Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
Economic Attacks against Arab Democracy
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Palestine – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
In their latest documents and meetings, the G8, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reacted to the democratic movements in the Arab world: The recipe calls – as it did before the popular ousting of the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents – for privatization, austerity measures and “market liberation”.
→ read full articleHope in the Andes: What Ollanta Humala’s Victory Means for Peru
Benjamin Dangl – Toward Freedom,
13 Jun 2011
Ollanta is an Incan name meaning “the warrior everyone looks to.” Indeed, all eyes were on the leftist president-elect as he greeted the crowd. This election puts Humala among a growing number of leftist presidents in Latin America and offers hope to the poorest sectors of Peruvian society. The poverty rate in Peru is just over 31 percent. In Sunday’s elections, it was the impoverished rural areas that went for Humala over Kieko Fujimori.
→ read full articleUnderstanding Political Reality in Syria
Robin Edward Poulton, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
In his OpEd of June 3rd entitled The Depravity Factor, David Brooks writes emotionally about a murdered 13-year-old Syrian boy called Hamza Ali al-Khateeb. The descriptions and internet photographs of Hamza’s tortured body are horrible, but Brooks draws from this story a set of political conclusions that are unjustified by anything we know about Syria or the region we vaguely think of as the ‘Middle East’.
→ read full articleThe Great Land Grab: India’s War on Farmers
Vandana Shiva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Land, for most people in the world, is Terra Madre, Mother Earth, Bhoomi, Dharti Ma. The land is people’s identity; it is the ground of culture and economy. The bond with the land is a bond with Bhoomi, our Earth; 75 per cent of the people in the Third World live on the land and are supported by the land. The Earth is the biggest employer on the planet: 75 per cent of the wealth of the people of the global south is in land.
→ read full articleOld Age
TMS Editor,
13 Jun 2011
A woman walks up to an old man sitting in a chair on his porch.
→ read full articleSudan: Half the Horror Remains Untold
Tendai Marima – Al Jazeera,
13 Jun 2011
As the south prepares to declare independence, western media incorrectly frame current violence as entirely one-sided.
→ read full articlePeace Education: Source of National Unity and Global Harmony
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
The Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes peace as a “state of tranquility; freedom from war; cessation of hostilities; and harmony.” In a peaceful community, we notice a great serenity radiating in the hearts of its members. Genuine peace emanates from the inside.
→ read full article(Castellano) Los Piratas Somalíes: Pescadores en Lucha Contra el Saqueo Occidental
Johann Hari, Mohamed Abshirwaldo & Najad Abdullahi - TeleSur,
13 Jun 2011
La prensa comercial en los países del norte sólo hablan de ellos cada vez que un occidental es secuestrado. Nunca han contado le verdadera historia de los «piratas» somalíes ni las condiciones de vida de sus compatriotas. Esta gente está en lucha contra el pillaje de pesca occidental y la descarga de basura tóxica en sus aguas de los países industrializados, principalmente a cargo de las mafias europeas.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Haiti: Let Them Live on $3 a Day
Dan Coughlin and Kim Ives – The Nation,
13 Jun 2011
New revelations from WikiLeaks show how the US micromanaged Haiti’s economy and politics to align it to US interests. The US Embassy aided Fruit of the Loom, Levi’s and Hanes contractors in their fight against an increase in Haiti’s minimum wage. The factory owners refused to pay 62 cents per hour, or $5 per day, as a measure unanimously passed by the Haitian Parliament in June 2009 would have mandated. And they had the vigorous backing of the US Agency for International Development.
→ read full article‘Anonymous’ Warns NATO: ‘This Is No Longer Your World’
Graeme McMillan - Time,
13 Jun 2011
Anthropomorphic confusion aside, a NATO security report about “Anonymous”—the mysterious “hacktivist” group responsible for attacks on MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, Amazon and, most recently, Sony—has led the underground group to respond by cautioning NATO, “This is no longer your world. It is our world – the people’s world.”
→ read full articleA Fatally Flawed Recovery Plan: Greece Back on the Brink
Manfred Ertel, Christian Reiermann and Anne Seith – Der Spiegel,
13 Jun 2011
Greece needs even more money — EU officials estimate that a new bailout will cost over 100 billion euros rather than the previously assumed 60 billion. It will get the aid, even though the rescue strategy adopted so far seems doomed. The economy is shrinking, and ambitious privatization plans are illusory.
→ read full articleBlame the ’60s? The Catholic Church’s Latest Shameless Ploy
Jim Hightower - AlterNet,
13 Jun 2011
Pedophilia isn’t a social habit that one adopts. It’s a sickness. Deal with it. Honestly.
