Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service
We found 28784 results.
A Tale of Two Worlds: Apocalypse, 4Chan, WikiLeaks and the Silent Protocol Wars
Nicolas Mendoza, Radical Philosophy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
What has become manifest since late November 2010, with the release of what is now known as ‘The US Embassy Cables’, is that the narrative implicit in the WikiLeaks logo, that of a world disjunct, not only fits the WikiLeaks saga but describes a greater struggle of global power, held diffusely by transnational corporations and enforced by governments around the world.
→ read full article(Castellano) Hoja de Ruta de la COP17 No Fija Metas de Mitigación de Gases a Países Industrializados
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Representantes de 190 países aprobaron este domingo en Durban (Sudáfrica) durante la finalización de la XVII Cumbre de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) sobre el Cambio Climático (COP17), una hoja de ruta para un acuerdo global en 2015 destinado a reducir las emisiones de gases sin nuevas metas de mitigación para las naciones industrializadas, máximo reclamos de los países en desarrollo en el encuentro.
→ read full articlePoor USA: What a Choice!
Johan Galtung, 12 Dec 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Occupy Movement is a sign of US sanity. Leaderless makes it less vulnerable, immensely consciousness-raising, not insisting on any one single analysis or remedy–for the time being. People so concerned that they sacrifice some personal comfort–gaining togetherness and a sense of meaning, a gift for a democracy. The Occupy Movement becomes a movement to revive a dying economy, creating thousands of small enterprises, banks for savings, not speculation. They start a parallel society.
→ read full articleLiving With Fukushima City’s Radiation Problem
Ike Teuling, Greenpeace - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Overall, the radiation levels in these neighbourhoods are so high that people receive an exposure to radiation just from external sources that is ten times the annual allowed dose. How high their internal exposure is from eating contaminated food and inhaling or ingesting radioactive particles remains unknown, since no government program is keeping track of this.
→ read full articleMuddle and Create
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
World leaders and the economists who advise them are now debating whether more stimulus or more austerity, or some combination of the two, is the path toward restoring the normal functioning of capitalist accumulation, and therefore toward higher levels of employment and economic growth. There is no solution within the terms of their debates, only an historical necessity to muddle through somehow. Nor are there well-known solutions waiting in the wings, for both central planning and social democracy are discredited by good logical reasons and by historical experience.
→ read full articleWho Will Watch the Watchdog?
Maidhc Ó Cathail – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Pro-Israel NGO Behind NATO’s War on Libya Is Targeting Syria – As long as UN Watch’s motto of “Monitoring the United Nations, Promoting Human Rights” continues to obscure its real mission of “Manipulating the United Nations, Promoting Israel’s Interests,” the warning of a Roman poet becomes increasingly pertinent: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
→ read full articleWhat They Really Said: Obama and Clinton on LGBT Rights and Foreign Assistance
Tad Stahnke, Human Rights First – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Earlier today [6 Dec 2011], the Obama Administration released a memorandum to federal agencies on initiatives to advance the human rights of LGBT people. An hour later, Secretary Clinton delivered a speech before the U.N. in Geneva that reaffirmed the policy articulated by president that LGBT rights are human rights. Despite the headlines coming out of those two announcements, neither said anything about conditioning foreign aid on the protection of LGBT rights.
→ read full articleMarching Off the Cliff
Noam Chomsky – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
To gain perspective on what’s happening in the world, it’s sometimes useful to adopt the stance of intelligent extraterrestrial observers viewing the strange doings on Earth. They would be watching in wonder as the richest and most powerful country in world history now leads the lemmings cheerfully off the cliff.
→ read full article
(Castellano) Johan Galtung: Tres Pasos Clave en la Mediación de Un Conflicto Violento
realidadexpuesta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Monterrey, Mexico, 24 Octubre 2011 – El politólogo noruego Johan Galtung, fundador de los estudios sobre la paz y conflictos sociales, visitó la ciudad de Monterrey para impartir una conferencia magistral y un taller con organizaciones de la sociedad civil que trabajan la cultura de paz.
→ read full articleIsrael and Apartheid? Reflections on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine Session in South Africa
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
This post is a modified and expanded version of an article published by Al Jazeera and also a continuation of a series of posts on the general theme of a jurisprudence of conscience.
→ read full articleThe Fearmongers
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Iranian Nuclear Bomb means a Second Holocaust, no less. Only the strong leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu can save us in the nick of time. But nobody asks the relevant question: why would any Iranian leader attack a country that has the ability to devastate Iran in a “second strike”? Yes, the Iranian leaders may be religious fanatics, but rabbis demand that soldiers may leave a military ceremony where female soldiers sing. “A woman’s voice is her sexual part,” a holy text asserts. And a prominent rabbi has announced that a religious soldier should rather face a firing squad than listen to a woman singing. (I am not making this up.)
