UC43 December 1980 - January 1981 by Christopher Squire

_______________________________________________ Undercurrents 43 December 1980 - January 1981 1 Eddies 7 What’s What and What’s When 9 In The Making 10 Power Station Closures - SERA Energy Group: Fighting the industrial vandals 11 Farewell to Arms - Dave Elliott: Turning bombs into windmills 12 Atoms for Peace?-SERA Energy Group: Why the military need civilian nukes 14 Fascist Fission - Stuart Rimmer: Brazil’s nukes are going like a bomb 16 Land Reform? No Thanks! - Alan Farleigh: Why FOE scrapped their land campaign 18 Greentown: Digging the Foundations - Godfrey Boyle: Milton Keynes’ coop village 22 Computer Networks - Dave Kanner: What information technology can do for you 24 Life Without Television - Brian Martin: Switching off the box 28 Heavy Breathing - Michael Castleman: Fags, radioactivity and the Big C 30 Fiery Furnace-Mike Talbot: A super-efficient woodstove design 32 Brainwashing for the Bourgeoisie -Jean Freer: EST is for the Best People 34 Propertarians Of The Past - Mark Pedlar: A load of old Bellocs 35 The Adventures of ATWitch - Harry Hamill: a brand new comic strip 36 The Undercurrents Review of Books 44 Letters 46 Small Ads 47 Back Numbers and introducing ISSN 0306 2392 _______________________________________________________________

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THE ECOLOGY PARTY h a

THE CEGB announced on October 1 that it has ilected Sizewell in Suffolk as the proposed location .or the first British PWR. The announcement of the site, rumoured for some time, contained an additional liece of information -the Board is likely to seek brther development of the site, with the mstruction of another 1,200MW capacity (i.e. lother large nuclear reactor, likely to be a PWR). 'hus area residents face the prospect of a Sizewell 'C' s . well as a Sizewell 'B'. Taken together the cost of these two reactors would pay to insulate all the uses in Britain to a high standard, saving three nes the energy that the stations would produce in eir lifetimes. e Government has promised a 'thorough' and 'wide-ranging' inquiry. I n his testimony to the nmons Select Committee for rgy David Howell said that a easonable time for the inquiry v w l d be May or June 1982. However, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate is unlikely to complete its study of PWR safety before that date, which means that independent groups will not be allowed any time t o review these studies, wen ie documents were published j there is no guarantee that they will be). The inquiry thus looks like being a mere formality, least so far as the safety issue is ncerned.tThe memorandum on an inquiry into raising the permitted weight of lorries, '-iked in 1978, wanted such an luiry so that "impartial people repute" would be seen to come "a sensible conclusion in line h the Department's view". I t is likely that this inquiry would 'fer.1

Energy conservation The PWR announced by the CEGB will cost at least Â£1,50 million, with Mrs Thatcher preparing t o spend Â£20,00 million on a programme of 10 reactors over the next decade. The contrast between this and the Government's cuts in the conservation programme is well known. What is new is that it is not just environmental groups tch are raising serious doubts lut the government's priorities - now the same doubts are being publicly aired by industry. The

principle that you have t o invest money t o begin saving energy is widely acknowledged; the journal 'Energy Management' is full of examples o f companies spending to save. In the EEC a report is currently being prepared on possible economic assistance for energy saving schemes. Mrs. Thatcher's government stands alone in its misconceived notion that high fuel prices are an adequate stimulus for energy conservation -they may supply the motivation, but i t is evident that they do not supply the means. No immediate demonstration in planned against the Sizewell decision, but a Harrisburg anniversary event in the area is being investigated. Meanwhile, many of the national anti-nuclear groups came together in October and plan to co-ordinate themselves better i n the future. Whether they can combat the multi-million might of the nuclear industry, we shall see.. (acknowledgements to R e Chudlaigh, Friends o f the Earth)

produced the first major public report on the consignments of radioactive spent fuel, which are transported through London en route t o Windscale. The 88-page report: examines the possible consaquenw s of a serious accident t o a fuel flask, provides detailed background information on the nature of spent fuel, the effects, of radiation, the testing of the flasks, the transportations procedures and evacuation criteria, and considers the political and ethical implications of this phase of the nuclear fuel cycle. This account of the situation traces the discrepancies between the official view and the evidence submitted from other quarters. Among the report's conclusions are the following: A major accident to a spent fuel flask could result in several thousand long-term cancer deaths. Extensive evacuation is neither contemplated nor viable. It has not been adequately demonstrated that the flasks are safe i n relation t o accident conditions that are reasonably likely t o occur, nor against acts ofsabotage. The effects of a major accident in London would have more serious consequences for the country as a whole than-a similar accident elsewhere. Techniques for risk assessment need re-evaluating.

Railway workers are being exposed t o unacceptable risk. The Government' and represen. tatives of the nuclear industry ar British Rail are being less than candid with the public. Much the same conclusions came from a study prepared by the London Region Waste Transport Campaign for the London Boroughs Association. The CEGI is accused of misleading the public and the London Fire Brigade over the risks, and roles and responsibilities are still confused,according t o this repon Several London Boroughs are n o calling for a public enquiry into the transport of nuclear was through London: these rep0 can only add to the momentum of the issue. CARRYING THE CAN: Report of the Working Party on the Transportation of Nuclear Spent Fuel through London. Ecology Party (N. London Branch) 1980. Â£1.00 Copies are available (Â£1.2 inc. postage) from ECO, 42, Warriner Gardens, London SW11 4DU. Carol services a t points along the route o f the waste will form somd o f the events in a "No Nuclear Waste N o Nuclear Power" demonstration, aS9mbIiflgat 12 noon, 22 November, Wandswortt Common, and marching to Clapham Common. Information from Dick Tapsall, London Region Anti-Nuclear Alliance, 0 1-5884248.

Attock attack ATTOCK PETROLEUM, part of the Extol group, h Ãreceived o i l exploration licemas for parts of onshoro Britain. Two o f the licences together cover an area of some 180,000 acrn i n Borkshire, Buckinghamshin and Oxfordshire, the other two c w a r 80.000 acms of Fife. Could derricks become a part o f Britain's skyline?

I 1000 people attended an antin u d e u fntiual arm& bV Shaffiald Anti Nuclear Q i m ~ i a n . ThÃ f n t i v d h i d boon arranged t o c e W a t o the Counw Council's Â ¥ t o d a d that South Ydrkshire should be a 'nuclear-frw zone' (UC 421. . The festival was nmxdad bv a WMk of event*. ~

undercurrents 43

, Fluctuations

A GOVERNMENT committee is currently looking at ways of stabilising demand in the waste paper market. Maurice MilIar of Coventry Friends,of the Earth , shows how this small step could mean a lot for a street in Coventry - and many other-streets. ECOSTREET IS the name given to a community ventureun St. Agatha's Road, Coventry. Loosely managed by Coventry Friends of the Earth, it simply means that the people of St. Agatha's Road now collect all their old newspapers and magazines on a regular basis, and deliver i t to the &cyclerswhere it currently replises a price of approximately Â£2 per ton. The money raised by this collection i s used, in conjunction with the government home insulation grant scheme, to finance the roof insulation of the houses in the road. The actual work is done by Coventry Friends of the Earth. The houses are chown by a draw, however in time it is hoped to ins8late all the pensioners' houses in the street given that the government * mant scheme continues. This very local project has helped to develop the community spirit ~peciellyas the results go to help some of that same community.

Fit to print

ly suiended for the summer months because of the very hot working conditions in the house lofts. This project illustrates the idea of recyclingour resources. The re-use of old newspapers could, fimly, help to reduce our dependence on impom; secondly. producing piper from recycled fibre means raduttions in the pollution created, the energy requiredand the volume of water and mass of trees used.

This Ecoitreet led to an expansion of Friends of the Earth's collection scheme to include the whole of Coventry. The public response to our regular collections has been encouraging. Our collecting van is parked in Coventry City centre in the same place from 830 am till 4.30 pm. usually on the last Saturday of each month. We publkite this through the local pres and radio and, as people deliver their paper to the van, they are given a note telling them the day of the next collection. The scheme in the city centre, after only a few months, has built up a following of regular) who bring their old newspaun each month. Once the van is fully laden it can be driven straight t o the recyclers premise* end unloaded. A further development o f this would be to establish district collecting centres throughout the city and these would deal in recyclingaluminium cans, glass bottfes, used engine oil as dlas paper. Because we are now collecting from all of Coventry, the project he expanded to insulate houses throughout the city, again making w e of the government gram scheme. This work vÃ Â¥-mmrari

A large amount of W k h ptef ' , ~><ewmrkan*Â¥$; It already recycled, in fatt recycled paper constituted elh& . bid Hnys of 4wnp4nid 29% of'MOw end board consump are currently beingstudied by a government committee raportin tion in the UK. However it still later this year. It is hoped that t a b 17 trees to produce one they will suogest means of tonne of paperwhich represents stabilising the demand, end 7000 nevwpaper copiw end our therefore the price, in the watts UK produced wood pulp paper market. The demand and contributes only 4.3% of our price for waste paper would Ã§et paper and board consumption. i f a greater use was made of it, To put things in perspective, that it i f public attitude* could i we each consumed 134 kg of changed to accept the r ~ - u Ãof § paper end board in 1979, while in our resourcsi.There would the1 India, the rate was only 6kg per be opportunities for large scale head of population. recycling scheme* which would Bleaching create permanent job*. The Coventry Friend* of tha In our consumer society we Earth Recycling Group are are used to white bleached contributing to the welfare 0f paper it i s this bleaching Coventry by insulating homes h process which ft environmentally the city. We are alto providing i harmful. Marginally inferior focus for member) of the publi quality paper would however be who recognise the daily waste 0 perfectly adequate in e great newsprint and who are glad of many applications: for example means of recyclingtheir waste toilet rolls, internal comespenpaper. Furthermorewe a<( dence in large organisations, showing thet paper recycling leaflets, handbills and wrapping can work and that small ale paper. Recycling newsprint on a recyclingshames generating fun larger scale is perfectly feasible for community projects can be if this is accepted. organised without the need for The market for waste paper is special facilities. particularly semiUve to slight For furtherdMaiIt contact changes in demand and any "Ecostiwt",St. Agatha't Road. recyclingscheme is vulnerable to Stoke, Cowntw. large fluctuations in the buying Maurice MI price of waste paper.

CITY FA1 community and gfum projmctl In..._.. allotnwfrte on tocity w m , an filmtfna. ~ h ~Ãa - which

known cornmu rio and Ã§ÃEd Bemfn, pufaliciied their Kentish Town faun (end others just got on with it). Since

of City FannÃ§which will b*

ground and a further 15-20in various smgm of development. The Federation Is taking over the work of the City Farms Advisory Service of Intar-Action, whi-1' being both helpful and grace the project's hiving off, a no contrast to the imperial is^ sometimes displayed by t environmental movement.

amÂ¥nc by the individual firm protectt, md will aim to promote and MMÃ IMW prolK8, a dl

ISTHIS nbtto ndy warning? Rtportt IUC421 of 1982 ration

book!( K i q distributtd iiutÃ‘ of vTiombomfit booksby tin. Depwtnrntof Spalth and Tout O l ~ ~ t f i tmrw, y, Out. of HMMh & Sochl Security, hw (MOT Â¥ktadlO."Th*WÃ‘dyHlbÃ supplied 8Il -nt of "6 humbl* LUpBMI nouÃ‘wlf fwlv-nfl a ntlonbookfortardMMhtM. l n ~ - d Ã §the l FamBy Allowfnc* BOOK lha-d nnt for.

The formation of the Federation marks the maturity of the City Farm movement, which began in the early 705, when Inter-Action, run by the well-

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FOLLOWING A call from Liverpool Trade; Council, the TUC endmany of its affiliated unions are supporting a unilateral ban on sperm whale imports.

sees the campaign atw(dÃ§r&a

whales -he wants to open i way for any member of a tn union to approach their executive for support on environmental and con88rtretion

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PA^ At GEC T H E GENERAL Electric m yw a s w hm a dwhen a lone protastar from the Bath A n t i Nuclear Group effectively managed t o disrupt their annual meeting at t h e Institute of Electrical Engineers at Savoy Place i n London. Four people w i t h t w o days' notice set the action u p and managed t o achieve considerable media coverage, particularly i n the London region. With one person continuously o n the telephone, iwopeople handling the press and the picket outside the meeting and with one Person on the inside,everything was covered. Â£400worth of shares had been signed over b y a member of the Ecology Party enabling oneperson t o get i n and speak his m i n d freely on the implications, both financial and moral, o f getting involved i n the nuclear construction industry for a good t w o minutes before being ejected b y the security guards. The implications of this action are important. Firstly, the construction companies can be seen t o be very sensitive i n certain areas. GEC has designed a 660MW four-flow exhaust turbine generator for the Duvha Power Station of the Electricity Supply Commission o f South Africa (ESCOM). Torness AGR, i n this country, was ordered, as David Howell, Minister o f Agriculture admitted, because GEC need the work t o stay i n the business, not because

Scotland needed the energy, they already have an overcapacity o f 70%. The economics of nuclear construction are n o t sound and the shareholders o f GEC are n o t particularly happy w i t h the dividends that they are receiving at present. Secondly, these companies, GEC and Northern Engineering Industries (NEI) are vulnerable. It's easy t o get into their meetings either as a shareholder o r as a proxy voter and it takes quite a while for them t o eject you. As a public company that are also dependent upon public goodwill for the sale o f their ordinary domestic goods. Revelations of their involvement w i t h the nuclear industry and their hopes o f winning the PWR contracts combined w i t h a well organised consumer campaign could well affect their salesand their pocket. This, together with a public exam ination of their morals could well be enough t o take them out of the industry. This kind of action has been successful i n the States and could well be very useful i n this country, if well organised and executed. The construction companies are a weak link i n the nuclear construction industry's arrnour, and there aren't very many of those around! F o r m o r e info contact: Bath A n t i Nuclear Group c/o David Taylor 13 St. James's Square Bath 13194341

Technology 1 Masses0 ? A N I N T E R N A T I O N A L conference has been rocked b y the controversial claim of an English professor. Speaking at the close of Germany's International Congress for Data Processing ( I K D ) Professor Robert Parslow o f Brunei University made a grim ..--.,:-*:--

said techonology would be used as a ,tool, to control the msses by the end of 19m, parslow reasoned that it had created an unemployment trend which would peak in mo years, time causing collapse of law and p'E"'L"""~ He

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And he reckoned this would give the government n o other choice than t o use technology 'to suppress democratic freedom'. He insisted that his theory d i d not just apply t o Britain b u t t o the whole world. 'Establishment already has the meansof imposinga 1984 regime', said Parslow, adding: 'Only in times of national emergency would we expect these powers t o be exercised. I shall show that such an

frass root growth A new wave of grass rootsw activity has turned the idea of 'community technology"into a practical programme. 'Local energy groups'are springing up all over the country, campaigning for more rational use and development o f local energy sources. initiatina local insulation programmes and setting up small scale co-operative projects. The spate of conferences on neighbourhood energylcommunitv technology over the last few months has given these groups an o .~. ~ o r t u n ittov compare notes. Like the very successful one day conferences on Neighbourhood Energy Programmes and Appropriate Technology in Newcastle in Spetember, and N A T T A 'Community Technology & Alternative Technology' conference i n November. I n the wake of these gatherings the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (26 Bedford Square NW1) has launched a 'Neighbourhood Energy Action' Programme ~~

t o "promote and assist the development o f home insulatiol and advice projects b y local volunteer groups". A n d N A T T A is planning t o produce a special information pack, designed t o help local groups get started. I N A T T A c/o Alternative Technology Group, Open University. Milton Keynes.)

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emergency will be upon us befort the end of 1983.' The main reason was the 'micro revolution' which Parslow termed 'evolution'. Falling costs of hardware and improvement i n reliability of both hardware and software had meant 'vastly' improved and cheaper products.

Robot-typists A n d such economy made cost effective machines in everwidening ranges which every businessman could afford. Robotics had also started t o become a common feature i n the job w w l d . 'A company with 1,000 executives would have at least 400 typists and 1.200 clerks and ancillary workers. W o r d processing and electronic mail could make over half these posts redundant, and robotics will add t o the one million jobs lost i n manufacturing industries i n the last decade.' Even 'reactionary'orsanisations could not afford t o miss these opportunities and Parslow predicted higher unemployment even though technology would create fresh jobs in some sectors. 'Vandalism and crime increase w i t h unemployment. Civil unrest is already growing as demonstrated b y the situation in Bristol in February where the riots were so far o u t of control that the Police were withdrawn from the area - t h i s will worsen and it is very worrying,' said Parlsow, quoting 'conservative' figures of 4.7 million unemployed b y the end of 1983. Computer Weekly

Sun system certain I N S A N T A Clara county. California, it w i l l soon b e obligatory to fit solar energy collecting lystems t o all house! - whether old o r new. A recently p d county ordinahce, which c o w i n t o f u l l force next year makm it mandatow t o include solar energy systems (active o r passive, heating o r cooling) i n all new h o u w designs before planning pennini o n is given - and anyone selling an existing house must install a solar u n i t before t h e sale can proceed. This is not as financially punitive as it sounds. For i n California there already exists a 55% solar tax credit system which means that householders and other property owners can obtain u p t o 55% o f the cost of installing a solar u n i t f o r the state, which means a hefty subsidy and stimulus f o r solar devel

ndercurrents 4

currents 43

Madhouse

rake-away chips T H E LAST thing y o u might expect t o sea i n the rundown urban westeland of Notting Dale i n West London is a high techno!. ogy micro-chip training centre. The Technology Centre provides practical electronics training for people u p t o 19 years old under the youth opportunitiesprogramme (YOP). Straight off the street with maybe only; CSE, kids are introduced to the micro-chip, circuit design, and system integration. The emphasis is on practical learning - f r o m logic and circuit design; t o on-the-bench circuit boards. Programming and hardware design go hand in hand and the centre is keen t o explore novel, socially useful, applications o f chips and data handling techniques - w i t h a view t o setting up co-operative enterprises. But the main business at present is "work experience' training under YOP - w i t h typically t h i r t y or so -mainly black -youths spending a few months at the centre. The training they receive looks excellent far better than you'd get f r o m a TOPS course. The centre - and others like i t growing u p round the countrv - seem likely t o create a whole new generation o f young experienced practical engineers .Whether conventional industry w i l l f i n d them acceptable remains t o be seen, b u t the enthusiasm and application o f the students at the centre has t o be seen t o be believed. Naturally the centre is short of money and staff. The MSC provides some funds, as does the local council. So far industry has

Holy Smoke!

community which it serves. I n

F X C U ~ Cme ~ h t t ~ c WI, l ~ i r Ã a§ place 10 crash

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MARIJUANA, seized b y the Canadian government, was ASK MOST people about what burned b y a Nova Scotia paper they'd expect t o see i n an o l d m i l l t o generate electricity. English village, and the chance* About 22 tons of the crop, w o r t h are a blacksmith would be $50 million o n the street cornmentioned. But n o t b y Tewkesbury Council. Francis Roberts, across the continent, provided . heat energy equivalent t o about ^ l a t e s t in a long line of village B100 w o r t h of oil. The marijuana blacksmiths i n a nearby was given t o the plant a t n o Gloucestershire village, has been charge. Representatives of Scott told by the council t o move Maritimes Ltd. expressed willingforge i n t o Tewkesbury's indi ness t o use the fuel again if the estate. The reason he was giv government could provide regular was that his forge doesn't f i t supplies without charge. with "the rural setting" '

Cli Redhead testing a nearly corn. pleted 'MAC' :~icroprocessor Assisted Communicator. The contents of the briefcase represent the 'brains' of the communnicator. The finished article connects u p t o a keyboard or one, t w o or eight switches which may be foot-Operated, hand. operated, suck-blow etc. depending o n the extent of the disability. M A C enables a severely handicapped person t o communiMte. Photo: Jenny Matthews

All at the co-op A NEW form of co-operative is being advocated as a practical solution t o unemployment. The Neighbourhood Service Co-opÃ§retiv i s an idea being promoted jointly b y the National Council of Voluntary Organiaations I N C V O l end the CoopÃ§mtlv Dwelopment Agency. The N C V O already services a number of Y o u t h Opportunities CommunitvSewice schemes, and their concern a t the lack of local employment opportunities has led t o the new initiative. Typically, a NSC would

ISLINGTON COUNCIL confirmed i n September a Â£ per week levy o n the occupants of short-life property i n the borough. Sanctioned by a member of the board i f Shelter (Chris Pryce, Housing Committee chairman), the levy is likely t o leave a l o t o f useable short-life property empty, cause hundreds of evictions. and cost Â£500,00 t o impose (gaining only Â£28,00 in the process). A local housing activist commented: 'This is the economics of the asylum".

n o t seen f i t t o support this project. But at a time when youth unemployment is a growing nightmare, and 'new technology' is being preferred as the solution f o r 'the regeneration o f British industry', projects like this would seem t o be invaluable. N o t t i n g Dale Technology Centre, 191Freston Road, W10.

resources i n developing smallScale employment opportunities Projects undertaken might include contract gardening, home insulation, community and child-care schemes etc. The co-operative would be selffinancina- and run on a one member-one vote basis. Community service scheme sponsors are already keen t o set u p permanent employment, and the joint NCVO/CDA initiative is likely t o be popular. The CDA

Road up .

HEAVY LORRIES are Britain's roads t o crumble, according t o speakers at a conference o n motorway maintenance rECent'v. t o eternity 1= the end of cars), over 5% o f the motorwav network will be under repair every year, and the proportion w i l l grow as the roads spread. A n d this is only i f the funds are

roadies are oessimistic about m e ~overnmen't'sability t o fork out hundreds of millions on reconstructing roads. Of course, i f they were t o ban heavy lorries. but suchdreams are likely t o become remoter. The Armitage inquiry i n t o heavy lorries is thought by transport experts t o have recommended that heavier lomies be permitted, with safe. guards. So the roads will have t o continue t o fall i n t o the state of repair they wFe in the l g t h century, when ,here were of tours railways to take people

Undercurrents 43

Free radio news A N ECOLOGICAL radio station hm bÃ‘ hÃ‘ making soma wry tow powmr Mit bro~dcnaon 4,433KHz ihort wwe. The m e of the station is G m Radio, programmes conÃ‘c of pop & rock music in-ermd with pro-ecology stataments and e d d r m n of various ecological organizations. It is beliwad that Green Radio h o p t~o itart broadcarting with a hfflh power t r a f w n i l in tho New Yeer on a diffwnt frequency, although at the moment they are having trouble in g t t i n g a bmw transmitter. RADIO CAROLINE, Britain's tint and lÃˆf l o i t i k radio tack on the air nation will within the near future, according M t o the station t o ~ I C "dot" miugement. -Riporis that a dlip was in position in midOctober h u e b a n dismifcd by Um m e source as "nonnnw",. Â¥Ittiougpbns for a raturn ara mil undwwiy. L i f m n t o Radio Caroline h h r , a n not totally without m#ukdomof music,&e station d b d Radio Carolina is on the air on 6835 8Khz ~ e f first y and third Sunday of the month, and will stay broadeating until t h m return of C m l i n e to 319 m t r Ã

Staff on Caroline Shortwave are: Freddie Archer (Heed DJ) Owe England, Dave Kine end John Turner. Although the station is thought t o have some link with tha official Radio Caroline, none of the regular DJI on Caroline Shortwave have made any broadcasts from the ship under those names, at any rate! THE ADDRESS of Radio Julie is Now: Radio Julie, c/o P.O. Box 110, Orpington, Kant. RADIO M I AMIGO the FlemkhlDutch offshore nation will not be back, at lead not this yew. This is due t o the fact that backers behind the station pullad out. The last ship that the statlon owned was left t o the mercies of the sea by the owners, the crew asked a palling police launch t o rave them, as the ownus (led by Belgian biscuit maker Sylvan Tak) for some reason, would not send out a tug t o save them of the ship1 Another DutchIFlemKh station Radio Ddmare has dropped p h i u for en i m m u l i i return to the air 8s they hwe had about thrw ships taken by the Dutch police, and the station Transmitter Engineer has had t o go and do his 'national' n w i a with the Belgian annyl Martin Scholes

DUNCAN CAMPBELL must be slipping. I n a New Statesman article he couldn't work out why Machynlleth was made a likely target for a projected Russian attack in the military exercise Operation Squareleg. Regular readers of UC will know that Machynlleth is where the Centre For Alternative Technology is based. (Memoto the Russians: Gerard Morgan-Grenvillehas moved to Crickhowell) A t a launch of JIM GARRISON'S book From Hiroshima to Harrisbun the RT REV JOHN ROBINSON told me he is trying t o persuade DR. RUNCIE, the Archbishop of Canterbury t o 'come o u t on the nuclear issue' Expect the official announcement soon: God isagainst the Nukes... M C K ALBERY, organizer of the forthcoming Fourth World Assembly was complaining that Assembly President Gwynfor Evans had celled off his'hunger strike 'It would have been really good publicity i f he'd stewed to death.' John Seymour at the meeting had to leave early because of a pressing appointment with his latest whisker-cutter. Wish I had whiskers. . . In the next issue of UC we will fearlessly expose whether this Fourth World bingeis ideologically sound. Has the emperor got any clothes on (or has his whisker-cutter pinched them again) . The Gram Allimee also known as the Grem M i a has a new boss. She is MARGARET BAIN an ex Scotnats M.P., obviously down on her luck. They required someone 'with a sense of humour able to argue the toss with cabinet ministers' .Incidentally, now that UC has been in Private Eye's P o i d s Corner again (a Phil Brachi purple passage) does editor RICHARD INGRAMS know that AUBERON WAUGH is a member of the elite Green Mafia. Ithink he should be t o l d .. .

the ecological game is up' ( N Hildvard) the last issue of T h e Ecologist' was devoted t o the glories of cannabis and hemp. Free samples being handed out ei a press conference. I think Inow understand why some of TEDDY GOLDSMITH'S recent articles on Systems Theory seemed so far out.. . Half a day after REAGAN was elected CHRIS SQUIRE of UC was found cowering under a desk 'It's started already' he whimpered having heard a few explosions. However, it was only Guy Fewkes night . .. The winner of the first (more rubbish gratefully received) Loony Doomster Plastic Inflatable Paradigm Shift Award For Eco-Pnuds is TOM BURKE . . What follows is a sort of Party Political Broadcast except thet it' not on behalf o f any party, It's on behalf o f ell living things. To m y mindpoliticians are simply people who make bewtif u l patterns with other pawls. end if Iwere asked to definemy role Iwould say thet Iwas a politician and most especially en environmental pditician. ' That's funny, Ithought that 'making beautiful patterns with otherpeople' was the reason he got the sack as Director of F.O.E. He should take heart from the International Times entry in I n the Making: 'We believe everyone is O.K. deep down inside'. . . A final Yuletide thought from, JOHN DE RIVOS who is writing us an article on Cryonic Suspension 'Death isperhaps the ultimata o f God's t h r o w a y universe, end its elimination is in m y mind another act o f conserve tion.' What these people don't seem t o have considered is that the world might have ended already, and we're living in a kind of limbo. (Muffled screams as your correspondent is dragged down the corridor and locked up in the broom cupboard for another two months . . .(ftpLOONY DOOMSTER

diplomite planmd k .ktronic ipying dwide inside a tree stump near l M o w military imtrtlation. The subterfuge was discovered ~ U the Me tm was the only pine stump amid a grove of aspens. EW Journal

..thus makes i t possible for me

t o d o one thing today end mother tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fhh in the afternoon, t m r a t t l a In the wenlng, criticiw ffÃˆ dinner, just as Ihave in mind. The author of this m,of coum, was Karl Marx, in uncharacterktically lucid vein, in his

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essay The German I d d o g y , written in 1845-6. We hadseven entries, four correct, two offering Henry Thoreau, and one Pliny (let no-one say our reader; ere uncultivatedll. The two prize winners picked by our random number generator were Michael Richards of Oxford and 0 Moss of London SW16. who each ast - a o n e year free sub to UC.

