CONCERTED GLOBAL ACTION NECESSARY TO ADDRESS CURRENT CRISIS

Today we are experiencing the worst economic recession since World War II. No country is immune. Trade is shrinking, growth is declining, and unemployment is on the rise.

GLOBAL HEALTH SYSTEM IN STATE OF ALARM

Countries at all levels of economic development are concerned about the impact of the financial crisis on health. If unemployment continues to rise, safety nets for social protection fail, savings and pension funds erode, and public spending drops, it is inevitable that people's health will suffer.

ECO-AGRICULTURE CAN FEED WORLD, WHILE HEALING EARTH

While few question that ecological agriculture is environmentally and socially desirable, there are fears that it is insufficiently productive. This is not the case. Recent studies show that yields from ecological agriculture are broadly comparable to conventional yields in developed countries and significantly higher in developing countries, particularly where the existing system is low-input, which is largely the case for Africa.

GIANT SOLUTIONS FOR GIANT PROBLEMS

The economic crisis engulfing the world is getting worse day by day and has spread to every continent. It is a truly global crisis the solution to which is clear to no one. During the years of hope in the "glorious decades" following World War II, the communists never tired of proclaiming the impending general crisis of capitalism, which would be fatal for the system, according to Marxist analysts. Although there were small crises, none was comparable to the depression of 1929, which seems the ultimate measure of failure.

BELEM VS DAVOS: ECONOMIC ESTABLISHMENT STEALS LIMELIGHT DESPITE CULPABILITY

The media gave ample coverage to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, attended since its beginning in 1971 by the same politicians and businessmen who have sustained for decades that financial capitalism was progressing towards a certain and every more generous prosperity and who now promise that they will revive it without offering any plausible explanation for the current catastrophic recession.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM OVER, ALL REVERTS TO THE WAY IT WAS

Belen is one of the cities with the least green space in Brazil, despite the fact that it is the gateway to the Amazon, which contains one third of the planet's tropical forest. The largest of these green areas are located on the campus of the two federal universities that hosted the week-long ninth World Social Forum, which concluded on February 1.

FROM THE JAWS OF CRISIS, BOLD EXPERIMENTATION

In May 1932, with the United States and Europe mired in a devastating depression, then-presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt counselled his countrymen not to cower in fear but to rekindle the animating myth of "the American experiment": "The country needs and demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

PATENT COUNTS NOT A TRUE INDICATOR OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF INNOVATION

Innovation in the global marketplace is the very heartbeat of knowledge-based economies. It encompasses both the invention of products and processes and their sale and distribution, which stimulates economic growth. It involves the creation, exchange, and evolution of new ideas and their application for the success of an organisation, the vitality of a nation's economy, and the advancement of society as a whole. If we are to solve the current financial crisis, what is needed is more, not less, innovation.

OBAMA FULL STEAM AHEAD

In office only since January 20, US President Barack Obama has jumped into action so quickly he has not given adversaries or observers the time to organise criticism or attacks. Meanwhile Europeans, and in particular their political leaders, do not seem to have grasped the "Copernican revolution" that is underway in the US and appear stunned and incapable of reacting to the new developments that are taking place each day in Washington.

OBAMA FULL STEAM AHEAD

In office only since January 20, US President Barack Obama has jumped into action so quickly he has not given adversaries or observers the time to organise criticism or attacks. Meanwhile Europeans, and in particular their political leaders, do not seem to have grasped the "Copernican revolution" that is underway in the US and appear stunned and incapable of reacting to the new developments that are taking place each day in Washington.

EAST ASIA: THE END OF AN ERA

As the US recession drags Asia down, there has been much speculation about a regional response to the crisis. Seemingly lending substance to this have been a trilateral summit of the leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea last December and a flurry of bilateral talks between Japan's Taro Aso and Korea's Lee Myung-bak, all of which had economic cooperation at the top of the agenda.

RESTORING THE US STANDING LIES IN RESTORING CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

The global response to the election of Barack Obama is widely accepted as signalling the desire, at home and abroad, for a new era in US foreign policy. But as he prepares to take office on 20 January, hope alone is not enough and the question remains as to how President Obama will meet the huge expectations of him. In a poll commissioned by the British Council, we found that nearly two-thirds of Americans were worried about the US's standing abroad, over 8 out of 10 thought it was important for the US to build better relationships with other countries and 79% said that improving the country's reputation and understanding abroad should be a major priority for the new government. When asked what the biggest threat is facing the world today, two-thirds said the global economic situation. Just over half saw terrorism as the second biggest threat, with cultural and religious intolerance being voted the main cause of conflict and instability in the world. ItÂ's perhaps not surprising that Americans rank the economy as their biggest worry at the moment, but it is also clear that they'd like to see more than just financial solutions and domestic programmes from their new president. Obama must act to seize the opportunity at home and capitalise on goodwill internationally to restore America's standing on the world stage. During campaigning, President Obama pledged to "renew American diplomacy to meet the challenges of the 21st centuryÂ... rebuild our alliancesÂ...meet with all nations, friend and foe, to advance American interests", but also admitted that "resources for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade." In my view, the answer to rebuilding these alliances lies precisely in Barack Obama embracing cultural diplomacy, or what we call cultural relations, as an invaluable instrument in his foreign policy toolbox and re-invigorating the resources depleted over the last decade. The United States Information Agency, which for almost half a century ran cultural and educational exchanges among other things, closed in 1999 when it was folded into the State Department. Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, called for its resurrection during his election campaign. And last month the American think-tank, the Brookings Institution, recommended the creation in the US of a new public diplomacy body. But restoring trust and understanding in the US overseas won't be a quick fix. President Obama needs the courage and staying-power to invest heavily in the long-term business of cultural relations, if he's to rebuild lasting relations with other countries on a mutually beneficial and respectful footing. Cultural relations is not about business, not about governments, not about institutions, it's about people. Cultural relations fosters the cooperation that contributes to a safer, more prosperous world. It encourages co-existence by promoting trust, building understanding, and allowing people to explore what they have in common as well as their differences. This two-way sharing of knowledge, ideas, creativity, skills and expertise transforms lives. By broadening horizons and giving people opportunities to engage internationally, it benefits all countries. But for cultural relations to work there needs to be a clear distance between the organisations charged with this activity and the government of the day; it is not about direct messaging of the views of one or other government. Cultural relations is only effective when it is undertaken in partnership with others and informed by mutual respect for other cultures. Cultural relations is different from other areas of public diplomacy because it is built over, and for, the long term. In 2009 the British Council enters its 75th year, we currently link 900 schools in the UK and overseas as part of our global school linking programme; we help generate over £8 billion for the UK economy promoting educational opportunities to prospective students abroad; we serve over 350,000 English students through our teaching centres and in India alone are training 750,000 English language teachers; we hosted the first foreign arts exhibition in Tehran after the revolution and are currently showing the largest-ever Turner exhibition in Russia; and we work with the Premier League to build the leadership and English language skills of young people overseas through football. But we are not unique. Other countries have similar organisations and we encourage, work with and support them. The world needs more cultural relations. This is President Obama's opportunity. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS) (*) Martin Davidson is chief executive of the British Council, the UK's international cultural relations organisation.

OPERATION IMPUNITY

To justify itself, state terrorism creates terrorists: it sows hatred and harvests alibis. Everything indicates that this bloodbath in Gaza, which its creators claim was designed to eliminate terrorists, will result in a proliferation of them.

UNITED STATES: “WE TORTURED QAHTANI.”

There. A US official has finally said it. Susan Crawford, convening authority for the military commissions at Guantanamo, has admitted what Mohamed al-Qahtani, his lawyers and human rights groups have long said. Al-Qahtani, a Saudi Arabian man held in Guantanamo since 2002, was tortured there.

