Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service
We found 28784 results.
Tunisia : The Last Days of Ben Ali
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
The wave of a peoples’ revolution has swept over Tunisia and pushed President Ben Ali to exile in Saudi Arabia.
→ read full article
Anti-Semitism: Zionism’s Indispensable Alibi
Maidhc Ó Cathail - TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
Although Zionism typically represents itself as the solution to anti-Semitism, the truth is less flattering. In fact, hostility toward Jews is indispensable to the cause of Jewish nationalism. If anti-Semitism didn’t exist, Zionists would have to invent it.
→ read full articleLiving as an Imaginal Bridge between Worlds: Global implications of “betwixt and between” and liminality
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
This is an imaginal exploration of living between conventional sides, modes or choices — living on the bridge between them, or as that bridge. It conflates significance potentially associated with the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte Sospiro) and the Ponte Vecchio — both of them variously covered. Both are iconic “musts” for tourists travelling to Venice and Florence. Both have offered inspiration elsewhere and down the centuries. The Ponte Vecchio dates notably from the Renaissance period and its historical origins in Florence. The question here is whether they together point to a context through which to explore the possibilities of living “in between” the divisive choices by which society is currently faced — at a time when there are many calls for new thinking and reflections on a “new Renaissance”. A concern is whether the requisite cognitive nature of such collective emergent insight might well be “missed” in some way, as previously discussed (Missing the New Renaissance? 2010; From Changing the Strategic Game to Changing the Strategic Frame: missing cognitive possibility in changing the system not the planet, 2010).
→ read full articleMauritania: Activists’ Trial Puts Spotlight on Anti-Slavery Law
IRIN News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
Six anti-slavery activists are in prison in Mauritania in a case rights experts say points to the challenges of ensuring a 2007 law criminalizing slavery is more than just words on paper.
→ read full articleThe War on WikiLeaks: A John Pilger Investigation and Interview with Julian Assange
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
The attacks on WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, are a response to an information revolution that threatens old power orders, in politics and journalism. The incitement to murder trumpeted by public figures in the United States, together with attempts by the Obama administration to corrupt the law and send Assange to a hell hole prison for the rest of his life, are the reactions of a rapacious system exposed as never before.
→ read full articleSoldier’s Inhumane Imprisonment
Los Angeles Times, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
For five months, Pfc. Bradley Manning is confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, with no sheets and without exercise, while he awaits trial on charges of providing documents to WikiLeaks…. The conditions under which he is being held at the Marine detention center at Quantico, Va., are so harsh as to suggest he is being punished for conduct of which he hasn’t been convicted.
→ read full articleThe Emerging Peace and Security Architecture in the Horn of Africa: Prospects and Challenges
Alemayehu Fentaw – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
This paper looks at the Horn of Africa as a regional security complex. It attempts to consider the new Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Peace and Security Strategy as laying the foundation for the emerging peace and security architecture for the sub-region and subjects it to critical scrutiny. In so doing, it appraises the prospects and challenges facing the nascent peace and security architecture in the Horn of Africa.
→ read full article(Italian) CM 2011.un invito ad essere cittadini protagonisti
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
COLLETTIVAMENTE MEMORIA 2011 – dedicato ai deportati politici Italo Tibaldi e Ida Desandré e alla staffetta partigiana Anna Dati.
→ read full articleTwo Indias: Gandhiji and Modern India
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Talk Given in New Delhi, Dec 30 2010 — Gandhi was killed not far from where we are right now by a Pune brahmin, Godse, and I was that 17-year-old boy in Norway who cried when hearing the news. Something unheard of had happened.
→ read full articleAbout the Editorial “Islam and the West – Some Differences” – Nov. 29, 2010
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Readers have kindly pointed out two unfortunate formulations.
→ read full articleDirty Politicians
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
A cannibal was walking through the jungle and came upon a restaurant operated by a fellow cannibal.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza
Juan Cole, Informed Comment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has summarized an Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little over a year ago and concludes that: The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and [Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other documents from the same period of time, to which Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at full speed with preparations for a new war in the Middle East. Note: This war preparation is serious and specific, according to the paper, and clearly is not just a matter of vague contingency planning.
