Articles by M
We found 36604 results.
One Love | Song around the World
Playing For Change – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
From the award-winning documentary, “Playing for Change: Peace through Music”, comes an incredible rendition of the legendary Bob Marley song “One Love” with Keb’ Mo’ and Manu Chao.
→ read full articleUnited Nations, an Organisation on Life-Support?
Kanya D'Almeida – TerraViva Europe,
21 Feb 2011
While a mass uprising was toppling a dictatorship in Egypt and tens of thousands were marching for radical change at the World Social Forum in Dakar, a high-level group of ambassadors and experts came together at the United Nations late last week to discuss the future of global governance.
→ read full articleChevron’s Dirty Fight in Ecuador
Guy Adams – The Independent,
21 Feb 2011
The giant oil corporation has been fined $8.6bn for an environmental disaster that has been called ‘the Amazon’s Chernobyl’. But guess what? It may end up paying nothing.
→ read full articleEgypt Decides to Open Gaza Crossing Partially
Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
Egyptian authorities decided on Friday [18 Feb 2011] to open the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian cases and to allow Palestinians stuck in Egypt to return to the enclave, state television reported.
→ read full articleTRANSCEND Africa Report 2009-2010
Rais Reza Boneza - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
African’s Peaceful means
→ read full articleAnonymous and the Global Correction
Anonymous – Al Jazeera,
21 Feb 2011
A loosely organised group of hackers has been targeting oppressive regimes and has said this is just the beginning.
→ read full article(Castellano) Democracia y Exclusión Social: No se Trata de Administrar la Desigualdad, Sino de Eliminarla
Osvaldo Martínez – CubaDebate,
21 Feb 2011
El tema de la democracia no suele ser abordado por economistas. Sociólogos, politólogos e historiadores son los que frecuentan este tema, aunque es evidente que en el modelo económico tiene el debate sobre la democracia un componente sustantivo.
→ read full articleBelgium: It’s the French Fries Revolution
Timofei Belov – Pravda,
21 Feb 2011
Belgium overtakes Iraq as holding the record for the longest period without a Government. The population, fed up with the bickering among the politicians, is to launch a Revolution this Thursday [17 Feb 2011] … not a Red Revolution, or a colour revolution, but a Revolution in honour of the country’s national dish – pommes frites, or French Fries…
→ read full articleShould Gays and Lesbians Serve in the Military?
Laurence M. Vance – LewRockwell,
21 Feb 2011
Should gays and lesbians serve in the military? Perhaps some more pressing questions are should heterosexuals serve in the military? Should Christians serve in the military? Should atheists serve in the military? Should anyone serve in the military?
→ read full articleThink Cosmically Act Globally Eat Locally
Johan Galtung, 21 Feb 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
is the slogan advocated by two University of California Santa Cruz professors, the astrophysicist Joel R. Primack, and his wife, the cultural philosopher (and singer) Nancy Abrams. Their fine book, The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World, based on the Terry Lectures at Yale October 2009, will be published by Yale University Press in April.
→ read full articleClimate: Putting People over Money
Dahr Jamail – Al Jazeera,
21 Feb 2011
Facing climate change, a social movement in El Salvador fights mass flooding and the toxic burning of cane fields. While debate about whether climate change is real or not continues in the US, the world’s leading producer of CO2 emissions per capita, those already living with the effects, like Jose Domingo Cruz in El Salvador, don’t have time to debate.
→ read full article
Islamaphobia ‘on the rise’ in Australia
Andrew Thomas – Al Jazeera,
21 Feb 2011
Australia often bills itself as a multicultural country – but the relationship between new and old residents is not always a smooth one. Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas takes a look at how the latest immigration debate is affecting the country’s Muslim community.
→ read full articleUS Vetoes UN Draft on Settlements
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
The US has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israeli settlements as “illegal” and called for an immediate halt to all settlement building. All 14 other Security Council members voted in favour of the resolution, which was backed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), on Friday [18 Feb 2011].
→ read full articleThe World Social Forum and the Battle for COP17
Vishwas Satgar – Pambazuka News,
21 Feb 2011
In a world plunged ever deeper into an uncivilised global capitalist condition, the World Social Forum is a crucial beacon of hope. But while news of Egypt and Tunisia’s revolutions electrified activists at this year’s gathering in Dakar, Vishwas Satgar asks whether progressive civil society is powerful enough to organise for a genuine climate change solution at COP17.
