Links

IRAQ

Electronic Iraq

Inside Iraq

Iraq Slogger

Iraq Body Count

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count

Iraq Oil Report

Iraq Business News

Alsumaria TV

Azzaman

Kurdish Media

Kurdish Globe

Rudaw (Kurdish news)

Iraqi Turkmen Front

Christians of Iraq

Assyrian International News Agency

International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR)

LAONF: Iraqi Nonviolence Group

Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project

Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI)

Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)

General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW)

Worker-Communist Party of Iraq (WCPI)

Left Worker-Communist Party of Iraq (LWCPI)

Worker-Communist Party of Kurdistan

Iraq Solidaridad

Solidarité Irak

NO-IFS: National Organization for the Iraqi Freedom Struggles

 

IRAN

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Organization for Women’s Liberation in Iraq (OWLI)

Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization (IKWRO)

Meydaan: Stop Stoning Forever

Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression

CASMII: Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iraq

IASWI: International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran

CODIR: Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights

Justice for Iranian Workers

IWSN: Iranian Workers Solidarity Network

Iran Labor Report

Iranian Progressives in Translation

Worker-Communist Party of Iran (WPI)

Communist Party of Iran (CPI)

Komalah: Communist Party of Iran (Kurdish)

Green Party of Iran

Balochistan People’s Party

Iran Tribunal

Radio Zamaneh

Iran Focus

Payvand

Iranian.com

Rooz Online

 

AFGHANISTAN

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)

RAWA News: The Reality of Life in Afghanistan

RAWA News Archive

Afghan Women’s Mission (US)

SAWA: Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan (Australia)

Women for Afghan Women (pro-occupation)

Afghanistan Rights Monitor

Afghans for Peace

Afghanistan Peace Organization

Afghanistan Online

Afgha.com

Khaama Press

Afghan Network

Rethink Afghanistan

The Long War Journal

Hazara.net

Khyber.org (Pashto resources)

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan—Voice of Jihad (Taliban website)

 

PALESTINE, ISRAEL & GREATER MIDDLE EAST

Kibush: Occupation Magazine

Alternative Information Center

Palestinian Center for Human Rights

B’Tselem: Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

Al-Haq: Defending Human Rights in Palestine

Addameer: Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

ACRI: Association for Civil Rights in Israel

ICAHD: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Monitoring Israeli Colonization Activities

Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights

Adalah: Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual

IMEMC: International Middle East Media Center

Middle East Online

IMEU: Institute for Middle East Understanding

MERIP: Middle East Research & Information Project

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

The Media Line: MidEast News Source

Ma’an News Agency

Palestine News Network

WAFA: Palestinian News & Info Agency (official)

Ha’aretz

War in Context

Peace Now

Gush Shalom: Israeli Peace Bloc

Ta’ayush: Arab Jewish Peace Fellowship

Stop the Wall

Who Profits? Exposing the Israeli Occupation Industry

Free Gaza Movement

Gaza Gateway

GISHA: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement

Palestine Note

Palestine Telegraph

Electronic Intifada

Intifada: Voice of Palestine

Palestine Remembered: al-Nakba, 1948

Palestine Justice Network

BADIL: Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

ISM: International Solidarity Movement

BDS Movement: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

Breaking the Silence: Israeli Veterans Speak

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Jewish Voice for Peace

American Jews for a Just Peace

IJAN: International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

One Democratic State Group

New Jewish Resistance (anti-Zionist)

 

THE SUBCONTINENT, SOUTHEAST ASIA & THE PACIFIC

DRUM: Desis Rising Up and Moving

Samar: South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection

Campaign to Stop Funding Hate

Coalition Against Genocide

Asia Pacific Forum: Progressive Pan-Asian Radio Show

APSN: Asia Pacific Solidarity Network

South Asia Solidarity Initiative

Kashmir News

The Baluch

TamilNet

GroundViews (Sri Lanka)

Asian Centre for Human Rights

Asian Human Rights Commission

South Asia Terrorism Portal

Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (funded by Indian Ministry of Defence)

Rising Nepal

APFA News (Bhutan)

Democratic Voice of Burma

Burma Digest

Burma Campaign UK

Mizzima: Burma News and Multimedia

Irrawaddy Magazine

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)

Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace (Indonesia)

Tapol: Indonesia Human Rights Campaign

ETAN: East Timor and Indonesia Action Network

Free West Papua

West Papua Information Kit

West Papua Media Alerts

Aceh Links

Stop the Killing in the Philippines

Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center/Friends of the Earth Philippines

NUPL: National Union of People’s Lawyers (Philippines)

 

EAST ASIA

China Labor Watch

China Labour Bulletin

China Worker

Chinese Human Rights Defenders

Human Rights in China

Initiatives for China (pro-democracy)

Dui Hua Foundation (pro-democracy)

ChinaAid (Christian-oriented)

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China

Caixin: China Economics & Finance

China Digital Times

Shanghaiist

Japan Focus

Japan Today

Japan — Fissures in the Planetary Apparatus

Zenko: National Assembly for Peace and Democracy (Japan)

MDS: Movement for Democratic Socialism (Japan)

Nodutdol for Korean Community Development

Korea Policy Institute

North Korea Today

HRNK: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

HKnet: Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights

 

CENTRAL ASIA, CAUCASUS & THE BALKANS

Eurasianet

Eurasia Review

Transitions Online

Central Asia Online

IWPR: Institute for War & Peace Reporting

OSW: Centre for Eastern Studies

Forum 18 on religious freedom in the ex-Soviet republics

UzNews (Uzbekistan)

Gundogar: For Democracy and Human Rights in Turkmenistan

SMHRIC: Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center

Free Tibet

International Campaign for Tibet

Phayul.com: News & Views on Tibet

Gangkyi: the Heart of Tibetans in Exile

Tibetan Review

Tibet Post

Tibet Daily

Tibet Society

Tibet Online

Tibetan Center for Human Rights & Democracy

Tibet Truth

Tibet Youth Congress

Tibetan Government in Exile

Uyghur American Association

Uyghur Human Rights Project

World Uyghur Congress

Uyghur News

Kavkaz Center (voice of the Chechen resistance)

Civil Georgia

DeFacto.am: News from Nagorno-Karabakh

BiaNet (Turkey)

World Bulletin (Turkey)

Southeast European Times

Dzeno Association (Roma news)

Romea.cz

On Gogol Boulevard: Neither East Nor West Alternative News Service (archive)

Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej (CIA)

The Balkans Pages: Anti-War and Human Rights Resources

BIRN: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network

H-Alter (Croatia)

Balkan Witness

Congress of North American Bosniaks

Bosniaks.net

Bosnia News

Srebrenica Genocide Blog

We Remember the Bosnian Genocide

KosovaLive

 

AFRICA

AllAfrica.com

Afrik News

Afrol News

Afrique en Ligne

Africa Renewal (UN)

Africa Action

Africa Speaks

Africa Arguments

Newstime Africa

New African

GRILA: Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa

Pambazuka News: Weekly Forum for Social Justice in Africa

Enough Project to end genocide in Africa

Sudan Tribune

New Sudan Vision

Radio Dabanga (Darfur)

Save Darfur

Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) (Darfur)

Darfur Information Center

Rescue Nubia

Nuba Survival

Geeska Afrika Online

Friends of the Congo

Congo Planet

HRLHA: Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa

SomaliNet

Somali War Monitor

Radio Mareeg

Halgan.net

Shabelle Media Network

Radio Garowe Online

Somaliland Times

Somaliland Press

Somaliland.org

SIRAG: Somaliland International Recognition Action Group

CyberEthiopia

ECADF: Ethiopian News

Ethiopian Review

Ogaden Online

Ogaden News

Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)

Oromia Support Group

Oromia Online

Gadaa.com: Online Resource on Oromia

Anyuak Media

Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia

Meskerem: Eritrean Opposition Website

Awate: News & Analysis on Eritrea

Asmarino Independent

 

THE MAGHREB

North Africa United

Algeria Watch

Algeria ISP

Ennahar Online

Feb 17th: Libyan Youth Movement

Tripoli Post

Amazigh Cultural Association

Voix Berbères

Tamazgha

Gouvernement Provisoire Kabyle (Algeria)

Tuareg Culture and News

Toumast Press

Mouvement National de LibĂ©ration de L’Azawad (MNLA) (Mali)

Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice (MNJ) (Niger)

Front des Forces de Redressement (FFR) (Niger)

ARSO: Association for a free and fair Referendum in Western Sahara

Organization for Statehood & Freedom (Western Sahara)

Western Sahara Resource Center

Western Sahara Resource Watch

Sahara Press Service (official agency of the Saharawi Republic)

Magharebia.com (US Africa Command)

 

THE AMERICAS

Weekly News Update on the Americas

Upside Down World

Center for International Policy—Americas Program

Latin America Bureau

NACLA: North American Congress on Latin America

LAWG: Latin America Working Group

WOLA: Washington Office on Latin America

COHA: Council on Hemispheric Affairs

LASC: Latin America Solidarity Coalition

ALAI: Latin American Information Agency

CIDH: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS)

CEDEMA: Centro de DocumentaciĂłn de los Movimientos Armados

InSight: Organized Crime in the Americas

Just the Facts: Civilian’s guide to US defense and security assistance to Latin America

School of the Americas Watch

Latin American & Caribbean Community Center

Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas

Latin America Press

Latin America News Dispatch

Narco News Bulletin

RebeliĂłn

El Revolucionario

IzquierdaPuntoInfo

KaosEnLaRed.net

Minga Informativa

No a la Mina

Observatorio de Industrias Extractivas y Derechos Colectivos

Observatorio de Conflictos Mineros de America Latina

Agencia Matriz del Sur

Prensa IndĂ­gena

Rebanadas de Realidad

Tierramérica

Adital

Prensa Latina (Cuban)

ClarĂ­n (Buenos Aires)

 

MEXICO

Mexico Independent Media Center

La Jornada

Proceso

Frontera NorteSur

Borderland Beat

NarcoGuerra Times

La Otra DivisiĂłn Del Norte (Matamoros)

Mexico Solidarity Network

Mexico Labor News & Analysis

Comité Cerezo: Freedom for Mexican Political Prisoners

LIMEDDH: Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights

PRODH: Miguel AugustĂ­n Pro Juarez Human Rights Center

CCIODH: International Civil Human Rights Observation Commission

Tlachinollan: Human Rights Center of the Montaña (Guerrero)

Wixarika: Huichol Art, History and Culture

Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN)

Radio Zapatista

Zapateando

CGT Chiapas

Enlace Civil (Chiapas)

SIPAZ: Servicio Internacional para la Paz

CIEPAC: Chiapas Investigative Center for Communitarian Action

FRAYBA: Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center

Chiapas Independent Media Center

 

CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Rights Action

Oil Watch Mesoamerica

NISGUA: Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala

CICIG: International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (UN)

Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas (CNOC) (Guatemala)

Guatemala Human Rights Updates

CISPES: Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador

US-El Salvador Sister Cities

Consejo CĂ­vico de Organizaciones Populares e IndĂ­genas de Honduras (COPINH)

Organizacion Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH)

Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNRP)

Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH)

Honduras Laboral

Solidarity with the People(s) of Honduras

Honduras Resiste

Honduras Oye!

Honduras Coup 2009

Vos el Soberano: Contra el Golpe de Estado en Honduras

Revistazo (independent news from Honduras)

Honduras Culture and Politics

Honduras Weekly

Nicaragua Network

Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua)

La Voz del Sandinismo

Tico Times (Costa Rica)

Informa-Tico

Inside Costa Rica

Haiti Support Group

Haiti Action

Haïti Liberté

Radio Métropole

AlterPresse

Batay Ouvriye

Other Worlds Are Possible (Haiti)

Red Betances (Puerto Rico)

Claridad (Puerto Rico)

ACN: Cuban News Agency

Cuba Debate

Caribbean 360

 

COLOMBIA

Colombia Support Network

Colombia Solidarity Campaign (UK)

Justice for Colombia

US Office on Colombia

Colombia Reports

Agencia Prensa Rural

IPC Press Agency (MedellĂ­n)

ANNCOL: New Colombia News Agency (pro-FARC)

National Liberation Army (ELN)

Causa Justa/Colombian@s por la Paz

Resistencia Civil Democratica

Movimiento Obrero Independiente Revolucionario (MOIR)

DHColombia: Red de Defensores No InstituciĂłnalizados

CorporacĂ­on JurĂ­dica Libertad

CODHES: ConsultorĂ­a para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento

Movimiento Nacional de VĂ­ctimas de CrĂ­menes de Estado en Colombia

Razon Publica

Desde los Márgenes

Verdad Abierta: paramilitares y conflicto armado en Colombia

San José de Apartadó Peace Community

Red Juvenil (MedellĂ­n)

Fellowship of Reconciliation Colombia Program

Peace Brigades International—Colombia

Amigos de la Tierra Colombia

Actualidad Étnica

MAMA Radio

National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC)

Indigenous Authorities of Colombia (AICO)

Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC)

Association of Indigenous Cabildos of North Cauca (ACIN)

Indigenous Organization of Antioquia (OIA)

Association of Indigenous Cabildos of ChocĂł (OREWA)

 

VENEZUELA

Hands Off Venezuela!

