Mary Robinson is a human rights activist and the former president of Ireland. Her diary from Davos on openDemocracy is really great. She is the first person in a long time I’ve heard talk about the necessity to connect the World Economic Forum and World Social Forum in some way, and someone like her actually has the clout to make it happen.
At the first WSF I went to in Brazil, there were some enthusiastic French people who set up a video link between the two meetings. The WEF leaders who dared go on were booed by the audience. The organizers were criticized over and over.
I understand the wish not to kowtow to the forces of global capitalism, but a little practicality and and professionalism wouldn’t do the social justice movement any harm. At the end of day, it’s about making real changes in people’s lives more than about winning ideological battles. Perhaps one thing can’t even happen without the other.
Anthony Barnett has just come back from the World Social Forum in Kenya. Oooh I wish I could have been there too.
He’s written a very fair and useful analysis of what went on. He sees its magnificence, but ultimately declares the Economic Forum in Davos “the winner”. Certainly, Davos seemed more focused and practical about “improving the state of the world”. How depressing. Improving it for whom?
“Another world is possible” goes the slogan of the WSF. How timid that suddenly sounds.
More than 200,000 people signed this petition in 4 days. Friends in New York have put this together, and are printing out names, packing them into boxes, and delivering them to the UN very soon. Help it become the fastest growing petition in history. Ask world leaders to demand a ceasefire in Lebanon and Israel NOW.
In the meantime, the US gov is pondering whether to send rockets with cluster munitions to Israel. Note how cautiously the writer suggests it kills people if you fire them into populated areas. No kidding.
It’s hard not to get just a little involved in the soccer mania during the World Cup. Sadly, neither Denmark nor Puerto Rico have qualified, which leaves someone relatively indifferent like me with little choice but to get a little scientific about which team to support. Colonial history and geographical proximity (of course) have been important factors, but now the World Development Movement has made it even easier to choose. Have a look at their online Team Chooser. What’s the life expectancy rate of the team you support?
I won’t bore you about “net neutrality”. I’ll let Moby do it in a really bad video with good intentions. I couldn’t finish it. Lots of other videos about this circulating, thanks to a couple of “viral video” competitions. Apparently it only takes a $1000 prize to get people talking about something. Save the internet, people. The video below is better: