PEACE JOURNALISM PERSPECTIVE
EDITORIAL
The Human Rights: A Permanent Challenge
Johan Galtung, 15 Feb 2016 - TRANSCEND Media Service
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 was edited by a committee of Men; Older, White, Bourgeois, Lawyers, French. Nothing about women’s and children’s rights. There are no rights to access to toilet, nor to sexuality: well- mannered bourgeois do such things but do not talk-write about it.
OTHER COMMENTARIES
BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS
Overview of Physicists’ Public Declarations against Nuclear Weapons -The Cold War Period
Antonino Drago and Nanni Salio – TRANSCEND Media Service
Abstract: The present paper analyses the public declarations which, after the dramatic crisis caused to the participation to the Manhattan Project, (mainly groups of) physicists have released during the Cold War period against nuclear weapons.
Optimism of the Will – Critics of Israel Are Antisemitic by Definition
Uri Avnery – TRANSCEND Media Service
So now we have another anti-Semite. His name is Ban Ki-moon, and he is the Secretary General of the UN. In practice, the highest international official, a kind of World Prime Minister. He has dared to criticize the Israeli government, as well as the Palestinian Authority, for sabotaging the peace process, and thereby making Israeli-Palestinian peace almost impossible.
An Open Letter to Ban Ki-moon
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service
We need all to realize what else should not be tolerated: while the Palestinian flag flies outside UN Headquarters, the Palestinian people have lived for almost 70 years under the daily brutalities of occupation, refugee camps, Gazan captivity, and involuntary exile. Can you bring yourself to call this ordeal ‘intolerable’? Then at least you could leave your UN post with a feeling that when your career was no longer in jeopardy you spoke truth to power.
Preserve Do-No-Harm for Military Psychologists: Coalition Responds to Department of Defense Letter to the APA
Roy Eidelson – TRANSCEND Media Service
The Department of Defense is now seeking to undo the changes required by the policy and undermine the American Psychological Association’s determination that the work of psychologists in national security settings must be consistent with international human rights law.
NONVIOLENCE
Gandhi: A Symbol of Peace, Harmony and Joy
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service
Mahatma Gandhi was a man of peace both in his lifetime and death. 30th January is observed as Gandhi’s day of martyrdom since he was assassinated in New Delhi on this date in 1948 by a fanatic who felt that Gandhi was working against the Hindu faith.
ACTIVISM
Protesters Force Auckland Standstill as TPP Is Signed
Popular Resistance – TRANSCEND Media Service
4 Feb 2016 – Central Auckland has been paralysed by thousands of protesters expressing their feeling towards the ultra-controversial Trans Pacific Partnership deal.
IN FOCUS
Notes from Tehran: Trump, the Iranian Elections and the End of Sanctions
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service
Iranians will vote in twin elections for the Iranian parliament and to elect a more powerful separate body known as the Assembly of Experts. And yes, The Donald is now a factor in both of those Iranian elections.
AFRICA
Thirty States Ratify Establishment of African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
African Union – Human Wrongs Watch
Chad becomes 30th AU Member State to ratify the Protocol on the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
ANGLO AMERICA
The Enduring Solidarity of Whiteness
Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Atlantic
Black poverty is fundamentally distinct from white poverty—and so cannot be addressed without grappling with racism.
ABC’s of the US Empire
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
“A” Is for “Asininity”
That’s a particular kind of stupidity.
WAAAHHHH…but we don’t wanna get arrested!!
Mike Ferner, PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service
As the macho, gun-toting, testosterone-addled cowboys who took over the wildlife refuge in Oregon call it quits, their pitiful whine can be heard all the way to Florida: “Waaahhh…but we don’t wanna get arrested…” Seems they could use a few lessons in toughness from nonviolent peace and justice activists.
ASIA & THE PACIFIC
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after Earthquake and Its Impact on Education in Nepal
Shree Prasad Devkota and Shiba Bagale – TRANSCEND Media Service
The devastating earthquake has not only destroyed the physical infrastructure but also damaged the mental setting of the Nepalese people. More than 8500 people are dead, more than 16,000 are injured, more than 5 lakhs houses are damaged and destroyed. Many school buildings are destroyed; many students and teachers have lost their lives. Many have lost their houses, friends, many are missing.
BRICS
China: One Belt, One Road
Gen. Qiao Liang – Heartland-Eurasian Review of Geopolitics
The document casts a light on China’s new strategic thinking. Beijing’s biggest challenge is not geopolitical but economic. This derives from a cold and cruel analysis of US behavior since 1944, the time of the Bretton Woods agreement, and more importantly since 1971, with the dollar decoupling from gold, and 1973 with the US imposing the use of the petro-dollar.
EUROPE
7 Years in Greece – 16 Years of Crisis
André Maia, EmbassyNews – TRANSCEND Media Service
Having experienced the crisis twice, I think the Greeks are really brave. I admire them and I want to continue living in Greece. This country gave me space to create, to develop my artistic soul and I´m truly thankful for that. I feel at home!
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
Research Paper: ISIS-Turkey Links
David L. Phillips – Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights
Is Turkey collaborating with the Islamic State (ISIS)? Allegations range from military cooperation and weapons transfers to logistical support, financial assistance, and the provision of medical services. It is also alleged that Turkey turned a blind eye to ISIS attacks against Kobani.
SYRIA IN DEPTH
You Have Now Landed in Geneva, Syria
Pepe Escobar – Russia Today
The alleged Syrian peace process now enters its Geneva charade stage. This could last months; get ready for lavish doses of posturing and bluster capable of stunning even Donald Trump… Geneva? That’s for tourists; the capital of the Syrian horror show is now Jarabulus.
Why Is Trauma Missing from Syria Refugee Debate?
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service
The president of the German Chamber of Psychotherapists, which carried out the research, said that more than 70 per cent of the refugees had witnessed violence and more than 50 per cent were themselves victims of violence. Nearly half of them have nightmares and flashbacks as if their terrible ordeals “were happening all over again”.
Restructuring Rather Than Dividing Syria
Ghassan Michel Rubeiz – The Arab Daily News
8 Feb 2016 – Syrians are no longer in charge of their future; outsiders seem to be. The threat to divide Syria, as a solution, is tempting but fatal. Syria ought to be restructured and “reinvented” to allow healing and gradual reunification.
THE UNITED NATIONS
UN Calls for Summit Forum on Refugees and Migrants: Role of NGO in Its Preparation
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service
The role of non-governmental organizations is to remind constantly Government representatives of the seriousness of the issues and for the need for collective action. National NGOs can highlight local conditions and thus provide information to the international NGOs in consultative status with the UN who will be at the Summit in New York.
TRADE
The Predators behind the TPP
Karel Van Wolferen – The Japan Times
If signed and ratified, the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic agreements, which seek to organize business activity under one gigantic umbrella of new rules, are likely to change our living environment in ways very different from what elected officials have been misled to imagine.
CAPITALISM
Morgan Stanley to Pay $3.2 Billion over Contributors to ’08 Crisis
Michael Virtanen, Associated Press – Reader Supported News
Morgan Stanley will pay $3.2 billion in a settlement over bank practices that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, including misrepresentations about the value of mortgage-backed securities, authorities announced Thursday [11 Feb 2016].
SOCIALISM / MARXISM
The Case for Radical Modernity
Jeremy Gilbert – Popular Resistance
The left should embrace technological innovation and new class alliances as part of a strategy for 21st-century socialism.
REVIEWS
“Where to Invade Next” Is the Most Subversive Movie Michael Moore Has Ever Made
Jon Schwarz – The Intercept
On its surface, Where to Invade Next seems to be a cheerful travelogue as Moore enjoys an extended vacation, “invading” a passel of European countries plus Tunisia to steal their best ideas and bring them back home to America.
Waiting for Rainbows
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service
Below is the cover of my recently published book of poems that can be obtained from Amazon. I have received some inquiries, and although I have been writing poems for the past 60 years, I have never gathered the courage to publish them in one place before.
