Articles by M
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(Castellano) Israel, ¿El País Que Tiene un Ejército o el Ejército Que Tiene un País?
Carmen Rengel – Periodismo Humano,
9 Jan 2012
Israel, su ejército y su pueblo son tres realidades ensambladas a fuego en una sola. Imposible separarlas. Nacieron juntas, se forjaron juntas y juntas siguen, aunque cada vez se levanten más voces que reclaman una separación de poderes efectiva que haga de Israel un país con ejército, como en el resto del mundo, y no un ejército que domina un país.
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(Spanish/Portuguese) A Ordem Criminosa do Mundo / El Orden Criminal del Mundo
TVE2 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Documental emitido por la española TVE que aborda la visión de dos grandes humanistas del mundo contemporáneo: Eduardo Galeano y Jean Ziegler.
Documentário exibido pela TVE espanhola, que aborda a visão de dois grandes humanistas contemporâneos sobre o mundo atual: Eduardo Galeano e Jean Ziegler.
→ read full article2012: The Davids and the Goliaths
Johan Galtung, 2 Jan 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
So, what is the message? Davids all over the world unite, you have only your goliaths to lose? Something like that, but with a major proviso: use david’s nonviolent slingshots. David knew what he wanted, so did Goliath: to slay each other. We have had enough of that. Smartness yes, but nonviolent, and of the positive variety, taking in, not only on, the adversary. Let the Icelands and Argentines teach them how to get their economies in order. Reduce the armor; save! Get down from nine feet to normal.
→ read full articleGlobal Brane Comprehension Enabling a Higher Dimensional Big Tent?
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
The focus here calls into question personal experiential relationship to a vast “external” framework of knowledge — elaborated and promoted as a “universal” framework. This framework, to the extent possible, is anchored in a fabricated complex language of formal logic within which certain concepts and insights are held to be demonstrably true. This language effectively marginalizes the experience of those who understand it only partially or not at all. It is imposed upon them as a requirement for effective engagement with reality, with the implication that people should “get with it” or be socially irrelevant. This denies the integrative value for the individual of radical experiential coherence in the moment — frequently highlighted by personal hardship, tragedy and nostalgia over time.
→ read full articleMy Dreams for 2012
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Coming to my nation, India, called the largest democracy in the world with thriving freedom and equality but in reality which is a nation, majority of which are stricken by poverty, poor health, poor education system, and poor governance. That one of the great Gandhians, Anna Hazare launched the movement for Lok Pal to make India corruption free is something which I dream to see successful in the New Year.
→ read full articleBrazil Overtakes UK as Sixth-Largest Economy
Phillip Inman – The Guardian,
2 Jan 2012
Brazil has overtaken the UK to become the world’s sixth-largest economy, according to a team of economists. The banking crash of 2008 and the subsequent recession has relegated the UK to seventh place in 2011, behind South America’s largest economy, which has boomed on the back of exports to China and the far east.
→ read full articleGenetically Modified Mosquitoes to be Released in the US for the First Time
Mike Barrett – Natural Society,
2 Jan 2012
Florida will be the first beta testing grounds to determine whether or not the mosquitoes lead to detrimental environmental and genetic impact. Residents in this area will also be subjected — without choice — to these genetically manipulated insects, unless the private firm decides to seek permission.
→ read full articleHow Did Our Friend Iran Become Our Enemy?
Jim Powell - Forbes,
2 Jan 2012
Before the United States goes to war with Iran, as many Americans seem anxious to do, we should first understand how Iran became our implacable enemy. In 1957, CIA secret agents helped the Shah establish SAVAK. If widely-published reports are to be believed, SAVAK had as many as 60,000 secret agents, informers and collaborators. SAVAK’s interrogation methods were said to include rape, extracting fingernails and attaching high voltage power lines to genitals.
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Stand By Me – Songs aroung the World: Peace through Music (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Playing for Change – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
From the award-winning documentary, “Playing for Change: Peace through Music”, comes the first of many “songs around the world” being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe.
→ read full articleFrom the East, Long Ago…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Shortly after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, Hungary’s interior minister called the prime minister, telling him that his office had been burglarized.
→ read full articleUnemployed Portuguese Told To ‘Just Emigrate’
Mario Queiroz – TerrraViva Europe,
2 Jan 2012
Portugal’s prime minister has been criticized for suggesting that unemployed youth leave the country to find work. Portugal’s leaders “are becoming a laughing stock, starting with the prime minister, when he suggested that emigration was a way to deal with the crisis,” said a December 20 editorial in Publico. If skilled workers and professionals continue to leave, the situation in this country “will be even more miserable,” and “the government’s incredible message leaves floating in the air the idea that Portugal is not worth it,” the editorial added.
→ read full articleTen Social Justice Trends Changing the World
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Global Trends:
[1] The Decline and Fall of the US Empire; [2] The Decline of the West; [3] The Decline of States and Rise of Regions; [4] The Rise of the Rest; [5] The Rise of China.
