Articles by UN
We found 3812 results.
Thinking Mali
Johan Galtung, 11 Feb 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2013
Tuaregs and Muslims have picked up a lot from the West these last hundred years; how about the West trying to learn something from them? Is it obvious that the modern, automated, industrial, financial-speculation state is better than confederate camel nomadism?
→ read full articleTranscend Peace University Online Courses
Erika Degortes – TRANSCEND Peace University,
11 Feb 2013
All-online courses on peace, conflict transformation, mediation, peace education, nonviolence and more. TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU) is pleased to announce its call for applications for the academic year 2013: Certificate Online Courses – First Term of 2013: March 12th – May 30th
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Risveglio Arabo-Musulmano – e USA-Israele
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2013
L’area Mediorientale e Nordafricana (MENA) è arabo-musulmana con un’isola ebraica crescente in mezzo. Ex-territorio coloniale – sotto i turchi ottomani sunniti per oltre quattro secoli, e dell’occidente laico, Inghilterra-Italia-Francia, per mezzo secolo – ora sotto il colonialismo ebreo israeliano e l’imperialismo USA.
→ read full articleSlavery, Colonialism, and the Church
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
From Liverpool-UK, 31 Jan 2013 – We talk about millions of slaves landed in the arch from Rio to Washington with the point of gravity in the Caribbean, and some south of Rio, north of Washington and around the coast to the Pacific side of Latin America. An unspeakable crime against humanity.
→ read full articleCondemning the Murder of Cícero Guedes, Leader of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement MST
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation strongly condemns the murder of Cícero Guedes, a leader of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement MST. The MST received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in 1991.
→ read full articleOpen-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on a Draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
First Session 18-21 February 2013. Informal discussion on 7 February 2013. Reference is made to the Note Verbale dated 17 January 2013, concerning the establishment of an Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group with the mandate of progressively negotiating a draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace.
→ read full articleGood Terrorist, Bad Terrorist
Chandra Muzaffar, Countercurrents – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2013
There is terrorism that is condoned and terrorism that is condemned by Western powers and other states. If violence serves their interests, it is acceptable. If it doesn’t, the militants are targeted. In other words, there are ‘good terrorists’ and ‘bad terrorists’.
→ read full articleThe Arab-Muslim Awakening – And USA-Israel
Johan Galtung, 28 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were divided into 15 and 7 states respectively, some now members of NATO and/or EU. States seen as islamist-terrorist are in for the same: Sudan-Somalia broken into 2 and 3 parts. They are both on the list of 7, which the White House ordered the Pentagon to “take out” right after 9/11 (General Wesley Clark, Democracy Now, 2 March 2007): Iraq, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Somalia; seen as hostile, with state, not private central banks blocking market globalization.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Cambiamento Avviene – Ma Come, Perché, Quando, Dove?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2013
Un secolo fa l’umanità, particolarmente in Occidente, era all’inizio di una grande rivoluzione, dalla cultura del cavallo a quella dell’automobile. Oggi ci sono ancora (FAO-Organizzazione per il cibo e l’agricoltura dell’ONU, 2008) 59 milioni di cavalli, ma (2010) più di un miliardo di auto (nel 1986 solo la metà). In altre parti del mondo, come in Giappone e Cina, c’è stata una rivoluzione verso le auto, ma partendo dalle biciclette – Pechino è passata da 6 milioni di bici a 4 milioni di auto nel giro di 20 anni, solo dal 1990. Dal 1970 al 2010 la quota USA di iscrizioni universitarie su base mondiale è calata dal 26 al 12% mentre la quota cinese è salita da 0 al 18%.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Pragmatismo della Politica Estera e il Moralismo del Movimento per la Pace: Il Divario Può Essere Colmato – Oppure Tertium Non Datur?
Johan Galtung – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
21 Jan 2013
Per comprendere meglio dove la peace research può essere diretta, lasciatemi giustapporre l’azione degli organi governativi a quella di una particolare organizzazione non-governativa, il movimento per la pace.
→ read full articleInternational Essay Contest for Young People
Goi Peace Foundation, Japan – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Organized by The Goi Peace Foundation and UNESCO – Theme: “The Power of Culture to Create a Better Future”
→ read full articleThe Lies of Democracy and the Language of Deceit
Colin Todhunter – Global Research,
21 Jan 2013
As a recent article has indicated, from mass bombing in Southeast Asia to employing death squads in South America, the US military and the CIA have been directly and indirectly responsible for an updated figure of an estimated ten million deaths. But it’s not called mass murder these days. Ironically, the US has hijacked the word ‘terror’ to justify its brand of tyranny through a war on terror.
→ read full articleConflict Resolution: From Gandhi to Galtung
Anupma Kaushik – The Gandhi Foundation,
21 Jan 2013
Johan Galtung clarifies that peace research is based on the assumption that peace is as consensual a value as health. He further states that interdisciplinary and multilevel approaches are needed for peace research besides adoption of symmetry. Peace research needs to draw from all corners of the world and in order to understand an issue the researcher needs to see it from either side but the solution should not be based on the assumptions of one party alone.
