Nottingham Alternative News Service
BulletinThree - November 2003
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Nottingham a BioCity? Or is the Biotech Future wishful thinking about bad science?
Anti-Social Behaviour Bill – Who will the new law be used to tread on?
Notts Refugee Forum Appeal - Support Asylum Seekers Right to Work
Nottingham Protest Against George Bush State Visit – Volunteers needed.
Sustainable Agriculture in Africa – Overseas charity, Harvest Help, open day in Keyworth
An article in the Observer on 19th October describes the develpment of the BioCity Science Park and “business incubator” . If you hadn't noticed this has been under development with support from the local universities, the City Council and East Midlands Development Agency for some time. The German chemicals company BASF donated the premises, the ex-Boots research laboratories, to Nottingham Trent University. It has been developed into a purpose built centre which it is hoped will become the location for a “cluster” of research and development businesses, focused on healthcare, bioscience and technology. It would have cost £25m to build from scratch and this seemed too good an opportunity to be missed.
If you are immediately suspicious of this as a new centre of GM research, then it's not quite so simple – in fact, one of the companies in “BioCity” is researching alternatives to animal testing. Nevertheless, there are major questions that BioCity does raise. We don't know all the kinds of research that might be brought here eventually and what the implications of this research might be.
Here and now one of the issues is whether to accept the hype. If we are to believe what we are told this is Nottingham and the East Midland's attempt to become a leading centre in what is heralded as being one of the key industries of the 21st century – rivalling already established places like Cambridge.
Others are more sceptical. Part of the argument is that Nottingham has a close proximity to a pharmaceuticals industry, to a number of universities and medical schools – which is a very good combination of institutions with the necessary expertise and facilities to help this kind of science park and its fledgling companies take off. However, if you think about it, whereever in the world there are established pharmaceutical industries, there are going to be centres of population – and most large population conurbations have hospitals and universities - universities with medical schools and with interests in pharmaceuticals and life sciences. So, although the BASF gift to NTU is a nice start, there's nothing particularly special about Nottingham – and, in fact, there are lots of other places making bids to be the new centres in which biotechnology is based – both in the UK and all over the world.
World wide meetings of the Biotechnology Industry Organisation last year thus drew in local development officials from 150 places around the world. For example, there's another BioCity in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia; Bangalore, has 72 biotechnology companies employing around 3,500 scientists (funded, for example, by AstraZeneka), Singapore is constructing a 'Biopolis', an 18 million square foot biomedical sciences hub, housing public research institutes, corporate research and development centres and start-ups - due to be completed in 2003 - and it has around 30 life science start-ups, around half working in the biomedical sphere and half in agriculture and environmental sphere. Meanwhile here in the UK the Scottish Enterprise Board is promoting a biotech centre up in Dundee and there's a good few other places in the UK in the running. If Nottingham does develop a successful cluster of businesses then it is more likely to share its business with 7 or 8 centres around the UK.
A further issue is how much is it really true that biotechnology is the key industry of the 21st century and how much employment would it generate anyway? Is it all a great deal of public money going for not very much – public money that could, let's face it, be spent on other things instead of subsidising local science academics build their “knowledge” empires. The question is a very real one. There are those who argue that the Biotech industries are in a crisis because, at root, the science is itself dubious. Arguing that the worse of the slump in the Biotechology Industry is only being held at bay by bad spending decisions by governments, including defence spending on biological warfare fears, Dr Mae Wan Ho writes:
“The
futility of identifying 'predisposing genes' in the human genome is
becoming increasingly clear as genes and genomes are now known to
mutate, reshuffle and rearrange in response to environmental toxins
and hazards...... Gene technology projects, from animal bio-pharming
and cloning to gene therapy and xenotransplantation are collapsing
because they have failed to deliver the goods and the inherent
hazards involved have become all too evident..... It is time our
governments stop throwing good money after bad medicine and invest in
genuinely health-enhancing projects that improve the quality of our
food, our air, water and land.”
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GBBBS.php
The fact is, according to the Wall Street Journal:
“Biotechnology isn't a proven moneymaker; in aggregate, the industry posted $5.8 billion in net losses in 2000, according to BIO. It is dominated by small research-driven firms that can blow through tens of millions of dollars in a year and then disappear in an instant if a drug fails to work in expensive human experiments. Though it can be relatively simple to establish a biotech company, creating a nexus of such start-ups is a much dicier proposition. “ (Wall Street Journal June 11th 2002)
To drive this message home a study of the growth of biotechnology centres in the USA, published last year by the Brookings Institute, gives a reasonable picture of the issues in the USA, and therefore, probably in the UK. Biotech needs to be heavily subsidied by government, losses are large and it doesn't generate a lot of jobs. According to the Brookings Institute:
“Development of a successful biotechnology cluster requires a considerable amount of time and investment. Established concentrations of medical researchers and research institutions change slowly. It often takes a decade or more to develop biotechnology based products, and perhaps one in 1,000 patented biotech innovations produces a successful commercial product. The historically low odds of success and the extended stretch of time associated with developing and securing regulatory approval for commercial biotechnology products mean that metropolitan areas seeking to develop a biotech industry will need to invest a significant amount of time and resources. Although growing rapidly, the biotechnology industry is still a small portion of most metropolitan economies. To date, even successful biotechnology industry clusters have produced only modest returns to their regional economies. Most biotechnology firms are quite small: nationally only 44 have more than 1,000 employees. (Institute for Biotechnology Information 2001) Biotech firms typically contract with global pharmaceutical firms to produce, market, and distribute successful products rather than attempting to create their own capacity to do so. In the two largest concentrations of biotech activity in the nation (Boston and San Francisco), none of the largest biotech firms is among either region's 25 largest private employers.....The historically low odds of success and the extended stretch of time associated with developing and securing regulatory approval for commercial biotechnology products mean that metropolitan areas seeking to develop a biotech industry will need to invest a significant amount of time and resources. “
http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/biotech1.pdf
If you have any thoughts on this new development 'for Nottingham' or any further information then please get in touch.
B.D.
Environmental magazines - Environmental hazard?
Loads and loads of paper are sent to landfill or incineration regularly from Nottingham City branch libraries. This includes brochures, prospectuses, leaflets (few of which ever get taken by the public), magazines, newspapers, circulars, mail, wrappers etc etc. It also includes bundles of leftover "Living for Tomorrow" magazines - the Council's prestige environmental magazine - cover article latest issue: "We lift the lid on recycling"!
Incineration is dangerous and polluting. Landfill is unsustainable and polluting. Not recycling means that far more raw materials must be used to make new products such as paper.
The
recycling page of the City Council's website states "We all need
to strive to minimise the waste we produce in order to save money and
help the environment". Apparently this does not apply to
libraries. Does it apply to other City Council departments?
Let's make it our mission to put this right.
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/coun/department/leisure_com/libraries/enquiries/feedback.asp
C.
In
an article in the Nottingham Evening Post (10/09/03),
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=66030&command=displayContent&sourceNode=65582&contentPK=6987085,
local dentists "demanded" the addition of fluoride to
our drinking water, to combat high levels of tooth decay in local
children.
At present some areas of north Notts already have fluoridation, but local British Dental Association spokesperson Amarjit Gill, is pressing for the whole of Nottinghamshire to have fluoride added to the water. Mr Gill asserts that it is "barbaric" that the Greater Nottingham area is currently fluoride-free.
Contrary to Mr Gill's opinion, there are many reasons why the addition of fluoride to our water would be a barbaric act.
The
health implications are grave, particularly for children.
http://www.fluoride.org.uk/ausfnews/novdec00/your_childs_vulnerability.htm
Among
other side-effects, studies have linked fluoride with bone cancer,
higher incidences of miscarriages and Down's syndrome births, and
decreased IQ
levels.
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/adverse_effects.html
Silicofluorides
are a class 2 poison under the Poisons Act, a fact which has led many
opponents to question the legality of fluoridation.
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/cross_review.html
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/ethics.htm
There
are also cultural and religious issues involved for the muslim
community, who have joined the campaign to stop
fluoridation.
http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/Muslim.html
The
Green Party has produced a very good overview of the whole situation,
entitled "Sexing-up the case for fluoride : The dentists' dodgy
dossier", which can be found at
:
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/reports/2003/Dodgy%20dossier,%20fluoride.htm
Mr Gill practises at the Wollaton Dental Care Centre, e-mail : info@smilesahead.co.uk (this is a general address so e-mails should be marked FAO Mr A Gill).
