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January 09, 2009

Pirates of the Arabian Sea

Posted by Elaisha Stokes at 10:48 AM ET | Comments (0)

When I was a kid I really wanted to be a pirate (actually I was probably nearly twenty one when I first got this notion into my head...) I could live on a boat with the sea as my home and travel where ever the great winds would take me. I would have swash-buckling adventures, meet interesting characters, and claim my fortune in a distant land.

Things didn't quite work out as planned. Not that I'm complaining. I like writing from the intern desk at This. But lately, pirates have been on my mind once more. And not the Johnny Depp variety.

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have been making waves almost daily it seems. Earlier today it was reported that for a cool $3 million the Saudi oil tanker captured last November has been released. The ship is currently sailing into calmer waters, but no one is willing to comment on the situation, not yet at least.

The global rise in pirate activity is baffling, not only to me, but to the international community. In mid November the UN Security Council adopted a unanimous resolution to let all member countries attack Somali pirates by land, sea or air. Thus far the resolution has done little to stem the attacks. Last year alone it is estimated that Somali pirates made $30 million off ransoms in the heavily used shipping artery. In fact, these rebels are affecting ten percent of all global trade.

At yet, there remains a magical air about these pirates. Maybe it's the fact that they're struggling against all odds to create wealth for a country in near destitution. Maybe it's the romanticism behind troubled waters and a final frontier. Or maybe, as the pirate themselves so bluntly put it, they are considered heroes in their local communities. At any rate, Pirate Watch 2009 has officially begun.

More entries on: Global politics

January 07, 2009

Chernobyl in the Jungle

Posted by Elaisha Stokes at 03:40 PM ET | Comments (4)

Looking for an adventurous and educational holiday to beat the winter blues? Why not tour the chaos and misery of the mess Texaco Oil left behind in the Amazon Basin. For the last fifteen years Chevron Corp, which acquired Texaco Oil in 2001, has been in a deadlock legal battle with the citizens of Lago Agrigo, Ecuador. With the case against the oil giant is set to conclude latter this year, locals are busying themselves touring the public around the toxic waste dump they now call home.

Among the claims against Texaco Oil:
1. Soaking dirt roads with crude to keep down the dust
2. Encouraging local oilfield workers to smoother their legs and scalp with crude
3. Dumping 18 billion gallons of wastewater into unlined waste pits
4. Burning natural gas and solid waste, resulting in deadly air pollution

The result has been over 1400 deaths from cancer in the tiny community, nearly twice Ecuador’s national rate. While it’s impossible to predict who will win the legal battle, local experts believe the payout from Chevron could be as high as $27.3 billion.

For more on this story and other eco-catastrophe, check out forecast earth.

More entries on: Environment | From the intern desk | Global politics | Human rights | Planet Earth

January 06, 2009

Police State, Version 2.0

Posted by Elaisha Stokes at 01:28 PM ET | Comments (0)

Lately, it seems everyone is talking about slumdog millionaire. I haven't seen it, but I've been assured it is the thing to do. Having recently returned from a little overseas adventure of my own, I've been thinking a lot about slums. What does it mean to live in a slum? Or a compound, a favela, a township, depending on your nation state boundaries. I've got a feeling it's not not as glitzy and glam as Mr. Boyle would have us believe. According to this really cool website, 2008 marked the first time in global history that more people are living in an urban than rural setting. In fact, urban slums are the fastest growing habitat on earth, with one billion people calling a 'slum' their 'home.'

And yet governments around the world continue to treat slums as illegal settlements, refusing to acknowledge the community, culture and necessity they provide for millions. Earlier today, The Washington Post reported that Brazil has begun a counter-insurgency occupation in the shantytown of Santa Maria, located in Rio de Janeiro. The government is taking the concept of police state to new and exciting levels, employing a counter-insurgency pilot project that aims to emulate the tactics used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq to stem drug related criminal activity in the favela.

Maybe it's just me, but the whole operation seems a bit extreme. When did being poor become illegal? (I know, I know, governments around the world have always tried to criminalize the poor just for being poor...) I'll be the first to admit that Rio has had its share of crime related issues, but employing war-time tactics in a peaceful country effectively violates the rights of the citizens who occupy the communities. And I stress the word community. Since its inception, the occupation of Santa Maria has successfully stunted local culture, shutting down businesses, dance parties and motorcycle taxis. While citizens report feeling safer, they also lament the days of yore, when you could walk down the street and chat with your neighbour. These days, no one leaves the house for fear of an interrogation, or worse...

It all prompts the question — in taking the concept of a police state to the next level, are we really engaging in a 'war on drugs' or a war on people?

More entries on: From the intern desk | Global politics | Human rights | War and peace

September 13, 2008

Craig Ferguson on the U.S. election campaign

Posted by mason at 04:17 PM ET | Comments (1)

Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson totally nailed it in Thursday night's monologue on the U.S. election campaign (run time: 8:45):

In it, Ferguson delivers a passionate criticism of media election coverage, voter apathy and the circus around Sarah Palin. I hope a lot of people see it, especially the part where he says he believes U.S. voters are smarting than the news people are giving them credit for. I know whenever I go down to the States I'm really pleased with how Americans are always friendly and willing to help out others. I think Americans are great. Too bad about their government, and the side of them that is shown to the world through pop culture and media. But I'm with Ferguson on this one -- I have faith that voters will do the right thing in November and come out in large numbers to support Obama.

