Articles by TRANSCEND Media Service
We found 29948 results.
New Report Documents Systematic Abuse of Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Detention
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The United Nations (UN) estimates that during the last 44 years, around 726,000 Palestinian men, women and children have been prosecuted and detained under Israeli emergency military laws. In the past 11 years alone, around 7,500 children, some as young as 12 years, are estimated to have been detained, interrogated, and imprisoned within this system. This averages out at between 500-700 children per year, or nearly two children, each and every day.
→ read full articleSolidarity of BRICS
China Daily – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The fourth BRICS summit, which concluded on Thursday [29 Mar 2012] in New Delhi, sent positive signals to the outside world that international stability, security and prosperity can be achieved if everyone pulls together. In the joint declaration issued by leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the five countries vowed to enhance cooperation among themselves and contribute to world development and prosperity.
→ read full articleArt of Resistance – Günter Grass
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Outrage in Germany, Nobel Laureate Günter Grass has, once again told the truth about Israel being the greatest threat to world peace. Günter Grass, Germany’s most famous living author and the 1999 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, sparked outrage in Germany on Wednesday [4 Apr 2012] with the publication of a poem, “What must be said,” in which he sharply criticizes Israel’s offensive approach towards Iran.
→ read full article
A History Lesson: U.S. Intervention in Iran from 1953 Through 2010 (Video of the Week)
Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
This video gives a basic overview of the history of the U.S. policies regarding Iran that began at the behest of the British Government and big oil interests including British Petroleum (later renamed BP).
→ read full articleDiscrimination in Russia: Arrests for Violation of St. Petersburg Anti-Gay Law
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
In St. Petersburg, Russia, two men were arrested on Thursday [5 Apr 2012] for holding up a sign reading “Homosexuality Is Normal.” It marks the first arrests on the strength of the city’s new law against disseminating information on homosexuality.
→ read full articleTweeter, Tweeter, Little Star: How I Wonder What You Are
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Produced in a period when use of Twitter has become ever more significant in political processes and democratic protest.
→ read full articleArab League a Divided House
Dr. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
The old regional organizations Arab League (formed in 1945) has shown all weakness of a broken house with members failing to take coordinated position on any of the raging international issues. A simple juxtaposition of the Arab League summit with the BRICS summit, held on the same date, 29 March 2012, brings stark contrast how coordination in one part of the world is failing acutely, while the rise of BRICS in global arena is a foregone conclusion.
→ read full articleLinks between Poverty and War
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
There are several relationships between intolerable economic inequality and war. Today 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day – 1.1 billion on less than $1 per day. 18 million of our fellow humans die each year from poverty-related causes. In 2006, 1.1 billion people lacked safe drinking water, and waterbourne diseases killed an estimated 1.8 million people. Meanwhile, in 2011, world military budgets reached a total of $2,157,172,000,000 dollars (i.e. 2.157 million million dollars).
→ read full articleFukushima Radiation Tracked Across Pacific Ocean
Jesse Emspak, LiveScience – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster. With these results, detailed today (April 2, 2012) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team estimates it will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material released at Fukushima to get across the Pacific Ocean.
→ read full articleGeorge Galloway: Why I Won’t Condemn Attacks on UK Soldiers in Afghanistan
StoptheWarCoalition – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
George Galloway, interviewed after his sensational election victory to become MP for Bradford West, responds to the question, “Do you condemn those attacking British soldiers in Afghanistan?”
→ read full articlePedagogy and Revolution
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
In the name of “solving” the crisis in education, the so-called school “reformers” are pushing solutions that scapegoat teachers and vilify their unions. In a chapter on “Pedagogy and Revolution: Reading Freire in Context,” Adrienne Johnstone and Elizabeth Terzakis examine the legacy of the Brazilian educator and theorist Paulo Freire, and what it contributes to our struggles today.
→ read full articleMaking Sense of Egypt – Part Two: A Partial Anatomy of Insecurity
Ahmed Badawi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The role of SCAF, the Ministry of Interior, and other “strategic groups” in undermining the revolution and Egyptians’ sense of security.
→ read full articleMedia Blackout of the Ongoing Nonviolent Protest at Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The nonviolent struggle by the 10,000-strong People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) to stop construction of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India is proving to be a best kept secret as not a word is said or written by the corporate, alternative, Internet or traditional western media to date. Why is that? Some background information (from PMANE):
→ read full article
Germany and Europe’s Path to the 19th Century (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Francisco Louçã: European elite wants to undo the “social contract”; Germany wants more control.
