Latest news (2008 up), click here

Organisations and individuals around the world are extremely concerned about the way the European Union (EU) is rushing into agrofuels and the signals this sends to the rest of the world to race into agrofuel production. The impacts are already serious worldwide. From Helena Paul, Econexus.

human rights
Applications are now open for the VI International Human Rights Colloquium

The VI International Human Rights Colloquium will take place in São Paulo, Brazil from 11 to 17 November, 2006. The Colloquium is an annual capacity building and peer-learning event designed for young activists from the Global South (Africa, Asia and Latin America). The objective of the VI International Human Rights Colloquium is to strengthen the impact of human rights activists work and to offer the opportunity to build new collaborative networks among activists, academics and the Organization of the United Nations (ONU). For more information about the VI International Human Rights Colloquium, visit www.conectas.org/coloquio..(Da redação, 26/7/2006)

us health
Send Me Your Health Care Horror Stories...

Friends, How would you like to be in my next movie? I know you've probably heard I'm making a documentary about the health care industry (but the HMOs don't know this, so don't tell them -- they think I'm making a romantic comedy). (...) An Appeal from Michael Moore, Feb 3, 2006..[+]

good news for oil companies
Profiteering from the Arctic Thaw

Ice-cap melting may be bad news for the polar bears in Manitoba, Canada, but it is great news for Pat Broe of Denver. When the ice melts in the Arctic, the polar predators have to search for new hunting grounds or starve -- but Broe doesn't mind. He figures global warming will make him around $100 million a year. Temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are rising twice as fast as in the southern half. The summers are getting longer and the pack ice is getting thinner. By 2015 the North Pole is expected to be navigable for normal ships six months out of the year. It's then that a golden age will dawn upon the port in Churchill. Writen by Erich Wiedemann, for Spiegel Magazine, in march 2006.

eat it up
GM soybean: Latin America's new colonizer

In Latin America, the frontiers to soybean production are being pushed back aggressively in all directions at a breathtaking rate. Driven by export pressures and supported by government incentives, soybean fields are taking over forests and savannah in an unprecedented manner. The implications of the monoculture model and its supporting machinery for the environment, farmers and communities are discussed in this article made by two very known agroecologists, Miguel Altieri and Walter Pengue. (mar/2006)

Original, click here.

dupont
EPA OK'd plan to dump nerve agent into Delaware

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) won't oppose the U.S. Department of Defense and DuPont Co.'s plan to dump a wastewater byproduct of a deadly nerve agent into the Delaware River.The agency said it's assured of a safe treatment for up to 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater created in the treatment for VX, a chemical weapon with a pinhead-size potency to kill a human. DuPont is treating VX for disposal at its Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana. Published in Bucks County Courier Times by HARRY YANOSHAK, 26/feb/2006.

nope, no weapons in here
Bush notes that bin Laden helped him win reelection

Paul the Spud at The Adventures of the Smart Patrol points to this article at CNN, which reports: President Bush said his 2004 re-election victory over Sen. John Kerry was inadvertently aided by Osama bin Laden, The Washington Examiner newspaper reported Tuesday... "I thought it was going to help," Bush said. "I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn't want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush." Paul's response is perhaps best cateogorized as decidedly unimpressed. It was helpful that Bin Laden continues to be a threat, because it helped him get re-elected. He was grateful that his fearmongering techniques worked so well, and Bin Laden is still the monster under the bed, because it helped him get re-elected (...)

Terminator
Seeds of dispute

Tensions between Monsanto and Argentina are escalating as the US biotech company steps up its efforts to win back control over booming Latin American soy production. Brazil and Argentina are, after the US, the two largest soy producers in the world. Brazilian farmers planted 9.4m hectares of GM soy last year, an increase of 88% on 2004. (...) Following industry lobbying, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is due to consider case-by-case testing of terminator technologies in its annual meeting in Brazil on March 20. Published at The Guardian date February 22, 2006.

those danish cartoons
Don't Be Fooled This Isn't an Issue of Islam versus Secularism

So now it's cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb-shaped turban. Ambassadors are withdrawn from Denmark, Gulf nations clear their shelves of Danish produce, Gaza gunmen threaten the European Union. In Denmark, Fleming Rose, the "culture" editor of the pip-squeak newspaper which published these silly cartoons--last September, for heaven's sake--announces that we are witnessing a "clash of civilisations" between secular Western democracies and Islamic societies. This does prove, I suppose, that Danish journalists follow in the tradition of Hans Christian Anderson. Oh lordy, lordy. What we're witnessing is the childishness of civilisations. (...) By Robert Fisk, on CounterPunch, February 6, 2006.

Ethiopia
Magicians on a mission: entertaining refugees, teaching the world

Towards the end of last year a tall, graceful, bearded man stood before mesmerized Somali refugees in an Ethiopian camp pointing at a long piece of white paper in his other hand. "Imagine this is your life. It is a whole life, a good life. And then war comes, famine comes, and you lose your friends, you lose your work, you lose your family, you lose your home and finally you lose your homeland and have to flee to another country as a refugee. And then you lose years and years and years living in a refugee camp", said Tom Verner, a magician on a self-appointed mission to help refugees, tearing off a piece of the paper at each repetition. "But, with hope, imagination and courage your life will come back together again because your suffering is like bread and if you eat the bread of your suffering". By UNHCR, 20 Jan 2006.

friends of earth
Earth's Land Surface Is Drying Up

Europe and many other parts of the world are increasingly being stricken by serious drought, according to new research. The overall percentage of land area affected has doubled in the last thirty years, with climate change singled out as the key factor. The new scientific evidence underlines the threat global warming poses to our planet, Friends of the Earth Europe said today in Brussels. The environmental group has urged Europe's leaders to face up to the challenge and agree drastic cuts in the emissions that are leading to global warming. Brussels, 12 January 2005.

