Guest speakers at tapeley park
A few details about some of the fantastic speakers we've had down here for our festivals and concerts to give you an idea of what you may encounter (if you’re lucky) should you decide to visit us at these ‘occasions’. Talks take place between 2 – 3pm on Saturday and Sunday on the dairy lawn where you can eat your food and drink some beer at the same time in a very relaxed environment, or if the weather is wet we move into the great barn.
In 2006 David Shayler came and spoke about how the (very obvious and deliberate) controlled demolition of the twin towers has helped to further the neo-liberal agenda of the neo conservatives which is why the world now sits precariously on the brink of catastrophe. David Shayler was the first MI5 “whistleblower” of note. ‘They’ have tried to kill him 3 times and he’s been locked in Belmarch prison and France in his efforts to expose the shady goings on of our establishment. This is in no way better born out than by the way the CIA were happy to sacrifice 3000 of their own people to enable them to steal the oil from Iraq (much of which is still un-metered ) and build a pipeline through Afghanistan.
In 2005 Michael Meacher MP, the ex-environment minister for 6 years, sacked when he began speaking too much of the truth about climate change ( tut tut we can’t have that can we, might upset BP, Exxon Mobil, Tesco and Sainsburys packaging industries, plus those other toxic manufacturers helping to ensure all summer arctic ice will be gone by 2040). He spoke about the dangers of nuclear plus its relatively astronomical high costs, even without the decommissioning cost nearing £30 per week for all us tax payers for a whole years. He also spoke about GM crops and the irreversible damage they will do if given the green light in 2009 – as is the wish of our lovely ‘democratic’ government.
In 2004 George Monbiot spoke at our concert to open our Save our World (SoW) charity where the Fine Young Cannibals were the headline band. He spoke about how the global monarchy, in the form of the worlds’ largest multinational businesses, are exploiting and destroying everybody and everything (including the planet) that gets in the way of their ruthless pursuit of ever bigger profits and growth. This in a world of rapidly dwindling raw materials and resources, rendering this whole ‘capitalist’ process unsustainable and ultimately, irreversibly destructive. George’s book ‘Heat – how to stop the planet burning’ is highly recommended.
Guy Taylor of Globalise Resistance comes to speak at at least 2 festivals each year. Guy organises the big demonstrations so important as a means to give us ordinary people a way to voice our will and show our discontent at the way our leaders carry out acts of privatisation, airport expansions and war in our name. I first met Guy during the 3 days of anarchy on the streets of Genoa at the G8 summit in 2001. Guy played a big part in helping the Stop the War Coalition mobilise 2 million people to March against the impending war in Iraq in February 2003, and is now very involved in the ‘SAY NO 2 ID’ campaign. To find out more about this and other such things, plus have your say if you would like, please come along. This section of the Health and Harmony is the most important for me. I always make sure there are one or two speakers (so folk don’t have to listen just to my ramblings). For example, we had the head of DEFRA’s sustainable micro-generation department last year, and Robert Vint of genetic food alert updating us on the latest contamination and health scares of GM crops, and what we can do to try to keep it out.
By Hector Christie