(CROSS-POSTED TO propeller)

More entries on: Global politics

April 10, 2008

Nepal: shining future or end of the path?

Posted by derek at 10:41 AM ET | Comments (1)

Today in Nepal, voting began for a new constituent assembly that may well chart a radically different course for the Himalayan country. The election comes after more than 10 years of warfare waged by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The main parties squaring off are the Maoists, the Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist-Leninist (essentially social-democrats, counter-intuitively to their name) and the Nepali Congress Party.

The Maoists, still publicly commited to their goal of world communism, have been brought to this point by a number of factors. First, although they have major support in the hill regions, they have been viewed suspiciously by Nepal's urban middle classes, and see winning them over as critical to holding power country-wide. Second, The rapid success of their movement has ran far ahead of similar trends in South Asia, and the Maoists faced the possibility of running the undeveloped country with little or no external support. Third, the people of Nepal have been exhausted by the war and have been thirsting for peace.

The CPN(M) then, sees the push for a constituent assembly as a tactic in a complex dance to move their revolution forward in very unique circumstances.

It's highly unorthodox for their ideological background, and very risky. Anything could happen, from a coup/Indian invasion to Maoist political hegemony, from a new phase in the civil war to the rebels being adopted into the political mainstream.

PHOTO MAOIST SOLDIERS AND CHILDREN IN ROLPA, WESTERN HILL REGION

More entries on: From the intern desk | Global politics | War and peace

March 25, 2008

High heat on Iran

Posted by derek at 12:08 PM ET | Comments (19)

Two interesting, perhaps ominous developments on the "will they bomb Iran" front:

On March 11, Admiral William Fallon resigned as head of the U.S. Central Command. Fallon opposed a military strike on Iran and the word in the halls of power is that his exit may indicate an intention on behalf of Bush and Co. to attack Iran sooner than later.

Just yesterday, General David Petraeus, head of U.S. forces in Iraq, blamed a deadly rocket attack in the Green Zone in Baghdad on Iran, saying the rockets were provided by Iran and those that fired them were trained by Iran.

True or not (and likely not, considering the recent track record of people like him) Petraeus's accusation may be an attempt to build justification for a strike on Iran, making an irreversible "fact on the ground" prior to the election of a new president in November.

PHOTO SPIDER DIJON FLICKR.COM

More entries on: American Politricks | From the intern desk | Global politics | War and peace

March 14, 2008

The Dalai Lama on Tibet protests

Posted by derek at 12:04 PM ET | Comments (10)

The Dalai Lama - I am sooo sick of this guy. Commenting on the recent protests in Tibet, the Dalai Lama criticized the Chinese government for, among other things, the "politicization of religious issues." Really?! This, coming from a man who is revered as a God-King, who once technically legally owned everything and every person in Tibet, and whose religious position allowed him to stand at the top of a brutal and oppressive serf-based society...now he says we should keep politics out of religion?

The Dalai Lama has urged his followers (in a statement primarily geared towards international media, mind you) not to resort to violence. This is an interesting irony since the protests in Tibet are commemorating the armed uprising launched against China in 1959, which was initiated by "his holiness" with funds and training provided by the CIA.

The only reason the western media pays any attention to this parasitic clown is because his fantasy of returning to power in Tibet often conveniently dovetails with western attempts to encircle and put political pressure on China.

To quote another famous figure in Chinese history, the Tibetan people may very well have "a right to rebel." It's unfortunate that their just struggles against real greivances are either hijacked and diverted by cynical political operators like the Dalai Lama or are distorted by naive new-agers who romanticize what was one of the most brutal societies on earth.

PHOTO CHRIS GREENBERG

More entries on: From the intern desk | Global politics | Religion

March 12, 2008

Torture and hypocrisy

Posted by derek at 03:00 PM ET | Comments (1)

On December 5, 2002, Dilawar, a young Afghan taxi driver, was arrested, handed over to US troops and taken to Bagram Air Force Base for interrogation. 5 days later he was dead. In his five days in that dungeon, he was hooded, chained to the ceiling of his cell, and beaten repeatedly. His legs were so badly injured that they were described as "pulpified" - like they had been crushed by a truck. Dilawar's story is an example of what can happen to people in places like Afghanistan who are simply judged to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What happened to Dilawar is unique only in the sense that we know about it - the story of his torture and murder was made into a film, Taxi to the Dark Side, which recently won the Academy Award for best feature documentary. But as numerous horror stories from Bagram, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo show, these crimes have become routine.

I was inspired to post this today because of the US State department's release of a worldwide report on human rights, in which they criticize other countries over violations like violence, humiliating treatment, and yes, torture. It is galling hypocrisy, hypocrisy without limit.

