Articles by M
We found 37535 results.
Latin America: The Decade that Transformed a Continent
Raúl Zibechi – Americas Program,
17 Jan 2011
In many ways, the first decade of the 21st Century was the flip side of the last decade of the twentieth century in South America. There have been numerous and significant changes. We still don’t know if it’s a glitch in time or a new beginning. In any case, the region will never be the same.
→ read full articlePetition in Defence of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Antonio C. S. Rosa, TMS Editor,
17 Jan 2011
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s public criticism of Israeli policy towards Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank has triggered accusations of anti-Semitism and calls for him to step down as patron of the South African Holocaust Foundation. Sign a petition in support of a man whose ‘life has been lived in the spirit of “never again” – the ultimate lesson of the Holocaust.’
→ read full articleEmpire of Bases 2.0
Nick Turse – TomDispatch,
17 Jan 2011
Does the Pentagon Really Have 1,180 Foreign Bases?
→ read full articleSoldier’s Inhumane Imprisonment
Los Angeles Times, Editorial – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
For five months, Pfc. Bradley Manning is confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, with no sheets and without exercise, while he awaits trial on charges of providing documents to WikiLeaks…. The conditions under which he is being held at the Marine detention center at Quantico, Va., are so harsh as to suggest he is being punished for conduct of which he hasn’t been convicted.
→ read full articleThe Emerging Peace and Security Architecture in the Horn of Africa: Prospects and Challenges
Alemayehu Fentaw – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
This paper looks at the Horn of Africa as a regional security complex. It attempts to consider the new Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Peace and Security Strategy as laying the foundation for the emerging peace and security architecture for the sub-region and subjects it to critical scrutiny. In so doing, it appraises the prospects and challenges facing the nascent peace and security architecture in the Horn of Africa.
→ read full article(Italian) CM 2011.un invito ad essere cittadini protagonisti
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jan 2011
COLLETTIVAMENTE MEMORIA 2011 – dedicato ai deportati politici Italo Tibaldi e Ida Desandré e alla staffetta partigiana Anna Dati.
→ read full articleIs Lockheed Martin Shadowing You?
William D. Hartung – TomDispatch,
17 Jan 2011
How a Giant Weapons Maker Became the New Big Brother: After all, it received $36 billion in government contracts in 2008 alone, more than any company in history. It now does work for more than two dozen government agencies from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s involved in surveillance and information processing for the CIA, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Pentagon, the Census Bureau, and the Postal Service.
→ read full articleTwo Indias: Gandhiji and Modern India
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Talk Given in New Delhi, Dec 30 2010 — Gandhi was killed not far from where we are right now by a Pune brahmin, Godse, and I was that 17-year-old boy in Norway who cried when hearing the news. Something unheard of had happened.
→ read full articleAbout the Editorial “Islam and the West – Some Differences” – Nov. 29, 2010
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Readers have kindly pointed out two unfortunate formulations.
→ read full articleSudan Referendum: Southerners Flood Home to Vote in Post-War Secession Poll
Mike Pflanz – The Telegraph,
10 Jan 2011
Tens of thousands of Sudanese are flooding ‘home’ ahead of a vote on Sunday [9 Jan 2011] which is expected to split Africa’s largest country in two and create the world’s newest nation.
→ read full articleDirty Politicians
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
A cannibal was walking through the jungle and came upon a restaurant operated by a fellow cannibal.
→ read full articleThe Very Wealthy Man (an Innocent Parable)
Tom Tomorrow – Truthout,
10 Jan 2011
Award-wining cartoonist Tom Tomorrow brings us the story of “The Very Wealthy Man: An innocent fable of no relevance to contemporary events.”
→ read full articleWikiLeaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza
Juan Cole, Informed Comment – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has summarized an Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little over a year ago and concludes that: The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and [Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other documents from the same period of time, to which Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at full speed with preparations for a new war in the Middle East. Note: This war preparation is serious and specific, according to the paper, and clearly is not just a matter of vague contingency planning.
→ read full articleWhat’s Happening On The Korean Peninsula?
Prof. Martin Hart-Landsberg – Global Research,
10 Jan 2011
What’s happening on the Korean peninsula? If you read the press or listen to the talking heads, your best guess would be that an insane North Korean regime is willing to risk war to manage its own internal political tensions. This conclusion would be hard to avoid because the media rarely provide any historical context or alternative explanations for North Korean actions.
