PEACE JOURNALISM PERSPECTIVE
EDITORIAL
The Mediascape: A Guided Tour
Nº 450 | Johan Galtung, 10 Oct 2016 - TRANSCEND Media Service
The focus is on to what extent media make the world transparent. Do words and images facilitate DPT for diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, also known as analysis, forecasting and remedies? They do and do not.
OTHER COMMENTARIES
CONFLICT RESOLUTION / MEDIATION
Why Aleppo Is the Symptom of What Is Wrong with How We Deal with Atrocities
Patrick T. Hiller | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service
It is time to follow a new path. A path that is not informed by some sort of perceived naïve pacifism, but by rigorous analysis of nonviolent alternatives without a so-called military option as part of the picture. The military option needs to be taken off the table, otherwise all the other approaches are facing a counterforce and are directly undermined.
BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS
Concordian Mandala as a Symbolic Nexus
Anthony Judge | Laetus in praesens – TRANSCEND Media Service
Insights from Dynamics of a Pentagonal Configuration of Nonagons in 3D – The case for a “concordian mandala” was made previously. This was inspired by the social chaos purportedly addressed by the so-called Discordian Mandala. The mandala is described in the controversial Principia Discordia, elaborated by Greg Hill with Kerry Wendell, as the provocative doctrinal manifesto of Discordianism.
World Food Day: A Focus on Food Security in Yemen
Rene Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service
16 October is World Food Day, so designated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization – a yearly reminder that there are people who are constantly hungry due to inadequate agricultural methods, poor distribution, poor food storage, and armed conflict.
The Geopolitics of Shimon Peres’ Legacy
Richard Falk | Global Justice in the 21st Century – TRANSCEND Media Service
Basically, the question posed is whether to celebrate Peres’ death as that of a man dedicated to peace and reconciliation or to portray him as a wily opportunist, a skillful image-maker, and in the end, a harsh Zionist and ambitious Israeli leader.
Will Politicians and the Corporate Media Say the Truth One Day?
Alberto Portugheis – TRANSCEND Media Service
In fact the truth is very simple: Eastern Aleppo will be destroyed because of the “success” of the latest attempts to broker an increase of fighters, fighting vehicles, weapons, ammunition, missiles and explosives. I shall continue my campaign for the abolition of militarism.
ACTIVISM
Dakota Access Pipeline ‘Water Protectors’ Block Construction despite National Guard Blockade, Police Harassment & Arrests
Kit O'Connell – MintPress News
4 Oct 2016 — Amid near continuous harassment and frequent arrests by police, members of over 300 Native American tribes gathered on native land in North Dakota continue to block construction on the Dakota Access pipeline. ‘Our intentions are to protect water for the 18 million people downstream. And we’re not protesters, we’re protectors,’ a member of the Navajo Nation living at the encampment told us.
Legitimacy at Sea: Is Sea Shepherd a Navy or Piracy?
Joshua Tallis |Center for International Maritime Security – TRANSCEND Media Service
28 Sep 2016 – A recent pair of dueling articles on CIMSEC sparked a firestorm of debate. The point of contention: does the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s fleet of whaler-chasing ships constituted a navy?
ANGLO AMERICA
Propaganda Techniques of Empire
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service
Washington’s quest for perpetual world power is underwritten by systematic and perpetual propaganda wars. Every major and minor war has been preceded, accompanied and followed by unremitting government propaganda designed to secure public approval, exploit victims, slander critics, dehumanize targeted adversaries and justify its allies’ collaboration.
BRICS
After the Coup: Nonviolent Strategic Actions for Brazilians
Robert J. Burrowes, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
As I see and read about the ongoing massive protests, as well as calls by prominent community leaders to mobilize in defense of your country’s democracy, I feel great hope for Brazil. Having been a nonviolent activist for many years, I would like to support Brazilian activists to develop a nonviolent strategy that will increase your chances of success. Please read on.
The Eurasian Century Is Now Unstoppable
F. William Engdahl | New Eastern Outlook – TRANSCEND Media Service
What I’ve seen in my many visits to China, and have studied about the entirety of this enormously impressive international infrastructure project convinces me that a Eurasian Century at this point is unstoppable.
Why the New Silk Roads Terrify Washington
Pepe Escobar – Russia Today
7 Oct 2016 – Almost six years ago, President Putin proposed to Germany ‘the creation of a harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok.’ Washington panicked. The record shows how Putin’s vision – although extremely seductive to German industrialists – was eventually derailed by Washington’s controlled demolition of Ukraine.
