Politics

Eastern Africa is experiencing what is described as the “most severe food crisis in the world today”, at least 10 million people affected in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. The alert comes from UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which adds that Somalia is one of the hardest-hit countries in the region, with deaths reported in some areas.

The five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States – met in Paris on June 30 and July 1, 2011 to deal with an issue that carries with it the survival of the planet: nuclear disarmament. The conference was a follow up to the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York in May 2010.

The Palestinian leadership is more committed than ever to obtaining statehood through the United Nations General Assembly. But despite this commitment, there is worry that success in New York might not necessarily mean success in Nablus or Hebron. There are many reasons the UN route is the correct strategy for Palestinians today.

The right to food is a human right, and unless governments follow up on their pledges, it will remain a utopia. Broad-based social movements and human rights defenders the world over should therefore continue to demand change, says Olivier De Schutter, an independent United Nations watchdog.

Many are those who throughout history have not found a way out the conflicts imposed by the conditions of social injustice, and have resorted to self-immolation as a form of denunciation and struggle. With their own suicide they seek to awaken in others a sense of solidarity with the powerless, to open the way for the collective modification of the conditions of oppression

New details are emerging that indicate the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is far worse than previously known, with three of the four affected reactors experiencing full meltdowns. Meanwhile, in the U.S., massive flooding along the Missouri River has put Nebraska’s two nuclear plants, both near Omaha, on alert.

15-M takes to the streets after taking the squares and the neighbourhoods. A great march composed of 7 columns will reach Madrid on the 23rd of July. The Marches have left from each one of the cardinal points of the state and will take 30 days. Another March is taking place around the Canary Islands.

It’s more than two thousand years since Greece was a superpower, yet its leaders prefer bombs to books, says Steve McGiffen. “The fact that the principal suppliers of these arms are two of ‘austerity’s’ biggest proponents, the USA and Germany, should not surprise us. Year on year, Greece has been spending money it does not have on weapons it does not need.”

June 25, International Day of Action for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. The Peace Movement in Fukushima remains active and strong! The Peace March for Nuclear Abolition enters Fukushima Prefecture. 140 actions in 25 countries support the call for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons as the leader of the permanent members of the UN Security Council prepare to meet in Paris.

The call for Real Democracy Now led to campsites being formed in the largest squares of the largest cities of Spain with the name the “M-15 Movement” calling for a new democracy, political transparency and reform of the electoral law. Now the movement takes to the roads building a momentum of activism that will converge on Madrid on the 23rd of June.