→ read full article
Palestine/Gaza: The Siege
Neverbeforecampaing – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The three year old siege on the Gaza Strip and its 1.5 million inhabitants is a testament to the Israeli regime’s disregard of law, decency and morality. This siege amounts to collective punishment, an action outlawed by various conventions and humanitarian laws. This is not to mention the suffering and humanitarian crisis caused by this law. This siege has been disgracefully condoned by the “international community” and justified by the “free world” as a measure that safeguards the security of the Israeli regime.
→ read full articleAmerica in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane
Democrats Ramshield - AlterNet,
10 Jan 2011
As an American expat living in the European Union, I’ve started to see America from a different perspective. The European Union has a larger economy and more people than America does. Though it spends less — right around 9 percent of GNP on medical, whereas we in the U.S. spend close to between 15 to 16 percent of GNP on medical — the EU pretty much insures 100 percent of its population.
→ read full articleJudge Dismisses Cases Against Military Veterans and Antiwar Activists Following December 16 Washington, D.C., Arrests
Stop These Wars – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Antiwar military veterans and other activists celebrated a breakthrough victory today [4 Jan 2011] in DC Superior Court, when charges were dropped, following arrests in front of the White House, on December 16, 2010. Over 130 people were arrested in a major veteran-led protest while participating in non-violent civil resistance in a driving snowstorm.
→ read full articleMore Dead Birds Fall from the Sky in Sweden, Chile, Kentucky — Dead Fish Keep Washing Ashore
Steven D – Booman Tribune,
10 Jan 2011
They have dead birds falling from the skies (twice in the last week) in Arkansas. They have dead birds in Louisiana and Kentucky too. And in Chile. And now in Sweden.
→ read full articleDon’t Just Close Guantánamo, Return It
César Chelala – Common Dreams,
10 Jan 2011
To restore good relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, damaged by several years of neglect, is one of many difficult tasks facing the Obama administration. A measure that could have far-reaching consequences and notably improve the U.S.’ battered image in the continent would be to return Guantánamo to the Cuban people.
→ read full article2 Million Fish Found Dead in Maryland
CNN Wire Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Authorities in Maryland are investigating the deaths of about 2 million fish in Chesapeake Bay.
→ read full articleChile Recognizes Independent Palestinian State
Haaretz Service – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera’s announcement preceded by official recognition of Palestine by Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. He announced late Thursday [6 Jan 2011] that he officially recognizes an independent Palestinian state, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
→ read full articleSouth America: Closer to a Palestinian State
Marcela Valente – Inter Press Service,
10 Jan 2011
After Brazil announced in early December that it recognised a Palestinian state, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador followed suit, and Paraguay and Uruguay said they would do the same in early 2011. Chile and Peru are also expected to reach a similar decision. Before this month, Venezuela was the only country in South America to have done so.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Greatest Problem Ignored by US News Media
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
In order for us to understand properly a problem we need to get to its source, without which it is bound to remain and deteriorate to the detriment of everyone concerned and involved. Like many other nations, the United States is confronted with numerous problems due to the fact that one problem leads to another endlessly. In many instances, things tend to get completely out of control and intelligent steps need to be taken to remedy the situation.
→ read full articleIllnesses Linked to BP Oil Disaster
Dahr Jamail – Al Jazeera,
10 Jan 2011
Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.
→ read full articleCommonsense Money
Jeff Gates – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Since 1913, debt has been the only way that we in the U.S. have known to create money. Choking on debt yet short on money, Americans are reeling from too much monetary theory and too little commonsense. Those who sold us the theory also ensured recurring recessions. Each debt-induced cycle features rich-get-richer booms followed by debilitating busts. We designed our way into this mess. We can design our way out. As yet, there’s no sign that policy-makers know a way out. Nor do their advisers. Over the past century, every economist has been educated the same. They are unable to see the real problem because the theory they were taught is the source of the problem.
→ read full article
Native American on 2012 Truth Prophecy
EXOMATRlXTV - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Our responsibility before life and the survival of the human species. A moving video narrated by a Native American.
→ read full articleThe Great MMR Vaccine Fraud
Kevin Drum – Mother Jones,
10 Jan 2011
The belief that vaccines cause autism got its start in 1998 with a paper in the Lancet authored by Andrew Wakefield. We’ve known for a long time that it was a piece of crap: it used a nonrandom sample of 12 children, it depended largely on observations by parents, it was marred by egregious conflicts of interest, and in 2004 it was renounced by 10 of its co-authors and later retracted by the magazine. That’s all bad enough. But it turns out that it was even worse: the paper was an outright fraud from start to finish.
→ read full article(Italian) Collettivamente Memoria 2011. I Prodromi
Silvia Berruto – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
“Collettivamente memoria” è un qualcosa che qualcuno ha definito “una rassegna”.
