On Jan. 31, rightwing paramilitaries murdered community activist Yolanda Izquierdo in the city of Monteria, capital of Cordoba department in northern Colombia. Izquierdo had been receiving death threats since December, when she attended the first preliminary hearing where paramilitary leader… Read moreColombia: displaced activists murdered
On Feb. 7, some 20,000 Paraguayan campesinos held protests at 10 sites around the country as part of a national mobilization to draw attention to the low income they receive from agricultural production and to demand solutions to their plight…. Read moreParaguay: campesino protest repressed
For starters, a couple of apologies. Yes, our February issue is coming out five days late, and our daily weblog has been inactive for nearly a week. This is because your hard-working editor (yours truly) has been down with the… Read moreWW4 Report winter fund drive continues
Mike Ferner writes for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Feb. 6: From Alaska to Washington, D.C. yesterday, peace activists escalated their tactics and occupied Congressional offices, demanding elected officials vote against George Bush’s request of $93,000,000,000 to extend the war. The… Read moreAnti-war activists occupy Congressional offices
We have already noted rampant conspiracy theories in the fluctuating oil prices. We’ll here’s more grist for the mill. From NBC News, Jan. 26: Oil traders and others believe that the Saudi decision to let the price of oil tumble… Read moreSaudis waging oil-price war on Iran?
Samir Adil, president of the Iraq Freedom Congress, reports on the progress of the new popular Safety Force, Jan. 18: Samir Adil meets with the IFC Safety Force Accompanied by Raid Salih, head of the Safety Force in Baghdad, Samir… Read moreIraq: civil resistance builds Safety Force
The Pentagon recently posed Colombia as a “good model” for the war on opium in Afghanistan. But Hamid Karzai, to his credit, is displaying greater concern for the health of his own land and people than top US Latin American… Read moreAfghanistan: Karzai just says no —to glyphosate
Hundreds of anti-water privatization activists gathered outside El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly this week to back legislation that would “increase [water] coverage, quality and sustainability and guarantee access… for low-income families.” They presented a new proposal entitled “The Potable Water and… Read moreEl Salvador: effort gains against water privatization
The Honduran government reversed its decision to take over oil storage terminals in attempt to lessen oil prices for the Central American country’s impoverished population. The reversal, announced last Friday, followed a threat by U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ford, who… Read moreHonduras nixes oil take-over following US threats
We have noted internal divisions in Iran over the nuclear issue. This story from the Jan. 23 New York Times provides another piece of the puzzle, and greater nuance than the corporate media generally display on the Tehran regime: TEHRAN… Read moreIran: ayatollah criticizes Ahmadinejad on nuclear issue
Our January issue featured the story “Niger Delta: Behind the Mask” by Ike Okonta, which explored the concept of petro-violence, pioneered by Michael J. Watts of UC Berkely, in the context of contemporary Nigeria— where oil exploitation has only brought… Read moreUS oil profligance and third world petro-violence: our readers write
The Western Hemisphere’s worst human rights abuser by a mile (and, not coincidentally, closest US ally) is a “good model” for what Washington hopes to build in Afghanistan. The Afghans must be very comforted. From Reuters, Jan. 19 (emphasis added):… Read morePentagon: Colombia “good model” for Afghan drug war
