Foro Boliviano
Av. Villazón Nº 1958
Edificio Villazón
Piso: 6 A
Casilla: 5540
Teléfono: 2 315059
Fax: 2 315058
comunicacion@fobomade.org.bo
http://www.fobomade.org.bo
Etiquetas: Bolivia
Blogueando desde marzo de 2004 / Blogging since March 2004. Creador también de The World According to Carmelo: carmeloruiz.tumblr.com. Contacto: ruiz@tutanota.com. Twitter: @carmeloruiz
Etiquetas: Bolivia
Nepal : International Conference on Food Sovereignty, Agrarian Reforms & Peasants' Rights |
Thursday, 30 August 2007 | |
Press ReleaseThe International Conference on Food Sovereignty, Agrarian Reforms & Peasants' Rights jointly organized by the Nepal Peasants' Forum along with All Nepal Peasants' Federation and La Via Campesina, was successfully held in Kathmandu as per schedule. The conference is attended by representatives from 16 different countries from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The inauguration session took place amidst a grand function punctuated by Peasants' songs.Foreign Minister and chief guest of the ceremony Madame Sahana Pradhan expressed that such conference played a significant role at an important time when food sovereignty is included in the constitution of Nepal but the specific policies to implement it are not framed yet. Similarly, Forest and Local Development Minister Mr. Dev Gurung called international peasants leaders to share their rich experience and strengthen the peasant community in Nepal and help to achieve Food Sovereignty. Agriculture and Co-operative Minister Mr. Chhabi Lal Biswakarma addressed the gathering saying that the right to food and sustainable agriculture development had to be guaranteed to Nepalese peasants. The Chairperson of ANPFa and Ex. Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Bamdev Gautam chaired the session and confidently asserted Food Sovereignty as the new rule that should prevail all over the world. Mr. Henry Saragih, International Coordinator of the peasant’s movement La Via Campesina welcomed all national and international delegates on behalf of the international organizers and called for stronger solidarity to expand every country the experience of Nepal who managed to have Food Sovereignty recognised as a fundamental people’s right in the constitution. Ms. Sarojeni Rengam, Director of PANAP, Mr. Bashu Babu Aryal, In-Country Program Coordinator of IFAD, Mrs. Anna Amorim of MST, Brazil, Mr. Ibrahim Coulibali, director of CNOP, Mali, Mr. Jose Bove, La Via Campesina, France and Mr. Rafel Mariano, KMP, Philippines addressed the ceremony expressing their solidarity with the Nepalese peasants' struggle for the recognition of Food Sovereignty as a fundamental people’s right enshrined in the 2006 Interim Constitution of Nepal. Contacts in Kahtmandu for the media: - Prem Dangal: +9779851087771 - Balram Banskota: +9779851018248 - La Via Campesina international delegation: +9779841281809 |
Etiquetas: Food sovereignty, Soberanía alimentaria, Via Campesina
Alianza Contra la Convención de la Guardia Nacional
"¡Defendamos la PAZ! ¡No al militarismo!"
Nosotras, las personas y las organizaciones pacifistas, antimilitaristas, feministas, políticas, religiosas, estudiantiles, sindicales, ambientales y comunitarias de Puerto Rico, que integramos la Alianza contra la Convención de la Guardia Nacional;
DECLARAMOS:
EXIGIMOS:
Por todo lo antes expuesto, las organizaciones que componemos la Alianza Contra la Convención de la Guardia Nacional
CONDENAMOS:
REAFIRMAMOS:
Por lo cual las organizaciones nacionales e internacionales suscribimos esta Declaración de la Alianza Contra la Convención de la Guardia Nacional hoy domingo, 26 de agosto de 2007.
¡Defendamos la Paz! ¡No al militarismo!
¡Sí a la Paz! ¡NO a la guerra!
Alianza Contra la Convención de la Guardia Nacional
"¡Defendamos la PAZ! ¡No al militarismo!"
