-built in Lewisham. Not all the schemes he mentions have been successful, the windmill at Rotherhithe is now in a sorry state; some, like the Clerkenwell workshops seem to crop up whenever inner city dereliction i s mentioned in the Press. But one wonders if these improvements will really make as much impai on the housing scene as he believes. Colin Ward has been advocating housing associations since the Second World War. but for various reasons thetime has

Dave Smith

Undercurrents 24

SMALL ADS

Sell your windmill herel. Small Ads at special giveaway price: 2p per word; Box Nos 50p. Copydate for No. 25 is October 24. Please send copy and replies t o Box Nos. to our London office.

CIRENCKSTER

CHE WORKSHOPS LOW-cost, self-Btumaged, lndividuall lhaxed. smallparse, serviced wozfcVELIKOVSKY: A RATIONAL bops available from end 1977. APPROACH - The Society for ktoriu~ brewerY bdWUS8. tom Interdisciplinary Studies was inxntre. exhibitionltÃ§achine/retÃˆ augurated in 1975 with Is aim In p e t e n d Emphasis on, but not mind. md now comprises an Mited to. the arts and crafts. Rointernational membership Including ect Includes whole food workshop stodentx and univerdtv teacher* as . md win generally be a resource for ty. We are looking are held &d a quarterly journale lmc e ' ZE %22Y wZ prepared to published. For further detail! zommit themselves t o malcine the please contact (citing this adveg , place work. WSil be fun. ~ r i t e entisement): Ralph AmeIan. ' dosing sac, to: The CIrencester 6 Jersey House, Cotton Lane. Workshop* Trust, Stancombe, DunManchester 20. . tfsboume Rous. Cirencester, Glos.. GLI 7JH.

PUBLICATIONS

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for revolution .-. nonviolent ... Reports, analysis, news of nonvjolent action for social chance. bulldlna alternatives, resistance to the hine. Covering ~ m ~ sexual m wliti-. , ecology, decentralisation, etc. 15p fortnightly, Â£5.5 for 1 year from 8 Elm Avenue, Nottlngham.

PARTNERS NEEDED to develop small form near Lampeter. Offed. About 4 more a d u b phu children envifted with further inuftÃ§tmeno.~ f snurox. Â£16.000 ~. opportunities for organic farming1 building (including water power)/ ehfld education/worluhon~etc. M Motivated and experienced hardworking people only please. Further information from Nigel and Serena, Box No 1.

COMMUNITY TWO HARDWORKING, idealistic. funloving people seek commune (rural. income-sbarinft, d-auffteient andlor other comi& imiects) for personal growth, c&panionship, commie ment. Want to live less wastefully1 artificially, to develop practical, positive skills and to demonstrate ' alternative lifestyle and values. *tact Hilary Richard Wood. - .-.-... --. and 133 Brierfield. Skelmendale.

WORK YOUNG, ENERGETIC, veae-

tarian male. returning from North America, seeks work situation with

healthy lifestyle. preferably ,organic herb farm. Write to: Peter Coppard. 66 Robert St, O W a , Ontario. Canada. MEW LEARNING CENTRE in

rural Devon seeks co-worked

WRITER seeks contact with Norfolk or Suffolk f a k i n g communitx Box JD WOMAN (28), CHILD (2) would Hke to join a group with child, or ~MC I with woman in same position. Interests; crafts, gardening, desqhooling. Country preferred but anywhere considered. Contact V Candlnh, Moscow Fann. Alston, %

Flmmclal contribution required, Detail!from Liberty High, Clayhidon. Devon EX15 3TJ

HELP NEEDED with turn/ house work by Couple (29.30) Need like minded nerson to help cop;with their one year old daughter Baby due in September and 400 year old house on a 30 acre mixed organic muulholding let in the beautiful welsh border land. We offer home. healthy living and come payment. Box No. 2.

30-OPERATIVELY RUM voge.axlan/wholefood restauxant necds leop& able to offer l o w term iommitment. Experience in whole'oodaookem' Acaemmelation available (abort term). Write: Aardvnrk Reatamant, 108 Fithergate, York. Tel: York 64760

ETCETERA PEOPLE INTERESTED la beinf part of information/resource group for sensual awareness Old mx education, write to me. Bob, saying why Box BOB. PLANNING AID: Â¥pplicatiolMK. appeals. TradJtAonÃ§l/ÃˆeMSabuild" deden for new1extenttedAeno/&dh-*, worksh&Cei.& For advice, ring Gary Burton on Munderfleld (Herefordahlte) 617 inff

INVENTIONS. DOESanyone want to help spend our money making a tiny electric ear for shopping? Write: J.4 Denni US Honour Oak Puk, London SE2S

