jmm@bonnie.UUCP (Joe Mcghee) (01/09/85)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An organization known as Episcopal Clergy for South Africa (ECSA) recently received hundreds of pages of information on British-made plastic and rubber bullets and the grenade launchers which fire them after reports appeared in the press concerning the use of these weapons against striking mine workers in South Africa where a six-year-old child was recently killed by government forces. Rubber and plastic bullets are currently being manufactured by Brock's Explosives Limited of Sanquhar, Dumphrieshire, Scotland. Formerly, they were manufactured by Schermuly Limited, High Post, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Schermuly is currently selling the grenade launchers which fire these rounds as a marketing representative of the manufacturer, Webley and Scott Limited, Park Lane, Handsworth, Birmingham, England B21 8LU. Schermuly is a subsidiary of Wilkinson Sword Group in England and Allegheny International of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These weapons are the more recent versions of wooden bullets which were first used against anti-British protesters in Hong Kong. By its use of these weapons in Northern Ireland, Britain is currently defying the ban against rubber and plastic bullets which was recently passed for a second time in the European Parliament of the Common Market nations. The British government ruled out the use of these weapons against protesters in England after a top government minister stated "someone might be killed". bonnie!jmm J. M. McGhee
jca@abnji.UUCP (james armstrong) (01/09/85)
As well as manufacturing rubber/plastic bullets, Britain has a thriving business in the manufacturing and export of implements of torture. This is what Margaret Thatcher calls free enterprise. JCA -- She dreams of 1969 Before the soldiers came When life was cheap on bread and wine And sharing meant no shame She is awakened by the screams Of rockets fired from nearby Yet still she wakes into a dream To beat the fear that she might die.
edtking@uw-june (Ewan David Tempero) (01/10/85)
>As well as manufacturing rubber/plastic bullets, Britain has a thriving >business in the manufacturing and export of implements of torture. >This is what Margaret Thatcher calls free enterprise. >JCA Now your going to tell me that US has a lilly-white reputation in the arms business. Ewan Tempero "Oh no, not again" ...!uw-beaver!uw-june!edtking edtking@washington
alien@gcc-opus.ARPA (Alien Wells) (01/11/85)
>>As well as manufacturing rubber/plastic bullets, Britain has a thriving >>business in the manufacturing and export of implements of torture. >>This is what Margaret Thatcher calls free enterprise. >>JCA I just heard on the radio last night that the first case of an *unnatural* birth has occurred in England. It seems that a wife was infertile, so the sperm of her husband was used to fertilize the egg of a third party, with the baby slated for the couple. The fee was about $8K. It seems that British courts have taken a dim view of this. The baby has been impounded so the courts can decide who the baby will live with (there was no mention of any disagreement between the parties involved). I heard a quote from a British magistrate where he didn't complain about the process being done, but rather complained about it being done 'for profit'! It would seem that in England, morally questionable things should only be done by the government, not free enterprise ... Alien
gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg Kuperberg) (01/12/85)
> >As well as manufacturing rubber/plastic bullets, Britain has a thriving > >business in the manufacturing and export of implements of torture. > >This is what Margaret Thatcher calls free enterprise. > >JCA > > Now your going to tell me that US has a lilly-white reputation in the > arms business. > > Ewan Tempero "Oh no, not again" > ...!uw-beaver!uw-june!edtking > edtking@washington In absolute arms sales, the USSR has edged out the US in the 1980's, while France is a distant third. In arms sales as a proportion of GNP, the USSR is moderately ahead of France, and the US is a distant third. Thus, although we've placed a good bid, we haven't won the gold medal in arms sales. Sorry I can't give precise figures, but the statistics are from "The State of the World Atlas", by Micheal Kildron and some other guy (it's done by a British publishing company). --- Greg Kuperberg harvard!talcott!gjk "Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice." - Foghorn Leghorn