January 2012

Articles

• 30 January 2012, by Ben Zala

  From Davos to Dystopia

  Not long ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) found itself in the sights of the global economic justice movement. At the turn of the last century, before anyone was “occupying” public spaces in (...)
• 30 January 2012, by Gustave Massiah

  Reflections on the Current Social Forums Process

  This paper does not intend to provide an exhaustive analysis of the relationship between the processes of the WSF and the changing global situation, rather it will put forward some reflections on (...)
• 30 January 2012, by Chico Whitaker

  New Perspectives in the WSF Process

  The "future of the WSF"- less of its events and most of the process born from it - is a recurring theme in World Social Forums. From 2004 in all its editions there are at least a workshop to (...)
• 30 January 2012, by Stefan Christoff

  Art and Inspiration Meet on Montreal Streets

  In Montreal, art is a key element of the intensely complex collective identity that stretches across this beautiful island city. Today, as Montreal is being celebrated as a centre for cutting (...)
• 30 January 2012, by Pervez Hoodbhoy

  Iran’s Bomb and Pakistan

  The waters of the Persian Gulf heated up sharply after Iran’s announcement last week that it is creating additional uranium enrichment facilities under a mountain, safe from airstrikes. Iran (...)
• 30 January 2012, by Kamal Lahbib

  WSF Process: Challenges and Opportunities

  In July 2011, Chico Whitaker asked that ever-present question, “And what now, for the World Social Forum?” A few months earlier, Gus Massiah had laid out alterglobalization’s twelve Labours of (...)
• 30 January 2012, by Pervez Hoodbhoy

  The Bomb: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan

  Once upon a time Iran was Pakistan’s close ally - probably its closest one. In 1947, Iran was the first to recognise the newly independent Pakistan. In the 1965 war with India, Pakistani fighter (...)
• 17 January 2012, by Frédéric Dubois

  Plan Nord Under the Microscope

  Public involvement in diamond venture ends once gems are found Quebec’s first diamond mine is today being hailed as a model operation by the Quebec government. But a deeper look into what this (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Tamkinat Mirza

  Project Briefings

  Initiative pour un autre monde (IPAM) – Paris, France IPAM is supporting the demonstration for the International Day Against AIDS to take place on Thursday, December 1st at 6:30 at la Bastille, (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Tamkinat Mirza

  Envisioning a Pandemonian North Korea

  The month of December comes yearly as a combination of recollection and rumination over the events of the year, and speculation regarding developments within the next. 2011’s political events (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Michael Reford

  Europe’s Game of Debt

  The year 2011 was one of vast, multifaceted change for Europe. While the unfolding debt crisis dominated news headlines, European citizens were affected by a wide range of issues. They adapted to (...)
• 31 December 2011

  Putin’s grip questioned in the face of public protest

  The Russian legislative elections of December 4, 2011 saw a significant decrease of public support for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. Winning the election with a mere 49.3% (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Wesley Ellis

  The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Shaping the Arab Spring

  2011 has proven to be a volatile year for the Arab world; The death of a single man in the desert sparked regime changes and protests that have authoritarian governments scrambling, and in some (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Tamkinat Mirza

  H5N1: Information Commons vs. Public Safety Concerns

  In the prevalent negotiation between scientific research, moral concerns and government, an all-new controversy has emerged with the findings of two recent studies, with regards to a specific (...)
• 31 December 2011, by The McLeod Group

  CANADA AND MULTILATERALISM: MISSING IN ACTION

  Multilateralism is a word little heard and less understood in today’s political and development discourse in Ottawa. The Conservative government, in practicing a policy of Canada first, uses (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Nancy E. Claridge, Terrance S. Carte

  EFFECT OF ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS ON HUMANITARIAN AID REMAIN A CONCER

  The cost of terrorism has been felt virtually all over the world. In recent years, however, measures adopted to counter terrorism have themselves posed serious challenges to human rights and the (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Marcus Leroy

  ’Value for money’ or ’Results Obsession Disorder’?

  For many decades development aid of western donors has been pretty well shielded from probing questions by the public opinion and politicians. Development aid was, and to some extend still is, (...)
• 31 December 2011, by GWENDOLYN SCHULMAN, ROBERTO NIETO

  Foreign Aid to Mining Firms

  MONTREAL—As excavators, heavy haulers and chemical treatment plants dig made-in-Canada mines around the world, Ottawa has taken new steps to ease growing criticism of Canada’s extractive sector. (...)
• 31 December 2011, by Tamkinat Mirza

  Profile: Adbusters

  On July 13, Vancouver-based activist group AdBusters tweeted a call to Occupy Wall Street, and allegedly sparked the movement that has occupied global attention and public spaces. After the (...)
• 31 December 2011, by FRANCES RUSSELL

  Harper laws for Harper government?

  Is Canada governed by the rule of law — or only by the laws acceptable to the party in power? The difference, obviously, is not mere semantics. It is the difference between democracy and (...)
• 31 December 2011, by MARIA KARI

  Niqab-wearing accuser vs. defendant rights: When Charter freedoms clash

  The tone of the Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday was tense as Justice Morris Fish asked lawyer David Butt to name one lawyer who’d willingly cross-examine a veiled witness. Butt replied "some (...)