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BATTERSEA POWER Station (see features) has recently been listed as a historic building by the Dent. of Environment. Protection h& also been extended to the Hoover building on London's Western Avenue, Nuclear campaigner; are now considering asking for the Magnox and AGR reactors t o be listed, along with British Leyland's plants, British Steel's offices and other left-overs of the days before the Blue Plague of the Thatcher. After all, think of the tourist trade . . . .,

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Undercurrents 45

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OIL'S NOT WELL is a 40 page pamphlet published by S u m y l ' Hampihim Bordw F.O.E. o n the reclamation of used sump oil. A t W p ( l o p p&pl it is good value and can be obtained from 30, FlRoad, Fleet, Hants GU13 9LQ COMCOM's new handbook "The B r o i d c Ã ‘ t i of Low G i g * Video" can be obtained BACK STREET BUGLE N E W FROM NEASDEN Inowfrom stew ~ennen,SO O w i n g "Oxford's other paper" is a at 1 2 FI-t Rd., London NW31 ~d., W C or ~ monthly paper that covers a wide the catalogue of radical publicsc.A.T.s., 4 2 ~ h ~ o b e~ldb. , variety of issues from anti-nuclear tions has had a fire in its subLo*nWClCost Â £ 1 5 ( P b scriptions department: will power to concerts in Oxford. All fraÃ§20% on 5 copies or subscribers please write t o it are tackled from a local angle. m o ~ l For . budding T.V. director* giving their address and when It also gives a list of "what's on" it looks a good bet and explodes they subscribed? Otherwise they in the coming month and can be the myth that the "nions banned obtained from EOA Books, won't get their copy 12. low gauge video. More informaCowby Rd., Oxford, tion from Steve Herman (01PARTY have 836 53911 COMMUNITY ACTION MAGA- THE produced a pamphlet, The Politics =lNE has a bumper 5oth iszue. of ewlos~.in plenty of time In the feature article ,sorg.nking in the 80Ã§the magazine suggests for the 1984 general election. Described as 'a full explanation the demands and strategies of our philosophy and principles' necessary for community action this profusely illustrated 16 ,.in the light of the economic ""a" A5 Pamphlet costs 2% main proposals are to pap' from 42 attack private capital not just SW1l councils and t o combat "the right GardÃ§" CSV,COENCO and wing ideology of much o f the TRANSPORT 2000 have ENERGY, MONEY AND YOU media". Easier said thm done produced a Khool Ã§n an inhmation *mt but worthwhile nevertheless. community k i t on THE SPRING 40p f m m C w M U N I T Y ACTION, GREEN MOTORWAY. The k i t comprises the materials m d d 'OX 665, Swl' Problem and tome self help for a role playing game "for UP t o w l u t i o ~ It . e o f 3p or Up 3Â°" Just the job for budding BATH SPARK is an alternative for FOE -M, ~ A n Eq u m paper for the Bath-Bristol area. if IÃthm 1 0 e o p h OM , . young environmentalists (and probably for future Ministers of Its Aug-apt. i h e contained ~~~d from , FOE, , , , 9,d p Transport) it is hishly articles on "Co-op closure*" and St., London Wl. recommended. It can be obtained 'The Death of the Welfare State" from Advisory SMVKI. CSV, 237 aswell as local news and e list of FROM THE SAME ADDRESS Prntonvilla RoÃ§dLondon N1 M a t s on in Bath and Bristol. can BNJ. Each kit costs Â£2.0 phis but for nothing Lively and interesting it's well FOE'S trading catalogue which 3~ fip. ~ $ ~ ~ g ~b s prices ~ and details t of ~ ail that ~ ~ ~ M ~~~ B I Q~U E , b Fs R THE booksOn ANGOLA and GUINE INFORcan be obtained rfo, it sells MATION CENTRE (MAGICI) numerousalternative shops in the wildlife, transport, food, posters and tee-shirts. can be obtained a new pamphlet area or from ite H.Q. at 2nd Yet more from the FOE a*nal. : at entitled . . A ~ I ~Â¥~chrtt o n ThD 1981 619 Red D ~ (muto w it covere Angola's struggle Rd., Bath. For further info for independence, her relations o m ring Bath 332111on M ~~u~~~ is wninoc. with South Africa and southern Utopias but as a contrast it also md her and Also from the BATH area BANG reviews the first year of social policies. Well worth a read BULLETIN can be obtained. This Government. FOE also offer for those whoare fed u p with the is the newsletter of the Bath Anti- "The Energy superficial and biased coverage Nuclnr Group. Same K M m c n d Soft Path Quatiom and on inch African affairs which is tc AnÃ§w.rÃ 400 Of be found in the British Press. phone number as abowe it is evidence of the growing strength crltkbfm of and amwUS by Cost: 50p plus fip. Amow Lenin*. of the anti-nuclear campaign in NUCLEAR POWER NO the south west. THANKS, already widely known, I f you would rather have a is a pamphlet which has been We hear that the talented calendar than a diary S u m y l recently updated. Originally COVENT GARDEN Hints border FOE have the published by CAMBRIDGE COMMuNtTYTHEATRE are answer. A n illUstrated W - O I d c ~ F.O.E. is 1975 it is informative, working on a musical comedy calendar, A 3 size can be obtained concise and very useful. 4 5 from ~ on genetic engineering (71. f r ~ * ~ l H FOE,~ BATH ~ HWSE, ~ ~ ~ GWYDIR h ~ v i o u s h e have buttonad UP 30 Florence R d . Flnt, AldwST., CAMBRIDGE. microelectronics and nuclear (hot, Harm GU13 9LQ at 76p THE OTHER SECRETSERVICE: Power with the maximum of wit inc p&p (discounts for larger and minimum of agitprop. Next orders) RonDbtribution and CÃ§n*orÃ§his the latest shaft may be North Sea oil. I f you're NORTH LONDON ANTI-NUKE from the Minority PrecGroup looking for an infonnathie enter. GROUP will have Chriitmascard* against the n70nopoly Power of tainment that doesn't sKow its for tala. Tel272 2360 or Earth the wholesale newagent trade Party line down your throat, Exchange, 213 Archway Rd., (see UC40: Not Quite Smiths): it contact them at PO Box 173, describes s h te French co-operative London N6. London WC2: fees negotiable.

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olesale house Nouvelles Messde la Press Pansienna set up by Act o f Parliament to deal with just the problems of censorship and bias we face hare, and discusses the changes in taw and social practice+ded t o make such a scheme work hen. 55p from MPG, 9, Poland St.. Lo&n wl. THIRD WORLD PWLICATIONS have publisheda COMPLETE CATALOGUE 1980-1. It can be obtained from Third World Pulications, 157 Stratford Road, Birmin&am B l 1 1RD. It is remarkably comprehensive and is divided into sections to make reference mus women, southÃ§ Africa, Tanzania, Asia, Cuba and so on can all be looked up and relevant publications discovered. Recommended for those seeking third world information. BIRTH CONTROL CAMPAIGN have issued a pamphlet called "Why L f Abortion?" The argument isthat Ã‡Ãˆ OW 1% of all legal abortions happen after the 20th week it would still *be a mistake t o reduce the legtime limit since these often represent the most tragic and important cases. It it obtaat 2Kp p&p incl. from 27-38 MorNmuSt.. London WIN. The WORLD WILDLIFE FUND'! catalogue of audiovisual materials contains over 30 'presentations' which you oui hui from them on a variety of topic* including saving the whale, rhino rhinos, elephants, panguins, gorillas, and the feathery turtles of Trenwnu. T h e 3 h m fibstrips and printed O~~omPanyiIQ script cost from Â£ t o a,with a Catsette commentary an additional Â£2.80 Further domils froni WWFIIUCN Education Project, Greefield House, Gointing P-, Glos. G , M 5TZ. Would-be communards looking foraptace in thecountry should get on the mailing list for the DOE'S HISTORIC BUILDINGS BUREAU'S quarterly circular of listed buildingt foreale or to I t (free from 2 5 Savile Row, London W11. It includasa file selwtlon of ^y^m uo ' big for a single family therefore difficult t o sell. Included In the latest one are Brunei's Pumping HÃˆs at starcrar hn for his Atmospheric Railway ,a tmwher,c,, in *eddof the word!) Tha r a M y itatla at Roydon, E m , the foLiberal Club in Newcastla and many others. Beat buy would seem to be Strathlewn House, Dumbenonshire, built i n 1890, 29 rooms plus 6 bathroom' for only 25grand. The snag? the middle of an industrial estate

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" BOOKSHOP COLLECTWE ints aitittance, donations and ,.bc ilty i to get an "alternative and non-sectarianbookshop" off the ground in the Glasgow and Clydesidearea. For further information contact "X" Bootahop Collectiw, d o SconM Council for Civil LIbertin, 148 HoNmdSt.Ghm~owG2ortriephom Lorraha Rwd at (041-1 667 1972.

details of events, organmBadons or our friends On these pages, but our bi-monmly NATTA (Na schedule means that we mst have lutin Technology mid ~ a c h i ~ y iplenty Of warning. bEkd)has pubtished a lot Of the interesting receivedwere too late for inclusion its f h t pamphlet entitled "Altwnatiw Technology: An n this issue. Ifyou're planning an event, please let us know about it r to the emroy 6riti.T" Sounds interesting and can be as early as possible even ifthe obtained from NATTA, c/o The details of date or uenue W n ' t been finalised. That way, we can Alternative Technology Group, @en Universfty, Milton Keynes, at least give an idea Of what's hmoanina Backs, MK7 6AA -cost 80p. . . "andan addressor phonenumher for confirmation.

BIRTH CONTROL BY OBSERVING NATURAL CYCLES is a brief but useful booklet explaining the 2 most accUQta ways for charting Jyour monthly cycle, the temper, atureand mucous method. Written by women for women ed from COMMUNITY" COLLECTIVE LTD., TOWNHEAD, DUNFORD BRIDGE, SHEFFIELD 30for 3Bp +Pap.

ISPWW

Tto WORLD ASSOCIATION

1st e mS O U a s c Fair. Corn Exchange, Bristol. SCIENCE AND SOCIETY is trying to organise a European Morkihop from May 8 to 11 1981 it Bradford University on the wbiect of "science and technoloJV as control". People with a 'critical perspective whether left' or 'green' " are asked to ubmit short papers by March ind register by the beginningof 4pril. Details from Bob C o n d l Science and S o c i . Bradford Jnivenity, ED7 1DP, England.

THE CITY UNIVERSITY ADULT EDUCATION MOGRAMME 1880-1i s obtainable from ADULT EDUCATION, CENTRE FOR ARTS AND RELATED STUDIES, THE CITY UNIVERSITY, NORTHAMPTON SQ, LONDONEC1. interested in from callionohy to T~~ E ~ ~~~d~~~~~ ~ ~ G~~~~~ & want for the my, Executive?Any takers? INTER-ACTIONPRODUCTIONS

have produced event ("An evening of thaatre"l called "Power Plavs" and it is tourino ' the count4 from Ipswich to Carlisle, Durham to Manchnfr. Exact information and ticket! can be obtained from InterAction Centre, T i k m OpÃ§ Ã‡ 16, WUkin St. LONDON NWS 3NG of phone 01-485 0881 and 01-267 9421.

FOR CELEBRATING THE *

YEAR2000 (W.A.C.Y. fonshoft) has publishedat 2Sp its quarter century edition. If you're planning to be still around then and participatein "creative beheiour" it might be up your strtet. Its programme can be obtelned from 31 Clerkenwell Urn. London EC1R OAT or vou -try its telegraphic address "HOPEFUL LONDON EC1" Yes It Is.

FHE OUTSIDERS CLUB requ iandicapped artists, poets &c. vho can artistically express the axuality. need for love and/or ither emotions to submit work or a spacial international inhibition of Erotic Art by ha Handlnpped. EptrlÃ (by '8th F*b 1081) -id -to 'ha OuttidereClub, Box &B, .ondon WiA 4ZB Td: 01-741

THE TEIFI STORE b a mail order catalogue published by CVhEITHAS FARCHNATA TElflITEtFI MARKETING AKOCI+TtON and presents the product! of m a i l businesses throughout the Teifi Valley in . Wnt Welea. Even if you can't pronounce the publishing amciation's n m it is a f ~ l n a Â¥tin document giving a brief hhtory of each of the b u s i n a (from dogmaking to carpenters) and giving you the chance of ordering thair wares. For this it is Ã‡w worth breakingyour normal prejudiceagainst$ooy hard-sell moil order catalogues: i t s neither fliony nor hard-sell and can be obtained from CYMDEITHAS FARCHNATA TEIFIITEIFI MARKETING ASSOCIATION, Embn So..MwettoErnlvn Dyfod, wÃ§-MSimply d 2 0 p worth of stmnpl.

BRITISH TRUST FOR CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERS are looking for members to help with- thair winter programme of conservation tasks such as planting tfees, cleaning ponds and clearing scrub from heathland, or you can even go along to learn how to lay a hedge in the traditional manner, make gates, w repair old flint wells. Rasidentail talks last one week or ten Jays, and if y w felt like spending Christmas at Rivington, in Wtmen celbrations you would be wiping with various woodland nanegement projects and >artaking,so the programme mi, of the warden's special home VWM. For the-full programme .endan SAE t o the National Conlarvation Corps, 10-14 Duke Street. Readln&Berkshire RG1

1332

THIRD WORLD FIRST'SSeptOct Bulletin Whose Survival?it only part of that organisation's latest barrage of publications which include "A Programme fa, the 80s". They are also planninga National Conference on the subject of "Whose Survival?" at the Nawman Rooms, St. Aldatet, Oxford, April 10th-1 2th 1981. Booking for this and any 0thinformation can be obtained from Third World First, 232 Cowlev Road, Oxford OX4 1UH. Tel: (0865)45678.

from 9ImGoihmbwg, S& 12M Ã 1961a Eumpmn Confer-

on Acid Rain is being held. The Idea is to look at the as yet underrated problems of acid rain which is caused by the burning of fossil fules. More information can be obtained from EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON ACID RAIN, BOX 7133 S 40232.

Them wilt be a CO-OPERATIVE VBXi&OESCONFERENCE at

~ottohv n t w . ~ a n b y , y ~ p ~ ~ ~ North Yo*, on May 2,M This will be an opportunity .-the c m m l groups working tothi end to meet and share idÃ§ and for INW people who wish to join them to find out whit is going a The cost will be Â£7.5 for d t s and Â£ for children. Pteie write to Jan Bang, Mount Plumn, Hainton, LoncolnÃˆ<tulO!Q 781 3971 with t~ for detail!. Jan is ado planningsspacI6l number of UC on theurn* them and would be plwKd to h#u from anyone wishing to contribute. Sunday 21st ~ e c e r n b e r ~ l ~ ~ SOLSTICE celebrations on the Circle Line Underground, Lnwpool St, London. July 16-18 1981. TINof Natipm-First 'Fourth Wdld' Auemb Leaders and r a p q m t a t i v evwy small natton, provln ,,dan, tribe and other ethnic grouping! which have or are inking tho power of self ruh are being invited. Contact: NicholasAlbwy, 24 Abermrn Place, London NW8 101-286. 4366). THE BLACK HILLS MOUTH DAKOTA) INTERNATIONAL SURVIVAL GATHERING net on Sunday 27th J u l y w i t h c 10000 prewnt. It want! a woddwide week of action ("education dem~rntratlorn and non-violtnt direct action*") against ipeclfic multinational corporation* in Spring 1981. As a predominantly anti-nuclear exercise Rio Tinto Zinc and Union Carbide & companies that have already ben "targetted". T K q want group* who support their action tp . endona thair programme ash as possible. For information writa to "Cril for Action". Rogw Moody, 218 Lh+ Rod, London N1.

FOUNDATION FOR EOUCATION WITH PRODUCTIONte a Southern Africa band sation which isiwking inton** education*! patterm andmettuxl hdpfqt to "thÃn*e& of former colonial countria". la bwic princlplÃ‘a "the linking of lÃ§amimwith productive work andcomflunity control and i t In education." They a z e - o n % # u d h w l and Productin Wortt"fromMJV 1-3.1W1.

cxfnl--

malion contact Ann* GUM*. Dflpt* 6 Eeonomh MM SociU ~ ~

currents 43

In The Making w

'he I N THE MAKING supplement 3 out now. This is the follow up o our main 1980 edition and ontains more news, information, ktings, reviews reflecting whats tappening in the field o f adical co-operation in this ountry. There's quite a few nteresting new projects like the i p i village or the Make-lt'ourself Project, where teenagers re encouraged t o produce their own records and magazines in a co-operative way. So its wed worth looking at, even if only t o w how the new ITM Collective are shaping up t o the joys and strains of production and i f you haven't seen ITM before, a directory of people working collectively, without bosses, why don't you get hold of this years 2 issues and have a good read. ITM 7 1980 PLUS SUPPLEMENT (just out) Â£1.3

100 Greenwood Road, London E8 (01-254 0692) (ring between 4 and 6 am for collection)

REDKITE SOFTWARE LTD. 59 Kilvey Terr, St Thomas, Swansea. Teaching and advice on use of computer and microp~pcessing equipment and systems.

PROPER JOB CO-OP, Elwin Cottage, Wall Lane, St Cleer, Liskeard, Cornwall (Liskeartf 45308). vegetarian wholefood restaurant.

PHOENIX RECYCLING, 289 Croxted Rd London SE21 8NN (01-670 3380) recycling waste materials and selling products made from recycled materials.

HATTERS LTD. 21 ~

~ ~ ~ ~ colne, ~ ~a-. k ~ food cafe and bookshop.

tenanee but you can also join the collective for a nominal fee (covers the C O S ~of tools and

We are a silk screening collective

2peoole working here 4 days a GRAssHOppER

week, several others on a regular1 occasional basis. We began last winter with a small amount of money and made our own equipment. Our first venture silk screened biodegradable plastic bags was not a huge commercial success and we have moved on t o posters, badges, cards, stickers etc for groups. We hope t o print T shirts and textiles, gradually widening our creative scope in the future. We are keen t o provide community access to our facilities and have lower rates for community groups and also accept work in lieu of payment. The workshop is open to others by arrangement at minimal cost. Our decision making i s by consensus of those present. We would like more regular workers. Any offers? 23 Peel Street, t Gl7ASSHOPPER ~ t . ,

workshop rent) and come and fix your bike here and make friends. If you're interested come along on Sundays between 2 and 4 pm. Motorcycle Collective, 12 Castle Rd. London NW5.

SUBSCRIBE Subscribers receive copies of the ITM Directory plus updating supplements as soon as they cowout post free. To ensure early delivery of ITM No.8 send: Individual: Â£1.50 Donation sub (if you can afford It): Â£3.00 Institutions (groups and co-op too!) Â£3.00 Overseas: Â£3.00 ITM 6,150~. ITM 5 and supplement, 50&

BRIGHT TIMES The Brighton based Whole Earth magazine died of boredom this

from 44 Albion Road, Sutton, Surrey. On this page, which we hope to produce erratically but enthusiastically whenever we're bursting with new things t o tell you,we've included a few of the new entries in the supplement plus some that were too late for inclusion. As always we'll be publishing new stuff in the next 1981 OTLEY WOODWIND, Freewheel is an alternative edition due out MarchlApril $0 if - 9, Branksome Terr, Leeds 6. bookshop which opened in here's a project or event yod repairing woodwind instruments. n,,.,n, n,iw io,o ., .-,-, ..,.,," hink we should know about selection of books. pamphlets, #riteto us at address below. A DISTRIBUTION ' magazines, badges and posters At the moment we are Following an exciting series of The shop i s used as a contact operating from a temporary office meetings in London a group of point for various local groups e.g. in North If you're interalternative newspapers andmaga- Anti Nuclear Campaign, ested in with ITM we are zines has come together t o launch Claimants Unbon and there's holding a series of meetings a newventure, 'A Distribution'. space for groups t o hold meetings throughout the winter. This initiative arose from the on the premises. We are currently ~ . rfnrthor .".t ~ in+general feeling that the vast pool increasing our facility as an write t o 44 Albion Road, Sutton, of potential readers was not being information serviceand at the Surrey. (all mail here please!) efficiently tapped. It was also moment we have notice boards or rina 01-226 1799. realised that individual distribuand display posters for various tion of these publications was groups and events. We hold info CHIEFTAIN INDUSTRIES causing unnecessary administraon squatting in the town. We have A small Scottish co-op whcih tion for the small bookshop. a library of 60's publications of since.1971 has produced and marThe scheme is essentially poetry and magazines and wall keted various energy saving space for photographic exhico-operative with papers working heating systems is hoping to bitions. Ongoing projects are that together to send out copies all manufacture arange of heat pump we've just acquired an A4 offset over the country. I t is hoped that heating units (these extract heat this will make distribution litho press, which will be for the from natural sources, air, soil, cheaper for the participators and use of local groups and individuals water and concentrate it elseOur cafe provides tea, coffee and that a common invoicing system where). They're looking for will help the small shop when it snacks and is growing in populariÂ£5 thousand from small investty with young people in Norwich. comes to making payments. ors to move into a new factory, The collective consists of 12 Below are the papers currently where its hoped they'll be able members but this fluctuates. involved. It is hoped that this list t o increaseproduction and take Nnhndv will arow a . .- - - -, i.-c naid -.- . --s the scheme on new members. establishes itself. FREEWHEEL 56 St Benedict CHIEFTAIN INDUSTRIES Cienfuegos Press Anarchist St. Norwich, Norfolk. (A fuller Grange Road, Houston Industrial Review, IT, New Reality Comix, account i n ITM sumlament1 Estatq, W o t Lothian, Scotland. Xtral, Insand Outs Press, Black WOMENS MOTORCYCLE (Liin<xton 32223) Flag, The Rafael Barmtt Press, COLLECTIVE NEW LEAF CO-OP Bread and Roses, Breakout, We are a women s motorcycle Started in May we are a CO-OP Anarchy. B I T Overland Travel collective in North London with collecting Waste paper of any Guides. workshop facilities and tools. At kind (in the Hackney area) for A Distribution 182 Upper Street, the moment we are doing a short recycling. London N1.

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it has a new wave appeal and bias is t o be towards local m and visual arts. No. (30P, from SWEG' l1 GeOrgestreetBrighton' sussex 'Brighton 6946001. *

BUILDIT

Started In 1978 as a Partnershie we becamea registered building co-op in March 1980 and now have our own workshop. We ourselves a co-operative buil design service which means can do practically anythin: house from general buildiny and joinery to electrical or arch tectural advice. We are also keel t o advise and give estimates for energy saving improvements. A t present there ere nine of us. We have a deliberate policy of taking on unemployed people, which has certainly stretched our skills t o ensure a satisfactor job but seems to be laying solid foundations for the future. We believe very strongly in the co-operative ideal, decision making by consensus,skill sharing, non specialisation, demystifying the building process BUILDIT 149 Lower Cheltenna Place Bristol BS6 5LB. (0272 556172)

20th and 22nd February. Builders Co-op Conference, Cori Exchanoe. Bristol. Contact

As the recession bites deeper, and each day brings news of factory closures, layoffs and bankruptcies, the CEGB is preparing for yet another act of industrial vandalism. SERA'S Energy Group investigates.

SAVE THEM PLANS TO CLOSE sixteen powel stations and decommission a further six were announced by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB on September 9th. 3,000 jobs will bi lost as a result. The prime reason for these closu the CEGB's overcapacity i n generating equipment at a time when, on one hand, demand for electricity has fallen (by 7% since last year), and, on the other, several new large nuclear and oil-fired plants are coming on stream, adding an extra capacity o f over 8 Gigawatts (GW) t o a generating system which already has more than ample reserve margins. It may be logical t o close old, inefficient plants when they come t o the end of their useful life, but this process (involving the phasing-out o f about 3 MW of capacity) has been hastened by the overcapacity problem, and by the Government's commitment t o a rapidlyexpanding nuclear programme which involves ordering 15 GW o f nuclear capacity at the rate o f the reactor (1-5 GW) a year, starting in 1982. Instead o f simply scrapping the older, fossil-fuelled generating stations, i t would be equally logical to consider converting them to produce heat as well as electricity For although they may be inefficient in terms o f electricity supply alone, many o f them are well placed geographically for operation as combined heat and power (CHP) plants, which could double their overall energy conversion efficiency. And even if the plants themselves are too old to be converted in this way, the sites and site facilities are o f crucial importance t o the implementation o f CHP schemes-in terms o f their rail or road access, fuel handling facilities, etc. If a decision i s made t o opt for CHP at some point in the future, then the availability of inner city or near-city sites will be vital. It would be unwise i n the extreme t o sell o f f these valuable properties, thus closing the CPP option. Plants scheduled for closure--or motherballing which are well located

thaw, Bankside (London) and Barking (London)-could perhaps be converted to coal burning-indeed some are already dual-fual plants. Trade union representatives in the industry have already expressed concern over the closures. The hope is that the redundancies can be avoided through natural wastage and redeployment. But with further closures likely in the future, and a gradual shift to even more capital-intensive plants, the longer term employment situation looks unattractive: CEGB employment per megawatt has dropped by half from 2.27 i n 1958159 to 1.08 in 1979/80. A shift t o CHP could not onlv reverse this trend i n plant employment, it would also create much-needed work for the power engineering industry. Trade unionists in the supply and power engineering industry haveas do the rest of us-a common interest in opposing these closures and in calling for a national commitment to CHP, a technology which wi us use our f efficiently.

ar urban populations include: O4 MW) near Newcastle Huddersfield (60 MW) near Huddersfield Bold A (128 MW) near St. Helens1 Warrington/Liverpool Bramborough (205 MW) near Birkenheadlthe Wirral Hams Ha" (330Mw) near Birmingham Nottingham (227 MW) near Nottingham Blackwall (90 MW) Rotherhithe Uskmouth A near Cardiff A joint ANCISERA campaign is being lunached on this issue. Contact Frankie Small-to-medium sized coal-fired Ashton at SERA (9 Poland Street, London CHP plants would be the relevant Wl) or Tony Webb at ANC (256 Battersea option since presumably the UK will Park Road, London SW11). want t o shift away from reliance on oil For more details of the CHP option see or gas. But some o f the oil-fired plantssERxspamphlet community Heating for example Plymouth, Tilbury, Aberprojects.

Defence costs each f a m i l y in Britain about E20 a week. Maybe could spend o u r money more usefully? Dave E l l i o t t looks at th implications o f arms expenditure, and examines some o f the alternatives.

