Pressenza

Syria Dispatch #4: Declarations of the delegation; prisoner release

Paul Larudee — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:09:31 +0000

After all the delays and rescheduling of the Syria visit, most of my fellow delegates have now returned to their home countries, and are compiling their thoughts, film and photos. Further to the sniper firing at the car transporting Mother Agnes, it apparently happened twice, both coming and going, and as far as she knows, [...]

Paul Larudee

UK attempting to block Europe’s Robin Hood Tax

Silvia Swinden — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:49:31 +0000

The Robin Hood Tax, aka Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) or Tobin Tax was first proposed by John Maynard Keynes among others around 1936. Its purpose was to develop fairer taxation and curb speculation (today particularly relevant to rapid short-term currency speculation). The EU is in the process of implementing it also as a way of [...]

Silvia Swinden

Hungary: Rule of Law Under Threat

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:53:24 +0000

The systemic changes to Hungary’s legal framework introduced by the government since 2010 weaken legal checks on its authority, interfere with media freedom, and undermine human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The continuing failure of the Hungarian government to comply with recommendations by European institutions should result in concrete [...]

Human Rights Watch

Well done Pakistan!

Pressenza IPA — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:53:47 +0000

WELL DONE, PAKISTAN! Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D. For quite a while the media has been flooded with dire predictions by various analysts, commentators, and experts, about the future of Pakistan. But the May 11, 2013 elections have proved them wrong. Even though terribly malnourished, bloodied and tormented, the Spirit of Pakistan is still alive and [...]

Pressenza IPA

Nakba Day: New Challenges for Palestinian New Generations

Redazione Italia — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:57:55 +0000

“I call you to remain the same for those who are in exile and those who stayed. If time passed by and I return to my home I will henna the house for my beloved ones” (Palestinian song) By Mjriam Abu Samra The return of the refugees has been a prerogative of the Palestinian struggle [...]

Redazione Italia

Some US multinationals resist agreement to make Bangladeshi manufacturing industry safer

Silvia Swinden — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:58:27 +0000

Further to the Pressenza report on Mohammed Yunus call to the West to help make the clothes industry safer after nearly 1200 died in the collapse of a factory building, an international agreement has been signed by several companies to ensure fire regulations, health and safety monitoring, better salaries and working conditions as well as [...]

Silvia Swinden

Bangladesh – Just pretending…!

Tony Henderson — Wed, 15 May 2013 03:10:27 +0000

Dipu Moni, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister, appeared on Al Jazeera May 15, 2013. While it is understandable that the minister defends her government’s actions, just as Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina defends same, there was no trace of accountability nor transparency in their statements. Ms Moni saying protesters were just pretending to be dead and off [...]

Tony Henderson

Asghar Ali Engineer ‘gone beyond’

Tony Henderson — Wed, 15 May 2013 01:08:41 +0000

The death of Indian scholar and reformist Mr. Asghar Ali Engineer comes as something of a surprise to those who continue to read his lively writings on the problems of the Indian day… Mr. Engineer dedicated his life to tolerance and peaceful religious co-existence, for which he accepted the Right Livelihood Award in 2004 – [...]

Tony Henderson

Thesis for a new paradigm arising from emerging movements

Pressenza IPA — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:32:52 +0000

A collaborative effort between people of the 15M, OWS, Occupy, Indignados, and YoSoy 132 movements. These notes are an attempt to summarise some of the common points between what are known as emerging movements, that is, the various social movements that have appeared in different parts of the world since 2011. They have been compiled [...]

Pressenza IPA

Syria Dispatch #3: prisoner release; attack on M. Agnes; Homs project

Paul Larudee — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:46:08 +0000

Syria Dispatch #3: prisoner release; attack on M. Agnes; Homs project In my previous dispatches I withheld some information from you. Over the last four months I have been in touch with Dr. Mohja Kahf, who is active in the Syrian Nonviolence Movement. Dr. Kahf has produced some excellent background material. It is not unbiased, [...]

Paul Larudee

Dispatch #2 from the Mussalaha delegation to Syria

Paul Larudee — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:40:15 +0000

As I begin to compose this, I hear what sounds like artillery and rocket fire in the distance, mixed with occasional small arms and possible explosions. Most of their targets must be far away, because I don’t hear them hit. The explosions may or may not be something else. I guess that after two years [...]

Paul Larudee

International campaign to free Nathan Blanc, Israeli refusenik

Pressenza IPA — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:27:38 +0000

On May 12, 2013, Nathan Blanc was sentenced to a tenth term, of 28 days in prison. He had been released from military prison on Sunday, May 5, 2013, after serving a 20-day term for refusing to serve in the Israeli Army. So far he has been sentenced to a total of 178 days in [...]

Pressenza IPA

Mideast Backlashes Yet to Come

Sharmine Narwani — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:28:37 +0000

The Middle East is treading water these days. Two years of rhetoric about ousting dictators, revolution, freedom, honor, dignity, and democracy – without result – has people on edge, their disillusionment now demanding an outlet. There are no outlets though. Sensing the fast-growing disenchantment with undelivered promises, even the “bright new leaders” are tightening the [...]

Sharmine Narwani

Throwing Gas on the Fire in North Korea

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:35:20 +0000

Throwing Gas on the Fire in North Korea The U.S.-North Korea nuclear crisis is not over. While tensions seem to have eased in the past few weeks, the situation remains dangerous and potentially volatile. It is in this context that later this month the U.S. plans to launch a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic [...]

Pressenza IPA

A financial transaction tax for Europe

openDemocracy — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:27:53 +0000

Here are a few facts: 1) In the postwar period, the amount of money that Wall Street dealt with every year represented approximately 15 percent of the US GDP. In 1975 it was 17 percent, at the end of the 80s it was up to 35 percent and ten years later it reached 150 percent [...]

openDemocracy

UK Border Agency insists that Sri Lankans pay to get maimed so they can claim asylum

openDemocracy OurKingdom — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:01:32 +0000

By Frank Arnold(1). Burnt with metal rods and cigarette butts? Maybe so, says the Border Agency, but you paid someone to do this to you. A surgeon with expertise in torture scars argues that ‘self-torture by proxy’ is a dangerous fiction. The photo with this article is the back of a Tamil man, photographed in [...]

openDemocracy OurKingdom

Dispatch #1 from the International Peace Delegation to Syria: “When can we go back?”

Paul Larudee — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:01:58 +0000

“When can we go back?” This plaintive question of refugees since time immemorial was asked again of Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire at the United Nations High Commission on Refugees intake center in Zahleh, Lebanon, overlooking the vast Beqaa valley, now dotted with refugee camps wherever we look. The Mussalaha Delegation [International Peace Delegation] is [...]

Paul Larudee

Pakistan elections a great endeavour!

Tony Henderson — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:38:12 +0000

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif appealed to all parties to join him in tackling Pakistan’s mountainous problems after securing victory in historic elections that defied Taliban violence. Partial, unofficial results from Saturday’s election represented a stunning comeback for a man deposed in a 1999 military coup – but he looked short of an outright majority, raising [...]

Tony Henderson

Muhammad Yunus – Savar tragedy, garments industry and Bangladesh

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:24:02 +0000

THE Savar tragedy is a symbol of our failure as a nation. The crack in Rana Plaza that caused the collapse of the building has only shown us that if we don’t face up to the cracks in our state systems, we as a nation will get lost in the debris of the collapse. Today, [...]

Pressenza IPA

Fake Commissioning Planned at Koodankulam?

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:35:42 +0000

People’s Movemenmt Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) Idinthakarai 627 104 Tirunelveli District Mobile: 9842154073, 9865683735 Email: koodankulam@yahoo.com For Immediate Release May 12, 2013 Fake Commissioning Planned at Koodankulam? With a view to freeing up Russia from supplier liability, charges of theft and abject project failure, the Indian nuclear establishment has begun to claim that the Koodankulam Nuclear [...]

Pressenza IPA

Turkey – support the demand for the abolition of Art. 318

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:21:29 +0000

Dear sisters and brothers, We wholeheartedly support your demonstration on 13 May. Article 318 allows the Turkish State to jail anyone who discourages people from joining the army, even if that army is from another country. We support the abolition of this Article not only for the sake of people in Turkey but also [...]

Pressenza IPA

‘Pakistani court rules CIA drone strikes are illegal’. How will the new Government respond?

Silvia Swinden — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:34:55 +0000

In her May 9th, 2013 article by Alice K Ross for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism explains: ‘In the first major Pakistani court ruling on the legality of the CIA’s drone campaign in the country, a Peshawar High Court judge said this morning that strikes are ‘criminal offences’. Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan ordered Pakistan’s [...]

Silvia Swinden

South Korea: Jeju – fighting for survival

Tony Henderson — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:04:13 +0000

Gangjeong villagers May 9 (2013) were removed while protecting tents they had long used just across the road from the Navy base construction gate on Jeju Island, South Korea. The government continues with its aggressive stance and crackdown on the Jeju protesters and no change is apparent since the election of the new president Park [...]

Tony Henderson

“Don’t take Arabs’ NPT membership for granted”

IDN InDepthNews — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:30:33 +0000

By Baher Kamal* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint CAIRO (IDN) – Not that nuclear issues are an actual source of concern to Egyptian citizens. They are deeply worried about their present and immediate future now that inter-religious violence is on the rise, triggering a dangerous, growing insecurity amidst an overwhelming popular discontent with President Mohamed Morsi’s regime. [...]

IDN InDepthNews

New coalitions push to cut the Pentagon

Waging Nonviolence — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:27:49 +0000

By Jake Olzen, Waging Nonviolence With polls showing that a majority of the public is war-weary and that there is growing support for cutting military spending, the peace movement finds itself in a rare moment of opportunity. Concentrating efforts on building broad coalitions, there is a renewed energy among peace and economic justice groups to radically influence the Pentagon’s budget, [...]

