Alternative Perspective
 Issue 8, November 13th, 2002
 Compiled byMadhukar Shukla

Introduction: Alternative Perspective is an attempt to widen our awareness about issues related to business, environment, role and influence of media, geo-politics, culture, etc. It aims to share, on a regular basis, some of those pieces of news and information, which do not find place in the highly monopolised mainstream media. Please feel free to share/ forward/ distribute this newsletter to others who may be interested.



In This Issue:
  • How to Sell War
    In this highly media-savvy world, launching a war is like a launching a new product. This interview with the VP of the public relations firm, Rudder Finn, describes how they actually "created" the Kosovo War!!!... in true "professional" manner he goes on to say: "Our work is not to verify information. We are not equipped for that. Our work is to accelerate the circulation of information favourable to us, to aim them at carefully chosen targets. We did not claim that there were death camps in Bosnia, we just made it know that Newsday claimed it... We are professionals. We had a job to do and we did it. We are not paid to moralize." Needless to say, the Bosnian death camps and mass graves were never found, though Kosovo war happened, and the history will show how the good prevailed over evil.
    ...and just in case, one thinks this is an exception, here are a few more examples:
    - The Afghanistan War was PR-managed by the Rendon Group.
    - The PR Firm, Hill and Knowlton, sold the Gulf War through the fabricated story of incubator children.
    ... and, as becomes apparent, when it comes to selling the war, media follows a formula, which appeals to the masses.... After all, the PR industry was born out of war!!!
    http://www.shofar.de/labelling-e.html

  • Bucking the Corporate Future
    Any critique of current variety of Globalisation begs the obvious question: But is there an alternative? This article provides some alternatives. We had looked at some of these alternatives in action, e.g., complementary currencies, Mondragon cooperatives, etc, in some earlier issues of this News Letter. Here is one more example of Curitiba, a city which could develop without globalisation.
    http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/new_articles.cfm?articleID=287&journalID=49

  • Globalisation of Agriculture & Poverty
    While there is a popular understanding that corporate farming, genetically modified seeds, etc. are a panecea for the world hunger, this counter viewpoint, by Vandana Shiv, shows the other side of the picture - namely, that globalised corporate agriculture departs from sustainable and regenerative ways of agriculture. In fact, looked from the total systems point of view, there are a number of reasons why genetically modified/engineered crops may not be the answer to poverty and hunger.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/events/reith_2000/lecture5.stm

  • Why Do They Hate Us?
    This poignant narrative describes the other side of rhetoric question, which George Bush posed to world last year in the aftermath of 911 (most living outside USA, of course, know the answer). In a world, where all feel hated, this perspective on why America seems to hate the middle-easterns is a relevant question.
    http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11590

  • The On-Going War on Iraq
    While the new UN Security Council Resolution on Iraq threatens military action, if Iraq does not comply with it, the fact is that war on Iraq has been continuing all through. US-UK planes have been bombarding the Iraqi "no-fly zones" - which are NOT mandated by UN, and are in contravention to all International Laws - on a routine basis.
    http://www.ccmep.org/us_bombing_watch.html


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