Napolitano in Texas: Tough Talk, Little Coherence
February 10, 2011
On Monday, Jan. 31, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke at the University of Texas/El Paso. Her talk revealed the dangerous contradictions in U.S. border policy.
Author: Laura Carlsen
Women Lead Latin America’s Growing Anti-Militarization Movements
January 25, 2011
When George W. Bush left the White House, the rest of the world breathed a sigh of relief. The National Security Doctrine of unilateral attacks, the invasion of Iraq under the false pretext of weapons of mass destruction, and the abandonment of multilateral forums had opened up a new phase of U.S. aggression. Despite the focus on the Middle East, the increased threat of U.S. military intervention cast a long shadow over many parts of the world.
Two years later, that sense of relief has given way to deep concern. After hopes of a something closer to FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy of (relative) non-intervention, we find ourselves facing a new wave of militarization in Latin America–supported and promoted by the Obama administration.
Las asesinadas de Ciudad Juárez
January 25, 2011
La vida de Marisela Escobedo cambió para siempre en agosto de 2008 cuando su hija de dieciséis años, Rubí, no volvió más a casa. Meses después fue en un basurero donde se encontró lo que quedaba del cuerpo de Rubí: 39 trozos de huesos calcinados.
Rubí pasó a ser una macabra estadística más en Ciudad Juárez, el lugar con casi dos décadas de feminicidios. El asesinato de mujeres jóvenes, a menudo violadas y torturadas, llevó la infamia internacional a la ciudad mucho antes de que se convirtiera en el epicentro de la guerra contra la droga de Calderón y asumiera también el título de capital mundial del crimen.
The Murdered Women of Juarez
January 20, 2011
Marisela Escobedo’s life changed forever in August 2008 when her 16-year-old daughter Rubi failed to come home. What was left of Rubi’s body was found months later in a dump — 39 pieces of charred bone.
Rubi became one more macabre statistic in Ciudad Juarez’s nearly two-decade history of femicide. The murder of young women, often raped and tortured, brought international infamy to the city long before it became the epicenter of the Calderon drug war and took on the added title of murder capital of the world.
El acuerdo de Cancún cumple con las bajas expectativas
December 24, 2010
¡Lo lograron! Después de anunciar de antemano que no saldría ninguna decisión de importancia de las negociaciones sobre el cambio climático y después de casi dos semanas de debates, el ejército de negociadores internacionales presentes en la COP 16 llegó a un acuerdo totalmente en línea con las bajas expectativas para éste. De hecho, incluso lograron retroceder en cuanto a algunos asuntos clave.
Cancun Agreement Succeeds in Meeting Low Expectations
December 16, 2010
They did it! After pre-announcing that no major decisions would result from Cancun talks and nearly two weeks of debates and discussions, the army of international climate change negotiators reached an agreement fully in line with the low expectations for it. In fact, they even managed to lower the bar on key issues.
Organizaciones indígenas, campesinas rechazan los proyectos del mercado sobre el calentamiento global
December 15, 2010
La Conferencia Climática de la ONU (COP 16) en Cancún resultó ser anti-climáctica y anti-climática.
No hay un acuerdo importante para detener el calentamiento global esta semana, a pesar de la edición de una cantidad de nuevos estudios que muestran que el fenómeno está avanzando más rápidamente que lo esperado, con consecuencias letales.
Peasant, Indigenous Organizations Reject Market Schemes for Global Warming
December 10, 2010
The UN Climate Conference (COP16) in Cancun is turning out to be both anti-climactic and anti-climatic.
Negotiators have given up on a binding agreement to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Instead, they are seeking to expand schemes to allow contaminating industries and nations to continue with business as usual and add another lucrative area to their portfolios–trade in carbon offsets and credits.
In Mexico City, a Message for Cancún
December 4, 2010
On Tuesday, as U.N. negotiations on climate change geared up in the Caribbean beach resort of Cancún, thousands of people marched through the streets of Mexico City to demand grassroots solutions to global warming—and to the slew of other crises they face.
The peasants and workers, students and environmentalists gathered here don’t draw lines around issues. Demands for rural development and the release of political prisoners mix with calls to stop global warming and save the jungles. Peasant farmers from the poor southern states of Mexico walk somberly down the Paseo de la Reforma in four straight lines, their silence broken by the occasional collective slogan. Their discipline and gravity are a far cry from the image of destructive “globalphobics” that the Mexican government has reportedly been warning Cancún locals about. The smaller groups of students and activists are rowdier, dancing down the streets, holding banners, and laughing along the way.
Dos mundos chocarán en las pláticas sobre el cambio climático en Cancún
November 22, 2010
El debate sobre el cambio climático por lo general transcurre dentro de los límites de los claustros de los hoteles lujosos, los salones de juntas ejecutivas, y las salas diplomáticas. Como vimos en el fracaso en llegar a acuerdos vinculantes en Copenhagen, las conversaciones por lo general son tan estéril como el entorno.