 October
12 - FORCES International with its
affiliates and supporters is proud to announce the celebration of the
fourth World Smokers' Day on October 12, 2004 – October 11th North
America. So far WSD has been dedicated to celebrating smokers,
smoking, and especially to promoting tolerance for peaceful lifestyle
choices. But, with the escalation of discrimination and
state-instigated hostility, the tone is changing towards the civil
right issue.
“The thrust of it is we fund all tobacco related money and we will
not be demeaned for doing so. We have heard from tobacco and
anti-tobacco. Now its time to hear from tobacco consumers”, says
Norman Kjono, US spokesperson of the organisation, and speaker at the
WSD convention in West Virginia on Oct. 11th.
From Italy Gian Turci, C.E.O. of the organisations, adds: “We see
health authorities promoting blatantly false representation of
evidence on smoking - especially passive smoke – to justify
hyper-taxation and veritable hate campaigns, while not even one death
or disease can be scientifically proven to be caused uniquely by
tobacco, nor it is possible to measure its contribution, if any. We
are facing a very serious institutional problem”.
“People need to be educated on the flimsiness of the statistics,
and on the powerful influence of pharmaceutical multinationals over
public health authorities”, concludes Wiel Maessen, president of
the Dutch chapter. “They have huge vested interests in financing
antismoking groups, as smokers represent a market of 1.5 billion
customers for their defective smoking cessation ‘therapies’. The
evidence of that influence and financing is vastly documented, but the
mass-media prefer to ignore it. Why?”
Other target groups, such as the obese, are now subject to
demonisation campaigns justified by the same questionable “science”
created for smoking. Public health policies featuring overt lifestyle
discrimination and repressive legislation started in the United States.
There, they have reached such a crescendo that smoking is now illegal
even out-of-doors in some areas, and smokers are routinely refused
employment. Globalisation of such policies means that smokers and
other target groups in other countries now face the same threat.
Five centuries ago Roderiguo de Jerez, a crew member from Christopher
Columbus's voyage to the New World was promptly arrested by the
Spanish Inquisition when he lit up a smoke in Europe. Today, smokers
have become outlaws again. But on October 11/12, the date Columbus's
expedition reached the New World, smokers are proud to become aware of
their power as a group, and to take back their dignity as free people
and taxpayers - and that's a healthy idea for everyone!
For further
information on various events and publication, please visit:
www.worldsmokersday.org |
>>>> Invia questa pagina a un amico