→ read full articleUNESCO Recognizes Brazilian Friar’s Contribution to Social Justice in Latin America and Caribbean
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
11 Jan 2013 – The United Nations has recognized a Brazilian Dominican friar, Frei Betto, with a leading international prize for his “exceptional contribution” to building a universal culture of peace, social justice and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of more than 50 books, Frei Betto was born in 1944 and joined the Dominican Order at the age of 20 while studying journalism, and during the time of military dictatorship in Brazil, he was imprisoned twice, in 1964 and again from 1969 to 1973.
→ read full articleChange Happens – But How, Why, When, Where?
Johan Galtung, 21 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
A century ago humanity, particularly in the West, was at the beginning of a major revolution, from horse culture to car culture. Today there are still 59 million horses, but more than 1 billion cars (in 1986 only half of that). In other parts of the world, like Japan and China, there was a revolution to cars, but from bicycles–Beijing went from 6 million bicycles to 4 million cars over a period of 20 years, only from 1990. From 1970 to 2010 the US share of world college enrollment dropped from 26 to 12 percent whereas the Chinese share went up from 0 to 18 percent.
→ read full article(Italiano) Contro la Rivoluzione Mondiale – Costruttivamente!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
Un paese che reagisce con mini-rivoluzioni, nonviolenza, disobbedienza civile contro tali smaccate ingiustizie. Un paese dove la lotta di classe è sospesa per il momento; ha vinto il capitalismo e più specificamente i banchieri e i loro servitori, i politici, e ancora più specificamente il capitale finanziario-speculativo. E questo in una Spagna prossima a 40 anni di democrazia dopo 40 anni di dittatura di Franco. Costituzione + democrazia + elezioni + diritti umani (anche immobiliari) + parlamento contro il capitalismo finanziario. Deboli contro forti.
→ read full article(Italiano) Il Dirupo, la Palude, il Pantano USA
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
C’è altro oltre il dirupo fiscale che risalta a occhio nudo… Introduciamo la sofferenza della gente, la crescita mancante e il fardello del debito, espandendo il discorso per visioni nuove… Potrebbe invece far prodigi un enorme programma ingegnoso che faccia sì che quel 16% si tiri su da solo (bootstraps), con crediti per piccole società-cooperative progettate per produrre cibo e acqua, vestiario e alloggi, sanità e istruzione, tutto a prezzi alla portata.
→ read full articleOscar Worthy Propaganda – Zero Dark Thirty: Torturing the Facts
Majorie Cohn - CounterPunch,
14 Jan 2013
Law professor Marjorie Cohn writes of the two disturbing characteristics of Zero Dark Thirty, the latest pro-CIA, pro-torture film to roll out of Hollywood.
→ read full articleAgainst World Revolution – Constructively!
Johan Galtung, 14 Jan 2013 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
A country rapidly de-developing, into low Third World levels, even in health. A country not only saving banks rather than people but also letting the banks get away with crimes. A country reacting with mini-revolutions, nonviolence, civil disobedience against such glaring injustices. A country where the class war is over for the time being; capitalism won and more particularly the bankers and their servants, the politicians, and even more particularly the finance-speculation capital. And this in a Spain close to 40 years into democracy after 40 years of Franco dictatorship. Constitution + democracy + elections + human rights (also to property) + parliament vs finance capitalism. Weak vs strong.
→ read full articleThe Cancer Cash Cycle: The Causes of Cancer and Ill Health
Colin Todhunter – Global Research,
14 Jan 2013
Cancer is big business. Despite massive public screening campaigns and talk of cures, cancer rates continue to soar, and certain companies not only profit from making the chemicals that cause cancer but also from selling the drugs that treat it.
→ read full articleSri Lankan Buddhist Chauvinists Provoke Violence against Muslims
Gamini Karunasena and Wasantha Rupasinghe, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government is again giving tacit support to communal provocations against Sri Lanka’s minorities in a bid to divide working people amid the country’s deepening economic and social crisis. This time, Muslims have become the main target of chauvinist groups.
→ read full articleRemembering Lasantha: Now They Come For “Everyone”
Nirmanusan Balasundaram, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jan 2013
Now, more than ever, with the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka, the vacuum left by Lasantha’s death and his importance can be felt by anyone who is concerned about human rights, democracy, rule of law, and, of course, the independence of the judiciary. The Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickrematunge , better known as Lasantha, was brutally assassinated four years ago. Lasantha noted in his last editorial, “I hope my murder will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration”.
→ read full articleThe US Cliff, Swamp, Quagmire
Johan Galtung,
7 Jan 2013
There is more than the fiscal cliff to meet the naked eye… Let us bring in the suffering of the people, the missing growth and the debt burden, expanding the discourse for new visions… A huge imaginative program for the 16 percent to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps, with credits for small companies-cooperatives designed to produce food and water, clothing and housing, health and education, all at affordable prices might do miracles.
