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Undercurrents 38 February-March 1980 Contents1 Eddies: News from Everywhere 8 What’s When & What’s What 10 Plan Without Atomcraft - John Nixon: A lesson from Denmark in nuclear resistance 12 Building the Anti Nuclear Campaign - Tony Webb14 Seabrook Saga - WISE: US action against nuclear power16 It’s All Space Occupied - Dave Elliott: Anti-nuclear guerrilla tactics 18 Short History of the English Earthquake - John Fletcher 20 Inter-City Drain - Hackney Anti-Nuke Group: Nuclear waste through the centre of Lon-don 21 The Russians and Nikola Tesla - Anon: Soviet death ray shock horror report 25 The Cosmic Drummer - Robert Beck: What earth brain waves can do for you 28 The Liberty Machine - Tom Athanasiou: Frankenstein’s servile monster 32 Animals or Ethics - Maria Hanson philosophises33 Oil Crisis - Tanya Lawson: Some new fat facts34 Land Decayed - Joe Francis: who is behind the ‘Land Decade Educational Council’?37 Reviews 45 Letters 46 Books & Back Issues47 Small Ads48 Masthead__________________________________________________________________________________

Published every two months by Undercurrents Ltd, 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R OAT. Full details of editorial meetings, distribution etc. are on page 48. ISSN 0306 392__________________________________________________________________________________

MARGARET THATCHER solved her Christmas gift problem this year by giving her friends I 0 new nuclear reactors, probably RVRs. 3ut the bill will be paid by the rest of us-to the tune of around G!O,OCOm over the next decade (that's about four timas what was m n t on rescuing Concorde, British Leyland, Rolls ~ b ~ c e , British s<-1 and others burnt by the white heat of technological revolution over the past decade.

The Tory plans, announced by Energy Secretary David Howell in Parliament on December 18th, s w l d mean that by the year 2000 we would get about 30% of our electricity from a total of 22 1 gigawatts of installed nucl&r capacity-ad ~robablv more than this if this I 0 year programme, kmtn&cing in 1982, were to be followed by a further expansion in 1992.

The basing of the programme . on PWRs (Pressurised Water

.Reactors, the type widely used in the US, including at Harristurg) may be important for environmental groups. k i t e the ~romise that saf& would be of overriding importance', i t seems unlikely that adverse safety reports wid make the Tories abandon the PWR. They would more likely ask for more safety meas- urns M i l e denying anti-nuclear groups access to safety informat- ion. This is foreshadowed in Cabinet committee minuies leekad t o the Guardian, in which Tory ministers agreed that to avoid anti-nuclear protest ob* aructing the programme, a 'low profile' approach would be adoptad. A separately leaked cabinet paper advocated the 'tiesensftising' (copyright R. Nixon) of decision-making to the influence of environmental pressure groups

The leaked Cabinet ccinmhtq tee minutes also give some clues as to why the Tories feel i t nacessary to splash out on nuclear power, given the 'need' tocut back on education, housing, health and other *ices. 'A nuclear programme w l d have the dentage of. removing e submntial portion

the dangers of disruption by industrial x t ion by coal miners or transport workers'.

Brussels sprouts But where is E20,OOOm

coming fram? Sources in Brussels suggest that the nuclear programme may be us& to solve the EEC budget problem over which Thatcher created so much bad feeling at the recent Dublin summit. An increased use of Euratom loans which are available for nuclear dwelopments anywhere in the community, could pay for the nuclear power programme and so help balance the British contribution to the EEC. Up to now, much of the EEC arwment has centred around the Common &ricultural Policy. But changes in that will take years to occur, since reforms will offend either British or French! opinion. A lot of money is availablevia Euratom, since the European Investment Bank is stepping up i t s energy lending (already loans have covered the new coal-fired Drax power station and the Hartlepml and Heysham nuclear stations), and widening its criteria so that other parts of the nuclear fuel cycle are eligible for grants. There would be problems,

cannot be earmarked in dvance -projects have to be considered one at a time-and other EEC countries (present and future) might oppose Britain grabbing ell the availeble nucclear funds. Still, a solution b a d on more Euremm loens to the UK would find h o u r with Maggie htwsalf, with a German government keen m find a hawily nuclear country as propaganda against its strong anti-nuclear movement, and with France (though the price here may be tha adoption here of French tebhnobgy- which won't please the British nuclear industry).

Meanwhile, what of the opposition? Ten days before the announcement of the new programme, a torchlight procession t w k place in London. The demonstratmn took the form of a funeral, with coffin, pall- bearers and about 400 demonstrators dressed in black. Other demonstrations took Place in Norwich (Father Christmases leafletted Christmas shoppers), Birmingham, Bangor, Carlisle, Brighton and Edinburgh. And a 'March for a Non-Nuclear Future

is planned for central London on March S th , the first anniversary of the Harrisburg incident. The Anti-Nuclear Campaign, whose formation is reported elsewhere, is growing fast. But the anti-nuclear case has not really got across to the public yet-partly due to anti-nuclear cnmpaigners' presentation of their case (a 90 minute TV debate on the new nuclear programme, between Friends of the .Earth campaigm ers and a pro-nuclear panel including a junior energy minister, showed this; the

argument academically but I in debating terms, especially on the question of need. So: will tho environmental cavalry be able to gather its forces t-ther in time m gallop to the rescue, scoop Britannia from the clutches of Maggie end the nuclear gang, and ride off towards the sun (and wind and waves)? Don't miss the next exciting instalment . . .

Pretty poll? NATIONAL OPINION Polls hm8 b w n carrying out a poll on nudmr aww. It has b w n asking the public thefo lbwiw questions:

Do you agree or d i q ree with these statements: 1. Ample electricity supplies are vital for the wuntrv's prosperity? 2. Nuclear power isgoing to be needed to keep our factories, homes and transport running? 3. Nuclear power mtions haw a very gmd safety recud. 4. No more nuclear power stations should be built.

These questbns are a model of how to nudge-nudge respend- ents into saying what you want them to say. Practically everyone would agree with the first question and having done so would find it diff~cult to change direction and say No to questions 2 and 3. Then he or she f inds it almost impossible to agree with question 4. Conclusion reached by the pollsters: The public mnts more nuclear power stat~onsl -

One could muse oneself turning the questions around. Thus, No. 2 could read: We have managed for centuries to run our factories, homes and transport without nuclear power so do w really need it now?

And then: Nuclear p o w stations are unreliable, expensive, inefficient and keep on leaking radiation?

At that point, the answer to question 4 becomes obvious: Yes.

Now whower can have commissioned such a loaded questionnaire? Acmrding to Tribune the NOP's cl imt is none other than the Electricity Coun- cil. It will be worth watching to see what use is mede of the

Undercurrents 38

1 men

bailermakam. miners. end Ian

like with like, or do w link our -sition m centfali8d wdmr ~ ~ a w i d e r f i i k a g a i m t , cWwlimibn * j wh~le?!%. . , d ~ ~ l t g r . m : b u t , t h * $ ~ 4 , . : probably no'satisfying mm. ' ~. : : like thewtleman d m thrhtened to ~unch the msa

Invisible radiators OFFICIALS of the CEGB and Taylor Woodrow Corstruction Compny at the B site of Heysham nucleer pow- station weragkenan u ~ x p e c t d and unwanted Christmas present on Deemb- 14th.

The Invisible Radiators delivered their irksome present on Friday night amidst a snow storm, no site lighting and no security. The group's main tafgets were the surveying stations dotted around the site. These are usually white triangular concrete pillars with a bass plate set in the top. There were three at Heysham.

Each survey point wasgivfn Ihearaldite, steel wool and concrete treatment, the threaded hole for mounting a theodolite being filled with :

araldite, steel wool being embedded in the araldite and then the whole lot being capped with concrete, complete with the words 'No Nuks ' trowelled into the finish!

The object was to halt the surveying work at least temporarily and with some luck to make it necessary t o resurvey the whole site. The threads in the survey points need only be diwlaced by a millimetre or two to make them useless, and i t must be difficult to remove our cappiws without causing =me damage.

The action was rreated as an act of petty vandalism in local papers and CEGB officials

were more interest& ln commenting on the flooding of the local golf course due to pumps being disconnected. Apparently two of the pumps on the B site at Heysham also drain the golf course, as site work hasdisrupted normal drainage channels

With the prospect o f a lot more nuclear construction sites b e i q foisted upon us In the next few years the scope for actions of this kind will obviously increase as timegoes by. Public inquiries and symbolic actions there must certainly be but with a government which isobviously committed to the expansion of nuclear power and prwared to play low profile politics the time has arrived when many opponents of nuclear power feel that i t is necessary to hamper the expansion in as many direct ways as possible.

Actions agalnst the construction phase have endless possibilities, are non-violent, if surrept~tious, and have the advantage that they must inevitably add to the cost and make the alreadv shaky economics of nuclear p o w r that much more unattractive-what more can one ask of an action?

-The Invisible Radiators -

Bores win A PLEA TO postpone a public enquiry into nuclear waste test.bores propossd for Loch Doon, Ayrshirn, has been t u r d down by the Government.

The plea, from SCRAM, followed a stormy pre-enquiry meeting in Ayr where objectors asked for tima to assess the implications o f the recent earthquake. The Atomic Energv

meeting of a cover-up on the results of the Caithness test. bores, completed last Spring, bt an impromptu vote calling for a postponement o f the inquiry wi ovw-ruled by the Reporter, Mr William Campbell. The Government's rejection o f SCRAM'S plea was announced b Scottish Secretary of State George Younger who before the election was on the anti.dumpiw platfmm himself. The inquirv is scheduled to open on Tuesda!' -. -~ - -

Authority were also amused at the 19 February. 0%

Solar courted

3 -~. ,* This 'Solar Sauna' or 'Solar Amnf i ies Modula' combinms solar .. - greenhouse, solarium, California hot tub and sum, alonq wtth generousdesk.spaca For the AT, D IY enthusiast h o has warvthiw, and lots of money. . . PRIVATE DEVELOPERS have been fairly slow to get in on the mlar power market. Of the original 70 or more m a l l firms that s6l up two years ago to sell solar mllectors, only 60 are still trading-although annual UK turtwver was still between £5-£ millmn last " m r ~

Support Unit. NinedetachEd houses in Great Linford, Milton Keynes, are currently being offered for safe by Tavlors, a local a9ent. Solar Court, as the development is called, consists o f three mnven~ional gas heated houses plus houses with solar collectors for space and water heating-backed UP with gas. , -. .

A recent development is the Three of these units are

move towards provdifK equipped w ~ t h 20 square metre

houses for =le - solar co~bctors, together with

pioneered by b i n g and Calor, heat pump systems. The other

and supported by the Department three have 4 WUare metre

of E~~~~~~~ E~~~~ T ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ ~ ~ co~~ectors, PIUS heat recovery *- facilities. The usual anodyne prose of

the agents takes on a new twi-t.

d / 1 ''Thi; unique development is a bold, wsitive step towards

and harnessing a m a l l portion of the abundant energy provided by Dur sun . . . Solar Cnurt is a clear step towards the twenty-first century and provides an excellent location for your new home."

Assuming, that is. that you - can raise a mortoag@l

some Klnd ot ortlc#al cover-UD

10 coolies in China VHILST PREMIER HUA was visiting Britain recently, the Chinese rice Premier Deng was meeting a high level, multidisciplinav lritish ddegation in China, Included were David Attanborough o f IBC fame, Lord Young of Dartington and the writer and Film lirector Felix Greena

Excluded was Mike Cooley f Lucas Aerospace Combine brporate Plan fame. The

L%inese were keen to include Coolev, v h o is a leading radical technologist, and an authority on the impact of advanced technology on society. He and his colleagues have designed a range of energvconserving, cologically desirable equipment ~ lud ingt ranspor t systems.

The trouble is, that Cooley mrks for the multinational .ucas, and is a leading member f the Combine Shop Stewards :ommittee which initiated the amous Corporate Plan for

socially useful production as an alternative t o unemployment. During the past two years, Lucas have warned Cooley that it will take "whatever steps are necessary" if he continues to work on the Plan "even unpaid".

Lucas, which is vigorously ttempting to expand its trade ~ i t h China (E8 mil l ion over the ast 8 years), sent its Chairman i r Bernard Scott there earlier i i s year to "cement the many ?lationships already established lith the Chinese Government

and Industry Officials" and to "confirm our assessments of the opportunities for Lucas now and in the future". Clearly, Lucas didn't want any technological boatrocking with the radical Cooley letting of f about energy wasting, throw away products when he met top level Chinese officials. So, in spite o f informal approaches to Sir Bernard from the delegation's organisers, Lucas refused to allow Cooley the three weeks of f even at his own expense, and he could hardly expect his fellow

workers to strike if he were sacked, for this form of 'absence without leave'.'

The Company's formal position was stated in writing by Geoff Coop, who advised Cooley he could not go because "of the mrk load situation" at the plant where he works. This the shop stewards found very strange indeed, since in the same plant, Lucas have attempted to starve the Combine's Secretary Ernie Scarbrow, of any work at all over the past two years in what his colleagues see as a primitive attempt t o drive him out.

The Company's refusal is all the more blatant as Scott, on his return from China reported "I was able to arrange for Chinese participation in a series of technical symposia for which three separate groups of British

Engineers will travel out there over the next few months". His most lasting impression was "of a hospitable people o f the highest integrity".

It wil l now be interesting to see what the Chinese assessment is of the integrity of Lucas, and if they will consider it to be a suitable trading partner.

Stop Press: Ernie Scarbrow has now been sacked, for "failing to accept promotion". The promotion offer was made to:o remove h im from his present position i n 4UEW.TA.S a t Willesden.

CAITS are appealing for funds to develop the Lucas stewards' roadtrail vehicle. Donations to: CAITSINELP, Road-Rail Fund, North East London Polytechnic, Longbridge Road, Dagenham,

- m

A railbus developed b y CS Ashby o f Hampsh~re. The Lucas RoadRaiI vehicle wil l be similar. bu t able t o run o n the road as wdl.

245T IS A herbicide, at present used by the Forestry Commiw ion to defoliate land. One of its wmponents is dioxin, which is highly dangerous in any quantity. It was u d by American forces in Vietnam as a defoliant Since itsusa there ten years ago, it has provkd t o be the cause of many veterans' wives having mi* carriages, or g ~ i n g bir th t o deformed babies Recently its use has been banned o r l imited in the USA, Norway, Sweden and France.

It was also widely used in areas such as Alsea in Orewn. The spontaneous abortion index for that area peaked dramatically 3 months after spraying, from 46 per 1000 births in the control area to 130 per 1000 births in Alsea.

I n October 1977, a farmer in Somerset, Mr Geoffrey Hellier, had some land adjoining his farm. sprayed with 245-T by the Forestry Cammission. Mr Hellier states that he went down to look at his sheep and saw what appeared to be a cloud o f smoke drifting across the field containing the sheep. The 'smoke' was being sprayed by a man covered head t o foot in protective clothing. Since he never used chemical sprays of any kind, he was going to go over and object bu t he was p r e vented from doing so by a group of men who warned h ~ m not t o approach as the chemical was highly dangerous. He was later to ld that it was Silvapron T in which the active ingredient was 245-T.

He moved the sheep to another field the same day, and watched them closely, but there seemed to be no ill effects. However, just before lambing which was due in March, 19 ewes aborted. Later live lambs were born, but usually in couples with one dead one. A few weeks later the lambs began to exhibit peculiar symptoms, they had diff iculty in walking, their back legs began to give under them and they did not put on any weight. I n late May they began t o die. Altogether Mr Hellier lost 29 ewes, 59 lambs and a ram.

He contacted a veterinary surgeon v h o agreed to visit, but never arrived. The he had a post- mortem done on one of the sheep by a veterinary research centre i n Berkshire run by the Ministry of Agriculture, but received no report on it. A l l his efforts t o dixover the cause of his sheep dying were unsuccess- ful. He concluded that there was

w ing on. Since then, Tony Charles, a

member o f the local Ecology Party, has had other cases reported to him, which have had similar results. A farmer who used the spray had 18 calves aborted. Another lost 17 ewes, and similarly, having sent a carcass to the Min of Ag for 2

post-mortem, received no report. Several wives o f Forestry Cor

mission workers, whose husbands were involved in the spraying, have since had mis- carriages. Officially it is rec- ommended that no children or pets etc. should be allowed onto sprayed land unti l 14 days after spraying. No warning was ever given to any o f the pmple concerned. Lewes ~ i i t r i c t Council have admitted to spraying 245-T on one of their recreation grounds. No warnipg was given and children were playing o n i t the following day, Since then there has been a high incidence o f rashes o n dogs and horses that use the park and eczema on the stomachs of small animals. Trees look as though they have been burnt an( local people have suffered from sore throats and sneezing (the sales of throat pastilles at the local chemist shot up by over lOO%.l

One difficulty in gathering information is the reluctance on the part of some people to come fmward with their stories. Employees of the Forestry Commission are afraid for their jobs (and their tithe cottages) i f they speak out. Farmers are worried that if i t becomes publicly known that they have lost animals they wil l acquire a bad name, and wil l be unable to sell any of their livestock and probably go bankrupt.

There are as yet no official proposals t o ban 245-T i n this country: it requires public pressure against a herbicide industry worth E l 2 mil l ion Uk alone. A safe herbicide v cost a great deal more, so is unlikely to be approved by Thatcher's cabinet of former businessmen. It is worth mentioning that dubious chemicals produced in the west, i f their market is shrinking, are usually dumped on Third World cuuntries.

Hm Bomb secrecy THE H-BOMB wodu on Uie energy released by the fusing togethw of two ixaoom of M r m e n . The soft X-raw and mmma r a w from the *he r , m a l l &m iamb explosion, i e refl&tad by the bomb w i n g o n to the fusion fuel, so creating b y radiation pressure the ~ e d i b l e m n d i t i o n s n d o d for fusion, i n which gaaescan be as ' h v y a s . I d and tompmmres are maasred i n millions of dogre& T o further inmwsa the power of the bomb and t o produce more lath01 radioactive fall-out, the bomb casing is made of uranium, which acts as a second h w e atom bomb tr imwed off b y ths fusion -- reaction.

This 'secret' o f the H-bomb in its protection of the press ~ ~. . ~ - .. - ~ . ~

was detailed in an article by from censorship. Howard Morland in an American But what exactly is the threat magazine The Progressive. His posed bv Morland's article? A

information was gathered from foreign nation posessing the publicly eccessible books and technical and industrial articles, and from visits to experience necessary to produce several H-bomb establishments. an I I-bomb would be able to

Only once was he denied an dixover for itself ex t rmely answer to a question o n grouds quickly the wncepts presented

of secrecy. in Morland's article as,similar The publication of the information is readily wailable

~ t i c l e , however, was no simple t o any trained physicist. There matter, since the US government is wen a diawam in the claimed it contained restricted Encyclopaedia Americana date. The restricted data clause showing the essential w rk ings

of the US Atomic Energy Act .; . of the bomb. classifies as secret all data . , The government's concern

to suppress the article has little with national security. It

energy resmrs) except material hasmore to do with concealing which has been specificallv as much from the public as . ~lassif ied. The wvernment possible, so as to ensure that w l d not define exactly what national nuclear policy runs Instituted restricted data in the smoothly o n the decisions of a

' m ~ ~ U . L D .teoas-=~s w€ Dn%s, IF ' 400 &Ex

--LO OF ywF alGuy i

Laurieston stovemakers

'.THE ONLY A T wursa that gives you an ewlqical ly- mund product at the end o f it" K how Laurioston Hall's Dave Trwnw desuibd their recent c o u r ~ in s twemk ing run by . h im and Linda mlla. A l l elwen wursa members, many of whom had m prwious m m l w r k i w experience, w m p l e t d their stwea i n the six daya avaibabla

If there is a demand, they are willing to run another 'self- managed sweatshop' in May so anyone who would like t o take thisopportunity t o build thamsdf a stove should write with S4E t o Laurieston nai l , cast10 DOU~I~S,

Kircudbrights, without delay. A t least the bedrooms won't b~ f m i w w l d then1

r t i ae as this would itself knowlidgeable elite, without 7 ontravene the A C ~ , but offered public interference or Protest.

p,rite it instead, When The I n Howard Morland's words,

/' THE F I R S intwnatmnal

,essive refused the offer, "The myth of secrecy i S used to annabis lqal imt ion con fe rem Dvernment instituted court create an atmosphere in which is be iw held i n Amsterdam i n ~edi ngs to prevent public debate is stifled and early February.

The conference, called by the International Cannabis Alliancefor Reform (ICAR), wil l draw together represent. atives from 16 nations to share informatmn and tacticson legalisation campaigns. Subjects mvered wil l include help for cannabis prisoners (presented by Tim Dave, who was imprisoned in Turkey in the early seventies), medical issues, intwnational drug wl icy. and the view from cannabis- producing wuntries.

ICAR, which mas founded in 1978, ~ec i f i ca l l y aims to get cannabis removed from the U N Sngle Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Further informationon the conference, which wil l be o n 8-10 Femuary, can be wined from the Legalise Cannabis Campaign, 2 Blenheim Crescent, London Wll 101-T27 8805).

ublkatio", on the grounds that public criticism of the weapons

at would greatly impair the system is suppress9d." Anyone themselves. ecuritv of the USA by who wants to be involved in a B~~~~~ ,he p,og,essjve cas , Also, an understanding of the

~uclear weapons more readily nuclear debate finds themselves the public and press had basic concepts is vital for the

accepted this state of affairs understanding of the vast vailable to foreign 'irresponsible' in some curious 'catch 22'

situations. The declassification more or less uncritically; since industrial system which ~ations. One wonders what nakes the us government think guidelines for restricted data the case it is hoped that more

the

1 is more arewonsib~e, than any are themselves classified; the continues to produce them at nuclear issues wil l become open the ,ate of three a week,

~ther l After seven months, the only WaV to di=over whether to public scrutiny.

averment dropped any information is of f limits is The H-bomb 'secrets' had t o B i l l Fletman

to submit it to the government be published, not t o help anyone Kathryn Harriss he case, probably realizing it muld b e ~ r c e d t o concede The first. And not Only does the build a bomb, but t o expose the FACT: The Only enquiry

kweaib&s case that the government refuse to answer restricted data clauss for what received by The Progressive

estricted data clause questionson ~ Ia~s i f i ed~a te r i a l , it m s , and to encourage the about its story came from the

ontravened the US constitution it can also classify the questions challecging of nuclear policies, Pakistan embasy.

Undercurrents 38

TRANSPORT MINISTER Norman Fowler may have announced that there wil l be no rail cuts, bu t the Department of Transport wil I have to w o k at the speed it normally reserves for pushing motorways through Areas o f Outstanding Natural Beauty if it wants t o keep a railway system of any significance i n Britain.

The Government has always been clear about what it doesn't want BR to do. Back in November a leaked report in the Guardian showed that plans t o close 900 miles of rural branch lines had followed secret talks between BR and DTp. This was angrily denounced by Norman Fowler (although tactfully admitted by British Rail) but further disclosures in the Guardian andTwith the Minister losing his temper into the bargain-on BBC's Going Places, showed that Fowler was well aware of the proposals, and forced him to write t o Sir Peter Parker t o veto, in advance, any closure plans.

A t almost the same time the junior Transport Minister, Kenneth Clarke, promised that the Government would do its best to stop fare increases being unduly directed-as BR would like to do-towards the South East commuter services.

Thus, at one (or two stroke(s1 British Rail has oeen deprived of the two areas it sees as most promising for reducing expenditure and increasing income.

But the crunch has now come with British Rail running out of money sufficiently t o be forced to delay paying an agreed bonus to railwaymen and to delay maintenance on 36 miles of railway track. There is now urgent need for action- and largely by the Government. Unless they want t o see the railways deteriorate-and

Norman Fowler has consistently \ denied this-almost the only I choice they have is t o pump in

more money now.

Gas works Our scatological correspondent

I n a timely move Sid writes: Weighell, the NUR General The University o f British Secretary, has said he believes Columbia has received a 836,000 BR t o be honest and wil l not grant from the Canadian take industrial action over the government t o study the lack of bonus. This has given development of gadess beans. the Government a short Dr. Brent Skura, director breathing space. But Marsham of the project, says beans could Street seems only t o want t o greatly relieve the world's sit on its hands and say nuffin'. hunger problem and deflate the

rising cost of food, but 'they'll

Bike ban A SUDDEN B A N b y BR o n the carriage o f bikes o n London commuter.trainsduring the rush hours has brought floods of protestsfrom cyclists. BR claim that the ban is necessary because of 'delays caused b y cycles being lifted o n and off trains' and being wheeled on crowded platforms. BL no evidence has been offered t o support these assertions, and many London workers have been hi t by the ban.

