World War 4 Report, by Bill Weinberg

http://ww4report.com/

WORLD WAR 4 REPORT

Defending the Fourth World, Deconstructing Overseas Contingency Operations 

World War 4 Report has been monitoring the Global War on Terrorism and its implications for human rights, democracy and ecology since the immediate aftermath of 9-11. With an international network of contacts and correspondents, we scan the world press and Internet for important stories overlooked by the mass media, and examine the headlines with a critical eye for distortion, deceit and propaganda. We report on the forgotten wars outside the media spotlight, and seek out unexamined contexts that go beyond mainstream sound-bite coverage. We endeavor to expose the corporate agendas behind the new military interventions, and to find pro-autonomy, anti-militarist voices we can support in the countries under imperialist assault. We support the secular, progressive anti-imperialist forces in the Middle East that reject the spectacularized "jihad-vs-GWOT" duality. We especially seek to loan solidarity to land-rooted, stateless, and indigenous peoples—the "Fourth World." Above all, we are committed to real journalism (as opposed to mere opinion-spewing and bloggery), and seek through our example to resist its alarming decline. We are fastidiously non-sectarian, and our first loyalty is always to the truth.

Why World War 4?

The "World War III" envisioned in the Cold War was a devastating conflict between two monolithic superpowers. The Cold War, thankfully, never reached this climax. But now we are faced with its chilling sequel: the age of "asymmetrical" or "molecular" warfare, in which a single globalized superpower faces an invisible, hydra-headed enemy which is everywhere and nowhere; in which the expansion of "free markets" is an explicit aim of military campaigns; and in which indigenous peoples, stateless ethnicities and localist/autonomist poltical models—the "Fourth World"—are increasingly targeted and conflated with the "terrorist" threat. The leaders of this new global crusade acknowledge openly that it will last generations. To emphasize that this new world situation requires a new kind of thinking, we have joined with those on the left and right alike that call this global conflict World War 4. See World War 4 Report #106

Why Overseas Contingency Operations?

There are some indications that with Barack Obama's election, we have entered the post-GWOT era. Although the US military remains massively overstretched, the nomenclature, at least, has changed. The Obama administration has formally abandoned the Bush-era phrase "Global War on Terrorism." The new term is the dryly clinical and antiseptic "Overseas Contingency Operation." Is this an improvement—or a switch from a hubristic and bellicose rallying cry to an Orwellian euphemism? We are still grappling with this question. However, it is clear that World War 4 Report has not outlived its mission. We are committed to publish until peace—by which we mean, minimally, a withdrawal of all US combat forces and military advisors from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Colombia, the Philippines, West Africa, etc. We will continue to oppose domestic militarization, especially along the US-Mexico border, and the anti-immigrant backlash that began with 9-11 and is finding new life in the current economic cataclysm. We will continue to oppose US support of regimes that keep down peoples struggling for autonomy and liberation—whether it is the Palestinians under Israeli occupation or the Maya of Mexico and Quechua of Peru. These struggles are certain to persist even if the US military leviathan significantly withdraws its tentacles in the coming years—recalling the anarcho-surrealist slogan "Neither your war nor your peace!"

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Bill Weinberg is an award-winning 25-year veteran journalist in the fields of human rights, indigenous peoples, ecology and war. He is the author ofHomage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico (Verso Books, 2000) and War on the Land: Ecology and Politics in Central America (Zed Books, 1991). 

Ribeiro habla sobre la crisis alimentaria

http://www.biodiversidadla.org/Principal/Secciones/Noticias/Comer_o_no_comer_quien_decide

Comer o no comer: ¿quién decide?

SILVIA RIBEIRO

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Como serpiente que se muerde la cola, el sistema alimentario industrial –que es el principal causante del cambio climático global– se sacude por las pérdidas de cosechas debido a intensas sequías en Estados Unidos.

En algunas partes, aunque hay cosecha, no se puede usar porque por falta de lluvia las plantas no procesan los fertilizantes sintéticos y se vuelven tóxicas para el consumo. Todo está relacionado al mismo sistema industrial: semillas uniformes, sin biodiversidad, con agrotóxicos y fertilizantes sintéticos, con alto uso de transportes, energía y petróleo –por tanto gran emisor de gases de efecto invernadero– y controlado por trasnacionales.

