Five Myths in the Fight against Climate Change
▻https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/five-myths-in-the-fight-against-climate-change
With so much misinformation about climate change about, New Internationalist co-editor Hazel Healy debunks 5 myths about the climate crisis that are doing the rounds. These myths are a dangerous...
Cybernetic Revolutionaries | Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile
►http://www.cyberneticrevolutionaries.com
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qKoaQo9GTw
By Eden Medina - A historical study of Chile’s twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics.
In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile’s experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile’s economy. Neither vision was fully realized—Allende’s government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented—but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics.
Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government—which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network’s Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies.
Studying project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history.
Cybernetic Revolutionaries | The MIT Press
▻https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cybernetic-revolutionaries
Eden Medina- Profile
▻https://www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm
She is the author of the prizewinning book Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile and the co-editor of the prizewinning book Beyond Imported Magic: Essays on Science, Technology and Society in Latin America. She has also published on topics as diverse as computer science education, the making of global corporate culture, crisis communication and infrastructure during natural disasters, big data and algorithmic regulation, free and open source software, the history and social study of technology, science and technology in Latin America, and the relationship of technology and politics.
#Chili #cybernétique #informatique #politique #socialisme #histoire
Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat Discusses the History and Rage Behind the Deadly Protests in Gaza with Vice.
▻http://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/36405
Reports of violent encounters with Israeli forces are not exactly rare in the deeply contested Palestinian territory. But this time feels different.
Last Friday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a gathering of thousands near the border between Gaza and Israel, ultimately killing 18 Palestinians andreportedly wounding some 700 more. The demonstration was organized to mark “Land Day,” an annual commemoration of Palestinian civil resistance, and video evidence has since emerged indicating that at least some of the protestors gunned down from a distance on Friday were either carrying no weapons or actively fleeing—or both.
The incident has drawn pointed criticism from NGOs like Human Rights Watch—which called them “unlawful” and “calculated”—and American politicians like Bernie Sanders, who tweeted, “The killing of Palestinian demonstrators by Israeli forces in Gaza is tragic. It is the right of all people to protest for a better future without a violent response.”
The Israeli government has tried to assert it was acting in self defense, claiming protestors had links to Hamas and that activists were throwing molotov cocktails and stones, among other projectiles. The Foreign Affairs Director of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, Eli Hazan, went so far as to assert that “all 30,000” of the protestors were “legitimate targets.” Still, even before last Friday’s protests, an officer in the Israeli military tweeted what critics suggested was a damning video in anticipation of Land Day featuring images of Israeli soldiers loading and firing sniper rifles along with Arabic captions warning Palestinians to stay away from the border.
Sixth edition of The Tobacco Atlas launched today
The sixth edition of The Tobacco Atlas was launched today at the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town, South Africa. The publication shows that the tobacco industry is increasingly targeting vulnerable populations in emerging markets, such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, where people are not protected by strong tobacco control regulations.
The Atlas, which is co-authored by American Cancer Society (ACS) and Vital Strategies, shows the scale of the tobacco epidemic around the globe. It highlights where progress has been made in tobacco control, and describes the latest products and tactics being deployed by the tobacco industry to grow its profits and delay or derail tobacco control efforts. In response to an evolving tobacco control landscape, the Sixth Edition includes new chapters on regulating novel products, partnerships, tobacco industry tactics and countering the industry.
“The Atlas shows that progress is possible in every region of the world. African countries in particular are at a critical point – both because they are targets of the industry but also because many have opportunity to strengthen policies and act before smoking is at epidemic levels.” said Jeffrey Drope, PhD, co-editor and author of The Atlas and Vice President, Economic and Health Policy Research at the American Cancer Society.
At the press conference where The Atlas was launched, Emma Wanyoni from Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance and the Kenya International Institute of Legislative Affairs, spoke about the challenges they have face in Kenya, where it took 10 years to get a tobacco control policy put in place, she urged governments to act now with tough tobacco control laws to avoid the unnecessary injuries and death caused by tobacco.
“The Atlas shows that wherever tobacco control is implemented, it works. People benefit economically and in improved health. And the industry rightly suffers,” said José Luis Castro, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Strategies.
“Tobacco causes harm at every stage of its life cycle, from cultivation to disposal,” said Dr. Neil Schluger, Vital Strategies’ Senior Advisor for Science and co-editor and author of The Atlas. “It is linked to an ever-increasing list of diseases, burdens health systems, and exacerbates poverty. The only way to avert this harm is for all governments to vigorously implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and to enforce the proven strategies that reduce tobacco use.”
Dr Schluger stressed that while Africa has seen real successes in tobacco control recently, economic growth has increased consumers’ ability to afford tobacco products and there is a lack of tobacco control interventions to deter tobacco use. The Sixth Edition of The Tobacco Atlas reveals that the tobacco industry deliberately targets countries that lack tobacco control laws and exploits governments, farmers and vulnerable populations across Africa.
