Articles by UN
We found 3962 results.
Good-Bye, See You Later
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Sep 2017
We made it! Five hundred Mondays [from 3 Mar 2008] has Antonio from Brazil-Portugal posted an editorial by me from Norway and the world–sometimes with a coauthor. With the good support of the other members of our editorial committee, Malvin Gattinger from Germany, Naakow Grant-Hayford from Ghana and Erika Degortes from Italy. THANKS!
→ read full articleOpen Letter to [Nobel Peace Laureate] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2017
As your fellow countrymen, with deep roots in our troubled birthplace, we are writing to you to share our sadness and concern about your personal legacy as the nation’s leader, the plight of our people, and the future of Myanmar as a nation. When you delivered your first speech in 1988, declaring that “as my father’s daughter I could no longer remain silent when the public remains subject to decades of oppression”, we were deeply moved and inspired by your determination and courage.
→ read full article(Français) «L’Étreinte du Serpent»: Colonialisme et Destruction
Alex Anfruns | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2017
Dans cette œuvre cinématographique qui a récolté une reconnaissance internationale unanime, le cinéaste colombien Ciro Guerra expose de manière saisissante ce que le phénomène de colonisation et le processus de domination ont toujours voulu réduire au silence. Il explique la rencontre entre les indigènes et les explorateurs européens, inversant les points de vue de ce qu’on appelle la « Découverte du Nouveau monde« , maintenant vue du côté des indigènes.
→ read full articleThe Other 9/11: Unremembered and Unatoned
Steve Brown - CounterPunch,
18 Sep 2017
Not that such memorials aren’t appropriate. They are simply insufficient. They fail to commemorate another 9/11 tragedy, one that took place 28 years earlier, in 1973 — not in America, but in Chile — and which caused the death – not of thousands, but of tens of thousands — while torturing and exiling 200,000 more. I refer to the brutal coup d’état that overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, and replaced it with nearly two decades of murderous dictatorship under Generalissimo Augusto Pinochet.
→ read full articleUN Human Rights Chief Points to ‘Textbook Example of Ethnic Cleansing’ in Myanmar
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2017
11 Sep 2017 – He lashed out at the treatment of the Rohingya in Myanmar which has led to more than 300,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh in the past three weeks, as security forces and local militia reportedly burn villages and shoot civilians.
→ read full articleThe World–Where Are You Heading?
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2017
Jurisprudence and the legal model; why not, and the alternatives? Answer: A deeply rooted model seeing social reality as actors, individual or collective, responsible for their acts, answerable to the law. An indispensable perspective to be enriched with a systemic perspective: action is not only conditioned by actor intention and capability, but also by good and bad structures; hence changing bad structures, not only punishing illegal actors, or restoring them.
→ read full articleHostage to Myopic Self-Interest: Climate Science Is Watered Down Under Political Scrutiny
Ian Dunlop – The Guardian,
18 Sep 2017
Scientific reticence allows politicians to neglect the real dangers we face. But waiting for perfect information means it will be too late to act.
→ read full articleSouth-South Cooperation Key to Overcoming Inequalities, Says UN Deputy Chief
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2017
12 Sep 2017 – “South-South cooperation should not be seen as a substitute for North-South cooperation but as complementary, and we invite all countries and organizations to engage in supporting triangular cooperation initiatives,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said today, urging all developed nations to fulfill their Official Development Assistance commitments.
→ read full article(Italiano) Pace-Sviluppo-Ambiente: integrati?
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2017
Questi sono gli obiettivi delle Nazioni Unite; l’Accademia di Hardanger li ha resi tre centri d’interesse. È sorto il problema: che cos’hanno in comune? Sono tre aspetti della stessa cosa? Se così, quale “cosa”? Si sono individuati ed esplorati quattro modi per cercare di rispondere. Sono quattro per via dei quattro modi di affrontare la realtà sociale.
→ read full articleMyanmar, Moderate Your Genocide!
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2017
My country is committing pogroms
Pogroms against Rohingyas.
I knew this day would come. And it did come sooner!
Wait! Rohingyas don’t exist.
(Italiano) Nel mentre – In giro per il mondo
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2017
Sembra esserci un nuovo sistema europeo per calcolare il PIL. Non solo vengono inclusi gli armamenti ma pure i fondi che vanno a ricerca e sviluppo finalizzati alla guerra. Inclusi sono pure prostituzione e droghe, sotto la voce “servizi”. E’ compresa qualunque cosa che viene offerta e richiesta per denaro. Come ci fa sentire questa novità sulla crescita economica? Di essere tra i “valori pro-capite” secondo i quali viene diviso questo mostro uscito da menti economicistiche malate?
→ read full articleWhat the Media Isn’t Telling You about North Korea’s Missile Tests
Mike Whitney - CounterPunch,
11 Sep 2017
What the media failed to mention was that, for the last three weeks, Japan, South Korea and the US have been engaged in large-scale joint-military drills on Hokkaido Island and in South Korea. These needlessly provocative war games are designed to simulate an invasion of North Korea and a “decapitation” operation to remove (Re: Kill) the regime.