Jill
While the BBC's undercover sting against racist policing has thrown police forces country wide into a crisis, Nottinghamshire Police are struggling with yet more problems of their own. An article in the Guardian on October 22nd referred to a “naming and shaming exercise” based on police performance figures conducted by the Home Office and the county that is shamed the most, at the bottom of the league table of police performance – Nottinghamshire.
“ The data places 42 of the 43 forces in a "family of most similar forces", so that small rural forces are not compared with big cities. The tiny City of London force is dealt with separately......The rating of each force is set out in key areas: reducing crime, investigating crime, citizen focus or public satisfaction, levels of fear of crime and feelings of public safety and their use of resources, measured in the number of days lost through sickness. The indicators are to be expanded to include domestic violence and gun crime next year...... The worst performer is Nottinghamshire, which comes bottom on reducing crime, using resources and citizen focus. Its record in investigating crime and promoting public safety is only marginally better. The force saw a 15% increase in burglaries and a 9% rise in car crime, while the detection rate fell by 12%. The force did however have some success in increasing the rate at which it brought class-A drug dealers to justice. “
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1068017,00.html
When the new chief constable, Steven Green, came into post a few years ago it was widely recognised that the Notts Police were in trouble. According to a March 2003 Home Office report on the Notts Police, which can be found on the Internet, “The Force had lost its way and was in need of clear direction”. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/nottinghamshire03.pdf
Green therefore decided on what was called “a radical overhaul” and was supported in this by the Police Inspectorate at the Home Office. As things were so bad it was decided that dramatic and far reaching changes were needed. “Evolution was not an option” agreed the Home Office Inspectorate and the Notts Police tried their version of “revolution” instead. In April 2002 everything changed. “Structural and cultural changes” were brought in over a very short time period that other police forces had brought into existence at a much slower pace.
The result reads like a cautionary tale for revolutionaries – if you change everything all at once you get, predictably, chaos – the Notts police didn't know whether they were coming or going:
”Every area of business was affected, from major crime investigation and the taking of telephone calls from the public, to the degree of independence allowed to local commanders for financial planning and the IT systems that people needed to do their jobs. Many officers had to learn new neighbourhoods, a new set of local criminals and a whole new style of policing. Control room staff needed to learn new radio and location codes and work with new technology, whilst allocating jobs to staff in a completely different way. Staff working in support of frontline officers were now working on local areas instead of in headquarters. Managers at all levels had to lead and motivate their staff, when at times they found it hard to know what was expected of them.....The new way of working asked a great deal from staff, and many found the change hard to come to terms with, particularly because of staff movements during the process of change. For example, the city division had three new chief superintendents in the period leading up to the major change in April 2002, one of whom moved to the division the month prior to the changes being implemented. He found that basic systems and processes were not in place, and considerable changes had to be made once the division had been formed. Mistakes made in the creation of the first control room were repeated when the second control room was set up, leading to a further period of disruption and difficulty......
“......The immediate effects, whilst not wholly unexpected following change, were adverse and significant for the public and the Force alike. There was a further drop in the performance of the Force and the level of service provided to the community. 999 and other non-emergency call performance plummeted.....
The Home Office Inspectorate supported the extent of the reorganisation, and “non evolutionary” nature of the change, so it seems fair to raise a question mark over their advice in this matter. In their March 2003 Report the Home Office inspector writes that “aspects of the large and complex reorganisation ... were not well managed.”· But then, if you try and change the culture and organisation of something as big and complex as a police force in a hurry, which is the policy that the Home Office Inspectorate tiself supported, you are bound to make more mistakes. A particularly crass mistake, which will probably have long lasting consequences, and which suggests that things will not quickly improve in the city, was in regard to the reassignment of officers. If you think that many Nottingham police appear to be out of their depth, young and inexperienced, then you are noticing another effect of the re-organisation, something that cannot, probably, be quickly rectified.
