Action And Worth Reading On… The Managed Society

The Nuclear Free Press
Trent University
Peterborough
Ontario K9J 7B8
Canada
Tel: (7O5) 748 1554

AIMS
To stimulate interest in energy policy and foreign policy in Canada - both are heavily committed to nuclear technology. To encourage direct citizen action and the development of a sustained political lobby for non-nuclear. environmentally sound policies. To promote the importance of decentralized energy technologies and of an independent foreign policy for Canada.

METHODS
We publish news, research and analysis of developments in nuclear technology and politics and of the activities of disarmament and environmental groups in non-nuclear organizations. Occasionally special issues and inserts are produced dealing in-depth with a particular issue. We also provide help and facilities to other groups producing or distributing pamphlets or booklets.

The Nuclear Free Press is staffed entirely by volunteers.

SUCCESSES
Several publications, including the ‘Energy Booklet’ and the ‘Pickering Evacuation Pamphlet’ have received wide circulation and have had some notable immediate effects. The Tabloid - six years old with a circulation of 5.000.

FAILURES
The Nuclear Free Press continues to struggle through each issue with insufficient resources and manpower. We have yet to build a staff structure and funding base that will allow us to grow into an important and truly national vehicle for research, discussion and organizing

FUTURE PLANS
We are planning an update of the ‘Energy Booklet’ and a ‘Militarism Booklet’ that will examine Canada’s military industry and defence and foreign policy. The Nuclear Free Press will participate in the Utility Reform Project - an effort to politicize Ontario Hydro

HELP NEEDED
Distributors and readers - write for a sample copy. Regional and group correspondents and contributions of all kinds are welcome - reports and photographs of local events and organizations, graphics, clippings from newspapers, essays and major research undertakings. Write to the editor for guidelines.

Planetary Initiative for
the World We Choose
Global Case Studies Project
Greenhouse
Trevelyan Terrace
Bangor, North Wales
Tel: (O248) 355821

AIMS
To document initiatives which act as potential models for a chosen, substainable future. To make available practical case-study information and so inspire further initiatives which share common elements. To promote awareness of the similarities/differences and the successes/failures encountered in setting up projects. To put complementary schemes and people geographically unconnected in touch with each other and so encourage global co-operation.

To further facilitate global networking and co-operation

METHODS
By sending out questionnaires through existing networks and appropriate addresses. By collating and simplifying the information collected for computer storage, retrieval and cross-referencing. By feeding back and circulating appropriate information to those groups participating.

SUCCESSES
Already many groups working for ‘planetary good’ have pledged support and information.

FAILURES
No major problems so far, but the project has only been operational since July 1983

FUTURE PLANS
We are exploring ways of refining our computer data base system to facilitate direct communication between initiatives. We also hope to produce a book which will include a cross section of case studies.

HELP NEEDED
Please let us know the contact addresses of any relevant projects.

Oxford Project for Peace Studies
30 Sutherland Avenue
Oxford 0X2 8DX

AIMS
To help establish peace-making skills by encouraging the advancement of the study of the nature of peace and of the methods by which peace can be deepened and extended.

To foster research in the field of peace studies, relating to such issues as international relations, the history of war, the non-violent resolution of conflict, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.

To promote such studies at university level and especially in Oxford. an international centre with outstanding academic facilities attracting scholars and public servants from all over the world

METHODS
The project works through a co-ordinating committee. We aim first to create interest in the city but then to appeal to the worldwide community. We seek either to work through existing academic institutions or to create new channels for peace studies.

SUCCESSES
The project has become a registered Charitable Trust, and the framework for future appeals has been established. Valuable informal links have been forged with academic institutions nationally. A Peace Essay Prize competition has been launched.

FAILURES
Despite a great deal of progress, precise arrangements for establishing peace studies in Oxford have yet to be formulated, and the collection of funds has been slow.

FUTURE PLANS
In the long term, to create a new academic Centre for Peace Studies. More immediately, to explore other ways of promoting research and teaching including the funding of individual posts of projects, or of an Annual Lecture. To identify new and important areas of study worthy of support in this field. To build a fund-raising network to provide the substantial sums needed. To help establish a Peace Archive and Library.

HELP NEEDED
Local assistance or ideas would be most helpful, but we welcome enquiries from further afield, and particularly seek information on other peace studies programmes.

Worth reading on... THE MANAGED SOCIETY

The Media Monopoly by Ben H Bagdikian, Beacon Press 1983 $12.95. Bagdikian’s comprehensive critique of the US media is the fruit of a life’s work in and frustration with the American press. A telling indictment of how we get our information.

The Whole World is Watching by Todd Gitland, University of California Press 1977 $11.95. This is in a more academic vein but provides an excellent look at the political bias of TV.

The Fall of Public Man by Richard Sennett, Vintage Books 1974 $6.95 is a thoughtful book about the decline of active public participation in political life. Sennett is one of those rare thinkers who can draw on psychology, architecture, history and the arts - to enrich his work. Sometimes difficult, but always thought provoking.

Channels of Desire by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen, McGraw Hill 1981 $9.95 gives an interesting look at the way commercial culture diverts our needs in profitable directions.

Advertising as Communication by Gillian Dyer, Methuen 1982 $9.95 analyses the role of ads as a form of communication and control.

Labour and Monopoly Capital by Harry Braverman, Monthly Review Press 1977 $12.95. Braverman’s classic study of the ways in which managers have succeeded in gaining control over the workplace.

Big Brother is Listening by Duncan Campbell, New Statesman Report No. 2 £1.50. An incisive report on the use of phone taps as a tool of surveillance by the security arm of the British government Names people and places.

The Geopolitics of Information by Anthony Smith, Oxford University Press 1980 $10.95. A look at how the mind-management industries of’ the West dominate the rest of the world.