Mois : mai 2014

Published on Contrary Perspective, by Anonymous, May 2014 (the author teaches at the collegiate level and prefers to remain anonymous).

Everyone knows that one has to go to school to receive a formal education and formal credentials. But schools are also social institutions. As institutions, schools often stand in the way of education. A competitive education driven by credentials is often responsible for lowering the self-esteem of both students and teachers as a consequence of grading and various other evaluation processes.   Continuer la lecture de « Institutionalized Education: A Quasi-Anarchist’s Perspective »

Published on ZNet (first on Wikileaks.org), by Julian Assange, May 23, 2014 (Links posted in our pages Civil Liberties, Politics/Gov, Repression, SourceZ, US).

The National Security Agency has been recording and storing nearly all the domestic (and international) phone calls from two or more target countries as of 2013. Both the Washington Post and The Intercept (based in the US and published by eBay chairman Pierre Omidyar) have censored the name of one of the victim states, which the latter publication refers to as country “X”.     Continuer la lecture de « WikiLeaks statement on the mass recording of Afghan telephone calls by the NSA »

Published on Intrepid Report, by Martha Rosenberg, May 23, 2014.

“Never mind” said the Obama administration in March after its proposal to limit automatic Medicare coverage of pricey depression and psychiatric drugs was met with a Pharma funded backlash. It apparently wasn’t worth it as “patients” on the Hill yelled “You’re going to limit WHAT?” and won.   Continuer la lecture de « US: Why Medicare pays so much for psychiatric drugs »

Published on E-International Relations, by MANUELA LAVINAS PICQ, MAY 21, 2014.

Indigeneity is an unusual way to think about International Relations (IR). Most studies of world politics ignore Indigenous perspectives, which are rarely treated as relevant to thinking about the international (Shaw 2008; Beier 2009). Yet Indigenous peoples are engaging in world politics with a dynamism and creativity that defies the silences of our discipline (Morgan 2011). In Latin America, Indigenous politics has gained international legitimacy, influencing policy for over two decades (Cott 2008; Madrid 2012).   Continuer la lecture de « Self-Determination as Anti-Extractivism: How Indigenous Resistance Challenges IR »

Published on Humanitarian News (first in AidNews.org), May 21, 2014.

The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said Wednesday it has begun a bypass system that diverts groundwater into the sea in a bid to reduce the volume of contaminated water.
The move is an attempt to stop tonnes of unpolluted groundwater flowing under the battered plant and mixing with water already there and laced with radioactive isotopes.
Dealing with the huge — and growing — amount of water at the tsunami-damaged plant is proving to be one of the biggest challenges for Tokyo Electric Power co. (TEPCO), as it looks to clean up the mess after the worst nuclear disaster in a generation.   Continuer la lecture de « Japan Fukushima operator starts diverting groundwater to sea »