“..officers needed to be reassigned to new divisions following reorganisation. They were allocated following a preferencing exercise in which staff were asked where they would like to work. This is often good practice and is clearly supportive of the workforce. However there were serious consequences in this case; unsurprisingly, many experienced officers voted to work out of the busy city division, leaving an imbalance of staff that had to be filled by probationary constables who were still learning their job. · The beat teams were responsible for delivering problem-solving policing, but as probationers, they were the least skilled to deliver that style of policing. They also missed the opportunity to learn other policing skills that response officers performed: responding to emergency incidents, road traffic collisions, outbreaks of public disorder and the immediate aftermath of serious crimes......Communities lost their experienced beat officers in some areas, a loss that was keenly felt. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/nottinghamshire03.pdf
With the Titanic in trouble the captain reorganises crewing, so that the most experienced seaman, instead of securing the watertightness of the ship are given an option on jobs. They choose to crew the lifeboats.
B.D.
Drawing on information from the Legal Action Group and Statewatch, Tash draws attention to the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill. Living in Nottingham's red light district, he's not too happy with anti social behaviour either but asks: who will the new law actually be used to tread on?.
The Bill
"From the governments point of view, the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill is more important for what it says than what it does- but, unfortunately, it will also manage to impose some extremely oppressive controls on vulnerable people" - Legal Action Group (LAG)
While communities have been organising themselves, MPs this week have been debating the legal nitty-gritty of their new Anti-Social Behaviour Bill. Keep your radar switched on as this Bill is part of the government's wider campaign that originated with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and, though relatively minor in itself, it's important cos it's worded to allow nasty new clauses to be attached to existing Criminal Justice laws. The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill is supposedly being put in place to give cops greater powers to 'protect' communities and deal with troublemakers such as 'deviant' kids in 'dysfunctional' families; it also allows for the dispersal of groups of two or more young people to prevent the 'risk' of disorder.
Clause 59 of the bill, introduced quietly at a later stage, amends the Public Order Act 1986 so that the police can impose conditions on 'public assemblies' also consisting of just two people! The original powers were designed to prevent serious public trouble, but: "LAG fears that those who will be the target of the bill's powers are likely also to be the 'victims' that it claims to protect. People who depend on the state for housing, income, education and support services are always subject to the changing fashions of welfare provision... The resulting insecurities that such people experience make them more vulnerable to this current moral crusade." - LAG
Remember the Public Order Act 1986? That made it difficult to have festies, with strict restrictions on numbers. Then came the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, tightening the law even further. Those laws have had massive effects on festivals, protests, public assembly and free community events not approved by the cops or the council. The rise of Neo-Labour and its crusade against 'terror' has meant further clampdowns. If this new Act is passed cops will more easily be able to ban protestors and partygoers from gathering for demos or knees-ups of two or more people; they will be able to arrest people 'trespassing' either outside or in disused buildings and they will be able to slap restriction orders on protestors and ravers alike. As Statewatch point out "Left unchecked, basic freedoms and democratic standards - freedom of movement, freedom of expression and the right to protest, freedom from surveillance in everyday life, accountability, scrutiny and data protection - will be whittled away one by one threatening the very democracy being defended by the 'war on terrorism.'" Check out LAG editorial:
www.lag.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=90471
Statewatch: www.statewatch.org/news/2003/oct/22swsub.htm
Commentary:
Blunkett
on the telly announcing the new crime measures - what does it all
mean for US? I knew about the anti-social behaviour orders etc and
the main ideas of the bill, being to do with estates yobs and
intimidations etc. But, didn't have the idea that the CJA and
Public Order acts were being strengthen also. Bollox! Oh no, not
again. I've been through about five of these 'tightenings of the
screw' and at 50 yrs now, god, am getting tired!!
Actually, living in the city, I'm against some of the things that the Home Sec is trying to deal with, it influences my own life, living in a 'red light district' and what I find in my yard, in the light of the morning. BUT, law treads on us, while it is trying deal with that.
Have just been listening to Blunkett on the telly, his act followed by the Prime Minister, they were talking to a conference in London, launching the new initiatives. Respect for neighbours, dealing with intimidation, Reclaim the Streets [exactly :-)] , environmental measures and investment in local community. All very fine. But I was listening to them, and thinking, how would this apply to a traveller, gypsy, enviro community, party persons etc. Because the assumption made by politics is that we mean supporting the established community OVER our alternative ones.