Organizaciones Nacionales participantes:
Universitarios por la Desmilitarización · Coalición Ciudadana contra el Militarismo · Proyecto Caribeño de Justicia y Paz · Madres contra la Guerra · Programa Convivir en Paz · La Nueva Escuela · Grito de los Excluidos/as de Puerto Rico · Organización Puertorriqueña de la Mujer Trabajadora · Guerra contra el Hambre-Diócesis de Caguas · Frente Socialista · Federación Universitaria Pro Independencia · Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano · Organización Socialista Internacional · Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño · Coordinadora Caribeña y Latinoamericana · Taller Lésbico Creativo · Comité de Trabajo en Apoyo a Vieques · Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana · ilé: Organizadores/as para la Conciencia en Acción · Estudiantes de Derecho Hostosianos Pro Independencia· Comité Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques· Claridad · Asociación Americana de Juristas- Capítulo de Puerto Rico · Comité Pro Derechos Humanos de Puerto Rico · Frente Patriótico Arecibeño · Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores · Amigos del Mar · Hermanas de Jesús Mediador· Alianza Puertorriqueña de Artistas y Grupos Amigos· Hermandad de Empleados Exentos No Docentes · Coordinadora Sindical · Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico· Partido Nacionalista · Liga Estudiantil · Desobedientes del Este de Vieques · Pax Christi · Coordinadora Nacional Vigilias por la Dignidad Filiberto Ojeda Ríos· Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios · Alternativa Ciudadana · Concilio Latinoamericano de Iglesias · Instituto Caribeño de Acción y Formación Ecuménica · Misión Industrial de Puerto Rico · Central Puertorriqueña de Trabajadores · Coordinadora Unitaria de Trabajadores del Estado · Diócesis de Caguas ·
Organizaciones y Redes Internacionales que suscriben:
Servicio de Paz y Justicia - Ecuador · Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes - Ecuador · Red Mundial No Bases · Coalición No Bases- Ecuador · National Youth & Militarism Program/American Friends Service Committee - EEUU · Movimiento Continental Cristianos/as por la Paz, con Justicia y Dignidad · Comité Latinoamericano Puerto Rico Independiente · Ithaca Catholic Worker Vieques Support Group - EEUU · Coalición de Tendencia Clasista CTC - Venezuela · Plataforma Descam - Uruguay (DD.HH) · Universidad Popular "Joaquín Lencina" - Uruguay · Jubileo Sur - Colombia · Mesa de Trabajo Mujeres y Economía, REMTE - Colombia · Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres · Movimiento por la Paz, la Soberanía y la Solidaridad entre los Pueblos (MoPaSSol) - Argentina · Servicio Internacional Cristiano de Solidaridad para América Latina y el Caribe Monseñor Oscar Romero · Red de Jóvenes Afrodescendientes de Venezuela · Federación Uruguaya de Empleados de Comercio e Industria- Uruguay · Comitato Sardo Gettiamo le Basi- Cerdeña, -Italia · Southwest Workers Union de San Antonio- Texas · Proyecto Guerrero Azteca- California.Etiquetas: Militarism, Puerto Rico
Etiquetas: Carmelo
Etiquetas: Militarism
Etiquetas: Culebra, Puerto Rico
The iPhone is a bellwether for the future of mobile internet — and the signals it’s sending aren’t good.
FreetheiPhone.org isn’t just about liberating our favorite new gadget from the shackles of AT&T, it’s about promoting an open, competitive Internet for everyone.
The big phone companies like AT&T and Verizon Wireless make a ton of money by locking you into exclusive deals for the newest phones and levying big fees for early termination. Once you are signed up, they can force you to use their slower-than-dial-up networks; cripple new features like Wi-Fi, video, music and games; and make you buy “preferred” content from their services.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
We need to unlock the potential of these devices and open the public airwaves to real competition. At FreetheIphone.org, the campaign for Wireless Freedom is a fight for:
The freedom to use whatever device we want on any network
The freedom to choose among providers in a competitive wholesale marketplace
The freedom to access any content or services we want through our devices
We’re at a unique moment. The FCC is about to make available huge portions of the public airwaves for mobile Internet uses. If used right — following the three open access standards above — these airwaves could connect tens of million of Americans who are now being bypassed by Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.
The FCC and Congress need to hear from concerned citizens like us. If we open up these airwaves to new competitors, protect Net Neutrality, and unchain the devices — not just the iPhone but whatever comes next — we can create a new kind of mobile Internet in America, one that is truly open and accessible to all.
That is what freeing the iPhone is all about.
Etiquetas: Puerto Rico
AT&T’s culture of control has taken a frightening new turn.
Some may remember when the company’s black rotary phone was the only device allowed on its telephone network. Today, the communications giant is banking that a world without Net Neutrality will allow them to exert similar control over another network — the free flowing Internet.
AT&T’s Vision for the |
Look no further than AT&T’s recent censorship of a Pearl Jam concert webcast, just as lead singer Eddie Vedder launched into a critique of President Bush.
AT&T’s slippery response to the resulting outcry is instructive.
Spinning Out of Control
The moment the Pearl Jam news hit the Web, AT&T’s public relations division scrambled their spokespeople and shills. In a frenzy of damage control, they fired off a series of statements. One called the move “totally against our policy — of never, ever censoring political speech.” Another declared the Pearl Jam censorship “an isolated incident” — an “unfortunate” mistake by a rogue subcontractor.
