March 2009 - Toward Freedom

The Global Financial Crisis: Lessons and Responses From Africa

Demba Moussa Dembele March 31, 2009 Demba Moussa Dembele

The international financial crisis reflects the collapse of laissez-faire economics and the growing discredit of market fundamentalism. What was being hailed yesterday as the only road to 'growth and prosperity' is now under fierce attack by the same countries and institutions that promoted it for years. In leading developed countries, states have drawn up massive rescue plans to bail out industries or nationalise banks and financial institutions.

The Nuclear Goliath: Confronting Industrial Energy

Frank Joseph Smecker March 30, 2009 Frank Joseph Smecker

Lately, many may have heard the affable radio jingles for nuclear energy as a clean and reliable candidate to supplant the U.S.'s reliance on foreign fossil fuels. This is sheer, malignant propaganda. Nuclear energy, along with its requisite mining, is not only unsustainable to a high degree, but is, in all aspects, violently rapacious as it dissolves the planet's fecundity and ultimately encumbers the creation of life for generations to come.

Medical Marijuana: Is This Watched Pot About to Boil?

Shawna L. Swanberg, Ph.D. March 26, 2009 Shawna L. Swanberg, Ph.D.

Cost factor may prove the most potent ingredient yet in the long-awaited change to medical marijuana policy. Although President Obama has publicly affirmed he is 'not in favor' of the legalization of pot, the President's position on medical use is unambiguous: "Federal resources should not be used to circumvent state [marijuana] laws."

Beyond Elections in the Americas: An Interview with Michael Fox

Benjamin Dangl and Michael Fox March 25, 2009 Benjamin Dangl and Michael Fox

The new documentary Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas proves that democracy can and should be more than casting a ballot every four years. This empowering film gives hopeful and concrete examples from around the Americas of people taking back the reigns of power and governing their own communities. Beyond Elections is a road map for social change, drawing from communal councils in Venezuela and social movements in Bolivia to participatory budgeting in Brazil and worker cooperatives in Argentina.

Sex Trafficking: The Abolitionist Fallacy

Ann Jordan March 24, 2009 Ann Jordan

Economic hardship, discrimination, and violence have driven millions of women to work in the sex sector around the world, and their numbers will increase as a result of the current global economic crisis. Unless the underlying factors pushing women to opt for selling sex to support themselves and their families are remedied, many women will continue to have few other options.

Intifada: A Third Chapter in Palestine

Ramzy Baroud March 23, 2009 Ramzy Baroud

Though the dust has settled in Gaza, the rubble from the untold number of demolished buildings, homes and mosques is far from being cleared away. Graves continue to receive victims, young and old alike, from Israel's most recent offensive. And in the midst of this, with the hopes of some respite and recovery on the horizon, rumors of a third Intifada swell among politicians, scholars and everyday people alike.