WALLS

The Berlin Wall made the news every day. From dawn to dusk we read about it, heard about it, and saw it: The Wall of Shame, the Wall of Infamy, the Iron Curtain, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist, is author of The Open Veins of Latin America and Memories of Fire. In this column, Galeano writes that eventually, this wall, which deserved to fall, fell. But other walls have sprung up, and continue to spring up, and though they are far larger than the Berlin Wall, little or nothing is said about them. Little is said about the wall the United States is erecting along its border with Mexico, or the double razor wire fences around Ceuta and Melilla, the Spanish enclaves on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. And next to nothing was said about the West Bank Wall, which perpetuates the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and will soon be fifteen times longer than the Berlin Wall. And the Moroccan Wall, which for twenty years has perpetuated Morocco\'s occupation of Western Sahara, goes unmentioned altogether. This wall, continuously mined and surveilled by thousands of soldiers, is sixty times longer than the Berlin Wall. Why is it that some walls are so vocal and others are so mute? Would it be because of the walls of uncommunication that the major media erect each day?

DEVASTATION AND MISERY IN BURMA

A recent visit by ASEAN parliamentarians to a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border provided a searing glimpse of a country devastated by violence and repression, writes Son Chhay, a member of the Parliament of Cambodia and an active member of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus and other pro-democracy networks in Asia. In this article, Chhay writes that military offensives, forced labour, forced relocation, extra-judicial killing, and torture by Burma\'s military government have driven many hundreds of thousands of Burmese into neighbouring countries as well as into the myriad refugee camps that line the country\'s borders. Forced labour and forced relocation have been perpetrated to allow military control over economic activity. Systematic sexual violence by military personnel targeting ethnic nationality women is rife and has been widely documented. Moreover, children as young as eleven are often forcibly taken from their homes for military duty in the Tatmadaw, the Burmese army.

ITALY: THE RECORD OF THE RIGHT IS SHEER FAILURE

When Italy goes to the polls for the April 9 elections, one thing will be certain: the right has failed in its response to the demand for work, security, and well-being it took on in 2001 after riding to power on its promise of an Italy in which everyone would be better off, writes Massimo D\'Alema, ex-prime minister of Italy and president of the Democratic Party of the Left, which is a member of the Union, the centre-left coalition. D\'Alema writes in this article that the right failed because it was unable to renew the country and make it more modern and more competitive, and because it did not know how to mobilise its best qualities: its culture, creativity, labour, and solidarity. This failure produced what may be the most grave division of the country in its political history -- an Italy divided, consumed by conflict, and as a result weaker not only economically, but socially and internationally. The Berlusconi government has led Italy away from its traditional policy of peace. This policy, which has long made Italy a crossroads of dialogue in the Mediterranean, is not a leftist policy but an Italian policy, that was supported by the Christian Democrats, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party, for decades. It is now up to the centre-left to address the large and daunting challenge of promoting social justice, innovation, and change, and restoring the dynamism of Italian society by forging an alliance of the forces of the business world, labour, and culture.

ANARCHY IN A MONARCHY

Nepal these days feels like it is in a double time warp. A medieval king who wants to be an absolute monarch is battling it out with guerrillas inspired by Mao Zedong\'s 1960s China, writes Kunda Dixit, editor and publisher of the Nepali Times newspaper in Kathmandu. This week, an alliance of seven political parties has been leading a nationwide street agitation to pressure King Gyanendra to restore democracy and roll back his February 1, 2005 military-backed coup. Protesters have fought pitched battles with riot police for five straight days. Four people had been killed and dozens wounded. Hundreds of activists and journalists have been arrested all over the country. This week is critical in resolving Nepal\'s three-way power struggle between the king, the democratic parties and the Maoists. The king has a chance to offer an olive branch during his traditional Nepali new year address to the nation on Friday. If he doesn\'t, it will only be a question of time before Nepal becomes a republic.

INTERVIEW WITH JOSE RAMOS-HORTA: WHERE DID THE MILLIONS IN EAST TIMOR AID END UP?

His name is mentioned with increasing frequency in predictions of who will succeed Kofi Annan as Secretary-General of the United Nations, but Jose Ramos-Horta, foreign minister for East Timor, denies it, though not emphatically: \'\'I continue to say that I\'m not a candidate for Secretary-General, at least for now,\'\' he stated during a visit to Lisbon. Ramos-Horta is the chief diplomat of the youngest country in the world, born on May 22, 2002, after almost five centuries of Portuguese colonisation and twenty-two years of occupation by Indonesia, which ended with the genocide of a third of the territory\'s population, which was 660,000 in 1975. His indefatigable international activity against the occupation by Indonesia brought him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, together with the bishop of Timor, Jose Ximenes Belo.

