Articles by ANI

We found 894 results.


“Failed Everywhere It’s Been Tried” – The Deadly Wages of Free Trade
Daniel Kovalik - CounterPunch, 20 Jan 2014

Since the passage of the Colombia FTA the violence has only increased and sadly bears resemblances to the violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico after the passage of NAFTA. The founding father of the “free trade” treaty, former President Bill Clinton, admitted to the US Senate in 2010 that it has “failed everywhere it’s been tried.”

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El Día Que Me Quieras (Music Video of the Week)
Daniel Barenboim – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jan 2014

From the Album ‘Mi Buenos Aires Querido’
Tango, Sensual Dance

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Koodankulam: An Unfettered Struggle
Anitha S, People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Jan 2014

We are proud that our dear sister Sundari who lost many months in jail and on conditional bail away from home has penned her thoughts as a book: Unfettered Struggle (Sirai Paadal Porattam). She has lucidly written about her experiences with the police, in jail ,and as a strong fighter for justice and life in this village.

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Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice
Anita McKone – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Jan 2014

Since the mid-1990s, Robert J. Burrowes and I have practised and further researched a form of psychology based on the principle of ‘fearless awareness of the self’. If people wish to know the underlying emotions that have caused me to write this account and critical analysis, they are love and anger. I love the truth and hope that what Robert and I have discovered through our research is useful to others who wish to truly love and understand themselves.

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The Way Forward for South Sudan
Mahmood Mamdani – Al Jazeera, 6 Jan 2014

How does one understand the current conflict in South Sudan? Two major explanations are on offer.

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Global Capitalism is the Real Enemy: Why Environmentalists Should Support Working Class Struggles
Stephanie Mcmillan - CounterPunch, 23 Dec 2013

First, we must recognize the fact that global capitalism is driving ecocide.

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ACT Gay Marriage Law Is Ruled Invalid by High Court of Australia
Daniel Hurst – The Guardian, 16 Dec 2013

Judges rule same-sex marriage law could not sit concurrently with the federal Marriage Act and therefore ‘is of no effect’.

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Open Letter to Intelligence Employees after Snowden
Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Peter Kofod, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Coleen Rowley – The Guardian, 16 Dec 2013

By Former Whistleblowers – Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but it is the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and democracy. There IS strength in numbers. Courage is contagious.

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New Documents Show How the NSA Infers Relationships Based on Mobile Location Data
Ashkan Soltani and Barton Gellman – The Washington Post, 16 Dec 2013

Everyone who carries a cellphone generates a trail of electronic breadcrumbs that reveal a wealth of information about who we are, where we live, who our friends are and much more. The NSA is collecting location information in bulk — 5 billion records per day worldwide — and using sophisticated algorithms to assist with U.S. intelligence-gathering operations.

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NSA Uses Google Cookies to Pinpoint Targets for Hacking
Ashkan Soltani, Andrea Peterson and Barton Gellman – The Washington Post, 16 Dec 2013

The agency’s internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the Internet to better serve them advertising, the technique opens the door for similar tracking by the government. The slides also suggest that the agency is using these tracking techniques to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations.

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The Surprising Republican Civil War That Erupted Over Nelson Mandela and Apartheid
Sagar Jethani, Policymic – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Dec 2013

Ronald Reagan appeared on TV to warn Americans against the Anti-Apartheid Act, decrying it as “immoral” and “utterly repugnant.” Congress disagreed, and one month later it overrode Reagan and passed tough new measures against South Africa’s Apartheid government.

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NSA Tracking Cellphone Locations Worldwide, Snowden Documents Show
Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani – The Washington Post, 9 Dec 2013

Dec. 4, 2013 – The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

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Revealed: How the NSA Targets Italy
Glenn Greenwald and Stefania Maurizi – L’Espresso, 9 Dec 2013

A file mentions the “Special Collection Service” sites in Rome and in Milan, the very same service which, according to the German weekly “Der Spiegel “, spied on the mobile phone of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

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Mother Agnes Mariam: In Her Own Words
Sharmine Narwani – Mideast Shuffle, 2 Dec 2013

Neither Scahill nor Jones provided any reason for their harsh “indictment” of Mother Agnes. The journalists – neither of whom have produced any notable body of work on Syria – appear to have followed the lead of a breed of Syria “activists” who have given us doozies like “Assad is about to fall,” “Assad has no support,” “the opposition is peaceful,” “the opposition is unarmed,” “this is a popular revolution,” “the revolution is not foreign-backed,” “there is no Al Qaeda in Syria,” “the dead are mostly civilians,” and other such gems.

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Ambition Silences Myanmar’s Freedom Icon
Roger Mitton – The Manila Times, 25 Nov 2013

Throughout history, prominent political and even religious leaders and institutions have kept silent about enormities which they had vehemently opposed in the past. So it is right and just for many human rights advocates across the globe to attack Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi for her public acquiescence in the persecution of Muslims in her country.