→ read full article(Italiano) Un Augurio per l’Anno Nuovo: Andare Oltre!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
Sì, andare oltre, trascendere! – ecco il nostro messaggio, per il nuovo anno o meno. Prendete le sparatorie nelle scuole USA. Il vice-presidente della National Rifle Association (NRA) in TV: “la sola persona che può fermare un cattivo con un’arma è un buono con un’arma”. Affermazione che ha toccato molte corde. C’è conferma dall’alto: questa è la politica estera USA. L’unico modo per fermare un cattivo paese con le armi è un buon paese con le armi; l’unico modo di fermare il cattivo terrorismo dal basso è il buon terrorismo di stato dall’alto. Equilibrio di forze, innumerevoli basi, cercare e distruggere.
→ read full articleNet Worth of World’s Richest Rose by $241B In 2012
Bloomberg News – Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan 2013
The richest people on the planet got richer in 2012, adding $241 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 100 wealthiest individuals.
→ read full articleResignation Letter
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jan 2013
1 January 2013. I believe I was mislead regarding the professional environment at Universiti Brunei Darussalam during the recruitment process, and due to the on-going attempts to gag me on the persecution and slaughter of minorities, including Muslim minorities, in the country of my birth [Burma], I no longer wish to be subject to this level of extreme and unprofessional academic censorship. I need to work at a professional institution where the word ‘politics’ is mentionable, social conscience livable, and compassion honourable.
→ read full articleApologize Then Call It a Day: Big Banks and Drug Money
Helen Redmond - CounterPunch,
7 Jan 2013
Take responsibility, apologize, pay a fine for your drug crimes and then call it a day. Go home to family who will forgive you for doing business with so-called “narco-terrorists.” Prison time? Felony record? Asset forfeiture? No. Not for drug trafficking executives of laundromat/banks that are “too big to fail” or jail. Ending the war on drugs would not only save human lives and billions of dollars, it would free up law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute banks whose real crimes are far worse than laundering drug money.
→ read full articleA New Year’s Wish: Go Beyond!
Johan Galtung,
31 Dec 2012
Yes, go beyond, transcend!–that is our message, New Year or not. Take the US school shootings. The National Rifle Association’s vice president on TV: “The only person who can stop a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun”. That statement struck many cords. This is US foreign policy. The only way to stop a bad country with arms is a good country with arms; the only way to stop evil terrorism from below is good state terrorism from above. Balance of power, countless bases, search and destroy.
→ read full article(Italiano) Violenza Strutturale, Pace e Disabilità
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2012
Lo “sviluppo” dai villaggi tradizionali agli stati moderni comporta costruire gerarchie attorno all’ onnipotente logica dello Stato, all’onnipresente logica del Capitale e all’onnisciente logica della Scienza. Tutti successori di Dio, che monopolizzano le sfide. Non per nulla molti migrano nei villaggi.
→ read full articleViolence in the Institutional and Cultural DNA of the United States of America
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Dec 2012
The two of the three pillars of the United States were the ethno- and genocide of the native people and the enslavement of African people — yes, the other is honorably the Enlightenment ideals of equality (of property-owning while males). Both as an economic system and as an ideological edifice, USA is one of the most violent places on earth.
→ read full articleThe Paradox of Cuban Agriculture
Miguel Altieri and Fernando Funes-Monzote – Monthly Review,
31 Dec 2012
When Cuba faced the shock of lost trade relations with the Soviet Bloc in the early 1990s, food production initially collapsed due to the loss of imported fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, parts, and petroleum. The situation was so bad that Cuba posted the worst growth in per capita food production in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. But the island rapidly re-oriented its agriculture to depend less on imported synthetic chemical inputs, and became a world-class case of ecological agriculture.
→ read full article(Italiano) Contro una Terza Guerra Mondiale: Costruttivamente!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2012
Da Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany – La probabilità di una devastante Terza Guerra Mondiale non è zero, ma molto lontana dal 100%. Esploriamo perché.
→ read full articleStructural Violence, Peace–And the Handicapped
Johan Galtung, 24 Dec 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Dec 2012
“Development” from traditional villages to modern states means building hierarchies around omnipotent State logic, omnipresent Capital logic and omniscient Science logic. God’s successors all, monopolizing challenges. Not strange that many migrate to villages. First conclusion: Handicapped of all kinds unite! You have only your “normals” to lose. Second: relate to “normal” people on as equal terms as possible. Third: take on the challenge to construct a more inclusive society where your way of being different is an enrichment, a plus.
→ read full articleAgainst a Third World War-Constructively!
Johan Galtung,
17 Dec 2012
From Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany – The probability of a devastating Third World War is not zero, but very far away from 100%. Let us explore why.
→ read full articleHow the IDF Targeted Civilians: Shattered Lives in Gaza
Eva Lewis and James Marc Leas - CounterPunch,
17 Dec 2012
Eva Lewis and James Marc Leas return from the Occupied Territories having witnessed shattered lives, broken dreams and dead bodies.
→ read full article(Português) Bradley Manning: ‘Estava certo de que ia morrer naquela cela animalesca’.
Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian – Diário do Centro do Mundo,
17 Dec 2012
Durante os últimos dois anos e meio, passados por ele em uma prisão militar, muito foi dito sobre Bradley Manning, mas nada foi ouvido dele. Isso mudou na semana passada quando o jovem recruta de vinte e três anos, acusado de vazar documentos secretos para o WikiLeaks, testemunhou em seu julgamento sobre as condições de sua detenção.
