domingo, 29 de novembro de 2009



Ken Robinson has written numerous books, most recently "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything." This talk explores ways to connect peoples' natural aptitudes with their personal passions to achieve at their highest levels in education and business. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his outstanding achievements in education and the arts.

Learn more about the Hammer Museum at UCLA and Hammer Lectures at www.hammer.ucla.edu.

Aftermath : The Remnants of War



This feature-length documentary reveals the unspoken truth about war - it never really ends. Archival images and personal stories portray the lingering devastation of war. Filmed on location in Russia, France, Bosnia and Vietnam, the film features individuals involved in the cleanup of war: de-miners who risk their lives on a daily basis, psychologists working with distraught soldiers, and scientists and doctors who struggle with the contamination of dioxin used during Vietnam. Based on the Gelber Award-winning book by Donovan Webster, this film conveys the fact that war doesn't end when the fighting stops.
http://www.nfb.ca/film/aftermath_the_remnants_of_war/

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Empire in the andes, the war against the poor


tortugasrojas

Colombia: Film about human rights, the armed conflict, plan colombia, US intervention and military aid, the war on drugs, the war on terror, free trade area of the americas etc
Barricade Films

Journey From the Psychology of Evil to the Psychology of Heroism

October 9, 2008 lecture by Philip Zimbardo during the 2008 Reunion Homecoming Classes Without Quizzes program. Why do good people turn evil? In what sense are evil and heroism comparable? How could the little old Stanford prison experiment reveal parallels and insights about the abuses by military guards at Abu Ghraib?

Philip Zimbardo, professor of psychology, emeritus, is internationally recognized as a leading "voice and face of contemporary psychology" through his widely seen PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, his media appearances, best-selling trade books on shyness, and his classic research, The Stanford Prison Experiment.


What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Where is the line separating good from evil, and who is in danger of crossing it? Renow-ned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo has the answers, and in The Lucifer Effect he explains how---and the myriad reasons why---we are all susceptible to the lure of "the dark side." Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women. 

Zimbardo, professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, is perhaps best known as the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment. For the first time, he tells the full story of this landmark study, in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into "guards" and "inmates" and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. 

This event took place October 4, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA

Philip Zimbardo - Beyond Belief 2008





TSN: Philip Zimbardo is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and is internationally recognized as a leading "voice and face of contemporary psychology" through his widely seen PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, his media appearances, best-selling trade books on shyness, and his classic research, The Stanford Prison Experiment. He is the author of over 300 professional publications and 50 books including the oldest current textbook in psychology, Psychology and Life, and The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil.

Source : http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/beyond-belief-candles-in-the-dark/philip-zimbardo

Stanford Prison Experiment - Zimbardo



Welcome to the Stanford Prison Experiment web site, which features an extensive slide show and information about this classic psychology experiment, including parallels with the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University.

How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. Please join me on a slide tour describing this experiment and uncovering what it tells us about the nature of human nature.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=677084988379129606

The Milgram Experiment




The Milgram experiment was a series of famous scientific studies of social psychology, intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant's personal conscience.
 

Naomi Klein talks about Taking on the Empire


ontheearthproduction

Progressive Magazine's 100 year celebration.
Matt Rothschild, Naomi Kline, Prof. Stephen Zunes

The End of Poverty?


NewVideoDigital

The aphorism "The poor are always with us" dates back to the New Testament, but while the phrase is still sadly apt in the 21st century, few seem to be able to explain why poverty is so widespread. Activist filmmaker Philippe Diaz examines the history and impact of economic inequality in the third world in the documentary The End of Poverty?, and makes the compelling argument that it's not an accident or simple bad luck that has created a growing underclass around the world.

Diaz traces the growth of global poverty back to colonization in the 15th century, and features interviews with a number of economists, sociologists, and historians who explain how poverty is the clear consequence of free-market economic policies that allow powerful nations to exploit poorer countries for their assets and keep money in the hands of the wealthy rather than distributing it more equitably to the people who have helped them gain their fortunes.

Diaz also explores how wealthy nations (especially the United States) seize a disproportionate share of the world's natural resources, and how this imbalance is having a dire impact on the environment as well as the economy. The End of Poverty? (http://www.theendofpoverty.com/) was an official selection at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
http://submedia.tv/stimulator/
Submedia.tv- talking to the creator
VMC Video Exclusive: Amy Goodman speaks in Vancouver

By the time Amy Goodman spoke to a standing room only crowd at Vancouver's Public Library on Wednesday, November 25, there was one thing on everyone's mind: the 2010 Olympics.

Goodman's talk started over an hour late, because the US radio host was detained by Canadian Border Services Agency, who asked her if she would be talking about the Olympics during her speech.
 
"I'm embarrassed, cause as some people who know me know, I'm not a real sports fan," said Goodman, who said her knowledge of the 2010 Olympics was "exactly zero."

"To say the least I'm very taken aback by what I just went through, very shocked to be asked what I was going to talk about, and to see my colleagues computers being gone through" at the border, she said, before proceeding with her talk.