→ read full articleIMF Financial Terrorism
Stephen Lendman - Activist Post,
13 Jun 2011
Under a new post-war monetary system, the IMF was created to stabilize exchange rates linked to the dollar and bridge temporary payment imbalances. The World Bank was to provide credit to war-torn developing countries. Both bodies, in fact, proved hugely exploitive, using debt entrapment to transfer public wealth to Western bankers and other corporate predators. On a grander scale today, the scheme destructively obligates indebted nations to take new loans to service old ones, assuring rising indebtedness and structural adjustment harshness.
→ read full article‘Lasting Peace Only Possible with Hamas on Board’
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
It is time for the European Union to rethink its policy in the Middle East. That is the demand being made by 24 former heads of government, foreign ministers and peace negotiators. A Hamas recognition of Israel should be the goal rather than the precondition of the peace process, the leaders write in an open letter.
→ read full articleBit of [belated] Friendly Advice, Portugal
The Independent – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Dear Portugal, this is Ireland here. I know we don’t know each other very well, though I hear some of our developers are down with you riding out the recession. They could be there for a while. Anyway, I don’t mean to intrude but I’ve been reading about you in the papers and it strikes me that I might be able to offer you a bit of advice on where you are at and what lies ahead. As the joke now goes, what’s the difference between Portugal and Ireland? Five letters and six months.
→ read full articleReframing the Dynamics of Engaging with Otherness
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Triadic Correspondences between Topology, Kama Sutra and I Ching – Produced on the occasion of the open solicitation for proposals for the The Metaphor Program of the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity with participation of the US Army Research Laboratory. The challenge of engaging with “others” and their “otherness” is fundamental to the difficulties of governance at every level of society — from the global to the individual.
→ read full articleFormula One Race in Bahrain Cancelled
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Bahrain Grand Prix organisers cancel race amid accusations of human rights abuses in government crackdown on protesters. Last week’s postponement triggered outrage among human rights campaigners, who had organised more than 455,000 people to sign an online petition calling on sponsors to boycott the Bahrain race.
→ read full articleBack from the Dead: Astonishing Pictures Show How Japan Is Recovering Just Three Months after Tsunami
Emily Allen – Daily Mail,
13 Jun 2011
Three months on, these images show the Japanese people remain undaunted by the havoc nature has wreaked on their homeland as step by step they rebuild their nation.
→ read full articleUN Sends Discouraging Word to Second Freedom Flotilla
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Freedom Flotilla II Activists reject UN call to discourage initiative “Road to Gaza.” The second Freedom Flotilla sails the third week of June bound for the Gaza Strip. The UN Secretary-General last week called on Israel to “act responsibly” and avoid engaging in violence in this new attempt to break the blockade, but urged the leaders in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Sweden and Germany to convince the pro-Palestinian organizations not to participate in Freedom Flotilla II.
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Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day 2011
TMS Editor,
13 Jun 2011
A State-Supported Display of Racism and Hatred: Jun 1, 2011 – Israelis walking in the Arab neighbourhoud at 4 o’clock in the morning while chanting “Death to the Arabs”. Pure, senseless provocation.
→ read full articleU.S. Militarization in Latin America Condemned
Pravda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Conference condemns the militarization of Latin America by U.S. It is now necessary to consider the military bases, the actions of paramilitaries in Colombia, the different forms of state terrorism employed, the presence of U.S. troops in Haiti and the situation of Mexico, facing a war between drug trafficking cartels, which has left over 37,000 dead since December 2006.
→ read full article‘Sophisticated Cyber Attack’ Targets IMF
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
The International Monetary Fund’s computer system has been targeted in a cyber attack which sought to gain an ‘insider presence’ in the organisation’s network. An IMF spokesperson said on Saturday [11 Jun 2011] that the network was hacked and much information was stolen prior to the May 14 arrest of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but would not release more details about what was taken. “This was a very major breach,” a senior official with knowledge of the attack told the New York Times.
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(Castellano) Eduardo Galeano en la Acampada Catalunya, Barcelona
TMS Editor,
13 Jun 2011
LEGENDADO EM PORTUGUES – Con los Indignados de Espana: Eduardo Galeano–famoso escritor, jornalista e novelista uruguaio–na Praça Catalunya, Barcelona, transmite uma mensagem inspiradora, penetrante e honesta para a juventude.
→ read full articleThe Rage of the ‘Indignants’: A European Generation Takes to the Streets
Mathieu von Rohr and Helene Zuber - Der Spiegel,
13 Jun 2011
For weeks, hundreds of young people have been camping out in central Madrid. And others across Europe have now begun following their example. Protests in Lisbon, Paris, Athens and elsewhere show that Europe’s lost generation has finally found its voice.
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Economic Hit Men
John Perkins – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
An animated presentation by John Perkins, author of ‘Hood Winked’ and ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.’
→ read full articleRewitnessing the Past
P.V. Rajagopal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Sunday June 5th, 2011 will be remembered as a day of chaos, confusion and shock for the civil society organizations throughout India. While most people were sleeping, 5,000 policemen stormed the premises of Ramlila Maidan fairground of New Delhi –a place where people take up nonviolent protest, and the police practiced the lost art of using sticks to beat human beings while they were sleeping. This short note is to ask all friends and supporters of nonviolent struggles for the rights of marginalized to join hands and express global solidarity for change.
