August 2012 - Toward Freedom

Vandana Shiva: Our Hunger Games

Vandana Shiva August 28, 2012 Vandana Shiva

Hunger and malnutrition are man-made. They are hardwired in the design of the industrial, chemical model of agriculture. But just as hunger is created by design, healthy and nutritious food for all can also be designed, through food democracy.

We are repeatedly told that we will starve without chemical fertilisers. However, chemical fertilisers, which are essentially poison, undermine food security by destroying the fertility of soil by killing the biodiversity of soil organisms, friendly insects that control pests and pollinators like bees and butterflies necessary for plant reproduction and food production. read more

Join us for Toward Freedom’s 60th Anniversary Celebration Concert

Toward Freedom August 28, 2012 Toward Freedom

Toward Freedom is celebrating its 60th anniversary! Join us for a free concert in Burlington, VT on Saturday, September 1st. Dance to Rick Davies and Salsa Norteña, featuring Alejandro Torrens salsa and Latin jazz, Joe Hanzsum of Azi Fellas, progressive hip-hop from Philadelphia and Cambodia, and AFRI-VT, high energy drum and dance from the African Diaspora.

Colombia’s Invisible War: An Interview with Jesus Emilio Tuberquia

James Bargent August 28, 2012 James Bargent

Jesus Emilio Tuberquia’s life is at risk every time he leaves his home. As the legal representative and a founding member of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in northern Colombia, he suffers constant death threats and has survived several attempts on his life. Here he talks about the Colombian state's war on his community.

New Orleans and Haiti, Post-Catastrophe: The Things That Are the Richest Are the Least Valued

Lolis Eric Elie August 28, 2012 Lolis Eric Elie

Tomorrow, seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina dodged New Orleans, the city will be venturing out to assess Hurricane Isaac’s overnight imprint on its neighborhoods. At the same time, it mourns the ongoing effects of the major flood that has left many parts of the city – especially low-income, African-American parts – devastated.

Garífuna meeting for Defense of the Land campaign

Not on Our Land: Land Recovery Campaign Kicks Off in Honduras

Carla Garcia August 28, 2012 Carla Garcia

In Honduras, 300 leaders of the Afro-Indigenous Garífuna people are saying, “Not on our land.” On Monday, they and their allies around the world launched the Land Recovery Campaign in the village of Vallecito which, with 2,500 acres, is the largest single landholding of the Garífuna people. There, they are occupying land that has been taken from them to build mega-tourism projects.

College Inc.: US Universities’ Focus on Profit

Gary Lapon August 27, 2012 Gary Lapon

Source: Indypendent

Imagine a business that rakes in billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, but provides its customers with a defective product that fails for more than half of them–though that track record hasn’t stopped the business owners from enjoying ever-increasing profits.

Sounds like the parasites of Wall Street or the insurance industry, doesn’t it?

But according to a U.S. Senate report, the same is true of a growing number of colleges and universities–the expanding sector of higher education that is run for profit. read more