Articles by TerraViva Europe
We found 77 results.
Europe on the Edge of the Abyss
Mario Soares – TerraViva Europe,
3 Jun 2013
In this column, Mário Soares, former president and prime minister of Portugal, writes that the economic policies being enforced in the so-called “periphery” of the eurozone threaten to destablise the entire Union. Fuelled by a neoliberal ideology that puts usurious markets before citizens, the austerity regime could result in a regression of civilization.
→ read full articleSpain Leads EU in GM Crops, but No One Knows Where They Are
Inés Benítez – TerraViva Europe,
1 Apr 2013
Spain accounts for 42 percent of all field trials of genetically modified crops in the EU, according to the European Commission Joint Research Centre. “Experimentation is being carried out on a wide scale with no knowledge of its consequences for human health, the environment and the future of agriculture.”
→ read full articleLatin America Flexes Muscles at Joint EU Summit
Marianela Jarroud – TerraViva Europe,
4 Feb 2013
The nations of Latin America and the Caribbean strengthened their position with respect to Europe at the CELAC-EU summit held this weekend [Jan 26-27, 2013] in the Chilean capital, reaching agreements that protect their natural resources from foreign investors and securing a joint condemnation of the United States’ trade embargo against Cuba.
→ read full articleCooperatives as Business Models of the Future
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
3 Dec 2012
26 Nov 2012 – When the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) concluded last week, some of the overwhelming success stories highlighted at a two-day interactive session came both from developing and developed countries, including India, Brazil, China, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Italy, France and the United States.
→ read full articleMost EU Nuclear Power Plants ‘Unsafe’
Julio Godoy – TerraViva Europe,
22 Oct 2012
The so-called ‘stress tests’ on nuclear power plants in the European Union (EU) have confirmed environmental and energy activists’ worst fears: most European nuclear facilities do not meet minimum security standards.
→ read full articleGreek State on Life Support
Apostolis Fotiadis – TerraViva Europe,
15 Oct 2012
Like a person on life support whose vital functions are failing, the Greek economy is slowly but surely shutting down as radiation from the so-called ‘austerity plan’ erodes public institutions. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived here on Tuesday [9 Oct 2012] morning for an economic assessment of the debt-ravaged country, she did not see the things that, for thousands, have become commonplace: cancer patients dying outside clinics, unable to access the treatment they need, or kindergartens turning students away due to overcapacity.
→ read full articleCo-ops Offer Ray of Hope for Youth Facing Bleak Job Market
Beatrice Paez – TerraViva Europe,
15 Oct 2012
Youth worldwide are facing limited job prospects in the traditional channels of employment, and in the midst of the job crunch, cooperatives are seeking ways to connect with this untapped pool of talent. It begins with reserving a seat for young, future cooperative leaders this Oct. 8 to 12 [2012] at the International Summit of Cooperatives in Quebec City. About 150 youth from across the globe have been invited to represent their respective cooperative organisations.
→ read full articleAlternative to WikiLeaks Arises in Iceland
Lowana Veal – TerraViva Europe,
1 Oct 2012
With the imprisonment of Bradley Manning and detainment of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks is effectively on hold. But that does not mean that leaks and whistleblowing activities have stopped. GlobaLeaks lists a large number of leak sites, which are active to different degrees. Soon The Associated Whistleblowing Press (AWP) will be added to the list.
→ read full articleIvorians Deal with European Stink
Robbie Corey-Boulet – TerraViva Europe,
1 Oct 2012
Nouma Camara, a 40-year-old tailor, remembers waking up on Aug. 20, 2006 to a smell he described as “something catastrophic.” His home in Akouedo village, in Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital city of Abidjan, lies adjacent to a large, open-air dumpsite where toxic waste had been dumped the night before. On Tuesday Sep. 25 [2012], Amnesty International and Greenpeace International released the results of a three-year joint investigation that attempts to tell the whole story of the scandal.
→ read full articleAIDS Spreading Fast across East Europe
Pavol Stracansky – TerraViva Europe,
10 Sep 2012
Despite pledges from governments across Eastern Europe and Central Asia to fight HIV/AIDS the region has the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic. Punitive drug policies, discrimination and problems with access to medicines and important therapy are all driving an epidemic which is unlikely to be contained, world experts say, until governments in countries with the worst problems change key policies and approaches to the disease.
→ read full articleHow a Gay Rights Maverick Helped Topple Iceland’s Gov’t
Lawrence Del Gigante – TerraViva Europe-IPS,
13 Aug 2012
By the time the political climate in Iceland was ripe for the Cutlery Revolution, Hörður Torfason was already well practiced at stirring things up. “I’ve been doing this all my life,” he told IPS in an interview. In 1975, Torfason stepped forward as the first openly gay man in Iceland, to much public discontent. After escaping an attempt on his life, Torfason moved to Copenhagen where he lived in exile for many years. However, he continued to fight for gay rights from abroad using his art to spread the message.
→ read full articleThematic Social Forum: Working Towards a Never-Ending Democracy
Antonio Martins – TerraViva Europe,
30 Jan 2012
For five centuries, Europe has taken it upon itself to enlighten the world, teaching it ways to address and overcome crises, from ideas and wars to missionary work and genocides. But it forgot it only held a part of the world’s knowledge and now it is on the verge of the abyss, and it is time for a different approach.
→ read full articleEconomy: Argentina Shows World How to Beat the Crisis
Marcela Valente – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
What is happening in the European Union and the United States today happened a decade ago in Argentina, when it was a hotbed of protest and the streets of major cities were seething with people telling their leaders they had had enough. And then a new story began to be written.
→ read full articleSecurity Council Remains Grounded by Political Manipulation
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
When Security Council resolution 1973 approved a “no-fly zone” inside Libya last March, it was meant to neutralise the Libyan air force and prevent it from bombing civilian demonstrators. Accusing the military forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) of exceeding their authority, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that in the good old days, “no-fly zone meant nobody is flying. In the brave new world, no fly zone means free-wheeling bombing of targets which you choose to bomb in whatever modality and mode you want, including the bombing of TV stations,” he said. “It is of grave concern to us to see the enormous ability of some of our colleagues to interpret resolutions” to suit their own interests, he added.
→ read full articlePortugal: All-Out Privatisation Gets Underway
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
The most far-reaching programme of privatisation of state enterprises in the history of Portugal kicked off Thursday [22 Dec 2011] with the sale of almost all of the state’s shares in the Energias de Portugal (EDP) utility to China’s Three Gorges Corp. The privatisation of public enterprises is one of the conditions Portugal agreed to under the 110 billion dollar bailout agreed in May.
→ read full articleCollateral Damage From Fukushima Hits Europe
Julio Godoy – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
Several leading European electricity providers and nuclear power plant constructors now count as part of the collateral damage caused by the tsunami that destroyed the Japanese nuclear power plant of Fukushima last March.
→ read full articleFighting Settlers’ Impunity and Immunity
Pierre Klochendler – TerraViva Europe,
19 Dec 2011
“Price tag” attacks are perpetrated by revengeful settlers against innocent Palestinians and their property. It involves not only the defacing and torching of mosques, prayer books, cars, but also the uprooting of olive trees, the destruction of crops. Recently, settlers have also vented their rage at soldiers, military bases and equipment.
→ read full articleHungary: ‘Unorthodoxy’ Fails, IMF Returns
Zoltan Dujisin – TerraViva Europe,
12 Dec 2011
A year after slamming the door on the International Monetary Fund and announcing that a small country like Hungary could pursue an independent economic policy, conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been forced to kneel to the IMF and ask for help. Was there ever an alternative?