opinion
A dangerous neighbourhood

HOW Venezuela Is Keeping the Home Fires Burning in Massachusetts," reads a recent full-page ad in major US newspapers from PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, and CITGO, its Houston-based subsidiary. The ad describes a programme, encouraged by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to sell heating oil at discount prices to low-income communities in Boston, the South Bronx and elsewhere in the United States — one of the more ironic gestures ever in the North-South dialogue. By Noam Chomsky, in Khaleej Times, 8 December 2005.

cartoon

____________________________________________
By The New Yorker, 30 October 2005

irak
US forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon. Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city. On 10 November last year, the Islam Online website wrote: "US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988." By Peter Popham, The Independent, 8 November, 2005.

environment
Rolling Back the Creeping Sands

More than 250 million people are directly affected by desertification, a process that has accelerated in recent years due to climate change and unsustainable human activities. In a bid to make more people aware of this problem, which fuels poverty and famine, the United Nations has launched the "International Year for Deserts and Desertification", set for 2006. (...) By Julia Spurzem, IPS, Nov. 4 2005.

rights
Order broadens surveillance of Internet users

In a serious attack on democratic rights, the US government has greatly increased the scope of legislation introduced in 1994, regarding the electronic monitoring of telecommunications providers. The legislation, known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) obliges telephone companies to make it possible for law enforcement agencies to intercept any phone conversations carried out over its networks, as well as making call records available. The act also stipulates that it must not be possible for a person to detect that his or her conversation is being monitored by the respective government agency (...) By Mike Ingram, 26 October 2005..[+]

la times
Military Says Troops Demanded 'Rent' From Iraqi Vendors

California Army National Guard troops charged unauthorized, off-the-books "rent" to Iraqi-owned businesses inside Baghdad's Green Zone in Iraq to raise money for a "soldier's fund," military officials and sources within the troops' battalion said Friday. The disclosure is the latest to emerge from a wide-ranging investigation into the conduct of the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment of the Guard, which is headquartered in Modesto, Calif. By Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2005..[+]

sunday herald
Robin Cook dies aged 59 after heart attack

Robin Cook MP, who resigned from the Cabinet in protest over the Iraq War, died last night after collapsing while hillwalking in the Highlands. Cook, 59, was on holiday with his second wife Gaynor when he fell ill with a suspected heart attack near the summit of the 2365ft Ben Stack in Sutherland, in the far northwest of Scotland. By Torcuil Crichton, Sunday Herald, August 7, 2005..[+]

'guerrilla'
Art prankster sprays Israeli wall

Secretive "guerrilla" artist Banksy has decorated Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. The nine paintings were created on the Palestinian side of the barrier. One depicts a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. Banksy's spokeswoman Jo Brooks said: "The Israeli security forces did shoot in the air threateningly and there were quite a few guns pointed at him." By BBC News, August 5, 2005..[+]

tragedy
Britain Says Man Killed by Police Had No Tie to Bombings

LONDON. Scotland Yard admitted Saturday that a man police officers gunned down at point-blank range in front of horrified subway passengers on Friday had nothing to do with the investigation into the bombing attacks here. The man was identified by police as Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian, described by officers as an electrician on his way to work. "He was not connected to incidents in central London on 21st July, 2005, in which four explosive devices were partly detonated," a police statement said. By New York Times, July 23, 2005..[+]

• Cartoon — Fighting Abroad, Protecting Home.—.July 11, 2005
• Cartoon — Protected Sources.—.July 6, 2005

• Cartoon — Hit It With Your Bible.—.May 27, 2005

QUITO. "Long live insurrection", urges one piece of political graffiti, a common sight on the streets of Ecuador's capital, Quito. Here high in the Andes mountains, that spirit of insurrection is alive and well. Banging pots and pans, blowing whistles and chanting slogans, the men, women and children of this small South American country have brought down yet another president. By Hannah Hennessy, BBC News, April 24, 2005..[+]

ecuador II
Amazon Pollution: Victims of 'Toxico'

Environmentalists estimate around 2.5 million acres of rainforest were compromised or destroyed in Texaco's search for oil in Ecuador. It is a disaster that has left the jungle ravaged and its people dying of cancer. Andrew Gumbel reports. By The Independent, April 27, 2005..[+]

rio de janeiro
30 people murdered in a slaughter

One more slaughter shocks Rio de Janeiro. At least 30 people were shot, last night between 9 pm and 10 pm, in the cities of Nova Iguaçu and Queimados, in a place called Baixada Fluminense in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There are indications that the slaughter was done by a strong-armed group in a Volkswagen. By O DIA (brazilian newspaper), April 1, 2005. [+]

• Cartoon — Welcome To The White House Press Corps.—.Feb 21, 2005
• Cartoon — The Good Samaritan Story Revisited.—.Feb 9, 2005

According to Israeli authorities, one reason for my arrest two weeks ago in Biddu and my denial of entry into Israel in 2003 is that I "organized and participated in illegal demonstrations." Israeli authorities frequently use the term "illegal demonstrations" to describe peaceful protests against Israeli government violations of international law. This twisted reasoning needs to be exposed and rejected. What is legal often does not completely correspond to what is moral. However, when what is moral is described as illegal, there is a major problem. By Pat O'Connor, Haaretz.com, 14/02/2005..[+]

The Future of Iraq and U.S. Occupation

Let’s just imagine what the policies might be of an independent Iraq, independent, sovereign Iraq, let’s say more or less democratic, what are the policies likely to be? Well there’s going to be a Shiite majority, so they’ll have some significant influence over policy. The first thing they’ll do is reestablish relations with Iran. Now they don’t particularly like Iran, but they don’t want to go to war with them so they’ll move toward what was happening already even under Saddam, that is, restoring some sort of friendly relations with Iran. By Noam Chomsky, International Relations Center, January 26, 2005..[+]

