Articles by RD
We found 3599 results.
The Communitarianism of Violence in the Sahel: States Confronted with the Challenge of Identity
Abdoulaye Bâ | Cordoba Foundation of Geneva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Apr 2019
31 Mar 2019 – The new violent intrusion of “jihadism” in the Sahel in the early 2000s has plunged the region into a new, atypical phase of insecurity, which is putting a strain on social cohesion in these countries. Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, among others, have increasingly been hit in the last decade, and to varying degrees, by groups proclaiming “jihad”.
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Blood in the Water: How the U.S. and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty, by Joan Mellen
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2019
29 Mar 2019 – The author on the basis of meticulous research probes every detail to establish beyond a shadow of a doubt that the sinking of USS Liberty in the midst of the 1967 War is the greatest moral and political scandal in all of American history. In what was long described as a ‘mistake’ or ‘accident’ Israeli planes and submarines attacked the Liberty, killing 34, wounding 174 American naval personnel.
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The Matrix 20 Years On: How a Sci-Fi Film Tackled Big Philosophical Questions
Richard Colledge – The Conversation,
1 Apr 2019
27 Mar 2019 – Cult film The Matrix was released 20 years ago this month. From the Vedic Scriptures to Plato to Descartes to Kant to Baudrillard, the film explored philosophical dilemmas humanity wrestles with permanently.
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Operation Condor and the United States: Torture, Death Squads and Echoes in the New Millennium
Edward B. Winslow – Global Research,
1 Apr 2019
25 Mar 2019 – On December 2, 1823 in the wake of rebellions in Latin America that had ended Spanish rule in the Western Hemisphere, US President James Monroe announced that European colonial powers that attempted to assert influence in the region would be an overt threat to the national security of the US. Monroe claimed that European monarchies and colonialism were incompatible with the notions of democracy and republicanism that were featured in the New World. Monroe’s proclamation set the stage for US foreign policies for nearly 200 years: US hegemony over Latin America was a natural extension of the messianic visions of Manifest Destiny and US exceptionalism.
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Brunei Introduces Death by Stoning as Punishment for Gay Sex
Hannah Ellis-Petersen – The Guardian,
1 Apr 2019
28 Mar 2019 – Brunei is to begin imposing death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex, rape and adultery from next week, as part of the country’s implementation of sharia law. Homosexuality has been illegal in Brunei since British colonial rule but under the new laws it is now punishable by whipping or death by stoning rather than a prison sentence. The announcement was met with horror by human rights groups.
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Thomas Piketty vs. Yanis Varoufakis
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2019
Markets are the primary institution. Governments are secondary. Markets govern governments. Governments do not control markets. The first imperative for any government is to make the economy work for the people. The government can only comply with that imperative by pleasing the markets… This is why the disagreement between Thomas Piketty and Yanis Varoufakis is a splendid educational opportunity to move the conversation to a deeper level, to take to heart the words of Albert Einstein: ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.’
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Total Recall: The People Who Never Forget
Linda Rodriguez McRobbie – The Guardian,
25 Mar 2019
An Extremely Rare Condition May Transform Our Understanding of Memory – If you ask Jill Price to remember any day of her life, she can come up with an answer in a heartbeat. What was she doing on 29 August 1980? “It was a Friday, I went to Palm Springs with my friends.
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Challenging Pitzer/Haifa Study Abroad Program: Can Civil Society Act?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2019
22 Mar 2019 – This post is an open letter to the President of Pitzer College urging support for reconsideration of his veto of a resolution urging the college to suspend its study abroad program with the University of Haifa until Israel ends its discriminatory policies in the educational sphere that affect Palestinians and anyone exercising rights of free expression in a manner that Israel disapproves, and more specifically the BDS Campaign.
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Vaping Is an Urgent Threat to Public Health
Elliott M. Reichardt and Juliet R. Guichon – The Conversation,
25 Mar 2019
14 Mar 2019 – Youth are using e-cigarettes (also known as vaping devices) at a rapidly increasing rate — a practice that constitutes an urgent threat to public health. The evidence shows that vaping is creating a generation of nicotine-addicted youth, who start with e-cigarettes and move on to smoke tobacco products.
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Brazil to Open Indigenous Reserves to Mining without Indigenous Consent
Sue Branford and Maurício Torres | Mongabay – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2019
14 Mar 2019 – For many years, international and Brazilian mining companies have dreamed of getting access to the mineral wealth lying beneath indigenous lands. And finally, the government of Jair Bolsonaro seems determined to give them that opportunity. On 4 March, while Brazilians were distracted by Carnival celebrations, the new Minister of Mines and Energy Admiral Bento Albuquerque announced plans to permit mining on indigenous land.
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The Attack on the Amazon Accelerates under Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro
Andre Cardoso | Tricontinental Institute for Social Research – Independent Media Institute,
25 Mar 2019
19 Mar 2019 — As the largest tropical forest, biggest reserve of minerals, and main biogenetic reserve on the planet, the Amazon is among the most sought-after territories by global capital. As the attack against the Amazon advances under Brazil’s right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research launches its 14th dossier analyzing the socio-environmental impact on the region.
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(Italiano) Perché la chiesa ufficiale non vuole discutere né la sessualita né la legge del celibato
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2019
15 mar 2019 – È innegabile il coraggio di Papa Francesco nell’affrontare apertamente la questione della pedofilia all’interno della chiesa. Ha fatto consegnare alla giustizia civile i pedofili, a cominciare dai preti e religiosi fino ai cardinali per farli giudicare e punire. Nell’incontro di Roma verso la fine di febbraio del 2019 sulla protezione dei minori, il Papa ha imposto otto punti tra i quali “pedofilia zero” e la “protezione dei bambini abusati”.
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Ilhan Omar, AIPAC, Congress, and the Future of American Democracy
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2019
The Ilhan Omar Incident: A Zionist Witch Hunt?
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Facebook’s New Move Isn’t about Privacy. It’s about Domination
Siva Vaidhyanathan – The Guardian,
18 Mar 2019
7 Mar 2019 – Mark Zuckerberg announced on 6 Mar that Facebook would be ‘pivoting to privacy’. That’s an empty pledge.
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Elizabeth Warren Is Right – We Must Break Up Facebook, Google and Amazon
Robert Reich – The Guardian,
18 Mar 2019
10 Mar 2019 – The presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren announced on Friday [8 Mar] she wants to bust up giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon. The titans of the new Gilded Age must be busted and the idea has bipartisan support. It’s time big tech was brought to heel.
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Venezuela – Guaidó Planned to Use Arms – Frustration over Stalemate Sets In
Bernhardt Horstmann | Moon of Alabama – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
6 Mar 2019 – New reports about the U.S. coup attempt in Venezuela describe the current mood in Washington as ‘frustration’. They also shine new light on why of the opposition’s plans failed.
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Debunking the Myth That Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitic
Peter Beinart – The Guardian,
11 Mar 2019
7 Mar 2019 – It is a bewildering and alarming time to be a Jew, both because antisemitism is rising and because so many politicians are responding to it not by protecting Jews but by victimising Palestinians. Conflating anti-Zionism with Jew-hatred is a tragic mistake.
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Neoliberalism – The Ideology at the Root of All Our Problems
George Monbiot – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2019
15 Apr 2016 – Imagine if the people of the Soviet Union had never heard of communism. The ideology that dominates our lives has, for most of us, no name. Mention it in conversation and you’ll be rewarded with a shrug. Even if your listeners have heard the term before, they will struggle to define it. Neoliberalism: do you know what it is? Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative?
→ read full articleWorrying about Huawei: Is China Winning the G5 Race?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2019
20 Feb 2019 – My responses to questions posed by Sputnik News Agency a few days ago. The effort to warn European countries not to use equipment from the Chinese telecom giant, Huawei, is part warning and part threat. It claims to be a matter of security, but seems like an effort to avoid the competitive challenge posed by the superior technology of Huawei by claiming a threat to the security of European countries because China will be able to engage in unauthorized data surveillance.
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Rohingya Crisis: UN Investigates Its ‘Dysfunctional’ Conduct in Myanmar
Emanuel Stoakes and Hannah Ellis-Petersen – The Guardian,
4 Mar 2019
27 Feb 2019 – The UN has launched an inquiry into its conduct in Myanmar over the past decade, where it has been accused of ignoring warning signs of escalating violence prior to an alleged genocide of the Rohingya minority.
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Trump Has Turned Foreign Aid into Shabby Political Theatre
Peter Beaumont - The Guardian,
4 Mar 2019
20 Feb 2019 – Stalled relief supplies for Venezuela at the Colombian border are a stark illustration of Trump’s crudely transactional approach to aid. The flights look something more shabby: a dangerous stunt utilising aid for other purposes, alluded to by UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric: “Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or any other objectives.”
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(Français) José Martí et l’Anti-Impérialisme Etats-Unien: Une Analyse d’Actualité
Christine Gillard | Journal Notre Amérique – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
20 Fév 2019 – Depuis une dizaine d’années les États-Unis regardent à nouveau vers les pays d’Amérique du sud, attentifs à la remontée des oppositions des droites aux gouvernements progressistes. Cette attention vigilante se traduit par des stratégies d’aide plus ou moins directe aux opposants, ainsi que par le déploiement de forces armées sur les frontières sensibles en s’appuyant sur les pays amis comme la Colombie.
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The French Army Has Killed Hamadoun Kouffa, the Malian Robin Hood
Robin Edward Poulton – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
How might the Malian government find a way to negotiate with his successors, to avoid genocide or civil war?
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Training in Conflict Transformation, Morocco
The Cordoba Foundation of Geneva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
The Cordoba Foundation of Geneva’s work in Morocco has focused on building the capacity of university activists in conflict transformation with the aim of equipping them with the skills to alleviate violence between political groups in university campuses. When we asked these activists how their participation in our workshops changed their awareness about conflict and peace promotion, this is what they said.
→ read full articleCan We Imagine Peace for Palestine?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
In such a binational situation, the newly created single state could offer homelands to Jews and Palestinians, while finding a name for the new state that is congenial to both peoples. Maybe this will never happen, but it the most sustainable vision of a peaceful future that responds to decades of diplomatic failure, massive Palestinian suffering and abuse, and recognizes the moral authority and political potency of national resistance and global solidarity, a legislative victory by that unacknowledged Parliament of Humanity.
→ read full articleA Response to Heikki Patomaki: Is the Time Right for a World Political Party?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2019
16 Feb 2019 – My commentary on an essay by Heikki Patomiki, a leading Finnish scholar, where he explores and cautiously advocates a civil society global effort to establish a world political party in a form appropriate to global conditions and with the overriding goal of the enhancement of the individual and collective wellbeing of humanity.
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Deflagging of Refugee Rescue Ship a ‘Dark Moment’ for Europe
Karen McVeigh – The Guardian,
18 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 – The deflagging of the Aquarius, the last migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean, represents a “dark moment” in European history, setting a dangerous precedent for states to flout international humanitarian laws.
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Young Woman Dies in Fourth ‘Period Hut’ Tragedy This Year in Nepal
Rebecca Ratcliffe – The Guardian,
18 Feb 2019
6 Feb 2019 – A 21-year-old woman has been become the fourth person known to have died this year as a result of the illegal practice of chhaupadi, whereby menstruating women in Nepal are banished from their homes and forced to sleep in huts.
→ read full articleDenouncing Socialism, Practicing Fascism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
8 Feb 2019 – With Trump the silences are usually as expressive of his intentions as the incoherent dogmas. Indeed, his Second State of the Union Address (delivered in Congress on February 5, 2019) gives a clear insight into the political mentality of tormentor in chief when it comes to the human condition.
→ read full articleEurope is in Danger! But Why?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
8 Feb 2019 – Now a hue and cry has gone up that Europe is in danger. The continued existence of Europe’s core ideals –of its very essence– is said to be threatened. The occasion of today’s hue and cry is the possibility that the populist far right might sweep the elections of May 2019. I take this opportunity to question what I take to be the conventional wisdom of the official story.
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Revealed: FBI Investigated Civil Rights Group as ‘Terrorism’ Threat and Viewed KKK as Victims
Sam Levin – The Guardian,
11 Feb 2019
Bureau spied on California activists, citing potential ‘conspiracy’ against the ‘rights’ of neo-Nazis.
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Career War Criminal Elliott Abrams to Lead US on Venezuela
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
11 Feb 2019
4 Feb 2019 – Some say history repeats itself. Mark Twain said history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. The January 25 appointment of convicted perjurer Elliott Abrams as the new US Special Envoy on Venezuela is evidence that history just goes on and on and on with ironic cruelty and relentless injustice. That would be especially true if you happen to have the world’s largest proven oil reserve, as Venezuela does.
→ read full articleTrump vs. the Anti-Trumps: It’s the System That Needs Changing, Not just the Personnel
Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
President Trump’s adversaries do not understand that in making attacks on his character their primary strategy, they are playing his game, in his stadium, according to his rules. By doing so, they reinforce the stereotypes that Trump has successfully marketed to his base. This sort of personalism excludes a discourse that is essential to solving the problems that gave Trump the presidency: the discourse of systems and system-change.
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The Mysterious Destiny of Each One
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
3 Feb 2019 – Each of us is as old as the universe, 13.7 billion years. We were all there in that tiny point, smaller than the head of a pin, but full of energy and matter. The big bang created the enormous red stars, containing all the physical-chemical elements that comprise the universe and all beings that were created from them. We are the sons and daughters of the stars and cosmic dust.
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(Português) Catástrofe de Brumadinho: O que sobra depois de não sobrar nada?
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
29 Jan 2019 – Muitos no Brasil vivemos uma situação de luto. O luto se impõe quando sofremos perdas: os muitos mortos e centenas de desaparecidos do rompimento da barragem da Vale que destruiu criminosamente a cidade de Brumadinho. A perda da pessoa amada, do emprego que garantia a família, a emigração forçada por causa de ameaças de morte. Maior é o luto quando atinge bens fundamentais de um país: a perda da democracia, dos direitos trabalhistas…
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US Nuclear Weapons: First Low-Yield Warheads Roll Off the Production Line
Julian Borger – The Guardian,
4 Feb 2019
28 Jan 2019 – The US has begun making a new, low-yield nuclear warhead for its Trident missiles that arms control advocates warn could lower the threshold for a nuclear confrontation. New type of weapon, ordered by Trump’s nuclear posture review, could make violent response to conflict more likely, say experts.
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The Future of Statehood: Israel & Palestine
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
3 Feb 2019 – Fatah, Hamas, the Future of Statehood and Peace Prospects – Interview from Brazilian journalist Rodrigo Craveiro for Correio Braziliense on current prospects of Palestinian national movement.
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Framed: The Politics of Stereotypes in News
Edward Said – Al Jazeera English,
4 Feb 2019
Palestinian-American literary historian Edward Said showed how the West had the power to represent the colonial ‘other’ – while simultaneously leaving them silent.
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The CIA Then and Now: Old Wine in New Bottles
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
When the CIA’s dirty tricks were made public in the 1970s, it is not hard to imagine that the intellectual pimps who do their long-range thinking were asked to go back to the drawing board and paint a picture of the coming decades and how business as usual could be conducted without further embarrassment. By that time it had become clear that intellectual or high culture was being swallowed by mass culture and the future belonged to electronic screen culture and images, not words.
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A Talel of Two Speeches: Marc Lamont Hill on Palestine, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Vietnam
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 – In my last post I criticized the news approach of CNN, and by indirection, that of the MSM. I complained that by being Trump-obsessed CNN ever since 2016 helps pacify the American political scene, making us view demagogic politics as nothing more serious than ‘a reality show.’ Beyond the obsession itself, is the inexplicable redundancy in which successive news programs cover the latest episode from virtually identical viewpoints, while ignoring the whole panorama of major developments elsewhere in the world.
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Destroy ‘Period Huts’ or Forget State Support: Nepal Moves to End Practice
Rojita Adhikari – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2019
After the custom of consigning menstruating women to outdoor sheds claimed three more lives, a new system of penalties offers hope of change.
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Good News at Last: The World Isn’t As Horrific As You Think
Hans Rosling – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2019
Training yourself how to put the news into perspective – practising ‘factfulness’ – will change your outlook for the better.
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1,500 Private Jets Fly into Davos for World Economic Forum Climate Talks–Oxymoron?
Rebecca Ratcliffe – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2019
22 Jan 2019 – David Attenborough might have urged world leaders at Davos to take urgent action on climate change, but it appears no one was listening. As he spoke, experts predicted up to 1,500 individual private jets will fly to and from airfields serving the Swiss ski resort this week.
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James W. Douglass Talks about Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment with Truth
Introduction by Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2019
Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 but the spirit of his nonviolent experiments with truth live throughout the world in individuals and groups. The writer and peace-activist James Douglass, a guide to such experiments with truth and author of many books on nonviolence and the meaning of political assassinations, recently travelled to Gandhi’s home district in India and delivered the following talk. It begins at 26:58 minutes into the video.
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The Guardian View on Israel’s Democracy: Killing with Impunity, Lying without Consequence?
Editorial – The Guardian,
28 Jan 2019
22 Jan 2019 – In the last nine months of 2018, according to the UN, hundreds of Palestinians – many of them children – were killed and many thousands injured. They included medics and journalists. Most of the dead were unarmed and posed no danger to anyone, with little more than rocks in their hands and slogans on their lips. Yet Israel continued with an immoral and unlawful policy that sees soldiers of its military teargas, shoot and kill protesters, including those who pose no credible threat. Hospitals in Gaza, which already struggle under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, have been stretched to breaking point in dealing with the flood of patients ferried in from the protests.
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Meu Pedacinho do Céu [My Little Corner of Heaven] (Music Video of the Week)
Waldir Azevedo, Vinicius Sete Cordas, Ivo do Cavaco – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2019
Players: Vinicius Sete Cordas and Ivo do Cavaco – Brazilian Youth Talent
Homemade Facebook Video
News Avoidance
Antonis Kalogeropoulos | Univ. of Oxford – Reuters Institute,
21 Jan 2019
The issue of news avoidance is a matter of concern if it means that citizens are not sufficiently equipped to take decisions in elections or referendums. There are also concerns that the abundance of other types of media (e.g. entertainment) may be squeezing exposure to news for less interested news consumers.
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Martin Luther King Day and the Unspeakable
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 – “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous,” warned Dr. King, “than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” How true those words. For the government that honors Dr. King with a national holiday killed him. This is the suppressed truth behind the highly promoted day of service. It is what you are not supposed to know. It is what Thomas Merton, as quoted by James W. Douglass, called The Unspeakable.”
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Academic Who Defined News Principles, Galtung Says Journalists Are Too Negative
Ulrik Haagerup – The Guardian,
21 Jan 2019
18 Jan 2019 – The academic paper concluded with a warning on the consequences for society if news organisations continued to promote confrontation, tension and sensation over collaboration, resolution and compassion. “The consequence of all this is an image of the world that gives little autonomy to the periphery but sees it as mainly existing for the sake of the centre,” the paper said. “Conflict will be emphasised, conciliation not.” “And this is exactly what has happened,” Galtung said. “News media give a total biased picture of reality. The perception of reality in the public becomes overly negative.”
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What’s Wrong with CNN?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2019
16 Jan 2019 – CNN presents itself as the most ‘trusted name in news’ available to the TV viewing public. Of course, this claim of integrity is to be greatly valued if the news channel lives up to such a standard when fairly scrutinized.
→ read full articleWhat Is the Question?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2019
“The question is whether finance will promote economic growth and rising living standards or create unproductive credit and use government to enforce creditor claims by imposing austerity and reducing large swathes of the population to debt peonage.” This précis of the pickle that is our prison was written by Michael Hudson but could have been written by Yanis Varoufakis, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Reich, Bernie Sanders’ advisor Stephanie Kelton, or any of the distinguished scholars which I shall call “the Economists on the side of the Angels.” (EA)
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(Português) A Estupidez Social e Ambiental Condena Toda a Vida: Eduardo Gudynas
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
8 jan 2019 – Eduardo Gudynas, uruguaio, é um dos grandes ecólogos mundiais. Está entre os primeiros a formular uma ecologia social.Este artigo é um balanço de 2018 sobre os dramas ecologicosocias que se aproximam, se não mudarmos a nossa relação para com a Mãe Terra -tema central da encíclica do Papa Francisco “sobre o cuidado da Casa Comum – e para com a natureza em geral.
→ read full articleToward Geopolitical Disengagement: Uncertain yet Desirable
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
13 Jan 2019 – For a region that has endured so much suffering and abuse, I offer fervent wishes that we will be surprised by hopeful developments during coming months. Already the shakeup of regional politics and perceptions due to the Trump withdrawal move is ambiguous in its implications, but seemingly leading in the positive direction of U.S. political disengagement, and an end to the delusions of being ‘a force for good.’
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Palestinian Aspirations versus Zombie Geopolitics
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
8 Jan 2019 – The mental processes that infuse zombie geopolitics with political vitality long after their viability has vanished is partly mysterious, and partly a calculated effort to deny a changed reality. More concretely, I have in mind the afterlife of ‘the two-state solution’ to the long Israel-Palestine confrontation. It retained its status as the only practical solution for years after it became crystal clear to even semi-informed observers that it would never happen.
→ read full articleWhat Are We Working for “At Eternity’s Gate”?
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2019
Vincent, responding to Gauguin, a former stock broker, when he urged him to paint slowly and methodically, said, “I need to be out of control. I don’t want to calm down.” He knew that to be fully alive was to be vulnerable, to not hold back, to always be slipping away, and to be threatened with annihilation at any moment. When painting, he was intoxicated with a creative joy that belies the popular image of him as always depressed.
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When the Ice Melts: The Catastrophe of Vanishing Glaciers
Dahr Jamail – The Guardian,
14 Jan 2019
8 Jan 2019 – As global temperatures rise, shrivelling glaciers and thawing permafrost threaten yet more climate disruption. How should we confront what is happening to our world? While western colonialist culture believes in “rights”, many indigenous cultures teach of “obligations” that we are born into: obligations to those who came before, to those who will come after, and to the Earth itself.
→ read full articleReflections for the New Year: 2019
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2019
31 Dec 2018 – My private commitment for 2019 is to nurture humility, while trusting the formation of identities that link a progressive vision for our nation to a cosmopolitan embrace of humanity, with a major infusion of empathy. And as citizens, we need to be rooted in our particular personal and public experiences, while reaching out to the world and to the future.
→ read full articleJerusalem and Foreign Embassies: Legal, Political, and Diplomatic Implications
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2019
6 Jan 2019 | Interview with Rodrigo Craveiro, Correio Braziliense – It seems obvious that Israel is trying to induce enough governments to move their embassy to Jerusalem so as to weaken the legal, political, and diplomatic weight of the UNGA Resolution that declared such an initiative by the USA to be ‘null and void’ by a vote of 128-9, finding the proposed move unlawful and lacking any political effect.
→ read full articleWill 2019 Bring Opportunities to Change the System?
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2019
1 Jan 2019 – Some of us think 2008 was a lost opportunity. Humanity had a chance to change course to save itself and the biosphere. We blew it. Could 2019 be a second chance? The reason why 2008, instead of some other recent year, stands out as a change opportunity is that toward the end of that year investors were losing money.
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(Português) A Revolução Cubana Completa 60 Anos: Frei Betto
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2019
4 jan 2019 – Frei Betto é muito conhecido e não preciso apresentá-lo. Publico este seu texto por amor à verdade contra todos os preconceitos imperantes em nosso país, reforçados pelos muitos que elegeram Jair Bolsonaro e pelo governo que montou propondo desmontar o socialismo e a cultura marxista. Seguramente nunca leram nada sério sobre Cuba. Aqui há um relato sumário, poderia ser muito mais detalhado sobre a situação daquele país.
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Afghanistan in 2019: Fewer US Troops, More CIA Torture and Killings
William Boardman - Reader Supported News,
7 Jan 2019
3 Jan 2019 – Perhaps it’s just another sign of American psychic numbing, but the Times story seems to have provoked little response from other media, from politicians of any stripe, or from the public. More American war crimes in some Muslim country? Well, Happy New Year!