→ read full articleWhat David Kato’s Death Can Teach the World
Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - UN, Africa Renewal,
21 Feb 2011
If David’s murder stimulates discussion about the violence and discrimination facing people because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity, then his death will not have been completely in vain. That discussion must inevitably address the question of decriminalizing homosexuality. Criminal sanctions for homosexuality remain on the statute books in more than 70 countries, including Uganda. Such laws are an anachronism, in most cases a hangover from the old days of colonial rule.
→ read full articleSchooling
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
A young cowboy from Wyoming went off to college, but half way through the semester, he had foolishly squandered all his money. He called home. “Dad,” he said, “You won’t believe what modern education is developing! They actually have a program here that will teach our dog, Ol’ Blue how to talk!”
→ read full articleUNESCO Special Envoy Recognises Cuban Humanitarian Work in Haiti
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
Michaelle Jean, Special Envoy for Haiti of the UNESCO, emphasised the support received from Cuba in the matter of health to the Caribbean country, devastated by an earthquake a year ago. “Whenever we talk about health, we cannot forget the support of that country [Cuba] and this brotherly people,” said Jean, former governor general of Canada, while recognizing the importance of maintaining that link, as somewhat fundamental.
→ read full articleEgyptian Riot Gear
TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
Makeshift helmets made by demonstrators during the Egyptian nonviolent uprising on Liberty Square. Very unusual, funny and creative pieces of non-standard armor kit. The last one presents two loaves of bread as ear protectors tied to a plastic container over the head. Some humor amid the initial violent crackdown attempted by the security forces.
→ read full articleMexican Media’s Balancing Act
John Holman – Al Jazeera,
21 Feb 2011
Experts say the Mexican press walk a fine line between censoring their reporting and balancing their revenues.
→ read full article
Changing Education Paradigms
Sir Ken Robinson – RSA Animate,
21 Feb 2011
This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award.
→ read full article‘Problem Children’ towards Radicalism
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
One of the WikiLeaks revelations, published recently in The Daily Telegraph of London, brings into picture the worrisome scenario in which a section of the British youth visit to madrassas in Kashmir under Pakistan’s control, and end in the net of extremist and terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.
→ read full articlePeace-Building in Africa
Adeleye Oyeniyi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
What is Peace-building? The term is used to refer to long-term preventive, pre-hostility strategies, for measures to remove the internal causes of conflict and to strengthen structural stability in a country against the threat of civil war.
→ read full article
Lies That Launched a War
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was sanctioned largely because of claims the country had weapons of mass destruction. The source of some of the alleged intelligence behind the claims was an Iraqi defector living in Germany, someone who has now admitted the evidence he submitted was false.
→ read full articleReport of Special Rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council on Occupied Palestinian Territories
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
14 Feb 2011 – I am posting the official text of my most recent report to the UN Human Rights Council on Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The period covered ends in December 2010, and the report will be formally presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 21, 2011. Of course, the impact of recent events, especially in Egypt, is not considered. Of primary interest will be the approach taken by the new Egyptian leadership to the Rafah Crossing, especially whether humanitarian goods will be permitted to enter freely and whether Gazans will be allowed to leave and return without difficulty.
→ read full articleAmerican Baroque
Thomas S. Harrington – The Passionate Attachment,
21 Feb 2011
The term Baroque was coined in the Iberian Peninsula—it is said to come from the Portuguese term for deformed pearl—to speak of the ornate cultural products generated in Spain and Portugal during the time when both nations (they were actually joined dynastically between 1580 and 1640) were simultaneously great powers and societies in the throes of self-evident decline and social dislocation.
→ read full articleRevolutionary Prospects after Mubarak
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
The bravery, discipline, and creativity of the Egyptian revolutionary movement is nothing short of a political miracle, deserving to be regarded as one of the seven political wonders of the modern world! To have achieved these results without violence, despite a series of bloody provocations, and persisting without an iconic leader, without even the clarifying benefit of a revolutionary manifesto, epitomizes the originality and grandeur of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.
→ read full articleWater, Oil and Demographics: The Arab World’s Triple Crisis
Nafeez Ahmed – Europe’s World,
21 Feb 2011
Unless Arab governments invest much more in health, education and citizens’ rights, warns Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, the pressures of water scarcity, oil depletion and population growth will spell their downfalls.
