Global News and Analysis

Source: Tom Dispatch

The American surveillance state is now an omnipresent reality, but its deep history is little known and its future little grasped. Edward Snowden’s leaked documents reveal that, in a post-9/11 state of war, the National Security Agency (NSA) was able to create a surveillance system that could secretly monitor the private communications of almost every American in the name of fighting foreign terrorists. The technology used is state of the art; the impulse, it turns out, is nothing new. For well over a century, what might be called “surveillance blowback” from America’s wars has ensured the creation of an ever more massive and omnipresent internal security and surveillance apparatus. Its future (though not ours) looks bright indeed. read more

Source: Yes Magazine

Countries like Egypt and Switzerland have placed regulations on how much executives can earn. Here’s why the U.S. should consider doing the same.

Should our societies have a “maximum wage”? Would the world be better off if the United States had one?

Currently, Americans are debating raising the national minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10 per hour over the next two years. While conservatives will oppose it, such a boost shouldn’t be contentious.

Back in 1967, the U.S. minimum wage was $1.40 per hour. That’s not as measly as it sounds. Your grandparents’ tales about when ten pennies could actually buy something are not mere nostalgia. In fact, the 1967 wage had 20 percent more purchasing power than the current minimum. read more

Source: Indypendent

Editor’s note: We are saddened to report that the author of this article, Eric O. Lembembe, was violently murdered and found dead in his home in Cameroon’s capital city of Yaoundéon Monday, July 15, just one day after The Indypendent went to press. This piece is one of the last ones that Eric wrote before his death.

Human Rights Watch reports that Eric’s friends discovered his body after being unable to reach him over the weekend. According to one friend, Eric’s body showed signs of torture: his neck and feet appeared to have been broken, and his face, hands, and feet had been burned with a clothes iron. read more

Source: The Nation

A jury has found George Zimmerman not guilty of all charges in connection to death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But while the verdict came as a surprise to some people, it makes perfect sense to others. This verdict is a crystal-clear illustration of the way white supremacy operates in America.

Throughout the trial, the media repeatedly referred to an “all-woman jury” in that Seminole County courtroom, adding that most of them were mothers. That is true—but so is that five of the six jurors were white, and that is profoundly significant for cases like this one. We also know that the lone juror of color was seen apparently wiping a tear during the prosecution’s rebuttal yesterday. But that tear didn’t ultimately convince her or the white people on that jury that Zimmerman was guilty of anything. Not guilty. Not after stalking, shooting and killing a black child, a child that the defense insultingly argued was “armed with concrete.” read more

Source: Al Jazeera

Inuit challenge Canadian government over failures on Nunavut deal’s 20th anniversary.

Iqaluit, Canada – Royal Canadian Air Force jets will streak across the arctic sky on Tuesday, part of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the agreement that created Nunavut, a northern territory home to about 30,000 native Inuit people.

It was the largest indigenous land claim in Canada’s history covering 2 million square kilometres, or about eight times the size of the United Kingdom.

But as the fighter jets fly high in the sky to mark the day, on the ground the celebrations will be modest. About 50 percent of the Inuit live in dire poverty, one-third reside in overcrowded and dilapidated housing, and half cannot afford to buy enough food to eat. read more

Source: Al Jazeera

The removal from office of President Mohammed Morsi portends great excitement but even greater threats to democracy.

The democracy of the street – which 16 months ago led to the overthrow of the longstanding President Hosni Mubarak – is claiming the same kind of people’s victory in the overthrow of Morsi.

There are similarities. Like in 2011, the military’s move against the sitting president was calculated as a response to massive popular protests – the military then and now claim to be operating on behalf of the Egyptian people. In 2011 people in Tahrir Square reached out with flowers to soldiers climbing down from their tanks. Yesterday the throngs crowding Tahrir Square cheered the military helicopters flying over the square. read more