INDIVIDUAL MEDITATION tedl

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SHELTER DESPERATE. If you know of a country house, 5 bedrooms UP wards, (something someone can't xll?small hamlet?) that could possibly be leased to Child Aid Trust for minimum 6 adults and ki please write to: V McKenna OldFarmhou~.Weymarks. ~ r a d well-on-Sea, Essex. Tel: Maiden 76886 FOUR ROOM STONE built house in country, 30 miles north 01 Aberdeen, All mod-cons. Fully renovated and insulated. Good barns with electricity for animals, crafteand living. Five to six-adults living- there a t present without too much squeeze. Large garden and newly an acre of ground in alL Around Â£5500Tel:,031 556 6705

NORTH SEA RESOURCES CONFERENCE: a one day confer ence at.Aberdeen University, On October 1st 1977. The conference will examine the social and environ mental effects of the oil industry on the UK. and on Scotland in particular. Speakers on pollution, energy. planning and wtrocbemip k . Conference orsanised by Scottish F O E Fee: 81.00 (negotiatile). Contact: Fiona Riddooh, ZA insl lie Place Edinburgh

FOOD VEGETARIAN, WHOLEFOOD - : '^ catering for conferences etc. at non-rip-off prices. Please write *Â¥ PRIMAL thera y h commu-.. 155 Archway Road, London envhonmenk &nd personal detail8 N6, or phone Saturdays 12-6, to Box PS. 01 348 1182

+:! *.

For various reasons, it is still difficult to obtain Underctlrrents from newsagents and bookshops, although thanks to &(be brave efforts of the PDC, the number o f friendly retailers who carry the mag i s steadily increasing. The only way to make absolutely certain of vour CODV of Undercurrents, however, is to take out an annual subscription, which will bring each new edition to your t subscribetoday! door fresh'off thepresses every two months. ~ & ' delay,

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r-Ã‘Ã‘Ã‘Ã II'd like a subscription to Undercurrents beginning with" I issue number If airmail. tick here , I I'd like the following bqck issues of ~nderca~rvnts to I be posted to me. If airmail tick here

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SMALL SCALE WATER POWER

PRACTICAL SOLAR HEATING Kevin McCartney

This is the first comoletely illustrated book on the installation of solar waterheating systems written in this country for this country. It it a step-by-step guide to a DIY solar heating system which deals with the various types of collector and how to build them, how to combine the system with your existing plumbing and what results you should be able to achieve. It also assesses the products o f a number of British manufacturers. Â£3.5 Hardback, Â£1.7 paperback

THE SOLAR HOME BOOK

128 pages.

Bruce Anderson

This technically rigorous yet lucidly written book provides the general reader with a thorough introduction and guide t o the residential uses of solar energy. Focusing on solar heating and home design,

Dermot McGuigan With the age of cheap energy drawing t o a close, interest in water power is growing fast. Those sharing that interest will find this an excellent sourcebook, telling how to estimate the power in a stream, where the most suitable equipment can be obtained, and at what price. There are detailed descriptions of working installations, with an analysis of their costs. The recent innovations that have cut the costs of hydropower equipment are explained. Hardback Â£3.9

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it also covers water heating and electricity. Lowcost applications that can be used in average homes are emphasised, and virtually all the rnethoagnd ,< * systems available today are discussed.

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What is your image of 'science' insociety? .^

h0 Who controls science 7 0 Why are there so few women in science dnd technology 7 1Are the oroblems of Dovertv. oo~ulation and pollution ' - technological or political 7 . . 0 Who gains what from advanced industrial society ? lsalternative technoloav' ? -. the onlv. wavforward . If you'reinterested in questions like these, and in acquiring some of the relevant know-how of both the natural and social sciences, write for detailsof the BSc and BSc (Honours) in Society and ~echnoiogy (CNAA) course. I t lastsfour years (ten terms plus a placement period) 1 - You will need any t w o A levels or equivalent or appropriate experience W r i t e t o the Admissions Office (Ref C85). Middlesex Polytechnic. 82-88Church Street. Edmonton. London NS SPD L o r telephom01-807900112

Books o n Imperialism and Revolution i n the Third World

THE WEALTH OF SOME NATIONS Malcolm Caldwell Economic slump, Third World f o o d shortage and the energy crisis are all oroducts of the same malaise: an imbalanced world economv. ~ a l d w e lshows l h o w our dependence o n imported foods and fossil fuels is threatened b y liberation movements and revolution i n the Third World. f 10.00 Â 5.00 Hard back: Paperback S 6.00 Â 3.00 Order direct: ZED PRESS, Dept. 20.57 CALEDONIAN ROAD,

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by Godfrey Boyle, Peter Harper & Undercurrents, 304pp, A4 illustrated, Â£3.5 including p&p. 'For people who s t i l l think about the future in terms of mega-machines and all-powerful bureaucracies, Radical Technology will be an eye-opener. There is an alternative. Radical Technology offers a fresh way to think about tomorrow.' That i s what Alvin Toffler wrote about this large-format, extensively illustrated collection of original articles assembled by the Undercurrents collective. The contents cover both the 'hardware' aspect of alternative technology, and the equally 'important social, political and spiritual sides, too. There are chapters on food production, energy, shelter, materials, autonomy and communication; over fifty in all, Radical Technology i s widely recognised as the standard, comprehensive reference work in the field. Anyone seriously interested in alternatives should read it.