→ read full articleJapan Forced to Halt Whaling in Antarctic As Activists Claim Victory
David McNeill in Tokyo – The Independent,
21 Feb 2011
The US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has been stalking the whaling fleet with their own vessels, claimed that the Japanese ships had managed to harpoon just 30 whales, a fraction of their 945 target. “We’ve shut them down basically,” Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson told The Independent by satellite from aboard the MY Steve Irwin. “It’s silly to say they’ve suspended the hunt. We suspended them.”
→ read full articleThe US Bank and the Secret Plan to Destroy WikiLeaks
Jerome Taylor – The Independent,
21 Feb 2011
The computer hackers’ collective Anonymous has uncovered a proposal by a consortium of private contractors to attack and discredit WikiLeaks. Last week Anonymous volunteers broke into the servers of HB Gary Federal, a security company that sells investigative services to companies, and posted thousands of the firm’s emails on to the internet.
→ read full articleThe Tamil Diaspora and the Future of the Tamil Struggle
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – GroundViews,
21 Feb 2011
Today, the 18th of February, finds us three months away from the second anniversary of the “Mullivaikal Massacre”. At this juncture it is important to ask the question: What constructive action can be taken by the Tamil Diaspora to build a better future for the Tamil nation?
→ read full articleDeclaration of the Assembly of Social Movements, WSF/Dakar
Assembly of Social Movements - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
The World Social Forum met in Dakar, Senegal, February 7-11. This declaration was adopted by the Assembly of Social Movements.
→ read full articleDemocracy Born in Chains
Naomi Klein – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
The inspiring overthrow of Hosni Mubarak is only the first stage of the Egyptian struggle for full liberation. As earlier pro-democracy movements have learned the hard way, much can be lost in the key months and years of transition from one regime to another. In The Shock Doctrine, I investigated how, in the case of post-apartheid South Africa, key demands for economic justice were sacrificed in the name of a smooth transition. Here is that chapter.
→ read full articleCommentary on Events in North Africa
Ramon Lopez-Reyes – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Feb 2011
In a paper written in 2007 on “War in the Middle East” I brought attention to the dynamic of convergence (globalization) that is hurling Homo Sapiens toward a common identity. Clearly a concept of ‘convergence’ projects a metaphysical nuance that falls outside the normal span of dialectics, something akin to the Gaia Hypothesis that holds planet Earth to be a self-regulating organism. Although depth psychology contains aspects of metaphysics, I would list the theory of convergence more under evolution than metaphysics. I am of the opinion that nothing can impede convergence other than the demise of the human species itself.
→ read full articleIt’s Not Radical Islam That Worries the US – It’s Independence
Noam Chomsky – Information Clearing House,
14 Feb 2011
The nature of any regime it backs in the Arab world is secondary to control. Subjects are ignored until they break their chains.
→ read full articleHas The Pro-Israel Lobby Subverted Australian Democracy?
Jake Lynch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
So, was there an elaborate plot, involving the active connivance of pro-Israel groups, the US embassy, the mining industry and the Right faction of the ALP, and kept successfully secret, to bring Rudd down and install Gillard in his place? To pose the question in those terms is to stretch credulity, but of course there is a way to answer it, which resonates with abundant life experience, and is encapsulated in another question: cui bono? (Or perhaps we could simply say: Go Figure).
→ read full article
How People Become Monsters … Or Heroes
Philip Zimbardo – TED Talks,
14 Feb 2011
Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this talk, he shares insights and graphic unseen photos from the Abu Ghraib trials. Then he talks about the flip side: how easy it is to be a hero, and how we can rise to the challenge.
→ read full articleDrunks
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Recently, a routine police patrol was parked outside a local neighborhood bar in Minnesota. Late in the evening, the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk.
→ read full articleEthnicity and Indigene/Settler Conflict
Adeleye Oyeniyi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Ethnicity has been one of the regular features of the Third World societies. Africa has had more than lion share in ethnic-induced wars and violence. The issue of ethnicity has become the most viable factor, which explains the social reality of post-colonial Africa. During colonisation of African people, colonialists failed to put the issue of cultural differences of various ethnic groupings into consideration before lumping them together in (colonial) state formation. The oversight has constituted and remained one of the greatest challenges of post-colonial Africa.
→ read full articleThe Role of the World Bank in Carbon Markets
Bretton Woods Project – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
This paper outlines the World Bank’s involvement in the carbon market and reviews concerns about its impacts on greenhouse gas emission reductions and development. First, it introduces the role and aims of the Bank’s Carbon Finance Unit and the various funds and facilities that it manages…. The paper then summarises the concerns that have emerged from official evaluations and scrutiny by civil society groups regarding the effectiveness of Bank carbon finance in reducing emissions and generating development benefits, adding new evidence where available.
