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Africom, Militarization and Resource Control

Nunu Kidane October 21, 2008 Nunu Kidane

Combined Joint Task Forces, Uganda

For years, the US never considered Africa as a priority foreign policy agenda. The only context in which Africa came up in Washington was for preferential trade as in AGOA (Africa Growth and Opportunity Act) or in AIDS-funding and of course humanitarian assistance. Despite its continued use of the term 'partnership with Africa', no administration viewed Africa as anything but a source of extractive resources and a perpetual conflict ridden region with few business opportunities. So now, when the US declares Africa to be a very important region and pays special attention to it, one has got to be suspicious.

Chile: Yet Another Dam Planned For Biobío River

Benjamin Witte October 15, 2008 Benjamin Witte

Biobío River

Chile's Biobío River, already home to two huge hydroelectric power stations, may soon be dammed yet again - this time by Chilean energy giant Colbún. And just like the massive Pangue and Ralco dams that preceded it, Colbún's "Angostura Project" is attracting serious criticism among area residents, many of whom may be displaced by the dam's reservoir. Incredibly, some of the people likely to be flooded out of house and home were already forced to relocate during construction of the Pangue facility.

Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas

Sílvia Leindecker and Michael Fox October 13, 2008 Sílvia Leindecker and Michael Fox

Beyond Elections is a documentary that takes us across the Americas to attempt to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What is Democracy? Freedom, equality, participation? Everyone has his or her own definition. Across the world, 120 countries now have at least the minimum trappings of democracy-the freedom to vote for all citizens. But for many, this is just the beginning not the end. Watch and discuss this timely and inspiring film on Thursday, October 16 at 7PM at Burlington College in Burlington, Vermont.

Life as Commerce: Criticizing Market-Based Conservation

Simone Lovera & Orin Langelle October 9, 2008 Simone Lovera & Orin Langelle

Simone Lovera (Center) Photo: Langelle

Barcelona, Spain - As the international financial and food crisis worsens, Global Forest Coalition critiques the unreliability of market-based conservation mechanisms like ecotourism, forest certification, biodiversity offsets and carbon trade on Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women. Market-based mechanisms are often seen as solutions to the lack of funding for public conservation, but they are false solutions.

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

Are Pakistan and the United States on the Brink of War?

Mustafa Qadri October 6, 2008 Mustafa Qadri

Explosion at Pakistan-Afghan Border

As the United States steps up border raids into Pakistan, troops from both countries have commenced a deadly game of brinksmanship. Although aimed at asserting each other's military presence along the Pakistan-Afghan border, the skirmishes risk outright hostilities. U.S. strikes in Pakistan are nothing new. Washington has conducted unilateral missile strikes since soon after its invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. But the tone of the U.S. presence changed this year.