Waging Nonviolence

Russia bidding farewell to Soviet nukes

IDN InDepthNews — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:16:56 +0000

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis Russia is in the midst of a comprehensive modernization of its nuclear forces that began more than a decade ago. The upgrade, which involves replacing all Soviet-era ballistic missiles with fewer improved missiles, is now approaching a point at which the number of modern weapons will shortly exceed [...]

IDN InDepthNews

Natural resource revenues could nearly double school access in developing nations – UN study

UN News Centre — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:46:40 +0000

Developing countries rich in natural resources can make huge gains towards universal schooling if they managed resource revenues better and devoted a significant share to education, according to a United Nations study released today. The Education for All Global Monitoring Report study, produced by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), argues that by maximizing and [...]

UN News Centre

UK: BAE Systems can’t hide from difficult questions and disruptions

Campaign Against the Arms Trade — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:28:16 +0000

Supporters from Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) turned out in force to shame arms giant BAE Systems at their Annual General Meeting AGM), accusing it of supporting repressive regimes through arms sales and unethical business practices. Acute questioning combined with high farce during the two hour meeting culminated in the attempted presentation of “Whitewasher of the year [...]

Campaign Against the Arms Trade

Zambia urged to release two men charged with same-sex sexual conduct

Amnesty International — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:21:17 +0000

The Zambian authorities must immediately release two young men who have been denied bail after being arrested on charges of having sex “against the order of nature”, Amnesty International said. According to state media, police in Kapiri Mposhi in central Zambia on Monday arrested Phil Mubiana and James Mwansa, both aged 21, in Ndeke village. [...]

Amnesty International

Clothing brands must work with Bangladesh to prevent another disaster – UN experts

UN News Centre — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:03:01 +0000

A United Nations expert group today urged global clothing brands to work with Bangladesh, international organizations and civil society to improve working conditions in the country’s garment sector, following the collapse last month of a factory that left hundreds dead and wounded. “The international brands sourcing from Bangladesh have a responsibility to conduct human rights [...]

UN News Centre

‘Greening’ global trade vital for sustainable development – UN report

UN News Centre — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:39:31 +0000

In an increasingly interconnected world where trillions of dollars worth of goods and services are traded annually, the rapidly expanding market for low-carbon and environmentally friendly products will create new opportunities, the United Nations environmental agency today reported. The report, Green Economy and Trade – Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, finds that developing countries with abundant renewable [...]

UN News Centre

Corporations can seriously damage your ethical intentions

Silvia Swinden — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:30:10 +0000

We have been led to believe that consumer power can modify the unethical behaviour of big corporations (may be it can, in a small way) and promote a better society. The difficulty is in knowing what the manufacturers of the products we consume are up to. The collapse of the building in Bangladesh with the [...]

Silvia Swinden

Swedish Foreign Minister attacks signatories of Humanitarian Initiative: ”Not serious states”

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:05:13 +0000

The Swedish Foreign Minister (and former Prime Minister) Carl Bildt has found himself in hot water after his curious comments on a radio show in response to questions over Sweden’s refusal to recognize the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons at the committee of state parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty this past April (NPT PrepCom). [...]

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

The War of the Health Models. What would it mean to humanise medicine?

Silvia Swinden — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:28:02 +0000

A video circulating on the internet seems to suggest that a miracle cure has been found for Malaria. (and AIDS, cancer, Hepatitis, warts, etc, etc, etc). Cheap, easy to administer and non toxic. It appears to have the Red Cross backing, al least locally in Africa, but there is a suggestion that the Red Cross [...]

Silvia Swinden

The Chameleon’s Attack

Redacción Chile — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:36:17 +0000

Oleg Yasinsky presents his views on the current state of Venezuela and how facts and myths are contorted by the right wing and mass media. In recent days, the residents of Venezuela’s wealthiest neighborhoods received pamphlets containing the following message: “We, the active youth of Venezuela, consider it our duty to tell you the following: [...]

Redacción Chile

NPT conference: A strategy for nuclear disarmament

Reaching Critical Will — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:23:17 +0000

On Friday last week, the NPT PrepCom finished in Geneva to reconvene in New York in 2014. Ray Acheson of Reaching Critical Will gives a final review of the outcomes. The scene of the final day of the second NPT PrepCom provided a snapshot of the NPT process itself. Marked by long waits and dissatisfied [...]

Reaching Critical Will

Humanists celebrate the 4th of May around the world. First Park of Study and Reflection inaugurated in Africa.

Tony Robinson — Sat, 04 May 2013 21:39:22 +0000

In a special day for adherents of New Humanism – the doctrine of peace and nonviolence elaborated by the Argentine author, philosopher and spiritual guide, Silo [Mario Rodriguez Cobos] – celebrations were held around the world to remember the 4th of May 1969. On that date Silo stood in the foothills of Mount Aconcagua on [...]

Tony Robinson

Media freedom faces “greatest challenge since the Cold War”

Deutsche Welle — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:20:00 +0000

Deutsche Welle Press Release A group of leading international broadcasters said today that media freedom faces its greatest challenge since the Cold War with Internet blocking, satellite jamming and the return of shortwave jamming. The statement issued on behalf of the representatives of Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France (AEF) [France], Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) [Australia], [...]

