The Limpet No.3

The Walrus & The Carpenter were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see such quantities of sand;
If this were only cleared away they said, "It would be grand!"
From 'Through The Looking-Glass & What Alice Found There
Lewis Carol, 1871

"Nobody knows about, nobody knows about
what's going on down there,
Who's gonna tell about, who's gonna tell about,
what's going on down there?
The newspaper pages have nothing to say,
They either tell lies or they hide it all away,
Day after day after day, oh, Nobody knows about, nobody knows about
What's going on down there...."
Malvina Reynolds, 1966

"He who grasps more than he can hold, would be better without any."
Lao Tzu, b.China, 604BC

Shanghai,Chicago,SellafieldSaudi,Iraq,SandyCove

Bringing you the economy re-mix of The Limpet No.2; in monochrome, so you can print & distribute it without spending a fortune on toner!
As controversy rumbles through the Shire your local Paper has taken a quick look at some of these 'consultants' and found them to be many-faceted entities. The Cornish local authorities have chosen, along with the mainstream press, to ignore some of these facets... In Today's World we in the 'civilized West' are all familiar with the idea of ethical business and Fair Trade, and moral accountability is an increasingly accepted criterion when choosing which organizations to do business with. Realizing this, big business will go a long way to create an impression of ethical purity, employing Public Relations people and slick advertising to do this for them. However, a brief glance at Halcrow's own website shows them to be trading with countries like China, where there is ongoing genocidal repression in Tibet; and torture, 'disappearence', (extra-judicial killing by police and soldiers) are being practiced against Buddhists, Falun Gong and other peaceable groups. Tibet's vast Northern wildernesses are now being cleared of their ancient indigenous nomadic populations, with a combination of 'Skytech' sattelite surveilance and round-ups by 'Security Services'. Like the Native Americans or the European Jews before them, you can't help wondering how many of them will survive this 'resettlement'. We will bring you more on China in forthcoming blogs. Halcrow also talk of 'making significant inroads into Saudi Arabia'. The Justice System of Saudi makes medieaval Europe look like a liberal utopia! Of course, there is also the USA, where Halcrow are involved in building the Chicago Skyway private toll road. Although it is still normal practice to trade with the USA, this is done in spite of their record on Human Rights which has deteriorated considerably in recent years. In Guantanamo Bay the USA effectively runs a concentration camp where people are held indefinetely without Due Process of Law. Abduction, arbitary detention, torture are openly addmitted to by the authorities, and all in the name of Freedom. Trading with nations which torture is surely not the best way forward for a truly Free World, big business has the ever-constant opportunity to use its considerable influence to do some real good in this world. As to Halcrow's involvment in the West's incursion into Messopotamia, we will give you any evidence we can uncover. The job of a newspaper is to investigate & publish the Truth, whether the Truth be Sweet or Sour. Also touched on in this issue is Halcrows role of Nuclear Dustman to the Nation. Presumably an organization that stores radioactive waste for countless millenia has a certain amount of clout in the British and international business game, but does that mean that the People of Penzance should be forced into paying them an undisclosed sum of Our money to DESTROY OUR OWN BEACH!!?? We at The Limpet think not - you are Free to make up your own Mind...
P.S. Don't forget to have a nice walk on your local beach...

Is our money being offered to local ethical firms?

"Most people, in fact, will not take trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear."

From: The History of the War fought between Athens & Sparta
by Thucydides the Athenian; 5th Century BC


"You've got to give the people something good to read on a Sunday".
Joe Strummer, 1981

"Bhi an focal do ata focal" (Your words are our words)
The Limpet, 2008

Tenacious Limpet

ORIGINS-DEMONSTRATION-PRESS

ORIGINS
We were first alerted to the news of the planned beach destruction by a letter in the 'Cornishman' newspaper of 4th September 2008 by Mr C Cartwright. We put up our first posters on the 7th, informing and indeed warning the public, since official consultation had clearly failed to do so. Two days later, when planning our campaign down by the Rocks, a large grey seal popping his head out of the waters three times - right in the very centre of the proposed car park - was a great inspiration and motivation to us and a delight to the visiting tourists from Japan and the USA. We knew then we had the approval of the seal...

