North America

Hundreds of gay couples got married across New York state Sunday after it became the sixth and most populous state in the United States to recognize same-sex marriages. New York joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia in allowing same-sex unions. But gay marriage is still specifically banned in 39 states.

GOP Cries Wolf on Debt Ceiling in Order to Impose Radical Pro-Rich Agenda

President Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner are allegedly close to a $3 trillion deficit-reduction package as part of a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling before an August 2 deadline. But the deal is coming under fire from both congressional Democrats and Republicans.

Brushing off protests from China, Barack Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama to the White House, urging respect for human rights and cultural traditions in Tibet. China immediately lodged a protest and accused Obama of undermining relations between the world’s two largest economies by meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader, who has spent more than a half-century in exile.

Despite attempts by Chinese authorities to suppress any form of social change, young Chinese people both in and out of the country are constantly finding new ways to be heard. In 2010 alone there were 320,000 incidents of civil unrest. A move is underway to unite the diverse protests and rebrand them the “Jasmine Revolution”, following in the footsteps of Tunisia.

I’m sure you have heard this comment many times, “I’m not voting because I don’t believe that my vote is changing anything”. Even though I understand where this thinking| comes from, it doesn’t work like that. The democratic system has a particular way of working, just like any other system. This is not a question of belief and it is not about liking something either.

Peace activists won a major victory on Monday, June 20, when the US Conference of Mayors voted to adopt two resolutions that call for a drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the abolition of nuclear weapons. Both resolutions also demand the reprioritization of defense spending, including the $126 billion spent each year in Iraq and Afghanistan.

by Carrie Humphries

This year marks the 7th Annual Nonviolence Festival Day in the Park. I remember a few years ago going to the event (hosted by the Waterloo Region chapter of Nonviolence organization) and it poured. Yes, it rained for what seemed like forever. But it didn’t stop the day. The festival, in all its soaked glory, continued on while people danced in the rain.

Manners and customs are the indigenous peoples´ own forms of self-government and regulatory systems, which have been preserved since pre-colonial times, and that govern the lives of these peoples but some women from these native communities are demanding changes to these ancient practices they say infringe on their rights as people.

The Network of Children’s Rights in Mexico (Redim) urged the governor of the northern state of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte Jaquez, to investigate the police operatives of forced removal of the street population in Juárez. Redim highlighted that these evacuations amount to a practice of “social cleansing” that violate the Mexican constitution.

Canada was to officially end its combat mission in Afghanistan on Thursday, after nine years of fighting which saw it lose 157 troops and spend more than $11 billion dollars. With popular support for the war sapped at home, most of the nearly 3,000 Canadian soldiers, based mainly in the dangerous battleground of Kandahar, have packed up and gone home.