→ read full article2011 Higher Prices for Food: World Citizens Call for Coordinated World Food Policy
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
In its most recent January 2011 analysis of the world food situation, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted with alarm the extreme price fluctuation in global agricultural markets. This fluctuation in global agricultural markets is leading to higher food prices and is a threat to world food security. The impact falls heaviest on the poor who spend a high percentage — up to 70 percent — of their income on food.
→ read full articleAn Era of Sri Lanka’s President: From Mullivaikal to Oxford Union
Nirmanusan Balasundaram - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Mullivaikal is where the last phase of the war between Sri Lankan Armed Forces (SLAF) and Liberation Tiger of TamilEelam (LTTE) took place. According to the Government of Sri Lanka, this was the place war came to an end with the military defeat of LTTE, but for majority Tamils and international human rights activists, this was the place at-least 30,000-40,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by SLAF. The ‘controversy’ began from here and continues even after 19 months.
→ read full articleHaiti One Year On: Suffering, Lost Opportunities and Political Paralysis
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent – The Guardian,
10 Jan 2011
1 million people still live in makeshift accommodation and only 5% of rubble left by earthquake cleared, Oxfam report says. Government dithering and lack of coordination between aid agencies and donors have crippled rebuilding efforts in Haiti, leaving the country in ruins almost a year after the earthquake, a report says today [6 Jan 2011].
→ read full articlePrivate Memo Exposes US Fears Over WikiLeaks
Guy Adams in Los Angeles – The Independent,
10 Jan 2011
The White House has instructed every US government department and agency to create “insider threat” programmes that will ferret out disgruntled or untrustworthy employees who might be tempted to leak the sort of state secrets recently made public by the website WikiLeaks. A 13-page memo detailing the new policy urges senior civil servants to beef up cyber security and hire teams of psychiatrists and sociologists who can “detect behavioural changes”. They will then monitor the moods and attitudes of staff who are allowed to access classified information.
→ read full articleCuban Medics in Haiti Put the World to Shame
Nina Lakhani, Ezili Dantò – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
Castro’s doctors and nurses are the backbone of the fight against cholera. They are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America’s doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America’s arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame.
→ read full articleAnti-Sanctions Chorus Out of Tune
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jan 2011
The emerging anti-sanctions lobby should be understood for what it is – the bald promotion of Western strategic and corporate interests. Ending sanctions now will only further entrench military rule, giving it a veneer of normalcy and acceptability, at the expense of Myanmar’s long-suffering people and the country’s equitable economic development.
→ read full articleWith Air Force’s New Drone, ‘We Can See Everything’
Ellen Nakashima and Craig Whitlock – The Washington Post,
3 Jan 2011
The hunger for these high-tech tools was evident at the conference, where officials told several thousand industry and intelligence officials they had to move “at the speed of war.” Cartwright pressed for solutions, even partial ones, in a year or less.
→ read full articleThe US Media Hit on Helen Thomas
Danny Schechter – ConsortiumNews,
3 Jan 2011
Editor’s Note: Last June when the mainstream Washington press corps rode the 89-year-old journalistic icon Helen Thomas out of the news business on a rail, a key count in the professional “indictment” against her was that she lacked “objectivity” with her impertinent questions to U.S. presidents and in her criticism of Israel. However, for years among big-time U.S. journalists, “objectivity” has been a principle most noticeable in its absence, especially on the sensitive issue of Israel, the topic that touched off the furor that ended Thomas’s career, as Danny Schechter notes in this guest essay.
→ read full articleWikiWishes for WikiPromises for 2011
Johan Galtung, 3 Jan 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
The world needs knowledgeable and skilled women and men promoting the interests of nature, humans everywhere, all nations and states, civilizations and regions, and the world. Some might even be called diplomats and narrow it to one point, their nation. And the Country of the Year, Turkey, showed that consistent peace politics, creating amazing friendly relations with all neighbors is possible. What it takes is a decision to do so.
→ read full article
Export of Mass Destruction: Afghan Addicts Drowning in Drug Flood
Russia Today – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
(You may find some images in this video disturbing) Afghanistan – the world’s largest producer of heroin – does not only make other states suffer from its deadly export – the country itself is flooded with cheap drugs. With the tense situation and very vague prospects of a peaceful life even those who want to kick the mortal habit find themselves at a dead end.
→ read full articleThe Finite World
Paul Krugman – The New York Times,
3 Jan 2011
So what are the implications of the recent rise in commodity prices? It is, as I said, a sign that we’re living in a finite world, one in which resource constraints are becoming increasingly binding. This won’t bring an end to economic growth, let alone a descent into Mad Max-style collapse. It will require that we gradually change the way we live, adapting our economy and our lifestyles to the reality of more expensive resources. But that’s for the future. Right now, rising commodity prices are basically the result of global recovery. They have no bearing, one way or another, on U.S. monetary policy. For this is a global story; at a fundamental level, it’s not about us.