SCIENCE
Astronomers Detect Gravitational Waves Predicted by Einstein
Will Morrow, WSWS – TRANSCEND Media Service
12 Feb 2016 – Astronomers from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Collaboration have published the first detection of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space and time. The announcement comes almost exactly a century after Albert Einstein, in mid-1916, predicted the existence of the waves on the basis of his Theory of General Relativity.
TECHNOLOGY
‘Internet of Things’ an Absolute Goldmine for Big Brother, Admits Top US Spy
Jon Queally – Common Dreams
DNI James Clappers acknowledges “intelligence services might use the [web-connected home devices] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment.”
EDUCATION
Total Education for Good Governance and Peace: The Role of Youth
Surya Nath Prasad, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
Education in all and education for all is a must for good governance and peace. Education in all means education in all the five elements (viz. body, vitality, mind, intellect and spirit). Education for all means all men and women, young and old, rich and poor leaving none.
HISTORY
This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service
Feb 15-21 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.” – Johnny Carson
SEXUALITIES
New Hope for India’s Gay-Rights Movement
Chandrahas Choudhury – Al Jazeera
Two decades of spirited debate has had its effect across the board. Indian thinking on gay rights may still lean towards the conventional, but it is no longer static, and when it becomes overly shrill or self-righteous it is widely mocked. Support for gay rights is no longer a niche demand restricted to those with a personal interest in the matter.
HEALTH
Duty to Warn – More on the Zika Virus/Microcephaly Freak-out and Why We (and President Obama) Need to Stop Trusting the CDC
Gary G. Kohls, MD – TRANSCEND Media Service
Again, no consideration to the irony that you may be developing a vaccine to address a problem that may have been CAUSED by a vaccine, and that that new vaccine may COMPOUND the problem. No consideration to the possibility that the answer to the problem may not be to do MORE, but rather to do LESS (simply STOP giving Tdap to pregnant women).
How Corporations Killed Medicine
Fran Quigley – Foreign Policy In Focus
For most of human history, life-saving drugs were a public good. Now they’re only good for shareholders.
ANIMAL RIGHTS / VEGETARIANISM
How to Trap Elephant Poachers with Their Own Technology
Drazen Jorgic, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service
New anti-poaching techniques follow work done in Kenya, where poaching rates have nosedived. Police have started concentrating on the poachers’ own technology – guns and phones – and using it against them. By combining that with old-fashioned detective work, they have captured more suspects.
Banned in America, Soaring Use in Britain: The Poultry Farm Drugs That Put Human Lives at Risk
Andrew Wasley and Victoria Parsons – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
7 Feb 2016 – Antibiotics banned in US chicken farms a decade ago over links to the spread of potentially deadly bacteria in humans have been used in significantly increased quantities by Britain’s poultry industry, an investigation reveals today.
SPIRITUALITY
Prophets to Profits: The Corporate Takeover of Spirituality
Vida Norris – The Conscious Reporter
As sacred principles are co-opted and watered down to sell feel-good mass-market products, those unwilling to sell-out spiritual principles are pushed further to the margins – where they are increasingly maligned as “cultist” for putting spirituality ahead of materialism.
POETRY FORMAT
10 Signs That America Is the Most Corrupt Nation
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
Trickle down economics
Is an excuse
For the rich to piss on the poor.
So, look up, ye wretched of the Earth!
The Lady and the Boat Rides [in Burma/Myanmar]
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service
Brother, be kind, she is in a bind…
Experts say the Silence of the Lady is owing to the election maths
Her soul isn’t really dead, yet.
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
(Português) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a vida do espírito e a ética da Terra
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service
Sabemos cuidar da vida do corpo, hoje um verdadeiro culto celebrado em tantas academias de ginástica. Os psicanalistas de várias tendências nos ajudam a cuidar da vida da psique. Mas na nossa cultura, praticamente, esquecemos de cultivar a vida do espírit. A vida do espírito se alimenta de bens não tangíveis como é o amor, a amizade, a compaixão, o cuidado e a abertura ao infinito. Sem a vida do espírito divagamos por aí, desenraizados e sem um sentido que nos oriente e que torna a vida apeticida.