Massive Support for Coca-Cola Campaign at World Social Forum

On January 29, 2005, over 500 activists attended an overflowing workshop on the International Campaign Against Coca-Cola at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in Brazil. One of the most popular workshops at the Forum, the international campaign has been strengthened considerably as a result of its participation at the World Social Forum, and hundreds of activists from around the world signed up to become part of the growing campaign. By India Resource Center, January 30, 2005..[+]

India Resource Center is a project of Global Resistance. Global Resistance works to strengthen the movement against corporate globalization by supporting and linking local, grassroots struggles against globalization around the world. Our goal is to ensure that those most impacted by globalization are engaged in and at the forefront of the movement against corporate globalization..[+]

• Cartoon — New Directions In Diplomacy.—.Jan 10, 2005

To evaluate is to compare facts and values. In this evaluation of the first two years of Lula’s government, we chose as a term of comparison, the project for national construction. Using a synthetic and precise formula from Caio Prado Jr.: to what extent these two years of government have contributed to accelerate the transition between the “Brazil-Colony from yesterday into the Brazil-Nation of tomorrow”? Three aspects of this transition will be examined: reduction of inequality; increase in autonomy; and political organization of the people. By Plinio Arruda Sampaio, Brasil de Fato, January 11, 2005..[+]

Macroeconomy and Macrosociety

There is an undeniable distress both within and outside of the Brazilian government in regards to the macroeconomic policies enacted by President Lula. There is a clash of two perspectives, each one with its own logic and corresponding discourse. By Leonardo Boff, January 11, 2005..[+]
 

• Cartoon — Gonzales New Attorney General.—.8/1/2005

Acting locally, Responding globally

In a world of poverty, war, displacement and disaster, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies serves those in need without regard as to race, religion, class or political belief. The International Federation directs and coordinates international assistance to some of the world's most vulnerable people. Together with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, the Federation acts locally to respond to humanitarian challenges everywhere, everyday. As the Red Cross and Red Crescent work to help communities to recover from the devastating earthquake and tidal waves that hit coastal areas in Asia, you can help by making a donation today.

The Non-Election of 2004

The electoral campaigns were run by the PR industry. By Noam Chomsky, Z Magazine, January 2005. [+]

CBS' Cowardice And Conflicts Behind Purge

"Independent" my ass. CBS' cowardly purge of five journalists who exposed George Bush's dodging of the Vietnam War draft was done under cover of what the network laughably called an "Independent Review Panel." The "panel" was just two guys as qualified for the job as they are for landing the space shuttle: Dick Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi. Remember Dickie Thornburgh? He was on the Bush 41 Administration's payroll. His grand accomplishment as Bush's Attorney General was to whitewash the investigation of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill… By Greg Palast, Z Magazine, January 12, 2005..[+]

Washington was aware that a deadly Tidal Wave was building up in the Indian Ocean

The US Military and the State Department were given advanced warning. America's Navy base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean was notified. Why were fishermen in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand not provided with the same warnings as the US Navy and the US State Department? Why did the US State Department remain mum on the existence of an impending catastrophe? With a modern communications system, why did the information not get out? By email, telephone, fax, satellite TV... ? It could have saved the lives of thousands of people. By Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, Dec. 29, 2004..[+]

Sudan in crisis

What hope for the future? People in Darfur are in need of urgent protection. Instead of being protected, civilians are still attacked, harassed, and detained. More African Union monitors are needed to fulfil effectively their mandate to protect civilians. Report by Amnesty International..[+]

The United States: Bush’s record

Despite the usual voter apathy of Americans, the turnout on 2 November is expected to exceed European levels (1). Will that be because of 9/11 and George Bush’s response to it - the provocative policies coming out of the White House; the enthusiasm with which, on the pretext of reacting to the attacks on New York and Washington, it proposed a “preventive” war against Iraq? When the neoliberals realised that there was nothing to fear about the coercing power of the state - provided that they did the coercing - the political process was validated further. The electoral waverers, the lukewarm, the blasé, all quickly went to ground. By Serge Halimi, mondediplo.com, October 2004.[+]
 

• Cartoon — Why Keep Rumsfeld.—.Dec 23, 2004

Petition to stop US military aid to Israel
STOP US MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL

To: President George W. Bush and the United States Congress. We, the undersigned, are appalled by the human rights abuses against Palestinians by the Israeli government, the continued military occupation and colonization of Palestinian territory by Israeli armed forces and settlers, the forcible eviction of the inhabitants from, and the demolition of, Palestinians homes, towns, and cities. We find the recent attacks on Israeli civilians unacceptable and abhorrent. But these should not and do not negate the human rights of the Palestinians. (...).[+]

IRAQ
Doubtful Democracy Will Not Inspire Others

By Adam Morrow, IPS News, December 8, 2004. While Cairo officially stands behind U.S. plans to hold elections in Iraq early next year, many observers here question the sincerity of Washington-style 'democratization', and the notion that legitimate elections can be held under occupation....[+]

U.S.-IRAQ
More Troops Mean More Trouble

Analysis - By Jim Lobe, IPS News, December 8, 2004. The Pentagon's announcement this week that it is adding 12,000 more troops to the approximately 138,000 soldiers it already has in Iraq has put an abrupt end to the fleeting sense of triumph that followed November's ''victory'' by U.S. marines who regained control of Fallujah, the main Sunni rebel stronghold....[+]

Will the Peace Movement Pursue the Truth About 9/11?

Opinion by Mark A. Dunlea. Posted December 06, 2004. It is time for the peace movement in New York State to take up the demand to find truth about the three thousand people murdered in New York City on 9/11. With the apparent election of George Bush as President, the likelihood that we will ever find the truth about 9/11 becomes even more remote. It is certainly not going to come from the federal government, where Bush, Congress, Republicans and Democrats, CIA, FBI and the foreign policy establishment all clearly share in some of the culpability for the deaths..[+]

Conclusions of the International Workshop on Debt Auditing

Elements for the promotion and realization of audits in response to the illegitimacy of the external debt.—.ALAI Net, 17/11

• Cartoon: There is no tooth fairy.—.Liberty News, 13/11

Converge on Ft. Benning, GA: November 19-21!

