THE REVEALING SILENCES OF POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pope Benedict XVI\'s statements during his visit to Brazil were mined with significant silences: only once did he refer to the grassroots ecclesiastical communities, to choices for the poor, and to liberation, and never to liberation theology and social ministry or to the grave problem of global warming, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian writer and theologian. In this article Boff writes that instead the Pope went back in time 50 years with the traditional and ambiguous language of charity and helping the poor. These silences are a way to obscure and deny. Such lazy reason, particularly that of major institutions like the Catholic Church, is myopic and harmful, always returning to the old ways (more catechism, more celibacy, more obedience, more adhesion to Church teachings). If Brazilian and Latin American Catholicism is to rise to the challenges of this age, it needs the courage that the first Christians had to leave behind the terrain of Judeo Christianity and enter the land of pagan Hellenism. It was from this encounter that today\'s Christianity emerged. What we need is a Catholicism with an Indian-black-Latin American face that is not against but in communion with Roman Catholicism.

ZIMBABWE: WHAT THE SMALL ANTS CAN DO TO MOVE THE GRASSHOPPER

Africans have to stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe by holding their governments to the democratic principles which they profess, writes Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of CIVICUS, an international network of civil society organisations In this analysis, Naidoo writes that the myriad of problems the country faces must be addressed on several levels and, most important, these efforts should focus on the citizens of the country. Civil society organisations are integral to this equation. However, government threats against civil society are increasing and there are legal limitations on their work, particularly in organising public meetings. And there has been a frightening rise in both open and clandestine attacks against peaceful civic activists.

PORTUGAL RISING

Two years after the formation of the socialist government headed by Jose Socrates, Portugal is on the verge of overcoming the financial crisis that has beset it for six years -- and as a result, the right-wing opposition --divided and without a leader-- is furiously attacking both the government and the Socialist Party (PS), writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. In this article, Soares writes that the opposition fears that having successfully completed the unpopular but necessary task of cutting the budget deficit, the Socrates administration would move ahead with its programme of major progressive reforms designed to reduce the social inequalities that shame us and call attention to the social role of the state. Socrates passed reforms to simplify the bureaucracy and imposed profound changes in social security, health care, education, and justice. And he turned around the negative growth trend: in 2003, the last year of the conservative government that preceded Socrates\', the economy shrank by 0.5 percent. Currently it is growing at 1.3 percent.

US FARMWORKERS MOVEMENT BRINGS DOWN THE GOLDEN ARCHES

McDonald\'s set a resounding example by agreeing to abide by the international human rights principles laid out by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), writes Kerry Kennedy, author and human rights activist, and founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for Human Rights. In this article, Kennedy writes that now it is time for Burger King, Subway, Walmart and others in the retail food industry to acknowledge their responsibilities and partner with the farmworkers, the victims of institutionalised human rights abuse. As Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez taught us all in America\'s first farmworkers movements, human rights enforcement cannot be left to governments and law enforcement alone. Human rights are held by all persons equally, universally, and forever. Corporations must realise these rights are indivisible and interdependent. Without these rights, slavery, poverty, and abuse will continue to taint America\'s retail food industry.

CHINDIA: EMERGENCE OF THE FUTURE WORLD POWER ?

Twenty years from now will we say we are in the Asian, and not the American or European, Century? The debate now underway is whether the future world power will be China or India, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of IPS and a member of the World Social Forum International Committee. In this article, Savio writes that the only time Chinese president Hu Jintao has spoken of multipolarity and democracy in international relations was in reference to the common interests of China and India. Might we then be witnessing the beginning of a new geopolitical entity of unprecedented size: \'\'Chindia\'\', with a population of almost 2 billion? Why fight each other, or others, when by allying themselves they make the rest of the world irrelevant? In any case we will face a different sort of hegemony than that of the US, which is based on the affirmation of values and life styles. It does not seem at all possible that China would want to impose its own political model, or cuisine or music or way of dressing, on the rest of the world. We would face a gigantic trade empire, where it is likely Chinese interests would be placed before all others, with a complete lack of interest in international social justice or the fate of the weakest.

COLUMN RELATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT DAY, JUNE 5: WHAT IS ART FOR?

