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Marina Abramović’s art pushes the boundary between audience and artist in pursuit of heightened consciousness and personal change. In her groundbreaking 2010 work, “The Artist Is Present,” she simply sat in a chair facing her audience, for eight hours a day … with powerfully moving results. Her boldest work may still be yet to come — it’s taking the form of a sprawling art institute devoted to experimentation and simple acts done with mindful attention. “Nothing happens if you always do things the same way,” she says. “My method is to do things I’m afraid of, the things I don’t know, to go to territory that nobody’s ever been.

Interactive transcriptInteractive transcript

Performance artist…
In her performances she’s been cut, burned, and nearly shot — but Marina Abramović’s boldest work yet is a gargantuan institute dedicated to transformation through art.

Indigenous Peoples' Pavillion

The Indigenous Peoples’ Pavilion at the UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris is located within the civil society ‘Climate Generations Space’, directly adjacent to the COP 21 “Blue Zone” negotiation space.

The Indigenous Peoples’ Pavilion is organized and programmed by the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) with support from the Governments of Norway and France, in addition to UNDP.

Indigenous Peoples around the wOrld…

There are over 370 million indigenous people around the world. They have their own distinct languages, cultures, and social and political institutions apart from mainstream society. Though divided amongst all continents, at least 5000 different peoples, and approximately 4000 languages, they are coming together with a common voice to address historic inequities which have resulted in these groups being some of the most marginalized and victimized communities.

Indigenous Peoples, the Environment and Climate Change…

Given their widespread reliance on natural resources and ecosystems, indigenous peoples and local communities are especially vulnerable to, and disproportionately impacted by, climate change. They are being forcibly removed from their lands by deforestation, sea-level rise, major infrastructure projects, and conflict arising from resource scarcity. All the while, they play a critical role in climate change mitigation and adaptation through their historic and effective role as stewards of much of the world’s remaining forests….

source: IIPFCC ::: click logo, or here, to access :::

human cost warming

As climate talks in Paris approach, stakes are high for frontline communities with the most to lose. Yesterday, UNICEF reported that children will suffer the harshest impacts from rising temperatures. Their findings revealed that “over half a billion children live in extremely high flood occurrence zones; nearly 160 million live in high or extremely high drought severity zones.”

The billions of children in these vulnerable areas are also living below the poverty line. Along with death and devastation brought on by climate change impacts, rising temperatures can also contribute to malnutrition, malaria and diarrhea — all of which are deadly to children. With the WMO revealing that this year is the hottest on record, NGOs are turning up the pressure on negotiators to deliver an even stronger deal to “avert these costs for the world’s poorest people.”

Coverage

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::: click above to access @ Al Jazeera :::

inthesetimes

 

 

 

TOP STORIES THIS WEEK
It is not a radical political vision. It’s an unflinching commitment to democracy.
BY THEO ANDERSON
The response to the Paris attacks should be to bring back class struggle by insisting on global solidarity of the exploited.
BY SLAVOJ ZIZEK
A stint in the slammer convinced the conservative author that liberals are crooks.
Our response to such unspeakable tragedies can’t be to create even more tragedies in other countries.
It’s unconscionable that refugees fleeing the horrors of war and poverty are being met with calls for their removal by the counties they are seeking safety in.
Some of Zizek’s ideas about Syrian refugees skirt dangerously closely to the Right’s.
Salaita’s settlement is a victory for him and academic freedom. But will we ever know who was watching him?
BY MARILYN KATZ
A new film traces the history of America’s most famous housing projects.
BY MAYA DUKMASOVA
A fundamental aspect of ISIS’ strategy lies in the necessity of a heavy-handed, reactionary response from the West to further their own narrative, ideology and recruiting.
BY TOM ENGELHARDT
Zionism began as class-oriented project within the Jewish community. Opposing it requires a class analysis of who benefits from Zionism within that community.
BY BENJAMIN BALTHASER
Activists said the reading materials were untested, insensitive and clueless.
BY SARAH LAHM
The greatest threat to Israel’s security today is neither ISIS nor Iran, but its own occupation of Palestine.
BY MARC DAALDER
In order to create a more egalitarian society, we must take back the reins of our government from the billionaire class.
BY BERNIE SANDERS

WORKING IN THESE TIMES

Security Guards from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Join One-Day Nationwide Airport Worker Strike

Security guards at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago walk off the job as part of a wave of labor actions at 11 major American airports this week.
BY TOM LADENDORF

RURAL AMERICA

Industrialized countries are the biggest contributors to global warming, but it is farmers and rural communities that are among the first to suffer from climate change.
BY RURAL AMERICA IN THESE TIMES

worldpeace

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

Carl Sagan

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We must show Islamophobes that there is no clash of civilizations; just a clash of moral values between decent human beings and mass-murdering lunatics.

Excerpt…

It can be hard not to fall for simplistic narratives fed to us by mainstream media during such times. After all, it seems more convenient to believe that the Paris attacks demonstrate that there is a war between the West and Islam as it provides a relatively straightforward answer to a largely complex problem. However, such rhetoric, whether we realise or not, only strengthens the narrative of IS.

“Attacks like the ones tonight in Paris are committed to purposely trigger an Islamophobic backlash,” writes Nader Atassi, an anti-IS blogger. “That backlash is not an unintended consequence of such attacks; it is part of their logic. Isis wants an Islamophobic backlash because it lends credence to their narrative that there is a war between the West and Islam. By strengthening and emboldening the xenophobic right-wing in Europe, they strengthen their own worldview as well. And the most tragic irony is that the backlash may target refugees who themselves had been fleeing Isis’ reign of terror.”

::: just click New Statesman logo above for this and other pieces, free + in full :::

excerpt of piece by Laila Lalami @ The Nation…

What happened in Paris on November 13 has happened before, in a   shopping district of Beirut on November 12, in the skies over Egypt on October 31, at a cultural center in Turkey on July 20, a beach resort in Tunisia on June 26—and nearly every day in Syria for the last four   years.

The scenario is by now familiar to all of us. News of the killings will appear on television and radio. There will be cries of horror and sorrow, a few hashtags on Twitter, perhaps even a change of avatars on Facebook. Our leaders will make staunch promises to bring the terrorists to justice, while also claiming greater power of surveillance over their citizens. And then life will resume exactly as before.

Except for the victims’ families. For them, time will split into a Before and After. We owe these families, of every race, creed, and nationality, more than sorrow, more than anger. We owe them justice.

We must call to account ISIS, a nihilistic cult of death that sees the world in black and white, with no shades of gray in between.We must call to account Bashar al-Assad, whose response to peaceful protesters in the spring of 2011 was to send water cannons and military tanks to meet them.

We must call to account the governments of the United States, France, Britain, Russia, Iran, and many others, who lent support and succor to tyrant after tyrant in the Middle East and North Africa, and whose interventions appear to create 10 terrorists for every one they kill.

We must call to account George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, whose disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003 and subsequent disbanding of the Iraqi army destabilized the entire region.

Wahhabi ideas have spread throughout the region not because they have any merit—but because they are well funded. We must call to account the Saudi kings—Salman, Abdullah, and Fahd—whose funding of Wahhabi doctrine gave rise to the scourge of Islamic extremism…’

::: click on through here for piece in full + free @ The Nation :::

Facebook sets up safety check for Paris friends

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…excerpt from The Tree:

In the first concrete legal action against ExxonMobil’s web of climate lies, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced he will investigate whether the oil giant knowingly misled the public and investors about the dangers of climate change. Last month from InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times revealed that Exxon’s own scientists warned the company’s top leadership that burning fossil fuels causes climate change with potentially “catastrophic” impacts as far back as 1977. Yet despite this warning the company spent decades funneling millions of dollars into groups that dispute or cast doubt on the connection between fossil fuels and climate change. With the dirty tactics of fossil fuel companies well and truly in the open, the ExxonMobil investigation should be a warning shot for other companies that they will no longer be allowed to peddle misinformation and must once and for all wake up to the dampening demand for fossil fuels…

More recent coverage of Exxon Mobil climate change revelations…

Projected impact of the former on Paris Climate Talks?

