The Big Bad Dome
A case for non-violent direct action against the millenium exhibition.
Given £750 million, half of it public money to celebrate the future - what could you do? New Labour in partnership with the ousted Tory party and a handful of multinational companies have the answer: a large plastic dome at Greenwich, London - packed full of shops, shops, advertising corporate glitter, shops and all that is great about the future. Described by Labour's own advisers as "a crock of shit" - it has also been called, "a poisoned chalice" and "a sitting duck." Here a few more reasons why this dome must die
The Place: Greenwich, London (ie money going to the capital again and sod the rest of the country). The town is already plagued by traffic which will be increased by the 12 million people expected to visit every year. The site is toxic - an old gas works bought from British Gas but will not be cleaned up enough for housing on the site in future. The contaminated material removed from the site will be dumped in landfills in Basildon, Tilbury and Peterborough, (so the rest of the country gets something too - cyanide, arsenic, poisonous tar.) The development involves new road building and helps open up the East End's corridor - a development plan to extend the city onto sensitive Essex marshland.
The Materials: the dome will be built of PVC, steel and aluminium PVC, a source of dioxin, one of the deadliest and longest lasting toxic chemicals known. They will still be around when the next millenium comes around and are responsible for hormone disruption and cancer causing effects. It is currently intended to incinerate the dome after a few years which will release more dioxins.
The Personalities: designed by Lord Richard Rodgers - also responsible for Heathrow terminal 5, backed by Robert Ayling - chief executive of British Airways and chair of the 'New Millenium Experience Company', overseen by Peter Mandelson - New Labour spin doctor, Michael Heseltine - ex Tory scumbag, Jenny Page and Eric Sorenson - the government's best paid fatcats.
The Paymasters: £400 million lottery money - raised from a desperate public. The rest of the money is being solicited from: British Airways, British Airport Authorities, the City of London, Nat West, Barclays, Lloyds, Midlands, BP, GEC, M&S, BT, British Gas to name a few.
What's in it? Nobody knows. A spokesman said, "we see it as an opportunity to promote all that's good about UK plc." ( The question is, what's good? )
Work is happening on-site now.
The doom dome has to be built on very tight deadlines, imagine if they didn't get it finished on time!