10/08/2015
By John Scales Avery*
10 August 2015
Hobson’s explanation of colonialism
The Industrial Revolution opened up an enormous gap in military strength between the industrialized nations and the rest of the world. Taking advantage of their superior weaponry, Europe, the United States and Japan rapidly carved up the remainder of the world into colonies, which acted as sources of raw materials and food, and as markets for manufactured goods.
**Map of colonial empires throughout the world in 1800 | Author: George Tsiagalakis – original public domain PNG design by Jluisrs | Licence(CC-BY-SA 4) | Wikiemdia Commons
Between 1800 and 1914, the percentage of the earth under the domination of colonial powers increased to 85 percent, if former colonies are included.
The English economist and Fabian, John Atkinson Hobson (1858-1940), offered a famous explanation of the colonial era in his book “Imperialism: A Study” (1902).
According to Hobson, the basic problem that led to colonial expansion was an excessively unequal distribution of incomes in the industrialized countries.
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10/08/2015
There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in 90 countries around the world, practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live.*
Opening of the fourteenth session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (20 April 2015). UN Photo/Loey Felipe
On 9 August 2015, the UN Secretary-General called on the international community to commit to do more to improve the health and well-being of indigenous peoples, who face a wide range of challenges from inadequate sanitation and housing to high rates of diabetes, drug and alcohol abuse.
In his message to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples message, observed annually on 9 August, Ban Ki-moon noted that most of the challenges they face to their health and well-being are “eminently preventable.”
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09/08/2015
Rajani BK*, 26, was sitting in front of her house when her father came home early in the morning and started verbally abusing her mother, who was getting ready to go to work. “He was drunk, angry and started threatening to kill my mother,” says BK. She tried to intervene, and was dragged near a wall, and thought she was going to die.
A case worker at the Kabhre multipurpose women’s center in Panchkhal, Nepal, Sabitri Lamichanne attends a programme on 1 July. The multipurpose women’s centre provides dignity kits, solar lamps, trauma counselling, information, referrals, carries out women’s safety audits and facilitates early recovery and livelihood activities. Photo: UN Women/Samir Jung Thapa.
This was not the first time BK felt physically threatened by her father.
She doesn’t remember a time when he was not abusive.
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09/08/2015
Geneva, 7 Augusto 2015 (ILO)* — The recent loss of lives in the Mediterranean Sea is yet another reminder of the human impact of unresolved conflicts and development failures worldwide. The seeming global paralysis in the face of this on-going human tragedy is deeply disturbing.
© Italian Navy/M. Sestini | Italian Navy rescues boat filled with refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean last year. More than 2,100 people have died so far this year attempting to cross to Europe in over-crowded, flimsy vessels. | Source: UNHCR
“Stopgap measures to halt the flows of migrants only scratch the surface of the problem. We need to go deeper into the root causes that force people to put their lives in danger in order to find work and security in foreign lands,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.
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09/08/2015
By Elsa Lee*
7 August 2015 – This week two major wins came out of the campaign to protect Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. But the fight is not over…
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Credit: Greenpeace/Michael Amendolia
When news broke of Australia’s Federal Court overturning the approval of the Carmichael coal mine – a A$16 billion mine, rail and port project proposed for the Galilee Basin in Queensland, right on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef – there was rapturous applause.
But the good news didn’t stop there. The same day Australia’s biggest bank pulled the plug on Carmichael – the first bank that was involved in the project and now no longer wants to be.
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09/08/2015
By Uri Avnery*
8 August 2015
BINYAMIN NETANYAHU is not known as a classical scholar, but even so he has adopted the Roman maxim Divide et Impera, divide and rule.
Uri Avnery
The main (and perhaps only) goal of his policy is to extend the rule of Israel, as the “Nation-State of the Jewish People”, over all of Eretz Israel, the historical land of Palestine.
This means ruling all of the West Bank and covering it with Jewish settlements, while denying any civil rights to its 2.5 million plus Arab inhabitants.
East Jerusalem, with its 300,000 Arab inhabitants, has already been formally annexed to Israel, without granting them Israeli citizenship or the right to take part in Knesset elections.
That leaves the Gaza Strip, a tiny enclave with 1.8 million plus Arab inhabitants, most of them descendents of refugees from Israel. The last thing in the world Netanyahu wants is to include these, too, in the Israeli imperium.
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09/08/2015
By William Spindler
Geneva (UNHCR)* – Some 124,000 refugees and migrants had arrived in Greece by sea at the end of July this year – a staggering 750 per cent increase on the same period in 2014, the UN refugee agency detailed on 7 August 2015.
© UNHCR/A.McConnell | A group of Syrian refugees arrive on the island of Lesbos after traveling in an inflatable raft from Turkey, near Skala Sykaminias, Greece.
UNHCR said that in July alone 50,000 new arrivals were reported, 20,000 more than the previous month — an increase of almost 70 per cent — mainly to the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros.*
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09/08/2015
The United Nations on 8 August 2015 called on anti-Government elements in Afghanistan to stop targeting civilian-populated areas, after a series of attacks yesterday [Friday 7 August] killed at least 40 people, injured more than 300 and caused extensive damage to homes and property.
Members of a family sit outside their simple home in northern Afghanistan’s Faryab province. Photo: UNHCR/S. Sisomsack
This was the highest number of civilians killed and injured in one day since the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) began systematically recording civilian casualties in 2009.
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07/08/2015
Paris, 5 August 2015 (UNHCR)* – A gigantic photo exhibition now covers the walls along the banks of the Seine in Paris. The 370-metre long panorama includes photos representing humanity and diversity as well as seven key words translated into languages from all around the world: respect, peace, solidarity, friendship, dignity, hospitality and hope.
© UNHCR/O. Laban-Mattei | A UNHCR volunteer indicates to a visitor some of the main themes of Reza’s exhibition along the Seine’s shore in Paris.
The exhibition that UNHCR helped plan includes photos taken by the famous photojournalist Reza over the past 30 years, and portraits of refugees by photographer Ali Bin Thalith.
It also features photographs taken by Syrian refugee children living in Kawergosk refugee camp in Iraq and trained in photography by the world-renowned Reza.
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07/08/2015
Geneva (UNHCR)* – Almost 100,000 people have fled Yemen since conflict erupted there in late March, but the UN refugee agency on 4 August 2015 warned that its regional response to help receiving countries cope with the outflow was seriously hampered by under-funding.
© UNHCR/H. McNeish | A refugee from Yemen hides from the scorching sun in Obock, northern Djibouti. Obock has become a safe haven for hundreds of people fleeing increasingly violent conflict in Yemen.
UNHCR said that overall only one-fifth of its funding needs had been met. In Somalia, where over 28,000 people have arrived, just five percent of the required funding, estimated at US $64 million, has been received.
“While many of these people have not sought help as refugees, around 54,000 have registered with UNHCR and government authorities for assistance of various kinds.” UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told a press briefing in Geneva.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 