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IPCC and Climate Change – but which direction?

Yes, the Earth is warming, and, yes, human activity is cause of part of this. “But the preoccupation with carbon has led to billions being spent on pointless policies to mitigate the perceived problem,” Howard Winn, journalist at the South…

Declare a humanitarian ceasefire in Zamboanga City now!

Regarding the ongoing stand-off between forces of the Philippine government and elements associated with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction since last Monday, September 9. As of this writing, calls for dialogue and humanitarian ceasefire remain unheeded. Already the…

Han Dongfang discusses the fast emerging labour movement in China

On 3 September 2013, China Labour Bulletin Director Han Dongfang gave a talk at the British Sociological Association’s Work, Employment and Society Conference at the University of Warwick. The talk focused on the fast emerging labour movement in China and…

Suggested Vacation Reading for President Obama: “Catch-22”

As the Obama family heads to their annual summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, perhaps the president should take along a copy of “Catch-22” for some beach reading. Joseph Heller’s classic, satirical antiwar novel, published in 1961 and based on his…

“No hunger” initiative in Damascus

On the first day of Ramadan, many young people in Damascus started a volunteer initiative to feed the poor people in the city, victims of the internal war. In one day 750 meals were cooked and distributed. A restaurant owner…

FreedumbAndDemocrazy

Freedom and democracy. How I have come to loathe this phrase. Two-lofty-words-and-a-conjunction bandied around by handmaidens of Empire: verbal grenades that can gut entire nations. When I hear “freedom and democracy” I instinctively look for cover – just as “Allahu…

The global trade in arms: “a clearly visible dagger in the heart of global sustainability”

During our recent visit to Bonn, Germany to give a workshop at the Global Media Forum we had the opportunity to make contacts and friends from many different parts of the world.  Some people we had very little in common…

UN reveals progress in lowering HIV infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa

New HIV infections among children have been reduced by 50 per cent or more in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations agency spearheading the global AIDS response said today. Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia have reduced…

Dr. Vandana Shiva: a 1% rule has never lasted it must be 100% participation

As the keynote speaker on the final day of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, Dr. Vandana Shiva[1], an Indian environmental activist and anti-globalisation campaigner spoke about the values required for a new economic model that respects the planet and…

Writings from Israel, Nepal and Myanmar included in UNESCO world register

Documentation on Holocaust victims, a collection of Buddhist scriptures written on stones from Myanmar, two rare manuscripts from Nepal and diaries belonging to Ernesto Che Guevara, are among 54 new additions to the UN educational and cultural agency’s Memory of the World…