Deutsche Welle

U.S. Links Pesticides to Honey Bee Deaths, but Resists Ban

IPS -Inter Press Service — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:06:01 +0000

by Carey L. Biron, IPS WASHINGTON, May 3 2013 (IPS) – A major study by the U.S. government’s environment and agriculture agencies has suggested a strong link between the use of certain pesticides and the widespread deaths that have afflicted honey bee populations around the world in recent years. Still, the joint report, released Thursday, [...]

IPS -Inter Press Service

Bangladesh – stop pointing in wrong directions

Tony Henderson — Fri, 03 May 2013 02:20:54 +0000

Responding to articles in the media on Bangladesh and the terrible building collapse and worker deaths, our organisation wants to point out that trade action against Bangladesh will only add to the problems in the country. When the quota system was abandoned years ago because of reports of child labour abuses, which were indeed taking [...]

Tony Henderson

(Some) Tax Havens to open their books, but…

Silvia Swinden — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:50:24 +0000

A number of British overseas territories that function as Tax Havens have agreed to a higher level of transparency opening their books to the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. “In a statement, the [UK] Treasury said that Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands have agreed to much [...]

Silvia Swinden

Disobeying to transform the world: A conversation with Enric Durán

Waging Nonviolence — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:58:29 +0000

By Marta Molina April 29, 2013 To commit an act of civil disobedience requires one to let go of their fear, understand their enemy and their enemy’s power. It must be rooted in good strategy and be supported by an organized group. But most importantly, the action must help to build alternatives to the power [...]

Waging Nonviolence

Egypt walks out of NPT conference

Tony Robinson — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:51:47 +0000

In dramatic scenes in Geneva today, reminiscent of the 2010 NPT conference when several countries walked out as the Iranian President addressed delegates, Egypt advised the room that they were withdrawing from the rest of the 2013 NPT preparatory committee as a result of the “flagrant non-fulfilment of agreed commitments” in the 2010 NPT outcome [...]

Tony Robinson

NPT and risks to human survival: the inside story

openDemocracy 5050 — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:36:34 +0000

Doctrines, deployments, and the political value attached to “nuclear deterrence” are being challenged at the NPT conference. As 78 nations co-sponsor a growing “humanitarian initiative”, the five NPT nuclear-armed states and some of their “nuclear umbrella” allies like Japan, Australia and Germany are in denial. Rebecca Johnson reports As 96 states parties to the nuclear [...]

openDemocracy 5050

NPT conference: About inconvenient facts

Reaching Critical Will — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:50:10 +0000

As the NPT prepcom enters its second week of work, Pressenza republishes today’s editorial from the daily news bulletin of Reaching Critical Will, prepared by Ray Acheson. “Treaty violations are not to be tolerated as inconvenient facts,” declared the US delegation on Friday. “We should recognize them for what they are: challenges to the integrity [...]

Reaching Critical Will

UAE State visit continues arms sales drive to repressive Gulf regime

Campaign Against the Arms Trade — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:14:19 +0000

Three Britons are jailed in Dubai for drugs offences using confessions that those found guilty claim were extracted by torture, the day before the UK hosts a state visit by Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE ruler, during which UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, hopes to land a £3 billion (US£ 4.65 billion) deal for 60 Eurofighter Typhoon jets. [...]

Campaign Against the Arms Trade

US Congresswoman introduces nuclear disarmament bill for 11th time

Pressenza IPA — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:32:03 +0000

On April 18, 2013, DC’s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton re-introduced HR-1650, the “Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act“ for the 11th time WASHINGTON, DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2013 [HR 1650], to require the United States to negotiate [...]

Pressenza IPA

Iraq suspends 10 satellite TV channels for promoting violence

PressTV — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:21:26 +0000

Iraqi authorities have suspended the licenses of 10 satellite TV channels for promoting violence and sectarianism through their coverage of recent wave of violence in the country. Iraq’s leading al-Sharqiya and Qatar-based Al-Jazeera are among the pan-Arabic channels whose operating licenses were revoked on Sunday. The Iraqi Communication and Media Commission said in a statement [...]

PressTV

Tunisia: Sentence against blogger upheld in new blow to free speech

Amnesty International — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:57:26 +0000

The upholding of a sentence against a blogger jailed for “insulting Islam” is yet another blow to freedom of expression in Tunisia, Amnesty International said. Jabeur Mejri’s conviction was today upheld by the Court of Cassation. The blogger was sentenced in March 2012 to seven and a half years in prison and a fine of [...]

Amnesty International

Bradley Manning has honour awarded and then withdrawn by San Francisco Pride Parade

Bradley Manning Support Network — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:49:10 +0000

Earlier in the week Bradley Manning, the openly gay US soldier and source of the wikileaks documents which shone some light on the antics of the US government around the world and has led to him facing prison for the rest of his productive life, was awarded the honour of being named a Grand Marshall [...]

