14.05.1998

Let them eat tacks

Though politicians and the media never tire of telling us how lucky we are to live in a parliamentary democracy, the reality is somewhat different. The governmental machine operates behind our backs, making countless decisions in private rooms - and in alliance with powerful vested interests. The business-military-government complex always tends to win over and above democracy in capitalist society.

In recent weeks we have had two clear examples of how the system works - ‘superbugs’ and the dumping of nuclear waste. The latter case is particularly instructive. An embarrassing leak appeared in The New York Times. The British government was forced to admit that Blair had hatched a deal with Bill Clinton to accept a cache of highly radioactive, weapons-grade material from the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia for reprocessing at the Dounreay plant in Scotland.

This secret deal - codenamed Operation Auburn Endeavour - was done despite a ban on Dounreay operating commercial contracts to import nuclear material while a safety review is in progress. Blair and Clinton claimed “special dispensation” on the spurious grounds that this was not a commercial contract and that the amount involved was tiny. This dangerous material had to be smuggled out of Tbilisi, we were told, because it was vulnerable to being stolen by “terrorists and the agents of rogue regimes”. Strangely enough though, ‘responsible’ governments like the French and the United States refused to accept the material. So Scotland it had to be. But just make sure the Scottish people are told nothing about it. Cross your fingers and hope the news does not get out. Unfortunately for Blair and Clinton, the gamble failed.

Caught on the hop, a government spokesperson came out with the following justification: “Circumstances in Georgia are such that it makes sense according to our various obligations, not least with the G8 [the leading industrialised nations, plus Russia] in relation to nuclear safety and non-proliferation that it should be brought from Georgia. For obvious reasons the movement of this sort of stuff is kept confidential. There is no sense in making public the transportation of material of this type.”

Naturally, the Scottish National Party had a field day in terms of easy propaganda. Alex Salmond, not without some truth, accused Blair of “prostituting Scotland as a world nuclear dustbin to curry favour with the Clinton administration. It seems the prime minister is secretly offering Scotland as a nuclear waste bin without so much as a ‘by your leave’ and certainly no public debate.”

This same arrogant and anti-democratic attitude also informs the whole of the food industry from top to bottom. The regular and constant use of growth-promoting antibiotics in intensive farming, against all independent expert advice, is a pristine example of how the pursuit of quick and fat profits - and grotesquely fat animals in many cases - now possibly threatens human health. All the danger signs since at least the 1950s - when this was first discussed with some degree of anxiety - have either been ignored or covered up. Why? In order to protect the financial interests of farmers and the drugs companies, who have everything to gain from feeding animals with a cocktail of antibiotics (mixed with the carpet tacks and bits of other animals’ brains which passes for fodder).  Make the money, bugger our health and our environment - and pocket the handsome subsidies. Then they round it off by blaming workers for having the audacity to demand food they can afford to buy.

Unsurprisingly, bacteria in animals dosed with antibiotics develop resistance. These bacteria are released into the wider environment and infect the entire farming community - and from there enter humans. Now we are seeing the ominous emergence of ‘superbugs’, some of which appear to be immune to just everything we can throw at them. As a recent report apocalyptically warns: “There is a dire prospect of returning to the pre-antibiotics era.” Thanks to the obsessively secretive and venal men and women who control the ‘food industry’, hospitals are now becoming dangerous places. For instance, the life-threatening MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) ‘superbugs’ are prevalent in hospitals. What next?

Communists demand transparency and full accountability in all state and commercial dealings. Such short-sighted and cynical malpractice must be stopped. Workers’ health must come first.

Eddie Ford