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Peace Journalism Perspective

EDITORIAL

Ecology and Economics

As Prof. Noam Chomsky has pointed out, greed and lack of ethics are built into the structure of corporations. By law, the CEO of a corporation must be entirely motivated by the collective greed of the stockholders. He must maximize profits. If s/he abandons this single-minded chase after corporate profits for ethical reasons, or for the sake of humanity or the biosphere or the future, s/he must, BY LAW, be fired and replaced.

TRANSCEND VIDEOS

SPECIAL: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Own Words

MLK's speech about Viet Nam a year exactly before he got shot. Consider putting 36 minutes into absorbing this stunning piece of oratory. It's mixed with news images of the war in VN, archived by Democracy NOW!. An eye-opener. -- Eric Herter

FEATURED RESEARCH PAPER

Virtual Nonviolence? Civil Disobedience and Political Violence in the Information Age

Nonviolent civil disobedience is a vital and protected form of political communication in modern constitutional democracies. Reviews the idea of both demonstrating its continued relevance, and providing a basis for considering its uses as an information-age strategy of radical activism.

TMS PEACE JOURNALISM

Ending the Endless War

31 Mar 2021 - The refusal — the inability? — of most leaders at the national level to approach humanity’s biggest problems holistically, rather than simply blame them on “the other,” says to me it’s time to begin loosening the certainty that borders are real, that nation states are real. “We’ve defeated freedom’s enemies before, and we will defeat them again.” How could any sane human being imagine that actions built on this kind of thinking could solve, or heal, a complex issue?

What Went Right This Week: ‘Net-Zero’ Netflix, Hydrogen Jets and More Positive News

1 Apr 2021 - Netflix made an ambitious net-zero pledge, beavers returned to Wales and hydrogen planes were scheduled for takeoff, plus more.

Other Commentaries

TRANSCEND News

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TRANSCEND MEMBERS

Do We Really Want a Second Cold War?

31 Mar 2021 - The protection of human rights is being geopolitically manipulated to mobilize public support for an anti-Chinese foreign policy in the West that risks generating a dangerous geopolitical confrontation. Such a confrontation amounts to war-mongering and diverts U.S. attention from self-scrutiny and global peacebuilding. Whether a second cold war is already underway is a matter of interpretation.

The Assassination and Resurrection of Martin Luther King, Jr.

2 Apr 2021 - Very few Americans are aware of the truth behind the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the United States’ celebrated civil rights icon.  Few books have been written about it, unlike other significant assassinations, especially JFK’s. For more than fifty years there has been a media blackout supported by government disinformation to hide the truth. 

Bill Gates & His Fake Solutions to Climate Change

1 Apr 2021 - This latest report from Navdanya International details the reasons behind Bill and Melinda Gates’ attempts to focus the debate on miraculous technologies and their real interests. While Gates’ many investments are all seemingly justified by a noble humanitarian and environmental cause, the report shows that they actually allow him to impose his techno-solutionist strategies through direct influence over all types of protagonists. 

Listen to the Women

1 Apr 2021 - This month the women of the world give us reason to hope for the future. Around the world millions of women risked the Covid pandemic and took to the streets to demand radical change.

Comparable Dynamics of Point, Bullet, Ball and Globe

Cognitive Significance of Systemic Similarities Conventionally Obscured - The question here is whether the cognitive engagements with a point, a bullet, a ball and the globe have unexplored similarities. These may indeed be limited in many respects, but each may well function as a surrogate for the others in some contexts -- which then merit clarification.

Two Ambassadors to Syria with Wildly Different Analyses

30 Mar 2021 - Grayzone journalist Aaron Mate interviewed two former ambassadors to Syria: UK Peter Ford and U.S. Robert S. Ford. They have a common surname but dramatically different perspectives. The statements and viewpoints of the two diplomats are compared here.

Moving On and On

23 Mar 2021 - My family was forced out of a major town called Lahore that was transferred to the new nation Pakistan. My father taught in a college there, my mother was a teacher of a small school. Our family lost everything — home, occupation, dignity and moved to a small town in India without any guarantee of a stable future.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The World as It Is–And the World as It Could Be

It was the duty of philanthropic Europeans to bring civilization and Christianity to Africa and the Americas. The mood of Europe during this orgy of external cruelty and exploitation was self-congratulatory. Can we not see a parallel with the self-congratulatory mood of the North American people and their allies, who export violence, murder, torture and neocolonialism to the whole world by thinking themselves as “exceptional”? A New Freely Downloadable Book

COVID19 - CORONAVIRUS

Covid Update, Spring 2021

30 Mar 2021 - An update on virus origin, vaccines, early treatment, masks, long covid, and covid mortality.

World Coronavirus Map

Profile: How does Coronavirus/Covid19 rank among other illnesses? Is it the most lethal? Info, insights, numbers, statistics on health and causes of death. Updated Daily

Coronavirus Global Data: 131,9M Total; 106,2M Recovered; 2,8M Deceased; 370,3M Vaccinated

On 5 Apr 2021 12pm GMT: Total Vaccinated: 370,325,173 Total Cases: 131,993,089 Recovered: 106,297,908 Deaths: 2,867,681 Cases Closed: 109,165,589 Active: 22,827,500

DEBATING COVID-19

Urgent Open Letter from Doctors and Scientists to the European Medicines Agency Regarding COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Concerns

10 Mar 2021 - We note a wide range of side effects following vaccination of healthy younger individuals with the gene-based COVID-19 vaccines, as well as care homes being struck by COVID-19 within days of vaccination of residents. While these occurrences might have been unfortunate coincidences, we are concerned that there has been inadequate scrutiny of the causes of illness or death and especially so in the absence of post-mortems examinations.

Rebuttal Letter to European Medicines Agency from Doctors for Covid Ethics, April 1, 2021

1 Apr 2021 - Regrettably, your reply of March 23 is unconvincing and unacceptable. We are dismayed that you choose to respond to our request for crucially important information in a dismissive and unscientific manner. Such a cavalier approach to vaccine safety creates the unwelcome impression that the EMA is serving the interests of the very pharmaceutical companies whose products it is your pledged duty to evaluate.

Canada Does About Face on AstraZeneca Vaccine, Citing Blood Clot Concerns

After previously defending AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine, Canadian health officials on Monday [29 Mar] suspended its use in people 55 and under, pending outcome of a detailed risk-benefit analysis. “There is substantial uncertainty about the benefit given the potential risks,” said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.

COVID-19 Vaccines Likened to ‘Software Updates’ for Your Body

31 Mar 2021 - I've discussed why COVID-19 vaccines are in fact gene therapies and not vaccines in several previous articles. However, despite being a recognized form of gene therapy since its inception, vaccine makers are now frantically trying to deny that this mRNA technology is gene therapy because as long as they're considered "vaccines," they will be shielded from liability.

IN FOCUS

The Disarticulation of Pandemic War Propaganda

An investigative analysis takes apart a hackneyed piece of propaganda authored by an international alt-right clique with links to the Pentagon.

Google and the CI@: How Independent Are Multinational Giants?

28 Mar 2021 - How independent are the largest corporations in the world? It is often portrayed that companies such as Google are simply private corporations that have very few connections to the establishment. Yet, as It turns out, there are endless connections between many corporate giants and the military-intelligence complex.

ANGLO AMERICA

Americans Wake Up! Outlaw Technocrats Are Stealing Our Democracy

31 Mar 2021 - The pandemic is being used to shift wealth upwards, abolish civil rights and destroy democracy. Government technocrats, billionaire oligarchs, Big Pharma, Big Data, Big Media, the high-finance robber barons and the military industrial intelligence apparatus love pandemics for the same reasons they love wars and terrorist attacks. Catastrophic crises create opportunities of convenience to increase both power and wealth.

Is Traditional Liberalism Vanishing?

3 Apr 2021 - "Mighty Ira," a documentary about legendary former ACLU chief Ira Glasser, is simultaneously inspiring and unnerving.

ASIA--PACIFIC

Analysis–Burma/Myanmar Today

24 Mar 2021 - States do not go to war to save humans - only for oil, trade dispute, settling ethnic scores, boundary disputes. We have learned our bitter lessons. We have no interest in Peace Industry, or INGO business or research this or research that crowd. The beauty amidst all these ugly scenarios of Burma is at least the People woke up - that the Wretched of the Earth must band together for their own liberation. No free lunches in international politics. No Messiahs on the horizon.

Myanmar Military a ‘Terrorist Group’ That Should Face International Court, Advisory Council Says

29 Mar 2021 - The Myanmar military is a “terrorist group” that should be brought before the ICC and imposed a global sanctions regime, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar says. The council has called for a “three cuts” strategy to combat the Tatmadaw, as the military is known. First, the ICC. Second, an arms embargo. And third, financial sanctions against military officials and military-owned companies.

BALKANS & EASTERN EUROPE

Kosovo Becomes First Muslim Nation to Open Jerusalem Embassy

The Kosovar foreign ministry announced the move in a statement on Sunday [14 Mar 2021], six weeks after it established diplomatic ties with Israel on 1 Feb. It is the second European country and the fourth in the world to open an embassy in Jerusalem.

EUROPE

Collateral Crucifixion – Pressuring for Julian Assange’s Release!

2 Apr 2021 -The artist duo Captain Borderline has created on the theme of “Collateral Crucifixion” a huge, artistic mural on a complete house facade directly in front of the SPD headquarters, the Willy Brandt House. In conversation with the two artists, they explained to us the reason for creating the revolutionary, crucifix-like work of art.

The European Council against the Trade in Instruments of Torture

On 31 Mar the European Council adopted a recommendation, long solicited by Amnesty International and Omega Research Foundation, by which the 47 member states will effectively fight the trade in torture equipment. It provides a total ban to the trading of any instruments aimed to cause pain and requires stricter controls on the trade in police items potentially used to torture.

The “Defender-Europe”– US Army Arrives

1 Apr 2021 - Not everything in Europe is paralyzed by the anti-Covid lockdown: The mammoth annual exercise of the US Army, Defender-Europe, which mobilizes dozens of thousands of soldiers and tanks, has been set in motion. The Defender-Europe 21 not only resumes the 2020 program, but amplifies it.

Scots Become Automatic Organ Donors under New Law

26 Mar 2021 -From today, it is presumed that people have consented to donation unless they have stated otherwise. Everyone in Scotland is now an automatic organ donor.

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Despite U.S. Dirty Tricks, Bolivia Is Finding a Way to Stay Independent

29 Mar 2021 - Bolivia has decided to act against the coup makers. The U.S. government is now using that action to delegitimize the government of President Arce. Platforms such as TMS might turn out to be essential as a conduit for Bolivia to tell its story and not be suffocated by Washington’s information war, a vital part of the regime change strategy.

MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA

“Attempted Coup” in Jordan: Former Crown Prince Arrested

3 Apr 2021 - Jordan's former Crown prince Hamzah bin Hussein and 20 other prominent members of the ruling elite have been arrested in Amman today, for reportedly being involved in a coup attempt against king Abdullah II. Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, and Bassem Awadallah, who once ran the royal court are among the detainees.

MEDIA

Need a Quote from an Official Enemy Denouncing Democracy? Do like the New York Times and Make It Up

You know you’re in for a hard sell when the New York Times (29 Mar 2021) publishes an article under the headline “An Alliance of Autocracies? China Wants to Lead a New World Order.”

ANARCHISM

‘The Dispossessed’ Is Still One of Sci-Fi’s Smartest Books

2 Apr 2021 - Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1974 novel The Dispossessed depicts a society with no laws or government, an experiment in “nonviolent anarchism.” Science fiction author Matthew Kressel was impressed by the book’s thoughtful exploration of politics and economics.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Antiquities, Monuments, Statues, Heritage Sites and Colonial Legacy versus Divergent Cultures, Philosophies, Ethnic Nationalism and Religious Beliefs

1 Apr 2021 - A Global Dilemma between Preservation of the Past and the Destruction of Human History - The bottom line is that the oppressed must not transform themselves into the oppressors.  This philosophy was espoused by the first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela of South Africa in 1994, in a bloodless transformation of power from the previous oppressive white minority government.

SPIRITUALITY

Anubuddha Sutta – Understanding

The Blessed One said: "It's because of not understanding and not penetrating four things that we have wandered and transmigrated on such a long, long time, you and I. Which four?

POETRY FORMAT

Pity the Nation

From ‘The Garden of the Prophet’: Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion…

Pity the Nation (after Khalil Gibran)

An Ode to USA: Pity the nation whose people are sheep, and whose shepherds mislead them.

BIOGRAPHIES

Siddhartha Gautama–the Buddha’s Birthday: 8 April (563 – 483 BC)

8 Apr – Today is the anniversary of the Buddha’s birth—born Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, the fourth largest religion in the world.

On Anniversary of MLK’s Death, His Words Are ‘More Relevant’ than Ever, His Son Says

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Five decades later, his family says in a new video, he can help "guide humanity in the right direction."

Paul Robeson (9 Apr 1898 – 23 Jan 1976): Lessons from a Remarkable Life

Black Lawyer, Singer and Football Player, Paul Robeson's Extraordinary Life Holds Many Lessons for the Present Day

INSPIRATIONAL

Overcoming Hopelessness

Nicholas James Vujicic, 39 years old, is an Australian American Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of arms and legs. He has 4 children and is active since 2004. Prepare to cry…

ORIGINAL LANGUAGES

(Français) Écouter les Femmes

1 avril 2021 - Ce mois-ci les femmes du monde nous donnent des raisons d’espérer pour l’avenir. Partout dans le monde, des millions de femmes ont risqué la pandémie de Covid et sont descendues dans la rue pour exiger un changement radical.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

—"Letter From Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963 -- Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American, Baptist minister, and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 in the USA.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Another Mecha Suit Massacre — The Right to Bear Laser-Blasting Arms

Don’t tread on me, unless you’re in a mecha suit.

SHORT VIDEO CLIPS

I Feel Love (Music Video of the Week)

‘The Queen of Disco’ 1977 Classic Hit

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Socialist!

Perhaps...