→ read full articleIn Praise of the Syria Withdrawal
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2018
29 Dec 2018 – Trump’s withdrawal of American troops from Syria that defied the bipartisan consensus that has shaped U.S. foreign policy since 1945 poses the biggest challenge to the Trump presidency, especially as it shook Israel’s confidence and coincides with woes of Wall Street. In coming weeks it should become clear whether the American version of the deep state remains asleep or perceives this ‘watershed moment’ as the opportunity to restore confidence in the pre-Trump version of world order.
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A Major Win for the Whales
Captain Paul Watson | Sea Shepherd – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2018
27 Dec 2018 – Despite bribing nations and insidious tactics, the proposal by Japan to overturn the 31-year moratorium on commercial whaling has failed by a vote of 41 to 27 with 2 abstentions. Following yesterday’s most welcome Florianopolis Declaration, this defeat of the Japanese Proposal has made the 67th meeting of the International Whaling Commission an awesome historical event for the world’s whales.
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Continued Debate over the Crime of Aggression: A Supreme International Irony
Donald M. Ferencz | Harvard Int’l Law Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2018
Notwithstanding the fact that it took the U.N. only seventy-one days to affirm aggression as a customary law offense, today, almost seventy-one years later, it remains a crime in legal limbo. Though the International Criminal Court (ICC) is technically vested with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, it is, as yet, powerless to exercise such jurisdiction.
→ read full articleCan Yemen Be Saved?
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2018
23 Dec 2018 – The people of Yemen have been experiencing devastating civil strife for several years. This ordeal was greatly intensive by a massive and sustained Saudi-led air attacks and other belligerent tactics that have targeted civilians, even hospitals. Several recent events hint at the possibility of restoring peace to the country, thereby averting the worst effects of a threatened mass famine, risks starvation for more than 75% of Yemen’s population of over 22 million.
→ read full articleA Spiritual Special Ops Team’s Christmas Gift
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2018
24 Dec 2018 – “It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the wits, who believe that it is a joke.” — Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or
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Chickens Freezing to Death and Boiled Alive: Failings in US Slaughterhouses Exposed
Andrew Wasley and Natalie Jones – The Guardian,
24 Dec 2018
17 Dec 2018 – Chickens slowly freezing to death, being boiled alive, drowned or suffocating under piles of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports.
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Google’s Earth: How the Tech Giant Is Helping the State Spy on Us
Yasha Levine – The Guardian,
24 Dec 2018
20 Dec 2018 – We knew that being connected had a price – our data. But we didn’t care. Then it turned out that Google’s main clients included the military and intelligence agencies.
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U.S. Commits to “Indefinite” Occupation of Syria; Controls Region the Size of Croatia
Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
15 Dec 2018 – Like the “forever war” in Afghanistan, will we be having the same discussion over the indefinite occupation of Syria stretching two decades from now? A new unusually frank assessment in Stars and Stripes bluntly lays out the basic facts concerning the White House decision to “stay the course” until the war’s close.
→ read full article(Português) A tolice do Anti-globalismo
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
9 dez 2018 – Está ocorrendo pelo mundo afora uma onda anti-globalista. Talvez haja poucas coisas mais regressivas e disparatadas no mundo atual do que esta. Por que se trata de um disparate dos mais insensatos? Porque vai diretamente contra a lógica do processo histórico irrefreável. Alcançamos um patamar novo da história da Terra e da Humanidade.
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(Italiano) I Rohingya a Montecitorio
Emanuele Giordana | Lettera22 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
Le prove raccolte dal Tribunale Permanente dei Popoli andranno all’Aja alla Corte penale internazionale.
→ read full articleThomas Piketty’s Proposal to Remake Europe: Three Comments and a Suggestion
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
13 Dec 2018 – In the midst of more than one crisis, a stellar group of left-leaning intellectuals led by Thomas Piketty has written a proposal to remake Europe. It includes a manifesto, a treaty establishing what would amount to a new European legislature, and a budget. As its authors say, the greatest merit of their proposal is that it exists. Everyone is invited to comment on it and to suggest improvements. Taking them at their word, here are three comments and one suggestion.
→ read full articleOn the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
10 Dec 2018 – This Declaration was a notable step in the direction of asserting that persons by virtue of their humanness are entitled to protection in the exercise of a broad spectrum of rights, and hence, that sovereignty is subject to certain constraining limitations. Much progress has been made since 1948, although we live in a period of mounting pressure on human rights deriving from a surge of right-wing populism combined with the effects of an insufficiently regulated capitalism.
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The Foolishness of Anti-Globalism
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2018
15 Dec 2018 – An anti-globalist wave is breaking out around the world. This is perhaps one of the most regressive and absurd things in the world today. Why is this a senseless blunder? Because it contravenes the logic of an uncontrollable historical process. We have reached a new phase in the history of the Earth and Humanity.
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(Português) Esperança: Indignação e Coragem
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2018
3 dez 2018 – Vivemos no Brasil nos últimos dois anos dois grandes golpes: o primeiro, o impeachment e a deposição de Dilma Rousseff e neste ano de 2018 a ascensão da extrema-direita com a eleição de Jair Bolosonário a presidente do Brasil. Não foi Bolsonaro que ganhou. Foi o PT que perdeu e com ele o Brasil.
→ read full articleSometimes a Pair of Pants Can Give You Vertigo
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2018
6 Dec 2018 – Between my desire for a changed world and the world that seemed to change only for the worse lay the desolation Berger identified. Many people feel it, I know, especially dissidents who fight in various ways against the powerful. But we prefer not to go there, to see what it consists of and how we may transmute it into acts and words that might make a difference.
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We All Buy Slave-Made Products: Here’s How We Avoid Feeling Guilty
Michal Carrington, Andreas Chatzidakis and Deirdre Shaw – The Conversation,
10 Dec 2018
3 Dec 2018 – Hidden slavery is a growing global problem but we continue to turn a blind eye and embrace a seemingly insatiable demand for fast, cheap goods and services.
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Genome-Edited Baby Claim Provokes International Outcry
David Cyranoski & Heidi Ledford | Nature – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2018
26 Nov 2018 – He Jiankui, a genome-editing researcher at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen, says that he impregnated a woman with embryos that had been edited to disable the genetic pathway HIV uses to infect cells. The announcement has provoked shock and outrage among scientists around the world.
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We Shouldn’t Rush to Save the Liberal Order – We Should Remake It
Yanis Varoufakis and David Adler – The Guardian,
3 Dec 2018
1 Dec 2018 – From Viktor Orbán in the north to Jair Bolsonaro in the south, Rodrigo Duterte in the east to Donald Trump in the west, a coalition of nationalist strongmen are cracking down on civil rights, scapegoating minorities and facilitating widespread corruption for their family and friends. The UN Security Council, the IMF, the World Bank and the ILO were conceived as agencies of change – they can be again.
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The G20 Meeting and U.S./Russia Relations
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2018
2 Dec 2018 – What follows are my responses to questions addressed to me by Sputnik News Agency in Moscow. Although the focus was on the ongoing G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, the real concern was the future of U.S./Russia relations and how these relations should be managed to avoid arms races, geopolitical rivalry, and ideological tensions.
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Why We Stopped Trusting Elites
William Davies – The Guardian,
3 Dec 2018
The credibility of establishment figures has been demolished by technological change and political upheavals. But it’s too late to turn back the clock.
→ read full articleThe New New Anti-Semitism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2018
Hiding Israel’s Crimes of State behind False Claims of Victimization
→ read full articleMy 88th Birthday
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2018
-13 Nov 2018-
To be almost 90
And happy
With good health
Feels criminal
John F. Kennedy 55 Years On: Casting Light on the JFK Assassination, 9/11 and Other 21st Century Crimes
Prof. Graeme McQueen | OffGuardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2018
22 Nov 2018 – Fifty-five years ago, on November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Although there has been a great deal written about this event over the years, I want to draw attention to one exceptionally important article. Vincent Salandria gave this talk in Dallas at the invitation of the Coalition on Political Assassinations.
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Solidarity Economics: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Prof. Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2018
When we are dealing with socially created realities we should bear in mind that the ways people think about the problems create them. If people are going to solve the problems, they need to think differently. Solidarity economics redefines the problems. The Roman Law iron cage of European “civilization” has got to go. Europe must demote itself to the status of a peninsula of Asia whose savants are no wiser than Gandhi, Confucius, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela or Paulo Freire. Many pioneers are developing alternative economies.
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The Famine Facing Yemen Is a War Crime – It Must Be Investigated
Emily Thornberry – The Guardian,
26 Nov 2018
22 Nov 2018 – The Saudi-led coalition has deliberately targeted civilians. The UN must press for answers–not be complicit in a cover-up.
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(Français) Nicaragua : fin de régime ?
Bernard Duterme | CETRI – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2018
13 nov 2018 – Depuis avril 2018, le Nicaragua traverse une profonde crise de régime. Fortement contesté, le couple régnant – le président Daniel Ortega et la vice-présidente Rosario Murillo, épouse du premier – s’accroche au pouvoir.
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System Error: Japan Cybersecurity Minister Admits He Has Never Used a Computer
Justin McCurry – The Guardian,
26 Nov 2018
15 Nov 2018 – A Japanese minister in charge of cybersecurity has provoked astonishment by admitting he has never used a computer in his professional life, and appearing confused by the concept of a USB drive. Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, is the deputy chief of the government’s cybersecurity strategy office and also the minister in charge of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that Tokyo will host in 2020.
→ read full articleOn My 88th Birthday: A Reflection
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2018
13 Nov 2018 – I post a poem that I wrote earlier today, and read at the end of my talk, perhaps a self-indulgent conceit on my part, but I share it here as a way of thanking so many friends near and far who sent me the most moving birthday greetings throughout the day, which made me feel that we who are supporting the Palestinian struggle are part of a growing community that will prevail at some point, and the two peoples now inhabiting Palestine can finally live in peace, and with dignity and equality.
