This document was a collaborative effort by Alliance for Democracy, Council of Canadians, Earth Law Center, Food & Water Watch, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy and the International Indian Treaty Council.
The Road to Rio+20: Why You Should Care and What You Can Do
From June (...)
Tous les articles et traductions
REDD Realities
How strategies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation could impact on biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples in developing countries
Executive Summary
This publication includes independent monitoring reports on the development of national strategies to Reduce Emissions (...)
The Pentagon’s Southasia
By Kanak Mani Dixit
A new web portal run by the US military could herald an interventionist rather than home-grown regionalism.
In December 2011, a new Southasiannews portal became available on the web – Khabar South Asia. This could have been a welcome development, given the decades-long campaign to promote (...)
Tibet burning
By Topden Tsering
A close look at past and present shows the self-immolators and their struggle to be anything but apolitical.
The string of self-immolations inside Tibet – started in 2009 by a Kirti Monastery monk named Tapey and which most recently claimed two monks in Barkham County on 30 March – shows no sign (...)
India’s Budget: Losing direction
By Jayati Ghosh
The Budget provides proof of the United Progressive Alliance government having forgotten the importance of its own “flagship schemes”.
BUDGET 2012-13 provides conclusive proof that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has lost its way. It has managed the remarkable feat of upsetting (...)
Arab Spring and the social media
By Sashi Kumar
The buzz generated online at momentous junctures, such as the uprisings in the Arab world, is certainly more than mere static.
[...] The nature and scope of the agency of the social media in the Arab Spring are, given the continuing flux in the region, a developing story. But the reading in (...)
Report: Executions Increased in 2011 due to Arab Spring
US ranked fifth in executions with 43 in 2011, Amnesty International reports
Amnesty International has released its annual report on executions and the death penalty and found that executions were up in 2011. The increase, accoring to the report, is largely due to the reaction of Middle (...)
A new historical moment ?
By Nicola Bullard
We are facing a cynical response from the elites concerning the ecological and economic crises. What is being sold to us as green economy is nothing but an attempt to have a new round of expansion of capitalism. It is an extension of neoliberalism, a new green Washington consensus, attempting (...)
Reclaiming ’common sense’: new pamphlet is a rallying cry to the 99%
By Guy Aitchison
Today marks the launch of OurKingdom’s version of ‘Common Sense’, a new ebook by Dan Hind about the Occupy movement and deliberative politics. We are publishing the pamphlet in partnership with Myriad Editions and the New Left Project ↑ , who have brought out their own editions. Below, Guy (...)
Public Debt, Regional Integration and The South Bank
By Marcos Arruda
The EU debt crisis foretells a more serious global debt crisis, caused by unlimited growth and the ongoing financial casino. Latin America’s emerging financial and regional architecture offers hope for a new type of integration based on solidarity.
Five countries that belong to the EU – Greece, (...)
Launch of the Pandora’s Box Report
Today, Wednesday 29th February, marks the launch of our new report Opening Pandora’s Box - A New Wave of Land Grabbing for the Extractive Industries and The Devastating Impact on Earth. This much anticipated report alerts global citizens to the dynamics in the extractive industries as a whole, (...)
Rio+20: Furthering Sustainable Development or Greenwashing the Global Economy?
By Michelle Pressend
In June this year, the United Nations Conference of Environment and Development (UNCED) popularly known, as the Rio Earth Summit will commemorate 20 years. It was originally held in Brazil in 1992. You may recall that in 2002, South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development (...)
How Financial Crisis, Economic Inequality, Social Media, and More Brought Revolutions in 2011—and Changed Us Forever
Journalist Paul Mason covered the uprisings of 2011 as they occurred. His new book "Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere," explains why they all happened at once.
We’re at an inflection point in history, a shift not just in our politics but our consciousness, says Paul Mason, BBC Newsnight economics (...)
Cultural Villages: Defining Moments Or Problematic Perspectives?
By Charlene Houston
In a recent media article, the Mayor of Cape Town’s spokesperson stated that the City intends to establish a Khoisan village in Hout Bay’s Hangberg fishing village, as a way of building an inclusive city. In the past, similar announcements have been made in the context of boosting tourism in the (...)
Throwing Out the Free Market Playbook: An Interview with Naomi Klein
Perhaps one of the most well-known voices for the Left, Canadian Naomi Klein is an activist and author of several nonfiction works critical of consumerism and corporate activity, including the best sellers No Logo (2000) and Shock Doctrine (2007).
In your cover story for the Nation last year, (...)
South Africa’s Biofuel Policies: On a Road to Nowhere
By Glenn Ashton
The South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DoE) is holding its final public consultation meetings about the adoption of regulations relating to the mandatory blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel at the end of February. This follows the publication of the draft regulations in (...)

Excreta Matters
State of India’s Environment 7 (2-vol. Set)
By the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), 2-vol. Set (296 pages and 496 pages), 80$
This is India’s first and most comprehensive survey presented in an attractive 2-volume set on the state of its water and its management. It is the 7th Report in our highly popular SOE Series. It would be (...)
The $100bn Facebook question: Will capitalism survive ’value abundance’?
By Michel Bauwens
Open-source software, shared innovation and crowd-sourced manufacturing threaten capitalism as we know it.
Chiang Mai, Thailand - Does Facebook exploit its users? And where is the $100bn in the company’s estimated value coming from?
This is not a new debate. It resurfaces regularly in the (...)
Welcome to the Levant
By Manvendra Singh
Any attempts at playing Good Samaritan in Syria must be tempered by the fact that this is the Levant, where Asia touches the Mediterranean.
Ba’ath Party rule is as despicable a form of Government as is possible to find. Ruthless in their tyranny, Ba’athists employ every possible means of torture (...)
Teaching peace: Civil society peace education programmes in South Asia
By Anupama Srinivasan
Several peace education programmes across South Asia, from the Peace Museum in Karachi to the Sita School near Bangalore, are initiating processes that incorporate ideas of peace and non-violence. But they are fighting for space within the mainstream education system and tend to be confined to (...)