Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
Tweeter, Tweeter, Little Star: How I Wonder What You Are
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Produced in a period when use of Twitter has become ever more significant in political processes and democratic protest.
→ read full articleLinks between Poverty and War
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
There are several relationships between intolerable economic inequality and war. Today 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day – 1.1 billion on less than $1 per day. 18 million of our fellow humans die each year from poverty-related causes. In 2006, 1.1 billion people lacked safe drinking water, and waterbourne diseases killed an estimated 1.8 million people. Meanwhile, in 2011, world military budgets reached a total of $2,157,172,000,000 dollars (i.e. 2.157 million million dollars).
→ read full articleFukushima Radiation Tracked Across Pacific Ocean
Jesse Emspak, LiveScience – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster. With these results, detailed today (April 2, 2012) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team estimates it will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material released at Fukushima to get across the Pacific Ocean.
→ read full articleGeorge Galloway: Why I Won’t Condemn Attacks on UK Soldiers in Afghanistan
StoptheWarCoalition – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
George Galloway, interviewed after his sensational election victory to become MP for Bradford West, responds to the question, “Do you condemn those attacking British soldiers in Afghanistan?”
→ read full articlePedagogy and Revolution
Socialist Worker – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
In the name of “solving” the crisis in education, the so-called school “reformers” are pushing solutions that scapegoat teachers and vilify their unions. In a chapter on “Pedagogy and Revolution: Reading Freire in Context,” Adrienne Johnstone and Elizabeth Terzakis examine the legacy of the Brazilian educator and theorist Paulo Freire, and what it contributes to our struggles today.
→ read full articleMaking Sense of Egypt – Part Two: A Partial Anatomy of Insecurity
Ahmed Badawi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The role of SCAF, the Ministry of Interior, and other “strategic groups” in undermining the revolution and Egyptians’ sense of security.
→ read full articleUnderstanding the Sanusi of Cyrenaica: How to Avoid a Civil War in Libya
Akbar Ahmed and Frankie Martin – Al Jazeera,
2 Apr 2012
Emerging from the nightmare of dictatorship, Libya has a new challenge – to fully accommodate its own people. This article is the seventh in a series by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, exploring how a litany of volatile centre/periphery conflicts with deep historical roots were interpreted after 9/11 in the new global paradigm of anti-terrorism – with profound and often violent consequences.
→ read full articleFrom Privatisation to Corporatisation of Water
Jørgen Eiken Magdahl – Association for International Water Studies-FIVAS,
2 Apr 2012
There has been a development and shift away from privatisation as the dominant strategy towards the so-called corporatisation and commercialisation of public water services. The main purpose of this report is to analyse the strategic development in policy that has taken place, the World Bank’s neoliberal strategy on corporatisation of urban water services and concrete case studies of corporatisation projects in Sub-Saharan Africa as examples of this strategy.
→ read full articleWho Is Jim Yong Kim, Nominee For World Bank President?
Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke – The Christian Science Monitor,
2 Apr 2012
23 Mar 2012 – The selection of Jim Yong Kim took many by surprise since he is not well known in Washington circles and wasn’t an expected candidate for the World Bank position. President Barack Obama has nominated Jim Yong Kim, a global health policy expert and the president of Dartmouth College, to run the World Bank.
→ read full articleMedia Blackout of the Ongoing Nonviolent Protest at Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The nonviolent struggle by the 10,000-strong People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) to stop construction of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India is proving to be a best kept secret as not a word is said or written by the corporate, alternative, Internet or traditional western media to date. Why is that? Some background information (from PMANE):
→ read full article
Germany and Europe’s Path to the 19th Century (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Francisco Louçã: European elite wants to undo the “social contract”; Germany wants more control.
→ read full articleObama’s Nuclear Disarmament Hoax
Peter Symonds – World Socialist Web Site,
2 Apr 2012
This week’s [26 Mar 2012] gathering of world leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea was the occasion for a great deal of cynical posturing about nuclear disarmament and world peace. What is under way is not nuclear disarmament, but an arms race. The key index of this new build up is not the absolute number of nuclear warheads, but the sophistication of the delivery systems and their ability to evade detection and defensive measures.
→ read full articleJournalist Seeking Truth about Khmer Rouge ‘Fears for His Life’
Kate Hodal in Phnom Penh – The Guardian,
2 Apr 2012
Award-winning film-maker Thet Sambath says he has been followed, harassed and chased during his research.
→ read full articleRadiation at Fukushima Plant at Lethal Levels
Minoru Matsutani – Japan Times,
2 Apr 2012
Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to send robots in will require them to have greater resistance than currently available, experts said Wednesday [28 Mar 2012]. Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes would cause death within a month , Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
→ read full articleSupport Indian Protesters – Stop Kudankulam!
Antonio C. S. Rosa, TMS Editor,
2 Apr 2012
On March 19, 2012, the Indian government gave approval for operation of two Russian-designed nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in southern India. These reactors have been under construction since 1988 and are obsolete before they even start up. Three million people live within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of these reactors, some less than a half-mile away. We are asking everyone, from every country, to take action. PLEASE SIGN THE LETTER ONLINE TO THE INDIAN PRIME MINISTER. Thank you.