VenezuelAnalysis

AVN: Agencia Venezolana de Noticias

Aporrea.org

ANMCLA: AssociaciĂłn Nacional de Medios Comunitarios, Libres y Alternativos

PROVEA: Programa Venezolano de EducaciĂłn-AcciĂłn en Derechos Humanos

El Libertario (Venezuelan anarchist journal)

 

THE ANDES

Enlace IndĂ­gena

Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones IndĂ­genas (CAOI)

Servindi: Servicios en ComunicaciĂłn Intercultural

Defensa Territorios

Andina: Peruvian News Agency

Andean Air Mail & Peruvian Times

Adonde.com: El Buscador del Peru

Coordinadora Nacional de Radio (Peru)

Pachamama Radio (Peru)

IDL Reporteros (Peru)

Caretas (Peru)

APRODEH: AssociacĂ­on Pro Derechos Humanos (Peru)

Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (Peru)

Programa de Democracia y TransformaciĂłn Global (Peru)

La Mula (Peru)

Mariátegui: La revista de las ideas (Peru)

Wauqi (Peru)

InfoRegiĂłn (Peru)

Nosotr@s Peru

Con Nuestro PerĂş

Peruanista

Stop Peru FTA

ConfederaciĂłn de Nacionalidades IndĂ­genas del PerĂş (CONAIP)

ConvenciĂłn Nacional del Agro Peruano (CONVEAGRO)

ConfederaciĂłn Nacional de Comunidades del PerĂş Afectadas por la MinerĂ­a (CONACAMI)

Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)

National Confederation of Campesino, Indigenous and Black Organizations of Ecuador (FENOCIN)

Hatarinchej: Ecuador Rising

AcciĂłn EcolĂłgica (Ecuador)

Ecuador Solidarity Network

Bolivia Rising

Bolivia Transition Project

Bolivia Information Forum

Abiding in Bolivia

Bolivia Weekly

Bolivia Diary

Bolivia Prensa

HidrocarburosBolivia.com

FOBOMADE: Foro Boliviano sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo

ANF: Agencia de Noticias Fides (Bolivia)

AINI: Agencia Intercultural de Noticias Indigenas de Bolivia

ABI: Agencia Boliviana de InformaciĂłn

Derechos Humanos Bolivia

Andean Information Network

The Democracy Center (Bolivia)

National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu (CONAMAQ)

CosmovisiĂłn Andina

MapuExpress

Mapuche International Link

Mapuche Territorial Alliance

Indigenous News (Chile)

 

THE AMAZON & WORLD RAINFORESTS

Amazon Watch

Rainforest Foundation

Rainforest Action Network

World Rainforest Movement

Mongabay

Mariri Magazine: Voice of the Forest

AmazĂ´nia

Indigene Climate Alliance

Coordinadora de las Organizaciones IndĂ­genas de la Cuenca AmazĂłnica (COICA)

Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (COIAB)

Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP)

Confederation of Amazonian Nationalities of Peru (CONAP)

Regional Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Oriente (ORPIO)

Native Federation of the Rio Madre de Dios (FENAMAD)

FENAMAD Blog

Central Asháninka del Rio Ene (CARE)

Machiguenga Council of the RĂ­o Urubamba (COMARU)

Kichwa Confederation of Ecuador (ECUARUNARI)

Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of the Oriente of Bolivia (CIDOB)

Matsés Tribal Organization

CEDIA: Center for the Development of the Indigenous Amazon

CIMI: Conselho Indigenista Missionário

IIAP: Peruvian Amazon Research Institute

DAR: Derecho, ambiente y recursos naturales (Peru)

RAL: Red Ambiental Loretana

Shinai: Defending indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon

Upper Amazon Conservancy

Western Amazon

Amazon Indians

Lucha IndĂ­gena

 

NORTH AMERICA

Indian Country Today

Indigenous Environmental Network

Censored News: Indigenous Peoples, Resistance and Human Rights

This Tide Has No Heartbeat

Akwesasne Counterspin

Unsettling America

High Country News

Lowbagger.org

Turtle Talk

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) (Canada)

First Perspective

Vive Le Canada

 

PLANET EARTH

Toward Freedom

Peacework

Peace News

Open Democracy

Global Voices

All Voices

Global Post

Green Left Weekly

InterPress Service

Worldpress.org

World Countries News

Worldcrunch

PressEnza

AlterNet

Truthout

Daily Kos

Raw Story

Color Lines

Non-Aligned Movement News Network

Voltaire Network (conspiracist)

DESIP: Demographic, Environmental, and Security Issues Project

ENS: Environment News Service

ISN: International Relations and Security Network

IRIN: Integrated Regional Information Networks (UN)

ReliefWeb

Global Security

Global Policy Forum

Global Justice Ecology Project

Focus on the Global South

Third World Network

International Forum on Globalization

Center for International Policy

Institute for Policy Studies

Project on Defense Alternatives

Foreign Policy in Focus

Transnational Institute 

Via Campesina

GRAIN

Food First

Oakland Institute

New Economics Foundation

 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, SURVIVAL & GENOCIDE

Survival International

Cultural Survival

EarthRights International

Minority Rights Group International

UNPO: Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

GALDU: Resource Center for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Society for Threatened Peoples

Peoples of the World Foundation

Center for World Indigenous Studies

Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources

Indigenous Portal

IndigenousPeople.net

World Movements for Regional Autonomy

Aboriginal News Group

Intercontinental Cry

The Speed of Dreams (Maoist tendencies)

Genocide Watch

Prevent Genocide International

TRIAL: Tracking Impunity Always

Crimes of War

 

CORPORATE & PETRO-OLIGARCHICAL RULE

Oil Change International

Oil Watch

The Oil Drum

A Barrel Full

Cars Suck!

World Car-free Network

Public Citizen

Energy Justice Network

NIRS: Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Citizens Awareness Network: Nukebusters.org

Mines and Communities

BankTrack.org

Bilaterals.org

Trade Justice (NYC)

ICTSD: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Farm Land Grab

 

INTERNATIONAL LABOR

International Labour Organization

International Trade Union Confederation

International Labor Rights Forum

Fair Labor Association

Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

Labor Notes

LabourStart

 

CLIMATE, EARTH SCIENCE & GEOGRAPHY

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Union of Concerned Scientists

Arms Control Association

World Resources Institute

Planet Earth Online

EcoEarth.info: Environment Portal & Search Engine

Climate Justice Now

Climate Justice Action

Mobilization for Climate Justice

Climate SOS

Climate Crisis Coalition

Climate Ground Zero

Climate & Capitalism

Rising Tide: Confronting the Root Causes of Climate Change

RealClimate: Climate science from climate scientists

Climate Progress

Climate Connections

Planet Extinction

Extinction Protocol

The Watchers: Watching the World Evolve and Transform

Far North Science

Barents Observer

Ozone Depletion

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Test Your Geography Knowledge

University of Texas, Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Nations Online Project

Nation Master

Flags of the World

International Boundaries Research Unit

Disputed Territories

Statoids: Administrative Divisions of Countries

State Abbreviations

State County Maps

Ethnologue: Languages of the World

PhysOrg.com — Science News

Geology.org

PALEOMAP Project

Nine Planets Solar System Tour

 

HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS

Amnesty International

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights First

FIDH: International Federation of Human Rights

Reprieve

World Organization Against Torture

Witness Against Torture

Front Line Defenders

Equipo Nizkor

Proyecto Desaparecidos

Defending Dissent Foundation

The Constitution Project

Center for Constitutional Rights 

National Lawyers Guild 

ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union 

NYCLU: New York Civil Liberties Union 

Committee to Protect Journalists

Reporters Without Borders

IFEX: International Freedom of Expression Exchange

Index on Censorship

EFF: Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Politics of Immigration

Immigration News Briefs

Jurist: Legal News & Research

United Nations: Human Rights page

ICRC International Humanitarian Law page

 

DRUG WAR

Stop the Drug War

Drug Policy Alliance

International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy

Transnational Institute on Drugs and Democracy

NORML: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Global Ganja Report

 

ANTI-WAR

War Resisters League

United for Peace and Justice 

US Labor Against the War 

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

Military Families Speak Out 

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Courage to Resist

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors

Center on Conscience & War

War Resisters International

 

PRO-DEMOCRACY (U.S.A.)

RightWeb: Exposing the architecture of power that’s changing our world

PublicEye.org: Political Research Associates

POCLAD: Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy

CELDF: Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

Reclaim Democracy

Common Cause

Demos: Ideas & Action

 

ANTI-FASCIST

Searchlight Magazine (UK)

Anti-Racist Action

Southern Poverty Law Center

Antifascist Calling…

Three-Way Fight

Contested Terrain

 

ANARCHISM & UNORTHODOX MARXISM

Anarkismo.net

A-infos: Anarchist News Service

Anarchist News dot org

Anarchist International Information Service

Nodo50: ContrainformaciĂłn el la Red (Spain)

La Haine: Proyecto de desobedencia informativo (Spain)

InfoAut.org (Italy)

Gipfelsoli (pan-European)

Interactivist Info Exchange

Infoshop.org: Anarchist News and Information

A New World in Our Hearts (NYC)

The Shadow (NYC)

Slingshot (Berkeley)

Cuntrastamu! (California)

The Defenestrator (Philadelphia)

Upping the Anti (Canada)

The New Significance

Flag.blackened.net (anarchist archive)

Spunk Library (another archive)

The Anarchist Library

Anarchist Archives

Anarchist Yellow Pages (global contacts)

Autonomedia

AK Press

Workers Solidarity Alliance

International Workers Association (IWA/AIT)

Anarcho-Syndicalism: Class Struggle Online

LibCom.org: Libertarian Communism

News & Letters: Marxist-Humanism

Marxist-Humanist Initiative

US Marxist-Humanists

The Hobgoblin (UK Marxist-Humanists)

Workers’ Liberty

Midnight Notes

The Socialist Webzine (Socialist Party USA)

Marxists Internet Archive (orthodox but non-sectarian)

In Defense of Marxism (sectarian but comprehensive)

 

MEDIA RESOURCES & CRITICISM

Mediastudy.com

Free Press: Reform Media, Transform Democracy

FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

PR Watch: Center for Media and Democracy

Media Matters for America

Editor & Publisher

Columbia Journalism Review

Reclaim the Media

Independent Media Center

New York Independent Media Center

Voices of NY (NYC community and ethnic publications)

New America Media

Free.The.Media.org

 

9-11: RATIONAL RESOURCES

9-11 Guide

9-11 Myths

Debunking 9-11 Conspiracy Theories

Debunking 9-11 Myths (Popular Mechanics)

NIST Fact Sheet on the World Trade Center

NOVA: Engineering Ground Zero

Skyscraper Safety Campaign

World Trade Center — Some Engineering Aspects (University of Sydney)

Screw Loose Change (right-wing, unfortunately)

 

ISLAM & RELIGION

The Noble Qur’an (full text)

DILP: Digital Islamic Library Project

IRFI: Islamic Research Foundation International

ISNA: Islamic Society of North America

CAIR: Council on American-Islamic Relations

MAS: Muslim American Society

World Muslim Congress

Muslim Advocates

Islamophobia Watch

Islam Denounces Antisemitism

Institution for the Secularization of Islamic Society

Muslims for Progressive Values

Muslims for Secular Democracy (India)

Jafariya Shia News Website

Al Risala Forum International (Islamic nonviolence)

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Ahmadiyya Times

Sufi News & World Report

Baha’i World News Service

Encyclopaedia of the Orient

Jewish Virtual Library

European Jewish Press

Heeb Magazine: The New Jew Review

Jewcy (Judeo-hipsters)

Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture

Failed Messiah: covering Orthodox Judaism since 2004

Judeo-Sufi

New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

National Catholic Reporter

Spero News

MISNA: Missionary International Service News Agency

Ecumenical News International

Catholic Worker Movement

Bartholomew’s notes on religion

 

DISCLAIMER: A link on this page by no means should be construed as an endorsement. Many of these websites we support; some we definitely do not. All are interesting and/or useful. 

NOTE ON ACRONYMS: If the acronym appears before the name with a colon, the group in question is judged to be a news, advocacy or watchdog organization. If the acronym appears in parenthesis following the name, the organization is judged to be more of an “actor.” Obviously, this distinction is not always a clear-cut one.

 

Continue ReadingLinks 

TIBET & ASSAM: PAWNS IN INDIA-CHINA GAME

by Nava Thakuria, World War 4 Report

Tibetan exiles in India’s restive northeast have become increasingly vocal, with a series of recent public meetings and protests in Assam state, demanding liberation for their homeland just across the Sino-Indian border to the north. But Assam itself is home to a separatist movement, with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) waging a sporadic insurgency that has brought waves of harsh repression from New Delhi over the years. While the Tibetan exile leadership remain silent on Delhi’s crackdowns in Assam, the ULFA increasingly looks to China as a patron and supports Beijing’s position on Tibet—with movements for autonomy across the disputed border pitted against each other.

 

Continue ReadingTIBET & ASSAM: PAWNS IN INDIA-CHINA GAME 

DIVIDE AND RULE IN THE LAND OF GOLD

by Frauke Decoodt

In San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala, the Mina Marlin gold mine, operated by Canadian giant Goldcorp, has divided indigenous communities through gifts, benefits, and violence. The mine has caused a lot of damage. It has not only had a profound impact on the environment but also on the social cohesion of communities and families in the area, and on their cultural ties with the land.

Continue ReadingDIVIDE AND RULE IN THE LAND OF GOLD 

THE DARK SIDE OF WIKILEAKS?

by Bill Weinberg, World War 3 Illustrated

The case of Bradley Manning is a morally stark one. Even the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has censured the United States for its harsh measures against the young man who blew the cover on US atrocities in Iraq through WikiLeaks.

But the voluminous trove of classified diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks goes far beyond the “Collateral Murder” incident in Iraq. The release of most of this information can be justified in the name of the public’s right to know.

However, rights advocates have raised fears that some of the revelations may have placed pro-democracy dissidents at risk in authoritarian regimes. Worse, a WikiLeaks “accredited journalist” is accused of actively collaborating with a dictator. WikiLeaks has failed to meaningfully respond to charges of complicity with grave human rights abuses in Belarus, the country dubbed “Europe’s last dictatorship.”

Continue ReadingTHE DARK SIDE OF WIKILEAKS? 

SYRIA: THE MYTH OF PALESTINIAN NEUTRALITY

by Budour Hassan, Ma’an News Agency

On July 14, thousands of Palestinian refugees marched in a funeral procession for 11 unarmed protesters shot dead by Syrian security forces in the al-Yarmouk refugee camp. Raucous and seething with rage, mourners chanted for Syria and Palestine, called for the downfall of Bashar Assad’s regime, and sang for freedom.

Whether this burgeoning civil disobedience movement will grow into an open, durable rebellion remains to be seen, but the significance and the potential influence of the latest wave of protests that has swept Syria’s largest Palestinian camp cannot be overlooked.

 

Continue ReadingSYRIA: THE MYTH OF PALESTINIAN NEUTRALITY 

ISRAEL AND IRAN: PROTESTERS UNITE FOR PEACE

Enmity From Above, Amity From Below

by Richard Abernethy, US Marxist-Humanists

On one level, the threat of war between Israel and Iran is a real conflict, a struggle between two state powers for dominance in the Middle East. On another level, each set of rulers finds in the other a “useful enemy,” an external threat that appears to validate its ideology, and consolidate its rule at home.

In both countries, there is a body of enlightened opinion that opposes the rulers’ drive toward war. In an extraordinary new development, Israeli and Iranian dissidents have come together, first over the Internet and more recently in person in Berlin, to oppose the drive to war.

 

Continue ReadingISRAEL AND IRAN: PROTESTERS UNITE FOR PEACE 

BOLIVIA PUSHES BACK AGAINST GLENCORE

by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, CorpWatch Blog

Glencore corporation, the secretive Swiss commodities giant which has become one of the world’s biggest traders of grain, oil and minerals, has hit an unlikely roadblock: one of South America’s poorest countries. On June 22, the Bolivian government seized the company’s Colquiri tin and zinc mine, south of the capital city of La Paz.

Colquiri was the third Glencore operation to be nationalized by Bolivia in the last five years. In 2007 the government seized the Empresa Metalurgica Vinto zinc smelter and in 2010, the government seized the Vinto-Antimonio antimony smelter.

Continue ReadingBOLIVIA PUSHES BACK AGAINST GLENCORE 

QUEBEC INNU PROTEST PLAN NORD

by Alexis Lathem, Toward Freedom

On the morning of June 10, a group of Innu people from the community of ManiUtenam, near the Quebec city of Sept Isle, set out on a 360 kilometer march towards a Hydro Quebec dam construction site on the Romaine River. Dressed in florescent vests, they departed from an encampment at the entrance to the reserve, beside Route 138, the only major road in the region, where the group has maintained a continual protest since the end of April.

Impossible to miss as vehicles pass along the route, the encampment strikingly asserts the presence of the Innu—who have been consistently ignored by governments and developers as they continue to encroach upon Innu territory.

 

Continue ReadingQUEBEC INNU PROTEST PLAN NORD 

The Change is Coming…

Dear Readers:

We’ve been holding out our big redesign for months now, but it really is going to happen this summer. We also need to find a new host, so if any readers can recommend one, please get in touch.

After the redesign, we will be holding another fund-drive to pay for it. If any readers wish to give us a head start, you know what to do. We will point out that our winter fund drive goal of $5,000 was dropped to $2,000 just to get it over with. So if anyone wants to help make up the difference now, that would be a big help.

As you may have noticed, World War 4 Report was in Peru in March, covering the peasant struggle against mea-scale mining projects. The world is paying little note, but angry peasant and indigenous protests in defense of land, water and autonomy are spreading across the Andes now, from Chile to Colombia. World War 4 Report is providing the most consistent, in-depth coverage of these struggles available in English. If you think this work is important, please let us know.

Since we will probably be switching to a more web-friendly ongoing feature roll, this should really be the last “issue” of our e-magazine. Do you think this is a good move? Even if you can’t make a monetary donation, be in touch with your ideas and criticisms on our work and direction.

We need your support, and your feedback.