→ read full articleCall for a Self-Determined Afghanistan
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
In a world where there is a new consciousness of our inter-dependence and inter-connectedness as a human family, NATO is a Cold War relic and an obstacle to real development and peace. NATO should be disbanded and its resources put into human security, i.e., removing poverty, the environment, human rights, international law, education, health care, nonviolent civilian security, and so on.
→ read full articleReal Source of Major World Problems
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
When people face a problem there are generally two ways that may be adopted to hopefully reach a successful outcome. One of these ways will enable us to solve the problem we face on a permanent basis, that is, in a way that such a problem will not likely to ever surface again. The other way, which seems to have been quite dominant in history to this very day, will enable us to bring the problem under control in a number of ways but never on a permanent basis.
→ read full articleClassless Society
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
President Nehru from India was on a state visit in Moscow.
→ read full articleA Brief Guide to Class Conflict
Tom Tomorrow, Truthout – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
This Modern World | Political Cartoon
→ read full articleAs Myanmar Reaches Out, Old Conflict Flares Within
The New York Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The new government of President Thein Sein has reached out to the country’s minority ethnic groups, which have a long history of conflict with the central government and make up about one-third of Myanmar’s population of 55 million. Last week there were reports of a ceasefire deal with another rebel group, a faction of the Shan State Army. Myanmar’s majority ethnic group, the Burman, have dominated the army and held the highest posts in government since the country, formerly known as Burma, won independence from Britain in 1948, while the non-Burman minorities have sought autonomy.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Passeio ao Zoológico: Sob Outra Ótica, Sob Outra Ética
Marcela Godoy, Agencia de Notícias de Direitos Animais - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
“Quando se trata de como os humanos exploram os animais, o reconhecimento de seus direitos requer abolição, não reforma (…) verdade dos direitos animais requer jaulas vazias, não mais espaçosas”. (Tom Regan, Jaulas Vazias)
Como bióloga e educadora, sempre acreditei nos zoológicos como ferramenta deseducativa. Meu repúdio a esse tipo de atividade fez com que eu me afastasse, durante anos, de uma visita a esses verdadeiros redutos de infelicidade animal.
La Via Campesina Durban Declaration
La Via Campesina – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Assembly of the Oppressed, 5 December 2011, Durban, South Africa – Via Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. We are an autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or other type of affiliation. Born in 1993, La Via Campesina now gathers about 150 organisations in 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
→ read full articleCELAC: Speaking for Latin America and the Caribbean
Alex Main, Center for Economic and Policy Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The new regional organization includes every nation in the Western Hemisphere with the exception of the United States and Canada and is seen by many as a potential rival to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). Though it generated a great deal of media attention within Latin America and was attended by the majority [33] of the hemisphere’s heads of state, the U.S. press largely overlooked the Caracas summit with, for instance, the New York Times limiting its coverage to a brief 100 word blurb from the Associated Press.
→ read full articleReintegration of a Remaindered World: Cognitive Recycling of Objects of Systemic Neglect
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Prepared as an aid to reflection on a world of “remaindered people” currently of concern to the “Indignant” and to the Occupy movement.
→ read full article
The Next Ten Years Will Be Very Unlike the Last Ten
Post Carbon Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
An Abbreviated History of Fossil Fuels – Time is running out: the ultimate roller coaster ride.
→ read full article
Galtung’s Insights on Paths to War & Peace inside Arab Uprisings (Video of the Week)
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Prof. Johan Galtung, father of Peace Studies and rector of the Transcend Peace University: ‘I would like the UN to send a thousand mediators to Damascus right away.’
→ read full article(Portuguese) Cuba: País Com Melhor Desenvolvimento Humano da América Latina
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
O Fundo de População das Nações Unidas (UNFPA em inglês), na apresentação do Informe sobre o Estado da População Mundial 2011, além de analisar o fato de que o mundo chegou aos 7 bilhões de habitantes, assegurou que Cuba é a nação com mais alto desenvolvimento humano latino-americano, chegando a afirmar que conta com um desenvolvimento equivalente a um quarto de século de avanço em relação aos demais países da América Latina e do Caribe.
→ read full articleNeutralising Burma’s Ethnic Rebellions
Dr. Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), Karl Marx wrote: ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’ Such an assessment is only half-right when it comes to Burma’s internal conflicts, of which ethnicity is of equal importance to class.
→ read full articleIsrael Demolished Palestinian Village in the West Bank
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
25 Nov 2011 – All the houses of the Bedouin village of Deqeiqa, south of Hebron, received the Military Order of demolition in a another example of the Israeli expulsion policy in the occupied West Bank, according to denouncements by human rights organizations. This village, situated in the impoverished desert hills south of Hebron, is home to about 400 people who live on cattle-raising and have no electricity or even no running water.
→ read full articleConfucius: Great Chinese Teacher
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
One of the greatest Chinese teachers of all time was Confucius, who was also known as Kong Fu Zi. This admired philosopher was born in 551 B.C. in Lu, China, which is today known as Shandong province. He died in 479 B.C. In his teachings he adopted a humanitarian approach to social harmony based on the belief that, deep inside, all people want to live at peace with each other.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: Women and the Rulers
Soe Myat Nwe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
This paper seeks to find the engagement of women throughout the different and difficult political stages in Afghanistan under different rulers and foreign invaders.
→ read full article(Castellano) Ecuador Considera que la CELAC Juega Papel Fundamental Para Sustituir a la OEA
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, aseguró que la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) juega un papel fundamental en la creación del nuevo mecanismo que sustituya a la actual Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA). “Necesitamos un nuevo sistema interamericano y aquí la CELAC puede jugar un papel fundamental enorme”, dijo Correa.
→ read full articleLincoln: “Labor is the Superior of Capital”
Alan Grayson, Michaelmoore.com – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” -Pres. Lincoln.
Capital is wealthier, better organized, and far more powerful today than it was in Lincoln’s time. Capital gorges on Republican tax cuts for the rich, on bailouts, on government contracts and corporate welfare, on free money from the Fed, and on monopoly profit. Capital treats politicians and whole political parties like puppets.
Latin American Leaders Gather in Venezuela for Historic Summit
Maja Wallengren, Xinhua – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Leaders from 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Friday [2 Dec 2011] to participate in the historic founding summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which includes all countries in the Americas except the United States and Canada, in an effort to establish a forum similar to that of the Organization of American States, but without the political influence of the U.S. foreign policy. “Today with this Latin American unity, we are pronouncing the death sentence to the Monroe Doctrine,” said Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, referring to a U.S. policy in the 19th century that many Latin Americans regarded as a bid to justify Washington’s meddling in the region.
→ read full article(Castellano) Primer Día de la Cumbre CELAC Concluye Con Llamado a No Dejar Todo el Esfuerzo en Un Papel
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
3 Dic 2011 – El primer día de la Cumbre constitutiva de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) que se realiza en Caracas, culminó en un ambiente de consenso e integración y con un llamado a ejecutar todos los esfuerzos para no dejar que lo que se firme este sábado quede sólo en un papel.
→ read full article
Activists Challenge COP17 Climate Talks
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Environmentalists chant “Down with Canada” as expectations are low for COP17 climate talks.
→ read full articleMan-Made Flu Virus with Potential to Wipe Out Many Millions If It Ever Escaped Is Created In Research Lab
Daily Mail Reporter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilisation. The study is one of two that have caused serious debate about scientific freedom and about regulating research that might have potential public health benefits but at the same time could also be useful for bio-terrorism.
→ read full articleAboriginals in Australia
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Aboriginals in Australia, a little-known story. Since 1788, British colonization looted the land of those who over thousands of years were distributed in more than 400 peoples or tribes that lived as hunters and gatherers, without writing their own history, transmission was based on oral history and culture.
→ read full articleOnce Again, War Is Prime Time and Journalism’s Role Is Taboo
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
The role of respectable journalism in western state crimes — from Iraq to Iran, Afghanistan to Libya – remains taboo. It is currently deflected by the media theatre of the Leveson enquiry into phone hacking, which Daily Telegraph’s Benedict Brogan describes as “a useful stress test”. Blame Rupert Murdoch and the tabloids for everything and business can continue as usual.
→ read full articleKuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal: Bush and Blair Guilty
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
This is a modified version of a text published by Al Jazeera. It is a sequel to the piece entitled “Toward a Jurisprudence of Conscience,” and will be followed by an assessment of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine session in Cape Town, South Africa investigating the allegations that Israel is guilty of imposing apartheid on the Palestinian people, considered by the Rome Treaty framework of the International Criminal Court to be a crime against humanity.
→ read full article15 Foods High in Folic Acid
Dr. Edward Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, is perhaps most well known for its applications in the prevention of fetal deformities, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as several types of cancer. The good news is that there are many rich sources of folic acid that are easy to incorporate into your daily diet. Physiologically, consuming enough folic acid allows the body to perform many of its essential functions, including nucleotide biosynthesis in cells, DNA synthesis and repair, red blood cell creation, and also helps to prevent anemia.
→ read full articleGetting Even
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
A very loud, unattractive, mean woman walked into a market with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.
