Latest articles
A Local Community Currency Battles the Central Bank of Kenya
by Ellen Brown / June 28th, 2013
Former Peace Corps volunteer Will Ruddick and several residents of Bangladesh, Kenya, face a potential seven years in prison after developing a cost-effective way to alleviate poverty in Africa’s poorest slums. Their solution: a complementary currency issued and backed by the local community. The Central Bank of Kenya has now initiated charges of forgery.
Complementary currencies can help eradicate poverty.
Proving that may be difficult in complex economies, due to the high number of factors influencing outcomes. But in an African slum with little of the national currency available, supplying residents with an alternative currency has a positive effect that is obvious, …
by Media Lens / June 28th, 2013
Reports of Washington’s anger directed at surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate a basic truth about power. Noam Chomsky has expressed it as the underlying problem for genuine democracy, even in so-called ‘free’ societies:
“Remember, any state, any state, has a primary enemy: its own population.” ((Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power, edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel, The New Press, 2002, p. 70.))
Anyone who steps out of line, especially if they defy authority’s attempts to apprehend them, risks severe punishment. All the more so because it is important to publicly discipline miscreants, lest the threat of a ‘bad’ example become a …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / June 28th, 2013
As violence continues to rage across “liberated” Iraq under America’s puppet “Prime Minister” Nuri al-Maliki, a fair amount of it at his instigation as his troops round up and shoot demonstrators (President Jalal Talabani, who had a heart attack early in the year has vanished without trace, Vice President Tarik al-Hashimi has fled to Turkey in fear of his life) one incident arguably of note, has gone unnoticed in the Western media.
On Friday June 21st the Ba’ath Party, in a statement, said that “Party Members” had killed one of Saddam Hussein’s executioners alleging it was the balaclava masked man …
by Binoy Kampmark / June 28th, 2013
Quentin Crisp, socialite, illustrator and famed curmudgeon, suggested that, if at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your only option. Are some states similarly disposed, doomed to chronic collapse, spouts of improvement only to be undermined by tin pot despots, short and even stout? The cheeky devil, as ever, hides in the obtuse detail.
The circumstances in which a state can be called one of failure are far from clear. For one thing, states are complex, variable, mind bogglingly confusing in terms of operations, targets and efficiency. Analysts evidently need to justify their funding at think tanks and journals need …
by Linh Dinh / June 28th, 2013
With 77,000 people, Camden has one public library left, and in a city where Walt Whitman spent 19 years and is buried, there are exactly two bookstores, a Barnes and Noble serving Rutgers Camden students, and, not too far away, La Unique African American Books and Cultural Center, with The Master Game, The New World Order, The Unseen Hand and Say It Like Obama in its window. Camden has no hotel, and only one downtown bar, The Sixth Street Lounge. Hank’s closed in 2010 after half a century in business. Now, if you can barely drink in …
by Andrey Fomine / June 28th, 2013
The ongoing Syrian crisis will be certainly viewed by future generations as a classic example of how a completely false reality, as presented by the dominant Western political class and corporate media, has inscrutably resulted in the moral and political reinforcement of the opposing party, which was desperately defending the principles of law and justice under unprecedented pressure from a transnational party of war.
Despite the undisguised skepticism voiced on the eve of the summit in Lough-Erne by some of the G8 leaders toward the Russian stance on the Syrian crisis, the talks turned to be a diplomatic victory …
The Sticky Ethics of Anonymity Networks
by Michael Gurnow / June 28th, 2013
Due to National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and his disclosure of two spy programs, PRISIM and Tempora (whether these programs focus their lenses domestically depends on who you talk to), many people are attempting to beef up their internet privacy. As individuals conduct cursory web surveys for what is available in the field of internet security, they are likely to be met with information about anonymity networks and, given its popularity, one in particular—Tor. However, not everyone is fervently downloading the free software offered by the Tor Project because some have reservations as to the ethics and uses that …
by Walter Brasch / June 28th, 2013
The media have been playing “cops and robbers,” trying to track down the location of Edward Snowden, who had fled to Hong Kong and said the U.S. was spying on its citizens.
