democracy

Social Watch

Arab countries must follow their own models of democracy, not EU’s

“The European Union (EU) can assist in the process of democratization of Arab countries, but on our terms,” said Kinda Mohamadieh, program director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND, focal point of Social Watch) at the conference “Democracy & Development”, held in Warsaw. Activists from North Africa and the Middle East and representatives of Polish NGOs attended the forum that preceded a high-level ministerial conference for partner countries of the Southern neighborhood (...) read

date of on-line publication : 5 January 2012

South Asia Social Forum in Bangladesh: November 18-22

The South Asia Social Forum is principally a platform for sharing ideas and policy alternative derived from and practiced in the southern hemisphere of Asia region. The SASF Working Groups will provide the venue and required logistics to the organizations and social movements for holding events (seminar, exhibition etc.) during the forum. They will also provide interpreter, translation equipments, online database for hotel booking, solidarity accommodation, info support etc. The program (...) read

date of on-line publication : 19 October 2011

Water and Culture

Italy’s public Says “No” to water privatization

Italy’s voting public have overturned no less than four laws by the Berlusconi government in today’s referendum. In the wake of Fukushima the public’s clear ballot against a revival of nuclear energy in Italy understandably takes up a prominent position in news headlines. The ballot is also being seen as one of a number of heavy blows Berlusconi’s fragile coalition has been dealt recently, after two serious regional defeats in Naples and Milan. In today’s referendum several questions were to be (...) read

date of on-line publication : 15 June 2011

In these times

Post-Election, Embattled Iraqi Labor Movement Still Struggles for Rights

The elections in Iraq in March brought unexpected twists in the country’s chaotic political narrative, reflecting growing complexity in the electorate as well as the balkanized nature of Iraq’s religious and ethnic landscape. Since no party won a decisive majority, it may be months before the new government takes shape, as members of Parliament hammer out tenuous coalitions. While myriad civil society movements had a stake in the election, notably absent from mainstream electoral battles was (...) read

date of on-line publication : 28 April 2010

Inter Press Service (IPS)

Mideast and North Africa Cited for Press Abuses

A report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on press freedom around the world in 2009 depicts an especially gloomy situation in the Middle East and North Africa, where authorities continue to use repressive measures to muzzle journalists. Read more read

date of on-line publication : 23 February 2010

Transnational Institute (TNI)

Morocco : between economic liberalisation and political stagnation

> In "Beyond the Market : The Future of Public Services", Elâabadila Chbihna Maaelaynine and Massimiliano Di Tota, April 2006, 7 p. (pdf)

Given the lack of a project for the democratic modernisation of the state and the construction of citizenship, Morocco is caught between economic liberalism and political stagnation. The public services on offer do not satisfy the basic needs of the population. Recent market-oriented reforms have aggravated the social and political crisis, as shown by the increase in corruption, clientelism, foreign debt, impunity and religious fundamentalism. Read Morocco : between economic liberalisation (...) read

date of on-line publication : 21 March 2007

THANT Myint-U

What to do about Myanmar

> The London Review of Books, Vol. 29 n° 3, 8 February 2007

There is an enduring myth that in 1948, when it achieved independence from Britain, Burma (Myanmar) was a rich country with every reason to expect a bright future and that the policies and practices of the military government are alone to blame for today’s miseries. It is beyond dispute that many of these policies and practices have been disastrous. But there is a deeper history of misfortune which needs to be understood. At independence, Burma was a country devastated by war, with a (...) read

date of on-line publication : 8 February 2007

KHATIB Ghassan

Middle East crises : inextricable from each other

> Bitterlemons international, December 14, 2006, Edition 46, Volume 4

The double standard that has resulted from the US compromising international legality because of its relations with Israel is a major cause of the regional hostility toward America. To understand the different conflicts in the Middle East, it is important to understand their growing interrelation. This interrelation is growing to an extent that it is becoming nearly impossible to understand one conflict in isolation. Similarly, solving one requires dealing with the others. More and more (...) read

date of on-line publication : 20 December 2006

Kenyan Minister warns against bilateral trade deals

> TWNSIDE

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twn (...)

The Kenyan Trade Minister, Mukhisha Kituyi, today spoke up against the danger of countries running to negotiate bilateral and regional trade deals with the impasse of the Doha negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.
"If we face hard decisions in the WTO, we should not run from there by going after bilateral deals," he said in a presentation at the Mid-Term Review session at UNCTAD.
At the same panel, Brazilian Ambassador Clodoaldo Hugueney reiterated the need for resumption of the Doha negotiations but added that "you can’t have a successful Round without dealing with development." He said that agriculture and development are at the centre of the Round, for the first time.
Kituyi, who also currently chairs the African Union Ministers of Trade, said that there is a rise of bilateralism as the Doha Round talks slowed down. Through bilateral and regional agreements, the developed countries were having the same aims as they had in other fora.
"Though the words change, the targets remain the same," he said. Referring to the latest European Commission paper on trade policy, he commented that the EU refused to be on the defensive and was going to go for "more market access."
The Kenyan Minister has on previous occasions spoken up on the imbalances and risks posed to developing countries in the Economic Partnership Agreements that the European Commission is negotiating with the ACP Group of countries. However, he did not mention the EPAs in his speech.
He added that many issues of concern to developing countries, such as the need to tackle agricultural domestic subsidies in developed countries and the use of special and differential treatment for developing countries, could only be dealt with in the multilateral system.  read

date of on-line publication : 27 October 2006

CRAY Charlie

The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security (...)

The history of American war profiteering is rife with egregious examples of incompetence, fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, bribery and misconduct. As war historian Stuart Brandes has suggested, each new war is infected with new forms of war profiteering. Iraq is no exception. From criminal mismanagement of Iraq’s oil revenues to armed private security contractors operating with virtual impunity, this war has created opportunities for an appalling amount of corruption. What follows is a list of some of the worst Iraq war profiteers who have bilked American taxpayers and undermined the military’s mission.
In early 2005 CIA officials told the Washington Post that at least 50 percent of its estimated $40 billion budget for that year would go to private contractors, an astonishing figure that suggests that concerns raised about outsourcing intelligence have barely registered at the policymaking levels.
In 2004 the Orlando Sentinel reported on a case that illustrates what can go wrong: Titan employee Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, an Egyptian translator, was arrested for possessing classified information from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
Critics say that the abuses at Abu Ghraib are another example of how the lines can get blurred when contractors are involved in intelligence work. CACI provided a total of 36 interrogators in Iraq, including up to 10 at Abu Ghraib at any one time, according to the company. Although neither CACI, Titan or their employees have yet been charged with a crime, a leaked Army investigation implicated CACI employee Stephen Stefanowicz in the abuse of prisoners.  read

date of on-line publication : 25 September 2006