PHOTO THINKFILM

More entries on: Film | From the intern desk | Global politics | Human rights

March 10, 2008

International Women's Day: Afghanistan

Posted by derek at 03:51 PM ET | Comments (3)

I am caged in this corner
full of melancholy and sorrow ...
my wings are closed and I cannot fly ...
I am an Afghan woman and so must wail.
- Nadia Anjuman, Afghan poet, murdered by her husband in 2005.

One hundred and sixty-five. That's how many Afghan women set themselves on fire in 2007. It's a desperate act that reflects the desperate lives of women in Afghanistan, whose plight is getting worse.

The outrages make for a long list: Child-selling for marriages is rampant, and many of the new brides haven't even reached their 10th birthday. In prisons and "shelters" women are raped by guards and government officials. Afghan women suffer from one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates: 1 in 9 women die during childbirth. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where the suicide rate is higher for women than for men...and on and on.

Those who speak out, or even raise questions, face harsh punishment. Sayad Kambaksh, 23-year-old journalism student, was recently sentenced to death after a trial that lasted just four minutes. His crime? Downloading an article about women's rights that was deemed blasphemous to Islam by the judges.

All of this is upheld by a government that is defended, funded, and propped up by NATO countries, Canada included.

More entries on: Feminism | From the intern desk | Global politics | Religion

February 22, 2008

New China's catch-22

Posted by derek at 01:33 PM ET | Comments (1)

For the past twenty years, the Chinese state has been luring foreign capital to their country with the promise of cheap wages, abundant natural resources, good infrastructure, and a massive internal market. The hope is that the flows of foreign cash will spur development that will vault China into developed-country-status by 2050.

The problem, as the Chinese government is finding out, is that capital has no loyalty. As the Globe and Mail reports in a story today, China is facing an influx of foreign goods made in even lower-cost countries like Indonesia and Vietnam. China is also losing some of its garment factories to places like Bangladesh. It's an example of how capital works on a global scale - zipping here and there, setting down roots wherever it can get the greatest profit, and then moving on to the next big score.

It presents an interesting catch-22 for the Chinese-inspired development model. The strategy promises to lift countries out of third-world status, but the very character of the development necessitates their continuing poverty.

PHOTO ALEXANDRA MOSS, FLICKR

More entries on: Economics | From the intern desk | Global politics

February 13, 2008

12 Years of Revolution in Nepal

Posted by derek at 11:35 AM ET | Comments (1)

Today marks the 12th anniversary of the initiation of the revolution in Nepal. Led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the revolution, called a "People's War" by its proponents, began with sporadic actions in Nepal's isolated rural areas in 1996 and now sees the rebels controlling 80% of the country. Mystifyingly ignored by North American media, the revolution in Nepal may have wide-ranging repercussions in a region already marked by turmoil.

The CPN(M)'s rapid advance is largely due to their winning over much of Nepal's poverty-stricken rural population - support won by relying on a program of wiping out national, caste, and gender discrimination as well as by implementing land reforms. That, together with a highly unorthodox strategy the Nepalese Maoists call "Prachanda Path" named after their Party Chairman, has placed the maobadi on the verge of country-wide power in the land-locked Himalayan country.

A peace agreement, signed in November 2006, is currently being respected, but things show signs of heating up. The Maoists have just re-activated their rural governments that were dissolved when the peace agreement was signed, and a new showdown seems set for April when elections for a new Constituent Assembly will take place.

PHOTO VILLAGERS IN A MAOIST BASE AREA, NEPAL: LI ONESTO/REVOLUTION NEWSPAPER

More entries on: From the intern desk | Global politics | Resistance

June 21, 2007

Guerra contra el Terror?

Posted by shawnsyms at 09:46 AM ET | Comments (1)

One thing that initially seems refreshing about visiting Cuba is the lack of commercial advertising. Not that there are no billboards; in fact, huge placards are omnipresent. They're populated instead with political propaganda. I'm sure many Canadian leftists might savour the idea of progressive viewpoints brandished everywhere instead of airbrushed models toting Gucci bags. After all, isn't advertising really a form of propaganda as well?

"How barbarous—they liberated a terrorist!" A billboard on the streets of Havana

In this arresting image, the subject at hand is Luis Posada Carriles, an enemy of the Cuban government who has been accused of involvement in a number of terrorist attacks—including the bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane, and the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro. Posada has admitted to a 1997 string of bombings of Havana nightclubs and hotels intended to deter tourism in Cuba. Posada, seen as a hero by many Miami-based Cuban exiles, was recently released from US prison after being held for two years after allegedly entering the country illegally.

The USA's much-ballyhooed "war on terror" is a war of ideology. The L.A. Times recently quoted Wayne Smith, a retired U.S. diplomat and Cuban affairs analyst: "Posada's release shows the Bush administration's position against terrorism for the cynical sham it is. It takes us back to one man's terrorist being another's freedom fighter."

Indeed. Still, it's strange for an outsider to see the Cuban government's position posted on every wallspace, near and far.

PHOTO CREDIT: JEFF BRIGGS

More entries on: Global politics

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