Social Trends:
[6] The Rise of Nations; [7] The Rise of Civil Society; [8] The Rise of Youth; [9] The Rise of Women; [10] The Rise of Inequality and Revolts.
Two Thirds of U.S. Foreign Aid is Really Military Aid
David Wallechinsky & Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
When some Americans complain that foreign aid is wasting taxpayer money abroad that could be put to better use at home, they may not realize that today’s version of foreign aid isn’t what it used to be. Call it the Pentagon-zation of U.S. foreign assistance.
→ read full articleViolence and Conflict Theories & Obstacles to Peace in Africa’s Great Lakes Region
Dr. Pierre Celestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Parson Talscott analyses Marx’s theory in terms of social classes and class conflict in the light of sociological theory. His analysis brings about the state of the weaker and the powerful classes showing that Marxian ideas have had an important place, forming a point of departure for the formulation of many of the fundamentals of theory of social institutions.
→ read full articleWhat is Shame?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
‘Shame’ is a disturbing, much admired, Steve McQueen film that has been misleadingly reviewed, but deserves our serious attention. Let me put my reasoning in provocative language: ‘Shame’ depicts with chilling realism the degeneracy of high-end capitalist life style in the urban landscape of Sodom on the Hudson, otherwise known as ‘The Big Apple,’ that is, New York City.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Filhotes Deixados na Neve Ilustram Campanha Contra Abandono de Cães Após Natal
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Dois cãezinhos abandonados na neve e no frio no fim do ano passado, e readotados em seguida, foram usados por uma fundação britânica em uma campanha para que os animais não sejam dados de presente de Natal, para evitar o seu abandono depois do período de festas.
→ read full articleCompassion Is Our New Currency: Notes on 2011’s Preoccupied Hearts and Minds
Rebecca Solnit - TomDispatch,
26 Dec 2011
Just look around you! This moment is so extraordinary that it has hardly registered. People in thousands of communities across the United States and elsewhere are living in public, experimenting with direct democracy, calling things by their true names, and obliging the media and politicians to do the same. The breadth of this movement is one thing, its depth another. It has rejected not just the particulars of our economic system, but the whole set of moral and emotional assumptions on which it’s based.
→ read full articleHIV Vaccine Trial Approved By FDA
CBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
Canadian-developed vaccine to start human clinical trials in January 2012.
→ read full articleWho Really Has Power In Burma?
Thelma Young – Waging Nonviolence,
26 Dec 2011
The question remains how much power does President Thein Sein actually have? Some have compared him with De Klerk or Gorbachev, and Thein Sein might genuinely want reform, but his powers are limited. Constitutionally the military still has complete autonomy in not just its own affairs, but also has vast powers over the three branches of government. “The whole constitution is based on a “wait and see” strategy: if the civilian government does what the Tatmadaw [the armed forces] wants, then it will be allowed to rule; if not, then not.”
→ read full articleMedical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster Fallout
PRNewswire – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.
→ read full articleIt’s a Win-Win Situation!
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
In spite of Israel defining itself as the ‘Jewish State’, despite the fact that the warplanes that dropped their bombs on Palestinian civilians were covered in Jewish symbols, still no one was willing to openly ask exactly what Jewishness was all about or what it stood for – and those few who did dare to raise the question were subject to total abuse until they took cover or just faded away. But recently things have changed and the popularity of my book ‘The Wandering Who’ (TWW) is just one example of that clear shift in consciousness. Somehow, we have lost our fear, somehow we have found the courage to say what we know to be the truth.
→ read full articleSee you soon…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
A couple from New York agreed to take a week vacation together in Florida.
→ read full articleThe Massacre Everyone Ignored: Up To 70 Striking Oil Workers Killed In Kazakhstan By US-Supported Dictator
Mark Ames – The eXiled,
26 Dec 2011
Last Friday [16 Dec 2011] in Kazakhstan, riot police slaughtered up 70 striking oil workers, wounding somewhere between 500 and 800, and arresting scores. The oil company whose workers are striking for better pay and union recognition, KazMunaiGaz, is “owned” by the billionaire son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s Western-backed president-for-life. Among Kazakhstan’s leading American partners are Chevron, whose website boasts, “Chevron is Kazakhstan’s largest private oil producer”–adding this black humor “In Kazakhstan, as in any country where Chevron does business, we are a strong supporter of programs that help the community.”
→ read full articleWhy Socialism?
Albert Einstein – Monthly Review,
26 Dec 2011
Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.
→ read full articleChristopher Hitchens: RIP
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
I knew Christopher Hitchens casually, envied his rhetorical fluency, abhorred his interventionist cheerleading, and was offended by his arrogantly dismissive manner toward those he deemed his inferiors in debate or discussion. Perhaps, his sociopathic arrogance is epitomized by the explanation he often gave of why he was such a heavy drinker: “I hate to be bored, and when I drink other people seem less boring.”