→ read full articleMass Tree Deaths Prompt Fears of Amazon ‘Climate Tipping Point’
Damian Carrington – The Guardian,
14 Feb 2011
Scientists fear billions of tree deaths caused by 2010 drought could see vast forest turn from carbon sink to carbon source.
• Amazon ‘could shrink by 85% due to climate change’
• Rate of tree deaths in western US ‘rising due to climate change’
Cairo Intifada
The Real News Network – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
A report on the nonviolent movements for Mubarak’s ouster.
→ read full articleIsraeli Economy for Beginners
Gilad Atzmon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
How is it that Israel is impervious to the global financial disaster? How can Israel be so rich? Wikileaks has revealed lately that “sources in the (Israeli) police estimate that Russian organised crime (Russian Mafia) has laundered as much as US $10 billion through Israeli holdings.” Israel’s economy is booming because mega swindlers such as Bernie Madoff have been channeling their money via Zionists and Israeli institutions for decades. Israel is ‘doing well’ because it is the leading trader in blood diamonds. Far from being surprising, Israel is also the fourth biggest weapon dealer on this planet. As if this is not enough, Israel is also prosperous because, every so often, it is caught engaged in organ trafficking and organ harvesting. In short, Israel is doing better than other countries because it runs one of the dirtiest-non-ethical economies in the world.
→ read full article
TRANSCEND: Methods and Solutions
Johan Galtung | Alternate Focus – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Galtung’s approach to mediation offers concrete proposals that are intended to give both sides the sense that they are winners. In this interview segment he describes his methodology and offers proposals for peace in the Middle East and other areas of conflict.
→ read full articleWikileaks: The Economic Reasons Behind the Siege on Gaza
Shir Hever, Global Exchange – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
This document demonstrates that the Israeli government is in fact strangling the Gazan economy in order to turn Gaza into a captive market for Israeli products and maintain demand for the Israeli shekel — all in the name of “fighting terrorism.” It also demonstrates that the international community — and especially the US — have allowed this policy to continue.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Sondagem Elege o Povo Brasileiro Como o Mais Simpático do Mundo
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Ranking publicado no site da CNN Internacional no dia 21/Jan/2011 elegeu os povos mais afáveis do planeta.
→ read full articleThe Toxic Residue of Colonialism: Protecting Interests, Disregarding Rights
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Here is the crux of the ethical irony. Washington is respectful of the logic of self-determination so long as it converges with American grand strategy, and oblivious to the will of the people whenever its expression is seen as posing a threat to the neoliberal overlords of the globalized world economy or to strategic alignments that seem so dear to State Department or Pentagon planners.
→ read full articleHaiti Issues Passport for Aristide
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
Move paves the way for the ousted president to return from exile ahead of a March 20 presidential runoff election.
→ read full articleWhy Bradley Manning Is a Patriot, Not a Criminal
Chase Madar - TomDispatch,
14 Feb 2011
An Opening Statement for the Defense of Private Manning – Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old from Crescent, Oklahoma, enlisted in the U.S. military in 2007 to give something back to his country and, he hoped, the world.
→ read full articleUK Food Speculation: GM Isn’t the Answer to Hunger
World Development Movement – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
“The Beddington report does not accurately reflect the real cause of hunger in developing countries. The current record food prices are down to banks and hedge funds betting on food. The hot speculative inflows of money into commodity markets are dramatically pushing up the price of foods like bread, sugar and corn. GM is not a magic bullet to cure global hunger. If the UK government really wants to reduce hunger in the developing world, they should break free of the grip of the GM and banking lobbyists, and crack down on predatory speculation by banks and hedge funds which will ensure stable and lower food prices.”
→ read full articleWorld History Unfolding – What Next?
Johan Galtung, 14 Feb 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
And then it happened: Mubarak out. Enormous cheers in Tahrir square; Egypt is Free! A historical deed, triggered by Tunisia, carried by a million heroes. Leaderless of course, as a strategy; leaders can easily be targeted. Everybody rallied around one idea, the ouster of Mubarak–like of Ben Ali in Tunisia. End of Act I…. Sooner or later the Camp David accords and the joint blockade of Gaza–outcomes of autocracy and bribery–will be on the table. Sooner or later the youth wave will hit more dominos; PLO, Syria, Iran, and the Big One–the Saudi Royal House. Maybe even that other Big One–Israel–liberating it from narcissism, paranoia, and generalocracy, to positive judaism. Maybe one day even the Biggest One–the USA–making it less corporate, more democratic.