→ read full articleDeveloping Nations Lose Billions to Multinational Tax Dodging
Daan Bauwens – TerraViva Europe,
5 Dec 2011
Not corruption but multinational tax dodging is the main reason why developing nations stay aid-dependent, says a new report. The European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) gives a detailed overview of the many ways in which multinational companies avoid paying taxes to the countries where they operate, while it urges the EU to crack down on multinational tax dodging. “It is estimated that more than a trillion dollars per year is flying out of developing countries,” Marta Ruiz, senior policy and advocacy officer at Eurodad and co-writer of the report, tells IPS.
→ read full articleRadical Change Needed at Durban Conference, Experts Say
Stephen Leahy – TerraViva Europe,
28 Nov 2011
Global leaders gather in Durban, South Africa [from Nov 28 to Dec 9, 2011] to determine how to cap global warming at two degrees Celsius. After 17 years of negotiations, the 193 nations in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) charged with developing a strategy have failed to curb the growth of carbon emissions. No one thinks that situation will change anytime soon. Radical changes needed:
→ read full articleLong Overlooked, Cooperatives Get Their Due at United Nations
Elizabeth Whitman – TerraViva Europe,
7 Nov 2011
Hailed as economically viable and socially responsible, cooperatives have over one billion members worldwide and can be found in sectors ranging from agriculture to finance to health. Yet for an economic model deemed so vastly beneficial, cooperatives have received surprisingly little attention from both the media and governments, experts agree. By dubbing 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC), launched today [31 Oct 2011] in New York, the United Nations is attempting to reverse this trend and instead shine a global spotlight on cooperatives.
→ read full articleEmerging Markets Hit Economic Stage like a Tonne of BRICS
Kanya D'Almeida – TerraViva Europe,
3 Oct 2011
Headlines this week have been saturated with protests against unaffordable food, unfair taxes and unsustainable austerity measures, with one distinct difference setting these stories apart from countless others in recent history. The people demanding reform are no longer marginalised Asians, Africans and Latin Americans, but poor, working class Europeans. The BRICS possess a combined 4.3 trillion dollars in hard cash reserves, with China holding three-quarters of the kitty, much of it in Euros.
→ read full articleUN: Despite Western Boycott, Racism Meeting Gets Overwhelming Support
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
26 Sep 2011
A “boycott” by more than a dozen Western nations, including the United States, Germany, Canada and Israel, failed to derail a high-level meeting on racism and xenophobia hosted by the 193-member General Assembly.
→ read full articleDespite Exploding Volcanoes, Iceland World’s Most Peaceful Nation
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
12 Sep 2011
When Johanna Sigurdardottir was sworn in as Iceland’s head of government back in February 2009, she was described as the world’s first openly gay prime minister. But in a country with progressive political views and liberal social mores, her sexual orientation was never considered a liability.
→ read full articleDutch Court Opens Door to Legal Accountability for Peacekeepers
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
15 Aug 2011
A landmark ruling by a Dutch court last month holding the Netherlands government liable for the failings of its soldiers on a U.N. peacekeeping mission may be used as a precedent for criminal liability involving sexual violence, according to human rights groups. “The decision of the Dutch court is significant for two reasons,” said Marek Marczynski, international justice expert at Amnesty International.
→ read full articlePortugal: Food Aid for “New Poor”, Extra Wealth for Nouveau Riche
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
8 Aug 2011
And while vendors of luxury vehicles worry that they cannot fill their customer’ orders as quickly as they would like, the Food Bank against Hunger is facing a similar problem: it cannot keep up with the demand from the hungry knocking at the door. Up until 2009, the food bank only served the poorest families. But now middle class families, swallowing their pride, are coming forward to ask for food, medical assistance and spiritual support.
→ read full articleWashington Urged to Recognise Brazil as Global Power
Jim Lobe – TerraViva Europe,
18 Jul 2011
The United States should recognise Brazil as a global power and treat it accordingly, concluded a major new report issued by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) here this week [15 Jul 2011]. That treatment should include the full endorsement by the administration of President Barack Obama for Brazil’s permanent membership on an expanded U.N. Security Council, according to the 109-page report entitled “Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations”.
