Humanitarian Texts

• 2010-05-01: US soldier in WikiLeaks massacre video: I relive this every day;
• 2010-05-02: South America, Towards regional integration or the next Middle East?
• 2010-05-03: What Do Empires Do?
• 2010-05-04: Somali Islamist insurgents seize pirate haven;
• 2010-05-04: 1997-2010: L’écologie financière;
• 2010-05-05: why the enlightened liberal class is complicit in the contry downward spiral;
• 2010-05-06: Swissness and Islamic fundamentalism;
• 2010-05-07: Historic Dissident Journal Published Online;
• 2010-05-08: More arms, less food for people;
• 2010-05-09: Colonialism, Slave History and whities’ must for reparations;
• 2010-05-10: Some of My Best Friends Are Pakistanis;
• 2010-05-11: Colombia: State Terror in the Name of Peace;
• 2010-05-12: We Need an Alternative;
• 2010-05-13: Homeless in Kabul;
• 2010-05-14: Congrès fondateur La Gauche / Alternative Linke / La Sinistra;
• 2010-05-14: Burqa versus Human Rights;
• 2010-05-15: Walking With The Comrades 1/4;
• 2010-05-16: Theory Talk no 38 with James Scott;
• 2010-05-17: Virtual Living;
• 2010-05-18: Knowledge, Truth and Human Action: America Hits the Wall;
• 2010-05-19: Sunshine and Shadows;
• 2010-05-19: Plus le mensonge est gros … mieux il passe;
• 2010-05-20: Everywhere and nowhere;
• 2010-05-20: Un autre regard sur les minorités spirituelles;
• 2010-05-21: Deepwater Horizon’s Blowout;
• 2010-05-21: Recherche en Education Sociale et Philosophie Pour Enfants;
• 2010-05-22: Laying Bare the Myth of The Left;
• 2010-05-23: Noam Chomsky barred from entering West Bank;
• 2010-05-24: The World Cup and I;
• 2010-05-25: Maoism, A Critique From the Left;
• 2010-05-26: The White Collared Jihadis;
• 2010-05-27: US presence is making Afghans fight against Taliban difficult;
• 2010-05-28: A Canadian compromise;
• 2010-05-28: Finanzplatz, Steuerpolitik und soziale Gerechtigkeit;
• 2010-05-29: Handbook suggests that deviations from ‘normality’ are disorders;
• 2010-05-30: Ten Things You Need (But Don’t Want) To Know About the BP Oil Spill;
• 2010-05-31: Anti-corruption dialogue focuses on education.

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See also our pages:

• people by first name;
• PEOPLE BY COUNTRY;
• All NGOs sorted alphabetically;
• All NGOs sorted chronologically.
• Economy and Society: all articles sorted chronologically;
• Humanitarian Texts: all articles sorted chronologically;
• KASHMIR and IDPs: all articles sorted chronologically;
• Geopolitical Analysis: all articles sorted chronologically;
• History – Past and Present: all artic les sorted chronologically;
• Berhane Tewolde’s Development Blog: all articles sorted chronologically;
• Mein privater Garten: all article sorted chronologically;
• Heidi Barathieu-Brun: all articles sorted chronologically.

Further find on the blog History – Past and Present:
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 1;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 2;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 3;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 4;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 5;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 6;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 7;
Baharistan-i-Shahi – Chapter 8.

Published on VOVnews, by VNA, May 29, 2010.

The seventh annual anti-corruption dialogue opened on May 28 in Hanoi, drawing the participation of representatives of government agencies, the international donor community and development partners … //

… During two discussion sessions, “Advancements in ant-corruption in Vietnam” and “Anti-corruption in Education,” participants heard reports on developments since the sixth dialogue last November and the implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy until 2020, the UN anti-corruption convention and the project on fighting corruption in education and training. Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by Daniela Perdomo, May 27, 2010.

1. Oil rig owner has made $270 million off the oil leak:

Transocean Ltd., the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP, has been flying under the radar in the mainstream blame game. The world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, the company is conveniently headquartered in corporate-friendly Switzerland, and it’s no stranger to oil disasters. In 1979, an oil well it was drilling in the very same Gulf of Mexico ignited, sending the drill platform into the sea and causing one of the largest oil spills by the time it was capped… nine months later.  Continue Reading…

Published on The Washington Post, by George F. Willl, February 28, 2010 (sorry, found only today, but still crazy).

…Life is about to imitate De Vries’s literature, again. The fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), psychiatry’s encyclopedia of supposed mental disorders, is being revised. The 16 years since the last revision evidently were prolific in producing new afflictions. The revision may aggravate the confusion of moral categories.

Today’s DSM defines “oppositional defiant disorder” as a pattern of “negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures.” Symptoms include “often loses temper,” “often deliberately annoys people” or “is often touchy.” DSM omits this symptom: “is a teenager.”  Continue Reading…

Der wissenschaftliche Beirat von attac Schweiz lädt zur Weiterbildungs- und Diskussionstagung ein, welche am 19. Juni 2010 in der Universität Fribourg, Miséricorde, avenue de l’Europe 20, 1700 Fribourg, Saal 3113 stattfindet.

Per e-mail-Rundbrief erhalten, Von: Infoliste von ATTAC-Schweiz, Datum: 26/05/2010.

Kontakt und Informationen: attac Schweiz, rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Genf oder ATTAC Suisse  resp. ATTAC Schweiz.

Programm:  Continue Reading…

How Harry Potter and Victoria’s Secret helped to save a lot of trees

Published on The Economist, May 25, 2010.

MAY 2010 is looking like a good month for forests. In a couple of days, on the 27th, the Oslo Forest Climate Conference is expected to mark another step on the road to a comprehensive deal on tropical deforestation. And last week, on the 18th, an unlikely-seeming collection of forest-products companies and environmental organisations announced the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, which should drastically change the way in which huge areas of Canadian forest are managed … // Continue Reading…

Reçu par e-mail, De: Graines de Paix /Bureau,  Date: 25/05/2010 – Lié sur nos blogs avec Graines de Paix.

Chers sympathisants de Graines de Paix, Nous avons le plaisir de vous faire parvenir notre dernière e-news. Découvrez nos prochaines activités pour promouvoir la paix, les dates à retenir en ce début d’été et nos derniers outils pédagogiques. Côtés activités pour le public, voici les prochains rendez-vous:

• 3 Juin – Venez faire mieux connaissance avec Graines de Paix : ses activités et son équipe (présentation à 18h),
• 6 Juin – Venez passer un bon moment au bord du lac au Peace Village du BIP (avec jeux et activités de Graines de Paix),
• 10 Juin – Participez à un atelier Pratiquer le dialogue sur des sujets polémiques.  Continue Reading…

Linked with Malalai Joya – Afghanistan. – Published on ZNet.org, an interview with Malalai Joya by Farooq Sulehria, May 26, 2010.

Recently named one of ‘100 most influential people in the world’ by Time magazine, Malalai Joya was called ‘Afghanistan’s most famous women’, by BBC.  A strong critic of US occupation, Taliban and Mujahedeen-dominated Karzai government, Joya is youngest Afghan MP. Owing to her blunt criticism of warlords allied with Karzai, she was suspended by a majority vote in the Afghan parliament. Recently, she visited Sweden and in an interview with Farooq Sulehria, she discusses the situation in her country.

Question: There is lot of press about proposed NATO operation against Taliban in Kandahar while recently Marjah was successfully  secured. How would you evaluate these offensives against Taliban?

• Joya:  First of all, let me say that despite the presence of thousands of US and NATO troops, millions of Afghan people keep lacking security and keep suffering from hunger, poverty and disease.  Regarding Marjah and Kandahar, I would say Marjah was not the first operation and Kandahar will not be the last one. Continue Reading…

Role of Pakistani Returnees From US – Published on IntelliBriefs, by B. Raman, May 23, 2010.

… 5. It has been reported that some of those arrested in Islamabad have admitted the following: Having helped Shahzad to contact the TTP in North Waziristan; financially helping him though it is not clear whether they helped him meet his expenses in Pakistan or whether they funded his May 1 attempt; having contacted him over phone when they found that he had not fled the US after the failed attempt and urged him to flee the US before he was caught by the local authorities. It is still intriguing why he did not flee immediately and spent 48 hours in the US after having made the attempt.  Continue Reading…

Published on PRAGOTI.org, by Prasenjit Bose, May 18, 2010.

Leftword Books has published a collection of critical essays on leftwing extremism. The contributors are P.M.S. Grewal, Nilotpal Basu and Vijay Prashad. Excerpts from a 1968 CPI (M) document are reproduced in appendix as a historical backgrounder. The book is published under creative commons license. Pragoti is publishing the Introduction to the volume written by book editor Prasenjit Bose. The book can be purchased online from here.

Introduction: … //  Continue Reading…

Published on OneWorld.net, by Tope Folarin, May 18, 2010.

… I am a first-generation American who grew up in Utah. That statement alone should provide a sense of my biography; there weren’t many people like me around. Although I was a happy in school and had great friends, I struggled to form a sense of identity. Initially, I found my identity in sports. I was a big fan of the Utah Jazz and I especially admired their star power forward, Karl Malone. I studied each of his interviews and attempted to model myself after him — after all, he was a popular black man in Utah, perhaps the only popular black man in Utah, and I hoped to become popular myself. Soon after I became obsessed with Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets. Olajuwon convinced me that the world would accept me — an American of Nigerian extraction — as long as I worked hard and excelled. Continue Reading…

Published on WSWS, by David Walsh, 19 May 2010.

