UPROOTED BY POVERTY
Nov 2002
The stark reality of global uprootedness is that it originates in the economic inequality that creates the horrific starvation, sickness and violence from which people escape if they can, driven by the need to survive physically and remain human. It follows that if this desperation is to diminish, economies with the most resources need to make greater efforts to minimise the rich-poor gap to enable vulnerable members of the global village to thrive with dignity at home.
By Harry Throssell
WHO CONTROLS THE LOOT?
18 September 2002
It's common knowledge the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organisation have a big hand in the distribution of the world's wealth, in deciding who's rich and who's not. But who are they and who controls them?
In the past three decades or so global economic inequality has increased, and there has been very little change in the pattern of gross poverty, especially in the hardest hit regions of the world, according to recent United Nations and other research reports.
by HARRY THROSSELL
Thoughts about America
2 March 2002
Terrorism and the axis of evil.
By Edward Said, a professor of literature at Columbia university. His book Orientalism (1979) revolutionized the literary field. He has written extensively on the Middle East, and his writings can be found in a number of publications such as Z Magazine, the Nation, the Progressive, In These Times, Counterpunch, Al Ahram, and more.
A World Without War
Feb 2002
Wars over water, energy and other resources are not unlikely in the future, with consequences that could be devastating. For the most part, however, wars have had to do with the imposition of the system of nation-states, an unnatural social formation that that typically has to be instituted by violence.
NOAM CHOMSKY
Lies, Damn lies, and Israeli propaganda
27 May 2002
"Israel's current war in the Occupied Territories is one of conquest, not defense. The West Bank and Gaza Strip, along with the eastern, Arab half of Jerusalem, were seized by Israel in the June 1967 war. It considers these lands to be part of "Eretz Israel" (Greater Israel). Since then, Israel has engaged in a policy of colonization, demolishing Palestinian olive groves, homes and towns and setting up strategic Jewish colonies. Israel then justifies its extension of its military control over the region, as well as its seizure of key water sources, as necessary security measures to defend its settlements."
Paul D'Amato and Anthony Arnove
Prospects for Peace in the Middle East
4 March, 2001
No peace without justice; no justice without truth" The University of Toledo. An excellent essay on the background to the Middle East conflicts, with questions and answers.
NOAM CHOMSKY
Global Poverty and the Corporations
Globalisation, meaning the coming together of all regions and peoples of the world, is inevitable and can have very positive consequences, if based on a philosophy of sharing and cooperation rather than the current western values of dominance, competition and individual acquisition.
16 MAY 2001
HARRY THROSSELL
Who are the Global Terrorists?
19 May 2002
The condemnations of terrorism are sound, but leave some questions unanswered. The first is: What do we mean by "terrorism"? Second: What is the proper response to the crime? Whatever the answer, it must at least satisfy a moral truism: If we propose some principle that is to be applied to antagonists, then we must agree -- in fact, strenuously insist -- that the principle apply to us as well. Those who do not rise even to this minimal level of integrity plainly cannot be taken seriously when they speak of right and wrong, good and evil.
NOAM CHOMSKY
Demonising the Terrorists11 June 2002
Who are the terrorists? Are they the modern witches, necessary as participants in the great Witch-hunt? Can the world be divided into the good and the evil, black and white? And why does each country, each political group in the world believe that they have God on their side and the other side is evil?
Harry Throssell
Chomsky on Terrorism
March 2002
This speech covers some important background on the Middle East, including the "peace process", the "axis of evil", Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq, and the USA.
This is an excellent essay, giving the big picture on terrorism.
NOAM CHOMSKY, from a talk given in San Francisco.
Chomsky Interview
(From Australia)
8 April 2002
Interviewed about recent events in Israel /Palestine and plans to attack Iraq.
Noam Chomsky