The citizens are scared and paranoid; visions of Big Brother are peering into their lives.
But, the government’s knowledge of the lives of individuals is little more than the equivalent to a children’s coloring book compared to the library that private companies have on everyone.
Doubt that? Just open your mail any day; chances are good you’ll have more junk mail—the corporations prefer to call it “direct mail”—than anything else. Check …
by Adnan Al-Daini / June 28th, 2013
“This must be a nation where people have a voice, [and] we don’t have a voice anymore”; so said a Brazilian protester quoted in the Guardian. This comment could so easily have been made by a European or an American.
The sentiment is clear. People’s worries are ignored, and they have no faith in their politicians. Ordinary people feel let down; they see their politicians as part of the plutocracy that governs their lives, regardless of who wins the election. Politicians have merged into the 1% who are unaffected by the austerity and hardships visited on the rest of society. …
West Reserves Right to Interfere
by Ramzy Baroud / June 27th, 2013
The distance between Cairo’s Tahrir Square and Istanbul’s Taksim Square is impossibly long. There can be no road map sufficient enough to use the popular experience of the first in order to explicate the circumstances that lead to the other.
Many have tried to insist on the similarities between the two since it is fashionable these days to link news worthy events, however worlds apart, to other events. Following the popular revolt that gripped Egypt in early 2011, deemed with the ever inclusive title ‘the Arab Spring’, intellectual jugglers began envisaging ‘springs’ popping up all over the region and beyond. In …
The Supreme Court, DOMA and Proposition 8
by Binoy Kampmark / June 27th, 2013
Inequality is something the United States does well. Depending on a range of indicators – the provision of housing, income, balanced and stable infrastructure, the presence of the death penalty in many states – the motor of the free world is not as well oiled as some of its patriotic drummers claim.
When it comes to the battles over equality in the U.S. Supreme Court, the wait for great decisions has been long and sometimes disappointing. When judges are allowed room for a genuine well thought through activism, preference is given to dry legalism and obtuse reasoning. The tip-toe effect is …
by Eddie Becker / June 26th, 2013
Shocking (or not) video capture of over-the-top police brutality toward a peaceful, conscientious protestor.
Global Power Project, Part 3
by Andrew Gavin Marshall / June 26th, 2013
The Global Power Project, an investigative series produced by Occupy.com, aims to identify and connect the worldwide institutions and individuals who comprise today’s global power oligarchy. In Part 2, which appeared last week, I discussed some of the dominant institutions that have facilitated and have in turn been supported by the development of this oligarchic class. In this third part, I examine the dynastic influence wielded by prominent corporate and financial families. This is not a study of wealth, but a study of power.
Dynastic power, embedded in the institution of “family,” has been with humanity for as long as empire: …
by Gabi Weber / June 26th, 2013
Six weeks ago, the University of Freiburg was defeated by Cafe Palestine (Press Release) when five judges at the Administrative Court of Freiburg rejected the university’s arguments for denying Cafe Palestine a venue for one of its speakers. Surely it is now time to delve a little more deeply into this unprecedented case which deserves close attention.
At the centre of it all we find one Dr. Heinrich Schwendemann, Freiburg University historian and a founder of one of many German Holocaust memorial sites Shoa.de.
A year ago, Cafe Palestine invited Dr. Schwendemann, …
by William Blum / June 26th, 2013
In the course of his professional life in the world of national security Edward Snowden must have gone through numerous probing interviews, lie detector examinations, and exceedingly detailed background checks, as well as filling out endless forms carefully designed to catch any kind of falsehood or inconsistency. The Washington Post (June 10) reported that “several officials said the CIA will now undoubtedly begin reviewing the process by which Snowden may have been hired, seeking to determine whether there were any missed signs that he might one day betray national secrets.”