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(Português) Experimentação em Animais
Ricardo Laurino – ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 25 Nov 2013

Talvez uma frase de Thomas Edison, famoso cientista americano, resuma por que cada vez mais pessoas desaprovam a experimentação animal: “a não violência nos leva à mais alta ética, a qual é o objetivo de toda a evolução. Até pararmos de ferir outros seres vivos, seremos ainda selvagens”.

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(Português) Por Que Experimentos em Animais Não São Necessários
Corina Gericke - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 18 Nov 2013

Cientistas, políticos e cidadãos estão cada vez mais reconhecendo que as experiências com animais não cumprem o que prometem, e que os seus resultados não são diretamente aplicáveis aos seres humanos. Não é possível prever como um ser humano irá reagir com base nos resultados de experiências realizadas em animais.

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Blame It on the French
Khosrow Soltani – Al Jazeera, 18 Nov 2013

What are France’s motives in undermining a crucial deal between Iran and P5+1? Different viewpoints have been expressed on the multiple motives, ranging from commercial to geopolitical interests, to just playing its role as a scapegoat for the US.

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(Português) Experimentação Animal: Necessidade ou Especismo?
Hugo Chusyd e Katia Sendra Tavares - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 11 Nov 2013

É possível construir uma sociedade e uma medicina que não explora e abusa de outros animais. A história tem nos mostrado incansáveis vezes que sempre encontramos um meio de resolver aquilo que em certo momento parecia impossível.

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NSA Infiltrates Links to Yahoo, Google Data Centers Worldwide, Snowden Documents Say
Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani – The Washington Post, 4 Nov 2013

30 Oct 2013 – The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.

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Polio Outbreak in Syria Threatens Whole Region, WHO Says
Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

Polio has broken out among young children in northeast Syria after probably originating in Pakistan and poses a threat to millions of children across the Middle East, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday [29 Oct 2013].

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How the NSA Is Infiltrating Private Networks
Barton Gellman, Todd Lindeman and Ashkan Soltani – The Washington Post, 4 Nov 2013

This graphic shows how the NSA and GCHQ break into those internal networks, using Google’s as an example. Less is known about Yahoo’s networks, but the NSA operations are thought to be similar.

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How Europe Failed Azerbaijan
Aslan Amani – Open Democracy, 28 Oct 2013

Since Azerbaijan joined the Council of Europe in 2001, the country’s grim human rights record has only become worse. The Council’s and EU’s ambiguous reactions to the October 9 presidential election raise new questions about Europe’s role in Azerbaijan’s transition to democracy.

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(Castellano) Nueva Investigación Sobre el Comercio de Carne de Perro y Gato en China
IgualdadAnimalVideos – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

Nueva investigación de Igualdad Animal revela imágenes inéditas del comercio de carne de perros y gatos en China. Desde las granjas donde son criados los animales hasta el transporte a los mercados y mataderos, los activistas han documentado todos los aspectos de esta industria, infiltrándose para ello entre las mafias clandestinas involucradas.

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Interview with UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar
UN Humanitarian Affairs – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

[During my] last mission my convoy was attacked by Buddhist mobs [where I was addressing the issue of communal violence]. And the police stood by so it was kind of planned somehow… It was more than tense. I was frightened. But I am still holding the mandate [as Myanmar’s special rapporteur on human rights].

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Interview with UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar
UN Humanitarian Affairs – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 Oct 2013

[During my] last mission my convoy was attacked by Buddhist mobs [where I was addressing the issue of communal violence]. And the police stood by so it was kind of planned somehow… It was more than tense. I was frightened. But I am still holding the mandate [as Myanmar’s special rapporteur on human rights].

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Report: NSA Collecting E-Mail and IM Contacts Globally
Melanie Eversley & Byron Acohido - USA Today, 21 Oct 2013

Oct 15, 2013 – The National Security Agency has been collecting contacts from people’s personal e-mail address books and instant messaging accounts in an effort to detect relationships that might be crucial to government security, the Washington Post is reporting.

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Time for the ICC to Act on Palestine
Raji Sourani & Shawan Jabarin – Al Jazeera, 21 Oct 2013

We urge the prosecutor to visit Palestine, to meet with the victims, and to experience the reality on the ground. Justice is not a commodity that can be traded in the name of political progress. The International Criminal Court must not become complicit in the on-going failures of the peace before justice process.

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Report: Documents Show NSA Involvement in Drone Program
Melanie Eversley - USA Today, 21 Oct 2013

Documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show NSA ties to killing program.

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Blood and Tourism in Kashmir
Mehboob Jeelani – Dissent Magazine, 21 Oct 2013

Until 1989, before the start of the armed rebellion against Indian rule, foreign and Indian visitors flocked to the valley. In 1987, according to a government survey, Kashmir welcomed 700,000 tourists. Three years later, as violence gripped Kashmir, the number fell to just 6,000. The gun-toting militants became a common sight near butcher shops and corner stores.