AL JAZEERA EXPANDS

With Al Jazeera poised to launch its international service for broadcast outside of the Arab region, the time seems right to examine the reasons for its remarkable expansion, its considerable influence, and the innovations that make it stand out in the world of the media, writes Mario Lubetkin, Director General of IPS news agency. In this article, Lubetkin writes that Al Jazeera is different from all of its predecessors in the Arab world. While its reporters trained at the BBC, it was Al Jazeera that inspired Dubai\'s Al Arabiya and the Arab Emirates\' Abu Dhabi Television. Whether or not one agrees with the new network\'s approach, it must be acknowledged that its style of reporting has unleased a cultural revolution in the region. One important development is the recent signing of an agreement between Al Jazeera and Telesur, the Latin American TV network promoted by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. This might signal an incipient tendency towards the interlinking of previously unconnected regional networks thus far dependent on US and European material.

REVITALISING THE RURAL WORLD: THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF POVERTY

Today millions of families are still living in poverty because of a lack of access to land, the most basic production resource, writes Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. The reasons for this injustice have to do with the value that land has had throughout the ages. Land is an essential economic asset in rural societies, but its monetary value is not the only, or even the most important, consideration for millions of people. For indigenous peoples, land is the basis of their identity; it is their home and that of their ancestors, their pharmacy, and their place of work and leisure. In most societies, land means power, status, and membership in a social class. For many women, land is essential to their autonomy. Some of the agrarian reforms implemented in recent years have sought to offer solutions to these problems, with varying degrees of success, but we are still far from having solved the agrarian issue. New worldwide challenges, such as the globalisation of trade, the massive rural exodus to the cities, environmental degradation and civil strife (in many instances caused by the lack of access to, and control over, natural resources) demand urgent, global-level responses.

SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY SOFTENS IN US

Support for capital punishment is starting to soften even among some long-time death penalty advocates, writes Mark Sommer, director of the US-based Mainstream Media Project and host of the award-winning internationally-syndicated radio programme \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. In this article Sommer writes, alongside Iraq, Iran, and China, the US remains the sole advanced democracy still cleaving to what much of the world views as state-sponsored homicide. At 64 percent, Americans\' support for the death penalty is 20 percent higher than Canada and 40 percent higher than Australia. Nonetheless, it is at its lowest level in 27 years and is lowest among youth, indicating that a shift may be in the offing. Surprisingly, this shift is occurring most of all among some of those who until now have been adamantly opposed to abolishing the death penalty: Republican officeholders. The reason they are changing their minds is less ideological than pragmatic -- a realization that too often the wrong man is executed and the exorbitant cost of prosecution is stealing resources from law enforcement programmes of more proven effectiveness.

THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF R&D

Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows increased in 2004, following three years of decline, as reported in the World Investment Report 2005, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference onTrade and Development (UNCTAD). In this article the author writes of a new trend in the global economy that could be considered one such \"new form\" of Foreign Direct Investment -- namely, the internationalisation of research and development (R&D). Some developing countries in Asia and transition economies are now attracting highly-advanced R&D activities. And this trend appears to be on the upswing. More than half of the world\'s top R&D spenders already conduct R&D activities in China, India, and Singapore. And what do developing countries in particular stand to gain from this sort of investment? It opens the door to the transfer of the actual process of technology creation and enables them to engage in important technological learning. In addition, it creates new job opportunities for local engineers and scientists, helping to mitigate the risk of \"brain drain\".

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VS. FANATICISM: NOT THE REAL ISSUE

What is being attacked in the Muslim reaction to the publication of cartoons of Mohammed is not the freedom of expression but its abuse, writes Augusto Zamora, professor of International Public Law and International Relations at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. In this article, the author states that the vehemence of the reaction cannot be attributed solely to religious feeling. The cartoons seem to have been the last straw after decades of wrongs that have grown increasingly frequent in recent years. Though no one is admitting as much, this vast and populous Muslim region is undergoing a new and intense process of colonialist reoccupation which has turned it into the most fragile area in the world. Though the US and its allies justify the military occupation in the context of the war against terrorism and promoting democracy and human rights, the real motive is winning geopolitical control of the region and its energy resources. It is thus not surprising that terrorism has intensified and that so many Muslims loathe the West. The future course of the Near and Middle East will be determined by the policy the West decides to pursue in the coming months and years. If it persists in its current approach of unrelenting militarism, the number of wrongs will continue to mount and trigger more and more conflicts, which could build into a major war.