Farewell to arms ONF AREA of the econotn@$ that hapit been hit by t h e T o r ~ e s cuts is the defense sector. In the wmnt '-detente period, t h e armaments industrim of t h e w o r l d ' a m booming, With about one-tenth of the world's ewoqmic activity g e ~ e dto defense, arms expenditure'providesGovernments in the West (and the East) with a significant means of econwic i n t e ~ e n tbn-one that totally contradicts the monetarists' insistence on non-inter- , vention and cuts in public expenditure. --. . In theory, arms spending can help -' &he the economy. As a US Government report put it: 'l-leavlt defense expenditure has provided additional protection agaimt depressions, since this factor is not responsive t o contraction in the private sector and provides a sort of buffer or flywheel in the economy'. . The point i s that, demand can be increased without recourse to thesconwmer market. This was well underSW in the 1950's ' w l d war' period: 'The cold war increases the demand for goods* helps sustain a high level of em~lovment.accelerates technical progress.and thus helps the country to raise its standard of living'. (F.Cook Juggernwt: the Warfare State in the Nation. October 1961)

As an article in the US News & World Report put it: 'Government planners figure they have found the magic formula for almost endless good times . 'Cold War' i s the catalyst. Cold War n an automatic pump primer. Turn a spigot* the publk~clamurfor more arm spending. Turn another the, clamour ceases. . .Cold War demands, if fully exploited, are ahost limitless',

we civilim economy. f'f T h i s point has been c l & r I ~ k d g h&d by M y wovkes' IfTtk Meifti2 . hduRw. Although their jobs are at present tied to continuing defence spending, the ups and downs o f defence expenditure programmes have meant bursts o f unemployment and lay-offs. The industry may be profltabkl but it's not stable. Many groups o f defence workers have therefore called for diversifica- , . tion away from military work-folbwing the pioneering work of the Lucas Aerospace and Vickers Combine Shop Stewards Committees. In part, this i s seen as a way o f resolving the conflict between the policy o f most unions in favour o f disarmament, and their need to protect employment. Detailed studies have shown that, in net terms, you get up t o ten times more jobs by investicg in civilian products than id defence, as is shown in table 1, produced by the US Mid Peninsula Conversion Project and based on US Bureau of Labour Statistics:

ring a recession) all this defense cpenditure turns our t o be inflationary too much money (defence workers' pay) chasing too few goods (the civilian economy is deflated). After all, h a t i s produced? Not goods that people need, just mchines that s i t rusting on runways and in silos. In the run-up t o the elections at the end of the second world war, a T w

SPmdiw Trident missile manufwtur School construct~on

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MP summed up the economic philowphy which led to this misdirection of resources: 'We will maintain full employment after the war, If necessary we will build battleships, tow them out to sea and sink them, come back and build some more'.

Defence Conversion

How can this madness be stopped? For it's not just annihilation that threatens us, but tbe distortion of the economy and fhe misuse o f our scare resources. Defen activities n ~ t m k l y very pr&table with guaranteed only soak up capital* e&y and fiarkets and 'cost-plus' cohtracts. materials-they alw absorb human effort which could otherwise go into &fence Spending i s Inflationary developing m q e e f f i ~ n rate* h And defense spending $trengthens@w and neededprbductbn ~ s t e ~ p f ~

Obviously, conversion of the vast defen~ industries would take time and would need detailed planning to avoid job loss But, as ha^ been well documented in studies both ie the US and the UK, it is possible to make theLransition without undue d\slocation. Remember both the US and the UK shifted from the war production to peace production at the end o f WW I1with minimal strain. There would be other positive advan tages. Many of the new products that would replace military products w u k l be in the renewable energy field - wave power devices t o replace naval vessels and equipment*aerogeneratot technology for the aerospace industry amd so on. And the gradual substitution of win wave, solar etc. for oil would reduce the west's reliance on Arab oil suppliers thus reducing both international tensions and fhe need for ever-increasing defence expenditure. Turning 'swords into plough-shares' is an old idea. We may not have long to get round to it.

*For more detailn of W, tentialfos &fence conversion me &se about Lkfence', Quartet Books, 1979. ,

If you're against the Bomb, then you ought to b against 'civil' nuclear power too, say the SERA Energy Group. Here's why.

Atoms for peace THERE ARE MANY reasons why we need to oppose both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Nuclear energy i s the direct offspring of the military nuclear weapons programme and a number of umbilical cords s t i l l firmly link nuclear weapons to nuclear energy. Becauy they are inextricably linked they share the same problems, such as dangers to health and safety, lack of democratic accountability, and huge wsts. And the export of nuclear energy technolo~vleads directly to the proliferation-Af nuclear weapons throughout the world.

Nuclear Target% Many people OPPO weapon3 because of their horror at thMhought of nuclear warfare and o f the millions of deaths that would occur. But, in a t attack, civil nuclear installations as well as military nuclear bases are likely targets. Not only do nuclear power stations supply about 13% of Britain's electricity, thus making themselves a likely target on this score alone, they also contain huge amount of radioactive material which, if released, would create far more fallout than a nuclear bomb. And the highly active wastes at Windscale contain even more r~dioactivitythan nuclear reac, tors. Even 'if Britain divested itself of nuclear weapons, and thus arguably became less prone to nuclear attacks, its civil nuclear power stations would still provide a target for attack by conventional weapons, including those wielded by terrorists, with results equivalent to, or worse than, a nuclear attack. The removal of nuclear weapons i s not enough: civil nuclear energy installations must also be withdrawn.

Technology The UK nuclear programme was .started up in October 1945 for the sole purpose of acquiring nuclear weapons, and between 1945 and 1953 was exclusively concerned with nuclear weapons. All the factories, facilities and technology used today in the main nuclear energy cycle (i.e. fuel fabrication, enrichment, reactors, and reprocessing plant)

W i b i a n uranium in wntravention No. of ,nw i d Nations

1974.

Becaud nuclear energy and nuclear weapons are two sides of the same win, they share the same characteri? tics and dangers.

were originally built to make nuclear bombs. The nuclear programme involved a prodigious effort in terms of costs and resources during the period of great scarcity and rationing after World War 11, but the whole apparatus was constructed and commissioned without any Parliamentary or public debate-apart from one brief sentence in a written answer to Parliament in 1948. The strict secrecy and security inherent in the weapons programme have been carried over into the nuclear energy programme, and ,these conflict with the need for greater democracy and parliamentary accountability. The Calder Hall and Chapelcross reaktors are still operated primarily for the production of weapons plutonium and tritium. The Windscale reprocessing station performs the important military function of reprocessing the plutonium in nuclear warheads every ten years or so; Windscale purifies the reprocessed plutonium, restoring it to weaponsgrade material. Another link between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons can be seen in the pre-eminenceof the Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) system in the United States which i s largely due to the technology and expertise gained from the development and construction of the PWRs'built for the US Polaris and Poseidon submarines.

Uranium With the &in powerful interests of the defence establishments and the neergy establishments of many Western countries dkmanding more uranium, it i s little surprise that the history of uranium exploitation throughout the world has been particularly brutar. The land and resource rights of indigenous peoples in many countries have been ruthlessly trampled wer; big business cartels dominate the market: and not least, thousands of uranium miners have died or contracted cancers from working in dangerous conditions, The British Government and British multi-national corporations (RTZ, Anglo-American and Rothschild) are heavily involved in this mess, and Britain is still illegally importing

Ciiil Liberties Firstly, both civil and militav nuclear installations are wvered by the Omcia1 Qcret$ Act, are p01ice.d by armed constables, and are surrounded by tight security and secrecy restrictions. The workers in both nuclear pro-

grammes are subject to positive vetting, surveillance, the use of informants, phone tapping, *e infiltration of groups, the opening of mail, and the checking of bank accounts. Statutory rights to collective targaining information, vital health and safety information, and unfair dismissal protection are severely restricted in civil as well as military nuclear plants. Perhaps most important, trade union rights to engage in collective bargaining and to withdraw labour are seriously diminished by the safety and security demands of the nuclear programme. For example in 1977 the then Energy Secretary, Tony Benn, successfully threatened the use of troops to break a seven-week strike at the Windscale reprocessing plant. Collective agreements at BNFL and UKAEA establishments contain no-strike clauses and clauses requiring trade unions to defer to managerial prerogatives.

Radiation Dangers Secondly, nuclear energy involves the release of radiation, whether in the uncontrolled form of a bomb or in the controlled form of a nuclear power station. Both forms are dangerous to workers and to the public. Trade unions are becoming increasingly conscious of the real dangers of radiation in nuclear installations as the number of union compensation

Undercurrents 43 8,250 jobs +re created, compared with was no technical way o f preventing' claims for radiation-induced cancers countries with nuclear e n e m from 22,000 jobs/$ bn for other public and dzaths continues to increase. making nuclear weapons. And it i s sewice jobs..Civil nuclear installations" The TUC i s pressing for the present . -. now widely accepted that both Israel are similarly capital intensive; the 5 rem per annum exposure lim and South Africa, as dl as India, Windscale ex ansi is costing Â£60 to radiation to be reduced an now have nuclear weapons. The growing number of medical million (in.1if76 d!') and will create potential for nuclear terrorism and ities and unions recommend only ,1000 new jobs-that's Â£600,00 blackmail i s obvious and clearly maximum permissable limit per job. In general terms, the nuclear worried the Royal Commission on be reduced t o no more than programmes-whether military or Environmental Pollution in its 1976 civil-require about ten times more rem. According to the latest 1978 Report on Nuclear Power. report of the,Government8sNuclear .., . ,..,. capital per job created,than public ,;+.: works or public sector activities. Installations Inspectorate, out of : ;'T > ': the 18,750 workers employed on Atoms for Peace? :c:i2 licenced nuclear sites over 4,500 >:.52;;Weapons Proliferation * In the 1950s and 60s many peiple (24 per cent) received exposures. .. who were opposed to nuclear weapons Fifth, proliferation. Although the of radiation between 9.5 rem !:$? were levertheless strong supporters proliferation of nuclear weapons '"'" and 5.0 rems. These are the of nuclpar energy under the slogan i s primaramongst third world countries dangersfrom the normal operation 'Atoms for Peace'. This slogan-first ily a political issue, it does have a of the civil nuclear plants. Additional used by President Eisenhower in 1953technical dimension. Nuclear technoland more serious dangers arise when was skillfully employed by the US ogy, research reactors and enriched such plants malfunction, as at and UK Governments to hide the lmk fuel rods can be used, and have been Windscale in 1957 and at Harrisburg ;&$+ between the civil and military nuclea~ used, by recipient countries to create in 1979. There also remains the programmes. An element of wishunsolved nightmare of the storage nuclear weapons. For example, in g74, fulfillment existed as well; many of highly active waste residues. technological idealists found it difficult India managd to explode a nuclear to connect the new clean and safe device from the fissile material gained Huge costs nuclear energy, which would be 'too from the CANDU reactor given by ?<.?>* Thirdly, there is the question of huge 'costs of t5.e nuclear programme. On the ' k a p o n s side, it costs Â£65 million each year to maintain Brpin'sJolaris submarines and missiles; Â£ billion to update the Polaris with the Chevaline programme; and an estimated Â£ billion is to be spent on the US Trident system to replace Polaris. On the nuclear power side, the Government reckons that it will spend Â£1. billion each year for the next ten years (total Â£1 billion) on the building of 10-12 nuclear power stations; plus a further , Â£ billion on the construction 0f.a breeder fast reactor station in the future. Already the nuclear programme receives massive Government funding-including Â£17 million,per year for the UKAEA-plus undisclosed amounts from military research; the governmentowned and operated fuel cycle and fuel storage facilities; plus government's underwriting of any nuclear accident in excess of Â£ million; plus .in future the costs of decommissioning an eventual waste storage. These Canada for strictly energy purposes. -..--r -- ...---., ",, .,,,,as., cO1Os* sums mean that vast Disconcertingly, the greatest demand nuclear weapons. But not only ha? are being diverted away for nuclear technology has come from the how5 that hany had for n u c I M crucial social needs of housing,the health countries with the most repressive energy turned out to be illusory, it education and welfare to support the regims (mile, smth Korea, Bmil, is now,clear that the links b e t w ~ n nuclear programme. Argentina and South Africa) and from nuclear weapons and energy GannM, countries hostile to their neighbours be dissolved. We need to be rid of them Fewer Jobs (Israel, Iraq, hdia and,Pakistan). Of both if we want a peaceful future. Course, both the exporting and im- @;; Fourth, civilian and military nuclear porting countries profess to believe !A>,;, .a:{'7 technology share another commorf SERA Energy Group the polite fiction that nuclear .tech- *,>" '*'sy4T' feature-they are both very capital in~ O ~ Oi sWfor peaceful energy wWses. tensive, which means that public in8 Copies of SERA'S leaflet N u c l ~ r But the facts..show otherwise. None vestment in these technologies creates Weapons-Energy (on which this article far fewer jobs than investment in other ' of the countries mentioned above has was based) can be obtained from areas of the economy. For example, for signed the Non-proliferation Treaty. SERA (Socialist Environment & each $billion invested in the US Trident The International Fuel Cycle EvaluaResources Association), 9 polmd tion (INFCE) R.e p ~ rstated t that there missile production programme only Street, London Wl. Tel: 01439 3749. .:?..~..

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bndercurfents 43 , !,,

(e lightning: three treasurers in a

Right wing government orders nukes it doesn't need and can't afford,

so it can get its hands on some plutonium for making bombs. Sounds familiar? No, it's not La Thatcher's Britain but President-General Figuereido's Brazil, as Stuart Rimmer reports.

Nazi nukes IT WAS on World Environment Da! that President-General Figuereido announced that.a beautiful protecteo ecological-park area on the S o Paulo State coastwas to be requisitioned for the construction of a couple more nuclear power stations, kindly provided by West Germany. West Germany has been coughing loudly in the wings for w m time since the signing of the extremely onesided 'agreementi by which they succeeded i n foisting on Brazil power plants which nobody else wants t o buy. Sharp-witted citizens had noticed that German sources had suddenly, a coupleaf days previously, consented to pr& vide the loans that the US and most of Europe are now reluctant to offer Brazil, with over 100%admitted annual inflation and existing National Debt interest of 16 million dollars per day. Fixing the new area for the next nuclear menaces (when Angra 1,2 and 3 are finished on the RieSao Paulo coast) seemed t o be a quidpro quo. Otherwise it i s difficult to explain this decision. Firstly, Brazil has more than enough hydroelectric capacity to last her into ?he 21s t century; vegetable alcohol i s only just begin ling to be tapped as a resource; and the vast possibilities of solar power are being exploited only by small private firms. Moreover, the cost of nuclear electricity i s four or five times that of hydroelectricity (and will certainly increase). Secondly, virtually the entire sientific community i s now against the German agreement, and a parliamentary investigation committee, plodding along since October 1978, has uncovered more and more dubious details, turning its members more and more radically against the whole thing. 'Uncovered', because the government keeps as much as possible of i t s nuclear plans secret, even-or perhaps especially-from Congress and from scientists. Thirdly, it is simply not the moment for Brazil to embark on huge capital investments with no immediate rele-

ance: the country i s in desperate conomic straits and holds back only uy the skin of i t s Finance Minister Delfin Neto's toothy smile from the pit of IMF-suaested 'solutions'-i.e. recession, increased unemployment, etc.-which the government well k @ w would be political death for it. .' .

, a

11 remember that virtually all the clear contracts have mysteriously one to inept firms, usually without nder, because Sr. Paulo Nogueira ncied them. No has this stopped: the s t Nuclebras coup is to have conthe French Societe du Cycle de um Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann ce the amount actually tenderthat company. I wonder how any fingers went into that pie? nough, anyway, to create supporters r the nuclear programme who will

e Fascist Connection

Why do the West Germans want this agreement to go ahead with all speed? Well, there are those who say that one of the secretest clauses is something about bomb development. They recall that as long ago as 1954 West Germany secretly manufactured centrifugal plants for enriched uranium production in Brazil and was aftthe last moment stopped from exporting these by the

.. ther group greatly i.n favour are cists' These do not exist nomincevt as varamilitarv erouvs who kidiap '~0mm"nist' catholc wirkers and priest, and burn down newsstands that sell leftwingpublications (the government never can find out who did these things, incidentally); but there recently came to light, by accident, a fascinating document from the Ministry of Mines & Energy's Division of Security and Information (those two newspeak titles which always refer to state spying and state lying) which purported to lay bear a conspiracy to torpedo the nuclear Agreement.

Allied High Commissioners. They point also to the frequent statements by Brazilian generals that there is 'nothing to stop' Brazil manufacturing a bomb (for example, Cdte. Antonio Viana who stated before the Parliamentary committee that the 'Agreement' was signed 'not only for the generation of electricity' with full military support 'since it will make it possible for the country to manufacture atomic armaments') and the increasingly close nuclear collaboration with fascist Argentina, also a friend o f West Germany's and also with a bouncing nuclear programme. It is, besides, an urgent matter for Germany to sell a few reactors: no-one buys these any more except Brazil & Argentina, now that the Shah has gone, and KWW and other German nuclear firms are in danger of bankruptcy if someone cannot be found to buy. And t h i s deal i s a dream: the process sold (jet t~ozzle)i s completely unproven, so the Brazilians will be the guinea pigs: and will pay to be so. If the Agreemnt suited the West Germans, did it suit anyone else? It certainly suited the incredible bottomless-walleted Paulo Nogueira Batista, the president of Nuclebras, who sticks nobly to his post through scandal after scandal (though his staff come and

The 'conspiracy' is led by 't'..e Jewish community' (as the report states, in so many words) and i s supported by communists (naturally) (in which groups are nominally inclQded virtually all the nuclear scientists in Brazil, an ex-director of Nuclebras, Hince, parliamentary senators, several rich industrialists, and an assortment of ecologists) and by the US Embassy and the Rusiians, presutnably in concert. The 'agents' of the plot are the Press. One of the criminal things the press does (Undercurrents please note) is to divulge alternative sources of energy 'omitting the stage of development research is in' and constrast these with the costs of nulear power, thus leading the public to prefer the former. This astonishing document circulated for six months about various ministries without anyone's taking exception to it, and was leaked, by mistake, to the press. As all students of national security will have guessed, the person dismissed at the end o f the day was not the nazi who wrote the document, but the general who carelessly allowd it to come to light. The last enthusiast for the Agreement i s the wheeler-dealer governor

Bombing Along

of Sao Paulo, impeccably arab by name, and non-communist, who seems to have traded the political liability o f having the new plants sited on the Sao Paulo coast against some. much-needed federal financial assistance for the state. Rio couldn't have had the new toys anyway as their,. . electricity authority is virtu.ally bankrupt with debts caused by the Angra nuclear stations. The dec~ision kindly to allow the S.P. authority to shoulder the new honour wai taken in an odd way: the President o f the compqiy-the President, mind youknew nothing of the deal until it m s revealed by. the press. Some men would haG~iie$ignedin such a positiqn, >bgtdirectors of state'companie&,iNBrazil get,'used to being,upstaged by colonels. ysTFF

uranium i s coming in from URE these are nowhere near ready. So I '

The district chosen for con a reprocessing plant is near of the river which supplies Rio and the towns near Rio with drinkinz

Rio Grande d d Sul state, however,

1 A Prosyrisd Water ~ e e o from r Kreftwerk Union, similar to the reactom Germany is exporttw to Brazil. ;~, .., . . ..

is not going to-6e'presented suddenly. . water, and is.also hard by the greatest : with nuclear stations so easily: the : :~ koncentrati,,,, of popu~ation in~ ~ parliamentary awmbly, voted rast . ' .f ,: mishas mqba thegovernmnt no in1962 month-unanimously-that any riu~Iea>:~, more thq did the report programme must be authorized b y *i!;. ( h a h b y &ikntiSts within ~ ~ ~ for a the Assembly, and by a r'eferendum of.,:.':', condemniwA~~~~as a site ,the population within 1 SO km of the .. nuclear smn. . site intended. The ineffable Paulo Nogueira, howver, has said that such The Scientists Speak Out narliamenta~ .. -. .have no .- -- resolutions The arguments of scientists, an validity; and honestly, up to now he's their research, highlighting the weakk e n dead right. nesses of the nuclear programme do Another group against the Sao not seem to affect matters either. Paulo nuclear stations (not mentioned Rogerio de Cerqueira k i t e , university in the nazi report) is exactly that physicist and a member of the editororganisaticn of housewives that ial w m m i m e of the liberal newspape~ heralded the golpe (coup d'etat) of Folha de Sao Paulo, has stated that 1964 by marching 100,000 strong the bureaucrats and technocrats of through the streets 'against corrup tion and communism'. The governNuclebras are interested in eliminating ment must be disturbed to see an , informed scientific opinion, since the erstwhile bigoted ally campaigning well-informed can criticke their work; alongside jew, communists, the no new nuclear courses have been American Embassy and the Russians. started in universities for more than Naturally enough, the towns nearten years, and most of the old ones est the new site are solidly against. have been discontinued. The professors lguape, one of them, founded in 1538, in the subject have,been dispersed ~

deals with Germans; but the parlia- , mentary commission of investigation has just given up the ghost, deGairing of ever getting true and detailed information from the government, whose nuclear agreements and cont! are dim with secret dauses. The &ist straw was the fascist report, the author of which is an army officer and who the commission was (therefore) simply not allowed to call for questioning, even. Incredibly, the (civilian) minister was sent to answer instead of his iunior (military) aide-and said he 'didn't know' who had written the report. The democratic facade can never be allowed to get confused with the . real ruling machine-except in propagutla for overseas reading. Finally, continuing studies about the .Aqgra nuchar plants confirm. ' critics' fears. A doitoral thesis on the . : . marine life of the natural bay of Angra confirms that the cooling system ~ 1 . of the station will warm the seawater up by 7 ' ~and cause the death of many lmarine ~ species, b ~changing ~ the ) whole.ecosystem. Moreover, the study does not take into account the chemicals which are also being jettisoned.into the bay. Angra 2 (built, you will recall, to inadequate specifications in an earthquake. liable area) i s still having to be reinforcllars. The mayor of Angra (English unions please nop) lly no employment for the region has resulted from the building of the three nuclear plants. A last poignant note: one of the farmers in the idyllic country areanow scheduled for the next plague of reactors i s a man who emigrated to Brazil from Japan. His last home was in the Hiroshima bomb's radiation area: he left it to be safe from such tragedy. His present home is within 50 miles of the projected site of the nuclear power stations. Stuart Rimmer

, ,

, .

and given research in, other areas of .. . . ; .. study? ln,truth, in Brazil at.least, the ' ,' .scie"tist V s a political nuisince: theafirst person to speak out against the German deal and its economic disadvantages for Brazil (paying a for't.une without, ' in fact,.re@iving any 'transfer of technology', as if, as Lette points out, Brazil were to want to learn how Ă˘â&#x20AC;&#x161;ÂŹ build shbs by buying 3Q from abroid) was a scientist; not a politician or ai$ economist-'But it may .be argued that sts'kilV quieten down i f and are d l o w d to work within programnie.:and develop

to be used in the Angra reactors

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has already a large number of historic buildings an$, sites listed as protected, . . a d the local~counci~ hasvoted to , have the whole municipality declared a preservation area. Since the announcement of the nuclear pro. . gramme, tourism has .dropped by ~' half in the area, and land can no lorfger be sold as nobody wants to buy in that region any more. All the mayors of the whole area went to Brasilia at the end of Jqne to fikht, . but returned doleful with a dusty answer.

Friends of the LWCII'Shand use campaign organiser Alan Farleigh was sacked after eighteen months when the campaign was scrapped. More in sorrow than anger, he looks back at wliat went wrong.

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Land reform *s.~V-'c^

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above will flrtwamount to anything ' unless they can work in conjunction

only with a pational campaign.

the allotments issue, a campaign already in motion and the subject of much local group activity. We W e instrumen-

Undercurrents43 tal in forcing the Government to drop i t s proposal to allow local authorities to evict allotment holders The other areas which FOE developed were: opposition to reservoir construction; protection of wildlife habitats; a sweeping reform of the planning laws for mineral extraction; a challenge to the Government's forecasts of air traffic growth which they use as justification for athird London airport; and criticism of the wildlife destruction wrought by massive growth in the forest industry. We were also trying to find ways of helping local groups cut through the tangled web of the planning system and of working out a coherent planning philosophy. All these areas of concern are dependent on a national element. as the third London airport issue illustrates. When merit announced its shorlist the of six sites in 1979 ftere was a prompt response from the affected areas and from leading national groups including the Ecology Party, FOE and the Conservation Society. But the first meeting of the 'action committee' degenerated into the most parochial debate imaginable, each of the site groups, particularly Mapiin and Stanstead, interested only in foisting the , airport onto someone else's doorstep. The crucial issue was that of need and the business was to discredit the methods by which the Government devised i t s proposal. FOE took this position but now seems to have dropped all interest. There i s no mention of the airport, or o f air transport policy, in i t s 1980-81 strategy. '

----

itself deeper and deeper into the mainstream of politics and further away from the central issues. There are only two organisations with a substantialclaim to give the environment movement a national focus FOE and the Ecology Party.