→ read full article
Palestine/Gaza: The Siege
Neverbeforecampaing – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The three year old siege on the Gaza Strip and its 1.5 million inhabitants is a testament to the Israeli regime’s disregard of law, decency and morality. This siege amounts to collective punishment, an action outlawed by various conventions and humanitarian laws. This is not to mention the suffering and humanitarian crisis caused by this law. This siege has been disgracefully condoned by the “international community” and justified by the “free world” as a measure that safeguards the security of the Israeli regime.
→ read full articleJudge Dismisses Cases Against Military Veterans and Antiwar Activists Following December 16 Washington, D.C., Arrests
Stop These Wars – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Antiwar military veterans and other activists celebrated a breakthrough victory today [4 Jan 2011] in DC Superior Court, when charges were dropped, following arrests in front of the White House, on December 16, 2010. Over 130 people were arrested in a major veteran-led protest while participating in non-violent civil resistance in a driving snowstorm.
→ read full article2 Million Fish Found Dead in Maryland
CNN Wire Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Authorities in Maryland are investigating the deaths of about 2 million fish in Chesapeake Bay.
→ read full articleChile Recognizes Independent Palestinian State
Haaretz Service – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera’s announcement preceded by official recognition of Palestine by Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. He announced late Thursday [6 Jan 2011] that he officially recognizes an independent Palestinian state, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Greatest Problem Ignored by US News Media
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
In order for us to understand properly a problem we need to get to its source, without which it is bound to remain and deteriorate to the detriment of everyone concerned and involved. Like many other nations, the United States is confronted with numerous problems due to the fact that one problem leads to another endlessly. In many instances, things tend to get completely out of control and intelligent steps need to be taken to remedy the situation.
→ read full articleCommonsense Money
Jeff Gates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Since 1913, debt has been the only way that we in the U.S. have known to create money. Choking on debt yet short on money, Americans are reeling from too much monetary theory and too little commonsense. Those who sold us the theory also ensured recurring recessions. Each debt-induced cycle features rich-get-richer booms followed by debilitating busts. We designed our way into this mess. We can design our way out. As yet, there’s no sign that policy-makers know a way out. Nor do their advisers. Over the past century, every economist has been educated the same. They are unable to see the real problem because the theory they were taught is the source of the problem.
→ read full article
Native American on 2012 Truth Prophecy
EXOMATRlXTV - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Our responsibility before life and the survival of the human species. A moving video narrated by a Native American.
→ read full article2011 Higher Prices for Food: World Citizens Call for Coordinated World Food Policy
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
In its most recent January 2011 analysis of the world food situation, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted with alarm the extreme price fluctuation in global agricultural markets. This fluctuation in global agricultural markets is leading to higher food prices and is a threat to world food security. The impact falls heaviest on the poor who spend a high percentage — up to 70 percent — of their income on food.
→ read full article(Italian) Collettivamente Memoria 2011. I Prodromi
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
“Collettivamente memoria” è un qualcosa che qualcuno ha definito “una rassegna”.
→ read full articleAn Era of Sri Lanka’s President: From Mullivaikal to Oxford Union
Nirmanusan Balasundaram - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Mullivaikal is where the last phase of the war between Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) and Liberation Tiger of TamilEelam (LTTE) took place. According to the Government of Sri Lanka, this was the place war came to an end with the military defeat of LTTE, but for majority Tamils and international human rights activists, this was the place at-least 30,000-40,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by SLAF. The ‘controversy’ began from here and continues even after 19 months.
→ read full articleCuban Medics in Haiti Put the World to Shame
Nina Lakhani, Ezili Dantò – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Castro’s doctors and nurses are the backbone of the fight against cholera. They are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America’s doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America’s arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame.
→ read full articleAnti-Sanctions Chorus Out of Tune
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The emerging anti-sanctions lobby should be understood for what it is – the bald promotion of Western strategic and corporate interests. Ending sanctions now will only further entrench military rule, giving it a veneer of normalcy and acceptability, at the expense of Myanmar’s long-suffering people and the country’s equitable economic development.
→ read full articleWikiWishes for WikiPromises for 2011
Johan Galtung, 3 Jan 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
The world needs knowledgeable and skilled women and men promoting the interests of nature, humans everywhere, all nations and states, civilizations and regions, and the world. Some might even be called diplomats and narrow it to one point, their nation. And the Country of the Year, Turkey, showed that consistent peace politics, creating amazing friendly relations with all neighbors is possible. What it takes is a decision to do so.