→ read full articleEmpires Then and Now
Paul Craig Roberts – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Great empires, such as the Roman and British, were extractive. The empires succeeded because the value of the resources and wealth extracted from conquered lands exceeded the value of conquest and governance. In his book, The Rule of Empires (2010), Timothy H. Parsons wonders whether America’s is really an empire. After eight years in Iraq, all Washington has for its efforts is several trillion dollars of additional debt and no Iraqi oil. After ten years of trillion dollar struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Washington has nothing to show for it except possibly some part of the drug trade that can be used to fund covert CIA operations.
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Bunker Roy: Learning From a Barefoot Movement
TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men — many of them illiterate — to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It’s called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy, explains how it works.
→ read full articleA Boy to Be Sacrificed
Abdellah Taïa – The New York Times,
2 Apr 2012
I began by keeping my head low all the time. I cut all ties with the children in the neighborhood. I altered my behavior. I kept myself in check: no more feminine gestures, no more honeyed voice, no more hanging around women. No more anything. I had to invent a whole new Abdellah. I bent myself to the task with great determination, and with the realization that this world was no longer my world. Sooner or later, I would leave it behind. I would grow up and find freedom somewhere else. But in the meantime I would become hard. Very hard.
→ read full articleUS’ Human Rights Violations
Eric Sommer - China Daily,
2 Apr 2012
US media and political figures constantly attack China for alleged human rights violations, while conveniently turning a blind eye to human rights violations perpetrated by the United States in the name of its war on terror, for instance the use of torture at Abu Ghraib, the illegal detention of suspects at Guantanamo, the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of individuals from one state to another, and the unauthorized surveillance of citizens are just some the US’ well-documented human rights abuses.
→ read full articleHow Should the Elections in Burma Be Understood?
Dr. Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Do Sunday’s elections in Burma matter? Yes and No. In terms of who controls the real levers of power absolutely nothing will change. What may be significant is that the electorate is being excited about having a formal political process where there can openly debate the regime’s failed policies, talk about the dismal state of the affairs, openly express their support for Aung San Suu Kyi and what she and dissident colleagues stand for, and shed their fear of the regime.
→ read full articlePartnership for Change Conference 2012: Dignity and Empowerment
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Ending rape and sexual violence is a huge challenge to us all, but it can be done if we join in partnership and cooperation, and use a multi-faceted approach to transforming a culture of rape and sexual violence into a culture of nonkilling, nonviolence and respect for life and human dignity.
→ read full articleHana Shalabi’s Hunger Strike Has Ended, but Not Her Punishment
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
As with Khader Adnan, Israel supposedly compromised with Hana Shalabi on the 43rd day of her hunger strike in protest against administrative detention and her abysmal treatment. But Israel’s concept of ‘compromise’ if considered becomes indistinguishable from the imposition of a further ‘vindictive punishment.’
→ read full articleThe Politics of Science and Democracy in India
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
In an interview with the journal Science, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh chose to focus on two hazardous technologies – genetically engineered seeds and crops, and nuclear power – as vital to the progress of science in India and the “salvation for finding new development pathways for developing our economy”. He also identified NGOs as blocking this “development”, and said “foreign hands” were at work. The prime minister’s interview saddened me.
→ read full articleFor Nuclear Security beyond Seoul, Eradicate Land-Based ‘Doomsday’ Missiles
David Krieger and Daniel Ellsberg – The Christian Science Monitor,
2 Apr 2012
America’s 450 launch-ready land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are the opposite of a deterrent to attack. In fact, their very deployment has the potential to launch World War III and precipitate human extinction – as a result of a false alarm. We’re not exaggerating.
→ read full articleIsrael Cuts Ties With UN Human Rights Body
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Israel has said it has severed contacts with the UN Human Rights Council after the group’s launch last week of an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The decision, announced by a foreign ministry spokesman on Monday [26 Mar 2012], meant that the fact-finding team the council planned to send to the West Bank will not be allowed to enter the territory or Israel, said spokesman Yigal Palmor.
→ read full articleFighting Fire in Haiti
Alexis Erkert – Toward Freedom,
2 Apr 2012
Camp Kozbami is the fifth camp to be arsoned in two months. As landowners and the government push to close camps inhabited by those displaced by the earthquake that rocked Haiti 26 months ago, a reported 94,632 individuals are facing forced eviction. Residents of the 660 displacement camps scattered throughout the Port-au-Prince area are experiencing increasing levels of threats and violence.
→ read full articlePortuguese Seek Future in Mozambique
Andrew England in Maputo – The Financial Times,
2 Apr 2012
How Portuguese people are fleeing their homeland in search of economic opportunities in Mozambique. The paper estimates that there are 20,000 Portuguese in Maputo with the number of people registering at the Portuguese consulate up by 10 per cent in recent years.
