Category: English

Alternatives, English

The World Social Forum at the Crossroads

The World Social Forum at the Crossroads See you in Montreal next August 9-14 Pierre Beaudet In 2001, Brazilian popular movements convened, with the support of organizations from elsewhere around the world, a Forum in Porto Alegre to facilitate the discussion among activists from civil society in turmoil, above all in Latin America, where the winds of change blew hard! There was lots of excitement … Continue reading The World Social Forum at the Crossroads

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Analysis, Elizabeth Peredo, English

The Price of Populism in Bolivia

[Elizabeth Peredo, from: World Policy Blog, 12/04/2016] The outcome of the Bolivian referendum has provided some clues about the challenges for political systems in Latin America. This is the first time that the popular leftist indigenous president Evo Morales was defeated. His attempt to make a constitutional amendment that would allow him to be re-elected for the fourth time and govern for five more years … Continue reading The Price of Populism in Bolivia

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Analysis, English

MST ANALISYS: What is the origin of the political crisis and what we must do as movements and the working class?

The nature of the crisis we are going through The Brazilian political crisis gained momentum and speed in recent weeks. Every day we see complaints, accusations, threats and assumptions about the outcome of this crisis. The incitements of hatred and violence from the right are increasing with threats to activists and organizations. In the midst of so much information or rumors, many may feel lost … Continue reading MST ANALISYS: What is the origin of the political crisis and what we must do as movements and the working class?

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English, Others

Latin America in times of lumpencapitalism

Progressive illusions devoured by the crisis [Jorge Beinstein, ALAI AMLAT-en, 01/04/2016] The global situation is characterized by a deflationary crisis driven by the great powers. The fall of commodity prices, whose most signal effect, as of mid-2014, was that of oil, reveals deflated international demand, while the financial upsurge, that has been a strategic prop of the system over the past four decades, has stagnated. The … Continue reading Latin America in times of lumpencapitalism

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English, Feminism, Others

Ecofeminism: Sociology and environmentalism

[Kathryn Miles] Ecofeminism, also called ecological feminism, branch of feminism that examines the connections between women and nature. Its name was coined by French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne in 1974. Ecofeminism uses the basic feminist tenets of equality between genders, a revaluing of non-patriarchal or nonlinear structures, and a view of the world that respects organic processes, holistic connections, and the merits of intuition and collaboration. … Continue reading Ecofeminism: Sociology and environmentalism

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English, Others, Vivir Bien

Development as Buen Vivir: Institutional arrangements and (de)colonial entanglements

[Katherine Walsh, Society for international development, 2010] In a world long organized around the western capitalist principle of living better and its correlate: having more‘development’ is a term and concept with a historically weighted significance. For many, it is, in essence, the‘paradogmatic’ (not just paradigmatic) frame against which the Global South in general and Latin America in particular have both measured themselves and been measured. … Continue reading Development as Buen Vivir: Institutional arrangements and (de)colonial entanglements

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English, Feminism, Others

Ecofeminism

[from: http://www.thegreenfuse.com%5D Ecofeminism There is no single definition of ecofeminism, and ecofeminists may well disagree with at least some of explanations I give in this section, but there are core principles. Ecofeminists agree that the domination of women and the domination of nature are fundamentally connected and that environmental efforts are therefore integral with work to overcome the oppression of women. The primary aims of … Continue reading Ecofeminism

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English, Feminism, Others

Ecofeminism: Historic and International Evolution

[Laura Hobgood-Oster] Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as myriad forms of feminist and environmental theories and activisms intersected. The term was introduced by Francoise d’Eaubonne in her book Le Feminisme ou la Mort [Feminism or Death] published in 1974. Some theorists, such as Ynestra King, name it as a third wave of feminism, while others place it in the general category of deep … Continue reading Ecofeminism: Historic and International Evolution

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English, Others

The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science

[Chris Mooney, 2011] “A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger (PDF), in a passage that might have been referring to climate change denial—the persistent … Continue reading The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science

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English, Others

Marxism and Ecology: Common Fonts of a Great Transition

[from http://www.greattransition.org/] John Bellamy Foster October 2015 Socialist thought is re-emerging at the forefront of the movement for global ecological and social change. In the face of the planetary emergency, theorists have unearthed a powerful ecological critique of capitalism at the foundations of Marx’s materialist conception of history. This has led to a more comprehensive conception of socialism rooted in Marx’s analysis of the rift in … Continue reading Marxism and Ecology: Common Fonts of a Great Transition