Bradley Manning Support Network

Europe bidding adieu to justice and solidarity

IDN InDepthNews — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:27:24 +0000

By Roberto Savio* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint ROME (IDN | Other News) – For a long time it was a given that while Europe was based on defending a more just society, with social values and solidarity, the United States was based on the glory of individualism and competition, and anything public was considered “socialist”. One of [...]

IDN InDepthNews

Security Council unanimously approves new UN peacekeeping mission in Mali

UN News Centre — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:02:14 +0000

The Security Council today approved a 12,600-strong United Nations peacekeeping operation to take over from the African-led mission in Mali on 1 July and authorized the blue helmets “to use all necessary means” to carry out security-related stabilization tasks, protect civilians, UN staff and cultural artefacts, and create the conditions for the provision of humanitarian [...]

UN News Centre

Chemical Weapons Charade in Syria

Sharmine Narwani — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:26:04 +0000

Let us be clear. The United States can verify absolutely nothing about the use of chemical weapons (CWs) in Syria. Any suggestion to the contrary is entirely false. Don’t take it from me – here is what US officials have to say about the subject: A mere 24 hours after Washington heavyweights from the White [...]

Sharmine Narwani

China’s obligation to the victims of pneumoconiosis

Pressenza IPA — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:44:40 +0000

Time to Pay the Bill: China’s obligation to the victims of pneumoconiosis Two decades of unchecked economic growth has produced an occupational disease crisis in China that requires urgent action from the government. An estimated six million workers in China, predominately poor migrants from the countryside, have already contracted the debilitating and deadly lung disease, [...]

Pressenza IPA

Monoduo Films launches kickstarter for ‘Creative Despite War’

Pía Figueroa — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:43:13 +0000

Monoduo Films is fundraising for Creative Despite War, a documentary film by Ruì Díaz and Christian Rinke-Lazo about the most innovative young artists in Afghanistan. After two years of repeatedly visiting Afghanistan to follow the development of the characters, they are just one visit away from concluding their story and starting post-production on the film. With generous support from the [...]

Pía Figueroa

Corruption in the so-called developed world. A few UK examples

Silvia Swinden — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:17:04 +0000

Corruption is a problem in developing countries because poverty creates unbearable living conditions and early death. Money, for many, is survival and the moral problem of stealing (corruption being one form) may fade into the background. Corruption in the developed world has a different face. It is not a matter of survival. It is only [...]

Silvia Swinden

Britain outlaws caste discrimination

Pressenza IPA — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:54:39 +0000

Via Shiva Shankar ‘The USA and other countries too, should pass such a law. Only then, perhaps, will Hindus be shamed into concrete action against the ‘unparalleled social abuse of untouchability (A.J.Toynbee)’. ——————- Radio Australia Britain outlaws caste discrimination http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/asia-pacific/britain-outlaws-caste-discrimination/1121320 Britain has outlawed caste discrimination, after the House of Lords voted for legal protection to be given [...]

Pressenza IPA

Latin America to tackle exploitation by multinational companies

PressTV — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:42:49 +0000

Ministers from several Latin American nations have met in Ecuador to discuss ways to deal with the exploitative practices of some multinational companies operating in the region. The First Ministerial Meeting of Latin American Countries Affected by Multinational Interests has been held with the aim of working out a common action plan in this regard. [...]

PressTV

Insecticide-treated nets protect livestock and boost milk yields in UN pilot projects

UN News Centre — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:11:53 +0000

Insecticide-treated mosquito and fly nets encircling livestock pens in small farms in western Kenya are proving to be an effective means of killing disease-carrying pests and boosting milk yields, the United Nations today reported, as well as contributing to fewer people being bitten at home. “The nets are environmentally safe and have drastically cut the [...]

UN News Centre

Globalisation makes poor more vulnerable

IDN InDepthNews — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:50:36 +0000

Does globalisation promote development? If you scratch beneath the surface, the answer of OECD researchers to this crucial question in times of financial collapse and its atrocious consequences for the vulnerable sections of people around the world is: globalisation helps the rich get richer and the poor poorer. “The poorest country in 2011 was poorer [...]

IDN InDepthNews

USA: Authorities must end indefinite detention in Guantánamo as hunger strike grows

Amnesty International — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:31:21 +0000

The US authorities must urgently end indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay, Amnesty International said today after it was confirmed that more than half the detainees are now on hunger strike. As of 21 April, 84 of the 166 detainees held at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were recognized by the military authorities [...]

Amnesty International

NPT conference: Joint Statement on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons

Pressenza IPA — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:07:02 +0000

At the NPT prepcom in Geneva today, South Africa presented a statement on behalf of 74 states highlighting the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. Pressenza publishes the statement in full here. Delivered by Ambassador Abdul Samad Minty, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations at Geneva, 24 April 2013 Chairperson, I am taking [...]

