Peace?
Someone wrote that just as Alfred Nobel, arms and dynamite dealer, established that ill-fated prize, it only made sense when Mr. Obama’s Nobel peace prize speech justified the ongoing wars and announced more in the future.
Arundhati Roy wonders “What does “peace” mean? You know, we may not need peace in this unjust society, because that’s a way of accepting injustice…”
Here is another Peace Prize speech: h/t to PULSE: John Pilger – Sydney Peace Prize address: ‘Breaking the Great Australian Silence’ – transcript here)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Stunted
Stunted growth is a reduced growth rate in human development. It is a primary manifestation of malnutrition in early childhood, including malnutrition during fetal development brought on by the malnourished mother.
I got there listening to British-Pakistani historian and novelist Tariq Ali in the following discussion with Harry Kreisler, host of Conversations with History – Institute of International Studies; University of California, Berkeley.
Tariq Ali places the present crisis in its historical context exploring the origins of the Pakistani state, the failure to forge a national identity, the inability and unwillingness of Pakistani leaders to address the country’s poverty and inequality, and the role of the military in the country’s spiral toward violence and disunity. In this context, Tariq Ali highlights the significance of the U.S. relationship throughout Pakistan’s history and he analyzes current US policy and it implications for stability in the region. See P U L S E for commentary
Check this summary of the Moderation and Militancy in Islam series.
The World According to Monsanto
Or how the genetically modified organism or GMO‘s regulation were determined by politics rather than science, how natural crops – and people – are contaminated, and more.
In March 2008, award winner French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin‘s documentary The World According to Monsanto was aired on the Arte network in France and Germany. It was a co-production between Arte and the National Film Board of Canada.
Present in forty-six countries, Monsanto has become the world leader in GM crops, as well as becoming one of the most controversial companies in industrial history. Since its foundation in 1901, the firm has faced trial after trial because of the toxicity of its products. Today it has reinvented itself as a “life sciences” company which has been converted to the virtues of sustainable development.
Using hitherto unpublished documents and the testimonies of victims, scientists and politicians, The World according to Monsanto pieces together the origins of an industrial empire, built upon lies, collusion with the American government, pressure and attempted corruption, which has become the world’s leading seed manufacturer, spreading GM crops worldwide – amid a lack of any proper controls with respect to their effects on nature and human health.
The following is also relevant. Physicist, ecologist and author Vandana Shiva‘s keynote address at the Organicology Conference in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 2009. (h/t 99)
McFreedom
A great lecture, if you haven’t seen it already
From South America, New Orleans, China to Iraq, Naomie Klein depicts with clarity and humour, patterns of McFreedom: corporate liberalization and militarism together with the steady neglect of the public sphere and infrastructure, the inherent need of violence in order to push these economic policies, and the accompanying narratives.
Klein highlights the importance of knowing and remembering history – not fairy tale history – in order to recognize those patterns and react in a constructive way.
Relevant link: Iran, War or Privatization: All Out War or “Economic Conquest”?
Previous post: Another world
Global poverty
Click picture
With the slogan “poverty is political,” War on Want focuses on the root causes of poverty rather than its effects, challenging the power structures which they believe keep people poor.
Covers
Newsweek latest cover by geographical region
Iran on Time’s cover 1934-2007 link via Ballatarin
Update: Pedestrian wonders on the choice of images and words.
Perspective
and … a multi-billion-dollar industry not solving it.
This World map shows the country and the frequency of people dying of starvation, waterborne diseases and AIDS. One person every other second needlessly dies. Approximately 85% of them are children.
The Latest League
An interesting article referring to a New World Order dilemma:
‘League of Democracies’ is a frightening thought
The world already has a peace-maintaining institution: the UN, by Robert Skidelsky, member of the British House of Lords, professor emeritus of political economy.
“[…] the US was built for a purpose — to serve “eternal and universal principles.” Its God-given task is to build an “enduring global peace on the foundations of freedom, security, prosperity and hope.”
Noble rhetoric! But if that is the league’s purpose then it is a danger to peace.
This is because its advocates believe that no long-term co-existence with non-democracies is possible. This is crazy and unhistorical.”
It is up to the chastened nations of Western Europe, which broadly share US values but have learned something about political patience, to rein in the US fantasy of remaking the world in its own image.
I am all for spreading Western-style democracy, but not at the cost of making the world more warlike. Peaceful coexistence between different political systems is an attainable objective.”
Robert Skidelsky’s homepage
Forever Under Construction 
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