→ read full articleEmpires Then and Now
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Great empires, such as the Roman and British, were extractive. The empires succeeded because the value of the resources and wealth extracted from conquered lands exceeded the value of conquest and governance. In his book, The Rule of Empires (2010), Timothy H. Parsons wonders whether America’s is really an empire. After eight years in Iraq, all Washington has for its efforts is several trillion dollars of additional debt and no Iraqi oil. After ten years of trillion dollar struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Washington has nothing to show for it except possibly some part of the drug trade that can be used to fund covert CIA operations.
→ read full article
Bunker Roy: Learning From a Barefoot Movement
TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men — many of them illiterate — to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It’s called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy, explains how it works.
→ read full articleHow Should the Elections in Burma Be Understood?
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Do Sunday’s elections in Burma matter? Yes and No. In terms of who controls the real levers of power absolutely nothing will change. What may be significant is that the electorate is being excited about having a formal political process where there can openly debate the regime’s failed policies, talk about the dismal state of the affairs, openly express their support for Aung San Suu Kyi and what she and dissident colleagues stand for, and shed their fear of the regime.
→ read full articlePartnership for Change Conference 2012: Dignity and Empowerment
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Ending rape and sexual violence is a huge challenge to us all, but it can be done if we join in partnership and cooperation, and use a multi-faceted approach to transforming a culture of rape and sexual violence into a culture of nonkilling, nonviolence and respect for life and human dignity.
→ read full articleHana Shalabi’s Hunger Strike Has Ended, but Not Her Punishment
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
As with Khader Adnan, Israel supposedly compromised with Hana Shalabi on the 43rd day of her hunger strike in protest against administrative detention and her abysmal treatment. But Israel’s concept of ‘compromise’ if considered becomes indistinguishable from the imposition of a further ‘vindictive punishment.’
→ read full articleThe Politics of Science and Democracy in India
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
In an interview with the journal Science, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh chose to focus on two hazardous technologies – genetically engineered seeds and crops, and nuclear power – as vital to the progress of science in India and the “salvation for finding new development pathways for developing our economy”. He also identified NGOs as blocking this “development”, and said “foreign hands” were at work. The prime minister’s interview saddened me.
→ read full articleIsrael Cuts Ties With UN Human Rights Body
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Israel has said it has severed contacts with the UN Human Rights Council after the group’s launch last week of an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The decision, announced by a foreign ministry spokesman on Monday [26 Mar 2012], meant that the fact-finding team the council planned to send to the West Bank will not be allowed to enter the territory or Israel, said spokesman Yigal Palmor.
→ read full article
Banking “Technocrats” Undermine Democracy
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Gerry Epstein: In Europe and the US, bankers take control of the political process.
→ read full article(Italian) A Vittorio. Per Vittorio
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Per Vik. A Vik. “Gaza-Restiamo Umani diventerà sempre più un documento storico, piuttosto che essere una semplice narrazione dall’inferno” — Vittorio Arrigoni
Il 20 marzo 2009 su guerrilla radio Vik annuncia la pubblicazione di “Stay Human”.
The Burial Of Our Species – The Roads Leading to Disaster
Fidel Castro Ruz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Almost 200 States, supposedly independent, constitute the political organization which in theory has the job of governing the destiny of the world. Approximately 25,000 nuclear weapons in the hands of allied or enemy forces ready to defend the changing order, by interest or necessity, virtually reduce to zero the rights of billions of people. I shall not commit the naïveté of assigning the blame to Russia or China for the development of that kind of weaponry, after the monstrous massacre at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ordered by Truman after Roosvelt’s death.
→ read full articleBirthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives
Beverly Bell and Other Worlds – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
From Idla Martines de Souza organizing with the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil, to Emem Okon building peace in middle of a resource war in Nigeria, to Juana Ferrer and Via Campesina turning towards food sovereignty to end gender violence, each of these women have important wisdom and vision to share with us all. Birthing Justice is dedicated to women everywhere who are creating a more just and humane world, especially those doing so in the face of physical and structural violence, and most especially those in Haiti and Honduras.
→ read full articleChiquita Banana to Face Colombia Torture Claim
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Chiquita, the global banana producer, was ordered this week to face a federal court over their role in paying off right wing death squads in Colombia. Villagers allege that the death squads used “random and targeted violence in exchange for financial assistance and access to Chiquita’s private port for arms and drug smuggling,” according to a lawsuit filed on their behalf by EarthRights International and Cohen Milstein.
→ read full articleWhy Germany Is Phasing Out Nuclear Power
David Roberts, grist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The most controversial aspect of this power overhaul is Germany’s post-Fukushima decision to completely phase out nuclear power by 2020, which caused the heads of Very Serious People to explode on multiple continents. To many, passing ambitious low-carbon energy goals and then axing a good chunk of your low-carbon energy seems irrational and self-defeating.