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Millennium Development Goals: The Failure of the Debt System
Daniel Munevar & Eric Toussaint, CADTM – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Oct 2013

As the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their annual meeting in Washington 11-13 Oct 2013 it is necessary to take a look at the state of the Millennium Development Goals

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(Português) Espanha: Cruel Festival “Toro Jubilo” Ateia Fogo em Touros Para o Entretenimento Local
Vinicius Siqueira – Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 14 Oct 2013

Neste festival, o touro, sua vitima indefesa, é chamado de “toro de fuego” por um motivo brutal. O animal é amarrado, imobilizado e pedaços de pano de algodão embebidos em alcatrão são fixados em um suporte que é, anteriormente, preso em seus chifres para que um participante, por fim, ateie fogo. Esta bárbara festa é considerada um marco cultural da região de Soria.

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Media Repression and Tamils in Sri Lanka
Daniel Kitts, TV Ontario – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Oct 2013

Sri Lanka has gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists alongside Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea and North Korea. By way of preview of a forthcoming Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) report on media violence in Sri Lanka, we’d like to share our perspective.

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Israel’s Secret Nuclear Biological and Chemical Weapons
Manlio Dinucci - Il Manifesto, 7 Oct 2013

The UN inspectors would have much to do if they were sent to monitor the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of Israel. But they cannot do so because Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Convention Banning Biological Weapons, and has signed but not ratified the Convention Banning Chemical Weapons.

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Mother Agnes Mariam Attacked…By Human Rights Watch!
Daniel McAdams - Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, 7 Oct 2013

Peter Bouckaert, “emergencies director” of Human Rights Watch, who is not on the ground in Syria, brushes off Mother Agnes Mariam’s work, stating flatly that “there’s just no basis for the claims, she is not a professional video forensic analyst.” Of course she never claimed to be. What she claimed is to have working eyes, which noticed that several of the purported victims of the attack were seen at different locations at the same time. It does not take a “professional video forensic analyst” to recognize that is impossible.

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McCain’s Moderates Join Al-Qaeda
Daniel McAdams – Lew Rockwell, 30 Sep 2013

Senator John McCain was sure he could pick moderates in Syria and went there this spring to demonstrate how much the insurgents were like us, struggling for democracy and equal rights for all. The pillar of McCain and the Democratic neocons crashed to the ground as their picked elements of the “moderate” Free Syrian Army have this week pledged their loyalty to the local al-Qaeda in Syria.

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Breaking: Whistleblower Reveals U.S. State Dept. Ships Arms Directly to al-Qaeda
Kit Daniels, Infowars – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Sep 2013

A former CIA gun runner revealed that the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in order to cover up the U.S. State Department’s direct arm shipments to al-Qaeda.

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JPMorgan Negotiating Multi-Billion-Dollar Settlement with Justice Department
Danielle Douglas and Sari Horwitz – The Washington Post, 30 Sep 2013

A number of JPMorgan Chase’s legal battles may be coming to an end as the bank negotiates a multibillion-dollar settlement with the Justice Department to cover a wide range of pending investigations, a person familiar with the talks said late Tuesday [24 Sep 2013].

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Questions Plague UN Syria Report. Who Was Behind the East Ghouta Chemical Weapons Attack?
Sharmine Narwani and Radwan Mortada - Al-Akhbar, 30 Sep 2013

A senior United Nations official who deals directly with Syrian affairs has told Al-Akhbar that the Syrian government had no involvement in the alleged Ghouta chemical weapons attack: “Of course not, he (President Bashar al-Assad) would be committing suicide.” When asked who he believed was responsible for the use of chemical munitions in Ghouta, the UN official, who would not permit disclosure of his identity, said: “Saudi intelligence was behind the attacks and unfortunately nobody will dare say that.”

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Petition Campaign to Open the Rafah Crossing
Gaza Solidarity Organizations – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Sep 2013

Open the Rafah Crossing Permanently and Unconditionally. Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine. SIGN THE PETITION HERE!

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Rise of Cancers and Birth Defects in Iraq: World Health Organization Refuses to Release Data
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani – Global Research, 5 Aug 2013

The back-breaking burden of cancers and birth defects continues to weigh heavily on the Iraqi people. The joint WHO and Iraqi Ministry of Health Report on cancers and birth defect in Iraq was originally due to be released in November 2012. It has been delayed repeatedly and now has no release date whatsoever.

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FreedumbAndDemocrazy
Sharmine Narwani – Al Akhbar, 8 Jul 2013

When I hear “freedom and democracy” I instinctively look for cover – just as “Allahu Akbar” yelled loudly enough can now make Arabs and Muslims hit the ground fast.

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India’s Guilt-Free Makeup: Testing Cosmetics on Animals Banned
Janani Sampath – The Times of India, 1 Jul 2013

It may be just the first step, but it certainly has brought smiles to the faces of animal right activists. The Bureau of Indian Standards on Friday [28 June 2013] approved the removal of animal tests from the country’s cosmetics standard. India becomes the first country in Southeast Asia to end the practice.