→ read full articleThe Reason I’m Helping Chris Hedges’ Lawsuit against the NDAA
Naomi Wolf – The Guardian,
2 Apr 2012
By placing journalists in jeopardy for reporting on ‘terrorists’, the Homeland Battlefield Bill has had a chilling effect on media work and upon my ability to investigate and document matters of national controversy that would ordinarily be subject to my professional inquiry. It has therefore prevented my readers from receiving the full spectrum of truthful reporting which, in a functioning democracy, they have a right to expect.
→ read full article
Banking “Technocrats” Undermine Democracy
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Gerry Epstein: In Europe and the US, bankers take control of the political process.
→ read full article(Portuguese) BRICS Criam Novo Modelo de Ajuda a Países Pobres, Diz Relatório
Iracema Sodré - BBC Brasil,
2 Apr 2012
Os países que formam o grupo BRICS – Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul – aumentaram sua participação em ajuda a nações pobres em um ritmo dez vezes maior que o do G7 (Estados Unidos, Japão, Alemanha, Reino Unido ,França, Itália e Canadá) entre 2005 e 2010, e estão criando novos modelos para a cooperação internacional, segundo dados de um relatório divulgado nesta segunda-feira [26 mar 2012], em Nova Déli, na Índia.
→ read full article(Italian) A Vittorio. Per Vittorio
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Per Vik. A Vik. “Gaza-Restiamo Umani diventerà sempre più un documento storico, piuttosto che essere una semplice narrazione dall’inferno” — Vittorio Arrigoni
Il 20 marzo 2009 su guerrilla radio Vik annuncia la pubblicazione di “Stay Human”.
Gifts
TMS Editor,
2 Apr 2012
It was Thursday evening and Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really mad.
→ read full articleThe Burial Of Our Species – The Roads Leading to Disaster
Fidel Castro Ruz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Almost 200 States, supposedly independent, constitute the political organization which in theory has the job of governing the destiny of the world. Approximately 25,000 nuclear weapons in the hands of allied or enemy forces ready to defend the changing order, by interest or necessity, virtually reduce to zero the rights of billions of people. I shall not commit the naïveté of assigning the blame to Russia or China for the development of that kind of weaponry, after the monstrous massacre at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ordered by Truman after Roosvelt’s death.
→ read full articleBirthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives
Beverly Bell and Other Worlds – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
From Idla Martines de Souza organizing with the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil, to Emem Okon building peace in middle of a resource war in Nigeria, to Juana Ferrer and Via Campesina turning towards food sovereignty to end gender violence, each of these women have important wisdom and vision to share with us all. Birthing Justice is dedicated to women everywhere who are creating a more just and humane world, especially those doing so in the face of physical and structural violence, and most especially those in Haiti and Honduras.
→ read full articleChiquita Banana to Face Colombia Torture Claim
Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
Chiquita, the global banana producer, was ordered this week to face a federal court over their role in paying off right wing death squads in Colombia. Villagers allege that the death squads used “random and targeted violence in exchange for financial assistance and access to Chiquita’s private port for arms and drug smuggling,” according to a lawsuit filed on their behalf by EarthRights International and Cohen Milstein.
→ read full articleWhy Germany Is Phasing Out Nuclear Power
David Roberts, grist – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2012
The most controversial aspect of this power overhaul is Germany’s post-Fukushima decision to completely phase out nuclear power by 2020, which caused the heads of Very Serious People to explode on multiple continents. To many, passing ambitious low-carbon energy goals and then axing a good chunk of your low-carbon energy seems irrational and self-defeating.
→ read full articleLiving with Incomprehension and Uncertainty: Re-Cognizing the Varieties of Non-Comprehension and Misunderstanding
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Produced In a Period When Sustained Incomprehension May Well Enable World War III – This follows from explorations of the experience of nothingness and pointlessness in daily life — especially as a consequence of the current pattern of global strategies (Configuring the Varieties of Experiential Nothingness, 2012; Way Round Cognitive Ground Zero and Pointlessness? 2012). The experience may well be intimately related to a sense of incomprehension at the paradoxes and absurdities of life, irrespective of how well-informed an individual may be.
→ read full articleTowards the Dynamic Art of Partial Comprehension
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Annex B of ‘Living with Incomprehension and Uncertainty’ (2012) – Shared binary commitment: Curiously, and as illustrated by Catholic commentary on the Galileo Affair (above), science and religion share a profound commitment to binary logic. This takes the form of truth/falsehood, right/wrong, correct/incorrect, believer/nonbeliever, etc — as variously interpreted. Shades of gray are condemned. This commitment is evident in the military operations they variously reinforce — in the distinction between friend/enemy, or victory/defeat, and the very nature of launching missiles against targets. As profit/loss, the latter pattern permeates commercial marketing and foreign policy, as previously discussed (Us and Them: Relating to Challenging Others, 2009; Enhancing Sustainable Development Strategies through Avoidance of Military Metaphors, 1998; ).
→ read full articleThe Face of the Crisis – And Alternatives
Johan Galtung, 26 Mar 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The trade in derivatives is now at $1 quadrillion a year (15 zeros), ten times the industrial economy of the whole 20th century. Many got rich, but the system collapsed. Maybe prison would have been more adequate for intellectual sloppiness? That equation is a part of the closed paradigm of economism. Does it offer a solution, not only for banks and bankers, but for the bottom 99.9%? The 0.1%/99.9% income ratio USA 2007 was 140; an unbelievable inequality, both cause and effect of the crisis.
→ read full articleThe Nonviolent Protest at Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
SP Udayakumar & Antonio C. S. Rosa,
26 Mar 2012
Johan Galtung, the TRANSCEND Network membership, and we at TRANSCEND Media Service wish to assert our full support and express our sympathy to SP Udayakumar, one of the TRANSCEND Conveners for South Asia, and the thousands of his compatriots engaged on a 8-month old nonviolent struggle in opposition to a nuclear power plant in their backyard since the 1980s, and which has now reached the limits of their tolerance and acceptance.
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Hans Blix: The Iranian Threat (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Talk to Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The former UN Weapons inspector talks about Iran and how to prevent a nuclear arms race and military crisis in the Middle East.
→ read full articleWhy Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil
Glen Ford – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
No matter how much evil Barack Obama actually accomplishes during his presidency, people that call themselves leftists insist on dubbing him the Lesser Evil. Not only is Obama not given proper credit for out-evil-ing George Bush, domestically and internationally, but the First Black President is awarded positive grades for his intentions versus the presumed intentions of Republicans. As the author says, this “is psycho-babble, not analysis. No real Left would engage in it.”
→ read full articleAlgerian Dissident Silenced By France
Yasmine Ryan – Al Jazeera,
26 Mar 2012
The arrest by French authorities of Mourad Dhina, one of the most vocal critics of Algeria’s administration, underscores just how little has changed in the North African country.
[TMS Editor’s Note: Dr. Mourad Dhina and RACHAD TV are close associates of TRANSCEND, of which Dr. Abbas Aroua is the Convener for the Arab World. Prof. Johan Galtung has granted many interviews to RACHAD TV over the years. He and TRANSCEND would never get involved with terrorists. Such accusations against Dr. Dhina are ludicrous. Please see Prof. Galtung’s Feb 6, 2012 TMS Editorial about Dr. Dhina HERE –Antonio C. S. Rosa]
From the Roots to the Fruit: Nonviolence in Action Conference
TRANSCEND Member Ela Gandhi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
In 1994 South African regime transformed from a racially based oppressive regime to a democratically elected inclusive regime. This happened through hard-nosed negotiations between the various interest groups. It was proclaimed to be a miracle. It was nonviolence in action largely driven by the African National Congress and its formidable leadership, led by Nelson Mandela.
→ read full articleAl Jazeera Journalist Explains Resignation over Syria and Bahrain Coverage
Paul Jay, The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Ali Hashem: Al Jazeera has become a “media war machine” and is “committing journalistic suicide”.
→ read full articleWhy the UN Acts to Hold Sri Lanka Accountable for War Crimes
J.S. Tissainayagam - GlobalPost,
26 Mar 2012
A few incidents that have led to commentators voicing doubts on the impartiality of the UN’s role in Sri Lanka.
→ read full articleWhy Not Get the Law and Politics Right in Iran?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As it is there is no legal foundation in the Nonproliferation Treaty or elsewhere for the present reliance on threat diplomacy in dealing with Iran. These threats violate Article 2(4) of the UN Charter that wisely prohibits not only uses of force but also threats to use force. Iran diplomacy presents an odd case, as political real politik and international law clearly point away from the military option, and yet the winds of war are blowing ever harder.
→ read full articleWhy Do We Protest the NATO Summit?
Buddy Bell, Voices for Creative Nonviolence – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
After the end of World War II, a group of nations in the north Atlantic established NATO to impede Russian influence over the reconstruction of Europe and to facilitate their own. After the Cold War ended, the U.S. rebranded NATO and extended its mandate as a defender of liberty in regions beyond the north Atlantic. Seeing military action as a suitable solution to various global conflicts, it has had the effect of sowing discord and violence instead of alleviating these problems.
→ read full articleU.S. Government Still Not Ready for Democracy in Haiti
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
26 Mar 2012
Haitians were ready again in 2000 when they elected Aristide a second time with 90 percent of the vote. But Washington would not accept the results of that election either, so it organized a cut-off of international aid to the government and poured millions into the opposition. As Paul Farmer (Bill Clinton’s Deputy Special Envoy of the UN to Haiti) testified to the U.S. Congress in 2010: “Choking off assistance for development and for the provision of basic services also choked off oxygen to the government, which was the intention all along: to dislodge the Aristide administration.”