The example is not isolated. There Ă&#x201A;

is a serious tendency to take on

'glamorous', profile campaigns which could be capably tackled by other specialist organisations, at the expense of others which are of greater fundainental importance, Of course this tendency i s partly conditioned by the need to raise hard cash but it is also the The Parliamentary Path result of a drift away from radical acThe Ecology Party is founded on the tion a i d intb the process of Government sound belief that technological tinkering consultation. with the processes of society must go hand in hand with a change in society The Lure of Influence

The lure of influence i s strong, as is the need actually to affect the day to day decision making process. Issues constantly arise which can and should be dealt with effectively by a sophisticated cam~aienmachine. but is that machine equipped to tackle itself. It is founded equally on the the monumental crisis awaiting the specious belief that an ecological agenda environment? The respect of official yields of a political programme. dom may seem like a strength bttt it I t s chairman, Jonathon Porritt, states is actually a disastrous weakness. boldly that his party supporb more participatory, community-based democracy' (not, you note, totally participatory) and ,a radical re-distribution of wealth', and yet there they are pumping their entire effort into wing candidates for Parliament. Greater and more capable men and have enteredthose doon and ialiea. At :,cart there is an importa"t grain of truth in their position but it isobscured by a naive ignorance of and ecology which lave them in a pointless land on the left-right axis they believe to be so obsolete. Presumablifcone has to recognise FOE lies at the opposite end of the that the problems are not aberrations Emotive Issues in an otherwise healthy world but are the direct product of a world in the Let us turn to the question of whether throes of a terminal social and or not our environmentalist vanguard economic sickness. i s taking the right road to save the world. A t t h i s moment FOE i s the most The end of the FOE land use campaign able pressure group in i t s field but ' and before it the indefinite suspension of the transport campaign are indicative it will have to appreciate that politics of the uncomfortable position of all i s more than just a structure to be toyenvironmentalists in the 1980s. The exed with for the sake of limited gains. cuse for both terminations was lack of Politics are at the heart o f the money and fund raising potential. problems which face us and must be Environmental concern is regarded by at the heart of the environmental battle. We have been through an inevitthe world at large as a luxury. The less spectrum to the Ecology Party in that immediate and emotive the threat the able period of development with the it stoutly avoids any overt political lower it sinks in the pecking order. ability to sway Government decisions comment and refines i t s campaigning Hence, the appeal of a rational and but we dre losing sight of the enormity to a tightly defined strategy. This has humane system of land use, transport of the threat. The Ecology Party is gone way too far. Here i s a national and agriculture i s nothing to the threat indulging itself in the futile pursuit of radiation induced cancer or the environmental body dropping its land of 'green politics' whilst FOE is bloody slaughter of the whales. use and transport campaigns whilst frittering away i t s energy on soft, However, what i s seen in the movegiving high priority to a bicycles peripheral issues. ment as a financial crisis, which can be campaign. This trivial and faddish issue If the environment movement does solved by pruning the budget and which at best could alleviate some not open itself up toan urgent and emulating the sophisticated use of the urban congestion and encourage a thorough appraisal o f its direction and media already perfected by i t s adversar- slight increase in commuting by rail purpose it will come out o f the 1980s ies, is also the tip of a much deeper retains i t s position whilst the two as the greatest lost cause of the decade. malaise. Economic strictures are pushcampaigns without which cycling Alan Farleigh ing the movement, but it i s also pulling has no relevance *at ... all g. o t o the wall.

community actually happ

IF ALL GOES well, on a fine spring weekend about 18 months from now several hundred enthusiastic people should be assembling on a field in a corner of the brash new city of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, ready to begin digging the foundations of new, w-operative, ecological community. The project was first named, 'Green Town' by Herbert Girardet last year in &dercurrents 35 and though not everyone likes the name, it seems to havecaught on. But the Greentown- . idea has been lurking for quite some time in the mincfeof Milton Keynes De~fihpment Corporation (MKDC) planners-and of Milton Keynes * residents themselves. P h f o r Greentown only be to take off, however, in May 19 8, when MKDC's chairman, Labour fieer LordfJock') Campbell, decided

London. In his TCPA-speech, Campbell suggested that the Association, which had successfully developed the twin Garden Cities of Letchwarth and Wetwyn under the pioneering .guidanceof Ebenezer Howard during 'the early-yearsof t h i s century, needed to restate Howard's ideals in a form mote directly relevant to the looming problems and aspirations of the 21stcentury. Howard in his Garden.Chii, aimed, among other things, to create small-scale settlements which would incoroorate the best features of tow &d country living; to build an 'essentially cooperative' economy; to achieve full participation by residents in community affairs; and to allow full sharing by inhabitants in the benefits of the increasing land values which the development of their fettle nent would create. As Campbell pointed out, these principlesare 'as fresh and relevant ' today as they ever we*.He f e l t the time was therefore ripe for 'a new programme of action by the Association'. which would 'recantwe the

haw the ~ G d e City n ,or "Country TownwasMumford Called it, is a civilidfig and civitised form of settlement .' The TCPA, he suggested, should 'campaign for the building of a small countrytown set in i t s own belt of market garden land' and should 'encourage so&l change by offering greater freedomfor peopte to build their own homes'. Campbell added that 'it should also be possible to reduce the energy requirementsof ,the settlement to a level that the place itself might generate'. 1-fthe TCPA decided to embark on such an experimerttal development, Campbell believed that Milton Keynes might well be willing to allocate up t o two square kilometres (200 hectares, or 500 acres) for the project. S what taken aback; the =PA

Campb'ill's challenge, and in due course inSeptember 1979, it publish i t s Outline Prospectus for a Third Garden City. The Outline Prospectus envisaged a community consisting. initially of around 1000 people on a site of 100 acres, growing eventually to 10,000 peopleon a site of about 500 acres. The 'Garden City' (though 'Garden Town' is a more appropriate term for the size of settlement envisaged) would not necessarily be sited at Milton Keynes: the TCPA was eager to interest other local authorities in the idea of building expetimentalĂ&#x201A;ÂĽcorn munitiw-and indeed the Development Corporation at Telford in Shropshire recently offered the TCTA several possible sites for a Gwntewn-type development. But Mitton'Keynes . remains the most ohviouschoice for

Undercurrents 43 Greentown, because Milton Keynes and GTG) which discusses and develops issued the challenge which originally . . proposals fpr the settlement. , . stimulated the idea. . . . . ~. Meanwhile, in August 1979,:just . :;: Disappointing Response before the publication of the Oh+ne,;;.~, MKDC's initial response to the Prospectus, a meeting of people :; Outline Prospectus was to offer, interested in C a m p b e l l ' s p ~ p o ~ l w a ~TCPA's ~ in principle, a site considerably smaller heldduring the COMTEK-79.Com-: ' than even the initial 100 acres proposmunity Technology Festival, 'and a' :. ed by the TCPA. The first site offered pressure group, calledthe Greentown was also very disappointing-crissGroup, 'was formed; We now have .=: :.

ultimate objective o f 500 aci-. ,. more. The TCPA feels it needs some reasonable guarantee from MKDC that ~ r e e n t & nwill eventually be allowed to expand from the initial 34 acres to 500 acres, so permitting the community to support the full range of facilities and employmeht opportunities set forth in the Outhe Prospectus. MKDC's attitude is that it cannot eive a firm marant& o f

several hundred members; we have a smafl office in Milton Keynes; we hold regular meetings to discuss and levelop our ideas and m e t to know me another; we publish a newslett and i n general we try to ensure tha t h e Greentown project doesn't get quietly buried under the mountain of paperwork, regulations and ;ratic controls which otherwise urely suffocate it. t) summary of some of the b e group is given in the Box. Greentown Group (GTG) has accepted by the TCPA and M the body which, represents the pro pective residents o f the new community, and GTG members now attend the regular meetings o f a 'tripartite working group' (consisting of -epresentatives o f MKDC, the TCPA

produce 'Development pro~osal', including a 1:1000 scale plan o f the site showing the layout of the proposed development and specifying the number, density, location and type of the various buildings; giving an outline time sequence o f the develop ment; stating the possible effects of the development on adjacent land; giving sample details o f the building materials to be used; and puttine forward an outline financial o f f ,. for the land. Later, the ~eveloperswill be asked to provide more detailed plans, schedules and specifications, plus a detailed financial offer. ., . To helpprepare thisDevelopment ; Proposal, the Greentown Group has,^ up six working parties, dealing with.. .<# 'Decision-making and managemen*

crossed by a string o f 132 kV power pylons and a grid road, and within sniffing distance o f one o f Bucking: hamshire's notorious brickworks. But in response to strong pressure from the Greentown group, who stated flatly that the initial site was unacceptable, the Development Corporation evenith a much better

. '

days are odourless. But the sizeof the site offered, 34 acres (13.8 hectares), is still small compared with the TCPA's

The.~ r e e ~ t o ~ n ' ~ r o u p b a f..r, e ~ o n ~

some rough estmi,ateso f the 'p^ttfiS"'? total.costs ofthe initial phaseof, . ' ',: Greentown, including land purchase; ; roads; drainage and sewers; electricity

Undercurrents 43

WHATEVER happened to the information society? Dave Kanner takes a look at some computerized information systems to see what they do, :low they do it and wliat they can teach the alternative movement.

FOR years now people have been predictinyn information explosion with the great improvements in communications technologies and the spread of cheap microprocessors ('convergence' is the buzzword). Marshall McLuhan's global village, lames Martin's wired society and Alvin Tofler's electronic cottages are examples of over-optimistic assessments o f the effect o f these developments. They have been enthusiastic about what could be done without enquiring what is being done and'for whom. The majority o f signals flying round the world are in digital form; com- . puters talking to computers. The first networks were set up by the military to handle early warning (SAGE) affd missile guidance or to link research establishments, often funded by 'defence'. Banks have been using ceptralised clearing for some ten years, transferring chenr-c to magnetic tape for transport. Two years jig? SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) was set up.to take the logical next stepsending the cheques electronically. The result of all this i s a great investment in telephone lines, microwave liitksand communications satellites ﾃナth no discernable benefit to the public. Where people-oriented networks have been set up, it has been through the ingenuity and energy of computer enthusiasts in a similar way to the development of amateur radio. There is no equivalent o f Citizen's Band. As Eric Lowbury put it; 'the global village is no such thing. It is global castle, in which the barons &at over their wine, while the serfs outside may overhear a few scraps of merriment '.(

Beautiful Dreams Ted Nelson proposed a H y p e r t e x t database, in which each chunk of text contains pointers to related items, in the same way that the superscript 2 points to the reference l i s t at the end of this article. In a hypertext, any keywords could lead different readers in different paths through the text, dependineon their interest. If reference 2 lookedinterestine. could -, vou , on indefinitely, while still kee

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IBA's ORACLE, which are compatible, the Canadian VISTA and the French ANTIOPE, which are not. These send mtuar information interspersedwith normal (?) TV programmes which a special decoder can translate into retrieve it, landing on the phrase quoted. From there you could go 'up'

letters displayed on the screen (ifyoureduce the picture height on your TV you can see the Teletext information place in the original work. Ted i s curtwinkling away on the top line). The rently trying to implement a much user selects a page, which is displayed more modest scheme, called X a n a d ~ ( ~ * ,as soon as it is received, by entering which will encourage users to create a number on a keypad. their own indexes and publish them A similar ideas i s behind the Datafor others. cast(*) project just starting i n the One development, at the Stanford 'Silicon Valley' arm of California. This Research Institute, was an on-line uses the sidebands of an FM radio system (NLS), a precursor of the hyperstation, and is received by personal text approach. The designer, Doug computers through a decoder (similar Englebart, described it as 'augmentation to a stereo decoder) attached to a of the intellect'. The concept was that radio receiver. The text i s transmitted the user should have the greatest possbetween about midnight and 6 am, ible piwer to enter, revise, manipulate on the assumptions that the computer and generally fool around with text will be used for other things during or diagrams. The people at the the day and that it has enough storage Augmentation Research Center were for everything that it collects. A full trying to simulate the 'office o f the DATACAST session could contain as future' (in the late a's), but so many much as 15000 pages of public people started using the system that announcements, want ads or sermons. they were encouraged to make it A bas, Buzby available to a wider public. The idea Prestel is probably tne best-known was taken up commercially by of the 2-way systems, which uses the TYMSHARE, a computer time-sharing telephone network to carry the user's company with its own packet-switchrequests and the computer's reply. ing network called TYMNET, under The information appears on a modified the name AUGMENT. W4which is used only as a display The Xerox corporation has a similar device and doesn't act as broadcast . network of locally communicating receiver. Because of the restricted ALTO workstations. One useful feature is the ability to display sections - bandwidth of the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), the of different 'documents' simultaneoustransmission~atei s painfully slow. ly of different 'windows' on the Although a message exchange facility screen. (Chauvinist note: Queen is 'projected', the 'pocket calculator' Mary's college, University of ondon, keyboard usually supplied makes it does the same thing in colou 1) impossible to enter more than numbers and a few symbols. There are only about 5000 Prestel sets in operation The Systems at the moment, the vast majority We can divide networks into three belonging to business users, probably main classes: broadcast, selective because of the high cost of a suitable retrieval and fully interactive. Broadreceiver, the time it takes to do anycast systems transmit their information thing with it, and the restricted continuously, the receiver grabs whichrange o f material available. Prestel, ever bits o f it the user wants as they and i t s equivalents in Germany Bildfly by. Selective-retrievalmeans that schirmtext) and France {Teletel the user asks for particular information build up pictures by sending a but can't alter or add to what is there, 'mosaic' pattern to the screen with These are sometimes, wrongly, called information on the brightness and as interactive, but '2-way' i s a more colour of each spot on the screen. The accurate description. Real interaction Canadian 'Telidon ' and the Japanese implies that each user can both read "Ca~tains'systems use a- 'vector' .~ and enter data. technique, which gives slightly super- . , Broadcast systems currently in ior eraohicc~ . .. - . .a.-r--.--operation includethe BBC'S CEEFAX hilroect drawback drawhack of Pfestel, ,, The biggest (originally conceived as a way of trans- though, is access . to it. Information Information . ., misubtitles to television P~OiTams Providers (IP's) ), have to stump up a e benefit of deaf people) and considerable amount of manev to . . .. ,

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participatory network. The CM people Notes ,.. are providinglinked'terminals i n public placas on which anyone can type l- ~ ~ $ ~ e f t d ~ o u ~ 9 ,.~ h & in mcssa&es,notices, party imitations, 2. he h,,,fik h,w, or whatever. This obvious1 could lead Comjtuter Lib 1974. to abuse (in more than onesense), as f i1'8ssw-0m w * users need no password or security code 3. ~ ~ ~ . m~ to get access to the system. Messages put intothe systertl can't be modified by anyoi~e,includingthe originator. They cm Ye given a time limit, after which they are erased, or have comments added. If someone advertised :an article for sale andsold it immediately they wouldhave toadd a cdhment that the ad was no longer operative. When an earlier version of ofcircuits, dc nding on which it fret Me system was tried out (1973-751, it . at ae th. mm M ., s of m-,., . attracted a lot of attention and favourit alio Ãˆllo~the receiver to be away at able comment. Iparticularly liked the the time of timanisdon,became the Ãˆwitchi computer will (tore the v - e story of a person who put in a notice until it on be delivered. asking where to get good bagels in 6. Sandy Emerson, 916 h k e r Street, the Bay area. The result was three addresses of baker's shops, one recipe : :,. ,..; -WsCA 94710. and the offer of lessons from a baker! . Â¥', . . J-y Iiutltote of Technology..Newark '

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register and rent pages as wellas the cost of an editing terminal to get their NJ. . . information onto British Telecom . ElESt7) (Electronic Information 8 . h t u & Judy J O ~ MOIF-~ 695 e n Fifth z. Exchange System) is a computer concomputers. The alternative is to find Street, Lake Owago, OR 97034. ferencing club. which allows is nnuna sympathetic established IP and . bers to cornmupicate.and collaborate . 9. TebcemputfauCwpontionof America,. persuade him or her to rentyou some 1616 Andttwn Road. McLean VA 22101. frames and an editing terminal. Not, on various special interests. Most users exactly the sort of electronic wall . sign on through the TELENET. One 1O.Ftoph'iCoaiputer C0mP-y. Box Ift ' Mtniof%r#,p94025. . subnetwork is ok ln itg into possible, newspaper that might persuade ordig11.David Hebditch, c/o Pcrwd Computer ary membersof the public to contribute uses iqneighbourhoodsand focal. World,14Rtthbone.Place. London W I , their ideas., mmhnitiest*.. f i c 3 . a abWt.,*irty 12.A ,,,*m a ht,*w, wmEuropean members. Another approach to timitedparticiis a home terminTHE SOURCEtS) pation is the QUBEcable TVsystem al information network, wh operated by Warner Communications Corp. This h w a very sifftpleset of . uses both TELENETand T Y can be dialled locally from m push-buttonsthrough which the audience can respond to opinion polls , :;';~merican cities. The informati able consjstsof versions of . talent competitions and so on, vote i'-~ news wire, the NY Times in but only when permitted to do so by bank, W i l l St. indices and electronic the broadcaster. Since part of Wame Smmer '79. (Box 428, Saunlito, 'mail and bulletin boards. As THE was taken over by American Expre A 94965, A-Dobb:Jounulnumbd 46 SOURCE was recently taken over by , (Box E, fuk,a.94025) the,Reader's Digest organisation, mayw b o k m h cat&. Random Home, Sept '80 ( a v a b k from Compendium, . be we could soon lobk forward .tothe 234 @niten Wgh Rd,London NW1.) 'condensed database of the month'? PCNET(10) (Personal Computer True interactive networks al NET^^^^) isa group of volunteers who GLOSSARY ,, v ' . ~ , participants to put information into . havedevelopedan electronicmailPSTN = Public Swit'chedT.ltphone Network. store as well as assessingwhat's already ,ys^ for Commodore PET cornputThÃ ordinary phow system. there. The big daddy of them all is ers currently using telephone lines CCITT InmrnationdTtfephone A TÃ§ligrap ARPANET, set up by the Advanced ((hey have,plans to use radio soon). In .., Coniulrniw Comrnltm Research hOjects the us UK, a variant PCNET(l1) (Personal , ,+k,'iyEx (note tha tid =',;, Department of Defense. This links some computer NETwork) hasstarted which A n u p g d flex nttwork (with . 280 mainframe computers in universities, lowr cam letter#ind punctuation be uied by,other makes of researchcentres and govefftnwllt characten, w that the.dulic tale. puter. Neither depends on any central ' graphic 'STOP' would not be nÃ§ed*d facilities in theUS and overseas. The . swlwhing computer, but the U K ~ intended to inmrconnut word-pronetwork can be used to send and PCNET are hoping to find a central w i n g nrmiiuls. This is a mot of a receive mail, establish direct contact diwase to access pass-, . .study group of th* CCITT which hm of run programs oncOmmon:databases,> ible at all times without already I d to a pilot study with 2000 b i n a lot of, temiids hi ~cwid~nui*. c n n e t s to e ALOHA expensive automatic modem hia.) me network, which usespacket radio m. .ity. ~ ; ~ ~ t o p h oftn~ * l w p A&h GALDOR(l"computer co-op has a techniquesW to link a central C O ~ P U ~. modetn, for persenThe controllingbody W i n d er to i terminals a t2 n d . f'sm, uaIbdlY Â (lllwlt awlW., al computer use, would be glad The tint monopoly poifl c u r i f was the Hawaiian islands. to hear from anyone interested in setÃ‡ ~ r i t i i h ~ o t~t f f i um , upin th* The Community Memory Project(@) database. . . . miBp of E l i i M I to mk*itnow beingresurrected in the Bay area m i t o r evrybody's mil. . . .. Da~eKanner of SF, is the nearest thing to a fully '

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Undercurrents 43

1 TELEVISION i s one of the most pervasive and time-consuming forms of modern technology. Yet, unlike nuclear power, microprocessorsor supersonic transports, television has seldom been the object of action or even of serious analysis by activists working towards greater democracy and self-management. Jerry Mander in his book Four Arguments for the Elimination o f ~elevisionlhas gone a long wa towards rectifying this lack o f analysi's Mander built himself a conventional, but highly successful, career in advertising. Then things began t o change for him. In the late 1960s, in San Francisco, he began to be called upon as a media advisor by protest groups. Then he was hired by the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and other groups to write advertisements about ecological issues. The response of the conventional clients of his aJency to these ecological advertisements rnd his own perception of the results o f these efforts, led Mander to leave advertising and begin his investigation into the effects of television. Mander's four arguments against television are: 1. that television reinforces the trend towards living in an artificial environment, cut off from direct knowledge o f the world and susceptible to the implantation of arbitrary realities; 2. that television i s technologically and economically suited to domination by corporate giants; 3. that television produces neurophysiological effects which are probably unhealthy and which condition people to accept autocratic control; 4. that television technology is inherently more able to convey some types of information than others-and it i s at i t s most effective when transmitting simplified linear messages, especially advertising. These are criticisms of the technology of W, and should not be hard to digest for readers familiar with previous critiques of technology 8. Mander states that 'Most Americans, whether on the political left, centre or right, will argue that technology i s neutral, that any technology is merely

Just imagine: Christmas without The Soundof Music, Watt Disney, Larry Grayson or the Queen. But would television be any better if the programmes were less imbecilic? Gerry Mander thinks not. He argues -iff

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a benitn instrument, a tool, and depending upon the hands into which it falls, it may beused one way another'. The central point o f hi book, he says, is that this belief, television.as well as other technologies. i s 'totally 'wrong'. It does not require long memory to remember the days when it was commonly believed that nuclear power plants, and even nuclear weapons, were intrinsically 'neutral'. Even today a common attitude to nuclear power i s that it would be acceptable i f it were made safer, with higher standards for reactor safety, stricter safeguards against proliferation and so forth. A similar idea-still adhered to by some socialist groups-is that nuclear power i s dangerous under capitalism but all right under workers' control. The same attitudes are even more common when it comes to television. The suggested reforms are many: promote better programming, reduce television's emphasis on violence, reduce x-ray emissions from television sets, ban offensive advertising, institute provisions for equal time for alternative viewpoints, promote community access television. But if television technology i s indeed intrinsically biased-towards creation of artificial realiti-s, centralised control, inducing passive behaviour and communicating simple linear messages-such reforms will merely serve to hook even more people.

Mander says that 'television, for the most part, cannot possibly yield to eform'. Hence, he argues that televiion sioulc' be eliminated. This may und strange and unreal. But it was ot so lone aeo that the idea o f liminating nuclear power or superc transports was just as strange. . difference is that television is and truly institutiohalised, like automobiles andnuclear weapons but unlike nuclear power and SSTs. But, as Mander concludes his book, we must 'purge from our minds the idea that just because television exists, we cannotget rid of it'. I will not go into the details of Mander's arguments against television here, since he does that quite well in his book. But I will assume that the question o f the role of television in society should be an important one for activists working towards local self-management-even if they do not fully subscribe to all of Mander's arguments and conclusions. Mander describes why television should be eliminated, but nothow this might be accomplished.

Campaigning against television There are several issues around which campaigns against television might be orientated. The comparison

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bekiaviour. Thus television is useful to elite groups more through its impact on people's waysof thinking and percei' ing than through any direct economic influence! In fighting nuclear power, effective opposition has been organised relatively straightforwardly around environmental political and economic issues, including the advocacy of alternatives. But a struggle against television may have to base i t s efforts on a rather deeper documenting any health hazards is the between television and nuclear power understanding of the psychological subtlety of the effects. But the same is a useful one. I make it not because and ideological aspects of social control applies to most of the health effects of any special similarity between and the individual's adaptation to arising from nuclear power. A more these two technologies, but because society. serious limitation in using health many people have been involved in Selective usefulness. By i t s very effects as a basis for opposing television nature (high potential danger, large campaigns against nuclear power and i s that the hazardsseem to be acceptare familiar. with the issues and scale, high capital cost and high comed voluntarily. Individual users purchase plexity) nuclear power is unsuited for arguments. and personally interact with television Environmental effects. In the case direct control by workers or the corntechnology, like automobiles but of nuclear power, environmental munity. Short of developing a hypothet unlike nuclear power. This makes it and health hazards have been the ical clean, simple, cheap, small-scale harder to realise, at least for the purpos- community reactor, there seems no way basis for a large component of public ses of political action, that the technolconcern. Yet many who are familiar to avoid this. The techoology of teleogy i s being promoted by and selective- vision, on the other hand, has a greater with the issues would agree that nonly adapted for the purposes of powerful potential as a self-managed community environmental hazards-such as vested interests. proliferation of nuclear weapons resource. Television sets, broadcasting Use by elites. Centralised political capability, terrorism, and threats to facilities and oroeranmes could. and economic control is characteristic civil liberties-are much more imporconceivably, be produced under conof worker^id community equally of nuclear power and of television ditions tant in a fundamental sense. It may be that environmental objections Challenges mounted against either of co,,trol. indeed, with cheap,di eo these technologies would also be a threat equipment and increasing have obtained currency precisely for of ,,ideo to this centralised control. In the case of cassettes, somi the reason that they do not seem of thesepossibilities to be political. The apparently apolitical nuclear power and other large-scale seem to be coming nearer. However, objection thus serves as a basis for energy technologies, a primary factor it i s not clear that these alternatives political action about a technology is the sheer scale of economic investvet ~rovidemuch of a threat to cenment and the enormity of the infrawhich does indeed have immense iralised broadcasting. political effects. structure involved in electricity grids, These points suggest that a camMander devotes more space to his production facilities, energy-using paign against television would need argument 3, which is concerned with equipment, urban planning and the to consider carefully the desirability the effects of television on the human like. Communication technologies do or otherwise of possibilities such as being, than to any other argument. not (yet) rival this level of economic community access television. Similar One of the important points he makes and structural investment. On the other problems arise in assessing some energy i s that there i s an extreme scarcity of hand, television i s more deeply enmesh- technoloeies. such as tidal- power or studies on the neurophysiological effects ed in social and psychological patterns .:@ solar power towers. In thecase of of television. Another problem in throughout the community, through its nuclear technology, it is possible to role in implanting general perspectives justify categorical opposition-except .. and attitudes and in inducing passive perhaps for radioactive isotope productions. In the case of television, ..,$? categorical opposition i s likely to be ,<,*-* less easy to sustain as a public demand.

that TV is inherently unreal, unhealthy, simplistic and authoritarian: it should sim~lvbeabolished. ' Brian Martin has been looking at what ananti-televisioncampaign would mean.

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Undercurrents43 Effects on activists. Nuclear power in its role as a technology does not have a great direct effect on activists, except perhaps in causing a few cancers. (Nuclear power does o f course give rise to a great deal of activism, and to efforts by corporations and the state to oppose this activism.) Television, on the other hand, has a great dirtct impact on activists and on activism in general. Most activiststhough probably a smaller percentage than the general populace-watch television some of the time. More importantly, the general level o f social activism i s almost certainly reduced, being displaced by the millions of person-hours spent before television screens each day. Then there are the physiological and psychological effects of television, so well described by Mander. which combine to induce passivity, to reduce touch with reality and to increase cravings for immediate stimuli and results. These effects coutd hardly be better designed to inhibit efforts towards long-term political organising at the grass-roots.

Ifa drug isdefined, very generally, as an artificial cause of change in physiilobical or psychologicalfunctioning, television is one of modern society's most pervasive and addictive drugs. Marie Winn4 cites studies and presents many examples to show that breaking the television habit almost uniformly leads to improvements in individual and group well-being. Yet these very studies and examples also testify to the extreme difficulty of permanently kicking the habit. This suggests that a campaign against television must clearly address the need to break the television viewing habit. Those who have succeeded in doing this are prime candidates for an anti-television movement, just as cyclists are likely uandidates for campaigns against automobitisation. Perhaps thought could be given to setting up Television Addicts Anonymous (TVAA), an analogue to Alcoholics Anonymous

and Synanon. (Unfortunately, however, such organisations are not noted as being prime recruiting grounds for participants in other social movements.) Alternatives. The anti-nuclear power movement began, and for some years was, primarily an opposition movement, vocally against nuclear power but with little comment about alternatives. This exclusively negative stance has often been criticised by both supporters and opponents of the movement. But this situation "id not last. For some years, well researched and thought outalternatives have been advocated, involving varying proportions of conservation, renewable energy technologies and social and institutional changes. Groups such as Environmentalistsfor Full Employment are forging links between environmentalistsand workers. These developments have put the nuclear industry very much on the defensive. A campaign against television and other centralised information technologies and systems likewise would be well advised to work out a

clear alternative. This might involve local newspapers, local presses, local radio broadcasting, CB radio, telephone networks, courier information distribution systems, workplace or community meetings and public notice boards. Planning and managing local information systems might be done by groups of volunteers, by groups with elected or rotating membership, or by groups chosen randomly (like the jury system). The alternatives certainly would involve adapting and creating communication technologies for local and individual needs. And, of course, the alternative would need to provide a clear threat to prevailing systems of centrally controlled and manipulated media. Some attention should also be paid to providing alternatives for the function of television as an anaesthetic and automatic child-minder. Such alternatives might include communal living, drop-Fn centres, and more sociable and attractive sociĂ&#x192;Â§l.ac$@ ,, organisations. L %

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Campaigning without television In the meantime, activists i n all movements need t o consider carefully their relation t o television. Here are some suggestions that seem t o me t o follow from what Mander has argued. 1. Individuals should watch television as little as possible. If there are significant numbers o f programmes considered important by activist groups-such as daily news programmesperhaps one or two members, rotated frequently, could be assigned the task (or pleasure?) o f viewing them. 2. Television should not be used for getting one's message across. For most small grass-roots organisations this is not possible anyway. But for rich environmental organisations, some unions, and political parties, there i s often a pressure to try t o compete in getting one's message across on television. Completely avoiding television advertising and refusing t o compete can help discredit television as a balanced medium. It mieht be that such a policy would lead eventually, in the manner o f co-option, t o offers of freeevpq time. But in any case, funds would S*% be released for alternative modes of mR< fc"communication w!iic'i are less t-.^l^l,Ă&#x192; inherently biased. 3. The value o f publicity-seekingdemonstrations, stunts, scaremongering, contrived stories-should be carefully scrutinised in the light o f television's inherent limitations. The alternatives-patient grass-roots organising, collective working out of strategies, building up local bases o f support and the like-should be considered on their merits, indepen2. dent o f publicity value. 4. Alternative communication networks, and their relation to the group's goals, should be used whenever possible. I n using television, a few people do something and many people watch. I n moving towards a selfmanaged society, the aim should be t o attain just the opposite result.

