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Chief UN investigator of North Korean human rights abuses, Michael Kirby, discusses the allegations of crimes against humanity:
North Korea is truly a totalitarian state … It is not content to take control of the physical lives of the citizens, it has to intrude into their way of thinking, into their attitudes to government … [It implements] the system of characterising citizens according to their loyalty to the government and the party. This is truly a state without any real equivalent in the modern world.
Michael Kirby
The UN-mandated inquiry team says the country’s leadership should be hauled before at the International Criminal Court:
…the inquiry found that pregnant women are starved, while their babies are fed rats and snakes; more than 100,000 people are in gulags; there is systematic torture; everyone is forced to inform on each other; entire communities are denied adequate food; and the bodies of the dead…
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In “First Class,” LEAP takes a look at at contemporary art education from the bottom up, thinking in terms of learning rather than teaching; we invite educators, curators, and artists—especially those who have recently left school—to share their experiences of self-education, and to discuss the possibilities of a hidden curriculum.
McKenzie Wark introduces a perfect example of interdisciplinary thinking—Joseph Needham. According to Needham, the processes of thought and movement would dominate the his future plans, not only for understanding biological systems or the social structure of China’s past, but to infer the outcome of current and future social systems. Karen Archey explores German artist Isa Genzken’s practice, demonstrating her unique sense of artistic “fun.” Through an interpretation of Yu Cheng-Ta’s new work “Practicing LIVE,” Rikey Cheng expands on the alienation of the piece’s creation, improvisational structures, imitation, irony, and self-referentiality.
In our regular column “My Miles,” we interview Korean artist Haegue Yang, exploring how her practice is tied to her cultural and linguistic backgrounds, travels, and other abstract narratives; “Shop Talk” analyzes the ways in which Liu Xinyi’s work is grounded in political histories of text and image; in “On Canvas,” Song Yi attempts to decipher Liu Chuanhong’s Memoir in Southern Anhui, in which every possible medium is brought into play to convey Liu’s dreamscape; and “New Directions” brings in two young artists, Wang Xin and Austin Lee. In addition, you’ll also read about Guccivuitton, an artist-run gallery in Miami Beach, in “Institutional Critique”; the architectural exhibition “Modernism Revisited,” which stresses an exploration of modernism neglected by mainstream purview; the excavation of “Exhibition and Expediency” in Huang Sun Quan’s new solo exhibition; and a semi-fictional piece from Indonesia by Adam Bobbette.
As Australia picked up its shameful fourth Fossil of the Day award at the Lima climate talks Thursday (11/12/14), Climate Action Tracker (CAT) released a new analysis showing that creative accounting and years of diplomatic manoeuvring are allowing Australia to increase emissions while still meeting its minimum five per cent reduction commitment. CAT says in real terms Australia’s emissions are likely to be 26 per cent above 2000 levels by 2020, and a huge 47-59 per cent above its original Kyoto pledge.
Yet while its actual emissions are soaring, Australia can still meet its already lax commitments with barely any action thanks to being selective on baseline emission sources, and its creative approach to accounting for land use change and forestry. Australia has now taken to making threats if it is not allowed to use these favourable rules, which would allow it to emit a further six per cent more carbon on top of its already worst-in-show per capita emissions.
abstract…
In slapstick comedy, the worst thing that could happen usually does: The person with a sore toe manages to stub it, sometimes twice. Such errors also arise in daily life, and research traces the tendency to do precisely the worst thing to ironic processes of mental control. These monitoring processes keep us watchful for errors of thought, speech, and action and enable us to avoid the worst thing in most situations, but they also increase the likelihood of such errors when we attempt to exert control under mental load (stress, time pressure, or distraction).
Ironic errors in attention and memory occur with identifiable brain activity and prompt recurrent unwanted thoughts;…piece in full pdf below…
| Author: | Wegner, Daniel M. |
| Citation: | Wegner, Daniel M. 2009. How to think, say, or do precisely the worst thing for any occasion. Science 325(5936): 48-50. |
| Full Text & Related Files: | Worst_Thing.pdf (229.5Kb; PDF) |
extract…
International law prohibits the granting of immunities to public officials who have engaged in acts of torture. This applies not only to the actual perpetrators but also to those senior officials within the US Government who devised, planned and authorised these crimes.