→ read full articleThousands of Anti-Nuclear Protesters Face Police in India: 212 Arrested, 15 on Hunger Strike
Jeemon Jacob – Tehelka,
26 Mar 2012
21 Mar 2012 – People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy activists continue indefinite hunger strike even as police arrest 212 protesters. According to Dr SP Udaykumar [the TRANSCEND Network Convener for South Asia], from People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy, who is on a indefinite hunger strike, around 5000 people assembled at the St Lourdes Church ground since Monday [19 Mar 2012]. “We, eight men and seven women, are on an indefinite hunger strike. The green signal for Koodankulam is a red signal for our lives. We will continue our protest till we die,” said Udayakumar.
→ read full articleChanging the Story in the Middle East
Philip Giraldi, The Passionate Attachment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
I’m sure that many have noted how successful Israel and its friends are at shifting the narrative. Palestinian statehood was made a non-issue by ignoring it in the media and concentrating instead on the largely fictitious threat being posed by Iran. The purpose of the chaff being thrown around by Israel is to preclude any serious discussion of what is going on in the West Bank, where settlements continue to expand inexorably.
→ read full articleBack to Child Labor and Slavery?
John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Until the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, human society maintained a more or less sustainable relationship with nature. However, with the beginning of the industrial era, traditional ways of life, containing both ethical and environmental elements, were replaced by the money-centered, growth-oriented life of today, from which these vital elements are missing.
→ read full articleNo One Asked Their Names
Qais Azimy – Al Jazeera,
26 Mar 2012
Many mainstream media outlets channelled a significant amount of energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier – now identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation. But the victims became a footnote, just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names. In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.
→ read full articleCaptured Europe
Simon Johnson and Daron Acemoglu – Project Syndicate,
26 Mar 2012
The Greek default has turned out to be the proverbial dog that didn’t bark. The lesson for Europe – and for the US – is clear: it is time to stop listening to what banks say, and start focusing on what they do.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Comércio Mundial de Armas Cresceu 24% nos Últimos 5 Anos, Aponta Estudo
BBC Brasil – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
O comércio internacional de armas aumentou substancialmente nos últimos cinco anos, segundo um relatório divulgado nesta segunda-feira [19 Mar 2012] pelo Instituto de Pesquisas para a Paz de Estocolmo (Sipri, na sigla em inglês).
→ read full articleWinter of Crisis Killing the Elderly in Portugal
Mario Queiroz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) reported that 11,600 people died in February, 1,600 more than in the same month in previous years. Most of the victims were over 75. Public health experts say the record number of deaths is associated with the economic crisis and the draconian cuts in public spending made as a condition for the multi-billion dollar bailout of Portugal in 2011. Free access to public health services, one of the major achievements of the Apr. 25, 1974 “Carnation Revolution” that ushered in democracy after a 48-year dictatorship, is in danger.
→ read full articleMaking Sense of Egypt – Part One: In Defence of Conspiracy as a Method
Ahmed Badawi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
An analysis of the football violence that happened in Port Said at the beginning of February 2012 and a defence of conspiracy as a method of explanation.
→ read full articleRussia-NATO Summit Cancelled
Itar-Tass – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The Russia-NATO summit has stalled, the Kommersant daily reported. Experts noted that the decision to cancel a May [2012] meeting between Vladimir Putin and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is linked with the disagreement over the vital issue, the missile defence system in Europe.
→ read full articleSharp Increase in Palestinian Deaths in 2011
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
An annual report from the Jerusalem-based B’Tselem showed that in 2011 Israeli security forces killed a total of 105 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom 37 were confirmed as non-combatants. “The picture is harsh, not because of dramatic events or a sudden deterioration, but precisely because of the routine,” the report said.
→ read full articleProject Brings Peace Journalism to Uganda
Steven Youngblood, Peace Portal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As I taught Peace Journalism in Uganda for five weeks in 2009, I kept hearing from the journalists in my seminars that they liked and needed what I was teaching. However, they emphasized that Uganda needed many more peace journalism lessons. At their urging we put together a proposal for a comprehensive Peace, Development, and Electoral Journalism project for 2010-2011. It’s our hope that this model can replicated elsewhere, since it proved to be such a powerful tool for peace and reconciliation in Uganda.
→ read full articleFrance Bans Strain of Monsanto GM Maize
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
French Agricultural Minister Bruno Le Maire imposed Friday [16 Mar 2012] a temporary ban on a genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto “to protect the environment”. The French agriculture ministry said in a statement that the Monsanto maize strain MON 810 had been banned as a “precautionary measure”.
→ read full articleBRICS Bank Could Change the Money Game
Kester Kenn Klomegah – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
India’s proposal to set up a bank of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will top the agenda at the summit of the group in New Delhi Mar 28 2012. “Basically India, China and perhaps Russia are trying to show off their economic clout; they are trying to demonstrate to the west that they can do without them. Above all they need freedom from western financial influence.”
→ read full articleRedefining Research
Jenica Rhee & Associates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
After 244 years, the Encyclopedia Britannica has decided to halt the presses and go out of print. Facing the realities and the stiff competition from Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica will now focus primarily on their online services. But even then, it might be too late. Wikipedia has grown to be the number one source for students. This infographic highlights how Wikipedia has revolutionized research and how it has become a reliable fountain of knowledge.