The New Matilda:

‘Malcolm Turnbull’s Dirty Money Means Oz Won’t Be Taken Seriously At Paris Climate Talks, says 350.org’

Climate advocacy group 350.org has demanded Malcolm Turnbull divest from ExxonMobil, which is under investigation for a climate change cover-up…

::: click here for piece in full @ The New Matilda :::

 

inthesetimes

 

 

Newsletter 8 November 2015
TOP STORIES THIS WEEK
A 6-month In These Times investigation finds that the revolving door between government and the chemical industry has led the EPA to rely on easily manipulated research.
BY VALERIE BROWN AND ELIZABETH GROSSMAN
Sawant beat the establishment at its own game. Now comes the hard part.
BY ARUN GUPTA
Wealthy parents pour more resources into their children’s futures, but middle- and lower-income families are being squeezed, resulting in an education gap.
BY SUSAN J. DOUGLAS
Why do many hazardous chemicals go unregulated in the United States? An In These Times investigation reveals the answer.
The White House has finally released the text of the trade deal, and the reviews are scorching.
BY DEIRDRE FULTON
Using the phrase “no fault of their own” in discussing undocumented young people does not encourage us to look at the roots of the poverty and violence their families experience.
BY DAVID BACON
The 82-year old Nation of Islam leader filled the National Mall in October. Why didn’t the media take much notice?
BY SALIM MUWAKKIL
The psychology behind the ‘Notorious RBG’ phenomenon.
BY SADY DOYLE
CPCs have repeatedly provided misleading or, in some cases completely false, information for pregnant women.
BY RACHEL M. COHEN
WORKING IN THESE TIMES
Labor For Bernie Sanders Activists Say They Are Undeterred By Union Endorsements of Hillary Clinton

Despite a number of high-profile endorsements for Clinton, Sanders supporters still say he is the best choice for promoting workers’ rights.
BY MARIO VASQUEZ
RURAL AMERICA
Is it possible to create a more equitable society without all-out social warfare being the catalyst?
BY JOHN COLLINS


lrb

PATRICK COCKBURN

Russia in Syria

The military balance of power in Syria and Iraq is changing. The Russian air strikes that have been taking place since the end of September are strengthening and raising the morale of the Syrian army, which earlier in the year looked fought out and was on the retreat. With the support of Russian airpower, the army is now on the offensive in and around Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, and is seeking to regain lost territory in Idlib province. Syrian commanders on the ground are reportedly relaying the co-ordinates of between 400 and 800 targets to the Russian air force every day.

::: click here for piece in full + free @ LRB :::

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November 2015

Russia’s Syrian game; Middle East’s new players; Dilma Rousseff’s troubles; China special it’s the economy stupid; brave new countryside; climate special report Paris talks must not fail; ‘reality rift’ between facts and words; disputed future of northern territories; gas fields in the eastern Med; bye bye bayou; Google under EU scrutiny; before big datasupplement solidarity for kids… and more…
::: click cover to access :::

Can we, as adults, grow new neurons? Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform neurogenesis—improving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline associated with aging along the way.

Neural stem cell researcher Sandrine Thuret studies the way adult brains create new nerve cells in the hippocampus — a brain area involved in memory and mood. Full bio

“It’s like having a global 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year search warrant running on whole  societies, including Australia.”

Senator Scott Ludlam

snowgreen
Australia accessed private internet data gathered by the NSA even more than Britain, according to a previously unreported document released by Edward…

As Mental Health Week 2015 draws to a close, here’s an enaging and succinct short on Mindfulness…

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“Australia is one of the most vulnerable developed countries in the world to climate change impacts. This is already posing very significant challenges to food production. Food prices will continue to go up, the quality of food could be compromised and the seasonality of food could change as the climate continues to warm and weather patterns become more unpredictable. Many of our favourite foods, including milk, fruit, vegetables, wine and beef are already being affected by climate change and these impacts will grow as weather extremes get worse.”

The Climate Council’s Professor Lesley Hughes

The Tree:

Climate change represents a clear and growing threat to Australia’s food security, according to a new report from The Climate Council. Titled Feeding a hungry nation: climate change, food and farming in Australia, the report shows that rising temperatures and lower rainfall have already affected crop yields, and both yields and quality will continue to decrease as climate change drives more frequent and intense extreme weather events, such as bushfires and drought. As agricultural commodities are worth roughly $50 billion a year, and the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector employs 2.6 per cent of all Australians, the impact on Australia’s economy will likely be great – particularly if action to address climate change remains inadequate. The Climate Council warns that strong, urgent action to transition to a low carbon economy is needed, and if undertaken will – like more efficient use of water resources and protection of farmland from coal mining – help Australia secure its food supply while tapping into the vast co-benefits of climate action.

After marathon negotiations in Atlanta, leaders from 12 nations cement pactwhich coalition of critics say will raise the price of essential drugs, drive industrial scale agribusiness, and threaten workers rights

Print

by Lauren McCauley, staff writer

Amid a last minute scramble, leaders from the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries announced Monday that they had reached agreement on a sweeping trade deal, one that critics, including US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, say will slash standards and protections for both consumers and workers—with impacts to be felt across the globe.

The agreement, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (or TPP), which would tie together as much as 40 percent of the world’s economy, has for nearly 8 years been negotiated in secret. Though details of the compromise were not yet revealed early Monday, critics said that—minutia aside—the global trade pact will certainly be a boon for corporate power…

“TPP is a deal for big business,” said Nick Dearden, director of the UK-based Nick Dearden,Global Justice Now.

“Wall Street and other big corporations have won again. It is time for the rest of us to stop letting multi-national corporations rig the system to pad their profits at our expense.”
– Bernie Sanders

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was also quick to condemn the deal. Saying he was disappointed but not surprised by the “disastrous” agreement, Sanders added: “Wall Street and other big corporations have won again. It is time for the rest of us to stop letting multi-national corporations rig the system to pad their profits at our expense.”

The compromise was reached after five days of round-the-clock negotiations in Atlanta, Georgia. U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly “spent recent days contacting world leaders to seal the deal.”

The negotiations had been extended after talks got stuck over the issue of how long a monopoly period should be allowed on next-generation biotech drugs. The compromise reportedly reached between the U.S. and Australia “is a hybrid that protects companies’ data for five years to eight years,” the New York Times reports, falling short of the 12 years desired by U.S. negotiators…’

::: click on through for this piece in full @ CommonDreams.org :::

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News…

Norman Gunston star on living with anxiety

In quotes: Life on the margins

Using the bush to improve Indigenous mental health

What does 5 years’ solitary confinement do to a person?

Online OCD trial shows promising signs of success

Podsiadly ends AFL career, takes on mental health role

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Climate change is unfair. While rich countries can fight against rising oceans and dying farm fields, poor people around the world are already having their lives upended — and their human rights threatened — by killer storms, starvation and the loss of their own lands. Mary Robinson asks us to join the movement for worldwide climate justice.

Mary Robinson served as president of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. She now leads a foundation devoted to climate justice. Full bio
Without a clear plan for all forces in the region working together to stop ISIS, there is a huge risk of inflaming the situation to a point where there is a direct confrontation between Russian forces and American proxies, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said 01/10/15…

“Australia needs to get our planes out of Syria. We’re only adding to the chaos and confusion, and putting more lives at risk. The Liberal Government couldn’t articulate a strategy or exit plan when this involvement first began, and this mess we’re in is the result.

“There is no clarity around this alliance. Nuclear-armed states with an already strained relationship are proceeding on an ad-hoc basis. Already we’ve seen the consequences of this, with Russian bombs seemingly striking US-backed rebels, not ISIS.

“This is a tinderbox set to explode. Airstrikes from all sides must cease until the anti-ISIS forces have a shared understanding of how they’ll proceed.

“Australia could play a key role in bringing those parties together, instead of participating in uncoordinated airstrikes in Syria.

“It was heartening to see the Labor party highlight the need for a debate about the attacks on Syria. Perhaps next time they’ll give our servicemen and women their due and join the Greens in making this point before our forces are deployed, instead of rubber stamping every Coalition misadventure overseas in an effort to avoid being labelled ‘weak’ on National Security.

Russia and the United States agree to call urgent military talks to head off the risk of clashes between their forces after Moscow’s dramatic entrance into the Syrian war and its claimed assault on the Islamic State group.

afp

lmdoct15

Current issue: October 2015

Syria’s nearby refugees; Corbyn, Labour’s lightning rod; Japan, what next for Okinawa? China’s modern-day emperor; UN, getting fit for the 21st century; Ivan Maisky remembered; Disneyland, behind the fantasy; streaming wars; Zapata westerns; Mercator supplement…

::: click cover above to access :::

Europrivacy

Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and David Miranda propose new pact for global privacy rights

Two years after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden‘s revelations made global headlines, a new international pact for privacy rights is being launched—the Snowden Treaty, an agreement that would “curtail mass surveillance and protect the rights of whistleblowers.”

“Protecting the right to privacy is vital not just in itself but because it is essential requirement for exercise of freedom of opinion and expression, the most fundamental pillars of democracy,” the drafters—Snowden, journalists Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, and Greenwald’s partner David Miranda—explain in their proposal, which will be formally introduced at a press conference on Thursday and encourages both individual citizens and global governments to sign up.

The proposal states:

  • We demand for privacy on the internet.
  • We demand that the government grant us the right to privacy in our homes.
  • We demand that the government protect our personal privacy online.

Launched along with the website SnowdenTreaty.org, the pact is officially titled theInternational Treaty on the Right to Privacy, Protection Against Improper Surveillance and Protection of Whistleblowers (pdf).

“Signatories to the treaty will be obliged to enact concrete changes to outlaw mass surveillance. The Treaty would also develop international protections for whistleblowers,” the pact states.

Story in full @ Common Dreams

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News & Views | 09.18.15

Featured…

Refugees Left Stranded As EU Faces ‘Crisis of Political Will’
by Andrea Germanos
“You aren’t going to solve these problems by closing borders.”

News…

‘Foolish and Mean-Spirited’: US House Votes to Defund Planned Parenthood
by Deirdre Fulton
Both measures are opposed by women’s health organizations, the White House, and a majority of the American public.
Citing Abuses, US Commission Demands Release of Refugee Families
by Sarah Lazare
The violations are so egregious that all families should be released, detentions reduced, and alternatives to incarceration fostered.
Up 72 Perecent From Just Six Years Ago, Organic Farm Sales Soar
by Nadia Prupis
Americans are increasingly hungry for naturally-grown and healthier foods.
Facing South, Bernie Sanders Ramps Up Outreach in SC and Beyond
by Deirdre Fulton
David is rising against Goliath, with a grassroots campaign meant to increase Sanders’ exposure among minority voters in the Bible Belt and across the South.
According to New IEA Chief, Arctic Drilling Is Stupid Business
by Sarah Lazare
Birol’s statements come amid growing calls to place people and the planet over profit by leaving fossil fuels in the ground.
New Orleans Running ‘Modern Debtors Prison,’ Lawsuit Charges
by Nadia Prupis
Orleans Parish has resurrected unconstitutional “debtors’ prisons” by routinely jailing the region’s poorest residents over their inability to pay court fees and other fines.
more news…

