Global Crisis Strengthens WSF’s Legitimacy

European non-governmental organisations combating neo-liberal globalisation find their position vindicated by the ongoing socio-economic and environmental crisis upsetting the world.

ECONOMY: Same Old System Can Only Produce New Crisis

The world is in financial crisis thanks to the reckless behaviour of bankers, say campaigners, yet ordinary people are picking up the tab. Debt activists fear the recession will provide cover for a fresh round of toxic debt to countries in the South.

Rising Food Prices May Not Signal New Crisis

As food prices rose for the seventh month in a row in January, contributing to recent popular unrest in the Middle East and a spike in commodities purchases by developing countries last week, some analysts are quick to make comparisons to the dry years of 2007-2008.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Dakar to Dhaka

Is it more important to build links with African civil society groups or concentrate on existing networks in the South Asian region? That is the dilemma before Indian delegates heading for the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, and some who have opted out.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: A Time of More Complex Global Crises

Neoliberalism and the attendant financial globalisation were a common enemy that unified and mobilised activists of the most diverse tendencies who founded, ten years ago in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, the World Social Forum (WSF) as a space to meet, reflect and debate, under the slogan "Another World Is Possible".

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Poverty without Borders

It's the land of freedom, of bright lights and burgers, where daring entrepreneurs arrive from across the planet in search of fame and fortune. The United States of America - the world's melting pot - has been a symbol of hope for centuries, but behind this vision of wealth and wonder is a tale often untold.

Bankers Bash on, Regardless

The World Economic Forum became a platform this year for bankers to seek to re-assert their traditional power. And once again, it became a forum - in contrast and even opposition to the World Social Forum due to begin in Senegalese capital Dakar next week – where the damaging effects of globalisation and the environmental consequences of unrestrained growth were pushed aside.

TRADE: Doha Round Tariff Cuts “Will Still Hit” Poor Countries

To allow least developed countries (LDCs) to protect nascent industries, they are not required to cut tariffs for industrial goods and fisheries in the Doha Development Round. However, tariffs cuts will affect them if they are members of customs unions where some of their neighbours are larger developing countries without LDC status.

ECUADOR: Migrants Uprooted Twice

Ecuadorean immigrants have been put in an even more vulnerable position by the lingering economic crisis in the industrialised world, especially in Spain and the United States, the main destinations for migrants from Latin America.

JAMAICA: Dying Manufacturing Sector Seeks Govt Cure

For close to 10 years, Patrick Marzouca has just managed to keep his tiny car factory afloat in a rapidly declining productive sector.

In Corrupt Global Food System, Farmland Is the New Gold

Famine-hollowed farmers watch trucks loaded with grain grown on their ancestral lands heading for the nearest port, destined to fill richer bellies in foreign lands. This scene has become all too common since the 2008 food crisis.

World Bank Sees Strong Growth for Some Developing Nations

A report released Thursday by the World Bank indicates that for the next two years, developing nations are better poised on the road to economic recovery than their more developed counterparts.

GREECE: As Austerity Bites, Police Get More Brutal

"The most terrifying thing is the memory loss. I can’t recall anything after I was knocked out - and for a long time afterwards," says Nasos Iliopoulos. His features are tense as he narrates his violent altercation with riot police.

Latest Food Crisis Brewing for Months

The United Nations, which is trying to reach out to nearly a billion undernourished people, some living in perpetual hunger, is anticipating another food crisis later this year.

ARGENTINA: On the Path to Sustainable Development?

This year will be the ninth straight year of impressive economic growth for Argentina. Some analysts say the international context is the key to the high rates of growth since 2003, while others stress that there are also internal factors behind the expansion.

Q&A: Portugal’s Development Aid Untouched by Crisis

Despite the global economic crisis that has hit Europe especially hard, Portugal's official development aid to its former colonies will not decline this year, although "unfortunately no increase is expected either."

SOUTH AMERICA: Unity for Strength in Wake of Crisis

As industrialised countries face a recession that may last longer than expected, South America’s largest trade bloc, strengthened by having successfully weathered the global financial and economic crisis, is making strides towards better internal coordination.

LABOUR-ZIMBABWE: Redundancy Discrimination Fears for Women

Unskilled female workers employed in Zimbabwe’s struggling textile, security and other industries say they are increasingly finding themselves at the front of the redundancy line in cases that the affected women say reek of gender discrimination.

NGOs Want Reforms Tied to New World Bank Funding

With the World Bank expected to announce a new funding package for the world's poorest countries Wednesday, NGOs are making a last-minute appeal to donor countries to use their leverage to compel reforms at the institution.

Brazilian Economy Booming, but Sliding Backwards

Although the Brazilian economy is now one of the fastest growing in the world, it cannot claim an entirely clean bill of health. Declining industrial output threatens to put the country's development into reverse, and no short term remedy is in sight.

GREECE: The Centre Is Falling Apart

The experience of walking through Omonia Square in downtown Athens can send shivers down the spine of even the calmest of visitors. In recent months, increased incidents of street crime, drug trafficking, and prostitution have turned the square into a site many citizens go to lengths to avoid.