→ read full articleInvesting in World Peace
Susan Carew (aka Peacefull Clown) - TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
A Poem
→ read full articleThe West and the Revolution
Vera Macht – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
With the revolutionary Egyptians being just a mouse click away, you can bethink yourself again of democracy meaning above all not to divide people in “we” and “them”. Remind yourself that you shouldn’t build up concepts of an enemy because of strangeness, but rather remember that all of us, whether in Europe or in Egypt, share a common humanity. And this is perhaps the time to just close the laptop, stop checking our Facebook pages for the hundredth time of the day for the latest news of virtual friends, and step out into the real world. Because our society also needs the Egyptian spark for the fight for a better tomorrow.
→ read full articleFinancial Interests Dictate Sovereign Policy
Michael Hudson – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
“Latvia has become a testing ground for how far living standards can be depressed, how steeply an economy can be taxed while removing public social support in the face of a wealthy kleptocratic class at the top.”
→ read full articleWhen Democracy Weakens
Bob Herbert – The New York Times,
14 Feb 2011
As the throngs celebrated in Cairo, I couldn’t help wondering about what is happening to democracy here in the United States. I think it’s on the ropes. We’re in serious danger of becoming a democracy in name only.
→ read full articleThis Modern World | Summarizing Egypt
Tom Tomorrow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Feb 2011
In Tom Tomorrow’s latest editorial cartoon “Conservabot” discusses the Egyptian uprising.
→ read full articleGoodbye to All That: Pox Americana
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
14 Feb 2011
As we’ve watched the dramatic events in the Middle East, you would hardly know that we had a thing to do with them. Oh yes, in the name of its War on Terror, Washington had for years backed most of the thuggish governments now under siege or anxious that they may be next in line to hear from their people.
→ read full article(French) Remettre les pendules à l’heure au Moyen-Orient
Peter Harling - Le Monde,
14 Feb 2011
L’irruption de la “rue arabe” (concept jusqu’ici bien commode par son abstraction) place l’Occident face à ses contradictions : si l’interpellation populaire de pouvoirs autocratiques et corrompus résonne avec les valeurs démocratiques dont on se targue à Washington, Paris et ailleurs, elle s’accorde mal avec les aspects pratiques d’une politique occidentale qui n’a jamais fait grand cas de l’opinion publique locale. Comment embrasser un élan populaire quand on est tout sauf populaire dans la région ?
→ read full article
TRANSCEND: Ideas and Insights
Johan Galtung | Alternate Focus – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
In this interview Galtung gives his views on a wide range of topics including the banality of diplomacy, as revealed by WikiLeaks, and the root causes of the 9/11 attacks. With his usual frankness, he offers a critique of Israel’s approach to solving the question of Palestine.
→ read full articleFAQ: The Palestine Papers
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
What are these papers? Why are they in English? We answer the most common questions.
→ read full article(French) Moubarak Degage!
Michel Collon – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Les dictateurs ne dictent pas, ils obéissent aux ordres- Michel Chossudovsky
“Il ne suffit pas d’abattre la marionnette, le problème, c’est le marionnettiste”
Egypt’s Transformative Moment: Revolution, Counterrevolution, or Reform
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 there have been two further transformative events that have reshaped in enduring ways the global setting. When the Soviet empire collapsed two years later, the way was opened for the triumphalist pursuit of the American Imperial Project, seizing the opportunity for geopolitical expansion provided by its self-anointed global leadership as ‘the sole surviving superpower.’ This first rupture in the character of world order…. The second rupture came with the 9/11 attacks, however those events are construed. The impact of the attacks transferred the locus of policymaking authority back to the United States, as state actor, under the rubrics of ‘the war on terror,’ ‘global security,’ and ‘the long war.’
→ read full articleAussie Human Rights Award for Julian Assange
Ryan Witcombe, Pro Bono Australia - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
The Sydney Peace Foundation has awarded its gold medal for ‘peace with justice’ to controversial WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange. The citation reads, ‘For exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights.’ The award is expected to be made to Assange in Sydney in mid May or at a ceremony in London later this year.