But it wasn’t long before evidence came to light of more political censorship at the hands of AT&T — involving earlier webcasts of bands like the Flaming Lips, John Butler Trio and others. (The list keeps growing)
AT&T redeployed its hacks with a “modified” public position:
“It’s not our intent to edit political comments in webcasts,” said AT&T spokeswoman Tiffany O’Brien Nels. “Unfortunately, it has happened in the past in a handful of cases. We have taken steps to insure that it will not happen again.”
Then on Monday a crew member involved with AT&T’s webcasts came forward, telling Wired News that he had been issued instructions to “shut it down if there was any swearing or if anybody starts getting political.”
Sounds like a censorship policy to us.
Doublespeak
So AT&T’s shills shifted gears once again. AT&T screwed up for sure, they admit, but this censorship of political speech “has absolutely nothing to do with Net Neutrality. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.”
Why should we take AT&T at their word?
Such spin needs to be held up to scrutiny. AT&T’s past is checkered with stories of breaking trust with customers — helping the NSA wiretap calls and handing over private phone records to the government, promising to deliver services to underserved communities and then skipping town, pledging never to interfere with the free flow of information online while hatching plans with the likes of Cisco, Viacom, RIAA and MPA to build and deploy technology that will spy on user traffic.
When faced with a simple Net Neutrality rule that would keep them honest, AT&T rails against the move as a “solution in search of a problem.”
They pledge “never, ever” to interfere with the free flow of information online, while touting plans to become gatekeepers to the Web — with content “shaping” technology and discriminatory business practices that would upend the level playing field that has made the Internet an engine of free speech and economic innovation.
AT&T is the ‘Problem’
“This is precisely the behavior … Net Neutrality advocates have been warning about for almost a decade,” Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig wrote about the Pearl Jam incident. “And not just (or even most importantly) in this explicit form. Much more important are the games played more subtly, to push innovation and content in the direction that benefits AT&T.”
Internet Service Providers “believe they have the absolute right to control the content/application on those lines,” Lessig writes. If allowed to proliferate, this attitude “will be deadly for Internet innovation.”
AT&T’s censorship, whether a “mistake” or corporate policy, is a rallying point for the Internet freedom movement. The great promise of the Internet shouldn’t be left in the hands of those who confuse telling the truth with spinning for political and economic gain.
But AT&T can still make good on its promise to “never, ever” censor the Web by backing off its multimillion-dollar campaign to kill Net Neutrality.
How about it?
Vía Campesina fija una agenda internacionalLaura Carlsen | 21 de agosto de 2007 Versión original: Via Campesina Sets an International Agenda | |||
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Etiquetas: Via Campesina
“Auto Descalificado” Senador Carlos Díaz
para Evaluar Ley del Corredor Ecológico del Noreste
lunes, 20 de agosto de 2007
San Juan – La Coalición Pro Corredor Ecológico del Noreste (CEN) denunció que el Senador Carlos Díaz se ha “auto descalificado” para evaluar el proyecto de ley que promueve el desarrollo ecoturístico y designación como reserva natural del Corredor Ecológico del Noreste (P. de la C. 2105) luego de que acusara de “terroristas” a los que apoyan dicha medida. Ante tal situación, emplazaron al Presidente del Senado, Kenneth McClintock, para que permita se lleve a votación el P. de la C. 2105 por el pleno de este cuerpo legislativo durante el primer día de la sesión legislativa.
“Es inconcebible que el Senador Díaz continúe a cargo del P. de la C. 2105, ya que con sus acusaciones difamatorias ha socavado por completo la objetividad del proceso de evaluación, y con ello ha atentado contra la integridad del Senado” denunció Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera, científico ambiental de la Coalición. Las declaraciones fueron hechas durante una manifestación celebrada en el día de hoy por la Coalición frente al Capitolio, justo antes del inicio de la sesión legislativa.
Este añadió que el Senador Díaz se ha “auto descalificado” para liderar responsablemente el proceso de evaluación debido a que también anunció enmiendas a la medida legislativa sin haber celebrado vistas públicas, y contrario a lo que han recomendado la mayoría de las agencias y organizaciones previamente.
Según informó, las enmiendas propuestas excluirían gran parte de los terrenos del Corredor donde han sido propuestos los proyectos residenciales turísticos Dos Mares Marriott Resort y San Miguel Four Seasons Resort. Ambos proyectos han sido rechazados por el Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico y la Junta de Calidad Ambiental, respectivamente, por lo que no cuentan con un solo permiso aprobado.
