Articles by M
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Stateless 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
Is 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 articleLa 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 article(Castellano) Tensión Creciente Entre Capitalismo y Democracia
Harold Meyerson – The Washington Post,
12 Dec 2011
¿Está reñido el capitalismo con la democracia? ¿Se debilitan el uno a la otra?
→ read full articleCELAC: Speaking for Latin America and the Caribbean
Alex Main, Center for Economic and Policy Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The new regional organization includes every nation in the Western Hemisphere with the exception of the United States and Canada and is seen by many as a potential rival to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). Though it generated a great deal of media attention within Latin America and was attended by the majority [33] of the hemisphere’s heads of state, the U.S. press largely overlooked the Caracas summit with, for instance, the New York Times limiting its coverage to a brief 100 word blurb from the Associated Press.
→ read full articleReintegration of a Remaindered World: Cognitive Recycling of Objects of Systemic Neglect
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
Prepared as an aid to reflection on a world of “remaindered people” currently of concern to the “Indignant” and to the Occupy movement.
→ read full article
The Next Ten Years Will Be Very Unlike the Last Ten
Post Carbon Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
An Abbreviated History of Fossil Fuels – Time is running out: the ultimate roller coaster ride.
→ read full article
Galtung’s Insights on Paths to War & Peace inside Arab Uprisings (Video of the Week)
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Prof. Johan Galtung, father of Peace Studies and rector of the Transcend Peace University: ‘I would like the UN to send a thousand mediators to Damascus right away.’
→ read full article(Portuguese) Cuba: País Com Melhor Desenvolvimento Humano da América Latina
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
O Fundo de População das Nações Unidas (UNFPA em inglês), na apresentação do Informe sobre o Estado da População Mundial 2011, além de analisar o fato de que o mundo chegou aos 7 bilhões de habitantes, assegurou que Cuba é a nação com mais alto desenvolvimento humano latino-americano, chegando a afirmar que conta com um desenvolvimento equivalente a um quarto de século de avanço em relação aos demais países da América Latina e do Caribe.
→ read full articleOn Freedom and Imperialism: Arab Spring and the Intellectual Divide
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
5 Dec 2011
The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ is creating an intellectual divide that threatens any sensible understanding of the turmoil engulfing several Arab countries. Speaking truth to power is still possible, and is more urgent than ever. The fate of a nation, any nation, cannot be polarized to the terrible extent that the Arab uprisings have. On both sides of the divide, some are cheering for foreign intervention, while others are justifying the senseless murder of innocent people by dictators.
→ read full articleFrank Miller and the Rise of Cryptofascist Hollywood
Rick Moody – The Guardian,
5 Dec 2011
Fans were shocked when Batman writer Frank Miller furiously attacked the Occupy Movement. They shouldn’t have been; he was just voicing Hollywood’s unspoken values. American movies, in the main, often agree with Frank Miller, that endless war against a ruthless enemy is good, and military service is good, that killing makes you a man, that capitalism must prevail, that if you would just get a job (preferably a corporate job, for all honest work is corporate) you would quit complaining. And we might repay the favor by avoiding purchase of tickets to Miller’s films.
→ read full articleDirty Money: International Banks Have Aided Mexican Drug Gangs
Tracy Wilkinson and Ken Ellingwood - Los Angeles Times,
5 Dec 2011
Despite strict rules, some banks have failed to ‘know their customer’ or ask about the source of large amounts of cash, allowing billions in dirty money from Mexico to be laundered. Banking powerhouse Wachovia Corp. last year agreed to pay $160 million in forfeitures and fines after U.S. federal prosecutors accused it of “willfully” overlooking the suspicious character of more than $420 billion in transactions between the bank and Mexican currency-exchange houses – much of it probably drug money, investigators say.
→ read full articleNeutralising Burma’s Ethnic Rebellions
Dr. Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), Karl Marx wrote: ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’ Such an assessment is only half-right when it comes to Burma’s internal conflicts, of which ethnicity is of equal importance to class.