Some demonstrated by chaining their bikes to railings outside BR's Ha. Free carriage of bikes o n trains was only introduced last year, following a sustained campaign by Friends o f the Earth and cycling groups. But BR seems to have ignored this demand, and is still designing new trains on which there wil l be no room for bikes; already the High-speed trains and new suburban trains cannot take them. So that though the new restriction wil l be reviewed, the long-term future of bikes by rail looks grim unless BR can be persuaded to design for bikes. Already rumours are circulating about a complete ban being imposed (at least before, bicycles could be carried for half price).

I f you want t o protest, write to your local MP and to Sir Peter Parker, Chairman of British Rail, 222 Marylebone Road, London NW1. Petitions against the ban are available from the London Cycling Campaign, 48 William I V Street, London WC2 (01-739 6032).

never catch on unless a way can this claim. He believes that be found to l imi t bean- lack of time, salt or water in generated intestinal gas.' cooking, failure t o chew However, Dr Colin Reif of the properly and weak intestines Seattle-Tacoma Institute of are as much to blame for gas , Nutritional Kudos counters as is the maligned bean.

Drugged porridge ? -- RECENT S T A T I S T I C S G ~ ~ ~ ~ in thestate line. Known in the . " Hansard, the British Medical

It Journal, compared with Dapt of Tradeand Industry f igurà show an alarming increase i n the use of drugs in prisons. Whereas since 1972 the prison inmate population has increased by only 9%, the use of drugs has increased b y 250%.

So what isgoing on? I t would seem that, if you are unlucky or imprudent enough to fall foul of the law, chances are that you may end u p being 'suppressed' by the use o f trarmuihzers. i f vou don't toe

trade'as the 'cosh treatment' (much less detectable than the primitive truncheon), drugs such as samontil are used. I n one case a prisoner, complain- i n g o f earache was given this drug, which is a heavy tranquilizer NOT a pain reliever, and of no benefit t o the patient, only of benefit t o the prison authorities-an obvious breaking o f the Hippocratic Oath. It would seem that, once o n the other side, one can become something considerably less than a full

Condemned h e ~ p condom efficiency, we should package them in - -

The all-American male is on the way out Testifying before the US Congress Select Commit- tee o n Population, feminist Barbara Seaman (sic) said 'I'm sorry, gentlemen, if this offends any o f your egos, (but) condoms should be marketed i n three sizes, because the failures tend to occur at the extreme ends of the scale. I n men who are petite, they fall off, and in men who are extra well- endowed, they burst. Women buy brassiers i n A, B and C cups and panty hose in different sizn. and I think i f it would

different sizes and maybe label them jumbo, colossal and super-co lossal so that men don't have t o go and ask for the small.'

Meanwhile, in Florida, research on college students has shown a sharp decline in sperm count and potential fertility, and in fact 23% of the 132 volunteers were sHown to be functionally sterile. Florida chemists blame pollution, particularly the group o f toxic chemicals known as PCBs, which though now banned, is still present in the environment.

Undercurrents 38

Buzz for L E I S TEN YEARS AGO a group of xientists, originally fighting chemical q d biological warfare, m l for the first time u the British Society for Social Raspomibiiity in Science (BSSRSI.

Now the society has rung in i t s first decade. To celebrate ach,l&ingsuch an advanced age, about 200 people charged with goodwill assembled at the London School of Economic's New Theatre to review BSSRS past and point out possible future goals.

Four speakers, introduced ~ ~ ' B S S R S President and Nobel prize-winner Maurice Wilkins, outlined radical science's ' ,

history. Dr. Joseph Needhzin, probably the last prominent survivor of the first, vanished radical science movement of the 1930's. offered personal .r

anecdotes of his contemporaries, such as J.B.S. Haldance and. . ,Â

Hyman Levy, interspersedwjth ,.

gibes at that ere's political; atmosphere. %lifiw

.'Science' and 'progress%i&& still synonymous then. Jonathan Rosenhead, one of BSSRS' founders, traced the growth of the radical science movement from the 30's through science's brief period of godhead in the 50's and early 60's. to BSSRS birth:

demonstrations at the 1970 annual meeting of the staid British Association for the Advancement of Science, compiling a pamphlet on repression and riot control which led to the book The Technology o f Political Control, and attempting to set up a mobile pollution laboratory.

Though the latter effort failed i t established invaluable links with trade unions, which have sparked some of BSSRS' most successful work, such as the Hazards Bulletin.

Today, said ~oro thy ' Griffiths, the society has basically splitin two directions; groups with a practical bent, such as Hazards, Agricapital, and Microprocessors, and theoretical groups such as Race and IQ, Sociobiology and Radical Statistics.

She found the women's movement had provided BSSRS with 'an enormous source of

strength', alerting women and m e n to science's racist, sexist, class-based hierarchy.

For the final instalmant Mike Cooley drew on his long association with the Lucas Aerospace Workers' Alternative Corporate Plan. He pleaded for a humane, creative linkage of machine technology with human intellimnce. rather than the ~- "~ ~~.

At first the society held fifHBrem<w*l from a" job itself apart from political fe;-pf the opportunity fo rexk is ing~ acitivity, asserting instead its K?;dludgem?nt andthought. 'objective' professional duty to i" --y,

&s For further information correct science's 'abuses'. G..~+' + about BSSRS, contact BSSRS But BSSRS soon committed;-

such political acts as staginamij t fw at 9 street- London

(but strongly received] . . W1V 3DG. Tal: 01-437 2728.

Rdease , hnlth'and c ~ i l libortias Thav'ra ¥~pn l i n for funds to k ~ p - - - - -

RELEASE, the a&iHà /açistan going- If Yo" Mnt to con t rh t *

vie*, j, brok. cuts in staff (if you're o m of 'he 175,000

and m i c a we being mad*. moole Release has helpad in the past, you should) send to and it bob as if this unique , Ebin organisation nuy go out of

businem eftnr 12 vaars of heloinn London W9 -' ~ ~- ~- . - ~ - ~ .~ ~-

solve problems such as overdose& I bidtrips. withdrawals. battered el ease TShirts with

TORNESS: Various actions are being co@sidered. A w o h n l y occupation or pther action is . one possibi1ity;organised actioq, by affinity groups is another, ,

Contact SCRAM at 2aAinslie , .~

Place, Edinburgh: 031-225 7752. Meanwhile, aScottish pro-nuclear campaign is getting off the ground. It's organised by a Mr. Monteith.'who ran the anti-

BRAZIL: A peaceful nuclear bomb? On October 30 the Brazilian Government announced its intention to make the leap from nuclear power tb nuclear bombs. But wait1 These bombs will only beused for peaceful purposes, like construction projects (roads through the jungle, harbours etc.). Brazil isalso selling - nuclear technology to Iraq, without asking the Germans who sold it t o Brazil in the first place.

EUROPE: Is there nothing European governments won't do to prop up failing economies? Nasty rumours are circulating in Greece end Turkey that tile price of entry t o the EEC (fan Greece) and aid (for Turkey) is importsof North Sea Oil (from Britain) and nuclear power (from France and West Germany). Greece in particular is expected to go nuclear following the signing of secret treaties with EEC countries.

LONDON: Adding insult to injury, it now seems that the office block being built on the site of Covent Garden's community Garden (UC37) is a speculative one, and likely to remain empty for some time.

LONDON: Community Action Groups have won their fight against Southwark Council, which has now formally abandoned plans to build a multi-million pound town hall. But the local campaigners point out that the real problems of council accommodation have not been tackled, so the plan could resurface. And thecentre of Peckham is still threatened by a GLC road scheme (part of a revived 'motorway box' in disguise) and a multi-storey

devolution campaign and beti- that 'SCRAM are getting a w with murder'. The backers include defeated Tory Teddy Taylor.

USA: They do that sort of thing better in the US. The nuclear industry has just launched a S 1.6m media blitz to repair its image after Harrisburg. NEED (Nuclear Energy Education Day) will include a mass jog for nuclear power, and two experts will follow Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda around to refute their arguments.

wive& suickjas, missing per9or.s. wictimns, immigration problems. Phil Evans cartoon.

-- many 0th- i n and out of the

SWEDEN: With a referendum on nuclwr power pending, opponents f ea- Government rigging. Either two 'yes'options will be provided, so that two 'Yes' campaigns can get state financed, or there will be two 'no' options, splitting the anti- vote.

IRELAND (County Donagal): The campaign against uranium mining is nowin full swing. Local people are reportedly up in arms, discussing ways of stopping the mining rather than whether it should be stopped. However, local campaigners report the same problems as people in the Orkneys face (see UC37, letters); people still lay they're anti-uranium, not anti-nuclear. However, the local press always print anti-nuclear letters, so there's hope yet.

LONDON: Is God really on the sideof the anti-abortionists? John Corrie MP, theoriginal qmnsor of the anti-abortion bil l (nowall too likely to gm through) has got mumps, which has made him sterile. Final

v - containing ideas on extending the growing season for greenhouse crops into the winter season using solar energy alone. Copies at £1.5 from Country College, 11 Harmer Green Lane, Digswell, Welwyn,

PIE IN THE SKY, aco-operative wholefood cafe in Bristol want more co-operative members to aid expansion. There is wen the Possibility of a small wagel Details from Pie in the Sky, Totterdown Centre, 140 Wells Road, Bristol4. Tel- 776289 or 426203, evenings.

WOMEN'S STUDIES INTERNATIONAL QUARTERLY are seeking articles for the 1981 issue on Women, Technology and Innovation. Send to Dale Spender, University of London Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London WC1. Forth- coming publications in 1980 include Women and the Media and Women in Future Research. ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH

i s a proposal to provide cheap campaign research for pressur groups by using student labou and encouraging closer commu nication between campaigners and academic researchers. Research proposals or callers of help toiMigel Mortimer, Energy Workshop, Department of Physical - Sciences, Sunderland Polytechnic, Chester Road, Sunderland SRl 3SD. Tel: (0783) 76191 ext 134.

Stop Nuclear Waste Transport Through London Badges available at 20p plus postage or £1.5 for ten from the London

!gion Anti-Nuclear Alliance, a 6 Endsleigh St., London WC1.

The Workers'Plans conference oruanlsed bv CAITS-the centre for ~lternative Industrial and Technological Systems-last November/was a great success It was attended by Shop Stewards from most of the firms that have produced alternative plans of proposals- Lucas, Parson, Vickers and so on. Working groups looked at the options in power engineer car production, tele- communications, heavy engineering and health care. One result of the conference was a committment to devel a network organisation to tr to co-ordinate the various plans and the related activities of the various shop stewards combine committees. Copies of the papers produced for the conference can be obtained from CAITS, NELP, Longbridge Road, Dagenham, Essex. A revised version of Dave Elliott's Enemy Options and Employment study is also

undercurrents sa

COUNTRY COLLEGE has INSTITUTE FOR FOOD AND produced a book The Heat DEVELOPMENT POLICY is a Retainino Greenhouse. 'not-for-profit research,

documentation, and education centre' focusing on food and agriculture. Publications include The A id Debate, an assessment of the impact of the world Bank and foreign Investments in the third world, and What vwcan do, a study of how peoplecr" get involved in food related projects. Details from: Instit

Herts.

THE WELLBEING CENTRE is looking for support in the form of money, skills, material, tools and advice, to expand their project of providing classes and workshops in alternative possibilities. Further details from Denise Pyle, Chy-an-Sol, Maynes Row, Tucking Mill, Cambourne, Cornwall.

available from CAITS. Price £2.50

uicycies tsuiienn is puoiished bi-monthly by FOE. Contains details and reports from the growing number of bike groups up and down the country. From Friends of the Earth Ltd., 9 Poland Street, 3DG.

Lower Shaw Farm, Shaw, Swindon, Wilts. Our Spring programme includes weekends on Alternative Medicine, Women's music and dance, Easter Craft Celebration, Growth Movement - a Critique. SAE for details.

INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE is expanding its programmes of overseas volunteers to embrace Mozambique. In 1980 IVS hopes to send to Mozambique about 12 volunteers followed by another 12 in 1981. The total programme will level off at between 24 and 30 volunteers, all on 2 year contracts. Further information from Bernard Greaves, IVS, Ceresole House, 53 Regent Road, Leicester LEI 6YL. (Tel: (05331 541862).

North London Anti-Nuclear Group have produced a booklet Nuclear Power - some plain facts. Copies at 20p each or 8 for £ from North London Anti- Nuclear Group, Earth Exchange, 213 Archway Road, London N6.

Apreliminary list of international contacts on alternative production and conversion i s available from Fremfiden i vare hender, Torggt 35, Oslo 1, Norway. Price £ (individuals), £1 (political organisations), £2 (other institutions).

for Food and Development Policy, 2588 Mission Street, San Francisco, California ' 941 10.

The intellectual left in Britain IS going through one o f its petenmiel internal debates-this time concerning the relationships between science and.society. if, you want to indulge yourself iff. a feast of analysispurged of romadtic libertar~anism, havea look at the latest edition of Science Bulletin, the COMMUNIST PARTY Saience and Technology Journal (35p from 27 Bedford Street WC2). For an easier read look at Science for People 43/44 'Science under Capitalism', 75p from BSSRS, 9 Poland Street. Hard core enthusiasts should of course look at Radical S c i ~ Journal also from 9 Poland St. The big issue these days is whether all science is actually . ideological or whether there i s something called objective truth

When and if the issue is resolved Undercurrents will ofv course pass on the word.

Activists of the NATIONAL , ABORIGINAL LIBERATION FRONT OF AUSTRALIA are starting the Aboriginal Information Centre in London to create an awareness of the problems and political struggle of Black Australians, and t& . raise political and financial support for land rights, self- determination and economic independence. Information, speakers and material for , articles are available from the centre (at present Box 19, 136 Kingsland High Street, London EB)

The AT boom continues. WARWICK UNIVERSITY have launched a new degree course in Engineering Design and , Appropriate Technology. The, course aims at 'producing 9 0 graduates for work.pH \n r y , c^,

small firms, a l w m . 5 <,,,n a technology, and thiKfcworJd -(dTe development'.

Undercurrents 38

Euential reading for would-be graduate; from Warwick University and anyone else who thinks 'small is beautiful' can be =lied to units of capitalist production-ldin#ton Mu/ ti- nationals end Small Firms, Magic wMy th ere two excellent mpons from ISLINGTON ECONOMY GROUP. The truth of inner city industrial decline it wailçbl from Pe"! Brimson, 56 Cowley Road, London E 1 1. Tel: 01-359 5402. Price £1

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY HISTORY WORKSHOP are meeting on 23/24 February. Contributions include: Early attempts at workers* control; Forcepsend Midwifery in the 19th Century; Domestic technology and the home. Tickets are £ wages, £ unwaged from Science end Society History Workshop,

SUN POWER ECOLOGY CENTRE, 83 Blackstock Road, London N4, have produced a pamphlet The dangers of atomic t e transport throuoh London. Copies 15p each or 50p for five.

London University Extra-Mural (Room 266). 26 Russell Souare.

KNOW FUTURE PUBLICATIONS have published en Alternative Prospect for Prospsctive Students. A valuable pamphlet for enwonced students too. Copies 20p plus 10p p&p from Owe Spwner, c/o Student Community Action Resouras Programme, 1st floor, Bombay House. 59 Whitworth Street.

THE SOLAR GARDEN dncrlbes itself as 'the first scientific appro* to intensive organic horticulture'. Published ¥ a series of information sheets to supplement any basic primer, it aims to increase production by avoiding setbacks rather than curing them. Subscription £ from County College, 11 Harmer Green Lane, Digswell, Welwvn, Herts.

Participation i n Public Transport Plans, by John Abbiss and Les Lumidon. Published by the ' BEDFORD SQUARE PRESS of the National Council for Social Service in association with TRANSPORT 2000, it is available from bookshops for £1.2 or by post from Macdonald and Evans, Estwer Road, Plymouth, for £1.40

The Green Earth is a correipondence course from the NATIONAL EXTENSION COLLEGE. The full fee for the course i s £20 which covers court* materiel end NEC tuition. The text in the form of a work- book is also available separately for £3.9 + 80p pap. Contact the National Extension College, 18 Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge CB2 2HN.

AQUARIAN FESTIVALa New-Age celebration, is at Battersea A n Centre, London SW11 on 16 and 17 March. Activities include speakers, an Authors' Table, dancing and drama followed by meditation and healing workshops. Enquiries to Joan Andrews, 16a Franconia Road, London SW4.

The SOIL ASSOCIATION is holding an intensive course on the principles and practice of producing crops without fertilizers and sprays. It will be held at Shropshire Farm Institute Walford, Shrewbury, from ~unday.30 March t i ~ h u r r i a y 3 April. For details, see to Kate Wattlers, The Soil Association, Walmut Tree Manor, Haughiey, Stowmarket, Suffolk.

Energy: The present crisis and the fuam la a course of lectures arranged by the POLYTECHNIC OF NORTH LONDON, with BRITISH PETROLEUM, the NATIONAL COAL BOARD and UKAEA. The ten-week course started on 23 January and cost £ 2 (to help pay for Nukes etc?) Of particular interest to Undies readers are 1 2 March, The prospects for electricity and the need for nucleerpower, and on 19 March, Renewable Energy Resources, both being contributions from the UKAEA. The lectures are held in the Dept. of Geography and Geology, 383 Holloway Road, N7.

23 February, The Central Hall, Oldham, Manchester. Fee £2 details c/o SCAT, 31 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1. Tel: 01-253 3627 Housing-CuIs-Crisis-FiMttiack A national delegate conference,

A large rally to focus the opposition t o Nuclear Power is being planned in Central London on Saturday, 29 March, the first anniversary of the Harrisburg Accident. March to Trafalgar Square to arrive 2.30. For details con- tact FOE, 9 Poland Street, London, W1. Tel: 01-434 1684.

THE NURTON'S programme for 1980 includes: 15-17 February How to live better on 1-8 guide to non- consuming (Possibilities for state funding?) 2-5 March The construction o f flat plate solar mllectors-for those without old Undies. 5-7 March Garden to ki(eften- growing end preparing your own food. 7-9 Marchhw to start and run a small farm-a weekend considering the economic, organisationel and emotional issues of smallholding. I wonder if it covers Common Agricultural Policy regulations? Further details from The Nurtons, Tintern, Nr Chepstow, Gwent NP6 7NX.

For anyola thinking of en early holiday, PUERTAS ABIERTAS are holding en exhibition covering just about everything you read about in this magazine. From 29 March to 8 April. Details from 'Can Cauvia', Co. de Biniaraix, Seller (Malloren- Baleares) Spain. .

BIRMINGHAM FOE are organising a train from Brum to London for the Anti-Nuke . demonstration on 29 March. For further details send sae to FOE Brum Train, 54 Allison Street, Digbeth, Birmingham 5 with a rough idea of number of seats if oossible olease.

Alternatives to Nuclear Power is a CONSERVATION SOCIETY conference. An impressive list of speakers (who's Dave Elliott?) are muting at Bath University on 12/13 April. Details are available from Consoc (Bath), c/o L Wolff, 44 Cleveland Walk, Bath, Avon BA2 6JT.

we are reliably Infwnnd that we were mistaken in our tan isaue when we told readers to contact Harry Frost for , information on the Parliamentary Liaison Group for Alternative Energy Strategies. He h a no connection with this group. which hddsmeetingson a m w -pol icy in the House of Commons. (Ask the Officer on Duty at St Stephen's Entrance for precisevenuel. Future d i~ussioni 17 Midi ~ i i w l Heat and Power- Vki? w Delusion? end 21 April Technology lid fhe RISw Price of Energy, both at 7 pm.

There is an Intsrnuibnat Exhibition of Sttf Sufficiency at Westminster Exhibition Centre, Royal Horticultural Halls, Vincent Square, London from 69 April. For further information write to the INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF SELF SUFFICIENCY LTD., 9 Pwk Place. Clifton, Bristol BS8 1 JP. '

Advance Warning. The next COMTEK will be in June 1901 in Milton Keynes, but not in the bowl1

Atomkraf t rHE DANISH anti-nuke organisation, OOA, have just launched a bold ampaign to inform everyone of Denmark's 2.3 million households of he alternatives to atomic power. John Nixon explains how it's all ~ i n g done and hopes that British anti-nuke campaigners can take dvantage of it.,

With the British Government's nnouncement to order the controver- ial PWR, Britishanti-nuke campaign- rs are faced with their stiffest task to late. Now more than ever before is ffective and large scale organised resis- ance needed. It i s needed to shift the ~uclear power issue from the fringes nto the centre of public debate. iuciear power must be made an issue hat people - ordinary people - talk bout for if we fail to&do so then we an,kiss goodbye to nuclear alternq ives and look forward instead to the . lreaded reality of a brave new nuclear mrld. So, how can we do it? Well, naybe we can learn a l i t t l e from hat's been going on in Scand-inavia nd in Denmark particularly. .

In Denmark the majority of the opulation are against nuclear power; 7 Sweden it was enough to bring own their last government. Both ountries will hold, in the near future

pressure h a been brought to bear upon the Government that they can- not afford to &nore it, as the Swedish example only too well illustrates.

Informing about Atomkraft

a referendum over the subject. Thus nudear power in Scandinavia, unlike in Britain, is an issue of which all are aware. Furthermore whilst the Swedes already have nuclear power, including the now infamous nuke at Barseback on the Swedish coast - just 23 kilo- metres across the water from Copen- hagen, Denmark is s t i l l without it, even thoqgh i ts introduction was first proposed by the government in i t s Energy Plan of June 1976. The main *ason for this i s the strong and con- tinual public pressure against nuclear power which has made the issue such a political hot potato that successive governments have preferred to post- pone the issue rather than face the mass wrath of the public. Although it might be argued that the Danish Government are more sympathetic to and are more easily swayed by public opinion than say ours is, it must also be argued that such a degree o -

SO how has thls pressure been achieved? The answer lies to a large degree with the popular press. Den- mark's-equivalent of the Daily Mirror, Ekstra Bladet has, in particular, main- tained with typ~cal tabloid gusto and zeal a relentless campaign against nuclear power and atomic weapons with Barseback being i t s biggest target, often with front page headlines and 'shock reports'. (If only we had that in Britain!). But the most important reason for this pressure is OOA, which, translated intp English means The Organisation for Information about Nuclear power.

If you didn't get to read Lisbeth tinkls article adout OOA in Undies 19 (Dec 76/Jan 77) then briefly said4 OOA began in the winter of 1973174- (If you do know about us already then skip this section.) At a press meeting in Copenhagen on the 31st January 1974 the organisation stepped forward publically for the first time, demand- ing a three year postponement of the atomkraft decision, which the elec- tricity Beards and Riso were trying to rush through parliament at the tim on the grounds that a long l i s t o f , problkms surrounding atomkraf? and energy policy were unclarified. Resist- ance to a hasty decision spread quick- ly through the population and autc- nomous local OOA groups (now numbering about 140) sprang up all over the country. Before this time, as , in Britain today> atomkraft was not a large topic of public debate.

Distribution Against a strong publi

decisions are taken and plans laid, and an internal mazazine which comes OUK everv two weeh keeps everyone

-- - - - in touch in the meantime. Financially, OOA manages to stay

afloat mainiy from voluntary contri- butions and gifts from private individ- \ - \ uals including the 4000 strong

1 Guarantee Fund. Contributors to the fund decide how much they will give and how often they will give it, e.g.

\ every 3 or 6 months; in t h i s way OOA can help plan i t s budget better. So, -- that's who we are, now onto what

=. 7 we're up to at the moment -- the

put out by the electricity boards, OOA managed to not only influence the decisions made by the government but also the whole population. In the summer of 1976, after WA 's first lare scale mobilisation which consist- ed of distributing 80D,000 newspapers ail over the country 'and the collectiop of 170,000 signatures in only 6 weeks cmng for a postponement of the nuclear decision, an opinion poll published showed that there was for the f irst time a p6puIar majoriv rrgainst atomkraft. On the 10th August. that year the government suddenly announced that the decision be post- poned for an indefinite period of time. Thus it backed down, public opinion had won the day.

