Civil Society - the New Superpower / IPS Inter Press Service

Homepage

Latest News

Languages

About Us

Saturday, November 07, 2009 19:47 GMT

- Mideast &
Mediterranean

Iraq

HIV/AIDS

- Arts &
Entertainment

AFRICA: We Are the Government
By Jessie Boylan
LAGO DISTRICT, Mozambique - As if they were going to the races, Emma Musako and Monica Mhango showed up in their finest outfits to attend a meeting on the health, social and environmental impacts of uranium mining. They came because they, like the other attendees, no longer want to remain uninformed citizens.
MORE >>

DEVELOPMENT: "Africans Should Become Their Own Philanthropists"
By Christi van der Westhuizen
CAPE TOWN - Africans "should dare to imagine an African world not defined by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund but one that comes out of Africa". This is necessary for Africans to grow out of dependence and become the agents of their own development.
MORE >>

Q&A: Put the New Women's Agency in Africa
Suzanne Hoeksema interviews NAISOLA LIKIMANI, advocacy officer of FEMNET*
UNITED NATIONS - On Sep. 14, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution that gave the green light to the creation of a new U.N. agency for women.
MORE >>

RIGHTS-MEXICO: Military Abuses Brought to Inter-American Commission
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - A case of rights abuses allegedly committed by the Mexican armed forces is coming up for a hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), where it joins a long list of accusations against the army in this Latin American country.
MORE >>

VENEZUELA: Homophobia Stalks the Streets - in Uniform
By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS - One Friday at around midnight, on Villaflor Street, a favourite spot for gays and lesbians in the Venezuelan capital, Yonatan Matheus and Omar Marques noticed two Caracas police patrol vans carrying about 20 detainees, most of them very young.
MORE >>

PERU: Cuzco Women Stand Up to Violence
By Milagros Salazar
CUZCO, Peru - For tourists and other visitors, Cuzco has a special fascination as the ancient capital of the Inca empire. But social scientists know it as one of the areas in the world with the highest rates of violence against women.
MORE >>

GUATEMALA: Controversy Dogs New Highway
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - Construction is expected to begin soon on a new highway across north-central Guatemala, the largest infrastructure project tackled so far by the government of Álvaro Colom.
MORE >>

LABOUR: Sorting Garbage - Green and Dignified Work
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - More than 1,500 representatives of waste recyclers from 13 countries, and thousands of other visitors, including the host country Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, met last week in São Paulo, demonstrating that they are no longer pariahs in our throw-away society.
MORE >>

ARGENTINA: 'Drugs Are Killing the Youngsters We're Feeding'
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - "You often ask yourself why feed them if some wretch is just going to come along and sell them that rubbish," says Isabel Ruiz, who runs the Las Brujas soup kitchen in Moreno, a poor neighbourhood on the west side of the Argentine capital.
MORE >>

CHILE: Teen Pregnancy, a Problem That Won’t Go Away
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Chile currently stands out for its spectacular progress in a number of health indicators, including maternal and child mortality and chronic malnutrition. But these successes obscure an acute social problem that refuses to yield: the steady rise in the number of teenage mothers.
MORE >>

GUATEMALA: Despite Flaws, Judge Selection Process Improved, Say NGOs
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - A new process aimed at making the selection of judges more transparent in Guatemala failed to block the appointment of several candidates who were questioned by civil society and a U.N.-sponsored commission set up to strengthen and purge the country's justice system.
MORE >>

MIDEAST: Harvesting in Death Zone, With a Song
By Eva Bartlett
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza - On a quiet October morning, Fida Zaneen, 19, sings a traditional love song as she pulls olives from trees in Beit Hanoun's border region during the annual olive harvest.
MORE >>

MEXICO: Int'l Tribunal 'Scandalised' by Denials of Workers' Rights
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - On the day his trade union section held elections for officials, "our offices were occupied, damaged and ransacked" by thugs from the executive committee of the National Teachers Union (SNTE), said Mexican teacher Gerardo Cruz, a leader in the CNTE, a dissident caucus seeking reform within the union.
MORE >>

PHILIPPINES: Amid Disasters’ Rubble, Accusations Hound President
Analysis by Stephen de Tarczynski
MANILA - Even in the wake of the tropical storms that lashed the northern parts of the Philippines recently, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took time out to visit her home province.
MORE >>

RIGHTS: Before the Olympics in Brazil…
By Danielle Batist
SWANSEA, U.K. - Athletes competing for Olympic gold speak to the imagination of most of us. Homeless people playing an international football tournament may be a less familiar sight. Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro will get a chance to see both.
MORE >>

CLIMATE CHANGE-BOLIVIA: Climbing a 'Dead' Glacier
By Franz Chávez
CHACALTAYA, Bolivia - The rapid disappearance of glaciers and the subsequent exhaustion of water sources are pushing indigenous communities in the Bolivian highlands even further into poverty, Bolivian experts told IPS, adding that an increase in awareness about climate change is desperately needed.
MORE >>

Next >>

	News Feeds RSS/XML
	Make IPS News your homepage!
	Free Email Newsletters
	IPS Mobile
	Text Only

NGOs participation
social movements trade unions grassroots advocacy charity faith-based MOBILISATION groups COLLECTIVE ACTION social capital democratic expression dissent INNOVATION

MEXICO: Women Package the Sweet Taste of Nostalgia

POLITICS: Thai-Cambodia Diplomatic Row Bares Decades-Long Rift

SRI LANKA: Colombo’s Diplomatic Sparring Games with EU, U.S.

CLIMATE CHANGE-US: Too Little, Too Late for Copenhagen?

HONDURAS: Unilateral "Unity Government" Announced; Deal "Dead"

RIGHTS-NICARAGUA: Mudslinging Match Between Gov't, Activists

MIDEAST: Lessons from the Karine A -Déjà Vu All Over Again

AFRICA: We Are the Government

U.S.: "War Comes Home" with Ft. Hood Shootings

Q&A: Geert Wilders Gets a Big Email Hug

More >>

CIVIL SOCIETY UNDER THREAT IN RUSSIA
By Kumi Naidoo and Tanzilya Salimdjanova
With Russia's presidential elections -- notoriously a time of clampdown on dissent -- looming, it is important to ask whether non-governmental organisations there will be able to freely go about their legitimate activities, whether providing services, election monitoring, or holding the government to account, ask Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen participation, and Tanzilya Salimdjanova, associate at CIVICUS - Civil Society Watch programme.

"THE WORLD COULD BE VERY DIFFERENT FROM HOW IT IS TODAY"
By Candido Grzybowski
"The World Social Forum didn't produce the progressive wave in Latin America by itself; nevertheless, it would be difficult to imagine it without the presence of the WSF", says Cândido Grzybowski, director of Ibase (Brazil) and member of the WSF International Committee, in this interview with IPS's Alejandro Kirk.

CIVIL SOCIETY UNDER ATTACK
By Kumi Naidoo
In the last 12 months we have seen civil society organisations challenged by political threats to civil society's right to exist, by the need to improve its internal governance, and by the threats that face humankind, from climate change crisis to poverty and inequality, writes Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of CIVICUS: A World Alliance for Citizen Participation.

World Social Forum

Int'l NGO Accountability Charter

Choike.org - Portal on Southern Civil Societies

CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation

CONGO - Conf. of NGOs at UN

Ubuntu - World Forum of Civil Society Networks

IPS is not responsible for the content of external sites