→ read full articleEuropean Opposition to Death Penalty: German Minister Denies US Request for Execution Drugs
Der Spiegel – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
For months, dozens of US states have been facing shortages of a drug necessary in lethal injections administered to death-row prisoners. But German Economics Minister Philipp Rösler this week declined a request from his counterpart, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, to help out.
→ read full articleLandmark Agreement on Amazon Oilfields Shows Indigenous Movements’ New Power
Darrin Mortenson - Truthout,
13 Jun 2011
The twist on an otherwise old story was that, after several years of violent protests over resource extraction throughout the Amazon, this group of 18 Quechua Apus, or community chiefs, confidently strode into the government building wearing face paint and headbands, flanked by a team of lawyers, anthropologists and media, and demanded to see the governor. They walked out three days later with a contract for new schools, doctors, and other infrastructure, as well as a government pledge to conduct blood and water tests that could be used as evidence in a possible lawsuit. And, with Gov. Iván Vásquez, they seemed to have made a powerful new friend.
→ read full articleApproaches to Citizen-Centric Policing
Bishnu Pathak, PhD – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2011
Citizen-Centric Policing (CCP) or Neighborhood Policing (NP) is radar of Community Policing (CP). The CP is a policing practice that aims to increase interaction between citizens and police officials for public safety and quality of life in the community. More than tactics, strategy, and technique, it has become the national mantra to spring up in urban, suburban, and even rural police departments or police stations. The CP promises to change relationships progressively to improve the living conditions of neighborhoods.
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Richard Falk on the Golan Clashes
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
5 Jun 2011 – Richard Falk is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
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Despite Intelligence Rejecting Iran Nuclear Threat, US May Be Headed for Iraq Redux (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
Seymour Hersh – Democracy NOW!,
6 Jun 2011
Democracy Now! interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh about his latest article for the New Yorker magazine, “Iran and the Bomb: How Real is the Nuclear Threat?”, in which he reports that the United States might attack Iran based on distorted estimates of Iran’s nuclear and military threat—just like it did with Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq.
→ read full articleFIA-Bahrain: Putting Money before Morality?
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
Motorsports world governing body [Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile-FIA] votes to hold Bahrain Grand Prix despite concerns from human rights groups.
→ read full articleA Shameless Secretary General versus Freedom Flotilla 2
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
In light of these surrounding circumstances, including the failure of Israel to live up to its announced promise after the attack in 2010 to lift the blockade, it shocks our moral and legal sensibilities that the UN Secretary General should be using the authority of his office to urge member governments to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla 2.
→ read full articleWho Does the Preah Vihear Temple Belong To?
Tom Fawthrop – Al Jazeera,
6 Jun 2011
Thailand-Cambodia conflict over ancient temple site sparks debate over borders and historic rights. Aggressive nationalism, a politicised Thai army asserting a stronger role in politics, the current election campaign, and the country’s chronic instability, have effectively derailed plans by Cambodia and UNESCO to move forward with heritage conservation to restore the temple.
→ read full articleBuying Time: Global Leaders Play the Game As Israeli Settlements Expand
Ashley Lackovich-van Gorp – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
Young Israelis, who have grown up with the social construction that Palestinian land is nothing more than a fabrication of the anti-Semitic international community, do not realize that some of the East Jerusalem communities, such as the entire city of Ma’ale Adumim, are actually settlements. These settlements look, act and function like any other Israeli town. These young Israelis, then, are more victims of an ideology than deliberate perpetrators of occupation. The Occupation is a tragedy not only to Palestinian youth, but Israeli youth as well.
→ read full article‘The People Don’t Want War’
Jim Albertini, Center for Nonviolent Education and Action – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
Truth From An Unexpected Source – ”Why of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” – Herman Goering, Nazi Germany
→ read full articleOxfam: Hunger Will Strike
The Independent – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
The charity warns that we will be unable to feed the world by 2050. Is it politics, global warming or greed that has got us here? And, asks Sean O’Grady, why aren’t we changing our behaviour to ensure a safer future?
→ read full articleThe Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families (Part 1)
Dean Henderson | Global Research - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
The Four Horsemen of Banking (Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) own the Four Horsemen of Oil (Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, BP and Chevron Texaco); in tandem with Deutsche Bank, BNP, Barclays and other European old money behemoths. But their monopoly over the global economy does not end at the edge of the oil patch. According to company 10K filings to the SEC, the Four Horsemen of Banking are among the top ten stock holders of virtually every Fortune 500 corporation.
→ read full articleElections-Portugal: Rubberstamping IMF Prescriptions
Mario Queiroz – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
Voters in crisis-stricken Portugal will go to the ballot boxes next Sunday [5 Jun 2011] to choose not a government, but something more like delegates who will administer decisions already taken by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The new government has already been described by analysts as a “board of administrators” delegated by the troika that approved the country’s financial rescue plan.