→ read full article2011
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts – Information Clearing House,
3 Jan 2011
”Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors.” — Lewis H. Lapham. The lawlessness of the U.S. government, which has been creeping up on us for decades, broke into a full gallop in the years of the Bush/Cheney/Obama regimes. Today the government operates above the law, yet maintains that it is a democracy bringing the same to Muslims by force of arms, only briefly being sidetracked by sponsoring a military coup against democracy in Honduras and attempting to overthrow the democratic government in Venezuela. As 2011 dawns, public discourse in America has the country primed for a fascist dictatorship. The situation will be worse by 2012. The most uncomfortable truth that emerges from the WikiLeaks saga is that American public discourse consists of cries for revenge against those who tell us truths.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks, Michael Lind, and the ‘New’ Nationalism
Justin Raimondo – Antiwar.com,
3 Jan 2011
The Authoritarian Left Comes Out of the Closet. The international debate engendered by WikiLeaks’ ongoing publication of classified US diplomatic cables has sent most American liberals into hiding. Gone AWOL when it comes to the Obama administration’s escalation of the federal government’s war on civil liberties, mainstream liberal defenders of WikiLeaks are few and far between.
→ read full articleClever
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
President Bush was informed that there was a threat of a bird flu epidemic.
→ read full articleIndia: Need for Peace and Equity Audit as a Parameter for Development Planning
Mazher Hussain, COVA-Confederation of Voluntary Associations - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
The objective of Planning should be to secure development and progress for all. But it is seen that development initiatives in India are leading to exclusion of large sections, increase in income disparities, intensification of social tensions and onset of conflicts between different communities/groups and even between the people and the State.
→ read full article(Italian) Il Tramonto della Democrazia nell’era della Globalizzazione
Danilo Zolo, Jura Gentium – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Il declino dei modelli classici e post-classici della democrazia
→ read full articleAnarchists Are Bad People?
The Daily Bell – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Anarchy is a social environment, one that simply seeks a lifestyle without a distant and non-responsive ruling class. It has nothing to do with violence, which is a strategy not a sociopolitical philosophy. One believes in various forms of social organization: communism, socialism, anarcho-capitalism. But one does not believe (as a communal structure) in violence or peace – or jumping jacks or cartwheels for that matter.
→ read full article
Why Has Cholera Hit Haiti So Hard?
Haiti Grassroots Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
For Dossier #4, Haiti Grassroots Watch took a look at cholera, water and sanitation and asked, why has cholera hit the country so hard? What is the real situation of water and sanitation? How did things get this way?
→ read full articleWhat is Real Wealth?
John Robbins – Yes! Magazine,
3 Jan 2011
When I was 21, I told my father that I didn’t want to work with him any longer at the ice cream company he co-founded, Baskin-Robbins, and I didn’t want to depend on his financial achievements. I did not want to have a trust fund or any other access to or dependence on his money. I wanted to discover and live my own values, and I knew that I wasn’t strong enough to do that if I remained tethered, even a little, to my father’s fortune. I left Baskin-Robbins and the money my father had made selling ice cream because I didn’t want to live a life of affluence based on a product that could harm people’s health. I also recoiled at the idea of inheriting a life of privilege while so many others had to struggle for their basic livelihood.
→ read full articleThe Five Myths of Aging
Lauri M. Aesoph N.D. – Global Healing Center,
3 Jan 2011
If you were an alien visiting our planet, you might think Earthlings never age. Even as awareness about aging rises, most major magazines and television stations still fail to display vital, older people. Medical journals, on the other hand, harp on the infirmities of old age. It’s no wonder we fear and even deny our own inevitable aging. Grower older can’t be avoided, but it doesn’t have to mean the loss of health, mind and independence. In fact, research seems to indicate the opposite. By paying a little attention to lifestyle, most older individuals can live active, healthy lives and we can all shatter those old age myths.
→ read full articleDrug Gang ‘Threatens Guatemala War’
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Group claiming to belong to Zetas cartel issues warning on radio broadcasts after Guatemalan forces launch crackdown.
