Month: June 2010

by DR. MUBASHIR HASAN

There is no trust deficit between 1.25 billion poor, backward and oppressed people on the two sides of the border. The wretched of the two countries neither gain nor lose by not trusting each other. However, the ruling elites of the two countries, helped by their respective strategic communities, do harbour a strong trust deficit and make it impossible for peace-seeking political leaders to prevail. Strong vested interests of the ruling elites on both sides of the border feed the trust deficit.

Aman ki Asha for more

(Submitted by Pritam Rohila)

by DIANA JOHNSTONE

First and foremost is the question of facts. Chomsky’s criticism is laden with facts, a substance that seems to elicit ennui among contemporary French thinkers. No doubt the importance of the essay in the French educational system has bred a world of “philosophers” whose skill at manipulating fact-free ideas was the guarantee of a distinguished career. Louis Althusser confessed as much in his autobiography, admitting that he not only knew few facts but that he knew few works of philosophy – but he had learned how to synthesize. This raises the question of the social usefulness of such philosophy. If the social object is to entertain, then the French school reaches its goal – mystification is often far more entertaining than straightforward descriptions of reality. On the other hand, if the object is to help readers reach their own understanding of reality, especially political reality, then their first need is to be provided with the basic relevant facts, which most people do not have time to ascertain through their own research. Thus Chomsky is useful to citizens by providing them with the raw material to develop their own ideas in a way that the purveyors of ready-made but flimsily supported ideas are not.

Counterpunch for more

In many Swiss cities more and more prostitutes work on the street. Under the free movement agreement many come from eastern European countries on a three-month visa and legally sell their bodies. Regulations have to be changed to stop the trade from spreading.

Link

by CHANDRAN NAIR

The western economic model, which defines success as consumption-driven growth, must be challenged. Asia, while apparently promising most for this model’s continuation because of its large population, is paradoxically the region best placed to do this.

Financial Times for more

(Submitted by reader)

by JONATHAN FOREMAN

(How did Oprah and other passengers know? Was there an extra turbulence? Ed.)

Oprah Winfrey, who preaches eco-virtue from her TV pulpit, travelled in a 13-seat Gulfstream IV private jet for years — the preferred model for celebrities and the super-rich. (She has replaced it with a faster Bombardier Global Express.) The public first became aware of her private-jet habit when her plane had to make a forced landing in California in 2005; it was reminded of it this year after one of her stewardesses was fired for allegedly having sex with the pilot while Oprah and other passengers were asleep.

The Sunday Times for more

AVAAZ

In days, the International Whaling Commission will gather in Agadir, Morocco to vote on a proposal that would legalize commercial whale hunting for the first time since 1986.

To parties of the International Whaling Commission:
As citizens from around the world, we call on you to retain the international ban on commercial whaling as the core policy of the International Whaling Commission in its pursuit of conservation of whales.

Sign the Petition

LIEN DE COSTER

We are visiting Sobrevivientes, an organization that supports family and friends of femicide victims. Or, to put it bluntly, those whose mothers, daughters, or friends were murdered simply because they were women.

“Video shot during the author’s visit to Sobrevivientes, an organization that supports family and friends of femicide victims in Guatemala City.” Video courtesy of noticias.nl, Amsterdam. © LA Ruta.

Women’s International Perspective for more

THE ECONOMIST

Cutting girls’ genitals is still common in 28 mostly African countries and among their migrants abroad. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 100m-140m women have been subject to the practice and thinks that some 3m girls are at risk each year of one of four forms of cutting, ranging from the symbolic to life-ruining. In countries such as Somalia, Egypt and Guinea, over 95% of women have undergone some version of it.

The Economist for more

(Submitted by reader)

by RICHARD HOFSTADTER

…It is a notorious fact that the Monarchs of Europe and the Pope of Rome are at this very moment plotting our destruction and threatening the extinction of our political, civil, and religious institutions. We have the best reasons for believing that corruption has found its way into our Executive Chamber, and that our Executive head is tainted with the infectious venom of Catholicism…. The Pope has recently sent his ambassador of state to this country on a secret commission, the effect of which is an extraordinary boldness of the Catholic church throughout the United States…. These minions of the Pope are boldly insulting our Senators; reprimanding our Statesmen; propagating the adulterous union of Church and State; abusing with foul calumny all governments but Catholic, and spewing out the bitterest execrations on all Protestantism. The Catholics in the United States receive from abroad more than $200,000 annually for the propagation of their creed. Add to this the vast revenues collected here….

Harper’s for more

(Submitted by Robin Khundkar with the following comment: “A classic written in 1964 but still very relevant. The style has now spread far and wide across the globe.”

by ANTHONY DEUTSCH

When a video of a chain-smoking Indonesian toddler hit the internet, it drew outrage over the poor regulation of cigarettes in south-east Asia’s largest democracy.

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Children make up an increasing portion of new smokers in Indonesia. About 1.8 per cent of its 60m smokers are now aged between five and nine years old, according to a recent national survey.

Financial Times for more

(Submitted by reader)