→ read full article
Export of Mass Destruction: Afghan Addicts Drowning in Drug Flood
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
(You may find some images in this video disturbing) Afghanistan – the world’s largest producer of heroin – does not only make other states suffer from its deadly export – the country itself is flooded with cheap drugs. With the tense situation and very vague prospects of a peaceful life even those who want to kick the mortal habit find themselves at a dead end.
→ read full articleClever
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
President Bush was informed that there was a threat of a bird flu epidemic.
→ read full articleIndia: Need for Peace and Equity Audit as a Parameter for Development Planning
Mazher Hussain, COVA-Confederation of Voluntary Associations - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
The objective of Planning should be to secure development and progress for all. But it is seen that development initiatives in India are leading to exclusion of large sections, increase in income disparities, intensification of social tensions and onset of conflicts between different communities/groups and even between the people and the State.
→ read full article(Italian) Il Tramonto della Democrazia nell’era della Globalizzazione
Danilo Zolo, Jura Gentium – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Il declino dei modelli classici e post-classici della democrazia
→ read full articleAnarchists Are Bad People?
The Daily Bell – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Anarchy is a social environment, one that simply seeks a lifestyle without a distant and non-responsive ruling class. It has nothing to do with violence, which is a strategy not a sociopolitical philosophy. One believes in various forms of social organization: communism, socialism, anarcho-capitalism. But one does not believe (as a communal structure) in violence or peace – or jumping jacks or cartwheels for that matter.
→ read full article
Why Has Cholera Hit Haiti So Hard?
Haiti Grassroots Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
For Dossier #4, Haiti Grassroots Watch took a look at cholera, water and sanitation and asked, why has cholera hit the country so hard? What is the real situation of water and sanitation? How did things get this way?
→ read full articleDrug Gang ‘Threatens Guatemala War’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Group claiming to belong to Zetas cartel issues warning on radio broadcasts after Guatemalan forces launch crackdown.
→ read full articleOpen Letter from Gaza: Two Years after the Massacre, a Demand for Justice
Gazans Seeking Justice – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Besieged Gaza, Palestine, 27 December 2010: We, the Palestinians of the Besieged Gaza Strip, on this day, two years on from Israel’s genocidal attack on our families, our houses, our roads, our factories and our schools, are saying enough inaction, enough discussion, enough waiting — the time is now to hold Israel to account for its ongoing crimes against us.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks and World Citizen Diplomacy
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
WikiLeaks’ release of a large number of US diplomatic archives gives us a broad vision of the culture of US foreign policy policy-making. Such a vision could also be gained from reading the diplomatic archives as they are published after a “25 or 50 year rule”, but it is more fun to read material of a nearer time, especially if it is classified “Secret”.
→ read full article
The Happy Planet Index
Nick Marks, TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
In the words of Robert F. Kennedy, why does Gross National Product “measure everything […] except that which makes life worthwhile”? Happiness and health are what we really want, but we have the perception that those things can be measured on an economic scale. If happiness is what we want most, why aren’t we measuring it directly? Good news: statistician Nic Marks does just that. Watch as Marks explains the Happy Planet Index, his alternative to GDP, and what it tells us about which countries are really the happiest.
→ read full article
U.S. Gov’t Responds to Questions about Imprisoned Palestinian Nonviolent Protester Abu Rahmah
PopularStruggleCC - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Abu Rahmah was sentenced to one year in Israeli prison on the charge of “incitement” for organizing nonviolent protests against the confiscation of land and Israel’s illegal wall in his West Bank village of Bil’in. One year has since passed and Abu Rahmah is still being held indefinitely by the Israeli military.
→ read full articleEcuador Recognizes a Palestinian State
CNN Wire Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Ecuador is the latest country to recognize an independent Palestinian state. The government said on Friday [24 Dec 2010] that President Rafael Correa recognized “the Palestine State as free and independent within its borders since 1967.”
→ read full articleUniversal Decriminalization of Homosexuality a Human Rights Imperative — Ban Ki-moon
ILGA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Noting that over 70 countries still consider homosexuality a crime, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today [10 Dec 2010] appealed for its complete and universal decriminalization, stressing that human rights must always trump cultural attitudes and societal strictures.
→ read full articleCold Burn
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Yes, the extreme cold in the UK right now really could be a result of global warming.
→ read full articleWhen Pixels, Bytes and VJs Unite
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Everyone could hear the collective gasp that filled the auditorium – and no one would forget – the very moment when the first signal transporting Aung San Suu Kyi’s animated face to a large screen in London arrived last week.