 Views…

Obama’s Fateful Syrian Choice
by Robert Parry
He can either work with Russia’s President Putin to stabilize Syria or he can opt for a confrontation that could lead to an open-ended war.
The Fed Gets It Right. Now Let’s Move to Full Employment
by Isaiah Poole
“The case for raising short-term interest rates is extraordinarily weak. That is not the economy we have today.”
Open Homes, Open Borders: A Dispatch from a German Village Sheltering 400 Refugees
by Melody Ermachild Chavis
There is no end to the long line of human beings underway tonight.
Standing With Ahmed and All Children of Color
by Sonali Kolhatkar
If Obama truly wants America to be great, as his tweet to Ahmed suggests, he can begin by making it a country that treats its Muslim citizens without suspicion.
Resisting the Lure of Intervention
by John Feffer
With each nuclear weapon, jet engine, and space rocket we deploy, we venture further into the Orange Zone, heading blindly, if not boldly, toward the point of no return.
The Republican Foreign Policy Consensus: Lunacy
by Robert Borosage
If you want a president to lead us into constant wars “anywhere in the world,” Republicans have your man.
more views…

Uploaded on Sep 9, 2015 
getup

Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), multinational corporations will be able to sue the Australian Government in secret corporate courts over laws that protect our health, environment and workers’ rights.

Australians voted for the government to run our country in the interests of the public, not corporations. Don’t let them hand sovereignty of our country over to foreign corporations.

Learn more about the TPP here: www.getup.org.au/tpp

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excerpt…

That increasingly common end-of-day feeling: of physically leaving the office, only for it to tag along home. Thanks largely to technology, our availability – to clients, bosses and co-workers – extends into our evenings, weekends and even holidays. Getting a clear account of what this means for us isn’t easy, as jobs that intrude more into leisure time are also distinguished by higher pace and further factors known and unknown, making it hard to pinpoint what harmful effects, if any, are specifically due to our constant availability.

A new study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and led by Jan Dettmers at the University of Hamburg, takes a fresh tack on this, investigating workers who have two types of free-time: on-call periods where they are free to please themselves but must remain available for potential work demands, and other periods where they are truly off-duty. For each individual participant, this set up keeps job-role demands and responsibilities equal while varying the need to be available. The data suggest that extended work availability has a negative effect: dampening mood and also increasing markers of physiological stress.

article in full + open source @ BPS Research Digest

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UNHCR’s Global Trends report shows that in 2014 alone 13.9 million became newly displaced – four times the number in 2010. Worldwide there were 19.5 million refugees (up from 16.7 million in 2013), 38.2 million were displaced inside their own countries (up from 33.3 million in 2013), and 1.8 million people were awaiting the outcome of claims for asylum (against 1.2 million in 2013). Alarmingly, over half the world’s refugees are children.

“With huge shortages of funding and wide gaps in the global regime for protecting victims of war, people in need of compassion, aid and refuge are being abandoned,” said Guterres. “For an age of unprecedented mass displacement, we need an unprecedented humanitarian response and a renewed global commitment to tolerance and protection for people fleeing conflict and persecution.”

Syria is the world’s biggest producer of both internally displaced people (7.6 million) and refugees (3.88 million at the end of 2014). Afghanistan (2.59 million) and Somalia (1.1 million) are the next biggest refugee source countries.

Even amid such sharp growth in numbers, the global distribution of refugees remains heavily skewed away from wealthier nations and towards the less wealthy. Almost nine out of every 10 refugees (86 per cent) were in regions and countries considered economically less developed. A full quarter of all refugees were in countries ranking among the UN’s list of Least Developed nations…

The full Global Trends report with this information and more, and including data on individual countries, demographics, numbers of people returning to their countries, and available estimates of stateless population is available at http://www.unhcr.org/2014trends.

inthesetimes

 

 

 