→ read full articleReconciliation Is Not Happening In Sri Lanka, and the Problem Isn’t a Question of Time
Sivakami Rajamanoharan – Open Democracy,
26 Mar 2012
The Tamil call for independent statehood stemmed from a very basic need for security against genocide. For many, including the next generation of Tamil youth activists, the events of 2009 consolidated this need.
→ read full articleThe Ordeal of Hana Shalabi: Medical Urgency and Spiritual Defiance
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The respected human rights NGOs, Addameer-Palestine and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have expressed their deep concern for the mortal danger facing Hana Shalabi who continues her historic hunger strike to protest abuse that she experienced and her objections to the Israeli practice of prolonged detention without charges, without trial.
→ read full articleThe Criminalization of Homosexuality in Cameroon Violates International Human Rights Laws
Jean Atabong Fomeni – Kimpa Vita Press,
26 Mar 2012
The term ‘wrong’ is largely ambiguous, encompassing both civil and criminal wrongs. We talk of civil wrong where there is a tortuous liability; for example, the breach of contract. This paper, however, shall limit itself within the purview of criminal wrongs, the category of wrongs where homosexuality resides.
→ read full articleCows
TMS Editor,
26 Mar 2012
“Mister, why doesn’t this cow have any horns?” asked the young lady from a nearby city.
→ read full articleThe Global March to Jerusalem – March 30, 2012
Global Research – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) is a groundbreaking new initiative that is organising non-violent civil resistance on 30th March 2012 in Palestine and the four neighbouring countries: Egypt, Lebanon Jordan and Syria. The GMJ is comprised of a diverse coalition of Palestinian, Arab and international activists who are united in the struggle to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem (the city of Peace) from illegal Zionist occupation.
→ read full article(Portuguese) A Guerra Suja Contra a WikiLeaks
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As difamações dos média sugerem a cumplicidade da Suécia com um esforço impulsionado por Washington para punir Julian Assange.
→ read full article(Italian) Libia Un Anno Fa: Memoria Corta
Manlio Dinucci – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
26 Mar 2012
Uno degli effetti delle armi di distrazione di massa è quello di cancellare la memoria di fatti anche recenti, facendone perdere le tracce. È passato così sotto silenzio il fatto che un anno fa, il 19 marzo [2011], iniziava il bombardamento aeronavale della Libia, formalmente «per proteggere i civili». In sette mesi, l’aviazione Usa/Nato effettuava 30mila missioni, di cui 10mila di attacco, con impiego di oltre 40mila bombe e missili.
→ read full article(Castellano) México DF Abole las Corridas de Toros
Asociación Animalista Libera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
Tenemos el placer de informaros de que hace apenas unos minutos, la Comisión de Administración Pública del Distrito Federal (México) acaba de aprobar la iniciativa para abolir las corridas de toros, ciudad donde se encuentra la plaza más grande del mundo.
→ read full articleSri Lanka Angered By U.N. Vote to Investigate War Abuses
Emily Alpert – Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar 2012
In a step that infuriated Sri Lankan leaders, the country was urged to investigate alleged war crimes from its bloody civil war, in a resolution passed Thursday [22 Mar 2012] by the chief human rights body at the United Nations.
→ read full article(Italian) Le Nuove Guerre dei Militari USA di Vicenza
Antonio Mazzeo – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
I militari USA di Vicenza sono impegnati pure in due sanguinosi fronti di guerra del continente africano: in Somalia, in qualità di consiglieri della forza multinazionale dell’Unione africana intervenuta contro le milizie degli shebab; in Uganda, nella guerra scatenata contro gli ultimi gruppi ribelli del Lord’s Resistance Army di Joseph Kony.
→ read full articleThe Difference between Bahrain and Syria
Mohamed Omar - ArabNyheter,
19 Mar 2012
Why do you support the opposition in Bahrain and not in Syria? The answer is simple. I don’t support any opposition just because it is an opposition. That would be as stupid and illogic as supporting any government just because it is a government. I try to base my political positions on principles. You have to analyze each case before you make up your mind in accordance with your basic principles.
→ read full articleChevron Execs Barred From Leaving Brazil
Agence France Press-AFP – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
A judge barred 17 Chevron executives from around the world from leaving Brazil in an oil spill investigation as prosecutors readied new charges over a second spill involving the US energy giant, local media reported Saturday [17 Mar 2012].
→ read full articleRachel Corrie, 9 Years On
Arab American Institute – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Far more important than remembering Rachel’s tragic death is remembering her inspiring life. Seldom in life do we come across someone with the extraordinary commitment to justice that Rachel possessed. If only she could see how she has inspired so many in the USA to demand justice for Palestinians, including her parents who have become outspoken critics of the occupation their daughter protested years before.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: The War Turns Pathological—Withdraw!