→ read full articleWho Was Jesus?
Johan Galtung, 26 Dec 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
Jesus rejected the finance system in the Jerusalem temple, encouraged tax boycott, and had disciples-apostles from a caste known for violence. He enters with the disciples the enormous 262mx262m temple, carefully divided into sections also for non-Jews, only for Jews, also for women, only for men, only for priests and the Most Holy. He overthrew the tables of the money exchangers and seems to have propagated a very concrete political message about the Jewish people in a federally structured country, independent of Rome, with apostles as political leaders. When asked by Pontius “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say” (Mark 15,2). INRI (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum), Jesus from Nazareth, the King of Jews they wrote ironically, but that may have been exactly how he saw himself. This is politics.
→ read full articleEconomy: Argentina Shows World How to Beat the Crisis
Marcela Valente – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
What is happening in the European Union and the United States today happened a decade ago in Argentina, when it was a hotbed of protest and the streets of major cities were seething with people telling their leaders they had had enough. And then a new story began to be written.
→ read full article‘Alliance between Banks and Governments at the Heart of Eurozone Crisis’
Edmund S. Phelps, Nobel Economics laureate - Deutsche Welle,
26 Dec 2011
The ‘monstrous irresponsibility’ of European banks contributed to the current euro crisis, says Edmund Phelps. But at its core lies a fatal collusion between governments and banks, argues the Nobel Winner in Economics.
→ read full articleHow Freedom Became Tyranny
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
Rightwing libertarians have turned “freedom” into an excuse for greed and exploitation. They speak as if the same freedom affects everybody in the same way, asserting their freedom to pollute, exploit, even – among the gun nuts – to kill, as if these were fundamental human rights. They characterise any attempt to restrain them as tyranny and refuse to see that there is a clash between the freedom of the pike and the freedom of the minnow.
→ read full articleUSDA Deregulates Two Monsanto Genetically Engineered Seeds
Mike Ludwig - Truthout,
26 Dec 2011
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its decision to deregulate two Monsanto genetically engineered (GE) seed varieties: a corn variety engineered to resist drought conditions and an herbicide-resistant soybean engineered to produce more fatty acids than regular soybeans … Critics say such efforts could replace traditional and sustainable farming methods with American-style industrial agriculture and prevent African governments from effectively regulating GE crops.
→ read full articleOne Invented Nation or Two
MJ Rosenberg – Political Correction,
26 Dec 2011
Newt Gingrich’s controversial statement begs the question: Who invented a nationality? The Palestinians or the Israelis?
→ read full articleStatement on the Report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
International Crisis Group – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
The report acknowledges important events and grievances that have contributed to decades of political violence and civil war in Sri Lanka and makes sensible recommendations on governance, land issues and the need for a political solution. But it fails in a crucial task – providing the thorough and independent investigation of alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that the UN and other partners of Sri Lanka have been asking for.
→ read full article‘Most’ Biomedical Chimp Research Declared ‘Unnecessary’ by Federal Agency
Meredith Wadman of Nature magazine – Scientific American,
26 Dec 2011
In a watershed moment for chimpanzee research, the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report on December 15 [2011] declaring that “most current use of chimpanzees for biomedical research is unnecessary” and recommending the sharp curtailing of government-funded research on humankind’s closest genetic relative. Within an hour, Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds research on chimpanzees, announced that he accepted the recommendations and would move to implement them as swiftly as possible.
→ read full articleBradley Manning and the Fog of War
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
26 Dec 2011
Accused whistle-blower Pvt. Bradley Manning turned 24 Saturday [17 Dec 2011]. He spent his birthday in a pretrial military hearing that could ultimately lead to a sentence of life … or death. The prosecution offered words Manning allegedly wrote to Assange as evidence of his guilt. In the email, Manning described the leak as “one of the more significant documents of our time, removing the fog of war and revealing the true nature of 21st century asymmetrical warfare.” History will no doubt use the same words as irrefutable proof of Manning’s courage.
→ read full articleThe Drone That Fell From the Sky
Nick Turse - TomDispatch,
26 Dec 2011
What a Busted Robot Airplane Tells Us about the American Empire in 2012 and Beyond – The skies seem full of falling drones these days. The most publicized of them made headlines when Iran announced that its military had taken possession of an advanced American remotely piloted spy aircraft, thought to be an RQ-170 Sentinel. Questions about how the Iranians came to possess one of the U.S. military’s most sophisticated pieces of equipment abound.
→ read full articleMay You Live In Interesting Times
William Bowles – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
Are we living in a fool’s paradise? Well 2011 has been nothing if not eventful but frankly, in spite of all the #Occupy this and #Occupy that, it’s not been a good year for us progresssives or the planet. The Empire acts with increasing, not decreasing impunity, desperate now to try and keep ahead of events lest events take control of it. As the Empire acts with increasing impunity, so too does the media. The Media and the Empire in total lockstep.
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Occupy North Pole (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Truthdig – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
In this year’s holiday animation by Mr. Fish, an elf confronts Santa about his exploitation of free labor.
→ read full articleFighting 1% Wars
William J. Astore – TomDispatch,
26 Dec 2011
Why Our Wars of Choice May Prove Fatal – America’s wars are remote from us geographically, emotionally, and from our major media outlets, which have given us no compelling narrative about them, except that they’re being fought by “America’s heroes” against foreign terrorists and evil-doers. They’re even being fought by robotic drones “piloted” by operators from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the danger of the battlefield. Behold a horrifying fate: a people that allows its wars of choice to compromise the very core of its self-image as a freedom-loving society, while letting itself be estranged from the young men and women who served in the frontlines of these wars.
→ read full articleMoving from a War Economy to a Peace Economy
Mary Beth Sullivan – The Humanist,
26 Dec 2011
My partner, Bruce Gagnon, is the coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and has been organizing around conversion since the 1980s. His typical question to any audience is: “What is the United States’ number one industrial export?” Audiences across the country shout out “weapons.” He then asks them to consider that if weapons are the number one industrial export, what is the global marketing strategy? “Endless war” becomes the refrain.
→ read full articleBlackwater Mercenaries to Return to Iraq
PressTV – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
With the US pulling out troops from Iraq this month, Washington plans to send Blackwater mercenaries to the Middle Eastern country under the new brand of ACADEMI. New York-based USTC Holdings, the investment group that bought ex-Blackwater firm, Xe Services, in December 2010, announced on Monday [12 Dec 2011] ACADEMI as the new name for Blackwater/ Xe Services, AFP reported.
→ read full articleNew Photos Released of Iraq Atrocity, With Documents and Video
David Swanson – War Is a Crime,
26 Dec 2011
U.S. Army Ranger John Needham, who was awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism, wrote to military authorities in 2007 reporting war crimes that he witnessed being committed by his own command and fellow soldiers in Al Doura, Iraq. His charges were supported by atrocity photos that, in the public interest, are now released in this video. John paid a terrible price for his opposition to these acts. His story is tragic.
→ read full articlePortugal: All-Out Privatisation Gets Underway
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
26 Dec 2011
The most far-reaching programme of privatisation of state enterprises in the history of Portugal kicked off Thursday [22 Dec 2011] with the sale of almost all of the state’s shares in the Energias de Portugal (EDP) utility to China’s Three Gorges Corp. The privatisation of public enterprises is one of the conditions Portugal agreed to under the 110 billion dollar bailout agreed in May.
→ read full articleA Forgotten Invasion, a Forgotten Dictator
Mike Allison – Al Jazeera,
26 Dec 2011
On Sunday [18 Dec 2011], former strongman Manuel Noriega returned to Panama following twenty-plus years in US and French prisons. However, the return to his native country remains as clouded in mystery as the reasons for his initial departure. Noriega had been involved in the drug trade for many years, and at the same time that he was on both CIA and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) payrolls. I would also argue that, like President Ronald Reagan’s invasion of Grenada in 1983, President Bush likely believed that an operation to remove Noriega would be an easy foreign policy success. While Noriega was neither the most repressive dictator nor the most corrupt, he was the most vulnerable to US military force.
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The American Dream – O Sonho Americano – 1/3
Tad Lumpkin e Harold Uhl – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
English with Portuguese subtitles – Ingles com legendas em portugues
The story of money and of international bankers’ empire.
A historia do dinheiro e do império dos banqueiros internacionais.
The American Dream – O Sonho Americano – 2/3
Tad Lumpkin e Harold Uhl – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The story of money and of international bankers’ empire.
A historia do dinheiro e do império dos banqueiros internacionais.
The American Dream – O Sonho Americano – 3/3
Tad Lumpkin e Harold Uhl – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The story of money and of international bankers’ empire.
A historia do dinheiro e do império dos banqueiros internacionais.
Occupy Wall St – The Revolution Is Love (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
occupylove.org – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Narration by Charles Eisenstein – A taste of the upcoming feature documentary, Occupy Love. This is a community-funded film.
→ read full articleLiving Options during Conflicts: Dialogic-Artistic Acts and the Ways We Love In This World
Marco Antonio Zamboni Zalamena – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
There are basically four different options for people living in conflicts: first, people can remove themselves (giving-up; spatial relocation); second, people can join one or another side (us vs. them approach, compromising); third, people can wait for outsiders to act on their behalf (negative transcendence) and four, people can work with the conflict forces/energies while still living in it (positive transcendence).
→ read full articleIn Israel, the Life of a Palestinian Is Cheap
Haaretz, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
When it comes to shooting a Palestinian, pulling the trigger does not come with a real fear of having to answer to the law.