THE RIGHT TO LIFE

At the conclusion of the World Summit in New York last September, all member states of the United Nations accepted the principle that national governments have the primary responsibility for preventing crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and ethnic cleansing, writes Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In this article, Arbour writes that the responsibility to protect focuses on preventing abuses as much as, if not more, than on intervening once those abuses are already underway. In today\'s world the greatest threat to the right to life is neither war nor arbitrary killing. Each year, about 530,000 women die in pregnancy or in childbirth, and more than 10 million children die before their fifth birthday. Worldwide, AIDS killed more than 3 million people last year alone. These deaths constitute human rights violations and are as much an affront and a threat to human security, as are arbitrary detention or torture. They represent an equally flagrant abuse of the right to life for those affected, threaten security and stifle human development. And they are equally demanding of an urgent response, at national, regional and international levels.

THE SECOND FOUNDING OF BOLIVIA

On January 22, 2002, Evo was expelled from Paradise. Or rather: Deputy Morales was thrown out of Parliament. On January 22, 2006, in the same grand chamber, Evo Morales was sworn in as the president of Bolivia. Or rather: Bolivia is beginning to realise that it is a country with an indigenous majority, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist and author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. In this article, Galeano writes that long before the expulsion of Evo, his people, the indigenous, had been expelled from the official nation. They were not sons of Bolivia; they were merely its labour force. Until just over fifty years ago, the indians could neither vote nor even walk on the sidewalk in cities. It was with good reason that Evo said in his first presidential address that the indians were not invited to the foundation of Bolivia, in 1825. In recent times, Bolivia has experienced a period of popular insurrection. This process of continuous uprisings, which has left a trail of dead, culminated with the Gas War, but went much farther back. It went farther back and stretches far ahead to the election of Evo, against the tempest and tides.

SHASHI THAROOR: “TO SUCCEED, THE UN MUST BE A RECOURSE FOR ALL, NOT THE INSTRUMENT OF A FEW’

Shashi Tharoor is UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information and has held that position since January 2001. Regarding reform of the organisation, Tharoor argues that is is necessary \'\'not because the UN has failed, but because it has succeeded enough over the years to be worth investing in.

WSF: CIVIL SOCIETY MUST OPPOSE, BUT ALSO PROPOSE

As thousands of activists prepare for the two World Social Forum (WSF) events to be held in Mali and Venezuela in January, there are those both within and outside the WSF process that are asking, What global solutions is the WSF generating? writes by Kumi Naidoo, Secretary-General of Civicus: World Alliance For Citizen Participation. In this article, Naidoo writes that while it would be mistaken to straitjacket all WSF delegates into an artificially-constructed consensus on policy positions, it is important that the Forum correct the myth that there are no major policy directions that most WSF delegates share and advocate -- both within and outside of the WSF. For example, on the question of the debt crisis facing many countries in the South, there is already a broad consensus on a fairly clear set of recommendations. Given that one of the driving motivations of the WSF was to serve as a counterpoint for the World Economic Forum, it is important that in the battle of ideas, vision, and perspectives on what world we want to create for future generations, the WSF serves as an enabling space which can present alternatives that reach the hearts and minds of people who are not yet actively involved in the commendable efforts to ensure global justice.

THE CREATIVE IMPERATIVE

We are entering a new era, for both business and the whole world, in which the \'\'creative imperative\'\' will come to dominate our lives, at home, at work, and at leisure, and in which the assumptions, tools, and frameworks which leaders from business, government, and civil society have employed to make decisions over the past decade are no longer valid, writes Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. The theme of this year\'s Forum, to be held 25-29 January, is The Creative Imperative. A global networked economy, economic imbalances, new mindsets, demographic shifts, and the gravitational pull exercised by the emergence of India and China are just a few of the factors that are radically reshaping the global environment. The \'\'Creative Economy\'\' which is emerging is in one sense the logical extension of the process of globalisation that has been sweeping the world for the last fifty years but which has accelerated almost exponentially in the past decade. But is not just business that must adjust to this new emerging environment. Governments, multinational institutions, and civil society organisations must also adopt new policy designs and innovative approaches if they are to remain effective and credible.

SPAIN: CIVIL POWER AND THE RULE OF LAW

For the first time in the existence of Spanish democracy, a high-up military official has been placed under house arrest and dismissed for expressing his dissatisfaction with the process of expanding regional political autonomy, writes Joaquin Roy, Jean Monnet Professor and Director of the Centre for the European Union at the University of Miami. On January 6, the commander of Spanish land forces used an institutional address to attack the plan to reform the autonomy statute for Spain\'s Catalonia region. While noting a sense of complicity between Spanish officialdom and the general\'s basic point, Roy argues that what is totally unacceptable is that a member of the military, claiming to represent the position of his subordinates, arrogates himself the right to determine when and how a political project \'\'exceeds the limits\'\'.

ANTI-GLOBALISATION IS ALIVE AND WELL

Many, even within the anti-globalisation movement, have claimed that it is running out of steam, particularly its flagship event, the World Social Forum (WSF). Yet here we are, brimming with vitality and creativity, writes Candido Grzybowski, a Brazilian sociologist, director of IBASE, and member of the International Council of the WSF. The current year we will demonstrate our capacity not only to grow but also to multiply ourselves, since there will be not one but four Forums in 2006: in Bamako, Mali; Caracas, Venezuela; Bouznika, Marocco; and Karachi, Pakistan. The transformational political-cultural movement that is rooted in the WSF has won over the world. The initiatives inspired by the WSF are multiplying in every corner of the planet. The WSF is now acknowledged as a point of reference for the world political landscape. And the fact that leaders, political representatives, and even the \'\'owners\'\' of the world feel obliged to respond to this rebel citizenry, which in its own way comprises a world power, is evidence of the size of the impact that we have had.

GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY MEETS AMIDST CRISIS OF EMPIRE

For the thousands of representatives of global civil society gathering in Mumbai, India, for the World Social Forum from January 16-22, Washington is the world\'s number one problem, writes Walden Bello, professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines, executive director of the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South, and a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award for 2003. But the US they confront today is not quite the same cocksure superpower of yesterday. The Iraq quagmire and the collapse of the WTO Cancun ministerial were just two manifestations of that fatal disease of empires: over-extension. Then there is the failure to consolidate a dependent regime in Afghanistan and to stabilise the Palestine situation, the boost given to Islamic extremism by US-led invasions; the unravelling of the Atlantic Alliance that won the Cold War; plus the emergence of anti-US, anti-free-market regimes in Brazil and Venezuela. Is the US in a no-win situation? Bello asks in this article. The crowds in Mumbai will undoubtedly continue to regard the US as a mortal threat to global peace and justice, but they will also be cheered by the increasing difficulties of an arrogant empire that failed to see that decline is inevitable and that the challenge is not to resist the process but to manage it deftly.

FABLES

An old proverb teaches that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist, and author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\' In this article, Galeano writes that a certain Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga, who was not born in America but knows it inside out, says that this proverb is true and a good idea, but what happens when they poison the river? he asks. Or if someone buys the river, which used to belong to everyone, and bans fishing? Or what happens when what is happening now happens? Teaching is not enough.

NORTH KOREA NEEDS DEVELOPMENT, NOT FOOD AID

Last month, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution led by the US and the EU condemning North Korea for its human rights violations. While North Korea needs to address allegations of torture and prison camps, impeding its development will not improve the human rights of 22 million North Koreans, writes Christine Ahn, a Fellow with the Oakland Institute and author of the 2005 Food First Report, \'\'Famine and the Future of Food Security in North Korea\'\'. In this article, the author writes that the North Korean government met opposition from the US and many western nations when it asked the UN to transition from humanitarian assistance, such as food aid, to supporting development projects. It says it has enough food, but instead needs concrete aid in developing its agricultural and industrial sectors. Ongoing humanitarian assistance, largely in the form of food aid, has not helped advance the security of North Koreans. The difference between sending food aid versus development assistance is the difference between sending one kilogram of corn versus one kilogram of maize seeds that can yield 180 kilograms of corn. Development assistance, such as ensuring proper seed production and crop-growing technologies, is the most efficient way to improve agriculture and implement lasting solutions to North Korea\'s food crisis.

HEALTH IS A HUMAN RIGHT

The 10th of December is the International Human Rights Day. Anniversaries should be about celebration. But this Human Rights Day is, tragically, yet another reminder of how far we are from living up to the commitments made by the world\'s governments to ensure a life of dignity for all people, writes Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland (1990-1997) and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002) and current chair of Realising Rights: the Ethical Globalisation Initiative. In this analysis, Robinson writes that despite the increased attention paid this year to combating extreme poverty around the world, the fundamental right to health remains unfulfilled for millions of people today -- not only those suffering from diseases like HIV/AIDS but also those without access to clean water, adequate food, or a reliable health system. Health is not a side issue: it is key to the most basic of the rights the world now agrees should be guaranteed. Health underpins the right to life, the right to security, and the right to a sustainable livelihood.