Initiative pour un autre monde (IPAM) ? Paris, France IPAM is in support of, and is currently promoting, the Fifth European Meeting of Analysis of Political Societies in Paris on February 2 and 3 in Paris. This meeting is titled ?Arab Spring: myth and fiction? and will analyze the wave of protests that swept Arab countries from a comparative historical and political sociological perspective. IPAM also supports Study Day as part of ?The war in Algeria, images and representation.? The day is (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

The African National Congress (ANC) began anniversary celebrations for the 100th time on January 8, 2012. A crowd of 50 000, as well as 46 foreign dignitaries, packed into the Bloemfontein Rugby stadium to watch speeches from President Jacob Zuma and American civil-rights campaigner Jesse Jackson. The self-congratulations will continue throughout the year and will culminate with the ANC national conference held every five years to elect new leaders. Celebrations are in order. No other (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Iran's alleged militaristic nuclear capabilities have placed the country at the centre of the world's political stage. The nation's nuclear scientists have been assassinated and the identities of their assassins remain unknown. The most recent victim of these attacks was Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemist who worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Iran's Isfahan province. Roshan's death marks the fifth time in two years that a scientist from the state nuclear program has been (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Over the past twenty years, there has been a decline in the proportion of British citizens who consider their nationality primarily British. A report by Anthony Heath and Jane Roberts for the British Department of Justice shows that since 1979, the number of English, Welsh, and Scottish residents who consider their nationality to be primarily British has fallen. At the same time, the number describing themselves as Scottish, Welsh, or English has risen. In 1979, 38 percent of Scottish (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Each year, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of the United States is amended to accommodate the Department of Defense's budget for that fiscal year. The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012 (FY2012) is particularly controversial because it infringes upon American citizens' constitutional rights. The NDAA FY2012 is set to take effect on March 3, and includes a provision that has the potential to allow American citizens to be arrested, detained indefinitely, and tortured if suspected of (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Nations that limit access to the Internet violate a human right which has become essential to life in the 21st century: the freedom of speech and communication through the Internet. A lack of censorship within this digital platform is a precondition to efficient Internet communications, and modifications to this norm impinge on some basic democratic norms. Universal Music Group's (UMG) recent prosecution of the Hong Kong-based online storage site MegaUpload?a site well known for illegally (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Following President Goodluck Jonathan's abrupt decision to abolish a consumer fuel subsidy, Nigeria entered a new period of civil unrest. The unrest began as a citizens' protest but quickly transformed into a national strike in opposition to widespread corruption in general and increased oil prices in particular. The strike has ended and the fuel subsidy has been partially reinstated, but the situation is not much better. In Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producer of crude oil, (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

The last twenty years have seen a dramatic rise in the influence of extremist groups, particularly the Taliban, in Pakistan. Though the state has been linked in some way to Islam from the time of its creation in 1947, it has only been since the 1980s that fundamentalism has grown enough to seriously threaten the state and become one of Pakistan's defining characteristics. This development can be explained by the Pakistani government's instrumental use of religious empowerment both to enhance (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

It has always been hard to get timely information on Canada's foreign aid. Now, thanks to the new ?Open Government? initiative, data are easier to access on the Canadian International Development Agency's website. With this, CIDA promises ?Increasing Transparency and Accountability Through Open Data?. For the first time, downloadable datasets are made available to the public on annual disbursements of all forms of Canadian aid to all recipient countries. This is a great first step. Read (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Stephen: We recognize that no roommate is perfect, and from time to time we have all gotten on each other's nerves. But you take the cake (and let's be honest, sharing anything ? including cake ? is not exactly your thing). Because you have signed a sub-lease (with a previous tenant who, we might add, seems quite smug about the household unrest that has been caused by your presence), we will be sharing these accommodations until fall 2015. So until then, the rest of us expect you to follow a (...) - February 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

In July 2011, Chico Whitaker asked that ever-present question, ?And what now, for the World Social Forum?? A few months earlier, Gus Massiah had laid out alterglobalization's twelve Labours of Hercules in his paper, "Twelve hypotheses for an alterglobalist strategy" which reiterated the three questions that the World Social Forum (WSF) was, and is still confronted with ? anchorage on a grass roots level, geographic, cultural and social growth and growth on a conceptual and political level, (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Not long ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) found itself in the sights of the global economic justice movement. At the turn of the last century, before anyone was ?occupying? public spaces in protest at the growing inequalities between the top strata of society and the rest, a broad global coalition of environment, development, and peace activists were targeting the public meetings of major institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and the G8. In September 2000, activists shut down the opening (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

This paper does not intend to provide an exhaustive analysis of the relationship between the processes of the WSF and the changing global situation, rather it will put forward some reflections on the subject. In order to do this I will begin with the events associated with the social forums process that we became aware of at the WSF in Dakar in February 2011, and those that are planned for 2012, in advance of the next World Social Forum in 2012. Forty two events were flagged up by the (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

The "future of the WSF"- less of its events and most of the process born from it - is a recurring theme in World Social Forums. From 2004 in all its editions there are at least a workshop to debate it. It seems to become more afflicting as time passes, organizers become tired, the number of participants in world events and meetings of its International Council decreases, the interest of large organizations and movements diminishes. But the WSF is still alive. Regional events may have been (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Once upon a time Iran was Pakistan's close ally - probably its closest one. In 1947, Iran was the first to recognise the newly independent Pakistan. In the 1965 war with India, Pakistani fighter jets flew to Iranian bases in Zahedan and Mehrabad for protection and refuelling. Both countries were members of the US-led Seato and Cento defence pacts, Iran opened wide its universities to Pakistani students, and the Shah of Iran was considered Pakistan's great friend and benefactor. Sometime (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