→ read full article“BRICS Can Ensure Affordable Drugs”
Ranjit Devraj – TerraViva Europe,
11 Jul 2011
While ‘data exclusivity’ clauses will not feature in the India-European Union free trade agreement (FTA), the threat posed by the impending deal to the world’s supply of cheap generic drugs is far from over.
→ read full articleBrazil: The ‘Happiest’ Emerging Nation
Fabiana Frayssinet – TerraViva Europe,
11 Jul 2011
The reputation of Brazilians as cheerful, happy-go-lucky people is starting to be reflected in the cold reality of statistics. A study has put numbers to that state of well-being by quantifying the significant reduction in social inequality in the last few years, an area in which South America’s giant has outdone other emerging nations.
→ read full articleChinese Model Showing Cracks
Antoaneta Becker – TerraViva Europe,
27 Jun 2011
Two years ago, at the height of the financial crisis sweeping Wall Street, liberal capitalism was losing credibility and China’s model of one-party rule and state-driven investment was on the ascent. Scores of economists were predicting the end of the Washington consensus era and the dawn of the Beijing consensus century. But things have changed.
→ read full articleDrilling Deep Mistakes in the Arctic
Kumi Naidoo – TerraViva Europe,
27 Jun 2011
I came in defence of the fragile Arctic environment. I became the 22nd Greenpeace activist who in the last few weeks has volunteered to climb the rig in the middle of the Arctic. I came to add my body to the protest and my voice to the call for sanity and an end to dangerous deep water oil drilling in the Arctic. I became the 22nd activist to be arrested and held in a Greenlandic cell. How can it be that in the wake of the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster an oil company can be allowed to drill at a similar depth in the Arctic, where any cleanup operation would be all but impossible.
→ read full articleICC Urged to Accept ‘Ecocide’ as an International Crime
Ido Liven – TerraViva Europe,
20 Jun 2011
Images of the immense, dark stain of oil covering the waters of the Gulf of Mexico made their way across the globe last year as one of the largest oil spills in history unfolded. Other images – of the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’, a gigantic pile of litter floating in the North Pacific Ocean; of countless felled trees in the Amazon; of tar sands in Canada – have gained much fewer headlines, but are likely to remain as monuments to the price tag of wanton human appetites.
→ read full articleElections-Portugal: Rubberstamping IMF Prescriptions
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
Voters in crisis-stricken Portugal will go to the ballot boxes next Sunday [5 Jun 2011] to choose not a government, but something more like delegates who will administer decisions already taken by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The new government has already been described by analysts as a “board of administrators” delegated by the troika that approved the country’s financial rescue plan.
→ read full articleEnvironment: Business Lobby Resists Ban on ‘Perverse’ Emissions
Daan Bauwens – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
This is the first part of a two-part series on how European governments and corporations are profiting from a loophole in the Kyoto protocol on climate change. For years, European governments and corporations have made use of a loophole in the Kyoto protocol on climate change to make exorbitant profits. According to some sources, this lucrative scheme has caused more pollution than ever before.
→ read full articleArab Spring Wary of Economic Lifelines
Cam McGrath – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
Governments and international institutions that once bankrolled the authoritarian regimes of Tunisia’s Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak have begun floating aid packages to speed up the economic recovery and transition to democracy in these countries. Arab revolutionaries have reason to be wary.
→ read full article‘Europe Worsening Hunger Worldwide’
Timothy Spence – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
With spiralling food prices threatening to leave millions more people hungry every year, European countries must abandon subsidies and higher production targets for biofuels, the anti-poverty group Oxfam warns.