Art has the great and very useful ability to synthesise reality and fix it within permanent codes which have the ability to make us see human behaviour and society, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes is a Cuban writer and journalist whose most recent work won the Hammett Prize for the best detective novel in Spanish for 2005. In this analysis, the author writes that today when there is so much talk of climate change and its catastrophic effects on the planet, it is fair to say that never before have so many people beheld the same vision -- one which, not by chance, happened to be generated from a work of art. The futuristic vision of Ridley Scott in his classic film Blade Runner has become, thanks to human indolence and the lure of money, a sort of nightmare that we see coming increasingly true around us. That which was conceived of 25 years ago as a metaphor has come true in the form of disasters already suffered through, hair-raising omens, and above all, a shared awareness awakened by the clearest image of what the world could be in a few decades if today, right now, (and we are already behind) if we don\'t do everything possible to slow the economic and even quotidian activities that are stoking climate change.

TAKEOVER AT UN: HUMANITARIAN ADVOCACY, A CARDINAL PRIORITY, NOW TAKES ON A LOW-KEY HUE

In the end, Sir John Holmes could not contain his exasperation at last week\'s press conference in Nairobi . \"You don\'t seem to be interested in the humanitarian situation in Somalia,\" he told journalists. The United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator had just flown in from Mogadishu, the first high-level UN official to visit the city in 14 years. But the journalists were treated to an astonishingly bland and low-key presentation of the fraught humanitarian challenges faced by the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have been prevented by the authorities from receiving desperately-needed assistance, writes Salim Lone, a columnist for the Daily Nation in Kenya, the Guardian (UK), BBC and Al Jazeera Holmes\' presentation did not contain any criticism of the Ethiopian army and the Transitional Federal Government which are the principal perpetrators of atrocities against civilians, some of which have been committed by the insurgents as well. Even more amazing was his decision not to meet with the Ethiopians who run the show in Somalia or even the elders of clans whose civilians have suffered so heavily. One would never have guessed Holmes was arriving from a city that was gripped by unspeakable carnage and had been leveled like Grozny by bombs and heavy artillery raining on densely-populated civilian areas, and that victims of the war were still dying primarily because of restrictions placed on humanitarian access by the authorities. No wonder he was not peppered with questions about the humanitarian crisis.

A BAN ON CLUSTER BOMBS

According to a new report from Handicap International an estimated 400 million people in 25 countries are directly or indirectly affected by unexploded cluster munitions, writes Jonas Gahr Store, Foreign Minister of Norway. In this article, the author writes that wars and conflicts always hit civilian populations hardest. Certain types of weapons, such as landmines and cluster munitions, affect civilians particularly severely. While an international ban on landmines has been introduced, there is as yet no corresponding ban on cluster munitions. This we need to change, because unexploded munitions from cluster bombs is really anti-personnel landmines in disguise. According to the United Nations Development Programme, 27 countries are currently affected by cluster munitions. Such munitions create severe humanitarian and development problems, besides maiming and killing civilians: agricultural areas cannot be cultivated without risk to life and health, and refugees are unable to return to the homes from which they fled. As a first step towards an international ban on cluster munitions, Norway hosted an international conference in Oslo on 22 and 23 February 2007. A total of 46 of the 49 participating countries endorsed the Oslo Declaration on cluster munitions, which advocates a ban on cluster munitions by the end of 2008.

THE DAILY DRAMA OF HAVANA

Havana today, humanly and physically, is a city trapped between its past and an uncertain future, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author writes that for Cuban urbanists and architects, unless drastic action is taken immediately Havana\'s future will be mined with an array of devastating threats. The city increasingly shows the effects of the lack of attention and repair. The lamentable state of the buildings and roads requires major investments that the country does not seem capable of making. Meanwhile thousands of families suffer a promiscuous co-existence while the specialists feel a justified fear that desperate solutions to the city\'s problems could destroy its physiognomy.

GLOBALISATION: NOT A ZERO SUM GAME BUT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Globalisation is not a random and uncontrollable phenomenon but rather a process that we can regulate and guide, writes Emma Bonino, minister for International Trade and European Affairs of Italy. In this article, Bonino writes that today through the progressive strengthening of multilateral regulatory bodies --the European Commission, WTO, IMF, OECD-- we can make sure that the benefits are ever greater and reach more of the world\'s population. Aid remains essential in situations of extreme poverty. But to implement a policy for development, aid is not enough, and I think that we should move more and more towards \'\'aid for trade\'\', a form of assistance that makes it possible for a developing country to bolster its trade capacity and thus its ability to share in the \'\'dividends\'\' of globalisation. Globalisation is not the cause of the ills of the underdeveloped areas of the earth; rather, it is a lack of participation in globalisation that prevents a country from achieving development and freedom. Globalisation is not a zero sum game but a great opportunity for all. Those who decide to play will not lose; rather, those who sit out, who just look on, will be the real losers.