→ read full article(Italiano) Combattere l’Antisemitismo – Costruttivamente!
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Dec 2012
Definire pubblicamente “antisemiti” intellettuali come Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Richard Falk, Günter Grass, Judith Butler, Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, Richard Dawkins, Mairead McGuire, Noam Chomsky e altri è una falsa calunnia di persone per nulla antisemite, con prospettive importanti. Il discorso “corretto” non ci porta da alcuna parte: [1] Israele ha sempre ragione; [2] i critici d’Israele hanno sempre torto.
→ read full articleThe ICC and Colombia: Massacres under the Looking Glass
Daniel Kovalik - CounterPunch,
17 Dec 2012
The International Criminal Court (ICC) just published [Nov 2012] its Interim Report on Colombia. The ICC’s conclusion in the report is that the worst crimes of the Colombian military – the “false positive” killings in which the military killed around 3,000 innocent civilians and dressed them up to appear as guerillas – “occurred with greatest frequency between 2004 and 2008.”
→ read full articleDec 10, 2012 – Human Rights Day
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2012
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted on 10 December 1948. The date has since served to mark Human Rights Day worldwide. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has been awarded the Guinness World Record for having collected, translated and disseminated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into more than 380 languages and dialects: from Abkhaz to Zulu. It is thus the most translated document – indeed, the most “universal” one in the world.
→ read full articleWhy Humanitarian Interventionism is a Dead End – Beware the Anti-Anti-War Left
Jean Bricmont - CounterPunch,
10 Dec 2012
The fundamental ambiguity of the anti-anti-war left lies in the question as to who are the “we” who are supposed to intervene and protect. One might ask the Western left, social movements or human rights organizations the same question Stalin addressed to the Vatican, “How many divisions do you have?” A favorite theme of the anti-anti-war left is to accuse those who reject military intervention of “supporting the dictator”, meaning the leader of the currently targeted country.
→ read full article(Italiano) ONU: Due Imperi in Crollo – E Poi Che Cosa?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2012
C’è la Storia nel voto ONU del 29 novembre 2012: 138 SÌ all’attribuzione di status di “stato osservatore non-membro ONU”, solo 9 NO, e 41 astensioni. Oltre la politica del Medio Oriente, il voto rispecchia i limiti dell’impero globale USA e di quello regionale d’Israele: 138 paesi ne sfidano la morsa e favoriscono il cambiamento, 41+9=50 no, per varie ragioni. Un voto cruciale su un tema cruciale è un test cruciale. Chi vuole che cosa?
→ read full articleFighting Anti-Semitism–Constructively!
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2012
To label public intellectuals like Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Richard Falk, Günter Grass, Judith Butler, Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, Richard Dawkins, Mairead McGuire, Noam Chomsky and others “anti-Semitic” is false libel of persons in no way anti-Semitic, with important perspectives. The “correct” speech carries us nowhere: [1] Israel is always right; [2] Israel’s critics are always wrong.
→ read full articleTwo Years of Cablegate as Bradley Manning Testifies for the First Time
Julian Assange, Editor-in-Chief and Founder, WikiLeaks – Huffington Post,
3 Dec 2012
Thu, Nov 29th [2012], Bradley Manning testified for the first time since his arrest two and a half years ago in Baghdad. Today also marks the two-year anniversary of the first front pages around the world from Cablegate, an archive of 251,287 U.S. State Department diplomatic cables — messages sent between the State Department and its embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions around the world.
→ read full article(Italiano) La Storia del Passato. E il Futuro?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2012
Che idea meravigliosa, la storia della pace! Qualcosa su cui quasi tutti vorrebbero imparare, l’arte della pace! Come per la storia della salute, del cibo e dell’amore, anziché la storia delle guerre, delle malattie e della fame, dei generali, dei re e degli imperi. Si tratta della storia di qualcosa che può ispirare le persone, fra cui anche gli/le statisti/e, a far meglio.
→ read full articleUN: Two Empires Crumbling – And Then What?
Johan Galtung, 3 Dec 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2012
There is History in the UN 29 November 2012 vote: 138 YES to giving Palestine the UN status as “nonmember observer state”, only 9 NO, and 41 abstentions. Beyond Middle East politics the vote also mirrors the limits to the US global, and the Israeli regional, empires: 138 defy their grip and favor change, 41+9=50 do not, for various reasons. A crucial vote on a crucial issue is a crucial test. Who wants what?
→ read full articleUNHCR Welcomes Brazilian Residency for Angolan and Liberian Refugees
UN High Commission for Refugees – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
The UN refugee agency on Friday [9 Nov 2012] welcomed Brazil’s recent decision to grant permanent residency to nearly 2,000 former Angolan and Liberian refugees. Brazil’s Ministry of Justice issued a decree on October 26 confirming the new status for this group. Brazil is the first country in Latin America and outside of the Africa region to adopt UNHCR’s recommendations.
