Opinions
Prince Philip’s death has been the perfect excuse for the global elite to remind the rest of us of our place in the world
By Dr Lisa McKenzie – Dr Lisa McKenzie is a working-class academic. She grew up in a coal-mining town in Nottinghamshire and became politicized through the 1984 miners’ strike with her family. At 31, she went to the University of Nottingham and did an undergraduate degree in sociology. Dr McKenzie… »
The Invisible Women in Energy: Biomass Producers Who Deserve More Recognition
By Philippe Benoit and Jully Meriño As the world looks to address issues of gender equity, development and climate change, the importance of increasing the participation of women in the energy sector is gaining attention. To date, this topic… »
The Brutes Haven’t All Been Exterminated
Sometimes I struggle to explain why none of the endless wars can ever be ended. Are they just too profitable? Is the propaganda self-fulfilling and self-believing? Is the bureaucratic inertia that powerful? No combination of semi-rational motivations ever seems sufficient. But here’s a potentially relevant fact: there are still people… »
Disability Discrimination at the World Bank: Is it Immunity or Impunity?
By Thalif Deen * The 15,900-strong World Bank, which has funded over 12,000 development projects worldwide since 1947, is an international institution with a superlative reputation for its sustained efforts to end poverty in the developing world—with loans, interest-free credit and outright grants. But it has come under heavy fire… »
Biden’s Announcement That Trump Got Military Spending Just Right Is Dead Wrong
President Joe Biden is proposing a level of Pentagon spending so close to that of Trump’s last year in office that Bloomberg calls it a 0.4% reduction adjusting for inflation while Politico calls it a 1.5% increase and “effectively an inflation-adjusted budget boost.” I call it a disgusting violation of the will… »
Changing the World by Making Friends
This week in the midst of television news with the continued horrors of gun violence, the various definitions of “freedom” from right to left, and the realization of its nonexistence in the middle of contention, demands, ratings, and a mule-headedness that would put the animal to shame, I happened to… »
Chronicle of the Ordinary Giants n°2
It was a strange feeling when I woke up this morning. The impression that everything was normal. A gentle normality. But nevertheless, a bit like a nearly flat brain. In fact, a normality that was almost anaesthetized and, in the end, not very pleasant. Is it because last night I… »
Ecology & Economics: Humanity Has Reached A Critical Decade
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* A new report, published on March 14, 2021 in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ journal Ambio [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-021-01544-8] points out that humanity is hurtling towards destruction unless we have the collective wisdom to change course quickly. The article was written as part of the… »
The anti-patriot and pillaging Chilean right: summary of their prey
“In 200 years we have lost all the struggles of the state”, Gabriel Salazar, El poder nuestro de cada día (2016). By Jorge Molina Araneda Chile is a profoundly unequal country, the result of the model of accumulation that emerged during the test laboratory of global… »
Why the U.S. Shouldn’t Play Games With Cyberwarfare as Its Power Declines
Cybersecurity threats are emerging as one of the most serious challenges of the 21st century. The U.S. and its NATO allies have turned down every attempt within the UN framework for banning cyberweapons. By Prabir Purkayastha Two major cyberhacks—of SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange Server—have affected a whole range… »