Rev. David W. Smith: A modest suggestion to Senator Al Franken on Gaza
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Senator Al Franken recently responded to my concerns over the Israeli attacks on Gaza this past summer.
Don’t offer farmers and citizens to multinationals, stop TTIP and CETA
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From France, which gave us the Rights of Man, we hear the call for the Rights of Citizens from French farmers who yesterday staged a sit-in at Cargill’s headquarters in Paris protesting proposed new free trade agreements. The second largest farmers’ union in France, Confédération Paysanne, unfurled a banner that read, “Holland, Juncker, Obama: Don’t offer farmers and citizens to multinationals, Stop TTIP and CETA.” They occupied the Cargill trading floor all day, until they received an appointment with the Secretary of State for French Foreign Trade, Mr. Matthias Fekl. Continue Reading
The Trans Fat-cific Partnership – Clogging the artery of local democracy and sustainability
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The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is referred to as a “trade agreement” between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations but it is a Trojan horse for granting even more privileges and undeserved rights for multinational elite mega-firms. To state it bluntly, the TPP basically lets a cabal of foolish lawyers interfere with saving the planet. If the TPP is approved in its current form, it will basically pull the rug out from any efforts to cultivate sustainable local economies and food systems. That is why The Land Stewardship project is one of many groups who has been mobilizing to stop it from being approved by the US Congress. Similar to Trans Fats, the TPP is an artificially concocted health hazard that needs to be labeled, publically denounced, avoided, boycotted and then banned.On Thursday April 16th, 2015 leaders in the U.S. House and Senate leaders announced that they have reached a deal on legislation aimed at ramming the Trans Pacific Partnership through Congress. They intoduced a bill usually known as Fast Track but formally titled “The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, TPA-2015”. It will come to a vote in coming weeks and must be stopped at all costs. Elite corporate interests are pushing hard for this fast track bill in order to limit the opportunity that public opposition has to stop overall approval of the TPP. This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.SUING FOR PROFITS THAT THEY WOULD HAVE MADEThere is a most particularly problematic part of the TPP is a type of arbitration called the “investor state dispute settlement”. Continue Reading
Corporations represent at UN climate summit
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The controversial Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA) was officially launched yesterday at the U.N. Climate Summit. The announcement came in the wake of rising criticism from civil society, including IATP, about the intentionally vague term “climate smart” versus the more established science of agroecology, as well as the corporate-led participation of GACSA. Continue Reading
Lessons from Nicaragua
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Nicaragua is not sending waves of refugees to the United States. Instead, Nicaragua, along with Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize, is receiving waves of refugees coming from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. What’s going on here? Continue Reading
Mehr Jay Shahidi: Is this Cold War 2?
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The editors of Time magazine needed almost 6 years to pay attention to my article published in Twin Cities Daily Planet on September 8, 2008, in which I stated that Cold War Two had started (see Time of July 23, 2014). And the US government officials still do not really get it.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.Then, Vladimir Putin had just confronted the US by invading Georgia. Now, he has spread the new proxy war to Syria and Ukraine with more places to come. And the US foreign policy apparatus is as much to blame as Putin. Continue Reading
Aiming at the Moon (and hitting ourselves): Redefining how we relate to the world
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Early Wednesday morning, August 21, I was heading out for coffee from my motel in LaMoure ND, and a sight begging to be photographed appeared a few steps to my left, and I couldn’t pass on it. Here’s the snapshot. The waning moon appeared to be in the “bullseye”. Continue Reading
Tar sands, trade rules and the gutting of human rights for corporate profit
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A new report released today from IATP takes an in-depth look at how tar sands have developed from an unconventional, inefficient energy source to the spotlight of the corporate agenda as conventional oil supplies dwindle. Tar Sands: How Trade Rules Surrender Sovereignty and Extend Corporate Rights follows the development of energy policy from NAFTA up to current free trade negotiations to illustrate that while energy sources evolve, one trend remains constant: The protection of corporate profits at the expense of human rights, sovereignty and the environment. With new free trade agreements in negotiation, the time for action is here: The public needs a seat at the negotiating table. Continue Reading
Maddie Ulanow: Minnesota’s Gaza protests require less vitriol, more perspective
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In the past two weeks, the Twin Cities have been rocked by protests both for and against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Though St.
Not in my name: A call to American Jewish organizations during Operation Protective Edge
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I am one of those millennial Jews who actually loved institutional Judaism growing up. I loved my synagogue, I loved my Hebrew school, and in fact, I am a 23-year old single woman from the Twin Cities currently exploring synagogue options in Washington, DC. Most people reading this probably understand that most Jews in their 20s and 30s without families don’t often place synagogue life at the top of their Jewish or social life, but I love the feeling of belonging, membership and lifecycle events that institutional Judaism provides. Continue Reading