Alternatives International Journal

Articles

• 2 June 2010, by Hassan Diab Support Committee

  Bad Times for the Good Doctor

  Dr. Hassan Diab is a sociology professor and a law-abiding Canadian citizen of Lebanese descent who lives in Ottawa. Until shortly before October, 2007, Hassan enjoyed an engaged and productive (…)
• 2 June 2010, by Frédéric Dubois

  Shooting Film, Not Guns

  The main take-home lesson in the film is that “instead of carrying guns, children can learn to carry cameras,” says Mohammed Chaloob. On a windy afternoon, two weeks ago, the GDP web (…)
• 1 April 2010, by Michael Ryan Wiseman

  ’Tis not too late

  Greetings Dear Reader, Welcome back to the Alternatives International Journal, as it rubs its eyes gingerly, throws its arms in the air and arches its back to get some kinks and an exaggerated (…)
• 1 April 2010, by Ezra Winton

  An Art-Changing World: Stories from Art Threat

  Myself and the other editors at Art Threat, a media outlet devoted solely to political art and cultural policy, are very excited to be collaborating with Alternatives. Each month I will, with the (…)
• 1 April 2010, by Fraser Reilly-King and Abdallah Khazaal

  The Robin Hood Tax

  T-A-X. Such a simple three letter word, and yet it elicits responses from people out of all proportion to its size. Perhaps it isn’t surprising. Taxes are scary. But let’s not forget, as much (…)
• 1 April 2010, by Vanessa Gordon

  The Reality of Canadian Official Development Assistance

  On 8 September 2000, following a three day Millennium Summit of world leaders at the headquarters of the United Nations, the General Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration of (…)
• 1 April 2010, by IRIN

  GLOBAL: Recession boosts donor transparency

  The global financial crisis has catalysed increasing transparency and accountability regarding public finances, say aid experts, which has helped open up disclosures on aid-giving. 

 Karin (…)
• 1 April 2010, by GRAIN

  Land grabbing in Latin America

  Right now communities in Latin America, as around the world, are suffering a new kind of invasion of their territories. These invaders are not the descendants of the European conquistadores, (…)
• 1 April 2010, by Sue Sturgis

  Southern Rice

  As in so many countries throughout the world, an important staple of the Haitian diet is rice, first brought by slaves from West Africa and cultivated on the Caribbean island nation for hundreds (…)
• 1 April 2010, by David Widgington

  Election Ballots Printed by Sudan’s Currency Printer Controversial

  Sudan’s first elections in 24 years are set to begin in less than 22 days. And not without major controversy. The logistical challenges faced by Sudan’s National Election Commission (NEC) and (…)
• 1 April 2010, by Jaggi Singh

  Counterpoint: In support of Israeli Apartheid week

  This week, for the sixth year in a row, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) events are taking place on campuses and communities across Canada and worldwide. It’s also during this week that Conservative (…)
• 9 November 2009, by Jeremy Wildeman

  Life in a Refugee Camp

  Life is never easy growing up in a refugee camp. It is a life of poverty, limited access to education, lack of access to sporting or recreational facilities and few opportunities. Hopelessness (…)
• 9 November 2009, by James K. Galbraith

  The Economic Crisis and Obama’s Response- Part 2 of 2

  The Obama administration’s bank bailout may work to save the major banking institutions. But there are two problems. One is that there is no reason why we should have, over the next several (…)
• 9 November 2009, by Achin Vanaik

  Israel and India, Zionism and Hindutva

  It was after the Cold War that the Indian establishment’s attitude to Palestine could not escape the impact of the overall lurch rightwards of the centre of gravity of the Indian polity. At home (…)
• 9 November 2009, by Pepe Escobar

  The US Arc of Instability

  The New Great Game is not only focused on the face-off between the United States and its strategic competitors Russia and China, with Pipeline-istan as a defining element. The Full Spectrum (…)
• 9 November 2009, by Vinod Raina

  The Bhopal Disaster

  On the 3rd of December 1984, 40 tonnes of toxic gases escaped from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The result was catastrophic. 3,000 people— men, women, and children— were (…)
• 9 November 2009, by Michael Ryan Wiseman

  Hunting for Gatherers

  For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was (…)
• 9 November 2009, by Ramzy Baroud