→ read full articleLiving with Incomprehension and Uncertainty: Re-Cognizing the Varieties of Non-Comprehension and Misunderstanding
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Produced In a Period When Sustained Incomprehension May Well Enable World War III – This follows from explorations of the experience of nothingness and pointlessness in daily life — especially as a consequence of the current pattern of global strategies (Configuring the Varieties of Experiential Nothingness, 2012; Way Round Cognitive Ground Zero and Pointlessness? 2012). The experience may well be intimately related to a sense of incomprehension at the paradoxes and absurdities of life, irrespective of how well-informed an individual may be.
→ read full articleTowards the Dynamic Art of Partial Comprehension
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Annex B of ‘Living with Incomprehension and Uncertainty’ (2012) – Shared binary commitment: Curiously, and as illustrated by Catholic commentary on the Galileo Affair (above), science and religion share a profound commitment to binary logic. This takes the form of truth/falsehood, right/wrong, correct/incorrect, believer/nonbeliever, etc — as variously interpreted. Shades of gray are condemned. This commitment is evident in the military operations they variously reinforce — in the distinction between friend/enemy, or victory/defeat, and the very nature of launching missiles against targets. As profit/loss, the latter pattern permeates commercial marketing and foreign policy, as previously discussed (Us and Them: Relating to Challenging Others, 2009; Enhancing Sustainable Development Strategies through Avoidance of Military Metaphors, 1998; ).
→ read full articleThe Face of the Crisis – And Alternatives
Johan Galtung, 26 Mar 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The trade in derivatives is now at $1 quadrillion a year (15 zeros), ten times the industrial economy of the whole 20th century. Many got rich, but the system collapsed. Maybe prison would have been more adequate for intellectual sloppiness? That equation is a part of the closed paradigm of economism. Does it offer a solution, not only for banks and bankers, but for the bottom 99.9%? The 0.1%/99.9% income ratio USA 2007 was 140; an unbelievable inequality, both cause and effect of the crisis.
→ read full article
Hans Blix: The Iranian Threat (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Talk to Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The former UN Weapons inspector talks about Iran and how to prevent a nuclear arms race and military crisis in the Middle East.
→ read full articleWhy Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil
Glen Ford – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
No matter how much evil Barack Obama actually accomplishes during his presidency, people that call themselves leftists insist on dubbing him the Lesser Evil. Not only is Obama not given proper credit for out-evil-ing George Bush, domestically and internationally, but the First Black President is awarded positive grades for his intentions versus the presumed intentions of Republicans. As the author says, this “is psycho-babble, not analysis. No real Left would engage in it.”
→ read full articleFrom the Roots to the Fruit: Nonviolence in Action Conference
TRANSCEND Member Ela Gandhi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
In 1994 South African regime transformed from a racially based oppressive regime to a democratically elected inclusive regime. This happened through hard-nosed negotiations between the various interest groups. It was proclaimed to be a miracle. It was nonviolence in action largely driven by the African National Congress and its formidable leadership, led by Nelson Mandela.
→ read full articleAl Jazeera Journalist Explains Resignation over Syria and Bahrain Coverage
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Ali Hashem: Al Jazeera has become a “media war machine” and is “committing journalistic suicide”.
→ read full articleWhy Not Get the Law and Politics Right in Iran?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As it is there is no legal foundation in the Nonproliferation Treaty or elsewhere for the present reliance on threat diplomacy in dealing with Iran. These threats violate Article 2(4) of the UN Charter that wisely prohibits not only uses of force but also threats to use force. Iran diplomacy presents an odd case, as political real politik and international law clearly point away from the military option, and yet the winds of war are blowing ever harder.
→ read full articleWhy Do We Protest the NATO Summit?
Buddy Bell, Voices for Creative Nonviolence – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
After the end of World War II, a group of nations in the north Atlantic established NATO to impede Russian influence over the reconstruction of Europe and to facilitate their own. After the Cold War ended, the U.S. rebranded NATO and extended its mandate as a defender of liberty in regions beyond the north Atlantic. Seeing military action as a suitable solution to various global conflicts, it has had the effect of sowing discord and violence instead of alleviating these problems.
→ read full articleChanging the Story in the Middle East
Philip Giraldi, The Passionate Attachment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
I’m sure that many have noted how successful Israel and its friends are at shifting the narrative. Palestinian statehood was made a non-issue by ignoring it in the media and concentrating instead on the largely fictitious threat being posed by Iran. The purpose of the chaff being thrown around by Israel is to preclude any serious discussion of what is going on in the West Bank, where settlements continue to expand inexorably.
→ read full articleBack to Child Labor and Slavery?