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Some other perspectives on television and media in general are given by Robert Cirino, Don't blame the people: how the news media use bias, distortion and censorship t o manipulate public opinion (Los Angeles: Diversity Press; 1971). .. Hans Maenus Ensensbereer. - . The Consciousness industry: on literature, politics and the media (New York:

3. DaviS Dickson, ~lternativetechnology and the politics of technical change {London: Fontana, 1974). Godf* Boyk, Peter Harper and the editor of "d-wents (&')vRUdw Te*"O@' (London: Wfldwood House, 1976). 4. Marie Winn, The plw-indtug (New York: Viking, 1977).

Brian Martin

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Jndercurrents 43 !

Even smokers will accent a connection between tobacco and luna cancer, but contest thestatistical relationship between smoking and other cancers or circulatory diseases. Michael Castleman reports on some research that suggests that radioactive particles in tobacco could explain all. .-,-,* ?AÂ£Â¥%

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Dublic health hazard are unrelentinelv Last year nearly 100,000" ' people i n the United States died from lung cancer, 80 per cent of them smokers. And for those smokers who didn't face a lung tumor, each &arette drastically increased their, chances of developing heart disease, or cancer o f the mouth, throat, bladder a pancreas.

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cigarette smoke trigger the majority of diseases associated with smoking. - Or,. to put it more succinctly, cigarettes are radioactive. The grouo - . o f scientists who suuuort the warm particle theory i s admittedly small at the moment, but it includes some , o f the nation's leading authorities on the health effects o f radiation, such as j . Dr. Edward P. Radford, professor o f . environmental epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Public Heal& School and chairman of the B.E.I.R. Committee (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation) o f the prestigious National Academy o f Sciences. In a recent interview, Radford said the warm particle theory provides 'far andaway the most likely explanation of the production mechanism of the srnokingrelated diseasest-

, polonium 210.

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The 210s: Radon's Dangerous Daughters '

The specific alpha emitter in tobacco smoke is polonium 210, a naturally occurring decay product - or "daughter" - o f radium 226, another natural radioisotope. Back in 1964, B.E.I.R. Committee Chairman Radford was involved i n cigarettelcancer research at Harvard A perplexing problem, however, has University with Dr. Vilma Hunt, now a . plagued research into the cigarettesenior official o f the Environmental related diseases. Scientists have known Protection Agency. I n the course of for decades that smoking is associated their research, they noticed something with many serious illnesses, but they oddly intriguing about tobacco smoke. have never been quite sure how. The It contained small but significant precise mechanism of cigarette-induced amounts of polonium 210. They disease production has proved frustratpublished this finding in science' the ingly elusive. And thislack o f proof has nation's pre-eminent scientific journal. contributed to the perpetuation of The following year, they collaborated certain myths that keep smokers smoking. But Isn't Everything Radioactive? with other researchers on a report For example, there is the 'organic published inthe New England journal Everything is slightly radioactive. Our gardener's myth' that the chemical of Medicine, the country's most soil, food, water and bodies all contain additives used in commercial cigarette prestigious medical journal, which trace amounts of naturally occurring production are the cause o f smokers' showed significant concentrations of 1 radioactive isotopes. Significantly, health problems. polonium 210 in smokers' bronchial however, the vast majority of these It makes sense that cigarette smoke, tissue. That paper suggested that the background radioactive particles are which contains many proven chemical cumulative alpha radiation dose from soluble in water. When they enter the carcinogens, should cause lung cancer polonium 210 inhaled during years of body, more than 90 per cent o f which from simple accumulation over time. smoking might be an important factor is water, they go into solution and are But despite tens of millions o f dollars in the development of smokers' lung quickly excreted, resulting in no longspent on research, scientists still do not cancers. term internal build-up of radioactive understand why smokers are at risk forOther scientists criticised this sludge. heart disease, but specifically possibility because polonium 210, which Tobacco, like everything else, conatherosclerosis, the build-up of fatty has a radioactive half-life o f only 138 tains trace elements of radioactivity, deposits on artery walls. Nor have they days, is deposited in the lungs largely most of which is also soluble in water. shown why smokers are at risk for on particles soluble in water. Critics said But some of the radioactive particles in bladder and pancreatic cancer. Why it seemed unlikely that a relatively shorttobacco are insoluble. They don't wash those organs? Why not others closer to lived radioisotope that was routinely out, but accumulate in the lungs and the lungs? washed from the lungs could expose bombard delicate lung tissue with lowFor the past 16 years, a small group lung tissue to enough radiation to level alpha radiation, the same kind of of scientists, largely ignored by the induce cancer. radiation emitted by plutonium. While cancer research establishment, has Enter Dr. Edward Martell, a radioalpha particl s outside the body are gathered evidence that appears to solve chemist with the National Center for not particula ly dangerous, inside the the riddles o f the cigaretteldisease Atmosuheric Research in Boulder. body especially in the lungs, they pose mechanism. Like so many other colorado, and author o f more than 75 a serious health hazard. One onescientific break-throughs, their view, scientific research papers. I n 1974 and millionth of a gram of plutonium in the called the 'warm particle theory', i s 1975, he followed up the work o f lung, for example, virtually guarantees Simple, elegant and comprehensive.The warm particle theory says that insoluble, lung cancer within 20 years.'~he specific Radford and Hdnt with two papers on aloha-emitter in tobacco smoke i s the radioactivity t oke. one

Undercurrent in NatureJthe British equivalent o f Science. Usingfunds provided by the National Science Foundation,\whose ' research grants, he said, are less influenced by the tobacco interests titan those o f the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the nation's largest supporter of health research, Martell, took a fresh look at the work begun 6y Radford and Hunt. He discovered that the tiny leaf hairs on tobacco, called trichomes, attracted significant amounts o f lead 210, another radioactive decay product o f radium 226, and a close precursor daughter t o polonium 210. Unlike the largely water-soluble cigarette smoke particles that carried polonium 210 into the lung, lead 210 in cigarette smoke was "highly concentrated in insoluble smoke particles." In other words, the lead 210 would not wash out of the lung. It would remain there and during i t s 22-year half-life, it would decay into alpha-emitting polonium 210. Martell asserted that the build-up of insoluble lead 210 particles in the lung would result in accumulations o f decay-produced polonium 210 that would "continue to build up during the period of smoking." Martell then looked at the distribution o f polonium 21 0 around smokers' bodies and found a rather startling match between polonium 210 accumutation sites and the sites o f smokers' major illnesses. He summarised his own Findings and those of many other wsearehers working in related are? in "Tobacco Radioactivity and Cancer in Smokers", published in American kkntlst?ln the paSper, Martell asserted , that: The unusually high levels o f lead 210 found on tobacco trichbmes and in tobacco smoke came from heavy applications o f phosphate fertilizers used in commercial tobacco farming. These fertilizers contain significant quantities of radium 226, therefore, tobacco soils showed unusually high concentrations of its nine primary decay products. Of these decay daughters, lead 210 showed a "remarkable" affinity for tobacco trichomess When tobacco i s smoked, the insoluble lead 210 particles accumulate in the lung and as they decay into polonium 210, the small cell populations around the polonium particles are subjected to alpha radiation, or "hits", hundreds o f times greater than naturally occurring background radiation levels.

If the polonium 210 particles were highly radioactive "hot" particles, the

would simply kill lung cells. They are not "hot", but "warm". Warm particles low-level radiation does kill some cells, but the crucial factor in their role in carcinogenesis i s that they Injure other lung cells-by altering their genetic coding K

If Martell's warm particle theory it correct, the disease consequences of smoking ere caused by the radium 226 in the phmphato fertilizer! used in tobacco farming. In a recent interview, Martell said that eliminating these fertilizers that is, growing tobacco organically would prevent the introduction of alpha emitters into smokers' bodies and result in safer cigarettes. He added that organically grown tobacco would not make cigarettes cornpletely safe carcinogenic tars would still be present in tobacco smoke. But Martell said he believes organic tobacco farming would reduce considerably smokers' risk of lung cancer and other illnesses. If this regard, it is interesting to note that members of an Indian tribe in the Andes smoke tobacco regularly, yet almost never develop lung cancer. Their tobacco is organically grown.

Manell approached scientists at the Philip Morris Research Centre in Richmond Virginia and discussed his ideas about producing safer cigarettes. . "They weren't interested." he aid. Tobacco is a nutrient-hungry plant. Eliminating the fertilizer would reduce yields. American cigarette consumption may be slowfy leveling off, but in the Third World, sates ere booming as never before. Third World peoples see smoking , as an emblem of national progresc, and smoking American cigarettes is often considered a status symbol. The haalth risks of smoking ere also less widely known. The Philip Morris scientists told Martell 'no thanks' beKey apparently prefer high tobacco crop yields with high lung cancer rates to lower yields with tha possibility'of substantially safer cigarettes.

while s t i l l leaving them able to reproduce. Over several cell generations alpha hits sustained by successive daughters cells that already contain alpha-altered DNA become cancerous. Martell calls this a "multiple mutation process." Unexpectedly large amounts of the

210s are found i n smokers' lung t q q ~' . Unexpectedly high levels of thtf ' 210sare also found in lymph nodesadjacent to the sites of smokel-s' . ' f $ secondary canters. Some insoluble 210 particles are picked upby the lymph svstem and circulated around the bodv. ,, collecting in lymph nodes and irradiating nearby organs. Smokers' secondary cancers "almost invariably occur at sites immeditely adjoining lymph nodes with visible accumulatiom of insoluble particles and measurable radioactivity," tor example, the pancreas. Finally,-the fatty arterial deposits that characterise atherosclerosis also show "anomalously high concentrations of alpha activity," which suggests that "the high incidence of early coronaries among cigarette smokers may be explained by the accumulation of insoluble radioactive smoke particles at the plaque sites."

What To Do With a Hot Potato Martell's papers were greeted with a thundering silence when they were published five years ago. The tobacco industry couldn't disprove anything I said', he recalled in a recent interview, 'so their scientists simply ignored the'papers and hoped no one else would pursue my work '. No one did, not even the nontobacco-affiliated scientists studying tobacco-related illnesses. 'You have to remember', Martell said, 'that the entire field of low-level radiation and health is still pretty new and very controversiaf. Back in 1974 and 1975, it was almost unheard of, especially by cigarette/ cancer researchers, all of whom were studying the many chemical carcinogens in tobacco smoke. Most of them are still working on the chemistry of smoking today, not on the radio chemistry'. B.E.1.R.Committee Chairman Radford said, 'Martdl hasn 't proVed the warm particle theory, but no one has refuted it, either. The warm particle theory is controversial, but is must be taken seriously '. Radford said he was not surprised that so little research has been funded to check Martell's findings. 'It's no accident', he stated, 'The tobacco lobby and the nuclear lobby are two of the biggest in Washington. They don't control research funding; let'siust say they have disproportionate influence. The nuclear industry does not wont the warm particle theory togain credibility because it would prove once and for all that low-level radiation is dangerous. That would mean big downward revisions'In radiation exposure fitnits, revisions the nuclear industry cannot afford. A d the

tobacco industry certainly doesn 't want

it shown that cigarettes are radioactive. It's a case of parallel interests Tor two major lobbies'.

Picking Up the Pieces Martell's work sat largely unnoticed for several years. But with the emergence of the antinuclear movement, interest in warm particle theory began to heat up. Partly as a result of anti-nuclear activists' concern about the health effects o f lowlevel'radiation, Martell has received 1200 requests for reprints of his summar! article, Tobacco Radioactivity and Cancer in Smokers, (American Scientist vol.6 3, July-August 1975, pp. 404-412j. In addition,smokersl lung burdens of lead 210 and polonium 210 are slowly beginning to creep into public health estimates o f Americans' overall radiation exposure. The B.E.I.R. Committee, which contains several pro-nuclear scientists, has yet to pass judgement on the warm particle theory, but Radford remains firm in his belief that it provides the best explanation of the disease consequences of smoking. 'I expect', he said, 'that in the next few years we'II see growing Interest in the warm particle theory. It's an idea whose time appears. to be arriving Pass the word: cigarettes are radioactive. Michael Castleman

Reprinted from Medical Self-Cars, a quarterly journal for 'access to health tools', S20 a year from MSC, PO 60% 717, Inverness, CA 94937, USA. Michael Castleman is the author of Problwn Free Lovemaking: For Men end the Women Who Love Them (Simon & Schuster).

Wood is a renewable fuel. And wood fires are bright and cosy. But m a wood stoves are inconvenient to use and maintain. They're inefficient, too, which means the needless chopping of trees for firewood. A new 'breakthrough' in wood stove design could solve all these problems, as Mike Talbot reports.

Furnace

THE KEY to this woodburning iystem is the combustion chamber. Referring to the diagrams you will see .hat the combustion and the flow o f t i e flue eases takes place in refractory ;hambers. Refractory cements (these ire castable-type refractories) can withstand high heat and can contain he heat better than steel. Ideally ve would use refractories that are o w s t in density but highest in nsulating value. However, these-same Â¥efractorieare lowest in strength. As I compromise, we have a heavy duty Â¥efractorfor the chambers with he most abrasion (Furnacrete Zoarse) and a light weight, insulating afractory for the rest (IRC 22). rhese chambers were cast in forms nade from one-foot lengths o f ound ducts. Sufficient oxygen for combustion s provided through two sources. Secondary air i s pulled through a twonch black iron pipe (leading into he primary combustion chamber) by he induced draft fan located at the

the combustion chamber through a one-inch black iron pipe. This pipe iscast into the refractory chamber with enough of the side exposed to allow for ten or eleven quarter-inch holes drilled one-half inch on centre. The t~rbiilenceprovided by the forced -'<raftfan insures proper mixing with the pyrolysis gases to attain complete combustion.

The Water Jacket One major innovation (perhaps the most important development in wood burning technology since the air-tight stove) is the water jacket. The idea comes from the excellent research by Dr. Richard Hill of the University of Maine in Orono. In fact his work provides the core of our combustion chamber design. His design involves a hot water heat exchanger with hot water storage, while ur design utilizes the stainless steel ue as a heat exchanger within a rock bin storage. The water jacket is

CUMBUSTION CHAMBER DRAWING AIR TIGHT COVER

1 Radford and Hunt, "Polonium 210: A Volatile Radio-element in Cigarettes", Science, 1964, volume 143, P M 247-249. ~ 2 Little, at. al. "Distribution of Polonium in Pulmonary Tissue* of Cigarette Smokers," Atew EnglandJournal o f Medians, 1965. volume 273, pages 1343-1351. 3 Martell. "Radioactivity of Tobacco Trlchornm and Insoluble Cigarette Smoke PTtlcles," Nature. 1974. volume 249, pages 215-21 7. 4 Mtrtell, 'Tobacco Radio-activity and Cancer in Smokers", AmricenScientist, 1976, volume 63. pages 4 0 4 4 1 2. 6 Ibid. 6 lbid. 7 Mullar, "Radiation Damage to Genetic MneritI", Science in Progress, 7th Series, 1960, Yale University Press, pages 93-165. 8 Mart*Il, Americen Scientist, op. cit. 9 Hatch and Grow. Pulmomry Damsition and Retention of Inhaled Aerosols, Academic Press, New York, 1964. 10 Mlifll, American Scientist, op. cit. 11 ElkÃ§lm"Atheroicleroiis and RadioÂ¥ctivjty, Journal o f tfn American Geriatric SocHty, 1966, volume 1 4 ( 9 ) . p ~895-901. ~. 12 Mlrttll,Ameliesn Scientist, op. cit.

ROCK BIN STORAGE

WALL

22GAUGE; INSIDE ROCK STORAGE]

16" SCHEDULE 10 14" SCHEDULE 10

INSULATING PLASTER PBIMARY Aiq PLASTER COATING Or -STRUCTURAL SKIN"[FORMERLY

MUDiL VU 3G1S

BLOCKBOND"] SECONDARY AIR. INDUCED BY TJERNLUN AUTO FLOWINOUCLD DRAFT FAN; MOOEL I

FUBNACECRETE REFRACTORY

+JON-COMB'JSTIB~E PAD

o f the stainless steel flue ipe. Primary air is provided by the draft fan which blows into

REFRACTORYTUNNEL the same in both designs. The wood is loaded through the water jacket. Water flows through the water , ,

~Jw

Undercurrents43

lhonlhg, * ' Overall this i s the major problem in jacket by gravity I mowsjtbrough -1-112 in@black,iron"( . g... n& @ &y , p i m and t h q goes into a heat ex\ *, . M g i n g steel tank within the rock Designing Principles bin storage. This flow of water keeps Our original design involved refracthe wood within the water jacket tory combustion chambers, forced below ignition temperature. Thus and induced'draft fans, etc. With the only the wood below the water WATER JACKET FLOW DIAGRAM

burning or releasing those gases. Therefore, only the 'bottom! of , wood bums, that is the wood &at& actually in the refractory chamber: As' this portion burns and other portions drop into the combustion chamber, additional quantities of the pyrolysts gases are released. The net result is that portions o f the wood are in different stages o f combustion simultaneously. Now the fuel curve looks more like a straight line (indicating a constant amount of fuel). Carburetion becomes possible, resulting in very high efficiency without any creosote formation-and that goes just as much for pine as for hardwoods! You will notice in the drawings that the combustion chamber is built into the rock bin storage. The flue pipe loops once through the rock storage, releasing the heat into the storage. A circulating fan within the rock stroage helps spread the heat throughout the rock storage. That is not t o say stratification is eliminated. The hot air is eventually drawn off the top of the storage so stratification is not actually a problem. We want the hottest air to come t o the top; The house central heating duct-work is tied into the rock storage in a manner similar to that used in solar rock storages. '* Mike Tafcot

jacket (within the refractory chamber] actually burns. As t h i s section burns away the unburned wood above drops into the chamber to be burned.

Wood Burning Chemistry The chemistry of wood burning is quite coiftplex and involves not just on< fuel (as i n coal or oil) but many. Fifty percent o f the available BID'S (British Thermal Units) in wood is stored in the solid 'char'. This fuel remains stationary and all wood burning devices adequately burn off this fuel. The other fifty percent of the available YTU's is stored in a group of hydrocarbon gases known as pyrolysis gases. These gases are,generated from heating wood and have ignition temperatures ranging between 72SÂ° (methanol) and 1128OF (carbon monoxide). Ordinary wood stoves not only fail to operate within this temperature range but the gases are released over a Short period of time which makes the 'fuel curve' vary widely over the total burning cycle: This makes carburetion (the proper airfuel mixture) impossible to attain at the highest efficiencies. As much of these gases are vented to the chimney, there aii three ttiajor results: low efficiency, pollution of the atmosphere and chimney condensation (creosote).

storage capability we could burn the wood hot enough with sufficient oxygen t o volatilize most of the fuel but proper carburetion was still impossible because the amount o f fuel varied so dramatically. By introducing Hill's water jacket we can now keep the upper portion of the wood from

This article is reprinted from Afternative Sources o f Energy magazine, Subscriptions cost $18 for 6 Issues a year, from Route 2, Box 90&, Milaca, MN56353, USA. 1 Mike Talbot can be contacted the Community School, Packard M se, PO Box 450, Stoughton, MA 02072.

Undercurrents 43

Braii.:ashing for the

Erhard Seminar Training (EST) may or may not bring flashes of 'enlightenment' to i t s 'graduates'. But its methods have the effect of conditioning people to accept totalitarianism, as Jean Freer has discovered.

ONCE THERE WAS a saying i n the East that went: 'When iron birds fly, enlightenment will come to the West'. Air travel has facilitated the exchange of ideas between distant cultures, and the cultural exchange programme that enables table tennis teams to travel to other lands is no doubt a good thing. But such superficial contact discourages the in-depth exploration of a previous age and gives great impetus to eclecticism. Schools of thought and practice consisting o f components from a variety o f sources have multiplied. One such 'path to enlightenment' is est-short for Erhard seminar trainings, Est is based i n San Francisco, California and~ecentlyexpanded into Europe and Asia, with an office in Bombay. Est can indeed lead t o increased self-awareness and one can experience moments o f heightened perception which can be termed enlightenment. It is not my intention t o impugn the Est founder, Werner Erhard, his ethics or his intentions. Many people feel that Erhard is the messenger of enlightenment and they know that 'Werner loves them'. Silt i n order to 'get it' through est, one must accept the est structure and the est beliefs as practiced. And this acceptance prepares people to accept the pseudo-liberal totalitarianism that is rapidly gaining strength at this time.

your agreement and remain i n the training. The assistant may even imply that you may not be a 'big enough person' to handle this. Meanwhile precious minutes go by as the training progresses and no one will be able t o fill you i n on what you have missed until the next break, which i s four hours away. It is possible, o f course, t o leave the training, and the trainer spends the first day inviting you t o do so. A t least one person always does leave, and this i s seen t o be 'part o f their training'. Those who remain feel fused into a group by the action o f the one who refused t o join them. This feeling o f being individually important while at the same time remembering that one is an infinitely replaceable part (a 'trainee'), is an essential aspect o f the personality required t o adapt easily to totalitarianism.

Rigid Hierarchy

All est workers are representatives of Werner. All est personnel have, for the purpose of the training, submerged their own personalities into the est type - powerful, demanding, certain and rigid. This rigidity results partly from the hierarchical structure which requires all ideas t o be checked by Werner before they are implemented. as everyone i s acting in his name. Despite this, there is sufficient opportunism i n the est elan, a basic interest in survival as a prime goal, to make i t No Talking in Class responsive t o demands from 'the Once you agree t o 'allow yourself t o people'. When I attended my posthave the training', you.agree t o abide by training session i n London in 1977 a certain rules. Although est is about graduate suggested organising coffee understanding and learning t o overcome evenings and the trainer shouted back: our obstacles i n communicating with 'No I don't support blowing smoke one another, 'no talking' is an est ground rings in each other's ears. What you rule by which all trainees agree t o abide. should do is work through your local This means you do not talk to the est office'. And no office will forward people you are sitting with: i n fact, all post t o graduates trying t o contact conversation ceases as you enter the one another. Yet eventually in 1979 training room. You are told which seat I received a card inviting me t o an est t o take by est graduate assistants, whose coffee evening in rural Wiltshire; and manner reminds you that you have the monthly est journal, the Graduate agreed t o obey. Practicing submission Review, now urges you t o volunteer t o belligerence i s an important social t o have an est coffee evening i n your conditioning experience. home. Another agreement i s t o be on time. Every trainer says 'I only play games Should you be late, an assistant reminds I've already won'. The 'game theory' you that you made an agreement, to view o f life makes the seriousness of ascertain if you s t i l l wish t o abide by est acceptable t o those whose bias is

...,

~ n skepticism. d It also rationa enables trainees t o accept being calle 'an asshole'. You have 'got' the first part o f the est message when you accept/realise for yourself that in 'dogshit' language you are 'an asshole'. This revelation is obviously true i n some sphere for everyone. But while it is refreshing t o have the freedom to use 'obscene' words, the continued use o f language called 'dog shit' contributes t o breaking down our psychic barriers. The fact that the trainer does not use a microphone but shouts at you for the four and a half day training also adds t o this effect.

Overcoming Psychic Defences The trainer and the est assistants who flash up and down the aisles with mikes never seem t o tire. The hours are long, from early morning t o very late at night, regualted by the well-known est guarantee o f maximum o f one food break per day with three 'pee breaks' at four hour intervals'. The purpose of this is t o help people see how they are governed ('at effect') by their habits rather than i n control ('at cause') about their actions. You also agree t o abstain from mind altering drugs (except coffee, cigarettes, soft drinks and sugar) during the training and t o refrain from the practice o f any usual discipline. The ostensible purpose o f this is t o enable you t o see what is est and what isn't. But it also enables est t o act on you during a period o f reduced psychic defence due t o the withdrawal one experiences from, say, suspending a meditation practice. Moreover, a we1 known way t o influence people is to radically disrupt the pattern of their daily lives. To help the trainees cope with the pace, the programme is varied and adrenalin stimulants are provided. Each person, when acknowledged by the trainer t o stand and be handed a microphone, unfolds their personal story o f awareness, often being moved t o tears. The catharsis o f the crying should not be considered insignificant; for many who 'take est' this display o f emotion is their first i n many a long ye Its impact on others i n that closed environment can be, and often is, electric.

The other trainees acknowledge this . sharing by applause. Receiving applause is something we $l seem t o long for in this life and it Is prodded as a fringe benefit for 'keeping your agreements'. i f had an interestingincounter when, tosequent to rny,trainmg, 1 went to ~ i p p ewith r an est enthusiast-a several nonate, of co~rse-~nd s. We were all old scnool and my visit t o the area had t Us together. After supper I' asked l ~ ha lot ~ of ~scinntolw ~ # in ~ est, isn't there?' 'Yes', answered the enthusiast and wasabout to expand on this when one of the others said 'What's Scientology?' At this the zealot refused to say anything further and when I tried to return to the subject later, told me Iwas 'blowing it'.

Upper-class Scientology Ibelieve it is the elements of sciend o g y and Ă&#x201A;ÂĽwitnessingthat makes so popular. Most o f its fotloWers are those who avoid scitintofogy and ist religions such as Baptism and Rollers because they see those movements as too working class. By high fees and meeting in middle-toupper echelon hotels, est gives a veneer o f respectability t o these emotionally intense phenomena which middle class p@&e se@mt o need before they can participate, By demanding no talking and allowing no touching, each irfdividual i s enabled to feel part of a group. without in fact having any personal interaction with the others. This is facilitated by the relationship to the trainer- and by fostering the notion that we afe all the same. Trainers quite obviou~ydifferentiate in their treatmerit of and attitudes towards each trainee. Trainees are given intense emotional stimulation while being physically inviolabld, allowing them ' to retain their illusion o f personal dignity in,the midst of such degrada-

akin to a 'super race' runs the e s t organisation. ^y, G~

order propaganda

Each 'process', or est in-training exercise, begins with the total relaxation familiar to many yoga practitioners. The trainer then reads a statement jokingly referred t o by many trainees as 'the brain-washing propaganda'. It includes: There i s beauty in order. I know and it i s all

reminds you that i f you fly in the face of 'what is' in the physical or social world you will be served with the consequences. One est goal is t o make you more effective, able t o live without 'efforting', and in achieving this you give UP resistance and accept the est version o f 'what is' in the social world. This constructed reality 'stjlves' very neatly some of the difficulties we are facing in the new age. Over-crowding, for example, can be dealt with through regimentation, one channel communicatibn and passive absorption of information. Est is, as it is named. a seminar training programme and those who corn fete it are graduates Est meetings ta e place i n the sterile and impersonal environment o f hotel function rooms. People sit in rows o f chairs facing a stage where an elevated director's chair i s placed next to a podium. The language, too, reflects this order. Simple slogans like 'I've got if' That's OK' 'Great' 'I'm dogshit you're an asshole' are generalisations which actually limit linguistic meaning. They restrict our ability t o think about ideas and ultimately limit our understanding.

