Leonardo Padura Fuentes
DIVERSITY IN CUBA
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, December 2008
The image of a single, homogeneous Cuba is increasingly the stuff of dreams. The single-party, command-economy socialist island of the Caribbean with a monolithic society and politics is giving way to a Cuba of social diversity moving towards a plurality that would have been hard, if not impossible, to imagine twenty years ago.
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Syeda Hameed
INDIA: PUSHING FOR CHANGE
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, December 2008
In my hand are 3 volumes of the 11th Five Year Plan. As a document which charts India’s development for the period 2007-2012, it is of immense value to all those who dream of a faster and more equitable growth.
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Marina Silva
THE POSSIBLE AMAZON
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, December 2008
(IPS/Tierramerica) Sometimes it seems that the Amazon is treated the wrong way, as a space to flee from our errors or a frontier for the predatory expansion of production where the forest or water can be devoured without leaving traces of our irresponsibility, ignorance, lack of vision, or short-term attitudes.
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Irene Khan
IT IS TIME TO RETURN TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, December 2008
Terrorists go on a rampage of senseless killing in Mumbai. Exhausted and terrified refugees pour into Uganda to escape the fighting in eastern Congo. Ten people are executed in Iran. Three hundred thousand civilians are displaced in northern Sri Lanka. Slowing rates of economic growth cast deep gloom around the world. Not a particularly auspicious moment to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Mario Soares
EUROPE ADRIFT
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, December 2008
The massive economic crisis is spreading and deepening in every area of the globe, and no one can say with certainty where it is leading or when it will be possible to resolve it. Like other crises, this one varies from region to region. And even in the West, there are remarkable differences between its effects in the US, the epicentre of the crisis, and those in the European Union.
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Pascal Lamy
IN ECONOMIC CRISIS, THE POOR AND WEAK SUFFER MOST
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, December 2008
In every economic crisis, it is the poor and weak who suffer most. Individuals without savings or a reliable source of income face the most difficulty in surviving sharp economic downturns.
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Joaquín Roy
EUROPE: A GIANT CRIPPLE
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, November 2008
In case president elect Barack Obama doesn't have enough files awaiting him on the desk of the Oval Office, the National Intelligence Council has prepared him some additional reading that may dim his characteristic smile. "Global 2025: A World Transformed" is the title of the futuristic document, part alarming, part depressing, mined with commonplaces and not a few stereotypes.
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Moussa Dembele Demba
AFRICA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: WHICH WAY FORWARD?
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, November 2008
As the December 2007 deadline was approaching, the European Commission (EC) realized that it would not get what it badly wanted: to close a deal with all African regions on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) -basically free-trade pacts. This was a major setback for the Commission, especially for former EC Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
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Nicole Kidman
A LIFE FREE OF VIOLENCE IS EVERY WOMAN'S RIGHT
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, November 2008
One in three women may suffer from abuse and violence in her lifetime. This is an appalling and widespread human rights violation, yet it remains one of the invisible and under-recognised pandemics of our time. Think of it: being a woman or a girl actually puts you at risk. Equally upsetting is the fact that too many people -whether on main street or in the corridors of government- think that violence against women is inevitable.
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Leonardo Padura Fuentes
DECENCY, TRUTH, AND THE ATTACK ON MILAN KUNDERA
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, November 2008
The lamentable scandal that broke a few weeks ago about the alleged denunciation by the young Milan Kundera of a seemingly possible "western" spy in then Czechoslovakia, can be examined from every angle, but there has been little comment about the ethical component of this probable act of denunciation.
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