December 17, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
One year after Mohammed al-Bouazizi lit himself on fire in protest against mistreatment by police, sparking a movement that has toppled regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, a global wave of popular protest continues, from the Arabic-speaking world to Europe, India, Chile, the United States and Russia. Today, democracy advocates protest unlawful detention, arbitrary power and socio-economic injustice across the world.
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November 29, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Amid the mounting fiscal and economic crisis that is threatening to undermine the project of European integration, the Group of Lecce has issued a new statement on the need to reform European economic governance. The Group of Lecce aims to develop policies “to strengthen economic and financial multilateralism”, strengthening the democratic underpinnings of the Union, along with the dynamism of the European economy, through advanced ongoing cooperation.
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November 25, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are gathering for a nonviolent “Last Chance” pro-democracy protest. Military police have killed at least 41 unarmed civilians since last Saturday. Today, the massive numbers of civilians who turned out are demanding an end to military rule, and an orderly transition to genuine democracy. The 9 months of military rule [...]
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November 22, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The spreading Occupy movement has seen one after another sit-in, protest camp or march brutally and inexcusably assaulted by paramilitary police actions, using chemical agents and other weapons of war, against unarmed, nonviolent citizens exercising their basic constitutional rights. The result has been a rash of unfettered violence across the world against pro-democracy advocates.
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November 22, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Robert Reich explains how big money is taking over the privileges of democratic rights, to the exclusion of ordinary people, and to the detriment of citizens who seek to exercise their basic civil liberties. The violence of police against unarmed civilians is absolutely inexcusable, and it is motivated in part by a systemic disregard for [...]
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October 28, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
The European Union has reached an agreement to relieve Greece of half of its sovereign debt, and to boost the Eurozone bailout fund to €1 trillion. The agreement may well be funded, in part, by non-European governments, even private investors, but it shows a new commitment to the Union as such, even amid a surge [...]
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October 25, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
We need a system of cooperative public-private infrastructure financing, a national infrastructure bank. But we also need to use that fabric of cooperative investment and output to foster specific areas of major improvement to our national economy. The model could be replicated across the world, but the US is uniquely positioned to deploy this solution [...]
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October 25, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The Occupy Wall Street movement—now being called “the American Autumn”, after the Arab Spring, or the September 17th movement, after the day it got started in lower Manhattan—is now completing four weeks on the scene. Yet we can still be astounded to hear so many incredulous “experts” unable to understand how a grassroots movement, infused [...]
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October 20, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
News emerging from the battle-torn city of Sirte, hometown of ousted dictator Col. Muammar Qadhafi, suggest Qadhafi was wounded in battle, captured, and has died from his injuries. Al Jazeera is broadcasting images of a body it says is Qadhafi’s, and images have been published showing a young Misuratan TNC fighter brandishing a gold-plated handgun he says he took from Qadhafi when he captured him.
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October 20, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
With gasoline prices at record highs in 2008, 2009 and 2010, 2011 has looked like a microcosm of the longer oil-market trend: consistent increases in pricing, fuel costs hurting small business and the middle class, slowing the pace of economic growth in the US, and—maybe most strangely of all—no national policy to motivate a rapid, [...]
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October 2, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
The above video shows the altercations leading up to the unprovoked macing of two women by an NYPD detective inspector, identified by online activists as Anthony Bologna, a finding confirmed by the NYPD itself. The incident has raised serious questions about what the planned response to the protests was, and whether there were orders in place for officers to intervene to halt the peaceful demonstrations. In the video, there are numerous incidents where individual officers, apparently acting in a disorganized and spontaneous fashion, physically strike, tackle, drag or pepper-spray unarmed civilians on a public street.
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September 20, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Today, the 20th of September, 2011, the discriminatory US military policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, which required thousands of gay personnel to serve their country while keeping their private life secret. Honorable people were discharged only because someone else found out they were not heterosexual. In some cases, the ideal military officer for a highly skilled, difficult-to-fill position were discharged despite being the most qualified person for operationally vital positions.
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September 11, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
9/11 should, after this 10th anniversary, and in the aftermath of the deviation from and restoration of core values that we have undergone, become a national day of solemn recognition, collaborative restoration, and an affirmation of our civic space, in which citizenship is a sacred trust and human interest in the principal goal of our activity. It should be a day of national reflection and of the reaffirmation of the value of an open, democratic and voluntary civic space.
