2003

At the end of December Lula completes a year at the head of the Brazilian government. In these dark times of international regression, a perspective of peace and social justice is coming from Brazil, the country where the World Social Forum was born. But in the end, where is the Lula government going?

Cancel the contracts. Ditch the deals. Rip up the rules.Those are a few suggestions for slogans that could help unify the growing movement against the occupation of Iraq. So far, activist debates have focused on whether the demand should be for a complete withdrawal of troops, or for the United States to cede power to the United Nations.

India’s governing party, the BJP, is a master at the tactical game of dancing between seduction and blackmail, governance and repression. Prime Minister Atel Behari Vajpai’s and Interior Minister Lal Kishan Advani’s are promoting a profoundly reactionary vision of India that threatens a long-term cycle of war and oppression. But the opposition, weakened by internal quarrels, provides little hope as its own legitimacy is being called into question by the emerging social movements.

A recent study by the British government shows that the use of genetically modified (GM) crops seriously degrade biodiversity on and around farms over a short period of time. In response, scientists, farmers and environmentalists across Canada are concerned that current the Canadian approval process is not taking these negative effects of GM crops into consideration, due to the minimal health and environmental testing performed before governmental approval.

A two month long general strike continues to paralyze schools, colleges and universities in Niger, where the government has made serious reforms to the education system in response to demands from the World Bank and international capital. Teachers and students continue to protest against the cuts that have come along with restructuring, which has led to numerous violent confrontations and arrests. The following is a portrait of the education crisis in Niger.

A gigantic gas explosion: This was the popular uprising that shook all of Bolivia and culminated in the resignation of President Sanchez de Lozada, who fled, leaving behind him a trail of corpses.

Waiting in the lobby of Jakarta’s World Trade Centre (WTC - pronounced Way-Tay-Say in Jakarta), the building that houses the Canadian Embassy to Indonesia, I heard jeers and chanting outside the front doors. A small but vocal group of protesters from rural villages on the island of Sulawesi and members of environmental NGOs had gathered to protest the actions of Canadian nickel mining giant INCO.

It is midday in Baghdad and there are no women or children to be seen on the streets. Instead of the "new era of freedom" which the US army was supposed to introduce to Iraq, the chaos and insecurity has resulted in an escalation in kidnappings of women and children and the rape of women and girls. No women can walk on the streets and no children can play in the parks during their school vacation.

Millions of people, the majority women, are dying needlessly of AIDS. Racism and sexism are two major factors in these deaths. So why aren’t women around the world up in arms?

The collapse of the Fifth Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun, Mexico, last Sunday, Sept. 14, was an event of historic proportions.

What does it take to become a major news story in the summer of Arnold and Kobe, Ben and Jen? A lot, as a group of young Philippine soldiers discovered recently. On July 27, 300 soldiers rigged a giant Manila shopping mall with C-4 explosives, accused one of Washington’s closest allies of blowing up its own buildings to attract US military dollars-and still barely managed to make the international news.

It’s being called "the worst coffee crisis of the last 100 years" by Latin American heads of state. With the catastrophic failure of unregulated global markets, the world faces yet another crisis of overproduction and ruined lives.

Although America’s "road map to peace" is looking more and more uncertain, the other component of the Bush Administration’s Middle East strategy is moving forward. The president has moved one step closer to creating a free trade zone between the United States and the countries of the Middle East. But not everyone is convinced of the benefits of U.S.-style economic integration.

Many Palestinians waiting for their refugee claims to be heard compare going to court to playing the lottery: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you know the odds aren’t in your favour.

I’m always fascinated by the whispers of African cities: the neighbour’s radio, the rooster crowing in his yard, the market, and the taxi stand.

Immigrating to or seeking asylum in a new country is a trying experience. In Quebec, the government currently assists new arrivals in tackling the difficulties of learning a new language, adapting to a new culture, and breaking into the job market. However, with the budget cuts announced by Quebec’s Liberal government, these services are in jeopardy.

Fighting poverty and exclusion in the global South is often reported as a dry struggle involving policies and regulations, and rarely as an effort to reclaim simple everyday joys for the world’s poorest.

Argentine by birth and Quebecois at heart, Thomas Jensen weaves words and rhythms like only he can. With a social conscience and a critical spirit, he casts a lucid, cynical view on the world that surrounds him. Introducing a committed songwriter.

The time has come to fight, not just for women’s equality but for a system that stops disenfranchising those who have not.

Landowners already doubt him, while landless peasants see him as the one who will finally restore justice to the most inequitable country in the world. Brazilian Minister for Land Reform Miguel Rossetto will be coming to Montreal at the beginning of June, on an invitation from Alternatives. A former trade unionist and vice-governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the young minister knows he has quite a challenge ahead of him. One thing is for certain: it is land reform, promised for years now, that will make or break the new government of Luis Inacio da Silva, whom they call Lula.

In Burnt Islands and Isle-aux-Morts, as in all of New Foundland, fearless fishermen have always braved the cold and storms to make their living from the great wide ocean. Today this seemingly permanent way of life has been shattered, leaving an uncertain economic future in its wake. In the face of this crisis, Atlantic fisherpeople are questioning the effectiveness of the government’s measures to keep the fisheries open and viable. 

The suicide bombings that rocked Casablanca on May 16 also shook the foundations of Moroccan society. Although the targets seem to have been chosen for their Western and Jewish links, the victims were mostly Moroccan. On May 21 the Moroccan government responded by pushing its proposed anti-terror law back into Parliament for a hastily organized vote.

On April 14, the Pentagon announced that "major combat in Iraq is over." That same day, in the small Iraqi city of Nasiryah, 6 000 people protested their exclusion from a closed-door meeting held by General Jay Garner, appointed by the U.S. to head a transitional military government for Iraq. This was the first organized manifestation of the Iraqi people’s opposition to American occupation. With civil society organizations in southern Iraq all but destroyed, concerned Iraqis will look to the models developed in Iraqi Kurdistan.

While public gazes remain fixed on Iraq, talks are moving ahead quietly at the World Trade Organization (WTO). While we were glued to our television sets, Canada committed itself further to opening up markets in its service sector.

When Johannesburg Water started installing pre-paid water meters in their community in the weeks running up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), residents of Orange Farm in South Africa got a taste of today’s conception of "sustainability:" privatization of basic services, cost recovery policies, and tariff increases. For the one and a half million people living in Orange Farm, an informal settlement 50km south of Johannesburg where unemployment reaches 80 percent, these policies mean cut-offs and evictions. A harsh reality for an increasing number of people in the new, neoliberal South Africa.

At 24 years old, Judy never imagined fate would find her scrubbing toilets in a foreign country, but necessity has meant otherwise. While her classmates finish their studies in the Philippines, Judy has dropped out to work as a nanny for a wealthy Canadian family under the government-sponsored Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).