Since the postponement, OOA has continued informing about atomkraft by publishing regular journals includ- ing i t s magazine 'Atomkraft;.and books. It has tried to remain in a constant state of alert in case'of a sudden governmental decision, running in the meantime various smaller cam- paigns, e.g. against Barsback and has sought to co-operate with anti-nuke campaigners in othercountries.

Organisationally speaking, 004 i s a broad based organisation, encompass- ing #// nuclear power critics, i.e. from dl political backgrounds. It is this broadness OOA feels that has given the organisation its strength and effectiveness; it has meant thatWA has been able to avoid party political dis~ussions which could have led to a possible splitting of the nuclear

Danmark Uclei~ Atomkraft At a press meeting in Copenhagen

Qn the 8th Noyember 1979 the 'Plan Without Atomkraft' campaign was officially launched with the publica-

'tion of a 12 page colour pamphlet cum newspaper called 'Danmark uden Atomkraft' (which you should be able to figure out by now!) and it is around this pamphlet that the cam- paign is centred and all hopes pinned. I won't go into details here about what it contains, coz that'll be like preaching to the converted, however I will say that they've made a bloody goou job of it, well laid out with colour pictures and graphics on every page - the thing is written in every- day language which i s clear, to the point, and which everybody can understand. rt brings home the point that there are other possibilities than atomkraft. There i s one page entitled 'There are 13 good reasons - at least - LU jay no thanks to atomkraft,' another page on t5e use of other fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, and a third page on the dangers of plutonium. The rest i s given over to explaining all the different forms of alternative energy that can be developed, sun, wind, and biogas plus a middle page spread which, with the aid of an excellent drawing, shows how, with a l i t t l e thought, energy consumption in the home can be halved without com- ing tB miss anything; a!l.in all i t 's a very professional looking document which should be a winner all the way.

Who's paying for it? 'So far so good' you might be think-

ing, 'but who's paying for it and how is it going to be distributed to 2.3 million households?! That's a good question and it desewes a good answer, in a nut- shell - to the first part, hopefully the general public, and to the second, US! That ~ i g h t sound all a little bi t risky, and OOA openly admit they're stick- ing their neck out, but you don't go taking calculated risks if you don't think you're gonna win, do you?!

ON the weekend of November I @ 11 th just two days after its' release the pamphlet was delivered to 350,000 households in 20 boroughs all over the country with the aid of over 1000 activists. Those doing the delivering were members of the local groups plus those on the mobilisation list. . (This l i s t contains the names of over 10,000 people who are prepared to help out in time of need.) Further- moreqrinted on thcback page of the pamphlet is an appeal, 'Give a tenner (10 kroner, approx. £1 to Denmark without Atomkraft' and convenient- ly enclosed i s a giro card made out to OOA, that one can send the con- tribution in with. Considering that wages in Denmark are at least double that of England, 10 kroners isn't too much to part with (especially as a beer in a pub costs you nearly that much anyway!) so hopefully a lot of those 350,000 in the flrst wavb are going to cough up their tenner if not more. If they don't, then the cam-

power resistance. paign doesn't go ah^ further, at

National meetings

. - least with the iamphlet aniway, however local groups have also been .

Structurally however, the organisa- tion i s very loose, this i s so that as many people as possible can feel them- selves responsible for, and have influ- ence in, the work being done. Thus dne cannot become a member'of

's inspad with /r1 if one is ~ h d r e f b ho chosen leader bQt

instead, national meetings are held at least once every six months where

organising other things too for the campaign, e.g. theatre,debatesl film evenings and exhibitions - neverthe- less enough money should have bekn raised from the first wave to cover the , cost of the first edition - 500,000 copies. But we do!? expect to fail and the second -wave. ahother 20 odd broums, has alreacly been-planned, and the pamphlets ordered.

herdive e&gY p h Well, that's the s$ry so far. It is

>ped fu at apart from the a i m d, the cam'paign wit1 4x1 epwre tha! the.ywly elected Energy Minister -.&e@cig %kmw crats were re-elected a@h..in October 1979 - will present an-alternative energy plan ready for the refe'rendum that has bew&prepared by independent reseurckrs whd are themselves not coinmitt4 to nucle?r power. Other- +=- a ~ h = ntai mi&* k ~ i g h t e d

towards other fossil fuels and play- down the pos$ibilities of energy saving and alternative energy sources. Finally, it is hoped that the campaign will fur* ther strengthen us and thus the anti- nuke lobby i n Denmark.The big ques-

.tion s t i l l remaining is, can we create a

.similar ormisation with equal strength in Britain~?. Because we cer- tainly need one. With the PWR order, Britain.along with France is going to be one of the hot spots o f the 198qs where the' nuclear power battle will be won or lost. We need strong organ: ised resistance for that task, and we need it noweand there's nobody going to do it but US. John Nixon FOI V h f a n g W . a b o u t t h Campaign , W'WA. JOhl N ~ O U St W A 'w* Gmppa, Skhdeqrade 26, lM9- K, Daama+

' TIw &st wave w u M ovenvbbni~.

. ' ~ ~ o w a 6 ~ , ~ ~ e n .The . . .deeuad ~ , . ~ ~ wwlt Offon~the . ~ , ~ & + % 3 ' 3 ~ z9.m.- .: : .; :., :.:;,;<

*,. J + ;.., ~~. : ..' :<,: ,, ...-, . - . , & . . . , ,,.. ~&>. ,? . , . . - - ,;:.:..;-. ; ::>:d:: :<~:~:~::.5:.:,.,;. I:, ..:,v2F

Colleagues from the movcftmnt'in Europe, A~lstralia and the US often ask f iy the British Anti-Nuclear movement is so weak. It is not an easy question to answer. We have a .$:<;;I network of groups that extends i?:<$$ throughout most of the country. wef;:?$$ have spent a lot of time building. ;.:;$$$ regional and national links. We have*.:!.;! number of well endowed national j ~ ~ < . ~ , ~ ; bodies involved in the campaign anc&y;::: we have what is prabably intellectual case against n of any country in the world and we have one of the weakest political movements an almost abjjct failutx to mobilisc the broad mas of pbp le to press the anti-nuclear-demands.

Leave it to the experts One of the factors must surely

be the way i n which we have allow-- ed the debate to become bogged d o w in sterile debate amongst 'experts' - our experts as much as theirs - to the point where most people feel unable to do anything for lackof 'expertise'. In part as a reaction to this and also as a result of the sense of futility in the traditional 'lobby your MP' approach of some of the national pressure groups there has developed a split between the 'direct action'and lobby- ing' wings of the movement with little co-ordinated action in between. I n addition the core o f the movement came from and has remained associat- ed with, a very narrow section of the community - the 'young"middle class'and 'educated' - and to a large extent has not -aged to reach out beyond its consewatim/environmental- ist constituency.

In an attempt to find m e a w n and democratic ways of working Var- ious 'consenm' models have been avvlied. One unfoPtunate result of this

Idercurrents 38

We haven't got up to the Danish level o British environmentalists.have been split own particular ecological niche. Tony W the ANC will focus this common aspect

amounts o f time to what have oft6 I notable exceptions, failed to : .; *'!:

systematically those sections o f the.-: !? ~2

community which could be reached :>.!F- through.such organisations as the :.~C%P;. churches, tenants associations, ,* -,,,',?

unims, youth 0rganisationgett:i , ...,* :j!,':,

There'sa :wtirld.uf di&&ce ,betwit%;->! organising a !die in' or petiticin in .' 1

the H i b SL and w s t e d c a l l ~ hi* ing an-mG+nm[eai const i rn&: wit&: !::'~

in say, the trade unmn and labow .,. ~

movement, and to date little has Wn done to bridge th i s gap. ; - . -:I.:'

For the concerned indiv.jdua1, ,* ,. ' .

choice has thus ofteo been .b,twefv '!::' " buying into a whole environmefitd. .-ji package - whales, recyuled.!iyg rolis :- :.< and bicycles and all or.findin&:her/his way within the politics of aiirchism, feminism, environmtitalism, social@ and whatever.:.,Und&tindably the public has fo i~pd these internal divi- sions confusing t o say the 1east:lt i*. primarily to provide a single referefie point.for the many anckinixeasing number of people who are conc&ne$ about the nuclear programme that d~ ANTI NUCLEAR CAMPAIGN ha* 4

been formed. The objective will b t t

brozden the base o f the 9ist ing movement so as to provide an Met- tive and~in the widest sense 'pdticai, movement to oppose what many o f , us see as a very real threat and one ..

which has increased .under the p r e w government.

Bringing the groups tagethe Achieving the dwee of ~ 6 4

necessary to-launchiuch a cam h'& been to alienate alarm number has nat been easv and has i m i W T

ba#s the accommodation has not b&n too traurnatid (though I'm sure some would disagree) other5 are s t i l l w i n g the 'suck it and see' principle and still more are sitting watching There are obviously some groups for whom any form o f centralism is ana- thema, We can only respectfully differ with them over our different ways of working and go our separate ways in the h q e that some of their more extreme, if principled criticisms, will be modified by experience. Far more of a problem has been the public criticism of some organisation, which seems to have been designed to label the new Campaign for the benefit of the media in bogeyman terms. .. gx,-. s,

a national level what is beipg done locally. It can open up some new opportunities and it can help draw in new support and improve co-ordina- tion within the movement. The launch- ing of the campaign has already stimu- lated joint action in a number of towns. Public meetings are being called with the backing o f all the existing move- ment groups plus the trades unions, several of the political parties and in some cases j ~ i n t l y with the C.N.D. This improved wrd ina t i on and increased support from groups not previously active against Nuclear Power will in no way restrict any group from doing its own thing either within or outside c&,the Anti-Nuclear Campaign.

.. . , ,.? Anyone reading through the l i s t ;?c : . .* It is hcoming clear that $he Thatcher

of members of the Anti-Nuclear Caw !'b,:.::leernment's plans for a crash pro- paign Steering Committee and the li*,. ~.- 23tamtne of PVR's will be one o f the of people wbo spoke at the conferen& ' main focal points for opposition and will recognise that the Campaign has.;:..,),; one which will draw considerable,sup- indeed a very broad base of support ;;.; .':* ,port from the trade Union and Labour both politically and geographically aW"' movement whose endorsement of the intends to campaign against all aspects nuclear programme w& always condi- of nuclear power, unlike some organ- tional on adequate safety and public isations who have, on occasions, felt : consultation. unable to support the movement in its

' Equally important will be the cam- opposition to enrichment or to test . paign around the hazards o f radiation drilling for nuclear waste sites. For exposure. There is a move to raise the the first time we have an uneauivocal limits for the amount of radiation that

the public and workers car^ be exposed to at a time when much svid~nce shows that these are already between 5 and 20 times too high on the Indus- try's own assessment of what is an acceptable risk. This is an issue that has united many people from both the pro and anti-nuclear camps and could open up a real debate on the hazards of nuclear p o w r as the wealth of evidence corns to light.

During the next few months some 23 sites will be explored for dumping of nuclear waste. It is already ctear that the public enquiries will be a farce and offer little scope for local objectors to raise the real issues that concern them. Equally the increasing amount of traffic in nuclear waste has provided a focus for local opposition in areas where the issue had previously seem- ed remote. Already road routes have been changed in rewonse to local ob- jections ( i t now goes along the M6 at 12 mph) and there has been a demon- stration against rail transport of waste through London.

demand to stop nuclear power in all its aspects as well i s pressing the alter- native programme for both energy and jobs.

There has been a lot of talk about autonomy of existing groups. In reality no+q$d ~igqoiwtion can 'take over' the mov&$niF\t can 6omplement at

Ran of campaign These issues plus the fact that many

of the AGR's are now nearing fuelling stage, with some uncomfortably close to large populations, will provide scope for a vxiety of forms of public opposi-

tion. The campaign aims to link to- gether these autonomous local cam- paigns and to complement them at a national level.

Some key campaign dates w t ~ ich have emerged are March 29th for a mass march and rally in London. It is to be hoped that collaboration on this may do more to build unity between different movement organisations by actually working together than all the a

discuhns successful and abortive have so far achieved. April 26th is also being canvassed as an internation- al day of action. This will coincide with the largest ever march on Washington in the US and demon- strations throu&@ut Europe. So far p e North East groups plan to protest the Hartlepool site and discussions are underway in other areas. Whitsun is also the date chosen by colleagues in Europe for international actions and the movement is discussing which site would be suitable for a national rally/carnival.

The Anti Nuclear&mpaign is like. ly to be more successful t h ~ other ,'

Anti Nuclear organisations In atfract- ing money from the trade union movement but equally it i s important that other money i s raised if we are to mount an effective campaign on the many issues we are attacking. Affiliations from the many groups who have so far given tacit support to the Anti Nuclear Campaign will help in this but more important will ensure that it i s truly democratic and repre- senative of the movement. We are appealing also to the many individuals who support our aims to send donations and join existing or form new local Anti Nuclear groups so that there is campaign activity in every town and village in Britain.

Given th i s we should be able to build a really effective campaign with a good chance of stopping the nuclear programme.

Tony We&

about 6 am. When they arrived (7 am) at the fence surrounding the reactor site, they found National Guard and State Police officers (many with their identification numbers covered) stationed behind it approximately 20 meters apart.

While drums and bagpipes played, some of the occupiers approached the fence and began cutting the rings that secured the fence to the ;

poles. (A decision had been taken to' damage property as little as possible, thus to try not to cut the fence it- self.) Police immediately attacked, spraying mace from aerosol cans into the faces of persons cutting the wire at a very close range. Others were jabbed in the guts with police clubs to push them away

from the fence. Some protected them- selves from mace by holding plastic sheets in front of themselves.

Water hose , .

At one point people divided into two groups, one, with wire cutters, ,

the Other attempting to divert police attention. When someone did cut a hole in the fence police made it impossible to'get onto the site. In- stead police moved out through the

. . . . , . , , . :

$ttempts.seemed disorgqised since many people faced policy vi6iepce fa the firsttimeahd didfiot know' how tp react. Also, communic~t i~n a@ decision making broke down , ,, . >

etause some affinity groups were o~t,~ell,enough .prepared." . . .

'OnSaturday afternoon, demon- strators from northand south walk- ed along the fence forming a human chain which linked the miin groups attempting occupation.

Wire cutters

fencfo jod- ,~e .repelled with r gas. Most of them then joined

the groups in the south who, after meeting Saturday night and Sunday morning, reached a consensus to try again, th i s time in another place. At about 1 pm Sunday, 3 groups of 500-600 persons approached the fence. They had secured more wire cutters and ropes. In front were affinity groups with wire cutters, behind them groups with ropes and behind them people to pull the ropes.

Vicious

They succeeded in taking down large sections of fence in about 1 minute. However police were also better organised (and more vicious) than they had been the day' before. They formed a shoulder-to-shoulder line and jabbed people back with their clubs and maced them. They especially sought out persons with wire cutters, dragged them behind the lines, beat them up, and arrested them. An apparent police tacticfwas not to arrest people unless they could charge them with a serious crime (felony), and some police have been quoted as saying that they were not there to arrest people, but to beat them up.

Police pushed occupiers back some 200 meters, where they (the occupiers) - tried tq make a road block and s i t down behind it Police regrouped, came over the road block, maced sitting people, and continued to push them back.

, - Main gate ' a

At around 3 pm on Sunday, some 1500 occupiers went to the main gate, where they joined with people who had been picketing there. Some people tried to chain themselves to the gate. Others sat down on the road with their backs to thegate. Police attacked with water hoses, mace and smoke bombs from behind the gate, although at that stage, the demonstrators never tried

- to enter the site. This confrontation lasted several hours. Police then with- drew but remained guarding the entire 7 miles of fence surrounding the Seabrook site. Demonstrators remain- ed at the main gate Sunday night and Monday.

National Guard

On Sunday evening the police raid- ed the camp of the occupiers from the north and took backpacks and tents. National Guard troops who became friendly with demonstratorsat another camp were replaced by State Policemen.

Local support

Local support of the demonstrators was encouraging. A poll taken in Massa- chusetts and New Hampshire on Saturday showed 66% of the residents were not opposed to the Seabrook occupation. Local residents brought large amounts of food and dry clothing to demonstrators. When demonstrators came to a laundromat with a truckload of wet clothes, people there emptied the dryers to make room. Seabrook police were also sympathetic. Their authority had been taken away by the

Throughout Sunday and ~ o n d a ~ , some affinity groups continued to roam through the marshes and forests around the Seabrook si te cutting holes in the fence. Several persons were seriously injured by police during these attempts.

During the whole weekend, one I

affinity group cooked for all the rest, and another affinity group volunteered to guard the camps and belongings of occupiers. .

Participants said that although the - site was not occupied, valuable lessons were learned about the logistics of occupation, decision making, affinity groups, preparatory training, and how . to deal with police violence.

The Seabrook struggle had symbolic significance for the anti-nuclear move- ment worldwide. A clear victory at Seabrook would almost certainly bring the nuclear industry to a stand-still. The nuclear lobby is aware of th i s too. For the time being the battle is undecided.

Several hundred people still remain near Seabrook, and are planning a civil '

disobedience action at the headquarters ' of the electric company which owns , Seabrook. . This account is published courtesy of WISE, +; Contact: Coalition to Occupy Seabrook c/o 595 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge, Mass. 02139. tel. 617 661 6204.

Is all soace 9 occupfed .

'Inmy political life I have never known such a well organised scien tific, industrial and technical lobby as the nuclear power lobby' (Tony Bonn in Parliament, 2 December 1977).

The nuclear devil has all the best tunes: but the anti-campaigners should compose their own instead of playing variations, says Dave Elliot.

The efforts of a fairly small band of But does it really address the main active anti-nuclear campaigners have over issues? Some people are against nukes the past few years, gone some way to because of the likely dangers to . balancing the debate on nuclear power, health and life if something Should go not long since only a monologue by the wrong. But others are more concerned UKAEA. But there have been social costs, with what might happen if the nuclear

Tryins to argue technicalities with pro- dream succeeds. It 's the goals - not nuclear advocates is an exhausting the side-effects - that are being business. I can think of several anti- questioned. nuclear activists who have exhausted themselves in recentyears in endless debates and discussions with opponents from the UKAEA, BNFL and the like. Working in your spare time on shoestring budgets gradually takes its toll. And for people whose values are those of the counter culture, getting lock@ into bureaucratic battles and academic hair- splitting is often more than depressing - it's irrelevant. The real issues transcend the technicalities -although to get at them you usually have to know your way around the subject, in order to cx- .pose the values and assumptions behind them.

Social Justification Now you may say that some of the

likely social and political outcomes of nuclear power - centralisation of con- trol, increased security measures and so on - are really side-effects - not goals. Butequally there are those who, with- out being unduly pessimistic, see these outcomes as part of a general authoritar- ian trend in modern industrial society, while conspiracy theorists will argue that far from being accidental, they are consciously chosen by those who wish to protect their power. And as for some of the other social justifications for

Status Quo? The problem is that the pro-nuclear

argument is based on a commitment to the status quo. Nukes can keep things running as they are, so they say, giving us 'more of the same'. Now you may choose to disagree - on technical grounds, talking about safety, environ- mental or economic problems. But that way lies an endless chain of assertion, counter arguments, proofs, retreats and so on. Ma) be it is good to keep the pressure up, on such issues: it provides copy for the media, acts as a recruiting route for the anti-nuclear movement, and may even lead to improved safety.

nuclear power - 'vk will need it to fuel our materialism' - to challenge this i s tantamount to treason. It i s an un- challengable social goal.

An ti-nuclear Activists Any attempt by anti-nuclear activ-

ists to open up a debate on such issues brings them up against enormous hurdles -after all they are challenging the status quo. The polite debates between pro's and anti's hide an enor- mous imbalance o f power. It is not really the individual well-supported pro-nuclear pundits who are the problem: no doubt they are reason- able people, who believe in what they

. . , . . ..,, . , ,

are employed to say (although one : !. t

can hope thty will decide to dissent.: , at some stage). The reallmbalance . '

is in the situation in which anti- ' . . ,- .-

nuclear activists are trying to inter- .eft, vene.

Cheap? The whole momentum of th

industrial system, backed by in national monooolv ca~italism. gether with government and trade union bureaucrats, i s ranged against them. Challenge one part (nuclear) and the rest floods in to the defence, both in real terms (mutual aid) and in terms of the interlocking logic of industrial society. Statistics are quoted that tell us that on current trends the population will 'need', say 500 mtce by 2000 AD. And of course if the current industrial system is given its head then that may be the case. 'Nuclear power is cheap' - well, given the fact that electricity prices are fixed political- ly - not on an open market - that may b? trie. Statistics tell us what is true of the status quo. Not what could be true given some other social and economic system - or even just given a modification o f the way technology i s (and has been) developed. With something like £2 bn spent on nuclear power in the UK over the past few decades, it i s inevitably hard to clear the air and ask - 'but what if we did it differently?' Private and institutional economic power - past capital in- vestments and the interests of groups seeking their share in profit- ing from future investments - pre- empts alternatives and defines what is desirable and even what is possible. They define the agenda.

Given this context the radical is in asposition o f real weakness. The only resources he or she can muster is his or her imagination as to what could be. Something that can easily be dfs- . , missed as utopian wishful thinking - if not outright lunacy. Not surprisingly , many people retreat from the fray into t

isolation - where they can indulge - and maybe even in a limited way -- practice - their dreams. Or else faced with the apparent truth of Marx's dic- tum 'the ruling ideas are the ideas of the rulers', they may come to betieve the sifiaticnalist slogan 'All space is occupied by the enemy' -and opt, in desperation and frustration for ' violence.

' , ,a "Pi Alternative Strategies, :: ., ::;; <!, . .

But there may be more pitoductiws: alternatives. The hegemony of 'rul& ; ~ .

Undercurrents 38

iSfe.&ts~iiotcompl~te. Thespecific problems and contradictions that people experience i n their lives within the present system constantly provides the opportunity for the development of an alternative, radical consciousness - and action. The nuclear issue amongst others seems currently to be radicalising many people. Now of course, isolated individuals stand little chance of fight- ing the entrenched pro-nuclear jugger- naut. But organised, supportative

groups can - whether in terms of + 'developing effective critiques of nuclear

power creating viable and convincing scenario, taking direct action against nukes where necessary, organising at the grass roots to win people away from the nuclear dream, or demon- strating practical alternatives at the community level.

Confrontations Personally, I feel that it i s becom-

ing increasingly pointless to spend time getting sucked into 'technical' confrontations on energy policy. Leave that to the growing band of anti-nuclear professionals, who seem to like it. It 's good that they do,

that our anti-experts will become the new alternative technocratic elite!

For these reasons -and in particular because of the basic power imbalance that is hidden by the con- text of gentlemanly debates - I would have thought that our limited resources would be equally well spent on opening up a new flank. After all, given that we are weak and fighting a very powerful but centralised enemy, we ouqht to adopt a guerilla strategy - hit and run, coming always from an unexpected angle. Don't try to con- front them where they are strongest and best organised - draw of f their resources on terrain that i s unusual to them.

Now the problem with th i s is that, if you get too 'far out' you can be ignored. To some extent you have to deal with contemporary issues as defin- ed by the status quo. But you can try to do so in a way which challenges their assumptions, and widens the agenda.

*~ ..:, . . ,. . ,.. - w^$-yI Practical Alternatives fc( - ,& . .

So what does this all mean in prac- tice? Well it could mean trying to

because obviously there i s a need to argue not against nuclear power so

keep the pressure up. But as I've already said there i s a danger that the debate will become impenetrable to outsiders - just as a dialogue amongst experts pro- and experts anti. On occasions this can be useful - in terms of 'sharpening' the anti-case and debunking the idea that there is a scientific consensus, and certainly it can at times radicalize the onlook- ing audience. Butin general winning this kind of deba*is of limited value - and#mmisalso the danger

much as for the alternatives - along the lines that, even i f nukes were clean, safe and cheap, the alternatives would be better, in terms of, say, matching energy and use needs, employment, security of supply (lots of small units are more reliable than big centralised units) and so on. That really throws them off balance - at least for a while, until they rush around collect- ing data to try to refute you. But it means that you are drawing them on and defining the agenda. In some

Scenario' operated this way - hence the hostility of officials to it.

The CAITS 'Energy Options and Employment' report drew some eve heavier fire. (See Eddies). And at a different level", the response from 4 qaifadement to the Lucas -pace workers' alternative plan, indicated that it had hit them. NATTA hopes to continue the tradition.

Optiiii; for a 'positive' stance his other, tactical advantages beyond widening the agenda - in terms of winning support. There are plenty of things to be 'against'. But that can seem negative and even paranoid. Most people want to believe there are desir- able alternatives before they will com- mit themselves to challenging the , . status quo. Obviously you have to avoid undue optimism -we must not' overseft the alternatives. They have to be subjected to the same scrutiny ; as we have applied to nuclear power. ; But at least we can be on the offensive.

Just,bow well defined we can make our alternative scenarios and propbs- als - given our limited resources - i s another question. To some extent, adopting the guerilla approach, we can" manoeuvre the official agencies into' doing much of the work, while we rtidve to other ground -although o f course we have to try to make sure that they don't get i t wrong subsequently. We '

have to try to consolidate victories where possible - by subjecting sub sequent official developments to public accountability and social con- , trol. A tall order - but for example the last thing we wantis centralised A T 4 . ,...

The approach I have outlined '

obviojsly requires flexibility. There' , , '

are lots of other possibilities beyond ' , ~

the ones I have 'mentioned - ranging. '

from demonstrating a public interest in 'voluntary simplicity', decentralisa-' '

tion and local control, to developing .*< more 'alternative plans' in industry. I'm not saying that issues such as radiation, storage, transport and safety are unimportant - they are ., , vital in themselves and also as a ' .:- recruiting 'entry point'. And it i s crucial to develop a strong trade . ,,; union position on nuclear safety . . , backed up by public concern about the dangers of nuclear power. But I would hope that the aim would be to build on people's hopes , as ..,:~2.;,,<.; well . as on their fears. &+^ :; ... " <* . ,*::

, -..,. <..~ * ' Oavfrtiliott

*For further details of NATTA, write. ,.

to ATG, C/o Open University, Milton ,, . .

Keynes Bucks. , . .

Undercurrents 38

A history of the English

O n ~ecember 26th last year a small earthquake (Richter scale 5) hit the Carlisle area (not far from the Chaplecross nuclear plant) and was felt as far south as Kendal and Cumbria - the home of BNFL. No-one was hurt although considerable damage was done to property - remind in9 us that Britain is far from being safe from the caprices of nature. John Fletcher looks at the history of earthquakes in the UK and asks what problems these could present for our nuclear power plants . . . .

Much o f the nuclear industries claims to safety - so say nothing o f their nu- clear reactors - rests on the belief that nuclear power stations are placed on geologically sound rock strata. I do not know anything about geology, but I have had a historical interest in earth- quakes in England from the earliest times up until 1750, especially in Somerset, and I have been surprised that, for example, 1 have come across descriptions - in 1681 and 1748 - of earthquakes or strong tremors in the immediate vicinity - Bridgewater - of the Blackley Point A and B reactors, which, if a third reactor is added, is, I am lead to believe, likely to become the most concentrated area o f nuclear power production in the world.

974. Earthquake felt 'all over England.' (1) 'Violent'. (4)

1048. ' In this year there was a severe earthquake far and wide i n Britain.' (2) Worcester and Derby being especial- Iv mentioned. (1) Wick (4). ~, ~~~ ~ . , . .

1076. (1) 1081. Earthquake 'and terrible moans

and groans from the bowels o f the earth (1).

1080. Earthquake all over England (1) (2) 'A great earthquake terrified all England with a horrible spectacle; for all the buildings were lifted up. and then again settled as before.'. (3) (4)

11 10. 'A great earthquake' at shrews- bury. (4) Trent dry at Nottingham.

11 19. 'A great earthquake was felt in

some places here in this country, but it was most severe in Gloucester- shire. (2)

1132 (3). 'A great earthquake in many parts o f England.' (4) (1).

1142. Three rumbles felt at Lincoln. (7)

1158. Earthquake in many parts of England. Thames ran dry at London. (1)

1165. Earthquake in many parts o f England. (1)

1179. A t Darlington in Durham the ground rose up and then crashed dowii. (1)

1185. Earthquake in north o f England. Church at Lincoln shattered. (1 ) (4).

1199. Earthquake in Somerset, several people being thrown to ground (1).

1246. 'So great an earthquake in Englandas has ever been felt.' (1) Several churches fell i n Kent.

1247: Earthquakes in many parts of England, especially in London by the banks o f the Thames, where several houses fell down. (1) (4).

1248. Earthquake in Somerset, damage to Wells Cathedral. (1 )

1250. Earthquake at St. Albans. (1) 1278. Earthquake in Somerset.

Church on Glastonbury Tor and part o f Glastonbury Abbey thrown down.

1316. 'A great earthquake' in England.

(1 1382. A 'General earthquake' in England - 'much damage' (1).

1385. :Two earthquakes felt throughout England. (1)

1426. Earthquakes felt in several parts of England. (1)

1551. Earthquake in Reigate, Croydon, and Dorking, so that pots and pans moved. (1)

1574. Earthauake felt at York. Worces- te r ~loucester, Bristol, Hereford.

1580 April 6th Earthquake felt in London and rest o f England. Bells in churches rang by themselves. The gentlemen in the Temple (law- yers) being at supper, were so much scared by the shock that they ran from their tables and out of the Hall with the knives in their hands. (1'

1580. (1st o f May) Earthquake in Kent caused people to rush to churches to pray (1).

1665. Small earthquake near Oxforu. (1)

1667. Earthquake in Staffordshire. 1) 1678. Earthquake in Staffordshire. (1) 1681. Eacthquake shook houses in

Somerset at Bridgewater, Taunton, Wells, and 'other places'. (5)

1683. Sept. 17th, Earthquake in Ox- foriishire. (1) Oct. 9th. Earthquake in Stafford- shire and surrounding counties. (1)

1687. Earthquake in many parts of Britain. (7)

1690. Earthquake at Bedford, Barn- staple, Holyhead, Northampton- shire (7).

1703. Earthquake felt throughout the North.

1731. Earthquake in Northampton- shire.

1734. Earthquake in Sussex. 1748. Earthquake in Somerset and

Devon. Many in Taunton rose '

from their beds terrified, ahd spent nights in gardens. Many.walking a t )

Undercurrents 38

time of quake found great difficulty in staying upright. Many areas of the quake seems to have been from the South (English) Channel to the Severn, travelling roughly from the South East to the North West of Taunton, being felt also in Exeter and Crewkerne. (1).

1750. 8th Feb. earthquake in London. Several houses demolished. Terror widespread. March 8th. Earthquake in London. Several houses demolish ed. Terror. April 2nd. Earthquake, at Chester. Liverpool and Manchester (1).

1755. Possible earthquake at Whiston Cliffs in Black Hamilton mountains in Yorkshire (6) (A).

1771. Possible earthquake near source; of Tees, Wear and Tyne (6).

1773. Possible Earthquake - substan- tial earth tremor led to River

Severn diverting i t s course - at Madeley/Buildwas on Severn (6) (C'

1884. Colchester earthquake. 4 killed. Richter S.S. Only ten miles from Magnox reactor at Bradwell.

1926. Hereford. Large quake but belov 5. {There are also references to earth tremors in the Mendips (Somerset) i

1890's and 1976).

Most of the phenomenon described in this l i s t would more probably be described today as earth tremors rither than earthquakes, but even so, pre- sumably, what trembles today could quake tomorrow. It would be interest- ing to know what criteria the Atomic Energy Authority used to decide whether an area was geologically sound, and whether they in any way bothered to do any historical research on the subject. Presumably it would be best to draw them on this subject first, get an official statement, and then be able to counterblast them with some historical evidence, if th i s contradicts their statemtnts. Knowing the AEA and their usual slipshod habits, most of their historical research i s likely to have been based on the premise 'Whoever heard of earthquakes in England?'

John Fletcher

references.

(1) Zachary Grey. A Chronological and Historical Account of Earthquakes.

(2) Anglo Saxon Chronicle (3) William of Malmesbuiy (4) Florence of Worcester'sChronicle (5) Andrew Paschal, rector of

Chedzoy in letter to John Aubrey (6) Jehn Wedey's Jounnl.

Diny of John Evelyn.

Cily drain Every week spent fuel from the nuclear power stations Sizewell, Bradwell and Dungeness is transported through London on British Rail. Hackney Ynti-Nuclear Group (HANG) explain 'the dangers involved.;

Where does it go and how often? There are two lines on which atomic

waste is transported through London. The spent fuel from Sizewell and Brad- well comes into London at Stratford,

from where it travels to Dalston Junction and along the North London Line through Hackney, Islington, Camden, and South Hampstead to Willesden Junction in West London.

The waste from Dungeness passes through South London and Earls Court and meets the other line at Willesden. From there the spent fuel is sent to Windscale to be reprocessed. The waste i s transported in containers each o f which holds about 3 tons of spent fuel. On average about one

container per week i s sent from Dungeness and two containers per week travel along the North London Line. .* s

What is spent fuel? Nuclear power stations use uranium

Â¥a fuel. During the process of fission (= splitting the atom) heat is generated, while the Uranium is changed into other radioactive elements, so called fission products. Many of these fission products-are much more dangerous, poisonous and radioactive than Uran- ium'itself, but they are useless for generating power (apart from Pluton- ium, which can be used in Fast Breeder Reactors and for making bombs.) The 'spent fuel' or 'nuclear waste' of one reactor load consists of 43 different radioactive materials, 10 of which have very long half lives. The most danger- ous fission products in the atomic waste are: Ruthenium (half life 1 year), Caesium (33 years), Strontium (28 years), Cerium (285 days), and Plutonium (24000 years).

1/30000000 gramme of ~u then iuk in the lung i s enough to kill a person through cancer. There are about 6 grammes of Ruthenium in one spent fuel container. Because Strontium has the same chemical qualities as Calcium, the body absorbs it and builds it into the bones, with the effect that the body eventually radiates from within. Plutonium also causes cancer.

The Ruthenium in the spent fuel in one container alone has the radio-

Jndercurrents 3s

activity o f 180,000 curies which is enough to kill 180,000,000 people. l / l O O O Curie can already ki l l one person.

What do the containers look like? There are two containers to shield

the radiation from the spent fuel; an inner 'bottle' and an outer 'flask', both made out o f steel. Between the inner

Nuclear dustcart -- w . . bottie and the out&?flask is watcr for cooling purposes. The spent fuel rods are within the inner bottle, protected by a magnox cladding.

Outside a small radiation sign i s exposed. Each container carries about 3 tons o f nuclear waste.

Only recently members o f the Boiler- makers Union criticised that the bottles were actually not built according to instructions.

Apprentices carr~ed out various jobs, shabby welding techniques were being used and welding seams were not check- ed with X-rays as i t i s done in other industries.

What kind of accidents could occur?

Since the nuclear waste transports travel 011 regular BR lines, any 'normal' train accident might happen. There have already been at least two derail- ments o f trains carrying atomic waste. If a derailed container were h i t by a train coming from the opposite direction, i t might crack open. The flasks are only tested for crashes o f 30 miles per hour. But trains actually travel at a speed o f 80 or even 100 m/h. If the outer flask cracked, the cooling water would leak out and the heat radiated by the nuclear fuel could melt the magnox cladding (at only 650°C and eventually set itself on fire (at 1 100°C) If an outside fire came on top o f that (say by a collision with a train carrying petrol or other highly inflammable chemicals), the danger of the spent fuel catching fire and the smoke with all i t s radioactive particles escaping into the open are very realistic indeed.

The containers have only been test-

ed in fires lasting up to 30 minutes. But already there have been accidents on BR with fires lasting for four hours and longer.

Another danger is the vulnerability to terrorist attacks. Any modern anti- tank gun or missile could easily pierce the container.

What would be the effects of an accident?

If, because o f an accident, only 10% o f the radioactive material were to be released, a fan-shaped area of 3 sq. miles would have t o be evacuated for five years. Whether the authorities would really take such a drastic measure or whether they would rather run the risk o f hundreds of slow deaths from cancer is still question- able. Ever) thing within 500 yards of the accident would be uninhabitable for 125 years and the land would be unfit for farming for 180 years.

If all the nuclear waste in one con- tainer were to be split, a radius of 12 miles would have to be evacuated for up to 200 years. (That i s the major part o f Central London!)Vl ithin 3%

hair, nausea, jig, diarrhoea,

Are Railway workers exposed to a special health hazard?

The walls of the containers cannot totally shield o f f radiation from the fuel rods. Five feet away from an un- damaged container the amount o f radia- tion from gamma-rays (comparable tc X-rays) i s still 10 milli remlhour, a dangerous dose if one i s exposed

'

for too long. In the railway work1 manual workers are warned not to work within 5 ft o f an atomic waste flask for longer than 3 hours. Work carried out nearer than 5 ft should not last longer than one hour. Workers should be equipped with f i lm badges and dose meters, and should have regular blood checks; but they don't.

Stop Nuclea~ Power now! Because o f the risks involved in

every single step o f the nuclear fuel circle (mining, enrichment, power sta- tions, transport, reprocessing, waste dumping), the whole nuclear power programme should be abandoned, and

Pat Kinnerdw

Children playing near unattended nuclear waste containers in the rail yard at Southmhiste~

based on the present evacuation dose Hackney Anti-Nuclear Group

of 1.2 mil l i remlhour. People within 300 yards o f an accident would be I nndnn N A 7.1w - - . . - -. . . . . - - . affec.ted by radiation sickness (loss of 01-226 1799.

Undercurrents 38

The Russians

DEATH RAYS, mind control and weather war; these are all applications of the Magnifying Transmitter of Nikola Tesla, the Serbian dkctrical genius who believed that his discoveries would make possible a world in which 'Humanity will be united, wars will be impossible, and peace will reign supreme'. A report on some nasty bits of Megatechnology that would dismay the visionary that fathered them.

On October 14th, 1976 radio com- munications all over the world were disrupted by powerful radio waves emanating out o f Soviet Russia. Subsequently these signals reappeared, sometimes a very low frequency, some- times a very high frequency and at irregular intervals for irregular lengths

The transmitter a t Wardencliff, Long Island, New York, site of Tesla's proposed Radio City. The tower was to have been capped with a 100' diameter copper hemisphere as aerial; it would have ~ i v e n Tesh a world monopoly in radio 20 years before the start of regular broadcasting. Unfortunately, because of his refusal to exploit his many inventions commercially, he ran out o f money in I905 and the transmitter was never completed. The to\ver was demolished in 1917.

ference, due they said to experiments they were conducting. Both amateur and professional radio communications personnel monitored these broadcasts, attempting to identify their nature, origin and purpose. The defense and intelligence services of the United States were particularly concerned and by December o f I976 they had convinc- ed themselves that the bursts came from powerful Soviet 'over-the-horizon radar signals'. This became the official explana- tion for a while and i t was very plausible. Standing Waves

But then the nature o f the radiations changed dramatically. Very large stand- ing electromagnetic waves were formed thousands of miles long, originating from below the ground and extending right up to the ionosphere. These standing waves varied between 4 pulses per second up to 26 pulses per second. Obviously, these could not be over-the- horizon radar signals; everyone had to rethink their ideas.

Innumerable explanations were put forth on the Western side, but the only substantial advance made was to deter- mine that the electromagnetic radiation originated from a single source near Riga in Latvia.

After the Russians had been produc- ing their very high powered, pulsed, low frequency, electro-magnetic stand- ing waves, meteorological reports com- ing in to the National Centre o f Atmos- pheric Research in Boulder, Colorado showed that a blocking mechanism was in effect along the west coast of North America.

A t the same time and place, very large standing electro-magnetic waves were detected. These waves contained an enormous amount of electrical ex-

experts, to deflect the normal trade winds. While they lasted there was ab- normal cold weather in Canada, with snow in Miami and floods in western Europe. After they were gone there was a very bad drought in the western part of the United States.

On November 21, 1977 a vast electro magnetic standing wave was observed off the Pacific coast of the Americas stretching from Alaska to Chile. Satell- ite photographs taken at the same time show cloud banks over this stretch o f the ocean lying offshore over the whole of this distance) only gra~ing the land mass at California.Mere the photographs showed what appeared to be a black line as though drawn by a ruler in the centre of the cloud mass.

Close observation and measurement showed i t to be an opening in the clouds one mile wide and 200 miles long. This is a phenomenc~n that has no parallel in past records. There was no known explanation.

Gyrating Tachyo~ls Although no scientific or lay predic-

tions exist for such phenomena, retros- pective correlation o f the observation with theory indicates that the occurrel of such a gap in the cloud bank is con- sistent with the theory of gyrating tachyons that has been advanced to explain some o f the results obtained by Tesla. (Tesla specified a minimum o f 100 m i I 1 i ~ n volts for the Tesla Magnifying Transmitter. Such a poten- tial imparts a relativistic velocity to the individual electrons and through complex interactions of the several force fields creates electron-positron

citation, enough according to some particle parts - the elusive tachyons.)

The standing waves with which the similarity to patterns produced by cloudbank OW the Pacific coast was electrical activity of the human ,associated, persisted throughout One hundred years ago brain. December and into the new vear. It appeared to be preventing the normal circulation of yeather from west to east, at least a~ross North America.

On the Pacific side of the blockage the weather has been unusually dry A i l e the land side has experienced a record precipitation. With the normal circulation of the atmosphere blocked, the circumpolar vortex has wandered furthkr south than is normal at this time of the year and appears to be controlling nvrth American weather. High altitude explosions

Gas shares ha& fallen nearly ten per cent, this week, under the influence of hesh information as to M r Edison's experiments with the electric light. The Philadelphia correspondent of the Times has visited the inventor at Men10 Park, and has examined his inventions. I n a telegram published on Monday he decides in their favour, declaring that Mr. Edison has invented a lamp, casting a shiiling, which gives a 'mellow,' clear light, equal to that of sixteen candles, at one-fortieth of the

There have been a series of myster- price of gas. The correspondent saw tuus higt iltitude exp\osions al.ong the sixty lamps burning, for seven hours. United %tes Atlantic Seaboard in 'Mr Edhn's new system also fur- kcember 1977. In a few cases they nishes electric power for s m d indus- were accompanied by flashes of bright tries, such as running sewing light, but there appears to be some machines; a detail about which we uncertainty in the observationsas to should liked to have heard ,more. I t whether the light'flashes coincided may prove one day at least as impor- with the sounds heard. tant as the electric light.

The US O f f i c ~ o f Science and Technology polled all the relevant Spectaror, 3 January 1880 government agencies as to whethe they were responsible for them. N could give any explanation and all denied responsibility.

On December 27th, President Carter called for a full report. There is no evidena to link &ese exvlosions with the Soviet experiments i" electre ,

magnetic radiations, but there has been 1 some speculation that they.may be an unpredicted and entirely accidental by- vroduct of Soviet attemvts to set uv a itanding wive off the ~ i l a n t i c coa4 similar to that on the Pacific side. Apparently such explosions would not be inconsistent with the tachyon theory and, in particular, since the excess energy released in the forma- tion of electron-positron pairs appears in the form of photons, the light flashes observed can be accounted for.

Th is explanation at the moment i s extremely tenuous since there is no confirming evidence and the forma- tion of electron-positron pairs is postulated to occur at the source of energy in the presence of the 100 million volt electrical potential. It is a situation in which one has to keep an opzn mind, particularly as myster- ious explosions of the type referred to here are not new, There are bona ode records of them having occurred at infrequent intervals elsewhere in the United States over the past 200 years.

Long-term observation of these fluctuations show that the beat i s not steady but fluctuates erratically in both frequency and flux density. The overall pattern shows a remarkable

Te- . ...r.--..-...-. ing station at Cohrado Springs in 1899. Instead of a b U m n supporting hisantenna, as his patent Micates, he utilbed a large metal ball at the end of an 80-foot mast, as shown in this plate.

PICTURE CREDITS: Our thanks to Bob Rickard, Michael Martin, Pete Carbines and Richard Elen for help with picture rmarch. The pictures used are courtesy of: the CoEvolutim Uuartedy, the Nikola Tada Musaum, Belgrade; Wildwood Hwsa; and &e Wellcome Historical Medical Muwm.

Earth magnetism Sensitive equipment set up in

California to measure the low-fre- quency, low-level variations in chang- es in the earth's magnetic field, recorded some very local changes in that field which coincided witfithe establishment of the standing wave off the Pacific coast. Thts anomaly appears to be very localised and allowing for the limitations o f the accuracy of measurement of equipment used, it was estimated to. be in the region of 40 miles in diameter. The measurements cannot be independ6ntly verified, which means that the results reported must, be treated with some caution. Brain magnetism

Among the 150 different applica- tions outlined by Nikola Tesla, were the worldwide transmission of speech, the worldwide transmission of tele- graph, the transmission of electrical power over great distances; the genera- tion of death-rays; the generation of a curtain of charged particles; the ability to modify weather patterns; the generation of isolated electrical plasmas (i.e. Fireballs) and man- made lightning.

Surprising as these may seem in their wide range, even more amazing is the claim by Tesla that any num- ber of these phenomena could be achieved simultaneously and independently with one single equip ment installation. If true, it repre- sents something close to the! ultimate in economic cost effective ness.

In addition to all the foregoing, for more than 40 years reports have been written, experiments have been conducted and observations record- ed, on the effects of electrical fields upon the mental faculties of human beings.

It is well known that strong pulsating electrical fields pulsing within the frequency range of the alpha and/or beta rhythms of the human brain can interfere with the physiological functioning of the mind and produce devastating psychological effects in = most people. i

Tesla's Magnifying Transmitter I t is,kncwn that the Canadian govern

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9

- Undercurrents :

NIKOLA TESLA

NIKOLA TESLA was born in Serbia in 1856. His father was an orthodox priest and his mother, although uneducated, was highly intelligent. Tesla was a dreamr with a poetic touch, nho as he matured, ccquirgd strong qualities of self-discipline.

He attended the Technical Universiw at Graz, Austria and then in 1882, he went to work in Paris for The Continental Edison Company. During his free perids he contrmted the first induction motor. He arrived in the United States in 1884 with four cents in his pocket and a few of his own pwms and calculations for a flying machine. He found employment with Thomas Edison, but as inventors they were too different.

In 1885, George Westinghouse, head of the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh bought the patent rights t o Tesla's polyphase system of alternating current dvnamos, transformers and motors and this started the great struggle between the direct current systems of Edison and the Tesla-Westinghouse alternating current wproach. Westinghouse eventually won out.

The Tesla coil which Tesla invented in 1891 i s widely used today in radio and television sets and other electronic equipment,

In the period from 1899 to 1900, Tesla stayed in Colorado Springs where he made one of his most important discoveries. This was terrestrial stationary waves. In this discovery, he proved that the earth could be used as a conductor and would be as rewc*isive as a tuning iork to electrical vibrations of a certain pitch. He also lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles and created man-made lightning producing falshes measuring 135 feet. He was very futuristic in his prophecies and like Darwin nf the same period he was ridiculed lor them. In 1900 he wrote:-

'In the near future we shall s e a great many new uses of electricity . . . we shall be able to disperse fogs by electric force andpomrful and penetrative rays. . . w'reles plants w'll be installed for the purpose of illuminating the oceans. . . picture transmission by ordinary telegraphic methods will soon be achieved. . . another valuable novelty will be a typ6writer electrically operated by the human voice. . . we will have smoke annihilators, dust absorbers, sterilizers of water, air, food and clotbing . . . it will become next to impossible to contract disease germs and country folk w.11 go to town to rest and get well . . .

'If we use fuel to get ourpower, we are living on our capital and exhausting it :, ~ i d l y . This method is barbarous and wantonly wasteful and will have to be stopped

in the interest of coming generations. The inevitable conclusion is that water p o w r is by far our most valuable resource. On this humanity must build its hopes for the future. With its full development and a perfect system of wireless transmission of the energy to any distance man will be able to solve all the problems of material existence. Distance, which is the chief impediment to human progress, will be completely annihilated in thought, word and action. H umaniw will be united, wars will be made impossible, and Peace w'll reign supreme.'

Tesla believed that the inexhaustible electrical energy of the earth's atmosphere could be directly channeled to the consumer without wires or complex transmission systems.