Israeli authorities barred Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a well-known critic of Zionist policy, from entering the Israeli-occupied West Bank Sunday.

After being questioned for several hours, he and his daughter Avi were turned back. Chomsky had been scheduled to deliver three lectures at Birzeit University, the leading Palestinian institution, one of them on Monday. Instead, he participated in the latter seminar on US foreign policy, attended by 100 Birzeit students, via videoconferencing. Chomsky, who lived in Israel on a kibbutz in 1953, has visited and lectured in the country numerous times in the past.  Continue Reading…

Published on TruthDig, by David Sirota, May 20, 2010.

I’m always amused by popular references to the allegedly all-powerful American “Left.” The term suggests that progressives today possess the same kind of robust, ideologically driven political apparatus as the Right – a machine putting principles before party affiliation. This notion is hilarious because it is so absurd.

Yes, there are certainly well-funded groups in Washington that call themselves “progressive,” that get media billing as “The Left,” and that purport to advocate liberal causes regardless of party. But unlike the Right’s network, which has sometimes ideologically opposed Republicans on court nominations and legislation, many “progressive” institutions are not principled at all – sadly, lots of them are just propagandists for Democrats, regardless of what Democrats do … //  Continue Reading…

Lié avec Business2school B2S. – Publié sur B2S, Mai 2010.

VOUS: Membre du corps enseignant HETS ou HES-S2 conduisant une recherche en éducation sociale. Vous (ou un membre de votre équipe) pouvez assumer le rôle de directeur-trice de mémoire.

MOI: Etudiante Hets-Genève ‘en emploi’ (préparation Bachelor). Je veux réaliser mon MFE en participant à une recherche appliquée, ciblée dans le domaine de l’éducation sociale. Thèmes proposés (parmi d’autres possibles) :

• Affermir la faculté de discernement et l’indépendance de jugement.
• Développer les liens intergénérationnels / interculturels.
• Encourager la participation de chacun à la vie sociales, culturelle, civique, politique et économique.

ENSEMBLE: L’association qui est mon lieu de formation pratique (ProPhilo) développe un outil pédagogique de premier choix et offre un terrain d’expérience très concret (réseau d’écoles, d’associations, d’institutions culturelles, de personnes compétentes, etc.) permettant de conduire une recherche appliquée en éducation sociale. Continue Reading…

Watch three Videos, published on Dandelion Salad, by blog owner, May 17, 2010.

The Blowout: part 1, 10.15 min,
part 2, 10.00 min,
and a 3rd video: 5.06 min.

Reçu par e-mail: Lettre 125 par le Comité CLIMS, Mai 17, 2010   – un projet français … pour la France –

Mobilisation: Campagne du CICNS pour la création d’un Observatoire des minorités spirituelles, thérapeutiques et éducatives indépendant et compétent en remplacement de la MIVILUDES

Document à télécharger et nous renvoyer signé à CICNS, Projet d’observatoire, BP 7, 82270 Montpezat de Quercy, FRANCE.

Plusieurs milliers de signatures sont nécessaires et attendues afin de permettre à notre pays de se réveiller de sa longue errance. Merci de diffuser et manifester votre soutien (télécharger le document à signer et nous le renvoyer). Les occasions de mobilisation ne sont pas fréquentes et ont été globalement ignorées dans le passé.  Continue Reading…

Urbanisation and the need for sustainable development

Published on Le Monde Diplo, by Helmut Holzapfel, May 2010.

Since the creation of the railways, the desirable lifestyle has been in constant motion, always expanding and demanding that everything – goods and people – move and be moved. It may only have been a phase in human history.

The Swiss people launched a remarkable initiative in 2000, intended not just to restrict road traffic in Switzerland but to halve it. They collected thousands of signatures and won enough votes for the project to be put to a popular referendum. This failed to change the law, but did win a surprisingly high approval rate: 21.9% of the population voted in its favour.  Continue Reading…

Publié sur CAP Droits de l’Homme, par les Editeurs Cap Suisse, 18 Mai 2010.

… Vous avez dit panique?

On reste béat devant l’impérissable perversité de la logique totalitaire. S’il fut un amateur de forces occultes, c’est bien Adolf Hitler**. Le fait qu’il persécutait les adeptes des philosophies mêmes dont il cherchait à s’approprier les pouvoirs en dit long sur le désespoir de certains êtres.

La grande peur:  Continue Reading…

The Clear Obama Message for Freedom of Information Meets Mixed Results

Published on National Security Archive, by Tom Blanton, NSA Director (for more info call him on 202/994-7000), March 15, 2010.