SLAUGHTER ON THE ROAD: THE UNTOLD STORY OF TRAFFIC SAFETY

Each year, road traffic accidents kill more than one million people; another 50 million people are injured. Three-quarters of the casualties live in poor countries, thus affecting the most vulnerable groups such as pedestrians and cyclists. Globally, health losses from road traffic crashes over the next 20 years could jump well ahead of those from malaria or tuberculosis, writes Jamal Saghir, World Bank Director for Energy, Transport, and Water Strong leadership is needed to change the present situation. Road networks are complex systems which are inherently hazardous and must be managed and designed to compensate for human fallibility. Improving road safety in the developing world is a shared responsibility between government, industry, non-governmental organizations and international agencies. This effort faces the challenge of an implied fatalism suggesting that countries seeking economic growth must accept the inevitability of increased deaths and injuries on their roads. But this suggestion has worn thin as the bodies pile up on the roads and crash survivors begin their new lives disadvantaged by injury.

A NEW ERA FOR GLOBAL NEWS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Al Jazeera\'s plan to win a section of the western market by launching an English-language channel last November set off a global battle for giant audiences by other international TV networks, writes Mario Lubetkin, director-general of the IPS news agency. In this analysis, Lubetkin writes that although the spokespeople of BBC of London and France 24 do not attribute their entrance into the universe of television to competition with Al Jazeera\'s English channel, what is certain is that both have announced or begun this month a pilot phase of satellite channels in Arabic. But without credibility, the new companies have no future, which was the case with the Arabic-language channel Al Hurra, promoted by the US government. And respect for the local and regional culture is more important than the last technological advance or the deep pockets of investors.

INTERVIEW WITH NESTOR OSORIO: COFFEE MISSES OUT ON COMMODITY BONANZA

Though speculation by investment funds has introduced a persistent volatility into the coffee market, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) Nestor Osorio holds that it will maintain its current equilibrium and remunerative prices for the present year. The Colombian diplomat, who recently attended a seminar in Geneva on Commodities and Development organised by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), responds below to questions from IPS.

FREEDOM FROM RACISM – A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT

We must continue to debate honestly and fearlessly the scourge of racism that permeates so much of the fabric of our society, writes Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. In this analysis, Mbeki refutes the argument of some that discussion is inimical to the task of achieving national reconciliation. The truth is the opposite: the racism that remains a daily feature of our lives is a demon that must be exorcised precisely to achieve national reconciliation. Those who are determined to avoid confronting these difficult issues seek to divert attention away from discussing the relationship between racism and the perception of crime by falsely and dishonestly claiming that I am trying to deny or minimise the seriousness of the incidence of crime in South Africa. It remains to be seen whether we have the will to know one another and to debate with one another, to educate ourselves not to be too quick to judge as illegitimate the concerns and expressions of any group; and whether we have the courage to engage in a truth and reconciliation process even with regard to the challenge of openly confronting the cancer of deeply dehumanising racist stereotypes that developed over many centuries.

THE EUROPEAN UNION MUST PRESS FORWARD

On July 1, Portugal will for the third time assume the presidency of the European Union at a time of considerable confusion and uncertainty for the European project as well as a time of major world crisis, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. In this article Soares argues that those member states that do not want to go further can stay as they are, but they should not keep others who want to move forward from doing so. This was the solution applied regarding the adoption of the euro and the Schengen Treaty. We could also create forms of reinforced co-operation or return to the theory of concentric circles that Mitterand spoke of and that now excites the Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. What we cannot allow to happen is a prolongation of the institutional paralysis that has persisted for two years now and that threatens to break apart the union and rob it of its power of attraction. Europe together with US democrats should intervene to extract the West from the major impasse it was led into by the blindness of the neo-conservatives --Jewish and Evangelical-- that are behind Bush. This must be done by the end of 2007, since 2008 is the year of the next US presidential election. This is the right moment for a small country like Portugal, during its EU presidency, with common sense, political courage, and the help of its allies, to play a historic role.

SMALL ARMS ARE THE REAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

While a nervous world focuses on putative terrorist threats and nuclear strikes from Iran and North Korea, small arms are killing far more people than all the bombs and missiles in national arsenals, writes Mark Sommer, host of the internationally-syndicated radio programme, A World of Possibilities . In this article, Sommer writes that small arms are the real weapons of mass destruction and are undermining the stability and security of whole societies in the process. A prime contributor to the phenomenon of failed states, small arms are a pre-eminent threat to global security and public health. Yet uprooting the virus of small arms trafficking will be dauntingly difficult precisely because they are cheap, easy to fire and conceal, and everywhere available. Unlike landmines, they move readily from hand to hand and can be aimed at any target for any purpose. Efforts to track and curtail the trade have long been thwarted by well-organised private gun lobbies and powerful nations that make use of small arms to fuel counterinsurgencies or proxy wars. After years of ignoring the problem, the UN General Assembly recently launched an effort to enact a treaty that would regulate trade in small arms. Yet many governments, including that of the United States, are reluctant to allow the enactment of a regime that would constrain their ability to freely distribute them. Not until the global public demands the imposition of constraints on the small arms trade will governments rein it in, albeit reluctantly. And not until that public fully realises that small arms in the wrong hands are the ultimate terror weapon will we give this public health pandemic the priority it deserves.

