Economy and Society

Strong convictions – What is behind the latest crackdown on democracy activists in Vietnam?

Published on The Economist, January 22, 2010.

SPEAKING your mind can be costly in Vietnam. This week a court in Ho Chi Minh City, the main city in the south of the country, sentenced four democracy activists to jail terms ranging from five to 16 years. Two of the men, Le Cong Dinh and Nguyen Tien Trung, had previously studied and lived abroad and one, Mr Dinh, is among the country’s best-known criminal defence lawyers.

Their “crimes” were little more than daring to express frank opinions about the state of political freedom in the country and, in the case of Mr Dinh, having defended human-rights activists who had been detained following a brief wave of political openness in 2006.  Continue Reading…

Published on Just Foreign Policy, January 14, 2010.

As you are no doubt aware, Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake earlier this week. The devastation was amplified by Haiti’s unaddressed extreme poverty because Port-au-Prince is crowded with economic refugees from the countryside, forced to live in substandard housing. President Obama has promised that the U.S. will do all it can to help Haiti in this moment of crisis.

But the Obama Administration has a simple tool at its disposal to help Haiti that it has so far refused to use: it can grant Haitians in the U.S. “Temporary Protected Status,” allowing them to stay and work in the U.S. until Haiti recovers.

Would you write to President Obama and your representatives in Congress and ask them to grant Haitians Temporary Protected Status? … (full text).

Linked on our blogs with the Scottish Left Review SLR. – Published on Scottish Left Review, page 17/28, by Daniel Gray, Issue 56 online, January-February 2010.

Daniel Gray examines the significance of the popular response to the publication of his well-received study of Scots volunteers in the Spanish Civil War:

From the Glasgow Communist Party to the St Margaret’s boarding school, for some reason they all wanted to hear about Scotland’s role in the Spanish Civil War.

In all, twenty eight disparate groups invited me to speak in person on the subject in 2009 following the publication of my study of Scots volunteers in the Spanish Civil War called Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War. Group sizes ranged from two to 400, ages nine to 99. Despite my own fascination with all things International Brigades, this popular level of interest staggered me.  Continue Reading…

Published on People’s World, by W. T. Whitney Jr., January 17, 2010.

By Jan. 13, less than a day after the earthquake struck Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, 30 Cuban doctors were caring for the wounded in a fully equipped field hospital. Over the next 24 hours they saw 1,000 patients and performed dozens of operations. They were followed shortly by 30 more doctors bringing additional medical supplies. By the week’s end the Cuban doctors were working in two of their field hospitals, plus two relatively undamaged existing hospitals.

Some 6,000 Cuban doctors have provided medical care in Haiti since 1998, and almost 400 were on hand there when the earthquake hit. Those in Port-au-Prince, 152 of them, were available to work with the doctors newly arrived from Cuba.  Continue Reading…

Published on Real-World Economics Review Blog, by Kevin P. Gallagher, January 13, 2010.

In a welcome move, President Obama’s US trade representative, Ron Kirk, has made a new year’s resolution to craft “a new kind of trade agreement for the 21st century.” Those were the words he used in his letter to congressional leaders notifying them of the administration’s intent to negotiate the Trans-Pacific partnership agreement (TPP), a proposed eight-country trade deal with countries as diverse as New Zealand, Chile and Vietnam.  Continue Reading…

Published on The Economist, Jan 14th 2010. – Two awkward cases suggest that the law in the emirates is unequally applied:

IT HAS been an inauspicious start to the year for justice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A court in Abu Dhabi, the richest of the federation’s seven states, acquitted a senior prince of criminally abusing an Afghan grain dealer, despite television footage that showed the accused beating the man with a stick, pouring salt in his wounds and driving over him in a car. At the other end of the justice system, a young British tourist in Dubai, the UAE’s other main state, faces up to six years in jail after reporting to the police that she had been raped.  Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca (first on Common Dreams,  2010-01-14), by Carl Lindskoog, January 15, 2010.

In the hours following Haiti’s devastating earthquake, CNN, the New York Times and other major news sources adopted a common interpretation for the severe destruction: the 7.0 earthquake was so devastating because it struck an urban area that was extremely over-populated and extremely poor.  Houses “built on top of each other” and constructed by the poor people themselves made for a fragile city.  And the country’s many years of underdevelopment and political turmoil made the Haitian government ill-prepared to respond to such a disaster.

True enough.  But that’s not the whole story.  What’s missing is any explanation of why there are so many Haitians living in and around Port-au-Prince and why so many of them are forced to survive on so little.  Indeed, even when an explanation is ventured, it is often outrageously false such as a former U.S. diplomat’s testimony on CNN that Port-au-Prince’s overpopulation was due to the fact that Haitians, like most Third World people, know nothing of birth control. Continue Reading…

For Immediate Release – Received by e-mail: From: real-world economics review, Date: 12/01/2010.

The Real-World Economics Review Blog is holding polls to determine the awarding of two prizes:

• The Ignoble Prize for Economics , to be awarded to the three economists who contributed most to enabling the Global Financial Collapse (GFC), and
• The Noble Prize for Economics , to be awarded to the three economists who first and most cogently warned of the coming calamity.

It is accepted fact that the economics profession through its teachings, pronouncements and policy recommendations facilitated the GFC.  We also know that danger signs became visible long before the event and that some economists (those with their eyes on the real-world) gave public warnings which if acted upon would have averted the human disaster.  Continue Reading…

Review of Rebecca Solnit’s book: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster (New York: Viking, 2009). – Published on ZNet, by Kevin Young, January 4, 2010.

… There are several reasons behind elite panic. Many elites and bureaucrats (like racists) may sincerely believe that their or their organizations’ intervention is essential to safeguarding peace and order in the aftermath of a disaster. But their panic is also inseparable from their own self interest, reflecting their need to justify the ongoing concentration of power in their hands. If the public is permitted to take control, and it succeeds, the bureaucracy and hierarchy on which elite power is based will be exposed as illegitimate. This principle holds true for the everyday functioning of society, but is especially true in times of disaster, when bureaucratic organizations like FEMA or the military are expected to perform with competence and agility to protect the public. Solnit notes that in disaster, “They are being tested most harshly at what they do least well” (p. 152). Continue Reading…

Linked on our blogs with Paul Beersmans – Belgium, with K.N. Pandita’s blog Kashmir and IDP’s, and with JAMMU AND KASHMIR: A SMOULDERING CONFLICT … Go also to BASJAK.org and click on the internal link: study tours (from 1994 to July 2009).

Received by e-mail: From: Belgian Association for Solidarity with Jammu And Kashmir BASJAK.org, Date: 01/01/2010

Dear Madame, Dear Sir, On this first day of the year 2010 we hope this year will be a miraculous year bringing a peaceful solution for the Kashmir issue:

• There can’t be a solution without compromise.
• There can’t be a solution in a violent environment.
• There can’t be a solution as long as fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism, human rights violations are there.

We hope common sense will prevail.   Continue Reading…

Published on CHOWK, by Raza Habib, December 25, 2009.

After the NRO revocation, the opinion holders appear to be divided into two polar camps. First camp is of the supporters who are hailing the advent of the “new” era of the rule of law. Within this section a sizeable chunk detests the president, is skeptic of the concept of democracy and not surprisingly belongs from the middle class. Right now led by firebrand media, this chunk is increasingly critical or at least visibly disappointed by the revival of democratic rule. It is pinning its hope on increased judicial activism where the courts will be deciding the matters belonging to executive. The criticism is no longer exclusively focused on PPP but is increasing to include the entire democratic set up. Right now the main brunt may be borne by PPP but even PML (N), the other main party, is also feeling the heat. The main point of these opponents of democratic set up is that democratic parties have failed to establish the rule of law. Continue Reading…

Published on TalkLeft, by Jeralyn (Section Colorado News), Jan 01, 2010.

In November, (the ski resort town) Breckenridge/Colorado/USA voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative decriminalizing adult possession of small amounts of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. It went into effect today.

Breckenridge is the first town in the country to decriminalize drug paraphernalia, and the second to allow recreational marijuana use (Denver is the first.) Since under state law, possession of up to an ounce of pot or drug parahphernalia carries a $100.00 fine and is classified as a petty offense, it can leave you with a criminal record. So the change in Breckenridge is a welcome one, and not that trivial. It remains to be seen whether Breckenridge becomes the “Amsterdam of the Rockies”, or takes business away from neighboring Frisco, Silverthorne and Dillon, which serve the same ski areas, or results in an uptick in arrests for related activity … (full text).

Linked on our blogs with Gareth Porter – USA. – Published on Global Research.ca (first on IPS, 2009-12-28), by Gareth Porter, December 30, 2009. Remember also: Pentagon blocked Cheney’s attack on Iran, by Gareth Porter, Jun 10, 2008, and: Official Says Iran Accepts P5+1 Talks Proposal, July 2, 2008.