Pressenza IPA

NPT conference: Rejecting the strategy of denial

Reaching Critical Will — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:04:23 +0000

On Monday 22nd April, the NPT prepcom started in Geneva and will last for two weeks. The Prepcom is part of the five-yearly cycle of meetings to review the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Every day Reaching Critical Will produce a newsletter full of analysis, commentary and information for delegates and NGO representatives who are in Geneva. [...]

Reaching Critical Will

Arms: New Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

Human Rights Watch — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:48:25 +0000

Civil society will lead the way to press governments to ban fully autonomous weapons, Human Rights Watch said today at the launch of the global Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. These potential future weapons, sometimes called “killer robots,” would be able to select and attack targets without any human intervention. “Lethal armed robots that could [...]

Human Rights Watch

Nuclear disaster in Chernobyl (1986)

Deutsche Welle — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:42:01 +0000

A systems test in a Soviet graphite reactor goes out of control. The ensuing explosion releases enormous quantities of radioactive material, much of which spreads across huge swathes of Europe. Not only the surrounding region in Ukraine is contaminated, wind currents blow radioactive particles further west, across much of Europe where they mix with rain [...]

Deutsche Welle

Uranium Film Festival starts soon in Rio de Janeiro

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:30:39 +0000

Nine films from Germany are selected for the 3rd International Uranium Film Festival Rio de Janeiro: Bombensicher, Abita. Die Kinder von Fukushima, Der Bauch von Tokyo, Enola, Fairlights, Friedlich in die Katastrophe, Halbwertszeit, Herr Hoppe und der Atommüll, Unter Kontrolle. Together with 41 other films from 20 different countries they will be screened between May [...]

Pressenza IPA

IRENA welcomes the launch of Africa’s largest solar PV plant

International Renewable Energy Agency — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:48:21 +0000

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) welcomes the news that the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Africa was inaugurated today by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Masdar, the renewable energy company of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. The new facility, located in the capital city of Nouakchott, is the [...]

International Renewable Energy Agency

Thatcher’s Legacy Part Two

Silvia Swinden — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:18:18 +0000

Margaret Thatcher’s funeral passed without much trouble. The Boston bombs had left the Police fearful of similar incidents and some protesters had managed a permission to turn their backs to the funeral procession as a sign of disrespect. Big Ben was kept quiet and attempts to block the motion that a Parliamentary session should be [...]

Silvia Swinden

Call for a worldwide ban on Uranium Mining as the Grand Canyon comes under threat

Tony Robinson — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:36:04 +0000

In Edinburgh on the 17th and 18th of April at the annual meeting of Abolition 2000, a delegation from the Arizona based campaign group, Mama Bears Brigade, presented the plight of indigenous people around the Grand Canyon who are fighting against a mining company currently reopening shafts that were closed in the 1990s. Besides the [...]

Tony Robinson

Ray Acheson of Reaching Critical Will on nuclear abolition, the arms trade and social justice

Tony Robinson — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 22:14:32 +0000

For those working in the field of nuclear abolition, Ray Acheson from ‘Reaching Critical Will’, is a well-known, dynamic and tireless organiser who ensures that civil society gets the opportunity to present its case to the world’s diplomats in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conferences. She deals with all the demands of, and disagreements between, NGO [...]

Tony Robinson

Gold Medal for Yunus – Mr Micro-credit

Tony Henderson — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 03:04:30 +0000

Micro-credit expert Muhammad Yunus has become the seventh person to have received the Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, said John Boehner, Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Also, Dr Yunus is the first Muslim and the first Bengali to have received all these three awards. He was [...]

Tony Henderson

Abolition 2000 at Faslane: Get Rid of the Nukes!

Basel Peace Office — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:08:17 +0000

A delegation from the Abolition 2000 Global Network for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons visited the Clyde Naval Base in Faslane, Scotland today (19 April 2013) where they released the Faslane Declaration, which calls on the UK to remove the nuclear weapons based in Scotland, abandon nuclear deterrence and join negotiations for global nuclear abolition. [...]

Basel Peace Office

Abolition 2000: A good time for the UK to abondon its Trident plans

Pressenza IPA — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:17:45 +0000

The global network of anti-nuclear organisations, Abolition 2000, has just wrapped up its annual general meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland; a venue especially chosen to support the Scottish anti-nuclear movement in their struggle to rid themselves of the trident missile system which 80% of the population wish to see removed from Scottish soil. Members of Abolition [...]

Pressenza IPA

Bangladesh – war trials ferment street protests

Tony Henderson — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 05:12:44 +0000

Interview: with the new Consul General for Bangladesh in Hong Kong, M. Sarwar Mahmood; in attendance, Mirana Mahrukh, Consul. The new consul general gave a contextual introduction to Bangladesh as a prelude to an explanation of the war crimes trials that have shook the nation so recently. Seemingly agreeing that it was the youths [...]

Tony Henderson

The Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment

Tony Henderson — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 03:31:44 +0000

Guantanamo prisoners continue their hunger strike while clashes go on at the Guantanamo Bay jail as inmates protest against indefinite detentions – for some over eleven years! A damming report has now been released and hit the headlines of news media in the USA. This is, “The Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment” report, [...]