“Por todas estas razones, emplazamos al Senador McClintock a que asuma su liderazgo y responsabilidad como Presidente del Senado, relevando al Senador Díaz de los trabajos y permitiendo a su vez que el P. de la C. 2105 vaya a votación de inmediato ante el pleno de este cuerpo legislativo, lo que ayudaría a devolverle transparencia y justicia al proceso de evaluación” señaló.
El Corredor ha sido eje de una gran controversia en los pasados meses luego de que los senadores Kenneth McClintock, Jorge De Castro Font y Carlos Díaz no permitieran que fuera a votación el P. de la C. 2105 durante el último día de la pasada sesión legislativa. La medida, de autoría tripartita, contaba con 24 de los 27 votos necesarios para su aprobación en el Senado, luego de haber sido aprobada ampliamente por la Cámara el año pasado.
El proyecto de ley ha recibido el endoso de un gran número de agencias federales y estatales, líderes religiosos y científicos, entidades profesionales y empresariales, organizaciones conservacionistas internacionales y grupos comunitarios, así como representantes de la comunidad puertorriqueña en Estados Unidos. Personalidades como el actor Benicio del Toro, el abogado Robert F. Kennedy, hijo, y el Ing. Alexis Massol, quién es el único puertorriqueño galardonado con el Goldman Environmental Prize, equivalente al premio Nóbel del Ambiente, también han apoyado la medida.
Algunos de estos sectores han denunciado que la construcción de los proyectos residenciales turísticos Dos Mares Resort y el San Miguel Resort destruirían la integridad natural del Corredor, limitarían el acceso a sus playas y a otros recursos naturales públicos, empeorando a su vez el pobre servicio de agua potable que sufren diariamente miles de residentes en el noreste de la Isla.
Contactos:
Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera (IDS): (787) 460-8315
Camilla Feibelman (Sierra Club): (787) 688-6214
Etiquetas: Corredor Ecologico, Corredor Ecológico del Noreste, Puerto Rico
NBICS and Climate Changeby Gregor WolbringAugust 15, 2007 |
‘Nano’ in its many meanings (see my column "From Nanotech to Nanoscale Technology and Sciences") is being positioned as the source of numerous solutions for the expected acceleration of climate change given today’s consumerism and societal behaviour.
The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) believes molecular manufacturing will be not only “one of the few things that has the potential to control climate change” but that it will also be essential, when they state, “With molecular manufacturing, we can. Without it, probably not”. They believe the money available for reducing CO2 emissions will be best spent in advancing molecular manufacturing.
Others envision that science and technology in general, and nanoscale science and technology in particular, can play a role independent of the contribution of molecular manufacturing. A report prepared for Industry Canada stated “several ‘high-tech’ platforms were recognized as a primary area of opportunity to address climate change and foster ongoing technological innovation.”
For nanotechnology they write, “Areas of nanotechnology with GHG [greenhouse gas] reduction potential include applications in manufacturing of nanomaterials requiring fewer raw input resources, alternative and conventional energy generation, energy efficiency, computing, information and communication technology, and biotechnology and genomics.”
An American report states,“Nanotechnologies have the potential to significantly impact the generation and remediation of environmental problems through understanding and control of emissions from a wide range of sources, development of new ‘green’ technologies that minimize production of undesirable by-products, and remediation of existing waste sites and polluted water sources.”
Other reports covering nano solutions for climate include:
Nanowerk summarizes the study "Environmentally Beneficial Nanotechnologies: Barriers and Opportunities", which was commissioned by the nanotechnology group of the UK's Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and which covers five nanotechnology applications: fuel additives, solar cells, the hydrogen economy, batteries and insulation.
Nano is involved in numerous renewable energy areas such as nanoscale devices for higher efficiency solar energy and photonics applications.
Nanowerk wrote about nanotechnology and its linkage to hydrogen cars.
Researchers have developed an inexpensive solar cell which uses carbon nanotubes that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. The paper is called “Fullerene single wall carbon nanotube complex for polymer bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells,” published in Journals of Materials Chemistry .
Numerous speakers were scheduled to speak on nanotechnology as the environmental technology for the future at Europe’s 2007 Greenweek. The Woodrow Wilson Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has started a consultation process towards the goal of launching the Green Nano Award. Indeed, they believe green nanotechnology should be a national priority.
