Johannesburg, 11 March 2010 (IRIN) — Most food crop cultivation in Africa is rain-fed, but climate change is affecting vital rainfall patterns and pushing up temperatures, diminishing yields that could halve in some countries by 2020. This warning has been widely quoted since it first appeared in a synthesis report for policy-makers in 2007 by […]
Subjects Archives: Media
Media, Communications, and Literature
Iranican Census 2010
“Census forms are being mailed to all Americans this month so make sure to fill yours out. Iranian-Americans are asked to mark ‘other’ on question 9 and write in Iranian or Iranian-American. (I’m told that the FBI does not get these forms, but please let me know if you do end up getting deported […]
“Conspiracy” Science: Mass Media and the Conservative Backlash on Global Warming
On March 2, the New York Times ran a story informing readers of recent “controversies” related to global warming. The story chronicled the efforts of scientists affiliated with the United Nations Climate Panel and other major research institutions to answer the claims of conservatives who suggest there is a conspiracy to hide the “debate” over […]
Poverty Reduction in China and India: Policy Implications of Recent Trends
China and India are generally regarded as the two large countries in the developing world that are the “success stories” of globalisation. This success has been defined by the high and sustained rates of growth of aggregate and per capita national income; and the substantial reduction in income poverty. Further, both China and India are […]
Spring Thunder Anew
The white man called you Bhagat Singh that day, The black man calls you Naxalite today. But everyone will call you the morning star tomorrow. — Excerpt from the Telugu poem ‘Final Journey: First Victory’ by Sri Sri 1 It has been a long and tortuous route. Forty-three years ago, a group of Maoist […]
Interview with Juan Goytisolo: “No One Emerges Unscathed from an Encounter with Genet”
The Barcelona-born writer recalls his intense relationship with one of his “greatest literary idols.” Juan Goytisolo has just published Genet en el Raval (Genet in El Raval, Barcelona: Galaxia Gutenberg/Círculo de lectores, 2009), a chronicle of a literary as well as emotional friendship. The Barcelona-born writer met the poet Jean Genet (1910-1986), one of […]
“Powerful Interests Are behind the Cyber-Dissidence of Yoani Sánchez”
Interview with Salim Lamrani, French professor, writer, and journalist, specialist on the relationship between Cuba and the U.S., and author of the recently published book Cuba. Ce que les médias ne vous diront jamais (Paris: Editions Estrella, 2009). You have just published a new book about the treatment the communications media give to Cuba. […]
Cuba, the Corporate Media, and the Suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo
On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on the front page and emphasized the plight of Cuban prisoners.1 Zapata’s […]
Leading Iranian News Website Editors Appeal to Western Journalists
Dear Colleague, Eight months after the June 12 presidential elections in Iran, coverage by Western media like yours prompts us to pose the following questions based on common standards of journalism. 1. Most journalists who travel to Iran stay at hotels located in affluent north Tehran, but you convey their observations as “demands of the […]
All Out March 4 in Defense of Public Education!
The U.S. ruling class and its political representatives at all levels have launched an all-out assault on public education. While disparate elements of this campaign have been in place for the past three or four decades, we are today seeing a confluence and culmination of these trends, orchestrated by President Obama and his Education secretary […]
Theism and Atheism
Even though Catholics and Protestants are nowadays both on the defensive, theism is again becoming an actual force in the period of its decline. This follows from the very meaning of “atheism.” Only those who used “atheism” as a term of abuse meant by it the exact opposite of religion. Those who professed themselves […]
A Dream
In a deserted place in Iran there is a stone tower, not very high, without any door or windows. In its only room (whose floor is dirt and whose shape is a circle) are a wooden table and a bench. In this circular cell, a man who looks like me is writing, in letters […]
Indigenous Struggles in the Americas: Interview with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a writer, teacher, historian, and social activist, is Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies at California State University. You have been deeply involved in Indigenous peoples’ activism in the United States. What is the current situation of Indigenous people in the US economically and politically? Decolonization is a difficult and long-term […]
In the Tropical Forests of Sumatra: Notes from Climate Change “Ground Zero”
Introduction by Geoffrey Gunn It is probably a cliché to observe that tropical rain forests host the greatest known concentrations of bio-diversity on the planet. Together, the three great global equatorial biozones are central Africa, the Amazon basin, and the Indonesian archipelago, including southern Sumatra Island, and the even more remote tin-rich offshore island of […]
Do I Look Rich? Student Voices on Fee Hikes in California
For more information about the education crisis and the 4 March 2010 strike and day of action to defend public education in California, go to <checkingeducation.com>, <defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com/>, or <www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184333923808>. | | Print
The Rose and the Mignonette
For Gabriel Péri and d’Estiennes d’Orves, as well as Guy Moquet and Gilbert Dru The one who believed in heaven The one who didn’t Both loved a beauty Imprisoned by soldiers Which climbed the ladder? Which stood guard below? The one who believed in heaven? The one who didn’t? What matters the name of […]
Zionism Laid Bare
The essential point of M. Shahid Alam‘s book, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, comes clear upon opening the book to the inscription in the frontispiece. From the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, the quote reads, “You have the light, but you have no humanity. Seek humanity, for that is the goal.” Alam, […]
Remembering Howard Zinn
I studied with Howard Zinn at Boston University. He was my dissertation advisor, mentor, friend, tennis partner and a pillar of support for me during the eight grueling years when I fought a civil rights battle with Harvard University. Zinn’s passage is a great loss to all who knew him directly or indirectly, including the […]
Kids Love Peace + Outdoors
Kids Love Peace Outdoors ICY and SOT are artists in Tabriz, Iran. More videos by ICY and SOT may be viewed at <vimeo.com/icyandsot>. | | Print
In Memory of Alistair Hulett, Scottish Singer and Socialist
Today is my daughter Leila’s fourth birthday, and while this occasion brings my thoughts back to the day she was born, the past 24 hours have otherwise been full of fairly devastating news. If the left can admit to having icons, then two of them have just died. Yesterday it was the great historian […]
