Tous les articles et traductions

South Africa: Progressive constitution, conservative country

As much as those who identify themselves as social progressives would like to believe otherwise, writes Dale McKinley, ‘the reality is that South Africa is a bastion of social conservatism’. One of the most glaring contradictions of South Africa’s post-apartheid ‘transition’, says McKinley, ‘is (...)

, by KLEIN Naomi

Chile’s Socialist Rebar

How Allende’s Socialism - not "free-market" dictator Augusto Pinochet - Protected Chileans from Earthquake Fall-out. Read more

, by New Internationalist

Globalization on the rocks

Corporate globalization in the ‘real’ world economy lay behind what appeared at first to be a strictly financial crisis. It was hooked on debt, a deadly vice which eventually crushes everything in its grip, to the point where no-one knows the value of anything. So it could be that, in August (...)

, by IPS

Young Western Muslims Fight Misperceptions

Islamophobia is rising in the West, and sectarian clashes have undermined unity in the Muslim world, but there is hope from "within", says a group of young Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLTs) working to address these problems. Read (...)

, by Himal Southasian

A casualty of nationalism

Sri Lanka’s formerly effective school system has been damaged by over-politicisation. In Lanka, there has been a loss in terms of offering a values-based education, which in decades gone by promoted tolerance, free debate and rational discussion, a sine qua non for a healthy society. A first (...)

, by Himal Southasian

Good on paper

With the government incapable of designing Nepal’s school education, bilateral and multilateral donors are forced to step in. As a result, Nepali education has for decades lurched from one internationally assisted mega-project to another. Read (...)

, by Infochange

Chhattisgarh: Lost battle

The people of Chhattisgarh (India) appear to have lost the battle against industrialisation without rules. Even those who held out longest against the acquisition of their lands, forests and rivers are giving up the fight. Dilnaz Boga travels through the villages of Raigarh district, where (...)

, by Panos London

Climate change policy needs indigenous knowledge

Researchers have published a compendium of more than 400 case studies which reveal how indigenous people have been affected by and are adapting to climate change. The report recommends that Western scientists draw on the knowledge and experience of indigenous people when creating climate change (...)

, by IPS

State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: New UN Report

Millions of people around the world who belong to indigenous communities continue to face discrimination and abuse at the hands of authorities and private business concerns, says a new U.N. report.
It is happening not only in the developing parts of the world but also in countries such as the (...)

, by Mother Jones (MoJo) Magazine

US: Journey into the Heart of Whiteness

By the middle of this century, white Americans will no longer be in the majority. Yet even as the country grows more diverse, nearly all-white enclaves are on the rise. Richard Benjamin, a senior fellow at Demos, a think tank, spotted this trend several years ago and began venturing into these (...)

, by India together

Abortion law’s grey zone: retarded mothers

In India, a disabled girl-child is usually at the receiving end of a lot of contempt and neglect. Women with disabilities have been consistently denied their rights. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court (SC) of India recently allowed a 19-year-old mentally challenged orphan girl to carry (...)

, by Pambazuka

Not all cultural traditions are worth keeping

‘Whatever our culture, we must treat animals in a humane way,’ William Gumede writes in this week’s Pambazuka News, following the recent approval of South African courts for the sacrifice of a bull as part of a traditional thanksgiving ritual. ‘African culture has a long tradition of democratic (...)

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

Barbara Ehrenreich, Metropolitan/Holt, October 2009

In her new book, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism from nineteenth-century healers to twentieth-century pushers of consumerism. She explores how that culture of optimism prevents us from holding to account both corporate heads and elected officials. Read more here (...)

, by TNI , BELLO Walden

The Migrant Condition

Migrants’ rights have to be addressed on two fronts: end the neoliberal policies that are responsible for creating poverty in their home countries, thus forcing them to emigrate, and demand that they are given full rights in their host countries. Read (...)

, by BAKSHI Rajni

Bazaars, conversations & freedom. For a market culture beyong greed and fear

Penguin Books India, 2009, 464 pages, 450 INR

Financial wizards, economists, business persons and social activists around the globe have been challenging the free market orthodoxy. They seek to recover the virtues of bazaars from the tyranny of a market model that emerged about two centuries ago. This book is a chronicle of their (...)

, by IPS

Africans Won’t Just Be on Receiving End of Arts and Culture

Global initiatives have in recent years stressed the contribution that arts and culture can make to development. This has led African and European artists, bureaucrats and policy makers to increasingly confront the unequal relations in North-South cultural and artistic exchanges. Read (...)