Kinder. Krche md ~ r e c h e ' ~

But perha s the most frightening asp"" of est s its adherence t o the infamous philosophy of 'kinder, kirche, creche' as telafes to women. A t the end of eaeh training, the trainer's wife (and children) are introduced to the group. The wife is praised for her devotion in 'handling all the physical aspects of the+iomel, especially the children, and a i y travel arrangements. This introduction is often accompanied by a story o f how she On^ had a b u d d i v career but now considers herself one of the est staff. This is of course the usual delusion-she is unpaid and it is in fact her husband who is on the est staff. Although there was, at the time Itook mY training, o* woman trainer, Idid hot see her introduce her husband in a similar way. In any case thp aggressive stance of est sits uneasily on her, and highlights the more aggressive aspects of est 'enlightenment'. But Werner loves y y and he knows t h $ ~ o d l o v ~ h i m If - ~You are an est graduate you have contributed to changing the world. SO Erhard anks you for taking the est training. ' it a bad thing, if it makes people, even ifit is only some peopte, happy? How can love be dangerous?

right for me to know and to manifest this'. Is t h i s evidence that est i s a refuge for the law 'n'order contingent, now w i n g the guise of enlightened philosophers? Est seems t o help tho* with, unexamined lives to 'come out1, to be themselves; but it does not seem to teach awareness of one's bigotry ' towards others, nor o f the ways in which group pressure can be applied. Part of Werner's philosophy isthat we i r e all 'coming from' or existing in a sate of, love, that everyone values life. and that a state of war i s , bad. But the medium is the message, and est i s primarily'a head trip with little physical interaction. The words tion. 1believe est wceeds because it appeals are good but the behaviour i s at odds with all we associate with love, to the repressed irrationality o f selfparticularly i n that all social interdefined rationalists and because it conaction must be channelled via the structs a mechanistic order in the void trainer. This works to keep people left by the nihilism and skepticism o f apart, unable to receive real love and so many 20th century Westerners. comfort from one another and getting Bt is pervaded with the work ethk. , only the abstract love of Werner The more Werner-like ybu a r ~the through his trainer/emissaries-and o w e demanding. Est graduate's feel somehow more important than noneven then only if you believe it is graduates, or unconverted heathens. happening, not because it is real in (tisexpected that anyone becoming - your experience. , involved with est will speed up their Est uses gravity as an example of OWIT lives to keep pace. This stress on 'what \$'-itbelieves in a verification lean Fn speed is accompanied by an overof reality based on the physicA,world. Refmncex emphasis on efficiency. There is adefAs est children are taught: 'The. inbfeeling that only the 'best' can ultimate test for reality i s ~hysicalness'.~1. 1980 Gractuale Review p.vS~cem& I have my doubts about this view of 1979/January keep up, and those who collapse are somehow inferior and therefore unreality, and wonder what-occultists ' 2. 1980 ~raduate&view p a . and others would mate of it. Est worthy o f real concern. Something 1979/Janlory

Property, in Proudhons's view, is t h e k ~ u t i n theyiew of those almostforgotten reformers, the Distributists;Property is dimply BadlyDistributed. Mark Pedlar believes that these ideas of yesteryear could have some relevance today.

Ă&#x201A;

comparatively small number. DistribuDISTRIBUTISM, a precursor of the tists did not consider the rise of present 'back to the land' movement, Capitalism out of small property to cave rise to the Diitributist League, have been an inevitable historical which lasted from 1926 to 1963 and established two agricultural settlements process. English history showed that social institutions, such as guilds, had at Langenhoe in Essex and Laxton in safeguarded welldivided property Northamptonshire. Distributism was alien to the genera] until they were deliberately broken down. To Distributists, the restoration trend , ~the f times and failed as a of small property was possible, but practical movement. But i t s principles could only be successful if accompanied deserve re-examination in the light of by regulations making for its preservatoday's circumstances. The basis of Distributism as set forth tion. What u q considered inevitable by by its best known proponent, Hilaire Distributists was that State Socialism Belloc, i s the belief that economic would be born as the intellectual fruit freedo-n can only be achieved in a state of Qpltalism. It would, they thought, of widely distributed control of the be seen as logical that property already Means of Production-which, in pracin the possession of a few should finally tice, means widelydistributed property become amassed in a single hand. The in land and capital. Distributists believidea of State ownership itself was based ed that an economy consisting preon the illusion that an individual could dominantly of small farmers, small 'experience ownership of something retail traders and small workshops over which he or she had no personal could be maintained in a well-divided control. Capital and State Socialism and equitable condition so long as both denied epnomic freedom because customs and laws safeguarding small both prevented the mass of people from property were strictly upheld. Otherusing small property to their own ends. wise welldistributect-property would inevitably, through the action , , But Distributism, by restoring welldivided property, would allow economic of unchecked competition, become freedom to co-exist with a satisfactory less and less welldistributed and ultiproduction and distribution of material irately accumulate in the hands of a

i d s . There would not be equal produt... and distribution, however, Distributisn did not represent an ideal solution or offer the chance of perfection. It was not a recipe for egalitarianism. In a Distributive State there would be Some comparatively poor and some compara tively rich, although the spread of wealth would be much more even than in a Capitalist economy. Small, diverse private property was consonant with human nature because it allowed the individual to bpress his or her free will on the environment in the act o f work. Imposed uniformity, on the other nuid, denied economic freedom and h u w free will. Small property was also compatible with social justice so long as it was institutionalised ai carefully maintained, as had been tl case in the past. Distributism did not dictate that the whole economy should be divided without exception into small, privately owned units; but ownership of this sort would be the determining feature of a Distributive State. All mecftsaril large units of production, distribution and exchange would be broken up into smaller units. The criterion of sma size would be the point at which, in a

particular branch of industry, a human relationship could exist between the worker and the whole concern. Ownership in industry above the level of the independent individual or small employer of labour, would'be by shares (properly divided and responsibly controlled), or by worker co-operatives, preferably the latter. Only 'natural

seeming to have least chance o f attainment. For, in Belloc's words, 'England i s the typical example of a country in which the desire for land, and the sense of ownership in it, has, for the mass of the people, fallen to i t s lowest'. Distributism carried with it an historical awareness of what the free peasant stood for-generally, political

possible on the available land if intensive, organic husbandry on small acreages is adopted, and well-divided private holdings are the necessary condition to provide farmers with the incentive to manage the land for future generations and the family smallholding provides for intensive personal contact with the soil, necessary, for example,

In common with Guild Socialist H Cole, the concern of

economic freedom.

the whole community. To this end, both groups advocated a restoration the medieval guild system along modern lines. Each guild would be

Moreover, there i s now a strong social case for land redistribution, in view of the increasing permanent unemployBeuoc, H.(1912) The Servile State (Republish

undercurrents 43

The Theft o f the Countryside by Marion Shoard, Temple Smith 1980, 269 pp, 22 pltes. Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ4.95 THE FARMER is traditionally thought o f as the most responsible custodian o f the countryside but, as modern agriculture steadily impoverish. es the landscape and wildlife of Britain that view is changing. Much has been written about the enroachment o f towns on the countryside but Marion Shoard points a well researched and carefully argued finger of accusation at the farming industry. She argues that lavish gevernment grants, guaranteed prices and exemption from the planning laws have enabled farmers t o destroy the historical, scientific and aesthetic wealth o f the countryside unhindered by oublic involvement and with the active support o f every post-war Government.

have led even the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC), not given t o overstatement, to say that if modern practices were extended to all farms we would lose eighty per cent o f birds and ninety five per cent of butterflies. Already some species such as the Large Blue butterfly and Corncrake have been driven t o extinction or to tiny colonies in nature reserves by modern agriculture. Ms Shoard offers a first rate analysis of the system o f price supports and capital grants which encourage farmers to produce unwanted food at public expense whilst lining their own pockets and irreparably damaging landscape and wildlife. I t is worth reading if only for its simple and lucid description of the baffling Common Agricultural Policy, anc i t i s refreshing t o see the sacredcow o f national self-sufficiency exposed as economic and political nonsense.

They can only offer compensation for leaving it alone or offer t o buy the land. The farmer need not sell or accept any agreement and even if he does the NCC has too little money t o make many such deals. A t the end o f the day there must be a system whereby planning and conservation authorities can prevent a farmer damaging a 'natural feature without compensation and with punitive measures for enforcement. Ms Shoard's main conclusion is that farming must be brought within the Town and Country planning system. This would certainly offer protection for the wider countryside but planning i s not a rational tool for allocating resources, i t is,an intensely political weapon wl ich would be wielded in favour of the established order. Public enquiries would air the issues but one foresees overstretched planning authorities unwilling t o tackle the problems, and a string o f Government decisions in favour o f arming and the national interest. The case i s powerful but not totally convincing. The author shows more interest i n landscape than in scientific conservation and the quotations from English pastoral pcets cloy a little, but overall this is not a sentimental book. It i s a hard edged analysis and attack on agricultural and conservation policy with an optimistic view o f future change wrought by countryside pressure groups. Essential reading. Alan Farleigh

The evidence for such destruction is overwhelming: the drainage o f wetlands, the removal o f broad-leafed woodland, hedgerow removal (4,500 miles annually since the war), ploughing up o f moorland and wholesale afforestation o f tracts o f upland country. Not t o mention the total reliance on pesticides, mineral fertiliz-

The agencies responsible for conservation and the legislation at their disposal are woefully inadequate. The Countryside Commission can influence planning in National Parks but outside, even in the Areas o f Outstanding Natural Beauty which i t designates, i t i s powerless. The NCC can label an area a site o f Special Scientific Interest but

Energy: A Planned Policy N ALGO 108 pp. free from NALGO, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1. 'NALGO can see n o reason why the U K should n o t adopt the same aim as the US-namely, that 20%o f our energy should come from solar power b y the year 2000'. This i s one o f the conclusions o f the revised edition o f NALGO's excellent booklet, Energy: aplannedpolicy, prepareJ by their Energy Policy Advisory Committee for the Union's 1980

lintitedmckgprogramme in line with

TUC policy-it raises all theproblems in a clear way and i s particutacly sound about the Fast

the--

Breeder.

NALGO's current position is that 'Itsupports the continued use of

m l w r PO wer for the generation of electricity, but believes that before any major expansion of the nuclear energy programme, there should beb full and informed public debate (1978 and 1980 Reports.) The debate on nuclear within NALGO is, however, far from resolved, Two rival motions, one strongly proand one strongly anti were passed at^ the 1978 Annual Conference. The first catled for 'the development o f nuclear ~min~effir KÃˆ exhibition at tha Half Moon Photo^why Workshop (d fission using European technology, in order to meet the Community's energy needs by the year 2000 providing adequate safety provisions are enforcThere i s also an undeclared tend&& ed', while the second called for the to run down high speed machines.&,. Government t o 'curtail-the Mlear various occasions, they are descrlhf~: 'mefSY development programme until as distressingly noisy, and emphasis F: i s given to vibrational problems such time as the-resultantwaste can of safety and environm'enthe possibility of approaching the ~~: speed of sound. Meanwhile sailmil! safeguarded*. e-nuclear programme low speeff machinesgenerallyget; wind ~ower~rinciples j. Calvert. Chas. good write-up all the way through. ..: ,: rtced by the Tory government Griffin & Co. Â£6.20 This tendency to favour, perhaps un:'. in December 1979, NALGO has expressconsciously, the Cretan-type low - .: e d 'reservations' about the safety o f Dr. Calvert i s well known in the the PWR, the need-for more capacity, speed sailmill is accentuatedby the ",;, academic world and also in the world and points out that we have ample fact that the pilot plant for ex& ?. of wind energy for his research into fossil fuel reserves. It argues that Tory mpntal work is a simple designoft$$. the operation of Cretan windmills programme is 'premature' and believes' ~.., >,% of<his type. of the type seen on the plain of that 'tne Government does not need Still enough of the grouching. A ~ < Lassithi, pumping water. Until to be pished into taking decisions of book whichcomes out which is going' Sweeney, from Princeton University such magnitude prior to the holding to broaden knowledge on wind 'Â¥ in New York, went there early in the of a full public inquiry'. engineering, must be a good thing 4: 19701s, he was probably alone in the , Dr. Calvert iscertainly enthu,siasQc; :/world pronouncing the virtues of In. many ,ways it is a pity that subtly hidden within the text, are NALGO could not have used more up the sailwing windmill. Yet the chapter such statements as 'thejust/f1c~Uon'@ to date, long term estimates of in the book covers barelv five oases windpowr in a ~ i e t y ~ & q.t#m,If potent) 'renewable' contributionsand although filled withtopical tips to save fuel eaeiyy.aMUhm{&'+@ on the subject, doesn't really get down liketho in the Department of the ~ l a p-rplace d .Mk i i l , : to the fundamental problems of operaEnergy's 1979 Energy Paper 39, which also to keep aliveskiik,.at?d attltwfes. ; amwgstotha thing, indicate theat the ting one of these machines and their which may yet be of wlue '.Certainly,-. u/t/mrte*potential of solar, space and water heating along could be as much as 100 mtce, while solar biofuels and crops might contribute up to 60 mtce. Taken alongside their estimates for Wnd (land-based and offshore) of up to 35 mtce, wave 10-40 m t q , tidal ' 4-10 mtce (Severn) plus 2-3 from . -..- . - . - .. .- - - .-..-- .- . - - - - students to some.of the more modore, other sites, and "several tens of mtce' . of date: the b ~ o k w a ~ f i rpublished st magazines on the subject, includlflt S" from geothermal, it seems likely that in 179 and yet could quite have Undercurrents, which would e W . 3 we could ultimately meet at least half been written in -69because it contains our primaryenergy needs from none of the greatadvances that have , them to find Out what was h d P ^ i in 1980 rather than i n .~ 1960. Peopte;.;? . been achieved in the last ten vears. renewable;. wanting to actually build rnachinq.::,,-i Maybe we can look forward to a For example the section on vertical third eoi'tion o f NALGO's report: one ' ' . Axis wind machines only govs as far as rather than to look at t h e f w 0 ;.~ would do much much which tabs these statistics into account, the miMC1sand doesn't miention at all book like jack Parke's machines Peter ...- - ......- like ...... .-. . Mu~erove't which finally comes off the fence a.-.- Variable Geometry and the Variable . . Systems for Exofrimmtwf !X N.A.'m

a New Look at Life o n Earth. .t.Lovelock. Oxford University, Press,

4.95. IOES OUR planet live? This is the "cation posed by the Gaia hypothesis. J.E. I.nvelock, a specialist i n gas ~hromatographyand visiting professor in the Department o f Cybernetics at Reading University, concludes tentatively that it does. He asks how i t is that there have been no substantial interruptions in the 3.5-aeon history o f life on Earth, despite gross fluctuations in solar tputs, land surface properties and nosphere properties, the extremes of which would certainly have removed all life from the planet. The answer, he suggests, lies in the activities o f Gaia. 'We have . . defined Gaia as a complex entity involving the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, oceans and soil, the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physicaland chemical environment for life on this planet'. Gaia is responsible for homeoctasis. the maintenance o f relatively onsiant conditions by active control. Lovelock believes that the homeotatic devices o f Gaia are of such strength that 'if half o f all the nuclear weapons i n the world's arsenals, about '0,000 megatons, were used i n a uclear war the effects. . although 'iorrific for the participants and allies would not be the global devastation so often portrayed. Certain111it would not much disturb Gaia.' Where then are the vital organs o f Gaia? With what must we meddle t o produce devastation o f such magnitude perturb this sanguine Goddess? 'he algae o f the sea and soil surface i n co-operation with the aerobic ecomposers o f the soil and sea-bed, together with anaerobic microflora in the great mud zones o f the continental shelves, sea-bottom, marshes, and wetlands. . . still turn over half o f the Earth's supply o f carbon. The large animals, plants and seaweeds may have important specialist functions, but the greater part o f Gaia's self-regulating activity would still be conducted by micro-organisms'. It is thus t o the sea areas between latitudes 45ON and 45OS that Lovelock points the warning finger o f the considering scientist. I n view o f proposals for the laree-scale farmine o f kelp and the enormous speed withwhich oil and gas extraction technology has colonised the continental shelves, Lovelock corn-

ments: 'Knowing or perhaps even suspecting as much as we know now, it seems unwise t o tamper with these . . It may even be perilous'. regions. Having accepted that Gaia i s a living systern, tan we go on t o attribute intelligeqre t o her? Lovelock asks *, whether this might be the human contribution: 'To what extent i s our collective intelligence also a part o f Gaia? Do we as a species constitute a Gaian nervous system and a brain which can consciously anticipate environmental changes?' One of our unique capacities is for the ordering and storing o f information in systems analogous to the genetic codes in living cells, but at rates o f accumulation much faster than i n the biological processes. Will it be this faculty which allows us to re-establish complete concordance with the creature on whose skin we creep about and, by so doing, to avert catastrophe? Tony Crerar

Past Life

Reliving Past Lives -Helen Warnbach - Arrow Books Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ1.25 Return t o Reincarnation. A rather thin, sketchy book on a fascinating subject. The dramatic cover promises more than i s actually delivered, although the occasional insights lift it out of the category o f forgettable. The author examines 1088 data sheets recording information provided by students o f experiences whilst under hypnosis. The scenes recorded are stated by the students t o have occurred at different times in history from 2000 BC to the 1900s and a r v from various ~ o ~ i t e r n ~ o r details these pericds are cited that confirm

the apparent authenticity o f the events. Contrary to the claims advanced by the publishers, this book proves nothing. Only an individual can assess the truth o f the theory. The use o f statistics and logic t o try and prove something that is by its nature outside statistics and logic is unfortunate. Apart from a short section on modern myths, the information being discussed is n o t presented i n any context; scientific, religious, philosophical or personal. Consequently an introductory readers could well be confused about what the book was actually doing, other than categorising individual mental experiences under hypnosis. The author's approach t o the human mind is rather naive. She assumes that because her students reveal facts and historical details that they could not have been aware of, necessarily proves the existence of a prior life. It i s interesting t o note that Carl Jung i n his work with dreams came t o quite different conclusions t o those o f theauthor when his patients revealed mythological informa tion o f which they had no previous knowledge. Rather than confirming the theory o f re-incarnation, jung considere+ these occurrences were indicative o f what he called the 'collective unconscious'. See J ung's Collected Works. Volume 8. The Structure and Dynamics o f the ~ s y c h eparagraphs 283-342. --- -. Perhaps the author as a clinical psychologist could have explained further the effect on the students' lives o f having experienced what they considered t o be past lives, the relevance o f this theory today for an increasingly anornic youth, the psychological reasons for renewal o f interest i n this subject and the value o f such altered states o f consciousness generally. Overall the impression given by this book i s that the author has taken too narrow an approach t o what is a complex and wide-reaching field. It i s a redundant volume since it adds nothing t o the already immense amoun of published information on the subject. A reader whose interest has been aroused b y this book would be better directed towards 'Death and After' by Annie Besant-The Theosophical Publishing House, and say Chapter 4 o f 'Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception' by Max Heindel-The Rosicrucian

lndercurrents 43

book; or Cobblers iuman Scale Kirkpatrick Sale, Seeker i Warburg, 558 pp. Â£5.95 JACK (of beanstalk fame) i s two feet all and weighs 50 pounds; the giant i s en feet tall and proportionally broader: tow much does he weigh? If you can ee that the answer is about three tons ather than 60, you're a step ahead of Cirkpatriok Sale, whose neoschumacherte Human'Scale offer;, this schoolboy ~owlerin i t s opening chapter. Oh =ritz,what rubbish i s published in thy lame! Though it's considered smartass :litism in some circles for a reviewer to itpick about spelling, syntax, etc, I rust UC's board of censors won't nind my pointing out that the author if this pretentious tome on the iroblem of scale in human affairs an't count for toffee. Nor i s his natural history any better: L few pages further on he asserts, without any evidence at all, that it was their ize that killed off the dinosaurs, gnoring the modern view that it was he catastrophic climatic changes caus,d by a meteorite striking the earth hat ended their 100 million year eign. Rank speciesism, I call it, seeing is on current form we will barely .lave notched up our first million years ourselves before \fie blow up the ilanet. And if that meteorite had miss!d, we might still be tiny mouse-like ;reatwes hiding in the corners from he tramp of mighty feet. The moral is that the argument hat small i s beautiful is only an irgument and not a dogma. It is, as ^ritz stated quite clearly, a question i f 'What is actually needed' and 'there fs no single answer'. What we jet here, however, is a contribution :o the 'Idolatry of smallness'. Size 'overns, says Sale, and for everything here i s an optimum size, a sweeping 'eneralisation that i s either trivial or false, from which he deduces the obviously false corollary that 'beyond this optimal size all (my italic) ilements of the system will be affecti d adversely'. If the world were that simple, there'd be no big systems for him to complain about! Having stated his dogma, Sale goes out to look for evidence to confirm

it; none o f your boring old scientific methods here. Even his logic is slippery: since big i s bad, all badness comes from bigness, he implies, so all we have to do i s look for examples of badness in modern life. So what we get i s a Cook's tour of the problems of modern America, frotn government via business, architecture, food, energy, health, garbage, to education. All very depressing and quite uncon-

Dowsing and Divining-Peter Underwood-Rider and Compay Â£5.95 Anyone stfptical about the truth of dowsing and divining would be well advised to read this book and 'Alive' b\ Piers Paul Read-Pan Books Â£1.25 which mentions the efforts of an old water diviner who accurately located the Fairchild F-227 which crashed in the Andes on October 12th. 1972. The author makes the important observation and even among the practitioners of these arts there are divergin viewpoints as to the significance of their talents and ethics of their use. Many dowsers (considering their sensitivity a gift from the earth) would take exception to the Mr Young referred to in the book, who demandec Â£20 per day for his dowsing services. Similarly the controversy around the 'Black Box', part of the apparatus for diagnosis of medical ailments used by radiesthetists, (essentially the application to medicine of the mechanics used in dowsing) attracts unfavourable attention to what i s essentially an undeniably genuine and practical skill. When he turns to the positive alterThe book is profoundly detailed natives, Sale does rather better: what and well-researched including informahe wants, of course, i s the usual bag: tion about dowsers past and present, steady state economics, local selfcase histories of successful dowsing sufficiency, co-ops, etc. But even here and divining, and more interestingly, he gets in a muddle about the Law of the many theories, from magnetism to Diminishing Returns and seems to ley lines, advanced to explain HOW argue that to organise nine (yes, nine) the skills work. The author has the people to make furniture i s a task so honesty to admit there is no one 'true' complex that workplaces should be answer to the question. restricted to seven workers. Further He refers to the famous research on, he really gets out of his depth by of Professor J.B. Rhine at Duke Univer claiming, as a general law, that combinsity which scientifically authenticates ing separate states into a common the existence of previously unknown market always impoverishes them. forces, and makes a passing reference The truth, of course, i s a lot more to a sixth sense, a latent human sensicomplicated and a lot more interesting: tivity waiting to be developed. He conit depends on;inter alia, the balance siders it i s this area of the human of comoarat&e advantages - in different psyche which could account for an industries. How very much easier it i s bility with the dowsing rod, and even to stick to a simple dogma. ncludes a chapter on how t o acquire So why bother with Human Scale he skills described. Unfortunately at all? Simply because it's an example his aspect of the study i s not of the growing practice of British further developed. publishers, rather than risking their The unqualified value of this book money on a book that might tell us i s that the author's enthusiasm for his something useful about ourselves, of art i s infectious. You want to experisnapping UP an American potboiler. all ment, to see if it will really work. Inso too obviously unread, and hyping it UP, far as you are instructed to be relaxed as Seekers have done with this twaddle, receptive and sensitive to your as an important and Significant book. impressions whilst 'on duty' on the No wonder British publishing i s going earth is to be encouraged in any event. broke: the sooner the better, and If, in addition, the reader finds hidden then we'll be able to get such Ameritreasure, an underground stream or can rubbish as we want direct and the scourge of personal fatigue, then dirt cheap from the source. the exuerimentation with. and recoaA biz bad book; but not, 1 repeat, nitionof, hidden laws of hature/latint bad because it's big: bad in i t s own sides of oneself will have been doublv right. Chris Hutton Squire enriching. Neil Dougall

Undercurrents 4:

Great 6 The Harmonious Circle: An exploration o f the lives and work o f G.I. Gurdjieff. P.D. Ouspensky and others. James Webb. Thames & Hudson, Â£0. AT Fl RST glance this looked like very heavy reading, only for the committed Gurdjieff fans. However, once immersed I found i t fascinating reading. Gurdjieff's early life seems to be somehwat shrouded in mystery and speculation. As indeed are most of his teachings. He revelled in obscure allusions as to what the big L, LIFE was all about. His teachings are a cosmic hotch pot& taken from the Kabbalah, Sufism (he often posed himself as a Sufi master) various occult traditions of both East and West. Combined with his rampant ego and his undoubted ability as an illusionist, it creates an exceedingly interesting biography. Was he a Guru or a charlatan? Did he really spy for the Russians? I was left feeling that although I had gained a lot of information from t h i s book I still didn't have an opinion about the 'real' mean behind it. Gurdjieff 's aim was to prod man's 'conscience' mlo wakefulness:

ILLUSTRATIONS FOR A TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN TALE THEARCHER'WHO WENT I KNOW NOT WHERE TO FIND I KNOW NOT WHAT

'If a man whose entire inner world Is composed of contradiction were suddenly to feel all these contradictions simultaneously within himself. if he were to feel that he loves everything he hates, hates everything he loves, lies when he tells the truth, tells the truth he could feel the when he lies, and if full horror of it all, this would be the state wlilch is called 'conscience'. ' Tricky stuff! However, it it's your cosmic CUD of tea it oublished bv Thames and ~udson:Hardback for a mere Â£10 A humble three-brained being o f the Planet Earth.

their hard lot in life. However I feel that the time has come for women to lift themselves above oppression. We are capable of being responsible for ourselves, of being joyful and resourceThe Story o f Ruth Morton Shatzman. ful as WOMEN. I know we are workG.P. Putnam (1980). 306pp. Â£6.95 ing within our own different limita(hardback). , tions but each day we are free to be light instead of heavy (i.e. carrying our UNDERCURRENTS readers who are burdens easily, transforming them, interested in the paranormal might find instead of being borne down by them): this book an informative read. Having free to stop the negative thoughts and picked it up at a friend's I read it feelings that can fill each minute of compulsively from cover to cover, the day. So though I am touched by unable to set it down. It's the story of Cleeve's concern, the oppression i s a a woman who sees apparitions, first myth we need to shatter. Right now of her father and then of other memjust like that! bers of her family. The story i s told And in this country where superby Morty Shatzman the psychotheramarkets put up signs saying 'We sell pist she turned to for help when the fresh food dally" it i s the women who persecutory apparitions of her father are responsible (?) for the buying of first appeared. Shatzman's approach food. It i s one of the most important is interesting. He doesn't assume that tasks of the day. God talks of special the apparitions are the product of a diets enabling people to see and hear disturbed mind, projections o f feelings on a different Ievd-Cleeve himself and impulses that are unacceptable. has such a diet. He talks of foods From the outset he i s prepared to entertain the possibility that the appari- being contaminated by poison, nuclear fall-out, insecticide, plums, tions .lave some other reality. As his berry fruits and rye being less so work with Ruth progresses they come than others. What research is being to the conclusion that although the done in this field? Does anyone out persecutory apparitions are to be relathere know? Perhaps some women ted to her psychological state she is could form a Contaminated Food someone with an unusual creative Research Group and let us know the ability. With Morty Shatzman's help results-quickly. (Not that I doubt she finds sheis able to use this strange Ueeve's God!). ability therapeutically and by the end The last issue of Undercurrents had of the book she i s able to accept hera feat ire en a nuclear disaster at self as someone with an unusual Kyshtym in Russia. I f it i s the same talent-even using her ability to explosion, God says that it was people create apparitions to provide herself from an UFO who were responsible. with a companion to talk to in bored That they have been taking tiny moments. The story of this transquantities of nuclear power since the formation, with i t s returns via her 30's through individuals who help apparitions to the traumatic them. experiences of her childhood, i s a Perhaps in The House o f the Rock fascinating one. Morty Shatzman has there i s too much that i s alien to the reconstructed it vividly from notes average reader. But this book i s well and tape recordings taken at the time worth going through to find the so that it reads like a very moving familiar-sex, nuclear power, the and gripping novel. equality of women, dowsing, pyramids, Rosemary Randall auras, UFOs. And a tiny quantity of the alien might just rub off on that cynical Undercurrent choulder. Cantell Fi

Alien

O-:

The House on the Rock: Brian Cleeve: Watkins: 266pp. Â£2.70

I KNOW most Undercurrents readers will look upon The House on the Rock as benign fiction-a man talking with God-what next? Yet you should read Cleeve's novels-full of such harsh reality that they made me feel sick. Whatever will the future bring? Read them and know.that it will be much, much worse: as this book shows. Cleeve asks many sympathetic questions on the plight of women: on

Field Directors Handbook, Oxfam. Â£10 ONE of the largest and best known charities in Britain have made public their Field Directors' Handbook, which must be one of their weightiest publications ever - 4 Ibs of beautifullvprinted sheets, in 52 different sections. The objective, according to the editor. is 'to summarise Oxfam's objectives <*d

tnaercurrents 43

ts-see Vermin'.

tarvation i n Nazi-occupied Europe, {ithout interfering with the Allied blockde'. Its operations were suspended 2 ears later b y the Ministry for Econom:Warfare, b u t resumed after the beration o f Europe; the organisation

f public esteem. Hooray, then, for heir courage i n publishing such an ltimate document and exposing for ublic criticism their basic philosophy nd practice. The trouble is that their 'philosophy' so woolly and contradictory that it 1st doesn't stand up. Since the begin- , ing, the organisation has been faced i t h the fact that human sympathy with arving people can, and often does, ring you into conflict with governments. 'et here they are, 40 Years on, trying kid us that humanitarian concern i n exist and be expresses .quite par at el^ from any kind of political ialysis and outside any political ructure. There is much be said about )xfarn: their rigid, hierarchical and ?ale-dominated internal structure; the truggle amongst he staff; and worst o f all, the subtle icism o f their 'education' programmes, h i c h so often perpetuate the image if the Third World as full o f starving lack children who have no relation t o sand our economic system other than he passive roleof aid recipients. But ..it us finish on a positive note. The great achievement of Oxfam has undoubtedly been their operation i n Kampuchea: not only i n raising and channelling into that unhappy country Ă&#x201A;ÂŁ1 million o f aid at a time when it was -rucially needed, but for their political land. For once they departed from heir usual policy, and decided t o CcePt the authority of the Heng Samin government i n Kampuchen i n v t e o f the pressure from the Arnerian government not t o do so. By taking i i s political stand they helped save 1fonlythey thousands of lives. 'ere more prepared t o take a public k n d on political issuesinother parts f the world, particularly over South

Workers' Power Not Nuclear Power A Socialist Workers Party pamphlet by Mikc !jimons (Feb. 1980) 48 pages 50p. THERE IS a dearth o f good hard hitting agitational material on nuclear power-and this pamphlet fills the gap very well. It covers at1 the main issuessafety, security, trade union rights, uranium mining, transport, reprocessing storage etc.-in a well informed way, with only the occasional error on rhetorical excess. The worst bits are the two introductory pages o f basic (garbled) nuclear physics. The best parts are its incisive review o f energy policy over the past few decades. Remember the Drax B fiasco-when the Parsons shop stewards campaigned (SuccesSfull~)for (coal fired) Drax t o their jobs? ~~~~~b~~ how the industry and the government both said -'we won't need any new generating capacity for several A~,-Jnow the -[-^ies are pushing for one new nuke each The SWP presumably hope that the same sort of , w r k e r ~ p o w e r -that the Parsons Stewards brought t o bear over Drax, will eventually bring about a halt t o the nuclear programme. And yet they seem strangely unconcerned bout developing ~ ~ l ~ less campaigning for the development socially appropriate alternatives, along the lines pioneered by the L~~~~ Stewards. Infact the SWP is actively hostile t o the idea of 'workers plans' which they write off as 'reformist'.