→ read full articleOpen Letter from Gaza: Two Years after the Massacre, a Demand for Justice
Gazans Seeking Justice – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
Besieged Gaza, Palestine, 27 December 2010: We, the Palestinians of the Besieged Gaza Strip, on this day, two years on from Israel’s genocidal attack on our families, our houses, our roads, our factories and our schools, are saying enough inaction, enough discussion, enough waiting — the time is now to hold Israel to account for its ongoing crimes against us.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks and World Citizen Diplomacy
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
WikiLeaks’ release of a large number of US diplomatic archives gives us a broad vision of the culture of US foreign policy policy-making. Such a vision could also be gained from reading the diplomatic archives as they are published after a “25 or 50 year rule”, but it is more fun to read material of a nearer time, especially if it is classified “Secret”.
→ read full article
The Happy Planet Index
Nick Marks, TED Talks – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jan 2011
In the words of Robert F. Kennedy, why does Gross National Product “measure everything […] except that which makes life worthwhile”? Happiness and health are what we really want, but we have the perception that those things can be measured on an economic scale. If happiness is what we want most, why aren’t we measuring it directly? Good news: statistician Nic Marks does just that. Watch as Marks explains the Happy Planet Index, his alternative to GDP, and what it tells us about which countries are really the happiest.
→ read full articleThe Great Islamophobic Crusade
Max Blumenthal - TomDispatch,
27 Dec 2010
Inside the Bizarre Cabal of Secretive Donors, Demagogic Bloggers, Pseudo-Scholars, European Neo-Fascists, Violent Israeli Settlers, and Republican Presidential Hopefuls Behind the Crusade.
→ read full article
U.S. Gov’t Responds to Questions about Imprisoned Palestinian Nonviolent Protester Abu Rahmah
PopularStruggleCC - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Abu Rahmah was sentenced to one year in Israeli prison on the charge of “incitement” for organizing nonviolent protests against the confiscation of land and Israel’s illegal wall in his West Bank village of Bil’in. One year has since passed and Abu Rahmah is still being held indefinitely by the Israeli military.
→ read full articleEcuador Recognizes a Palestinian State
CNN Wire Staff – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Ecuador is the latest country to recognize an independent Palestinian state. The government said on Friday [24 Dec 2010] that President Rafael Correa recognized “the Palestine State as free and independent within its borders since 1967.”
→ read full article“Coexistence” with Monsanto: Hell No!
Ronnie Cummins – Common Dreams,
27 Dec 2010
After 16 years of non-stop biotech bullying and force-feeding Genetically Engineered or Modified (GE or GM) crops to farm animals and “Frankenfoods” to unwitting consumers, Monsanto has a big problem, or rather several big problems. A growing number of published scientific studies indicate that GE foods pose serious human health threats.
→ read full articleFoundations for the Economy of a New Civilisation
Guillermo Sullings – Pressenza Int’l Press Agency,
27 Dec 2010
The challenge of thinking about how a new civilisation would be, can be very attractive because one could get carried away with ones imagination and in theory design a new utopia, like the one imagined by Thomas More, author of the book [Utopia] which gave a name to social ideals. This literary exercise is valid in itself, though it could not go any further than the events shaped on the page with all the naïveté and incongruence of the writer and his era.
→ read full articleUniversal Decriminalization of Homosexuality a Human Rights Imperative — Ban Ki-moon
ILGA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Noting that over 70 countries still consider homosexuality a crime, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today [10 Dec 2010] appealed for its complete and universal decriminalization, stressing that human rights must always trump cultural attitudes and societal strictures.
→ read full articleCold Burn
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Yes, the extreme cold in the UK right now really could be a result of global warming.
→ read full articleScientists Focus on Male Mosquitoes in Bid to Control Malaria
Timothy Spence – Inter Press Service,
27 Dec 2010
After successfully suppressing scourges of fruit, tsetse and screwworm flies in the Americas, researchers are exploring whether the same sterilised insect technique can be used to control malaria, which kills some one million people every year, many of them in Africa.
→ read full articleYes, There is An Alternative
Robin Broad & John Cavanagh – Yes! Magazine,
27 Dec 2010
More and more people, communities, and nations are taking steps to reduce their vulnerability to a volatile global economy.
→ read full articleWhen Pixels, Bytes and VJs Unite
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Everyone could hear the collective gasp that filled the auditorium – and no one would forget – the very moment when the first signal transporting Aung San Suu Kyi’s animated face to a large screen in London arrived last week.
→ read full articleNonviolent Peace Force Needs Recruits
FOX – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
An organization looking to help with world peace wants to recruit some special people. The Nonviolent Peace Force was co-founded by a Minnesota man in the early 1990’s. There are peace keepers in Sri Lanka, the South Philippines and the Sudan. The peace keepers are unarmed and only go to places where they are invited. The Sudan is expected to possibly have violent outbreaks before a January vote to for independence between Northern and Southern Sudan
→ read full article(Portuguese) Portugal: O BPN e a Economia do Crime
José Gusmão, Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
O caso do BPN é exemplar do ponto de vista do papel estratégico que têm os off-shores na promoção da fraude e evasão fiscais, e também na protecção da criminalidade financeira.