→ read full articleNonviolent Peace Force Needs Recruits
FOX – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
An organization looking to help with world peace wants to recruit some special people. The Nonviolent Peace Force was co-founded by a Minnesota man in the early 1990’s. There are peace keepers in Sri Lanka, the South Philippines and the Sudan. The peace keepers are unarmed and only go to places where they are invited. The Sudan is expected to possibly have violent outbreaks before a January vote to for independence between Northern and Southern Sudan
→ read full article(Portuguese) Portugal: O BPN e a Economia do Crime
José Gusmão, Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
O caso do BPN é exemplar do ponto de vista do papel estratégico que têm os off-shores na promoção da fraude e evasão fiscais, e também na protecção da criminalidade financeira.
→ read full article
Hollywood and the War Machine
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Empire examines the symbiotic relationship between the movie industry and the military-industrial complex.
→ read full article
Palestine for Dummies – Nablus
TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
6 dicembre 2010. Nablus.
→ read full articleFrom Changing the Strategic Game to Changing the Strategic Frame
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
This is a commentary on the argument of Mexican activist Gustavo Esteva following the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Mexico, 2010 (The Arrogance of Cancún, The Guardian, 16 December 2010; Spanish version). He concludes that the lesson of this feeble climate deal is that “governments have played God and failed. It is up to the activists now”. He cites the alternative Cancún Declaration by the International Forum for Climate Justice — The People’s Dialogue (Foro Internacional de la Justicia Climática — Diálogo de la Pueblos) with its slogan: Let’s change the system, not the planet. Specifically the text of the alternative declaration [original Spanish versions: Declaración de Cancún Foro Internacional de Justicia Climática; Declaración del Foro Alternativo por la Justicia Climática Cancún 2010; Foro Mundial de Alternativas: Declaración de Cancún; Declaración de Cancún – Foro Internacional de Justicia Climática] includes the phrase:
→ read full article(Castellano) Ecuador Reconoció a Palestina como Estado Libre e Independiente con Fronteras de 1967
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
El gobierno de Ecuador reconoció este viernes [24 Dic 2010] a Palestina como Estado libre e independiente con las fronteras de 1967, previas a la invasión israelí, informó la Cancillería en un comunicado.
→ read full articleAge Matters
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
A 70-year old man told his friend, “I met a fabulous 20-year old girl, I am madly in love with her.
→ read full articleA Human Approach to World Peace
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
When we rise in the morning and listen to the radio or read the newspaper, we are confronted with the same sad news: violence, crime, wars, and disasters. I cannot recall a single day without a report of something terrible happening somewhere. Even in these modern times it is clear that one’s precious life is not safe. No former generation has had to experience so much bad news as we face today; this constant awareness of fear and tension should make any sensitive and compassionate person question seriously the progress of our modern world.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Wikifugas, Novo Site do Esquerda.net
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Depois de já ter instalado um “espelho” do site da WikiLeaks, o Esquerda.net lança agora o Wikifugas, o site do nosso portal totalmente dedicado à divulgação das principais revelações do chamado “Cablegate” e à luta em defesa da WikiLeaks e da liberdade e transparência da informação.
→ read full articleCell Phone Security: Mobile Phone Taps
Bill Rounds J.D., HowToVanish – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
There has been considerable discussion lately about the ease of eavesdropping on cell phone conversations through mobile phone taps and the lack of cell phone security. There are many products and hacks available which allow for monitoring of cell phone activity. Is your phone bugged and what can you do to keep your private information from being intercepted?
→ read full articleHomophobia Plagues Africa
Pambazuka News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Monday’s [20 Dec 2010] statements by a prominent Ghanaian activist provide further evidence of the alarming homophobia that is sweeping across Africa. Bernice Sam, National Programme Coordinator of WiLDAF (Women in Law and Development) in Ghana argued publicly for the Constitution Review Commission to limit Ghana’s definition of marriage to include heterosexual couples only. Sam then went even further. She was quoted as saying that it will be ‘almost impossible for the act of homosexuality to be considered criminal’ if the constitution is not reworded in this way.
→ read full articleTAPI Pipeline Prospects
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The leaders of four nations Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) met in the second week of December 2010 in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat to sign two agreements called Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) to foster the prospects of TAPI pipeline.
