The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers | International Labor Rights Forum Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders. Several of the companies below are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for violations of international rights or treaties. When corporations act like criminals, we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational corporations alike to the accords they have signed. Around the world--in Venezuela, Argentina, India, and right here in the United States--citizens are stepping up to create democracy and hold corporations accountable to international law. Caterpillar Chevron Coca-Cola Dow Chemical
I Am Awake Project | The 5th Element This Week in Sociology: Unintended Consequences: The Social Context of 9/11 by Mike King, University of California, Santa Cruz, September 11, 2001 is a world historic moment, a historical signpost – “9/11”. More than a deadly attack, it stands as a moment that truly changed history, and its existence--not only in memory but in remembrance—can help us understand both the past and the present. Sociology can inform our understanding, not just of events themselves, but also why and how they happened, and the broader effects they have over time. For example, Al Qaeda is more of an ideology and a very loose network than it is an organization with clear command structures or cohesiveness. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was part of the Cold War competition with the US for global dominance. Al Qaeda’s political legitimacy, part of their economic funding, and the formation of their networks were all partially created by the US government. Part of the social context of the Muslim world is the inherent grievances many Muslims have towards the US and the West.
LDMG | Legal Defence & Monitoring Group Pentagon withheld information about decades-old chemical weapons during Iraq War, report claims This photo shows the interior of a chemical weapons facility in Iraq (AP) American troops were exposed to chemical weapons multiple times in the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, while the Pentagon kept their discoveries of the expired or degraded weapons secret from investigators, fellow soldiers, and military doctors, according to a published report. The New York Times reported late Tuesday that American troops reported finding approximately 5,000 chemical warheads, shells, or aviation bombs in the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On at least six occasions, soldiers were wounded by those weapons, which had been manufactured before 1991. In all, the paper reported that 17 U.S. soldiers and seven Iraqi police officers were exposed to chemical agents during the war. The U.S. government said its number was slightly higher, but did not release a specific figure. Click for more from The New York Times.
The Economics of Happiness (2011) Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. We hear from a chorus of voices from six continents including Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Michael Shuman, Juliet Schor, Zac Goldsmith and Samdhong Rinpoche - the Prime Minister of Tibet's government in exile.
Earth - Your life on earth Explore BBC Earth's unique interactive, personalised just to you. Find out how, since the date of your birth, your life has progressed; including how many times your heart has beaten, and how far you have travelled through space. Investigate how the world around you has changed since you've been alive; from the amount the sea has risen, and the tectonic plates have moved, to the number of earthquakes and volcanoes that have erupted. Grasp the impact we've had on the planet in your lifetime; from how much fuel and food we've used to the species we've discovered and endangered. And see how the BBC was there with you, capturing some of the most amazing wonders of the natural world. Explore, enjoy, and share with your friends either the whole page, or your favourite insights. This is your story, the story of your life on earth. BBC Earth's Your life on earth is based on the following sources. Lead photo credit: John Kellerman / Alamy.
Information that Society Needs to Wake the Fu*k Up The current state of humanity’s reality is one big cluster-fu@k, as well as a mystical dream. However, some of the people who are disengaging from ‘mainstream programming’, ‘social engineering’ and are waking up to the realities of our world, have only awoken to one side of the equation. Therefore, this list serves as a reminder of both the educational and conceptual ‘awakenings’ that need to occur on a widespread scale to transform our social systems into their new stage of evolution. Our future generations are depending on us not being asleep at the wheel. Regardless of how challenging at first it is to take in, when we do the ‘proper’ research, we understand that: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Once we look into why this is happening, we begin to see scattered patterns of information that indicate more or less the following: 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Sounds out of control right? 43. 44.
Echoes of Selma - CNN.com They never linked arms to sing "We Shall Overcome." No one smacked them on the head with a club for trying to vote. They didn't march into a phalanx of armed state troopers who beat them like animals. But the forces that mobilized against demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, 50 years ago launched a movement of their own that relied on an audacious strategy: They blew a hole through the civil rights movement's most revered law by borrowing the same tactics protesters used in Selma. Watch on CNN TV Watch live coverage of ceremonies in Selma commemorating 50 years since "Bloody Sunday" starting at 11 a.m. When President Barack Obama and civil rights veterans gather this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Selma campaign, many people will focus on the pivotal moments that sparked the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, once known as the "crown jewel" of the movement. The court's decision -- in Shelby County, Alabama v. "The jewel has been smashed," Berman says of the voting law.
Pando Populus | We're all connected 'One of the largest human experiments in history' was conducted on the unsuspecting residents of San Francisco Frances Oldham Kelsey, FDA scientist who kept thalidomide off U.S. market, dies at 101 In the annals of modern medicine, it was a horror story of international scope: thousands of babies dead in the womb and at least 10,000 others in 46 countries born with severe deformities. Some of the children were missing limbs. Others had arms and legs that resembled a seal’s flippers. In many cases, eyes, ears and other organs and tissues failed to develop properly. The cause, scientists discovered by late 1961, was thalidomide, a drug that, during four years of commercial sales in countries from Germany to Australia, was marketed to pregnant women as a miracle cure for morning sickness and insomnia. The tragedy was largely averted in the United States, with much credit due to Frances Oldham Kelsey, a medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, who raised concerns about thalidomide before its effects were conclusively known. Dr. Dr. In July 1962, The Washington Post directed national attention on the matter — and on Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. While Dr. Dr. Dr.
Arizona Drug Tested Welfare Recipients — Here Are the Shocking Results When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on July 13, he peppered his 34-minute speech with a laundry list of deeply conservative policy prescriptions. Among them was a requirement — much like the one in the state budget he signed less than 24 hours before the event — that welfare recipients pass a drug test before collecting public assistance benefits. "In Wisconsin, we enacted a program that says that adults who are able to work must be enrolled in one of our job training programs before they can get a welfare check," he said. "Now, as of the budget I just signed, we are also making sure they can take a drug test." The Republican romance with legislation meant to complicate the process of delivering aid to low-income residents or, as critics argue, defame and shame them, can be traced back to 2009. "We don't want people who are abusing drugs to be on welfare," GOP state Rep. Lesson learned? "Gov.