En el caso del maíz, la escasez se exacerba porque 40 por ciento de la producción en Estados Unidos se destina a etanol, es decir, a alimentar autos en lugar de gente.

Al ser Estados Unidos uno de los principales exportadores mundiales de maíz, soya y trigo, junto al hecho de que 80 por ciento de la distribución global de cereales está en manos de cuatro multinacionales que gestionan el abasto para obtener más lucros, la baja de producción en ese país tiene efecto dominó sobre el mercado global, donde los precios de los alimentos están disparados. Además de los granos, suben los precios de aves, puercos y res, ya que más de 40 por ciento de la producción de cereales del mundo se usa como forraje para cría industrial confinada de animales. Otro absurdo del mismo sistema agroindustrial, ya que sería mucho más eficiente usar los cereales para alimentación humana y consumir menos carne, o que la cría fuera en pequeña escala con forrajes diversificados. La cría industrial confinada y masiva de animales es el origen, además, de epidemias como la gripe porcina y aviar, que a su vez generan escasez y aumento de precios, como hemos visto recientemente en México con el aumento de precio de los huevos por un brote de gripe aviar.

Los que más sufren por los aumentos de precios son los más pobres, principalmente los urbanos, que usan 60 por ciento de sus ingresos en alimentos.

Por el contrario, la veintena de transnacionales que controlan el sistema alimentario agroindustrial (de Monsanto a Wal Mart, pasando por Cargill, ADM, Nestlé y algunas más), las que controlan las semillas y pies de cría, los agrotóxicos, la compra, distribución y almacenamiento de granos (también para biocombustibles), los procesadores de carnes, alimentos y bebidas, así como los supermercados, son los responsables de las crisis, pero se han blindado contra sus efectos –trasladando las pérdidas a los productores chicos, a los consumidores y al gasto público. Para ellas, el caos climático y la escasez no significan pérdidas, sino aumento de ganancias, como sucede con las semillas, agrotóxicos y fertilizantes que se vuelven a vender, o las empresas que almacenan cereales, los acaparan y especulan vendiéndolos más caros, o los productos en supermercados, cuyo precio aumenta mucho más que la proporción al inicio de la cadena.

El caso del maíz en México es ilustrativo. Pese a que los agricultores del norte del país afirman tener 2 millones de toneladas para vender, recientemente se importaron 1.5 millones de toneladas de Estados Unidos (transgénico), y por otra parte venderá 150 mil toneladas a El Salvador y otra partida a Venezuela. Anteriormente había comprado medio millón de toneladas a Sudáfrica. Absurdo para el clima, por los transportes innecesarios, y brutal contra la producción nacional. Cuestionado, el Secretario de Economía, Bruno Ferrari (anteriormente funcionario de Monsanto), se lavó las manos, alegando que es una decisión de empresas privadas.

El trasfondo, como explica Ana de Ita, del Centro de Estudios para el Campo Mexicano (Ceccam), es que en el contexto de las políticas para liberalizar la producción agrícola nacional que precedieron a la firma del TLCAN, se desmanteló la paraestatal Compañía Nacional de Subsistencias Populares (Conasupo), que equilibraba el comercio interno de maíz, entregando el mercado interno a las trasnacionales: empresas como Cargill, ADM, Corn Products International, junto a grandes porcícolas, avícolas y de procesamiento industrial de tortillas. Éstas compran a quien les convenga, sea porque es más barato o por otras razones, como comprar a agricultores con los que tienen contratos de producción en Estados Unidos.

Ese tipo de empresas –y sus ex funcionarios en el gobierno, como Ferrari– son las que afirman que hay que importar maíz, porque la producción nacional no es suficiente. Sin embargo, México ha producido en los últimos años alrededor de 22 millones de toneladas anuales, y el consumo humano es de unos 11 millones. Se usan en derivados industriales otros 4 millones de toneladas, restando aún 7 millones. Pero las empresas importan 8-9 millones de toneladas anuales adicionales, porque se usan 16 millones de toneladas de maíz en la cría industrial masiva de aves y cerdos –tambien de grandes empresas.

