_______________________
news from
the cockburn project
at
www.cockburnproject.net
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3 October 2002
Greetings:
Lots of little 'bits and pieces' to report so I'll get right to it!
Rounder has announced that the re-issues of Bruce's older works has
been postponed until November 12th. They do have information about
the re-issues at: www.rounder.com. They currently have pre-orders
available on:
In the Falling Dark -2002(ROUN3206)
Further Adventures Of -2002(ROUN3208)
Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws -2002(ROUN3209)
Inner City Front -2002(ROUN3211)
The Trouble with Normal -2002(ROUN3212)
Live -2002(ROUN3216)
And you can still order:
Anything Anytime Anywhere (Singles 1979-2002) -2002(ROUN3180)
November will be an interesting month, especially for those of you
north of the US border as the Spirit Concert will be broadcast on CBC
on November 14th. Check out: The Spirit Concert: A benefit concert
for the Bill Reid Foundation at http://www.cockburnproject.net in
the 'News Archives" for details and our "Setlists" section for more
information on the concert.
For musicians interested in tabulature amazon.com has the Anything
Anytime Anywhere Songbook available at:
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0757991556/702-6997521-6896019
It has been reported that Bruce edited the transcriptions.
Editor Audrey Pearson reports that you can stream Bruce into your
home at:
http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/stories/s641277.htm
in an interview on ABC Melbourne from down under done in June, 2002.
It's 28 minutes long and there just for the asking.
And, on a little less 'light' note, Bruce has taken a stand on the
prospective war with Iraq (shouldn't we all?) and signed onto the
petition mentioned in the article below. There are many people,
famous and not-so-famous who do not want to see us all catapulted
into international war at this point in time.
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id={A3BBC231-39F1-49D9-
B633-D70E5A462331}
War on Iraq would be 'immoral': celebrities
Atwood, Berton, Suzuki sign petition
Susanne Hiller
National Post, with files from the Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, September 26, 2002
A host of Canadian celebrities, including cultural icons Margaret
Atwood, Pierre Berton, David Suzuki and Bruce Cockburn, say a war on
Iraq would be "immoral" and would endanger the whole world.
Killing thousands of Iraqi civilians was also compared with the
killing of Americans on Sept. 11 at the news conference yesterday at
which celebrities issued a statement calling on the public to help
avert a war.
The statement was signed by a group of 120 Canadians that includes
prominent writers, artists, musicians, labour leaders, politicians,
clergy, academics and environmentalists.
"The way to deal with Saddam Hussein is not by killing thousands of
Iraqi civilians, any more than the way to deal with American foreign
policy was by killing thousands of American civilians on September
11th," said Michael Mandel, an Osgoode Hall law professor.
Prof. Mandel, concert pianist Anton Kuerti and author Linda McQuaig
were at the Toronto conference yesterday to launch the statement,
called "Time to Move Beyond War," which will be distributed to all
Members of Parliament.
"Invading Iraq has nothing to do with helping the people of Iraq, who
have suffered horribly under sanctions and everything to do with
maintaining George Bush's popularity," Ms. McQuaig said.
"We, the undersigned," the statement begins, "are deeply alarmed that
the most powerful nations in the world continue to rely on military
force to achieve their global political and economic goals while
eroding the standard of living, environment and the security of
people throughout the world.
"We are united in the belief that a military attack in Iraq at this
juncture would be profoundly immoral and would almost certainly
result in destabilizing repercussions that would endanger the whole
world."
The statement says there has been no connection established between
Iraq and the terrorist attacks on the United States, nor is there
proof that Iraq is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
"The world cannot be made safe from weapons of mass destruction by
countries that possess vast arsenals of such weaponry, bombing other
nations for allegedly pursuing the same weaponry.
"Global peace and security can only be achieved by entering into
negotiated and verifiable agreements to rid the world of all weapons
of mass destruction.
"Bombing sites that could contain nuclear, chemical or biological
weapons should be unthinkable, as it would hold the potential for a
global human and environmental catastrophe.
"We urge the Canadian government and the people of Canada to do
everything in their power to oppose military action against Iraq and
to seek peaceful means to resolve outstanding issues."
In an interview later, Mr. Kuerti said there is no concrete evidence
that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. "If Iraq's technology is
really advanced enough to pose an unacceptable threat to the world,
why have they been unable to shoot down or damage even one of the
hundreds of aircraft that bomb Iraqi soil regularly?" he asked.
"In fact, Iraq is a grievously wounded country, its infrastructure in
shambles, its children dying of starvation caused by the UN
sanctions, and it has neither a motive nor the capability to harm the
U.S. Perhaps if Iraq had bombed the U.S. 37 times, Bush's case
for 'regime change' would be slightly more plausible."
The statement alleges that 1.5 million Iraqis have died because of
food and medicine shortages caused by economic sanctions imposed on
Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.
Jillian Skeet, the project co-ordinator, said the group's purpose is
to inform people of the "human catastrophe" in Iraq. "We hope to
shift the focus of the debate and to ensure people are talking about
the people in Iraq not just Saddam Hussein," Ms. Skeet said from
Vancouver.
"If they were fully aware of what is going on, they would not
encourage war and organize a humanitarian relief effort."
The news conference was held a day after Bill Graham, the Foreign
Affairs Minister, said Canada would support the U.S position that
military action should follow if Saddam tries to hamper UN inspectors
looking for weapons of mass destruction.
shiller@...
Peace,
Suzanne Myers
editor@...