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Until the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, human society maintained a more or less sustainable relationship with nature. However, with the beginning of the industrial era, traditional ways of life, containing both ethical and environmental elements, were replaced by the money-centered, growth-oriented life of today, from which these vital elements are missing.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Comércio Mundial de Armas Cresceu 24% nos Últimos 5 Anos, Aponta Estudo
BBC Brasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
O comércio internacional de armas aumentou substancialmente nos últimos cinco anos, segundo um relatório divulgado nesta segunda-feira [19 Mar 2012] pelo Instituto de Pesquisas para a Paz de Estocolmo (Sipri, na sigla em inglês).
→ read full articleMaking Sense of Egypt – Part One: In Defence of Conspiracy as a Method
Ahmed Badawi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
An analysis of the football violence that happened in Port Said at the beginning of February 2012 and a defence of conspiracy as a method of explanation.
→ read full articleRussia-NATO Summit Cancelled
Itar-Tass – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The Russia-NATO summit has stalled, the Kommersant daily reported. Experts noted that the decision to cancel a May [2012] meeting between Vladimir Putin and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is linked with the disagreement over the vital issue, the missile defence system in Europe.
→ read full articleSharp Increase in Palestinian Deaths in 2011
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
An annual report from the Jerusalem-based B’Tselem showed that in 2011 Israeli security forces killed a total of 105 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom 37 were confirmed as non-combatants. “The picture is harsh, not because of dramatic events or a sudden deterioration, but precisely because of the routine,” the report said.
→ read full articleProject Brings Peace Journalism to Uganda
Steven Youngblood, Peace Portal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As I taught Peace Journalism in Uganda for five weeks in 2009, I kept hearing from the journalists in my seminars that they liked and needed what I was teaching. However, they emphasized that Uganda needed many more peace journalism lessons. At their urging we put together a proposal for a comprehensive Peace, Development, and Electoral Journalism project for 2010-2011. It’s our hope that this model can replicated elsewhere, since it proved to be such a powerful tool for peace and reconciliation in Uganda.
→ read full articleFrance Bans Strain of Monsanto GM Maize
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
French Agricultural Minister Bruno Le Maire imposed Friday [16 Mar 2012] a temporary ban on a genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto “to protect the environment”. The French agriculture ministry said in a statement that the Monsanto maize strain MON 810 had been banned as a “precautionary measure”.
→ read full articleRedefining Research
Jenica Rhee & Associates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
After 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica has decided to halt the presses and go out of print. Facing the realities and the stiff competition from Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica will now focus primarily on their online services. But even then, it might be too late. Wikipedia has grown to be the number one source for students. This infographic highlights how Wikipedia has revolutionized research and how it has become a reliable fountain of knowledge.
→ read full articleThe Ordeal of Hana Shalabi: Medical Urgency and Spiritual Defiance
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The respected human rights NGOs, Addameer-Palestine and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have expressed their deep concern for the mortal danger facing Hana Shalabi who continues her historic hunger strike to protest abuse that she experienced and her objections to the Israeli practice of prolonged detention without charges, without trial.
→ read full article(Portuguese) A Guerra Suja Contra a WikiLeaks
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As difamações dos média sugerem a cumplicidade da Suécia com um esforço impulsionado por Washington para punir Julian Assange.
→ read full articleThe Global March to Jerusalem – March 30, 2012
Global Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) is a groundbreaking new initiative that is organising non-violent civil resistance on 30th March 2012 in Palestine and the four neighbouring countries: Egypt, Lebanon Jordan and Syria. The GMJ is comprised of a diverse coalition of Palestinian, Arab and international activists who are united in the struggle to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem (the city of Peace) from illegal Zionist occupation.
→ read full article(Castellano) México DF Abole las Corridas de Toros
Asociación Animalista Libera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Tenemos el placer de informaros de que hace apenas unos minutos, la Comisión de Administración Pública del Distrito Federal (México) acaba de aprobar la iniciativa para abolir las corridas de toros, ciudad donde se encuentra la plaza más grande del mundo.
→ read full article(Italian) Le Nuove Guerre dei Militari USA di Vicenza
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
I militari USA di Vicenza sono impegnati pure in due sanguinosi fronti di guerra del continente africano: in Somalia, in qualità di consiglieri della forza multinazionale dell’Unione africana intervenuta contro le milizie degli shebab; in Uganda, nella guerra scatenata contro gli ultimi gruppi ribelli del Lord’s Resistance Army di Joseph Kony.
→ read full articleChevron Execs Barred From Leaving Brazil
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
A judge barred 17 Chevron executives from around the world from leaving Brazil in an oil spill investigation as prosecutors readied new charges over a second spill involving the US energy giant, local media reported Saturday [17 Mar 2012].
→ read full articleRachel Corrie, 9 Years On
Arab American Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Far more important than remembering Rachel’s tragic death is remembering her inspiring life. Seldom in life do we come across someone with the extraordinary commitment to justice that Rachel possessed. If only she could see how she has inspired so many in the USA to demand justice for Palestinians, including her parents who have become outspoken critics of the occupation their daughter protested years before.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: The War Turns Pathological—Withdraw!
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
16 Afghan civilians, including women and children, were shot in their homes in the middle of the night. American soldiers urinating on dead Taliban fighters, Koran burning, and countryside patrols whose members were convicted by an American military tribunal of killing Afghan civilians for sport: whatever the U.S. military commanders in Kabul might sincerely say in regret and Washington might repeat by way of formal apology has become essentially irrelevant.
→ read full articleLaunching the U.S. Terror War: the CIA, 9/11, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
The Asia-Pacific Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Throughout this essay we have seen two different and indeed antithetical levels of U.S. foreign policy at work. On the surface level of public diplomacy we see a commitment to international law and the peaceful resolution of differences. On a deeper level, represented by a long-time Saudi connection and covert arrangements to control international oil, we see the toleration and indeed protection of terrorists in fulfillment of both Saudi and American secret goals.
→ read full articleThe Bloody Road to Damascus: The Triple Alliance’s War on a Sovereign State
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
There is clear and overwhelming evidence that the uprising to overthrow President Assad of Syria is a violent, power grab led by foreign-supported fighters who have killed and wounded thousands of Syrian soldiers, police and civilians, partisans of the government and its peaceful opposition.
→ read full articleIndia: Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project Update and Alert
S. P. Udayakumar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
March 19, 2012 – Just in: Some 10 people, including Struggle Committee members have been arrested. The Tamil Nadu State government is increasing the police strength in front of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). Heavy police force has been posted in a few major junctions around Koodankulam. There are rumors that we all could be arrested soon and they may decide to re-start the KKNPP. WE ARE READY! The tension is increasing; the government is acting in a high-handed manner. Please keep an eye on us.
→ read full articlePolitical Party for Animal Rights Formed in Turkey
Today’s Zaman, Istanbul – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Turkey’s first animal rights political party, the Animal Party, was established this week [16 Mar 2012] in an effort to bring the issue of the protection of animal’s rights and welfare to the political table. The aim of the party is not just to promote love for animals but to remind those who view the world solely in terms of humans that we live together with animals and that they have rights, too.
→ read full articleHana Shalabi: A Brave Act of Palestinian Nonviolence
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Despite the calls to Palestinian from liberals in the West these extraordinary hunger strikes have met with silence or indifference in both Israel and the West. The UN has not raised its voice, as well. Hana Shalabi seems a young tender and normal woman who is dedicated to her family, hopes for marriage, and simple pleasures of shopping. She had previously been held in prison in Israel between 2009 and 2011, being released in the prisoner exchange that freed 1027 Palestinians. As she was returning to normalcy she was re-arrested in an abusive manner, which allegedly included a strip-search by a male soldier.
→ read full article(Castellano) Panamá Prohíbe las Corridas de Toros
AnimaNaturalis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
“Quedan prohibidas las peleas de perros, las carreras entre animales, las lidias de toro, ya sean de estilo español o portugués, la creación, entrada, permanencia y funcionamiento en el territorio nacional de todo tipo de circo o espectáculo circense que utilice animales amaestrados de cualquier especie”.
→ read full articleDocumentary Film ‘The Crisis of Civilization’ Released Online For Free
Institute for Policy Research & Development – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The documentary feature film, The Crisis of Civilization – based on TRANSCEND member Dr. Nafeez Ahmed’s latest book, A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (Pluto/Macmillan, 2010) – has just been released today [15 Mar 2012] free, online.
→ read full articlePeru Passes Monumental Ten Year Ban on Genetically Engineered Foods
Occupy Monsanto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
March 10, 2012 – In a massive blow to multinational agribiz corporations such as Monsanto, Bayer, and Dow, Peru has officially passed a law banning genetically modified ingredients anywhere within the country for a full decade before coming up for another review.
→ read full article
Rabbi Dovid Weiss: Zionism Has Created ‘Rivers of Blood’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The Jewish scholar explains why Zionism and Judaism are not necessarily the same thing and why he believes that Israel as a state is not legitimate.
→ read full articleMillennium Development Goal Drinking Water Target Met
Danny Schechter – Al Jazeera,
19 Mar 2012
6 Mar 2012 – The world has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, well in advance of the MDG 2015 deadline, according to a report issued today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Between 1990 and 2010, over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells.
→ read full articleShould We Celebrate a Decline in Global Poverty?
Adam Parsons, Share the World’s Resources – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The World Bank’s latest data suggests a decline in global poverty throughout every region of the developing world, as well as the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goal on halving poverty well ahead of schedule. But is this really the ‘good news’ that we are led to believe?
