Democracy & Civics

Colombia's Disappeared Return to View

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Thousands of Colombians who have “disappeared” over the decades were commemorated in prose and pictures at a June conference in Bogota on political kidnappings, Inter Press Service reports. “Without a Trace,” a photography and short-story contest, debuted as part of the three-day International Seminar on Forced Disappearance, an event that drew human rights activists from Latin America, Europe and the United States. Columbian writer Jorge Eliecer Pardo was lauded for his story “No Names, No Faces, No Traces,” which one judge praised for both its subtlety and impact. “There are no obvious, straightforward words denouncing atrocities or morbid descriptions … there is respect for words and for what happened, which is much harder-hitting than a raw description,” he said.

Democracy & Civics

Canada In Heated Debate over Global Warming Tax

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Environmentalists have long proposed taxing carbon emissions as a way of combating global warming — but if a new Canadian law is any indication, implementing such a tax won’t be easy in the United States. The carbon tax, which so far is levied only in British Columbia, had not even gone into effect yet last month when politicians from other provinces began saying it would fail, and drag the whole country down with it. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the tax, which was put forward by Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, will hurt Western Canada and “screw” the rest of the country too, according to Canwest News Service. Both parties are accusing the other of fanning the flames of controversy over the tax for political advantage. “This is the most cynical, bloody minded kind of regionally divisive politics imaginable that they’re playing,” Calgary legislator Jason Kenney told Canwest.

Democracy & Civics

China: A Million Mutinies Now

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After years of brutally suppressing dissent, China has in recent months faced violent public unrest in a number of different cities and over a wide range of issues, from the government’s handling of the Sichuan earthquake to calls for Tibetan independence to a government crackdown on an Internet health forum. With the world’s attention on the country for this summer’s Beijing Olympics, the anti-government violence tests the Communist Party’s leadership and ability in unprecedented ways. Thousands rioted in southwest China last week, setting fire to police stations, cars and government buildings, after the death of a teenage girl. According to news reports, authorities listed the death as a suicide, but the girl’s family accused police of raping and murdering her. Citing Reuters, the BBC quoted an unnamed official in Guizhou province as saying, “About 10,000 people rushed to the site and totally burned down the county party office building, and burned other offices in the county government.”

Environment

For Forests Under Fire, a Slight Return

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Forests are disappearing from the Amazon to Afghanistan, but the rate has slowed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports. A new study by the United Nations found that the world has a net loss of 7.3 million forest hectares annually — down from 8.9 million per year during the 1990s. Although forest regeneration has slowed the rate of loss, the causes of deforestation are varied. The problem of clearcutting for cattle grazing in the Amazon rainforest has been well documented, but oil production is also an issue that threatens trees in Africa’s Congo River Basin. Palm oil production is accelerating deforestation in Indonesia, while Afghan forests are falling to war and drought.

Democracy & Civics

Pumped up for Public Water

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The tide may be turning for water privatization. Water supplies have already fallen out of private hands in developing nations such as Mali, Uruguay and Bolivia — and now the French are following suit. Paris has pushed the trend forward by announcing that its water will go public for the first time in over a century, starting on Jan. 1, 2010. The move follows similar measures enacted in over 40 other French communities in the last decade.

Public Health

Medical Bills Spur India Suicide Plan

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A woman stricken with kidney disease and her husband have petitioned a municipal official in Kolkart, India, to allow them to commit suicide. The Times of India reported that Swapna Das and husband Biswanath Das wrote to the district magistrate asking permission to die together because of health care costs they find staggering. She is on dialysis, which costs 6,000 rupees or U.S.$138, and cannot afford a kidney replacement. Their neighbors financially support them. Biswanath said they wrote to the chief minister and prime minister to no avail.

Economy

Australia's Billion-Dollar Land Grab

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Never mind the aboriginal land battles that followed the colonial era — turf wars in today’s Australia are for billionaires. The richest man Down Under, Andrew Forrest, is squaring off against the nation’s wealthiest woman, Gina Rinehart, in an epic conflict over access to the iron-rich Rhodes Ridge territory in Western Australia, Bloomberg News reports. Forrest’s Perth-based Fortalescu Metals Group is claiming improper lease renewals by Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, and according to The Australian may also be favored by a “use it or lose it” policy that places public interest over tenancy. The legal battle is driven by China’s voracious appetite for iron ore, and whomever wins the mining and export rights will reap vast rewards. Rinehart may be personally enriched by A$500 million if she comes out on top, while Forrest’s company and partners stand to gain A$1.65 billion in royalties if they can take control of the Rhodes Ridge ore.

World

U.K. Journalist Gets Some Source Protection

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A freelance journalist in Manchester, England, may reveal some, but not necessarily all, of his source material on a book about al-Qaida terrorists to police, a panel of judges said. The panel ruled the police order for Shiv Malik to hand over all materials, including an interview with a suspected British operative, was too broad. Malik said the decision was a “victory for common sense” that protects journalists everywhere, The Guardian reports. He will return to court on June 26 to hear specific terms on what he must divulge under Britain’s Terrorism Act. — T.J. Johnston/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Shiv Malik: Journalist claims victory in terrorism sources case”
The Guardian, June 19, 2008

Environment

Africa's Double Dip of Global Warming

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Africa is already the continent hardest hit by the worldwide food crisis, but according to a new report it’s also the one most threatened by global warming. “The Atlas for Changing Environment in Africa,” published last week by the United Nations Environment Program, is a 400-page publication detailing how climate change is expected to affect the continent — and the outlook is chilling. According to the Atlas, food production is expected to drop by half by 2020, and a quarter of the continent’s people will have no access to drinking water. Much of the Atlas is made up of satellite photos of 100 locations in Africa, showing how climate change has already affected the landscape. In the photos, the famous snow cover of Mount Kilimanjaro appears to be shrinking, and two vital water sources, Lake Chad and Lake Victoria, appear to be drying up.

Public Health

Doctors Resign as Life-Support Lawsuit Drags On

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A Canadian hospital is facing a shortage of doctors, who are resigning rather than continue to care for an elderly man on life support. Samuel Golubchuck, 84, has been on life support since last fall; physicians say his brain functions are minimal and his chances of recovery are slim. This, along with destructive surgery to remove infected ulcers that one doctor likened to “torture,” have prompted a wave of resignations Winnipeg Grace Hospital, CTV.ca reports. Golubchuck’s Orthodox Jewish family says it is against their religion to hasten death, and successfully sued to block doctors from taking him off life support. Source:
“More doctors resign from Winnipeg hospital”
CTV.ca, June 17, 2008