In layman's language, his approach was recently described by Anrija Puharich, in a paper entitled 'The fhysics of the Teda Magnifying Transmitter and the Transmission of Electrical t b w r Without Wins. '

'The Tesla system can be described in simple layman's language. Betmen the surface of the earth, and the uppar atmosphere there existsen electrical potentid of some two billion volts. This vast reservoir of non-depletable electrical energy shows us the magnitude of its available power fleetingly through the 100 lightning bolts that strike the earth each second. Teda devised a system to tap this vast reservoir of energy. H e showed that i t is possible to oscillate this essentially static remrvoir of electricity in a manner that would release it forpracticalpower uses

This is done by using electrical energy from an existing hydroelectric power source to oscillate the earth-atmosphere electrical reservoir at a specific frequency which we w'll call the tesla frequency. Tha earth's eleotrical atmowhare oscillating at the tesla frequency can be tapped at any point in the earth with a tunedpowr receiver. Teda demonstrated this effect could be switched on. to illumination without any wire connections. The same technology can power automobiles, sh@s, airplanes, horns, factories and communication systems.'

'The Tesla system is clean because it draws on the natural supply of atmospheric electricity which is triggered by hydroelectric power. Tesla also worked out an economically feasible system of hydrolysis at hydroalectric power stations to yield hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then ba used as a fuel in combination w'th atmospheric oxygen or in a fuel cell. Both methods yield clean energy. Tesla patented several solar energy collector devices which yield electrical power. These sources of e n e w plus the wireless transmission of electrical power con- stitute the fourpillars of the Teda world power system. These sources are not only clean, but renewable and non-depletable. '

Tesla had a great penchant for privacy. He lived very much by himself. For many years, he lived at the Waldorf Astoria in New York and dined alone in full evening dress at a table especially set aside for him.

In his experimental facilities in the Rocky Mountains, he discovered many new principles of energy and transmission, most of which went to the grave with him

the United Kingdom as 'The Russiqi Woodpecker'. b) According t o reports on Russian transmissions issued by Borge Nielsen, Chief Engineer o f the Dan- ish Postal and Telegraph Admini* tration, there are three not two sites for the so-called Tesla trans- mitters. If hlr Nielsen is correct, then it is possible that Kiev is the third station, in which case the radio interference might not be radar originated but arise as harmonics o f the fundamental frequencies used to set up the standing waves.

ELF ,,a

Item fou e Saviel draft agreement has to be considered very seriously. There is a great deal o f accumulated information covering the effects o f extremely low-frequency (ELF) electro-magnetic field waves. These low-freque~cy fields have the capacity to penetrate buildings and living tissue, which means that they are potential biological stimuli (see Undercurrents 26 pp.36-7).

Steel and copper screened rooms are designed to completely shut o f f all ma6a1etic, electrostatic and electro- magnetic radiation, but afford no protection at all against ELF field waves.

There is much experimental data showing that these fields can infIuence behaviour, ambulatory behaviour, oxygeq uptake, endocrine changes, cardiovascular functions, and blood clotting. Whistlers

However, there is a phenomenon of radio broadcasting that occurs in ,the high arctic and in Antarctica, in which radio waves appear to be trap- ped between two layers o f ionisation in the ionosphere and propagate over considerable distances, giving rise in the process to Doppler frequency changes that impart an audible tone to the received signal when demodu- lated. They are known as 'Whistlers'.

Dr. Robert Halliwell at the US Antarctic research camp known as Siple Station has undertaken exten- sive experiments to elucidate the behaviour and mechanisms o f 'Whistl2r<'. His results show fairly conclusively that radio waves can be magnified up to 1,000 times in the ionosphere. Details o f his findings have been classified. Why? Death rays

The situation, however, i s no t as one-sided as this report may indicate. The Governments o f the western powers are fully aware o f the Soviet operations and the interpretation that

an be nut uoon them. In the United . itad the Defense ~ e p a b n t has xen tryink to develop a death ray 'or more than a decade. TESLA'S CONCEPTION OF THE

In thelast18 months considerable idvanwhaw been made add signi-

' EARTWAWOSPHERE AS A GIANT

rn ELECTRICAL CAPACITOR ant rewits achieved-Sincethe - lisclotflw that the Soviet scientists

iveryclosecorrelation between . .

oatber and .(be earth's magnetic field . . t . . . : , ' ;; . ~

. .' I

n&.that.v&ations in the magnetic I. .: .~ "', ' ;. ' ' . ¥'

field, particularly those variations , . f . . *.\ . ~.

, . 'wsed.by the eleven year sun spot :<,

: (y'cle, have a direct effect uponthe. ,'. becauw he had few collaboratorsand kept his secret; very much to hirntelf. . eather. on this planet. His brain tended to function in three dimensional form andhe law thing**iy

71Ère items associated with the ,. , clearly ma vision. He had supersensow powers. These she reveals in his memoirs:-

. . S A L T w t i a t i o n s are significant a d 7n m, #fy / MM pas? forty and carrying on my experimentsin Wondo, : . ' interrelated. / k o u l d ~ ~ r k& diftincifv tfltlnderclaps at a distance of 550 miles. The limit

: (1) It is almost certain that it was , of wditipn for q rains assistants wm scarcely mom then '150 miles. V f &. -. W$ momthustftwmomisnutiw,yetatth~timfI~al .somtpwk, . ,

~ * e overwhelming desire of thesoviet . , Ã ˆ , diifin'campvison wtth ttw WU- hmrint w f t ~ Ã § ~ ~ h I ,authorities in 19 6 to have the mrwM,s eml,i = , .

communnations and detectiort o f their experiments and thereby die closure o f their objectives to the westernpowers. The ends justified

(2) As part o f this crash program, the Soviet scientists set up much larger more powerful standing waves, boosting the power to 40 million kilowatts producing what they calculated t o be the optimum reso- nant frequency transmitted of 7 pulses per minute. The result was 'enormous standing waves o f an amplitude far greater than they had

calculated. So large i n fact that they were thoroughly frightened an +shut down the equipment (3) During,the SALT renegotiations

- -- - - -- - -, - . . . . .

It w~ Teda who inventeda #Upersensitivireceiver to trackdqxriql and produced the tlrst man-made devii to detect radio signals coming from the Cosmos. And this 9.30 yean before a similar achievement at the Ball Laboratories.

TUa died ap& man. In 1912 he was chosen to sh.ere the Nobel Prize in physics with €&i but he refund it. Tula contended that there wasa definite distinction betweentheinventor of uWful appliances end the discoverer of new prin'ciples. He msrded himself m adiscoverer end Ediwn as an inventor. ' When hfrdled, his estate comprised wme 100,000 documents written in four foreign language!and they included 13,718 pagesofbiographical matefiat, 75,000 pçge of letters to 6,900 correspondents, 34,551 'pages of scientific articles, notes, drifts, at%+ end patent*; all of Tula's diplomas, scientific honour!; and n e w ' .

piper clippin$& park were 5,297 pagei of technical drawingsand plans and 1,OOO photbgrtphh' . . , .

Them ws all housed at the Nikola Tesla Museum on proletarian Bri Street In Belgrade, Yugodevia. In one of his papers he wrote:-. ... . , ;

'Impottibt*~ ituemfd, this planet m i t e i& vastextent, bshms Iikd cunduelor of limlMrfdinwnsiont. The tremendous sifnificsnce of this fact- in (ft* rmunfttfott offfn&t$~ la my m m had dm& Income quite dm to I?W, Mot only wu itpoftible to aend telegraphic messages to my distance witfiat ~ I W . as I -lsuS Ions ffo, but also to impress on the sntim ~,

globe tfr flintmoOu/Â¥tfO of (ft* h u m voica. Far mom significant His tbiliw to & d p o v i s r i n unlimitadamounts to almost my wrmitlal d- withaltloo.'

. .

It Và toprovt t h i s point that Tetia lit a bank of two hundred carbon filament'lamp*con~.ng about 10 kilowatts, 26 miietfrom the experin!en+ nation@*$ ¥n phyncal connection between them - sbnwthing that has never one*be*n.rtp-tKt.;; , , .

, .

Undercurrents 3 - -

t.ç(bfr*Kiet4.<~(~t-"whw';w-(à ti< l(y y 7 *- - - . a d w suddenly r?qwwdAat the clauses that banned the use- of artificial manipulation of weather patterns asa means of waging war be modi f id to include very specific- ally the use of electrical means of stimulating and modifying global

. The Cosmic and local weather patterns.

On May 18th, 1977 with Drum what appeared to be imprudent haste, the Soviet Government sign- ed an agreement with the United States and 29 other countries promi ing never toattack each other by starting hn-nl#t? storms, ear- : MEDITATORS are tuned in to a 'cosmic drum*, an eight-cycle*- quakes ortidal wave3:The date ts r radio wave airding the earth. Robert Beck describes how to (tetÑ significant because at that time the I

Soviets we@ desperately trying to disperse thejr standing waves by converting their transmitters at Riga and Gomel to send out giant pulses of very .highfrequency . , ,

energy. Therewas n.o apparent suc- cess and the waves continuedon , .

throughout May and into June. , ,

This unsigned 'research report' waiprepared for a Montreal firm of fiockbpkars, and came into our h* by a devious pith. We have n& been able to chwk out the feu in it and we p i d be glad to hear from any Teda-watchers then may te among our iÑder who can help IU with US.

There are mnarkably few books about Tmla's life and cork. Ttw moà acontlble ii frndlml Gmiwç &hn 0'Neill (New Y a k 1644) which idt i l l in print and was pudished in England in 1968 at £3.95.lWeil knew Tola well-and g n u a g6od Kcount of hit pereonal life. Technitally th6 book is leu tatisfactory a it is written for a popular readership and it h n no pictures, d i ~ r h s ~ p e c i f i i a - tion< or re tam~m In it at all except one picture of Task.

A more recent biooraphVL iahwlw in htttimd: the life of Nikola Teda by I. Hunt & W. Dr ie r (Sage Books, Owrnr, Colorado 1964 is out of print. Accord- ing to (he ftEmluUon Quart*rty, it is 'mil remrehed with a flood bibliography.' Someone should But out a pirate edition1

N H ~ ~ H rfir -L fcvirtt. /tmntt, - Arttcla is a collection pbblished by the Teda Mu~um, BMgreda in 1856. It h a been reprinted, but on cheap paper m that the photos are ruined and even the line drawing* are hard to decipher, ' by Health Research (PO Box 70, Mokdumna Hill, CA 95245, USA). It ii over 1,060 pages and cat8 B30. We haven't been able to see a copy of this w we can't say how much of it is useful ituff.

The phenomenon of entrainment to earth Brain- is treatad in Wkiw '

rhe wlhl Rndulumhq ltzhak Bentw W i Hour 1978 £5.80) an exploration of 'the Machantel of

-ntcioOBW*. , ,

use these earth- brainwaves.

STUDIES of the brainwaves (electro- encep'ialqraphs of EEGs) of a range of psychics, faith healers, meditators, etc, have shown that regardless of their ipiritual path or discipline of mind control, most of them showed a near EEG signature when in their 'working* state of consciousness. This was an almost pure sine wave of up to 25 microvolts and 7.8 to 8 Hz. This is on the borderline between the 'alpha' and 'theta' states-of conscio,usness.' Despite the great differences in atti- tudes and practices among these , subjects, they all 'march to the beat Of the same cosmic drum'.

We decided to test the theory that' this 'drummer' is the cavity wave- guide formed by the earth and the ionosphere. I n 1952 the physicist W . 0 Schuman showed that such a waveguide would resonate at a frequency within the range of human brain waves with a peak at 8 Hz; the signals were first detected in 1962 and were indeed in- distinguishable from brainwaves; they were dubbed 'earth brainwaves'.

Using a 'Schumann coil' like that used by the US National Bureau of Standards in 1962, 1 built a low-noise highly filtered amplifier which could record earth brain waves. I used it to nuke simultaneous EEG and ELF observations on some of the 'scnsitives' from n y first study. In a few instances careful analysis showed episodes of absolute entrainment. F t also pointed up some unexpected variables, such as lunar phase and time of day.

The Magic Circle Next we tried to amplify and display

the earth brain wave to hitherto in- sensitive subjects t~ see whether they would become entrained. We used a 'magic circle' made of a 9' diameter coil of No. 28 magnet wire (about 100 turns) placed on the floor of the laboratory. This-gave a real-time replica of the earth brainwave sensed at a remote location to avoid feedback

9

or generated artificially to mimic the Schumann signal.

The experiments were dramatically successful. Some subjects were cam- pletely entrained over the range 6 to, 14 Hz at a signal strength of about 10C nanoteslas. It took one to four FcoQd! to lock them on and the effect ?I+ times lasted the whole ten second ' - length o f the stimulus. One subject wa absolutely entrained even Insidea . -; triple-shielded magnetic and electro' static Faraday cage; the stimuluscame from a pocket-sized battery-powered device 12' away outside the shielded$ room.

To control for such variables as - suggestion or hypnosis we tried out the device on totally unaware subjects in local coffee shops. Anecdotal reports convinced us that a 100 mW trans- mittercould drastically alter the meod of unsuspecting persons. We rapiOIy ' abandoned these trials on ethical

! . f . ' . '¥¥' grounds. , . . ,'

The frequency of Ihe ear* bran-', wave fluctuates with the c~c lesdf the day, the moon, sunspots A d the p l k ets. This suggests a physical basis M e well-documented correlations between these cycles and episodes of political unrest, mood alteration, etc. Andit opens the door to 'psionic warfare". ' the deliberate alteration of the mood of people far away without their know ledge or consent. For example, it may be that recent epidemics-of 'worry' insomnia i n the small hours are trigger- . ed by a 9 Hz drop-out in the earth brainwave.

For several years the Russians hav& ~ '

been interfering with the world'gradio by making broadcasts over broad seg- ' ments of the spectrum, rangingupto. 28 MHz, at powers up to 40 MW,.Wey have given no explanation of their ,. - .:

' purpose, Voweverthe monitors of*:.. . ;

Canadian Department ui I ans sport have established that the soectrum

~

analysis o f the signals appears t o be higher harmonics o f a fundamental frequency o f 6.67 Hz and that they are modulated with pulses o f repeat- ing at 5 to 15 Hz. The Canadians also report alarming mood-alteration! in certain area, such as the city of Timmins, Ontario; observers believe that this can be linked tQ.@ Russian

.. . . ~

+; ~. .. r...

To test t h i s hypothesis; a numoer . ~ f r e m o t e directional ELF sensors "would be needed; they could establi;' by triangulation the source of the man-made ELF.

How to entrain your brain

A MAGNETIC oscillator sat t o i r e v l y low frequency' (ELF) will rain' (cause to oscillate in p h i s ) arainwaves of most humans and als nearby. The field intensity

nÑde is leu than 100 nanofdas 11 t d a - 1 Weberlmetre?) and the frequency is in the range 3 to 20 Hz.

If thefrequency is 6.67 Hz or leu unplçuan symptoms occur: fear, q a u ~ , headaches, insomnia, etc. Frequencies above 7.6 Hz, i n contrast, we calming and relaxing and produce effects which mimic meditative states of consciousness.

Coherent ELF transmissions have dle curious properly, unique in the

A forgotten curiosity of radio the 'Luxembourg effect', discova 1938, makes it possible for a rel low-power transmitter to 'piggy a pmxh t i ng radio-frequency ( wurm and use it to disturb the iono- H e m ai m y desired frequency.

Experimental Procedure*

A SENSITIVE human subject is wired to an isolated battery powered EEG amplifier; the output is recorded on mag- netic tape. The output of the schumann coil, which must also be electrically isolated, is also recorded. The coil has 50 to 250 thousand turns of No. 38 magnet wire wound on a mu-metal core. It is oriented to magnetic N and connected to a separate amplifier with a 2-40 Hz bandpass, a noise figure that can see 0.1 mV at 10 k Ohms, and 100 db rejection of frequencies above 60 Hz. Lock-ons can easily be observed by displaying the two records on a dual trace scope.

Our psychotronic correspondent writes: thi Vitasette transmits a low frequency magnet wave by inductive broadcasting. This unfamiliar type of radio may be demonstre by a simple experiment: connect a 30-40 n coil wound round a ferrite rod t o the oum of a hifi amplifier in series with,an 8ohm resistor and pump music through it; the low resulting low frequency broadcast can be detected by an ammeter connected to the pick-up of a cassette recorder, using anothe ferrite rod as aerial.

If the Soviets are t o blame, the ques- tion arises as to why they are doing it: if it is only an unintended side effect of their experiments with local

they up

":.?i'; '*i . . Countermeasures :;: .. :, .;?~ .

One way o f protectingoneself against hostile signals is t o carry a personal low-powered magnetic oscillator broad- casting on beneficial frequencies. The Vitasette, now being tested in Germany, is no bigger than a cigarette lighter and has a claimed battery-life o f two years. It can transmit spike-wave pulses in the range 1.25 to 19 Hz when a high- permeability mu-metal core is driven beyond saturation with a single trans- istor and coil. The effective range is said to be about 1 m. The brain appears to 'latch' to the highest amplitude , , .

pulses and to reject background noise and pulses o f lower intensity. Such devices could obviously be of value in treating a range o f apparently psychological disorders.

Robert Beck

EDITOR'S NOTE: this,is ao/Èci by one of our staff writers of Extreme!, ow Fre- quency Mgnetic Fields and EEG Entrain- ment: A Rychotronic Warfare fbssibilitv?. a paper circulated privately in 1978 by Robert Beck of Light Associates, Los Angeles, California. It contains some tech- nical data omitted here but no circuit dia- grams or precise specifications; at the end is a nine-page bibliography. Beck hints that particular combinations of carrier frequency and fundamental are much moreeffective than others, but doesn't give details. We have not checked out any of the claims made in the paper ourselves but we are willing to supply a Xerox of the complete paper to trustworthy people who ask for it. We cannot, however, be held responsible for any loss or damage that may result from experimenting with them Wicesl

The earth and the ionosphere constitute a "ndeB-umnt. lahnnm~ un.re huge capacitor; the potential voltageacross w ~ e to .ubstantiate any of flie d- the distance between them is about 16 nude but one of air tame profeuiond million volts, ie. 200 voIts/mette. sxptjci mà d the fo~owing cornmen&

.%ki -B^ What objective evidence is there Out Rob Beck's 'Black box' works? You can't bustelect&> instruments such as EEGs, in the presence of ELF r i d s . Did Beck control for &is? Did he try the EEC experimentwith the proverbial 'wet tim' instekd of a human head?

He says he was approached and warned to shut up. B y whom? How did they identify flienuelves? Why did he obey them? Andrija Puhmich is an associate o f the showman Gellei: can he be taken wrioudy?

The stockbroker's report is obvioudy written by someone non-technical. For example, Puharich gives no indication as to how the atmosphere might convert a 2GeV DC f l dd Into a standin# wave.. . do plqma physicist8 have any explanation of is this tomething only Teda'under- stood'.

As for all this not be- inconsistent with the tachyon themy - wet, it's not inconflltent with dnuftmi fiiting In mid*, either.

The Committee on Diunnament, agreement aimply refers to 'electromçgneti radiition' and this does not in any way imply a wciet reference to Tesla-type devices. If you uk me, it refers to luer weapons.

'Whistlers' are a well-known phenome- non, but I think the explanation given here is wrong. It is not a dopplereffect but an effect o f dispersion. I t is well known that the speed of e.m. wçve iq a plasma varies with frequency. A . lightning bolt injects a pulse of broad- hmd radiation Into the ionosphere. .- . . Dispersion then smears this A t into I 'whistle' o f declining pitch. IncidenfUy who observed the wt standing wç generated by Soviet meddling? How FimÇUy OffKill secrecy about ELF, over-lbehorizon Radu and similar subjects need not imply that there are potential weapons in these fields. The impoitance of these methods in mfl i tuy communications and intelligence is quite sufficient to account for o f f l d tecrecv.

Oh, and even if the Ruiduu do hive a magnifyiing transmitter ttiere's no need to be scared. If we (11 formed on our alpha-- on it we could undoubt- atty v p o i i w it in a cloud of tachyons.

I

TLJ C 2 erty machine Computerisel communications networks coikl be the basis of a trulf. r ~ ~ p ~ s t ~ ~ ~ ~ ; " " d democratic society, allowing coordination from the bottom UP, with5bt stemat,c redesign,, of the institutions the mod for a centralis4 managerial elite. However, the only instance 3 social irduction, where thisliberatory potential was nearly (albeit inadvertently) realised *

was during the 34 months of the Allende government in Chile. Tom Conservative revolutionary Athanasiou describes the CYBERSYN project and indicates what might ne particular shape that C Y B E ~ ~ Y ~ haw happened. took was largely the result of the ideas

of Stafford Beer, who was called in by the Chilean government to be the main consultant on the project. Beer is an

I t is not surprising that computer initiated activities, d n the interesting case. It's not, let's face it, technology is distrusted by so many. absence of a repressive state, was every day that a former president o f the The electronic battlefield, the rising terminated after the coup which came Operational Research Society of Great rate of unemployment (in part due to about due to the "destabilizing" Britain and the Society for General automation) andthe terrifying extremes activities of the transnational corpora- Systems Research in the US declares of surveillance and control which the tions and the CIA. that he is a revolutionary: "microcomputer revolution" so easily allows are clear grounds for pessimism. I t is against this background that What is needed is structural change.

ptential of i n f a t i o n CYBERSYN must be considered, fof it Nothing else willdo. But this cannot be

to support new and liberatory social was no accident that a socialist govern- heard by people who regard the structure

- the process of social reconstruction was taken over by DINA - the secret police.

It is a simple matter to point to the exploitation of the Asian women who assemble integrated circuits, or to the information retrieval systems in the service of the police or credit bureaux, but it i s much more difficult to point to uses of computer technology that pre- figure other, more fluid and less desperate ways of conducting human affairs. This distinguishes computers

forms could easily be passed by because computers are identified with oppressive and exploitative institutions. I n Chile, the computer technology that the ' desimen had honed to inlet-rate into

from more "conve~tional" alternative technologies such as solar ph~to-voltaic cells, which don't have the history of, or potential for, abuse, and makes the CYBERSYN project so interesting.

The liberty machine CYBERSYNZ (a contraction of the words "cybernetic" and "synergy") was the name given to a system by which the entire national economic life of Chile would be planned and coordinated. The concept combined cybernetic efficacv with a sensitivity (althoueh

Undercurrents 38

as gi& . . . . .'the maintenance of the structure has become an end in Itself. The more that I reflect on these facts, the more I perceive that the evolutionary dppmach to adaptation in social systems simple will not work any more . . . . . It has therefore become obvtous to me over the years that I am actvo~at- Ing revolution.

the maximum efficiency and the maximum local antonomy. CYBERSYN was to be the result of cybernetic principles of "effective organization", but Beer insisted that the design should strive for "viability" rather. than "optimization". "Viability" is associated with the ability of the system

local autonomy, and was seen as an . alternative to the "irrelevant dichotomy" of centralism versus decentralism. No viable system can be rigidly and com- pletely controlled from a central unit, on the one extreme. No viab/e#sfm can, n t other e q e , Idti '3?*'/ *me formof central coritlwl in ';' . er to

. . . . ,,'.<~. . . - . .-',st."

As a pioneer in the "science" of rational management, Beer m developed his ideas while em the same social classes that we sabotage the Chilean project, but inspiration came from natu

. . .

of society. . . . .