Together We Will Shut Down the School of Assassins! On November 20th and 21st, join Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen; Carlos Mauricio and Neris Gonzales, torture survivors and plaintiffs in the successful lawsuit against Salvadoran generals now living in the US; Betita Martinez, long time Chicana activist and historian; Ruby Sales, prominent civil rights activist and native of Columbus, Georgia; Bob King, vice president of the United Auto Workers; Bishop Gabino Zavala, Bishop President of Pax Christi USA, Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and founder of Voices in the Wilderness; Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, grassroots activists from Mexico, labor leaders from Colombia and many more dynamic speakers gathered on stage in front of the main gates of Fort Benning, Georgia..[+]

Nothingland — or Venezuela?

EDUARDO GALEANO. Reviled by Venezuela’s TV channels, survivor of a US-backed coup attempt and a two-month employers’ strike, Hugo Chávez has been given yet another popular mandate—to the ill-concealed dismay of the financial press. Eduardo Galeano’s miniature snapshot of a flourishing Latin American democracy. New Left Review 29, September-October 2004..[+]

USA: The Steady March of Government Secrecy

The federal government has increased its limits on information access since 9/11, and a report from the Nieman Foundation describes different ways journalists are responding to the problem. The Fall 2004 edition of Nieman Reports includes an analysis of the rise in government secrecy in the name of national security. Examples of how that trend is impeding the work of the news media, and advice from a newspaper for how to use the Freedom of Information Act in the current climate, are also in the report. Nov. 12, 2004..[+]

CIA Leak Case Raises Fears that Information Could Stop Flowing

The sentencing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller for refusing to reveal her sources could shut down the supply of information from government sources to journalists. Miller's case is one of several actions taken by federal prosecutors and judges who have increased pressure on reporters and confidential informants, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Nov. 11, 2004..[+]

Victory for the people of Uruguay 

You may have had to turn to page A48 to find it in your US newspaper, but October 31st marked an historic day for the victory of democracy and people’s movements for social and economic justice in Latin America. In Uruguay, a leftist coalition, the Frente Amplio, won the presidency with their candidate Tabaré Vazquez, who shares a vision for justice in Latin American with Argentina's Kirchner, Venezuela's Chávez, and Brazil's Lula da Silva..[+]

Your persistence, year after year, will one day bring results

"You stand for peace instead of war, compassion instead of brutality, a country mindful of human rights and rejecting militarism....It is actions like yours that historically have been necessary to bring about social change. I believe that your persistence, year after year, will one day bring results, that this school of assassins will be closed and we will be one step closer to world peace."- Howard Zinn, historian and author

Antiwar Movement; Colorado students occupy high school to protest war, Bush policies

Some 85 students opposed to the war and disturbed by the general direction of American life occupied Boulder High School in Colorado November 4, before leaving peacefully the next morning. The students told reporters they were disgusted with the Bush administration’s policies, in particular, the war in Iraq, the national debt, the environment, military recruitment in the schools and the possible return of the draft. By David Walsh / Axis of Logic, November 6th, 2004..[+]

The Kids Are Alright

Michael Moore. Dear Friends, If there was one group who really came through on Tuesday, it was the young people of America. Their turnout was historic and record-setting. And few in the media are willing to report this fact. Unlike 2000 when Gore and Bush almost evenly split the youth vote (Gore: 48%, Bush: 46%), this year Kerry won the youth vote in a LANDSLIDE, getting a full ten points more than Bush (Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%). Sunday, November 7th, 2004..[+]

Kerry Won...

Bush won Ohio by 136,483 votes. In the United States, about 3 percent of votes cast are voided—known as “spoilage” in election jargon—because the ballots cast are inconclusive. Drawing on what happened in Florida and studies of elections past, Palast argues that if Ohio’s discarded ballots were counted, Kerry would have won the state. (...) By Greg Palast, November 04, 2004.[+]

USA: Online Resources Available for Reporters Covering the Election

Poynter Online recently published an article with links to information on the Electoral College, provisional ballots, voter fraud, and other issues likely to require coverage during and after Election Day. Reporters can find websites on the U.S. federal and state electoral process, the role of electoral judges, and the multiple cases of voter fraud throughout the country, Poynter Online reports. November 2, 2004..[+]

George Bush, The Worst Mexican President Ever

Rafael Barajas is one of Mexico's leading political cartoonists. He pens his cartoons for the daily La Jornada under the name of El Fisgón ("the peeper"). He has, the New York Times once wrote, "shaken the peaks of power" in Mexico. He's also just published his first book in English, How to Succeed at Globalization, A Primer for Roadside Vendors. By Tom Engelhardt, October 13, 2004..[+]

Sorry Everybody — a message from America to the world

SorryEverybody.com is collecting photographs from across America to express to the rest of the world our deepest apologies for the present political situation in our country and how it will affect everyone for the next four years. Check out the pictures

FBI shuts down 20 antiwar web sites

The US government move to shut down nearly two dozen antiwar, anti-globalization web sites on October 7 is an unprecedented exercise of police power against political dissent on the Internet. The World Socialist Web Site denounces the attack on the Indymedia sites and demands a halt to all such attempts at suppressing political criticism of the US government. By WSWS, October 12, 2004..[+]

Food shortages threaten refugees

Eleven 'Disappeared' in U.S. War on Terror

Marty Logan, Montreal. Eleven prisoners captured by the Bush administration in its ''war on terrorism'' have disappeared, opening a ''gateway'' to torture and other abuses prohibited by global law, says a new report by Human Rights Watch. By IPS, 12/10.[+]

Is Al-Jazeera the New Symbol of Arab Nationalism?