Tony Henderson

Naseema Khatoon – “Daughter of Sex Worker”

Tony Henderson — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:46:43 +0000

Naseema Khatoon of the “Daughter of Sex Worker” documentary fame, from India’s Muzaffarpur in Bihar, and the organisation PARCHAM – a group offering sex workers information and assistance in seeking other forms of income, while providing a means for their children to attend primary school – many of them for the first time. She is [...]

Tony Henderson

Council Majority Supports Immigrant Voting Rights

Pressenza IPA — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:52:29 +0000

A majority of the NYC Council now supports legislation that would restore the rights of all documented residents to vote in municipal elections. With 28 co-sponsors, the bill is just six signatures shy of a veto-proof majority in the City Council. The announcement was made at a press conference on the steps of City Hall [...]

Pressenza IPA

Hong Kong – right of abode settled, for now

Tony Henderson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 03:56:33 +0000

In Hong Kong at the end of March, 2013,the Court of Final Appeal dismissed an appeal by Filipino domestic workers seeking permanent residency in the city. It also denied the HKSAR government’s request for referring the right of abode issue to the NPC Standing Committee for clarification, saying the necessary conditions had not been met. [...]

Tony Henderson

EU military spending is ‘elephant in the room’ and key factor in European debt crisis, argues new report

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:19:22 +0000

At a time of harsh cuts in social services, it is morally unjustifiable to spend money on weapons that should be invested in creating jobs and tackling poverty. High levels of European military spending played a key role in the unfolding EU debt crisis and continues to undermine efforts to resolve the debt crisis, alleges [...]

Pressenza IPA

Global Day of Action on Military Spending

Mundo sin Guerras y sin Violencia — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:15:57 +0000

Pressenza publishes the press release from the organisation, World without Wars and Violence. Today the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute announced that the year 2012 saw an estimated US$ 1 750 000 000 000 spent on weapons and the military machine. This is in a moment of global financial crisis, billions of human beings living [...]

Mundo sin Guerras y sin Violencia

World military spending falls, but China, Russia’s spending rises, says SIPRI

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:57:41 +0000

World military expenditure totalled $1.75 trillion in 2012, a fall of 0.5 per cent in real terms since 2011, according to figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).* The comprehensive annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database is accessible from today at www.sipri.org/databases/milex The fall—the first since 1998—was driven by major [...]

Pressenza IPA

Statement on the situation on the Korean Peninsula

Pressenza IPA — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:01:26 +0000

Statement on the situation on the Korean Peninsula Humanist Association of Hong Kong April 15, 2013 Press release The Humanist Association of Hong Kong notes with concern the escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula and is totally opposed to any state threatening another, especially when that threat involves the use of nuclear weapons. The [...]

Pressenza IPA

Religious violence and experience of contact with the Sacred

Anna Polo — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:21:09 +0000

In a world that is characterized by all sorts of violence (physical, economical, racial, psychological, sexual, etc.), a fanatic and intolerant aspect manifests itself with preoccupying intensity in the three monotheistic religions (Christianism, Judaism and Islam). Apart from constituting a dramatic reality, violence inspired, exercised or justified by religion is an incontrovertible historical fact. Yet [...]

Anna Polo

Day of protests marks Thatcher’s legacy

Silvia Swinden — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:21:45 +0000

It was never going to be a quiet occasion. Margaret Thatcher’s death would always be a reminder of all the things that she did (“accomplished” for some, “perpetrated” for others) whilst she was Prime Minister, all 11 years of it, of the United Kingdom. Those who had been mostly affected by her neoliberal revolution came [...]

Silvia Swinden

LGBT in Turkey: they are our children

Pressenza IPA — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:59:34 +0000

by Alberto Tetta A documentary movie gives voice to the families of lesbians, bisexuals and transexuals in Turkey. “My child” is an intense work, gaining increasing attention. We met its director, Can Candan. “My daughter is transsexual, I come from Adana”. The young woman in one of the front rows in the Istanbul cinema, Fitaş, [...]

Pressenza IPA

Shipping death and destruction in Syria

Sharmine Narwani — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:49:10 +0000

“The weapons of choice in (today’s) new conflicts are not big-ticket items like long-range missiles, tanks, and fighter planes, but small and frighteningly accessible weapons ranging from handguns, carbines, and assault rifles on up to machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and shoulder-fired missiles,” explained William Hartung more than a decade ago in an article entitled The New [...]

Sharmine Narwani

Hollywood stars Jolie and Maddona make a difference

Pressenza IPA — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:37:36 +0000

Actress Angelina Jolie opens another school in Afghanistan Meena Haseeb writes April 2, 2013, that film actress and director Angelina Jolie, through her foundation The Education Partnerhsip for Children of Conflict, has opened another school in Afghanistan. It is a girls-only educational establishment. The school is just outside the capital of Kabul and caters to [...]

