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Finding Common Ground in Crisis: Social Movements in South America and the US

Benjamin Dangl December 18, 2008 Benjamin Dangl

Argentine Neighborhood Assembly, 2001

People in the US seeking ways to confront the economic crisis could follow the lead of South American social movements. From Argentina to Venezuela, many movements have won victories against the same systems of corporate greed and political corruption that produce economic strife across the hemisphere. These movements also have experience holding politicians' feet to the flames once they are elected, a tactic that will be essential once Barack Obama takes office.

Sacrificing the Mekong River Basin in the Name of Electricity

John Schertow December 11, 2008 John Schertow

Facing a Mekong River Dam

The Mekong river is considered the lifeblood of southeast Asia. The river has ensured the health and security of countless people, providing them with food, water for crops, and a means of trade and transportation. Today the Mekong supports as many as 100 million people. However, the onset of Hydro development, which began in the early 1990s, threatens to drastically change that.

Obama’s Troubling Stance on Missile Defense and Militarizing Space

John Lasker December 4, 2008 John Lasker

Patriot Missile

Missile defense is quickly becoming the most significant global arms race of the 21st century. This race may soon reach into space, what the US military has called the "ultimate high ground." President-elect Barack Obamam, during his campaign, pledged to cut "unproven missile defense" and never put weapons into space. Yet "Space Hawks" at the Pentagon are urging Obama to rethink his comments and keep the emerging

antimissile shield on track.

From War to Stone Quarries: Displaced Ugandans Face Challenges as Urban Refugees

Siena Anstis October 16, 2008 Siena Anstis

Families at Work in Stone Quarry

On the slopes overlooking Kireka, the suburbs of Kampala, hundreds of women and children spend their day working at stone quarries. Whether sick, crippled, young or old, they spend long hours hauling yellow jerry cans of stone from a dusty pit and smashing the large rocks into gravel with crude hammers. One full jerry can fetches 10 cents. At the end of the day, the women have made just enough to buy their children a small portion of dry and starchy cassava for dinner. On slow days, they eat only a bowl of diluted porridge, or nothing.

Martial Law on the Horizon? US Troops Hit the US Streets

Toward Freedom, Various Media October 9, 2008 Toward Freedom, Various Media

On October 26, 2006, in an article for Toward Freedom, journalist Frank Morales broke the story about George W. Bush’s move toward implementing martial law in the US. According to Morales, Bush was doing so "by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President’s ability to deploy troops within the United States." The law "allows the President to declare a ‘public emergency’ and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to ‘suppress public disorder.’" This article went on to win a #2 Project Censored Award in 2007. read more

The Machine Gun and The Meeting Table: Bolivian Crisis in a New South America

Benjamin Dangl September 16, 2008 Benjamin Dangl

Opposition Protesters (Telesur)

Upon arriving in Santiago, Chile on September 15 for an emergency meeting of South American heads of state, Bolivian president Evo Morales said, "I have come here to explain to the presidents of South America the civic coup d'etat by Governors in some Bolivian states in recent days." The conflict in Bolivia and the subsequent meeting of presidents raise the questions: What led to this meltdown? Whose side is the Bolivian military on? And what does the Bolivian crisis and regional reaction tell us about the new power bloc of South American nations?