THE EUROPEAN UNION AT 50

The 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, signed March 25, 1957, is a perfect excuse to review the accomplishments and shortcomings of today\'s European Union (EU), writes Joaquin Roy, \'\'Jean Monnet\'\' professor and Director of the European Union Centre of the University of Miami. In this article, Roy writes that the success of the EU is demonstrated by the attraction it exerts on not only the countries that are European (former Yugoslavia, for example), which have the right to join, but also on neighbours that yearn for the elusive membership (Turkey, whose candidacy has been championed by United States). Only one country (Norway) has rejected joining in referendum. Although some doubt the assertion that \'\'democracies don\'t to go war among themselves\'\', what is certain is that war itself in Europe has not only become \'\'unthinkable\'\', but also \'\'materially impossible\'\' (Schuman Declaration) among the members of the EU. The status of sovereignty in the Union, which is not \'\'ceded\'\' or \'\'lost\'\', as some claim, but rather shared (or pooled), is the aspect that is least understood outside of the EU. It is also what the stalled Constitution is trying to reinforce.

TURNING THE TIDE AGAINST WATER SCARCITY

Those who call water scarcity the challenge of the century are not exaggerating. The recent debate over a proposal to recycle waste water for drinking purposes in Australia, the drying of large portions of massive river basins like Lake Chad in Africa and the Aral Sea in Central Asia, the millions of people who struggle to grow crops on drought-stricken farms in Asia, Africa and in the Americas, all reflect the importance of conserving and making more productive use of our water resources, writes Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Improving the food situation is fundamental to fighting hunger and improving lives on every continent. This means that to turn the tide against water scarcity, farmers must find ways to produce more food with proportionally less water. It takes 1000-2000 litres of water to produce one kilo of wheat and 13 000-15000 litres to produce the same quantity of grain-fed beef. By comparison, the amount of daily drinking water required by one person is estimated at a mere two to five litres. And yet each day, we \"eat\" an average of 2000 litres of water. Thus the effective daily consumption of water per person is 1000 times more than the apparent consumption through drinking. Without water, we can not produce; and without it we simply cannot eat. The planet is thirsty because it is hungry.

BUSH ALLIANCE WITH BRAZIL FOR CONTROL OF WORLD BIO-FUEL MARKET

Anyone who thinks that President Bush\'s current tour of Latin America, and especially to Brazil, was inspired by the urgent warnings in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is dead wrong, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian liberation theologian and member of the International Committee of the Earth Charter. In this article, Boff writes that there are two motivations driving Bush: one is geopolitics, the other is energy, specifically the extraordinary abundance of biomass in Latin America and the Amazon. The US and Brazil see themselves as the major players in this biofuel market. But there is a major unanswered question that probably does not trouble these two presidents: Isn\'t there an urgent need to change the current model of civilisation? The solution adopted by Bush and Lula only dulls the teeth of the wolf but leaves its ferocity intact.

EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP, TODAY AND FIFTY YEARS AGO

On March 25, the European Union will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty, which transformed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), officially born in 1951 out of the Schuman Declaration of 1950, by incorporating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). The most important contribution was the Common Market, put in place to facilitate the four freedoms of goods, services, capital, and people.

NUCLEAR FLAGSHIP PROJECT IN FINLAND FACES MAJOR PROBLEMS

The flagship project of the European nuclear industry, the construction of a new nuclear power station on a small island called Olkiluoto off the west coast of Finland, is in trouble, writes Satu Hassi, Finnish Minister of Environment from 1999-2002 and a member of the Europarliament. In this article, Hassi writes that the project is at least one and a half years behind schedule because of quality problems and delayed blueprints. The delay has already caused significant losses to one of the contractors as well as for the Finnish government, because the justification for the project was the Kyoto climate treaty. Though Finland sees itself as a leader in climate protection, since the construction permit for the Olkiluoto 3 reactor was issued, it has in many ways become a laggard in climate protection. Several measures adopted in many other European countries to promote renewable energy have been rejected in Finland. In the EU Council of Ministers, Finland has been one of the countries most reluctant to accept long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for the Union.