Yes, there was a sign they missed – Edward Snowden had …
The Disease of Caretaker Governments
by Binoy Kampmark / June 26th, 2013
A tear should be shed, though keep in the singular. Australia’s first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard and probably last for some time, is no more. Elected by unelected officials, she was knifed by the same individuals who encouraged the knifing of her rival, the now re-elected Kevin Rudd. Promoted by individuals an electorate would scarce recognise over an individual loathed for his personality and his dislike for factions, Australian politics stutters to its farcical climax come September.
The Australian opposition always termed them the factional bosses, the deranged nits of the Australian Labor Party who preferred favours to democracy. But …
by Chris Williams / June 26th, 2013
The vast majority of people own no significant amount of stocks or other financial assets. Every single person breathes air. Every single person depends on the growing of food and the nutrition it provides to stay alive. We can’t live underwater. From these axioms, we should be able to divine a sense of what rational societal priorities reflect and emphasize.
The performance of the stock market and various associated financial services, though they hold no meaning to most people, are nevertheless referenced constantly, 24/7: rolling tickers, television programs, radio announcements and wall-to-wall newspaper coverage. Impossible to escape—my phone won’t even let …
And British banksters hooked up with murderous drug cartels and got away with it.
by Dylan Murphy / June 26th, 2013
Mexico is in the grip of a murderous drug war that has killed over 150,000 people since 2006. It is one of the most violent countries on earth. This drug war is a product of the transnational drug trade which is worth up to $400 billion a year and accounts for about 8% of all international trade.
The American government maintains that there is no alternative but to vigorously prosecute their zero tolerance policy of arresting drug users and their dealers. This has led to the incarceration of over 500,000 Americans. Meanwhile the flood of illegal drugs into America continues unabated.
One …
by James McEnteer / June 26th, 2013
The colored crepe paper we hung up has tattered and fallen. The balloons we tied to the walls and ceiling have deflated or popped. Confetti remains in bags, unthrown. The welcome party we planned for the arrival of Julian Assange has had to be postponed indefinitely. Graffiti on the city walls prophesying his advent have begun to chip and fade away.
We know Assange is safe and still active in his Ecuadorian Embassy sanctuary in London. But we can’t help feeling disappointed that he never actually landed here among us. It’s not simply that we wanted the spotlight of his celebrity …
History in the Making
by Nozomi Hayase / June 26th, 2013
After the largest leak in NSA history, the unprecedented scale of the PRISM global spying program sparked a global controversy. Whistle-blower Edward Snowden, responsible for the release, has been at the eye of the storm of international attention as he left Hong Kong to find sanctuary.
The tired drumbeat of government rhetoric grew louder, with officials calling Snowden a ‘traitor’ and ‘villain’, while Hong Kong citizens and others around the world rallied in support of him. Apparently the idea that anyone virtually anywhere in the world has a huge unaccountable government constantly spying on them didn’t sit well …
by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers / June 26th, 2013
The reaction to Ben Bernanke suggestion that it may be time to wind down the easy money policies which have been injecting $85 billion into the hands of Wall Street each month show that the ‘recovery’ has been a fraud.
In the weeks since the Fed chairman first indicated that the central bank might start to pare back its support for the economy, markets in Asia, Europe and Latin America have fallen more than 6 percent while in the United States, they have fallen 4 percent.
There is a lot of opposition to this plan to end easy access to money. …
by Bill Annett / June 25th, 2013
I strove with none, for none was worth the strife…
— Walter Savage Landor
In the aftermath (sometimes known as algebra) of World War II, there followed a strange period known as “the cold war.” Nobody knows exactly why it was called “cold;” perhaps it was because most of the threats and counter threats took place in the Canadian Arctic, which was considered by both sides as the logical place to duel with nuclear ICBMs.
From 1946 through the 1980s, the Cold War cast a shadow over every facet of American life. Yet, paradoxically, it also created possibilities. In an arms race that …
by Roger Copple / June 25th, 2013
Having the longest-lasting constitution that is the hardest to change is a negative, not a positive. Personally I advocate radical egalitarianism, democratic world government, and nuclear disarmament. The constitutional convention process that I propose maximizes democracy, and it will completely level the playing field by removing the influence of money. But what can people like me do if the American people under a new constitution desire laissez-faire capitalism, a flat tax, and a neo-conservative foreign policy? We can try a new approach in popularizing our preferences, but our plight will be less dismal than it is now because future constitutions …
by Yves Engler / June 25th, 2013
Myths can hurt.