→ read full articleWorld Needs to Move beyond ‘Conceptual Debate’ and Improve Protection from Atrocities, Urges Guterres
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2017
6 Sep 2017 – “All of us are well aware of the grim human reality that lies behind the words, ‘war crimes’, ‘crimes against humanity’, ‘ethnic cleansing’, and ‘genocide’,” Mr. Guterres said. “It is time to move beyond the conceptual debate towards improved protection of people from atrocity crimes.”
→ read full articleThe West–Where Are You Heading?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2017
There are no chosen individuals, with promised status. We are all chosen as humans by the precious gift of life, with guaranteed survival, wellness, freedom of options, identity. In a nature with guaranteed diversity and symbiosis; not vicious human attacks on both.
→ read full articleMaking Peace
Denise Levertov | Poetry Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2017
A voice from the dark called out,
‘The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war.’
Are the Rohingya Militants Responsible for Derailing Kofi Annan Commission’s Recommendations?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
“Who is terrorising whom”” is the question that needs to be confronted head on. There is something else that needs to be called out: the mass media’s misframing of Rohingya militants as “jihadists”. Both the realities on the ground and the media narrative covering the realities are quite skewered in favour of the perpetrating Burmese regime’s framing.
→ read full article(Italiano) Spagna: dove stai andando?
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
Per gli spagnoli è abituale aggiungere la parola “crisi” al nome del paese. Non sono i soli in ciò, può essere una consuetudine occidentale, uno di quei termini che sospingono avanti l’Occidente.
→ read full article(Italiano) Superare la paranoia verso la Russia
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
È ora di aprire una porta positiva alla Russia con uno scambio a reciproco e uguale beneficio. Scambi di merci lavorate e di servizi, cooperazione nel sopprimere la speculazione e l’intossicazione da droghe. Soprattutto: rispetto reciproco, non solo vantaggi. Stima, simpatia. Affetto. RUSSIA: ja tjebjà ljubljù. Ti amo.
→ read full article(Italiano) Israele si avvia verso una soluzione?
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
Il mondo vuole messaggi di pace da queste grandi, antiche fedi, non guerra perpetua. Questi messaggi potrebbero venire da Gerusalemme, mettendo in evidenza le tradizioni di solidarietà e tolleranza piuttosto che il contrario: le fedi abramitiche, che rinnegano la speranza del genere umano nella pace. Il mondo è in attesa. E’ tempo che accada, ora.
→ read full articleEl Salvador’s Durable Disorder: Low Intensity Postwar Democracy
Norbert Ross and Antonia Ross Sanchez - CounterPunch,
4 Sep 2017
In El Salvador violence has become a big industry. For 2015 and 2016, The Economist featured the country as the most violent country (not at war), with its capital, San Salvador, holding the dubious title of “most murderous city.” It is not surprising then, that even with a left leaning government in power prosecution of minors for gang related crimes has increased by 50%. The right-wing ARENA party even proposed reforms to the Juvenile Penal Law, seeking to try minors linked to gang activity as adult terrorists.
→ read full articlePeace Study Day & March
Alberto Portugheis | Humanity United for Universal Demilitarization – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
Sat 16 Sep 2017 at The Elizabeth Fry Room, Westminster Quaker Meeting House, London, England. Speakers: John Leech, Alicia Cabezudo, Alberto Portugheis, Stefan G. Ziegler and Azadeh Chahvie. If you would like to participate only in our Peace March, please meet us at 6pm at Hop Gardens. You are also welcome to join us at any of our stopping points along the way.
→ read full articleCampaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly Now Endorsed by over 1,500 Current and Former Lawmakers from 120 Countries
Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly | Culture of Peace Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
The campaign’s appeal calls for “a gradual implementation of democratic participation and representation on the global level to ensure international cooperation, secure the acceptance and enhance the legitimacy of the UN strengthening its capacity to act. People must be more effectively and directly included into the activities of the United Nations and its international organizations.”
→ read full articleUSA–Where Are You Heading?
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
Declare the end of the empire and explore cooperation for mutual and equal benefit with all. Make them friends, not military “allies”. USA: you are so innovative; you have so incredibly much to offer.
→ read full articleThe Universalism of Imam Moussa Sadr: A Relevant Approach to Contemporary Uncertainty
Raed H. Charafeddine | The Yale University Council on Middle East Studies - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
The Arab world is the geographic, historic and cultural point of convergence of the Muslim World. Islam was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the Arabic language in the Arabian Peninsula and, from there, the message spread across the world. The abodes of Islam remain platforms for debate and incubators for tensions and conflicting ideologies despite the passing of fourteen centuries since the Revelation. Certain issues of contention date back to the earliest years of Islam and have, remarkably, gone unresolved to this day. Such issues include succession (the Caliphate) and alternation in power, the separation of religion and State, innovation (Ijtihad) and imitation (Taqlid), and much more. Exploring these issues is no mere intellectual luxury. Even today these are still pressing matters as current political situation is mired in turmoil, uncertainty, and lack of vision.
→ read full article(Português) Amazonas: Situação Legal dos Direitos Minerários da Reserva Nacional do Cobre (RENCA)
WWF-World Wildlife Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Aug 2017
Relatório Técnico 2017 – Desde 2015 estão sendo veiculadas diversas notícias a respeito da extinção da RENCA como forma de atração de investimentos para o setor mineral. Criada em 1984, essa área de bloqueio está situada no limite dos estados do Pará e Amapá e apresenta área de 47 mil km2, equivalente ao estado do Espírito Santo.
→ read full articlePeace-Development-Environment: Integrated?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Aug 2017
These are the goals of the United Nations; the Hardanger Academy made them three foci. The problem arose: what do they have in common? Are they three aspects of the same thing? If so, what is that “thing”? Four ways of trying to answer have been identified and explored. Four because of four ways of approaching social reality.
→ read full articleLandmark UN-Backed Treaty on Mercury Takes Effect
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Aug 2017
16 Aug 2017 – A ground-breaking global convention on mercury today goes into effect, the United Nations environment wing said, protecting millions of children and infants from possible neurological and health damage.
→ read full articleMyanmar/Burma: UN Welcomes Final Assessment of Independent Advisory Panel on Rakhine State
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Aug 2017
24 Aug 2017 – The United Nations today welcomed the release of the final report of an independent advisory body looking into the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric acknowledged its endorsement “to address the root causes of violence and reduce inter-communal violence.”
→ read full articleQuantitative Easing for Wealth Redistribution
Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Aug 2017
22 Aug 2017 – Following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and the Great Recession in its wake, the ‘new normal’ in monetary policy has been abnormal. At the heart of the unconventional monetary policies adopted have been ‘asset purchase’ or ‘quantitative easing’ (QE) programmes. Ostensibly needed for economic revival, QE has redistributed wealth – regressively, in favour of the rich.
→ read full articleMeanwhile, Around the World
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Aug 2017
There seems to be a new European system for calculating the GNP. Not only is armament included, but also the money that goes into research and development for war. Also included are prostitution and drugs, as “services.” Anything offered and demanded in return for money is in. How does that make us feel about economic growth? To be among the “per capita” by which this monster coming out of sickening economistic minds is divided?
→ read full articleYou’re Invited to the Nuclear Denial Party!
Jan Oberg | Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Aug 2017
6 Aug 2017 – Since marketing, omitted and fake news have – to a worrying extent – replaced knowledge and ethics, why not celebrate that the media have omitted every mention of Hiroshima Day today? Welcome to the Nuclear Denial Party!!
→ read full articleIt’s High Time For Stopping The Slow-Burning Genocide In Myanmar
Habib Siddiqui – Asian Tribune,
14 Aug 2017
6 Aug 2017 – As noted by Dr. Maung Zarni and Alice Cowley in their seminal work “The slow-burning genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya”, both the State in Myanmar and the local community have committed four out of five acts of genocide as spelled out by the 1948 Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide.
→ read full articleSpain–Where Are You Heading?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Aug 2017
It is customary for Spaniards to add the word “crisis” to the name of the country. They are not alone in that, it may be a Western habit, one of those words driving the West on.
→ read full articleWhy It’s Hard to Understand What’s Happening in Venezuela
Susan Babbitt - CounterPunch,
14 Aug 2017
8 Aug 2017 – We hear about violence in Venezuela but not about politically motivated deaths in Mexico, Colombia and Honduras. Einstein said that “mere thinking” doesn’t produce great science. He knew something Marx knew, namely, that facts always depend upon a particular perspective. Knowledge is not power. If we don’t know what knowledge explains, or might, it’s useless.
→ read full articleWhen Washington Decides Democracy Is Dangerous: Stoking Opposition in Venezuela and Syria
Ramiro S. Fúnez – MintPress News,
14 Aug 2017
The opposition “movements” in Venezuela and Syria have a great deal in common: both are seeking the demise of democratically-elected governments; both resort to violence and acts of terrorism; both are tools of U.S. and Western imperialism, and both are failing.
→ read full articleStudent Activism Is Vital to Burma’s Future
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Aug 2017
In the Burmese society today so violently fractured by the regressive politics of racism, bigotry and exclusion it is these idealistic and principled students who are best positioned to serve as the moral compass. Their activism needs to be cherished and nurtured – not trampled on and repressed.
→ read full articleThe Corruption of Modern Academic Medicine — How Your Doctor Was Bought
Dr. Jason Fung | Medium – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
27 Jul 2017 – Many doctors are genuinely puzzled why the general public does not trust what they say. They blame ignorance and the media but this is simply a patronizing attitude. The truth is: the answer is $$$$. Simply, the public does not trust doctors because they know that many doctors are on the take. A terrific study from Dr. Vinay Prasad illustrates the problem precisely.
