December 2009 - Page 3 of 7

Can Migrants Save the Global Economy?

Debayani Kar December 21, 2009 Debayani Kar

The global economic crisis has devastated workers around the world, none more than migrants whose daily wages are dependent on the whims of global financiers. Witness Dubai. Even before the meltdown of Dubai World, migrants whose labor literally built Dubai from the ground up suffered serious job losses with the onset of the global recession in 2008.

Remittances are expected to decline from $308 billion worldwide in 2008 to $293 billion in 2009, due to the global financial crisis. Many countries have experienced declines, particularly in Central and Latin America where workers’ fates are tied to the U.S. economy: Mexico (-11%), Guatemala (-13%), Honduras (-13%) and El Salvador (-13%). Some countries in South Asia, however, did experience an influx of money from workers abroad: Bangladesh (+22%) and Pakistan (+21%). read more

Terminator 2009: Judgment Days in Copenhagen

Rebecca Solnit December 21, 2009 Rebecca Solnit

Source: Tom Dispatch

It’s clear now that, from her immoveable titanium bangs to her chaotic approximation of human speech, Sarah Palin is a Terminator cyborg sent from the future to destroy something — but what? It could be the Republican Party she’ll ravage by herding the fundamentalists and extremists into a place where sane fiscal conservatives and swing voters can’t follow. Or maybe she was sent to destroy civilization at this crucial moment by preaching the gospel of climate-change denial, abetted by tools like the Washington Post, which ran a factually outrageous editorial by her on the subject earlier this month. No one (even her, undoubtedly) knows, but we do know that this month we all hover on the brink. read more

Global Warming, Media and the Impending Catastrophe

Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer December 21, 2009 Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer

In Copenhagen, President Barack Obama made his pathetically inadequate proposal to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020, which in essence will amount to driving off the environmental cliff at 83 miles per hour rather than 100 miles per hour.

Protesters Offer the Best Hope For Our Planet

Johann Hari December 16, 2009 Johann Hari

Source: The Independent

At first glance, the Copenhagen climate summit seems like a Salvador Dali dreamscape. I just saw Archbishop Desmond Tutu being followed by a swarm of Japanese students who were dressed as aliens and carrying signs saying "Take Me To Your Leader" and "Is Your Species Crazy?". Before that, a group of angry black-clad teenage protesters who were carrying spray cans started quoting statistics to me about how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can safely absorb. (It’s 350 parts per million they pointed out, before sucking their teeth.) Before that, I saw a couple in a pantomime cow costume being attacked by the police, who accused them of throwing stones with their hooves. read more

Video: Vermonters Say “No More War in Afghanistan!”

Sam Mayfield December 16, 2009 Sam Mayfield

Joseph Gainza, VT Action for Peace

In Burlington, Vermont over 100 people gathered on December 12 to say "No more war in Afghanistan" and to denounce Barack Obama's 30,000 person troop surge to Afghanistan. The rally took place one day after 350 members of the Vermont National Guard departed for training before deployment to Afghanistan early next year. Vermont is sending more than 1,500 National Guards people to Afghanistan - the largest deployment of Vermont's National Guard since World War II.

Corporate Profits and the Real Dangers Behind the H1N1 Virus

John Horvath December 16, 2009 John Horvath

As in most other areas of the world, Hungarians feel that the H1N1 virus is nothing more than a scare campaign in order to help generate profits for multinational pharmaceutical corporations. Sadly, this view is often reinforced by some sobering facts.