Adulation of Lester Pearson’s supposed “peacekeeping” is an obstacle to building a genuinely progressive Canadian foreign policy.
In a recent article titled “What is the meaning of ‘defence’ in the 21st Century?” Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May wrote: “Sadly, under Stephen Harper, the role of our diplomatic corps has been de-emphasized with embassies closing, diplomats treated as irrelevant, and Canada’s respect for multilateralism itself called into question. Our role as peacemakers, a role invented by former Prime Minister Lester Pearson, has also fallen.”
Days earlier the president of the Rideau Institute, Steven Staples, co-authored a column in the …
by David Zirin / June 25th, 2013
Sepp Blatter, the all-powerful don of FIFA, Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, and Pelé, the legendary soccer star are three extremely different people. But they all share the same perspective about the demonstrations rocking every major city in Brazil: Don’t even think about blaming the World Cup.
As Dilma said in her nationally televised address, “Brazil, the only country to have participated in every World Cup and a five-time world champion, has always been very well received everywhere. We must give our friends the same generous welcome we have received from them—with respect, love and joy. This is how …
by Bill Fletcher Jr. / June 25th, 2013
My first response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the University of Texas case was to breathe a sigh of relief. I had been expecting affirmative action to be ruled illegal. Instead the Court, in effect, said that the University had to prove that non-racial methods were ineffective in creating greater diversity.
We should, however, not be truly relieved by the decision. Affirmative action has been under attack since the 1970s. And since then, the objective of the political Right has been to steadily weaken it, in part through an ideological assault suggesting that it is really not necessary. The results …
What is "the majority -of-the-majority"?
by Rebecca Theodore / June 25th, 2013
Here, again, an essential drama is unfolding in Washington. As the Senate commences consideration of immigration legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, the Conservative vision is again blurred. A rebellious faction of Republicans backed by Conservative groups are pushing to change house GOP rules to ban the party leadership from bringing legislation to the house floor that does not have ‘majority of the majority support.’ Yes! Their realism of life is now outweighed by a political credence they call the ‘Hastert Rule.’
Much anxiety abounds for the ‘Hastert Rule’ will describe what will happen on …
by Peter Rugh / June 25th, 2013
Those passing through New York’s Union Square on June 16 witnessed a spectacle that to an outside observer might have seemed incongruous. Approximately 100 people stood on steps leading to a steed-mounted George Washington cast in bronze. They were chanting and waving Turkish and Mexican flags. At their feet someone had scrawled “DEMOCRACY NOW” in large chalk letters.
The Turkish flags fluttered in the grip of activists in solidarity with protesters occupying public spaces across Turkey; those waving Mexican flags were supporters of the Yo Soy 132 movement, which arose in the lead up to a disputed election last summer but …
by Tom Burghardt / June 24th, 2013
Despite a stream of mendacious twaddle from President Obama, congressional grifters and spook agency mouthpieces like Office of the Director of National Intelligence head James Clapper, FBI Director Robert Mueller and NSA chief General Keith Alexander, it turns out our guardians are listening in to America’s, and most of the world’s, telephone conversations after all.
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, former FBI counterterrorism agent Tim Clemente was asked by CNN whether there’s a way that investigators “can get the phone companies” to cough up audio of a particular conversation.
Clemente responded: “No, there is a way. We certainly …
by Robert Hunziker / June 24th, 2013
Robert Hunziker looks at recent street protests across the world, especially in Brazil, where the middle class is protesting en masse. The same is happening in Europe, in Asia, but not in America. This is the result of several economic forces at work that go back 30 years and only now come to surface amongst the middle class. In turn, nation-states are nearly helpless to help the downtrodden because of the ways and means of globalization and the free market domination as capitalism merges into a non-state ruling class, similar to the monarchs of a couple hundred years ago. It …
