Friday, June 9, 2023
News and Views from the Global South
The Elephant in Spain’s Royal Counting House
The budget for maintaining the Spanish royal household, and the use made of these public funds by King Juan Carlos, are fuelling ongoing debate as Spain endures a severe economic crisis accompanied by severe cuts in social spending and soaring unemployment.Spain’s Green Groups Slam Rollback of Conservation Policies
Spain's new conservative government has announced changes in environmental policy that are a significant step backwards for environmental protection in the country, provoking an immediate, harsh reaction from the opposition and civil society.SPAIN: Trials of Judge Garzon Called Scandalous by Rights Groups
Another trial opened Tuesday with Spain's best-known judge, Baltasar Garzón, in the dock for attempting to investigate crimes against humanity committed during the 36-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
SPAIN: Socialist Defeat Could Give Rise to a New Left
The crushing defeat suffered by Spain's governing socialist party may pave the way for the emergence of a new alterative left capable of standing up to the centre-right People's Party (PP), which won a landslide victory in Sunday's elections.SPAIN: Renowned Mediators Urge ETA to Lay Down Arms
International mediators meeting in a peace conference Monday in Spain's northern Basque region were hopeful that the armed separatist group ETA would respond positively to their call for the group to lay down arms.SPAIN: Streets Paved with Evicted Families
As the number of apartments and houses left empty in Spain due to failure to make mortgage or rental payments climbs, tens of thousands of families, including many immigrants, are living on the streets, in shantytowns, or crowded into seedy boarding houses.SPAIN: “Indignant” Demonstrators Marching to Brussels to Protest Effects of Crisis
Protesters from several European Union cities have begun to follow the example of hundreds of demonstrators from Spain who are marching from Madrid to Brussels, the bloc's de facto capital, in a growing protest against the effects of the economic crisis and the fiscal adjustment policies adopted to combat it.Spain Backpedals on Renewable Energy
Spain put the brakes on the use of clean energies to generate electricity, as the government approved an energy savings programme to cope with its large oil bill which affects its commitment to reduce non-renewable sources by 2020.
Q&A: Mobilising Society Against the Death Penalty
Civil society is more coordinated and stronger at an international level today thanks to the Internet, and cyberspace can play an important role in efforts to eradicate the death penalty, says Federico Mayor Zaragoza.SPAIN: ETA Ceasefire Met with Wide Scepticism
Spain's political parties demanded that ETA surrender its weapons and abandon violence for good, in response to a statement issued by the group Monday in which it declared a permanent ceasefire, verifiable by the international community, and called for negotiation.
SPAIN: Wikileaks Revelations Put Pressure on Justice Officials
The highest authorities of Spain's judicial system will have to explain to the Congress of Deputies their repeated refusals to bring U.S. soldiers to trial for the 2003 killing of journalist José Couso in Baghdad. The recent diplomatic cables made public by the whistleblower organisation Wikileaks reveal contacts with U.S. authorities aimed at preventing a trial.Mixed Civil Society Response to New EU Aid Funds
Civil society organisations welcomed the announcement of an additional 1.27 billion dollars in development aid funding by European Commission president José Manuel Durâo Barroso, but said it was insufficient to reduce extreme poverty by 2015, as stipulated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).SPAIN: Puppet Marathon for Building School in Bolivia
The 17th Titirilandia (Puppetland) Festival will conclude with a marathon puppet show, to be held Sunday Aug. 29 in Spain's capital city in aid of a school in the remote Bolivian mining province of Potosí.SPAIN: Women Entrepreneurs Pledge Support for African Counterparts
Senegalese businesswoman Marie Thiaré makes her business cards by hand, because she has no way to have them printed -- a sharp contrast with the situation faced by women entrepreneurs in Europe, where it is easy to order business cards, and most people even have their own home computer and printer.CLIMATE CHANGE: Latin America, EU Set Sights on Cancun Summit
Governments from the European Union and from Latin America and the Caribbean are confident that at year's end the international climate conference will produce a concrete legal mandate to truly protect the environment.
Latin America and Europe Set Sights on Next Climate Summit
Sustainable development actions are bringing Latin American and European countries together in agreements that activists are criticizing due to their "market-based profile."Latin America, EU Express Unity in Face of Economic Crisis
The leaders of the 60 European Union, Latin American and Caribbean nations meeting in the capital of Spain agreed Tuesday that unity between the two regions is essential to weathering the global economic crisis.SPAIN: Baltasar Garzon’s Trial Threatens “Universal Justice”
The trial of Spain's "superjudge" Baltasar Garzón is aimed at squelching the principle of universal justice by suspending its main advocate, Dolores Delgado, a prosecutor at the Audiencia Nacional, Spain's highest criminal court, told IPS.Argentina, an Example for Prosecuting Franco-Era Crimes?
Argentina is an example for Spaniards to bear in mind as they investigate crimes committed during the 1939-1975 dictatorship of general Francisco Franco, says Emilio Silva, head of the Spanish Association for the Recovery of Historic Memory (ARMH).RIGHTS: Spain’s Most Famous Judge May Be Suspended
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón, who became world-famous when he issued the warrant that resulted in former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's arrest in London in 1998, is now facing legal charges himself, which could cost him his job.WESTERN SAHARA: “Sahrawi People Must Decide”
The only solution for the conflict over Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara is to do what the Sahrawi people decide regarding their future, Zahra Ramdan, president of the Association of Sahrawi Women in Spain, told IPS.Next Page »
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