Thank you, shukran and gracias,

Bill Weinberg

Send checks payable to World War 4 Report to:

World War 4 Report
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Continue ReadingThe Change is Coming… 

INDIA: PASSIVE RESISTANCE TO MEGA-HYDRO IN ASSAM

by T Navajyoti, World War 4 Report

In Northeast India, which has faced decades of unrest, energy has emerged as a critical issue for the region’s popular movements. The state of Assam particularly has witnessed a series of sustained demonstrations against large river dams, with farmers’ associations, student organizations and civil society groups campaigning tirelessly. But lobbying for big dams is also going on in full pace.

The recent hunger strike by the popular anti-dam activist Akhil Gogoi in Guwahati, Assam’s major city, won much public support. The Indian government’s plans to build some 150 large dams on tributaries of the Brahmaputra River in Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Assam on the north. The tributaries flow down from the Himalayan foothills of Arunachal Pradesh into the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. The government hopes to generate 60,000 mega-watts from these dams—a dramatic increase over the 1,700 mega-watts now generated. But Assam’s farmers fear the downstream impacts.

The protesters argue that the geo-seismic situation, and the fragile state of the eastern Himalayas’ erosion-prone mountains and silt-laden rivers should be taken into consideration before approval of these mega-hydroelectric projects. Akhil Gogoi— general secretary of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) peasants’ organization, and a close comrade of Anna Hazare, the social activist who held a hunger strike against corruption in Delhi last year—started his indefinite hunger strike on May 19 at Lakhidhar Bora Kshetra, the central government building in Guwahati, demanding the immediate halt in construction of all mega-dams. Gogoi was transferred by the authorities to Gawahati Medical College Hospital on May 25 as his health condition deteriorated. He maintained his fast in the hospital bed till May 28 but finally broke his fast following the request of Anna Hazare. Speaking to Gogol by phone in the hospital, Hazare argued that his health was more important than his martyrdom for the anti-dam movement across the country.

Another leading Team Anna member, Arvind Kejriwal, addressed a huge public rally in the city, where he slammed both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments for what he called an anti-people attitude, caving to the big dam lobbies to exploit the region’s hydroelectricity potential without accountability. He also condemned the Delhi government for its insensitive approach to the livelihood of millions of indigenous people in the country.

Kejriwal clarified that he is not against river dams. But the projects must not be at the cost of the local people and ecology of any region. The government must not impose such projects without peoples’ participation and consent. Kejriwal received support from National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM). In a statement issued with 20 other local organizations, NAPM hailed “Akhil’s brave struggle for life with dignity and against unjust destructive capitalist development thrust upon people against their will.”

The statement said “NAPM supports all demands raised by KMSS including in halting the construction of all mega dams till an agreement is formalised with the people living in the downstream, releasing all the detained activists unconditionally and also allowing the protesters to pursue their democratic agitations.”

However, addressing a seminar on May 25 in the State capital, T Norbu Thongdok, parliamentary secretary to Arunachal Pradesh Public Works Department, argued that “the dams for producing hydro-power are constructed using best of scientific technologies to maximise power production and minimise its hypothetical negative impacts that is being spread throughout the State and neighboring Assam.”

Delivering his inaugural address in the seminar, organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in association with Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (APEDA) and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), the parliamentary secretary also stressed the criticality of energy for the sustainable growth of the nation.

The bureaucrat-turned-politician Thongdok stated that “power is the most important contributing factor of a developed state, so…we should explore all possible avenues to produce power. Since the deposits of fossil fuels are depleting alarmingly, we must conserve energy by making optimum use of it for the future of our nation.” He asserted that harnessing solar, hydro and wind energy is the best option for clean, cheap power.

The seminar emphasised that Arunachal should be energy-efficient by producing adequate power through multiple ways. However, a few speakers also advocated for preserving the state’s natural bio-diversity.

In Assam, KMSS with a number of peasant groups, ethnic organizations and student associations are engaged in a prolonged protest campaign to prevent the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation from carrying construction materials to the 2,000-megawatt Subansiri hydro-electric project site at Lakhimpur on the Assam-Arunachal border, the first of the planned dams. The protests have been ongoing in the area since December 26, 2011.

KMSS claims that the indigenous people of the region must have the right to use of its natural resources, including the rivers. It charges that the government seeks to exploit these resources for the selfish interests of big companies—without any consultations with the people.

Assam’s chief minister Traun Gogoi insists that work on dams will go on irrespective of protests. He even ruled out any
dialogue with Akhil Gogoi during his hunger strike, terming it “anti-development.”

There is no denying of the fact that the ongoing resistance to large river dams has turned into a popular movement in Assam. The activists and their sympathizers are unanimous in their views that the proposed mega hydro-electricity projects in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh would leave a devastating impact on the region, as well as in Bangladesh. They charge that several large hydropower projects were granted “green clearance” without any prior downstream impact assessment by the environment ministry in New Delhi.

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From our Daily Report:

Hydro-hubris threatens peace efforts on India-Burma borderlands
World War 4 Report, April 27, 2012

Arunachal Pradesh: pawn in the new Great Game
World War 4 Report, Oct. 17, 2009

Bangladesh Rifles mutiny militarizes India border
World War 4 Report, Feb. 28, 2011

See also:

GUATEMALANS RESIST MEGA-MINES, HYDRO-DAMS
by Nathan Einbinder, Environment News Service
World War 4 Report, December 2008

WHO IS BEHIND THE ASSAM TERROR?
Converging Conflicts in Northeast India
by Nava Thakuria, World War 4 Report
World War 4 Report, April 2009

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Special to World War 4 Report, June. 20, 2012
Reprinting permissible with attribution

Continue ReadingINDIA: PASSIVE RESISTANCE TO MEGA-HYDRO IN ASSAM 

MEXICAN HIGH-TECH WORKERS DEMAND JUSTICE

by Kent Paterson, Frontera NorteSur

The two high-tech workers laughed when asked if they could afford the smartphones made by their colleagues on Mexican production lines. “No, no, no,” chuckled Maria and Alma, two Guadalajara workers who have labored for years in Mexico’s Silicon Valley. A cheap $20 cell phone has to make do for Maria, while Alma uses a similarly low-priced contraption she won on a five-dollar raffle ticket. “It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity, especially when you have kids,” Alma said.

The two women, who asked that their real names not be used because of possible employer retaliation, recently sat down with Frontera NorteSur to discuss their jobs and lives as factory workers in Mexico’s second largest city and one of the world’s most important centers in the electronics industry supply chain.

An assembly-line worker, Maria makes about $10 for an eight hour shift six days a week. Although Maria said she gets all the benefits afforded by Mexican law, she must renew her work contract every two months. A quality control specialist, Alma has more responsibilities than Maria but gets the same amount of pay. A third woman who joined the conversation worked in the local high-tech industry until she was fired two years ago. Unlike Maria and Alma, the friend completed higher education training for a technician’s career but still maxed out her earnings at approximately $500 monthly after a dozen years in the industry.

All the women interviewed have multiple children to support, and two of them are single mothers. Living in Guadalajara these days is expensive, they said. The lowest rent hovers around $100 a month, a cylinder of gas costs a couple of days’ pay and the price of staple corn tortillas is now well above a dollar. Tomatoes, eggs and the hot chile de arbol essential for so many Mexican sauces have all gone up in price recently. A family budget for four or more people can get quickly dented just by forking out the bus fare necessary for moving around a sprawling city.

To make ends meet, the women play what might be called the Mexican Shuffle. They take out pay-day loans from a bank, dip into small savings accounts, accept packages of basic commodities from churches and contemplate the ever-expanding doors of pawn shops. Like other low-income Mexicans, they participate in tandas, a form of economic solidarity in which members of a group contribute ten bucks or so and then pay out the sum total to a member on a rotating basis. Guadalajara’s women workers get by on a “miracle,” Maria laughed again. “God is great!”

Maria and her friends said they endure an employment system in which a job is on an increasingly temporary basis, unpaid furloughs pop up, promised bonuses do not materialize, overtime is not properly compensated and “labor representation” is performed by “unions” the workers often do not even know exist. Complaints are waved away by the constant fluttering of an economic wand.

“If you don’t like the work, there are five other people outside willing to do it,” Maria said. “You have no option.” While Maria and her friends say they are too afraid to speak out publicly, many workers like themselves channel their grievances through the non-governmental organization Cereal (Centre for Reflection and Action on Labour Rights).

“These are very generalized, across-the board situations, especially in the electronics industry,” said Felipe Burgueno, Cereal’s outreach coordinator. “Many of the [high-tech] businesses are sustained by women, and many of them are housewives. They are frequently paid less than the men and get treated worse.”

Celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, Cereal documents the complaints of workers, negotiates with employers, helps fired workers get severance pay and advocates for the right of workers to collective bargaining and union representation of their choice. Cereal has focused its efforts on electronics industry workers but is beginning to hear more from other sectors of the workforce, according to Burgueno.

Some workers are taking collective action. On Feb. 21, a small group of former Jabil Circuit employees, some of them wearing masks and holding signs, staged a demonstration outside the gate of the company’s Guadalajara plant. The protesters demanded the reinstatement of dismissed workers, freedom of association, steady work and labor justice. In a press statement, the demonstrators contended that pay inequity among “workers performing the same activities” violated Article 4 of the Mexican Constitution that guarantees equal pay for equal work.

The Guadalajara action was also endorsed by the National Coalition of Workers and Ex-Workers of the Electronics Industry. A phone call to Jabil’s headquarters in Florida was not immediately returned.

Last fall, Cereal released a report that highlighted the low pay of electronics industry workers in Mexico. According to the Jesuit-affiliated group, the $8.70 average rate of daily pay in the electronics industry is sufficient to cover only 60% of the cost of a basket of food and other routinely-consumed goods. In a production cost analysis, Cereal asserted that workers only receive 0.1%, or 64 cents, of the sales price of a smartphone that retails for more than $600 abroad.

Covering a variety of issues, the report included case studies of worker experiences with Nokia, Lenovo, Philips, Blackberry, Dell, Foxconn, and Celestica. Since the Mexican high-tech sector is so reliant on sub-contracted workers hired through temporary agencies, the report also discussed the Manpower and Azanza temporary employment firms.

“Frequently, workers who sign seven-day contracts stay in the company months and even years, signing contracts every week,” Cereal said in a statement announcing the release of the report.

Jorge Barajas, Cereal coordinator for Guadalajara, said industry reactions to the report varied. While Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sanmina were most responsive, some finger-pointing went on with Blackberry, for example, telling Cereal to speak with its supplier Jabil about labor problems, Barajas said. On the other hand, Sanmina rehired 10 workers and made severance and social security payments to 20 others, according to the longtime labor activist. “These are verified, concrete changes,” he said.

For years Cereal and other non-governmental organizations have dialogued with the heavy hitters in the high-tech world assembled in the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), an initiative which was launched eight years ago to promote business, labor and environmental best practices.

According to the EICC’s mission statement, the organization envisions “a global electronics industry supply chain that consistently operates with social, environmental and economic responsibility.” Available in 16 languages, the EICC has a code of conduct its 67 member companies must commit to implement in their employment and production policies.

The EICC Code of Conduct upholds adherence to all local laws regarding wages and benefits, and explicitly recognizes the right of workers to freedom of association.

“Workers shall be able to communicate openly with management regarding working conditions without fear of reprisal, intimidation or harassment,” the EICC Code of Conduct states.

Barajas said the results of the management-labor dialogue have been mixed at best, with progress noted in different individual grievances but little headway made in changing structural conditions like the growing use of temporary workers, the lack of genuine union representation and revolving lay-offs.

Since the beginning of the year, Cereal has estimated that about 3,000 high-tech workers have been laid off from Guadalajara plants.

“There was a lot of expectation in the beginning but (EICC) has lost a lot of credibility in the last two years among unions and NGOs because of its inability to affect changes in the industry,” Barajas said. “There is a lot of debate about the utility of the EICC, even in the industry.”

The lot of high-tech industry workers in Guadalajara and elsewhere will be on the agenda of an international gathering scheduled for Amsterdam this upcoming May. The meeting is expected to draw representatives from the EICC and its European counterpart as well as unions and groups like Cereal. According to Barajas, labor activists are increasingly looking to the United Nations as the possible forum for resolving worker grievances in an emblematic industry that spans the globe.

For Guadalajara high-tech worker Maria, the right of workers to organize and enjoy a decent career is a fundamental one that’s currently missing
from their lives. “I want my job, but I want it with dignity,” she said. “This is something we deserve.”

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This article was first published March 3 on Frontera NorteSur.

