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Indian Journalist Offers Harsh Critique of Globalization

Amitabh Pal The Progressive
Free-market globalization is strengthening that which is barbaric and regressive and smashing what is beautiful,” Examples, are the death of traditional handicrafts, such as pottery, and the loss of languages. At the same time, horrible institutions such as caste-based village councils are being bolstered as a backlash against the rural displacement caused by globalization.

A Controversial Brand of Politics

Stephen Hallmark Morning Star
Russel Brand reminds us that all who grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people’s pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful.”

Evo Morales’ Victory Demonstrates How Much Bolivia Has Changed

Federico Fuentes teleSUR
The MAS’ response to protests has been to follow an approach of seeking dialogue and consensus, retreating where necessary, but always attempting to continue to drive the process forward towards its goal. Morales constantly sums up this approach using the Zapatista slogan “to govern by obeying”.

Political Prisoners in the Sacrifice Zone of Empire

Nozomi Hayase CounterPunch
From the margins where injustice shapes the landscape of everyday life, individuals like Jeremy Hammond and Mumia Abu-Jamal expose the lies of the government and hypocrisy of the criminal justice system. From the darkness inside, they cast a light on what those in power don’t want us to see.

ISIS and the Cost of War

Imara Jones ColorLines
Before launching headlong into a third Iraq War it’s important to step back and review the costs of the past 13 years of combat. Not surprisingly, the sacrifice of war, monetary and otherwise are disproportionately borne by people of color and the young.

Antibiotics And Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria In Meat: Not Getting Better

Maryn McKenna Wired
It’s worth noting that this continued antibiotic use, and continued and rising appearance of resistant bacteria on meat, is happening as the FDA has abandoned attempting to regulate livestock producers’ use of antibiotics, and has switched to a voluntary approach. Given the trend, I think it’s worth asking how well that voluntary approach is going to work.

The Persistence of Racial Resentment

Thomas B. Edsall The New York Times
Is the country more or less racist? How can the percentage of people holding anti-black attitudes have increased from 2006 to 2008 at a time when Obama performed better among white voters than the two previous white Democratic nominees, and then again from 2008 to 2012 when Obama won a second term? In fact, the shifts described by Tesler and Pasek are an integral aspect of the intensifying conservatism within the right wing of the Republican Party.

Tidbits - February 10, 2013

Published by Portside
Readers respond on - The White South's Last Defeat; Henry Wallace; The Americanization of the United States; Climate RALLY - Bay Area - Sunday Feb 17