Story Archives - Page 565 of 662

Depleted Uranium: A Looming Worldwide Calamity

Stephen Lendman January 26, 2006 Stephen Lendman

Forget about Avian bird flu. The threat of it becoming a pandemic is more a political scare tactic and potential bonanza for drug company profits and its major shareholders' net worth (including Gilead Sciences, the developer of the Tamiflu drug and its former Chairman and major shareholder Donald Rumsfeld) than a likely public health crisis - unless you live around infected chickens or take an unproven safe immunization shot. There are much more other likely killer bacterial and viral threats than Avian that get little attention. Don't worry about possible or unlikely threats. Worry about real ones. Bacteria and viruses untreatable by anti-biotics are good examples. So are global warming and many others. But, there's possibly one threat that tops all others both in gravity and because it's been deliberately concealed from the public - never discussed, explained or had any action taken to remediate it. It's the global threat from the toxic effects of depleted uranium (DU), and like global warming; DU has the potential to destroy all planetary life. How can something so potentially destructive be hidden and ignored and why?

The Social Architecture of Caracas

April Howard January 25, 2006 April Howard

One of the most noticeable attributes of the city of Caracas is the contrast between social landscapes. Even the highway that was until recently the main route between the airport and Caracas gave the traveller a distant view of the barrios, the Do- It-Yourself neighborhoods , labyrinths of houses piled on top of eachother, built into the hills surrounding the city. Now, with the closing of the bridge on that main highway, the new route, La Carretera Vieja, the old highway, actually, rumor has it, a route first constructed by the Spanish 400 years ago, travellers now have an even more impressive entrance to the city. After a winding climb into the mountains, busses and taxis descend precipitously into the heart of Catia , the largest barrio in Caracas and, Ben says, the largest barrio/favela/slum in Latin America. Since the road has only two-lanes, and can often only accomodate one bus at a time on the hairpin turns, traffic has been backed up for hours. read more

Dispatches from the World Social Forum in Venezuela

Super User January 25, 2006 Super User

Toward Freedom is in Caracas at the World Social Forum to organize a panel on the hopes and challenges of independent media, to participate in the forum’s events and learn more about Venezuela’s political process. On this page we’ll be posting regular dispatches and photos from this experience.

12/30: Fireworks, Politics, Globalized Stew

1/25: The Social Architecture of Caracas

1/25: Information on Panelists, Time and Location of Toward Freedom’s Panel on Independent Media read more

The Crisis in US and World Media and the Growing Movement for Media Democracy

Super User January 25, 2006 Super User

Information on TF’s panel tomorrow: If you’re in Caracas, we hope to see you there. If not, please send this info. to friends at the forum.

La Crisis de los Medios de Comunicación en EEUU., el Mundo, y el Movimiento a Favor de la Democracia en los Medios.

The Crisis in US and World Media and the Growing Movement for Media Democracy.

Panel – Taller

Jueves/Thursday – 26, Enero/January – 2006

Parque del Este, Estacionamiento este;

PE-06; 3:30 PM – Caracas,Venezuela

Participants – Participantes: read more

The Streets and the Forum in Caracas

Ben Dangl January 25, 2006 Ben Dangl

Talking with people in the streets here in Venezuela makes me realize that the best way to get news is talking with people, face to face. It’s better than any newspaper or analytical essay. This way you can see expressions, hand gestures, clothes – people are living forms of media, transferring information and ideas better than any website ever could.

Today we met a couple of Argentines who had been traveling across the continent since October 2005. They went by boat from Asuncion, Paraguay up to Bolivia and Brazil, traveling mainly through jungle areas; they made conscious decisions to travel off the beaten path. This has taken them through almost every country in South America. From Venezuela, they’re heading to Suriname. read more

Dispatch from Venezuela: The Threat of Hope

Ben Dangl January 25, 2006 Ben Dangl

Right outside of the subway stop in the barrio (neighborhood) called El 23 de Enero, the hillside is covered with brick houses built on land which was initially private property "taken" by the people that now live on it. With the new government, a lot of the "squatters" have been given titles to their land and houses so that now they are the owners and can sell the space, build onto it, or rent it out. Neighborhoods like this cling to the hillsides around the city, in a vast waterfall of tin roofs, orange bricks and cement. Steep alleyways and stairs weave through these areas. Jutting out of the barrios are gigantic rectangular apartment buildings from the 1960s that have laundry hanging out the window and waving in the wind. Hugo Chavez and the new Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela receives most of its support and participants from areas like this. read more