Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/world/page/16/)
“Dreamers and Doers” is a phrase we heard repeatedly at the United Nations’ 57th Annual Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women held last week in New York City. Dreamers imagine eliminating violence against women and girls around the world and creative ways to achieve those dreams. Doers make the dreams come true. Continue Reading
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) keeps setting new record highs. Does this mean the Managed Depression is over? The short answer is “yes”, but the long answer is “no”. Continue Reading
The United States’ biggest bogeyman dictator remaining, Hugo Chávez, has died of cancer at age 58. His status as our most feared repressive ruler says something about the state of the world today because by any reasonable accounts he was neither all that repressive nor that big of a challenge to the US. Even the amount he was feared was greatly exaggerated as a badge of honor by this man of the people. Yet his passing is extremely important in that it probably marks a new phase in the continuing progress of Latin America. Continue Reading
Life can be a heavy load in post-conflict Liberia, a country torn apart by a 14-year civil war. What happened to a little girl, Olivia, evidences the toll of human rights abuses in that country, as reported to The Advocates’ “Team Liberia” while we were in Liberia in January conducting needs assessments with that country’s human rights organizations. Continue Reading
Barack Obama’s assertion that he has the authority to kill American citizens abroad suspected of being terrorists is disturbing both because of its constitutional arrogance and because its flimsy legal justification resembles the dubious Bush era arguments for presidential power that he supposedly criticized and repudiated. Continue Reading
What’s the state of the world’s economy and financial system? The annual gathering of the world’s leaders in the field at the World Economic Forum at the posh ski resort of Davos, Switzerland, painted a very nasty picture. The financial world is crumbling, unfair, and full of unacceptable risk. Continue Reading
Writing last fall in The Nation Anna Lappe makes a powerful point about why it is hard for Americans to think of the right to food as a human right. Lappe avers that “it’s extremely difficult to get the concept of the right to food across in the United States because of your constitutional tradition that sees human rights as ‘negative’ rights – rights against government – not ‘positive’ rights that can be used to oblige government to take action to secure people’s livelihoods.” Continue Reading
Gabe Kravitz, one of about 100 activists with Right Now: Advocates for African Asylum Seekers in Israel, wants the attention of the Israeli government. The goal is twofold: Right Now wants Israel to grant refugee status to asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea, as well as a fair refugee-status determination process for all. Continue Reading
I am sure many of you have been following the news about the horrific rape of the woman in India. Linked here is a New York Times article that I found especially poignant, where the author describes her own experience of a `rape culture’. Continue Reading
At this time of year we often pause to focus on the problems of hunger and poverty. Years ago, the so-called “Green Revolution” increased agriculture production around the world, saving many lives.