→ read full articleWhy Are Wars Not Being Reported Honestly?
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
In the US Army manual on counterinsurgency, the American commander General David Petraeus describes Afghanistan as a “war of perception… conducted continuously using the news media”. What really matters is not so much the day-to-day battles against the Taliban as the way the adventure is sold in America where “the media directly influence the attitude of key audiences”. Reading this, I was reminded of the Venezuelan general who led a coup against the democratic government in 2002. “We had a secret weapon,” he boasted. “We had the media, especially TV. You got to have the media.”
→ read full articleFatherhood
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
A girl used to tell everyone, “I am the daughter of Dr. Smith.”
→ read full articleAlleged Breach of UN Treaty Obligations by US
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Press Coverage and Commentary Following WikiLeaks Cable Dissemination: A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications. It called for detailed biometric information “on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders” as well as intelligence on Ban’s “management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat”.
→ read full articleWhy I’m Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
Michael Moore – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010. Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail. Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars.
→ read full article
Fareed Zakaria Trashes Glenn Beck’s Affirmation That 10 Percent of All Muslims Are Terrorists
Fareed Zakaria-GPS, CNN – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Fareed Zakaria took to his latest show on CNN to rebuff –using common sense and logical arguments– Beck’s insane claim that there are “157 million Muslim terrorists in the world.”
→ read full article(Castellano) Honduras: Campesinos Bajo Ataque de Terratenientes y el Ejército
Red Morazánica de Información – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Helicópteros, vehículos armados con ametralladoras y tanquetas antidisturbios, han sido parte del gran despliegue militar policial a la zona donde campesinos exigen se desmilitarice el departamento y les sean devueltas la tierras que les pertenecen.
→ read full articleReclaim the Cyber-Commons
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The internet is being captured by organised trolls. It’s time we fought back. They are the online equivalent of enclosure riots: the rick-burning, fence-toppling protests by English peasants losing their rights to the land. When MasterCard, Visa, Paypal and Amazon tried to shut WikiLeaks out of the cyber-commons, an army of hackers responded by trying to smash their way into these great estates and pull down their fences.
→ read full articleThe Nobel War Prize
Tariq Ali, London Review of Books – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
For the record, Liu Xiaobo has stated publicly that in his view: (a) China’s tragedy is that it wasn’t colonised for at least 300 years by a Western power or Japan. This would apparently have civilised it forever; (b) The Korean and Vietnam wars fought by the US were wars against totalitarianism and enhanced Washington’s ‘moral credibility’; (c) Bush was right to go to war in Iraq and Senator Kerry’s criticisms were ‘slander-mongering’; (d) Afghanistan? No surprises here: Full support for NATO’s war. He has a right to these opinions, but should they get a peace prize?
→ read full article(German) Interview mit Johan Galtung
Schattenblick – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
17. September 2010 in Hamburg
→ read full articleBurma Needs Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Class Solidarity
Dr Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The world knows plenty about Aung San Suu Kyi and what she represents. But it knows almost nothing about the generals beyond their international pariah status.
→ read full articleCriminality of Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Speech delivered in Berlin, 12th December, 2010. The International League of Human Rights (Germany) awards the Carl-von-Ossietzky Medal to Mordechai Vanunu and campaigns for his freedom to leave Israel and receive his prize in Berlin. My Dear Friends,
→ read full article(Portuguese) O Prémio Nobel da Guerra
Tariq Ali – TRANSCEND MEDIA SERVICE,
20 Dec 2010
Liu Xiaobo não deveria nunca ter sido detido, mas o Comité quis dar uma lição à China, ignorando os pontos de vista do seu herói.
→ read full article
There Once Was an Island (trailer)
Briar March – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Award Winning Film: You’ve heard about the islands in the Pacific Ocean that are disappearing due to rising sea levels. But have you heard from the people there? Have you listened and watched as an entire culture faces extinction or mass displacement? Will traditions and identities survive in the face of such a crisis? Briar March spent many months working on a film about one such island community in Papua New Guinea and looking at all these questions.
→ read full articleOperation Avenge Assange as Digital Direct Action
ReadWriteWeb – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
“Nonviolence (ahimsa) is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. Thus, nonviolence is an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression or of armed struggle against it.” And direct action “is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels.”
→ read full articleWomen and the 21st Century
Johan Galtung, 20 Dec 2010 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Feminism has made an enormous contribution by identifying patriarchy as a pattern underlying capitalism and militarism…. Making patriarchy visible through brilliant feminist articulation is a transcending contribution, reminiscent of the marxist focus on another deep structure hidden to the unguided eye: the interface of means and modes of production. Or Lenin and others on imperialism, Gandhi and many others on colonialism. Race. And agism: like placing people above 67 etc. in a ghetto called retirement (or children in a ghetto called schools?).
→ read full articleUNMIN’s Withdrawal Formally Winds up Maoist Army Cantonment and Barracking of the Nepal Army
Bishnu Pathak, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The Sanskrit adage Buvukshitah kim na karoti papam? (What vice is unthinkable to an empty stomach?) occurred in mind when we (including Freelance Journalist Jibanath Khanal) were deliberating upon the “U-turn” of Nepal’s peace process, wondering whether the successor of UNMIN could take over the monitoring and supervision of the arms and armies. While a full-stomach seeks freedom first, an empty stomach looks for food above all temptations.
→ read full articleLegitimate Civil Disobedience: WikiLeaks and the Layers of Backlash
Deanna Zandt – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Anonymous launched a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack against the websites of the companies that took away people’s rights to support a political organization [PayPal, Master Charge, Amazon.] Many, myself included, consider DDoS in this context to be much like a sit-in in the offline world. The point of a sit-in is to render a building/room/service unusable for a temporary period of time. Sit-ins aren’t “legal”– you get arrested, and most activists who participate in them know this ahead of time and prepare for it…. Most of the time, it’s a misdemeanor charge, and you’re issued an ACD.
→ read full article
Inside the Dark Legacy of the US ‘School of Assassins’
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
For 62 years, the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, has trained some of the worst human rights abusers in the hemisphere. From Pinochet’s soldiers in Chile, D’Aubuisson’s death squads in El Salvador, Banzer’s minions in Bolivia, Galtieri’s operatives in Argentina and Rios Montt’s soldiers in Guatemala to the present-day generals responsible for the coup in Honduras and the drug war killings in Colombia, the School of the America has a dark legacy. Renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the school has graduated 65,000 soldiers from 18 countries.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks and the First Global Condom War
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
This is an exploration of the curious mirroring between the role of Julian Assange, as the founder of WikiLeaks, and that of the US as the world’s currently acclaimed sole superpower. As is now typical of any global crisis, many are now focused on who to blame and whether they can be neutralized or eliminated — getting the justice they deserve — whilst others complicit in the process escape with impunity, honours and rewards as the exemplification of the universal values of humanity.
→ read full article
Professor Johan Galtung on Nuclear Weapons as Theological Statements
TalkWorks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
TalkWorksEXTRA Films 2010: A virtual forum of leading experts and policy makers talking about the way forward for nuclear disarmament and sustainable global security
→ read full articleBolivia: Cancun Deal is Hollow and False – Its Cost Will Be Measured in Human Lives
Plurinational State of Bolivia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
A so-called victory for multilateralism is really a victory for the rich nations who bullied and cajoled other nations into accepting a deal on their terms. The richest nations offered us nothing new in terms of emission reductions or financing, and instead sought at every stage to backtrack on existing commitments, and include every loophole possible to reduce their obligation to act. While developing nations – those that face the worst consequences of climate change – pleaded for ambition, we were instead offered the “realism” of empty gestures. Proposals by powerful countries like the US were sacrosanct, while ours were disposable.
→ read full article
Doha Debates: This House Would Prefer Money to Free Elections
Tim Sebastian - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
The Doha Debates ask whether people prefer to make money and leave politics to the elite.
→ read full articleJeremy Scahill Testifies Before Congress on America’s Secret Wars
The Nation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
Editor’s Note: Nation national security correspondent Jeremy Scahill today [9 Dec 2010] testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the US’s shadow wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere. His complete testimony is below. – While some of the Special Forces missions are centered around training of militaries in allied nations, that line is often blurred. In some cases, “training” is used as a cover for unilateral, direct action. As a former special ops guy told me: “It’s often done under the auspices of training so that they can go anywhere. It’s brilliant. It is essentially what we did in the 60s. Remember the ‘training mission’ in Vietnam? That’s how it morphs.”