→ read full article(Italian) Coltivare la Pace, Prevenire la Violenza…
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
… era il titolo del simposio al Virginia Tech di Blacksburg, Virginia-USA, dal 17 al 19.11.2012. Come si coltiva la pace? con la cooperazione a beneficio reciproco e uguale; armonia mediante empatia; conciliazione dei traumi, ripulendo il passato e costruendo un futuro; risolvendo i conflitti mediante le 3 C. Fattibile, possibile; mediante studi per la pace, con teoria e pratica.
→ read full articleMyanmar’s Step-By-Step Approach toward Rohingya Genocide and Ethni-cide
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
I would call the military’s policy towards the Rohingya “structural genocide”, a systematic and sustained act of policy maintained and pursued, irrespective of which general or ex-general is in charge. Welcome to our ugly majoritarian neo-Fascist democracy run by militarists!
→ read full articleCan U.S. Citizens End Israel’s Legal Impunity?
Stephen Zunes – YES! Magazine,
26 Nov 2012
Each time international law has attempted to censure Israel for its recent violations of human rights, the United States has stepped in to stop the process. If anyone is in a position to do something about this, it’s the U.S. public.
→ read full articleKenya: Push to Meet 2013 Male Circumcision Targets
UN IRIN – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
With just over one year left to achieve its target of having some 1.1 million men circumcised as part of HIV-prevention efforts, Kenyan male circumcision programmes are ramping up efforts to bring more men into clinics, compensating them for their time and encouraging them to bring friends in for the procedure.
→ read full articleThe History of the Past – And the Future?
Johan Galtung,
26 Nov 2012
The Glorious Art of Peace by John Gittings, NYC: Oxford University Press, 2012 – What a wonderful idea, the history of peace! Something most people want to learn about, the art of peace! Like the history of health, food and love, as opposed to the history of wars, illness and hunger, of generals, kings and empires. This is the history of something that can inspire people, statesmen-women among them, to do better.
→ read full articleIn-Depth: Top 10 Neglected Refugee Crises
UN-IRIN, ReliefWeb – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Nov 2012
Below, IRIN takes a look at some of the most neglected refugee and displacement crises around the world.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Eleições em Israel, Ataque a Gaza
Nuno Moniz, Esquerda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
O Governo de Israel decidiu novamente virar o seu internacionalmente patrocinado poderio militar para a Faixa de Gaza com duas mensagens. Uma para a comunidade internacional e a segunda para os eleitores em Israel: confiem em nós porque não temos medo de fazer chover bombas em Gaza.
→ read full article(Italian) Un Cambiamento a Washington?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
Da Washington, DC – 6 novembre 2012, notte dell’elezione. La democrazia USA è un sistema bipartitico che sta diventando uno stato monopartitico? Se è così, gli altri paesi stiano attenti! Non imitino. La democrazia è di più che solo elezioni. È anche trasparenza e dialogo. Per un reale cambiamento.
→ read full articleCultivating Peace, Preventing Violence…
Johan Galtung, 19 Nov 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
… was the title of the Symposium at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia-USA 17-19 Nov 2012. How do we cultivate peace? • through cooperation for mutual and equal benefit; • harmony through empathy; • traumas conciliation, clearing the past and building a future; • by solving conflicts through the 3 Cs. Feasible, possible; through peace studies, theory and practice.
→ read full articleGeorge Galloway, British MP | Full Address
Oxford Union Society – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
George Galloway gives his address to the Oxford Union Society – October 15th 2012. The Oxford Union Society is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just at Oxford University, but across the globe.
→ read full articleThe World Failed Sri Lanka. And Continues to Do So.
Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch - TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2012
What we know about those final days is stunningly awful. This International Crisis Group report and this UN Commission of Inquiry report describe a months-long massacre of innocent civilians caught between Tamil Tiger insurgents on one side and government forces on the other. The insurgents used civilians as human shields, and the government decided to shoot through those shields to get to the Tigers. Hundreds of thousands of people were trapped in an area the size of Central Park, subjected to daily mortar fire and indiscriminate killing.
→ read full articleThe 16 Smartest People on Earth
Dina Spector and Shlomo Sprung, Yahoo News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
IQ is a problematic measure of intelligence. Many have never been tested, while others have taken the test many times to improve their scores. Still, psychologists consider it the best measurement of intelligence out there. So who has the highest score?
→ read full articleBurma’s Buddhism: A Tale of “Form without Substance”
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Do not mistake Myanma’s thousands of Golden Temples and Pagodas and thousands of Saffron Robed men, that is, form, for the real practice of Buddhism, that is, the practice of Metta or universal loving kindness for all sentient beings. That, of course, is except Rohingya and Muslims.
→ read full article(Italian) La Crisi Finanziaria Europea: Germania/GIPSI
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Una crisi così massiccia – con il sistema sanitario in Grecia al collasso e il 50% della gioventù spagnola disoccupata – richiede grandi cause.