, , .

v and organizational framework. Although formed the basis of the Chilean control workers taking over hundred of factories) they stop short of the full empowerment system. and the results tended to be quite of the working class, CYBERSYN was a perhaps the most important aspect of positive. great advance over traditional ways o f Schwember7 reveals the true attitude of social planning and coordination. the CYBERSYN team: It is feasible to

The great stride forward teach in a short period enough about Ñtheifrlndple of organization ofvlabk

~ h ~ c o m ~ u t e ~ u s e d w e r ~ m e r ~ t o 6 ~ systems and their basic mechanism to not substitutes for the changes in social workers, even if their general education relations that were the core of the is very low. . . . They can effectively design. They were, however, essential to understand the process of decision process.and filter the vast amounts of making and the importance of ancillar~ information and so make them compre- tools. They could even become easily hensible to humans. confident in strange environments such In cybernetic terms, the CYBERSTRIDE as the operations room. programs were designed to reduce the Once a problem has been presented. . . . ''variety" of the external world so that they are able to start a learning Process only the significant aspects of the of discriminating the basic issues from processes being monitored were reported. the technicalities that should be left to This i~analogous to the autonomic the experts. In the few cases where we nervous system which controls the could develop the process far enough. mechanisms of the body like heartbeat they came not only to respect the and breathing, allowing the higher expert advice but to demand it. faculties to function free from pre- occupation with the mechanics o f life. The most difficult aspect is for thost

workers who participate in certain kinds The outputs of the programs were of decision making to avoid confusion primarily graphic, representing flow of their role. They tended rather easily charts in which the thickness and colour to consider themselves invested with of the lines represented the relative new power and show a strong bias quantities and characteristics of the meddle in problems at various lew flows. Various levels of resolution were and areas. also available, so that a box representing say, steel production, could be seen Technocracy and revolution alternatively as three boxes representing I am really talking about social upheaval. different forms of steel production, different kinds of steel, or steel for . When we think of young people being

Total system screen in some kind o f revolt, our image is export to three different countries. often o f dropouts, hippies, cannabis- Only information'thSt was statistically smoking and possibly murderous tribes. significant was reported, so the outputs the CYBERSTRIDE system was the But what would happen if the nice were not flooded with reports which multi-level recursive nature of i t s design. young computer programmers in dark essentially meant only "no change". While data about all sectors of the suits and white shirts were the yeast o f These features, with the real time economy were drawn upward by revolutionary ferment right inside the collection and display of infarmation, CYBERSYN, a degree of local autonomy most established o f our formal

was designed in so that if, for example, institutions? It could mean a new kind the production of a particular factory ofrevo/ution,8 began to fall off, it wab first reported to the committees responsible for h e Beer left the project a good deal less management of that factory. only after naive politicallv than he becan it- Prior the perturbation had gone uncorrected for a longer time would it be reported upward. Each sector, too, might monitor aspects of i t s own mechanism that v important locally but of no interest globally. The ultimate realization of the potential of such a system can only come after

. protracted experimentation and refine- ment, which was never possible in Chile. The only complete Operations Room constructed could not be fully computerized due to the economic blockade by the U.S., and the coup

a occurred long before other planned e- centres could be finished. Some

exploration of these kind of manage- t I S within the context of workers

System diagram An operations room self-management did, however, occur (primarily because o f the pressure of .

,

an

unaercurrents ,SÃ

to Chile he seemed somewhat unaware of the true nature of the "social meta- systems" that dominate our society, anrfciearly thought that the resolution he desired could be made by enlightened scientists and technologists. In Platform for Change the closest he gets to calling the beast by i t s proper name is the advertisfnasociety. If the book had an index, the term capitalism would certainly not be in it. After Chile we hear no more the confident assertion that the problems which face humanity are not in essence economic or politico/ problems at all; they are cybernetic problems.

In 1973 we hear instead that science and technology are driven forward towards a society of conspicuous consumption, since this Is the only development that our economic machinery can countenance. lo

"Since the rise of industrial capitalism, science and technology have been moulded by the exigencies of the market place. The form that computer technology took was strongly influenced by the desire for better control. Automation was less a historically

m.. aw,- C .CwUl""

o - . ~ ,-+"-, D- ","A- * m-.

ad--- --...-- necessary process than a result of the logic of capitalist economics, but never management meant a good deal less than must come prior to technological before has it been so true that the 1 1 would like it to have meant. This is solutions. The-çberator potential of potential for liberatory technological evident from the technocratic approach; modern technology will only be realized advance is stifled and repressed by after all, if there is a computable within a context of conscious, undeluded representatives of the dominant function then there must be someone social revolution, and not by blurring order. Cybernetics 1s a powerful form with a calculator. Ultimately, Beer and the distinctions between the potential of instrumental reason and clearly on the other members of the CYBERSYN new world of the future and the state-

,its own turf when i t comes to operational team believed in the necessity a oriented, technocratic regimes of the analysis of the sort which led to managerial class. No matter that they present. CYBERSYN, but when it comes to would only be the embodiment of some social or political reality, systems '"principle" of coordination; the Tom Athanasiou

analysis can only obscure our under- necessities that they perceived had to * Y

&tanding behind a fog of inappropriate come before "participation". This i s k and ultimately absurd pronouncements. why Schwember was aggravated at the

"confusion" of roles when workers were . . . . One of the maid issues identified consulted about management decisions. ~ ~ d ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ? ~ ~ $ f was the issue of antonomy, or participa- Are workers or managers to decide Ill, 3), published by Village Design, h . 6 0 ~ tion, orperhaps I just mean liberty, for when the desires of workers and other 996,Berkele~ C.494701. whatever viable system: Then this means sections of the population have been that there ought to be a computable satisfied? What if the workers decide to Gromm, Rachae,. ~ u t h Ea8t function setting the degree of centra//a- do away with management altogether? Chronicle (no 66) and pacifif~-rch &n consistent with effectiveness and Such things are possible, especially with (Vol 9, nos 5-6) \S/ithirewjom at every level of the aid of developments like an extract appeared mComputing Europe,

-ii@?i&fcW, l1 CYBERSYN. It is probably fair to say sep 791

that such emphasis as there was in 2. Beer, Stafford. Platfohn for Change. London: John Wiley & Sons 1975.

A computable function? For determining CYBERSYN on the implementation of , 035 freedom? workers' participation and control was 4. ,bid p199 B e y is dealing rather lightly here with a result of the political/cultural context schwember, Conceptsand Tools

/problems that have preoccupied forced on the project by the hundreds o ~ c o m p u t v ^ i ~ t ~ p o l i c y reflective humans for thousands of years. of new factories being taken over by the Basel: Birkhausx Verl* 1977. Beneath the mathematical mysticism he workers and added to the state-managed 6. Zimbalist and Petras. Workers'Controlin is trying to say that there are real sector. Allende's Chile. Nottinghuu: Institute for

problems to be solved if we re to design in -ummary, CYBERSYN was one of Workers' Control.

7. Schwember Op Cit pl34 iwc ie t y where global participation i s the most exciting compu~er/com~unica- Bã Op Cit p28S possible* and that we can those tions date. It demonstrated 9. M k m s With the proper approach.

Op CIt p32 not only the potential uses of informa- 10.gee,, Stafford.DestoilmFreedo

Yet I cannot escape the feeling that in tion technology, but also the necessity London : JohnWHey& Sons 1974 Chile, workers "participation" in for the social transformation which I l.Bw, Stafford. Platform for Change p428

x. . Ã

Undercurrents 38

research towards disease cures and * $2 *2 ..: efficient farming, by humane methods

and many experiments can be carried out at the tissue level. The vital wes- tion is, 'What is necessary, &who . nimals or hits shall decide?' Farming methcds which ' are harsh and often cruel, but i nc rek ; efficiency, can be avoided. Can we as 2 a society afford it? Do we want to à We British are supposed to love animals, yet we (and other civilised afford it? Tm increases are gemrally nations) kill and maim millions of them for fwd, luxuries and disliked to any end. What alternative !

experiments. Maria Hanson philosophises. is there? 'i

In our civilised world today, animals are used in Science, Agriculture and Fashion. Most people are aware that animals are trapped and killed for their

. pelts and perfumes. One only has to look around- to the leather bound books on the library shelves, and the expensive skins and toiletries which swathe the richer classes of our race. What people are not aware of is that there are alternatives; synthetic leather by Dupont which 'breathes'; vegetable substitutes for animal foods; even synthesized meat. The question which i s stirring our society is, are we morally, sociologically and psychologically entitled to exploit those poor dumb creatures to such a degree that in many cases it leads to extinction.

Killing for Pleasure? Domestication and exploitation of

animals has continued from early times. Sophistication and education. has brought with ittaotory farming, vivisection and killing for pleasure. Are these 'civilised' progressions so much worse than the traditional farming and trapping methods used in earlier eras, or is it just that our advancement has made us more morally awarvthat the discomfort which we inflict upon our furry friends i s wrong?

Facts are facts. Pigs are kept in 'sweat boxes' with food thrown in daily, until these dark faecal ammonia filled prisons are filled with 'fat', 'healthy' pigs to provide pork for our table. Those which are not 'fat and healthy' have been cannibalised by the rest, and those which survive have lungs so deteriorated by the ammonia- ted atmosphere, their life would have been shortlived anyway had not the slaughter house been their allotted fate. Chickens we kept in batteries, their beaks removedand spectacles placed over their eyes to prevent them from eating one another. Aggression does develop in calf rearing due to over- crowding; bacon pigs bite their mates' tails off for the same reason. These . facts are true. Are they justifiable?

Monkey Business The horrors our human colleagues

Many people who imagine the food ..$ 1 are performing on animals are startling. they buy today to be pure animal 5 1 Researchers for Technology Inc.. San produce are disillusioned. Already the a Antonio, Texas conducted experiments trend towards non-animal alternatives ,'s &I thirteen monkeys to find the effect of the impact of a pneumatically - m

I

r . driven piston energising an anvil attach- ed to a special helmet called HAD I. The blows from th i s device were found to be insufficient to cause an effect, so a more powerful HAD 11 was con- structed. This device was used on the

. .', has begun. Simulated meats are in , .* I-'.

fact commonplace in our grocery t

shops. Soya Bean meal,a cheap form '. of protein is made into acceptable '! 'meat' products by coloufing,flavour- ing and processing. It i s used in ' '

. . . . . . ground meat produckand stewst6 ''''''r,;;; fill out the real meat. Alternatively; . .; protein if extraq,tedfrom the soya bean and spun into fibres, flavoured ::'> and bound into bundles to resemble' .. .

meat. This 'meat' is used in pies and . . ,

sausages, in fact 30% of the meat in . ,: pies i s simulated. ; , ,!

Animal Exploitation , 7 , , . , ,,

In our own civilised society we can ' , I , ,

afford not to exploit animals -or . .

heads of the same thirteen monkeys and it caused cardiac damage, haemor- rhages and brain damage from the plastic rings which had been implanted under the monkeys' skulls. One of the monkeys was again subjected to HAD II six days later and thirty-eight days later she was struck multiple blows until she died. Some of the monkeys who had temporarily survived suffered subsequent fits and the re- searchers were impressed to find that following these experiments the mon- keys' behaviour was 'distinctly abnormal. The usual post-accelerant bchaviour in a cage was that of hanging upside down and cowering in a corner.'

pendenee upon them is not absolute; ¥r are alternatives and we have the ,

It's privet entrecote tonight dear 1

Vital Question The main argument for the killing

of anihals within our modern society, apart from natural resistance to change, is for the provision of food. Of course it i s possible to live healthy lives without meat; animajsare not essential to human survival; but can we all become vegans? Obviously not, yet surely there i s little need to inflict such discomfort on animals by vivisection? Technology has brought with it the know-how to perform almost all our 'necessary'

technical knowledge to create them.& '

a majority we do not want to, indeed 1, ,!

the idea that meat manufacturers may . ::. be 'cheating' us is strongly opposed in many quarters: but if we can live. , , : . ,,, strong vigorous lives without torturir*, members of the animal kingdom rnwfr' than necessary, it is likely thereare . ,"

compelling moral reasons for sodoing ~: in all our hearts. Killing apd+ating. . ", ..

meat cannot be wr~ng~inits'entirety,;;"::, to a Christian-based soCietyjesus, ' . ,

Christ did simiiarly.Yet moderation . .. in all things might spare the agonies ,; :! '>

Undercurrents 38

dog at the mercy o f a vivisectionist.

Whoae idea was (he genetic engineering ~ Y W Y ?

ictory Fanning & l f w e advocate against factory farm-

ing and yet dislike the idea of simulat- ed animal wares, what is left to us? The only alternative i s to re-establish traditional farming methods. The question of how much land will be needed for food production in Britain by the end of the century, is already being asked with increasing urgency by people who are alarmed by the continuing urbanisation of the countryside. Factory farming un- -ty results in substantial economies in the use o f land, so changes taking place can be absorbed without undue concern. However, we may also be using up land at too great a fate and intensification might be anecessary part of our continued fairly self-sufficient survival. A crucial factor is the future growth o f our population; not only producing art additional demandtor food but alfo contributing to large areas of land moving into urban and recreation- al usage. Statistics give evidence that there should be sufficient land by . the end o f the century for both agricultural and urban usage - provid- ed the popuia:!on rate does not *@rease unduly, and provided trends in continue towards intensification rather than extensification. If we revert tp a totally extensive agricul- ture, land may surely become a scarcer commodity.

Recreation Animal products can be replaced

by synthetic or synthesised sub- stances, factory farming can be replac- ed by less harsh and more extensive methods - if land is not limiting, vivi- section cart be replaced by tissue culture and bacteriology, but what of . killing for pleasure? , &m finds recreation in many cruel

these pleasures too? No society i s become plain that no human society perfect. Each has within itself by is fundamentally good; but neither is Nature an impurity incompatible with any of them fundamentally bad. ,

the norms to which it lays claim. This Society alone must decide whether impurity finds i t s outlet in elements it is meat or morals which matter - , of injustice, cruelty and insensitivity. anirnalsor ethics. How are we to evaluate these elements? For while the comparison

Maria Hanun

Oil crisis Agribusiness has been trying to sell us various polyunsaturated vegetable fats to replace butter - allegedly one contributor to heart disease. Now it seems that, after all, the problem may not be the dreaded chloresterol, as much as the total volume of fats that we consume - and that the polyunsaturated fats may themselves contribute to the disease. Tanya

in the 'concentration camps' of pigs deeds -hunting, fishing, bullfighting; of a smallnumber o f societies will in sweat boxes or the suffering of a maybe in the past these had a useful make them seem very different from

purpose, but now they seem to do no one another, these differences wilt more than fill the sadistic tendencies seem smaller as the field o f investiga- of our kind. Are we obliged to give UP . tion i s enlarged. It will eventually

ft>

L a k n reports. IN a recent article in the British

Medical Journal, Sir John McMichael has suggested that commercial, professional and even government sponsored propa- ganda may be misguided in encouraging a change from diet high in cholesterol to one containing alternative foods high in polyunsaturated fats. He cites various trials and studies which have produced disappointing results (from the view of those in favour of polyunsaturated fats); control and trial groups have shown no difference in mortality and morbidity where diets'low in cholesterol have been tried. On the contrary he suggests that in the selected populations the change to a polyunsaturated fat diet, far from reducing the incidence o f coronary heart disease may even be suspected of contributing to its development.

Further more studies have shown that under controlled conditions certain vegetable oils (.e.g. peanut and cocoa- nut oils) fed as 25% of a diet to Rhesus monkeys i-roducedchanges in the cell lining of arteries which could be con- strued as the precursers of atheromatous plagues, and that butter fed in similar amounts produced some changes but of a less harmful nature. It is possible the hardening process used to make margar- ine from these oils, which changes the bondingarrangernent in the oil may . - increase this deleterious effect.

Rape seed oil has also come under the professor's critical eye, because o f findings in some experimental animals that it and similar vegetable fats may accumulate in heart muscle causing de- generation o f cardiac cells.

McMichael's evidence. On studying his references V.I. Mann suggests that the professor has been over-selective in his choice of studies. By quoting mortality and morbidity 6f patients put on diets low in cholesterol following first heart attack he i s choosing a group where the major damage has already been done and ignoring the preventative side of the argument.

His studies on Bedouins who develop ed an increased risk of coronary heart disease on moving into Israeli cities and taking up their low cholesterol diet, could arguably be misleading as he has not taken into account the increase in stress that they would encounter when changing their life style from the simple desert existence they endured before.

However, the second article gives little convincing evidence to counter the accusation that Sir John McMichael puts forward, suggesting a possible link between a diet high in polyunsaturated fat and increased risk of bowel cancer, although both seem to agree that the increased incidence is low.

Perhaps therefore the overall answer to th i s problem lies not in changing

'

from one fat to another but i s that put forward by V.I. Mann, A prudent diet should incorporate decreased intake of all fats, simple sugars and refined car@- ' hydrates with polyunsaturated fats comprising less than 25% total energy intake. Maybe this way the incidence of coronary heart disease and other diseases of overnutrition may be reduced.

TÈny L*wo - A more:recent article byV.l. Mapn, in . . the . . . B.WJ,'casts . . . . , doubt , , on Professor,

, 1 J

. ,

Undercurrents 38

[~ere l i c t and vacant land: one challqge for the 1 9 8 0 7 1 -

the neat lines onrnaps, the calls for wasteland is fine, whether it 's a trade Another member of the Land Council 'no confused land uses', imply a system mart and office blocks or jobs and writes that 'fiscal policies on land

homes for ordinary people. inheritance, for example Capital

We must be fair

Land Act was ur necessary, and tha-

there is already more than enough *ereby causing ptinning blight.

Tower Hamlets .... . . . b .

' ; B u t if,'according to Miss Colema

granted, the planning policies in vogue idthe'iixties favoured moving people b~t'of London, but arguably these had I$p&,e.ffecton their own. What laid waste to Docklands was, quite simply, ttte'rbn-down of the upstream docks & ri? of Tilbury and now container- isation: Andin the. current economic clinmte, tryihg to attract new employers @:derelict inner citi6sis like trying to fintafores't wtro in the Sahara. One has

ng impression that to the Land ~ f a , . a n y . ~ s e ,.~.-,.. ,of the inner city . . . . . . . . ',. , , -

truths and is based on the need to develop an environmentally-sound pattern of land use, restraining the pressures of urban growth on the countryside. So she'sagainst needless demolition and high rise flats (in fact probably all flats, since she believes with good reason that most people prefer houses with gardens), and in favour of tough pollution laws for industry. But she refuses the major fence, land owner- ship, and so shies away from judgements about the value of different land uses. For this reason the farmers' lobby - a lot of the Right in general - love Miss Coleman. Not only does she condemn the increasing land taken by urban sprawl, she accepts the farmers' argu- ments against high taxation, even that private ownership is more responsible than public in i t s stewardship of land; 'private forestry can also be encourag- ed by freedom from taxation on such an important form of wealth creation.'

to house all the really penurious*. In the light of her previous strictures on (council) to.wrbl&ks, th i s i s naivety or worse.

,;.: :. .,. .~,. ....... . ..!~ .<-*' All this was reflected at the launch-

ing conference; the speakers foe. agriculture and industry denounced high taxation and planning, so that when Goldilocks himself came in and '.

outlined the Government's land policies (registers of wasteland owner- ship in specific areas, speeding up of planning inquiries and decisions, forced sale of publicly-owned wasteland on the open market, and abolition of minority fringes), he actually looked like a moderate; the bears had stolen all his porridge.

Land for the people So, despite the presence o f two

Labour ex-ministers (Harold Lever and Guy Barnett) on the Land Council, the conference speeches suggested that

MIssColeman and a number o f other innocent environmentalist!, good people with good mtentions, had fallen among thieves (literally; much of the scrub and bracken classified as marginal fringe happens to be com- mon land, which farmers and foresters would love to get their hands on). For those of us not sharing the political outlook of the Country Landowners' Association, die future is a b i t bleak. Alterw 've envir~nmentally sound ht ely equitable land policies o exist, in fact can be develop- ed from some of Miss Coleman's work. Development in cities according to the m& and under the control of local

people, freer access ici land for recrea- tion and for training in land manage- ment skills; collectively run, state- owned farmland, equal access to private space (houses with gardens as of right), coupled with good comrnun- al space and facilities -these could be components of that alternative policy. But the fear is now that by the time another Labour Government is in power, Miss Coleman and her friends will have nailed the banner of environ- mentally sound land policies so firmly to the mast o f the political Right that all policies tarred with the same brush will be consigned to the dustbin,

f luted beyond all hope of recycling.

Joe Francis

Undercurrents 38

. Voting that the'iun, the New statesman and other literary journals have luizzes, we thought we might try our hind. There are however noanswers ? : ',,

- fattening 1 Grhia tot's earmarked for a book

on Britain's lost wildlife" Corrie is a geological formation

IÑ,ÑÑÑ

Undercurrents 38

shuny's 'informal' or 'black'

umpen r economy - better known as 'lumping out on the side.'

The informal economy already exists: i t 's worth about 25% of

De-Industrialisation, edited bv Frank Rlackabv. Heinemann Educational Book. Italy's GNP and 10% o f the USA's. £5.50.'Th Informal Economy ', J .I. Gershuny, Futures, Feb. 1979. Gershwy paints a picture o f this in-

formal activity in the UK - expense De-Industrialisation' is simply a new name for a tired old British problem. U r is it fiddles, 'thievery on the wink1 and I t is, according to a working conference organised last June by working 'foreign' jobs. Such activity bypasses

' IESR. But perhaps 'de-industrialisation' i s the inflexibility o f the formal labour ct de-development - a cumulative shove downwards by vested international market, but is not covered by rests as Britain's share of world trade declines and import penetration grows. pension funds, employment rights, laps we are witnessing Britain joining the ranks o f the LDC's. or health and safety regulations.

But not everyone is being de-developed in Britain, certainly not the higher Gershuny argues, however, that the laid and bourgeois classes with their Volvo Estates and Japanese hi f i systems. formal service sector will not mop I'he people being de-developed are the young, the old, the sick and the working UP those thrown out o f the manufactul ;lass generally outside the golden South East triangle. The political economy ing sector: we are moving to aself- i f the lifeboat discriminates carefully infavour%f the haves. xrvice economy where people Do-lt-

De-industrialisation, a collection o f ~omic papers by distinguished ies, is solid meat, though with much., ometric grisle and obscure flab. TKs

. evidence of Britain's industrial lecline i s trotted out - high unemploy nent, low wages and growth, declinin ;hare o f exports, and so on - togethe with canned arguments for our remed rhese are well described, detailed and oundly put.

The conventional remedies o f " ' 'ling with exchange rates, taxes,

ing public expenditure, the mone arist policies o f the demon Keith oseph, are seen as having little to o f f

i t as short-term measures. The problem i s that our industries

ire inefficiently run and do not keep )ace with technologic~l improvemen hey are moving down-market, meeti rhird Worldgoods coming up. rhomas Balouh suggeststhat the fact hat the decline has gone on for so ong indicates backwardness in Themselves with the aid o f cheap ion and a social system where the capital goods. And this. he argues, will tioice o f the elite is mismanaged 'knowing not what but whom'). In

occur no matter how British industry Ives? It's doubtful. A t a recent

ither words, our ruling class i s in- revived. He suggests that a 'dual econ- BAAS meeting on 'Technology

ffective. I t s members are the fag ends choice and the Future of Work1 0 if Empire, the patricians o f Tom ivate service sector is

Sir Charles Carter shrugged aside bairn's Ukania. ector can either be

h i s possibility and declared that as a market phenome- What we have to do, according to massive unemployment and blood

nany o f the participants at the suppressed by enforce-

shed in the streets were inevitable be actively encourag- neeting, i s to move up-market - Our masters will retreat into the mproving product design, servi South East and dump de-develop pares, delivery etc. That is, the trice competitiveness o f our ma sharing or better doles to give the

A t the same BAAS meeting, acturers must be improved. This

informal sector a fair crack of the ranees Cairncross suggested that, as value-added whip, then we will indeed

nplies some protective measures, job creation in the service sector was be back to having two nations. In- ince ' . . . unregulated free trade is inflationary, the unemployed must formal sector workers will have no

and a ware for weak countries, take a one-third cut in wages and work Trade Union rights and will have to has to be o f advantage to all in the private service sector. This receive what the rich are prepared to

lartners.' elusive entity corresponds to Ger- pay. Simbn Watt

.

icott & Amundsen, Roland Huntford. dodder & Stoughton. £ 3.95. Let's Got Well, Adelle Davis. Unwin~' laperbacks. £ 50.

After gorging his way across the intarctic to the South Pole and back, imundsen discovered he weighed nore than before he started. This .,hould not have surprised him. Every morning before the trek to the pole began, A. and his men started the day fortified with freshly baked hot cakes, oozing with whortleberry and cloudberry jam. Later they would *uck into a large lunch of seal meat underdone to preserve the Vitamin 2 ) and again in the evening, this .ime covered with jam. Huge hunks of freshly t aked wholemeal loaf (with added wheatgerm and leavened with yeast) were consumed - the main source of all B vitamins. Scott deep in his camp at Cape Evans munched happily away on white bread, tinned foods and overdone seal meat, served irregularly at best. A sad case.