Despite President Barack Obama’s and Attorney General Eric Holder’s 2009 memoranda calling for reform in government agencies’ administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the latest government-wide FOIA Audit released today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University found:

• Ancient requests – as old as 18 years – still persist in the FOIA system.
• A minority of agencies have responded to the Obama and Holder Memos with concrete changes in their FOIA practices.
• Only four out of 28 agencies reporting–including Holder’s own Justice Department–show releases up and denials down under the FOIA.  Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by John Kozy, May 16, 2010.

Americans have a problem with the truth. They seem to be unable to accept it, which is difficult to understand at a time in history when knowledge plays a larger and larger role in determining human action. Recognition of this problem is widespread. Beliefs and lies somehow always overwhelm truth, even when they are so contradictory that any effective action becomes impossible. A kind of national, psychological paralysis occurs. Nothing can be done because one belief contradicts another, and for some unknown reason, the facts don’t matter. Even during those times when an overwhelming belief does compel action, Americans rush headlong into it neglecting the adage that headlong often means wrong.  Continue Reading…

Published on Dissident Voice, by Linh Dinh, May 15, 2010.

… For many of us, our first impulse upon entering a new space, be it country, city or room, is to escape it. I must get online. Staring at a computer, a person can flit from NBA playoffs to Katherine Heigl, to a napping and slumping Ken Griffey Jr., to porn, to the boxscore of a game he doesn’t give a damn about, to Gisele Bundchen, to Elena Kagan. Gulf oil spill? What Gulf oil spill?

The problem with the media is not that there’s no meat in it, but by stuffing lard, blood, scrapple, gristle, chicken mess, acorn, corn syrup, sawdust, meat and whatever else into an unending sausage, nothing could be isolated long enough for anything to matter, not even the tortured death of a nation or a planet. Continue Reading…

James Scott on Agriculture as Politics, the Dangers of Standardization and Not Being Governed – Published on Theory Talks, May 15, 2010.

How are agriculture or foot-dragging the core of the political? What if messy villages and myriads of local measures are rational? Can the well-intentioned state we take for granted as our point of departure be just as shortsighted as we are? Sometimes International Relations (IR) and political science more generally get challenged in unexpected ways. The work of James C. Scott, Marxist inclined towards anarchism by conviction and something between agrarian specialist and political scientist in training, inspires many not only to reconsider what the realm of politics was about—but also makes resistance to state-driven schemes understandable—even for political scientists. Continue Reading…

Gandhians with a Gun? Arundhati Roy plunges into the sea of Gondi people to find some answers

Published on ZNet, by Arundhati Roy, March 24, 2010. (See also: Walking With The Comrades 2/4, and 3/4, and 4/4).

The terse, typewritten note slipped under my door in a sealed envelope confirmed my appointment with India’s Gravest Internal Security Threat. I’d been waiting for months to hear from them. I had to be at the Ma Danteshwari mandir in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, at any of four given times on two given days. That was to take care of bad weather, punctures, blockades, transport strikes and sheer bad luck. The note said: “Writer should have camera, tika and coconut. Meeter will have cap, Hindi Outlook magazine and bananas. Password: Namashkar Guruji.” Continue Reading…

Linked with Swissness and Islamic fundamentalism, with Die Burka und die SchweizerInnen, and with picture of the year.

We normal humans in many European countries want interdict in all public places this burqa. Now, Governments and other legal bodies tell us, this may be not constitutional. PLEASE WHAT ???

Remember, it is forbidden to run totally nacked in our public places! Aaahh, and why, please ???

Because it is common sense not to run nacked. Too many peoples are shocked.

Ok, now I tell all this bodies:

this nasty veil IS NOT OUR COMMON SENSE. You may accept the burqa the day you declare – and not one minute sooner – RUNNING NACKED IN PUBLIC PLACES IS ALLOWED.

As long as you are not able to do so, I ask you to stop all damned burqas.

Yes, I am a leftist woman and I am NOT willing to be tolerant for any veil hiding woman’s face.

du samedi 29 mai 2010 à Lausanne – Lié avec La Gauche – Alternative Linke – La Sinistra.

Reçu par e-mail: De: Frédéric Charpié, Date: 12/05/2010

Chère amie et cher ami camarade de La Gauche, Le samedi 29 mai approche, date de notre congrès fondateur à Lausanne, un moment historique pour La Gauche / Alternative Linke / La Sinistra. Nous sommes très heureux de pouvoir vous présenter le fruit d’un important travail mené par notre collectif national, constitué de camarades venant toute la Suisse:

• Les 6 points forts d’action de La Gauche http://www.la-gauche.ch/programme/
• Le catalogue des revendications des militantes et militants http://www.la-gauche.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Catalogue-de-revendications-des-militants-de-La-Gauche_d%C3%A9f.pdf
• La Boussole 2010 http://www.la-gauche.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Boussole-2010-La-Gauche_d%C3%A9f.pdf
• Les statuts http://www.la-gauche.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Statuts-La-Gauche_d%C3%A9f.pdf

Continue Reading…