Monday, December 30, 2013
Impunity
Genocide by modern states against Indigenous nations in the Americas, from Canada to Chile, has never been prosecuted under international law. Maya in Guatemala tried, but as Dawn Paley and Sandra Cuffe report, states set the rules, and international law is set up for the benefit of states.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Power to the People
As a reader recently reminded me, fighting fascism sometimes passes as a potpourri of passions. Yet, if we consider them in their totality, the anti-austerity rebellion, earth ministry, indigenous peoples movement, Jubilee, #Occupy and tax justice network comprise the forces in the frontline against fascism.
Power to the people.
Power to the people.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Assault on Civil Society
The Harper government in Canada, devoted to the alignment of state and corporate interests, has shocked the scientific world by dismantling publicly-funded research libraries at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. In the wake of Harper's gutting of the fisheries act that required protection of fresh and saltwater bodies, the muzzling of outspoken scientists, and the abandonment of climate change research, this Canadian corporate-state alignment -- focused on fossil fuel extraction and export -- has launched a concerted attack on environmental science. As Andrew Nikiforuk reports at The Tyee, scientists in Canada view Harper's agenda as an "assault on civil society".
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Rogue Petrostate Aspirations
In Water and Oil, Ted Alvarez at Grist recounts how natives and neighbors defeated Shell Oil and Canada's rogue petrostate aspirations in the Skeena, Nass and Stikine sacred headwaters of northern British Columbia.
Thursday, December 05, 2013
State of Shock
Economic despair is killing people. As the recession crisis unfolded in Europe the consequences of austerity measures on poor and middle class individuals, versus maintenance of high caliber medical care for the wealthy came into sharp relief. In Greece, for example, several rounds of austerity measures imposed by the IMF and the EU led to massive reductions in public health and medical services, starting in early 2009. By 2012 the Greek suicide rate and mental illness crisis had soared, pharmaceutical outages were reported all over the country, hospital hygiene and basic services had reached such low levels that doctors advised patients not to seek inpatient care, HIV incidence was climbing, malaria was widespread for the first time since World War II, dengue spread in various regions of the country for the first time in nearly a century, and tragedy plagued every aspect of health protection in the nation. When the state of Greek health was summarized for EU leaders in a May 2013 austerity meeting the Europeans reportedly left in “a state of shock.”
--Laurie Garrett, The Survival of Global Health -- Part Three
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Supporting Indigenous Peoples
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Oneidas for Democracy
While it's common knowledge the U.S. Government supports dictators in Asia, Africa and Latin America, it's less well-known that it supports dictators here at home--in particular on American Indian reservations like the Oneida of New York. In this story by Cassandra Harris-Lockwood, we learn how Oneida gangster Ray Halbritter became CEO of the Oneida casino/media empire (owner of Indian Country Today) by selling favors to President Clinton, who in turn had Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Ada Deer appoint Halbritter as leader of the Oneida Nation.
While the intrigue involving former Governor Cuomo, who, along with Halbritter, facilitated the casino -- against the wishes of the Oneida people -- might seem bizarre, in the end it was about money and power. That money and power has brought what the Oneida feared: crime, drugs, prostitution and ruthless retribution by Halbritter's special police when Oneida citizens dare oppose his criminal enterprise.
Oneidas for Democracy has more.
While the intrigue involving former Governor Cuomo, who, along with Halbritter, facilitated the casino -- against the wishes of the Oneida people -- might seem bizarre, in the end it was about money and power. That money and power has brought what the Oneida feared: crime, drugs, prostitution and ruthless retribution by Halbritter's special police when Oneida citizens dare oppose his criminal enterprise.
Oneidas for Democracy has more.