→ read full articleU.S. Agents Launder Mexican Profits of Drug Cartels
Ginger Thompson – The New York Times,
5 Dec 2011
The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests.
→ read full articleIsrael Demolished Palestinian Village in the West Bank
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
25 Nov 2011 – All the houses of the Bedouin village of Deqeiqa, south of Hebron, received the Military Order of demolition in a another example of the Israeli expulsion policy in the occupied West Bank, according to denouncements by human rights organizations. This village, situated in the impoverished desert hills south of Hebron, is home to about 400 people who live on cattle-raising and have no electricity or even no running water.
→ read full articleWhy Moscow Does Not Trust Washington on Missile Defense
F. William Engdahl – Global Research,
5 Dec 2011
Most in the civilized world are blissfully unaware that we are marching ineluctably towards an increasingly likely pre-emptive nuclear war. No, it’s not at all about Iran and Israel. It’s about the decision of Washington and the Pentagon to push Moscow up against the wall with what is euphemistically called Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).
→ read full articleConfucius: Great Chinese Teacher
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
One of the greatest Chinese teachers of all time was Confucius, who was also known as Kong Fu Zi. This admired philosopher was born in 551 B.C. in Lu, China, which is today known as Shandong province. He died in 479 B.C. In his teachings he adopted a humanitarian approach to social harmony based on the belief that, deep inside, all people want to live at peace with each other.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: Women and the Rulers
Soe Myat Nwe – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
This paper seeks to find the engagement of women throughout the different and difficult political stages in Afghanistan under different rulers and foreign invaders.
→ read full articleThe King’s Speech
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Servie,
5 Dec 2011
IN THE middle of the ’80s, a German diplomat conveyed to me a surprising message. A member of the Jordanian Royal family would like to speak with me in Amman. At the time, Jordan was still officially at war with us.
→ read full articleThe Kurdish Vicious Circle of Former Ottoman Empire
Vadim Trukhachev - Pravda,
5 Dec 2011
An epoch-making event took place in Turkey. For the first time since the establishment of the Turkish Republic, its prime minister officially apologized for mass killings of the Kurds. At the same time, the Turkish police conducted a raid against the Kurds. What stance does Turkey have on this issue? Will the country recognize the existence of the national minority on its territory? It goes about as many as 20 million people.
→ read full article(Castellano) Ecuador Considera que la CELAC Juega Papel Fundamental Para Sustituir a la OEA
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
El presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, aseguró que la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) juega un papel fundamental en la creación del nuevo mecanismo que sustituya a la actual Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA). “Necesitamos un nuevo sistema interamericano y aquí la CELAC puede jugar un papel fundamental enorme”, dijo Correa.
→ read full articleLincoln: “Labor is the Superior of Capital”
Alan Grayson, Michaelmoore.com – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” -Pres. Lincoln.
Capital is wealthier, better organized, and far more powerful today than it was in Lincoln’s time. Capital gorges on Republican tax cuts for the rich, on bailouts, on government contracts and corporate welfare, on free money from the Fed, and on monopoly profit. Capital treats politicians and whole political parties like puppets.
Latin American Leaders Gather in Venezuela for Historic Summit
Maja Wallengren, Xinhua – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Leaders from 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Friday [2 Dec 2011] to participate in the historic founding summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which includes all countries in the Americas except the United States and Canada, in an effort to establish a forum similar to that of the Organization of American States, but without the political influence of the U.S. foreign policy. “Today with this Latin American unity, we are pronouncing the death sentence to the Monroe Doctrine,” said Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, referring to a U.S. policy in the 19th century that many Latin Americans regarded as a bid to justify Washington’s meddling in the region.
→ read full article(Castellano) Primer Día de la Cumbre CELAC Concluye Con Llamado a No Dejar Todo el Esfuerzo en Un Papel
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
3 Dic 2011 – El primer día de la Cumbre constitutiva de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) que se realiza en Caracas, culminó en un ambiente de consenso e integración y con un llamado a ejecutar todos los esfuerzos para no dejar que lo que se firme este sábado quede sólo en un papel.