→ read full article(Castellano) Pobreza en América Latina Cae Un Punto Según Informe de la Cepal
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
La secretaria ejecutiva de la Cepal, Alicia Bárcena, explicó que “la pobreza y la desigualdad han seguido disminuyendo en la región, lo que es una buena noticia, especialmente en el contexto de crisis económica internacional”. La Comisión estima que el año cerrará con tres millones de pobres menos en la región, lo que consideran es el mejor indicador en 20 años, debido a un repunte del mercado laboral.
→ read full article[TRUE OR FALSE?] How Iran Can Collapse All of the Bilderberg Banks and Governments
Video Rebel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
All the Iranians have to do is to announce the purchase ten billion dollars in silver and ten billion dollars in gold over the next 90 days. This announcement is to be made only after they have purchased a billion dollars in silver bullion and a billion dollars in gold. The COMEX in New York and the LBMA London will collapse. The ETFs GLD and SLV will collapse. Stock markets all over the world will collapse. The New York and London banks will collapse. That is the power base of the Bilderberg and Trilateral Commission.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Islândia: Crescimento Económico Triplica em Relação à UE em 2012
Joana Azevedo Viana, iOnline – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
De acordo com estimativas do Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI), a Islândia vai fechar 2011 com um crescimento do PIB de 2,5%, prevendo-se novo crescimento de 2,5% para 2012 – números que representam quase o triplo do crescimento económico de todos os Estados-membros da União Europeia – que em 2011 ficarão pelos 1,6% e que descerão para os 1,1% em 2012. A taxa de desemprego no país vai ainda descer para os 6%, contra os actuais 9,9% da zona euro.
→ read full articleChina Not Obliged To Besiege Iran
Global Times (China), Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
The US Senate approved tougher economic sanctions against Iran on Thursday [1 Dec 2011], vowing to penalize any financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank. Consequently, other countries such as China, Japan and India are prohibited to conduct oil trade with Iran. Under such an arrogant bill, it is hard to imagine how the US would borrow money from the central banks of its creditors to make up its bleak budget in the future. China need not pay attention to it.
→ read full article
Palestinian “Freedom Riders” Challenge Segregation (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
On Tuesday [15 Nov 2011] six Palestinian activists boarded Israeli busses in an attempt to challenge the system of segregation in the West Bank. They were arrested at Hizmeh checkpoint, interrogated by Israel’s internal intelligence agency, the Shabak, and released. In the West Bank, segregation is both visible with the separation wall, fence, and separate cities for Israelis and Palestinians and invisible with separate legal and security systems for the two peoples.
→ read full article(Portuguese) V Cimeira União Europeia/Brasil: Austeridade Não É Solução para Crise, Diz Dilma Rousseff
Público – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
A Presidente brasileira, Dilma Rousseff, garantiu hoje (3 Out 2011], em Bruxelas, que não tomará medidas de austeridade fiscal para fazer frente aos efeitos da crise económica e destacou que medidas recessivas só levam à “estagnação e ao desemprego”. A declaração foi feita por Dilma Rousseff após um encontro bilateral com o primeiro-ministro belga, Yves Leterme, dominado pela crise económica e financeira global.
→ read full articleWeapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): Myanmar Special Weapons
Global Security – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
A five-year investigation by the Burmese dissident group Democratic Voice of Burma claimed to have uncovered evidence that Burma is embarking on a programme to develop nuclear weaponry. At the center of the investigation is Sai Thein Win, a former defense engineer and missile expert. Robert Kelley, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, believes Burma’s intent is clear: to build a nuclear bomb. Kelley had spent months scouring photographs and documents provided by a former Burmese defense engineer who recently fled the country.
→ read full articleSales & the Winter of Discontent
James Albertini, Malu 'Aina, Hawai`i – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The store ads all say “SALE, SALE, SALE! The real meaning is BUY! BUY! BUY! The ads are a lure to create “Wants” not “Needs.” This holiday season do not buy the hype. Buy nothing or buy local. Support an economy that benefits the 99%, not the 1% of global corporate interests that suck labor and resources out of our local economies. Add to this mess, endless wars for empire disguised as “war on terror” to keep us all in a state of fear and obedience to those in power. The oil companies and the arms merchants have never seen more profitable times; they like things just as they are.
→ read full articleBeg Your Pardon
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
Saddam Hussein came to hell. The devil received him and said…
→ read full articleAre the American Psychological Association’s Detainee Interrogation Policies Ethical and Effective?
Farid Zakaria, PBFC – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
A new article by Kenneth Pope, distinguished clinical psychologist and former chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Committee, sharply criticizes the APA’s current policy on detainee interrogation. The article points out that psychologists supported illegal interrogation techniques in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were tortured with the assistance of psychologists. The CIA consulted with outside psychologists who gave assurances that controversial procedures, including waterboarding, would not result in prolonged mental harm.”