→ read full articleMemorandum on World Government
Nataraja Guru – World Government of World Citizens,
7 Feb 2011
Humanity is one by its common origin, one in its common interests and motives of happiness here on earth in everyday living, and one in its relation to the aspirations and ideals which bind human beings together by bonds of sympathy for each other. A Unitive and Absolute Value is at the basis of human life. This High Human Value knows no frontier either actual or ideological. It makes no discrimination between rich or poor, high or low, civilized or backward. Sympathy for suffering and indignation against injustice to fellow men transcends time and clime, and reaches out evenly or pointedly, as the case may deserve, to the uttermost recesses of the one world which man inhabits.
→ read full article
Money as Debt – The Money Masters
TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Paul Grignon explains in detail the current perverse monetary system based on debt (2006).
→ read full articleOcracy
Clay Bennett – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Political Cartoon
→ read full articleA Tale of Two Protests
Mohammed Khan – Al Jazeera,
7 Feb 2011
The subdued US reaction to events in Egypt sits in sharp contrast to its previous support for Iranian protesters. Cast your minds back to June 2009 and the aftermath of Iran’s disputed presidential elections. Months of unrest following the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and severe crackdowns meted out by the state security apparatus captured the airwaves not only in the Middle East but across the globe.
→ read full articleHis Name Was João
Jordi Cussó Porredón, Letter of Peace – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Letter of Peace Addressed to the UN. Time, many battles and much suffering have taught us that no one person is superior to another. It doesn’t matter if you are a carpenter, gardener, minister, black or white… the only thing that really matters is that we are human beings. Society must provide us all with the same opportunities because we are all equal.
→ read full articleWorld History Unfolding II
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
What a week! And we have no idea how many weeks are ahead of us!! We only know that the process cannot be reversed, and we can watch on CNN+ one reason why. That lack of understanding, picking the wrong discourses.
→ read full articleEarth is Our Common Home: The Forest Year
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
The United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 61/193 has proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of Forests “recognizing that forests and sustainable forest management can contribute significantly to sustainable development, poverty eradication and the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.”
→ read full articleOverkill: Future Weapons, Future Wars, and the New Arms Race
Nick Turse - TomDispatch,
7 Feb 2011
Six terrifying new weapons being created by the Pentagon. Here is the Pentagon’s battlefield vision of tomorrow.
→ read full articleWhy Egypt 2011 is not Iran 1979
Prof. Juan Cole, Informed Comment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Egypt is, unlike Iran, not primarily an oil state. Its sources of revenue are tourism, Suez Canal tolls, manufactured and agricultural exports, and strategic rent (the $1.5 bn. or so in aid from the US comes under this heading). Egypt depends on the rest of the world for grain imports. Were it to adopt a radical and defiant ideology like that of Iran, all its major sources of income would suddenly evaporate, and it might have trouble even just getting enough imported food. Moreover, the social forces making the revolution in Egypt have a significantly different profile and different dynamics than in Iran. Let us just go through the same list.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Como É Que o Dinheiro É Criado ?
TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
A maior parte das pessoas acredita que o Governo cria dinheiro cunhando moeda e imprimindo notas. Mas não é bem assim que isto acontece. Nos tempos em que se utilizava dinheiro físico (por exemplo moedas de metal precioso) as pessoas começaram a aceitar as notas de papel emitidas por um Banco em vez do metal precioso.
→ read full articleThe Pakistan Domino
Dr. Paul D Scott and Sarwar Bari – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
What has happened in Tunisia has spread to Morocco, the Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Mauritania, and Saudi Arabia. Though many revolutions had small and spontaneous beginning, early signs of alarm were always there. In all cases the ruling elites felt they were insulated from the flames. Here in Pakistan the elites are out of touch. It is as if the plight of millions in the countryside is happening in a faraway distant land. One only has to listen to know that something is in the making, the air has changed.
→ read full articleRemembering Howard Zinn on the Anniversary of His Death and Germinating the Seeds of Truth
Mark Karlin, Buzzflash editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
“You can’t be neutral on a moving train,” Howard Zinn said. Although he died over a year ago (January 27, 2010), no statement could be more timely considering the upheaval in Egypt.
→ read full articleJohn Pilger in Conversation with Julian Assange
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Watch a 70-minute interview with Julian Assange recorded during filming of John Pilger’s latest film ‘The War You Don’t See’.
→ read full article(French) Le Monde Arabe se Révolte
Alain Gresh - Le Monde Diplomatique,
7 Feb 2011
De la Tunisie à l’Egypte, un air de liberté.
→ read full articleShell Annual Profits Double to $18.6bn
BBC News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
The oil giant Shell has reported profits almost doubled from $9.8bn to $18.6bn (£11.5bn) for 2010, partly thanks to rising oil prices and output.
