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2011
Articles
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1 July 2011, by Isabelle Reford,
Melissa Wils-Owens
Alternatives International Project Briefing - July 2011
Each of the nine member organizations of the Alternatives International federation is constantly at work on a variety of projects to improve social, economic and environmental justice in their (...) -
1 July 2011, by Wendy Papakostandini
Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights
On the surface, reproductive rights do not seem particularly pressing. More often than not, they are swept under the rug, and rarely are they equated with human rights. I argue however that the (...) -
1 July 2011, by Nitasha Moothoo-Padayachie
Gendercide in India: the patriarchy of birth
Gendercide, as coined by Mary Ann Warren in her1985 book, is viewed as a product of poverty or ignorance. This article will help demonstrate that the issue of gendercide is not class or (...) -
1 July 2011, by Anna Lekas Miller
Moroccan Monarchy in the Arab Spring
Like many Arab revolutionaries before him, including Mohammad Bouazizi of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, Oussama Khlefi is young, highly educated, and unable to find work. He has a dual degree in (...) -
1 July 2011, by Jason Leung
Hope for an HIV/AIDS Vaccine
Around the world, HIV/AIDS is a pandemic that is identified as having a devastating effect on all aspects of life, from entire populations to individuals. June 2011 marks the thirtieth (...) -
1 July 2011, by Salma Moolji
The Brazilian Surge for Hydroelectricity at Belo Monte: A Beautiful Mountain of Trouble
Thirty years ago, a Brazilian indigenous group, the Kayapo, burst onto the world stage in full colour, with feather headdresses, painted faces, disked upper lips and the singer Sting by their (...) -
30 June 2011, by Kevin Kaczmara
Decentralizing the Effects of the Earthquake in Japan
While natural disasters are intrinsically unavoidable, the aftermath of such catastrophes is, to an extent, predetermined by a country’s stage of development. As far as the unofficial hierarchy (...) -
30 June 2011, by Geneviève Lavoie-Mathieu
Like Fish Out of Water: India’s Landless Farmers
The Kondh area of central-southwest Orissa and neighbouring states is one of the most abundant areas in high quality bauxite. This has fueled a new wave of mining and metal factory based (...) -
30 June 2011, by Liza Ponomarenko
A Lesson to Be Learned from India’s Failing Microfinance
Microcredit, microfinance, and microlending are synonymously used to describe the trend policy makers attribute to significant reductions in poverty. Essentially, microfinance programs use (...) -
30 June 2011, by Siddharth Varadarajan
India’s Stake in Africa’s Future
A spectre is haunting Europe and America, home to the colonialists and cold warriors of yesterday, the spectre of an Africa—which they ruled and exploited for a century-and-a-half—now coming (...) -
30 June 2011, by Patrick Bond
Gaza: A View From the Ground A South African Perspective
Here in Palestine, disgust expressed by civil society reformers about Barack Obama’s May 19 policy speech on the Middle East and North Africa confirms that political reconciliation between (...) -
30 June 2011, by Alternative Information Center
Activists in Israel Reject German Party’s Position
The German left-wing party Die Linke issued a shocking statement on 7 June 2011, stating that “We will not participate in initiatives on the Middle East conflict which call for a one-state (...) -
1 June 2011, by Salma Moolji
Panama’s Open-Pit Crisis: The Indigenous Struggle Against Mining
Dawn cracks with the swift motion of clouds cresting over the peaks of Panama’s rolling cordillera. It is six am; the roosters are already crowing and the children, already crying in the (...) -
1 June 2011, by Nitasha Moothoo-Padayachie
Gender Mainstreaming in the South African Public Service
In 1995, the mainstreaming of gender was identified as a key process for instituting change to the new South African democracy. South Africa ratified the Beijing Platform for Action, an agenda (...) -
1 June 2011, by Liza Ponomarenko
Environmental Health in China: Poised in Ambiguity
A rapidly industrializing nation, the Peoples Republic of China is simultaneously lagging and leading in the field of environmental health, which specifically addresses the physical, chemical, (...) -
1 June 2011, by Geneviève Lavoie-Mathieu
The Controversy of Land Acquisition in the Developing World
Global food prices soared dramatically between 2006 and 2008 and again in 2010, which signals a new era of uncertainty and rivalry in the field of global arable land. Lack of arable land and (...) -
1 June 2011, by Davide Mastracci
Drugs & Justice
In the last couple of weeks the outcry aimed at the war on drugs in Mexico has been massive, with tens of thousands descending upon the streets of Mexico City in protest. The desire amongst the (...) -
1 June 2011, by Erin Hudson
Anti-homosexuality and Africa
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill came to life in 2009. Since then, campaigns for the passage of the bill and against homosexuality have occurred throughout Uganda as have protests against the (...) -
1 June 2011, by Wendy Papakostandini
Death of Democracy in India, Birth of Censorship
“What are we, Saudi Arabia?” asks Pushkar Raj, the general secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties in India. He adds, “We don’t expect this from India. This is something very (...) -
1 June 2011, by Michelle Craig and Steve Richter
The Fate of Montreal’s Community Gardens
The survival of the community garden known as Faubourg Saint-Laurent is at risk and the city of Montreal has a choice to make: preserve the garden or turn the land over to high-rise residential (...) -
1 June 2011, by John Riddell
How to Evaluate Progress in Bolivia
Six years after Bolivians elected their first Indigenous-led government, their ongoing struggle for national and social liberation remains a subject of debate and disagreement among socialists (...) -
1 June 2011, by Raïsa Mirza
Agricultural Livelihoods in Rwanda
Land is the resource upon which many Rwandans rely for their livelihood. The stakeholders in modern day agriculture are numerous. Farmers, co-operatives, NGOs, corporations and governments all (...) -
1 June 2011, by Nassar Ibrahim
Palestinian Reconciliation: Conditions Required for Success
The signing of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement is just the beginning of the internal reconciliation process on the national, political, strategic and tactical levels. Nassar Ibrahim (...) -
1 June 2011, by Isabelle Reford
Structural Adjustment at the IMF. Literally.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 187 member countries. The purpose of the fund is to promote the macroeconomic stability of the world economy by lending resources to (...) -
1 June 2011, by Isabelle Reford,
Melissa Wils-Owens
Alternatives International Project Briefing – June 2011
Each of the nine member organizations of the Alternatives International federation is constantly at work on a variety of projects to improve social, economic and environmental justice in their (...) -
1 June 2011, by Kevin Kaczmara
The Search for a Socialist Smartphone
It may take several more years before the average citizen of Cuba, a self-proclaimed socialist country, faces consumer decisions as critical as choosing between a BlackBerry and an iPhone. If (...) -
11 May 2011, by Mostafa Henaway
Students, labour, academics: Growing Pan-Canadian solidarity with Palestine
A series of developments and initiatives across Canada and Quebec underline the growing concern on and around Canadian campuses for issues relating to Palestine and in particular, around (...) -
10 May 2011, by Noam Chomsky
My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death
We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. It’s increasingly clear that (...) -
29 April 2011, by Nick Buxton
The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia’s historic bill
Indigenous and campesino (small-scale farmer) movements in the Andean nation of Bolivia are on the verge of pushing through one of the most radical environmental bills in global history. The (...) -
26 April 2011, by Elizabeth Peredo Beltran
Some Reflections On The Way From Cochabamba To Durban
There is a rebellious movement growing across the planet protesting the unfair impacts of climate change and environmental crisis. A global intuition was being formed on the real causes of (...) -
26 April 2011, by John Riddell
Montreal Meeting Shows Growing Support for Climate Justice
Conference organizer: “This is the first chance in twenty years for such a political discussion embracing forces from both Quebec and [English] Canada” Bolivia marked Earth Day (April 22) (...) -
19 April 2011, by Christian Nadeau
We are not alone: Resistance before and after the elections
Since the publication of my book Rogue in Power, I have called the attention of my readers to two main points. First, I wanted to underline the significance of a mass vote against the (...) -
14 April 2011, by Nipa Banerjee
LETTER FROM KABUL
I board a plane from Frankfurt, bound for Dubai on the way to one of my innumerable trips to Afghanistan. I muse about my journey over the years in the land of the Kabuliwallahs, the fruits and (...) -
