Tous les articles et traductions

Consumers Reject Patents on Foodstuffs

, by La Déclaration de Berne

The European Patent Office awarded Syngenta a patent on melons „with a pleasant taste“, after an opposition filed by another seed company to revoke the patent had been rejected. According to a poll among Swiss consumers a majority of respondents reject such patents as well as the food products (…)

Role reversal: Latin America taunts US on debt woes

By Brian Winter

, by Common Dreams

Worries about contagion; Brazil now a U.S. creditor
After three decades spent battling their own debt crises and getting constantly lectured about them by Uncle Sam, many Latin Americans are watching the countdown to a possible default in Washington with a mix of schadenfraude and fear of what (…)

Salwa Judum and the Supreme Court

By Madhav Khosla

, by The Hindu

The carefully constructed decision to disband the untrained force of young Special Police Officers in Chhattisgarh holds important lessons for the exercise of executive power.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Nandini Sundar and Ors. v. State of Chhattisgarh is no ordinary one and, (…)

Brazilian government severely underestimates dam emissions

By Katy Yan

, by International Rivers

Mathematical errors in the classroom or on tests usually don’t carry a whole lot of consequences besides a blot on your grade and maybe a deflated sense of self-esteem.
But what happens when the mathematical error occurs in a major government energy agency? The ramifications could be huge, (…)

Rise of the Russian Orthodox Church

By Vladimir Radyuhin

, by The Hindu

Notwithstanding the indifference of most Russians, the Orthodox Church, with active support from the state, has effectively established itself as state religion.
[...]
After the collapse of the atheist Soviet Union, state persecution of religion came to an end in Russia. The new law on (…)

Time For Climate Activists to Get Tough

By Jeff Goodell

, by Common Dreams

Have we failed to slow global warming pollution in part because climate and environmental activists have been too polite and well behaved? Is it time to take to the streets, express some outrage, maybe engage in a little guerilla warfare against Big Oil and Big Coal?
That’s the message you (…)

Land Nationalisation

By Stephen Greenberg

, by SACSIS

ANCYL President Julius Malema’s recent comments on land nationalisation have caused quite a stir. The owners of wealth thought this topic had been put to rest with the passing of the 1996 Constitution, which secures private property rights. It is no wonder, then, that newspapers and magazines (…)

For humane prisons

By R.K. Raghavan

, by Frontline

The traditional neglect of jails is a result of a morally flawed assessment that incarceration is meant solely to be penal rather than reformative.
A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has (…)

Water and privatisation in Africa

, by Pambazuka

Special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is also being published in French.
Contents:
Africa: access to water and privatisation - Why proclaim access to water a (…)

Strengthening public water

South–South–North public–public partnerships

, by Pambazuka

By Samir Bensaid
This article is part of a special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is also being published in French.
While both North–South partnerships and (…)

Public-Public Partnerships in water

An overview

, by Pambazuka

By David Hall
This article is part of a special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is also being published in French.
Donors and development banks have largely focused (…)

Water privatisation: Senegal at the crossroads

By Olivier Petitjean and Elimane Diouf

, by Pambazuka

This article is part of a special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is also being published in French.
While the Senegalese government wishes to ‘disengage financially (…)

Ghana’s quest to quench its thirst

By Alhassan Adam

, by Pambazuka

This article is part of a special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is also being published in French.
Ghana has a long history of struggle against the inequitable (…)

The water crisis in African cities

By Michel Makpenon

, by Pambazuka

This article is part of a special issue on water and water privatisation in Africa produced as a joint initiative of the Transnational Institute, Ritimo and Pambazuka News. This special issue is also being published in French.
Access to running water remains in a state of crisis for a huge (…)

REDD rag to indigenous forest dwellers

By Emilio Godoy

, by IPS

The implementation of a forestry programme against climate change in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas poses a threat to indigenous people in the state, non-governmental organisations warn.
The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programme "will alter (…)

Tirana Declaration

, by International Land Coalition (ILC)

"Securing land access for the poor in times of intensified natural resources competition"
We, over 150 representatives of civil society organisations, social movements, grassroots organisations, international agencies, and governments - including the members and strategic partners of the (…)

Its time to take a hard-nosed look at the problems South African youth face

By Frank Meintjies

, by SACSIS

Each year during June the focus turns to youth and the role that youth played in the struggle to end apartheid. This appreciation must advance beyond nostalgia, and should inform a hard-nosed focus on youth to have a more decisive influence on socio-economic development in South Africa.
Youth (…)

Fight for land

, by Frontline

In Greater Noida, farmers resist fiercely attempts to take over their land for the Yamuna expressway and a hi-tech city.
IT is a tale of two worlds, one in the present and the other in the future; one living and breathing and toiling away in parts of the National Capital Region and the other (…)

Power women

Ramachandra Guha

, by India together

In spite of its gender bias, India has women in leading positions in politics. But this does not herald a new age of gender equality, writes Ramachandra Guha.
A remarkable yet perhaps under-appreciated fact about Indian politics today is the influence, at the very top, of women. The most (…)