International

A report from the Occupy Wall Street forum on the commons

Both the commons movement and Occupy spring from a shared sense of urgency about need for a different path toward the future.

OTC program director Alexa Bradley was one of the presenters at Occupy Wall Street’s inaugural forum on the commons February 16-19 in Brooklyn.
Here is her report on all that happened.

Opponents to the present Syrian government are discounting the referendum that took place Sunday 26th February 2012 saying it’s a delaying tactic. Whatever, the reality, the poll went ahead and time will tell. Something naggingly insists though that if no one trusts anyone how can a political process move ahead? Why not trust the people of Syria?

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addressed a meeting with officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and nuclear scientists in Tehran on February 22, 2011. He stated Iran’s position on the nuclear issues. That position has not changed. We reproduce here selected paragraphs from his speech.

“Conflict-related sexual violence is not specific to one country or continent: it is a global risk […] Wars have entered the marketplaces where women trade; they follow children en route to school; and haunt the prison cells where political activists are detained.”

For years, the image of Chile as an example of the success of the neo-liberal model has been exported to the world. In terms of social justice, this model is a complete failure, since only a very small percentage of the country’s inhabitants have benefited from it. Today, when hundreds of thousands of Chileans are protesting on the streets, the world can finally see the truth.

The “Human Rights Network” (HRN) on Thursday denounced some countries’ attempts to confuse the public opinion about Syria, using newspaper articles and news on the reported death and injury of journalists who entered the country clandestinely, such as the U.S. reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

While rights groups stress that the brutal crackdown on protesters in Syria and other Middle East and North Africa countries underlines the absence of a global regulation on the trade of conventional arms, a number of states –including U.S., China, and Russia– are rejecting the Inclusion of strong human rights safeguards in an international Arms Trade Treaty.

Terrible images are circulating through the world’s media, chronicling the desperate plight of the Greek people as they try to stand up to their government and stop the destruction of their society. Kostas Klokas, who wrote for us back in September in graphic terms about a modern-day Greek tragedy and his hope for nonviolent struggle, updates his story.

With 60 percent of the world’s population, Asia has one of the largest concentrations globally of aging persons, creating a host of potential challenges, experts [warn](http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=94856). Over 65 percent of Asia’s elderly population will be women.

The UN General Assembly strongly condemned the continued “widespread and systematic” human rights violations by the Syrian authorities and demanded that the Government immediately cease all violence and protect its people.