Philanthrocapitalism, a book by Bishop and Edwards, argues that philanthropy will help the public accept a new age of plutocracy (the rule by wealth). The rich are giving their money away so effectively, they say, that the public won’t mind increasing inequality. At one point the authors of reference Slavoj Zizek, who criticizes philanthrocapitalists and [...]
My daily routine these days includes going to the Wikileaks twitter feed (twitter.com/wikileaks), which took me to this story in the UK Guardian about how Saudi Arabia proposed an Arab force to invade Lebanon. The Guardian is definitely the best site on the Wikileaks, and for data in general - they have understood something about [...]
Below I look at incidents in April 2004, during “The First Battle of Fallujah”. In some ways the account of the battle in the war logs confirms what was reported, but some of the details (such as when ceasefires were announced) are different. The war logs probably understate civilian deaths. They do, however, represent the [...]
Pedro Cayuqueo is a Mapuche journalist who has worked for a number of
newspapers and outlets. He is a founding director of Azkintuwe
(azkintuwe.org), “the newspaper of Mapuche country”. The country
encompasses part of Argentina and Chile: the newspaper, the important
political issues affecting the Mapuche. From July until October, 38
Mapuche activists were on hunger strike in Chilean prisons [...]
Pedro Cayuqueo is a Mapuche journalist who has worked for a number of
newspapers and outlets. He is a founding director of Azkintuwe
(azkintuwe.org), “the newspaper of Mapuche country”. The country
encompasses part of Argentina and Chile: the newspaper, the important
political issues affecting the Mapuche. From July until October, 38
Mapuche activists were on hunger strike in Chilean prisons [...]
Hosting the G20 in Toronto was the first of a series of political gambles by the Conservative Canadian government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. At a time when US President Obama, leader of the world’s greatest debtor nation, was seeking additional stimulus money and therefore deficit financing (something the previous regime of George W [...]
The lecture hall slowly filled up as slides of families of the 200,000 farmers who committed suicide in India between 1997-2005 played on the flat screens on the side of the room. P Sainath, the day’s speaker, was the journalist who brought the farmer suicides to wide attention. He opened his talk by updating information [...]
On October 10/09 Venezuelan former mayor, now state legislator Julio Chavez spoke at the University of Toronto sponsored by Hands off Venezuela and the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle. He came in sporting the unassuming Bolivarian fashion: red T-shirt, red baseball cap (with a Canada logo on it), jeans, and sneakers, and fired up a powerpoint [...]
Just over a month ago (Oct 14/09) Palestinian geographer and director of the “Center for Global Consciousness” Saed Abu-Hijleh spoke at the University of Toronto. Traveling to the North American continent was no escape: Canadian Border services had put him through the ringer at Pearson airport, the border agent asking him whether he would “say [...]
I returned from Bukavu yesterday. A sign of a country not having full sovereignty is the fact that you have to get there through another country. Those who have business in Rwanda can go through Rwanda, flying into Kigali and going overland into Bukavu via Cyangugu, which is Rwanda’s sister city to Bukavu (and the [...]