Pressenza IPA

Promoting Peace in India and Pakistan

Pressenza IPA — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:58:34 +0000

Promoting Peace in India and Pakistan 2013-A Report Pritam K. Rohila, Ph. D. April 7, 2013 After our last peace mission to India and Pakistan, I and Kundan, my wife and peace-partner, returned home, on March 19, 2013. Most probably, it was our final peace mission to this region. Having realized that lately India and [...]

Pressenza IPA

Hong Kong – why sit on a picket line in the pouring rain?

Tony Henderson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 04:19:07 +0000

Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) is under siege in that relative rarity in Hong Kong, a workers strike. Speaking to the press the company said it expects 90 vessels will skip the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal, where it operates, if the strike lasts to April 21. Strike organiser Lee Cheuk-yan, a legislative councillor under the Confederation [...]

Tony Henderson

Humanism in the Private Sector

Pía Figueroa — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:21:59 +0000

Interview with Roberto Blueh and Juan Aviñó We had a chance to talk with the managers of a private company trying to implement a new model in the relations between capital and labour, as well as in the way their business is managed. Inspired by the Humanist Document, for the past twenty years these two [...]

Pía Figueroa

Bradley Manning Nobel Peace Campaign (Year 3) gathering pace

Silvia Swinden — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:03:06 +0000

Whistleblower Bradley Manning has been nominated [for the third year running] for the Nobel Peace Prize, and according to several websites he should receive it. We include here links for those who would like to support the nomination. “No individual has done more to push back against what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness [...]

Silvia Swinden

UN human rights chief urges US to close Guantánamo detention centre

UN News Centre — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:16:20 +0000

The United Nations human rights chief today urged all branches of the United States Government to work together to close the Guantánamo detention centre, stressing that the indefinite incarceration of detainees is a clear breach of international law. “I am deeply disappointed that the US Government has not been able to close Guantánamo Bay, despite [...]

UN News Centre

1,000 days and counting: UN calls for accelerated action on the Millennium Development Goals

UN News Centre — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:11:44 +0000

The United Nations today called for accelerated action in the next 1,000 days from governments, international organizations and civil society groups to reach the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their deadline at the end of 2015. “The MDGs are the most successful global anti-poverty push in history,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [...]

UN News Centre

David Cameron promotes nuclear proliferation

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:05:37 +0000

On a visit to Scotland, the home of UK nuclear weapons, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron said, “We cannot be sure on issues of nuclear proliferation, and to me having that nuclear deterrent is quite simply the best insurance policy that you can have, that you will never be subject to nuclear blackmail.” Pressenza [...]

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Embarassment for Cameron as former Defence Secretary pours scorn on nuclear claims

Pressenza IPA — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:01:49 +0000

In this Press Release from the UK’s Scottish Nationalist Party Michael Portillo (former Conservative Defence Secretary) and Bill Kidd (Member of the Scottish Parliament) respond to UK Prime Minister’s statements in Scotland on nuclear deterrence. David Cameron was facing derision today after a former Tory Defence Secretary poured scorn on his claims that the threat [...]

Pressenza IPA

From Prague to a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World: Is President Obama’s vision now achievable?

Alyn Ware — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:56 +0000

Four years today, President Obama announced in Prague his vision and commitment to seek a world without nuclear weapons. Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, reports on a number of anniversary actions, and asks whether this vision is still alive, and possible to achieve, or merely a pipe-dream that has [...]

Alyn Ware

NATO country parliamentarians to Obama: Enact your vision of a world without nuclear weapons

Pressenza IPA — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:00:52 +0000

A group of parliamentarians from NATO countries have addressed the US President Barack Obama with a letter supporting his efforts for global nuclear disarmament. The initiative was developed in Prague, before the fourth anniversary of Obama’s ground-breaking speech on nuclear disarmament from April 5, 2009, by Senator Alena Gajduskova, First Vice-President of the Czech Senate, [...]

Pressenza IPA

Paying tax can be a war crime: Chris Coverdale interviewed by Tony Farrell gives a Masterclass on International War Law

Silvia Swinden — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:14:54 +0000

“Most taxpayers know that evading tax is a crime, but how many of us know that paying tax can also be a crime?” Tony Farrell interviews Chris Coverdale who explains different Genocide and International War Law agreements, his tax withholding campaign, the terrible effects of Depleted Uranium in Iraq, and some historical examples of huge [...]

Silvia Swinden

BRICS Summit draws clear red lines on Syria, Iran

Pressenza IPA — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:11:03 +0000

The BRICS just became impossible to ignore. At the close of the Fifth annual BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa last week, there was little question that this group of five fast-growing economies was underwriting an overhaul of the global economic and political order. Sharmine Narwani The eThekwini Declaration issued at summit’s end was couched in non-confrontational language, but [...]

Pressenza IPA

Stop a nuclear holocaust

Pressenza IPA — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:41:26 +0000

Stop a nuclear holocaust Again the world is on tenterhooks by the irrationality of belligerent states and their ruling classes so we humanists raise our voices yet again to condemn in the strongest terms those who despise life, or place life secondary to other values. The locked-in situation offered by international politics today looms bleak. [...]

Pressenza IPA