The number of lawsuits filed by multinationals against governments is growing globally. It truly shows who controls this world. It’s time for a serious fight-back. Evidence for the prosecution (via the Guardian): Lloyds Banking Group… has become embroiled in a row over its investment in a company accused of involvement in the… rendition… of terror suspects on behalf…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
When if ever will South African Jews not embrace victimhood?
Tragically, many Australian Jews take comfort from this same delusion, almost enjoying imagining it’s 1933. All the time. This piece from a South African newspaper highlights the dilemma and hopes for a much better future: Of all the studies conducted on the position of the Jewish establishment during apartheid, perhaps the most authoritative has been…
Taliban Poetry adds a sonnet or two to tonight’s reading group
Surely the only way to understand Afghanistan is to listen to all voices: A British publisher has defended its decision to release a collection of poems penned by members of the Taliban. The book comprises more than 200 works which centre on insurgents’ experiences during the decade-long conflict and document “the thrill of battle”. A…
Serco Australia loves more refugees because profits are booming
The only people really benefitting from the steady stream of asylum seekers to Australia are the heads of multinational Serco. Sydney’s Sun Herald reports: A surge in asylum seeker boats has delivered an explosion in profits for the private company operating Australia’s detention centres. Serco Australia, a division of a British multinational, enjoyed a 45…
Are only multinationals with bad records able to continually secure contracts?
The global onslaught of vulture capitalists continues space: Giant US military-industrial company Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) is in the running to win a slice of a controversial …£1.5 billion (US$2.43 billion) contract to transform the West Midlands and Surrey police forces in Britain, The (London) Times reported.… Hailed as the largest police privatization scheme…
Lest we forget that journalists are threatened and must be protected
The latest report by Reporters Without Borders finds the ever-increasing numbers of journalists being murdered around the world. It is therefore the responsibility of reporters who work in challenging environments – and that includes me, who’s just returned from Pakistan and Afghanistan and needs to become more familiar with protecting sources who work in dangerous…
Knowing it’s apartheid in Palestine but being too afraid to say it
In a positive review of Peter Beinart’s book The Crisis of Zionism in Rolling Stone, this telling quote: Another anonymous source is a “senior State Department official,” who recently traveled with Secretary Clinton from Jerusalem to Ramallah in the West Bank: “There was a kind of silence and people were careful, but it was like,…
The amazing struggles of Chen Guangcheng
A truly remarkable story that reads like a thriller but reveals a dark side of Chinese repression that we should never forget. The New York Times reports: Injuries suffered in the course of a daring nighttime escape. A covert appeal from underground activists to top State Department officials for humanitarian protection. A car chase through…
Assange interviews Tunisia’s first post-revolution leader
Following two weeks of intriguing interviews, this week’s episode of The World Tomorrow features… Moncef Marzouki. The role of democracy in post-dictatorships is raised and how to transform a nation after years living under repression. The fact that such a man is rarely seen or heard in the Western media shames us all, considering Tunisia was…