Month: August 2007

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Health Hazards Rise from the Dust of the World Trade Center

Al Huebner August 30, 2007 Al Huebner

In the hours following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center firefighters, police, and emergency medical technicians performed acts of enormous courage. Many of them died or were exposed to health-threatening substances while performing these heroic deeds. Unfortunately, while bureaucrats were unctuously praising these heroes, irresponsible and deceptive post-attack actions by some officials paved the way for more illnesses and deaths among workers and residents in Lower Manhattan.

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Arctic Oil and the Law of the Seize

Rene Wadlow August 29, 2007 Rene Wadlow

There is a touch of the 19th century scramble to divide Africa among European colonial powers in Russia's decision to drop a capsule containing a Russian flag on the Arctic sea floor not far from the North Pole on August 2nd. In preparation for the 1885 Berlin Conference which was to draw the boundaries of the African colonies, there was a mad rush to place national flags on all the commercial outposts so that France, England, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Portugal could claim prior possession of the area.

Babaeng Nakaitim (Woman in Black) by Emmanuel Garibay

Artists against Assassination

Carmela Cruz August 28, 2007 Carmela Cruz

Woman in Black
Gabriela Krista Dalena sits on a painter's stool, narrating a harrowing incident from a night in April 2003. A ray of late morning sunlight comes through the parted doors of the verandah across her. It illuminates the corners of oil paintings hanging on the room's high walls and the delicate features of terracotta sculptures sitting on the tops of wooden cabinet and tables and lining the wooden floor. Dalena, an independent filmmaker, recalls how 20 men, armed and masked, abducted five of her colleagues, including her ex-boyfriend, a cameraman.

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The Crisis in US Media and the Growing Movement for Media Democracy

Between the Lines Radio and Toward Freedom August 27, 2007 Between the Lines Radio and Toward Freedom

As corporate media in the US continues to distort the news, misinform the public and ignore important stories, a growing independent media movement has provided an alternative space for investigation, analysis and discussion of the news. Listen to this online recording of a panel of journalists and activists at the US Social Forum discussing the successes and challenges of the current independent media movement in the US. Speakers on this panel include Scott Harris, Nate Jones, Jen Angel, Elizabeth DiNovella and Michael Albert.

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Remembering the Future of Radical Activism

Mandisi Majavu August 22, 2007 Mandisi Majavu

There are two important radical political activists that have shaped my way of thinking in a far-reaching and profound manner. Although their political points of departure differ in fundamental ways, their political views are characterised by a non-compromising attitude towards social change. I find this trait both inspiring and admirable. I am talking about Malcolm X and Michael Albert. In this essay, however, I discuss only the latter.