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English, Various

Marx’s Ecology in the 21st Century

An article by: Brett Clark and John Bellamy Foster “We contend that Marx’s materialist and metabolic approach, his emphasis on the contradiction between use value and exchange value and between wealth and accumulation, his focus on sustainable human development, and his critique of capital as a whole, provide an invaluable methodological foundation to critique contemporary environmental degradation and to envision social and ecological transformation. To … Continue reading Marx’s Ecology in the 21st Century

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English, Various

The end of capitalism has begun

Without us noticing, we are entering the postcapitalist era. At the heart of further change to come is information technology, new ways of working and the sharing economy. The old ways will take a long while to disappear, but it’s time to be utopian [Paul Mason, 07/17/2015, The Guardian, Illustration by Joe Magee] The red flags and marching songs of Syriza during the Greek crisis, … Continue reading The end of capitalism has begun

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English, Various

Alain Badiou: Eleven points inspired by the situation in Greece

[Verso Books, Miri Davidson, july 09 2015] It is urgently necessary to internationalise the Greek people’s cause. Only the total elimination of the debt would bring an “ideological blow” to the current European system. 1. The Greek people’s massive “No” does not mean a rejection of Europe. It means a rejection of the bankers’ Europe, of infinite debt and of globalised capitalism. 2. Isn’t it … Continue reading Alain Badiou: Eleven points inspired by the situation in Greece

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Analysis, English, Vandana Shiva

“LAUDATO SI” – A 21ST CENTURY MANIFESTO FOR EARTH DEMOCRACY

[Dr Vandana Shiva – L’Huffington Post Italia, 19 June 2015] Most reports of Pope Francis’s Encyclical in the press before the formal launch yesterday reduced this path breaking document with 246 paras on the contemporary ecological crisis and human crisis to the 4 paras on climate change (para 23-26). But Laudato Si is much wider and much deeper. It is first of all a call … Continue reading “LAUDATO SI” – A 21ST CENTURY MANIFESTO FOR EARTH DEMOCRACY

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English, Various

Rights of Nature: FAQs

[celdf on: http://celdf.org/rights-of-nature-frequently-asked-questions] What do we mean when we say that nature should have rights? Under the current system of law in almost every country, nature is considered to be property, a treatment which confers upon the property owner the right to destroy ecosystems and nature on that property. When we talk about the “rights of nature,” it means recognizing that ecosystems and natural communities are … Continue reading Rights of Nature: FAQs

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English, Various

5 Reasons Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment Matters

[07/06/2015, Reynard Loki, Alternet] The first encyclical on the environment in the history of the Catholic Church has its detractors, but it also has the power to inspire meaningful climate action. Pope Francis’ forthcoming encyclical on the environment has been described as “long-awaited” and “much-anticipated.” Indeed, as Peter Smith, who covers religion for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, recently put it: “Rarely in modern times has a … Continue reading 5 Reasons Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment Matters

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English, Various

Catching the Power of the Wind

A Statement of the Occasion of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the United Nations at the Spiritual Summit Conference V October 24, 1975 Published in Evening Thoughts San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2006 Thomas Berry On this thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations we wish to indicate to you our esteem for the work you have accomplished. For thirty years this body has … Continue reading Catching the Power of the Wind

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English, Food Sovereignty, Various

Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology

Nyéléni, Mali, 27 February 2015. We are delegates representing diverse organizations and international movements of small-scale food producers and consumers, including peasants, indigenous peoples and communities (together with hunters and gatherers), family farmers, rural workers, herders and pastoralists, fisherfolk and urban people. Together, the diverse constituencies our organizations represent produce some 70% of the food consumed by humanity. They are the primary global investors in agriculture, as well as the primary providers of jobs and livelihoods in the world.  Continue reading “Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology”

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Alternatives, Commons, English, Various

Reclaiming the Commons

[David Bollier] Why we need to protect our public resources from private encroachment.*

They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose.
—English folk poem, circa 1764

One of the great questions of contemporary American political economy is, who shall control the commons? “The commons” refers to that vast range of resources that the American people collectively own, but which are rapidly being enclosed: privatized, traded in the market, and abused. The process of converting the American commons into market resources can accurately be described asenclosure because, like the movement to enclose common lands in eighteenth-century England, it involves the private appropriation of collectively owned resources. Continue reading “Reclaiming the Commons”

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