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For example, take a look at the critique o f the Lucas campaign i n the SWP's otherwise excellent New Technology pamphlet 'Is A Machine After Your Job?' (second edition). Workers plans and 'alternatives' generally are enny cloutte seen as potentially disillusioning at best, divisive at worst-an alternative to class struggle and 'building the a r t y ' .. On the nuclear question the SWP ~ e e mt o be arguing that 'the only alter-

native t o nuclear power is socialism'. Now i n a sense this i s true-but it's too general a statement. Fighting for the rational development o f technology i s part o f the process o f building socialism and class consciousnesspractically and ideologically, i~ocialism isnst something tout there' to be arrived a t . . under the leadership o f some elite. Perhaps fortunately these issues do not surface noticeably i n the 'Nuclear power1 pamphlet-apart from a few oblique references, for example t o 'the politics o f Nuclear Power' (which 1 which isseen as ladisappointm e n k Full o f information on health and safety in the industry (tut, tut), trade union rights and (worse still) alternative sources o f energy. 'All i n all'it's a reformist analysis supporting cworkers and econorr ic strategy' (i.e. decentralisation etc).' How reformist can y o u get! In fact, these last two points aside, the SWP's pamphlet is very similar as far as I can see-recycling much o f the material contained in the Pluto SERA publication. book and in 1 don't object t o this inthe slightestbut let's be a little more careful about the distinction between 'reformist' ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ and 'revolutionary'. The SWP is evidently trying t o be s e n as the 'true revolutionary1 partywith The Correct Line. Now while there are differences o f approach (e.g. over the roleof -the as it happel the SWP's prescriptions for action on the nuclear issue (involvement o f the grass roots o f the unions) are more or less exactly what many o f us in SERA have been patiently working away at for the last four years.. . with increasing success, and without succumbing unduly t o reformism! So well done SWP, this i s an excellent and useful socialist pamphlet. But don't try t o tell us that your political line is the only one. As you've dem~~istrated (but not admitted) we can all learn something from each Dave Elliott other

. ..

of explanations for exactly the same phenomenon. But just as Thompson tries to answer the question of the fluctuqtinp value of neglected Steven Graphs and slum properties that become bijou residences and much sought after collector's items, perhaps we should agree that the explanations which prove acceptable, are those that are endorsed and reinforced by groups and society that have the Rubbish Theory-M. Thompson power to do so. Rubbish Theory takes Oxford University Press Â£7.50 us on a very interesting anecdotal ASK ANY dyed-in-the-wool tradition- trail of various cultures that attempt al economist to account for the part to explain phenomena in different that fashion plays in consumer choice ways without the power of the and almost certainly the reply will be establishment in present-day society. that fashion is matter of taste and Thompson suggests that most cultures that taste i s embodied in the utility have sets o f definitions of the world function that we all maximise without about them that everyone would agree even knowing that we are doing so. upon, and others that are s t i l l equivo'People buy fashionable things so they cal in their acceptance. And then must be maximising utility or else with a refreshing note o f cultural they wouldn 't buy them, would they ?', relativism he adds that there may well or so the orthodoxtautology usually be other definitions beyond our runs. Yet, as Mr Thompson so enterworld view. taininzly points out, we do see once The famous mathematician respectable houses falling into dilapiDeBroglie i s quoted as remarking that dation and then, almost as suddenly, in the sub-atomic universe, individual becoming fashionable once again and particles have no specialised characterlived in by people whose forebears istics-in fact they don't really exist at would probably have thought of those all, but yet when embodied in somesame residential areas as being slums. thing much larger they do not lose their

FOR DETAILS OF A RANGE OF

setting nis sights upon the example of a curious collector's item-a woven silk ribbon called a Steven Graph after i t s inventor-first sold for a relatively small sum in the York Exhibition of 1879 but now fetching very high prices as a collector's item, Thompson asks just what it is that causes this increase in value? Economists would find it hard to explain their current high price purely in terms of the cost of production, since these would probably have been written off many, many years ago. More likely they would attempt to suggest that the value o f money in 1879 was so much higher than it is today, and quite probably the small price paid then in real terms was somewhere near the current money price in our devalued currency: Perhaps this should make us all aware

7 PARKHQLME RD. LONDON Â£.8 OR PHONE 0 1 269 9936 FOR AN APTOIMMCNI

but once engaged in a social group we acquire both distinct characteristics , and characteristics that are defined by the group. In much the same way, as Thompson argues, values of many commodities are only determined b y group definition rather than by the individual piecemeal cost and demand conditions that are used in the current explanatory framework of economists. Without really perceiving his general drift, Thompson goes on to discuss Basil Bernstein's notions of integrated and discrete educational curricula, and he makes use of this example t o illustrate R. Thom's fascinating catastrophe theory. Now I had always understood, to the annoyance o f a long series of prestigious external examiners, that catastrophe theory provided a significant set of exceptions to the assumption usually derived from the classical calculus that a small change here and a small change there would only give rise to a small change in the system under consideration. The founding father of modern neo-classical economics, Alfred Marshall-a trained mathematician himself-was quite adamant on the subject. The latin phrase that appeared on the title page of his Principles o f Economics (1890), still the basis of most economics courses in the schools. colleges and , universities of the West, confidentfy 1 asserts that 'Nature contains no leaps', Instead, according t o Thom's-tynthesis, k-J , ' small changes can in many instances, specific identity. Thomoson. I feelgive rise to the catastrophic leaps and echoing wittgensteinSsnotion of synergic reactions that are so often public and private language, is trying encountered in studies of the to suggest that only society itself i s natural environment. Thompson excapable o f establishing definitions of tends this particular interpretation and terms and definitions of values, suggests that catastrophe theory implies something that individuals are quite that although we may be considering a powerless to do on theirown, but yet system that appears to be travelling in a group they can do so. Consideraalone one stable well-trodden oath. tion of this form of -erouo . behaviour thereexists the strong possibility of an i s sadlv missing from the areas investiabrupt leap to another ill-considered gated by economists, but I would path and this alone should necessarily myself go even further than Thompson encourage us to study alternative paths and suggest that just as the family was the oqanisational concept of our Judeo- as yet unknown. The factthat it has Christian culture and, as is now general- taken an anthropologist to bring this implication to the attention o f an ly accepted, the clock was the organisaeconomist, shows just how deeply tional concept of the Newtonian economic science i s entrenched along universe, so too should the quantum one particular path and just how be the organisational concept o f the necessary it is for the profession t o give modern world. Most of us in isolation attention to other paths that are as yet orobablv have no uniaue identitv.

I'd The Politics o f Mental Handicap Joanna Ryan with Frank Thomas. Pelican Â£1.75 'Imbeciles are in fact considerably less intelligent than domestic animals and may have 'disastrous' responses to sexual or aggressive impulses and may commit murder; rape or arson'. Unbelievably, rather than having been written in the 18th Century, this statement comes from a widely used textbook on psychiatry published in 1978. Joanna Ryan demonstrates with great persuasiveness how these kind of prejudices permeate the administrative and nursing staff of hospitals for the mentally handicapped and the effect on the patients. The book i s interspersed with excerpts from the diary of Frank Thomas, who worked as a nursing assistant for six months in a subnormality hospital. His attempts to bring some element of humanity in to the wards were more often than not a failure, hardly surprising in view of the following dialogue between nurses and patients: 'Hello, shitface, here's your sodding breakfast ', 'Idon't like this porridge', 'It's not my fault, I didn't cook it. How can they eat this lukewarm shit? Still, it's all the same to them. Martin, what are y o u doing? Stop playing with it or I'll get your prick out and stir the porridge with it ifyou're not careful'. And so on, right through the day. Edit Ms. Ryan i s careful not to blame only the nurses, many of whom attempt to care for the patients in what must be intolerably repressive institutions, but asserts that medicine has exceeded i t s legitimate role to the detriment of the people involved. Sometimes the economy of the hospital is dependant, disgracefully, on the cheap or free labour of the patients, who work long hours on industrial contracts for as little as Â£ per week. In exploring the politics of the situation Ms. Ryan holds up an ugly mirror to ourselves and our attitude to education (whereby mental handicap isproduced by a system which creates a conflict of values with the social situation of immigrant groups and sections of the working class) race, class, and women (many have been put under custody into hospitals solely on the grounds of having had an illegitimate child) and furthermore argues that in trying to 'rehabilitate' mentally handicapped people, in granting them their

right to 'normality' (as yet itself not widely accepted), we are overlooking the fact that it may be their wish to live unconventionally, in communes or shared households, and to reject the conventional dress and typical sex-role behaviour hospitals are so busy attempting to impose on them. A provocative book which deserves to be widely read both inside and outside the professions dealing with mental handicap, especially in view of the recent atrocities performed at R ampton. Nick Hanna

Out An Experiment with Space Robert Kingsley Morison Volturna Press (Â£3)

BOOKS of this type put one in an awkward situation. Any attempt to highlight errors in the reasoning confirms, for those who are convinced by it, the author's assertion that conventional science i s wilfully ignoring important evidence. In this book Robert Kingsley Morison i s forwarded by the Earl of Clancarty (known to us all as Brinsley Le Poer Trench). He advances a new model of gravitation based on vortices in a resuscitated ether. Based on this he develops a plan for 'neutralising' gravity. It will thus by unnecessary to determine how it's done and to set us free to explore space at will. You'll need some persistence to make your way through the tightly packed pages of fluid mechanics, relativity, chemistry and philosophy. This book will convince everybody already convinced; it will change nobody's mind. But if this i s your sort of thing, you'll get your money's worth (and so will Amnesty Inter-, national who get the profits). Rosalind Armson

strating levitation to a '30s spiritualist meeting, a rare and, we are told, genuine photo taken from Photographs o f the Unknown (New English Library 144 pp. large format Â£7.95by Fortean Times editor Bob Rickard and Richard Kelly. Also featured are monsters, UFOs, paranormal people, 'mind over matter', and psychic phenomena. 300 photos in all, over 100 in colour, enabling every armchair debunker to study 'the strange forces working beyond the ken of cocksure scientists'. A second volume i s planned, so i f you have any photos of strange phenomena, Bob would like to hea from you, at the FT, 9-12 St Ann Court, London W1.

Undercurrents 43

was met by extreme opposition. vote was taken, a unanimous SPELL BINDING NOT O.K. , A nuclear war is ismply not going decision. Eventually they decided -3 Every so often you cany articles to happen. Computers are I could stay for the night. It was which pick people up on s Uing .i becoming more and more sophist2 o'clock and I decided to go. I 'mistakes'and 'illiteracy'. +had a very strange feeling of cated therefore a mistake is most when it's government signs which I hostility towards me. 1 found mv unlikely. The proliferation of are the but of your jib% 1think luggageand left. nuclear weapons does not, such comments are out of pi As I walked down the drive logically speaking, increase the a radical journal They q d I began to feel slightly scared, likelihood of war or accident. elitism and can only serve to that they might come afer me. ~ r i t a ~ n i ean d sindependent discourage oppressed people from So I decided to walk into a Held deterrent. Cruise missiles am a contributing. (Actually, plenty 01 near the driveway and slew there. , step forward. Objections to the Professors 'can't spell' but they Five minutes- later two cars came dropping of bombs on innocent past. ~t 5 o'clock the n&t populations is soft. Hiroshima and have secretaries and publishen' assistants to tidy up their morning I walked down to the Nagasaki were necessary. road ind caueht a lift. Derisory comments were made appearance by the time they reach the bookshops.) I have been wanting to share about nearly every group who Standardised spelline. like my experiences with someone to wasn't one of the enliehtened 'correct' grammarand "Oxford , form some kind of solidarity. I few. eft-wing socialists we; English' and the con about some know that it is very easy tosee soft, the liberals woolly, the people 'not having an accent', is things in a different way and to work- class lazy. the Trade all part and parcel of the growth distort your experienceswhen ~ n i o n s s e ~ f~hristiana i, unby conquest of the Nation-State you areexperiencing something speakable, CND pathetic alone. I am also well aware that thoueh I-heard no criticisms made and class system. Western . the literature that was sent to me of the upper class! Law and order Patriarchv ~rivilecesthe written 1 word over ind above non-verbal concerning the community must be strengthened because painted a totally different picture thereare so many hooligans (this communication, oral lore, and spontaneous everyday utterance than what I actually found there. is a bit inconsistent with the aim Many people must have had a of self-help and decentralization). i f OUT mother t o k e . ' All over the Empire the similar experience to me, and I * Surely these reactionary tiews are Enelish rulina class tried to under would hovethat now anyone not reoresentative of the AT mine people's confidence in their movement as a whole? yet this wishing to embark on a nsit to own ability to express themwives group produce a regular newsLongo Mai can see the true facts In Wales the skool-teachers h u m I befok they eo. letter and act as a central cosign round the necks of the f i t ordinating committee. Are they I would like to make myself child each day they caught self-appointed,or what? - available to any person or group speaking Wekh. That child was in who need more evidence GnRose M a n m for a beating by the end of stool. ceming Longo Mai. During the unless they could unload the 2 Oakington Way -next month I can be contacted at dreaded 'Wwlesh Not'board onto Hornsey the address below. some other 'offender'. Roderick Can- The ~eachersare certainly So it's thoughtiessly hurtful 01 eccentric, but, as far as we know, you to hang a jeering Write Not* Five Gables harmless. They have no sign around anyone's neck, Prospect Road connection with the mainstream O.K.? Just let everyone say it how Wrekin College of the Srittsh 'commune they speak and spell it how they Wellington movement ', which may be Shropshiie contacted by writing to Lifespan, please; only correcting genuineintakes (where the seme is Towhead, Dunford Bridge, unclear - 5% of all "speUinx nr Penistone, South Yorks. mistakes'' . at -~most?) ~ ~ REACTIONARY One fmal speculation (stoned PIRATE RADIO TEACHERS again!). The primary facc-to-facc Thank you for the pirate radio monkey-magic of gerture ind I thought I would express my aricle in UC 42.1 wouldn't mind grimace and sound comes before concern about .- the politics of the having a go myself. I've always and underlies speech which cane8 Alternative communities loved Free Radio cos I sort of before riling and reading. When Movement, as I heard about it grew up with it listening to my the r u h try to police writing throueh Undercurrents.1 went to earohone instead -~ -- of .. -~~~at -~school perhaps its more than just a meet& organized by a group learning one, thing that puzzles auestion of any old excuse to called the Teachers (the rather meis ingslike METES keeo the co-&&tion. wasanti out of loneelitist name is somewhat suspent). &tanCi Sham KILOHZ Mv ..- MHZ - - - - ~- on ~-radlm. -~~~~ ~ u r i n ~ t course h e of the evening; friends don't seem to know there is method in their madness. I was amazed by the number of either. Looking at a radio here Perhaps they are tryine to disright-wing ideologies expressed. now it's eot 60-1 80 MHz Short connect existing connections and The oresent Government was r---~~-Wave. h48 Band in this?A&o defuse the power of surviving praised for (among other things) there's CB 27 MHZ where does mother-tongue spelb, e.g. 'hok* cutrims back the Welfare State. I this come on the scales. and "whole' as assnological whichwill make everyone leash to I think it would be a good ' correspondence* which the Man stand on then own two feet. idea to print a conversion table. wants to negate. (Just as the Poverty is used as an excuse for Please could you tell me the priests were embarrassed by the laziness and lack of initiative. price of Radical Technology, your Sheelagh-na-gigs still visible in a Unemployment does not really book on whatto do. I do ope to few old Celtic churches.exiat. as there is plenty of work have a go when I get a job to get A related function of rite wavsfor everyone who is prepared to ,cadi. , of spell& is maybe that once look for it. The person who told Rob Hartley they have succeeded in installing me this admitted she had never their patriarchal spells into our been to the North of England, but Fron Llamhyddlad 'sub-conscious*, then the system she knew Oxford very well and Caergbi tries to cover up its tracks to there was certainly no lack of Gwynedd make it harder for us to unbaffle work - there. ~~~~~ ~ Peoole we& and dc-pr&unme ourselv&.E.g. becoming dependent on the State. Radio waves can either be described by their wavelength or Ă&#x201A;ÂĽWhbetrayed Jesus, children? Social workers and benefits are by thefrfrequency. To convert Yes. Jewdas betrayed Jesus." and undermining the moral fibre of later ."Oh no, Lesley, that's not from a frequency in MHz to a the nation. wavelength in meters you simply how you spell it." All social problems, it seems, divide 300 by the fte uency. So a Maeic is OX.. and so is the will be solved by communal radio equency o f 6 % ~ zhas a creative magic dive in playful living,although this may take a wave ength o f SO metres. As poetic and bcratory speech and long tone. When I suggested that additional Info, 1 MHz usage (non-metaphiri$ language maybe time was running out, if 1000 KHz u0.h loo@%? i8 impossible). But pakuuchal the present aims race c5ntinbs. I Radical l'e%lo.w costa f4.30 spelling is a bidblind.

LONG0 MAI? NO THANKS!

I was very pleased to see your

article about Longo Mai in UC 40. I had decided to go there after readine about the community in some magazines and hearingabout it from friends who had not been there. I arrived on Friday 27th June at about 5 o'clock. There was no reception, but I was told to go to the dining room and wait there. I waited there while some children ate their supper and no one approached me.After about two hours some of the people began to come in from work. Eventually supper was served, no one asked me if I wanted anything to eat. After 15 minutes someone asked me if I wanted something to eat, but I had to ask him to get the cutlery and a plate for me. It must have been around midniizht when I asked where I ww sleeping because I was quite tired after travelling from England. The man sittine ovwsite m e repliedthat fist they were all going to have a meeting, and then I was tome to talk about myself to thegroup. I protested that I was too tired and eventually an Englishman came to me and virtually interrogated me. He wanted to know exactly what I had been doing in the last few years. He told me also that I looked very self assured and that nonually persons such as me did not usually come to Longs Mu. 'mere are usually three types ofperson that come here: 11 Yowis movle. sometimes t~enug&,whocome here alone h k a a for an alternative and see* 'stability. 2) Groups of young people who come to realise protects. 3) Business men who come to look around the farm and donate money. " For him didn't tit into these categories. He went on to lay certain things such as that they didn't need tourists there. I replied that you could not understand a place by staying three hours. but it was n e c e G to stav there for a few weeks before it was possible to decide whether I. liked it. I was not allowed to join for any trial period and the people had to vote on me there and then, He began to speak to the group in French on my behalf. I was lucky to be able to uhderstand French auite well, and I realised that h i was twisting around what I said to make it sound humorous. Whereupon all forty of them would burst into laughter, such as 'should we make hirti pay for the meal', 'should we order a taxi to take him away or let him stay thenight'. During his speech a gul said that maybe I was trying to fmd myself. This was the only thing .that was said in my favour. Later she walked out on the meeting. The

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While'I'm on the subject of iguage-refonn, I think you muld refuse to print anymore TiWkinb-he' pieces. I also thinic women q e right to complain about the use of 'wet' as a put-

NEASDEN BOND

Please come to my rescue. Some months ago you published an article called Neasden Bond which was about a school (presumably in Neasden) which recycled enough paper for its 160 pupils by means of a contraption involving an old washing machine and a bicy I was so enchanted that I had #towpies made for cartoon on page 23 (UC 41) friends in the ecology where Kollontai was calling Lenin various movement and none of them and co 'Assholes'. can now be found and Despite these criticisms I think I(copies) am eoine QUITE MAD with u do a good job and bring us all frustration because I would like me hope. Best wishes, more details. Possibly the jobs Keith Motherson creation scheme or YOP or STEP or other organizationsmight be 3, Jordanston Cottages, interested and anyway I want to DWIBach, N Fishguard, know HOW. I have reached my limits of enquiry. I even wrote to the Colchester Head of education who passed my letter on to someone else but no joy. TOO MUCH THEORY If I weren't an arthritic Some time ago I sent you octoeenaiian and had a car. I information on the new Right would set out on a safari and Livelihood 'alternative Nobel FIND it. m e ' (another copy enclosed) So will you please unearth the which I felt would be of great issue in question and send it to interest to your readers. iwas me at your earliest convenience? 1 very surprised not to find any enclose a slight donation for your mention of this in your latest trouble. I have been a subscriber issue. for years. I lend my copies out Over the past years I have and then of course I don't get sent you a number of letters, them back. articles and offers to report for Don't leave it too long, I UC at my own expense from might be dead! various conferences etc. I have Cicely Marsh never had so much as an Westhohe acknowledgement from you. I did not really mind as long as 3 Belmont Road Hale I felt that UC provided a good Cheshire coverage of 'alternative' I can't even find a decent activities and struggles here and piece of notepaper! abroad. But that is no longer the I think it may have been years case. Increasingly UC is filled with lengthy theoretical articles of the rather than months ago. There is a gap in my mind of about two type which I have read (and years while I was looking after written myself) in countless my paralysed husband and 1 magazines over the past 15-20 can't sort it out. vears. -The coverage of activities as Thank you for the donation. I opposed to theories has decreased hope we have answered your maikedly. An example is your query satisfactorilv in our letter treatment of the Farm people in to YOU.~ l & e write again ifnot. Tennessee - the most exciting, largest WORKING sp' 'tuall FRAGMENTS HIT BACK political/a.t./Third Wbrld-oriented The newspiece by Tam Dougan /'new lifestyles'group known to on Beyond the Fragments in UC me (1450 members: active for a 42 gives a totally personalised decade). Instead of a report of view of the conference. It is all their many activities you print a very well giving your own silly report from two visitors impressions of an event, no one who did not like the food. can be totally objective, but there (Personally I like good food and I should have been some sort of liked most of the meals on the overview. Farm.) And when Ina Gaskin However what finally inspired replies to UC with some facts, me to write this letter was the youprint only a shortened rubbish written about anarchy version! not being an acceptable fragment. In the same issue (UC42) you The man who grabbed the microprint information about the phone at the end used physical 'Practising Midwife' newsletter force fin the best traditions of and the Nukebuster. Both are patriarchy but truly ironical a t , from the Farm. The price you this particular event) to put across quote for the Nukebuster (280 his views. There was limited time pounds) is wrong. I paid 330 at the end of the event so there DOLLARS including converter, had to be restrictions on the battery pack Mc.!!Why do you number of people who could frighten off potential customers speak. This man simply demanded by quoting twice the correct priority. Does anarchism mean price?? that the strong pros er whilst the Jakob von UexkuU weak go to the wall. 2 Wybourn Bill Flatman ,, ^'Â¥':': Onchan Guilford Avenue Isle of Man :-.Â . :ft , 57 SWY Surbiton

*^T^ '

sEXUAL/SEXIST

' M&RE AT PLEASE Like you co e s p p q d e n t ~ a t h r ~ n Thank you for sendin the con lementarycopyaidfbifloal the ~ r icartoon s W ~ accompanying 4 k I w a t s y the ~ t l s e d subscnotion b~ reminder. aticle Oreasmic Labour and I was really in two minds as NationalEconomic Pkzming whether to subscribe again. I fe which showed a shop called the that there are too few articles o "W. Reich Engineering Co-op." the alternative technology aspa I think it is only fail to point out and too many on politics and however that the author John sociology formy particular Ukb Southgate had nothing to do with There is real scope for new the choke of cartoons and was thinking on the technology aspe not happy with the inclusion of It is well known that windmills this one with his article. The and heat pumps work and work cartoon is what Reich himself well. However, their cost makes would have referred to as 'second- them uneconomic to all but the ary level'. By this he meant some- eccentric. As the cost of fuel thing which appealed to the rises, so does the cost of alternatives. Therefore if alternative; distorted (and often sadistic or masochistic) sexual desires which are to be adopted by the genera public, thenthere has to be are present but repressed in most engineering changes t o find people because although a materials and construction product of patriarchal society methods that are half the preset they are also unacceptable to it: prices. Also there has to be patriarchy doesn't care to admit marketing changes so that the that the idealisation of motheroverheads of distribution and hood and the degradation of advertising can be reduced. women in pornography are two A good DIY design must use sides of the same sexually parts that are readily available a1 repressive culture. low cost. That is why the otherWhile your cartoon is not wise inefficient Slavonius aeropornographic it is certainly crude generator is popular. Oil drums and tasteless. One of the and car bearings are obtainable a unfortunate results of sexual scrap. repression is that mention of sexuality tends to produce one of Anyway, I have decided to two extreme responses. One is the renew my subscription for a titillating, pornographic or further year in the hone that smutty joke response of the more practical articles appeal. 'secondary level' - reflected in The "Sail Wing Darrieus* article your cartoon. The other is the made me change my mind this puritanical and overtly repressive time. Nevertheless, this machine - a trap I feel Kathryn Harris seems more expensive to build slides towards in her response to and larger than a Slavonius of John's article. It is fot example equivalent output, and certainly her and not John who defines sex more complicated. as 'foreplay -penetration-climax' John de Riv: and then goes on to condemn him West Towan House for this - condemning him for something he didn't in fact say Porthtowan and wouldn't have said. Her Tmro accusation of sexism seems to ALIVE AND MALE me misplaced and to derive more from her reading of the article . than from what it actually says. Why is it sexist to say that things are sexual? SANE! I do not think it is sexist to say that our creative energy is sexual; nor to suggest that creative sexual &&cv follows a particular pattern; nor to argue that an understanding of sexual remression and its effects on our work life is essential in creating a different type of society. Sexual repression isn't something that men do to women. It's a force that derives from patriarchy and affects all of our sexual. emotional and work lives, albeit In UC 42. ~ a e e30. Martin Ince in different and important ways trots out the-trendy assumption depending on whether we are male or female. ' that God is dead as if it were an established fact. Actually there Finally, just for the record, the work collective that produced are vast quantities of inwntrovertible evidence that he's alive the pamphlet Co-operativeand and well and manaeine a success Community Group Dynamics on which much of John's article is based is not all male. It is nredominantly female (and feminist) and we experienced some good orgasmic cycles in the process of producing it. We like to get your letters but Rosemary Randall please keep them SHORT: long ones may have to be cut to ftt: 15 Svencer Street Deadline for UC44 is Wedne* ~ew~radwell J a n w 7. Milton Keynes

m..

