Humanitarian Texts

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Martin U. Müller, Marcel Rosenbach and Thomas Schulz, May 17, 2013. (Photo Gallery).

Forget Big Brother. Companies and countries are discovering that algorithms programmed to scour vast quantities of data can be much more powerful. They can predict your next purchase, forecast car thefts and maybe even help cure cancer. But there is a down side … // Continue Reading…

Special Coverage, 15.45 min, uploaded on YouTube by Russia Today, May 16, 2013:
May 16 marks a dark milestone in the history of the world’s most maligned prison – 100 days of a mass hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay. Out of 166 inmates – 130 are on strike according to prisoners, while the military only admits to 102. At least a third of them are being force fed – a procedure recognized by various medical organizations as painful enough to constitute torture. And by all accounts – there’s no end in sight to the protest.

RT discusses the stand-off with former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg, who’s now the Director of the Cageprisoners activist group, Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei, the legal representative of 8 Guantanamo detainees, military attorney Lt. Col Barry Wingard on the line from the detention camp, and Col. Morris Davis, former Chief Prosecutor for the Terrorism Trials at Guantanamo Bay. RT LIVE …;   Continue Reading…

Published on Dissident Voice, by David Macaray, May 14, 2013.

If you happen to follow the American and international labor scene, and want to kill a leisurely hour, an entertaining way of doing that is to visit the Department of Labor’s (DOL) official website.  It offers a wide selection of labor tidbits, explanations of bureaucratic procedures, helpful tips, advice for retirees and disabled workers, and summaries of the DOL’s most recent compliance victories.   Continue Reading…

Vaccinations, Breast Cancer, Conscience – in english & en français, on Gesundheits Blog, May 16, 2013.

(with PHOTOS) – Published on Huffington Post, by Patrick E. Jones and Mark Stevenson, May 13, 2013.

BELIZE CITY — A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize’s largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract crushed rock for a road-building project, authorities announced on Monday.

The head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Jaime Awe, said the destruction at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was detected late last week. The ceremonial center dates back at least 2,300 years and is the most important site in northern Belize, near the border with Mexico.   Continue Reading…

The Final Battle: Ríos Montt’s Counterinsurgency Campaign, published on the National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book No. 425 (with Documents 1 – 9), by Kate Doyle, May 9, 2013:
UPDATED:

• Ríos Montt Convicted;
• Former Dictator Sentenced to 80 Years for Crimes Against Humanity;
• Historic Judgment by Guatemalan Court.    Continue Reading…

Published on Intrepid Report, by Paul Craig Roberts, May 13, 2013.

Over the last several years I have watched the rise of an important new intellect on the American scene. Ron Unz, publisher of The American Conservative, has demonstrated time and again the extraordinary ability to reexamine settled issues and show that the accepted conclusion was incorrect. One of his early achievements was to dispose of the myth of immigrant crime by demonstrating that “Hispanics have approximately the same crime rates as whites of the same age and gender.” You can imagine the uproar, but Unz won the debate.   Continue Reading…

Published on UTNE, by Sam Ross-Brown, May 10, 2013.

The rise of corporate-owned social media raises many flags about our online security and the future of the digital commons. The solution, says theorist Michael Albert, is a different kind of network altogether … //

… But here’s the good news. It doesn’t have to be like this. There’s no law of nature that social media need to be run by giant corporations or that users need to put up with government spying and manipulative advertising. So, what’s the alternative?   Continue Reading…

where women live in fear – Published on Dissident Voice, by Abdre Vltchek, May 10, 2013.

My good friend, a Chinese Indonesian lady, recently got grabbed and assaulted, in the middle of Jakarta, in broad daylight.

When it happened, I was in Japan and we exchanged several messages, and emails. This was not the first time such a thing had happened to her and she felt humiliated, defeated, and thoroughly vulnerable.

“I wish I would be born as someone else – not as a Chinese. I wish I would look like everyone else”, she wrote.   Continue Reading…

Watch this video, 7.03 min, on The Real News Network, by Paul Jay, May 8, 2013. Transcript: In three years a total of 452679 victims of child trafficking cases were reported but number of prosecutions was only 25006 – 6% of the cases being reported.

Links:

• Modern Slavery 101, on end slavery now/resources;
• ILO’s resource site on Child Labour and Responses in South Asia, including India;
• UNICEF’s resources and suggestions for Combating Child Labour in India;
• Child protection – A UNICEF database and library of publication on child labour;

more items on en.wikipedia:   Continue Reading…

Published on Portside, May 8, 2013.

In the summer of 2011, I travelled to Denmark, where my reporting resulted in a series of articles about the Danish welfare state and political system. Like most American visitors, I was struck by the high level of social solidarity and broad support for the country’s free education and health care systems, robust safety net, and, yes — high taxes. I spoke with business leaders; I spoke with conservative politicians. Nobody seemed to think that it would be a good idea to abandon the Danish model for a U.S.-style system.   Continue Reading…

Published on rabble.ca, by SAMANTHA SARRA, May 6, 2013.