→ read full articleEurope: The Epidemic of Xenophobia
Emma Bonino – TerraViva Europe,
23 May 2011
Diversity, which has been a positive constant throughout our history, is now considered a threat. The signs are plain to see: a propagation of intolerance and fanaticism, growing support for populist and xenophobic parties, an ever more massive presence of immigrants without status or rights, “parallel” communities that do not interact with the rest of society, the repression of individual freedoms, and democracies in crisis.
→ read full articleEurope: Media Complicit in Rise of Xenophobia
Zoltán Dujisin – TerraViva Europe,
23 May 2011
As European leaders increasingly question the concept of Europe without borders and follow each other in announcing the end of multiculturalism, the media response has been mostly to present migrants as destabilising Europe’s labour markets and welfare states.
→ read full articleEU Trade Deal with India Stalemated by Threat to Affordable Drugs
Julio Godoy – TerraViva Europe,
23 May 2011
Data exclusivity (DE) would forbid the Indian pharmaceutical industry to use available formulae to manufacture generic, low-cost copies and make them available to patients in developing countries. “Data exclusivity is a backdoor way for multinational pharmaceutical companies to establish monopolies and charge high prices, even when their drug has been found not to deserve a patent or the patent has expired. Leena Menghaney, manager of Médecins sans Frontières’ recalls that, “India has been called the ‘pharmacy of the developing world’.”
→ read full articleSwazi Village Tastes Sweet Success with Sugarcane
Mantoe Phakathi – TerraViva Europe,
2 May 2011
The previously impoverished community of Malibeni, previously ravaged by drought, is bustling with farmers who have transformed the area into a bread basket. Lush green fields of sugarcane and vegetables have replaced an expanse of dry shrubs near this community in northeastern Swaziland.
→ read full articlePortugal Negotiates Draconian Bailout Plan
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
25 Apr 2011
The strangling of the Portuguese economy by the international capital markets has led to what was expected: a bailout with tough conditions that will bring the country to its knees.
→ read full articleSubtle Racism and Unemployment “Push Gypsies into Marginalisation”
TerraViva Europe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Mar 2011
Bruno Gonçalves wears many hats: he is municipal mediator in this city in central Portugal [Coimbra], a leader of the NGO SOS-Racismo, author of a book on integration in schools, and a human rights activist — but, he stresses, “I never stop being a gypsy.”
→ read full articleWomen’s Day: A Historic Opportunity Unveiled
Kanya D'Almeida – TerraViva Europe,
7 Mar 2011
In [8 Mar] 1945, more than half a century ago, the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco wrote women’s equality into its canon, creating an indisputable commitment to gender equity in the post-World War global order.
→ read full articleUnited Nations, an Organisation on Life-Support?
Kanya D'Almeida – TerraViva Europe,
21 Feb 2011
While a mass uprising was toppling a dictatorship in Egypt and tens of thousands were marching for radical change at the World Social Forum in Dakar, a high-level group of ambassadors and experts came together at the United Nations late last week to discuss the future of global governance.
→ read full articleGlobal Crisis Strengthens WSF’s Legitimacy
Julio Godoy – TerraViva Europe,
14 Feb 2011
European non-governmental organisations combating neo-liberal globalisation find their position vindicated by the ongoing socio-economic and environmental crisis upsetting the world.
→ read full articleBrazil: Lending a Hand to Less Developed Countries
Mario Osava – TerraViva Europe,
7 Feb 2011
Mothers’ milk banks that are helping reduce infant mortality in Guatemala and are starting to be set up in Africa as well form part of the numerous social technologies developed by Brazil that are driving the fast growth of its international development cooperation.
→ read full articleEurope: New Expulsions Hit People Without a Place
David Cronin – TerraViva Europe,
13 Sep 2010
Roma gypsies are routinely described as Europe’s largest ethnic minority. Numbering between 10 and 16 million, their combined population exceeds that of many European Union countries. Yet their numerical strength offers no compensation for the poverty, persecution and scapegoating that the Roma have to endure — or for how their welfare is accorded a low priority by the EU’s institutions.
→ read full articleAlliance of Civilisations “Bridging Cultures” for Peace
Beatriz Bissio – TerraViva Europe,
31 May 2010
“Bridging Cultures, Building Peace” is the slogan of the third United Nations Alliance of Civilisations Forum which opens Friday [4 June 2010] in Brazil, gathering together some 3,000 heads of state, members of parliament and delegates of international bodies and civil society organisations.
→ read full articleBrazil-Turkey Deal with Iran Undermines Big Power Politics
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
24 May 2010
When Brazil and Turkey clinched a deal with Iran over its disputed nuclear programme last weekend, the two non-permanent members of the Security Council not only challenged the unbridled political power exercised by the five big powers but also jeopardised U.S. plans for a unanimous resolution imposing sanctions against Tehran.
→ read full articleU.N. Blasted for Sequestering NGOs and Media
Thalif Deen – TerraViva Europe,
26 Apr 2010
A major structural renovation of the U.N. Secretariat is being used as a pretext to curb media access to delegates and Security Council members, and is also a veritable smokescreen to tighten restrictions on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) accredited to the world body, critics say.
→ read full articleEmerging Powers Cooking Up New International Order
Beatriz Bissio – TerraViva Europe,
26 Apr 2010
Since the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement, there has been no louder and more compelling call for a rethinking of the international economic system as the one issued this week in Brazil by the leaders of the main emerging powers.
→ read full articleEuropean Activists against Economic Growth
Julio Godoy – TerraViva Europe,
26 Apr 2010
The global environmental crisis requires replacing the existing capitalist model of production with one that promotes “selective degrowth” of the economy and the restricted and responsible exploitation of natural resources, according to European experts and activists.
→ read full articleLand Grabs Continue As Elites Resist Regulation
Hilaire Avril - TerraViva Europe,
19 Apr 2010
A year after the purchases of vast swathes of farm land in Africa first drew public attention, transactions remain as opaque as ever.
→ read full articleEurope Imports Torture from US
David Cronin – TerraViva Europe,
19 Apr 2010
A U.S. company has admitted for the first time that it exports equipment designed to inflict pain on prisoners to Europe.
→ read full articleEU BOOSTS ARMS MANUFACTURERS
David Cronin – TerraViva Europe,
12 Apr 2010
Arms traders are to be given a central role in formulating a new European Union (EU) blueprint for stimulating weapons production, it has been confirmed.
→ read full articleNOT QUITE ISLAMIC EXECUTIONS
Sanjay Suri – TerraViva Europe,
5 Apr 2010
The Middle East leads the world in executions after China, says an annual Amnesty International report released Tuesday [30 Mar 2010]."The Middle East and North Africa have the highest per capita rate of executions in the world, according to our figures," Phillip Luther, deputy director for the region with Amnesty, tells IPS. The Middle East; […]
→ read full articleDEVELOPMENT: MORE FOOD, EXCEPT FOR THAT BILLION OR SO
Paul Virgo – TerraViva Europe,
5 Apr 2010
While agricultural research has made massive strides over the years in helping the world produce more food from the same amount of land, around one in six people, the 1.02 billion hungry, have not noticed.The populations of wealthier countries have abundant cheap food thanks to researchers’ efforts and, no doubt, many more people in the […]
→ read full articleCLIMATE CHANGE: FROM COPENHAGEN TO COCHABAMBA
Franz Chávez – TerraViva Europe,
5 Apr 2010
A different way of fighting global warming will be tried out in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba when government representatives and thousands of activists gather for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.The social organisations sponsoring the Apr. 19-22 conference have announced an alternative platform to the efforts […]
→ read full articleEAST EUROPE: ORGANIC FARMING BLOSSOMS
Pavol Stracansky – TerraViva Europe,
5 Apr 2010
Eastern Europe’s organic food industry is mushrooming as it brushes off the effects of the global recession, and more consumers in the region turn to healthier foods.Some countries now have twice as much agricultural land turned over to organic farming as those in Western Europe, and experts are predicting a bright future for the industry […]
→ read full articleWHITHER AFRICAN COTTON PRODUCERS AFTER BRAZIL’S SUCCESS?