→ read full article(Castellano) Tercer Simposio Mundial: Los Humanistas Proponen Campaña Latinoamericana por la Reducción del Gasto Militar en la Región
Nelsy Lizarazo, Mundo Sin Guerras y Sin Violencia – Pressenza Int’l Press Agency,
12 Nov 2012
Tomás Hirsch, humanista chileno, lanzó la propuesta humanista para trabajar en una gran campaña latinoamericana para la reducacción del gasto militar en América Latina y Caribe y reorientar ese gasto hacia la salud, la educación y la calidad de vida de nuestras poblaciones. Avanzaremos en esta propuesta y les invitamos a todos y todas a sumar a ella, concluyó Hirsch.
→ read full articleProject Aims to Transfer Brazilian Know-How in Support of Cotton Farmers
UN Food and Agriculture Administration (FAO) – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
South-South cooperation for rural development, stronger agricultural livelihoods. Brazil and FAO signed a new South-South cooperation agreement today [17 Oct 2012] worth $20 million that aims to channel Brazilian expertise in cotton production to other developing countries.
→ read full article(Italian) Studi per la Pace Con Mezzi Pacifici
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Gli studi per la pace sono importanti, tanto quanto quelli sulla salute. Nasciamo inclini a rifiutare la sofferenza, sia essa dovuta a violenza o a malattia, e a cercare il benessere, lo si chiami pace, o salute. Ma non nasciamo con la conoscenza e la competenza, la teoria e la pratica.
→ read full article2012 – International Year of Cooperatives
United Nations – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
Cooperatives are not just an economic phenomenon but also a philosophy. It is an entrepreneurial model which is based on values such as equality, solidarity and reciprocity – and democracy, “a model which brings market logic together with social inclusion, making solidarity the focus of concern.”
→ read full articleWhat Does the World Bank Have to Do with Burma’s Wars, Conflicts and Atrocities?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Nov 2012
The war in Kachin State has everything to do with the World Bank which funded and promoted the idea of “cross-border energy free market”.
→ read full articleA Change in Washington?
Johan Galtung,
8 Nov 2012
Is the US democracy a two-party system becoming a one-party state? If so, other countries beware! Do not imitate. Democracy is more than just elections. It is also transparency and dialogue. For real change.
→ read full articleConvention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
UN General Assembly – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948
→ read full articlePeace Studies by Peaceful Means
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
Peace studies matter; same as health studies. We are born with the inclination to reject suffering, be it from violence or disease, and to seek wellbeing, call it peace, call it health. But we are not born with the knowledge and skills, theory and practice
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Militarizing the Land and Terrorizing the Minds
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
Nearly four decades of asymmetric war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil guerrillas ended in a bloodbath that was seen by some as “unacceptably high”. Such statements arouse a cynical curiosity as to what could be an “acceptable level of bloodbath” and confirmed that the State’s victory was achieved by massacring hundreds of thousands of Tamils.
→ read full articleSan Diego’s Drone Industry Doubles in Size
Gary Robbins – North County Times,
5 Nov 2012
The industry, which is centered in North County, generated at least $1.3 billion locally in 2011 and directly and indirectly supported 7,135 jobs. The report says the true impact could be far higher due to classified programs that are not included in public records. Most of the business can be tied to two defense giants — Northrop Grumman of Rancho Bernardo, which specializes in Global Hawk UAVs, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems of Poway, which is best-known for Predators.
→ read full articleUN Relief Agency Estimates 1.8 Million Haitians Have Been Affected By Hurricane Sandy
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
2 November 2012 – Some 1.8 million Haitians have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, the United Nations relief agency said today after its first assessment of the situation in the region, adding that food security remains an urgent concern in the Caribbean nation.
→ read full articleWho and What Gains from Myanmar’s Genocide of the Rohingya and Other Muslims?
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Nov 2012
The site of massive violence and arson of Rohingya and other Muslim neighborhood in Kyauk Hpyu happened to be the site where China is planning a Special Econ and Technological Zone. Why bother with mass eviction and typical Myanmar land grab when you have locally produced Genocide against the Rohingya and other Muslim inhabitants as a tool of ‘developmental policy’?
→ read full articleMyanmar Travel Reassurances to Westerners
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Oct 2012
President Thein Sein himself – incidentally, a very sincere, soft-spoken and harmless personality – has assured our Ministries that you will not hear gunshot fires, nor will you see boat loads of fleeing “Kulars or niggers” – much less their social media-circulated doctored images of mutilated corpses, charred belongings, and burnt houses. (Off the record: These damn human rights activists tend to sensationalize stories and exaggerate atrocities – it’s just another case of ethnic cleansing. We have other really important business in Myanmar: BUSINESS).
→ read full articleCivil Society Intervention as a Geopolitical Instrument
Hannes Hofbauer – Strategic Culture Foundation,
29 Oct 2012
What would happen if Russian foundations would intervene in Western European civil societies? How would the European Union, for example, react, if Russian of Chinese financial support would be given to – let’s say – groups for national self-determination. It is for sure that Brussels would immediately stop the flow of money from outside, for example from Moscow. Moscow is doing exactly the same, but Western media and politicians are defaming the restriction for being «undemocratic» representing «Soviet-type politics». USAID is the first to close down its office end of September 2012.