TOP STORIES THIS WEEK

Test scores tell one story, and residents tell another. A three-month investigation by In These Times reveals the cracks in the education reform narrative.
BY COLLEEN KIMMETT
A response to my critics and the case for a guerrilla war within the Eurozone.
BY SLAVOJ ZIZEK
American voters are mad as hell, and the rise of Sanders shows that they’re not going to take it anymore.
How long-time residents feel about the new Louisiana purchase.
BY FATIMA SHAIK
He also endorsed, perhaps not surprisingly, himself for the general election.
BY MICAH UETRICHT
In a post-Ferguson America, David Simon’s Show Me a Hero feels sadly dated.
BY MAYA DUKMASOVA
The fall of West Virginia’s coal mono-industry leaves the area without its peaks and forests.
BY LAURA GOTTESDIENER

WORKING IN THESE TIMES

IKEA Says It’s “Socially Responsible.” So Why Are Workers Accusing It of Union-Busting?

A potential strike deadline is looming at one of IKEA’s largest U.S. warehouses.
BY BRUCE VAIL

RURAL AMERICA

When it comes to healthy eating, instant abundance has some unintended cultural consequences.
BY JOHN COLLINS

lovemetendergreens

Senator Scott Ludlam…

With opposition to the Perth Freight Link mounting, a Senate inquiry underway and the government’s credibility crumbling, it’s time to encourage the three main companies bidding to build this toxic freeway to walk away.

The Perth Freight Link is a $1.6 billion project to construct 14km of freight freeway through our communities and bushland, including the Beeliar Wetlands.

More than 30 separate community groups are fighting to stop this incredibly expensive and unnecessary road from being built.

With mounting opposition and doubt hanging over the project it’s guaranteed that any company involved in the Perth Freight Link will face costly delays and tarnished reputations.

It’s time to let the companies tendering for the contracts know that this is one tender they don’t want to win.

We’ve also produced a series of postcards to send to the tender companies. To request some postcards phone 08 9335 7477 or email aimee.smith@aph.gov.au  with your postal address and the number of cards you can use.

With contracts to build Roe 8 due to be signed in October we must act now and let these companies know their reputation and legacy is at stake if they continue with WA’s most hated project.

A toxic freeway that would cause permanent and irreparable harm…

geatergood

via GreaterGood + logo links on through…

With Australia enduring the mysery of Murdoch-Minion rule, and Fox News launching Bush III out of the US, we believe that now is the time to counter the mendacious mantras of perpetual war, sacred markets and Iraq revisionism with an evidence-based reality check.

To get the ball rolling, here’s a heads up from former CIA analyst, Paul R. Pillar, via Consortiumnews.com…

 

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“Having escaped accountability for the Iraq War disaster, U.S. neocons are urging the use of more military force in the Mideast, in line with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand to block the Iran nuclear deal. From their important perches of power, these war hawks also twist the history of their catastrophic misjudgments…” writes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

“Now the Republican presidential candidate who is the front-runner for the nomination among those whose name is not Trump has joined in the promoting of the Iraq War myth.”

Paul R. Pillar, in his 28 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, rose to be one of the agency’s top analysts. He is now a visiting professor at Georgetown University for security studies. 

Image cc 3.0 by Jason Girvan

It’s all happening in WA, with a large campaign to stop a freight link destroying local wetlands, wins and losses in animal welfare and a roundtable on urban forests.

 

Candidate for Higgins, Jason Ball

Being the first was never his goal. But amid the deafening silence, Jason Ball knew someone had to speak.

 

Mehreen Faruqi, NSW MP

As a member of parliament, I receive plenty of racist comments. But the tone of abuse has recently changed. I believe racism is becoming legitimised in Australia.

 

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the biggest trade deal in Australia’s history. However, it is being negotiated in total secrecy. What will it mean for our future?

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…banner above clicks through to podcast…

RECENT ISSUES

30 JULY 2015

The author and pioneering University of Texas psychologist explains how awareness of your own thoughts and feelings can lead you to be kinder toward yourself—and why this self-compassion brings a host of mental and physical health benefits.

More about Kristin Neff.

via GreaterGood

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