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
16 Afghan civilians, including women and children, were shot in their homes in the middle of the night. American soldiers urinating on dead Taliban fighters, Koran burning, and countryside patrols whose members were convicted by an American military tribunal of killing Afghan civilians for sport: whatever the U.S. military commanders in Kabul might sincerely say in regret and Washington might repeat by way of formal apology has become essentially irrelevant.
→ read full articleLaunching the U.S. Terror War: the CIA, 9/11, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
The Asia-Pacific Journal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Throughout this essay we have seen two different and indeed antithetical levels of U.S. foreign policy at work. On the surface level of public diplomacy we see a commitment to international law and the peaceful resolution of differences. On a deeper level, represented by a long-time Saudi connection and covert arrangements to control international oil, we see the toleration and indeed protection of terrorists in fulfillment of both Saudi and American secret goals.
→ read full articleU.S. Military Unveils Heat Ray Weapon: ‘You’re Gonna Feel It’
Paul Koring -The Globe and Mail,
19 Mar 2012
In the ‘War of the Worlds’ the Martians used them to incinerate pesky humans more than a century ago. The Pentagon plans are more modest: crowd control of pesky humans. Still, after more than a century, the ‘heat ray’ has made the leap from fiction to reality with the U.S. military demonstrating the so-called ‘goodbye effect’ of directing electromagnetic waves at people. It delivers sudden, unbearable heat, like the invisible wave when a hot oven door is opened but far more powerful – an intense, enveloping but non-lethal blast.
→ read full articleThe Bloody Road to Damascus: The Triple Alliance’s War on a Sovereign State
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
There is clear and overwhelming evidence that the uprising to overthrow President Assad of Syria is a violent, power grab led by foreign-supported fighters who have killed and wounded thousands of Syrian soldiers, police and civilians, partisans of the government and its peaceful opposition.
→ read full articleIndia: Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project Update and Alert
S. P. Udayakumar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
March 19, 2012 – Just in: Some 10 people, including Struggle Committee members have been arrested. The Tamil Nadu State government is increasing the police strength in front of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). Heavy police force has been posted in a few major junctions around Koodankulam. There are rumors that we all could be arrested soon and they may decide to re-start the KKNPP. WE ARE READY! The tension is increasing; the government is acting in a high-handed manner. Please keep an eye on us.
→ read full articlePolitical Party for Animal Rights Formed in Turkey
Today’s Zaman, Istanbul – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Turkey’s first animal rights political party, the Animal Party, was established this week [16 Mar 2012] in an effort to bring the issue of the protection of animal’s rights and welfare to the political table. The aim of the party is not just to promote love for animals but to remind those who view the world solely in terms of humans that we live together with animals and that they have rights, too.
→ read full articleNow Even the Eurozone Admits It Has Condemned Greece to Never-Ending Austerity
Jeremy Warner – The Daily Telegraph,
19 Mar 2012
According to Reuters, an unpublished “Compliance Report” by EU executives has concluded that Greece will have to impose a further fiscal squeeze in 2013/14 in order to meet the targets that underpin the second international bailout. The chances of Greece being able to do this are about zero, though that is my conclusion, not that of the report. Where is Greece expected to find these cuts? Further savings in welfare payments, pharmaceutical spending?
→ read full articleHana Shalabi: A Brave Act of Palestinian Nonviolence
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
Despite the calls to Palestinian from liberals in the West these extraordinary hunger strikes have met with silence or indifference in both Israel and the West. The UN has not raised its voice, as well. Hana Shalabi seems a young tender and normal woman who is dedicated to her family, hopes for marriage, and simple pleasures of shopping. She had previously been held in prison in Israel between 2009 and 2011, being released in the prisoner exchange that freed 1027 Palestinians. As she was returning to normalcy she was re-arrested in an abusive manner, which allegedly included a strip-search by a male soldier.
→ read full articleThe GMJ-India Convoy Started Its Journey towards Jerusalem
Gilad Atzmon – TRANCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The Indian convoy has finally set off towards Jerusalem in a farewell ceremony held at the Rajghat, which is the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi. The 54 delegates come from all the four corners of India & represent the diverse, plural & secular ethos of India. They will travel to Iran, Turkey & then by ship, to Beirut. On the 30th of March, with hundreds of thousands of people & delegations from the majority of the nations of the world, they will march to the borders of Palestine, demanding an end to the Judaisation of Jerusalem & Freedom for Palestine.
→ read full article(Castellano) Panamá Prohíbe las Corridas de Toros
AnimaNaturalis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
“Quedan prohibidas las peleas de perros, las carreras entre animales, las lidias de toro, ya sean de estilo español o portugués, la creación, entrada, permanencia y funcionamiento en el territorio nacional de todo tipo de circo o espectáculo circense que utilice animales amaestrados de cualquier especie”.
→ read full articleDocumentary Film ‘The Crisis of Civilization’ Released Online For Free
Institute for Policy Research & Development – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The documentary feature film, The Crisis of Civilization – based on TRANSCEND member Dr. Nafeez Ahmed’s latest book, A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (Pluto/Macmillan, 2010) – has just been released today [15 Mar 2012] free, online.