→ read full article
Activists Challenge COP17 Climate Talks
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Environmentalists chant “Down with Canada” as expectations are low for COP17 climate talks.
→ read full articleUnmanned Technology Takes Off for the Weapons Industry
Chris Woods, Emma Slater – The Independent,
5 Dec 2011
High-ranking military officers and their aides mingled with salesmen and potential customers at the 11th annual drones conference. Some had paid as much as £3,000 to attend Unmanned Aircraft Systems 2011, a two-day event that opened on 16 November in a plush hotel in Kensington, west London.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Presidentes Latino-Americanos Criam Novo Bloco Regional e Deixam EUA de Fora
Claudia Jardim em Caracas - BBC Brasil,
5 Dec 2011
Presidentes e representantes dos 33 países da América Latina se reúnem nesta sexta-feira [2 Dez 2011], em Caracas, para formalizar a criação da Comunidade de Estados Latino-americanos e Caribenhos (Celac). Será a primeira vez que os países do continente se articulam em uma mesma plataforma política – com a tarefa de tentar aprofundar a integração regional – sem a presença dos Estados Unidos e do Canadá.
→ read full articleCry, the Beloved Climate
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
5 Dec 2011
The United Nations’ annual climate summit descended on Durban, South Africa, this week, but not in time to prevent the tragic death of Qodeni Ximba. The 17-year-old was one of 10 people killed in Durban on Sunday, the night before the U.N. conference opened. Torrential rains pummeled the seaside city of 3.5 million.
→ read full articleMan-Made Flu Virus with Potential to Wipe Out Many Millions If It Ever Escaped Is Created In Research Lab
Daily Mail Reporter – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilisation. The study is one of two that have caused serious debate about scientific freedom and about regulating research that might have potential public health benefits but at the same time could also be useful for bio-terrorism.
→ read full articleFamine as a Crime against Humanity
Abdi Ismail Samatar – Al Jazeera,
5 Dec 2011
Several months ago, I wrote an essay entitled “Genocidal Politics and the Somali Famine”. It appears that the coordinator of the UN’s Monitoring Committee for Somalia agrees with the essay’s proposition that nature is not to blame and that powerful human actors are responsible for the catastrophe.
→ read full articleOnce Again, War Is Prime Time and Journalism’s Role Is Taboo
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
The role of respectable journalism in western state crimes — from Iraq to Iran, Afghanistan to Libya – remains taboo. It is currently deflected by the media theatre of the Leveson enquiry into phone hacking, which Daily Telegraph’s Benedict Brogan describes as “a useful stress test”. Blame Rupert Murdoch and the tabloids for everything and business can continue as usual.
→ read full articleAboriginals in Australia
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Aboriginals in Australia, a little-known story. Since 1788, British colonization looted the land of those who over thousands of years were distributed in more than 400 peoples or tribes that lived as hunters and gatherers, without writing their own history, transmission was based on oral history and culture.
→ read full article15 Foods High in Folic Acid
Dr. Edward Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, is perhaps most well known for its applications in the prevention of fetal deformities, Alzheimer’s disease, as well as several types of cancer. The good news is that there are many rich sources of folic acid that are easy to incorporate into your daily diet. Physiologically, consuming enough folic acid allows the body to perform many of its essential functions, including nucleotide biosynthesis in cells, DNA synthesis and repair, red blood cell creation, and also helps to prevent anemia.
→ read full articleKuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal: Bush and Blair Guilty
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
This is a modified version of a text published by Al Jazeera. It is a sequel to the piece entitled “Toward a Jurisprudence of Conscience,” and will be followed by an assessment of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine session in Cape Town, South Africa investigating the allegations that Israel is guilty of imposing apartheid on the Palestinian people, considered by the Rome Treaty framework of the International Criminal Court to be a crime against humanity.
→ read full article(Castellano) Pobreza en América Latina Cae Un Punto Según Informe de la Cepal
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
La secretaria ejecutiva de la Cepal, Alicia Bárcena, explicó que “la pobreza y la desigualdad han seguido disminuyendo en la región, lo que es una buena noticia, especialmente en el contexto de crisis económica internacional”. La Comisión estima que el año cerrará con tres millones de pobres menos en la región, lo que consideran es el mejor indicador en 20 años, debido a un repunte del mercado laboral.