Isolda Agazzi – TerraViva Europe,
24 Mar 2010
African cotton-producing countries hope that Brazil’s intended retaliation after its success at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) dispute settlement body will have a positive spin-off for them but seem reticent about pursuing a similar course of action against the U.S. for its continued use of subsidies in cotton production."True, we don’t benefit directly from the […]
→ read full articleU.S. STILL NONCOMMITTAL ON LANDMINE TREATY
Matthew Berger – TerraViva Europe,
4 Mar 2010
As the 11th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty entering into effect came and went Monday, the United States remained one of only 37 countries to have yet to sign on to the agreement.The U.S. does, however, comply with many of the provisions of the international treaty, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and export […]
→ read full articleDR-CONGO: EU URGED TO BAN ‘CONFLICT MINERALS’
Ida Karlsson – TerraViva Europe,
4 Mar 2010
After the United States senate’s move to stem the flow of money from mineral mines fuelling the brutal civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the watchdog group Global Witness (GW) is calling on Europe to follow suit. "We are calling on the European Union (EU) to introduce legislation to exclude conflict minerals […]
→ read full articleBULGARIA: GOVT. FORCED DOWN ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS
Claudia Ciobanu – TerraViva Europe,
23 Feb 2010
Campaigning by environmental groups and the general public has weakened the determination of the Bulgarian government to allow the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in this country. In January 2010, the Bulgarian parliament voted, on a first reading, legislation allowing the release of GM organisms into the environment. But as the law awaited final […]
→ read full articlePORTUGAL: RACING FOR RENEWABLES
Mario de Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
2 Feb 2010
Just a decade ago, criticism rained down on sunny, windy Portugal for not making the most of nature’s gifts to develop renewable energy sources. Now all signs indicate that it did not fall on deaf ears, as the country has become a leader in the field. Today, this southern European country of 10.5 million people […]
→ read full articleBIODIVERSITY: EU FARMERS FACE GENETIC CONTAMINATION OF SEEDS
Julio Godoy – Terraviva Europe,
31 Jan 2010
Biodiversity, already decaying fast as a result of climate change and intensive farming, is under further threat by genetic modification (GM) of seeds, says a leading German ecological activist. Genetic modification of seeds is dangerous, "since it is at the beginning of the agricultural chain, and can spread all over," says Benedikt Haerlin, former campaign […]
→ read full articleWORLD SOCIAL FORUM: POSITIVE REVIEWS, ON BALANCE
Mario de Queiroz – Terraviva Europe,
26 Jan 2010
Nearly a decade after its inception, and in spite of some reverses, on balance the World Social Forum (WSF) has proved a resounding success as a platform for planet-wide debate, from the point of view of the people most affected by the world’s problems. This is the conclusion derived from a close reading of texts […]
→ read full articleWORLD SOCIAL FORUM: BACK SEAT DRIVER OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Mario Osava – Terraviva Europe,
26 Jan 2010
The World Social Forum (WSF) is only "a tool" and must not be confused with the global movement for another world, says Chico Whitaker, one of the founders of this meeting which is celebrating its tenth year with a seminar to assess its track record Jan. 25-29, in its southern Brazilian place of origin, Porto […]
→ read full articleWORLD SOCIAL FORUM: TALK VS ACTION – THE TUG-OF-WAR CONTINUES
Mario Osava – Terraviva Europe,
26 Jan 2010
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (IPS) – A call issued by social movements to evolve towards a more active role in generating concrete action marked the opening session of a seminar assessing the 10 years of the World Social Forum (WSF) Monday in this southern Brazilian city, the birthplace of the annual global civil society gathering. "It […]
→ read full articleWORLD SOCIAL FORUM: BRAZIL – ANOTHER POWER IS POSSIBLE
Fabiana Frayssinet – Terraviva Europe,
