Opinions

While Japan is to nationalize Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the Indian central government is paying off Tamil Nadu State big-wigs for co-operation to reopen Kudankulam nuclear plant. In Europe the 15M movement is gathering forces while the Greek citizenry rethink the bailout. Such undercurrents indicate a groundswell of hitherto unrecognised forces at work – the human factor!

I was questioned under caution! Not in a gloomy cellar, without blinding projectors like in the movies, without Shin Bet ( Israel Security Agency ) interrogators who shouted and caressed alternately.

The questioning was conducted by officials from the Interior Ministry’s Construction Inspection Unit, in Jerusalem.

Reaching Critical Will, a branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, report daily from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty prepcom. In this report, the last one of the first week, the issues of progress and taking responsibility are tackled. “The most important thing is that non-nuclear weapon states actively take the reins.”

No other image embodies better the mood of the moment: Munch’s “The Scream” becomes another example of economic violence and the dehumanisation of this system’s values by selling for a record $119.9 million. Meanwhile, as the Spring/Occupy/Indignados movement prepares for a Global Spring to move from despair to action, we are given a clear choice to open the future.

Once again states parties, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations are meeting in Vienna to start another review cycle of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Unlike in 2007, however, we are returning to this first preparatory committee with a final document and an action plan adopted by consensus from the last Review Conference.

Sandbox Item five on UN Envoy Kofi Annan’s 6-point plan for Syria: “Ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists and a non-discriminatory visa policy for them.” At a delicate moment in the hard-fought Syrian conflict that could potentially destabilize the entire ME, the UN believes getting more journalists into Syria is one of the six most urgent actions.

Even Medusa had another side. The much reviled gorgon was often present on capitals and freezes of ancient Greece temples to protect them from harm. As Syria heats up threatening to be the trigger for an all out conflict in the Middle East the complexity of the forces at play demands a careful analysis, difficult as it may be because of the vociferous propaganda from all sides.

Editor’s Note: This story was written for New America Media as the first in a series of columns by Dr. Sanjay Basu called A Doctor’s Word, exploring the impact of the recession on health care for poor people. It appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Insight and on SFGate.com, media from where Pressenza obtained it.

Of all the myths obstructing the honest portrayal of events in Syria this past year, none has been more fiercely guarded by regime-change advocates than this one stark falsehood:
Myth – the Syrian regime has only been shooting unarmed, peaceful protestors until very recently when opposition groups finally decided to arm themselves in self-defense.

The Global March to Jerusalem to take place on March 30 has been proposed as a peaceful demonstration in many countries around the world to support the Palestinians’ cause in Israel. It is time for all humanists, for all those who aspire to a world of diversity, human rights and equal opportunities to concentrate hearts and minds to achieve a truly nonviolent day of action.