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The Criminal N.S.A.
Jennifer Stisa Granick and Christopher Jon Sprigman – The New York Times, 1 Jul 2013

We may never know all the details of the mass surveillance programs, but we know this: The administration has justified them through abuse of language, intentional evasion of statutory protections, secret, unreviewable investigative procedures and constitutional arguments that make a mockery of the government’s professed concern with protecting Americans’ privacy. It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal.

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Palestinian Children Tortured, Used As Shields by Israel: U.N
Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Jun 2013

A United Nations human rights body accused Israeli forces on Thursday [20 June 2013] of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.

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Steve Wozniak: ‘I felt about Edward Snowden the way I felt about Daniel Ellsberg’
Tania Branigan – The Guardian, 24 Jun 2013

Apple co-founder says he admires Edward Snowden as much as Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg. He said he had been brought up to believe that “communist Russia was so bad because they followed their people, they snooped on them, they arrested them, they put them in secret prisons, they disappeared them. We are getting more and more like that.”

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Edward Snowden: Saving Us from the United Stasi of America
Daniel Ellsberg – The Guardian, 17 Jun 2013

Snowden’s whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an ‘executive coup’ against the US constitution.

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(Português) Brasil, Mercosul e a Moral Seletiva nos Negócios com Israel
Maren Mantovani – Carta Maior, 10 Jun 2013

A relação comercial atual do Mercosul com Israel viola o direito comercial, os direitos humanos, os estatutos e as práticas do bloco sul-americano, compromissos políticos do Brasil com o povo palestino e tem prejudicado as relações com outros parceiros comerciais. Além de tudo isso, Israel viola as disposições do próprio Tratado de Livre Comércio, exportando ilegalmente os produtos dos assentamentos. O que é preciso para simplesmente tratar Israel como se trataria qualquer outro país?

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Yara Abbas – In Her Own Words
Sharmine Narwani – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Jun 2013

“I went with the army and knocked at the door of one woman. She started to cry – please take me out of here. They removed her and took her to her brother’s home. The militias make holes in the walls of homes to go from building to building to avoid being out in the open. Seventy percent of the destruction there is from militias. I saw 12 big bombs and 35 small ones in a home they had taken over.”

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An Appeal from Daniel Ellsberg to Support Bradley Manning
Daniel Ellsberg - Bradley Manning Support Network, 3 Jun 2013

My decision to reveal the top secret Pentagon Papers to the American public was an act of conscience. Today, a young soldier named Bradley Manning faces trial for a similar act of conscience and faces life in prison — much like I did 40 years ago. And just as I was arrested and called a “traitor” by President Nixon, Bradley’s charges include an accusation of “aiding the enemy.”

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(Italiano) Siria: La «Riconciliazione» Che Sfida la Guerra
Marinella Correggia – Il Manifesto, 27 May 2013

Viaggio a Homs con una delegazione internazionale che appoggia l’esperimento di «Mussalah», contro le armi e per il dialogo tra le parti in conflitto. Autorità religiose e attivisti laici insieme per trovare soluzioni senza ingerenze esterne.

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Chemical Weapons Charade in Syria
Sharmine Narwani – Al Akhbar, 27 May 2013

Let us be clear. The United States can verify absolutely nothing about the use of chemical weapons (CWs) in Syria. Any suggestion to the contrary is entirely false. Don’t take it from me – here is what US officials have to say about the subject.

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Mideast Backlashes Yet to Come
Sharmine Narwani – Al Akhbar, 20 May 2013

The Middle East is treading water these days. Two years of rhetoric about ousting dictators, revolution, freedom, honor, dignity, and democracy – without result – has people on edge, their disillusionment now demanding an outlet. The rise of political Islam – once an inevitable byproduct of democratization – arrived too hard, too fast; too aggressively championed, organized, and weaponized by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

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Child Abuse: Can India Afford to Remain in Denial?
Priya Virmani – The New Statesman, 13 May 2013

The mindset that emanates from traditional notions of the Indian family empower family members to commit sex crimes towards children and be well protected. When tradition serves as a veil behind which atrocities can happen without censure, then tradition must be called up, put in the dock and sent to the gallows.

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Chemical Weapons Charade in Syria
Sharmine Narwani, Al Akhbar – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Apr 2013

Let us be clear. The United States can verify absolutely nothing about the use of chemical weapons (CWs) in Syria. Any suggestion to the contrary is entirely false. Don’t take it from me – here is what US officials have to say about the subject:

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Newly Released Tim DeChristopher Finds a Movement Transformed by His Courage
Melanie Jae Martin – YES! Magazine, 29 Apr 2013

Tim DeChristopher, who was released from federal custody yesterday [21 Apr 2013], is best known as the man who disrupted an auction of pristine public lands. This Earth Day, we thank Tim DeChristopher for steering our movement toward the path of courage. With countless lives on the line, it’s the path we need to take.