EUROPE
Apple, Brussels, and Ireland’s Bruised Sovereignty
Yanis Varoufakis | Project Syndicate – TRANSCEND Media Service
Is the Commission’s latest intervention another example of EU bullying, in violation of Ireland’s sovereignty? Comparing Trichet’s 2009 intervention and the current standoff over Apple holds important lessons beyond Ireland and, indeed, Europe. With the EU still refusing meaningful reduction of a debt burden unfairly borne by the younger generation, the Irish remain convinced, correctly, that the EU violated their sovereignty on behalf of foreign bankers.
LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
The Horrors of a Hurricane, Doubled by Statelessness
Skye Wheeler | Human Rights Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service
3 Oct 2016 – My thoughts tonight are with Haitians, but also with the perhaps thousands of stateless people—including children—along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic. They live in make-shift camps constructed from sticks, cardboard and clothes tied or sewn together into tent-like structures. I can’t imagine many worse places to be when a hurricane dumps 40 inches of rain.
Christopher Columbus: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
Belen Fernandez – Al Jazeera
Why has a symbol of mass slaughter been unrepentantly idolised for more than half a millennium? On October 12, 1492, a geographically misguided voyager by the name of Christopher Columbus happened upon the so-called New World. Dismantling the myth of Columbus as hero would require some serious national introspection that would inevitably raise uncomfortable questions…
Hurricane Matthew in Haiti: Looking Beyond the Disaster Narrative
Mark Schuller – CounterPunch
I hesitate to write this given how Haiti has been politicized in the most cynical way by a candidate who has expressed his hostility to immigrants and black people generally, but frankly, Haiti was not “built back better” by the $16 billion relief effort to the 2010 earthquake, as UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton cheerfully promised.
Beyond the T-Shirt: What Che Guevara Actually Stood For
Urooba Jamal – teleSUR
The famous portrait of Che Guevara graces T-shirts and posters the world over, but what did the revolutionary leader actually stand for?
Why Colombians Opposed the Peace Deal with FARC
Hisham Aidi – Al Jazeera
The outcome of the referendum on the peace accord may be shocking but it is largely a result of domestic politics. Critics of the accord have argued that, by granting amnesty to FARC, the agreement secured peace at the expense of justice.
PALESTINE / ISRAEL
Stories from Returning #WomenToGaza – Struggle to End Illegal Israeli Blockade Continues
Women’s Boat to Gaza – TRANSCEND Media Service
8 Oct 2016 – When Zaytouna-Oliva was surrounded by Israeli war ships, Mairead Maguire stated: “This is Israeli state piracy” and she continued as the yacht was illegally boarded and commandeered. The women were detained for two days–a relatively short time compared with previous flotillas–perhaps due to the enormous support from individuals, organisations, MEPs, and high profile personalities such as Pink Floyd. After being taken to Israel against their will, some of them report they were prevented from sleeping during their detention.
Israel’s War on Peaceful Activism
Khaled Diab – Al Jazeera
Despite increasing dangers Palestinian and Israeli activists continue their efforts to oppose the occupation peacefully. The Knesset recently passed the controversial ‘NGO law’ to single out left-wing and rights groups as treacherous agents of insidious foreign powers.
Five Decades Later, Israel’s Brutal Occupation of Palestine Is Stronger than Ever
Antony Loewenstein – The National
From its beginning, Israel’s settlement project was shrouded in secrecy. After 50 years of occupation, Israel is a radically different country than in the late 1960s. Zionism, with a messianic and nationalist fervour, is in the ascendancy while liberal and more tolerant humanism is dying.
SYRIA IN DEPTH
Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That’s Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria
Max Blumenthal - AlterNet
Posing as a non-political solidarity organization, the Syria Campaign leverages local partners and media contacts to push the U.S. into toppling another Middle Eastern government.
Does Syria Have the Right to Defend Itself?
Rick Sterling | Dissident Voice – TRANSCEND Media Service
4 Oct 2016 – There is a hypocritical disconnect in Western and especially U.S. foreign policy. When it comes to Israel, the US is quick to claim “Israel has a right to defend itself”. For Syria, that same right does not seem to exist. Two things are clear:
• The public should be wary of media stories based on the claims of biased actors and not supported by solid evidence; and,
• The Syrian government has the right to defend itself against foreign-funded violent extremists seeking to destroy it.
The Day After the Fall of Aleppo Will International Humanitarian Law Still Be Relevant?
Franklin Lamb – TRANSCEND Media Service
This observer rejects the arguments being heard these days that the world is not ready, legally or politically, for broader and stricter international humanitarian law accountability. On the contrary, the international judicial community has had ample experience in achieving justice for many civilian victims of war crimes by applying international humanitarian law. And over the past twenty years it has increased dramatically.
THE UNITED NATIONS
Antonio Guterres Selected as Next UN Secretary-General Faces Tremendous Challenges
Lyndal Rowlands – Inter Press Service-IPS
The 15 members of the UN Security Council jointly announced Wednesday [5 Oct 2016] their decision to select Antonio Guterres of Portugal as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 Guterres was later UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015, during a time when the number of displaced people worldwide grew to its highest level since the end of the Second World War.