→ read full articleThe Bugs That Ate Monsanto
Tom Laskawy, Grist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Now that 94 percent of the soy and 70 percent of the corn grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, Monsanto might look to some like it’s winning. But if we look a little closer, I’d say they’re holding on by a thread. Over the last several years, so-called “superweeds” have grown resistant to the herbicide RoundUp, the companion product that’s made Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant (aka RoundUp-Ready) corn, soy, and alfalfa so popular. Those crops were supposed to be the only plants that could withstand being sprayed by the chemical. Oops.
→ read full articleNobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire on Palestine, Political Prisoners and Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Hanan Chehata – Middle East Monitor,
19 Dec 2011
“Israel started the nuclear arms race in the Middle East, it’s the only country that has them, and we all know they have them. Israel has the power to start the whole movement for Middle East nuclear disarmament. The choice is between nuclear disarmament or nuclear proliferation. If we have nuclear proliferation we will never turn the clock back. Every Tom, Dick and Harry and everyone with a back garden will want a nuclear bomb! It’s absolutely crazy.
→ read full articleWhither Alliance of Civilizations?
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon during his speech at the UN Alliance of Civilizations forum on 11 December 2011 asserted the much cherished ideal of alliance among ‘civilizations’ so that enemies of humanity such as extremism and terrorism can be fought and won over and the world can live in an ideal of shared humanity. But the past decade provides sufficient proof to the contrary and to the dictum Might is Right, and the inverse relationship between high sounding ideals and chauvinistic national policies.
→ read full articleAnkara Declaration on IPPNW Middle East Core Group Meeting
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Strategies for Peace and Health in the Nuclear Free Middle East – IPPNW representatives from Israel, Iran, Egypt, United States, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Hungary and Turkey met in Ankara, Turkey, on December 8th to 10th 2011 to address the issues of peace, health and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
→ read full article(French) Le Rwanda Dans Son Etat Politico-Economique et Conflictuel
Dr .P. Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Des économistes, historiens et hommes d’État ont traditionnellement considéré “une nation” comme un groupe de personnes affirmant le contrôle d’institutions économiques, religieuses, juridiques et éducatives reconnues officiellement légitimes.
→ read full articleDemanding an End to World Hunger
Mohammed Mesbahi, Share the World’s Resources – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
A solution to the world’s problems cannot be brought about by any political party or ideology, and can only happen through a free, united and single voice of the world’s people – for whom an end to life-threatening deprivation in every country must become the first priority, says Mohammed Mesbahi. Edited from an interview by Adam Parsons.
→ read full articleVaclav Havel (1936-2011): His Revolt Is an Attempt to Live Within the Truth
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic, who moved to another dimension on 18 December 2011, had analysed that “There are good reasons for suggesting that the modern age has ended. Many things indicate that we are going through a transitional period, when it seems that something is on the way out and something else is painfully being born. All my observations and all my experience have, with remarkable consistency, convinced me that, if today’s planetary civilization has any hope of survival, that hope lies chiefly in what we understand as the human spirit.”
→ read full articleNo Bail-Out for the Planet
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Why is it so easy to save the banks, but so hard to save the biosphere? They bailed out the banks in days. But even deciding to bail out the planet is taking decades. No legislator, as far as I know, has yet been able to explain why making $7.7tn available to the banks is affordable, while investing far smaller sums in new technologies and energy saving is not.
→ read full articleA Man in Tunisia, a Movement on Wall Street, and the Soldier Who Ignited the Fuse
Michael Moore – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
It’s Saturday [17 Dec 2011] night and I didn’t want the day to end before I sent out this note to you. One year ago TODAY (December 17th), Mohamed Bouazizi, a man who had a simple produce stand in Tunisia, set himself on fire to protest his government’s repression. Three months ago TODAY, Occupy Wall Street began with a takeover of New York’s Zuccotti Park. Twenty-four years ago TODAY, U.S. Army Spc. Bradley Manning was born. He has now spent 570 days in a military prison without a trial — simply because he allegedly blew the whistle on the illegal and immoral war in Iraq.
→ read full articlePalestinian Flag Flies at UN Agency
A.D.McKenzie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Dec 2011
Amidst a sudden downpour of rain here, the Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Tuesday [13 Dec 2011], marking Palestine’s admission to the specialised agency. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, stood solemnly with members of his delegation and other officials as the flag was hoisted alongside the UNESCO banner, while the Palestinian national anthem played.
→ read full articleRole Model
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
With a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary at the church’s marriage marathon, the minister asked Brother Ralph to take a few minutes and share some insight into how he managed to live with the same woman all these years.
→ read full articleStateless Finally Arrive On the World Political Map
Davinder Kumar – Al Jazeera,
19 Dec 2011
The political drive to tackle statelessness has finally found a foothold on the global platform, writes the author.
→ read full articleThe Trial of Bradley Manning: Rule of Law or Rule of Intimidation, Retaliation & Retribution?
