Tous les articles et traductions

US: Journey into the Heart of Whiteness

, by Mother Jones (MoJo) Magazine

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 (…)

Abortion law’s grey zone: retarded mothers

, by India together

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 on (…)

Not learning from Bhopal

, by Down to earth , NARAIN Sunita

It is 25 years of the Bhopal gas disaster—the night when chemicals spewed out of the Union Carbide factory to kill and maim thousands over generations. The question is if we have learnt from the disaster—learnt how to handle chemical accidents; to dispose of industrial toxic waste; to manage (…)

Bad news: no progress in the global fight against poverty

, by Social Watch

The countries and regions of the world are becoming increasingly polarised in spite of their international commitments to fight poverty. This is what emerges from the 2009 Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) published today by Social Watch, an international network of citizens’ organizations whose (…)

Our atom state

, by India together

The atomic energy programme is an economic failure as well as an environmental disaster. Moreover, by its very functioning, the Atomic Energy Commission has undermined the democratic ideals of the nation. Although its power plants profess to produce goods for the benefit of the public, they are (…)

Starvation deaths continue, as officials demur

, by India together

Twenty two per cent of Orissa’s population are tribals, and another 16 per cent are dalits, both highly vulnerable communities. Therefore, proper mapping of BPL (Below Poverty Line) families is important, as it serves as the lifeline for many. But the BPL politics at the central level is skewed, (…)

How fertilisers are killing Indian agriculture

, by Infochange

The huge government subsidy of Rs 12,000 crore is not only a financial millstone around our neck. By encouraging unrestrained use of fertilisers it is destroying our soils and agriculture. More and more farmers themselves are questioning the policy, having experienced a host of problems with (…)

Wave of support

Tsunami relief and rehabilitation

, by Frontline

ON December 26, 2004, giant waves lashed coastal India and left behind a trail of death and destruction. It also left behind lessons in resilience for many. The tsunami anniversary kindles memories of loss and offers, for the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that helped the victims in their (…)

Seeking identity

Interview with Priya Babu, transgender activist.

, by Frontline

PRIYA BABU has been working for the welfare of transsexuals as the leader of the Tamil Nadu Aravanigal Association and the managing trustee of the Social Integration and Development for Aravanis Foundation (SIDA). She hit the headlines five years ago when she filed a writ petition in the Madras (…)

Kissinger’s fantasy is Obama’s reality

, by MISHRA Pankaj, The Guardian

The road to stability runs through Kashmir. With its latest surge, America has taken a terrible diversion.
Meeting George Bush at the White House to discuss Afghanistan, the Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid once marvelled at how a "US president could live in such an unreal world, where the (…)

Dictatorship more dangerous than climate change

, by Pambazuka

Dictatorship presents ’a far more perilous threat to the survival of Africans than climate change’, Alemayehu G. Mariam writes in this week’s Pambazuka News. But with the widespread acknowledgement that global warming ‘could affect Africa disproportionately’, and that the continent is ‘entitled (…)

Contours of Climate Justice

Edgardo Lander, Walden Bello

, by TNI

This publication aims to contribute to a more sophisticated understanding of the emerging climate justice movement and to create resonances between different perspectives and spheres of engagement. The activities around the COP 15 in Copenhagen are a starting point in the creation of such a (…)

Fair Miles: Recharting the food miles map

, by IIED

Today’s food is well travelled. A pack of green beans in a Northern supermarket may have journeyed 6000 miles, or 60. But while food miles loom large in our carbon-aware times, transporting it counts for less than you might think. And there is a far bigger picture. Food is more than a plateful (…)

Other Worlds are Possible: Human progress in an age of climate change

This sixth report from the Working Group on Climate Change and Development argues that our chances of triumphing over climate change will rise dramatically if we recognise that there we need not one but many models of human development.
Featuring contributions from Dr Rajendra Pachauri (…)

Welcome to the Women’s Movement 2.0

, by EHRENREICH Barbara, Tomdispatch.com

What we really need is a new women’s health movement, one that’s sharp and skeptical enough to ask all the hard questions: What are the environmental (or possibly life-style) causes of the breast cancer epidemic? Why are existing treatments like chemotherapy so toxic and heavy-handed? And, if (…)

Mekong Media Forum 2009

, by IPS

Some 225 participants, the bulk of them journalists from Mekong countries, are set to discuss, debate and take stock of their media environment against a backdrop of changing and often quite different news cultures at the Mekong Media Forum, which starts here Dec. 9.
The four-day media (…)

Not all cultural traditions are worth keeping

, by Pambazuka

‘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 (…)

Africa’s children are important

, by Pambazuka

‘I am an angry African,’ Assefa Bequele writes in this week’s Pambazuka News, challenging the continent’s failure to meet its collective responsibilities to children. ‘I will tell you why and what, I hope, we can do to build an Africa fit for children and help nurture an African man and woman (…)