(Português) A liberdade de pensar a Liberdade, entre David Bowie, Emma Lazarus e a crise dos refugiados
Paulo Mendes Pinto – Visão
A noção de Liberdade, aplicada ao universo religioso, é das mais complexas realidades.
(Português) A Carne
Sociedade Vegana - ANDA Agência de Notícias de Direitos Animais
Carne é, por definição, o tecido muscular de animais. O termo é, porém, popularmente estendido a todas as partes macias do corpo do animal, excetuando as vísceras e o tegumento (pele, pêlos, penas, escamas, etc). Há quem diga que “carne” é apenas a parte comestível de mamíferos, enquanto que frango, rã, peixe e frutos-do-mar não seriam carne, porém essa classificação não tem qualquer motivo de ser.
(Italiano) Fondamentalismo-Estremismo-Violenza Religiosi
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service
Si può avere fondamentalismo senza estremismo. Si può avere estremismo senza fondamentalismo. La gran parte delle persone che fanno violenza non credono in alcunché, oltre al “fare il proprio lavoro”. Ci sono due criteri per l’”estremismo religioso”: la violenza e la legittimazione religiosa. E per quanto riguarda le controparti secolari delle religioni, le ideologie, gli ismi?
(Italiano) Ridurre la spesa militare, aumentare la sicurezza e vivere più felici
Nanni Salio – Il Manifesto
4 febbraio 2016 – Nanni Salio, Maestro della Pace, presidente del Centro Studi Sereno Regis, è mancato il 1 febbraio. Chi scrive, come tanti, era un suo amico personale ed aveva condiviso con lui molte iniziative, battaglie, conferenze, bei momenti. Pubblichiamo qui un suo pezzo parzialmente inedito; crediamo non ci sia modo migliore per ricordarlo, di far leggere cosa scriveva, e come, lo scriveva. Con affetto, Nanni, da Massimo Zucchetti.
SHORT VIDEO CLIPS
Aquarius (Music Video of the Week)
Posed by Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service
The Hippie counter-sub-culture was perhaps the major factor in ending the Vietnam War and of other social breakthroughs of the ’60s such as the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Liberation, Gay Liberation, the May 1968 French student uprising that spread throughout the world; witnessing the first man on the moon, the arrival of Rock’n Roll to stay, Fidel & El Che & the Cuban Revolution, Mao’s China Cultural Revolution, Dubček’s Prague Spring, all of which would have a inalienable influence on ending the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union empire in 1989, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The rest is history….
IN-DEPTH VIDEOS
A Conversation with Mother Agnes Mariam
UK Column News Special – TRANSCEND Media Service
Jan 26, 2016 – Mike Robinson speaks to Mother Agnes Mariam about the situation in Syria, the media coverage of it and both the political peace process and her own Reconciliation Initiative.
JOKE OF THE WEEK
Church Announcements
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service
Ladies don’t forget the rummage sale.
“Capitalism and State sovereignty are goners. Bankism rules the world in all respects now.” “Militaries are the ultimate manifestation of direct, structural and cultural violence—a cancer that must be extirpated from humanity.” — Antonio C. S. Rosa, M.A.
IMPORTANT: Please whitelist tms-weekly-d
DO NOT REPLY OR WRITE TO tms-weekly-d
CLICK here to SUBSCRIBE or access our website: https://www.transcend.org/tms/.
Use this link to access the list of past Weekly Digests: https://www.transcend.org/tms/weekly-archive/.
Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Please write to tms@transcend.org or ‘Contact us’ on the website.
Bookmark or add TMS to Favorites or to your Desktop so you may return to it later, as needed.
Link TMS to your websites and/or mailing lists. You are welcome to use our materials, attribution being equally welcome.
We absolutely do not share your email address with anyone.
If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from TMS Weekly Digest, we are sorry that you use this link: https://www.transcend.org/lists//auto_signoff/tms-weekly-digest/liucheng%40nju.edu.cn
Thanks for reading TMS.
Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa, editor