→ read full articleDisastrous Floods as Indicators of Systemic Risk Neglect
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Implications for Authoritative Response to Future Surprises. This is an exploration of the level of neglected risk visibly and dramatically highlighted by a number of recent highly publicized floods which have been framed as unforeseeable surprises. At the time of writing the prime example is in Australia on the occasion of the Queensland flood of 2010,which has been followed by flooding in Victoria.
→ read full articleIceland Shows Ireland Did ‘Wrong Things’ Saving Banks
Yalman Onaran - Bloomberg,
7 Feb 2011
Unlike other nations, including the U.S. and Ireland, which injected billions of dollars of capital into their financial institutions to keep them afloat, Iceland placed its biggest lenders in receivership. It chose not to protect creditors of the country’s banks.
→ read full articleStop Belo Monte—No Mega-Dam in the Amazon
Antonio C. S. Rosa, TMS Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Belo Monte would be a project bigger than the Panama Canal, flooding at least 400,000 acres of rainforest, displacing 40,000 indigenous and local people, and destroying the priceless habitats of countless unique species — all to create power that could easily be generated through investments in energy efficiency.
→ read full articleHaiti Allows Ex-President’s Return
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Haiti’s government has said it was ready to issue a new passport to Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former president, to would allow him to return to his country after almost seven years in exile in South Africa. “The government will give assurances that as soon as it receives such a request, it will be swiftly granted,” the information ministry said in a statement on Monday [31 Jan 2011].
→ read full article(Portuguese) Pare Belo Monte: Não à Mega Usina na Amazônia
Antonio C. S. Rosa, TMS Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
A hidrelétrica iria inundar pelo menos 400.000 hectares da floresta, impactar centenas de quilômetros do Rio Xingu e expulsar mais de 40.000 pessoas, incluindo comunidades indígenas de várias etnias que dependem do Xingu para sua sobrevivência. O projeto de R$30 bilhões é tão economicamente arriscado que o governo precisou usar fundos de pensão e financiamento público para pagar a maior parte do investimento. Apesar de ser a terceira maior hidrelétrica do mundo, ela seria a menos produtiva, gerando apenas 10% da sua capacidade no período da seca, de julho a outubro.
→ read full article
Will Hunting Had It Right 14 Years Ago
compelled2283 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
My favourite scene from Good Will Hunting and pertinent to the principles of liberty in its condemnation of killing people abroad who have done no harm to you personally. With inspiration from Howard Zinn.
→ read full articleIsrael Places Resources at Suleiman’s Disposal “To Protect the Egyptian Regime”
Middle East Monitor – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Well-placed Israeli sources have disclosed that the Zionist state has offered to place “all its capabilities” at the disposal of General Omar Suleiman, the recently appointed Vice President of Egypt, for the “protection of the regime in Egypt”. This offer includes the implementation of “various operations to end the popular revolution”. Israel has also asked Suleiman to work on preventing arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
→ read full articleTunisia and Egypt: Why Now?
Lawrence Davidson – Information Clearing House,
7 Feb 2011
For a very long time now the U.S. has put its money on the dictators. Washington has bought both them and their armies so as to have the leverage to economically exploit their countries and dictate their foreign policies. We officially call this arrangement “stability.”
→ read full articleWhen Corporations Choose Despots over Democracy
Amy Goodman – Truthdig,
7 Feb 2011
“People holding a sign ‘To: America. From: the Egyptian People. Stop supporting Mubarak. It’s over!” so tweeted my brave colleague, “Democracy Now!” senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous, from the streets of Cairo.
→ read full articleHaiti: Not for Amateurs
Amy Wilentz – The Nation,
7 Feb 2011
On election day in November, only 22.3 percent of Haiti’s eligible voters cast their ballots in what turned out to be an election plagued with fraud. The reason for the low turnout was apathy, coupled with the catastrophic loss of identity papers in the earthquake of January 2010. Given the miserable conditions of so many Haitians since the earthquake, the anemic turnout provided resounding evidence that Haitians don’t believe their vote matters.
→ read full articleHackers Shutdown Egyptian Regime’s Websites
Alex Newman - The New American,
7 Feb 2011
A loosely affiliated network of hackers around the world known as “Anonymous” took credit for shutting down the Egyptian regime’s websites in support of anti-government protestors. The group is also targeting other tyrants in the region.
