Page 669 – Toward Freedom

Timebanks: How to Share Time When Dollars Are Scarce

Mira Luna July 20, 2010 Mira Luna

During the last two great depressions in the U.S., hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of people organized to meet their basic needs when the mainstream economy and centralized monetary system failed them. Unemployed poor folks got together to create time dollar stores and cooperative mills, farms, health care systems, foundries, repair and recycling facilities, distribution warehouses, and a myriad of other service exchanges. Many of these were based on the hour as a unit of account, and often everyone’s hour was equal and could either be exchanged for another hour of service or its equivalent in goods.

Dispersing Power: New Book on Bolivian Social Movements

Benjamin Dangl July 19, 2010 Benjamin Dangl

Dispersing Power: Social Movements as Anti-State Forces by Raúl Zibechi offers an exciting account of why social movements in Bolivia are so resilient and powerful, making the publication of this book timely; it focuses on the most vibrant social movements that preceded the election of one of the most dynamic and intriguing presidents among the region’s new left.

Video – Six Months After the Earthquake: Deep Wounds in Haiti

Al Jazeera July 19, 2010 Al Jazeera

Source: Fault Lines, Al Jazeera

Six months after the earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people, the dust is starting to settle over Port-au-Prince. As it does, the deep wounds that fracture this country are re-emerging, more gaping than even before.

One-and-a-half million people remain displaced, many living under tents and tarps. Rubble removal is slow, and rebuilding has yet to begin.

The UN and NGOs are as omnipresent as the rubble – but the chasm between Haiti’s poor majority and the foreign organisations that say they are here to help seems as wide as ever. read more

Argentina Passes Gay Marriage Law

Marie Trigona July 15, 2010 Marie Trigona

Argentina approved a gay marriage law early this morning, making the country the first in Latin America where same-sex couples can wed. Same sex couples will now be granted the same rights, responsibilities and protections that married couples have. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s government supported the bill and defied the Catholic Church’s opposition to the law.

Greece: Same Tragedy, Different Scripts

Walden Bello July 15, 2010 Walden Bello

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

Cafés are full in Athens, and droves of tourists still visit the Parthenon and go island-hopping in the fabled Aegean. But beneath the summery surface, there is confusion, anger, and despair as this country plunges into its worst economic crisis in decades.

The global media has presented Greece, tiny Greece, as the epicenter of the second stage of the global financial crisis, much as it portrayed Wall Street as ground zero of the first stage.

Yet there is an interesting difference in the narratives surrounding these two episodes.
read more

Understanding the Root Causes of Terrorism

Stefan Simanowitz July 15, 2010 Stefan Simanowitz

For most Britons July 7, 2005 will be remembered as the day that al Qaeda terrorists attacked London. But five years on, no link has been established between the 7/7 bombers and al Qaeda. While it’s possible that two of the bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan, may have visited training camps in Pakistan and met with al Qaeda operatives there is no evidence of this.