The UN’s Blind Spot for Conflict Prevention
Jonathan Rozen – Inter Press Service-IPS
3 Oct 2016 – As the world struggles to respond to conflicts and the people fleeing them, UN insiders are also struggling to advance a ‘shift in mindset’ to help prevent these crises from happening. “Part of the challenge is the way we have characterised the UN as a first responder, fire-fighter, as an organisation that comes in when things fall apart. So the UN tends to be more reactive than preventive.”
‘The Earth Is Not Flat; It Is Urban’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS
4 Oct 2016 – When the United Nations elaborated its latest report on the impact of what it calls “the dramatic shift towards urban life,” it tried to draw a balanced portrait of both the opportunities and the challenges of the fact that 1 in 2 world inhabitant already lives in urban areas and what this implies.
MILITARISM
To Sell Weapons, Defense Contractors Make War Seem Fun
Naomi LaChance – The Intercept
6 Oct 2016 – A visit to the Association of the United States Army’s annual exposition. AUSA features a who’s who of the military-industrial complex, and the extreme excess of money in the industry is evident everywhere.
Rethinking Killing Civilians
Tom H. Hastings | PeaceVoice – TRANSCEND Media Service
We not only create more terrorists when we accidentally or mistakenly take out a hospital, almost more importantly, we create a widening, deepening pool of sympathy for any sort of insurgency against the US. Why on Earth would we continue to essentially guarantee that this global war on terror is permanent?
Barbarism in Words and Deeds
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service
Barbarism: the Deed – Over the past decade and a half, the US and its allies have invaded, occupied, killed, wounded and dispossessed over ten million people, in countries from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Military and civilian officials have systematically destroyed entire economies, fostered ethno-religious wars, undermined ancient community and family ties and placed corrupt political puppets in power.
SURVEILLANCE / SPYING / WHISTLEBLOWING / BIG BROTHER
WikiLeaks: 10 Years of Pushing the Boundaries of Free Speech
Nozomi Hayase | Dissident Voice – TRANSCEND Media Service
We are now entering WikiLeaks 10 year anniversary. The organization registered their domain on October 4, 2006 and blazed into the public limelight in the spring of 2010 with the publication of Collateral Murder. This video footage depicted the cruel scenery of modern war seen from an Apache helicopter gun-sight. It became an international sensation, with the website temporarily crashing with the massive influx of visitors.
Guccifer 2.0 Hacked Clinton Foundation
guccifer2 – TRANSCEND Media Service
4 Oct 2016 – Many of you have been waiting for this, some even asked me to do it. So, this is the moment. I hacked the Clinton Foundation server and downloaded hundreds of thousands of docs and donors’ databases.
Exclusive: Yahoo Secretly Scanned Customer Emails for U.S. Intelligence – Sources
Joseph Menn | Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service
4 Oct 2016 – The company complied with a classified U.S. government demand, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of the National Security Agency or FBI, said three former employees and a fourth person apprised of the events.
ENVIRONMENT
Take a Deep Breath? But 9 in 10 People Worldwide Live with Excessive Air Pollution!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS
29 Sep 2016 – The warning is sharp and the facts, alarming: 92 per cent of the world’s population lives in places where levels exceed recommended limits. And 6.5 million people die annually from air pollution: UN WHO.
MEDIA
The NYT’s Neocon ‘Downward Spiral’
Robert Parry – Consortium News
Every day, The New York Times – America’s “paper of record” – sinks deeper into the swamp of propaganda, now reliably touting predictable neocon notions about the Middle East and Russia.
PARADIGM CHANGES
Advancing the Next System with Advanced Manufacturing
Max Ogden, Nina Gregg, Doug Gamble, Andrew Dettmer and David Schweickart | The Next System Project – TRANSCEND Media Service
27 Sep 2016 – This essay is a polemic. As such, we argue with broad strokes. We welcome debate on the broad strokes as well as the details, knowing that such an exchange will refine and improve the discussion. The foundation for a society that is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
HEALTH
Duty to Warn | The Drugs May Be the Problem
Gary G. Kohls, MD – TRANSCEND Media Service
Inconvenient Truths about Big Pharma and the Psychiatric Industry: A Tribute to Whistle-Blowing Psychiatrists Peter Breggin and Loren Mosher
SCIENCE
The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate
Maria Popova | Brain Pickings – TRANSCEND Media Service
“A tree can be only as strong as the forest that surrounds it.” Trees dominate the world, the oldest living organisms. Hermann Hesse called them “the most penetrating of preachers.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Science and Society
John Scales Avery, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
I would like to announce that an updated and very much enlarged edition of my book “Science and Society” will very soon be published by World Scientific (in November, 2016). Locally printed editions of it were used in courses taught not only in Denmark, but also in Sweden, Switzerland, England and Myanmar. It would be very good if the book could be used at the high-school or gymnasium level, as well as in colleges and universities.