→ read full articleDarwinism Dead at 150
Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
The concept that natural selection provides the foundation for evolutionary change has long been challenged for its failure to explain how different forms arises in nature, but only how they may be favored once they do arise. Through the work of scientists like Motoo Kimura, Tomoko Ohta [Theoretical aspects of population genetics, Motoo Kimura and Tomoko Ohta (1971)] and others, it has been concluded both theoretically and empirically that natural selection has little or no effect on the vast majority of the genomes of most living organisms…. It was Darwin, himself who explained how he should be buried: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”
→ read full articleSovereign State of Palestine: Asset to Middle East Peace
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
The struggle in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians has been going on for decades. In the spiritual sphere, they both claim by all means to be the descendants of Abraham, viewing God as their Father. The question that needs to be raised here is this: To what extent do they respect and love this divine Father? The deepest sorrow that good parents may possibly experience is to see their children being hurt and deprived from good opportunities in life.
→ read full articleObama’s Israel Policy: Speak Softly and Carry a Very Big Carrot
Maidhc Ó Cathail – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
Even those familiar with the long and shameful history of America’s appeasement of Israel were taken aback by the Obama administration’s extraordinary offer to Netanyahu. In exchange for a paltry one-off 90 day freeze on illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), Israel will get 20 F-35 stealth fighter jets worth $3 billion and a slew of other goodies. Yet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly gave up to eight hours with Netanyahu trying to persuade him to accept “one of the most generous bribes ever bestowed by the United States on any foreign power.”
→ read full articleWhatever…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
A father told his young son, “You have gotten a little sister.”
→ read full articleThe Seven Myths of ‘Slums’
Adam Parsons – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
Conventional thinking on development issues is often characterised by many assumptions, clichés and rationalisations about the residents of slums. In challenging some of these core myths, we can focus on the structural causes of urban poverty that result in the rapid growth of informal settlements.
→ read full articleThe OSCE Looks East
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Dec 2010
The OSCE remains very much a governmental organization. Unlike the United Nations where the UN Secretariat members come from a wide range of backgrounds, the OSCE Secretariat is made up of national diplomats or other national civil servants such as the police. Many will return to national posts after serving at the OSCE. There is less a spirit of being world civil servants than there is at the UN.
→ read full articleMr. Fish’s Cartoons
Truthdig – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Wanted
Julian Assange wanted for…
Global Domestic Policy – And WikiLeaks
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Nor is class fading out: the world upper classes enrich themselves in the financial system, greatly aided by the International Monetary Fund–and the world lower classes use the drug system for similar purposes, as acted out in Rio de Janeiro. Two perverse systems coming out of the absurdity of world hyper capitalism, supported by a fading empire. We need and deserve something better, nothing perfect, but much better. We cannot build globalization on such absurdities.
→ read full articleThe Education of a Peacemaker
Philip Grant interviewing Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
“Nationalism is not the same as culture…. This triad of chosenness, glory and trauma produces vicious types of nationalistic ideologies that are constantly threatening world peace…. Nationalism lays claims on land and times…. Education has degenerated into schooling, schooling has mutated into a way of earning degrees, and degrees are seen simply as a ticket to earning a living.”
→ read full articleFormer WikiLeaks Activists to Launch New Whistleblowing Site
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
A group of former members of WikiLeaks is planning to launch its own whistleblowing platform in mid-December, according to a German newspaper. The activists criticize WikiLeaks for concentrating too much on the US and want to take a broader approach.
→ read full articleStudy Suggests There Are 300 Sextillion Stars in the Universe!
Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
“It’s fun because it gets you thinking about these large numbers,” Conroy said. Conroy looked up how many cells are in the average human body — 50 trillion or so — and multiplied that by the 6 billion people on Earth. And he came up with about 300 sextillion. So the number of stars in the universe “is equal to all the cells in the humans on Earth, a kind of funny coincidence,” Conroy said.
→ read full articleBrazil Recognises Palestine
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Israel expresses disappointment over Brazil’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
→ read full articleThree more…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
There is a saying, “no news is good news,”
→ read full articleDiscovery of “Arsenic-bug” Expands Definition of Life
NASA Science News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Dec. 2, 2010: NASA-supported researchers have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism, which lives in California’s Mono Lake, substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in the backbone of its DNA and other cellular components.
→ read full articleIsrael Starts Building Barrier on Egypt Border
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Work is beginning in Israel on a barrier along the border with Egypt, aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. The barrier, including an electric fence and surveillance technology, will run for 250km (155 miles). Work on the $372m (£232m) project is expected to take up to a year.