→ read full articleGetting Even
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
A very loud, unattractive, mean woman walked into a market with her two kids, yelling obscenities at them all the way through the entrance.
→ read full articleHaitians to U.N.: Please Leave
Rebecca Burns – In These Times,
5 Dec 2011
Amid allegations of serious abuses, a growing number of Haitians want peacekeeping forces out of their country. Haiti is the only country in the world where a peacekeeping mission operates under a U.N. Chapter VII mandate—permitting it to use force—absent an active conflict or an enforceable peace agreement.
→ read full article[TRUE OR FALSE?] How Iran Can Collapse All of the Bilderberg Banks and Governments
Video Rebel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
All the Iranians have to do is to announce the purchase ten billion dollars in silver and ten billion dollars in gold over the next 90 days. This announcement is to be made only after they have purchased a billion dollars in silver bullion and a billion dollars in gold. The COMEX in New York and the LBMA London will collapse. The ETFs GLD and SLV will collapse. Stock markets all over the world will collapse. The New York and London banks will collapse. That is the power base of the Bilderberg and Trilateral Commission.
→ read full articleAssange Wins Walkley Journalism Award
TMS Editor,
5 Dec 2011
Nov 27 2011 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has won the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in his native Australia. He speaks his mind.
→ read full articleClimate Justice
Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson – Project Syndicate,
5 Dec 2011
The richest countries caused the problem, but it is the world’s poorest who are already suffering from its effects. In its latest report, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that it is virtually certain that, in global terms, hot days have become hotter and occur more often; indeed, they have increased in frequency by a factor of 10 in most regions of the world. Moreover, the brutal paradox of climate change is that heavy precipitation is occurring more often as well, increasing the risk of flooding.
→ read full articleSouth-South Ties Reshape Aid Paradigm
Miriam Gathigah – Inter Press Service-IPS,
5 Dec 2011
When the G-8 countries decided that improving Internet access to developing countries should be a priority, scores of leaders from developing world opposed the move. The prevalence of harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and women and girls trekking miles in search of water and firewood seemed far removed from Internet technology. Says Esther Suchia, an activist in Kenya, “This commitment to give developing countries aid to improve access to Internet was taken as an insult.”
→ read full article(Portuguese) Islândia: Crescimento Económico Triplica em Relação à UE em 2012
Joana Azevedo Viana, iOnline – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
De acordo com estimativas do Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI), a Islândia vai fechar 2011 com um crescimento do PIB de 2,5%, prevendo-se novo crescimento de 2,5% para 2012 – números que representam quase o triplo do crescimento económico de todos os Estados-membros da União Europeia – que em 2011 ficarão pelos 1,6% e que descerão para os 1,1% em 2012. A taxa de desemprego no país vai ainda descer para os 6%, contra os actuais 9,9% da zona euro.
→ read full article
Zach Wahls Speaks About Family
TMS Editor,
5 Dec 2011
Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6, which would end civil unions in Iowa.
→ read full articleChina Not Obliged To Besiege Iran
Global Times (China), Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
The US Senate approved tougher economic sanctions against Iran on Thursday [1 Dec 2011], vowing to penalize any financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank. Consequently, other countries such as China, Japan and India are prohibited to conduct oil trade with Iran. Under such an arrogant bill, it is hard to imagine how the US would borrow money from the central banks of its creditors to make up its bleak budget in the future. China need not pay attention to it.
→ read full article
Palestinian “Freedom Riders” Challenge Segregation (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
On Tuesday [15 Nov 2011] six Palestinian activists boarded Israeli busses in an attempt to challenge the system of segregation in the West Bank. They were arrested at Hizmeh checkpoint, interrogated by Israel’s internal intelligence agency, the Shabak, and released. In the West Bank, segregation is both visible with the separation wall, fence, and separate cities for Israelis and Palestinians and invisible with separate legal and security systems for the two peoples.