On the trail, Scott was no better: xittered Huntley & Palmer biscuits, made with white flour and sodium bicarbonate were, 4th pemmican their staple fare. A. took Norwegian aiscuits by Saetre: wholemeal Flour, rolled oats and yeast. These ¥aul be made up with the .dried milk into a most delicious porridge. Like all Englishmen Scott frit

Tie could not manage without his daily tea (and sugar). A.took he more nutritious chocolate, A i c h could be made into choco- late pudding. He al,so had the fore- sight to take dogs - they could do all the work and provide fresh meat as the surplus were killed off. Scott, that squeamish man (man- hauling most o f the way) couldn't even eat Oates.

By the time Scott's party reached the Pole they were in a state of nervoJs exhaustion and strain, depressed, dehydrated (the fuel 'leaked' from the containers and stopped them melting enough snow) and starving. Wounds refused to heal, cuts suppurated and noses bled - the beginnings of scurvy. . Amundsen and all his men got back to camp on January 16,1912. Scott's team died in their tent around March 29, ten miles from their nearest depot.

This book is unnecessarily 'a high genetic requirement for bitchy about Scott - who cares Vitamin Be' (to be found, along whether his wife had an affair with with all other B vitamins in liver, Nansen or not - and biased. A wholemeal bread and biscuits, fascinating book. An enthralling (wheatgerm and yeast). read. B-vitamins are also vital to people

Left: Scott, Bowrs, Wilson & Evans, diwonçolat at Polheim. (Oattt was the photooraoher). Right: 5 w k s earliw. Amundwn, Hannen, Hasul & W i i m IMO* the Pole. (Photo taken by Bjuland.) I

Let's Get Well, first published in 1966 and now rereleased, is a must for all sufferers of diabetes, arthritis, varicose veins, warts, sex, scars, multiple sclerosis, stress, heart attacks, ulcers, skin problems, kidney diseases, anaemia and cancer.

Most diseases, we learn, come down to an incorrect (refined) diet. Even diabetics, had their m~thers fed them or? a diet consisting almost entirely of liver and wholemeal bread, would be hale and hearty.

Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, makes it possible for glucose to enter the cells to be converted to energy . . . When too little Vitamin B6 i s obtained, an essential amino acid, trypto- phane i s not used normally; instead it i s changed into a substance known as xanthurenic acid. If xanthurenic acid in the blood becomes high it damages the pancreas within 48 hours and diabetes is produced.

Diabetics are, apparently, born with

. . under stress: A lack of any of theB vitamins causes a marked lag in energy , ,

production; and later;

Lack of B vitamins can cause fatigue, irritability, nervousness, , . digestive disturbances, headache,. ' : ~: mental depression, quarrelsome- ,

ness and lack o f sleep. , , .

The healthy reducing diet is described in detail: liver, skim milk, :.. .: lettuce and mayonnaise for break- ,., ' "

fast, small orange mid-morning, sea-','.'.?: food salad and yeast stirred ifttq ~ . : , skim mill- for lunch; tablespoon of unsalted nuts fortea; andliver, , -. '-@ salad and milk for dinner. All supplemented with extra Vitamin ';

A, C, D and E. ? . . . . . 4 '

Th i s will keep you 'hard-mukl&d,j:; -1

flat-abdomened,.15 years younger, i!;^'- 45 pounds lighter and literally . . . . . .#-.::.. sparkling.' Wouldn't get you to .. . ., , the Pole&dij&ack ¥.A.-i'w' though. . ,

..::i:,*$ 5 .' , . . Vickv Hutchim

Winning Through Co-operation, Terry Orlick. Acropolis Books Ltd, Washington DC. £4

Dr. Orlick, Professor and Re- searcher in Sports Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Canada, believes that intensive competitiveness

I"' of many young people i s both harm- ful to both them and society, and that competition is not instinctive 1 but has to be carefully taught. In the book, Winning Through Co-operation, he associates competition with crime.*

The games and sports that he details offer children the same challenges and satisfactions of com-

petitive play without the negative features of being out in the first round + to shiver doing nothing, or be frustra- ted or ashamed at failure.

Many of the games and sports are taken from other cultures such as

i. Russians and Chinese;

Undercurrents 3d

Scientists Confront Velikovsky, edited by Donald Goldsmith, Foreword by Isaac Asimov. Cornell University Press. £5.95

One of the dreariest possible for* nulae for a book i s 'The Book of the Conference' and Scientists Confront Velikovsky would seem to be damned From the start. by its impossible Format. A collection of conference iapers by scientists who have taken m interest in the work of Immanuel Velikovsky is a pretty unpromising package, especially as Velikovsky's awn contribution to the conference s omitted because he was unable to igree with the editors about what ,hould go in.

But Scientists Confront i s surprising y woriii a look, not least because ~f Isaac Asimov's foreword, which . nakes the vital point that the Velikov- ;ky thing is really about 'inside' ind 'outside' heretics, operating within or without the normal struc- ture of science. The endoheretics nclude Galileo, Darwin and Newton, working within various sciences and miking to other scientists in terms ,

they can understand. The exoheretics -Joule, van't Hoff - influenced icientific disciplines (physics and physical chemistry) from without. Velikovsky, of course, is an exohere- .ic who strays across many fields - "rom biblical exegesis to astrophysics - ind is an outsider to each, and, un- ike Joule, makes blunders in each i f them. He is also a good writer ind publicist; so he has become nuch richer and more famous than my crank deserves. In the end, as bimov says, the Velikovsky henomenon must be good for cience; it punctures complacency, nakes different sorts of specialists A k to each other, and can cause iseful things to happen by accident

Fair enough. But the importance >f Immanuel Velikovsky must be wider than just that. In my view, for nspnce, one of the points Asimov nakes earlier i s much more vital; he Kliflts out how little hold Darwin's veil-established ideas have on most ay people, and surely the point h t Velikovsky is that the huge najority of people, even scientists, nay know lots of facts about the vorld but have no feel at all for hc importance of scientific ideas

and no resistance to even the daftest heresies from them. Velikovsky is really a reminder, like the Daily Mall's astrology column, of how little effect X years of compulsory education have had. , Perhaps the real problem for .

Velikovsky is that he has been com- pletely trumped by the advance of 'real' science. Right across the very areas touched upon in Worlds in Collision, and especially solar system studies, discoveries without parallel since the seventeenth century have left Velikovsky's notions looking very tame indeed. Not only has the amount known about the Moon and the planets increased by a factor of millions over the last decade, but i t has done so in such a way - spectacular manned and unmanned flights involv- ing magnificent photographs and

Velikovsky gets bogged down in - the Earth sciences (continental drift) and even the bible, with new work on chronology and on trans- lation and interpretation of manu- scripts. So Sagan will probably con- tinue to be a better read than Velikovsky.

Even so, Velikovsky has had a marvellous run for his money, not least among scientists. One of the con- tri butors to Scientists Confront, Carl Sagan, an astronomer, recalls his con- versation with an archaeologist about

Velikovsky; Sagan thought that although V's astronomy was worth- less, his history demanded investiga- tion - the archaeologist, of course, thought just the opposite, and it i s that legerdemain that has kept Velikovsky afloat. So if you want all the answers in one place, this is the book to show you them. And full

spectacular blastoffs - that even marks to Velikovsky for having comets diverting the Red Sea for sense enough to fail to appear in it Moses cannot really compete. The same goes for the other fields which Martin Ince

a discussion of the Carnot cvcle and enthalpy diagrams.

A heat pump will supply useful heat at a marginal cost of about 0.6 p/kWh, about 50% more than the

Heat Pumps, RD Heap, E & FN Spon. £7.50 Country gents and communards who are considering installing a heat pump to warm their ancient piles will find that R D Heap tells them a good deal more than they may wish to know. This i s not one of your noddy intro- ductory texts padded out with pretty pictures but a technical work aimed at the 'heat pump specifier'. It assumes familiarity with basic physics and launches strai

cost o f burning wood or straw in an efficient stove but less than half the price of other fuels, which range from 1.2p (gas) to 1.6p (coal). How- ever, as a commercial heat pump will cost £3,00 or more, they- are out of the reach of most private individuals. Heap doesn't consider the problems of DIY design and building as such but he provides a wealth of technical detail, backed by hundreds of refer- ences, that would enable any tech- nically minded AT freak to find them out for.themselves.

undercurrents 38

.~f&en and presents a stark pieturefef . . .

thepower wielded by modern multi- . . plant,multi-national firms. But,,as the ' authors put it: 'it would be wrong to, . ' imagine that the power is unchallene: 9 ,

able ... It has to establish factories +J...;!.

soinewhere and it has to employ L'..'~ ~ . ~ workers tr work i ~ t h e m to create the profits. Workers'can turn this indis-

pensability to their advantage ..... by organisation.' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,+.. . . . . . . . . '; " . *.-

The Vickers ~ationat.5hop stewards  Combine Committee is one such organ-. isation - developedspeclfica~y in order to co-ordinate. trade union activities across the whole company. .,

Traditionally trade unions have grown upon a craft or trade basis, some- t imes organised regionally, but rarely 'directly linking fellow workers in the ,

ious .,.. ... w . . . . . . . . . . . plants o f , individual companies. ~ i c k T i ~ ~ ~ a r t y , . , . . . . . . . . .r

Wrong 'un Disturbing the Uniwrsp, Freeman Dyson. Harper and Row. £6.95

This is a very important book, not merely because it i$ written by an eminent scientist (Professor of Physics at Princeton -gasp!) but because it is written by an eminent scientist who owns up to having been wrong (swoon!).

Dysoh's book has a moral integrity which makes him confront his own mistakes, such as his attack on the test-ban treaty idea. Of his disapproval of the test ban treaty, he says 'In retrospect it is easy to see that my argu- ment was wrong on at least four counts: wrong technically, wrong militarily, wrong politically and wrong morally.' You can't get much more wrong than mat.

Readers of Undercurrents are likely to find chapters o f Disturbing the Universe fascinating. Here, for instance, Dyson describes work done in 1956157 on nuclear reactors. 'The group was to design a reactor so safe that it could be given to a bunch o f highschool children to play with, without any fear they would get hurt.' By using fuel rods with high concentrations of hydrogen, in an alloy of uranium and zirconium hydri s, they built a small, safe reactor. 8 e first version produced a megawatt of power, and a later high-power version could go to 10MW. CalledTriga, the reactor went into production in small way. By the

late 1970s. 60 or so had been sold; they are u h d for science and medical tasks, a ~ d we are one of the few reactors not to have bankrupted the makers.

Dyson points out that .in Ole accelera- ted development of nuclear power, fewer than 100 reactor types have been built. 'There now exist only about 10 types of nuclear power station that have any hope of survival, and it is impossible under present conditions for any radically new type to receive a fair trial.' This i s an evolutionary view o f technology, and Dyson cites the motorbike as a technology which has

evolved properly, with thousands of variants giving rise to a few successful forms. (He actually uses the term Darwinian.) 'This i s the fundamental, : 2: t

reason why nuclear power plants are ¥: not as successful as motorcyclek. We .t_ did not have the patience to try out a thousand different designs, and so : the really good reactors were never invented. Perhaps it i s true in technol- ogy as it i s in biological evolution that wastage i s the key to efficiency.'

David Walker Editor's note: I thought Dyson's chapter on space was the best bit. . .

Plutonium blind Decision Making for Energy Futu David Pearce, Lynne Edwards and Geoff Beuret. Macmillan, £10 ~~ :'

The anti-nuclearmbvement in Britain is growing, in strength. A same time theTories are pushing major expansion of nuclear powe coupled with the 'desensatisation You are not going to get much govenment decision-making tafinviryn,<; useful advice on how to deal with de- mental pressure. Presumably a major centralised decision-making from this way to 'reduce oversensitivity to . . book. But it does give agood insight environmental considerations' i s to , into how the technocrats view the . ~ ,

avoid any silly ideas likp providing energy debate - and it does provide public funds to enable oppositional a thoughtful analysis of some of the groups to develop a~sound case. It ways i n which public participation also presumably means limiting the . and inquiry proceedings could be information made available to improved. You may of course think

-pressure groups. I that 'reforms' are irrelevant, but even All these trends would no doubt the most devotedadvocateof civil

be regretted by Professor Pearce - who, .disobedience and direct action will . as a good social democrat, believes that have toadmit that, despite their the way to avoid confrontation over - efforts, the, agenda and boundary of energy policy is to provide access t o : . the.:ilebateis3till defined in the information. So in many ways Pearce's main by the official agencies and - book, has come too late. The nuclear . inquiries. Any attempt to go beyond juggernaut i s rolling forward again, the 'legitimised' boundaries is eil' and liberal sentiments about citizen . ignored or represeed. participation and open government M y main fear at present i s that are unlikely to cut much ice with the . anti-nuclear activists will resent this 'Plutonium Blonde* in No. 10. The . limitation - and the denial of resour- nuclear issue looks like heingresolved ces and information that would make in the streets andfields of Britain and reasoned and effective intervention not by the ponderdusprkesses of possible - and be provoked into public participation apd decision violence, as the only way tocommand - making which Pears andhis co-authors a real hearing. Selected violence against'. describe i n such detail. '. property might of course be felt

Even so, this book is interesting,. legitimate in somecircles but that if only as an articulate rendering of -could alienate the bulk of society and social democratic thinking on how to provide ample opportunity for t,he cope, institutiodlv, with oppositfon shte and the media to write the anti to, officially sanctioned technological nuclear movement off as 'terrorists'. programhes. Pearce attempts to. Pearce and his co-authorsseem review freevents and processes that to be aware of these problems - but in madeup the Windscue inquiry, from the end all they can do isplead for ;:..

the supposedly neutralstandpoint of reforms and a more enlightened res-, ,.!.' the academic. The problem he - and ' POnse by the state. That seems, daily. those who try to run the country-face less likely. Dave Elliott

Phi2- w d (- ', Can You Hear Me At the Back? by Brian dark, starring Peter Barkworth Wqj Hannah Gordon. Piccadilly Theatre, London.

Play reviews are rare in Undercurrents, but th i s deserves one, since in setting out a policy of 'planned spontaneity', it expresses some of what Under- currents i s about. The chief character (peter Barkworth) is a disillusioned architect, looking out on the New Town he has created after 15 years, and seeing that it i s not good. What he has created are 'people units', 'dwell- ing units', no individuality. " The archit ect's lobx he realises, is to make people -

a healthy, a stimulating environment rather than just a better environment than the one they left in the East End or wherever. But his training i s too much for him: he can't face the human problems in his own life, the frustrations of the next-door neigh- bour, his marriage breaking up, his teenage son's rebelliousness. He hides behind a shield of urbane, witty comments, which isn'teven pierced by the would-be seducer stripping off in front of him. The creatures he plays God to are suddenly coming to life; he can't cope, yet they won't accept hiseschewing the God role.

Brilliantly worded and acted, Can You Hear Me At The Back? i s good and thoufel t-provoking entertainment.

Stephen Joseph

good. A book showing that inequality is as entrenched in British society as it .

Aid the rich ever was can have little meaning to a government committed to pampering the rich. It will not reach a large enough audience to influence public opinion. It

The Wealth ed- Frank Field. will not be regarded as central to the Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1 8 7 ~ ~ . £6.95 interests of either of the major political OVER THE past few years the rich have parties. been acting on the principle that if you The majority of people will continue scream loud enough and long enough to believe that managers and executives people will begin to believe that you are are suffering indignities at the hands of hurt. The screams of our managers and the taxman. This book points out that in executives have been amplified in the 1976 (before the Labour government headlines and leaders of our national introduced legislation designed to aid the dailies, and their agony has been the wealthy) a survey of managerial attitudes subject of extensive diagnoses in the revealed that less than half the sample financial press, to such an extent that the fel t themselves to be worse off than they late Labour government believed the had been three years before. Admittedly sickness of British industry to be a 58% had found economies necessary, but symptom of the supposed wasting 'the economies. . . included doing their disease affecting managerial salaries. own repairs, gardening and painting and

A t a time when the Daily Telegraph the wife dispensing with domestic help and the British Institute of Management (which befell only 1% of the sample). are encouraging Chancellor Howe 1% also had to remove their children in his policy of reducing higher mar- from private education, although none ginal tax rates, this collection of was forced to dispense with private essays has arrived too late to do any medicine'.

Such deprivation should not be undei estimated. A large garden can be a cause of considerable hardship when one has had to dispense with one's gardener. Ant when one has had to make do with a .smaller second car (the sample's most common complaint) one's incentives are obviously thoroughly undermined.

Frank Field introduces this collection of papers by propounding the theory that the problem of poverty i s the same thing as the problem of riches; that to understand one you must understand thf other, and the ensuing essays consider the problem in some detail. Beginning with a critical assessment of the distrib ution of wealth in Britain, the writers move on to examine the reasons for the persistence of inequality, the fiasco of the wealth tax and the profitable businesses= that result from tax evasion.

The book ends with an account of t h e final governmental capitulation: the recommendation, by the Top Salaries Review Board, that the inequality of the priva-ector be reproduced ih public sector salaries. Of course there are good practical reasons for this, but there are better reasons for redressing the imbalani in the ownership of wealth altogether. Unfortunately the last Labour governmei could not thinkoftthem. Perhaps. now that Labour are in opposition, this book will jolt their memories.

Bill Olivia

m The _-- Quate rm, which you have now missei on TV. In the event it was less than brilliant. Too much visual anarchy, too many media tricks. The story - for those of you who missed it - went like this. Retired Professor Quatermass, famous British space scientist, discovers that beneath the ancient megalithic sites lies alien technology acling as a focus for the physical 'harvesting' o f human beings - who ape sucked up into space we know not where. The on thing that seemed to be able to hold ba( the dark of anarchy and superstition was science. Quatermass rises to the occasion and science eventually triumphs, aided by the state and the military. The state and the military were powerless by themselves, although they could provide the technical means - ultimately the H-bomb.

So science is legitimized as the saviour of mankind -and social and political issues fade into the backgroun Science onceagain is benevolent prom tor. All else i s chaos and death . . . . . Hmm, where have I heard that before?

Dave Ellio

Froten Fire, Lee Neidringhaus Davis. £4.9 plus p & p from FOE, 9 Poland St. London W 1.

Natural gas i s almost an ideal fuel; cheap, clean and convenient, its only drawback i s that it is dangerous and difficult t o store and transport. But i f it is Cooled to -1 62O, it condenses to form Liquid Natural Gas (LNG), which can be stored and carried in refrigerated pontainers. A neat technical fix but, like the nuke, an unforgiving one. LNG is highly, vola- tile and rapidly boils off from any leak to form huge inflammable clouds of gas; if1 these clouds catch fire there is no,yay:.of putting them out. If the mix of air. and gas is right, the cloudsimply explodes. Even if it doesn't, M'H freeze you to death.

, '

LÑDav .

British Gas imports Algerian LNG to Cahvey Island, where 35,008 people liw next door to twelve huge storage tanks; they have four other 'peak- shaving' plants round the country, which liquefy andstore gas from the North Sea in the summer for use in the Winter, and two others are building. On Canvey there i s an active, but so far unsuccessful, resistance to LNG, which "was pioneered there in 1959. To try.to wtm local opinion, the Health and Safety Executive was called in to estimate the risk. Natural- ly the HSE found that it was 'accept- able'.collisions, wrecks, congested evacuation routes flood hazards etc. notwithstanding. With such large vested interests at stake, how could it have found otherwise? Even when, three months after the Canvey Island report, 200 people were burned to death after a tanker full o f propylene; a similar gas, crashed into a Spanish camp site, the line was: 'We really feel this was something of a freak disaster.' Five days later a gas tanker exploded on a main road in Mexico,

thirty died in the flames anH even the Health and Safety Executive experts were silenced. Both these accidents involved quantities of liquefied gas tiny compared to the LNG supertankers now in service or the storage tanks at Canvey.

All this, and much more, is set out at length by Lee Davis in Frozen Fire and campaigners against LNG round the world will find it an inval- uable compendium of facts and figures, accidents and technical fixes. For the general reader something better edited and organised and much shorter would have been more suitable. Davis i s a political scientist with no background in physics, chemistry or statistics and it shows. Each chapter i s introduced by an LNG horror story, which make fascinating bits of journalism to read but get in the way of the serious purpose of the book. There's no index, a serious lack given the repetitive style. In sum, a useful campaigning tool, but not nearly as good as it could, and should, have been.

Chris Hutton Squire -- .-

The Worldwatch papers series has come up with a goodie for anyone interested in how science and technol- ogy are and should be used. It is World- watch paper 31, Knowledge and Power: The Global Research and Development Budget, by Colin Norman. Norman has looked at which countries spend how much on R&D, and what it goes on, with the huge survey of R&D spending in virtually all the world's countries. The picture which emerges is coherent - developed nations do most o f the spending and they do it for their own befiefa. And developed countries' attem?ts to help the third world tend to end badly even if they are not con- ceived exploitatively. But rare attempts in the third world at setting up indig- enous R&D efforts for third world needs, hold out some hope for the third world poor. Much recommended; yours for £ from The Ecologist; 73 Molesworth Street, Wadebridge, Cornwall er 85p from Third World Publications Ltd, 151 Stratford Road, Birmingham B11 1 RD, whichever you regard as the better cause. Nor- man's book on the same subject, The God That Limped: Technology for a Finite World, i s due out this year.

Another book which promises to become a classic on the Third World is Greg Lanning and Marti Mueller's

Africa Undermined, Penguin £3.50 A long time in the writing, this is a . history and analysis of mineral expbi- tation in Africa from before the White Man to the present day. The emphasis, naturally, is on South Africa, but the ' whole continent is covered apart from a bit of a blank spot, probably justified' when it comes to North Africa.

The second issue o f State Research's Review of Security and The State is just out, £1 from Julian Friedmann Books. The Review, like its predecessor, consists of a year of State Research bulletins in a form designed to be acceptable to libar'anes and the like - recommerid it to the institution i n your life. Topics covered include NATO, spookery in Norway, British intelligence, security and the state i i Australia, West, Germany and elsewhere, criminal pr& cedure, the right to demonstrate, and more news about the police and polic- ing than you wbuld have dreampt possible. If you want to keep up to date' it is quicker and cheaper to sub- scribe to the Bulletln as it comes out Individuals £4 union branches. com- munity groups etc £6 institutions £ a year, from State Research, 9 Poland Street, London W1 V 3DG.

Sweden's most depressing publisher is the Stockholm International, Peace Research Institute. It has just produced Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons Proliferaticn, yours for £14 the pro- ceedings of a 1978 conference on fuel cycles, nuclear fuel enrichment, differ- ent reactor types, nuclear safeguards

- and controls, and the other bits and pieces which make up attempts to pre- vent 'civilian' nuclear power from becoming weaponry. Anyone who has looked at goings-on in India, Pakistan, South Africa or Israel can be forgiven for cynicism, but the book - publish- ed in the context of another Non- .

Proliferation Treaty review conference this year - has lots of important background on the matter.

Slightly longer in the tooth now is the 1979 SIPRI Yearbook, which costs £21.50 (SIPRI books are published in the UK by Taylor and Francis.) This is the.tenth in the ~earbookserii,,

the authoritative reference source for military spending and other military developments. This year the book contains two especially scarify- ing chapters on war at sea, by Owen Wilkes, which make the case that real istic global anti-submarine warfare may be becoming a reality because of developments in data processing, spy satellites and the like. If he's ' right, the submarine-based nuclear deterrent i s out of the window - at least the UK can save a few billion a

on replacing Polaris.

BREEDERS NEEDED ,: sq3

For those of us engaged in ' ; efforts to creata a more stable - way of living, the availability of practical dternatives to intensive farming is of fundamental importance. Animals and crops developed for sdme contemporary feed production methods require high inputs of feed, energy and chemicals. Traditional breeds or varieties able to thrive with, less help from man become scarce as they fall out of use.

A specific and unsettling oroblem has recently been brought to my attention by poultry breeder, Brian French of Toplaois Farm, Slaughterford. Brian and his wife Elizabeth have established over a number of years mpre than thuty breeds of genuine free range poultry on their 50 acreorganic farm near Chippenham. hiay of these birds are raie an& some are in '

danger of extinction. Although some 'Museums' do exist, it is believed'the Toplands Farm is the only place in Britain offering thç.smgllholde or'sei*' supporter a selection of truly free range birds at any stage u. their life cycle, fertile eggs, day old chicks, point of lay and adult birds.

Despite a brisk turnover in recent months the specialist markeus not a commercial proposition as it stands and has been financed until recently by the French's success in turkey rearing. Sadly they find them- . selves nolonger able to support this service alone, having been squeezed out of turkey farming by engineered EEC regulations which favour the larger (10,000 heard) estabhshments t

This is not just another appeal for funds for a good cause. It is something we can all do for ourselves. It is one area of distance which has not yet been institutionalised.

