Development and Its Discontents: Assessing the Limits and Future of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals

The achievements said to have been accomplished since the turn of the century under the mandate of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals include cutting global poverty in half and greatly expanding access to education and clean drinking water. But with the 2015 deadline for their fulfillment rushing ever closer, the UN is considering a new agenda for global growth and development.

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David Graeber – Occupy Democracy is not considered newsworthy. It should be

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

Sleeping outside for an iPhone is OK, but do it in furtherance of democratic expression and you’re in trouble

You can tell a lot about the moral quality of a society by what is, and is not, considered news.

From last Tuesday, Parliament Square was wrapped in wire mesh. In one of the more surreal scenes in recent British political history, officers with trained German shepherds stand sentinel each day, at calculated distances across the lawn, surrounded by a giant box of fences, three metres high – all to ensure that no citizen enters to illegally practice democracy. Yet few major news outlets feel this is much of a story. read more

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VT Gas pipeline protesters occupy governor’s office

Source: Vermont Digger

Hundreds of environmental protesters occupied the governor’s office on Monday, demanding that Gov. Peter Shumlin reverse his support for the natural gas pipeline through Addison County, and oppose any other fossil fuel infrastructure projects in Vermont. State regulators approved the project last December, and the company began construction this summer.

The protesters danced, sang and played instruments to protest Vermont Gas’ 41-mile pipeline from Colchester south to Middlebury. They brought sheep, dogs and children. Some slipped past security and climbed the stairs to the fifth floor of the Pavilion Building. read more