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August 27, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Across the eastern seaboard of the United States, from South Carolina to Maine, there is an intense and well-ordered preparation underway to brace against and limit the fallout from Hurricane Irene. In North Carolina, 300,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the Outer Banks and low-lying coastal areas. The mayor of New York City, Michael [...]
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August 23, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Two days after taking control of most of the capital, and a day after two of Qadhafi’s sons escaped house arrest as pro-Qadhafi forces staged a challenge to the rebel onslaught, Libya’s pro-democracy rebels swept into Qadhafi’s compound in Tripoli. Reports from the Libyan capital spoke of scenes of rebels destroying images of Qadhafi and [...]
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August 22, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The morning after Tripoli fell to rebel forces, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, leader of the Transitional National Council, has called on all Libyans to coexist peacefully, and to respect the rule of law, as the war comes to a close. Abdel Jalil said there will be no street justice, and that regime figures will be tried [...]
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August 21, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
Reports from Tripoli, the capital of Libya, suggest rebel forces have taken territory inside the capital, and captured one of Qadhafi’s sons, after a top security official ordered troops to lay down arms and let the rebels in. There are reports of convoys of rebel soldiers moving into the capital, being welcomed and celebrated by unarmed civilians. Some news reports have talked of “uprisings” in the suburbs, and possibly within Tripoli itself.
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August 20, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
After 42 years in power, ruling throughout with authoritarian force, the regime of Muammar Qadhafi now appears to be falling. Abandoned by the international community, his top commanders defecting, and reports his troops have laid down their arms and fled, the rebel forces are now reportedly moving into the capital Tripoli.
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August 20, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Futurismo Verde :: Desde el comienzo de la civilización humana, el proceso de montar sociedades organizadas, formular historias compartidas y diseñar visiones del futuro humano, el ser humano ha buscado maneras de profetizar y de pronosticar. La ciencia moderna ha descubierto indicios fiables que ayudan a describir el mundo, pero para saber qué vendrá después [...]
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August 20, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
After six months of fighting, the Libyan rebel forces, representing the pro-demcoracy movement that came under military attack by 42-year dictator Muammar Qadhafi, are reportedly advancing on the capital Tripoli. Since the fighting began, the rebels’ Transitional National Council has won support from world powers, the international community and ultimately the United Nations, as the official governing and diplomatic authority for Libya. Now, an isolated Qadhafi looks likely to lose power in the coming weeks or months.
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August 19, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
En servicio al proyecto del Foro sobre Política y Crisis, la Red Hot Spring de innovación y debate plantea una conversación global sobre la seguridad alimenticia y la escasez crónica de agua y comida en África. Las lecciones de este experimento en investigación y brainstorming colaborativos se podrá aplicar a otras situaciones de crisis y escasez alrededor del planeta.
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August 19, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Pres. Barack Obama, who with Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has managed a complex array of shifting diplomatic relations throughout the developing democratic awakening across the Arabic-speaking world, yesterday demanded that Syria’s authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad relinquish power. Assad has engaged in five months of full-scale military attacks on unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators.
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August 19, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
En una reunión de científicos europeos, en Estocolmo, el hombre que inventó el término ‘antropoceno’ para describir una nueva época geológica—en la que la influencia humana domina los proceso naturales—ha anunciado que el término ahora se está aplicando desde múltiples campos de estudio. La importancia real del término es que la información ecológica es cada vez más imprescindible para poder llevar a cabo las ambiciones humanas de una forma responsable y sostenible.
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August 12, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
On Monday, the first day of trading after a credit downgrade of US Treasury bonds from Standard and Poors, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 624 points. On Tuesday, it gained 429 points. On Wednesday, it dropped by 509. And on Thursday, it gained 414. It is the first time in its history that the DJIA saw swings of 400 points or more for four consecutive days, swings that far out-strip some of the worst one-day declines in its history.
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August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Wisconsin is holding six recall elections tonight in response to popular petition to unseat Republican state senators who supported Gov. Walker’s plan to strip public servants of their collective bargaining rights. Each of the six Republican incumbents occupy senate seats representing districts drawn by Republicans to ensure Republican victories, so any victory represents a significant shift in party preference.
