We have this tragic misperception that humanity is predisposed to violence. The truth is that humanity is predisposed to peace. The default position for humanity is that of conscientious objector to war and violence.
Source: The New Inquiry
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I’ve been reading the later work of Derrida, in which the intensity about language remains but there’s also a turn towards the thorniest questions of ethics. There’s a remarkable passage in “The Gift of Death” (1995) that gets at something the news isn’t touching on:
“…because of the structure of the laws of the market that society has instituted and controls, because of the mechanisms of external debt and other comparable inequities, that same ‘society’ puts to death or (but failing to help someone in distress accounts only for a minor difference) allows to die of hunger and disease tens of millions of children…without any moral or legal tribunal ever being considered competent to judge such a sacrifice, the sacrifice of the other to avoid being sacrificed oneself. Not only does such a society participate in this incalculable sacrifice, it actually organizes it.”
For the refugees pouring into Europe, their journeys can be just as deadly as the war zones they're fleeing.
The crisis of leadership throughout Palestinian history did not start with Mahmoud Abbas and will, regrettably, be unlikely to end with his departure.
Source: The Nation
ater is an essential natural element, but around the world, it’s also an artificially endangered resource.
That would explain why the nations represented at a recent international conference on water rights in Lagos ranged from remote desert towns with hand-pumped wells to modern public utilities in European cities. Precisely because water is universally in demand, it faces boundless threats of exploitation, in countries rich and poor.
As we reported previously, Lagos has become ground zero for the global water-justice movement, as the city’s residents battle against a pending so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP). This “development” model, promoted globally by neoliberal policymakers, lets governments contract with private companies to finance investment in water infrastructure, and then funnel them proceeds from future operating revenues.
Source: Common Dreams
Observers say the U.S. is not only lagging in its humanitarian response, but also driving the war and conflict behind ongoing displacement
As refugees are stranded at train stations, attacked by riot police, and killed during the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, Europe’s failure to address the rising humanitarian crisis is being met with global outrage and sorrow.
Now, many are also looking across the Atlantic to the United States, where observers say key responsibility for the crisis lies—not only because the country is lagging in its humanitarian response, but also because its war policies lie at the root of the ongoing displacement.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019