NEOLIBERALISM’S NEWEST PRODUCT: THE MODERN SLAVE TRADE

Two centuries after the abolition of slavery we are seeing the reintroduction of an abominable practice: human trafficking. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that 12.3 million people each year are taken captive by networks tied to international crime and used as forced labour in inhuman conditions.

NORWAY: A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND DEMOCRACY

Norway is a small nation and its people are in shock after the callous act of political violence of unprecedented cruelty that occurred just days ago. There is a tangible atmosphere of quiet everywhere, of subdued voices, sadness, and national grief, which is fortunately alleviated by the compassion and concern that flows from friends all over the world. We are also grateful to our national leaders, government, police, and emergency and rescue personnel for reacting with admirable composure, compassion, and efficiency.

NORWAY: A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND DEMOCRACY

Norway is a small nation and its people are in shock after the callous act of political violence of unprecedented cruelty that occurred just days ago. There is a tangible atmosphere of quiet everywhere, of subdued voices, sadness, and national grief, which is fortunately alleviated by the compassion and concern that flows from friends all over the world. We are also grateful to our national leaders, government, police, and emergency and rescue personnel for reacting with admirable composure, compassion, and efficiency.

NORWAY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

22 July 2011 will be engraved in Norwegian history like 9 April 1940, the German invasion. Words pale before this enormity. The center of Oslo, where the ministries are located, resembles a war-zone more than during the Second World War, when it was hit by some bombs from the resistance and from England. Even worse was the massacre at the Labor Party youth camp on Ut"ya Island near Oslo with 68 killed and many seriously wounded.

NORWAY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

22 July 2011 will be engraved in Norwegian history like 9 April 1940, the German invasion. Words pale before this enormity. The center of Oslo, where the ministries are located, resembles a war-zone more than during the Second World War, when it was hit by some bombs from the resistance and from England. Even worse was the massacre at the Labor Party youth camp on Ut"ya Island near Oslo with 68 killed and many seriously wounded.

THE SHALE GAS RUN SPREADS WORLDWIDE

Nine thousand feet beneath the surface of 34 U.S. states lie vast deposits of shale impregnated with natural gas. Unlike the concentrated reservoirs of earlier eras, most of which have now been tapped out, this gas is trapped in hairline cracks in the shale itself. It can only be tapped through an energy- and water-intensive process called hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") recently developed by American geologists and mining engineers. Toxic chemicals are injected two miles deep and another mile in all directions to break up shale rock and release the gas.

CUBA: CARS, HOUSES, CORRUPTION, ILLEGALITY

Cuba may be the only country in the world whose citizens have, for half a century now, not been allowed to freely acquire a car or a home. Indeed the very words have a very different connotation on the island.

NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE NONVIOLENCE

It is remarkable that two of the greatest evils of the 20th century -colonialism and the Cold War- were both overcome with nonviolence: Gandhi's nonviolent campaign against British colonialism which led to India's and Pakistan's Independence in 1947, paving the way for other countries' independence, and the nonviolent demonstrations, especially in Gdansk and Leipzig, which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War.

THE MIDDLE EAST NEEDS A MARSHALL PLAN

The latest events in the Mediterranean and Middle East are a call for adequate responses to the region's need for economic and political stability, development, employment, and resolution of migration issues. Such responses should aim to optimise potential synergies, coordination, and mutual support for initiatives already under way and for new ones - essentially, a sort of coherent and broad-based Marshall Plan capable of gathering together all the key international actors to address the political, economic, cultural and social (migration) dimensions of the "Arab Spring".

ISRAEL: AN ATTEMPT TO SILENCE PEACE MOVEMENT

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO WALL STREET

The behaviour of the banks reminds one of the Balkan folk dancers who face and applaud each other and then turn their backs. They lend more money than they have available to creditors who will not be able to repay it, knowing that the government will rescue them with public funds to keep them from going bankrupt and causing economic chaos. Once they get their hands on the money, the cycle begins again.

EGYPT: NOW THE HARD PART

Who could forget the images of joy broadcast worldwide the morning of February 11 from Tahrir Square of people celebrating the announcement by newly-selected vice president Omar Suleiman that Hosni Mobarak, leader of Egypt since 1981, had resigned? The eyes of the thousands of young Egyptians radiated great hopes for the future of their country and deep pride in the courage and tenacity shown during the 18 days of protests. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, once it weighed the pros and cons of abandoning the leader to his fate, "temporarily" took control over the country to initiate the delicate period of transition towards democracy. For a moment everyone, or almost everyone, thought that a new age had dawned, in a "new Egypt".

JAPAN: RESPONDING CREATIVELY TO CRISIS

The human spirit has a truly remarkable capacity -the ability to generate hope from the most devastating of crises. This ability to create value can be seen in the response to the earthquake that struck Japan on March 11.

THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH GLOBALISATION IS TOO LITTLE GOVERNANCE

Globalisation dominates our era, but it is an increasingly fragile dominance. Even as global integration delivers enormous benefits -growing wealth, spreading technology, the rise of billions of people in the developing world- it also creates new risks -financial instability, economic imbalances, environmental stresses, growing inequalities, cyber penetration- that we seem to have difficulty managing.

CAN THE WORLD BE FIXED?

The world can be fixed:

INTERVIEW WITH CELSO AMORIM: "IBSA IS A BEACON FOR POLITICAL STRATEGISING AND SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION"

Celso Amorim, one of the fathers of the IBSA Forum (India, Brazil, and South Africa) says in this interview that for this alliance of three major emerging powers, "Helping the poorest countries is clearly one of its callings.This gives it both its uniqueness and its international legitimacy."

WE NEED BETTER, NOT MORE, INFORMATION

Not long ago we were convinced that the more information we had the more aware we would be as citizen and the more likely to make informed decisions at the polls. Today it seems the more information we have, the more questions we have. Ultimately, rather then feeling more secure, we feel more uncertain.

HISTORIC VICTORY FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS

Today millions of women workers from across the globe made history. From June 16, domestic workers secured the passage of the ILO Convention on domestic work for governments to ratify into law.

IMF PRIORITIES AND POLICIES NEED URGENT REFORM

Much of the recent public discussion on the International Monetary Fund has been about the successor to Dominique Straus-Kahn and the flawed system of choosing its chief.

THE DERAILING OF THE LEFT

One of the most powerful men in the world, director of the largest financial institution of the planet, sexually assaults one of the world's most vulnerable people, a humble African immigrant. In its raw concision, this image sums up with the expressive force of an editorial cartoon one of the central characteristics of our age: the violence of inequality.

THE EMERGING ECONOMIES AND THE CHANGE OF GUARD AT THE IMF

Despite the loud rhetoric about how the centre of gravity of the global economy and, with it, political influence, have moved from the trans-Atlantic to Asia, there continues to be strong resistance to reflecting this shift in the institutions of global governance.