→ read full articleWorld’s Food System Broken
Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter – The Independent,
6 Jun 2011
Doubling of prices and 70 per cent rise in demand means millions more will go hungry.
→ read full articleThe Last Nail by Ron Paul — With Documented Hyperlinks
Thomas R. Eddlem - New American,
6 Jun 2011
Congressman Ron Paul delivered a five-minute speech on the floor of the House of Representatives May 25, a short speech that may sound to the uninformed like one wild statement after another. In his speech, Dr. Paul (he’s an obstetrician) made a number of charges that the executive branch of government has established a virtual dictatorship with the willing assistance of Congress and many Americans who fear for their “security.”
→ read full articleHelp
TMS Editor,
6 Jun 2011
One afternoon a man was riding in his limousine when he noticed two men eating grass by the road side. He ordered his driver to stop and got out to investigate.
→ read full articleGlobal War on Drugs ‘A Failure’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
A high-level international commission has declared the global “war on drugs” to be a failure, and has urged countries to consider legalising certain drugs, including cannabis, in a bid to undermine organised crime. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, in its report released on Thursday [2 Jun 2011], called for a new approach to the current strategy of reducing drug abuse by strictly criminalising drugs and incarcerating users.
→ read full articleA Report That Dares to Tell the Truth to Power
The Independent, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
Global commissions normally tell international leaders what they want to hear. But the Global Commission on Drug Policy – which has called on the services of distinguished names such Paul Volcker, Kofi Annan, Mario Vargas Llosa and Javier Solana – has done something very different. Instead of telling world leaders what they want to hear, the commission has, instead, told them the truth.
→ read full articleDumb Question of the Twenty-first Century: Is It Legal?
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch,
6 Jun 2011
Is the Libyan war legal? Was Bin Laden’s killing legal? Is it legal for the president of the United States to target an American citizen for assassination? Were those “enhanced interrogation techniques” legal? These are all questions raised in recent weeks. Each seems to call out for debate, for answers. Or does it? My answer is this: they are irrelevant.
→ read full articleThe U.S.-Israeli Train Wreck
Jeff Gates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
Critics doubt that the General Assembly has the authority to recognize Palestine. Yet protection of member sovereignty has been a goal of the U.N. since its founding. Thus the priority that Israel placed on U.N. recognition after President Harry Truman acknowledged Israel on May 14, 1948, eleven minutes after the Zionist enclave declared itself a state.
→ read full articleAn Unpalatable Truth: The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism
John Pilger – Information Clearing House,
6 Jun 2011
This prize is in honour of one of the 20th century’s greatest reporters. Julian Assange is an editor, publisher and journalist in the oldest and finest tradition of our craft. He is brave. He is a true agent of people; and I should say that those who dismiss him a hacker merely betray themselves as hacks.
→ read full article8 June: Day of the Oceans
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
The Spirit of Thor Heyerdahl Sails On – The United Nations General Assembly has designated 8 June each year to be The Day of the Oceans and the Law of the Sea.
→ read full articleTime Running Out for Two-State Solution
Mel Frykberg – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Time is of the essence if the implementation of a two-state solution to end the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to succeed. Changing demographics both within Israeli and Palestinian society could render this impossible, with a one-state solution the only feasible outcome. An eventual one-state solution, however, would lead to two possible scenarios. Either Israel would extend the franchise to all Palestinians in the occupied territories, which would lead to the end of Israel’s Jewish character, or Palestinians would be denied the vote and Israel would be officially pronounced an apartheid state.
→ read full articleGod Is Not A Christian: And Other Provocations
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1984 Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
‘God is clearly not a Christian. His concern is for all his children. To claim God exclusively for Christians is to make God too small… God is bigger than Christians and cares for more than Christians only.’
→ read full article“Business is Booming”: Wall Street’s Role in Narco-trafficking
Mike Whitney – Information Clearing House,
6 Jun 2011
Repeat: “Every major bank in the US has served as an active financial partner of the murderous drug cartels…” The War on Drugs is a fraud. This isn’t about interdiction; it’s about control. Washington provides the muscle so the banks can rake in the big doe. One hand washes the other, just like the Mafia.
→ read full article(Castellano) America la Bella
Johan Galtung, 23 de mayo de 2011 – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
¿Qué es lo que caracteriza, de modo específico, único, a los EE.UU.? Es la gente, ¡estúpido! Los americanos – disculpas a América Latina – América, la bella. ¿Cómo? ¿Qué? ¿Por qué? Vamos a intentarlo. Empezando con un hecho fundamental: con nadie en el mundo es tan fácil, no aburrido, hablar como con un americano. Abiertos, con nombres propios, sin barreras, lenguaje corporal y lenguaje verbal con encanto, contacto visual directo.