WASHINGTON, 28 Dec (IPS) – U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a “neutron initiator” for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a former Central Intelligence Agency official. Continue Reading…

Linked on our blogs with CoDIR.net, and with Ibrahim Yazdi arrested.

Published on People’s World, by Jane Green, December 29, 2009.

The death of reformist cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri on Dec. 19 has sparked a run of protests in Iran which have both caught the authorities off guard and surprised the opposition by their scale. Official reports suggest that the turnout at Montazeri’s funeral on Dec. 21 was up to 500,000 people. Opposition sources claim that the numbers were nearer to one million. Either way, this convergence upon Qom, a city with a population of only 700,000, is significant.  Continue Reading…

Published on political affairs pa, by Erica Smiley, December 09, 2009.

• Twas the night before the unemployment reports, and all through the clearing,
• Young workers slept haunted by jobs disappearing;
• Having gone into debt for training and education,
• Only to discover no jobs available in their vocations;
• Barely scraping by to cover bills and the rent,
• Of all unemployed, young workers are 48 percent ;  Continue Reading…

… for Restoration of Missing Bush White House E-mails

Published on The National Security Archive, For more information contact: Meredith Fuchs on 202/994-7000, December 14, 2009.

Washington, DC, December 14, 2009 – The National Security Archive (the Archive), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the White House and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) today entered into an agreement setting forth general principles that will resolve the missing White House e-mail lawsuit filed first by the Archive in September 2007.

”We commend the Obama Administration for making a strong effort to clean up the electronic data mess left behind by the prior administration,” commented Sheila Shadmand, counsel for the Archive from Jones Day. Continue Reading…

Published on The Economist, December 29, 2009.

[But first this Link: Go to the raw story and scroll down to the video, recorded December 22, 2009 and uploaded to the Web December 26, 2009, showing a demonstration, how protesters stop hanging two men and how shootings occure ... voices all in Farsi ... (if there should be an error message, click on the first picture on the far left appearing inside the video screen)].

Increasingly fierce repression in Iran suggests that the regime has begun to fear for its future.

WHAT more can Iran’s ruthless rulers do to squash their opponents? Since nationwide protests broke out last June over the disputed results of presidential elections, the official winner, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has pulled few punches. Continue Reading…

A case that just gets curiouser and curiouser – Published on Antiwar.com, by Justin Raimond, December 28, 2009.

Linked on these blogs with Why Aren’t the NYT and WaPost Covering the International Gaza Freedom March? with Just foreign policy.org, with Justin Raimondo – USA, and with Antiwar.com.

It just wouldn’t be Christmas in the age of terror if we didn’t have a visitation, ostensibly from al-Qaeda, now would it? ‘Tis the season, and all that. Recall Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber,” arrested on December 22, 2001, for trying to blow up American Airlines flight 63, coming into Miami from Paris. As in the current case involving one Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, the explosive used was PETN, also known as pentaerythritol: Reid, like Umar, was subdued by passengers and airline attendants, and, to add yet another touch of déjà vu, Reid’s stunt led to the imposition of the take-off-your-shoes rule at airport security, just as Umar’s midair antics have now inspired the Transportation Safety Authority to inaugurate a spate of new regulations: nothing in your lap, please, and no getting up from your seat for a solid hour before landing.   Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by Eric Walberg, December 28, 2009.- Linked on these blogs with Eric Walberg – Canada.

Words new and old – The 3rd millennium’s first decade was replete with buzzwords, many of them neologism arising from unremitting cyber innovations. As the world careened into what will henceforth be known as the Internet Era, we had such neologisms as:

• the dotcom revolution, so named for the way internet addresses are written, “com” suggesting the commercial focus of the medium. This term along with Internet itself dates from the Stone Age of the 20th century internet;
• wikipedia (2001), “wiki” being Hawaiian for “quick”, the world’s first collective encyclopaedia, produced online by millions of users, now in dozens of languages, though increasingly regulated, especially when dealing with living persons;   Continue Reading…

Published on WSWS, by Marius Heuser, 18 December 2009.