Camera - Carlos Melendez and Driss Abassi
Editing - Franklin López
Text - Dawn Paley

Philippe Diaz interview : "The End of Poverty?"






joefriendly

Brilliant French filmmaker Philippe Diaz discusses his latest gem, The End of Poverty? along with some clips and a trailer, about the systemic causes of poverty, what is terribly wrong with our system of global capitalism and its control of Western foreign policy. Interview by Jim Dingeman.
On 11/18/09, I interviewed Philippe Diaz, the writer/director/cinematographer of the new documentary, THE END OF POVERTY?, at Cinema Libre Studio in Canoga Park, CA. The film traces modern poverty back to 1492 when Europe began an aggressive and brutal expansion into the southern hemisphere, taking the land of the indigenous people and transforming their diversified natural economies into monocultures designed to supply the countries of the north with cheap raw materials. Even after these countries were granted their independence, high-interest loans, debt, and unfair trade policies effectively kept them slaves.

In this clip, Diaz explains why individual acts of kindness are important but will do little to end poverty unless we fundamentally change the system that causes it.



For more ReThink Reviews and Interviews, go here http://rethinkreviews.net/

For more about THE END OF POVERTY? visit http://www.theendofpoverty.com/

sábado, 28 de novembro de 2009


Le Collectif Parisien pour la Décroissance vous présente une rencontre avec Jacques Grinevald, ami et collaborateur de Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen.

Jacques Grinevald, philosophe et historien des sciences français, de l'université de Genève et actuellement professeur à l'Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) de Genève, ami et ancien collaborateur de Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, était de passage à Paris. Une belle opportunité pour faire un petit film avec lui, afin qu'il nous parle du père de la Décroissance !

En effet, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, roumain d'origine, est à mon sens l'un des plus grands intellectuels du siècle dernier. Mathématicien, spécialiste en statistique, économiste ayant travailler entre autres avec Shumpeter, mais aussi biologiste darwiniste convaincu, bon physicien voire philosophe, il a eu une carrière académique classique remarquable...

A partir des années soixante, il commence à remettre en question les fondements mécanistes de l'économie néo-classiques en y introduisant la seconde loi de la thermodynamique : la loi de l'entropie.

A travers ses travaux, il démontra mathématiquement, physiquement, biologiquement, économiquement et aussi philosophiquement (avec son approche sur la joie de vivre et son pacifisme) que la science économique s'est trompée et continue à se tromper... et se borgne dans son paradigme mécaniste et dans ses idéologies productivistes, travaillistes et croissancistes !

Malheureusement, son travail reste ignoré dans les facultés d'économie bien que l'actualité lui donne raison (nous atteignons les limites énergétiques et régénératrices de notre planète) !

Je vous propose donc ce film avec Jacques Grinevald, philosophe et spécialiste en épistémologie de l'université de Genève, qui nous parle pendant 55 minutes de son ami Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen.

La Playlist (lien ci-dessous) regroupe les 7 parties que comporte ce film. On peut donc regarder le film entier sans interruption.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list...

Un grand merci à Debora pour toute son aide et son talent, sans qui ce film n'aurait jamais vu le jour !

Et aussi un grand merci à Jacques Grinevald pour sa disponibilité !

J'attends avec impatience vos remarques et critiques !

Vincent Liegey
www.ocparis.canalblog.com 


Reportage réalisé par Marine Vever et Paméla Zito dans le cadre de l'atelier des Activités culturelles de l'Université de Montréal «Réalisation d'un reportage», animé par Philippe Desrosiers. 

Simplicidad Voluntaria y Decrecimiento

Documental "Simplicité Volontaire et Décroissance" sobre el movimiento por el decrecimiento francés, subtitulado en español en colaboración con el equipo de www.decrecimiento.info, seguido de otros vídeos sueltos sobre el decrecimiento.
INTRODUCCIÓN AL DECRECIMIENTO ECONÓMICO (Powerpoint)

Presentación sobre el Decrecimiento económico.
Música: Amodioaren eza (Sorotan Bele) Hazte el sueco (Celtas Cortos) DJambolsko (Dealan)
http://accionlocalmadrid.blogspot.com
Le Mouvement pour une Alternative Non-violente, pour son forum de l'été 2008 à Sion consacré au lien entre non-violence et écologie, a invité le politologue Paul Ariès à présenter ses thèses sur la décroissance. La Zone d'écologie populaire (ZEP) a immortalisé cette conférence... Paul Ariès au MAN (1/3)

Paul Ariès au MAN (2/3)


Paul Ariès au MAN (3/3)

La gratuité - Débat avec Paul Ariès, René Balme et Stéphane Bienvenue

Paul Ariès, né le 11 mai 1959 à Lyon (France) est politologue et écrivain. Il est également partisan de la décroissance économique.
Il échange à l'initiative de la Ville de Grigny avec René Balme, Maire de la commune, Stéphane Bienvenue, Adjoint au Maire de Vaulx en Velin et le public grignerot, au cours d'un débat, ses opinions sur la gratuité

René Balme s’entretient avec Paul Ariès à propos du capitalisme vert



L’élection européenne, nous a dévoilé que l’on pouvait « forcer la main » aux électeurs pour créer artificiellement un courant porteur du capitalisme vert. Quitte a déstructurer et à déstabiliser au passage le courant social libéral et certains partis qui ont bien "servi" le capitalisme à ce jour.