I think we are about to trampled under-foot, again. Make your own judgements, the main Home Office website had just announced all this with the press release at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/n_story.asp?item_id=639
and the bill intro pages with links at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crimpol/antisocialbehaviour/index.html
Here are some of the proposals, debated in the Lords
See "Criminal Justice and Public Order Act .. .. .. .. And Now Part 2" at http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_10_05_tash_lodge_archive.html
and an IndyMediaUK entry at: http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/10/278956.html
ALAN LODGE An
Alternative View of the Tory Conference by Lord Biro, Church of the Militant Elvis Party Arrived
in Blackpool, October 8th, 11:00am. Hot footed it to
the Winter Gardens, lots of police but no machine guns. Hardly any
demonstrators either, three old blokes protesting about pensions and
that's it! I dive into a pub opposite the conference, grab a pint and
change into a white Elvis jumpsuit. Go outside and start distributing
some satirical poetry leaflets. I've also written a new Tory anthem
“Liteweight Hotel” : Over
the road the media are gathering in a car park where the Countryside
Alliance have got some stalls. I think I'll go over and dish out some
literature. Suddenly there's a buzz, here comes IDS and his wife. I
move forward to give him a copy of the new
Tory Anthem. I'm immediately surrounded by a gang of young Tories.
They grab me and won't let me go. “I want to give him a
leaflet”. “You can't”, they say, “we'll give
it to him”. “You're just a bunch of lackeys”,
I reply. “I want to give it him
personally because I'm the leader of my party”.
The
cops arrive, “you're creating an
incident, sir”, says a nasty looking cop, “if you carry
on, we'll arrest you”. “It's them who are causing an
incident. They assaulted me. I like IDS, it's this lot that are a
danger to him. Why don't you arrest them?” The cops aren't
interested, IDS moves off, the mob retreats warily, so much for
democracy. IDS gets into his car, I try again. The cops have another
go, “Give him a leaflet and we'll arrest you for obstruction”,
the Tory Mob jeers, “Elvis loves you but Jesus may be having
second thoughts”, I jeer back. The media laugh, an old Tory
gives me a Countryside Alliance badge, “Do you support
hunting?”, he says. “No Elvis didn't like hunting”,
I reply. “He hunted women”. “Oh no he didn't, they
hunted him”, I say. The old Tory chuckles. I
go back to the pub for a pint, then another and then go outside and
start stirring it again. Here comes David Davis, I give him the
anthem, he jumps into a taxi. Now it's Michael Howard,
he refuses . “But you're in it”, I shout. He relents and
takes one, jumps into a taxi and starts reading it, that should go
down well with his three course luncheon. Alan
Duncan MP strolls by. “I'll sing it at the conference”,
he says, “If you do that, I'll vote Tory at the next election”.
I am bigger liar that he is. Two blokes walk past, “What do
they need all those police for, who wants to fucking blow them up”. It's
late afternoon now , more delegates are coming
out the conference centre. “Elvis for No 10, he's got
more chance than IDS”, I shout. They smile, I think I've
touched a chord.A heavily made up woman asks if her friend can take a
photo of us. “We want IDS to stay. The media are stirring it up
though I did advise him yesterday to get a charisma transplant”. I
spot Portillo walking up the road, I chase him and hand him the
anthem, “Could you please move”, he says softly, “Someone
is trying to get past”. I look and see a woman pushing another
woman in a wheelchair. “I'm so sorry”, I say to the
women. “You're a true politician”,
I snap at Portillo, irritated by his smarmy do-gooder pose. The
woman pushing the wheelchair says in a rough Glasgow accent, “
He wouldn'a asked you tae' move if he knew we were fucking Labour”. The
delegates are flooding out, the days events are coming to an end. I
used to hate the Tories but now I feel sorry for them. Their
arrogance has been replaced by an air of bewilderment. The blue
pinstriped suits, the well dressed women straight out of 'Woman's
Own', the old guys with their plummy accents and checked waistcoats.
They're a vanishing species. An Old England who can't compete in a
New Labour world of focus groupies, mobile
clones and spin doctors on call 24/7. I've always had a soft spot for
Old England; it's fusty pubs, tea and kippers, gob stoppers and Billy
Bunter etc. Perhaps I should make some
tee-shirts 'Save the Tories'. I wonder what the eco-warriors and the
SWP would think to that.? A lead free bullet through the back of the
head, probably. Rule Blairtannia!