GLOBAL CRISIS: AID FOR THE SOUTH DROPS WHEN IT IS NEEDED THE MOST

Food security is one of the major challenges we face in the world economic crisis. Now more than ever it is urgent that we not relegate the Millennium Development Goals to the back burner but rather fulfil this commitment to fight against extreme hunger and poverty that was signed by all UN member nations in 2000. The last UN report states that the increase in food prices has left another 100 million people in extreme poverty, to join the almost one billion who suffer from hunger. Then there are the more than two billion that suffer from "hidden" hunger, meaning they live on a diet that lacks essential vitamins and minerals.

RETIREMENT ITALIAN STYLE – WOMEN AND THE PENSION TABOO

The difference in retirement age between men and women -65 and 60, respectively- in Italy lies at the intersection of two major national problems: pension reform, which is a political taboo in the country, and the unequal treatment of women in the labour market in terms of access and pay. It is discriminatory, intolerable, destructive to women, and amounts to a colossal waste of the great untapped capital of Italy's female population.

CHECK-UP OR AUTOPSY? DIAGNOSING THE US ECONOMIC BODY

The mainstream media in 2008 ran myriad diagnoses of the sickness of the US economy. Central bankers, politicians, and their economic advisors sought to explain the economy's swoon in medical terms. The economic patient was described as having suffered a heart attack, a seizure, a collapse, a loss of animal spirits or confidence. Our body economic was described as being in shock, needing liquidity injections, on life support, on the operating table, responding to the medicine and, hopefully, in the recovery room.

CUBA: BELT-TIGHTENING TIME FOR THE BUREAUCRATS

For a number of years, and with increasing frequency, the historic leaders of the Cuban revolution (first Fidel Castro and now his brother Raul, currently president) have expressed concern that the major danger facing the country's political system and the revolutionary process that they began half a century ago is disintegration from within.

There’s no Law that Says People Have to Suffer

Our world today faces unprecedented problems, for a start, the current environmental and financial crises. Without global solidarity and a conscious commitment to peaceful coexistence both within human society and with the systems of life that support us, it is becoming clear that there is no future for us. We have reached a point where we each need to strive in our own unique way to make the greatest possible contribution to the realisation of human rights.

DIVERSITY IN CUBA

The image of a single, homogeneous Cuba is increasingly the stuff of dreams. The single-party, command-economy socialist island of the Caribbean with a monolithic society and politics is giving way to a Cuba of social diversity moving towards a plurality that would have been unimaginable twenty years ago, writes Leonardo Padura, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a dozen languages. In this article, Padura writes that since the 1990s and the profound economic crisis that the Cuban government dubbed the \"special period in times of peace\", the protectionist ceiling that the state tried to extend over every inhabitant of the island shattered, and there was an emergence of a variety of ways of seeing reality, interpreting it, and living it. Since that period Cuba has turned into a country of many looks and many faces: in addition to the official Cuba of the television and press, there is an underground Cuba, beset by marginalisation of both areas and people; and then there is the mirage of tourism, exclusive beach resorts and clubs only for foreigners, among other Cubas.

INDIA: PUSHING FOR CHANGE

The Five Year Plans (2007-2012) reflect the evolution of India as a nation; they capture the emergence from the under-development stigma to a country that has donned the mantle of a progressive developing economic power. Development that is not just sustainable but also humanistic. Development which reaches out to young girls working in dingy looms for paltry wages, to women rendered homeless due to unavailability of credit and land, to Dalit families abused and burnt by upper caste oppressors for demanding rights and young women killed and victimised in the name of honour, writes Syeda Hameed, member of India's Planning Commission and former member of the National Commission for Women. While India aims for double digit growth in the next Plan period, we are trying to ensure that economic growth encompasses women, especially poor and marginalised women. There is a growing concern that women's contribution to the economy is increasing but their share of the economic pie is only getting smaller and smaller. There is a compelling need to take steps to ensure a fair allocation of government budget resources to women otherwise we will only be providing lip service to women's empowerment. Removing gender inequity and influencing the budget making process go hand-in-hand.