Col. Ann Wright – War is a Crime,
19 Dec 2011
Yesterday, December 16, 2011, 40 supporters of Bradley Manning saw him in person in the military courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland and another 60 saw him on a video feed from the court, the first time Manning has been seen by the public in 19 months. Over 100 other supporters, including 50 from Occupy Wall Street who had bused down from New York City, were at the front gates of Fort Meade in solidarity with Manning.
→ read full articlePeace Building-Based Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Other Conflicts
Pierre Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Power, Authority and Leadership for Peace
→ read full article(Castellano) La UE Se Queda Con la Banca y Sacrifica el Clima
Ecologistas en Acción – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Durante las pasadas semanas la UE ha estado inmersa en una intensa actividad negociadora, por un lado para salvar a la banca y por otro para salvar el clima. Ecologistas en Acción repasa los acuerdos a los que se ha llegado en ambos campos para mostrar donde están las prioridades de la Unión.
→ read full articleDrug Companies Increase Profits by Creating Fear of Diseases (and Even Diseases)
David Wallechinsky, AllGov – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Coined nearly 20 years ago, the term “disease mongering” is still applicable today for what the pharmaceutical industry is doing to promote its blockbuster drugs among the “sick.” Dr. Andrew Weil has highlighted another tactic: attaching “polysyllabic, clinical-sounding names to what used to be seen as trivial or transient conditions.” For example, “Occasional heartburn becomes ‘gastro-esophageal reflux disease’ or GERD; premenstrual tension becomes ‘premenstrual dysphoric disorder’ or PMDD; and shyness becomes ‘social anxiety disorder’ or SAD.”
→ read full articleClimate Apartheid
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
19 Dec 2011
The countries in attendance agreed to a schedule that would lead to an agreement by 2015, which would commit all countries to reduce emissions starting no sooner than 2020, eight years into the future. Despite optimistic pronouncements to the contrary, many believe the Kyoto Protocol died in Durban. The largest polluter in world history, the United States, never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and remains defiant.
→ read full articlePress Freedom in Hungary: Journalists Protest Manipulation with Hunger Strike
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
A group of Hungarian journalists has been on hunger strike this week to protest against alleged manipulation in the country’s state media. They say news reports have been edited in a misleading fashion for political reasons.
→ read full articleMeet the Financial Wizards Working With Occupy Wall Street
Josh Harkinson – Mother Jones,
19 Dec 2011
The bankers, quants, and hedge fund gurus who want to reform our financial system—by helping OWS kick ass.
→ read full articleA Tale of Two Worlds: Apocalypse, 4Chan, WikiLeaks and the Silent Protocol Wars
Nicolas Mendoza, Radical Philosophy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
What has become manifest since late November 2010, with the release of what is now known as ‘The US Embassy Cables’, is that the narrative implicit in the WikiLeaks logo, that of a world disjunct, not only fits the WikiLeaks saga but describes a greater struggle of global power, held diffusely by transnational corporations and enforced by governments around the world.
→ read full article(Castellano) Hoja de Ruta de la COP17 No Fija Metas de Mitigación de Gases a Países Industrializados
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Representantes de 190 países aprobaron este domingo en Durban (Sudáfrica) durante la finalización de la XVII Cumbre de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) sobre el Cambio Climático (COP17), una hoja de ruta para un acuerdo global en 2015 destinado a reducir las emisiones de gases sin nuevas metas de mitigación para las naciones industrializadas, máximo reclamos de los países en desarrollo en el encuentro.
→ read full articlePoor USA: What a Choice!
Johan Galtung, 12 Dec 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Occupy Movement is a sign of US sanity. Leaderless makes it less vulnerable, immensely consciousness-raising, not insisting on any one single analysis or remedy–for the time being. People so concerned that they sacrifice some personal comfort–gaining togetherness and a sense of meaning, a gift for a democracy. The Occupy Movement becomes a movement to revive a dying economy, creating thousands of small enterprises, banks for savings, not speculation. They start a parallel society.
→ read full articleLiving With Fukushima City’s Radiation Problem
Ike Teuling, Greenpeace - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Overall, the radiation levels in these neighbourhoods are so high that people receive an exposure to radiation just from external sources that is ten times the annual allowed dose. How high their internal exposure is from eating contaminated food and inhaling or ingesting radioactive particles remains unknown, since no government program is keeping track of this.
→ read full articleMuddle and Create
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
World leaders and the economists who advise them are now debating whether more stimulus or more austerity, or some combination of the two, is the path toward restoring the normal functioning of capitalist accumulation, and therefore toward higher levels of employment and economic growth. There is no solution within the terms of their debates, only an historical necessity to muddle through somehow. Nor are there well-known solutions waiting in the wings, for both central planning and social democracy are discredited by good logical reasons and by historical experience.
→ read full articleFanon, Coloniality and Emancipation
Eunice N. Sahle – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
Fifty years after his death, Fanon remains ‘the entry point in any project geared to the realisation of substantive emancipation, as opposed to elite-led projects,’ writes Eunice N. Sahle.