26 Jan 2010
The birthplace of the World Social Forum (WSF), conceived as an alternative to international meetings pursuing free-market economics, Brazil is on its way to becoming a major economic power, analysts say. The question is, what kind of model will it adopt to avoid the behaviour it has previously criticised? President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva […]
→ read full articleMAYHEM IN GAZA, RELIEF IN HAITI
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler – IPS, Terraviva Europe,
22 Jan 2010
A week after the devastating Haiti earthquake, Israelis watched proudly as their TV channels showed the New York Fire Department rushing two young boys, extricated from the rubble of a building, to a field hospital set up by the Israeli army in Port-au-Prince. On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers from the special Home Front Command emergency unit […]
→ read full articleFRANCE: TIME TO PAY BACK HAITI
A.D. McKenzie – Terraviva Europe,
21 Jan 2010
As thousands of people filled Notre Dame Cathedral here Saturday evening in a special mass for victims of the earthquake in Haiti, the solidarity and sadness reflected the historical ties that bind France to the Caribbean nation.But these links are not easy or comfortable ones. Haiti’s current poverty can be traced directly to the heavy […]
→ read full articleINDIA HOLDS PUBLIC MEETINGS ON GM FOOD CROP
Ranjit Devraj – IPS, TerraViva Europe,
16 Jan 2010
As India’s central government begins a series of public meetings across the country this month on the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) brinjal – or eggplant – in this country, activists and farmers’ groups are mobilising to oppose such a plan. The meetings are a response by Union Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh to […]
→ read full articleFROM ANTI-WAR AGENDA TO PEACE INITIATIVES
Mutsuko Murakami - TerraViva Europe,
9 Jan 2010
Mutsuko Murakami interviews IKURO ANZAI, honorary director of the Kyoto Museum for World Peace.Of approximately 170 peace museums that exist around the world, one third are found in Japan. The Kyoto Museum for World Peace at Ritsumeikan University, located in Kyoto, is the only one in Japan housed in a higher educational institution. It captures […]
→ read full articleLATIN AMERICA: SUMMIT DOES NOT RECOGNISE ELECTIONS IN HONDURAS
Mario de Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
4 Dec 2009
ESTORIL, Portugal (IPS) – The hard-line stance taken by Brazil, Argentina and most other Latin American countries has clashed with U.S. efforts to push for international recognition of the elections organised Sunday by the de facto regime in power in Honduras since the Jun. 28 coup. Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama and Peru, the only countries […]
→ read full articleDEVELOPMENT: TO GRAB, OR TO INVEST
Paul Virgo – Terraviva Europe,
19 Nov 2009
The World Food Security Summit in Rome this week opened up a dispute between what may be investment in farmland to some, but is seen as land grab by others.There has been widespread alarm at a recent acceleration in purchases of farmland in developing countries, above all Africa, primarily by investors from the Middle and […]
→ read full articleCLIMATE CHANGE: BRAZIL TO RECOVER LEADERSHIP ROLE WITH CO2 LIMITS
Mario Osava – Terraviva Europe,
18 Nov 2009
Brazil’s decision to adopt voluntary reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions is an indication that the planet’s climate change emergency has joined strategic, economic and ideological issues as a new factor on the global political agenda. At the World Climate Change Conference to be held Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen, the Brazilian government will table its […]
→ read full articleGAZANS BRACE FOR COLD AND MISERABLE WINTER
Mel Frykberg – Terraviva Europe,
18 Nov 2009
EZBT ABBED RABBO (IPS) – Tens of thousands of Gazans living in tents and damaged homes face a wet, cold and miserable winter as Israel’s blockade of the coastal territory continues to prevent the importation of building and reconstruction material.During the last few weeks Gazans were given a brief reprieve from the oncoming winter as […]
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