I by L John Fry. Â£3.5 including p&p. This i s generally acknowledged to be the best book on small-scale methane plants yet written. As the result of an arrangement with the publisher the book i s available to Undercurrents readersat this special price. Contents includes Building a vertical drum digester; a top-loader digester; a full-scale digester; scum accumulation; gas holders; biology o f digestion; raw materials; use of gas and sludge; safety precaution; glossary and bibliography. Anyone interested i n the conversion of organic waste into a clean, useful fuel will find Practical Methane invaluable.

Land for the PÃ§opl edited by Herbert Girardet, 144pp illustrated, Â£1.4 including p&p A manual o f radical land reform. Topics covered include food resources, self-sufficiency, enclosures, clearances and the Diggers, Highland landlords, lessons of resettlement, land reform and revolution, new towns, new villages, and the revival of the countryside. 'It is essential reading fovreaders of Undercurrents and all those who wish to understand the nature of the crisis we are facing.'

We like to think that Undercurrents is not so much a periodical as a growing collection of useful information, most of which retains its value long after publication. The following back-issues are still available at 50p for one copy and 25p for each extra copy, and there's a form at the bottom of page 48 for ordering. Underc-ts 8 Undercunents 16 Special Habitat h e

COMTEK/National AT Centre/Organic GardeningIFree Radio/Rammed Earth/Windmill Theory/Henneticism Undefcuncnts 9 Specid Nuclei Power Issue DIY A-Bomb Design/Kiddies Guide to Nuclear Power/Energy Analysis/ Uranium Supply/Solar Collectors/Nature et Progres/Grow Your Own Vegetables Undercunenta 10 Joint tone with Resurgence DLY Solar Collector DesignISward GardeningIAnarchist CitiedFuture of ATILand for the PeopleIGeneral Systems Theory/Alternative Culture: Part 1 undercinreats 11 DIY Widcharger Design/Beekeeping/Ley HuntingIRammed Earth/ Autonomous House/Mind Expansion/AlternativeCulture: Part 2 Undeiciuients 12 Lucas Acrospace/Biofeedback/Community Technology/Comtek/ Alternative Medicinemind Power Part 2lAlternative Culture: Part 3 Undercurrents 13 Diiers/Energy & Food Production/Industry, the Community & AT/ Alternative England & Wales Supplement/Planning/John Fry on MethaneIAlternative Culture: Part 4 Undercunents 14 Jack MundeyIAT Round the World/Building With Natural Energy/ Insulation DIY Insulation/AT in India/Brachi on BRAD/AT & Industry Conference Report

Garden VillngesJWood Food GuideIDlY New TowndSelf-sufficient Solar Terraces/Lifeqan/By-pass@ the Banners/Citizens' Band Undctcunents 17 Inner Technology Inue Computer Ley HuntIDowse-It-Yourself/Kirlian Photography/Chrittopher Wren's BeehiveISaving Your Own Seedmomen & AT/ Undercurrents 18 Intermediate Technology Issue IT & the Third WorldIChinese Scince/IT & Second Class Capital/ Supennacker Cartoon/Leyhunt@: the Linear Dream

Undenainents 15 'Who Needs Nukes?' Inue Insulation vs. Nuclear Power/Towards a Non-nuclear FutureIAT & Job Creation/Production for Need/Biodynamic GardeningIRadical Technology/Invcrtor Design

Undercurrents 19 Health Issue Limits to Medicine / Politics of Self-Help / Babes in the Ward / Guide to Alternative Medicine / Findhorn / National Centre for AT Undercurrents 20 Fifth Annivenaly Issue Tony Benn on the Diggers / Farming: 'chemicals' or organic?/ Mike Cooley / David Dickson / CTT interview 1 Solar Energy Report / Paper Making / Broadcasting / Canals Undercurrents 21 The Fascist Counterculture / Motorway Madness / Nuclear Policy / Orgone Energy I Free Broadcasting / Good Squat Guide / Iron Age Farming / Laurieston Gardening / Print / Sailing Ships. Undercunents 22 Paranoia power / Widacak background / Croftinp / Food Co-ops / Stonehewe / Fiichkricg / Primal therapy / Free radio / Methane / Fish. farming / Socialist Environment & Resources Association. Undercurrents 23 Seabrook demo / Nuclear power & Trade Unions / Herman Kahn / DIY Woodstove / Charles Fort / Solar collector design / A small-scale transmitter / Citizens' Band / Paranoia & Conspiracy