→ read full articleTowards the Eradication of Global Hunger and Undernutrition
Xin-Ying Ren and Fred Dubee, UN MaximsNews – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
While we tend to think in terms of hundreds of millions of deprived and stunted lives, the reality is that each starving child, each malnourished expectant mother, each person who does not have the energy to develop, learn or contribute is a horrible tragedy, and together these individual tragedies add up to an unacceptable loss to the human commonwealth. Simply stated hunger and undernutrition are among the most severe and least addressed challenges facing humanity today.
→ read full articleAre Palestinian Children Less Worthy?
Joseph Massad – Al Jazeera,
6 Jun 2011
Although Palestinian children endure lives of suffering, Obama’s love for their Israeli counterparts knows no limit. What is it about Jewish and Arab children that privileges the first and spurns the second in his speeches? Are Jewish children smarter, prettier, whiter? Are they deserving of sympathy and solidarity, denied to Arab children, because they are innocent, “the children of Israel”? Or, is it that Arab children are dangerous, threatening, guilty, even dark and ugly? Not only are Palestinian children guilty of hating Israeli Jews, but also, Obama insists, they have no reason to hate Jews unless their evil elders indoctrinate them to do so.
→ read full articleArab Spring Wary of Economic Lifelines
Cam McGrath – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
Governments and international institutions that once bankrolled the authoritarian regimes of Tunisia’s Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak have begun floating aid packages to speed up the economic recovery and transition to democracy in these countries. Arab revolutionaries have reason to be wary.
→ read full articleFukushima 3/11 – A Turning Point?
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
We had 9/11; now we also have 3/11, March 11 2011 (AT 1446), the triple seaquake-tsunami-radiation disaster. Ground zero was an ocean zero, and the country that gave the world the word “tsunami” was hit by one up to 41 meters high. And there was Fukushima Dai-ichi, one of Japan’s 54 nuclear power plants, with six units, 1-6; on the beach, offering itself to the primordial rage of the tsunami.
→ read full articleCamp Sol: Spain’s “Indignant” Give Lessons in True Democracy
María Carrión – Common Dreams,
6 Jun 2011
The seeds sown by Camp Sol are the assemblies and open mike sessions that have spread to hundreds of neighborhoods, towns and villages across Spain. Although there is a prevalence of young people, the movement is increasingly attracting older folks ranging from families with children to middle-aged professionals and retirees — all deeply affected by the deep economic crisis and the government’s austerity measures. Young “Indignants” in other cities such as Paris, Athens, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Brussels have supported the movement with protests of their own.
→ read full article‘Europe Worsening Hunger Worldwide’
Timothy Spence – TerraViva Europe,
6 Jun 2011
With spiralling food prices threatening to leave millions more people hungry every year, European countries must abandon subsidies and higher production targets for biofuels, the anti-poverty group Oxfam warns.
→ read full articleAnonymous Declares ‘Cyberwar’ On the IMF
Jérôme E. Roos – ROAR Magazine,
6 Jun 2011
The struggle of the Greek people against the IMF has taken a new turn recently, as Anonymous declared its intention to launch a series of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on the Fund in retaliation for the IMF’s treatment of the Greek people.
→ read full articleChiquita Bananas Fund Terrorists
Curt Anderson, Associated Press – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2011
The Chiquita lawsuit cites a number of AUC massacres, including a July 1997 operation in the town of Mapiripan in which at least 49 people were tortured, dismembered and decapitated. In February 2000, about 300 AUC troops tortured dozens of people and killed 36 people. In 2001, Chiquita was identified in invoices and other documents as the recipient of a shipment from Nicaragua of 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition. The guns and ammo were unloaded by Chiquita employees, stored at Chiquita warehouses, and then delivered by trucks to the AUC, court papers said.
→ read full articleHope and Resistance in Honduras
Amy Goodman - Truthdig,
6 Jun 2011
As the only U.S. journalist on Zelaya’s flight home, I asked him how he felt about his imminent return. “Full of hope and optimism,” he said. “Political action is possible instead of armaments. No to violence. No to military coups. Coups never more.” When Zelaya landed in Honduras, he kneeled down and kissed the ground. He was greeted by tens of thousands of people cheering and waving the black-and-red flag of the movement born after the coup, the FNRP, or National Front of Popular Resistance, “the resistance” that Zelaya now leads.
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Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater Founder Erik Prince’s Effort to Build a Private Army in the UAE (Part 1 of 2)
Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW! - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill is interviewed on Democracy Now! about how the United Arab Emirates has confirmed hiring a company headed by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of the military firm Blackwater. According to the New York Times, the UAE secretly signed a $529 million contract with Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign mercenaries. Documents show the force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from attacks, and put down internal revolts.
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Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater Founder Erik Prince’s Effort to Build a Private Army in the UAE (Part 2 of 2)
Amy Goodman – Democracy NOW!,
30 May 2011
Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill is interviewed on Democracy Now! about how the United Arab Emirates has confirmed hiring a company headed by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of the military firm Blackwater. According to the New York Times, the UAE secretly signed a $529 million contract with Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign mercenaries.