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Hollywood and the War Machine
Al Jazeera – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Empire examines the symbiotic relationship between the movie industry and the military-industrial complex.
→ read full article(Italian) La Nonviolenza Degli Studenti Romani
Mao Valpiana – Centro Studi Sereno Regis,
27 Dec 2010
I giovani liceali e universitari che oggi hanno manifestato a Roma per contrastare la cosiddetta “riforma Gelmini”, hanno offerto una bella lezione di pratiche nonviolente. Bravi davvero.
→ read full articleTo the Gay Community: Now That You Can Join the Military, Please Don’t!
Medea Benjamin - AlterNet,
27 Dec 2010
As we struggle to find a more civilized way to treat each other in this world, let us recognize the commonalities in the fight for gay rights and the fight to end war.
→ read full article
Palestine for Dummies – Nablus
TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
6 dicembre 2010. Nablus.
→ read full articleFrom Changing the Strategic Game to Changing the Strategic Frame
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
This is a commentary on the argument of Mexican activist Gustavo Esteva following the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Mexico, 2010 (The Arrogance of Cancún, The Guardian, 16 December 2010; Spanish version). He concludes that the lesson of this feeble climate deal is that “governments have played God and failed. It is up to the activists now”. He cites the alternative Cancún Declaration by the International Forum for Climate Justice — The People’s Dialogue (Foro Internacional de la Justicia Climática — Diálogo de la Pueblos) with its slogan: Let’s change the system, not the planet. Specifically the text of the alternative declaration [original Spanish versions: Declaración de Cancún Foro Internacional de Justicia Climática; Declaración del Foro Alternativo por la Justicia Climática Cancún 2010; Foro Mundial de Alternativas: Declaración de Cancún; Declaración de Cancún – Foro Internacional de Justicia Climática] includes the phrase:
→ read full article(Castellano) Ecuador Reconoció a Palestina como Estado Libre e Independiente con Fronteras de 1967
TeleSur – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
El gobierno de Ecuador reconoció este viernes [24 Dic 2010] a Palestina como Estado libre e independiente con las fronteras de 1967, previas a la invasión israelí, informó la Cancillería en un comunicado.
→ read full articleHow to Help the Two Koreas Become One
Michael N. Nagler & Stephanie N. Van Hook - Truthout,
27 Dec 2010
Anyone who studies conflict knows that there are two ways to go about resolving one. There is, of course, a violent path, which ultimately leads to war, but there is also a nonviolent route that leads to reconciliation and the resumption of normal ties…. As in any conflict large or small, one has to start with the assumption, so far conspicuously absent here, that the people of North Korea – yes, including their leadership – are rational.
→ read full articleAge Matters
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
A 70-year old man told his friend, “I met a fabulous 20-year old girl, I am madly in love with her.
→ read full articleA Human Approach to World Peace
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
When we rise in the morning and listen to the radio or read the newspaper, we are confronted with the same sad news: violence, crime, wars, and disasters. I cannot recall a single day without a report of something terrible happening somewhere. Even in these modern times it is clear that one’s precious life is not safe. No former generation has had to experience so much bad news as we face today; this constant awareness of fear and tension should make any sensitive and compassionate person question seriously the progress of our modern world.
→ read full articlePortugal: Economic Crisis Looms, But Clean Energy Shines On
Mario de Queiroz – Inter Press Service,
27 Dec 2010
While the shadow of a speculative assault looms over Portugal, similar to the economic crises that hit Greece and Ireland, this Iberian nation manages to hold up the beacon of renewable energy.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Wikifugas, Novo Site do Esquerda.net
Esquerda.net – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Depois de já ter instalado um “espelho” do site da WikiLeaks, o Esquerda.net lança agora o Wikifugas, o site do nosso portal totalmente dedicado à divulgação das principais revelações do chamado “Cablegate” e à luta em defesa da WikiLeaks e da liberdade e transparência da informação.
→ read full articleCell Phone Security: Mobile Phone Taps
Bill Rounds J.D., HowToVanish – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
There has been considerable discussion lately about the ease of eavesdropping on cell phone conversations through mobile phone taps and the lack of cell phone security. There are many products and hacks available which allow for monitoring of cell phone activity. Is your phone bugged and what can you do to keep your private information from being intercepted?
→ read full articleHomophobia Plagues Africa
Pambazuka News – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Dec 2010
Monday’s [20 Dec 2010] statements by a prominent Ghanaian activist provide further evidence of the alarming homophobia that is sweeping across Africa. Bernice Sam, National Programme Coordinator of WiLDAF (Women in Law and Development) in Ghana argued publicly for the Constitution Review Commission to limit Ghana’s definition of marriage to include heterosexual couples only. Sam then went even further. She was quoted as saying that it will be ‘almost impossible for the act of homosexuality to be considered criminal’ if the constitution is not reworded in this way.
→ read full articleThe Social Basis of America’s Imperial Politics: Rethinking Imperialist Theory
Prof. James Petras – Global Research,
27 Dec 2010
The ‘fluidity’ of US power relations with Latin America is a product of the continuities and changes in Latin America. Past hegemony continues to weigh heavy, but the future augurs a continued decline. The current balance of power will however be determined by shifts in world markets, in which the US is destined to play a lesser role. Hence the greater probability of more divergences in policy, barring major breakdowns within Latin America.
→ read full articleHave We Really Solved the Mystery Behind the Shocking Die-off of Bees?
Tom Laskawy – Grist,
20 Dec 2010
These devices throw up a toxic cloud of pesticide as they work: bees fly through the cloud and either die or take the pesticide back to the hive. Once inside, even at low doses, it can cause disorientation or, as Girolami calls it, “intoxication” of whole hives. The maker of this pesticide is Bayer CropScience. What does a corporation do when it discovers it may have developed and marketed a dangerous and potentially devastating product? Here in America, you confuse, you obfuscate, and you buy off scientists. And as Eban skillfully details, that’s exactly what Bayer has been doing for the last decade or so.
→ read full articleEverything Is Negotiable, Except with Nature
Bill McKibben - TomDispatch,
20 Dec 2010
You Can’t Bargain About Global Warming with Chemistry and Physics
→ read full articleTAPI Pipeline Prospects
Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The leaders of four nations Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) met in the second week of December 2010 in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat to sign two agreements called Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) to foster the prospects of TAPI pipeline.
→ read full articleWhy Are Wars Not Being Reported Honestly?
John Pilger – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
In the US Army manual on counterinsurgency, the American commander General David Petraeus describes Afghanistan as a “war of perception… conducted continuously using the news media”. What really matters is not so much the day-to-day battles against the Taliban as the way the adventure is sold in America where “the media directly influence the attitude of key audiences”. Reading this, I was reminded of the Venezuelan general who led a coup against the democratic government in 2002. “We had a secret weapon,” he boasted. “We had the media, especially TV. You got to have the media.”
→ read full articleFatherhood
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
A girl used to tell everyone, “I am the daughter of Dr. Smith.”
→ read full articleWho is Behind WikiLeaks?
Michel Chossudovsky – Global Research,
20 Dec 2010
“World bankers, by pulling a few simple levers that control the flow of money, can make or break entire economies. By controlling press releases of economic strategies that shape national trends, the power elite are able to not only tighten their stranglehold on this nation’s economic structure, but can extend that control world wide. Those possessing such power would logically want to remain in the background, invisible to the average citizen.” (Aldous Huxley) – WikiLeaks is upheld as a breakthrough in the battle against media disinformation and the lies of the US government…. In turn, we must ensure that the campaign against WikiLeaks in the U.S., using the 1917 Espionage Act, will not be utilized as a means to wage a campaign to control the internet. In this regard, we should also stand firm in preventing the prosecution of Julian Assange in the US.
→ read full articleWhy I’m Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
Michael Moore – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010. Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail. Furthermore, I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars.
→ read full articleAlleged Breach of UN Treaty Obligations by US
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Press Coverage and Commentary Following WikiLeaks Cable Dissemination: A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications. It called for detailed biometric information “on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders” as well as intelligence on Ban’s “management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat”.
→ read full article
Fareed Zakaria Trashes Glenn Beck’s Affirmation That 10 Percent of All Muslims Are Terrorists
Fareed Zakaria-GPS, CNN – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Fareed Zakaria took to his latest show on CNN to rebuff –using common sense and logical arguments– Beck’s insane claim that there are “157 million Muslim terrorists in the world.”
→ read full article(Castellano) Honduras: Campesinos Bajo Ataque de Terratenientes y el Ejército
Red Morazánica de Información – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Helicópteros, vehículos armados con ametralladoras y tanquetas antidisturbios, han sido parte del gran despliegue militar policial a la zona donde campesinos exigen se desmilitarice el departamento y les sean devueltas la tierras que les pertenecen.
→ read full articleReclaim the Cyber-Commons
George Monbiot – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The internet is being captured by organised trolls. It’s time we fought back. They are the online equivalent of enclosure riots: the rick-burning, fence-toppling protests by English peasants losing their rights to the land. When MasterCard, Visa, Paypal and Amazon tried to shut WikiLeaks out of the cyber-commons, an army of hackers responded by trying to smash their way into these great estates and pull down their fences.
→ read full articleThe Nobel War Prize
Tariq Ali, London Review of Books – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
For the record, Liu Xiaobo has stated publicly that in his view: (a) China’s tragedy is that it wasn’t colonised for at least 300 years by a Western power or Japan. This would apparently have civilised it forever; (b) The Korean and Vietnam wars fought by the US were wars against totalitarianism and enhanced Washington’s ‘moral credibility’; (c) Bush was right to go to war in Iraq and Senator Kerry’s criticisms were ‘slander-mongering’; (d) Afghanistan? No surprises here: Full support for NATO’s war. He has a right to these opinions, but should they get a peace prize?
→ read full article(German) Interview mit Johan Galtung
Schattenblick – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
17. September 2010 in Hamburg
→ read full articleBurma Needs Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Class Solidarity
Dr Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
The world knows plenty about Aung San Suu Kyi and what she represents. But it knows almost nothing about the generals beyond their international pariah status.
→ read full articleNobel Peace Prize 2010: Norwegian Dynamite
Annar Cassam – Pambazuka News,
20 Dec 2010
New head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, one-time leader of the Labour Party, one-time prime minister, one-time foreign minister of Norway and currently secretary general of the Council of Europe, is bit of a national joke…. Furthermore, [Wen Huibao, writing in Le Monde 10 December 2010] explains that [Liu Xiaobo] caused a second scandal by publicly supporting George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, an act of war which was condemned in China, Scandinavia and all over the globe. So the question has to be asked, what links the Nobel Peace Prize with its current laureate’s support for this illegal war in Iraq?
→ read full articleUS House Passes Anti-Palestine Bill
MJ Rosenberg – Al Jazeera,
20 Dec 2010
Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, rushed to the House floor with a resolution drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] condemning the Palestinians for publicly suggesting that, in the wake of Netanyahu’s refusal to freeze settlements and negotiate, they will consider a unilateral declaration of statehood. Congress passed the Berman bill, drafted only this week, on Wednesday [15 Dec 2010]. When it comes to pleasing AIPAC, there are simply no limits.
→ read full articleCriminality of Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Speech delivered in Berlin, 12th December, 2010. The International League of Human Rights (Germany) awards the Carl-von-Ossietzky Medal to Mordechai Vanunu and campaigns for his freedom to leave Israel and receive his prize in Berlin. My Dear Friends,
→ read full article
There Once Was an Island (trailer)
Briar March – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Award Winning Film: You’ve heard about the islands in the Pacific Ocean that are disappearing due to rising sea levels. But have you heard from the people there? Have you listened and watched as an entire culture faces extinction or mass displacement? Will traditions and identities survive in the face of such a crisis? Briar March spent many months working on a film about one such island community in Papua New Guinea and looking at all these questions.
→ read full article(Portuguese) O Prémio Nobel da Guerra
Tariq Ali – TRANSCEND MEDIA SERVICE,
20 Dec 2010
Liu Xiaobo não deveria nunca ter sido detido, mas o Comité quis dar uma lição à China, ignorando os pontos de vista do seu herói.
→ read full articleOperation Avenge Assange as Digital Direct Action
ReadWriteWeb – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
“Nonviolence (ahimsa) is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. Thus, nonviolence is an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression or of armed struggle against it.” And direct action “is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels.”
→ read full articleNorway Accused of Funding Abuse in Burma
Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent – The Independent,
20 Dec 2010
State pension fund invested billions in energy projects, report says. The Norwegian government has been accused of complicity in illegal land seizures, forced labour and killings, by investing national funds in international companies that operate inside Burma on projects where widespread abuses are alleged to have taken place.
→ read full articleWomen and the 21st Century
Johan Galtung, 20 Dec 2010 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Dec 2010
Feminism has made an enormous contribution by identifying patriarchy as a pattern underlying capitalism and militarism…. Making patriarchy visible through brilliant feminist articulation is a transcending contribution, reminiscent of the marxist focus on another deep structure hidden to the unguided eye: the interface of means and modes of production. Or Lenin and others on imperialism, Gandhi and many others on colonialism. Race. And agism: like placing people above 67 etc. in a ghetto called retirement (or children in a ghetto called schools?).
→ read full article