Thalif Deen, United Nations. When the League of Arab States was created in 1945, it was perceived as the ultimate symbol of Arab nationalism. But in the past eight years, a new player has emerged. Analysts agree that Al-Jazeera is playing a key role in strengthening Arab political development and that it represents "an important facet of contemporary pan-Arabism.'' By IPS, 12/10.[+]

Alternative Network's Internet Servers Confiscated

Agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday seized two Internet servers in Britain that host the web sites of the global news network Indymedia. Two days later there was still no clarification of why the computers were confiscated or who is holding them. By IPS, 9/10.[+]

Activism Clashes With Tradition

Government and civil society representatives from around the world met in Kenya recently to debate how best to end female genital mutilation - a laudable effort. However, a case in Burkina Faso has exposed the limitations of their campaign. By IPS, 9/10..[+]

Washington's secret nuclear war

Illegal weapons of mass destruction have not only been found in Iraq but have been used against Iraqis and have even killed US troops. But Washington and its allies have tried to cover up this outrage because the chief culprit is the US itself, argue American and other experts trying to expose what they say is a war crime. By Aljazeera, september 14, 2004..[+].—.By Mindfully.org
 

Fahrenheit 9/11 Out On Home Video/DVD Today!

Today's the day! You can now own your own copy of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Or, you can rent it. It is now available in thousands of stores across the country for you to take into your possession and use as your own personal weapon of George Bush's mass defeat. You can also just have a nice movie night at home with the kids..[+]

Revealed: How UK media fuelled race prejudice

Backed by a centuries old news tradition, with thousands of print titles, a solid platform of radio and television programming, and a growing Internet online presence, most UK journalists would firmly proclaim "We in Britain are proud of our tradition of a free press." But the hard news is that the mass media - TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and on the Internet - are free to be prejudiced in covering Black communities. And free to maintain closed doors to Black and minority ethnic journalists..[+]

Global energy crisis looming

"The United States cannot afford to wait for the next energy crisis to marshal its intellectual and industrial resources.... Our growing dependence on increasingly scarce Middle Eastern oil is a fool's game—there is no way for the rest of the world to win. Our losses may come suddenly through war, steadily through price increases, agonizingly through developing-nation poverty, relentlessly through climate change—or through all of the above." James Woolsey, former US Director of Central Intelligence, 1999. Click for more

Iraq and the Crisis of Empire

Bush declared in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention that he is fighting terrorism abroad "not for pride, not for power," but to protect American lives. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are wars of empire. Roger Burbach and Jim Tarbell.—.ALAI Net, 7/9

The referendum process in Venezuela

Venezuela's experiment in revolution has entered a new phase. The reaffirmation of both Chávez and the Bolivarian revolution by 60% of the population marks a historical moment in the evolution of radical politics in Venezuela. Never before has Chávez or 'el proceso' been so widely supported in Venezuela, nor so widely accepted - albeit reluctantly - by the international community, writes Jonah Gindin..—.ALAI Net, 6/9

Arnold Schwarzenegger

At the Republican Convention, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he became a Republican after listening to a televised debate between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon in 1968... There was no debate between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon in 1968. Arnold Scharzenegger could not have seen it on TV, because it never took place..—.ALAI Net, 2/9

Cartoon — What's Important!.—.15/9/2004

Another Clinton Scandal Coming?

rape and torture
Iraq's Child Prisoners

A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that the detainees - some as young as 10 - are also being subjected to rape and torture. By Neil Mackay, The Sunday Herald, Sunday 01 August 2004..[+].By Truth out

Fur Is Dead
Learn what happens on fur farms and in the wild

9-11 Visibility Project
The National 9-11 Visibility Project formed in the Fall of 2003 by a group of concerned citizens in Seattle and Kansas City working to support the efforts of the 9-11 victims' families to obtain a complete and unobstructed investigation into the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Cartoon — No Credible Tie.—.21/6/2004

Silent witnesses: 20 million civilians lost to the world
Declan Walsh, The Independent, 16 June, 2004. The innocent are the first casualties of war. Yesterday the UN admitted that it is powerless to help, reports.

Reagan's Legacy of Poverty and War
By Fight Back editors, June 10, 2004. While the corporate-controlled media is singing praises of Ronald Reagan for “restoring confidence to America,” millions of Americans and millions more around the world have been forced into poverty and war as a result of his policies.

Cartoon — What an Argument.—.3/6/2004

Cartoon — That Guy Scares Me.—.28/5/2004

Cartoon — Embarrassment to the US of A.—.19/5/2004

Cartoon — Iraq Exit Strategy.—.17/5/2004

Cartoon — Al-Qaida Says Thanks.—.13/5/2004

The Truth about The Day After Tomorrow

Statistics on Israeli Army Demolition

By The Associated Press, May 16, 2004. The Israeli military has demolished dozens of homes in the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah over the weekend, following attacks that killed seven Israeli soldiers there. The army says it may raze hundreds more homes in the Gaza Strip shantytown to widen a military patrol road. Read it

Today Rafah, tomorrow Jenin

By Gideon Levy, Haaretz.com, May 16, 2004. It is easy to criticize the scenes in Rafah as inhumane Palestinian cruelty. But the hard truth is even harder to digest - what we are seeing is the inevitable result of years of abuse of a helpless population. Read it

One-year of Iraq 'Freedom': a Letter to Bush

Office of the Press Secretary - For Immediate Release: Letter to president from brave freedom®-defender celebrating the one-year anniversary of the shuttering of iraq's "rape rooms". Read it

Torture at Abu Ghraib
The New Yorker, April 30, 2004. American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go? Read it

Cartoon — Things we are not supposed to see.—.26/4/2004

Chomsky backs 'Bush-lite' Kerry
The Guardian, March 20, 2004. Noam Chomsky, the political theorist and leftwing guru, yesterday gave his reluctant endorsement to the Democratic party's presidential contender, John Kerry, calling him "Bush-lite", but a "fraction" better than his rival. Professor Chomsky - a linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as a renowned chronicler of American foreign policy - said there were "small differences" between Senator Kerry and the Republican president. But, in an interview on the Guardian's politics website, he added that those small differences "can translate into large outcomes". Read it

Cartoon — Limited Government: Aren't You Thankful?.—.15/4/2004

McDonald's Israel reportedly fires employee for speaking Arabic.[The Electronic Intifada, March 5, 2004]

From a Tropical Paradise to a Nuclear Hell
By JoAnn Wypijewski, Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2004. "There's a story I can tell you," a fellow called Bruno Lat said to me a few years back. "I was 13. My dad was working with the Navy as a laborer on Kwajalein" — an atoll in Lat's native Marshall Islands, controlled by the U.S. military. "It was early, early morning. We were all outside on that day waiting in the dark. Everybody was waiting for the Bravo."

