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  • (Italiano) ‘India invisibile’: un mondo da conoscere!
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  • (Français) Gaza a fait son choix: toujours elle résistera!
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Peace Journalism Perspective

EDITORIAL

Apocalypse!

In the original, secular sense of the word, ‘apocalypse’ means ‘revelation’ – something which was previously unknown becomes known. When Archimedes discovered a certain law of Physics in his bathtub and jumped out shouting ‘Eureka!’ he experienced an ‘apocalypse’. Due to the influence of scriptures, however, it has also come to mean ‘widespread destruction or disaster’, or even ‘end time’ – although this latter meaning has no relationship to the original meaning of the word in Greek.

TRANSCEND VIDEOS

A World without Walls

Berlin, Nov 2010 – International Conference on Peacebuilding, Reconciliation and Globalization in an Interdependent World

FEATURED RESEARCH PAPER

No Direction Home: The Journey of Frantz Fanon

Winter 2019 - Reading Fanon, one sometimes has the impression that mere expository prose cannot do justice to the impulsive movement of his thought. I use the word “movement” advisedly: Fanon did not write his texts; he dictated them while pacing back and forth, either to his wife, Josie, or to his secretary, Marie-Jeanne Manuellan (who has just published a memoir about the experience). This method of composition lends his writings an electrifying musicality: restless, searching, and, as he fell prey to the leukemia that would kill him, otherworldly in its call for a new planetary order, cleansed of racism and oppression.

TMS PEACE JOURNALISM

The Cocoyoc Declaration

October 8-12, 1974 a symposium on “Patterns of Resource Use, Environment and Development Strategies” was convened in Cocoyoc, Mexico by the directors of UN Environment Programme and the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The Rapporteurs were Barbara Ward and Johan Galtung. The Cocoyoc Declaration is reproduced below, with certain sadness: it is as valid today, more than 40 years later. The two directors received a three-feet-long cable, from the US State Department, rejecting the declaration entirely. Signed by Henry Kissinger.

Other Commentaries

TRANSCEND News

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Dear Friend, when people in power promote war and violence, it's the Media's duty to question, resist, confront. TRANSCEND Media Service gives voice to those of us calling for peace, resisting war and demanding accountability.  I'm turning to you to help this coverage continue. If you haven't had a chance to donate to TMS, consider doing it now. Any amount makes a difference to keep up our Peace Journalism mission. Thank you for responding!

NONVIOLENCE

The Problem Is Civil Obedience

I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power, that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require small reform but to require a drastic reallocation of wealth. I start from the supposition that we don't have to say too much about this because all we have to do is think about the state of the world today and realize that things are all upside down.

The ‘3.5% Rule’: How a Small Minority Can Change the World

14 May 2019 - Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.

BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS

Targeting Iran

18 May 2019 - How and why Saudi and Israeli elite interests and ambitions are intertwined in the US push against Iran is not highlighted in the media; only a small fraction of the public understands the escalation of tensions in West Asia. It is largely because the media conceals and camouflages the truth. Or as Malcolm X once put it, “If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

Escaping Extinction through Paradigm Shift

10 May 2019 - The driving motor of this destruction is the ‘endless growth’ paradigm of our current global economy, a paradigm that has seen human populations and cities grow exponentially across the world, in turn driving the exponential growth in consumption of resources, raw materials, food and energy. That accelerating expansion of industrial civilization-as-we-know-it has ravaged natural ecosystems, leading to the decline of numerous species that are critical for the continued healthy functioning of natural services providing food, pollination and clean water that are essential to sustain our own civilization.

Long Life to Their Majesties, the Bees!

20 May 2019 - Amazingly organised social communities, bees ensure food chain. ‘Bee’ grateful to them… at least in their World Day! And always remember that they are working to ensure your food, your health and, by the way, alleviate the huge suffering that homo sapiens is causing to Mother Nature!

Patterning Intuition with the Fifth Discipline

Critical Review of the Conclusion of the 5-Fold Patterning Instinct - Review of the concluding section of The Patterning Instinct: a cultural history of man's search for meaning (2017) by Jeremy Lent.

Stop a U.S. War on Iran!

“Iran and Venezuela are both in the gun sights of U.S. imperialism. Sound the alarm and take action to stop these reckless and disastrous wars before they begin. Military personnel should prepare to refuse illegal orders to commit aggression against nations that are no threat to the U.S.” -- Gerry Condon, President, US Veterans for Peace

Attacking Iran Would Mean Global Disaster

15 May 2019 - Why criminal? Because such violence would violate both the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Principles. There is no hope at all for the future unless we work for a peaceful world, governed by international law, rather than a fearful world where brutal power holds sway.

The Message of Ramadan

15 May 2019 - This is the holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the most sacred month in Islamic culture. It is in this month that Muslims, about one fifth of the world’s population, undergo a rigorous fast (not even a drop of water or spittle passes their throats).

Vandana Shiva Talks Poison Cartel, Farmers’ Rights and Ecofeminism

3 May 2019 - Dr. Vandana Shiva, 66, the high-profile organic agriculture and environmental activist and author from Delhi, India, has received many awards and accolades over decades of advocacy work spanning organic agriculture, biodiversity, climate change and social justice. Shiva talks about bio-imperialism, the power of women, and bad curry.

Venezuela: Amnesty International in Service of Empire

18 May 2019 - AI fails to put its claims against the Maduro government in the context of a concerted regime-change campaign. The US is waging an illegal war against Venezuela and AI’s broadside leaves out this inconvenient fact, even omitting any mention of sanctions. This is not the first time AI has shown an imperial bias as it has regarding US-backed regime-change projects in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Nicaragua.

Moon Landings: Magnificent and Deviously Contrived Propaganda

13 May 2019 - The lunar surface is an extraordinarily hazardous environment. Temperatures fluctuate widely from above boiling point to far below freezing. Radiation abounds. Micrometeorites pummel the terrain ubiquitously. The vacuum of space would suck the life out of an insufficiently insulated liquid – or human being. Watching the Apollo astronauts frolic and cavort on this forbidding surface one would think they hadn't a care in the world. They played golf. They used the Lunar Rover as a hot rod, and they hopped, skipped and jumped around.

Indian Philosophy of Vedantic Advaita: Concepts of Peace, Equality, Duty, Harmony, Freedom

The well-known Indian epic Bhagwad Gita tells us not to covet material objects, not to be attached to the material wealth. All of us require material goods but we should not over emphasize this aspect. Gandhi reiterated this maxim in his commentary on Gita that he called anasakti yoga (Yoga of non-attachment). The fundamental theme of this epic is that people should overcome a tendency to be attracted to the material world.

How Russiagate Replaced Analysis of the 2016 Election

18 May 2019 - An honest and accurate analysis of the 2016 election is very relevant to the current election campaign. Yet over the past two years, Russiagate has dominated media and political debate and largely replaced a serious analysis of the factors leading to Trump's victory… Blaming an outside power is a good way to prevent self analysis and positive change. It's gone on far too long.

Futilely Trying to Expose Big Pharma’s Vaccine Cartel with Facts

14 May 2019 - Explaining, with easy-to-understand charts, why Autism Spectrum Disorders could soon reach an incidence of 50% among fully-vaccinated children in America (and some of the other half of the over-vaccinated children). They are at risk of developing the already escalating vaccine-induced disorders such as Autoimmune Disorders, Asthma, Allergies, the ASIA Syndrome, Macrophagic Myofasciitis and Type I Diabetes Mellitus.

ANALYSIS

What Lies Behind the Race toward War with Iran?

12 May 2019 - Assuming control of the energy sources of the Gulf, “decisions on the Gross National Product of China will be made in Washington.” This is the key to understanding what is otherwise the current and seemingly meaningless conflict with Iran: Iran is the missing pillar in an American policy of imperium in imperio toward China. One way or another – threat, surrender, regime change or war – Trump believes that Iran must be brought into line.

ANGLO AMERICA

U.S. Special Forces School Publishes New Guide for Overthrowing Foreign Governments

8 May 2019 - The 250-page study, "Support to Resistance: Strategic Purpose and Effectiveness," was published earlier this week by the official Joint Special Operations University. Its findings present a comprehensive look at how the U.S. has supported efforts to pressure, undermine and overthrow foreign governments, hoping to provide insight on how best to approach such efforts in the present and future.

Neo-Cons: Origin of the Species

18 May 2019 - Before embarking on an etymological exploration, a few prefatory remarks are in order. One, neo-conservativism is as much a state of feeling as it is a state-of-mind. Two, such logical thinking as occurs among its devotees is deductive – downplaying empirical data and encouraging ad hominem conclusions and pronouncements. Finally, it is a highly adulterated species of doctrine. It has interbred with several other intellectual and ideological entities to produce a hybrid.

MEDIA

Four Simple Steps the U.S. Media Could Take to Prevent a Trump War with Iran

17 May 2019 - Here we go again. Sixteen years after the U.S. media helped the Bush administration spread lies about the threat by Iraq, the Trump administration is spreading similar myths about the threat posed by Iran. The 64,000-rial question is whether or not journalists have learned any lessons whatsoever from the Iraqi WMD debacle of 2003.

ASIA-UPDATES ON MYANMAR ROHINGYA GENOCIDE

Rohingya refugees and supporters endorse UN’s call for withdrawal of financial support to Myanmar

15 May 2019 - Rohingya refugees and international supporters welcome and endorse UN Fact-Finding Mission’s timely call for withdrawal of financial and other support to Myanmar.

Myanmar: Conflict Resolution at ‘Total Standstill’, Military Commanders Must Answer for Crimes against Humanity

14 May 2019 - Myanmar’s military commanders must answer charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in a credible court, a United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) said today, urging the international community to cut off all financial and other support to them.

Registration Gives Many Rohingya Refugees Identification for the First Time

17 May 2019 - More than 270,000 stateless refugees from Myanmar provided with identity cards in an ongoing registration drive.

When Identity Documents and Registration Produce Exclusion: Lessons from Rohingya Experiences in Myanmar

10 May 2019 - State practices relating to registration and documentation since 1978 have played a significant part in multiple mass state-directed expulsions to Bangladesh . Such practices include the confiscation, destruction, nullification and targeted non-issuance of identity documents. Registration processes have become increasingly repressive, coercive and abusive since the mid-1990s, making survival for Rohingya in Myanmar more and more difficult. This bureaucratic cleansing has produced a steady stream of people out of the country since the 1990s.

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

The Plot to Kill Venezuela

13 May 2019 - Weisbrot and Sachs say that these illegal sanctions “fit the definition of collective punishment,” as laid out in the Hague Convention (1899) and in the Geneva Convention (1949). Tens of thousands of Venezuelans are dead. Tens of thousands more are under threat of death. Yet, no one has stood up against the grave breach of the convention in terms of collective punishment. There is not a whiff of interest in the UN Secretary General’s office to open a tribunal on the accusations of collective punishment against Venezuela.

PALESTINE - ISRAEL

71 Years of Nakba: Palestinians Continue to Suffer ‘The Catastrophe’

15 May 2019 - Nakba or catastrophe is not just an event of history but an "ongoing process aimed at the erasure of Palestinian memory and history."

REVIEWS

Required Reading on Palestine

Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel, by Andrew Ross, Verso; 2019 - Andrew: “… it would be no exaggeration to say that the ‘stone men’ of Palestine have built every state in the region except their own.” My final assessment: no matter how much you think you know about Palestine, you do not know enough until you have read this book.

Answering the Mysterious Call of an Artist’s Spiritual Vocation

What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance, by Carolyn Forché - If you are like me, you will be inspired by what the poet Char called “wisdom with tear-filled eyes.” This book is just that. It is a call to Americans to face the truth and resist.

ENVIRONMENT

Remote Island Chain Has Few People — But Hundreds of Millions of Pieces of Plastic

16 May 2019 - When a marine biologist from Australia traveled to a remote string of islands in the Indian Ocean to see how much plastic waste had washed up on the beaches, here's just part of what she found: "373,000 toothbrushes and around 975,000 shoes, largely flip-flops. And that's only what was on the surface.

ORGANIC, GMO, GENETIC ENGINEERING

Monsanto Must Pay Couple $2bn in Largest Verdict Yet Over Cancer Claims

13 May 2019 - A California jury has ordered Monsanto to pay more than $2bn to a couple that got cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, after using its weedkiller, marking the third and largest verdict against the company over Roundup.

HEALTH

UN Health Agency Highlights Lifestyle Choices That Can Prevent Onset of Dementia, as Millions More Succumb Each Year

14 May 2019 -Key lifestyle choices such as getting regular exercise, not smoking or drinking too much, can reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, the UN health agency said today. Today, around 50 million people globally suffer from dementia and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year.

ANIMAL RIGHTS - VEGETARIANISM

Testing the Line: As Animal Rights Activists Push Legal Boundaries, Canada Considers What Makes a Terrorist

12 May 2019 - Industry representatives in Canada have pointed to special penalties in the U.S. for those who trespass or capture footage on animal agriculture properties.

CAPITALISM

Capitalist Art and Hollywood Superheroes

Ever walked out of a cinema wondering what just happened, both in the movie and to your brain cells? What happened to film, and art and other things capitalism likes to devour.

INSPIRATIONAL

The Art of Being Alone: May Sarton’s Stunning 1938 Ode to Solitude

“There is no place more intimate than the spirit alone.”

BIOGRAPHIES

Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1803 – 27 Apr 1882)

Emerson had become quite famous, a major figure in the American literary landscape, a celebrity which brought both adulation and satire. He had been a profound inspiration for many writers, especially Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman.

POETRY FORMAT

On My 88thBirthday: A Reflection

Poem at Springtime

Man and Praying Woman

The white clay clumped and, Hardening, needed to be worked Quickly

IN ORIGINAL LANGUAGES

(Français) “Notre problème, c’est l’obéissance civile”, par Howard Zinn

1 May 2019 - “Le problème n’est pas la désobéissance civile. Notre problème, c’est l’obéissance civile.”

(Castellano) Cuba regala al mundo la vacuna contra el Cáncer de Pulmón

21 marzo 2019 - Luego de 25 años de estudio y de ensayos clínicos se ha demostrado la seguridad y efectividad de la vacuna contra el cáncer de pulmón el Centro de Inmunología Molecular de Cuba desarrolló.

(Français) Gaza a fait son choix: toujours elle résistera!

7 Mai 2019 - Nous avions déjà passé des nuits blanches sous les bombardements israéliens – en 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 et 2018. Samedi [4 Mai], le régime israélien d’apartheid a décidé de lancer une nouvelle campagne meurtrière de bombardement contre l’une des régions les plus densément peuplées de la planète. Encore une fois, les victimes étaient des enfants et des femmes.

(Português) Holocausto: Galinhas lutam para andar, respirar e recorrem ao canibalismo em fazendas de criação

Presas em ambientes insalubres, sujos e superlotados, as aves mal conseguem sustentar o peso do próprio corpo, caindo umas sobre as outras, enquanto as que morrem são deixadas junto com as demais. Imagens angustiantes divulgadas na segunda feira 13 de maio de 2019 em fazendas de criação fornecedoras de grandes mercados.

(Italiano) ‘India invisibile’: un mondo da conoscere!

14 Maggio 2019 - Dell’India non si parla molto. Pochi sono al corrente del fatto che in questo periodo sono in corso le elezioni: si stanno esprimendo 900 milioni di elettori, che si stanno recando alle urne a scaglioni, in sei date, dall’11 aprile al 19 maggio. Lo spoglio avverrà il 23 maggio.

IN-DEPTH VIDEOS

Julian Assange: The 2011 60 Minutes Interview

1 May 2019 - It’s only recently re-emerged on the Internet, but a lengthy 2011 interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is worth watching if you’re trying to filter through the propaganda maze that now follows the Australian publisher everywhere he goes. Or doesn’t go, more to the point.

SHORT VIDEO CLIPS

American Empire Defined

Informative, educational

Animal Matters: Episode 3

What Are the Philosophical Premises for Why Animal Life Has No Value or Is of Less Worth?

Kaulana Na Pua – (Hawai’ian Music Video of the Week)

KULEANA – Written by Ellen Keho’ohiwoakalani Wright Pendergast in 1893. This was a mele of opposition to the annexation of Hawai’i to the United States. Originally this mele was titled Mele ‘Ai Pōhaku (The Stone Eating Song) and was also known as Mele Aloha ‘Āina.

EDITORIAL CARTOON / SATIRE

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: Then and Now

For the record...

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Buddhist Hotdog

Say, what?