→ read full articleNew Brand of Slavery Surfaces in America
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
In the United States, you often hear individuals expressing their love for their country. However, the word “America” means different things to different people. Unless we are aware of this, we may experience needless frustrations unnecessarily.
→ read full articleBRICS Countries against External Interference into Syria’s Affairs
The Voice of Russia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have demanded to rule out external interference into Syria’s affairs. The communiqué adopted in Moscow on Thursday [24 Nov 2011] on the results of the meeting of BRICS’ Deputy Foreign Ministers, states that immediate talks involving all parties are only variant to resolve crisis in Syria.
→ read full articleSerbia Must Stop Evicting Roma
Amnesty International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The situation of a Roma family forcibly evicted from their Belgrade home and made homeless this week again highlights the need for the Serbian government to stop forced evictions and introduce legislation prohibiting them, Amnesty International said today. “Roma families in Belgrade are being forced out of their homes at an increasingly rapid pace.” said Nicola Duckworth Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia.
→ read full article
(Castellano) Johan Galtung: Los Tres Componentes del Conflicto
realidadexpuexta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
24 Octubre 2011 – Monterrey, Mexico – El politólogo noruego Johan Galtung, fundador de los estudios sobre la paz y conflictos sociales, visitó la ciudad de Monterrey para impartir una conferencia magistral y un taller con organizaciones de la sociedad civil que trabajan la cultura de paz.
→ read full articleSocial Opposition in the Age of Internet: Desktop “Militants” and Public Intellectuals
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The internet is the alternative to the capitalist mass media and its propaganda, a source of news and information that relays manifestos and informs activists of sites for public action. Because of the internet’s progressive role as an instrument of the social opposition it is subject to surveillance by the repressive police-state apparatus. For example, in the USA over 800,000 functionaries are employed by the “Homeland Security” police agency to spy on billions of emails, faxes, telephone calls of millions of US citizens.
→ read full articleA Day in November
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
THIS TUESDAY will be the 64th anniversary of a fateful day for our lives. A day in November. A day to remember. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted, by 33 votes against 13 (with 10 abstentions), the Palestine Partition Plan.
→ read full article
Goldman Sachs and Europe’s “Inside Job”
france24english, Media Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
Goldman Sachs has infiltrated senior positions of power across Europe, says Le Monde’s London correspondent, Marc Roche. The Prime Ministers of Greece and Italy as well as the new head of the European Central Bank all have close ties to the bank.
→ read full articlePeace Activism Can Be Spontaneous Too
Amir Telibečirović Lunjo in Sarajevo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
Sarajevo Haggadah, a unique book in its significance, is one of the oldest Sephardic Jewish Haggadahs in the world. It originated approximately 700 years ago in Spain. Bosnian Muslim scholar, Derviš Korkut, risked his life to hide this precious Jewish manuscript from Nazis during World War II.
→ read full articleOccupy Peace
David Krieger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The Occupy movement is demonstrating its durability and perseverance. Like a Daruma doll, each time it is knocked off balance it serenely pops back up. The movement has been seeking justice for the 99 percent, and justice is an essential element of peace. World military expenditures exceed $1.5 trillion annually, and the United States spends more than half of this amount, more than the rest of the world combined. In the nuclear age, war is far too dangerous; it has the potential to end civilization and most life on the planet. Peace is an imperative.
→ read full article(Italian) Sigonella, Capitale Degli Aerei Senza Pilota USA
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
Aerei senza pilota a gogò per la base Usa di Sigonella. Dopo l’utilizzo come avamposto per le missioni d’intelligence e bombardamento in Libia dei famigerati droni delle forze armate degli Stati Uniti d’America, dal prossimo anno l’infrastruttura siciliana sarà una dei principali centri al mondo per il comando, il controllo e la manutenzione dei velivoli telecomandati “Global Hawk”, “Predator” e “Reaper”.
→ read full articleToward A Jurisprudence of Conscience
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The existence of double standards is part of the deep structure of world politics. It was even given constitutional status by being written into the Charter of the United Nations that permits the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, that is the winners in 1945, to exercise a veto over any decision affecting the peace and security of the world, thereby exempting the world’s most dangerous states, being the most militarily powerful and expansionist, from any obligation to uphold international law.
→ read full articleLanguage, Law, and Truth
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
It may be time to acknowledge that governmental lawlessness in foreign policy has become a bipartisan reality for the United States Government, and that the face in the White House or the political party in control, while not yet irrelevant, is a matter of secondary interest, at least to those who are drone targets or torture victims.
→ read full article
Middle Kingdom (1/2)
CrossTalk, Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Are we heading into a China-centric world? Will it threaten or benefit the West? Will China bail out the eurozone, and how will Europe repay? Can China offer the world a new political and economic model?