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Samba e Amor (Music Video of the Week)
Vitor Araújo, pianist – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Apr 2013

PORTUGUÊS: Chamado carinhosamente l’enfant terrible da música erudita, Vitor Araújo é um jovem pianista nascido em 1990 em Recife, no estado de Pernambuco no Brasil. Eclético, suas influencias vao de Radiohead a Villa-Lobos.
ENGLISH: affectionately called l’enfant terrible of classical music, Vitor Araújo is a young pianist born in 1990 in Recife, state of Pernambuco, Brazil. He is very eclectic and influences range from Radiohead to Villa-Lobos.

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The Struggle to Reclaim Paradise [Hawai’i]
Imani Altemus-Williams – Waging Nonviolence, 15 Apr 2013

Monsanto has a long history of making chemicals that bring about devastation. The company participated in the Manhattan Project to help produce the atomic bomb during World War II. It developed the herbicide “Agent Orange” used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War, which caused an estimated half-million birth deformities. Most recently, Monsanto has driven thousands of farmers in India to take their own lives, often by drinking chemical insecticide, after the high cost of the company’s seeds forced them into unpayable debt.

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(Português) Paredes de Vidro: Fotógrafo Capta Reação das Pessoas ao Testemunharem Sofrimento dos Animais em Matadouro
Michelle Kretzer (PETA) - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais, 1 Apr 2013

“Eu já arrastei vacas até que seus ossos começassem a quebrar, enquanto elas ainda estavam vivas. Quando as estou trazendo até o canto e elas ficam presas na porta de entrada, puxo até que sua pele seja rasgada, até que o sangue escorra no concreto e ferro. Quebro suas pernas…. E a vaca chora com sua língua pendurada. Eles puxam os animais até que seus pescoços quebrem”.

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Sri Lanka Accused of Ongoing Torture and Abuse of Tamil Prisoners
Mark Townsend and Hussein Kesvani – The Guardian, 25 Mar 2013

Calls for UK to withdraw from Commonwealth summit in Colombo as report claims brutal human rights violations by state. The torture of Tamil political prisoners is increasingly rife in Sri Lanka with some detainees dying in custody after suffering prolonged abuse, a new investigation claims.

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Record Levels of Radiation Found in Fish near Japan’s Fukushima Plant
Danielle Demetriou – The Telegraph, 25 Mar 2013

Record levels of radiation contamination have been found in fish near Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant. One fish, a greenling measuring 38 cm in length, was contaminated with 740,000 becquerels per kg – more than 7,400 times the recommended government limit regarded as safe for human consumption.

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(Português) Carne de Cavalo e Especismo
Marcela Godoy, Consciência Animal – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Mar 2013

The Horsemeat scandal, ou o escândalo da carne de cavalo, começou no mês passado quando carne de cavalo foi descoberta em hambúrgueres congelados à venda no Reino Unido e na República da Irlanda. Desde então, vestígios foram descobertos em produtos de carne processados e refeições prontas em toda a União Européia. Os olhos e ouvidos abolicionistas já detectam, de primeira, especismo explícito.

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(Castellano) 50 Verdades sobre Hugo Chávez y la Revolución Bolivariana
Salim Lamrani – Opera Mundi, 11 Mar 2013

El presidente Hugo Chávez, quien falleció el 5 de marzo de 2013 de un cáncer a los 58 años, marcó para siempre la historia de Venezuela y de América Latina. Jamás en la historia de América Latina, un líder político alcanzó una legitimidad democrática tan incontestable. Desde su llegada al poder en 1999, hubo 16 elecciones en Venezuela. Hugo Chávez ganó 15, de las cuales la última el 7 de octubre de 2012.

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Major Grocer to Label Foods with Gene-Modified Content
Stephanie Strom – The New York Times, 11 Mar 2013

Whole Foods Market, the grocery chain, on Friday [8 Mar 2013] became the first retailer in the United States to require labeling of all genetically modified foods sold in its stores, a move that some experts said could radically alter the food industry.

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African Campaign for Education on Nonviolence
Humanist Movement Africa – Pressenza Int’l Press Agency, 4 Mar 2013

“Let’s begin to lead the hearts and minds to the culture of nonviolence. If you think that the economic and political system is a disaster and both our future and the one of the continent is not assured anymore, then you will have to say ‘’NO’’ to violence and ‘’YES’’ to peace by strongly engaging in this project in order to set this new mechanism of positive conscience in Africa.”

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China Overtakes US to Become Largest Trading Country in World
ANI – Yahoo! News, 18 Feb 2013

China is now the largest trading country in the world in terms of imports and exports, after overtaking the US in 2012. The Asian country overtook the US to become the world’s biggest trading nation, bringing an end to the US’ post-war dominance of global commerce.

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(Português) Do Que Um Cão Precisa
Marcela Godoy, Consciência Animal – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Feb 2013

Será que o cão tem espírito? – perguntou-me o filho do meio. Olhei para ele surpreendido. E acabei por responder: – Não sei se nós próprios temos espírito ou se é o espírito que nos tem ou está em nós. – É isso que eu queria dizer. Olha para ele. Era um fim de tarde de Agosto, o cão estava parado em frente ao mar, o pêlo muito luzidio, a cabeça levantada, narinas abertas, sorvendo o ar. – Ele está a cheirar o espírito. O espírito da terra, o espírito do vento, o espírito das águas”. (Manuel Alegre).

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Repression, Resistance, and Indigenous Rights in Guatemala
Anita Isaacs and Rachel Schwartz – Americas Quarterly, 4 Feb 2013

Can centuries of exploitation be reversed?

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Secrecy and National Security Whistleblowing
Daniel Ellsberg - Reader Supported News, 21 Jan 2013

The mystique of secrecy in the universe of national security…is a compelling deterrent to whistleblowing and thus to effective resistance to gravely wrongful or dangerous policies.

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Solar-Powered Water Pumps Struggle to See the Light
Manipadma Jena – Inter Press Service-IPS, 21 Jan 2013

When twenty-nine-year-old Kartik Wahi graduated from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, Illinois in 2010, he wasted no time in returning to India to self-finance a start-up company to market solar-powered irrigation pumps. Working on a shoestring budget together with two partners, the young entrepreneur was convinced that the benefits of this renewable energy initiative would make a huge difference in some of India’s largest agricultural regions.

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The Freedom of the Press Foundation
Daniel Ellsberg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Dec 2012

Today [23 Dec 2012], I join with a group of colleagues and friends to announce The Freedom of the Press Foundation. This new foundation crowd-sources funding for a number of tireless, courageous and underfunded freedom of press organizations, including WikiLeaks.

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The ICC and Colombia: Massacres under the Looking Glass
Daniel Kovalik - CounterPunch, 17 Dec 2012

The International Criminal Court (ICC) just published [Nov 2012] its Interim Report on Colombia. The ICC’s conclusion in the report is that the worst crimes of the Colombian military – the “false positive” killings in which the military killed around 3,000 innocent civilians and dressed them up to appear as guerillas – “occurred with greatest frequency between 2004 and 2008.”

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Encyclopedia of World Problems Has a Big One of Its Own
Daniel Michaels- The Wall Street Journal, 17 Dec 2012

[TRANSCEND member] Anthony Judge’s career has been peppered with problems, from Aarskog Syndrome to Zoonotic bacterial diseases, dandruff, ignorance, kidney disorders and sabotage. He spent more than two decades editing the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, a 3,000-page tome with almost 20,000 entries. It was Mr. Judge’s brainchild when he helped run the Union of International Associations, a century-old grouping of groups that began in an effort to categorize all human knowledge.

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Global Terrorism Index
Vision of Humanity – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Dec 2012

Impact of Terrorism on World Countries – Interactive Map Country by Country and Ranking

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Iceland Shows the Way: Reject Austerity
Salim Lamrani – Pravda, 3 Dec 2012

They refused IMF prescriptions, let banks fail and sentenced to prison those responsible for the crisis. The case of Iceland demonstrates that there is a credible alternative to austerity policies that are imposed in Europe. These, besides being economically inefficient, are costly politically and socially unsustainable. By putting the public interest above the interest of markets, Iceland showed the rest of the continent the way to escape the dead end.

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Greece Gave Birth to Democracy. Now It Has Been Cast Out by a Powerful Elite
Kostas Vaxevanis – The Guardian, 5 Nov 2012

The case against me and my magazine, Hot Doc, for publishing a list of alleged tax evaders is a symptom of Greece’s corruption. An exclusive club of powerful people engages in illegal practices, then pushes through necessary laws to legalise these practices, granting itself an amnesty, and in the end, there are no media to uncover what really happened.

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Suicide Is Epidemic For American Indian Youth: What More Can Be Done?
Stephanie Woodard, 100Reporters – NBC News, 15 Oct 2012

In pockets of the United States, suicide among Native American youth is 9 to 19 times as frequent as among other youths, and rising. From Arizona to Alaska, tribes are declaring states of emergency and setting up crisis-intervention teams. “It feels like wartime,” said Diane Garreau, a child-welfare official on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, in South Dakota. “I’ll see one of our youngsters one day, then find out a couple of days later she’s gone. Our children are self-destructing.”

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(Portuguese) Ratos Alimentados Com Transgênico Morrem Mais Cedo e Sofrem Mais de Câncer
Daniele Silveira, Radioagência NP – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2012

Pesquisa realizada com 200 ratos alimentados com milho geneticamente modificado apontou que esses animais morrem mais cedo e sofrem de câncer com mais freqüência. O estudo foi publicado nesta quarta-feira (19 Set 2012) pela revista científica “Food and Chemical Toxicology”.