→ read full articleIrenea: a Cinema for Peace and Nonviolence
Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
From TRANSCEND Member Prof. Nanni Salio, director of the CSSR: The Sereno Regis Study Center (Centro Studi Sereno Regis) in Turin is promoting the establishment of a multi-media educational lab meant to develop a movie culture oriented to peaceful, nonviolent and deeply respectful relationships to all living beings in the Earth’s ecosystem. The lab will be a place of search and spread of a movie culture that may help spot and recognize visible as well as invisible violence.
→ read full article
Weapon of Mass Pollution: Pentagon World’s Largest Polluter (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
America’s mighty military presence around the world is leaving many locals with a bad taste in their mouths… quite literally. The Pentagon is accused of causing massive – and sometimes deadly – pollution. Not just in other countries, but at home too.
→ read full articleEnviro Groups Fear “Dangerously Misguided” Plan to Unleash Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
Common Dreams staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Eric Hoffman of Friends of the Earth U.S. said: “The fact that Oxitec is hiding data from the public has undermined its credibility. Oxitec’s assertions cannot be trusted. Trials of its mosquitoes must not move forward in the absence of comprehensive and impartial reviews of the environmental, human health and ethical risks. Such trials must also await the establishment of a clear and well designed regulatory framework, which does not yet exist.”
→ read full articleEminent Indians Speak Out Against Harassment of Anti-Nuclear Activists in Koodankulam
DiaNuke – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Several eminent citizens, concerned about nuclear safety and the government’s campaign of slander against the Koodankulam anti-nuclear plant agitation in Tamil Nadu, have signed a public statement denouncing the government’s high-handedness against the peaceful protesters in Koodankulam. The signatories also include writers Arundhati Roy, Adil Jussawalla and Vandana Shiva. The statement is of vital public importance in view of the government’s plans to forge ahead with nuclear power expansion regardless of its safety and economic issues, and strong public opposition to new nuclear reactors.
→ read full articleIsraeli Apartheid Week Kicks Off in South Africa
The Voice of Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
The cultural week against the Israeli apartheid regime in occupied Palestine were launched in more than 13 South African cities in the context of global activities and events taking place in about 90 cities around the world. These events include university seminars, lectures, documentaries movies, photo galleries and many other activities on the apartheid system pursued by Israel.
→ read full article
CNN Silences War-Skeptical Soldier (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
CNN – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Watch what happens when 28-year-old Cpl. Jesse Thorsen touches a neuralgic nerve by suggesting that Israel can take care of itself. It’s impossible to say exactly what happened to the remote feed that suddenly got lost in transmission back to CNN Central, but the minute-long video is truly worth a thousand words. The interview, which dates back to Jan. 3 2012, is symbolic of how the US Corporate Media treats dissident voices that clash with the prevailing pro-war-on-Iran bias.
→ read full articleReciprocity, Lawfare, and Self-Defense: Targeted Killing
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
There is an emergent Israeli/American controversy on the lawfulness of targeted killing. Although the policy has not yet attained the status of being a national debate, there are signs that it may be about to happen, especially in light of the Attorney General, Eric Holder’s Northwestern Law School speech on March 5, 2012 outlining the Obama’s administration’s controversial approach to targeted killing in some detail.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Stratfor Emails Devastating
TYT Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
“Some 5m internal emails from Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based company that brands itself as a “global intelligence” provider, were recently obtained by Anonymous, the hacker collective, and are being released in batches by WikiLeaks. The most striking revelation from the latest disclosure is not simply the military-industrial complex that conspires to spy on citizens, activists and trouble-causers, but the extremely low quality of the information available to the highest bidder.”
→ read full articleNigeria Oil Corruption Highlighted by Audits
Joe Brock and Tim Cocks, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
An important supplier to the United States because of the oil’s high gasoline content, Nigeria has attracted billions of dollars of investments from the world’s top oil companies. Yet poverty in Africa’s second biggest economy is rising, with almost 100 million people living on less than $1 a day, data released last month shows. The percentage of Nigerians living in absolute poverty – those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing – has risen to around 60 percent.
→ read full articleLanguage of Politics in True Perspective
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
In view of what has been stated and based on the tangible evidence that was presented, we can fully understand that when China and the United States speak of “national defense and security” they do attribute to this phraseology an entirely different meaning, even though the sound is identical. For China, “national defense and security” means simply the “protection of the country from any possible invasion.” For the United States, “national defense and security” means merely the “preparation for the waging of never-ending wars around the world by using the most devastating weapons available.
→ read full articleChina to Export Yuan to BRICS
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
China is reportedly to begin extending loans in yuan to BRICS countries in another step towards internationalizing the national currency and diversifying from the US dollar. Brazil and South Africa were quick to react to the proposal, saying they expect the lending pledge to be included into a master agreement to be signed in New Delhi on March 29 [2012].