HISTORY
This Week in History
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service
Oct 10-16 ~ QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Faith allows things to happen. It is the power that comes from a fearless heart. And when a fearless heart believes, miracles happen.” – Unknown
BIOGRAPHIES
Friedrich Nietzsche (15 Oct 1844 – 25 Aug 1900)
Bernd Magnus - Encyclopædia Britannica
Friedrich Nietzsche’s attempts to unmask the motives that underlie traditional Western religion, morality, and philosophy deeply affected generations of theologians, philosophers, psychologists, poets, novelists, and playwrights. He thought through the consequences of the triumph of the Enlightenment’s secularism, expressed in his observation that “God is dead.”
POETRY FORMAT
No Looking Back
Emanuel E. Garcia – TRANSCEND Media Service
Behind me the woods
We had traversed so long
Ringing with the din of pursuit,
I Am a Muslim, and I Love My India
Dr. M. Ashaq Raza – TRANSCEND Media Service
I am a Muslim, and I love my India
Yes, unconditionally I love my India
[Despite any religious affiliation
Despite a number of allegations ,,,
Ode to Tumeric!
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
Tumeric, tumeric–
coppery-golden spice!
Rubbed on fish,
rubbed on chicken–
it’s finger-lickin’
good!
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
(Castellano) Colombia: Las víctimas votaron por el Sí
Semana – TRANSCEND Media Service
Un vistazo a las regiones más afectadas por el conflicto permite ver una de las grandes paradojas de Colombia: quienes más muertos pusieron en la guerra apoyaron más el Acuerdo.
(Français) Che Guevara, Inti Paredo… Pour la vengeance, la route n’est jamais trop longue
Hernando Calvo Ospina | Investig’Action – TRANSCEND Media Service
8 Oct 2016 – Alors qu’Ernesto « Che » Guevara venait d’être assassiné, le colonel bolivien, Roberto Quintanilla, lui fit amputer les mains. Ce fut un outrage terrible qu’il commit le 9 octobre 1967. Il devint l’homme le plus haï de la gauche mondiale qui était à l’époque nombreuse et radicale.
(Português) Árvore mais antiga de Portugal tem 2850 anos
Sofia Marques Correia | Noctula Channel – TRANSCEND Media Service
A árvore mais antiga que se conhece em Portugal é uma oliveira com 2850 anos. Tem 10 metros e 15 centímetros de diâmetro e, apesar da idade, ainda dá azeitonas!
(Português) Planta Amazônica Pode Ajudar Doentes de Alzheimer a Criar Novos Neurônios
Alzheimer360 – TRANSCEND Media Service
O caminho para um tratamento eficaz de doenças neurodegenerativas, como o Alzheimer, pode estar bem mais perto do que você pensava. Uma substância encontrada no caule de uma planta amazônica poderá ser usada em medicamentos fitoterápicos para o combate ao Alzheimer.
(Castellano) ¿Hay una Crisis Chilena?
Prof. Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service
6 Oct 2016 – “Chile vive una muy profunda crisis de confianza de todas las instituciones.” La opinión arriba citada no es la opinión de cualquiera. Es la opinión de quien fue el Ministro de Economía en la transición del gobierno militar al gobierno civil de 1990.
SHORT VIDEO CLIPS
(Castellano) Me llaman calle (Music Video of the Week)
Manu Chao – TRANSCEND Media Service
The legendary Argentinean pop group notorious for the sarcastic yet truthful socially conscious messages their music carry. This one is about prostitutes on the streets of the world.
The National Theatre of Norway’s Official Apology for the Cooperation with Habima of Israel
nationaltheatret beklager – TRANSCEND Media Service
Sep 22, 2016 – “In 2014 the National Theater of Norway collaborated with Habima, the National Theater of Israel, on the project TERRORISM organized by the European Theater Union, UTE. Habima breaks international law when they perform in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Michel Temer Confession on Dilma’s Impeachment
The Intercept Brasil – TRANSCEND Media Service
Sep 22, 2016 – Speaking to a group of U.S. business and foreign policy elites, the country’s installed president, Michel Temer, admitted that what triggered the impeachment process was not any supposed “budgetary crimes,” but rather Dilma’s opposition to the neoliberal platform of social program cuts and privatization demanded by Temer’s party and the big-business interests that fund it.
SATIRE
Posted by Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service
No Comment
JOKE OF THE WEEK
The Joke Is on… Who?
Posted by Antonio C. S. Rosa | Editor – TRANSCEND Media Service
The Club
“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.
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