Sell your solar sauna here! Still only 4p per wordf box nos. Â£1.25 Copydate UC44: Wednesday December 31. All ads must be PREPAID please.

OLD Hall, East Berghdt, near Colchester h n vacan~iasfor permanent members with capital. Units available ranging from Â£5,000 Â£7,90 and Â£20,000 Members share in all community facilities including 56 acres of land. Tei Colchester 296-294.

NON-SEXIST, Socialidradical? Joln~slmilargindad London m o l e for social activitbs. dis&ions, theatre, pub*, part&# etc. (shift workers welcome). Contact Richard 348 7187 (66.30 best).

CO-OPERATIVELY run small--holding needs new memtmrs. We are usually 4 to 6 people living and workma togetherwith the aim of teachingouneives some skills in gardening end livestock care. Pietals. S~rinohillFarm, Dinton, ~ylesbury, Bucks.

LARGE cottage on the edge of natural fenland in Norfolk, with half an &re of remarkably fertile garden. 314 bedrooms, farmhouse kitchen and really quiet, but not far from the small town of Din. Offers on Â£37,000 Tal. Dils 3995.

THE COMING AGE: magazine of the living matriarchal tradition. 450. Lux Madriana IUI. 40. St. ~ o h n~t.,?xford. JUSTpublished: Street Video Â£.SO; Video With Young People Â£3.40 Basic Video Â£1.8 Post G LASGOW Bookshop Collective free. Cash with order t o CATS, is setting up an alternative 4 q Theobalds Rd, London bookshop co-operative and needs WC1X 8NZ. cash t o get things going. We RURAL Resettlement Handbook. would like donations and loans. second edition revised and I f you'd like t o help provide a enlarged. 220 pages of practical, much-needed resource in this city. .. financial, legal, social and contact: G I E S ~ W Bookshop personal information about rural Collective, c/o 146 Holland ,~ resettlement. An essential Street.. Glasaow G.2. reference book for rural dwellers. WOMAN, 27 yr., daughter, 6 yr., aspiring small-holders, armchair are seeking alternative ways of resettle!;, and everyone conliving, preferably on the matt/ cerned with thecountwside. island. Quite ordinary. not very Only Â£1.8 post free from Rural idealistic, consider ecology FOR Ã‘I -bicycle shop and Resettlement Group, 5 Crown important, weaver, pr0feSSi0~lly repairs business, of 50 years Street. Oxford. trained for the health service. standing, as a p i n g concern. Fond of rural life, a few people LEICESTER commune starting, There is also a dwelling above the with members interested in and the sea. Likes Scotland end shop, and a garage at thetack. Ireland. Got a same of humour personal growth/therapy/coThe present owners, who are and some money. B.L., 16 Soringcounselling/or Rajneesh. We want retiring, are asking Â£20,00 for land Clow, Ipswich (0472) The group t o be on the side of it, plus stock. If interested, act feelings, risk, openness and 71 1443. quickly as otherwise the owners honesty. not safety and closadwill have t o sell t o someone who RURAL sharing. House on downiis. N o projectsplanned wants the premises empty, which Norfolk/Suffolk borders with 3 yet they can develop out ofthey are reluctant t o do. Details adults and one child has room for the enerw of arouo members. from Kathleen Thomas, Trefiys', another family grouplperson We wanito &el& our own Mount Pleasant, Doigellau, interested in rural life and the creativity. We need members Gwynedd. positive aspects of sharing. Very (especially men). capital, advice. keen t o share child care. Own WHOLE Meals I n Minutes m i n e building skills. Contact Janet kitchen and bathroom available. book 60p (45p) & 'Nuclear 0533-775291. Clancy 21 BartholJoint ownership or other arrangePower? No Thanksl' booklet 4 5 ~ e m w St.. Leicester.. Brigit - 0533ment, eg. work instead of rant. (34p) including p&p. 30 or more 716500. Prefer someone with skills book* at rate in brackets -cash relevant t o setting uo small SOMERSET - opportunity exists with order t o Cambridge Friends industry (not crafts) and/or to buy large house 5 acres garden of the Earth, Bath House, G w d i r interested in alternative enemy1 10 oeoole with Â£1.00 St.. Cambridge. heating methods, but not minimum needed. ~otentiaifor absolutely essential. Our smallPREDATORY man is destroying workshops, conferences etc. the world1 Help pioneer aware Please write with few details of holdina activities (3 acres) are organic where possible. Please and compassionate living the yourself t o Lynne Troughton, The Wing, Swifts. Milverton, write Box No. MOF enclosing a healthy, sustainable, vegan way. Send 65p for recipe booklet with Teunton. Somerset. ohone no. if vou can. self-lufficiency gardening hints end full supporting leaflet!. BOOKS BY POST Vegan Society Dept. F, 47 HYDROPOWER - Andrew Mackillop. Sections on turbbes Highlands Road, Leatherhead, and wheels showina how to construct a small wheel and Surrey. Pelton turbine. ~eciionsby turbine builders. How t o measure RADIO Nenwl Alternative power available. Legal aspects. Off-the-iheif and built-up broadc-ting, how t o set UP a equipment. legal community radio station, Â£2.5 each. FRF conttinsmeny usual (and METHANE - Steve Sampson. Editor - Andrew MacKillop. not+ouiuell erticlas of free Over 30 different designs suitable for D-I-Y installations, radio, plus how free radio and farms. communities. and horticulture. Bioioaical - and bioalternative technology can be chemkal background. linked! FRF is only I@, but Â£2.5 each. it's fully lithe-printed. ( I @ is a minimum price, higher BLUEPRINT FOR SURVIVAL -The Ecolwist. Essantial donations accepted with great reading for ell those concerned with the environmental thanks.) end 1Sp pius a larnish crisis, and its solutions. SAE. P.O. BOX 35, Wellington, Â£4.2 each. Telford, Salop. THE ENERGY CRISIS. From a speech given by Lord Awry. CALENDAR, 1981. Illustrated Limited number available. :onsewation theme for each 45p each. nonth on A3 recycled paper. Also -UNDERCURRENTS BINDING FILE. Details 75p. SurreyIHants border elsewhere. Frienda of die Earth, 30 Florence load, Fleet, Hampshire GU13 All prices inc. p&p. Overmas postage 20%extra. ?LQ. Bulk enquiries Fleet 3144 ChaqueIPO to: Falcon Books, Dept. UC, 13 Hillside Rd., iveninos. Marlow, Bucks SL7 3JU. Allow 4 week* for delivery. KILQUHANITY House, a small (30 boys and girls) very well established (1940). lively (all the arts and crafts for real) progressive boarding school in S. Scotland requires a parson of imagination who enjoys cooking healthy meals. Write John Aitkenheed, Kilquhanity House, Caste1Douglas, Scotland. HOMELESSNESS is a crime activists needed. Full-time volunteers are needed t o help run a Day Centre for homeless people in Cardiff and80 campaign for housing rights. Six month minimum separate volunteers flat free food + Â£1 p.w. Full details from Cardiff Cyrenians, 90 St. Mary Street, Cardiff.

TYNESIDE, mixed communal household, kids, web 213 People withlwithout child. Contact Jam Adams c/o First floor, 3 5 Park Lane. Newcastleupon-Tyne. REICHIAN THERAPY Recognisino the indivisibility of bodvand mind. I work t o restore orgattic haalth by encouraging free breathing and emotional relÃ§u with associated thounht!. while relaxing muscular tension and using Character Analysis. Some methods of major neo-Reichian innovators mev alw be used. Individual sessions of this ongoing therapy are Â£0. Telephone 01-278 6783. 1 M p m Monday to Friday. Ian St. John. ASTROLOGER offers accurate p&na~ birth chart and character analysis Â£8Including 5 year future trends Â£12Alternatively send for details: John Wilmott, Millbree, Bunemn, Mull, Arwll. HEDGEHOG equipment for carders: spinning wheels: natural fleeces Â£1. 0-Â£ .90/lb. Carded wool sliver Â£2.25-E3.301lb Complete Handcarder repair kits Â£4DIY Drum carder construetion booklet Â£3Tussah Silk Â£5.50125 gm.Upper Hartfield, East Sussex, England. PAGAN 'Christmw'card* have traditional carols restored t o their pre-Christian words. 10 for Â£1.5 from Norman iln,381 Marine Rood, Morecambe, Lanes. RECYCLED greeting cards are back! Three designs for Xmas1 New Year (and later): Year of the Rooster, Trees, cut-out Windmill. 30 mixed, Â£ incl. P&P with envelopes. Recycled pads, duplicating paper etc. alW from: Regenesis. Tress House, Stamford St., London SE1 (01833 9557). WANTED: Gents racing bike, for 6' penon. Contact Nick on 01-278 6327. HANDSPUN wool for knitting, crochet, or weaving. Make Ãˆome thina warm and beautiful this winter. Send stamp for m p l a s t o Pmala Atkinson, CappacnshÃ‘n Kinvan. Co. Galww. Ireland.' UNIQUE holiday on organic small holding with 77 acres of wooded naturereserve within Exmoor National Park. Sea 4 miles. Eight camouflagedcaravans. modem toilea. Sm pleaso Cowliy Wood, N. Devon. Parra-200.

THEBOOKS

listed below are available by mail order from UC; prices include postage and packing. All orders must be prepaid. Practical Solar Heating

Kwin McCartneyÂ£2.8 ". ..a masterpiece DIY text, jargon-free English; technology fuw demystified; a bit of social context; construction details

aocomplete barely a twist of a spanner is omitted."

Radical Technology

Godfrey Boyle & Peter Harper Â£4.5 "The Importantthing isto workon allfrontsat once, the home, tho nelghbourhoodand the workplace. We must be realistic end full of fantasy, attend to public needs and individual consciousness,create a balance of mental end manualwork, a measure of city end country life, focus on immediate problems and build for the future, live ih earnest and just for fun, confront andcompromise. Haveourcakeand eat it? Why

not?"

Barefoot Psychoanalyst

~ R a n W , J a h n ~ e a FtancisTmlinson n d Â£3.3 A practical manual of exercises derived from the Karen Homey school,Ã§eout incartoonstrip format withan emphasis on chubrgon-freeexplanation. Intendedfor use by groups

of twoor more.

Now available are attractive, durable binding files for Undercurrents, turning your copies into a valuable reference work. Dark brown, with "UNDERCURRENTS' in gold lettering on the front. Three years' issues (18 copies) can be held in each. Holds both the present size and the larger, early issues. Â£2.9 each. File your back issues: two for Â£5.20 three and over-Â£2.3 each (prices inc. p&p).

A free copyof 'Reprocessing the Truth' will be sent to you with your file(s). Published by 'The Ecologist', it is the most important publication to date on reprocessing and the FBR.

To order your files, and receive your free copy, write, enclosing a cheque/PO (payable to Falcon B ooks) direct to:

FALCON BOOKS (FILES) Dept. UC, 13 Hillside Road, Marlow, Bucks SL7 3JU Allow four weeks for delivery

COWSLIP, sweet cicely, mullein, wild basil, soapwort, foxglove, meadowsweet, red poppy, lemon balm, marshmallow, opium poppy, angelica, lovagee. Choose any six. Ideal present plus wild seed growers guide Â£1.5post paid from The Seed Bank, 44 Albion Road, Sutton, Surrey.

UNDER HALF-PRICE UNDIES!

The success of the Undercurrents Summer Sale means that we carrmake another amazing seasonal offerwiti" back numbers at less than half price! Nos. 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 for only Â£ 10; Nos. 21 to 30 or 31 to 40 for only Â£3Going one better we can offer the whole set, 8 to40, for only Â£7post-free, worldwide' Single copies are40p. We regret that Nos. 1 to7,9, 10, 11, 13, 1 9 a n d 2 0 a r e o u t o f print. for AT; Organic gardening; Pirate radio; Building with rammed earth: Wind theory; Hermetick, Comtek 74: BRAD: London't twmeh. 8 Centre Lucas Aerospace; Crabapple; Biofeedback: Community Technology; 12 Comtek 75; Alternative Culture (31; Alternative Health Service. Lucas & AT, Jack Mundcy; Overseas AT: Hillside Cottage; Building 1 4 & natural energy; Shutter design; Alternative Technology in India. ' W h o Need* Nukes?": Biodynamic gardenint; Wind generator progress report; Invertordesign; Innulation&Jobs;Production formed People's Habitat: NATTA, Citizen's Band; Garden villages; T r w fanning; DIY new towns; Self-sufficienttown houses; Lifespan; Planning. InnerTechnology: Save yourown seed; Computerleyhunti~;17th century radicalscience; Dowsinc: KIllhn ohblotit- Women &-AT. AT 6 t h e Third World: Irrelevant technology; 2nd clau -pitiJon; Chinese science, Supermacker. Green ban: Hydroponics; Ley Uif> Good squat guide; Dangers of counter-culture: Broadcasting; M i Nuclear policy; Iron age farm; Laurietitnn: Peace convention;DIY print. A doctor writes; 1reland;'Paranoia power (1); Stonehenge; P r i d therapy; Cod war; Fish farming ( I ) : Ri~olerevolutionimi;Free 'Â¥Â¥di Seabrook. Nukes & unions; Fish fanning (2); WÃ§steÃ§aveor& stoves; Charles Fort; Solarcollector;VHF tranfcmitUTrParanouPo~r(2) Chicken's lib; Namibian health; Windscale; VHF t m m i t t e r (2). Duncan Campbell on theEavesdroppers;Forestry, Cheesehcidernuldnx. Emotional plague; Findhorn; ~ o & p m t & communism (2); Waterpower; Antw Aelhaeam; Oz cowunity radio;PunkThailand;Positive SabotaÃ‘ AT & the Porluguestt revolution. The Rumftianharen't coming; Boat repairs; New Age Access;Orkney crdtinx, G r o w dope;PackJginc ELF. Soft energy: hard politic*; Fast breeders; Twls for smell f l a w , BnxkhoufeAmpersand co-op; Filh -f %Shaken; DIY Woo& Windicale; Tvind; Atlantis: Mondraion; AT& theSuit, CanadianAT; Behaviour Mod:Bicycle planning, Urban waxielaod, Can Wale* makeit? Women 6 Energy: Wmdscale; New Clear Eneny; Feminist*&t nubs; Womn&Science, W o m a n t h o u g h l ; A l i c e f c A T m m ; S k i U ~ Windscale, Ecofeminiam; Solarcal. AT & the B h h Stat*. AUcÃ§ Muacle poweredrevolutiom& unudhi.Gnmiw loddiun:Piriih DaRto. Food politics: Factory fuminr. Additives; Wholefood co-op.; Coomodity campiignK Common a(ricultun1 policy, P o t a m G m i n d u l y Ecopolltl~~ British : road to Ecotepia: lakc Nukes & the Workers' plain; UKAEA; D1Y VHF transmitter, Shotton; M i c m . Planning; Garden cities; Urban wasteland; National parks Shetland: Country life;WWOOFiw ATwrkthop; Energy options&employment. Co-op lessonÃ§Crabapple; UNCSTD; Earthcare, ('ilunttr-Kewlution tfwrtvrly; Feminist anti-nukeurn:Ian Lloyd: Enfinwriw Rurel rBJitty. C o m t e k 79: Wave power. Teamwork TrainineTn-t; -if> for the North: DIY Woodrtove design; Ilecentrahin# ATCGreentooa. Children 6 the Envlmnment: Future perfect: City jungks; ABeÃ§ Fhsheet camps; Ma Gaia: Community schools & service; Free ichooli Third world energy; FA0 food conference; Street fightin' man; DIY biogas; compost; Emtopoly; Environmental education: K a r e n S i Anti-nuclaarCampaIgn: Denmark. Seabrook; G~ien!latacticÃ§.T) English Earthquake;% Russiansand SicolaTenta; AnimalsorEthica. Communes: Co-operativework;Fairground;Christiania;Commum &anarchism: Pearce's polemic; L'S Windpoiver Inc.; ScandinavianAT. Fusion: Wave power. LongoMai; Viewdam Deprogrammiiit;Ecoropt; Third World Rip-off:Curls: Jobs& Social Change; French Amin* Co-operators F a i r Suma: Winds ol' change: Working colleclivcly: Orgasmic labour. Macho nations: Capitalismand Ct~-opxDelta-T: Co-"nlH Protopia: Convivial computing; Manifesto for the 80s; EN& Kyshtym; NATTA, Tesla: Darrieus windmill design; Pirate Radio

15 16 17' 18 21 22 23 24 2(" 26 27 28 29 30. 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

39 40

PEACE NEWS for non-violent revolution. Reports, analysis, news, o f non-violent action f o r social change, building alternatives and resisting the megamachine. Covers anti-militarism, sexual politics, ecology, decentral isation, etc. 25p fortnightly, Â£9.5 f o r a year's sub. from 8 Elm Avenue. Nottingham.

.--,

AUTUMN READING

." ,....

41 42

WHATs WRITTEN Undercurrents is an open forum for radical and alternative Ideas: we have onlv a coude of regular contributorsso we deoe-nd on a steadiflow of unsolicitedarticles and ideasto flliup the magazine. Here are some guidelines to encourage prospective writers to get busy. MONEY Undercurrentsdoes not pay for contributions but authors get afree one year sub for each article printed. FORMAT: Articles should if possible be typed double-spaced with generous margins, on one side of the paper only. LENGTH: The normal maximum length is three pages(3000 words olus oicturest: lonaer articles &be reluctantiv considered Â¥STYLE Articles should be written in plain English, with short sentences and plenty of paragraphs. SPARE COPES: Always keep a spare copy of anything you send us; both our editors and the Mails are fallible! PICTURES: Photos should be black and white, prints not transparencies; lin'e drawings should be in black ink on plain paper; we can redraw them if cartoons are always welcome necessary. REVIEWS: are always welcome; also suggestions of titles for review and offers to write in future issues. NEWS, SCANDAL AND GOSSIP: are also needed, particularly from outside London and from abroad.

CHESTER College of Higher Education offers B.A. and B.Ed degree courses in various subjects including Mathematics, Biology and Liberal Studies in Science t o thow with almost any two 'A' . levels and suitable '0' levels (alternativessuch as ONC will :. be considered carefullvf. The Biology is environmentally fwiftnftwf arni I ihoral fitiirtiu in

Science is mainly devoted to the social implications of Science and thus should interest Undercurrents readers. Serving teachers mav. aoolv . . . for a one vear full time course in these subjects. There is also a B.A. in Health an, Community Studies. Details fr% David Hooper, Science tIepi?;' Chester College, Cheyney Road,

UNDERCURRENTSIt Â¶hmiÃ‡Kin of loft U e h w Ã ‘ d t l M potitia,publMwl wy twomonth! by Unduwmnh Ltd. b

c o m p l y ~ u n d w t h e t e r n oEngtond<Ne.l146484jÃ§n f Ihifd by g i ~ n n t aNinth . ynr of l a m . ISSN 0308 2382. EDITORIAL OFFICE: 27 CKricnwII Clan. London EC1R OAT. T1: 01-2837303. ACCESS: The benevolent oligarchy known as the UCcollqctive meet every Wednesday from 7 p m o n to cobble the magazine together, pay the bills and gosip, adjourning as early 8s poxifele t o the back bar of the Crown Tavern. These meetings are open t o all friends of the magazine. The office is not staffed at other times but Simon Woodhead, our subscriptions coordinator and factotum is often working there on Wednesday afternoons; on other doys them is often a member of the collective in the office around 2 pm opening the mail. Outside these times urgent enquiries may be addronm to Chris Hutton Squire on 01-261 6774. CREDITS: Undercurrents 43 vms nut together by B r w M y . Dave Elliott, Dave Kannar and Godfrey Boyle IFssoiml, Stephen Joseph ( N e d , Peter Culshaw (Rwiawd, Bill Flatman ( L e t ~ n ) , Mike Barber /What's On), and Helen McEwan /In The &kin#) aided and abetted by Chris Hutmn Squire, Tarn Dougan, Simon Woodhead, Lowana Veal. Martin Ince, Peter Glass, Vidky Hutchinf, Val Robinson, Nick Hanna and some persons unknown. Typesetting by Jenny Penning; (01-226 1258) and Community Typesetter* (01-226 6243). Cover drawn and designed by David Hall. Our thanks to the Collective A t L a m for advice, encouragement, spontaneous contributions, etc. . COPY DATE: Undercurrents44 (FebruaryIMarchl will beon tale on Saturday February 7;closing date for last minute items is Wednesday January 7. COVER PRICE From Undercurrents 44 the cover price will be 70plUS $1.75. PRINTER. Western Web Offset, 59 Prince St., Bristol 1.

DISTRIBUTION: within the Britiih Idn by Fllthn* Dtetrlbutkm. 27 Cbrkwiwril Clot, London EC1, Ml01-2614976. PIÃ‘Ã‘dua phon* t h m ik ibout ubacription quorim. US dinribtion h by Ciri Pigxxi. Room 308,76 Kn~land Stmt, Bo~on,M i l 02111.

fhoef-ar

Windscoto.Eagkmd 1957 Lucens, s w b d a d law Three Mile Island 1979 Tomorrow-UnmiUgatod DhUhr?Tbi8W GiveYoutheFacts!

Richard Curtis & Elizabeth hog&.

BALHAM FOO .

@ Come

Off Balham Station Rd 01-673 0946,

A non-prbfit-makingworkers' ceoperative. and see our wide range of wholefoods (at fair ... z . prices) and radicallaiiernative * .< -. 5, books. *:9< Â¥f'

Presents a nuclear engineer's analysis and confronts the real stakes in the so-called debate about atomic Dower: the devastation and destruction that would follew a nuclear-accident, the horror of radiation death,>p&<:the already harmful effects on o u r ~ . . , . e n v i r o n m e n t by radioactive wastes. Includes: Nuclear roulette; Nuclear power-myths and realities; Thermal pollution, and man's dwindling radiation budget;Energy alternatives; Citizen action.fuo

IVS to looking for people who: Â¥hav a vision of a world-wlde community

SOMALIA

baaed on justice, equality and co-operation Â¥genuinel want to assist those disadvantaged COORDINATOR by international competitive and exploitative needed to administer the existing programme consisting structures, and of a number of health workemand other skilled oersonnel Â¥hav useful skills, training and experience to working in a refugee self-help project in the north of the utilise and pass on. count* and to investigate the possibilities of further Candidatesshould have as much of the followino .oroiecta . Volunteer vacancies in the Third World: as possible: PRACTICAL APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGISTS Â¥knowledg of the situation in the Horn of Africa for integrated rural development projects in Lesotho Â overseas experience preferably in Africa Â¥experienc of working in community-based projects WATER SUPPLY TECHNICIANIPLUMBER Â¥administrativ experience FOR SMALL-scale rural domestic installations in Couples who wish to work on a jobsharing basis are Swaziland welcome to apply. Two-year minimum contract. CIVIL ENGINEER IRRIGATION ENGINEER for provision of appropriately designed needed to work as part of a team in a refugee camp in the footbridges in Lesotho north of the country to assist in the development of vegetablegrowing project. Responsibilities will include BUILDERS training in simple and effective irrigation techniques and for community training centres in Botswana basic well construction. He/she will work closely with the WORKCAMPS ORGANISER CIIR horticulturalist. One year contract initially which may for voluntary community development association be extended to two. In Lesotho ECUADOR FARMERS, MARKET GARDENERS. needed to administer the existing programme involving LIVESTOCK PERSONS the placing of skilled personnel in small-scalecommunity tor rural devebpment programmes in.Lesotho and based projects and to investigate and evaluate further ' Mozambique. oroiects. Previous South American experience. community work experience in the UK and involvementin developPl0 SPECIALIST ment work either in the UKor in theThirdWorld Important for breeding herd In Lesotho ' Couoles who wiah toworkon alobsharino basiswelcome Also HEALTH EDUCATOWNUTRITIONIST for to a&. Two year minimum cohaat, Lesotho;TE&H.ERSOFDEAF, and LIBRARIANS TERMS: ~re~eeparturi and r w o ~ u m waranis; t return 1C URSEStarBotewan~ air fare: asalawrelated t o l o c a l i t n w h i c h lB low; m d l d r t ftraining. sor""T^i ten>i l zaw Set WIDE VA OF , InMozambique. and i n s u r a k cover; Intensivelanguage Write tor current vacmov I & inchidinn Wrlte to: CIIR-Socth, 1CmnbddgoTLondon NW1 (Teh 01-4874397) ending full (totalla of your previous oxpÃ§rlancÃP l a a quote ~ rot UC.

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A special low-speed generator is direct-coupled (no troublesome gearing) to a 6ft dla, h propelior, giving an output starting in a 7mph breeze and rising to 200watts(12v or 24v DC) speed of 23mph. The famous air-brake governor then prevents overspeed problems For unattended locations in extreme weather conditions NorthumbrianEnergyWorkshopcan provide super-heavy-duty' version with additional weatherproofing and an uprated turntable arrangeme This, linked with our 1Om 'easy-erect' tower and a special batterycontroller, which transfers any outp to heating elements when the battery is fully charged, provides a high reliability unit for remote an hostile sites. --, \

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