5 April 2011, by Stefan Christoff
Elections 2011 and criminalization of dissent
As election ads fill the airwaves and campaign buses travel Canada’s thawing highways over the next month, the national media-driven debate has shifted toward the possibility of the (...) -
15 March 2011, by Michael Ryan Wiseman
Then fall, Caesar
“Beware the ides of March.” And with these words the soothsayers stop soothing. This is not good news— not for a Caesar, a dictator, a self-styled demigod. Hope, ever last into the casket, (...) -
15 March 2011, by Horace CAMPBELL
Saluting the revolutionary women of Egypt
Honouring the struggles of women all over the world against patriarchy and oppression in the week of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Horace Campbell focuses on the (...) -
15 March 2011, by Juan Cole
King’s Nixonian Hearings against American Muslims
Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY)’s hearings on the alleged ‘radicalization’ of American Muslims are an affront to the brave Middle Eastern Muslims who have, during the past two months, thrown off (...) -
15 March 2011, by Marcus Tan de Bibiana
An Awakened Journey
Manoeuvring through the colourful and busy neighbourhood blocks of Tamale is like stumbling through a marketplace without knowing what exactly you came for; there is something electrifying about (...) -
15 March 2011, by Michael Lithgow
ART THREAT !!!
When Banksy offered to pay $133,000 US to get artists Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev out of a Russian jail, the local court said “nyet!”. But Russians charged with murder are routinely (...) -
15 March 2011, by Salima Punjani
Reversing Stereotypes
December saw the end of the incredibly successful first annual Addis Ababa Foto Festival (AFF), but the creative momentum sparked by the festival is omnipresent. AFF was organized by Ethiopian (...) -
15 March 2011, by Joel Balsam
Spinning Classes
Carefully placed on a round table in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans lay a number of special edition Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly (GA) Ha’aretz (...) -
15 March 2011, by Barbara Legault
ReBELLEs
In October 2008, under the theme of Toujours RebELLES — Waves of Resistance, 500 young feminists, aged fourteen to thirty-five, from all regions of Canada and Québec gathered in Montreal. What (...) -
14 March 2011, by Robert Fisk
Palestinians Understand Gaddafi Better Than We Do
To Beirut. Storms. Heavy rain. Seas sweeping over the little port by my home. A meeting with a close friend of a son of Gaddafi. "He wants a battle, habibi, he wants a battle. He wants to be the (...) -
14 March 2011, by Rob Rainer
Charities Should Not Be Politically Muzzled
The freedom of expression of Canada’s 80,000-plus charities is being unfairly restricted. According to the Income Tax Act (ITA) and a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) policy, if a charity spends (...) -
28 February 2011, by Michel LAMBERT
Alternatives Attacked!
It is with these two words that I began my day yesterday. Alternatives is once again the target of a report in the media, this time via the plume of an obscure professor at the HEC de Montréal. (...) -
23 February 2011, by Feroz MEHDI
World Social Forum: 10th Anniversary
Senegal welcomed the world this month, as 75,000 people representing local and international progressive movements and organizations came to Dakar from over 130 countries. Contrary to what (...) -
23 February 2011, by Connie Hackbarth
Israel Bars AIC, Independent Journalists from Jerusalem Press Conference with Chilean Miners
Israeli authorities barred entrance to representatives of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) and independent news sources from a press conference being held in West Jerusalem with the (...) -
16 February 2011, by World Assembly of Social Movements
Final Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly
As the Social Movements Assembly of the World Social Forum of Dakar, 2011, we are gathered here to affirm the fundamental contribution of Africa and its peoples in the construction of human (...) -
16 February 2011, by Patrick Bond
From Cairo to Dakar to Durban, Another World Actually Is Possible!
Last week’s World Social Forum (WSF) in Dakar, Senegal, ended up riotously happy thanks to the eviction of a universally-hated Egyptian Pharoah, after near-debilitating logistical disasters at (...) -
16 February 2011, by Feroz MEHDI
Palestine at the World Social Forum 2011
In the plenary concluding session of the World Education Forum in Ramallah on October 31, 2010 it was decided to hold a thematic forum “World Forum in Solidarity with Palestine” sometimes in (...)