→ read full articleWhite House Says Child Soldiers Are OK, If They Fight Terrorists
Michelle Chen – ColorLines,
19 Mar 2012
The phenomenon of child soldiers, like genocide, slavery and torture, seems like one of those crimes that no nation could legitimately defend. Yet the Obama administration decided to leave kids stranded on the world’s bloodiest battlegrounds. It issued a presidential memorandum granting waivers from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen, citing that “it is in our national interest.”
→ read full articleWho Are the ‘Terrorists’?
Justin Raimondo – antiwar.com,
19 Mar 2012
I have the sinking feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of this American horror show, while – under the pretext of “fighting terrorism” – we act out our sadistic fantasies all over the world. As these outrages against human decency and morality provoke worldwide revulsion at the perpetrators, perhaps one day we’ll go looking for “terrorists” in the vicinity of a mirror – and see ourselves for what we’ve become.
→ read full article
Rabbi Dovid Weiss: Zionism Has Created ‘Rivers of Blood’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The Jewish scholar explains why Zionism and Judaism are not necessarily the same thing and why he believes that Israel as a state is not legitimate.
→ read full articlePeru Passes Monumental Ten Year Ban on Genetically Engineered Foods
Occupy Monsanto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
March 10, 2012 – In a massive blow to multinational agribiz corporations such as Monsanto, Bayer, and Dow, Peru has officially passed a law banning genetically modified ingredients anywhere within the country for a full decade before coming up for another review.
→ read full articleMillennium Development Goal Drinking Water Target Met
Danny Schechter – Al Jazeera,
19 Mar 2012
6 Mar 2012 – The world has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, well in advance of the MDG 2015 deadline, according to a report issued today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Between 1990 and 2010, over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells.
→ read full articleDear Abby,
TMS Editor,
19 Mar 2012
I have never written to you before, but I really need your advice. I have suspected for some time now that my wife has been cheating on me.
→ read full articleEurope Bans Export of Death Penalty Drugs
Jennifer Kaye – YES! Magazine,
19 Mar 2012
In response to recommendations from a 2010 Amnesty International report, the European Commission has banned the export of drugs used for execution by lethal injection in the United States. “The decision today contributes to the wider EU efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide,” said Catherine Ashton, vice president of the commission, in a press release.
→ read full articleGoldman Stunned by Op-Ed Loses $2.2 Billion for Shareholders
Christine Harper, Bloomberg News – San Francisco Chronicle,
19 Mar 2012
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. saw $2.15 billion of its market value wiped out after an employee assailed Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein’s management and the firm’s treatment of clients, sparking debate across Wall Street. The shares dropped 3.4 percent in New York trading yesterday [14 Mar 2012], the third-biggest decline in the 81-company Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index, after London-based Greg Smith made the accusations in a New York Times op-ed piece.
→ read full articleShould We Celebrate a Decline in Global Poverty?
Adam Parsons, Share the World’s Resources – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
The World Bank’s latest data suggests a decline in global poverty throughout every region of the developing world, as well as the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goal on halving poverty well ahead of schedule. But is this really the ‘good news’ that we are led to believe?
→ read full articleIrenea: a Cinema for Peace and Nonviolence
Centro Studi Sereno Regis – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
From TRANSCEND Member Prof. Nanni Salio, director of the CSSR: The Sereno Regis Study Center (Centro Studi Sereno Regis) in Turin is promoting the establishment of a multi-media educational lab meant to develop a movie culture oriented to peaceful, nonviolent and deeply respectful relationships to all living beings in the Earth’s ecosystem. The lab will be a place of search and spread of a movie culture that may help spot and recognize visible as well as invisible violence.
→ read full articleHow the News Media Doesn’t Give Peace a Chance
Richard Schiffman - Truthout,
19 Mar 2012
“Israel vs. Iran” reads a recent cover of The New York Times Magazine – the words written ominously in ashes from which smoke and flame still rise. Inside the magazine, Ronen Bergman a military analyst for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth argues that an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2012 is inevitable… War at its root is a failure of imagination, a failure to think creatively about alternatives to violent conflict. Such is the argument of “Peace Journalism,” a field of study and practice which first emerged in the 1970s from the work of Norwegian sociologist, Johan Galtung.
→ read full article
Weapon of Mass Pollution: Pentagon World’s Largest Polluter (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2012
America’s mighty military presence around the world is leaving many locals with a bad taste in their mouths… quite literally. The Pentagon is accused of causing massive – and sometimes deadly – pollution. Not just in other countries, but at home too.
→ read full articleEvangelist Sued in U.S. for Inciting Anti-Gay Hatred in Uganda
Charundi Panagoda and Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Mar 2012
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts Wednesday [14 Mar 2012] on behalf of the Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) and against Scott Lively, a right-wing evangelist, for inciting a hatred that has led to increased violence against LGBT persons. He is also the author of “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party”, a 1995 book that claimed Nazism was created and propagated by homosexuals, and a second book, “Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”, a how-to guide for parents to “prevent” their children from becoming homosexual.
→ read full article