As a matter of international law, the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice. The UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances require States to prosecute acts of torture and enforced disappearance where there is sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction. States are not free to maintain or permit impunity for these grave crimes.
It is no defence for a public official to claim that they were acting on superior orders. CIA officers who physically committed acts of torture therefore bear individual criminal responsibility for their conduct, and cannot hide behind the authorisation they were given by their superiors.
However, the heaviest penalties should be reserved for those most seriously implicated in the planning and purported authorisation of these crimes. Former Bush Administration officials who have admitted their involvement in the programme should also face criminal prosecution for their acts.
President Obama made it clear more than five years ago that the US Government recognises the use of waterboarding as torture. There is therefore no excuse for shielding the perpetrators from justice any longer. The US Attorney General is under a legal duty to bring criminal charges against those responsible.
Torture is a crime of universal jurisdiction. The perpetrators may be prosecuted by any other country they may travel to. However, the primary responsibility for bringing them to justice rests with the US Department of Justice and the Attorney General.”
(*) Check the Special Rapporteur’s full report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A-HRC-22-52_en.pdf
Ben Emmerson (United Kingdom) is the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. On 1 August 2011, he took up his functions on the mandate that was created in 2005 by the former United Nations Commission on Human, renewed by the UN Human Rights Council for a three year period in December 2007, in September 2010 and again in March 2013. As Special Rapporteur he is independent from any Government and serves in his individual capacity. Learn more, log on to:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Terrorism/Pages/SRTerrorismIndex.aspx
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, country page – United States of America: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/USIndex.aspx
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TOP STORIES THIS WEEK
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Those who toil for Big Dairy face vile and often dangerous conditions. BY JOSEPH SORRENTINO
Retirees stand to lose as Congress nears a vote on the changing private pension law. BY COLE STANGLER
Some activists are trying to beat back the tide of the market. BY YANA KUNICHOFF
We can’t change the grand jury’s verdict, but we can require police to wear body cameras. BY IAN REIFOWITZ
Big banks are more than happy to take workers’ retirement funds–as long as those workers don’t want to know what the banks are doing with the money. BY DAVID SIROTA
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| WORKING IN THESE TIMES |
| A Chicago Teacher Explains How Her School Fought Back Against Standardized Testing–And Won
Parents, teachers and students worked together to lead a successful standardized testing boycott. BY SARAH CHAMBERS |
“Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong”
William D. Nordhaus is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale. (March 2012)
His evidence based article is freely available below and above at
the New York Review of Books…
www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/22/why-global-warming-skeptics-are-wrong/
Australia’s status as a climate wrecker at last years UN climate meeting in Warsaw (COP19) is deteriorating even further this week, with the gulf between the Abbott government’s actions on climate change and its rhetoric growing wider and more confusing by the day.
The Government was planning to not send a minister to the latest climate meeting in Lima (COP20), until Foreign Minister Julie Bishop forced the issue in cabinet. Her request was approved on the proviso Trade Minister Andrew Robb “chaperoned” the trip due to “the significant economic and investment matters involved”. This statement is totally at odds with the Government’s fight to stop climate change being discussed at the G20 given it was an “economic meeting”. Allegedly leaked talking points from the Prime Minister’s office show that it is spinning its grudging allowance of Bishop to attend COP20 with Robb in tow as a sign of its “commitment to dealing with climate change”, but the attendance of the Foreign Affairs and Trade ministers instead of the Environmental Minister has also been dubbed an attempt to set up the climate talks to fail. Either way, the move appears to again be for show, not action, with the Government refusing to contribute to the Green Climate Fund when even conservative buddies Canada and New Zealand are.