→ read full articleThe Under-Examined Story of Fallujah
Hannah Gurman – Foreign Policy in Focus,
28 Nov 2011
Of the current problems in Fallujah, the most alarming is a mounting public health crisis. In the years since the invasion, doctors in Fallujah have reported drastic increases in the number of premature births, infant mortality, and birth defects – babies born without skulls, missing organs, or with stumps for arms and legs. But the crisis, and its possible connection to weapons deployed by the United States during the war, remains woefully under-examined.
→ read full article(Portuguese) V Cimeira União Europeia/Brasil: Austeridade Não É Solução para Crise, Diz Dilma Rousseff
Público – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
A Presidente brasileira, Dilma Rousseff, garantiu hoje (3 Out 2011], em Bruxelas, que não tomará medidas de austeridade fiscal para fazer frente aos efeitos da crise económica e destacou que medidas recessivas só levam à “estagnação e ao desemprego”. A declaração foi feita por Dilma Rousseff após um encontro bilateral com o primeiro-ministro belga, Yves Leterme, dominado pela crise económica e financeira global.
→ read full articleWeapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): Myanmar Special Weapons
Global Security – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
A five-year investigation by the Burmese dissident group Democratic Voice of Burma claimed to have uncovered evidence that Burma is embarking on a programme to develop nuclear weaponry. At the center of the investigation is Sai Thein Win, a former defense engineer and missile expert. Robert Kelley, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, believes Burma’s intent is clear: to build a nuclear bomb. Kelley had spent months scouring photographs and documents provided by a former Burmese defense engineer who recently fled the country.
→ read full articleSales & the Winter of Discontent
James Albertini, Malu 'Aina, Hawai`i – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The store ads all say “SALE, SALE, SALE! The real meaning is BUY! BUY! BUY! The ads are a lure to create “Wants” not “Needs.” This holiday season do not buy the hype. Buy nothing or buy local. Support an economy that benefits the 99%, not the 1% of global corporate interests that suck labor and resources out of our local economies. Add to this mess, endless wars for empire disguised as “war on terror” to keep us all in a state of fear and obedience to those in power. The oil companies and the arms merchants have never seen more profitable times; they like things just as they are.
→ read full articleBeg Your Pardon
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
Saddam Hussein came to hell. The devil received him and said…
→ read full articleAre the American Psychological Association’s Detainee Interrogation Policies Ethical and Effective?
Farid Zakaria, PBFC – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
A new article by Kenneth Pope, distinguished clinical psychologist and former chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Committee, sharply criticizes the APA’s current policy on detainee interrogation. The article points out that psychologists supported illegal interrogation techniques in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were tortured with the assistance of psychologists. The CIA consulted with outside psychologists who gave assurances that controversial procedures, including waterboarding, would not result in prolonged mental harm.”
→ read full articleNew Brand of Slavery Surfaces in America
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
In the United States, you often hear individuals expressing their love for their country. However, the word “America” means different things to different people. Unless we are aware of this, we may experience needless frustrations unnecessarily.
→ read full articleTaking It to the Streets
Jane Mayer – The New Yorker,
28 Nov 2011
James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and one of the country’s foremost climate scientists says if the Keystone XL oil pipeline were built, “Essentially, it’s game over for the planet.” But at Middlebury College, in Vermont, Bill McKibben, a scholar-in-residence, concluded that the pipeline couldn’t be stopped by conventional political means. “It’s time to stop letting corporate power make the most important decisions our planet faces. We don’t have the money to compete … but we do have our bodies.” Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
→ read full articleWho Was Fritz Schumacher?
Diana Schumacher – The Gandhi Foundation,
28 Nov 2011
Although from a distinguished intellectual background, and having himself experienced a short but meteoric academic career in Germany, England and America, Schumacher always believed that “an ounce of practice is worth a tonne of theory”. Like Gandhi in both his outer and inner life he was a searcher of truth and dedicated to peace. Unlike so many of his contemporary academics, however, he needed to see these ideals translated into practical actions.