DEMONSTRATION ...and four days later we were marching through Penzance, stopping for a photo outside the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company Booking Office ( the sole fiscal beneficiary of the scheme), then onto the proposed demolition site. The process of publicising this initial, spontaneous demonstration, through leafleting and chatting to locals, only confirmed our suspicions that the Penzance townspeople were not aware of these plans, although they concern the biggest development in the town for 120 years.
Down by Battery Rocks, convening at the ancient granite wall also scheduled for destruction should the scheme go ahead, children painted badges of dolphins and seals, and musicians played in the blazing sunshine. The painted badge dolphins became wondrously present in the form of two pods crossing Mount's Bay, sometimes leaping fully out of the water, and, like the seal of the previous week, seemed a good omen, a blessing on us from the Bay! By a happy coincidence, as the march arrived at the wall where the word DEMOCRACY was displayed, the Peace Campaigner Peter La Mer was just sailing into view in his yacht, returning from the river Medway in Kent where he was part of the campaign to prevent another coal fired power station from being built. His phone-message of support from the boat was a moment of great inspiration.

PRESS ANALYSIS: Cornishman Inaccurate

No reporter was present at the 'Save the Beach' demo - which was wrongly defined as a 'Music Protest', thus the Cornishman diverted attention away from the point. Their article was actually a revised & misquoted mix of text from one of our own flyers. The photograph was taken after the event and does not show the people who were there - again creating a false impression of this gesture in support of our Natural world.

The Cornishman knew about the plan to turn the beach into a carpark since at least early August '08, if not earlier, but chose not to inform the public then, and has not yet shown any concern for the imminent destruction of this lovely cove & its wildlife.

The Penzance Chamber of Commerce (see Breaking an Egg poster) claim there has been 9 years of public consultation - our research on the streets shows otherwise. What a shame the commercial interests of our town don't resolve to work together to PROTECT Nature instead of killing it off.

MYSTERY SWIMMER...
We believe that the regular swimmers at Battery Rocks were totally misrepresented in the Cornishman. The 'Swimmer' spokesman that they quoted surely speaks rubbish. We challenge Donna McAlister to produce this mystery swimmer, for the purposes of source-accuracy and dialogue.

POLICY:
On 16th September '08, I wrote to the Editor of the above journal asking for clarification on various points, I await his reply.

...............................................SAWYA..........................PEN.......................SANS..........................................

Manifesto

'SAVE THE HOLY HEADLAND'
was formed on 6th September 2008 as an immediate response to the gravely disturbing news that the beach at Battery Rocks, Penzance, is threatened with imminent and total destruction in the name of sustainable development.

We are devoted to peaceful campaigning to protect Nature from destruction at the hands of those who care not for beaches, seals & other Wild things. We aim to show that there is absolutely no possible justification for destroying this irreplaceable piece of Nature.

We are a totally non-profiting group of Volunteers following our conscientious imperative to thwart the rapacious incursion of so-called sustainable development.

Our aim is not only to prevent this Crime against Nature, but to ensure that the entire Holy Headland area is kept in its state of pristine beauty, in perpetuity; as the Natural Birthright of those who are to come after us.

Although our concern is primarily for Nature, we are acutely aware of the profound Historical, Spiritual & Cultural value of Pen Sans & we wish to focus attention on its diverse & priceless attributes. To this end we are initiating a dialogue with all involved parties, in particular the general public. We wish to explore & discuss the Democratic and legal procedures by which events such as these are set in motion.

We are issuing a free broadsheet, 'The Limpet', available on-line and on paper, to give the public in-depth & unbiased information on all matters relating to the Holy Headland beach. If our organisation borrows and plays with words & images, it is solely motivated by the desperate need to prevent a tragic atrocity - after all, there is no copyright to protect this Original Habitat and the Wildlife therein.

This ancient playground of Dolphins & Seals must never become just another soulless and desolate corner of man's blind empire of greed. We trust that a saner generation to come will understand our actions and say with one voice that we trod the right path.

May All Beings be Blessed with Deep Insight into Nature

May They Know Natural Happiness

& May all suffering be Washed Away!