Paul Ariès, nous dévoile dans cet entretien une stratégie politique bien rodée et qui s’appuie sur ce que la recherche fait de mieux dans le domaine des technologies de pointe destinées à soumettre l’être humain et la planète aux appétits financiers de quelques transnationales.

Dans un article publié dans le journal Politis, Paul Ariès, prévient :« Tout sera fait plutôt que de renoncer à la domination des uns sur les autres et de tous sur la planète. Tout, y compris avancer vers un véritable démontage de l’espèce. Certains fantasment déjà sur le passage des OGM aux humains génétiquement modifiés (HGM), tandis que se prépare le tri des embryons humains. D’autres, comme Attali, rêvent d’aller vers des transhumains. Tout sera fait plutôt que de remettre en cause les logiques et les acteurs économiques. Le capitalisme vert a déjà remporté une solide victoire : les firmes, un temps montrées du doigt, deviendraient les meilleurs agents de l’écologie en reléguant les militants aux oubliettes. Ce « capitalisme vert » repose ainsi sur la fusion de l’écologie et de l’économie capitaliste : ses solutions consistent à marchandiser la pollution et à avancer vers une monnaie carbone. »

A lire, aussi :
Non au capitalisme vert, Paul Ariès, éditions Parangon
Le site du Contre Grenelle

Sources : Vivé

René Balme s'entretient avec Paul Aries


A l'occasion de la sortie du premier N° du journal "Le Sarkophage", René Balme s'entretient avec Paul Ariès.

Hervé Kempf : How the Rich are Destroying the Earth




Author Hervé Kempf discusses his book, How the Rich are Destroying the Earth.
 La riposte est sans appel : les gaz lacrymogènes sont lâchés sur la foule prise au piège dans une rue étroite. 31 janvier 2009, alors que le Conseil d’Etat genevois a interdit l’organisation d’une manifestation anti-WEF, un rassemblement a lieu réunissant 1000 personnes. Environ 2000 policiers sont mobilisés.

Après les prises de parole et une ultime tentative d’obtenir l’autorisation de défiler, les manifestants décident de braver l’interdiction et d’affronter la police.

La riposte est sans appel : les gaz lacrymogènes sont lâchés sur la foule prise au piège dans une rue étroite.
http://www.lachaine.ch/spip/spip.php?article85

La haine de Jean Ziegler pour l'Occident - Intégrale



A l'occasion de son nouveau livre, "La haine de l'Occident" (Eds Albin Michel), l'ancien rapporteur spécial des Nations Unies pour le droit à l'alimentation, Jean Ziegler, s'entretient avec Rue89. Une interview plus violente encore que la charge contenue dans le livre.

Objecteurs de croissance et gauche anticapitaliste : quelles convergences ?

Conférence-Débat, le 25 septembre 2009, Maison des Associations, Genève.
Paul Ariès est l’un des intellectuels les plus représentatifs du courant des objecteurs de croissance de gauche en France. Membre du comité de rédaction du journal LA DECROISSANCE. Collaborateur du MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE. Fondateur du bimestriel LE SARKOPHAGE contre tous les sarkozysmes. L’un des co-organisateurs du CONTRE-GRENELE DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT (octobre 2007).
http://www.lachaine.ch/spip/spip.php?article132

The Price of Gold - Human Rights Violations In Peru


rosaryfilms

The Price of Gold by Kigali films. Human Rights' Violation in Yanacocha Gold Mine, Cajamarca, Peru. Producer: Kigali films; Keywords: Peru; mining; Yanacocha; gold mine; Cajamarca; Human Rights' violation; mining conflict. Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Germany.

Representatives from Ghana, Indonesia, Peru, Romania, and Nevada called Newmont Mining, the world's largest gold producer, to urgently reform its human rights and environmental practices at its global operations.

Newmont Mining has been called to respect human rights by:
Fully respecting all human rights and not committing human rights violations, including intimidation of community members and activists.
Refraining from projects that have not secured the free, prior, and informed consent of the communities concerned.
Fully disclosing information about the environmental and social impacts of projects.
Providing fair and just compensation for local communities affected by mining.
Respecting the spiritual and cultural values of communities.

Respect the environment by:
Ending the practice of ocean dumping of mine wastes.
Protecting water resources from pollution and depletion.
Keeping sites of spiritual significance and protected areas off limits from mining.
Ensuring that operations will not result in sulfuric acid drainage to water and soil.
Providing guaranteed funding, before beginning a project, that will fully cover reclamation and closure costs.
Addressing needs left behind by closed mines such as clean- up, reclamation, remedying health impacts, and making land compensations.

Choropampa : El Precio del Oro (documental)




Sinopsis: Un devastador derrame de mercurio de la minera de oro más grande del mundo transforma a un apacible poblado de los andes peruanos en un foco de intensa y desesperada resistencia civil.

Un joven y valiente alcalde es elegido para guiar a su pueblo en la lucha por obtener asistencia médica y justicia. Pero poderosos intereses conspiran contra ellos en cada episodio de esta crónica de dos años sobre el verdadero precio del oro.

Choropampa: El Precio del Oro. 75min. PERU, 2002.
Contacto: filmsperu@gmail.com
Web: www.guarango.org/choropampa

Nota de los productores/directores:
Hoy, 2 de junio de 2010, se cumplen 10 años del derrame de mercurio que intoxicó a mil pobladores de Choropampa. Los pedidos de atención médica y justa compensación aún no han sido atendidos.

En conmemoración de esa fecha y en solidaridad con los choropampinos, los invitamos a ver el documental "Choropampa, El Precio del Oro", completo.

"Choropampa, El Precio del Oro" (75min) ha sido televisado en el Perú, los Estados Unidos, Canadá, la India y en América Latina, y ha participado en más de 50 festivales de cine obteniendo 10 premios y reconocimientos. Hemos donado más de 500 copias en DVD a organizaciones de la sociedad civil y realizado decenas de presentaciones. A pesar de esta exposición y campañas de activistas en el Perú y en el extranjero, las demandas de los pobladores aún no han sido atendidas.

Los que deseen apoyar la causa de Choropampa, pueden contactar a GRUFIDES, una ONG en Cajamarca que trabaja con los afectados: Mirtha Vasquez (abogada), email: mirtha_vasquez@yahoo.es.

Para mayor información, incluyendo una guía educativa en PDF y documentación sobre el caso, por favor visiten la web del documental:

http://www.guarango.org/choropampa/es/index.html

Citas importantes:
Alberto Fujimori @10:52
Luisa María Cuculiza @29:00

Traslado de glaciares en Chile por compañia minera




La compañía Barrick Gold pretende mover glaciares para hacerse con el oro que esconde el subsuelo. Los trabajos de explotación ha dañado ya irremediablemente los glaciares.

Un gran proyecto contra la pequeña Gente










“Un gran proyecto contra la pequeña Gente”, documental producido por Coyote Films que indag en algunos hitos de la aprobación del proyecto minero Pascua Lama de la transnacional Barrick Gold.
Escrito por Horacio Brum, Dirigido por Rodrigo Lampasona, 2008, 30 minutos, color, stereo.
http://coyotefilms.wordpress.com/documentales/

HERVE KEMPF : LA CROISSANCE EN QUESTION



Quels modèles économiques pour le développement durable ?

HERVE KEMPF
Auteur de Comment les riches détruisent la planète, Seuil, 2007, et de La guerre secrète des OGM, réédition, Seuil, 2007, Hervé Kempf est journaliste au quotidien Le Monde, où il couvre les questions écologiques.

La nécessité de stimuler la croissance économique, comme moyen de juguler le sous-emploi, de lutter contre la pauvreté, et de faire face à l’augmentation inéluctable des dépenses liées au vieillissement démographique, est parfois remise en cause. Il n’en demeure pas moins que cela reste le modèle dans lequel notre société se développe et évolue.
Pour autant, nul ne nie la nécessité de promouvoir une stratégie de développement durable, qui doit permettre de mieux concilier performance économique, équité sociale et sauvegarde de l’écosystème, sans sacrifier le sort des générations futures au seul bénéfice de profits à court terme.
Comment donc concilier ces deux exigences alors même que le modèle de croissance s’est jusqu’ici accompagné d’une intense consommation de matières premières et d’une destruction accélérée de l’écosystème, pour ne citer que ces domaines ?

S’agit-il de repenser nos systèmes de comptabilité pour mieux y intégrer les préoccupations environnementales, le bien-être, et réhabiliter la dimension du long terme sans renoncer à la satisfaction des besoins immédiats ? En d’autres termes, l’évaluation de la croissance économique telle que nous la connaissons est-elle réellement compatible avec le développement durable ? La préservation à long terme de la qualité peut-elle être prise en compte dans les calculs économiques souvent à plus court terme ?
Marie-Pierre Digard, Présidente de l’ARENE

sexta-feira, 27 de novembro de 2009

Conférence d'Hervé Kempf à Dijon le 11 février 2009, dans le cadre de la sortie de son nouveau livre: Pour sauver la terre, sortez du capitalisme.

Hervé Kempf : Constat des inégalités en France



Conférence Ifore sur l'Economie sociale et solidaire 2/14

Hervé Kempf est un journaliste et écrivain français. Il est notamment publié dans le quotidien français Le Monde.

D'abord journaliste scientifique pour Science et Vie Micro, le choc de la catastrophe de Tchernobyl le pousse à se consacrer aux questions écologiques . Après avoir fondé Reporterre, travaillé pour Courrier International, La Recherche, il se spécialise sur les questions environnementales au journal Le Monde et reste proche de la mouvance altermondialiste.

Il est élu au conseil de gérance de la Société des rédacteurs de Le Monde (SRM)[1].

Dans Comment les riches détruisent la planète, il souligne les liens entre crise sociale et la crise écologique et tente d'expliquer pourquoi aucune solution décisive n'est mise en place pour rémédier à la seconde au sein de nos sociétés contemporaines.

Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Kempf

The New Food Wars: Globalization, GMOs & Biofuels

Across the world, food riots are taking place. Scientist and activist Vandana Shiva explores whether the future will be one of food wars or food peace. She argues that the creation of food peace demands a major shift in the way food is produced and distributed, and the way in which we manage and use the soil, water and biodiversity, which makes food production possible. 17th Annual Margolis lecture at UC Irvine.

Vandana Shiva - The Future of Food and Seed


pdxjustice

Scientist, feminist, ecologist and author, Vandana Shiva, presenting the keynote address at the 2009 Organicology Conference in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 2009.

pdxjustice Media Productions
Producer: William Seaman

quarta-feira, 25 de novembro de 2009


Simplicidad Voluntaria y Decrecimiento (documental) from Décroissance on Vimeo.

Documental francés (1h) de Jean-Claude DECOURT sobre la Simplicidad Voluntaria y el Decrecimiento.

Con las intervenciones de... Jean-Claude Besson-Girard, Sabine Rabourdin, Suzan George, José Bové, Alain Dufranc, Paul Ariès, Raoul Jennar, François Schneider, Jérome Medeville, Michel Jarru, Martin Leers, Vincent Cheynet, Didier Laurencin, Serge Latouche, la Cie du 4 de Toulouse...

utopimages.org/spip.php?article1
Paul Krugman: The Return of Depression Economics

New York Times columnist and Nobel economist Paul Krugman comes to the Hudson Union Society to talk about the aftermath of the global economic crisis.

He discusses what it will take to make a full recovery, and explores how issues ranging from cap and trade legislation to healthcare reform will affect America's economy.

The New York Times bestseller: the Nobel Prize-winning economist shows how today's crisis parallels the Great Depression--and explains how to avoid catastrophe. With a new foreword for this paperback edition.

In this major bestseller, Paul Krugman warns that, like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression have made a comeback. He lays bare the 2008 financial crisis--the greatest since the 1930s--tracing it to the failure of regulation to keep pace with an out-of-control financial system. He also tells us how to contain the crisis and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession. Brilliantly crafted in Krugman's trademark style--lucid, lively, and supremely informed--this new edition of The Return of Depression Economics has become an instant classic. A hard-hitting new foreword takes the paperback edition right up to the present moment.

terça-feira, 24 de novembro de 2009

Chris Hedges on Obama and the Rise of Fascism


IWantDemocracyNow

Is economic despair the vehicle for totalitarianism?

Plummeting unemployment rates mark this economic crisis around the nation which is resulting in a political crisis on Capitol Hill, as Democrats and the GOP debate the stimulus. Some analysts say that this economic despair is creating a vehicle towards totalitarianism, which was evident during the Great Depression. But during that depression, the nation had strong labor unions and a vibrant independent press. Without those traditional tools, what might we face in the coming years? Chris Hedges is the author of American Fascists: the Christian Right and the War on America, and a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist. He is pessimistic about he says is a growing movement towards fascism in the US.

Q&A with Chris Hedges - C-SPAN Video Library

Chris Hedges talked about the state of U.S. government and journalism and how he became a journalist after beginning his career as a minister. He also talked about his book Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians (Nation Books, June 2, 2008). For the book Mr. Hedges and his co-author Laila Al-Arian interviewed members of the U.S. military who told them about Americans actions against Iraqi civilians and how those actions have impacted the Iraqi view of U.S. forces there. Chris Hedges is a former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times. In 2002 he was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of global terrorism. He has also worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, and The Dallas Morning News. Currently he is a distinguished fellow at Princeton and a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. His previous books include War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning.

Jeremy Scahill: "Obama, Blackwater, War Beyond Bush"
  Journalist Jeremy Scahill discussion about American military power and economic imperialism in the coming years, related to Obama policies. He is is a correspondent for Democracy Now, and is a frequent contributor to The Nation. Scahill documented the use of private military contractors in his award-winning book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army".

True Crimes : The Untold Story Behind the Devastation of Iraq


consciencefilms

Discussion with Seymour Hersh, Jeremy Scahill, Laila Al-Arian, Chris Hedges and Hamilton Fish at Town Hall, New York City, June 3, 2008 sponsored by The Nation Institute. Filmed by Eugene Taylor and Abraham Krikorian (Conscience Films - non-profit)

segunda-feira, 23 de novembro de 2009



True scientists say, "We are aware that our theories are not perfect, just the best fit." No claims to absolute truth are believed because none are made. There is a recognition of what we are all forced to work with. And there is a recognition that science works.

This video challenges the claim that a belief in science requires equal faith to the belief in a god.

A look at some of the flawed thinking that prompts people who believe in certain non-scientific concepts to advise others who don't to be more open-minded.


Faith has no place demanding agreement or punishing disagreement.


Conversations with History Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Michael Hardt of Duke University.  They discuss his joint work with Antonio Negri on Empire. Professor Hardt reflects on his own intellectual odyssey and how his political activism shaped his thinking about radical consciousness in an age of Empire.

