Twenty years ago a 12-year-old girl named Severn Suzuki addressed delegates in Rio de Janeiro during the summit’s plenary session on behalf of the world youth. In the following segment DemocracyNow! revisits that passionate, prescient, and powerful and speech that “silenced the world for 6 minutes”. Some quotes from the speech: Coming up here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come. I am here to speak on behalf of…
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Global Ethics
Global Land Grab (by Terry Allen)
Global Land Grab by Terry Allen, senior editor at In These Times, documents and analyzes the attempts that certain countries (primarily China, India and South Korea) are making to purchase tens of millions of acres of farmland from some of the poorest countries in Africa, South American, and South Asia to grow crops for export. What is taking place is, in effect, a new form of colonialism under the guise of business transactions. Allen writes: The “new colonialism” is less like a crusade and more like an ordinary business transaction floated on a promise of “win-win.” The deal-makers include international agribusinesses, investment banks,…
Julian Assange interviews Moazzam Begg and Asim Qureshi (The World Tomorrow)
From the website of the The World Tomorrow: [The fifth episode] of The World Tomorrow takes us to the very heart of America’s War on Terror: Guantanamo Bay. Julian Assange sat down with a former Gitmo prisoner and a rights campaigner fighting for those still trapped behind the wire. Ten years ago the war on terror prompted the opening of the facility. Now, more than three years after President Obama ordered its closure, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, like the war in Afghanistan, remains with us. Over a year ago, Wikileaks blew the lid on Gitmo by releasing a cache of…
Dean Ornish and enlightened ethical egoism
Ethical egoism is the philosophical theory that people should always act in their own self-interest, that when faced with choices between what’s good for oneself and what’s good for others, one should always place one’s own interests first. One of the chief exponents of this view was Ayn Rand, who influenced a generation of powerful people, including Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher, each of whom helped to push forward the neoliberalist agenda that has dominated social and political life since the 1980s. At the heart of neoliberalist philosophy is the idea that greed is good, not just…
Catastroika: privatization goes public (documentary)
With its on-going “debt crisis” Greece has emerged as a target for economic “solutions testing.” So far austerity and large-scale privatization seem to be the favored treatment, as prescribed by the putative economic experts–the IMF and the EU banking sector. In June 2011 Democracy Now hosted a debate with Hara Kouki and Costas Panayotakis, discussing the imposed economic measurements that triggered widespread protest throughout Greece and led to ridiculous new levels of privatization, such as the Greek police force renting out their officers and helicopters to private individuals. And a related documentary, “Catastroika: privatization goes public,” was recently released, analyzing the transfer…
Business with a conscience
Every corporation, now matter how socially or environmentally destructive, presents itself as doing something good for consumers, for communities, for the species, or even the planet. Monsanto, for instance, claims to be all about “improving lives” (though notice they don’t say whose lives) and about “meeting the needs of today while preserving the planet for tomorrow.” This overt corporate public relations bullshit (I know that you know that I don’t believe this but I’m going to pretend I do because that’s how I make a lot of money) has led to such profound cynicism that reasonable people have to wonder…
More on economic inequality and the Occupy Movement
Among mainstream or major media organizations Al Jazeera deserves credit for its attention to the issue of economic inequality. One recent opinion piece by Noam Chomsky (Plutonomy and the precariat: On the history of the US economy in decline) provides a concise overview of the causes of the growing economic inequality in the US and the disastrous consequences it is bringing about. (For more on how inequality is at the root most social evils, see this powerful lecture by Richard Wilkinson). Additionally, Chomsky’s article helps to explain just why the Occupy Movement is so important, really one of the most…
How economic inequality harms societies (TED lecture by Richard Wilkinson)
The following is a brilliant, evidence-based lecture on the devastating consequences of socio-economic inequality. The speaker is Richard Wilkinson, an epidemiologist and leading figure in the field of inequality research. The lecture presents a very compelling case for the idea that the level of socio-economic inequality in a society is the key criterion for determining the health of that society. One can also read a brief Truthout interview with Wilkinson on the consequences of inequality here.
Julian Assange and Slavoj Zizek interview David Horowitz (The World Tomorrow)
Slavoj Zizek and David Horowitz are the guests for the second episode of Julian Assange’s interview show, “The World Tomorrow“. “Intellectual superstar” Slavoj Zizek is a philosopher, psychoanalyst and cultural commentator. David Horowitz is a hard-line American conservative and unrepentant Zionist. The tone of the conversation between Zizek, Horowitz and Assange alternates between combative and friendly. The topics covered include Palestinians and Nazis, Joseph Stalin, Barack Obama, the decline of Europe, and the tension between liberty and equality. Episode 2:
Julian Assange interviews Moncef Marzouki (The World Tomorrow)
In Episode 3 of The World Tomorrow, Julian Assange interviews the president of the Republic of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki. He is a trained physician, and was a long time opponent of the dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. During the early 1990s, his vocal opposition to Ben Ali led to his imprisonment. He founded the National Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience, and was President of the Arab Commission for Human Rights. Persecuted and harrassed, Marzouki left Tunisia for exile in France. With other Tunisian exiles he founded and chaired his political party, the Congress for the Republic. He has…
Obama vs Romney on energy and climate change issues
Rebecca Leber of Thinkprogress put together a comprehensive chart outlining the different stands Obama and Romney have on energy and climate change issues. The chart is accompanied by a detailed list of sources and further elaborations.