→ read full article(Italiano) Grande Storia dalla Norvegia
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
Un ratto norvegese sicuro di sé, che abbandona una nave per costruirsi la propria: difesa difensiva, neutrale tra l’Occidente e il Resto; con posti di lavoro concreti, non solo lavori finalizzati a una minore disuguaglianza; vedere il buono in tutto, per progetti che connettono buono con buono. Una Svizzera, attenta anche a una pace positiva.
→ read full articleIs Irrawaddy News Group Leading the Genocide Propaganda in Burma/Myanmar?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
6 Aug 2017 – Myanmar Groups whipping up Genocidal Racism against Rohingyas (& Muslims). Irrawaddy News Group has joined the likes of ex-Chief of Military Intelligence, Wirathu, & Rakhine Racist Groups.
→ read full articleWhat Are the Essential Differences between Communism and Capitalism?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
Communism treats the notion of Private Property as a major obstacle to building its classless heaven on earth attempts to make Saints out of humans. In the process the Beasts inside fought back and destroyed the Communist Mission and devoured its Missionaries. In sharp contrast, Capitalism rests on the Inalienably Holy Idea of Private Property attempts to pursue its Sacred Mission of Wealth Accumulation by unleashing the Beasts in humans, thereby triggering the unstoppable process of all around destruction.
→ read full articleEnough Nonsense! The Left Does Not Collaborate with Fascists
Eric Draitser - CounterPunch,
7 Aug 2017
Where I draw the line is in calling for the Left to openly embrace the very forces of fascist reaction that the Left fights against. Doing so is not only an extremely dangerous proposition given the political and organizational weakness of the Left such as it is, it would be an act of self-immolation. “Come my fellow hens, let us not be timid! We must throw open the doors to the foxes who, at times, share a common enemy.”
→ read full articleSurvivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic Heritage Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
By the end of 1945, the atomic bombings of Japan had killed an estimated 140,000 people at Hiroshima and 74,000 at Nagasaki, including those who died from radiation poisoning. Often lost in those numbers are the experiences of the survivors, known as hibakusha (literally “atomic bomb-affected people”).
→ read full articleIsrael Heading for a Solution?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
The world wants messages of peace from these great, old faiths [Judaism, Christianity, Islam], not everlasting belligerence. That could emanate from Jerusalem, by highlighting the traditions of togetherness and tolerance rather than the opposite: the Abrahamic faiths betraying the human hope of peace. The world is waiting. Time for this to happen is now.
→ read full articleDeadly Combination of Cholera, Hunger and Conflict Pushes Yemen to ‘Edge of a Cliff’ – Senior UN Official
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
1 Aug 2017 – Describing the situation in Yemen as “very bleak,” with “no end in sight,” a senior United Nations official envoy today said the war-torn country, already reeling from malnutrition and dwindling health care, is plummeting into further distress amid a deadly cholera outbreak and looming famine.
→ read full articleOvercoming Paranoia about Russia
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jul 2017
Time to open the positive door to Russia with exchange for mutual and equal benefit. Trade in processed goods, and in services, cooperation in killing speculation and drug-poisoning. Above all, mutual respect not only benefit. Admiration, sympathy. Love. RUSSIA: ja tjebja ljubljo. I love you.
→ read full articlePlastic Chokes the Seas
Robert Hunziker – CounterPunch,
31 Jul 2017
28 Jul 2017 – One of the great myths of modern-day society is that people recycle in earnest… saving the environment. Au contraire! Check out the ocean. In the 1960s plastic was found in the stomachs of fewer than 5% of seabirds. By 1980 it jumped to 80%, now 90%. What’s left? National Geographic says that seabird populations dropped 67% between 1950 and 2010.
→ read full article(Português) Novos métodos substituem o uso de animais vivos nas aulas de veterinária
USP Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jul 2017
Na Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, a professora Julia Matera foi pioneira no uso de técnicas substitutivas para ensino de cirurgia, projeto pelo qual foi recentemente premiada.
→ read full articleThe New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics
World Economic Forum | Ellen MacArthur Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jul 2017
Applying circular economy principles to global plastic packaging flows could transform the plastics economy and drastically reduce negative externalities such as leakage into oceans, according to this new report.
→ read full articleThere Is Still Time to Prevent Civil War in Venezuela
Eva Golinger – CounterPunch,
31 Jul 2017
28 Jul 2017 – There is no way out of Venezuela’s crisis if all parties to the conflict don’t recognize and respect each other’s right to exist. This has been one of the principal obstacles the country has faced since the opposition attempted to undermine the Chavez administration through the U.S.-backed coup d’etat in 2002. The opposition must accept the legitimacy of President Maduro and his administration and allow him to fulfill his presidential term, which ends in 2019.