→ read full articleBRICS Countries against External Interference into Syria’s Affairs
The Voice of Russia – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have demanded to rule out external interference into Syria’s affairs. The communiqué adopted in Moscow on Thursday [24 Nov 2011] on the results of the meeting of BRICS’ Deputy Foreign Ministers, states that immediate talks involving all parties are only variant to resolve crisis in Syria.
→ read full articleSerbia Must Stop Evicting Roma
Amnesty International – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The situation of a Roma family forcibly evicted from their Belgrade home and made homeless this week again highlights the need for the Serbian government to stop forced evictions and introduce legislation prohibiting them, Amnesty International said today. “Roma families in Belgrade are being forced out of their homes at an increasingly rapid pace.” said Nicola Duckworth Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia.
→ read full articleWhy Gender Matters For Building Peace
Mary Elizabeth King – Waging Nonviolence,
28 Nov 2011
The awarding of a 2011 joint Nobel Peace Prize to a Liberian woman, Leymah Gbowee, embodies the links between gender, war, peace, and nonviolent struggle.
→ read full article
(Castellano) Johan Galtung: Los Tres Componentes del Conflicto
realidadexpuexta – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
24 Octubre 2011 – Monterrey, Mexico – El politólogo noruego Johan Galtung, fundador de los estudios sobre la paz y conflictos sociales, visitó la ciudad de Monterrey para impartir una conferencia magistral y un taller con organizaciones de la sociedad civil que trabajan la cultura de paz.
→ read full articleJust How Dangerous Are ‘Non-Lethal’ Weapons?
Mujib Mashal – Al Jazeera,
28 Nov 2011
From Egypt, to Athens, to Oakland, police have employed “non-lethal weapons” to break down recent protests and disperse protesters. As crowds have swelled to express discontent, variations of tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, and stun grenades have been fired back at them. The US defence department describes non-lethal weapons as “primarily employed to immediately incapacitate targeted personnel or materiel, while minimising fatalities, permanent injury to personnel … in the target area or environment.
→ read full articleBottled Water Companies Target Minorities, but So Do Soda Firms
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Nov 2011
Early in November [2011], the watchdog group Corporate Accountability International (CAI) accused the Swiss transnational Nestle of manipulative marketing. “For the past 30 years, bottled water corporations like Nestle, Pepsi and Coke have helped build a 15 billion dollar U.S. bottled water market by casting doubts on public drinking water systems.” Still, a 2008 investigation by the Environmental Working Group found bottled water to be “chemically indistinguishable from tap water”, the summary of the investigation said.
→ read full articleEurozone Debt Web: Who Owes What To Whom?
Bank of International Settlements - BBC,
28 Nov 2011
The Bank for International Settlements data, represented by the proportional arrows, shows what banks in one country are owed by debtors – both government and private – in another country. It does not include non-bank debts. Only key eurozone debtors and their top creditors are shown. Although China is known to hold European debt, no comprehensive figures are available.
→ read full articleUK Urged to Prevent Vulture Funds Preying on World’s Poorest Countries
Greg Palast, Maggie O'Kane and Chavala Madlena – The Guardian,
28 Nov 2011
Britain is being urged to help close down a legal loophole that lets financiers known as “vulture funds” use courts in Jersey to claim hundreds of millions of pounds from the world’s poorest countries. The call came from international poverty campaigners as one of the vulture funds was poised to be awarded a $100m (£62m) debt payout against the Democratic Republic of the Congo after taking action in the Jersey courts.
→ read full articleSocial Opposition in the Age of Internet: Desktop “Militants” and Public Intellectuals
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Nov 2011
The internet is the alternative to the capitalist mass media and its propaganda, a source of news and information that relays manifestos and informs activists of sites for public action. Because of the internet’s progressive role as an instrument of the social opposition it is subject to surveillance by the repressive police-state apparatus. For example, in the USA over 800,000 functionaries are employed by the “Homeland Security” police agency to spy on billions of emails, faxes, telephone calls of millions of US citizens.
→ read full article