Month: July 2010

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

Cafés are full in Athens, and droves of tourists still visit the Parthenon and go island-hopping in the fabled Aegean. But beneath the summery surface, there is confusion, anger, and despair as this country plunges into its worst economic crisis in decades.

The global media has presented Greece, tiny Greece, as the epicenter of the second stage of the global financial crisis, much as it portrayed Wall Street as ground zero of the first stage.

Yet there is an interesting difference in the narratives surrounding these two episodes.
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Source: Green Left Weekly

On July 6, the Thai government approved the extension of an emergency decree in 19 provinces, which includes many in the heartland of the pro-democracy Red Shirts in the country’s north-east.

The extension came a day after the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) recommended the government immediately lift the decree and hold fresh elections.

But Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva, who came to power through the army’s intervention, crushed hopes for new elections weeks ago. read more

Source: IPS News

(IPS) – The Zambian National Constitution Conference (NCC) concluded its business recently with the adoption of a clause for the creation of a Gender Equality Commission.

This is exciting news for gender activists who did not think the NCC would accept the clause. The women’s movement, alongside other civil society groups, had refused to participate in the NCC fearing civil society’s voice would not be heard.

Pixie Yangailo, a lawyer who sat on the NCC commission for gender, told IPS that given entrenched cultural beliefs about women’s subservient role in society, it was better to have a commission that will deal exclusively with gender equality and the promotion and protection of women’s rights. read more