→ read full articlePeace Mathematics – Does It Exist?
Johan Galtung, 12 Mar 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
It does, even in print; pardon some publicity! You may start at the end with the table of contents, then, here, the book epilogue:
Enthusiast E and Skeptic S: Dialogue at a Higher Level:
S: I worried that you would put something belonging to all of us, peace, into a big machine with parameters and then the machine would produce outputs about what to do. Like economists do with something belonging to us, our own livelihood. I liked your distinction between equations and formulas, between mathematics and mathematese…
Lab Tests Find Carcinogen in Regular and Diet Coke and Pepsi
Center for Science in the Public Interest – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
New chemical analyses have found that Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Diet Coke, and Diet Pepsi contain high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a known animal carcinogen. The carcinogen forms when ammonia or ammonia and sulfites are used to manufacture the “caramel coloring” that gives those sodas their distinctive brown colors, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit watchdog group that commissioned the tests.
→ read full articleDon’t Bank on the Bomb
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
A fantastic report with many detailed tables.The Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers – With a Foreword by Desmond Tutu. The first major global report on the financing of companies that manufacture, modernize and maintain nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. It identifies more than 300 banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers from 30 countries that invest significantly in the, also listed, 20 major nuclear weapons producers.
→ read full articleMonsanto’s Roundup Shown to be Ravaging Butterfly Population
Mike Barrett, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Monsanto’s Roundup, containing the active ingredient glyphosate, has been tied to more health and environmental problems than you could imagine. Similar to how pesticides have been contributing to the bee decline, Monsanto’s Roundup has been tied to the decrease in the population of monarch butterflies by killing the very plants that the butterflies rely on for habitat and food. What’s been shown to be an even greater threat to the population, though, is Monsanto’s Roundup Ready corn and soybeans.
→ read full articleThe War on WikiLeaks Is Now Trial by Media in Sweden
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
War by media, says current military doctrine, is as important as the battlefield. This is because the real enemy is the public at home, whose manipulation and deception are essential for starting an unpopular colonial war. Like the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, attacks on Iran and Syria require a steady drip-effect on readers’ and viewers’ consciousness. This is the essence of a propaganda that rarely speaks its name.
→ read full articleKoran Burning in Afghanistan: Mistake, Crime, and Metaphor
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
In this regard Koran burning may be as provocative in its assault on Afghan political culture as was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi with respect to the authoritarian cruelty of the Tunisian regime presided over by the tyrannical rule of Zine El Alindine Ben Ali, who was driven from power as a direct result. When the culture screams it is time to leave!
→ read full articleTracking the Trackers: Mozilla’s Anti-Big Brother Add-On
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
The owner of Firefox, the world’s second most popular browser, is backing an add-on which would allow users to monitor in real-time how their actions are tracked and shared by various websites as they surf the net. The amount of data collected by Google, Facebook and other players less-known to the general public is astounding. But the majority of Internet users are oblivious to this fact. Mozilla’s new add-on – called Collusion – aims to change that.
→ read full article(Italian) Brescia: Primo Marzo 2012 per i Diritti di Tutti i Migranti e per i Diritti di Tutti
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Brescia*, Piazza Loggia, 1 marzo 2012
→ read full article
Say NO to ACTA
laquadrature – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Learn more and take action about ACTA.
→ read full article10 Unanswered Questions on Iran and Israel
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Produced in the light of the Press Conference of President Barack Obama (6 March 2012)
and a crisis meeting of the IAEA (Vienna, 7 March 2012) seeking consensus on action against Iran. Why is the case against Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear weapons of mass destruction always presented without systematic comparison with the track record relating to Israel’s capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction?
Big 6 Oil Companies Complete a Trillion-Dollar Decade
David Wallechinsky, AllGov – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Times are good for the six largest oil companies, with profits easily surpassing the figures from before the 2008 financial meltdown. In 2011 ExxonMobil led the way with profits of $41.1 billion. Shell was in second place at $28.6 billion, followed by Chevron at $26.8 billion and BP at $23.9 billion. Total was back at $15.9 billion and ConocoPhillips trailed at $12.4 billion.
→ read full articleCancer of the Spirit
Robert Koehler – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
Can we squeeze the glory out of the word “war”? Can we talk about savage irrationality and lifelong inner hell instead? Can we talk about the wreckage of two countries? Can we talk about spiritual cancer? In the extraordinary documentary On the Bridge — an unstinting look at the reality of war and the terror of PTSD.
→ read full articleChina: Rise, Fall and Re-Emergence as a Global Power – Some Lessons from the Past
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
The study of world power has been blighted by Eurocentric historians who have distorted and ignored the dominant role China played in the world economy between 1100 and 1800.
→ read full articleUN Official Slams WikiLeaks Suspect Manning’s Treatment
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
US authorities’ treatment of WikiLeaks suspect Private Bradley Manning was “cruel and degrading,” the UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Ernesto Mendez said Monday [5 Mar 2012]. “I believe Bradley Manning was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the excessive and prolonged isolation he was put in during the eight months he was in Quantico,” he told AFP, referring to the US military prison near Washington.
→ read full articleTroubled Waters: How Mine Waste Dumping is Poisoning Our Ocean, Rivers, and Lakes
Earthworks & MiningWatch Canada – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
A new investigative report from Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada documents how mining companies are using the world’s waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic mine wastes. These mine wastes, or tailings, can contain up to three dozen dangerous chemicals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cyanide. Each year, mining companies dump over 180 million tonnes of these hazardous mine wastes into rivers, oceans, and lakes – that’s more than 1.5 times the amount of waste that US cities send to landfills each year.
→ read full articleIceland’s Ex-PM on Trial over Banks Crisis
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
The former prime minister of Iceland has gone on trial in a special court in Reykjavik on charges of negligence over his handling of the country’s 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of the country’s banking system.
→ read full articleFrom Empire to Global Fascism
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
A disconnect between speech and action is Obama’s trade mark. A key to his global fascism: instead of acknowledging wrongs of US foreign policy, he hides his extra-judicial killings with drones and JSOC’s (Joint Special Operations Command) in, maybe, 120 countries. Covert, CIA, less overt, Pentagon; with little Congress control. JSOC has been operating an extra-legal “kill-capture” campaign that a former counterinsurgency adviser calls “an almost industrial scale counterterrorism killing machine”.
→ read full article
Inside MONSANTO
Denkmal Film - TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Scientists Speak the Truth
→ read full articleLibya ‘Close to Disintegration’ – PM
The Voice of Russia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Speaking on the first anniversary of the anti-Gaddafi revolution in Misurata Monday, interim Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abdeljalil warned of complete national disintegration if the rival tribes and clans that had laid hands on Gaddafi’s arsenals continued to refuse to submit to the authority of the central government.
→ read full article8 March: International Day of Women – Women as Peacemakers
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
8 March is the International Day of Women first proposed by Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1911. Zetkin, who had lived some years in Paris and active in women’s movements there, was building on the 1889 International Congress for Feminine Works and Institutions held in Paris under the leadership of Ana de Walska.
→ read full articleNobel Peace Laureate Calls For Ceasefire and Nonviolent Solution to the Conflict in Syria
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
“The only people who can solve Syrian problems are the Syrians themselves. The international community must insist that all international and human rights laws be upheld by the Syrian government and that they enter a dialogue with all opposition groups whose voices have a right to be heard and not ‘silenced’ by persecution, torture and/or killings.”
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Government Promises, Ground Realities
International Crisis Group – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Nearly three years since declaring victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the government has weakened democratic institutions, deepened ethnic polarisation and aggravated the country’s long-standing impunity for human rights violations. The former warzones in the north and east are heavily militarised and controlled from Colombo, while disappearances, killings, torture, gender-based violence and other abuses continue with impunity throughout the island. Sri Lankans who speak out about the situation risk reprisal.
→ read full articleBahrain Delays UN Investigator Visit
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Government requests torture investigator to delay visit, while strengthening restrictions on visits by rights groups. The UN human rights office in Geneva said on Thursday [1 Mar 2012] that Bahrain had formally requested that the visit of the special rapporteur on torture be delayed until July. Bahrain, an ally of the United States and home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family, and has been under pressure to institute political and rights reforms since its violent crackdown on the uprising.
→ read full articleMonsanto Pays 93 Million to Victims in Settlement
Cassandra Anderson, Natural Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
February 27, 2012 – Monsanto tentatively agreed to a $93 million settlement with some residents of Nitro, West Virginia. Nitro is a small town that got its name from manufacturing explosives during WWI. It was also the site of a Monsanto chemical plant that manufactured 2,4,5-T herbicide that was half of the Agent Orange recipe. Monsanto has now set a precedent for settling claims, and hopefully some good attorneys will seize the opportunity in order to hold Monsanto accountable.
→ read full articleColombia’s Quest for Peace and Justice
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Between April 21 -23 [2012], the National Patriotic Council will convoke thousands of activists from most of the major urban and rural social movements and trade unions, human rights groups and indigenous afro-colombian movements, who will meet to unify forces and launch what promises to be the most significant new political movement in recent history. The democratization of Colombia requires the growth of independent social movements, judicial investigation and prosecution of ex narco-President Álvaro Uribe and his closest collaborators, and needs to extend to the present Santos regime.
→ read full article