That day was 50 years ago: March 1, 1954. Bravo was not the first, or the last, just the worst of the American nuclear tests in the Pacific — a fission-fusion-fission reaction, a thermonuclear explosion, an H-bomb, the United States' biggest blast. In today's poverty of expression, it would be called a WMD. Except that it was ours, and so real that days after marveling at a sky alight with "all kinds of beautiful colors," young Bruno also took in the sight of refugees from downwind of the blast at Bikini Atoll, miserable and burned and belatedly evacuated to Kwajalein. The skin on their heads, he recalled, "you could peel it like fried chicken skin." Read it; Printer Friendly Version

Cartoon — Good Reasons.—.24/2/2004

Cartoon — When we reach Mars.—.27/1/2004

$8 Million Award to Widow Punishes Tobacco Company.[NYTimes, January 10, 2004]

Brasil: New model for Indigenous health causes friction between NGO's and the government.[february/2004]

Was the money spent on the mission to Mars wasted?
by Kenn Gividen, sent by Liberty News, february 14, 2004. The cost for the mission is about $3 for every American. That's every American, from the smallest baby to the eldest senior. If you were to go door to door, asking your neighbors to donate $3 per household member to "a very important project," they would wonder what you are up to. If you would explain the money will be spent to find life on Mars, you would likely find yourself beset with numerous slamming doors. Read it

History repeats...

• Number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the last two years: 354
• Number who died in Vietnam in 1963 and 1964: 324.[original]

Michael Moore: 'We're going to have the best chance with Clark'
CNN.com, January 16, 2004. Filmmaker and author Michael Moore, one of America's most outspoken liberals, has announced his choice for the Democratic presidential nomination: retired Gen. Wesley Clark. Clark has been accused of being a Republican in disguise. So what gets Moore excited about Clark? He discussed it with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. Read it

Only Attorney John Ashcroft

"If the events of September 11th have proven anything, it's that the terrorists can attack us, but they can't take away what makes us American--our freedom, our liberty, our civil rights. No, only Attorney General John Ashcroft can do that." [Source: Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. January 16, 2004]

Bush in 30 seconds

A 30-second TV ad that focuses on George W. Bush’s trillion-dollar debt legacy to America’s children is the winner in the MoveOn.org Voter Fund’s nationwide search for the best spot to tell the truth about the Bush Administration’s policy failures. The ad also got the highest rating from members of the public, who gave it the “People’s Choice” award as well. Read it

Sharon must be stopped

Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General Palestinian National Initiative, December, 2003. Sharon’s history as a war criminal is well-documented, but the crimes currently being propagated by his government and his occupying troops are equally crimes against his own people. Israelis and Palestinians alike will never attain the peace they crave while this man remains in power and there can be no more important task for the world in the months ahead than stopping this man. Read it

Cartoon — Big News: Michael Jackson arrested.—.December, 2003

Hard to imagine

Liberty News, Dec 24, 2003. In February, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz dismissed worries that the occupation [of Iraq] would require hundreds of thousands of troops. (...) Read it

Cartoon — The Prisoner Remains Uncooperative.—.19/12/2003

Chavez film puts staff at risk, says Amnesty

An award-winnning documentary about the coup last year that briefly ousted the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has become the subject of a bitter dispute. Last week, it was withdrawn from an Amnesty International (AI) film festival because Amnesty staff in Caracas said they feared for their safety if it were shown. The film, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, was made by two Irish film makers, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain. They were preparing a documentary about Mr Chavez, with his cooperation, before the coup and were inside the presidential palace in April 2002 when the events unfolded. By Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles, The Guardian, November 22, 2003.

Amnesty Confirms Violence Fears

Amnesty International (AI) has publicly confirmed that a fear of violence directed at their staff forced the organisation to withdraw 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' from their recent film festival in Vancouver, Canada. In an article in the Guardian newspaper, an Amnesty spokesman said the organisation had been forced to pull the film after staff at their Venezuelan office expressed fears for their safety if the film was screened. Prior to this, Amnesty has received a series of representations alleging that the film had distorted key events. These representations were rejected. The film was only pulled after the safety fears were raised. The Guardian confirmed that the campaign to halt screenings of the film is connected to opponents of the Venezuelan government. By Chavez The Film.com.