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MEK Delisting is a Gift to the Regime, a Disaster for the Iranian People and the U.S.
National Iranian American Council – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Sep 2012

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) deplores the decision to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. The decision opens the door to Congressional funding of the MEK to conduct terrorist attacks in Iran, makes war with Iran far more likely, and will seriously damage Iran’s peaceful pro-democracy movement as well as America’s standing among ordinary Iranians.

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(Portuguese) Sobre Ombros de Gigantes
Marcela Godoy, Consciência Animal – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Sep 2012

Semana passada [16 Aug 2012], ministrei um mini curso na Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Paraná-Brasil, durante o II Encontro de Ciências Biológicas. Dessa vez, trabalhei o tema Vivissecção no Ensino e na Pesquisa. Obviamente, o mini curso aconteceu pelo viés da anti-vivissecção.

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(Italian) Animalismo, Specismo, Antispecismo e Diritti degli Animali
Roberto Russo, GraphoMania – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Aug 2012

Parliamo spesso di animali: ci stanno particolarmente a cuore e non è un mistero. Ma non vogliamo che sia un discorso sdolcinato: secondo noi è importante guardare agli animali come esseri viventi, al pari nostro, con i loro diritti. Il fatto che noi siamo animali appartenenti alla specie umana non ci autorizza certo a trattare male gli animali non umani.

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Celebrating the Olympic Ideal with a Big Mac
Isabelle de Grave and Stephanie Parker – Inter Press Service-IPS, 30 Jul 2012

“London won the right to host the 2012 Games with the promise to deliver a legacy of more active, healthier children across the world,” the Green Party’s Jenny Jones, who recently proposed a motion to exclude McDonald’s, Coca-Coca-Cola and others from the Games, told. ”Yet the International Olympic Committee persists in maintaining sponsorship deals with the purveyors of high-calorie junk that contributes to the threat of an obesity epidemic.”

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Regulators and HSBC Faulted in Report on Money Laundering
Nathaniel Popper – The New York Times, 23 Jul 2012

The global bank HSBC has been used by Mexican drug cartels looking to get cash back into the United States, by Saudi Arabian banks that needed access to dollars despite their terrorist ties and by Iranians who wanted to circumvent United States sanctions, a Senate report says.

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‘The Last War Crime’ Debuts at Cannes–but Censored in US.
Jeanine Molloff – Nation of Change, 16 Jul 2012

In spite of strong evidence identifying Dick Cheney as the mastermind behind this torture regime–the subject remains taboo, both in the ‘news’ business and in Hollywood–that is until Hollywood executives watched trailers for the anti-war documentary.

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(Portuguese) Do Que Um Cão Não Precisa
Marcela Godoy - Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais-ANDA, 16 Jul 2012

Do que um cão não precisa? Essa pergunta pode suscitar discussão, algumas reflexões e um bocado de polêmica. A resposta nem sempre pode ser aquela que desejamos ouvir. O que estamos fazendo com eles no sentido de deformar suas mentes e corpos para adaptá-los à conveniência dos padrões humanos?

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Greenwashing the Olympics
Daniel Nelson – CorpWatch, 9 Jul 2012

Rio Tinto, the global mining company, has been named as early front-runner for the Greenwash Gold award for the worst Olympic sponsor, with BP, the oil and gas multinational, in second place and Dow Chemical third. The three corporations are banking on getting a good return on their purchase of the right to stick their names all over Olympic promotional material and activities.

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Hundreds of Words to Avoid Using Online if You Don’t Want the Government Spying On You
Daniel Miller – Mail Online, 28 May 2012

(And They Include ‘Pork’, ‘Cloud’ and ‘Mexico’) – Department of Homeland Security forced to release list following freedom of information request. Agency insists it only looks for evidence of genuine threats to the U.S. and not for signs of general dissent.

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Excuse Me, But Israel Has No Right To Exist
Sharmine Narwani - The Sandbox, 21 May 2012

The phrase “right to exist” entered my consciousness in the 1990s just as the concept of the two-state solution became part of our collective lexicon. In any debate at university, when a Zionist was out of arguments, those three magic words were invoked to shut down the conversation with an outraged, “are you saying Israel doesn’t have the right to exist??” Why are the colonial-settlers prior to 1948 any different from those who colonized and settled after 1967?

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(Portuguese) Leilão de Ferramentas de Tortura É Suspenso na França após Polêmica
Daniela Fernandes – BBC Brasil, 9 Apr 2012

A venda incluía ainda uma ”pera da angústia”, como era chamado o instrumento colocado na boca e que ia aumentando de volume para sufocar os gritos dos prisioneiros que podiam ”incomodar” os juízes dos tribunais da Inquisição e também era usada nas partes genitais de homossexuais ou de mulheres suspeitas de ter relações com o ”diabo” na Idade Média. Os objetos e documentos pertenciam ao ex-carrasco francês Fernand Meyssonnier, que realizou, sob ordens do governo da França, quase 200 execuções na Argélia entre 1957 e 1962, no período da guerra de independência do país.

