Barker: Media Watchdog as Democracy Manipulator17 Nov 2007Having provided a detailed outline of the financial support that Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has received from the ‘democracy promoting’ community in Part 1 of this series of articles, this section of the article will now turn to examine the ‘democratic’ affiliations of some of current and former employees of RSF. Tala Dowlatshahi and the International Rescue CommitteeBased in New York, Tala Dowlatshahi is the US representative of RSF: she is also a successful journalist who has previously worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Amnesty International, and various UN agencies.
Farhi: Politics of Reporting on IAEA Reports17 Nov 2007It is always interesting to read the actual text of reports issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding Iran not only because of what they reveal about Iran’s program, but also because of the interestingly partial way various news organizations and governments end up interpreting or representing the report to audiences they are sure will not read the reports themselves.The IAEA report that just came out regarding Iran was much anticipated because of the agreement on a work plan between the IAEA and Iran regarding a time frame for the resolution of “outstanding issues” that had remained regarding Iran’s past activities.
Baroud: Somalia: What the News Failed to Report17 Nov 2007The people of Somalia are enduring yet another round of suffering as Ethiopian forces wreck havoc in the capital, Mogadishu. Apparently in response to an attack on one of its units, and the dragging of a soldier’s mutilated body through the city’s streets, an Ethiopian mortar reportedly exploded in Mogadishu’s Bakara market on November 9, killing eight civilians.
Fuentes: Venezuela: Reform Battle Continues16 Nov 2007Caracas—Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas on November 4, in a massive sea of red, to support the proposed constitutional reforms adopted by the National As
Zirin: Indicted! Barry Bonds Busted by a Broken System16 Nov 2007Barry Lamar Bonds faces thirty years in prison because the Department of Justice is a corroded husk of political decay. The baseball Home Run King has now been officially indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges and it only took three years and millions of tax dollars to make it happen.
Bennis: Middle East Talks in Annapolis: Photo-Op or Talk-Fest16 Nov 2007** There is one thing certain about the international (or regional or bilateral) Middle East peace conference (or meeting or get-together) called by Condoleezza Rice (or George Bush or Elliott Abrams) for November (or maybe December): it’s going to be held in Annapolis, Maryland (probably). ** R.
Parrish: No Borders Camp: For a World Without Borders16 Nov 2007From November 5-11, roughly 500 people from throughout the United States and Mexico gathered at the Mexicali-Calexico border in the Sonoran Desert bioregion for a No Borders Camp, a temporary autonomous zone and direct action meant to challenge neo-liberal capitalism, border militarization, and migration controls. It was the first North American manifestation of a series of similar camps that have taken place in Europe, Oceania, and elsewhere since the late-1990s.
Fletcher: Back From the War… and Into Homelessness15 Nov 2007The report this past week confirmed what veterans’ advocates have been saying for some time: one quarter of the homeless are veterans! While this came as a shock to many people, anyone of age at the time of the Vietnam War would not have been surprised at all. In the 1960s and 1970s we saw returning veterans discarded by the government that had placed them in harm’s way.
Ireland: Massimo Consoli, An Italian Giant, Dies15 Nov 2007Massimo Consoli, known as the father of the Italian gay movement, died on Sunday, November 4, at the age of 61 after a long battle against cancer. Called “Papa Max” by his closest gay friends—in Italian, “Papa” means both “Daddy” and “Pope”—Consoli was a prolific writer, theorist, and self-trained historian with 40 books to his credit, mostly on homosexual subjects, as well as an indefatigable archivist of materials on homosexuality.
Weisbrot: Bat Boy Lives – As Do Myths About Social Security15 Nov 2007Despite the defeat of President Bush’s attempt to partially privatize Social Security, the mass misunderstanding of America’s largest and most successful anti-poverty program persists. This was evident on Sunday’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert, which was devoted to an interview with Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Wright: Veterans Day: A Day for Peace or A Day for War?15 Nov 2007Could you ever imagine that Veterans Day was originally enacted as a day for world peace? Not by the way veterans who stand for peace are treated in Veterans Day ceremonies! Yet, according to Veterans Affairs website, Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally a U.S.
Jensen: Raining on the Thanksgiving Day parade: “Redefining” the holiday is a failed project15 Nov 2007After years of being constantly annoyed and often angry about the historical denial built into Thanksgiving Day, I published an essay in November 2005 suggesting we replace the feasting with fasting and create a National Day of Atonement to acknowledge the genocide of indigenous people that is central to the creation of the United States. I expected criticism from right-wing and centrist people, given their common commit.
Goodman: What A Fearless Journalist Looks Like15 Nov 2007“I have, after a fashion, been celebrated for having celebrated the lives of the uncelebrated among us; for lending voice to the face in the crowd.” That is the opening line of Studs Terkel’s long-awaited memoir, Touch and Go.
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