… From May 5-10, The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC is hosting Bonding Through Bars, an international roundtable bringing together delegates from five continents to explore the health and human rights of incarcerated women and their children. The state of Canada’s prison, legal and child welfare system will be at the forefront of this international dialogue aimed at initiating change towards more equitable laws, policies and programs.   Continue Reading…

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming – Published on Intrepid Report, by Ritt Goldstein, May 7, 2013.

DALARNA, Sweden—The word ‘surreal’ was the first which came to my mind, what I witnessed during the last third of April indeed seeming best described by it. Of course, too much has too long been overblown, the strongest of adjectives too frequently employed to mask the weakest of circumstances; but, in this instance the word ‘surreal’ seems appropriate, although what brings it to mind are events that indeed seem ‘overblown … // Continue Reading…

from the World Social Forum 2013 – Published on The Bullet, the Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 816, Tunisia, May 6, 2013.

As the Social Movements Assembly of the World Social Forum of Tunisia, 2013, we are gathered here to affirm the fundamental contribution of peoples of Maghreb-Mashrek (from North Africa to the Middle East), in the construction of human civilization.

We affirm that decolonization for oppressed peoples remains for us, the social movements of the world, a challenge of the greatest importance.   Continue Reading…

Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule, Text and video: You, Me, and the SPP, 90.14 min, on Top Documentary Films, 2009.

SPP on en.wikipedia with it’s External Links.

Published on New Economic Perspectives, by Stephanie Kelton, May 4, 2013.

Steve Kraske of The Kansas City Star recently interviewed me for a piece about austerity.  The story ran in today’s paper. It doesn’t provide much depth (unlike bloggers, journalists have strict space constraints!), so I followed up with a few comments on the Star’s website.  I thought I’d share them here, since I’m always trying to improve the way I communicate these ideas with non-economists.  So here’s my best effort to make the anti-austerity case in simple terms:

• 1. When we allow our economy to operate below full employment (as now), we are sacrificing trillions of dollars in lost output and income each year. We can never go back and recover it.  It is gone forever.  You’ve seen the debt clock?  Here’s the lost output clock.   Continue Reading…

Published on truthout, by Noam Chomsky, May 2, 2013.

… April is usually a cheerful month in New England, with the first signs of spring, and the harsh winter at last receding. Not this year.

There are few in Boston who were not touched in some way by the marathon bombings on April 15 and the tense week that followed. Several friends of mine were at the finish line when the bombs went off. Others live close to where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect, was captured. The young police officer Sean Collier was murdered right outside my office building.   Continue Reading…

Watch this video, 4.49 min, published on Russia Today RT, May 2, 2013.

PM Cameron’s cabinet is considering offering ‘really generous’ packages to Afghan interpreters working with British troops, who would not seek asylum in UK and would stay in Afghanistan after the 2014 pullout, risking reprisals from the Taliban.

There are some 450 Afghans working as interpreters for the British troops left in the country. Some politicians and military in the UK call have been calling to treat those people similarly to Iraqis, who used to work with the British deployed there. The Iraqis were offered either one-off financial packages or asylum in Britain, with some 900 of the interpreters opting for the latter … //   Continue Reading…

Interview with Pervez Hoodbhoy, published on DAWN.com, April 30, 2013.

Prominent scientist and political commentator Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy speaks to Dawn.com about the upcoming general elections, the performance of the previous government, minority and sectarian issues, and secularism, following a meeting with members of Pakistan’s expatriate community in Las Vegas: … //

… Relatively speaking what is the biggest deception that we live under as a nation, as a people, as a society, and what is that one thing we can practically change with personal introspection to evolve as a whole?   Continue Reading…

watch this video, 12.37 min, mise en ligne par TheMediaLibrary, Jan 29, 2012: Titre original: Ilha das flores!

Film pamphlet, systématique et grinçant, ce court métrage brésilien réalisé par Jorge Furtado en 1989 dénonce la sous-humanité qu’entraîne l’économie de marché et les 13 millions de Brésiliens sous-alimentés.
Version complète HQ de 12 min; le temps durant lequel nous suivons le parcours d’une tomate, depuis sa production dans la plantation de M. Suzuki, jusqu’à son point d’arrivée à la décharge publique de l’île aux Fleurs.

Published on the New York Times NYT, by CHARLIE SAVAGE, April 30, 2013.

WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Tuesday that he would recommit himself to closing the Guantánamo Bay prison, a goal that he all but abandoned in the face of Congressional opposition in his first term and that faces steep challenges now.

“It’s not sustainable,” Mr. Obama said at a White House news conference. “The notion that we’re going to keep 100 individuals in no man’s land in perpetuity,” he added, makes no sense. “All of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this? Why are we doing this?”   Continue Reading…

Published on Dissident Voice, by Kim Petersen, co-editor of Dissident Voice, January 29, 2013.

… Since many social and political groupings fit under the progressivist umbrella, there are bound to be some disagreements on some of the tenets of progressivism, but on core tenets progressivists find common ground to solidarize. Thus, even libertarianism might be considered for inclusion under the progressivist banner. In general, all these ideologies are more or less in opposition to unfettered capitalism and the capitalist-spawned agendas espoused by movements that occupy the right wing of the political spectrum. Even though capitalists do not sincerely reside within leftist political groupings, it cannot be assumed that political affiliation alone implies an individual is of progressivist persuasion or even, for that matter, steadfast leftism.   Continue Reading…

2013-04-01: So, Are Brics Sub-Imperialists?
2013-04-02: Where is the Line Between Adoption and Child Buying?
2013-04-03: The Confiscation of Savings in Canada? Cyprus-Style “Bail-Ins” Proposed by Ottawa Government;
2013-04-04: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim;
2013-04-05: UK coddles fat cats, throws poor to dogs;
2013-04-06: New WikiLeaks cable reveals US embassy strategy to destabilize Chavez government;
2013-04-07: Indigenous women and prostitution;
2013-04-07: neu auf meinem Gesundheits-Blog /new posts about health on my special blog;
2013-04-08: Non-Embryonic Stem Cells, Part 1: The Dawning of a New Era of Hope;
2013-04-09: Muslimah Misogyny: Muslim Women Against FEMEN;
2013-04-10: Lastest Disclosures at the National Security Archive NSA;
2013-04-10: Female genital mutilation on the rise in the United States-report;
2013-04-10: The Aspartame APM (E951);
2013-04-11: The Art World Is Rotten, Part 1: Giacometti Forger Tells All;
2013-04-12: Germany’s One-Party System;
2013-04-13: Rust in Peace: East Germany’s Forgotten Factories;
2013-04-14: Aging and Nutrition, Mind, Sleep, Trainings …;
2013-04-15: The Thatcher-introduced settlement is now under pressure as never before;
2013-04-15: Top Info Forum 3 – über geld, geheimbünde, korruption, phänomene;
2013-04-16: Excited about the Death Penalty;
2013-04-17: Right on, sisters;
2013-04-18: WikiLeaks and the 2007 Iran NIE – Part 1;
2013-04-19: Good vs. Evil, Boston and Beyond;
2013-04-20: Latest Disclosures at the National Security Archive NSA;
2013-04-21: Violence on the Home Front;
2013-04-22: You Don’t “Own” Your Own Genes;
2013-04-22: Du bist nicht Besitzer deiner “eigenen” Gene;
2013-04-23: The Privatization of Water: Nestlé Denies that Water is a Fundamental Human Right;
2013-04-24: Theory Talk #53: Ned Lebow on Drivers of War, Cultural Theory, IR of Foxes and Hedgehogs;
2013-04-25: Pink Floyd;
2013-04-26: ‘Sextremist’ Training: Climbing into the Ring with Femen;
2013-04-27: China May Have Helped Pakistan Nuclear Weapons Design;
2013-04-28: Julian Assange on George Bush’s Library and Bradley Manning’s Trial;
2013-04-28: on Gesundheits Blog – health blog;
2013-04-29: Irish music and dance;
2013-04-30: Glyphosate, Part 3: A Trajectory of Human Misery.

Published on Activist Post, by Heidi Stevenson, April 28, 2013.

Glyphosate was first introduced in 1974 and has become the world’s most dominant herbicide. It’s now generic, so there are many brands and formulations. As a result, it’s virtually ubiquitous, found nearly everywhere on earth.

Further driving its use are genetically modified (GM) crops, which were first developed for the purpose of creating glyphosate-tolerant plants, usually known as Roundup Ready. These have resulted in ever-more blatant and free use, especially in the wake of glyphosate-resistant superweeds. Estimates put glyphosate-tolerant GM crops at 90% of all transgene crops … // Continue Reading…

Videos:

• Irish Music with Irish artist and Andre Rieu and orchesstra, 2.17 min, uploaded by Ediklll, May 11, 2006;
• Orthodox Celts: Star Of The County Down, 2.23 min, uploaded by mamasaid, Sept 16, 2006: Belgrade’s most popular Irish & Celtic music band playing an Irish traditional, arranged by Ana Djokic (the violin player in the video) …;
• The corrs and the chieftains, 5.46 min, uploaded by Ozuisko, Dec 5, 2006;
• Ceili Irish Music – The Kilkenny’s, 3.26 min, uploaded by Cathal Lynch, May 5, 2009;
• Irish song flute music, 4.16 min, uploaded by ramroy007, August 15, 2008;
• The Chieftains & Sinead O’Connor: The Foggy Dew, 4.49 min, uploaded by Manuel perez de castro, Dec 6, 2008;  Continue Reading…