→ read full article
Middle Kingdom (2/2)
CrossTalk, Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Are we heading into a China-centric world? Will it threaten or benefit the West? Will China bail out the eurozone, and how will Europe repay? Can China offer the world a new political and economic model?
→ read full article
Prof. Johan Galtung Supports the Leaderless 99%/Occupy Movement Worldwide (Video of the Week)
rconcep1 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Prof. Johan Galtung lends his support to the leaderless 99%/Occupy Movement and gives some expert advice to worldwide participants.
→ read full article(Castellano) Miles de Estadounidenses Exigieron Cierre Definitivo de Escuela de las Américas
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Una persona detenida fue el saldo de una multitudinaria protesta pacífica este domingo [20 Nov 2011] al sureste de Estados Unidos (EE.UU.), que exigía el cierre definitivo de la cuestionada Escuela de las Américas y el adiestramiento de militares latinoamericanos en ella, denunciaron los organizadores.
→ read full articleTobacco Giant Sues Australia over Package Law
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Philip Morris, one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, has announced that it is suing the Australian government over a new law requiring all cigarettes to be sold in plain packages. “We are left with no option,” Anne Edwards, a Philip Morris Asia spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday [21 Nov 2011].
→ read full articleOn (Im)Balance and Credibility in America: Israel/Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
I could not begin to count the number of times friends, and adversaries, have give me the following general line of advice: your views on Israel/Palestine would gain a much wider hearing if they showed more sympathy for Israel’s position and concerns, that is, if they were more ‘balanced.’
→ read full articleOccupy Movement: Two Texts in Solidarity
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
I wish to disseminate two texts that I have signed in support of the Occupy Movement. United for #Global Democracy deserves careful study and reflection. We got comments, suggestions, support, and wrote and rewrote it again and again. The text has been supported by Canadian-based Naomi Klein, Indian-based Vandana Shiva, the US-based Michael Hardt and Noam Chomsky, as well as Uruguayan Eduardo Galeano.
→ read full articleSocial Remainders from Psychosocial Remaindering
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Review of Current Usage and Implications – Prepared as an aid to reflection on the world of “remaindered people” currently of concern to the Occupy movement.
→ read full articleReturning the Favor
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
A man asked his neighbor, “May I read your newspaper when you are done with it?”
→ read full articleThe Lies of Free Market Democracy
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Freedom in our times has been sold as “free market democracy”. “Free markets” mean freedom for corporations to exploit whom and what they want, where they want, how they want. It means the end of freedom for people and nature everywhere. “Free market democracy” is in fact an oxymoron which has deluded us into believing that deregulation of corporations means freedom for us.
→ read full article(Portuguese) FMI Atribui a Ex-Funcionários Pensões Superiores a 7 Mil Euros
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Os planos de reforma do Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI) prevêem que os trabalhadores aufiram pensões vitalícias a partir dos 50 anos. Ao mesmo tempo que impõe cortes salariais e diminuição das pensões em países como Irlanda, Grécia e Portugal, o FMI distribui pelos seus ex-funcionários pensões que chegam a ultrapassar os 7 mil euros mensais.
→ read full articleDark Economics Fuels Burma’s Perpetual War
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
For the past 200 years at least, Burma has been seen as a strategic venue by outside powers, be they European imperialists such as the French and the British in the 19th Century, or the 20th Century imperial and fascist powers of the US and Japan during the Second World War. These countries have always seen Burma as a commercial backdoor to China and India, a military launching pad, a half-way safe harbour, and a resource brothel.
→ read full article
Bomb, Build, Benefit: UK Joins Gold Rush to Patch up War-Torn Libya
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
NATO may have ended its operations in Libya, but the Western presence is far from over – with big companies replacing the warplanes. The countries that bombed the oil-rich country are now getting lucrative contracts to rebuild it.
→ read full articleGlobal Revolution after Tahrir Square
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
This history-making global Occupy Movement with a presence in over 900 cities would not have happened without the revolutionary awakening culminating in driving Hosni Mubarak from Egyptian state power. We need also to acknowledge that the courage exhibited by those gathered at Tahrir Square might not have been exhibited to the world if not for the earlier charismatic self-immolating martyrdom of an unlicenced street vendor of vegetables, Mohamed Bouazi, in the interior Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid on December 17, 2010.
→ read full articleGreece’s Loan-Shark Government
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
The handover of governmental power to former European Central Bank official Lucas Papadimos is a stark symbol of who really holds power, how decision-making has been delivered directly to the bankers–to the local and international loan sharks.