Antonio Negri : A Revolt That Never Ends




Over the years, few intellectuals have experienced as much admiration and hatred as Antonio Negri. His international best-selling book, Empire, a critical analysis of the new global economy coauthored with Michael Hardt, was hailed as a new manifesto for the 21st century, and turned Negri into a leading spokesperson for the international anti-globalization movement. Antonio Negri: A Revolt that Never Ends profiles the controversial life and times of this important moral and political philosopher, militant, prisoner, refugee, and so-called “enemy of the state.” It traces his roots in the radical left-wing movements in Italy during the 60s and 70s, illustrated through incredible archival footage of strikes, factory occupations, terrorist actions, violent street confrontations, and government trials of dissidents. During these tumultuous decades Negri spent ten years in prison and fourteen years in Parisian exile, where he contributed to philosophical debates with authors such as Gilles Deleuze. The film features interviews with Negri (conducted following his April 2003 release from confinement), public speaking appearances, plus commentary from his coauthor Michael Hardt, and Italian and French colleagues. Antonio Negri explores this visionary theoretician’s lifelong political struggle, now being expressed in works of contemporary relevance such as Empire and its sequel, Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire, a powerful intellectual project in protest of the new global order. 
Antonio Negri (First Run / Icarus Films)

Conversations with History : Michael Hardt


UCtelevision

Conversations with History Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Michael Hardt of Duke University. They discuss his joint work with Antonio Negri on Empire. Professor Hardt reflects on his own intellectual odyssey and how his political activism shaped his thinking about radical consciousness in an age of Empire.
 
14. German Trend Day: Social Wealth / Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hy from Trendbuero on Vimeo.

Lawrence Lessig (USA) is a professor of law at Stanford Law School
and founder of the Center for Internet and Society and the Creative Commons initiative. He tries to close the gap between outdated copyright laws and new technologies. Lessig writes at lessig.org/blog

domingo, 22 de novembro de 2009

Sustaining Our Commonwealth of Nature and Knowledge
A Lecture by Herman Daly


One of the world's most notable environmental thinkers, Herman E. Daly is currently Professor at the University of Maryland in the School of Public Affairs. His numerous works include: Steady-State Economics , Beyond Growth , and For the Common Good . Daly is also a co-founder of the journal Ecological Economics and serves on its editorial board.


Jefferson's Taper: How America's Revolutionaries Imagined our Cultural Commons"
by Lewis Hyde

Lewis Hyde is a poet, essayist, translator, and cultural critic with a particular interest in the public life of the imagination. His 1983 book, The Gift, illuminates and defends the non-commercial portion of artistic practice. Trickster Makes This World (1998) uses a group of ancient myths to argue for the kind of disruptive intelligence all cultures need if they are to remain lively, flexible, and open to change. Hyde is currently at work on a book about our “cultural commons,” that vast store of ideas, inventions, and works of art that we have inherited from the past and continue to produce.

A MacArthur Fellow and former director of undergraduate creative writing at Harvard University, Hyde teaches during the fall semesters at Kenyon College, where he is the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing. During the rest of the year he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is a Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Bioethics Without Borders Lecture Series 2008/2009 

The public face of bioethics focuses on hot-button issues such as stem cell research, genetic privacy and physician-assisted suicide. These are, without doubt, critical issues. But larger policy questions are often neglected. This multidisciplinary lecture series examines a wide range of neglected issues—from the ethics of health care reform to the impact of industry and national security funding on biomedical research, from the effects of climate change on global health to the ethics of food choice.

Nancy Olivieri, M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), Professor, Pediatrics, Medicine and Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto

David U. Himmelstein, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Co-Founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

Allen M. Hornblum, Temple University, Author, with
Edward "Yusef" Anthony, former inmate test subject
Cheap and Available: The American Medical and Pharmaceutical Community’s Love Affair with Prison Inmates

Rebecca Kukla, Professor of Philosophy and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of South Florida

Jonathan D. Moreno, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, Professor of Medical Ethics, and Professor of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense

Mark Schapiro, Editorial Director, Center for Investigative Reporting

Paul Epstein, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School
Confronting Climate Instability: Health Consequences and Healthy Solutions

Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, and Professor of Sociology, New York University
The Ethics of Food Choice: Personal Responsibility vs. Social Responsibility

Climate of Hope
This animated documentary takes viewers on a tour through the science of climate change, the nuclear fuel chain, and the remarkable energy revolution that is under way.




Produced in 2007 by Scott Ludlam and Jose Garcia for the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia.
Via: http://pimentanegra.blogspot.com/

Climate Change and Intergenerational Equity and Ethics from Jennifer Marlow on Vimeo.

Please watch this Three Degrees Conference video on the intergenerational ethics of climate change. Stephen Gardiner and Carolyn Raffesnperger present their ideas for why and how to protect the rights of future generations from climate harms.

The Three Degrees Conference was co-organized by two law students, Jeni Barcelos and Jen Marlow, at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. (May 28-29, 2009.) threedegreesconference.org

The conference brought together leading world scholars to emphasize and leverage the linkages between climate change and human rights. The objective of the conference was to push the future direction of international climate policy toward climate adaptation, particularly by developing creative, interdisciplinary strategies for helping people burdened by climate impacts adapt to changes and survive the threat of those changes to their basic human rights to food, health, security, culture, and justice.

Human Role in Climate Change (WPSU.org)

Produced by WPSU (a PBS affiliate) and the Rock Ethics Institute, this short film reviews the current state of scientific understanding about the human influences on climate change through straightforward explanations by top geological, meteorological, and geographic scientists working on climate related research at The Pennsylvania State University. The film concludes with the argument that while the sciencehas reached a high degree of certainty and there is little remaining disagreement about the causes of climate change, there remain questions as to what to do about climate change which are fundamentally ethical in nature and are now the responsibility of decision-makers and the public-at-large. The film features professors Richard Alley, Katherine Freeman, Michael Mann, James Kasting, Petra Tschakert, Klaus Keller, and Nancy Tuana.

