Month: March 2010
Afghan Women Fear Violence in National ‘Peace’
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for women to be involved in peace talks. But Afghan women--after a series of setbacks--place little faith in that. They're mounting their own push for inclusion at a spring meeting of national leaders.Nargis Nehan
The Shipwreck of the Markets: Globalization on the Rocks
In September 1993 Mexicans were, it was said in high places, about to be liberated from their historic destiny: 'So far from God, so close to the United States.' The solution was simply to merge with the US and Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), leaving the rest to take care of itself. Ciudad Juárez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, was on the front line of this radical advance, and I went there to take a look.
10 Ways to Stop Corporate Dominance of Politics
The recent Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited corporate spending in politics just may be the straw that breaks the plutocracy's back. Pro-democracy groups, business leaders, and elected representatives are proposing mechanisms to prevent or counter the millions of dollars that corporations can now draw from their treasuries to push for government action favorable to their bottom line.Illustration: Chris Clark
Niger’s Uranium Coup
Source: Green Left Weekly
On February 18, Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a military coup. A military junta calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, headed by Major Salou Djibo, took power.
On February 20, a 10,000-strong rally, supported by Niger’s largest trade union federation, demonstrated in support of Tandja’s overthrow, Reuters said that day. The protest also called for the junta to hold elections, Reuters reported that day.However, the junta is unlikely to confront the causes of Niger’s extreme poverty: Western-imposed neoliberal austerity and the environmentally and socially destructive plunder of natural resources, particularly uranium.
This is the fourth coup in Niger since 1974. From a military background himself, Tandja was involved in two of them.
Haiti: The Clock is Set at Zero
"We have to take advantage of this catastrophe and say, "The clock is set at zero." We have to build another Haiti that doesn't have anything to do with the Haiti we had before. A Haiti that is sovereign politically and that has food sovereignty. It has to begin by building agriculture." Chavannes Jean-Baptiste