→ read full articleNew Report Says Millions of LGBT Discriminated Against in Europe
Avathar St. Vincent, Fighting Discrimination Program – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
“Many people in Europe are stigmatized because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and cannot fully enjoy their universal human rights,” writes Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights.
→ read full articleRedeeming Desire
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
My digital friend, the respected author and journalist, Erik Wahlberg, sent me a message recently suggesting that I abandon the use of ‘horizons of desire’ as a way of framing human aspirations. He believed, with abundant justification, that desire is tied to consumerism, and the social construction of market demand for the luxurious, the wasteful, and the superfluous.
→ read full articleTime as Money: Local Currencies for Healthy Communities
Debra Efroymson – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
In Japan, for instance, young people can earn hours, then donate them to their parents in rural areas so their parents can spend it on receiving care that otherwise they would pay for in yen. Time banking can help get people to share their resources and access their needs locally. Other systems involve printing of money. The money can be designated in hours, with the value being the average wage rate in that area. What is significant with both methods of using time as currency is that everyone’s time is treated as being equal.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Quem Governa a Alemanha São os Mercados Financeiros
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Nov 2011
Se a sra. Merkel e o presidente do Deutschebank se reúnem para discutir, quem manda?, questiona Klaus Ernst, copresidente do Die Linke alemão. Em entrevista ao Esquerda.net, ele defendeu a separação do financiamento dos Estados dos mercados financeiros privados, através da criação de um banco público para os empréstimos públicos.
→ read full articleThe Bad in the Good and the Good in the Bad
Johan Galtung, 14 Nov 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
(Same as last week. -TMS editor) The world is ambiguous, with forces and counter-forces, for good and for bad. Contradiction is the rule, with bad in the good and good in the bad, etc. And there are verbal contradictions; there is the opinion, and the other opinion, as Al Jazeera says, valid and invalid, whether such verbal debates reflect non-verbal contradictions or not. Thus, this column and author reap counter-arguments, and any author should be grateful to opponents. What can I learn? Factual mistakes? Logical? How to be so clear as to avoid misunderstandings? Or state assumptions, like ambiguity?
→ read full articleTwo Occupations
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
If we are to find ‘solutions’ we all need quickly to liberate our imaginations from the tyranny of ‘the feasible.’ The ‘realists’ presently holding the reins of power are unknowingly inhabiting realms of fantasy while the train of history approaches a station named DOOM. The young people are awakening to this grim realization, and for this the rest of us can be thankful, and even allow ourselves to enjoy the momentary privilege of hope.
→ read full articleBrazil Court Approves Building of Amazon Dam
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Contentious Belo Monte dam project in the north to proceed without additional consulation with indigenous communities. A Brazilian court has said that construction of one the world’s largest hydroelectric dams can proceed without additional consultation with indigenous communities in the region, despite a mass movement opposed to the project.
→ read full articleUN and Brazil Launch Initiative to Combat Hunger Among School Children
UN News Service – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
7 November 2011 –The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Brazilian Government today launched a new initiative to help countries run their own national school meal programmes to advance the nutrition and education of children. “As a world champion in the fight against hunger, Brazil has a wealth of experience that can be shared with governments eager to learn how they achieved that success and adapt it to their own countries,” said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, who is on an official visit to the country.
→ read full articleCriminalizing Diplomacy: Fanning the Flames of the Iran War Option
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
How many times have we heard in recent weeks either outright threats to attack Iran mainly emanating from Israel or the more muted posture adopted by the United States that leaves ‘all options’ on the table including ‘the military option’?
→ read full articleRejecting Neoliberalism, Renewing the Utopian Imagination
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 two dismal consequences followed that have been rarely acknowledged: neoliberal orthodoxy became unchallenged and unchallengeable in the formation of global economic policy; the World Economic Forum, convening annually in Davos, became the true capital of world order after the ending of the Cold War.
→ read full articleWorld Bank Partners With Nestlé to ‘Transform Water Sector’
Corporate Accountability International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
New Venture Aims to Privatize Water Country by Country – The World Bank has launched a new partnership with global corporations including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Veolia. Housed at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the new venture aspires to “transform the water sector” by inserting the corporate sector into what has historically been a public service. The new partnership is part of a broader trend of industry collusion to influence global water policy.
→ read full articlePreparing For Revolution
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
To be human
is to be
naked
before and after
the law
Mapping Paralysis and Tokenism in the Face of Potential Global Disaster
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Why Nobody Is About To Do Anything Effective and What One Might Do About It – A Special Report of a current issue of The Economist has been entitled Staring into the Abyss: Europe and its currency (12 November 2011). The introductory leader argues: When the world’s third-largest bond market begins to buckle, catastrophe looms. At stake is not just the Italian economy but Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the euro, the European Union’s single market, the global banking system, the world economy, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
→ read full articleCase Study: Haiti
Gender Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, suffers from chronic food insecurity (World Food Program, 2010). One third of the population is food insecure, the most vulnerable of whom are women and children. International Financial Institutions (IFIs), including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), have severely undermined Haiti’s ability to improve food security and reduce hunger and malnutrition among Haiti’s poor.