We need t o b o w : 1 If there is anyone else providing a similar service - elsewhere in the country?

2 Do you know of an 4qdividual or an organisation willing to support this work financially '' 3 Have you any bright ideas? 4 Can you or anyone you know help in a practical way?

Malcolm Treacher Ecology Party (Chippenham-Calne) Lytle Goton Hilmart Cdne

DTs

Technical and Scientific Journals (TSJs) on subjectslike computing are full of Highly Technical Jargon (HTJ), which makes them unintelligible to the Averagely Intelligent Layperson (AIL). I'd always thought that one of the aims of AT was to promote technology that was comprehensible and accessible to the AIL.

Perhaps Andrew Mackillop (AM) was trying to raise UC to a higher plane, making it more respectable in Scientific Circles (32s). By the time I was halfway through his discourse on Third World Energy I was searching for an AT dictionary. What are LDCs anyway? Was it really necessary to save half a column inch by referring to International Financial Institutions as IFI's, or Technical Co-ooeration for Developing countries as VDC? If so; why not call the United Nations the UN, since at least that is a familiar abbreviation I'm still curious to know what OAPEC, OECD, ESCAP and UNESCAP all referto.

So watch it UC, and Ah4 in particular! Your readers are mostly AIL'S and couldn't begin to make sense of a TSJ withall* itsHTJ. Don't rely on a large circulations in So% We're your friends, us AT AIL'S

DT from LH Laurieston Hall Castle Douglas Kirkcudbrightshire

SHOCKING SEXISM

Thank you for the last issues of Undercurrents. I would like to make a constructive criticism.

I thought that the Women's issue of UC was excellent, and I thought it indicated that the collective is strongly aware of the issues of feminism and the environment. I know personally that some of the collective is. But I was shocked somewhat by the sexism printed in VC35- from Chairmen all over the place to housebuyersreferred to as he, to very male directed boring humour about a very unimportant nose-picking dislike of FOE London. If you want to devote columns to internal jokes, why put them on the first page? It is a very male sort of humour-probably based in its origin on building careers by treading on opposition.

I would like to see you developing a pro-woman policy in UC and keeping to it. It helps us all, really.

Lin Pugh

DUNTERS' DEFENCE If the situation in Orkney was a; Ross Macgilchrist described it in UC37, I don't think that we'd have a hope in hell of stopping uranium mining here. The'Orkney No Uranium' . campaign involves virtually everyone here, if only in sentiment, from the politically naive to tories to anarchists. Therefore there is bound to be disagreement about how far we should go, ie whether the overall campaign should f' t uranium mining as a purely >gh ocal environmental issue or as part of the nuclear power industry. This has led to discussion in the local paper, on Radio Orkney and ingeneral conversation on nuclear power. During the General Election the Labour and Conservative Party candidates tried hard to disgbise the fact that their parties Were in favour of nuclear power.

Most of us who have been actively involved in the no uranium campaim have become

nucleal campaign, t e t as Ross pointed out we are only & (null group and do not claim to represent all the anti-nukes in 1

Orkney. Finally, I don't consider being English as a t s

crime and so will admit to 3 , being one of the few English:, . members of the group. . .

RoneJuntt 2

The Ruff 8 -' *$ i St Margaret's Hope Orkney %.

AT & THE EEC Looking through a mass of EEC bumph the other day I came across a surprising bit of news- the EEC is now making loan; to. help alternative energy projects. The details are on pages 48-52W the European Communities - Commission Background report,. . published on Jan 15th 1979. It . includes exoloitation of

whole thing was rigged in favour of the SSEB who were contesting the Structure Plan. The procedures were recommended by the Stevens Committee (Scottish local Government Planning) who are definitely suspect and one of the two 'experts' came from the National Radiological Protection Board. The reporter actually recommended that the clause should be dropped from the

Structure Plan. We are not convinced that the Secretary of State for Scotland rejected his advice because of the strong local opposition and we are preparing for the tiige when uranium mining here becomes in the 'National Interest'.

One of the moves has been the formation of the Orkney Autonomy Movement (this is a grass roots Orcadiin Movement, no connection with Ross Macgilchrist and Free Wfnged Eagle). One of their aims is local control of mineral reserves. In the Dunters we are considering other positive moves 'to keep the ball in our court'.

The Dunters are also involved in the national anti-

* geothennalenergy ; explo1tqi4 <,

strongly anti-nuclear and of soh energy ;and exploitation increasingly disillusioned with of wave.-<@d and windfiaeigy* the present system of governmentd The grants vary (they lwk t o be in Britain Having experienced . genwuy-33% UP to *of mfl the f a r e of an e~quiry in public ~"'j^t ~4. They "W * ltW into Whether the Orkney Islands Other projects, for w*i council should be allowed to woÈds Tlii?li?t is not *. retain a no uranium mining "Here's also grants for . 2 ! clause in the Orkney Structure 'wOn*ation projects for Plan, we are determined to help % e m W S v i n g - u ~ to 49% others to beat the system. The The address for application b'

The Themmission of the E communities Directorat& for Energy, Rue de la lei 200, B-1049, BruxeUes. Bchaaue'.

I'm sure some ~nd&<wrenft . readers might be able to suggest some of their pet projects-why let the universities and the polys à all the bread?

However,just in case anyone is thinking that there's been a complete conversion to the cause in the EEC Commission, it's worth noting that they've also started givinggrants for. . . "inv meat projects relating to the production of electricity from nuclear sources" tibU p. 45) and "aid for uranium proipection + . , projects" (ibid p. 47).

One step forward, two stew backwards. . .

Wilf Whit- 41 Welledey Avenue Hun You published a letter in.UC32 , by a Mr Roderick Saunders.

Would you be kind enough to forward the enclosed letter to him if you have his +Idre+.

Mufaiet Bidow, Eds note: Roderick Sounders. we do not have your address any more. Contact us and we'S 'send your letteron.

THE &S listed k h r 6 available by mall order from Undercurrents. Prices include p-e ancLpackinc which in many cases has been absorbed within the normal shop price. All orders must be prepaid., . . . . , , ,. . ., , ,. -THE BAREFOOT PSYCHOANALYST . , PRACTICAL SOLAR HEATING THE POLITICS OF NUCLEAR~OWER~,~.~~~,. ' Rosemary Randall, John Southgate,

Frances Tomlinson

RADICAL TECHNOLOGY Godfrey Boyle, Peter Haiper c4.20", : ~ . ', . . Vndcrcwrents Herbert Girardet (ed) (Bulk discount for 10 or more copies £3.70 A manual of radical land refoh, it covet&(b& ';

"For those who still think about the future k t SMALL-SCALE WATERPOWER resources, self-sufficiency, enclosuret,,. . .: , T $ termsof mega-machines and all-powerful Dermott McGuigan £2.9 clearances and the Diggers, Highland la@btdl,' 8 bureaucracies. Radical Technologywill be an , . . . bssontof resettlement, land reform* ¥, . : ! eye-opener. There is an alternative!' SMALL-SCALE WIND,POWER revolution, new towns, new villages,,a~,the,,~, :,

-Airin offl lo bynot ! MCcUigan £2.9 revivalof the countryside. , . . I a

- - . . . . -. m ? Issue numbers 12 to 23areavailablefortheBARGAIN price ofC3.60. : rC1' - ' . :f, n u b 24 to f o r E3.Wand the SET for a mere f3.W. Sngle mpiK-. m: ; 60p. We like to thinkthat Undercurrents is not so much a magazineaça 'd' 1: growing collectionof useful information. Sofcock.up with back isiues now:i.

~~ ~

CentreIOrganic Gardening/Frm FbdiilBuilding with Ram+ Earth/Windmfll Tlieorvl

10 Solar Collector theory & D(Y Dw~gn/Sward Gardening/ -chist CitWFuture of AT1 Land for tho pNpldt3snwal Systems TheoryIAlternativa Culturn Part 1. ,

Altermtiw khdkal Care1 Altermriw Culture Pert 3.

13 Diggws/Enwgy & Food Production/lnduary and the Community & ATIAlternative England & Wales Supplement/ Planning & Communes/Methanel Alternative Culture Part 4.

14 JackMundayon Australian Green BandAT Round the WorldBuilding with Nttural EnergylDlY Insulation/ AT in IndialBRAD Community.

15 Insulation v i Nuclear P k l T o w a r d s a non-nuclear futurdAT &Job Creation1 Production for Nwdl Diodvnamic GardenindW AC Inverter Design.

16 Garden VillMBS/Wood Food GuideIDlY New Town1 Self-Sufficient Solar Terreced Ufnpen Communitv/Bypaaing the PlannÇrç/Citizen Band F4qliolFree School.

17 Computer LW Hunt/ Ddw-it-YourdfIKiil ian PhotographyISaving your Own SÑd/Wome & ATITerreitial ZOdiKi.

Chinese Scme / IT & ~econd Clan CapilalISu~~mockerlLey Hunting/Hvdroponics/Lucas.

19 L im i f to ~ed i c i ne l PoliticSof Self-HelptBabes in .the W d G u i d e to Altarnative Wi inelFindhorn Community/ National Centre for AT Revisited/Danish Anti-Nuclear CampaignIAlternetive History , o f England.

20 Tony Bçn On (he Diggardfirming: Chomkals or Organic7lControl of Technol<w/ Cambodia Self-SufficiÈm?/Sola Energy ReportIPaper Making/ Annan Report on Broadcasting

21 Fascism and the Counter- cultu re/Motorway Madnew Nuclear Policy ChwdOrgone EnergyIFrw Broadcatting/Gwd Squat Guidellron Age Farming1 Laurieston'i Magic Garden/ Print-it-YourÑlf

22 Paranoia Power/ Windxale BackgroUndlCroftingI Food Co-opsJStonehenge1 Fishing LimitdPrimal Therapy1 Italian Free RadioIMethanel Fish Farming.

23 Seabrook Anti-Nuclear DemolNuclear Power & Trade UniondHerman Khan IntmiewtDtY Wbodstovel Fortean PhenornenaIDw Solar Collector DesignISmall-icele Radio Tranmitter Plans1 Australian Citizens' Band.,

24 Nuclear Weapons Accidents/Electronic Surva.illance/Making Chwm & CiderICompost & Communism1 Srmll-snle Radio Transmitter Pert 21Magi~ Mushrooms1 Forestry/SWAPOlMediinel Chicken's Lib.

25 Emotional Plague in Co-operatives1Compost & Communism Part 2Water Powerftindhorn RwisitedlOz Community RadiolCar-sharingl Saving EnergyIThai Dilemmas.

26 AT Days that shook PortuaallGrowing Dope at hoirfe1Crofting in the Orkneysl Community Ham Radio1 Repairing BoatdNewcastle AT GroupILucas Atternatbe HardwarelRussians Weaponry.

27 Soft Energy: Hard Politicsithe Fast Breeder .Enquiry/Not So Small Tools for Small FarmslAnti-Nuclear CountermeasuredFree Wheelin'/ Hull Docks Fish FarmIShaker Communities.

28 Tornes DemoIAfter the Windscale Enquiry/The Tvind WindmillIPrimal Therapy at AtlantitlBasque Co-opdAT in the UK & CanadalBehwiour Modification.

29 women's&^^ Movement linked?lWindscale VisitIAnti-Nuclear Dance/ Ferninins Against Nukes1 Women & ScienceIOn Roles/ Women. Work and the Trade ~ n i o n d ~ e l f e r e Services & The CutslAT man CartoonIBirth Control.

--. .. - Alternative Nurseries/Solar CaliforniaIAT and State Money1

Politics/Ecology and Feminism1 Windscale Scandal.

31 Factory FarmindFood . - , - - -.- AdditivedCommodity Campaiansfflholefood Co-ops US & UiU~omrnon Agricultural Politics Explained/Po<ato PoliticsIFeminism 8 Food1 Organic Farming.

. , 32 TheBritish Road to -. ; ... 5 EcotopialLarzac Struwle/ .. ,,- 1 Scottish Anti-nuke Unions/ ,,*; { Workers' PlandCbmmunaI . . , Lr

Blues/Peanut EconomicsIWind' ' powered Council HousiOgIAtom ! Scientists Redundant. , . .

Special ~ta<us f a British - 1 1

Islanders?~Workingon Organic 1 FarmslCollector Design. , , 34 The Co-op ,., ::I .' :

Learning the Hard Way/ ' 'iy,'

Crabpplt RwisltedlATin - I

Pakistan/Counter Revolution ,%:\ ; Q u a r t ~ l ~ / D l Y Radiq P i r e f : Feminists and Nuclear P0*r/ "' ..' Brazilian Atom S~andallFuturd',.~ 1. of British~ndustry/Whale*~j :+! .' 2 . .; ; ,:! .*: .; , .

. , . . . t . - . a

35 Community ~drkth&/' . ' 'r Home Rule for the ~ o r A / T f f i " . ~ ~

'

Geography Dismr/WoBdttw \

Oesigns/Road Lobby Follies/ ; Stream PowerlCOMTEK . . (Community Technology) Explained/Grwning Milton KeyneslAgr~businesi Collage%

h 36 Kids dm Change the ., ,' World/Oaughter of- Alice ' '1 CartoonICity Farms .; . I ThreatenedINews from ,. .I .: Proaressive end Free Schools1 ,. .,. €ducati as it Could Bç/To Cram or not to Cram1 Community ServiceIEducation Inside and outside the Classroom.

37 Third World Energy/ . ' ' .

Biacksmithi~IMethane : DigesterslComposting/Ecofogy~~ and the Environmental Fix/Pro-. abortion CampeignIThe. ,, . . J . ,

S i l k w d LegacyIBehaviour .;. Modifi&tion/Edvironmental ,'

Education.

Undercurrents 38 t . J

I

MEANWHILE GARDENS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION requires HORTICULTURIST t o join existing team o f 6 workers on community project converting wasteland into a park in West London. ONDIHND or similar preferable. Tough conditions. Sal. £4,806 Write including SAE to - Site Office. Elkstone Rd..

WE ARE three people living >

together in North London as a non-nuclear family, and hoping to bring up children. We share house work, income, responsibility, love, space, possessions, ideals (meat-eaters, non-smokers.) Are you interested in joining us? Jean, David & Richard. Phone 808 9826.

London W10. dosing date Februwy 13th I , MEDICAL student (male) into

health and realising ones full -potential, moving to Manchester

teaching hospital next year, WORKING community forming looking for warm, friendly in renovated N. Yorkshire mill. shared accommodation. Contact Craftspersons and small business- Gifford Kerr, 130 Kingston es interested contact High Road, Burntisland, Fife. Bentham Cooperative, 6 ~ w e e d St., High Bentham via Lancaster (Bentham 61403).

WORKSHOPS OFFERED. Shared workshop space offered for pottery, woodwork, sewing and machine knitting weaving. Machines & equipment supplied1 Loot people preferred but anyone considered. 5011 per hour or £ 5 per week. Ormond Road Workshops, N. 19. Phone 263 3865.

I BUILDING SKILLS we h u e acquired, we would like to pass on in exchange for halp. 01-673 4480. Jenny end Roy, Balham, London.

YOUNG alternative couple expecting baby in July desperate to rent a cottage, preferably in South/South West England. Write: Mick & Nick, 5 Fairfield Rd.,Jesmond. Newcastle-u-Tyne.

NEW RESIDENTS wanted for small community running residential events, organic garden, wholefood shop. Little money, varied work, great opportunities. SAE Lower Shaw Farm, Shaw, Swindon, Wilts.

WOMAN COMMUNITY worker hopes to buy large communal house in rural cambs. Seeks others

GUY, 27, looking for a large others interested. any a- or sex, but with financial resources,

Or hw* in positive ideas, and preferably England or Walm. Interested in skills Th aim to move farming, animals, but not towards home/community-based werimced. No political or

mk md to eaov a hwratic religious groups. Box SD. caring homelife. Box No EH. CANADIAN FAMILY seek rural community within 30 miles Bristol. Into A.T. 81 S.S. Bob &Wendy, 19 Grove Pçr Road, Brislington, Bristol.

SUSSEX. I'm looking for others to buy a house co~~ectivefy

I somewhere in Sussex. Preferably with an interest in meditation as I think common goals ark . helpful. Also vegetarian. Otherwise no essential ingredienftx other than commitment and a ,. sense of the ridiculous. 1 have some capital, but need halp with raising e mortgage. Christine Gildusleere, c/o 96 Balfour Road, Brighton, Sussex.

PEOPLE wanted to join me in buying large house in Brighton area to share for company, friendship end mutual help. Box no. AA. . ' SMALL woup ÈlltiIngt set up rural community based on emotional support, therapy and child-sharing seek others with similar ideas. Contact Eleanor, 85 Strethleven Rd., London SW2.

UNIQUE holiday on organic smallholding with 77 acre woodland nature reserve. Exmoor National Park, sea 4 miles. Eight camouflaged caravans. Modern toilets. Fresh produce. Stamp please for brochure. Cowley Wood, ' Parracombe, N. Devon Parracombe 200.

" 1 FIFTH year of extraordinary walking tours where the land is interpreted anthropo- morphically. Accommodation (tents) and catering (whole food) in harmony with nature. Programme. Head for the Hills, 21 Pernbroke Avenue, Hove, Sussex (+ stamp).

CHILDREN'S country holiday house and grounds available during tarmtime for courses, conferences etc. Wholefood cooking. Close to Motorway network. Also large-scale wholefood outside catering. Callow Hill House, Monmouth, Gwent. 0600 3233.

CHRIS HYDE pleaw mntact- Atlantis, Urgent. 1 SMALL DIESEL Motor Caravan for 1 - - Sale. 1971 Converted Commer Walk-Thru. Good condition. MOT till November. Sleeps four. Full head-room. Ful lvf itted. 1 ADS Plenty storage. Toilet. Greet for touringcontinent (heap Sell your solar sauna here!

diesel). £79 0.n.o. Tel. Small Ads at giveaway price:

(Jangybi 283. View London if 4p per word; box nos. £1 necessary. C o p y date for U C 39: March !

SCRIBBLERS Inc., an . alternative in corresponding, tape or letters, socializing with a stamp, free listing, box 1024, Sacramento, California 95805.

RECYCLED Pads special o f f s top quality 'champagne' A5 50 sheets writing pad plus 30 matching envelopes for 66p plus 34p p&p. Quantity discounts. Other recycled products'available. Reflenesis, Tress ~ouse,StamterdSweq, 1 Londpn SE1 (01-633 9557). ENGINEERING Design and Approproate Technology (EDAT) is a three year honours degree course for students who do not want to see their future role as specialists in large organisations. EDAT students will look forward to working in AT, small firms, farms or co-ops, technological self '

sufficiency, and rural development overseas or home in the post-industrial society. Write for further details to Dept of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventyr CV4 7A L.

CHESTER COLLEGEO~ Higher Education offers BA ar B Ed degree courses in various subjects including mathemetic Biology and Liberal Studies in Science to those with almost any two 'A' levels and suitable '0' levels (Alternativ4s such as ONC will be considered carefully.) The Biology is environmentally oriented and Liberal Studies in Science is mainly devoted to the social implications of science and thus should interest Undercurrents readers. Serving teachers may apply for a one one year full time course in these subjects. Details from David Hooper, Science Dept., Chester College, Cheyney Road, Chester.

a S t', . "The tioItfquiF-tXnt for building Japanesemotorbike is Calm of Mind."

Nls=n ,-orf k?pUÈ . ' 1 \

' ? ' a * FREE radiolpirate radi i &I 8 page ma& Free Radio Flyer, only l op t SAE. P.O. Box 35, Wellinatpn, Salop.

WILD seed GmwersGuideqnd iktructions. Over eighty herd- to-get medicinal and dye plant seeds. Grow Cleavers; coffee

,substitute, stimulates weight loss, soothes the urinary tract. Send 45p for Growers Guide, Cleavers Seeds, p&p inc. to The Seed Bank, 44 Albion Road, Sutton, Surrey.

GANDHJ MAG; a monthly journal or the Gandhi Peace Foundation which seeks to probe Gandhian perspectives on the various current national and international problems. Sub to the UK: single copy $1.25, 1 year for $12.00. Available from Gandhi Marg. Gandhi Peace Foundation, 2211223 Deen Daval Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi 110002:

ALTERNATIVE Spurces of Energy is the US magazine devoted to practical and D l applications of AT. Oversea subscriptions (surface mail) $15 for 6 issues. From Route 2, Box We, Milaca, MN 56353, USA.

PEACE NEWS for non-violent revolution. Reports, analysis, news of nbnviolent action for social change, building alternatives and resisting the megamachine. Covers anti- militarism, sexual politics, ecology, decentralisation etc. 20p fortnightly, £7.0 for a year's sub from 8 Elm Avenue, Nottingham.

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d selection ot current vacancies; FARMERS, MARKET GARDENERS, LIVE-STOCK PERSONS: Various community development projects, responding to the ncçdÈo people in Africa. Training young people in relevant skills in Botswana. el ping manage a~o-operttiv*cnÈ&&hLesotho S-up a farm at m ¥shra for the handicapped in India. TEACHERS/YOUTH TRAINERS: For Botswana Youth Training centres: Teacher of b a s i c s u b imd 'development' studies. and Vocational Tminingt Curriculum Development Officer. For Mozambi ^ her Training organiser for technical schools. For Asia: Youth Training Pi and Teacher of mentally handicapped for children's centre.

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The World's Foremost Journal of Strange Phenomena. Wolf-Children & Wild Men

Poltergeist Phenomena The 'Surrey Puma' A Other Exotic Aliens

Coloured Snow & Ralw Weather & QuakeSupertitivef

Spontaneous Comb* of Humans Stigmata & Lxviution

Discoveries of America WOre Columbm Falls of Fish. Blood & Ice (rom the Sky

People who Vanish & Othon who Appear Mysterious Aerial Sound*

Occult Crimes Impossible Objects in Ancient Strata

Electromagnetic Enigmas UFOs & Related Phenomena

Telcportations of People A Things Evidence* of 'Little People' & Giants-

Ball Lightning & Odd Light* Ghosts & Apparitions

Relic* of Ancient Technology Cycles & Coincidences in Phenomena

Bigfoot & Unidentified Animate Visions & Miracles

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Strange Deat~r.'~urders & Accidents Phantom Smells & 'Mass Hysteria' Cunous Astronomical' Phenomena Mystery Explosions & Flashes

Psi Powers Swarms & Migrations

Curiosities of Behaviour & Psychology Freaks of Lightning & Meteorology

Paranormal Experiences & Alternate Realities Luke & Sea Moniwrs

Hoaxes & Controvcrau in Science 'Hollow Etrth' & Other Cosmologies

Attacks On & BY Animals Vampires. Werewolves & Possession

Antiquities & Lost Continent* Curiosities of Biology & Teratology

My-iterious I & Photos ~ a 1 1 e n g e s 3 % w n i s m

Sightinp of Pnhistoric Crcttures Antiquarian Evidence of 'Spacemen'

Unusual Darkneoes Thought Fornn & Psychotronii

Toads in Stones

MARCH 15th MARCH 16th To be opened by

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per day 70p ADMISSION BY PROGRAMME 70p per day Children up to 12 free if accompanied by an adult, OAP's and students with cards 40p at door.

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AURA PHOTOGRAPHY - TAROT READINGS - MEDITATION/ HEALING WORKSHOPS

- VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT - ART DISPLAY - NEW AGE PHILOSOPHIES -

Lecture Programme

r' SATURDAY

11 a.m. Gareth Knight " THE WESTERN MYSTERIES" 12.noon Tom Graves " DOWSING 1 p.m. Stephen Skinner " RENAISSANCE MAGIC" 2 p.m. Ellen Turnbull " AHORC. (Rosicrucians)" 3 p.m. Dolores Ashcroft " INNER PLANE REALIH" . 4p.m. MaryCaine* THE KINGSTON ZODIAC" 5 P.m. Mary Anderson " THE TAROT AS COUNSELLING"

Tickets at 30p each from P.Cave 15 Betlayter Road, SW2., or from the Festival.

On the Stage a^ There will be a closing ceremony at 5.40p.m. Sunday, taken by Tony Neale.

Ç a %Q.85 ORIGINAL NEW AGE REVUE T+. * ^ He A NEW-AGE CELEBRATXU ,- VJ

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