In Montreal, art is a key element of the intensely complex collective identity that stretches across this beautiful island city. Today, as Montreal is being celebrated as a centre for cutting edge art in North America, a heightened critical reflection on artistic production and its representation is necessary. There are contesting visions on the directions forward for cultural movements in this city, visions that often overlap, but just as often clash. Now is the time for us to intensify (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

The waters of the Persian Gulf heated up sharply after Iran's announcement last week that it is creating additional uranium enrichment facilities under a mountain, safe from airstrikes. Iran already has tens of thousands of centrifuges hidden deep underground in Natanz, and numerous other nuclear facilities around the country. Iran has stood at the threshold to the Bomb for well over two years. In 2010 it had more than enough low enriched uranium (LEU, some 2,152 kilograms) to make its (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Public involvement in diamond venture ends once gems are found Quebec's first diamond mine is today being hailed as a model operation by the Quebec government. But a deeper look into what this model would mean for Quebeckers casts a long shadow over the government's economic policies. Since the mid 1900s, every man, woman and child living in Quebec has donated the equivalent of $20 towards exploration costs for the province's first diamond mine project. But when a mine was finally discovered (...) - January 2012

Initiative pour un autre monde (IPAM) ? Paris, France IPAM is supporting the demonstration for the International Day Against AIDS to take place on Thursday, December 1st at 6:30 at la Bastille, Paris. Their message concerns everyone: people living with HIV, lesbian, gay, bi-, trans, women, sex workers, foreigners, drug users, prisoners, etc. They pronounce that our lives, our rights, and our health should be prioritized above profits for banks and laboratories, above an atmosphere of (...) - January 2012

The month of December comes yearly as a combination of recollection and rumination over the events of the year, and speculation regarding developments within the next. 2011's political events hold one theme in common: Social upheaval in attempts to instigate positive social change. The year can be characterized as one in which the global population found a common voice of discontent dissent and developed a penchant for finding cracks in prescribed molds and actively challenging (...) - January 2012

The year 2011 was one of vast, multifaceted change for Europe. While the unfolding debt crisis dominated news headlines, European citizens were affected by a wide range of issues. They adapted to growing threats of home-grown terrorism, consistent fear of the impending recession, and the penetration of the small, yet fiercely connotative, acronym ?IMF? as a staple in the EU vocabulary. While the full and lingering effects of these events will be visible in the years to come, we are beginning (...) - January 2012

The Russian legislative elections of December 4, 2011 saw a significant decrease of public support for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. Winning the election with a mere 49.3% of the vote, United Russia's numbers were down from 64.3% of the vote in 2007. The message is undoubtably clear; the Russian population's seemingly unwavering faith in former President?and current Prime Minister?Putin is quickly waning. United Russia won 238 seats to the State Duma ? 10 more than (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

2011 has proven to be a volatile year for the Arab world; The death of a single man in the desert sparked regime changes and protests that have authoritarian governments scrambling, and in some cases, failing to react in time. Here, I limit my focus to four countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Of these, three have experienced regime changes, while Bahrain's elites have managed to remain in power. Egypt and Tunisia have seen relatively non-violent and fast-paced transitions. Libya, (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

In the prevalent negotiation between scientific research, moral concerns and government, an all-new controversy has emerged with the findings of two recent studies, with regards to a specific mutation of the H5N1 influenza virus. Ron Fouchier and his team, affiliated with the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands, have successful created ?probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make,? a specific mutation of the H5N1 virus. A similar study conducted by Yoshihiro Kawaoka and (...) - January 2012

Multilateralism is a word little heard and less understood in today's political and development discourse in Ottawa. The Conservative government, in practicing a policy of Canada first, uses multilateral instruments as an extension of narrow short-term Canadian objectives, rather than as part of a wider and more serious vision of global security and prosperity in which Canadians have a very real stake. That is the major finding in a wide-ranging McLeod Group Policy Paper by former Canadian (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

The cost of terrorism has been felt virtually all over the world. In recent years, however, measures adopted to counter terrorism have themselves posed serious challenges to human rights and the rule of law. In particular, due to the global reach of Canadian charities in terms of both charitable activities and potential donors, this means that such organizations and their advisors must look beyond domestic anti-terror policies and consider the implications of initiatives of foreign (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

For many decades development aid of western donors has been pretty well shielded from probing questions by the public opinion and politicians. Development aid was, and to some extend still is, essentially seen as ?helping poor people?, a charitable activity that is inherently good and respectable and doesn't need any further examination. A number of factors ? the appearance of new actors on the aid scene, budget constraints, aid fatigue, the shift to the right of the political spectrum ? have (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

MONTREAL?As excavators, heavy haulers and chemical treatment plants dig made-in-Canada mines around the world, Ottawa has taken new steps to ease growing criticism of Canada's extractive sector. Read more... - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Profile: Adbusters and Tactical Culture Jamming On July 13, Vancouver-based activist group AdBusters tweeted a call to Occupy Wall Street, and allegedly sparked the movement that has occupied global attention and public spaces. After the mass influence of the Occupy Movement, the group went further this Christmas, by discouraging Consumerism during this holiday season, by advertising its OccupyChristmas campaign?which is its annual BuyNothing Christmas campaign with a name change for (...) - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives

Is Canada governed by the rule of law ? or only by the laws acceptable to the party in power? The difference, obviously, is not mere semantics. It is the difference between democracy and authoritarianism, between constitutional government and the exercise of arbitrary power by a temporary partisan majority. Read more... - January 2012 / Bulletin Alternatives