Lord
Biro Thanks to Lord Biro for the graphic of Geoff Hoon in the last issue.
Asylum
Seekers And The Right To Work - Notts Refugee Forum appeal David
Amess, the MP for Southend West, has laid an Early Day Motion (EDM)
before the Houses of Parliament regretting the Government's decision
to deny the right to work to asylum seekers. The right to apply for
permission to work was withdrawn from asylum seekers on 23 July 2002.
Locally,
the issue of work and work permits has been raised numerous times by
asylum seekers. In Nottingham we know something about what happens
when asylum seekers are forced into the hands of black economy
mafiosi. There are also issues of human rights, dignity, economic
cost etc.
Please
contact your local MPs, but also raise this subject in your TU,
community etc. group.
The
wording of the EDM is: "That this House regrets the decision in
2002 by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to prevent
asylum seekers from working while their applications for residency
are under consideration; urges the Home Secretary to reconsider that
decision; recognises that issuing temporary work permits would reduce
the temptation to work illegally; and believes that allowing asylum
seekers to contribute to the British economy would reduce tensions
within the local communities where they are located."
The
EDM is accessible at
http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=1695
To fax your MP for free go to:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/resource.html An
Early Day Motion, or EDM, is the term used to describe notices of
motions given by Members that are not generally expected to be
debated. Effectively, the tabling of an EDM is a device to draw
attention to an issue, and to elicit support for it by the means of
inviting other Members to add their signatures to the motion. Members of
Parliament may also table amendments to existing motions.
Nottm&Notts
Refugee Forum 118 Mansfield Road , NOTTINGHAM , NG1 3HL
Ph:
0115 985 9546 / 0115 941 5599 .
Email: refugees@tiscali.co.uk
Since the receipt of this article David Blunkett has announced new proposals which will make it almost legally impossible for asylum seekers to enter the country, according to Jan Shaw, of Amnesty International: "Punishment for this may breach international law and heap further suffering on already vulnerable people."
see http://www.guardian.co.uk/Refugees_in_Britain/Story/0,2763,1072270,00.html
Nottingham
Protest Against Bush Visit – Volunteers needed
Bush
is on a state visit to Britain from 19th. to 21st. November.
Nottingham Stop the War are holding protest rallies in Old Market
Square at 12.00 and 17.00 on Wednesday, 19th. November. There is a
national demo in London on Thursday, 20th. November and coaches are
going from Nottingham. Phone 07989518997 for tickets.
There
will be a Stop the War stall with leafletting, petitioning, etc. to
publicise these events in Old Market Square from 13.00 to 15.00 on
Saturdays, 25th October and 1st., 8th. and 15th November. If you can
help out on any of these occasions then please let me know.
Nottingham's Direct Action Forum (NaSA) prepares to welcome GWBush to these Isles. Come see a film of his latest exploits and resistance to them. Discuss ways to resist his latest state visit. Plus the usual roundup of upcoming direct action.
NASA meets on the first monday monthly at 7pm at the Sumac Centre, and is open to all those who work nonheirachly for positive social change.
Events include:
For details of these events see Sumac Centre & Veggies Events
Diary : http://www.veggies.org.uk/diary.htm
For more suggestions and proposals click here: http://www.veggies.org.uk/calendar/bush0311.htm
Sustainable
Solutions to African Food Crisis
“Overseas
development charity Harvest Help is bringing southern Africa to our
doorstep in November. Jando Nkhwazi, the Malawian director of one of
their projects in northern Malawi, is coming to Keyworth, near
Nottingham, to speak about the transformation he has seen in his
community over the last few years.” Sustainable
farming methods could help to provide a solution to the ongoing food
crisis in Africa. Currently, there are nine projects cross Zambia and
Malawi, supported by UK charity Harvest Help, which are helping
farmers like Sylvers Katunta to increase their food production.
Farmers
are now making their own compost instead of using expensive and
harmful chemical fertilisers. Many are also finding that
intercropping plants, like sunhemp and velvet bean, with their maize
crops replenishes nutrients in the soils and increases their yields.