Fly Away

A Former White House counterterrorism expert confirms that members of the bin Laden family were allowed to fly out of the country in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Some 140 Saudis left on at least four flights without any FBI exit interviews. It is still a mystery who in the Bush administration arranged the flights. [Source: Reason 11.03]

Feminism vs. Islamism
Emir Sader, Agência Carta Maior, november 14, 2003. A classic debate reaches the Social Forums: are there universal rights that should be respected by everyone, regardless of their habits and cultures? The matter comes to us – it could not be otherwise – through the Islamic world. Read it

Europe reflects the unknown code of globalisation
Marco Weissheimer, Agência Carta Maior, november 13, 2003. While the European Social Forum’s second edition opens, the mainstream media, the Right and some parts of the Left show their inability and refusal to understand the deepest sense of the motto “another world is possible”. Read it

The divides of unified Europe
Emir Sader, Agência Carta Maior, november 12, 2003. The major unknown about the future of Europe is the effect that the growth of so-called “altermondialist” movements will have on an exhausted and aged Left, powerless to defeat the Right wing. Read it

Facility 1391: Israel's Guantanamo
By Jonathan Cook, Le Monde Diplomatique, November 2003. FACILITY 1391, a concrete fortress in central Israel on a rise overlooking a kibbutz, is almost obscured by high walls and fir trees. Two watchtowers give armed guards extensive views of surrounding fields. From the outside it looks like many other police stations built by the British in the 1930s across the Mandate of Palestine. Today many serve as military bases, their location revealed by signposts showing only a number. Read it

Liberators in Iraq?
A recent poll by an Iraq research center showed fewer than 15% of Iraqis see U.S. forces as liberators, down from a tepid 43% six months ago. That's an ominous sign that popular discontent over a prolonged occupation could cause anti-U.S. attacks to snowball. [Source: Ivan Eland, USA Today October 29, 2003]

Our turf, buddy
In Washington D.C., the Senate voted 97-0 for an anti-spam bill to stop those annoying e-mail things you get on your computer. The senators made it really clear. They said, "When you start misleading the American people and start taking money by making false promises, that's our turf buddy." [Source: Jay Leno, The Tonight Show October 27, 2003]

Presidential (Mis)Speak Ads "Deemed Not Appropriate" by Yahoo!
SKANEATELES, New York - October 9, 2003 - After agreeing to a contract with Outland Books to run advertising for the Presidential (Mis)Speak Series, the giant Internet portal, Yahoo!, has decided to pull the ad campaign. A review board made up of Yahoo! "executives and legal representatives" reversed an earlier decision to display the ads. According to Yahoo! representative, Kristen White, the action was taken because the content (on display below) was "Deemed Not Appropriate". Outland was told that the decision was based on a Yahoo! policy not to run politically-oriented advertising. Read it

Baghdad Scrambled to Offer Deal to U.S. as War Loomed
New York Times, November 5, 2003. By James Risen. As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal.

Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct an independent search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections. Read it

Ban Cruel Farms
Animals exploited for meat, milk and eggs are increasingly subjected to inexcusable abuse on industrialized farms. Cattle, pigs, chickens and other animals are genetically altered, crowded and confined in cages where they can barely move, and subjected to cruel mutilations, harsh handling, and inhumane slaughter. Please join Farm Sanctuary and help prevent cruel and irresponsible factory farming practices. Read story here, or visit www.bancruelfarms.org

No New Agreement With The IMF!
Rede Brasil, october, 2003. The Brazil's government is evaluating the possibility of renewing the agreement once again. The Rede Brasil sobre Instituições Financeiras Multilaterais (Brazil Network on Multilateral Financial Institutions) wishes to manifest its opposition to the above mentioned renewal.

We need to escape from this vicious logic. In the period form January to August 2003, notwithstanding our primary surplus of the public sector at almost 5% of the GDP, our nominal deficit reached 5.3%, because payments of interests on the public debt totaled R$ 102.4 billion, 68% more than the payment of interests in the same period of 2002. This amount corresponds to 10.2% of the GDP, or approximately 30% of the tax revenue collected by the three levels of government (Union, states and municipalities).

See the document attached,here
Visit Rede Brasil

For Sale: Iraq

For Sale: A fertile, wealthy country with a population of around 25 million… plus around 150,000 foreign troops, and a handful of puppets. Conditions of sale: should be either an American or British corporation (forget it if you’re French)… preferably affiliated with Halliburton. Please contact one of the members of the Governing Council in Baghdad, Iraq for more information. Read it

Lights, Camera, Exploitation

The Village Voice, August 27 - September 2, 2003. That’s Our Bush! The President’s Re-Election Campaign Kicks Off With a Shameless 9-11 Docudrama, here

A window on the world

The Guardian, August 2, 2003. Western scholars helped justify the war in Iraq, says Edward Said, with their orientalist ideas about the 'Arab mind'. Twenty-five years after the publication of his post-colonial classic, the author of Orientalism argues that humanist understanding is now more urgently required than ever before, here

Oops, Wrong House

July 24, 2003. Sandy Cohen, 85, had just finished taking a shower when Philadelphia police started knocking on her door, clutching a search warrant for drugs. She reached the door just as an explosive device they had planted blew it off its hinges. A SWAT team burst in, pointing their guns at her. Raising her arms, she told them they had the wrong house. One cop simply snarled, "That's what they all say." But after checking the house out, the cops found they had indeed got the wrong one, something neighbors had tried to tell them as they planted the explosives. Taken from here

Road Map to sustainable ethnic cleansing

Edward S. Herman, 4 July, 2003. There are three words or phrases that are not permissible in the U.S. mainstream media in application to the Israel-Palestine conflict: racism, ethnic cleansing and international law. This follows from the deep, deep bias of the media favoring Israel and hostile to the Palestinians. The evidence of Israeli racism is overwhelming, and criticism of that racism is a commonplace in Israel, but it is suppressed here.

Israel is explicitly a "Jewish state", with special rights inhering in Jewishness, including the right to occupy land; it has engaged in a long-term systematic expropriation of Palestinian land and demolitions of Palestinian homes strictly for Jewish-settler benefit; and its occupation has long been characterized by brutal maltreatment of Palestinians, who have been publicly described by Israeli leaders as "lice", "grasshoppers", "two legged animals", and numerous other epithets. Read it

Us Versus Them: Some Lives Seem More Important in the War on Terror

Jay Shaft, Coalition For Free Thought In Media, June 23, 2003. Many innocent lives have been lost recently in Iraq and Afghanistan due to US bombs and weapons. There has been little or no outcry over this. In this article I will examine why it seems American lives are more valued and have more importance. Read it

Fast forward into trouble

Saturday June 14, 2003, The Guardian. Four years ago, Bhutan, the fabled Himalayan Shangri-la, became the last nation on earth to introduce television. Suddenly a culture, barely changed in centuries, was bombarded by 46 cable channels. And all too soon came Bhutan's first crime wave - murder, fraud, drug offences. Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report from a country crash-landing in the 21st century, here

In the coming months a black spot will pop up everywhere . . . on store windows and newspaper boxes, on gas pumps and supermarket shelves. Open a magazine or newspaper - it's there. It's on TV. It stains the logos and smears the nerve centers of the world's biggest, dirtiest corporations.

