June 2010

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Toronto G20: Austerity Measures and Police Brutality for Concerned Citizens

Video Paul Jay of the Real News Network argues that the agreement emerging from the Toronto G20 summit had "a little bit of something for everybody." According to Jay, much that is contained in the G20 document is conditional with just one "hard agreement," which states, "The advanced economies have committed to fiscal plans that will at least halve deficits by 2013 and stabilize or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016." (The G20 Summit Declaration) The...

Public Transport: Will the World Cup Benefit Us?

Picture: FreeFoto.com Glenn Ashton - While World Cup public transport to and from our stadiums left many visitors nonplussed at our rather muddled effort towards providing mass transportation, it was South Africa’s first real attempt at providing a modern, mass transit system. We must build on this slightly shaky start toward modernising our public transport. Under the apartheid regime mass transit was primarily geared toward black people in dormitory townships, while whites were provided with world-class roads to get...

Honduras: Repression Continues One Year After Military Coup

Picture: Yamil Gonzales Democracy Now - 28 June marked the one-year anniversary of the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. A year later, the coup’s repressive legacy continues, with ongoing reports of killings, disappearances, torture and impunity. Democracy Now speaks with Gerardo Torres, a member of the National Front of Popular Resistance in Honduras for an update of developments under the Porfiro Lobo administration in Honduras. *** AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Honduras. Today...

2010 Soccer World Cup in Palestine: No Barrier to Enjoyment

Video The only difference between watching the Soccer World Cup in Bethlehem and on the rest of the planet is that in this part of the world, a tournament aimed at uniting the people, is being beamed on a wall that separates them, reports Al Jazeera. This report takes us to the West Bank where a Palestinian restaurant is innovatively broadcasting World Cup matches on Israel's infamous apartheid wall. It's pulling in the crowds, but there’s still a tragic irony to this feel good story from...

South Africa's Future will be Determined by How We Solve Our Politics, Not by the World Cup

Picture: Axel Buhrmann Saliem Fakir - World Cup soccer fever has swept across the country creating much euphoria and mesmerisation about South Africa’s ability to host the event and be part of the big league, as we have always strived to be. The country seems to be caught in some sort of ecstatic purgatory. Newspaper pages are filled with reports about what is happening on and off the soccer field. Gossip abounds, analysis of team performance is endless and national politics have taken a backseat for now -- to be replaced...

G20 Toronto: Our Global Senate and Its Flaws

Picture: Downing Street Didier Jacobs - They used to be seven. They embodied power and relished it. Other leaders envied their photo ops. They were the cream of the cream, the top of the top. They were the G7.  And now they are 20, and they meet in Toronto this week. The G20 is the Senate of our global government. It sets global economic policy, giving direction to an alphabet soup of global executive agencies, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development...