  Goldstone

  “We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the era of impunity,” Nadia Hijab, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Palestine Studies, was quoted by IPS in response to the (…)
• 1 September 2009, by Émilie Couture-Brière

  A renewed commitment for the Non-Aligned Movement

  The article entitled "The Non-Aligned Movement: Renewed Relevance in a Time of Crisis" published by the agency Share the world’s resources discusses the July 15, 2009 Summit held in Sharm (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Michael Ryan Wiseman

  Another Day Will Come

  The AIJ’s MR Wiseman recently summoned the ghosts of bards-past to wax poetic with Remi Kanazi, editor of Poets For Palestine (Al Jisser, 2008), a collection of old- and new-school poetry and (…)
• 21 July 2009, by James K. Galbraith

  The Economic Crisis and Obama’s Response

  It is a relief to have a new Administration, to be at the start of a new government rather than at the end of one, and to have a President with the talent of President Obama and with the public (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Marie-Adele Cassola

  On the Roma Again

  During an official visit to the Czech Republic in May, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that the rising number of refugee claimants coming to Canada from that country presented a (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Michael Ryan Wiseman

  Impressionist Journalism

  I impersonated a journalist at two events of citizen-driven activism and the following is my impression of the proceedings as the mucous of apathy and cirrostrati of lassitude that quotidianly (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Nachammai Raman

  A History of Violence

  The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were a fearsome force that controlled a third of Sri Lanka at their peak. They ran a de facto state with their own air force, navy, and infantry. In (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Muriuki Mureithi

  The Rise of the (fallen) Machines

  Moore’s Law, meet Murphy’s. E-waste is an unknown phenomenon hardly making the headlines, but with the increasing volumes of e-waste generated and the poor means of disposal, it is a disaster (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Judy REBICK

  Protests and the Global City

  One-Way Traffic. Over the last months in Toronto and Montreal, we have experienced the global city as never before. The Tamil community, about 250,000 strong by some accounts, has been (…)
• 21 July 2009, by Pınar Hoşafçı

  Let My People Go

  SOS Esclaves (SOS Slaves), a Mauritanian NGO run by the son of slaves, received this year’s Anti Slavery International Award. “I, for my part, together with a number of my friends realized that (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Michael Ryan Wiseman

  If You Think In Terms Of A Year, Plant A Seed

  Ohh, seed money. I only caught the first part. I have never understood why people make such a production about birthdays. On the face of it they are utterly meaningless, mere symbols; (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Herbert Jauch

  Kind of a BIG Deal

  Namibia, a vast country inhabited by two million people, is one of the smaller economies in Southern Africa. It adopted a market-based economic system after achieving independence from (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Myriam Cloutier

  The Little Engine That Couldn’t

  Quick, send in the clowns. Don’t bother, they’re here. Railway Privatization in Senegal and Mali More than five years after the management of the railway connecting Dakar, the capital of (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Sally Richmond

  Balancing The Scales

  Rather than getting squeezed by conventional trade, thousands of artisans and farmers around the world will have enough money to provide their families with food, shelter, education, and (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Ceyda Turan

  Not Another Brick in the Wall

  Class in session: Sakena Yacoobi drops some knowledge— and inspiration—on the IHSP. Sakena Yacoobi founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), in 1995 to “help address the problem of (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Bruce Campbell

  The ’O9 Canadian Government Herring

  Rust-Proofing Optional It is now abundantly clear that Canada and the world is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. However, a sense of premature Hoover-type (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Ali Chabuk

  You Can Never Go Home Again

  The Crimean Tatars are a Turkic people who inhabited the Crimean peninsula— now a part of Ukraine— for over seven centuries. They established their own Khanate in the 1440s and remained an (…)
• 4 June 2009, by Michael Ryan Wiseman

  :Peruvian Graffiti

  AIJ’s MR Wiseman recently read the handwriting on the wall. It belonged to artist-at-large :Peru. For a free trip, go to www.peru143.com and explore all of his creations. Your most recent (…)
• 7 December 2007, by Émilie Couture-Brière

  Controversy surrounding the emission trading system

  All countries signing the Kyoto Protocol have agreed, emissions of polluting gases in the atmosphere must be reduced. To facilitate this process and, thereby, achieve emission reduction targets, (…)