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August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
As early as one day after the March 11 tsunami sparked the (still ongoing) nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan’s government had advanced radiation fallout and atmospheric modeling showing the area most likely to be hit by fallout from the explosions and the ongoing seepage. The government allegedly concealed this information, to prevent [...]
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August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
After the shooting of an unarmed man by London’s Metropolitan Police force, in Tottenham, the community organized a peaceful protest, which through a series of events that remains difficult to trace, turned into clashes between police and youths. A rash of riots have now spread across greater London, with arson attacks, looting, and violent clashes between masked youth and armored police.
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August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is being sued for allegedly formulating policies that led to the torture of multiple American citizens, at the hands of American military personnel in Iraq. Now, for the second time this month, in two distinct cases, a federal court has found that Mr. Rumsfeld does not enjoy any immunity for actions occurring either during his service as Secretary of Defense or in a war zone.
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August 7, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
To build a future of vibrant open democracy and robust and sustainable economic prosperity, it is necessary to privilege creative activities and constructive solutions to the challenges we face. Addressing major challenges in constructive, innovative ways, is the single most significant driver, historically, of sustained economic booms. In short, we need to move deliberately and swiftly toward a creative prosperity agenda.
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August 6, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
The United States government, until Friday, had more than twice the AAA debt outstanding as any other category of AAA debt. According to Nomura, while the US had $11.2 trillion in AAA debt oustanding, agency mortgage backed securities account for over $5 trillion, and Germany and France follow with less than $2 trillion. Standard and Poors has now downgraded the credit worthiness of the United States government, though there was no default and no indication the government was in any way likely to default.
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August 5, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
prime minister pushing for reforms, as protests widen Faced with rapidly rising housing prices, a growing movement of Israeli citizens has staged protests across the country. Modeled on the protests of Tahrir Square and Europe’s anti-austerity protests, the Israeli protest movement includes encampments and demands for sweeping political reform. Protesters of all ages are accusing [...]
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August 4, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Texas, the most energy-rich populous state in the country, with more oil, more wind, more sun, and a more developed energy sector, than any other state, is now undergoing rolling blackouts, in part because Gov. Rick Perry’s budget policy is bankrupting the state, ending incentives and cutting off supply. Under Perry, the state has run up a $28 billion deficit, and Chinese firms have been buying up major wind energy projects.
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August 3, 2011 :: Eva Scherson :: No Comment Yet
In a stunning move, the American Conservative Union (ACU), which runs the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), has barred one of its former sponsors, a conservative gay rights group called GOProud. The ban comes just as moderate Republicans are calling on the party to embrace same-sex marriage and gay rights, put the culture wars behind them, and focus on conservative principles more in line with Constitutional freedoms and market economics, as their platform.
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August 1, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Yemen may be where the Arab spring, this sweeping current of democratic upheaval in the Arabic-speaking world, takes a turn definitively toward violence or toward civic solutions. The regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, a tribal dictatorship using feudal power tactics, based in the capital Sanaa, is now waging one war against extremist Islamists and another against non-violent pro-democracy protesters.
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July 19, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Gordon Brown, the former UK prime minister and chancellor of the Exchequer denounces “the systematic criminality of News International”, accusing the media conglomerate of “lawbreaking on an industrial scale” and of abusing the rights of citizens, crime victims and the families of soldiers who lost their lives in war, for financial gain by the most [...]
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July 19, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Rupert Murdoch has, today, told a Parliamentary committee in London that he was “clearly” misled by unknown persons within News Corp. Several of the committee members have sought to clarify who may have been responsible for misleading him. His son James told the committee that “What happened at News of the World was wrong”, adding that [...]
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July 18, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
In a shocking development, a former News of the World reporter and key whistleblower in the phone-hacking scandal now sweeping the News Corp. media empire and British political landscape has been found dead at his home in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Sean Hoare was the first named journalist to have alleged that Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor and top media officer for Prime Minister David Cameron, knew of and openly encouraged illegal phone hacking and other corrupt practices.
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July 18, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and his recently arrested protégée, Rebekah Brooks, are scheduled to testify before Parliament, tomorrow. With more than ten people now arrested on allegations of corruption and illegal hacking into private files, the scandal that closed the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid is now threatening to metastasize to the rest of the News Corp. news media properties, and to high-ranking public officials. For the second time in as many days, a top-ranking police official has stepped down, due to alleged connections to the News Corp. scandal.