Cease-Fire : the Case for Ending War


caseschooloflaw

September 23, 2009

Speaker: Gordon Fellman, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Brandeis University

Sponsored by: Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Conflict and Dispute Resolution, Louis C. Greenwood Lecture

Summary: Professor Fellman will examine the standard justifications for war and show how each is lacking. War is a social invention and can be succeeded by peace, which is another social invention. He will discuss three reasons—two of them structural and one social psychological—that war persists in this era.

- One is the gains it means for those sectors of the economy that profit from selling the implements of war, servicing the war machine once it is in place, and reconstructing what has been destroyed in war.

- Second is the pervasiveness of normative masculinity (which he calls "traditional masculinity"). He claims that the warrior is the quintessence and culmination of the qualities of normative masculinity and try to show some of the contradictions and hidden problems there. He suggests how normative masculinity can be reconceived and reconstructed to value avoiding war above making war.

- The third element of the argument is social psychological. Anger is inadequately studied as a major problem in human affairs. It is likely that all societies redirect anger away from its real sources (in family, relationships, work, government, etc.) to substitute objects. Creating enemies and making war upon them is perhaps the most dramatic of these practices.

Prof. Fellman will then make a series of recommendations for how to move past war.

Writing on the Wall : From Disaster to Doing Something


Speaker: Cindi Katz, Professor of Geography in Environmental Psychology and Women`s Studies at the City University of New York, Graduate Center
Date of event: Feb 7, 2008
Location: Dickinson College, Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues

sábado, 21 de novembro de 2009

 BBC NEWS | Unlocking the mysteries of speech

"Talking is something that is unique to humans, yet it still remains a mystery. Horizon meets the scientists beginning to unlock the secrets of speech - including a father who is filming every second of his son's first three years in order to discover how we learn to talk, the autistic savant who can speak more than 20 languages, and the first scientist to identify a gene that makes speech possible.

Horizon also hears from the godfather of linguistics, Noam Chomsky, the first to suggest that our ability to talk is innate. A unique experiment shows how a new alien language can emerge in just one afternoon, in a bid to understand where language comes from and why it is the way it is."


The world is consuming more and more electronic products every year. This has caused a dangerous explosion in electronic scrap (e-waste) containing toxic chemicals and heavy metals that cannot be disposed of or recycled safely. But this problem can be avoided. We are pressing leading electronic companies to change; to turn back the toxic tide of e-waste. Every year, hundreds of thousands of old computers and mobile phones are dumped in landfills or burned in smelters. Thousands more are exported, often illegally, from the Europe, US, Japan and other industrialised countries, to Asia. There, workers at scrap yards, some of whom are children, are exposed to a cocktail of toxic chemicals and poisons

We begin our journey in the Arctic, an isolated and vulnerable world of extremes. In many ways, this is the perfect place to investigate the future health of our planet — a future conditional on how we cope with the spread of toxic pollution.
The Arctic is a place dominated by the rhythms of nature and the seasonal patterns of migration. It's a place of deep fiords teeming with life and remote fishing villages governed by the endless cycle of strong tidal currents. However, the image that most people have of the polar region — of a pristine unspoiled wilderness — is far from accurate. The Arctic, which has very few sources of industrial pollution, is turning into a toxic sink. In a phenomenon scientists call the grasshopper effect, toxic pollutants released thousands of miles to the south evaporate in the warm climate then ride the winds until they reach the cold air of the Arctic, where they eventually fall to the earth.
Thousands of miles to the south in Tijuana, the community of Colonia Chilpancingo suffered from a much more local source of pollution. When it rains a nearby creek is flooded with chemical wastes from a deserted industrial park upstream. Lead oxides, sulfites, heavy metals, sulfuric acid, and arsenic travel in the contaminated waterway that weave its way through the shantytown community. It poisons everything and everyone in its path — including the community's only source of water.
Over the border just 17 miles North, the San Diego community of Barrio Logan celebrates its victory over one of its neighborhood’s chief polluters , a small industrial factory called Master Plating. Although the struggle against environmental threats to the community's health has lasted decades, the price of not fighting is too high not to pay.
Over 7,000 miles away in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, the death of the Aral Sea has become a never-ending nightmare. The rivers that fed the sea were diverted to increase the region’s cotton production, leaving behind a toxic dust that is poisoning the people.
Though most scientists have concluded that it's too late to save the Aral Sea, it does serve as a graphic warning for the people of Palm Springs who may live in the path of a potential storm of toxic dust. Just beyond the Salton Sea is a vast network of generators that harness the power of the wind, providing ample electricity but also serving as a reminder that high winds are a natural part of the local environment.
As the Salton Sea begins to recede, toxic dust storms will inevitably come off the dried-out lakebed. Despite this danger, the transfer of water from the Sea to the city of San Diego has gone forward without an agreed upon plan or even adequate funds to remedy the situation. Could Californians be risking a similar health crisis as the people of Uzbekistan?
This new reality presents us with enormous challenges for the future. It is a future conditional on providing new ideas, new attitudes and new hope.

sexta-feira, 20 de novembro de 2009

“The fantasy of celebrity culture is not designed simply to entertain. It is designed to keep us from fighting back.” We need not stretch ourselves, I imagine. The hero of The Matrix will stretch for us. So will Plastic Man or Batman or Superman. In our culture of distractions and manipulations, Aldous Huxley “feared that what we love will ruin us.” Citing Neil Postman, he reproduces a dialectic between the authors of 1984 and Brave New World:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

After Words: Chris Hedges interviewed by Ron Suskind

Former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges discusses his new book, “Empire of Illusion,” which describes what he considers to be the economic, political and moral collapse of American culture. He is interviewed by Pulitizer Prize-winning writer Ron Suskind.

Chris Hedges is a Senior Fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City. A former foreign correspondent for the New York Times, he was part of the team that won a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of global terrorism. He also received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. Mr. Hedges is author of "Losing Moses on the Freeway" and "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," the latter of which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.

Not for sale - No a la venta


uned

ABSTRACT: A Documentry of the Observatorio for Corporate Social responsibility, coproduced by Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED).

The people all around the world are becoming increasingly dependent on a small number of large multinational businesses. Monsanto controls 90% of the production of genetically modified seeds. Microsoft holds 88.26% market share of the software industry, followed by apple with Mac who hold 9.93%. Everyday 150 million people throughout the world buy a Unilever product without even realising it. Mc Donalds, serve 58.1million meals a day around the world. Of the 100 largest economies of the world, 51 of them are businesses. The state loses power at the same rate as businesses gain it. Globalisation has created a context which requires a redefinition of the rules for the global 21st century society.

Within this context rises the debate of Social Corporate Responsibility or of (CSR) companies emerging at the starting point from which they can re-establish the balance between economic development, sustainable environment and the social development needed in order to build the new society that we long for. Even though a gradual interest in Coporate Social Responsibility is being created, as much in business circles as in social circles, the process is still slow.

It is time that we consider the type of society which we wish to build and what role we are going to play in its development. We must assume the role of consumers, workers and of public opinion involved in the application of responsible practices in all aspects of business activity.

Financed by: Cajasol Foundation
Keywords: Business, Globalisation, Crisis, Multinational, Corporate Social Repsonsibility, CSR. Human Rights, Economy, Tax haven.

Un documental coproducido por la UNED, en el CEMAV, para la iniciativa "NO A LA VENTA" http://www.noalaventa.com/ del Observatorio de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC), (http://www.observatoriorsc.org/ "una asociación integrada por quince organizaciones representativas de la sociedad civil, entre las que se encuentran ONG, sindicatos y organizaciones de consumidores/as. Es una red que fomenta la participación y cooperación entre organizaciones sociales que, desde diferentes puntos de vista, trabajan en Responsabilidad Social Corporativa."
Entre las entidades colaboradoras se encuentra la UNED.
Más información sobre RSC de la UNED en el blog de Responsabilidad Corporativa y Sostenibilidad
http://rsc.uned.es/.

domingo, 15 de novembro de 2009

Dar o salto para a simplicidade voluntária - mesa redonda na ECOPORTO

Domingo dia 22 de Novembro às 15h, integrada na semana Portugal Bio 2009, irei orientar uma mesa redonda na ECOPORTO.

Dar o salto para a simplicidade voluntária
A sociedade actual fez de nós consumidores. O motor principal das nossas vidas tornou-se alimentar um sistema que claramente falharia sem nós baseado em ideais economicistas que visam o lucro, desconectados de valores humanos e das necessidades do mundo natural.
Sair do nosso papel de consumidores é vital para o avanço da humanidade.
Como reencontrar o nosso papel neste planeta, dando um passo consciente para a simplicidade e harmonia é o que pretendemos discutir à volta de um chá.

Susan George : Crisis, Otra Mirada


cedecom

Filósofa, escritora y doctora en Ciencias Políticas, Susan George es una de las figuras más representativas de ATTAC, una asociación presente en más de cuarenta países que lucha por cambiar las bases del sistema económico imperante. En este Autorretrato, la activista francesa, que impartió la conferencia inaugural de los cursos de verano de la Universidad de Málaga, compartirá con nosotros sus reflexiones sobre los temas más interesantes de la actualidad internacional.
"Doctor, there's a growth in my economy!"

A fascinating forum on that stuff that makes the world go around.

Speaker Dr Philip Lawn.

Senior Lecturer in Ecological Economics,

Flinders University. South Australia.

Dr Lawn's presentation will aim to demonstrate why 'growth' is making us worse off, apart from destroying the planet, and why the transition to a steady-state economy is necessary to achieve sustainable development.

Included in the discussion are:

(a) the role and limitations of markets;
(b) policies to facilitate the transition to a steady-state economy; &
(c) the debunking of a number of pro-growth arguments.














Michael Hudson habla con El Economista Renegado

Dr. Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 and 2003) and of The Myth of Aid (1971).

ISLET engages in research regarding domestic and international finance, national income and balance-sheet accounting with regard to real estate, and the economic history of the ancient Near East.