… It is not the first time that Sarrazin has launched a xenophobic attack on the socially disadvantaged and the poor, charging them with responsibility for their own poverty. At the end of November, he showed sympathy for the Swiss decision to ban minarets. “The Swiss referendum shows that thinking in the depths of society is different to what the political class and the majority of the media want to believe” … //

… That the right wing can act so aggressively is a result of the bankruptcy of the so-called left. There is no one in official politics who seriously challenges such right-wing provocateurs. The SPD, Greens and Left Party are all responsible for the social catastrophe that has created the ghettos in the cities and the impoverishment of large sections of the population, particularly migrants. These parties are organically incapable of opposing those who are now seeking to impose the results of their policy onto those most affected.  Continue Reading…

Linked on our blogs with Richard C. Cook – USA. – Published on Global Research.ca, by Richard C. Cook, December 21, 2009.

A new era for the human race has clearly begun. When I compare the state of people’s awareness today with what it was just a few years ago, remarkable changes are taking place.

People are finally waking up to the fact that the world of big money, big media, and big business is taking them absolutely nowhere except into degradation, alienation, and slavery.  Continue Reading…

If you did that, they’d call it immoral – Published on The People’s Voice, by Michael Collins, December 19, 2009.

Over at The Agonist, Numerian offered up a short, powerful explanation of what’s happened with Wall Street bailout recipient, Morgan Stanley. The former investment bank bought five properties in San Francisco as the market verged on a sharp downturn. Their value fell precipitously. The office buildings lost 50% of their value at purchase … //

… Morgan Stanley doesn’t look at it that way, not when it comes to its own behavior. It only expects you, the consumer and homeowner, to have moral attitudes about financial decisions. Continue Reading…

Published on The Economist, Dec 17th 2009.

… A wishlist is easily drafted. A quick return to economic growth; a louder voice in the councils of international organisations such as the European Union (and better decisions by them); more attention from the American administration; a neighbourly Russia. But such a list belongs in the same category as childish scrawls in crayon, asking Father Christmas to bring a magic rabbit and an invisibility cloak.   Continue Reading…

Published on Online Journal, by Raffi Hovannisian, Dec 16, 2009.

YEREVAN, Armenia — In Washington, Brussels, Moscow and elsewhere, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Erdogan, Foreign Minister Davutoglu and others have long advocated combining into one political agenda their country’s normalization of relations with Armenia and the resolution of Mountainous Karabagh’s conflict with Azerbaijan.

I agree.

Newly independent Armenia’s ostensibly mature policy — which I supported as the nation’s first foreign affairs minister — of seeking establishment of diplomatic relations without the positing of any preconditions can today, 18 years into the game, be pronounced dead on arrival.   Continue Reading…

What Americans Need to know about Mordechai Vanunu

Published on Global Research.ca, by Eileen Fleming, December 14, 2009.

I’m not a traitor.  I’m a man with a conscience who did what he did out of a deep belief after much thought and many doubts.  But I knew that I had to do it, that I had no choice…somebody had to do it…I contributed my share by making public what the public ought to know and they shut my mouth behind the prison walls. -Mordechai Vanunu

Mordechai Vanunu was released from Ashkelon prison to open air captivity in east Jerusalem on April 21, 2004 after 18 years.

In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu was clubbed, drugged, bound and kidnapped from Rome by the Mossad because he told the truth and provided the photographic proof of their clandestine 7 story underground WMD facility in the Negev.  Continue Reading…

Analysis: The Catholic sex abuse scandal, a victim’s view – Published on People’s World, by Martin Cleary, december 11, 2009.

When we think of Ireland we often think of green fields, friendly people and good music. But the recent reports, commissioned by the government and running thousands of pages, of the behavior of the Catholic Church paint a much darker picture. It was well known by those of us who had to attend Catholic-run schools that there was a sinister aspect to those entrusted to teach us.

I myself was a student in Ireland from 1959 to 1972; during all of that time I was taught by the Christian Brothers, the sect of the Catholic Church most represented in the documents. Our lives consisted of beatings, humiliations, derogatory comments and sexual abuse. The overwhelming power of the Catholic Church was so great that parents could only watch their children being abused and were powerless to say or do anything. The reports released by the investigative authority document sexual and physical abuse-even multiple murders-at the hands of those entrusted to protect and care for the children of Ireland.  Continue Reading…

an Interview with Sam Webb, by pa

Published on Political Affairs pa, December 09, 2009.

… SAM WEBB:  What is new about the present economic crisis actually has several different sides to it. First is, what brought it about. And in this regard the financial sector and financialization played a major role in bringing the country to economic ruin. There have been other financial difficulties and problems over the past 20 or 30 years. If you made a list of them, people would be surprised at the length of the list. But those problems didn’t bring the country to near collapse. In the present case, the financial sector and financialization did bring about almost total economic devastation.  Continue Reading…

Published on Al Jazeera, by As’ad AbuKhalil, December 09, 2009.