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July 17, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The downward spiral of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has deepened, as Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the News of the World tabloid, accused of bribery and illegal hacking of private phone messages and other documents, has now been arrested. Now, the multinational News Corp., which owns not only the now closed News of the World, [...]
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July 15, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
News Corp., the New York-based multinational media conglomerate whose majority shareholder is the controversial billionaire Rupert Murdoch, is now facing an FBI investigation for illegal activity in news gathering. Long maligned by press advocacy groups as a leading source of abusive media activity, and even of attacks on genuine news sources, News Corp. is now being accused of having authorized bribery and/or hacking activity to gain illegal access to the private files of victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
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July 15, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Just as we have a right to clean drinking water, we have a right to unobstructed access to information. This should be the aim of any regime of national cyber-security, not the application, or projection, of centuries old military force doctrine to the world of digital information and communication. In the atmosphere of true hyper-convergence, the web beyond Facebook and gMail, the integrated freedom of the individual depends on the integrated civil liberty of the world wide web.
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July 15, 2011 :: The Editors :: 3 Comments
The Libya Contact Group held its most recent diplomatic summit today in Istanbul, to discuss how best to deal with the exigencies of the security crisis there, and possible political solutions. Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, of the United States, now fully recognizes the Transitional National Council, based in Benghazi, as the legitimate government [...]
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July 15, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The mounting protest movement in Jordan is organizing massive new demonstrations, calling for constitutional reform that will maintain the monarchy, but establish a fully elected, democratic government. The protests were reportedly sparked by high and rapidly escalating food prices. There are reports that riot police today attacked demonstrators, though protest organizers say they do not [...]
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July 15, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The protest movement that ousted Hosni Mubarak, after three decades of authoritarian rule has returned tens of thousands of people from all walks of Egyptian life to Tahrir Square, to demand significant democratic reform. Protesters say the military governing council has been slow to prosecute former regime figures guilty of corruption and/or crimes against humanity, [...]
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July 12, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Gov. Scott Walker has divided Wisconsin like no politician since the 1880s. His government engaged in what critics called a campaign of naked corruption almost from the day he took office. He was accused of illegally using the police to threaten, harass and intimidate the families of his opponents in the state legislature. He was [...]
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July 11, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
Newspapers in the UK and TV networks around the world are reporting that UK prime minister Gordon Brown says his bank accounts, property records, his children’s medical accounts and other private accounts, were illegally accessed by the Sun tabloid and/or the Sunday Times, another of Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers in Great Britain. The allegation appears to implicate one or more journalists in gaining private, privileged information relating to the personal health of at least one of Brown’s children, along with other private information.
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July 6, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Today, at the White House, at 2pm EDT, Pres. Barack Obama became the first American president to “live tweet”, posting to his Twitter account the question, “in order to reduce the deficit,what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep”, signing it, simply “- bo”. The president then answered questions, selected by “curators” across the country, who sorted through tens of thousands of questions from Twitter users. He had no prior knowledge of the questions, nor did the moderator, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
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July 5, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The rupture of a pipeline in Montana has caused at least several tens of thousands of barrels of oil to spill into the pristine Yellowstone River, raising concerns about the tar sands pipeline planned to pass through the most important fossil aquifer in North America. The spill is precisely the kind of irreversible and unnecessary environmental disaster conservationists, farmers, energy reformers and local activists across the Great Plains seek to prevent.
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June 26, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Citizens Climate Lobby is an international non-partisan, non-profit volunteer organization, working to build political will for a livable world. To do that, they aim to find an ideologically neutral, democratically viable, market-focused way to reduce the amount of carbon trapped in Earth’s atmosphere and speed the transition to clean, renewable fuels. I am proud to be a member of the organization, and one who is inspired by the passion of its volunteers and fortunate to count so many good friends among its partners.
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June 16, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Spain’s May 15th movement is often called the revolution of the indignados, indignant at the failure of elective government to solve the problems that increasingly define the lives of ordinary people. The complaint, succinctly, is that the powers that be are collaborating in a systemic failure to live up to the rigors of a healthy, legitimate social contract.
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