→ read full article
Lessons from Iceland (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Al Jazeera, Counting the Cost – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
13-min Interview with Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson – Can the Eurozone learn any lessons from Iceland’s 2008 meltdown? Iceland apparently succeeded in letting the banks, not the people, go bust. Is anyone paying attention?
→ read full articleStingy…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Why did Adam and Eve have a perfect marriage?
→ read full articleCorporate Media Stumped on How to Cover the Occupy Movement
Russ Baker, WhoWhatWhy.com – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Conventional journalism is increasingly irrelevant in a time of crisis. We find abundant proof in a recent column from the New York Times’ so-called “Public Editor,” who is supposed to somehow magically represent the public interest and rarefied ethical values to the rest of the paper. In this column, he says the media is having difficulty figuring out how to cover Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots.
→ read full articleThe Self-Attribution Fallacy
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Intelligence? Talent? No, the ultra-rich got to where they are through luck and brutality. If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy.
→ read full articleAlarming Rise in Mercenary Activities Calls for Attention
UN Human Rights Council – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
The United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries warned Tuesday [1 Nov 2011] of an alarming resurgence of the use of mercenaries in armed conflict –“often in new and novel ways”. Contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to exceed $206 billion in 2011. In 2010, the number of contractor employees hired by the US Departments of Defense and State and USAID exceeded 260,000, in contrast with the 9,200 contractors hired by the US military during the first Gulf War.
→ read full article
A Call against Arms
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
The tiny South Korean island of Jeju has been called the ‘Island of Peace’, but could a new naval base endanger that? The entire community is taking on the might of the South Korean navy. The village of Gangjeong on the island of Jeju has fewer than 2,000 inhabitants but the 480,000 m2 military facility will house up to 20 US warships. The mayor is serving a prison sentence for opposing the construction and studies have revealed a dramatic increase in psychological problems among the villagers. This once peaceful village is now clinging on for its survival.
→ read full articleHow Goldman Sacked Greece
Greg Palast for In These Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
Greece is a crime scene. The people are victims of a fraud, a scam, a hustle and a flim-flam. And––cover the children’s ears when I say this––a bank named Goldman Sachs is holding the smoking gun. In 2002, Goldman Sachs secretly bought up €2.3 billion in Greek government debt, converted it all into yen and dollars, then immediately sold it back to Greece.
→ read full articleUS Researchers And Pharmaceutical Companies Conducting Human Experimentation in Africa
Farid Zakaria, PBFC – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Nov 2011
A new policy brief faults prominent institutions and drug companies like Pfizer, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and Population Council, for their involvement in unethical and illegal human experimentation in Africa. The report is titled “Non-Consensual Research in Africa: The Outsourcing of Tuskegee” in reference to the illegal human experiment conducted in Tuskegee, Alabama, between 1932 and 1972 by the US Public Health Service.
→ read full article
(Castellano) Johan Galtung: Deben Periodistas Abrir la Ventana Hacia Soluciones (Video of the Week)
realidadexpuesta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Nov 2011
Los periodistas deben informar sobre los problemas que crean los conflictos, pero en la realidad sólo se concentran en el conflicto, criticó el noruego Johan Galtung, fundador de los estudios de paz, durante un taller que impartió en Monterrey a integrantes de organizaciones de la sociedad civil.
→ read full articleReport: Israel Seeking To Upgrade Its Nuclear Weapons Capabilities
Haaretz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Nov 2011
Israel is working on improving its nuclear weapons capabilities, according to a report by the independent Trident commission in the United Kingdom that was published in the Guardian newspaper on Monday [31 Oct 2011]. According to the report in the Guardian, Israel is extending the range of its Jericho 3 land-to-land missiles so they will have the capabilities of transcontinental missiles. Transcontinental missiles are generally thought of as missiles with ranges of about 5,000 miles.
→ read full articleOo-rah: War and the Free Will of Pool Balls
Fred Reed – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Nov 2011
Honor? A soldier is just a nationally certified hit man, perfectly amoral. When he joins the military he agrees to kill anyone he is told to kill. Sacrifice? GIs do not make sacrifices. They are sacrificed for big egos, big contracts for the shareholders of military industries. One thinks of the excitement of a high-school basketball game, cheerleaders twirling and emitting exhortations to invincibility. “Ricky, Ricky, he’s our man! If he can’t do it, nobody can!” Oo-rah. If this is honor, I’ll pass.
→ read full article