R
At 09:49 PM 3/2/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>The WEEK
>ending 2 March 2002
>
>
>Sustainability: last refuge of the scoundrel
>
>Thrashing around in the quagmire of infighting amongst political advisors,
>ministers and civil servants, the British prime minister quickly grabbed
>for the issue of sustainability. Bereft of any long-term purpose, the
>government's small entourage of under-employed advisors are wont to fight
>amongst themselves, leaking against each other, jealously fending off
>rivals in the quest for proximity to power. To keep the troops focussed is
>not easy when the defining feature of the New Labour administration is
>that it has junked its old social democratic ideology of welfarism. In the
>past Blair has resisted pressure on his government inspired by
>environmentalist demands. But now, following a Downing Street seminar on
>the future of the power industry, the government is set to promote
>sustainability as its latest 'big idea', just as the Third Way has lost
>its lustre.
>
>A new book published last month explains the plasticity of the
>sustainability concept. In Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine
>Age, aid worker Michael Maren is quoted as saying "Everyone now talked
>about sustainable development." "If you used the term, it sounded as if
>you knew what you were talking about." "The Beauty of the term" according
>to Michael Maren "…was that it could be manipulated for any purpose". In
>1992, at the Rio conference on the environment US vice president Al Gore
>defined sustainable development as "…economic progress without
>environmental destruction" adding "…that's what sustainable development
>is all about".
>
>In the Queen's Speech in November 1993 Elizabeth II said that her
>government would "…promote sustainable development". In its 1991 Annual
>Report the US Army boasts of 'expertise' in 'environmentally sustainable
>development'. Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan testified to
>the Senate Banking Committee on 26 February 1997 that recent stock market
>gains had "…raised questions of sustainability". Happily the Dow Jones
>Sustainability Group keeps an Index, because "…the concept of corporate
>sustainability has long been very attractive to investors because of its
>aim to increase long-term shareholder value".
>
>Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99,
>plus GBP5.01 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close,
>Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'.
>www.audacity.org
>
>
>T.W.A.T.
>
>The latest gruesome instalments of the war against terror are being played
>out in India and occupied Palestine. In both cases regional conflicts have
>been exacerbated by the increased stakes set by Washington in its war
>against terror. In the Indian sub-continent, the Indian government seized
>upon the war against terror as support for its own conflict with Pakistan,
>which was widely believed to be backing terror operations within Indian
>borders. Tragically, the regional conflict has an important internal
>dimension for India, whose own Muslim population is larger than that of
>Pakistan and Bangladesh put together. With the Hindu nationalist BJP in
>power, the Muslim minority has every reason to suspect that operations
>against Pakistan are addressed also at them. All too predictably, the
>regional conflict has become an internal conflict with hundreds killed in
>inter-communal violence. Tony Blair's recent visit to the region was
>lauded as peace-brokering - until the British satirical magazine Private
>Eye pointed out that the British government was selling arms to both
>parties to the conflict, even as Tony Blair was calling for peace.
>
>Meanwhile on the occupied West Bank, the US message that Ariel Sharon had
>a free hand in rooting out Palestinian 'terrorists' has led to an all-out
>slaughter, with even the US State Department belatedly urging Israeli
>restraint towards civilians. What any of this has to do with the playboy
>millionaires of Saudi Arabia and their September 11 aerobatics is anyone's
>guess.
>
>
>--
>James Heartfield
>Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99, plus
>GBP5.01 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London,
>E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'. www.audacity.org