Dear Germany: It’s okay to criticise Israel (by Mark Levine)
Irvine, CA – My parents would never buy a Mercedes. Period. They couldn’t understand Jews who would (legitimate adults didn’t buy Volkswagons either back in the 1970s, at least where I lived). In fact, aside from long-dead German composers and pastries from the local German-American bakery – whose owners were probably Jewish – Jewish-Americans wanted nothing to do with Germany. For obvious reasons. Even today, it’s very hard for non-Jews to understand the trauma Jews born in the post-Holocaust generation experienced related to Germany. Our family lived in a strange zone between the past and present. At regular moments throughout the…
Finally some good news for the cows
A long-term study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that eating red meat of any type in any amount significantly increases the risk of premature death. While a subscription to the journal is required to access it online, one can read about the study in this article from the L.A. Times. The news article also links to the chart copied below, which presents the findings of this study in graphic form. As the chart shows, the study found that adding a small serving of red meat to one’s daily…
Nine strategies to end corporate rule
Yes Magazine has put together an interesting collection of articles, written by various writers, around the question of the century: What can we do to bring an end to corporatocracy and help build a sustainable society that prioritizes human needs above corporate profits. The collection of articles can be found here. The nine strategies: 1. Amend the constitution to end corporate personhood. 2. Dive into grassroots campaigns. 3. Hold corporations accountable to our laws. 4. Get Past the Propaganda 5. Support independent media and keep the Internet free. 6. Protect the Commons 7. Vote. Protect our democracy. 8. Make your…
The Crisis of Civilization (documentary)
The Crisis of Civilization is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system. Weaving together archival film footage and animations, film-maker Dean Puckett, animator Lucca Benney and international security analyst Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, offer a stunning wake-up call proving that ‘another world’ is not merely possible, but on its way. The film consists of seven parts which explore the interconnected dynamic of global crises of Climate Catastrophe; Peak Energy; Peak Food; Economic Instability; International Terrorism; and the Militarization…
The Kony controversy
In the middle of the two or three-day period in which the Kony 2012 went viral, a note was posted on this blog linking to the video and recommending support for the campaign to arrest Kony. The world is now witnessing a viral explosion of criticism of the Kony 2012 video, which also deserves some comment. Aljazeera has devoted a section of its website to what it calls the “Kony Debate,” though it is less a debate than it is a collection of complaints against the film. Nonetheless, it is probably the single best source of information for understanding the criticisms…
Speaking out on climate change (TED lecture by James Hansen)
Another lecture that really should be required viewing for everyone. James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is a credible expert on climate change and global warming. In this lecture he describes some of the main features of the climate change taking place today and gives a good sense of just how much time is left before we reach the point of no return. Most amazing is the fact that Hansen firmly believes that the greatest challenge facing human civilization has a simple and elegant solution, which is for governments to collect a gradually rising carbon…
Democracy Now
Democracy Now News Feed
- Reed Brody: U.S. Hypocrisy Laid Bare as Biden Admin Claims ICC Can't Prosecute Israel for War Crimes May 1, 2024
- USC Grad Student Union Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against Univ. over Arrests May 1, 2024
- Juan González, Veteran of '68 Columbia Strike, Condemns University Leaders' Silence on Gaza Slaughter May 1, 2024
- Campus Crackdown: 300+ Arrested in Police Raids on Columbia & CCNY to Clear Gaza Encampments May 1, 2024
- Headlines for May 1, 2024 May 1, 2024
- Months After Israel Killed Gaza Poet Refaat Alareer, His Daughter & Infant Grandson Die in Airstrike April 30, 2024
- Israeli Holocaust Scholar Omer Bartov on Campus Protests, Weaponizing Antisemitism & Silencing Dissent April 30, 2024
Canadian Oil Sands
Consider these four facts: Canada quits the Kyoto protocol and threatens the EU with trade war for labeling tar sand produced oil highly polluting. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney calls the Keystone Pipeline a “no-brainer”. Cancer rates downstream of tar sands are staggering. Obama finally and despite earlier hesitation voiced his support for expedited construction of the southern half of the Keystone pipeline. In light of the foregoing, it is worth having a look at what both Canadian and U.S. politicians sell as unique job creation opportunities and heavenly energy security gifts: the oil sands that they have greenwashed and relabeled…
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