This is the mark of the people who don't approve of Bush's plan to control the world, who don't want countries "liberated" without UN backing, who can't stand anymore neo-con bravado shoved down their throats.

This is the mark of the people who want the Kyoto Protocol for the environment, who want the International Criminal Court for greater justice, who want a world where all nations, including the U.S.A., are free of weapons of mass destruction, and who pledge to take their country back. Unbrand America

Clash Over Patriot Act
CBS News, June 5, 2003. Critics say the Patriot Act gives federal authorities too much power and want it scaled back. But Attorney General John Ashcroft wants more authority, saying it's necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. Go!

Lula: Another World is (Still) Possible
The Nation, June 4, 2003. In these days of defensive shadow boxing, it's a rare world leader who has something visionary to say. But amidst the pompous rituals of the G-8 summit in Evian, France, Brazilian President Lula da Silva's speech reminds that another world is possible. His proposal to create a global anti-hunger fund, which would be funded by a tax on international arms sales, makes both moral and practical sense.

"Hunger cannot wait," Lula said."My proposal is the creation of a global fund capable of feeding those who are hungry and at the same time creating the conditions to eradicate the structural causes of hunger." He also proposed that richer nations could use a percentage of debt repayments from developing nations to help fund the program. Let's hope that Lula's ideas receive more attention when he comes to DC on June 20th for a meeting with President Bush.

Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil
George Wright, The Guardian, June 4, 2003. Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war. The US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is "swimming" in oil. Go

Americans: What Does it Take to Wake Them Up?
Jay Shaft, Coalition For Free Thought In Media, May 16, 2003. Even confronted with the facts, most Americans still refuse to believe they are being lied to and manipulated. It is so ingrained in our society to believe in our ultimate rightness and god given destiny, that the true facts of our manipulative government is seen as the lie. Even after the facts and the truth come out, the people have heard the falsehoods for so long, the truth just never sinks in. Read it

Stop Media Monopoly
Moveon.org. On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission is planning on authorizing sweeping changes to the American news media. The rule changes could allow your local TV stations, newspaper, radio stations, and cable provider to all be owned by one company. NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox could have the same corporate parent. The resulting concentration of ownership could be deeply destructive to our democracy.

When we talk to Congresspeople about this issue, their response is usually the same: "We only hear from media lobbyists on this. It seems like my constituents aren't very concerned with this issue." A few thousand emails could permanently change that perception. Please join us in asking Congress and the FCC to fight media deregulation. You can also contribute to run TV and print ads highlighting the problems with media deregulation. Stop the FCC

Sign Up for Action Updates
Join our international network of more than 2,000,000 online activists, one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today. Here

Brazil, End Illiteracy or Change Your Flag!
Cristovam Buarque, Brazzil.com. Some say that it is inefficient to spend money on literacy programs for adults who would have little to offer the national economy. First, the 20 million people learning to read and write would become a considerable workforce. Second, it may even be inefficient, but it is decent. Go

Countering a Wave of Hate
By Tim Robbins, April 17, 2003. I had originally been asked here to talk about the war and our current political situation but I have instead chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk about baseball and show business. Just kidding. Sort of. Go

Road Map or Road Kill?
Rashid I. Khalidi, The Nation, May 22, 2003. Apparently having learned nothing from the collapse of earlier efforts, the mainly American drafters of the road map included several features that almost guarantee its failure. Go

Brazil to Say 'No, Thanks' to US
May 19, Brazzil.com. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will veto a proposal being discussed in Congress that would allow the US military to use the Alcântara missile launching base located in the Amazon. According to some, with this accord, Brazilians would lose sovereignty over their territory and get very little in return. Go

I was wrong. Free market trade policies hurt the poor
By Stephen Byers, May 19, 2003, The Guardian. The IMF and World Bank orthodoxy is increasing global poverty. Go

Obscuring Roadblocks to Peace
By Ben Granby, May 20, 2003. How American Media Has Missed the True Threat to Bush's Peace Plan.Go

Firing Back

CBS, May 11, 2003. For most of the past 20 years, Robert Ricker was a top lawyer for the NRA as well as the chief spokesman for the gun industry, which relied on him to argue the industry's position against gun control. Go

Iraq and Beyond
The Nation, March 19, 2003. Go

the ecologist
Blood is Thicker...

Ros Coward reports from Murcia in southern Spain, the driest place in Europe, where tourism and intensive agriculture is draining its meagre water supplies and causing a growing environmental crisis. By Ros Coward, The Ecologist, 1/2/2003.

The Wall Street Fix

By PBS Frontline. A top telecom strategist, Cleland is the founder and CEO of the Precursor Group, a research boutique for institutional investors. He describes the telecom bubble of the late 1990s as "the trillion dollar fib," because he says the telecoms, including WorldCom, knew that they had adopted a wildly inflated premise for measuring growth. But, as he tells FRONTLINE, no one -- not the companies, the investment banks, nor the investors -- had an incentive to burst the bubble. "WorldCom was a gravy train for everyone," he says. "I think the simple thing that we learned about WorldCom is: If it looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true." This interview was conducted by FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith on Jan. 21, 2003. Go!

Chaos and Constitution
Jan-Feb, 2003. With his country teetering on the brink of disaster, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez clings to power - thanks primarily to the passionate support of the nation's poor..Go