From our Daily Report:

Mexico: unions hold “last May Day of the PAN era”
World War 4 Report, May 8, 2012

Strikes spread across China
World War 4 Report, Dec. 3, 2011

See also:

iDIDN’T MOURN STEVE JOBS
by Michael I. Niman, ArtVoice, Buffalo, NY
World War 4 Report, December 2011

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Reprinted by World War 4 Report, June. 20, 2012
Reprinting permissible with attribution

Continue ReadingMEXICAN HIGH-TECH WORKERS DEMAND JUSTICE 

MESOAMERICA PROJECT

Obama's Message to the Latin American Governments

by Emma Volante, Upside Down World

On Dec. 5, 2011, representatives from Mexico, Colombia and the countries of Central American attended the 13th Summit of the Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Coordination in Merida, Mexico. The summit's main purpose was to discuss the progress of different initiatives included in the Mesoamerica Project's framework, which is the new version of the Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP).

Launched by the Mexican government in 2001, the PPP envisioned the creation of infrastructures that would connect Central America from Puebla, south of Mexico City, down to Panama, all promoted in the name of development and welfare for the people of the region. The idea was to facilitate investments by transnational corporations through the creation of incentives for maquiladoras and mining companies. Furthermore, to ensure the full development of neoliberalism, they planned to open numerous hydroelectric power plants that would provide these factories with energy, as well as new means of communication within the region, to better enable trade. The PPP was primarily financed by loans from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, which citizens themselves have since had to pay back. It was not long after that that Central Americans rose up in protest and lifted the veil on the Plan’s true objectives, obscured by government promises of "development," which were essentially to create the conditions to strip these nations of their natural resources and to uproot entire communities, and exploiting the people in maquiladoras as underpaid and exploited workforces with no rights. The popular resistance has been strong and as a result PPP has disappeared from official discourse.

However, governments and international organizations continued to carry out certain projects until June 2008, when the Villahermosa Declaration was signed, replacing the PPP with the "new" Mesoamerica Integration and Development Project, or the Mesoamerica Project (MP). The new project eliminates some 95% of the original projects (which were based on strategic principles of physical and economic infrastructure and cooperating for social development), but the remaining projects have expanded to include the Dominican Republic and Colombia. And if we take into account that a similar project named the Initiative for Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IRSSA) also emphasizes infrastructure development and integration through ecologically damaging mega-projects, it is apparent how this attempt to integrate the continent would imply greater circulation and extraction of resources by transnational corporations, which in turn would then arrive at US, European and Chinese ports.

The final document from the Tuxtla Summit further focuses on existing security problems in the region, and naively urges the US and other countries that produce and sell weapons to create regulations necessary to stem their weapons flow and to take measures that will considerably reduce their citizens' demand for drugs. The statement also reiterates how important the participating governments' involvement is in fighting organized crime. The MP is not, in fact, merely economic, as it openly addresses problems surrounding regional security and the "war on drugs."

The CIEPAC (Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria) report “Integration for Plunder: The Mesoamerica Project, or Ratcheting up the Land Grab”, written by Mariana Zunino, gives details of the future projects of the MP while offering a perspective that goes beyond official statements. Zunino observes that "with this new ingredient of security, the MP has more clearly become a US geo-strategic plan to force countries from Mexico to Colombia to conform to its national security interests.… According to the Mexico City-based Permanent Seminar on Chicano and Border Studies, the way out of the deep economic crisis involves boosting the military-industrial complex through two ways. First, though coercion, which includes new military bases in Colombia, Peru and Panama; supporting the coup in Honduras; or the reactivation, after 50 years, of the US Navy’s Fourth Fleet in the Caribbean. Then, diplomacy, through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)."

Zunino points out that the first aspect was also highlighted in the Declaration of Guanacaste in Costa Rica at the 11th Summit of the Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Coordination, which dedicates 10 points to the fight against drug-trafficking and organized crime. There they agreed to "welcome the Merida Initiative, as an important instrument of international cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime, particularly drug trafficking."

The Merida Initiative (or "Plan Mexico") provides large US investments for the militarization of the drug war in Mexico and Central America by providing military equipment and training. A strikingly similar project, Plan Colombia, has been in effect in the Andean nation since 2000. The underlying logic behind both projects is to use "territorial rearrangement," which involves displacing indigenous and other rural communities that live in strategic commercial areas, in order to make space for multinational corporations to develop transnational investment, in areas such as oil.

Argentine journalist Stella Calloni discussed US policy on the continent in an interview with Fernando Arellano Ortiz, the Director of online news portal ‘Observatorio Sociopolítico Latinoamericano’. Calloni stated that "Plan Colombia's territorial politics, which aim to re-colonize the continent, have been transferred over to Mexico under the Merida Initiative. The project is a copy of Plan Colombia and it’s evident that violence in Mexico has reached unbearable levels in the last six years. During this time, Mexico’s death toll reached that of Colombia while the country suffered destruction of its rural areas and the loss of deep-rooted local cultures, all due to its involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)."

However, at the Merida Summit, Mexican President Felipe Calderón insisted, stating that "the North American Free Trade Agreement is a great asset for the country." He also signed a new treaty—along with other Central American governments – to reinforce existing bilateral agreements and create space for free trade in the region. These governments, who are almost all right-wing, are evidently following US imperial interests in implementing free trade policies.

Not only has the US signed FTAs with Central America and the Dominican Republic, but also with Chile, Peru and most recently with Colombia. Therefore, thanks to the implementation of these corporate, economic and military agreements in Colombia, Mexico and Central America, Washington is one step closer to reaching its goals for establishing militarized neoliberalism throughout the continent.

On December 6, Panama, Colombia and the US signed an agreement for a new military academy in Panama. Andrés Mora Rodriguez, from AUNA Costa Rica, points out that plans for the new academy and the consolidation of the Mesoamerican FTA were announced only a few days after the end of the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit in Caracas, Venezuela, where heads of state from around Latin America made a major step toward regional integration and independence outside the interests of Washington. The US message to the Latin American governments is a clear one: we are not letting go of our hold on the continent.

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This article was first published Jan. 4 on Upside Down World. It was translated from the Spanish by Victoria Robinson.

From our Daily Report:

Oaxaca meets the new boss —or does it?
World War 4 Report, Jan. 28, 2011

See also:

THE RETURN OF PLAN PUEBLA-PANAMA
The New Struggle for Central America
by Bill Weinberg, World War 4 Report
World War 4 Report, May 2007

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Reprinted by World War 4 Report, June. 20, 2012
Reprinting permissible with attribution

Continue ReadingMESOAMERICA PROJECT