→ read full article(Italiano) La rivoluzione delle sessualità
Johan Galtung & Antonio C. S. Rosa | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jul 2017
Kinsey ha avuto un ruolo importante. Molto solido, molto empirico, vasto, esauriente, avversato da qualche chiesa e senz’altro da qualche patriarca. Ma ha prevalso la scienza… Purtroppo si confonde generalmente il sesso con l’amore, sia in letteratura sia nella realtà. Il sesso è un piacere effimero dei genitali — di qualunque specie. L’amore è emozione, energia, sinergia fra due esseri umani. Amore e sesso sono complemento reciproco ma non si sostituiscono l’un l’altro, essendo di natura squisitamente differente.
→ read full articleEnd of Mission Statement by Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar
UN Information Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 – UN Special Rapp. Prof. Yanghee Lee: ‘astonished’ ‘disappointed’ ‘dismayed’ ‘delayed’ ‘denied access.’ “As ever, I stand ready to help in any way I can, to make Myanmar the rights respecting country I know it can be — to make Myanmar a country where the rights of all people are respected, upheld, and protected.”
→ read full articlePeace Study Day & March
Alberto Portugheis | HUFUD Humanity United for Universal Demilitarisation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jul 2017
TRANSCEND Members, Peace Study Teachers, Students: A few slots – forty minutes to one hour – are still available, for lecturers and workshop leaders. During the March to Whitehall, Downing Street and Parliament we’ll be carrying banners. Bring your own and publicize the peace organization or movement you represent.
→ read full articleMacro-History from Norway
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jul 2017
The US Trump ship is sinking and does not serve Norway’s interests. Time for the Norwegian rat to jump ship boarding increasingly accepted EU to build its own ship: defensive defense, neutral between West and Rest; with positions, not only jobs for less inequality; seeing the good in all, for projects linking good with good.
→ read full articleGod Exists, the Rest Is Speculation
Kevin Barrett – Unz Review,
24 Jul 2017
God Exists but Gawd Does Not is important precisely because it can cut through biases and convince open-minded atheists and agnostics that, based on the best available logic and evidence, God’s existence is far more likely than not. And while spreading not just belief, but knowledge of God’s existence might or might not save the world, Griffin ends the book with a postscript featuring convincing arguments that it could be helpful.
→ read full articleThe Truth about Soy – What Does the Science Actually Say?
Joey Bruno | Thrive Cuisine – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jul 2017
26 Jun 2017 – Soy has quickly gone from a relatively unknown in Western culture to a highly debated and controversial food. Of course, soy has not been embraced by communities that have been advocating against grain and legume consumption for decades. Even people who eat predominately plant-based diets will campaign against this humble legume. The question is: are these harsh criticisms warranted or does the scientific literature say otherwise?
→ read full articleThe Sexualities Revolution
Johan Galtung and Antonio C. S. Rosa – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jul 2017
Kinsey played a major role. Very solid, very empirical, vast, comprehensive, fought by some churches and no doubt by some patriarchs. But science prevailed… Unfortunately sex is generally confused with love both in literature and in reality. Sex is ephemeral pleasure of the genitalia—any genitalia. Love is emotion, energy, synergy between two human beings. Love and sex complement but do not replace each other, being of utterly different natures.
→ read full articleBestselling Revisionist Historian: Germany Was Just a Patsy!
Kevin Barrett – The Unz Review,
17 Jul 2017
Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads: A New History of the World shows why we need to re-vision history. The word revisionist derives from roots meaning “to look again.” And since history is an ongoing project, whose main purpose is to help us understand where we have come from and where we are going, we obviously need to keep taking fresh looks at the past as we propose new visions of the future.
→ read full articleDraft Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
UN General Assembly - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jul 2017
6 Jul 2017 – Negotiations, pursuant to paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 71/258 of 23 December 2016, on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination
→ read full article(Italiano) Freud-Einstein sulla Pace
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jul 2017
“Perché la guerra?” era il titolo della corrispondenza tra Sigmund Freud e Albert Einstein, 1932. Tra poco saranno trascorsi 85 anni. Che cosa possiamo ancora imparare da questi giganti, e che cosa avrebbero potuto essi stessi imparare in questo lasso di tempo.
→ read full article(Italiano) Società pacifiche: dove si trovano?
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
10 Jul 2017
Possiamo tentare di stabilire le caratteristiche del loro essere pacifiche. O possiamo cominciare con l’identificare le società bellicose e poi considerare le società pacifiche come loro negazione. Proviamo intanto questa.
→ read full articleMyanmar to Humanitarian Groups: THOU SHALL NOT FEED THE MUSLIMS – without Gov Knowledge & Monitor
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jul 2017
4 Jul 2017 – Thou shall not feed the Muslims without approval from NLD-Gov (and police). All food supplies to Muslims in Meikhtila and Ramadan month food donations must be distributed only under the monitoring mechanisms and with the prior knowledge of local authorities.
