Cultivating Climate Justice Through Compost: The Story of Hernani
When the people of Hernani, Spain, began a residential compost system, they weren’t looking to become heroes of the movement for climate justice.
Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown
Source: The Guardian Unlimited
Originally published on June 12, 2014
Social science is being militarised to develop ‘operational tools’ to target peaceful activists and protest movements
A US Department of Defense (DoD) research programme is funding universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various US military agencies. The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,” and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.”
U.S. Attorneys General Form Secret Alliance To Help Energy Companies
Source: CorpWatch
Major energy companies have effectively created a secret law firm of conservative attorneys general to persuade Washington lawmakers to gut environmental regulations, according to an investigation by the New York Times. In return, these senior government officials have received millions of dollars to help them win political campaigns.
Attorneys general are the top law enforcement officers for each of the 50 U.S. states, wielding considerable power to sue individuals and companies in the public interest. The Times has documented how at least 12 of these attorney generals – all from the Republican party – have switched sides to become cheerleaders for private industry. (43 of the 50 have to run for election while most of the others are appointed)
A Brutal “Torture Report,” but No Accountability
Source: Truthout
The long-awaited “torture report” released today by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA’s top secret, post-9/11 torture program is certainly brutal, and the Obama administration does not deny that. The administration is, however, refusing to hold anyone publicly accountable.
Yes, it’s brutal. Some detainees were placed in “ice water baths” and at least five were subjected to “rectal feeding without documented medical necessity.” Detainees were forced to stand on injured limbs and kept awake for up to 180 hours, “at times with their hands shackled above their heads.” CIA torturers threatened to kill one detainee’s mother and sexually abuse another’s.
Drug War Capitalism Book Launch to be Held in Burlington, VT
The Drug War’s reach is global. As illicit drug use is on the rise in Vermont, another dimension of the Drug War is playing out with unprecedented violence south of the US-Mexico border. Join author Dawn Paley in Burlington, VT on Wednesday, December 17th for a book launch and discussion on her new book Drug War Capitalism.
Loose Cannon: US Standing in the Middle East
The United States has become in the expression derived from onetime nautical practice a “loose cannon,” that is, a power whose actions are unpredictable, uncontrollable, and dangerous to itself and to others. As a result, it is trusted by almost no-one, even when many countries and political groups call upon it for assistance in specific ways in the short run.