They write in a Green Award scoping paper: “Nanoscale science and engineering will change the way in which we make just about everything, from materials to chemicals, and will have long-lasting impacts on almost every sector of our economy. Such fundamental changes in our industrial infrastructure are rare, occurring only every 20 to 30 years. Given the nature of this transformation, we have an unprecedented opportunity to ‘green’ this emerging production infrastructure in order to minimize emissions, reduce waste, and cut energy requirements. This opportunity, however, will not last long. As production systems for nanotechnologies are ramped up, flexibility will be reduced because of large capital investment in facilities, intellectual property arrangements, and supply-chain relationships. Key production choices that industry makes over the next 5 to 10 years will become effectively ‘locked in’ and may be difficult to modify with either policies or economic incentives. In 30 years, our legacy to the planet could be either business as usual—with increased and new risks to humans and the environment—or a new set of industries with a radically smaller environmental footprint. We must act aggressively now to ensure the emergence of nano-based processes and products with reduced environmental impacts.”
The accompanying paper “Green Technology -- It's Easier than You Think” covers green nanoelectronics, green synthesis of nanomaterials, green nano-manufacturing, nano-enhanced green technologies, nano-enhanced energy technologies, nano-enhanced clean-up Technologies and nano-enhanced green industry technologies.
Other areas of NBICS are of course also employed in the science and technology solutions to climate change. Other areas of interest covered in a Canadian report are biotechnology and bioproduct, information and communication technology, intelligent systems and advanced materials.The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a report "Bioengineering for Pollution Prevention Through Development of Biobased Materials and Energy.” As might be expected, players in synthetic biology (the newest science and technology field) are also offering climate change fixes.
The Choice is Yours
A recent report released by a blue-ribbon panel of retired admirals and generals from the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines states that “global climate change presents a serious national security threat which could impact Americans at home, impact US military operations, and heighten global tensions. An Associated Press story comments: "The report says that in the next 30 to 40 years there will be wars over water, increased hunger instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels and global warming-induced refugees.”
Can science and technology alone be the solution to the ‘climate problem’ or are social solutions and changes in social behaviour needed? We also need to ask whether the science and technology promoted as the solution to the ‘climate problem’ might have its own inherent problems.
Gregor Wolbring is a biochemist, bioethicist, disability/vari-ability/ability studies scholar, and health policy and science and technology governance researcher at the University of Calgary. He is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology and Society at Arizona State University; Part Time Professor at Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada; Member CAC/ISO - Canadian Advisory Committees for the International Organization for Standardization section TC229 Nanotechnologies; Member of the editorial team for the Nanotechnology for Development portal of the Development Gateway Foundation; Chair of the Bioethics Taskforce of Disabled People's International; and former Member of the Executive of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (2003-2007 maximum terms served). He publishes the Bioethics, Culture and Disability website, moderates a weblog for the International Network for Social Research on Disability, and authors a weblog on NBICS and its social implications.
Please contact the author for information on these references
Etiquetas: Global Warming, Nanotechnology, Wolbring
Over the weekend AT&T gave us a glimpse of their plans for the Web when they censored a Pearl Jam performance that didn’t meet their standard of “Internet freedom.”
During the live Lollapalooza Webcast of a concert by the Seattle-based super-group, the telco giant muted lead singer Eddie Vedder just as he launched into a lyric against President George Bush. The lines — “George Bush, leave this world alone” and “George Bush find yourself another home” were somehow lost in the mix.
Pearl Jam: Seen But Not Heard |
“What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it’s about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band,” Pearl Jam band members stated in a release following the incident.
Indeed. AT&T routinely rails against Net Neutrality as a “solution without a problem.” They say Net Neutrality regulations aren’t necessary because they wouldn’t dare interfere with online content. At the same time they tout plans to become gatekeepers to the Web with public relations bromides about “shaping” Web traffic to better serve the needs of an evolving Internet.
Such spin needs to be held up to the light of experience. AT&T’s history of breaking trust with their customers includes handing over private phone records to the government, promising to deliver services to underserved communities and then skipping town, pledging never to interfere with the free flow of information online while hatching plans with the likes of Cisco, Viacom, RIAA and MPA to build and deploy technology that will spy on user traffic.
No Gatekeeper: One Fan’s Perspective |
The moral of this story is never trust AT&T at their word. The company acts in bad faith toward the public interest and will do whatever it can get away with to pad it’s bottom line — including sacrificing the freedoms its users have to choose where they go, what they watch and whom they listen to online.
Our friends at the Future of Music Coalition have done great work to mobilize hundreds of rock bands against such censorship but it’s a threat that concerns everyone.
AT&T’s vision of a better Internet – “Your World Delivered” — is not one that is shared by the more than 1.5 million people who have spoken out in favor of a neutral, affordable and accessible Internet for everyone. For us the Internet isn’t about one company delivering our world. It’s about simply offering a high-speed connection at reasonable and competitive rates — and then getting out of our way.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007