→ read full articleWhy No Financial Crisis Prosecutions? Ex-Justice Official Says It’s Just too Hard
Marian Wang – ProPublica,
12 Dec 2011
It’s an issue we and others have noted again and again: Years after the financial crisis, there have still been no prosecutions of top executives at the major players in the financial crisis. Why’s that? Well, according to a now-departed Justice Department official who used to be in charge of investigating such matters, the Justice Department has decided that holding top Wall Street executives criminally accountable is too difficult a task.
→ read full articleWho Will Watch the Watchdog?
Maidhc Ó Cathail – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Pro-Israel NGO Behind NATO’s War on Libya Is Targeting Syria – As long as UN Watch’s motto of “Monitoring the United Nations, Promoting Human Rights” continues to obscure its real mission of “Manipulating the United Nations, Promoting Israel’s Interests,” the warning of a Roman poet becomes increasingly pertinent: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
→ read full articleNative Peoples under Siege around the Globe
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
12 Dec 2011
In polished versions of U.S. history, the near-extermination of Native Americans in the United States is an unsightly blemish that continues to be glossed over to this day. Yet the struggles of indigenous peoples are not exclusive to the United States and have grown increasingly complex in modern times.
→ read full articleWhat They Really Said: Obama and Clinton on LGBT Rights and Foreign Assistance
Tad Stahnke, Human Rights First – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Earlier today [6 Dec 2011], the Obama Administration released a memorandum to federal agencies on initiatives to advance the human rights of LGBT people. An hour later, Secretary Clinton delivered a speech before the U.N. in Geneva that reaffirmed the policy articulated by president that LGBT rights are human rights. Despite the headlines coming out of those two announcements, neither said anything about conditioning foreign aid on the protection of LGBT rights.
→ read full articleDemocracy Is More Than Voting and Elections
Horace Campbell – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
From Egypt to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the people are finding out that the entire process of voting and elections is stacked against change,’ writes Horace Campbell. We need ‘new forms of politics’ to transform our social system.
→ read full articleListen to the People, Not the Polluters
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
12 Dec 2011
The Dirty Dozen in Durban include Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and BASF, along with industry trade groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the WBCSD and the American Petroleum Institute. Greenpeace highlighted these corporations and corporate umbrella groups for their presence in Durban, and for their actions throughout the global-climate-change negotiating process, in undermining meaningful progress.
→ read full article
Satchita – Playing for Change (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
TMS Editor,
12 Dec 2011
Playing for Change Project. Songs around the world. Simply beautiful!
→ read full articleMarching Off the Cliff
Noam Chomsky – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
To gain perspective on what’s happening in the world, it’s sometimes useful to adopt the stance of intelligent extraterrestrial observers viewing the strange doings on Earth. They would be watching in wonder as the richest and most powerful country in world history now leads the lemmings cheerfully off the cliff.
→ read full articleFrantz Fanon in Africa and Asia
Samir Amin – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
Frantz Fanon is a loved and respected figure all over Africa and Asia. Samir Amin argues that his writing and the choice to join the liberation struggle in Algeria show Fanon was a genuine revolutionary.
→ read full article
(Castellano) Johan Galtung: Tres Pasos Clave en la Mediación de Un Conflicto Violento
realidadexpuesta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Monterrey, Mexico, 24 Octubre 2011 – El politólogo noruego Johan Galtung, fundador de los estudios sobre la paz y conflictos sociales, visitó la ciudad de Monterrey para impartir una conferencia magistral y un taller con organizaciones de la sociedad civil que trabajan la cultura de paz.
→ read full articleIsrael and Apartheid? Reflections on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine Session in South Africa
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
This post is a modified and expanded version of an article published by Al Jazeera and also a continuation of a series of posts on the general theme of a jurisprudence of conscience.
→ read full articleThe Fearmongers
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Iranian Nuclear Bomb means a Second Holocaust, no less. Only the strong leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu can save us in the nick of time. But nobody asks the relevant question: why would any Iranian leader attack a country that has the ability to devastate Iran in a “second strike”? Yes, the Iranian leaders may be religious fanatics, but rabbis demand that soldiers may leave a military ceremony where female soldiers sing. “A woman’s voice is her sexual part,” a holy text asserts. And a prominent rabbi has announced that a religious soldier should rather face a firing squad than listen to a woman singing. (I am not making this up.)
→ read full articleCall for a Self-Determined Afghanistan
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
In a world where there is a new consciousness of our inter-dependence and inter-connectedness as a human family, NATO is a Cold War relic and an obstacle to real development and peace. NATO should be disbanded and its resources put into human security, i.e., removing poverty, the environment, human rights, international law, education, health care, nonviolent civilian security, and so on.