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Radiation at Fukushima Plant at Lethal Levels
Minoru Matsutani – Japan Times, 2 Apr 2012

Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to send robots in will require them to have greater resistance than currently available, experts said Wednesday [28 Mar 2012]. Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes would cause death within a month , Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

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For Nuclear Security beyond Seoul, Eradicate Land-Based ‘Doomsday’ Missiles
David Krieger and Daniel Ellsberg – The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Apr 2012

America’s 450 launch-ready land-based nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are the opposite of a deterrent to attack. In fact, their very deployment has the potential to launch World War III and precipitate human extinction – as a result of a false alarm. We’re not exaggerating.

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(Castellano) México DF Abole las Corridas de Toros
Asociación Animalista Libera – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Mar 2012

Tenemos el placer de informaros de que hace apenas unos minutos, la Comisión de Administración Pública del Distrito Federal (México) acaba de aprobar la iniciativa para abolir las corridas de toros, ciudad donde se encuentra la plaza más grande del mundo.

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(Castellano) Panamá Prohíbe las Corridas de Toros
AnimaNaturalis – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Mar 2012

“Quedan prohibidas las peleas de perros, las carreras entre animales, las lidias de toro, ya sean de estilo español o portugués, la creación, entrada, permanencia y funcionamiento en el territorio nacional de todo tipo de circo o espectáculo circense que utilice animales amaestrados de cualquier especie”.

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The WikiLeaks GiFiles: Stratfor Predicts Huge Oil Profits from Attack on Iran
Anissa Haddadi – International Business Times, 5 Mar 2012

WikiLeaks has started publishing more than five million emails hacked by Anonymous from the servers of Stratfor, a US intelligence gathering company. An email sent by Chris Farnham, senior officer for Stratfor, to an internal unnamed source inside the company titled “Israel/Iran Barak Hails Munitions Blast in Iran” provides details about who would benefit from an Israeli attack on Iran, and say such a plan would be motivated by economic factors.

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(Italian) La (Dis)Informazione a Senso Unico
Marinella Correggia, Il Manifesto – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Feb 2012

Si Ripete la Stessa Operazione Mediatica: Come Per la «Guerra Umanitaria» in Libia

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The Future We Want? Between Hope and Despair on the Road to the Rio Earth Summit
Daniel Mittler, Greenpeace – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jan 2012

The lack of spine is clearest in the last paragraph which calls for voluntary commitments announced at Rio to be stapled together in a “registry/compendium that will serve as an accountability framework.” In other words, there will be no enforcement or control. Your word will be taken at face value and the “accountability framework” will be the act of stapling all voluntary commitments together in one document. An invitation to greenwash, if there ever was one.

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Doctors Sued For Creating ‘Valium Addicts’
Nina Lakhani – The Independent, 9 Jan 2012

Patients Take Legal Action After Being Damaged By Over-Prescription of Drugs – Doctors are being sued for creating prescription drug addicts amid claims they have failed to follow safety guidelines published more than 20 years ago. Lawyers and medical experts have reported an increase in clinical negligence cases by patients left physically and psychologically broken by “indefensible” long-term prescribing of addictive tranquillisers such as Valium, collectively known as benzodiazepines.

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Moving from a War Economy to a Peace Economy
Mary Beth Sullivan – The Humanist, 26 Dec 2011

My partner, Bruce Gagnon, is the coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and has been organizing around conversion since the 1980s. His typical question to any audience is: “What is the United States’ number one industrial export?” Audiences across the country shout out “weapons.” He then asks them to consider that if weapons are the number one industrial export, what is the global marketing strategy? “Endless war” becomes the refrain.

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(Portuguese) Passeio ao Zoológico: Sob Outra Ótica, Sob Outra Ética
Marcela Godoy, Agencia de Notícias de Direitos Animais - TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Dec 2011

“Quando se trata de como os humanos exploram os animais, o reconhecimento de seus direitos requer abolição, não reforma (…) verdade dos direitos animais requer jaulas vazias, não mais espaçosas”. (Tom Regan, Jaulas Vazias)
Como bióloga e educadora, sempre acreditei nos zoológicos como ferramenta deseducativa. Meu repúdio a esse tipo de atividade fez com que eu me afastasse, durante anos, de uma visita a esses verdadeiros redutos de infelicidade animal.

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UK: Who Are You Going To Believe? The Media?
Daniel Hind – Al Jazeera, 5 Dec 2011

The Leveson inquiry is asking questions of society that mainstream media must not be allowed to answer. Commentators have paid much less attention to the questions Leveson considers to be central. The media don’t want to host a discussion that is framed in constitutional terms. They don’t want their audiences to think too hard about what is meant by “the public interest” and they are frantic to ensure that any debate about checks and balances leaves their privileges unnoticed and intact.

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