North America

A Nuclear Weapons Lab in New Mexico and a Nuclear Power Plant in Nebraska continue to show the on going safety issues and the consequent threats posed by these high risk technologies as these articles from Democracy Now show.

Mexican government promises to improve conditions in Chiapas jail after hunger strike by some 500 mostly indigenous prisoners. The prisoners ended their hunger strike on June 11 after the government promised to improve conditions in a prison near San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

In an historic vote, the state of New York, the third largest in the United States, legalised Gay Marriage last night joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. The legislation comes into effect on the 24th of July with thousands of couples expected to take the opportunity to legalise their partnerships.

New Yorkers are escalating protests against austerity measures contained in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s latest budget. In a major protest Tuesday, thousands of New York City union members rallied at City Hall demanding an end to layoffs and cuts to social spending. Sam Coleman is a third grade teacher at a public school in Brooklyn.

Steven Starr from Physicians for Social Responsibility writes about the dangers of creating so much radioactive waste in the world’s 440 nuclear reactors, the ongoing situation in Fukushima and the legacy of the radioactive exclusion zone around Chernobyl. “It is time to admit that nuclear power is neither a “safe” nor “clean” method to produce energy.”

A caravan of Mexican anti-violence protesters arrived in the United States over the weekend. Mexican poet, Javier Sicilia, led the traveling protest, which began last week south of Mexico City and ended in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday. Sicilia demanded the United States end the Merida Initiative, which provides training and support for the Mexican army in its “war on drugs.”

Newly released government data shows the Obama administration approved $200 million in military sales to Bahrain last year just months before the Gulf nation launched a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Part of the military sales involved the sale of rifles, shotguns and assault weapons. There have been a number of developments in Bahrain.

We present a short amazing video of a conference recently held by Julia Bacha regarding the stories that can change the so called “confirmation bias” (or previous believes) that we all have, and help us open our minds and have a new cognitive resonance or comprehension of a fact that usually we tend to look with some prejudice. Such is the case of non-violence in Palestine.

The Caravan for Peace has demanded the U.S. government to suspend the Plan Merida and admit that its drug policy has a devastating effect on Latin America.
Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, the caravan organizer, said that the USA should admit its responsibility for the violence in Mexico, during a rally in El Paso, Texas, United States, at the end of the caravan protest campaign.

In Wisconsin, more than a thousand Wisconsin workers marched today through Madison Monday to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget repair” bill that slashes collective bargaining rights and funding for education, health care and seniors’ programs. Eight people were arrested.
Pilar Schiavo is participating with National Nurses United.