Australia has already won two Fossil of the Day awards, and with it being named the worst performing industrial economy on climate change and Julie Bishop talking down unprecedented moves by China to cap coal use and emissions as “business as usual to 2030″, it is quite likely it could see a repeat of the five fossil awards it picked up at COP19.
Rupert Murdoch ordered editors to ‘kill Whitlam’, according to US diplomatic cables
http://t.co/9SA0wmTT06 #auspol
Rupert Murdoch ordered editors to ‘kill Whitlam’, according to US diplomatic cables #auspol
Document date: 2014-10-20 23:54:11
Released date: 2014-10-20 23:54:11
‘A treasurer under siege, a foreign minister in a sulk and a defence minister about to be forced to walk the plank.
December 2014
…Mexico, a massacre too far; Ukraine’s uncertain east; Afghans fearful as West pulls back;US, philanthropy or welfare? Italy stems migration; South Africa’s own subprime crisis;fall of France’s man in Africa; China’s workers strike; media information belongs to us all;scripting the future … and more…::: click cover to access :::
:::: click above for our SATIRE section :::
The UN Climate Talks, otherwise referred to as COP 20, begin next week in Lima, Peru at a time when climate change has rocketed back to the top of the global political agenda. The Lima talks are an opportunity for governments to harness momentum that has been growing around the world for months and begin taking internationally coordinated action to address the global climate change crisis. In Lima, governments can move forward on an international action plan to be finalized in Paris at the end of next year, which aims to accelerate the ongoing transition away from dirty fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy.
The foundation of any agreement in Paris will be built in Lima. That foundation includes getting nations to begin crafting Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), where countries will offer their plans for how to slash global carbon emissions so that the world’s warming is contained to no more than 2degC. The deadline for the INDC offers is March 2015, making Lima an opportunity for governments to put the finishing touches on what these commitments should contain, how long they should last, and how they should be presented.
COP 20 is also an opportunity for governments to continue supporting the Green Climate Fund, which now has commitments for up to 9.6 billion in funding, but has an investment target of $100 billion by 2020. Politically, COP 20 comes at a pivotal time. In September, hundreds of thousands of individuals from New York to Mumbai took part in the People’s Climate March, where the demand for governments to act on climate was made at historic levels. Days later, the march was referenced by several leaders, including Barack Obama and Ban Ki-moon as a reason to act.
Coverage…
- UN climate negotiators outline priorities for Lima (RTCC)
- China Fears Republican opposition to Climate Talks ($)(FT)
- Below the headlines – the nuts and bolts of a new global climate deal (Greenpeace)
- Leonardo DiCaprio confirmed to attend Lima UN Climate Conference (Peru This Week)
- Lima talks to test political will for global climate deal (WWF International)
- France ready to engage Zim on climate change issues (News Day)
- COP 20: A week prior to its kick-off (Andina)
- COP 20: Indigenous voices to be heard, now more than ever (Peru This Week)
- UN climate negotiators outline priorities for Lima (RTCC)
- China insists rich nations must do more at Lima climate meeting Hurri Daily News)
- 10 questions for delegates heading to UN climate talks in Lima (RTCC)
- Obama’s Climate Change Envoy: ‘Pretty Obvious’ Fossil Fuels Have To Stay In Ground (HNGN)
- CO2 emissions must be zero by 2070 to prevent climate disaster, UN says (The Guardian)
- ‘Build bridges for Lima climate talks‘ (The Guardian)
- Why we need to talk about the scientific consensus on climate change (The Guardian)
Stand with the Alyawarr and Anmatyerr Peoples and tell the government not to abandon homelands.
http://www.amnesty.org.au/homelandsThe Government has no right to abandon Aboriginal people for choosing to live on their homelands.
he’s as creepy as ever…
“And I know that you will agree with me that standing up for Australia also means standing up for the God, who has so blessed our land. I believe this country hungers for a spiritual revival. I believe it longs to see traditional values reflected in public policy again.”
ERIC(K) ABETZ, Address to the Australian Christian Lobby Conference, Brisbane, May 2013.
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TOP STORIES THIS WEEK
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| The Real Winner of the Midterms: Wall Street
The crop of newly elected politicians from last week’s elections are likely to increase profits for banks while further cutting public sector workers’ pensions. BY DAVID SIROTA
Republicans pulled together in the midterms to continue waging war on workers, the planet and democracy. Democrats ran from each other. BY DAVID MOBERG
With Net Neutrality, Obama Finally Takes a Principled Stand By calling for the reclassification of broadband as a utility, the president has opened the lanes for a truly free and open Internet. BY MARK STANLEY
Far from wringing their hands about last week’s election’s implications, Chicago progressives should take heart at their performance. BY MARILYN KATZ
A former Army Ranger says he doesn’t want to be thanked for his service–he wants politicians to stop sending young soldiers off to die. BY RORY FANNING
The new sci-fi thriller is beautiful, but tells the same old story: A guy with a dead wife nobly pursues blowing things up.
BY SADY DOYLE
Rasmea Odeh faces up to 10 years in a U.S. prison and deportation for failing to disclose a criminal history that was allegedly the result of physical and sexual torture.
BY CHRISTA SMITH
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| WORKING IN THESE TIMES |
| Students to Teach for America CEOs: You Are ‘Complicit’ in Attacks on Public Education
Student activists didn’t mince any words about the damage the group is doing to teachers and students. BY ARI PAUL |
The world needs to take immediate action towards a complete phase out of fossil fuels and force global greenhouse gas emissions onto a downward trajectory. This is the clear message from the United Nations Environment Programme in its latest Emissions Gap Report. Launched today in Washington DC, the report confirms there is no time to waste if the world is to stay under the agreed red line of 2DegC average warming. The good news is that more and more countries are already waking up to this – forced to face facts by the recent government-endorsed IPCC report confirming that carbon emissions will have to be brought to zero.
The US, China and the EU have all recently showed climate action leadership: the EU with its 2030 climate and energy package; the US with its pledge to double the pace at which it will reduce carbon pollution; and China with plans to slow, peak and then reverse the course of its carbon emissions. But today’s report shows that all countries need to take action, and that deeper and faster emissions cuts will reduce climate risks and the costs of action.
Now is the moment – in the run up to the UN climate summit in Lima, Peru – for coal–obsessed blockers like Australia to show that they too wish to be on the right side of history.
Link feast
pick of the best psychology and neuroscience links from the past week or so:
Winter Is a Black Hole: How I Deal With Seasonal Depression
“Seasonal depression hits for me, like clockwork, the day after Halloween” – writes Dayner Evans at Gawker.com.
Learning How Little We Know About the Brain
By James Gorman in the New York Times.
How To Debunk Falsehoods
At BBC Future, Tom Stafford investigates the best way to correct false ideas.
The “Paper Effect” – Note Something Down And You’re More Likely To Forget It
At the Brain Watch blog I lampoon fears about the effect of computers and other digital devices on our memories.
How to Be Efficient: Dan Ariely’s 6 New Secrets to Managing Your Time
At Time magazine, Eric Barker summarises time-keeping advice from the author of Predictably Irrational.
I Hated Keeping a Gratitude Journal – Here’s What Worked Instead
Allison Jones at Fastcompany.com
Fooled By Your Own Brain
Don’t be so certain your senses are telling you the truth, says Virginia Hughes at Nautilus.
Human Body: The “Ultra-athletes” aged 60+
At BBC Future, David Robson reports on the senior ultra-athletes who are defying the limits of aging and the body.
Living With Schizophrenia
Access 60 free journal articles on this topic, courtesy of Psychology Press / Taylor and Francis.
How to Study The Brain
We’re about to obtain unprecedented amounts of new data on the brain, says Gary Marcus at The Chronicle, but the important missing ingredient is theory.
Illustrations of Madness: James Tilly Matthews and the Air Loom
At the Public Domain Review, Mike Jay recounts the tragic story of James Tilly Matthews, who was confined to Bedlam asylum in 1797 for believing that his mind was under the control of a terrifying machine.
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Post compiled by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
the interpretOr 