The emirate of Dubai has in the past few decades been more than a shiny example of glitzy capitalism and the insulation from the repercussions (and responsibilities) of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It has represented the type of political model which has been promoted to the Arabs, by their rulers and by the West … //

… Playground for the rich:

Dubai was supposed to be a vision but one not rooted in the productive sectors of the economy.  Continue Reading…

Published on People’s World, by: W. T. Whitney Jr., December 7 2009.

The stakes were high for President Evo Morales going into presidential and legislative elections on December 6. “We have gained the government but still don’t have power,” he said.

That worry is over. Morales, Vice President Alvaro García Linera, and the Movement toward Socialism Party (MAS) swept up 62 percent of the ballots cast by 5.1 million voters to win a second four year term.

Trailing by up to 40 points in pre-election polls, lead opponent Manfred Reyes of the Progressive Plan for Bolivia party took 23 percent of the votes. He was already ticketed for a December 8 American Airlines departure for Miami. The former Cochabamba prefect, a School of the Americas graduate, faces corruption charges …   Continue Reading…

Interview published on People’s World, by Lance Cohn, December 5 2009.

CHICAGO — On Dec. 6, Hugo Hernandez will receive an award at the People’s World/Mundo Popular 22nd annual banquet here. Hernandez will be joined by three other award recipients: South Austin Coalition, Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care, Carmen Cohen of HEART/AFSCME and keynote speaker Amy Dean, former president of the South Bay Labor Council, as honored guests at the event themed, “Unity in action for a people’s economic recovery.”

Q: Why did AFT decide that it was time to organize charter schools?   Continue Reading…

Military Gives Us A Number

Published on the Atlantic Wire, by Justin Elliott, December 2, 2009.

Private contractors employed by the Defense Department in Afghanistan will continue to outnumber the size of the American troop presence, even after President Obama sends 30,000 more soldiers to fight in the war, according to the military’s most recent contractor count.

Private contractors employed by the Defense Department in Afghanistan will continue to outnumber the size of the American troop presence, even after President Obama sends 30,000 more soldiers to fight in the war, according to the military’s most recent contractor count …   Continue Reading…

Im Kopp-Verlag gefunden, von Michael Grandt, 01. Dez. 2009.

Es klingt unglaublich: US-Banken haben die Hypotheken so oft verschoben, dass sie jetzt nicht mehr wissen, welche Hypotheken zu welchen Schuldnern gehören. Ein Gericht erließ einer Schuldnerin jetzt sogar rund 500.000 Dollar – einfach so …

… Banken wissen nicht mehr, wem die Hypotheken gehören:

Jetzt allerdings gibt es Hoffnung für überschuldete Hausbesitzer, die ausgerechnet von den strengen Banken kommt, denn diese können oft nicht mehr nachweisen, wem die Hypotheken eigentlich gehören, die sie zu Paketen gebündelt und verkauft haben.

Als im Januar dieses Jahres die Kongressabgeordnete Marcy Kaptur aus Ohio eine Rede hielt, machten sich noch viele über sie lustig. Kaptur forderte die Menschen nämlich auf, im Fall einer Zwangsräumung in ihren Häusern zu bleiben, denn »sie müssen euch erst einmal beweisen, dass ihnen tatsächlich eure Hypothek gehört. Und bis sie nicht mit dem Finger auf das entsprechende Papier zeigen können, ist das nicht der Fall. Die finden eure Hypothek an der Wall Street überhaupt nicht mehr wieder!«

Das kapitalistische System legt sich selbst rein: … //    Continue Reading…

Political trials in Bangladesh – Published on The Economist, Nov. 26, 2009.

MORE than 30 years after two Bangladeshi colonels flew to London to confess on television to having helped kill Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding president, the Supreme Court on November 19th rejected an appeal by five army officers convicted of the murder. The verdict was expected, but praised as an historic chance for politicians to bury their obsession with Bangladesh’s past and focus on the present. More likely, partisan pressure will keep the past alive … //

… The League also wants to revert to the 1972 constitution, enshrining the values—secularism, democracy, nationalism and socialism—on which Bangladesh’s independence struggle was based. The opposition BNP, a party with its roots in the army and allied to Jamaat during its 2001-06 rule, is livid.   Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by Mark Sircus, November 29, 2009.

From the mainstream press we read, “As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria[1] … //

… As politicians they were making their plans to sign an international treaty about global warming and carbon taxes – setting up structures for increased power of the now partially in place world government – record breaking cold temperatures were being set in both Europe and America. We still see news about global warming when it is clear that the world is in a period of cooling as the sun cycles down and sun spots vanish and the oceans cool. Continue Reading…

Published on People’s World, by Michael Robert Langdon, November 25 2009.

McKINLEYVILLE, Calif. – It’s widely understood that we are all living in a serious economic depression, and at last people are coming together to battle this monster. In this economic battlefield, communities are setting up local human resource networks around the country.

Humboldt County, in Northern California, has a longstanding reputation as a highly progressive area. Our network includes food banks, community gardens, mobile medical clinics, resource telephone hotlines, and a centrally located community collaborative office. It is basically a one-stop clearinghouse of what human services are available in the area. The community collaborative not only provides information referrals, it also provides free-of-cost clothing, books, small appliances, bags of food, and family holiday meal packages. At the collaborative, Barbara – a most excellent and caring lady – has always stepped up to assist my advocacy work in getting vital necessities to the low-income working people I help …  Continue Reading…

Publié dans Voltairenet.org, par Jean-Claude Paye et Tülay Umay, 16 Novembre 2009.

Au cours des dernières années, les sociétés occidentales ont sacralisé les victimes. Depuis le 11-Septembre, ce phénomène a été instrumenté par les promoteurs de la guerre des civilisations pour développer la théorie du complot islamo-gauchiste, selon laquelle l’Occident devrait non seulement affronter le péril islamique, mais aussi une cinquième colonne intérieure. Cette rhétorique élaborée aux USA par Daniel Pipes et développée en France par les intellectuels et journalistes membres du Cercle de l’Oratoire vient d’être reprise au mot-à-mot en Belgique par le sénateur libéral Alain Destexhe et le journaliste de gauche Claude Demelenne. Mais comment fonctionne donc ce discours délirant? … //  Continue Reading…

Published on truthout, by Liza Jansen of Inter Press Service, 25 November 2009.

United Nations – Marking the 10th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a Network of Men Leaders to battle violence against women and girls here Tuesday.

”These men will add their voices to the growing global chorus for action,” Ban said.   Continue Reading…

Linked on our blogs with the Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network. – Published on old.manifesto2009, as a 7 pages pdf.

… (page 2/7) – AEFJN advocates trade policies towards African countries that allow for:

• An economic and trade system that creates justice between and among countries and communities, and offers opportunities to all.
• Fairer conditions of trade between the European Union and the African countries.
• Allow for the necessary policy space and support for ACP countries to pursue their own development strategies.
• Protection for African producers in domestic and regional markets.
• The fostering of agricultural production for small-scale farmers as well as of industrialisation and employment creation.
• Respect for the Food Sovereignty of each African country, allowing for local production in a sustainable way.
• Rules governing investments, services and trade in goods, that respect the sovereignty of the state, and allows development policies and the protection of its nascent industry, for the benefit of its population.
• The freedom and right to choose the trade and development policies for poverty eradication.
• The freedom not to be forced into liberalisation and privatisation.
• Protection and fulfilment of all human and social rights.
• Develop regional integration and foster inter-regional trade.
• The principle of non-reciprocity, as instituted in the Generalized System of Preferences and special and differential treatment in the WTO.  Continue Reading…

Société Générale Tells Clients how to Prepare for Potential Global Collapse

Published on Global Research.ca, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, November 19, 2009.

Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible “global economic collapse” over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.

In a report entitled “Worst-case debt scenario”, the bank’s asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems.  Continue Reading…

Published on OneWorld South Asia (first on Down to Earth), by Aparna Palla, November 18, 2009.

By reviving an old farm practice of pata, women in this western Indian district are ensuring food security in times of drought by growing vegetables, fruits, sorghum and pigeon peas. Traditionally, pata signifies a woman’s space in agriculture, which had lost its significance after Green Revolution and commercialisation.

Whenever I went missing as a child, my mother would come looking for me in the pata, Lalitabai Meshram said, laughing out loud. “My friends and I would play in the tangled vines for hours, making dolls of corn husk and hair, eating groundnuts, beans and waluk melon. Sometimes I would fall asleep there,” recalled Meshram, now 50-plus.   Continue Reading…