→ read full articleMladic Arrest: What about the NATO War Criminals?
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey - Pravda,
30 May 2011
Ratko Mladic has been arrested and his extradition to the International Penal Court is under way. As the NATO leaders make their victory speeches, let us ask this question: When is NATO going to stand in the dock and when are its leaders going to answer for their crimes? The answer in a world without international law is very simple: Never.
→ read full article(Castellano) ‘La Unasur Seguirá Trabajando para Fortalecer Zona de Paz’
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
“Lo más importante es mantener a los presidentes, a los jefes de Estado, a las jefas de Estado con ese convencimiento, no bajar la guardia nunca, a pesar de que no haya una crisis inminente ni una amenaza real a la democracia en nuestra región. Que en épocas de paz logremos el mismo poder de convencimiento que ellos y ellas tuvieron en épocas de confrontaciones o de dificultades.”
→ read full articleBad News from the BBC: ‘Replete with Imbalance and Distortion’
Media Lens – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
One of the main headlines on the BBC news homepage earlier this month read, ‘Violence erupts at Israel borders’. Israeli soldiers had shot dead at least 12 protesters and injured dozens more. BBC ‘impartiality’ decreed that the brutal killings were presented almost as an act of nature, a volcanic eruption that simply happened.
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FBI Targeting Political Activists as Terrorists
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
Anti-terrorism resources are being used to target environmentalists, peace, animal and political activists who hold different views than the government. It was recently revealed that a counter-terrorism firm spied on individuals who attended film screenings of the documentary Gasland. The film focuses on the practice of natural gas fracking and what impact it has on the environment and in the communities where it is used.
→ read full articleThe Consensus Delusion: Mysterious Attractor Undermining Global Civilization As Currently Imagined
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
The so-called global civilization is a quarrelsome environment. Appeals for consensus are typically pathetic exercises in tokenism in their effective influence on the reality of psychosocial dynamics. Vast resources are nevertheless allocated on the assumption that consensus will be achieved. Is it possible that the quest for consensus, as currently imagined, will be considered pathological by the future? An approach to the challenge has been helpfully made in the highly controversial study by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion, 2006), from which the above title is adapted as a “methodological device”.
→ read full articleArab League Seeks UN Recognition of Palestine
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
The Arab League has said it backs seeking UN recognition for a Palestinian state, as Qatar proposed at a meeting that the Middle East peace process be suspended until Israel was “ready” for talks. In a statement it said that it “supports the appeal to the UN asking that Palestine, within the 1967 borders, becomes a full-fledged state” of the international organisation.
→ read full articleHaiti’s Humanitarian Crisis: Rooted In History of Military Coups and Occupations
Roger Annis and Kim Ives – International Socialist Review,
30 May 2011
“We want to turn Haiti into a capitalist country, an export platform for the U.S. market, it’s absurd,” he said. “When the level of unemployment is 80 percent, it is unbearable to deploy a stabilization mission. There is nothing to stabilize and everything to build.” We must build roads, erect dams, participate in the organization of the State, the judicial system. The UN says it has no mandate for that. Its mandate in Haiti is to keep the peace of the graveyard.
→ read full article(Castellano) Chile: Senado Vendió a Monsanto la Semilla Campesina e Indígena
Lucía Sepúlveda Ruiz - Movimiento Anti Nuevo Orden Mundial (NWO),
30 May 2011
Con 13 votos a favor (de la derecha y uno de la Concertación), 5 en contra y 6 abstenciones, el Senado de Chile aprobó el 11 de mayo [2011] el Convenio Upov 91 que impedirá a los campesinos guardar la semilla y extenderá el tiempo de vigencia de los derechos y garantías de las transnacionales que vendan semillas híbridas y transgénicas en el país.
→ read full articleSlash and Burn: Brazil Shreds Laws Protecting Its Rainforests
Guy Adams – The Independent,
30 May 2011
The new bill relaxes laws on the deforestation of hilltops and the amount of vegetation farmers must preserve. Partial amnesties will also be offered for previous fines.
→ read full articleObama’s AIPAC Speech: A Further Betrayal of the Palestinian People
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
After such a speech the only responsible response by the Palestinian leadership is to conclude once and for all, however belatedly, that it is no longer possible to look to Washington for guidance in reaching a peaceful, just, and sustainable resolution of the conflict.
→ read full articleGreat Discovery
TMS Editor,
30 May 2011
A fifteen year old Amish boy and his father were in a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.
→ read full articleSelf-Proclaimed Pro-Life American Politicians in True Perspective
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
The United States is a very complex nation. Although we may understand various facets of this politically confused country, we do encounter problems. In the first place, the ultimate source of power does not lie with its government but with its big corporations that finance the election of all leading governmental officials.