Si la cría fuera descentralizada y con forrajes diversos se tendría suficiente producción, sin epidemias y sin maíz transgénico de trasnacionales, con muchas más fuentes de trabajo rural. La importación de maíz a México no es necesaria, es sencillamente un negocio entre trasnacionales, condonado y subsidiado por el gobierno.

Si las políticas públicas protegieran la producción agrícola y pecuaria diversa y de pequeña escala, con semillas propias y públicas nacionales, se diversificarían los riesgos –incluso climáticos– y tendríamos producción alimentaria suficiente, accesible y de mucho mejor calidad.

Silvia Ribeiro, Investigadora del Grupo ETC

Fuente: La Jornada

This American Life: Loopholes

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/473/loopholes

473: Loopholes

AUG 24, 2012

Only the clever need apply. This week, stories of people acting on a technicality in the face of some of life's toughest regulators: financial regulators, parents and God.

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  Ira talks with UC Davis Professor Kathy Stuart about a macabre trend that dates back to 17th and 18th century Europe. It seems that in order to avoid eternal damnation for the sin of committing suicide, a number of people began committing murder for the express purpose of turning themselves in, confessing their sins to a priest in order to be blessed and forgiven before being executed. (9 minutes)death • religion

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  An estate attorney in Rhode Island discovers the investor's Holy Grail: a financial scheme that guarantees only reward and no risk. All upside with no downside. The only catch? You have to die in order to get the money. But there's a loophole! Alex Blumberg from Planet Money and Jake Bernstein from ProPublica tell the story of how the attorney, Joseph Caramadre, figured out how to get someone else to die instead.

  For a more detailed version of this story plus graphics, documents, video excerpts of the depositions, and a way for you to weigh in on whether it's acceptable to profit from the death of strangers, visit ProPublica's website.death • economics • legal system

  • Alex Blumberg

  SONG: "SIGN IT ON THE DOTTED LINE", CARAVAN

Biodiversidad, sustento y culturas #73

Novedades de GRAIN | 10 de agosto del 2012

Biodiversidad, sustento y culturas 73

Este número intenta apoyar nuestra reflexión sobre los programas, proyectos, expropiaciones, acaparamientos y especulaciones financieras impulsados por la llamada "economía verde". Ésta —sin cuestionamiento alguno hacia la economía de la destrucción basada en el extractivismo y los combustibles fósiles, ni hacia sus patrones de consumo y producción industrial—, extiende la expoliación de la gente y el ambiente a nuevos ámbitos. Elmito de que es posible un crecimiento económico infinito, promueve nuevas estafas y crudas ganancias. Avanza así la privatización, la invasión y la usurpación de los territorios indígenas y campesinos por todo el planeta. Tras Río+20, Biodiversidad pone de nuevo el dedo en la llaga.

http://www.grain.org/article/categories/503

Editorial
http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4550

El trasfondo de la economía verde |GRAIN-WRM-ATALChttp://www.grain.org/article/entries/4551

Las corporaciones asaltan la naturaleza y a los pueblos (nuevamente) | Grupo ETChttp://www.grain.org/article/entries/4555

Todos somos Ituzaingó | Elizabeth Bravo
http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4556

De un vistazo y muchas aristas
Lo que dejó Río+20http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4557

Ataques, políticas, resistencia, relatos
Una audiencia simbólica del Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos en Ciudad Juárez, México | Perú: ¿Ollanta Humala gobierna para las mineras? | Sobre los falsos dilemas en relación al artículo "ambientalismo vs extractivismo" de Eduardo Paz Rada) | Sobornos y Walmart enMéxico | Consumo quiere decir desperdiciohttp://www.grain.org/article/entries/4558

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/24/159920457/how-brazil-lives-now-in-neighboring-sounds

How Brazil Lives Now, In 'Neighboring Sounds'

by JOHN POWERS

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Fresh Air from WHYY

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EnlargeVictor Juca/Cinema Guild

Joao (Gustavo Jahn) and Sofia (Irma Brown) are among the inhabitants of the Recife, Brazil, street where Neighboring Soundstakes place.