→ read full articleThe WikiLeaks Diplomatic Crisis
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
A powerful video roundtable discussion with Amy Goodman, Daniel Ellsberg, Greg Mitchell, Carne Ross and As’ad Abukhalil. Now we’re getting to the real perspectives on the latest WikiLeaks release.
→ read full articleFabricating Terror
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Why does the FBI orchestrate fake terror plots? The United States of America, “the city upon the hill,” “the light unto the world,” has become Nazi Germany. The Obama regime is in the process of completing Dick Cheney’s dream by legislating the legality of indefinite detention. American law has collapsed to the dungeons of the Dark Ages. This Nazi Gestapo policy is now the declared policy of the US Department of Justice (sic). Anyone who thinks the United States is a free society where people have liberty, “freedom and democracy” is uninformed.
→ read full article
Inspirational Friendship
TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Amazing video about a wonderful friendship across species. Please watch.
→ read full articleThe Proper Response to WikiLeaks
Karen Kwiatkowski – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Government goons, soldiers and bureaucrats in foreign countries will not face a greater threat to their lives, most especially from these cables. What they will face is snickers, chuckles, and outright laughter. And truly, this is as it should be. When one declares that his robes are the most beautiful, made of the finest silk, so glorious that they compete with the sun – sometimes a little blond-haired boy with a most serious look about him declares that it seems to him that the Emperor has no clothes! And we see, slowly at first, then an unstoppable surge of laughter and finger-pointing by the common people who, for all their ignorance and all their flaws, know enough to put on clothes before going out in public.
→ read full articleA Surge of Truth
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
It is an “attack on the international community,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in reference to the release of 250.000 secret cables by WikiLeaks. Clinton is correct; this is indeed a long overdue, necessary attack on an ‘international community’ of war mongers and war criminals.
→ read full articleTranscending One-eyed Global Modelling Perspectives: Incorporating Under-Currents into Global Circulation of Value
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
The dissemination by WikiLeaks of classified communications of the US military and diplomatic services allows serious attention to be given to systemic phenomena which are typically dismissed as being “unconfirmed” allegations of marginal significance — at worst exceptional incidents. Whilst “everyone” has long acknowledged the extent of secrecy and corruption, this was typically minimized or denied in official communications, establishment media and education systems. More problematic is the degree to which such systemic phenomena have been denied or minimized in academic studies and modelling of the world system.
→ read full articleIs WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange a Hero? Glenn Greenwald Debates Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News
Democracy Now! – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
WikiLeaks is coming under attack from all sides. The WikiLeaks website is struggling to stay online just days after Amazon pulled the site from its servers following political pressure. The U.S. State Department has blocked all its employees from accessing the site and is warning all government employees not to read the cables, even at home. “These attacks will not stop our mission, but should be setting off alarm bells about the rule of law in the United States,” said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. We host a debate between Steven Aftergood, a transparency advocate who has become a leading critic of WikiLeaks, and Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional law attorney and legal blogger for Salon.com.
→ read full articleWhat of Military Aggression?
Benjamin Ferencz | Radio Netherlands Worldwide - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
Today [20 Nov 2010] marks the 65th anniversary of the Nuremberg war crimes trials — the landmark process that brought top Nazis to justice and established precedents that now underpin international law. “We have come a long way from Nuremberg, and have miles to go before we sleep.”
→ read full article
The Chilcot Inquiry: Britain’s 9/11 Commission
Maidhc Ó Cathail – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Dec 2010
All too often, official inquiries are conducted by the very people who should themselves be under investigation. In this respect, Britain’s Chilcot Inquiry on the Iraq war bears a distressing similarity to the 9/11 Commission. In a remarkable symmetry, both inquiries involve a Jewish Zionist historian, who not only advised his country’s leader to go to war against Iraq, but actually provided the ideological justification for that unnecessary war.
→ read full articleHaiti: Reclaiming Sovereignty
Senator Jean William Jeanty – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Nov 2010
As Haiti gears up for its forthcoming elections, Jean William Jeanty decries the complete absence of transparency in the country around post-earthquake reconstruction and the ability of foreign companies to usurp Haitian law. With the country gripped by cholera (the ‘natural indicator of underdevelopment’), Jeanty stresses that Haiti’s leaders ‘are trying to rush the elections so that they can perpetuate things the way they are’.
→ read full article