→ read full articleUN Independent Expert Calls For Boycott of Businesses Profiting From Israeli Settlements
UN News Centre – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Oct 2012
A United Nations independent expert today [25 Oct 2012] called on the world body’s General Assembly, as well as civil society, to take action against Israeli and international businesses that are profiting from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
→ read full article(Italian) Premio per la Pace: Nobel o Ignobel?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Oct 2012
Entrambi, naturalmente. Ben meritato per il passato e per le relazioni interne, nella tradizione dell’Occidente che premia l’Occidente. Ma i critici hanno ragione per quanto riguarda le relazioni esterne e il presente come la stretta debitoria dei cosiddetti Stati GIPSI –Grecia, Italia, Portogallo, Spagna, Irlanda- Periferia UE- verso la Germania.
→ read full articleThe European Finance Crisis: Germany/GIPSI
Johan Galtung,
29 Oct 2012
A crisis so massive–with the health network in Greece collapsing and 50 percent of Spanish youth unemployed–begs for big causes.
→ read full article(Croatian) „Veličanstveni Magnezij“
Katherine Czapp – Weston A. Price Foundation,
29 Oct 2012
Zanemareni mineral, bez kojeg ne možemo živjeti
→ read full articleMagnificent Magnesium
Katherine Czapp – The Weston A. Price Foundation,
29 Oct 2012
The Neglected Mineral We Cannot Live Without
→ read full article(Italian) Guerre Balcaniche a 100: Quattro Strade Per Un Buon Vicinato
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2012
Discorso programmatico, Istanbul, Università di Hacettepe, 4 ottobre 2012 – Gli imperi vanno e vengono. L’Impero musulmano Ottomano fu fra i migliori mentre quello cattolico iberico e quello protestante europeo furono fra i peggiori.
→ read full article(Italian) Turchia-Cipro-Kurdi-Armenia-SIRIA*
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2012
Questo non vuol dire affatto che la Turchia sia scevra di problemi; nessun paese lo è. Il punto focale qui è su quattro problemi che coinvolgono altre nazioni: i greci, i kurdi, gli armeni e le molte nazioni presenti in Siria. Una politica come al solito in paesi omogenei, senza soluzioni contemplanti le nazionalità, equivale a corteggiare il disastro. Va su una minoranza, conquista nicchie economiche-culturali e le maggioranze la metteranno a tacere con mezzi politico-militari; come gli armeni in Turchia, gli ebrei in Germania, i cinesi nel SudEst asiatico; Tutsi-Hutu.
→ read full articleDrug Legalization in Latin America: Could It Be the Answer?
Gene Bolton - Council on Hemispheric Affairs,
22 Oct 2012
Last March [2012], Central American nations held a drug legalization summit and garnered support for this policy throughout the region. This analysis compares the potential benefits and shortcomings of drug legalization as a policy initiative to reduce overall drug crime.
→ read full articleThe Peace Prize: Nobel or Ignoble?
Johan Galtung, 18 Oct 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Oct 2012
Both, of course. Well deserved for EU’s past and for relations within, in the tradition of West rewarding West. But critics are right about relations without and the present; like debt bondage of GIPSI–Greece-Italy-Portugal-Spain-Ireland/EU periphery–to Germany.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Paz, Direitos Humanos e Desenvolvimento num Mundo Multi-Polar em Evolução
Johan Galtung, Forum Abel Varzim – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2012
Palestra proferida no Conselho do Forum Social dos Direitos Humanos em Nova Iorque – 1 de outubro de 2012. O foco está no desenvolvimento centrado nas pessoas – em vez de no crescimento económico centrado no sistema.
→ read full articleUNHCR Issues Guidelines on Protection of Male Rape Victims
UN Refugee Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2012
The UN refugee agency has for the first time issued guidelines for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees staff and other aid workers on how to identify and support male victims of rape and other sexual violence in conflict and displacement situations. Access the guidelines: Working with men and boy survivors of sexual and Gender-based violence in forced displacement.
→ read full articleFormer UN Envoy Jean Ziegler on Third World Hunger: “We Let Them Starve”
Thomas M Blaser, Africa is a Country – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2012
‘According to the UN World Food Programme, there is enough food in the world for 12 billion people. If today people are still starving, then this is organized crime, mass murder. Every five seconds, one child under the age of ten dies, one billion people are permanently and heavily undernourished.’ Quote from Jean Ziegler, who was (2000-2008) the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and subsequently a member of the Advisory Committee to the UN Human Rights Council.
→ read full article(Italian) Sociocidio, Israele e Palestina
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2012
Testimonianza per il Tribunale Russell sulla Palestine – NewYork City, 7 ottobre 2012 – Sociocidio è un nuovo concetto che non ha trovato posto nel diritto internazionale positivo. Come Genocidio e Ecocidio, il Sociocidio, l’eliminazione della capacità di una società di sopravvivere e riprodursi, dovrebbe ugualmente diventare un delitto preminente contro l’umanità. La Palestina è dunque vittima di sociocidio da parte di Israele? Decisamente!