Importantly,
in countries where rain can be unpredictable and work must be carried
out by hand, many farmers are experimenting with alternative
plough-ing methods. Potholing has proved particularly successful -
this involves digging potholes rather than ploughing furrows. Organic
matter (and physical effort) is concentrated into these holes, which
are also good at retaining water during dry spells. At
the end of 2002 Harvest Help estimated that at least 5,000 farmers
across Zambia and Malawi were using sustainable farming methods. More
recently some farmers have also adopted this approach to growing
crops during the dry season, when traditionally it has been
considered impossible to grow anything. Last year, Sylvers and 215 of
his fellow farmers at Ipongo began experimenting with this. "I
planted maize along the banks of a local stream, used compost to
fertilise and a manual pump, called a treadle pump, to bring water
from the stream to irrigate my crop."
The
results have been spectacular. Sylvers and his neighbouring farmers
managed to gather over 100 tonnes of food in November, a full five
months before they would normally expect to harvest. Whilst many
surrounding families had to rely on relief maize to make it through
the hungry sea-son, Sylvers had enough to last until the main harvest
in April.
Harvest
Help's programme in southern Africa currently benefits thousands of
families. They work mostly with farming communities, helping them to
feed their families, preserve the environment, earn a living and work
towards self-reliance.
Overseas
development charity Harvest Help is bringing southern Africa to our
doorstep in November. Jando Nkhwazi, the Malawian director of one of
their projects in northern Malawi, is coming to Keyworth, near
Nottingham, to speak about the transformation he has seen in his
community over the last few years.
The
villages in the Rumphi district of Malawi, where Mr Nkhwazi works,
nestle in beautiful but remote mountains. Families are extremely poor
and lack almost all the basic amenities that we take for granted. In
most years, farmers struggle to grow enough food to affected by
southern Africa's food crisis. Mr Nkhwazi and Harvest Help have been
working in Rumphi over the past few years, supporting reforestation
and farming work. They have seen many improvements in the lives of
the families involved, with many how well on their way to growing
enough food to last the year. Small businesses are starting up and
the local streams, once dry for much of the year, are flowing again
as the local environment is restored.
This
will be Mr Nkhwazi's first visit to the UK. He told us, "I am
looking forward to meeting many people from Britain, learning from
them and sharing my experiences of what is possible in my country. My
family are also very excited about me making this journey."
Andrew
Jowett, Harvest Help's director, believes these visits are vital. He
said, "Not only will this trip give many people in the UK the
chance to understand the joys and difficulties of the work that a
charity like Harvest Help does in southern Africa, it will also be an
opportunity for Mr Nkhwazi to meet the people in the UK who support
his work."
The
Harvest Help Open day will take place at Keyworth Methodist Church on
Saturday 22 November. Entry is free and all are welcome to attend.
For more details contact Sharon Jackson at Harvest Help, tel. 01952
260699 or visit the charity's web site at http://www.harvesthelp.org
Links to Diaries
Sumac Centre & Veggies Events
Diary : http://www.veggies.org.uk/diary.htm Stop the War
www.nottmagainstwar.org.uk
Other useful links
Ned Ludds News - Nottingham
Free Information Network is an example of a print newsletter,
published intermittently from 1997-2002 - see
http://www.veggies.org.uk/neds/Ned0208.htm.
UK Indymedia :
http://www.indymedia.org.uk Schnews :
http://www.schnews.org.uk
Photographer
- Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham.
Web: http://tash.gn.apc.org
Email: tash@gn.apc.org
we've found a new place to dwell
it's down at the end of Moaning Street
at Liteweight Hotel”
Website: http://www.theplace4.co.uk/stuffdiana/
Select 'Fax your MP For Free '
STOP PRESS:
Readers might like to include their views on this when contacting their MPs.
Monday 3rd November - Drop Bush Not Bombs
Nottingham
Friends of the Iraqi People: www.nottmnowar.org
and
Sheffield Indymedia :
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/
Indymedia
is based on Editorial Guidelines, which would not neccessarily
apply to Nottingham Alternative News Service :
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/static/editorial.html
Veggies
Newsround : http://www.veggies.org.uk/news/index.htm
Buzzflash
: http://www.buzzflash.com
Information
Clearing House : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info