→ read full articleEgypt Opens Rafah Border with Gaza
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
Egypt has reopened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, allowing the coastal territory’s Palestinian residents to cross freely for the first time in four years – a sharp departure from the policies of Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president. The opening on Saturday morning [28 May 2011] provided long-awaited relief for Palestinians. The move was ushered in by Egypt’s new government in a bid to ease the suffering of the territory’s residents.
→ read full articleWelcome To the Violent World of Mr. Hopey Changey
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
And as “Mr. Hopey Changey” (the name that Ted Rall, the great American cartoonist, gives Barack Obama), is fawned upon by the British elite and launches another insufferable presidential campaign, the Anglo-American reign of terror proceeds in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In Libya there is a tribal civil war; and the armed uprising against Gaddafi has long been appropriated by the Americans, French and British, a repeat of the “shock and awe” in Iraq that left thousands of civilians dead and maimed. As in Iraq, the victims, which include countless incinerated Libyan army conscripts, are media unpeople.
→ read full articleIs Fukushima Now Ten Chernobyls into the Sea?
Harvey Wasserman – Common Dreams,
30 May 2011
New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the on-going crisis at Fukushima are ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas during Chernobyl. Fukushima’s owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, has confirmed that fuel at Unit One melted BEFORE the arrival of the March 11 tsunami. This critical revelation confirms that the early stages of that melt-down were set in motion by the earthquake that sent tremors into Japan from a relatively far distance out to sea.
→ read full articleUS Military Contractor Attacked by Hackers
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world’s largest military contractor, has been attacked by hackers in what officials say is “significant and tenacious” cyber attack. The world’s biggest aerospace company and US government’s top information technology provider said on Saturday [28 May 2011] it thwarted the cyber attack but refused to give further details.
→ read full articleAre We in The Presence of the Fourth Reich?
Basem Tajeldine - Pravda,
30 May 2011
William I. Robinson says: “You cannot currently qualify the U.S. regime as fascist. However, all the conditions and processes are present and being propagated.” But it can be said that the conditions for revolutionary possibilities in the capitalist centers of the world are being created. The popular uprisings in Europe have begun to spread to Greece, Spain, Portugal, and possibly to France and Britain. The idea is correct that capitalism in crisis becomes more violent. It resembles a cornered and wounded animal that attacks because of fear and the instinct for survival. The violence of capital in crisis is the act of survival.
→ read full articleBibi and the Yo-Yos
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
There they were, the members of the highest legislative bodies of the world’s only superpower, flying up and down like so many yo-yos, applauding wildly, every few minutes or seconds, the most outrageous lies and distortions of Binyamin Netanyahu.
→ read full articleGreenpeace Slams Japan Response to Nuclear Crisis, Cites Sea Radiation
Reuters – Scientific American,
30 May 2011
Environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday [26 May 2011] slammed Japan’s “continued inadequate response” to the nuclear disaster at a power plant after new data showed seaweed radiation levels 50 times higher than official limits. “In contrast, Japanese authorities claim that radioactivity is being dispersed or diluted and are undertaking only limited marine radiation monitoring,” it said.
→ read full articleStalin’s Discs Torment Mainstream Media
NameNotFound – Russia Today,
30 May 2011
Joseph Stalin and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele joined forces and bred deformed children who looked like aliens but were able to fly advanced aircraft like Top Gun pilots. No, seriously. I read it in a book written by “a national security reporter and contributing editor to The Los Angeles Times Magazine”, one Annie Jacobsen. I kid you not. The quote is from the New York Times review of her book.
→ read full articleLatin America Progresses Forward- A Victory for Gay Rights
Katie Soltis – Council on Hemispheric Affairs,
30 May 2011
The recent victories for gay rights exemplify the considerable progress toward the region’s consolidation of democracy. The three Latin American countries that have now legalized same-sex unions—Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay—were each ruled by repressive military regimes just over two decades ago.
→ read full articleRatko Mladic’s Arrest and Coming Trial: A Step Forward for World Law
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
The wheels of karma turn slowly. As there is no longer anything at stake, more people today will agree that killing people who thought that they were protected in UN-proclaimed safe havens is not a good thing.
→ read full article(Castellano) ¿Qué pasó con la izquierda occidental?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
La izquierda occidental ha de abrirse, no sólo limitarse a recitar “¡Globalización NO!” Un No no lleva a ningún lado. Se necesitan algunos Sí. Y creatividad.
→ read full articleWhat Price the Fukushima Meltdown? Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima
Prof. Matthew Penney & Prof. Mark Selden – The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus,
30 May 2011
On April 12, 2011 the Japanese government officially announced that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had reached level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Before Fukushima, the only level 7 case was the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, whose 25th anniversary was marked on April 26. Following the upgrade to level 7, Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office released a statement comparing Fukushima and Chernobyl, arguing that apart from children who contracted thyroid cancer from drinking contaminated milk, there have been no health effects among ordinary citizens as a result of Chernobyl radiation. Is this really the case? Hardly.
