Common Dreams
Europe’s austerity backlash gains steam in challenge to German-driven program
A full 60 percent of French voters who turned out for the first round of presidential elections on Sunday — whether on the right, the center-left, or the far left — agreed on one thing: more austerity is not the direction they desire for France. Nicolas Sarkozy, the staunchly pro-austerity candidate and sitting president, received less than 27 percent of the vote, and if he loses the presidency in a run-off with Socialist Francois Hollande it will speak loudly about about the growing backlash against austerity taking place across the Eurozone. Continue reading North, South, East, and West: Austerity Revolt Felt Across Europe
Daily Archives: April 24, 2012
Ecological Conservation: A Mission Imperative
Maryknoll Magazine
Maryknoll Sisters sign a legal agreement to conserve a portion of their property
By Mary Ellen Manz, M.M. and Margaret Gaughan
In this centennial year of their founding, the Maryknoll Sisters are leaving an ecological gift for future generations. Through a legal agreement, or easement, the Sisters are preserving in perpetuity 42 acres of wetland and woodland area on their 67-acre center in New York. Continue reading Ecological Conservation: A Mission Imperative
Free Your (Eco)Mind
YES Magazine
Gradually it’s dawned on me: We humans are creatures of the mind. We perceive the world according to our core, often unacknowledged, assumptions. They determine, literally, what we can see and what we cannot. Nothing so wrong with that, perhaps—except that, in this crucial do-or-die moment, we’re stuck with a mental map that is life-destroying.
And the premise of this map is lack—not enough of anything, from energy to food to parking spots; not enough goods and not enough goodness. In such a world, we come to believe, it’s compete or die. The popular British writer Philip Pullman says, “we evolved to suit a way of life which is acquisitive, territorial, and combative” and that “we have to overcome millions of years of evolution” to make the changes we need to avoid global catastrophe. Continue reading Free Your (Eco)Mind
The unpalatable reality of working for Apple
New Internationalist
A fresh wave of reports unveiling exploitation in the iPad empire are forcing Apple to clean up up its act, reports Mark Engler.
‘Help wanted: factory worker to install small components into items manufactured by hand – iPhones and iPads. Shifts may average 12 hours per day, six days per week. You may be expected to stand throughout. Some exposure to hazardous chemicals. Base pay: $42/week. Additional benefits: shared dorm room with five other employees; safety netting at facility to catch attempted suicides. Please note: applications will be checked against blacklist of union sympathizers.’
Continue reading The unpalatable reality of working for Apple
The Northern Question and the Way Forward for Change
Presentation at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
by Yasir Arman, Secretary General, Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N)
Secretary of External Affairs, Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) April 20-21, 2012
What is the Northern Question? What is the Sudan Question?
- Sudan is often perceived in terms of dichotomies of North-South, Muslim-Christian, Arabs-Africans; these are oversimplification of the Sudanese question. After the independence of the Republic of South Sudan, the North could now be seen as an entity of its own. It should be seen as the Sudan question. Continue reading The Northern Question and the Way Forward for Change
Brazil Must Do More for Rio+20, Former Ministers Say
By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 20, 2012 (IPS) – Former ministers, lawmakers and environmental experts in Brazil are urging the government to take a more proactive stance to prevent the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development the country will host in June from falling short of the standard set by the preceding summit. Continue reading Brazil Must Do More for Rio+20, Former Ministers Say
South Africa’s Smallholders Lose Battle for Seed Security
By Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 23, 2012 (IPS) – In an almost ceremonial manner, Selinah Mncwango opens her big plastic bag and pulls out several smaller packets, each filled with different types of seeds: sorghum, bean, pumpkin, and maize. They are her pride, her wealth, the “pillar of my family,” says the farmer from a village in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Continue reading South Africa’s Smallholders Lose Battle for Seed Security
US Bishops join call to ban landmines
Independent Catholic News
American bishops have joined a call from 76 nongovernmental organizations to President Obama, urging the United States to relinquish antipersonnel landmines and join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty without further delay.
The United States is one of only 37 countries in the world that have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty and the only country in the Western Hemisphere aside from Cuba that has not joined. Continue reading US Bishops join call to ban landmines
‘They’re killing us’: world’s most endangered tribe cries for help
The Guardian
Logging companies keen to exploit Brazil’s rainforest have been accused by human rights organisations of using gunmen to wipe out the Awá, a tribe of just 355. Survival International, with backing from Colin Firth, is campaigning to stop what a judge referred to as ‘genocide’ Continue reading ‘They’re killing us’: world’s most endangered tribe cries for help
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation 