Image

Call for Solidarity with Counter-G8 Protesters in Japan

Activists and organizers are asking local groups and individuals to call, e-mail, visit and protest at Japanese embassies over the unjust arrests, detentions, deportations, and repression occurring around counter-G8 mobilization in Japan. Japanese police continue to escalate repression against protesters of the Group of 8 Summit. This is part of a growing trend of the suppression of human rights in Japan.

Image

Patagonia’s Pascua River Threatened By Massive Dam Project

Pascua River
There is a place in far southern Chile, in the remote region of Aysén, where the long road south - the famed Carreterra Austral - simply comes to an end. Via a joint entity called HidroAysén, two companies are looking to build five massive dams in Aysén that would together generate some 2,750 MW of electricity - roughly equivalent to 20 percent of Chile's current overall generating capacity. However, HidroAysén's plans have generated a formidable backlash.

Image

Fear and Loathing in Bolivia: New Constitution, Polarization

Pro-Government March in La Paz
"Let's go unblock the road, compañeros!" a man in an old baseball cap yells as he joins a group of people hauling rocks and tires from a central intersection in Cochabamba. This group of students and union activists are mobilizing against a civic strike led by middle class foot soldiers of the Bolivian right. These actions in the street are part of a political roller coaster which is dramatically changing Bolivia as it enters the new year.

US Planes at Manta

Ecuador Declines US, Offers Manta Air Base to China

US Planes at Manta
When the U.S. Air Force Southern Command's 10-year usage rights for Ecuador's Manta air base expire in 2009, they can expect to be evicted in favor of China. The air base shares a common runway with Manta's Eloy Alfaro International Airport terminal, but the air base has a separate office for cargo, while the airport handles passengers. About 475 US military personnel are stationed at the air base under a under a 10-year agreement signed with Quito in November 1999 and due to expire in 24 months.

Walden Bello

Shock Doctrine: Power, Passion, and Neoliberalism

Bello
Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is very impressive indeed. This is, however, not immediately evident, a sense that is confirmed by Joseph Stiglitz' review of the book. Even before I read it, I was certain that the Nobel laureate would highlight Klein's attempt to make a connection between the electric shock experiments performed by the notorious McGill University psychologist Ewen Cameron who was on contract with the CIA and the economic shock approach developed by Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago.