If you thought there was anything romantic about environmental activism or indigenous rights, think twice. Socialist ideas about nature - such as keeping water a public good - can get you facing charges of sabotage by a leftist government. In the land of the Incas, if you protect the pachamama ["Mother World"], you might just be a "terrorist". [...more]
It started with a knock on the door... Will Potter explains how confronting animal abuse made the government target him as a terrorist -- and taught him to never hide from those who try to silence him. [...more]
Our obsession with women's "parts" (breasts, thighs, butts) is inextricably linked to our culture's tendency to value animals as nothing but sources of beef, bacon or veal. [...more]
Through hundreds of autonomous chapters globally, it shares free vegetarian food to relieve hunger besides protesting against war, poverty, and social injustice. FNB isn't a charity. Through grassroots activism, it advocates peace and liberation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. In addition, for 30 years, it's worked to end hunger and backs efforts against globalization, free movement restrictions, exploitation, and environmental destruction. [...more]
On Tuesday, Burkina Faso and Moldova both ratified the treaty, bringing the number of ratifying countries to the thirty needed for the agreement to take legal effect August 1. The treaty bans using, making and selling cluster munitions, and sets deadlines for the destruction of stockpiles and the clearing of contaminated land. It also provides aid for victims of the weapon. The United States has yet to sign. [...more]
There is certainly a Seattle quality to the Copenhagen mobilization: the huge range of groups that will be there; the diverse tactics that will be on display; and the developing-country governments ready to bring activist demands into the summit. But Copenhagen is not merely a Seattle do-over. It feels, instead, as though the progressive tectonic plates are shifting, creating a movement that builds on the strengths of an earlier era but also learns from its mistakes. [...more]
More than six decades of human rights failures by governments have been exacerbated by the world economic crisis, which brought the problems of poverty and inequality to the fore, according to Amnesty International’s Secretary General. [...more]
Many health conscious people have made the decision not to eat meat, viewing the consumption of animal flesh as having negative consequences on the body, the spirit, and even the personality. Animal rights activists have been quite vocal in pointing out the deplorable conditions under which animals destined to become part of the traditional food chain are raised. Tough economic times have given rise to a chorus of budget minded columnists reminding people that giving up animal protein will make their food dollars stretch farther. Today, there is one more aspect to consider about the consumption of animal protein: the connection between industrialized animal farming and human disease. [...more]
Pigs “have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly [more so than] three-year-olds,” says Dr. Donald Broom, a Cambridge University professor and a former scientific advisor to the Council of Europe. Pigs can play video games, and when given the choice, they have indicated temperature preferences. [...more]
With fewer than four months remaining until the start of the Beijing Games, corporate sponsors of the Olympics risk lasting damage to their brands if they do not live up to their professed standards of corporate social responsibility by speaking out about the deteriorating human rights situation in China, Human Rights Watch said today. [...more]
