Global News and Analysis Archives - Page 34 of 294

In May, the government of Ecuador came to the World Health Organization (WHO) assembly with a resolution on breastfeeding. What worried the government of Ecuador, and many other governments of the Global South, is the behavior of large corporations—Nestlé in the lead. These corporations that sell infant formula have wanted to promote the use of substitutes to breast milk, especially in places such as Ecuador.

The month before—in April 2018—the WHO and UNICEF jointly put out guidelines to support breastfeeding in health facilities. These “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” assist health care workers to encourage breastfeeding rather than to encourage the use of infant formulas. Breastfeeding babies in their first two years, say these UN agencies, would save the lives of more than 820,000 children under the age of five. “Breastfeeding saves lives. Its benefits help keep babies healthy in their first days and last well into adulthood,” said UNICEF’s executive director Henrietta H. Fore. read more

Why China Has More Strikes Per Year Than Any Other Country

Eve Ottenberg July 24, 2018 Eve Ottenberg

Many workers put in 12-hour days, six days a week—sometimes even seven days a week. Many had the cost of inedible cafeteria food deducted from their pay. Factory discipline was enforced with cameras and fines. Taking a day off led to firing or a fine.

Trump’s Grand Plan: A Foreign Policy Strategy of Perpetual War

Michael Klare July 24, 2018 Michael Klare

Source: Tom Dispatch

The pundits and politicians generally take it for granted that President Trump lacks a coherent foreign policy. They believe that he acts solely out of spite, caprice, and political opportunism — lashing out at U.S. allies like Germany’s Angela Merkel and England’s Theresa May only to embrace authoritarian rulers like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. His instinctive rancor and impulsiveness seemed on full display during his recent trip to Europe, where he lambasted Merkel, undercut May, and then, in an extraordinary meeting with Putin, dismissed any concerns over Russian meddling in the 2016 American presidential election (before half-walking his own comments back). read more

“I thank god I am alive”: standing firm against mineral extraction in South Africa

Jonathan Watts July 23, 2018 Jonathan Watts

Source: The Guardian

Nonhle Mbuthuma is battling for her community’s right to say no to the exploitation of their territory in a hangover of the apartheid era

As a child, Nonhle Mbuthuma would wake up in her family’s thatched hut listening to the waves crashing on South Africa’s Wild Coast , then go and play on the sand dunes, head off to school or help her parents cultivate sweet potatoes and bananas on the family plot.

Today, she can rarely stay in the same place for any length of time and is more likely to be keeping her ears alert to signs of danger. At times she needs bodyguards or goes into hiding. read more

Behind the Blockades: Intersectional Organizing to Abolish ICE

Mike Ludwig July 16, 2018 Mike Ludwig

Source: Truthout

Each summer, the radical environmentalists behind the decades-old (and notoriously rowdy) Earth First! movement wrap up their annual campout with a protest action. Over the years, typical targets have included logging operations and, more recently, fossil fuel infrastructure. This year, things were different.

On Monday, July 9, dozens of Earth First! activists emerged from the Appalachian woods to join Native American, LGBTQ and Latinx activists in temporarily shutting down a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The action resulted in 12 arrests. read more

What’s the Biggest Threat to American Democracy?

Frances Moore Lappé July 16, 2018 Frances Moore Lappé

Democracy is a culture that lives or dies on whether it’s creating three conditions throughout our public lives that have proven to bring forth the best in our species and to keep the worst in check: One, the wide dispersion of power; two, transparency in public affairs; and, three, a culture of mutual accountability in contrast to the blame-the-other culture fomented today.