Neighboring Sounds

• Director: Kleber Mendonca Filho
• Genre: Drama, Thriller
• Running Time: 131 minutes

Not rated

With: Irma Brown, Sebastiao Formiga, Gustavo Jahn, Maeve Jinkings, Irandhir Santos, W.J. Solha

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'Swimming'

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August 24, 2012

Between mass tourism and the Internet, it's never been easier to learn about other cultures. Yet we often stay on the surface. Watching the Olympics opening ceremony a few weeks ago, I was struck by how much of what was presented as quintessential Britishness came from pop culture — James Bond and Mary Poppins and the chorus to "Hey Jude." Although Britain had a global empire not that long ago, the show's director, Danny Boyle, grasped that the world's image of his green and pleasant land now largely derives from movies and songs.

No doubt this will prove even truer of the Olympics' next host, Brazil. While it's one of the world's five largest nations in both population and geographical area, our idea of it is almost completely steeped in dualistic mythology. One side is happy and rhythmic — samba clubs at Carnival, soccer gods like Pele, the Girl from Ipanema who still makes everyone she passes go "Ahh." The other side couldn't be bleaker. Because of movies like Pixote and City of God, millions see Brazil as a land of orphans on trash heaps and drug dealers fighting for the slums known asfavelas.

Of course, what's missing from both these visions of Brazil is, well, Brazil. Especially the country that, like China, has been enjoying an economic boom for almost two decades. This modernizing, increasingly prosperous Brazil finally comes to our screens in the sly, funny, unsettling new feature, Neighboring Sounds. Written and directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho, this isn't merely the best new movie I've seen this year; it may well be the best Brazilian movie since the 1970s.

Neighboring Sounds takes place in Mendonca's home city of Recife, more precisely on a middle-class street by the sea where the last remaining small houses are being replaced by modern concrete high-rises. They're filled with plasma TVs, kids studying Mandarin and couples making love, sometimes illicitly.

Ruling the roost is Francisco, a white-bearded, seemingly affable patron who owns most of the neighborhood with money from the family's sugar plantation. Francisco's properties contain a wide range of people. There are his two grandsons, hangdog Joao and sociopath Dinho. There's a stay-at-home mom who gets stoned when her kids are at school. Out on the street, there's the team of security guards led by Clodoaldo, a hard-to-read fellow who protects the locals from terrors that seem more imagined than real.

EnlargeVictor Juca/Cinema Guild

Bia, played by Maeve Jinkings, bears the weight of her children.

Now, not a lot officially happens in Neighboring Sounds, which doesn't so much give you a plot as offer a cross-section of the lives — and the sounds — in this neighborhood. But rest assured, the movie isn't some sociological treatise hammering away at some obvious political point. It's more like a low-key Robert Altman picture or maybe an HBO series by Luis Bunuel. It sucks you in by interweaving characters whose behavior — be it drugging a barking dog, arguing about firing a night watchman or simply mopping the floor — gradually reveals a larger pattern of meaning. Charged with an air of impending danger, the movie just keeps building.

In the process, Mendonca offers us a CT scan of 21st century Brazil, in which a sleek new world appears to be rising as age-old and often oppressive values live on within it. The street is still a privileged enclave owned by a landed patriarch. The whites still have black servants, who are treated like family members — except when they aren't. And the poor still get hired to protect those with money and property from the other poor people who must surely be lurking out there somewhere. When I saw Neighboring Sounds at the Los Angeles Film Festival, a woman in the audience told Mendonca that she'd spent the whole film nervously waiting for something terrible to happen.

I won't say whether it does. But I will say that part of what makes Neighboring Sounds so revelatory is that this sharply observed portrait of today's Brazil is not only about Brazil. If you travel to Beijing, Singapore, Mumbai or even the prosperous suburbs in America, you'll find local versions of this same story — complete with spanking new homes, lower-class servants who raise the kids like Mary Poppins, and an obsession with security so boundless that 007 himself couldn't satisfy it. Which is to say that Mendonca is exploring something that most American filmmakers no longer seem to notice — that the way people choose to live their daily lives reveals what a society's values truly are.