→ read full articleThe Secret Wars of the Saudi-Israeli Alliance
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – Global Research,
30 May 2011
The ties of the Al-Sauds to Tel Aviv have in recent years become increasingly visible and pervasive. This secret Israeli-Saudi alliance exists within the context of a broader Khaliji-Israeli alliance. The alliance with Israel is formed through strategic cooperation between the ruling families of Saudi Arabia and the Arab sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf. Together Israel and the Khaliji ruling families form a frontline for Washington and NATO against Iran and its regional allies. The alliance also acts on behalf of Washington to destabilize the region.
→ read full articleMani Bhavan and Gandhi
Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 May 2011
In Gandhi’s living room on the second floor, one can see from the glass the original Charkha (the spinning wheel, Gandhi’s symbol of self-dependence) he was using, his bed on the floor, his Kadam (wooden slipper), his book stand, and many other things. I imagined Gandhi while viewing that room. The room is still there, the great soul has departed, but his ideas still reverberate in the world. We all know how great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela and many others were influenced by him. I remember reading somewhere how one of the great peace activists of our time Johan Galtung started crying at the news of the departure of the great soul.
→ read full articleThe Unchanged Path to Mideast Peace
Jimmy Carter – The New York Times,
30 May 2011
It was not a new U.S. policy concerning the borders of Israel, nor should it have been surprising to Israeli leaders, when President Obama stated: “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
→ read full articleOnce Upon A Time
Tom Tomorrow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
This Modern World – Political Cartoon
→ read full articleFoodies vs. Darwin: How Meat Eaters Ignore Science
James McWilliams – Atlantic Monthly,
23 May 2011
Cooking and savoring animals used to be acceptable—but then came evolution, genetics, and the study of non-human thought. What if we discussed the moral and legal rights of animals with the same level of detail we bring to discussion about where to find the best prosciutto?
→ read full articleCurbing Foreign Ownership of Farmland
Marcela Valente – Al Jazeera,
23 May 2011
As international food prices continue to soar, land purchases by foreign investors face ban in much of Latin America. The governments of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are drafting laws to curb acquisition by foreigners of extensive tracts of their fertile agricultural land.
→ read full articleRating Agencies Face Crackdown
Ben Protess – The New York Times,
23 May 2011
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed sweeping new rules on Wednesday (18 May 2011] to overhaul the rating business — regulations that would force tougher internal controls, potentially curb conflicts of interest and even mandate that the agencies periodically test the competence of their employees. The rating agencies in recent years became a target in Washington, as regulators and lawmakers blamed them for feeding the mortgage bubble by awarding top grades to bonds backed by subprime mortgages. The investments later soured, driving the economy to the brink.
→ read full articleEurope: The Epidemic of Xenophobia
Emma Bonino – TerraViva Europe,
23 May 2011
Diversity, which has been a positive constant throughout our history, is now considered a threat. The signs are plain to see: a propagation of intolerance and fanaticism, growing support for populist and xenophobic parties, an ever more massive presence of immigrants without status or rights, “parallel” communities that do not interact with the rest of society, the repression of individual freedoms, and democracies in crisis.
→ read full articleWorlds Collide in a Luxury Suite
Rebecca Solnit – TomDispatch,
23 May 2011
How can I tell a story we already know too well? Her name was Africa. His was France. He colonized her, exploited her, silenced her, and even decades after it was supposed to have ended, still acted with a high hand in resolving her affairs in places like Côte d’Ivoire. Her name was Africa. His name was IMF. He set her up to be pillaged, to go without health care, to starve. He laid waste to her to enrich his friends. Her name was Global South. His name was Washington Consensus. But his winning streak was running out and her star was rising.
→ read full articleThe Reckoning: Press Freedom in Sri Lanka
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
We are living in a world where committed journalists write the news not only with ink, but also with their blood. This is the very reason that their souls still exist with us even after their tragic deaths. Sri Lanka is the very recent example for such context. Thirty-four journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government came into power in April 2004 with the present President Mahinda Rajapaksa as its prime minister.
→ read full articleDefiant Spaniards Continue Protests
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
Tens of thousands of protesters furious over soaring unemployment keep up their week-long movement on Election Day.
→ read full articleWho’s Killing the Journalists of Honduras?
Andrew O'Reilly - Latin American News Dispatch,
23 May 2011
While many blame drug-trafficking organizations that use Honduras as a stopover point between South America and Mexico for the spike in violence against media workers, others point a finger at the Honduran government and their crackdown on opposition journalists after the June 2009 coup.
→ read full article
Organized Crime ‘Industry’ Gone Mainstream Worldwide
TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2011
From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders. His book, McMafia, is an exhaustive look at an unseen industry that Glenny believes may account for 15% of the world’s GDP. Glenny suggests that conventional law enforcement might not be able to combat a problem whose roots lie in global instability.
→ read full article