→ read full article“India’s Democracy Has Been Kidnapped” – Udayakumar
Aditi Prasad - The Sunday Indian,
15 Oct 2012
The government’s expert committee has declared the plant safe. But if the reactors are so safe, why is the Russian company not accepting the liability? Our government has agreed that if there is an accident we will pay from our own pockets – that is, pay from the taxpayers money. That is not fair. Also, the plant itself is situated on a fault line. People are saying that there will be no tsunami because the plant is 1600 kilometers away from the tsunami line. But did we expect tsunami to strike the Indian coast in 2004? There are two major slumps near the plant which can trigger a massive tsunami if there is an earthquake.
→ read full articleBalkan Wars at 100: Four Roads to Good Neighborhood*
Johan Galtung,
15 Oct 2012
Keynote Speech, Istanbul, Hacettepe University, 4 Oct 2012 – How about a federal Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia?–all within an overarching Balkan Community, doing well on all four peace tasks, building symbiosis among its beautifully diverse parts? As model for Europe and the world? Balkans of all kinds, unite! You have only your self-pity to lose.
→ read full articleThe Muslim Diaspora in Europe and the USA
Johan Galtung et al* - TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2012
By far the tallest diaspora in the world is Muslim: about 300 million, of them 177 M in India, 19 M in EU, 23 M in China, 16 M in Russia, and 2.6 M in the USA. This paper is about the Muslim social situation in two of the six poles: Europe and the USA.
→ read full articleTurkey – Cyprus – Kurds – Armenia – Syria*
Johan Galtung,
10 Oct 2012
Turkey is not problem-free; no country is. The focus here is on four problems involving other nations: the Greeks, the Kurds, the Armenians and the many nations in Syria. Politics as usual in homogeneous countries, with no solution for nationalities, is the same as courting disaster. A minority climbs up, conquers economic-cultural niches and the majorities will silence them politically-militarily; such as Armenians in Turkey, Jews in Germany, Chinese in Southeast Asia; Tutsis-Hutus.
→ read full article
Secret of the Seven Sisters (Shell, Exxon, BP, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf, Texaco) – Desert Storms and Fortunes (1/4)
Sunset Presse, French TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
MUST WATCH Documentary: The Shameful Story of Oil – Exposing the Oil Cartel – Part 1 of 4
Legendado em Portugues
Secret of the Seven Sisters (Shell, Exxon, BP, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf, Texaco) – Safari in a Black Eldorado (2/4)
Sunset Presse, French TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
The Shameful Story of Oil – Exposing the Oil Cartel – Part 2 of 4
Legendado em Portugues
Secret of the Seven Sisters (Shell, Exxon, BP, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf, Texaco) – The Dancing Bear (3/4)
Sunset Presse, French TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
The Shameful Story of Oil – Exposing the Oil Cartel – Part 3 of 4
Legendado em Portugues
Secret of the Seven Sisters (Shell, Exxon, BP, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf, Texaco) – A Time for Lies (4/4)
Sunset Presse, French TV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
The Shameful Story of Oil – Exposing the Oil Cartel – Part 4 of 4
Legendado em Portugues
Sociocide, Palestine and Israel
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
Testimony for Russell Tribunal on Palestine – NYC, 7 Oct 2012 – Sociocide is a new concept that has not found its place in positive international law. Like Genocide and Ecocide, Sociocide, the killing of a society’s capacity to survive and to reproduce itself, should become equally and prominently a crime against humanity. A society is a self-reproducing social system. Is Palestine the victim of sociocide by Israel? Indeed!
→ read full articleScant Oversight of Drug Maker in Fatal Meningitis Outbreak
Denise Grady, Andrew Pollack and Sabrina Tavernise – International Herald Tribune (NYT),
8 Oct 2012
The rising toll — 7 dead, 57 ill and thousands potentially exposed — has cast a harsh light on the loose regulations that legal experts say allowed a company to sell 17,676 vials of an unsafe drug to pain clinics in 23 states. Federal health officials said Friday [5 Oct 2012] that all patients injected with the steroid drug made by that company, the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., which has a troubled history, needed to be tracked down immediately and informed of the danger.
→ read full articleStudy: The Effects of Weaponized Radiation – Health Effects of Radioactive Materials (1945-1970)
Lisa MartinoTaylor, Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia - TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
Abstract: This piece analyzes a covert Manhattan Project spin-off organization referred to here as the Manhattan-Rochester Coalition, and an obscure aerosol study in St. Louis, Missouri, conducted under contract by the U.S. military from 1953–1954, and 1963–1965. The military-sponsored studies targeted a segregated, high-density urban area, where low-income persons of color predominantly resided.
→ read full articleThe Gandhian Movement of Empowerment: Revolutionary Acts at the Community Level
Colin Todhunter – Global Research,
8 Oct 2012
Leprosy: Empowering Some of India’s Most Disadvantaged
→ read full articleBurma/Myanmar: Did the Government Incite the Racial Violence Targeting the Rohingya?
Dr. Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2012
Truthful reports by various inquiry commissions and missions can and will go a long way towards restoring a glimmer of hope in the world’s most persecuted minority community, if the investigators are able to get to the bottom of the recent large-scale racial violence, which left nearly 100,000 both homeless and hopeless.
→ read full article