→ read full articleWomen Lead Latin America’s Growing Anti-Militarization Movements
Laura Carlsen – Americas Program,
7 Feb 2011
When George W. Bush left the White House, the rest of the world breathed a sigh of relief. The National Security Doctrine of unilateral attacks, the invasion of Iraq under the false pretext of weapons of mass destruction, and the abandonment of multilateral forums had opened up a new phase of U.S. aggression. Despite the focus on the Middle East, the increased threat of U.S. military intervention cast a long shadow over many parts of the world. Two years later, that sense of relief has given way to deep concern. After hopes of a something closer to FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy of (relative) non-intervention, we find ourselves facing a new wave of militarization in Latin America–supported and promoted by the Obama administration.
→ read full articleReport: Cyprus Recognizes Palestinian States within 1967 Borders
Haaretz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
Cyprus has recognized a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said on Sunday [30 Jan 2011], following similar recent declarations coming mostly from South American states.
→ read full articleThe Carbon Market – Gone in a Puff of Smoke?
Sabina Manea – The Guardian,
7 Feb 2011
The entire EU trading system was shut down last Wednesday [23 Jan 2011], with credits worth €28m missing following a series of highly effective cyber attacks that have plunged the still emerging carbon market into chaos. To make matters worse, the EU’s ETS is a serial victim; eco-activist hackers shut down the EU carbon exchange website only six months ago. The European Commission’s decision to suspend trading was taken in the wake of break-ins into online accounts in a number of European countries, with the Czech Republic being the latest casualty. The chances of recovering the stolen credits are slim, even more so once the criminals have sold them on. Unlike the money paid for indulgences, carbon credits are nothing more than records in an online account.
→ read full articleThe Great Unravelling: Tunisia, Egypt and the Protracted Collapse of the American Empire
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
The toppling of dictator Ben Ali in Tunisia in the wake of mass protests and bloody street clashes has been widely recognized as signifying a major transformation in the future of politics and geopolitics for the major countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). There is little doubt that the Tunisian experience triggered the escalation of unprecedented protests in Egypt against the Mubarak regime. The question on every media pundit’s lips is, ‘Will events in Tunisia and Egypt have a domino effect throughout the Arab world?’
→ read full articleWikiLeaks: US and China in Military Standoff over Space Missiles
Tim Ross, Holly Watt and Christopher Hope – The Telegraph,
7 Feb 2011
The United States threatened to take military action against China during a secret “star wars” arms race within the past few years, according to leaked documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
→ read full articleWorld Social Forum 2011 Dakar-Senegal Feb 6-11
TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
1) What is the World Social Forum? The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action.
→ read full articleOmar Suleiman & “Foreign Elements”: A Chronology
Stephen Soldz – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
This is the monster the US considers an “acceptable” alternative leader in Egypt.
→ read full articleAge Is Not the Problem
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Feb 2011
A fifty year old man went for his annual health check-up to the doctor.
→ read full articleBrazil: Lending a Hand to Less Developed Countries
Mario Osava – TerraViva Europe,
7 Feb 2011
Mothers’ milk banks that are helping reduce infant mortality in Guatemala and are starting to be set up in Africa as well form part of the numerous social technologies developed by Brazil that are driving the fast growth of its international development cooperation.
→ read full article
Johan Galtung on ‘Breaking the Cycle of Violent Conflict’
UCtelevision – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jan 2011
“Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series,” University of California-San Diego, Jan 20 2011 — A noted pioneer in the field of Peace Studies, Johan Galtung makes the case for incorporating human rights as key to successful peace building around the world.
→ read full articleWorld History Unfolding I
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jan 2011
And then it happens, right there, for our eyes. The pattern, above all a product of the US-Israel alliance (inspired by Jesaiah 2:1-5), is unraveling. The pattern was always the same, by force or bribes or both to create “friendly governments”, “allies in the peace process” as VP Joe Biden–Obama’s foreign policy expert–says. These hours, these days. Some process.
→ read full article(French) Capitalisme Transnational ou Impérialisme Collectif?
Samir Amin – Pambazuka News,
31 Jan 2011
Samir Amin pense que le capitalisme est une réalité historique et sociale – et non seulement économique – qu’il importe d’étudier comme un ensemble de sociétés capitalistes à caractère nationale. Cela en dépit la transnationalisation. Et pour lui, «dans l’analyse de ces capitalismes nationaux, aujourd’hui comme hier, l’accent dans la recherche ne doit sans doute pas négliger l’examen des réalités que les firmes capitalistes représentent».
→ read full article