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Costs of Post-9/11 U.S. Wars to 2019: $5.9 Trillion
Neta C. Crawford | Watson Institute, Brown University - TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2018
14 Nov 2018 -The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $5.9 trillion on the war on terror through Fiscal Year 2019, including direct war and war-related spending and obligations for future spending on post-9/11 war veterans.
→ read full articlePhil Ochs and the Crucifixion of President John F. Kennedy
Edward Curtin – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2018
Whatever the truth in this age of “not knowing,” I think his story is a parable for our times. Whenever you think you’re getting the straight scoop, think again, and then again. The CIA’s Operation Mockingbird is still singing its siren song to convince us that the crucifixion was a one-time event, when Phil knew otherwise, right from the start and right to the end. I think he tried to warn us and wouldn’t be silenced, even in death.
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Khmer Rouge Leaders Found Guilty of Genocide in Cambodia’s ‘Nuremberg’ Moment
Hannah Ellis-Petersen – The Guardian,
19 Nov 2018
16 Nov 2018 – The two most senior Khmer Rouge leaders still alive today have been found guilty of genocide, almost 40 years since Pol Pot’s brutal regime fell. Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were leaders of a regime that presided over deaths of at least 1.7 million in Cambodia.
→ read full article(Italiano) Trascendere le regressioni nell’ordine mondiale
Richard Falk | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2018
“In contrasto con i poteri governativo ed economico — del Principe e del Mercante — c’è un potere immediato e autonomo, talora evidente, talaltra latente: quello della gente. Alcuni ne sviluppano consapevolezza, si associano e agiscono con altri, divenendo così davvero cittadini. Essi e le loro associazioni, quando non cerchino il potere governativo o quello economico, costituiscono il Terzo Sistema”.
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Accountability Alone Will Not Solve Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis
Bill Richardson - TIME,
12 Nov 2018
5 Nov 2018 – At long last, momentum is building to hold the perpetrators of the gruesome atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar to account. A U.N.-mandated fact-finding mission concluded that senior military officials should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But a singular focus on accountability risks overshadowing the need to bring about tangible improvements in Rohingyas’ lives now.
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Stop Saying ‘Migrant Caravan’: They’re Asylum Seekers Escaping a Conflict That the US Created
Kelli Korducki | Yahoo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2018
There is no migrant crisis. There is, however, a refugee crisis. That crisis is the effect of at least a half-century (and, arguably, twice that) of calamitous US political intervention in Central America, and not — as President Trump would have us believe — the inevitable byproduct of “bad hombres” who may as well be “animals.” US-funded military coups, resource exploitation, and American policies of economic neoliberalism in El Salvador have destabilized the entire region, and effectively created a climate where paramilitary-aligned drug cartels can thrive.
→ read full article(Português) Brasil: Grande Frente de Valores Ético-Sociais
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2018
1 nov 2018 – Estamos vivendo tempos política e socialmente dramáticos. Nunca se viu em nossa história ódio e raiva tão difundidos, principalmente através das mídias sociais. Foi eleito para presidente uma figura amedrontadora que encarnou a dimensão de sombra e do recalcado de nossa história. Ele contaminou boa parte de seus eleitores. Essa figura conseguiu trazer à tona o dia-bólico (que separa e divide) que sempre acompanha o sim-bólico (o que une e congrega) de uma forma tão avassaladora que o dia-bólico inundou a consciência de muitos e enfraqueceu o sim-bólico a ponto de dividir famílias, romper com amigos e liberar a violência verbal e também física.
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Rohingyas to Be Repatriated Despite UN Genocide Warning
Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shaikh Azizur Rahman – The Guardian,
5 Nov 2018
30 Oct 2018 – Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to start the repatriation of Rohingya refugees next month, less than a week after UN investigators warned that a genocide against the Muslim minority was continuing.
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The Seafloor Is Dissolving Because of Climate Change
Caroline Haskins | Motherboard – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2018
1 Nov 2018 – According to a new study, ocean acidification is setting off a dangerous feedback loop that’s dissolving the very bottom of the ocean. Carbon emissions are acidifying the ocean so quickly that the seafloor is disintegrating.
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Facebook Must Do More to Prevent 21st-Century Genocide
Editorial Board – The Washington Post,
5 Nov 2018
28 Oct 201 – In Myanmar, Facebook is more than a website. For many residents, it is the entire Internet. So when the nation’s military used the site as a conduit for a campaign against Muslims, there were no guardrails to stop the hatred from spreading — except the company itself. The grim reality on the ground in Myanmar, from which more than 700,000 members of the Rohingya minority have now fled, shows Facebook failed.
→ read full articleWhy Vote on Tuesday: The Menacing Challenges of Trump and Trumpism
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2018
4 Nov 2018 – World Order in the Age of Trump and Trumpism – This piece is based on a lecture given at West Chester University in Pennsylvania on 24 Oct. I have no great expectations about improvements in American foreign policy of Congress if it is fully or partially controlled by Democratic majorities after the November 6thmidterm elections. Nevertheless, I share the widely held anti-fascist view that any show of opposition to Trump and Trumpism at this time deserves priority on an urgent basis.
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