→ read full articleReal Source of Major World Problems
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
When people face a problem there are generally two ways that may be adopted to hopefully reach a successful outcome. One of these ways will enable us to solve the problem we face on a permanent basis, that is, in a way that such a problem will not likely to ever surface again. The other way, which seems to have been quite dominant in history to this very day, will enable us to bring the problem under control in a number of ways but never on a permanent basis.
→ read full articleBuilding Truth in Brazil
Manuela Picq – Al Jazeera,
12 Dec 2011
Some things take time. Dilma Rousseff, once a political prisoner who survived repeated torture at the hands of the military dictatorship, is now, a quarter of a century later, Brazil’s commander-in-chief. President Rousseff, Brazil’s first female head of state, pushed forward the creation of a Truth Commission to unveil crimes committed during the country’s military regime.
→ read full articleSaving Shambala from a Russia-China Pipeline
Jon Letman – Al Jazeera,
12 Dec 2011
Opening a remote border region to development threatens to destroy Central Asian wilderness and culture. The plot is familiar – giant multinational corporations want to develop a controversial gas pipeline – but the setting is anything but familiar. As Jennifer Castner, director of The Altai Project, dedicated to protecting the natural and cultural heritage of Altai says, “Gazprom wants to build this pipeline. I don’t think they care what they have to do in order to do it.”
→ read full articleDrones: A Deeply Unsettling Future
Trevor Timm – Al Jazeera,
12 Dec 2011
The rapid expansion of a drone arms race has emerged both domestically and abroad, leaving everyone vulnerable. Whether they are being used for surveillance or all-out combat, drones will soon pose serious risks for all of the world’s citizens. They can offer governments, police departments, or private citizens unprecedented capabilities for spying, and given their security vulnerabilities, the potential consequences could be endless.
→ read full articleClassless Society
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
President Nehru from India was on a state visit in Moscow.
→ read full articleA Brief Guide to Class Conflict
Tom Tomorrow, Truthout – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
This Modern World | Political Cartoon
→ read full articleAfter Fukushima: Enough Is Enough
Helen Caldicott – The New York Times,
12 Dec 2011
Children are innately sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of radiation, fetuses even more so. Like Chernobyl, the accident at Fukushima is of global proportions. Unusual levels of radiation have been discovered in British Columbia, along the West Coast and East Coast of the United States and in Europe, and heavy contamination has been found in oceanic waters.
→ read full articleOut of the Backyard: New Latin American and Caribbean Bloc Defies Washington
Benjamin Dangl – Toward Freedom,
12 Dec 2011
The CELAC meeting comes a time when Washington’s presence in the region is waning. Following the nightmarish decades of the Cold War, in which Washington propped up dictators and waged wars on Latin American nations, a new era has opened up; in the past decade a wave of leftist presidents have taken office on socialist and anti-imperialist platforms.
→ read full articleCanada Should Push For A UN Parliamentary Assembly
Warren Allmand – Embassy Magazine,
12 Dec 2011
A strengthened United Nations where all voices can be heard is imperative. But to be heard, these voices must come not only from government functionaries but also from representatives of people.
→ read full articleAs Myanmar Reaches Out, Old Conflict Flares Within
The New York Times – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The new government of President Thein Sein has reached out to the country’s minority ethnic groups, which have a long history of conflict with the central government and make up about one-third of Myanmar’s population of 55 million. Last week there were reports of a ceasefire deal with another rebel group, a faction of the Shan State Army. Myanmar’s majority ethnic group, the Burman, have dominated the army and held the highest posts in government since the country, formerly known as Burma, won independence from Britain in 1948, while the non-Burman minorities have sought autonomy.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Passeio ao Zoológico: Sob Outra Ótica, Sob Outra Ética
Marcela Godoy, Agencia de Notícias de Direitos Animais - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
“Quando se trata de como os humanos exploram os animais, o reconhecimento de seus direitos requer abolição, não reforma (…) verdade dos direitos animais requer jaulas vazias, não mais espaçosas”. (Tom Regan, Jaulas Vazias)
Como bióloga e educadora, sempre acreditei nos zoológicos como ferramenta deseducativa. Meu repúdio a esse tipo de atividade fez com que eu me afastasse, durante anos, de uma visita a esses verdadeiros redutos de infelicidade animal.
La Via Campesina Durban Declaration
La Via Campesina – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Assembly of the Oppressed, 5 December 2011, Durban, South Africa – Via Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. We are an autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or other type of affiliation. Born in 1993, La Via Campesina now gathers about 150 organisations in 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
→ read full articleIs Laptop Wi-Fi Murdering Your Semen?
Asawin Suebsaeng – Mother Jones,
12 Dec 2011
The digital age has left men’s nether parts in a squeeze, if you believe the latest science on semen, laptops and wireless connections. In a report…scientists describe how they got semen samples from 29 healthy men, placed a few drops under a laptop connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and then hit download. Four hours later, the semen was, eh, well-done.
→ read full article