→ read full articleMyanmar Leaders Must Nurture the Country’s Many Potential ‘Aung La Nsangs’
Maung Zarni - Coconuts Yangon,
10 Jul 2017
3 Jul 2017 – On Friday [30 Jun], in Yangon, something extraordinary happened to lift the spirit of all Myanmar’s peoples. Mixed martial arts fighter Aung La Nsang made history by becoming the first-ever world champion from Myanmar in any sport. In our long-running civil wars and waves of racial and religious violence, how many Aung La Nsangs have we killed, maimed or otherwise destroyed?
→ read full article“Modern” Business Owns You
Johan Galtung and Malvin Gattinger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jul 2017
The housing market used to be a way for people to organize themselves and share costs and risks. Now in bigger cities it seems to be mainly about selling people to housing corporations. The online markets used to be extensions of “real” ones, selling goods and services. Now the central market is ‘attention,’ essentially selling people to advertisement companies.
→ read full articleUN Conference Adopts Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jul 2017
7 Jul 2017 – The treaty – adopted by a vote of 122 in favour to one against (Netherlands), with one abstention (Singapore) – prohibits a full range of nuclear-weapon-related activities, such as undertaking to develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, as well as the use or threat of use of these weapons.
→ read full article(Italiano) Povertà rurale? Cooperative!
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
Lo scopo primario delle cooperative rurali è garantire il sostentamento degli associati condividendo i rischi, e i proventi. Ne sono membri sia agricoltori sia lavoranti con capacità di assumersi rischi e di condivisione. Possono aderire poveri o disoccupati urbani, quanto meno ottenendo cibo in cambio di lavoro.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il genere umano nel 2050 – Un ambiente per sviluppare la pace
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
Il 2050 è soltanto 33 anni avanti; 33 anni indietro sta il 1984 di Orwell. Sono successe tante cose. Il muro di Berlino è caduto nel 1989; hanno fatto seguito l’Impero Sovietico, l’Unione Sovietica e il Comunismo. L’Impero Usa è decaduto, vecchi clienti si sono rifiutati di combattere le guerre degli Stati Uniti ma non quelle dell’Unione Europea, incrinando la NATO.
→ read full articleHersh’s New Syria Revelations Buried from View
Jonathan Cook - CounterPunch,
3 Jul 2017
27 Jun 2017 – Veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, the man who exposed the Mai Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and the US military’s abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in 2004, is probably the most influential journalist of the modern era. Hersh’s investigations have not only undermined evidence-free claims being promoted in the west to destabilise Assad’s goverment but threatened a wider US policy seeking to “remake the Middle East”. Hersh’s new investigation was paid for by the London Review of Books, which declined to publish it. This is almost disturbing as the events in question.
→ read full articleOn The Mainstream Media Coverage of Nuclear War Risks and Nuclear Abolition
Jan Oberg | Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
30 Jun 2017 – Ask yourself whether you remember to have seen one or more of these essentially important initiatives and reports recently, all pertaining to nuclear weapons, the risk of nuclear war and advocacy of nuclear abolition.
→ read full articleCardinal Bo Takes Aim at Minority Abuses in Eid Message
Union of Catholic Asian News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
Prelate reiterates call for probe against persecution of minorities, especially Rohingya Muslims.
→ read full articlePeaceful Societies – Where Are They?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
There are many of them–of different kinds–in world geography. We can try to identify the characteristics of their peacefulness. Or we can start by identifying belligerent societies and then see peaceful societies as their negations. Let us try this one first.
→ read full article(Français) Terrorisme, la face cachée de la mondialisation
Alex Anfruns | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
2 Jul 2017 – Faut-il s’habituer au terrorisme devenu partie intégrante de notre quotidien ? Ou bien analyser intelligemment ses causes pour le contrer ? Ancien rédacteur en chef à Radio France Internationale et aujourd’hui directeur du site spécialisé prochetmoyen-orient.ch, l’écrivain et journaliste franco-suisse Richard Labévière a publié Terrorisme, la face cachée de la mondialisation, un ouvrage remarquable qui dresse le bilan de quinze ans de « guerre contre la terreur » et apporte des clés d’analyse sur un phénomène complexe et de plus en plus répandu dans nos sociétés.
→ read full articleSalafism vs. Wahhabism: Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s Proxy War Rages in Syria Thanks to US Militarism
Steven Sahiounie – MintPress News,
3 Jul 2017
Salafi jihadist scholar Abdullah al-Muhaysini is one of many agents working on behalf of Qatar to combat Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabist ideology. Their battleground is Syria, where a so-called “civil war” is covering up a silent fight between competing political movements.
→ read full articleWashington’s New Threat against Syria, Russia and Iran: Invitation to False Flag Operation
Farhang Jahanpour | Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
29 Jun 2017 – The world is poised at a very critical juncture. The events in Syria could either lead to the restoration of stability in that war-torn country whose people have gone through unimaginable hardships, or it can pave the way for a global confrontation the outcome of which is too frightening to contemplate.
→ read full articleMyanmar Cardinal Bo Calls Human Rights Campaigners, Researchers and Scholars on Rohingyas “Extreme” and Joins Aung San Suu Kyi’s Genocide Denial
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
26 Jun 2017 – My response to Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo’s Statement of his public denial of Rohingya ethnic cleansing.
→ read full articleOn World Refugee Day 20 Jun UN Urges Support, Solidarity for Record Number of Displaced People
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jun 2017
20 June 2017 – With a record 65.6 million people last year forcibly uprooted from their homes by violence and persecution, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today called on the international community to provide support and solidarity. World Refugee Day is a moment to ask what each of us can do to overcome indifference or fear and embrace the idea of inclusion, “to welcome refugees to our own communities, and to counter narratives that would seek to exclude and marginalize refugees and other uprooted people.”
→ read full articleFukushima’s Radiation Will Poison Food “for Decades,” Study Finds
John Laforge - CounterPunch,
26 Jun 2017
22 Jun 2017 – According to a new study that focused on cesium-134 and cesium-137, “food in Japan will be contaminated by low-level radioactivity for thirty decades. It takes 10 radioactive half-lives for cesium-137 to decay to barium, and its half-life is about 30 years, so C-137 stays in the environment for roughly 300 years.
→ read full articleHelen Keller (27 Jun 1880 – 1 Jun 1968)
American Foundation for the Blind – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jun 2017
American educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century’s leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the ACLU.
→ read full articleFreud-Einstein on Peace
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jun 2017
“Why War?” was the title of an interchange of letters between Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein in 1932, 85 years ago. What can we still learn from these giants, and what might they have learned in the meantime? Let us look at their approaches, as fellow human beings searching for answers to a question for humankind at all times: the curse of war.
→ read full articleStatement by Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
There have been a number of alarming incidents of incitement of intercommunal tension and religious violence since my last update. In April, extremist Buddhist nationalists reportedly pressured authorities to close two Islamic schools in Yangon that traditionally have served as a prayer site, with no consultation and investigation. That they remain closed through Ramadan, a sacred month for Muslims when they not only observe the fasting but are also encouraged to conduct additional prayers, has resulted in a sense of greater isolation amongst the community.
→ read full articlePolitical Will, Financial Support Needed to Bolster New Approach to Cholera in Haiti – UN Deputy Chief
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
14 Jun 2017 – The UN deputy chief Amina Mohammed today called on Member States to fund the Organization’s new strategy to counter cholera in Haiti. “Without your political will and financial support, we have only good intentions and words.”
→ read full articleRural Poverty? Cooperatives!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
The primary purpose of rural cooperatives is to feed themselves by sharing risks, and share gains on top of that. Members are both farmers and farm workers with risk-absorbing capacity and sharing. Poor and unemployed from towns and cities may join, at least getting food in exchange for work.
→ read full articleJoint African Action Crucial to Protect Persons with Albinism from Violence, Highlights UN Expert
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
13 Jun 2017 – Highlighting the importance of cooperation among countries to overcome the violence and discrimination faced by persons with albinism, a United Nations rights expert has urged African nations to fully implement a regional action plan on ending attacks on persons with albinism.
→ read full article‘BRICS’ Countries Well Placed to Help Lead Global Efforts to Tackle Hunger
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
16 Jun 20187 – With the clock ticking toward the 2030 deadline for meeting the international goals to eradicate hunger and poverty, five of the world’s most important emerging economies are well positioned to take a leading role in helping to achieve these objectives, according to the UN: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
→ read full articleChildren Hardest Hit as Cholera Spreads in War-Torn Yemen – UNICEF
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
14 Jun 2017 – As the outbreak of cholera in Yemen continues to spread at an alarming rate – with terrible impact on children – the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for immediate support to enable the country’s health workers respond or risk even more deaths from the deadly disease.
→ read full articleUN Chief Praises ‘Vision, Tenacity’ of the Late Helmut Khol, Chancellor Who Reunited Germany
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
16 Jun 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has lauded the vision and tenacity of the former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl, who died today at the age of 87.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il calendario ONU: coscienza del mondo
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
È sorprendente. Le Nazioni Unite hanno decenni, anni, settimane e giorni, dedicati a valori, obiettivi e interessi, più di quanto ne siamo consapevoli. Lo si confronti con gli stati nazionali, di solito con un solo giorno, il loro giorno nazionale per la celebrazione di nessun altro che sé stessi… Siamo una Umanità in un mondo con molte linee di frattura; che la coscienza ONU sia la nostra.
→ read full article(Italiano) Intanto, in giro per il mondo
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
Trump viola le norme internazionali come se non esistessero, che uccide in Yemen-Pakistan-Somalia con droni-bombardamenti-assalti, nonostante non fosse coinvolto in un conflitto armato né attaccato da nessuno di quei paesi. Quindi, nessun diritto di auto-difesa. Pura aggressione.
→ read full articleSupport the Nuclear Ban Treaty
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
On June 15, more than 130 nations will re-convene at the UN for the final session of negotiations on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. SIGN THIS PETITION TODAY to tell the UN Conference that you support this essential step in the worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons.
→ read full articleCatastrophe of Aral Sea Shows ‘Men Can Destroy the Planet’, Warns UN Chief Guterres
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
António Guterres today visited Muynak, Uzebkistan in the Aral Sea – once the world’s fourth largest inland sea, that has now shrunk to a quarter of its original size due to human mismanagement– the ‘cemetery of ships’ – once a port city but now devoid of all water. “It shows that if in relation to climate change, if we are not able to act forcefully to tame this phenomenon, we might see this kind of tragedy multiply around the world,” he warned.
→ read full articleHumankind 2050 – Peace Development Environment
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
2050 is only 33 years ahead; 33 years back is Orwell’s 1984. Much happened. The Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989; the Soviet Empire, Soviet Union and Communism followed. The US Empire declined, former clients refused to fight US wars, but not EU wars; eroding NATO. The Cold war, threatening humanity with a nuclear arms race that in a hot war could obliterate the planet, melted away with a whimper.
→ read full articleAmerican Darkness vs. Bhutan Brightness
Robert Hunziker | Dissident Voice – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
As Donald Trump axes America’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord, the Kingdom of Bhutan finalizes Bhutan for Life, a fund that will allow the country to remain carbon neutral forever. By ignoring the pressing issue of climate change/global warming, America looks insignificant, undignified, and very weak whereas Bhutan’s carbon neutral commitment looks relevant, sophisticated, and very strong.
→ read full articleThe UN Calendar: The World’s Conscience
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jun 2017
It is amazing. The United Nations have decades, years, weeks and days, dedicated to more values, goals and concerns than most of us are aware of. Compare it to nation-states usually with only one day, their day, their national day, celebrating nobody but themselves… We are one humanity in one world with many faultlines; let the UN conscience be ours.
→ read full articleA UN of the Future to Effectively Serve All Member States
UN Secretary-General António Guterres – Other News,
5 Jun 2017
In a letter to Permanent Representatives of 193 member states, the Secretary-General details his plan for a revitalization of the UN system.
→ read full articleTrump in Riyadh – A Gulf NATO to Gang Up against Iran and Syria
Jan Oberg | Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research - TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 May 2017
His visit must be seen in the light of a number of events and trends, and in what follows we do like the military when it scans the horizon for enemies: we look for patterns – not the least Saudi Arabia’s “surprising new military goals” as Forbes’ Ellen Wald appropriately calls them. Or, as they say – we connect some dots that, invariably, Western mainstream media have no capacity and probably also no interest in connecting.
→ read full article(Italiano) I Baschi in Spagna: pace positiva?
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 May 2017
La Spagna è in una transizione che richiederà un po’ di tempo: dalla “España: Una, Grande, Libre” alla “España: Una Comunidad de naciones“. La pace positiva si struttura sulla pace negativa, costruendo sulla riconciliazione dei traumi e la risoluzione dei conflitti. C’è da fare molto lavoro. Ma la Spagna, da vera comunità di nazioni, sarà di ispirazione per tutto il mondo.
→ read full article(Italiano) Quel che manca: la creatività politica
Johan Galtung | Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 May 2017
L’impedimento sta nella nostra immaginazione politica così limitata. E’ necessario crescere, così che le visioni del mondo si aprano nelle nostre menti, siano condivise con altri in nuovi modi di dialogare, concretizzate in un nuovo agire. Possiamo riuscire se lo vogliamo. E lo vorremo se liberiamo l’immaginazione.
→ read full articleHunger Strike Ends, Prisoners Declare Victory
Ali Abunimah | The Electronic Intifada – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 May 2017
27 May 2017 – After 40 days without food, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have suspended their hunger strike in Israeli jails. The end of the strike came after 20 hours of intense negotiations between the strike’s leaders, including imprisoned Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, and the Israel Prison Service, according to a statement issued Saturday [27 May] morning by the prisoners solidarity committee.
→ read full articleMeanwhile, Around the World
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 May 2017
The basic demands of Pyongyang can easily be met: a peace treaty, normalization of diplomatic relations to Seoul and USA, a nuclear-free, UN-inspected Korean peninsula. An afternoon job for peace, USA?
→ read full articleCompetition and Collaboration in Conflict Resolution
Dr. Olga A. Vorkunova – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 May 2017
Peace-building is today central for shaping our human conditions, present and future. In terms of IR theory, the analytical distinction between ‘competition logic’ versus ‘cooperation logic’ implies that a realist perspective may be useful to analyze particular aspects of peace coalitions rather than military coalitions. There are no incompatible countries; there are incompatible goals of different actors.
→ read full articleGenetically Engineered Disappointments
Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Tan Zhai Gen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 May 2017
16 May 2017 – Advocates of genetically engineered crops have long claimed that it is necessary to raise crop yields and reduce human exposure to agrochemicals. GE promised two major improvements: improving yields affordably to feed the world, and making crops resistant to pests to reduce the use of commercial chemical herbicides and insecticides. There has been little compelling evidence to this effect after two decades.
→ read full article