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How Syrians Saved an Ancient Seedbank From Civil War

Lizzie Wade Wired
As soon as the fighting started in the spring of 2011, the genebank’s staff switched gears from collecting and distributing seed samples to devising a rescue plan. People there became very familiar with northern Syria’s back roads as they drove the seeds out of the country.

Peace Events in New York, April 24-26

American Friends Service Committee
On April 26, a mass rally will take place in Union Square, followed by a march to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza where millions of petition signatures will be presented to UN and NPT officials. The rally will launch a “Global Wave,” with participants symbolically waving goodbye to nuclear weapons. The Global Wave will travel west, by time zone, with public events scheduled in Papeete, Manila, Amman, Bethlehem, Stockholm, Paris, London, Sao Paulo and points in-between.

The Men in the Middle

Dissent
If there’s an engine that continues to draw millions of workers into the Persian Gulf’s draconian labor regime, it is the middlemen—the underground network of recruitment agents that reaches into every corner of rural South Asia, dangling the possibility of a better life before communities ravaged by neoliberalism.

Cities And States Paying Massive Secret Fees To Wall Street: Report

David Sirota International Business Times
Currently, about 9 percent -- or $270 billion -- of America’s $3 trillion public pension fund assets are invested in private equity firms. Assuming the industry standard 2 percent management fee, that quarter-trillion dollars generates roughly $5.4 billion in annual management fees for the private equity industry -- and that’s not including additional “performance” fees paid on investment returns. But even the $5.4 billion number could be drastically understated.

America's Political Obsession With the "Middle Class" Hurts Workers

By Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig The New Republic
Thanks to the economic volatility of the last several years, and thanks to the fact that many of those who imagine themselves to be part of the middle class have been disproportionately impacted by the recession compared to their ostensibly middle class compatriots, a sense of belonging in the middle class no longer correlates with the socioeconomic stability of a spot in the middle.

Inside American Students' Fight For Justice in Palestine

Donna Nevel AlterNet
As someone who has participated in programs on a number of campuses and has a child in college, I have been inspired by the organizing taking place for justice in Palestine. My own organizing has been strengthened. Through Students for Justice in Pa

US Wages ''War on Terror'' in the Philippines

Adam Hudson Truthout
Although Islamic State regularly captures global headlines, the so-called fight against ''terrorism'' is not just confined to the Middle East. The United States quietly maintains other fronts in the War on Terror - including the Philippines.