Don’t be fooled by the comforting rhetoric coming from Saudi Arabia’s crown prince
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/11/08/dont-be-fooled-by-the-comforting-rhetoric-coming-from-saudi-arabias-
The younger generation of Al Saud rulers — represented by the recently appointed crown prince — have created the illusion of a “new” Saudi Arabia, one defined by youth, moderation and liberalization. But far from embodying a break with “traditional” Saudi rule, the new generation has simply doubled down on the tried and tested approaches to modern Saudi statecraft.
Like its predecessors, the current regime uses great repressive force to maintain its rule. It relies on the very same programs of reform and modernization to shore up international support while exacerbating sectarian tensions and violently crushing all forms of political opposition, including the very forces of moderation it purports to support.
The timing of these announcements speaks to the regime’s desperate need for a victory to cover up its many domestic and regional failures, to increase confidence in the regime’s commitment to reform and to provide fodder for its all-out war against domestic opposition and regional rivals. This is not to say that change in Saudi Arabia is not possible, nor to discount the efforts of thousands of Saudis who have risked so much to improve their living situations. But in the hands of relentless dictators in such an authoritarian context, “change” is elusive at best.
Ouf, c’est juste une opinion libre, pas un édito du WaPo !
Even as Western governments and media outlets sing his praises, the young crown prince is viewed domestically as an incompetent and corrupt ruler who hides behind liberalism, tolerance and anti-corruption rhetoric. This view is shared by ruling members of the monarchy, economic elites and the population at large, who see Mohammad as someone who has disturbed the status quo for the sake of massive personal enrichment and political aggrandizement.
L’auteure est Rosie Bsheer, co-éditrice du webzine Jadaliyya :
Rosie Bsheer is assistant professor of history at Yale University and co-editor of Jadaliyya e-zine.
Brianna Wu running for US Congress in 2018
▻http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-12-21-brianna-wu-running-for-us-congress-in-2018
Already on the team is sci-fi author and Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow, with Wu planning to add “legal experts on cyber-bullying and revenge porn” soon. As and when she formally runs, Wu will step back from her role at her studio Giant Spacekat.
Même personne :
▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brianna_Wu
Brianna Wu is an American video game developer and computer programmer. She cofounded Giant Spacekat, an independent video game development studio with Amanda Warner in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also a blogger and podcaster on matters relating to the video game industry.
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/278442 @grommeleur #harcèlement
@alda
#historicisation #femmes #videogames #jeux_video #gamergate
The Best New Maps, According to Cartographers
▻http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/best-new-maps-atlas-design
Carte par Levy Westerveld actuellement en poste au Grid-Arendal en Norvège... Si ça vous dit quelque chose :)
Every person who died trying to reach Europe by crossing the water from Africa and the Middle East between 2005 and 2015 is represented by a single dot on this map. Levi Westerveld, a spatial analyst and cartographer at the Norwegian foundation GRID-Arendal, placed each dot, one by one, as close as he could to where each person died or went missing. “Assigning a unique dot to each victim helped to portray the unsettling number of recorded losses,” Westerveld wrote in the atlas.
Distances and locations aren’t exact on this map, but Westerveld’s intention was to portray the experience of the people who were fleeing conflicts in their home countries. They were often navigating the Mediterranean with just handheld compasses in un-seaworthy boats, hoping to see a thin line of coast on the horizon, represented on the map by a thin black line.
If you look closer, you’ll see thin blue lines of text waving away from a few of the dots. These are descriptions of who died, how they died, and the destination they hoped to reach. Westerveld writes: “And they leave us wondering: What about the stories behind all the other dots?”
Elmer says the editors all felt that the overall effect of the map is “a total emotional gut-punch.”
–---
The other maps are :
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2016/11/16/atlas_design/04_atlas_design_maps.ngsversion.1479330016156.adapt.1190.1.jpg 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2016/11/16/atlas_design/05_atlas_design_maps.ngsversion.1479330022674.adapt.1190.1.jpg 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2016/11/16/atlas_design/01_atlas_design_maps.ngsversion.1479330037514.jpg The Best New Maps, According to Cartographers
By Betsy Mason
PUBLISHED November 16, 2016
From charts of UFO sightings in the United States to surveys of bear population density in Finland to a 3-D visualization of where London’s airport employees live, a new collection of maps shows off the skill and creativity of today’s cartographers.
The third volume of the Atlas of Design contains 32 maps, each representative of a different style of design and craft. The one thing the maps have in common is that they tend to “impress the viewer at first glance, and have enough rich details to reward the time spent looking closer,” says atlas co-editor Marty Elmer, a member of the North American Cartographic Information Society, which publishes the atlas.
As they sifted through nearly 250 submissions from more than 15 countries, a panel of NACIS members considered the maps’ creativity, scientific rigor, and artistic mastery. The result is a beautiful set of modern maps that will appeal to both professional mapmakers and casual map enthusiasts. “Whether the mapmaker is a journalist, student, GIS professional, lifetime cartographer, or independent artist, people of all sorts of backgrounds are making maps that are interesting, informative, and fun,” Elmer says.
LALEH KHALILI /// The Geopolitics of Maritime Transportation in the Middle East « ARCHIPELAGO | The Podcast Platform of the Funambulist
▻http://the-archipelago.net/2015/05/18/laleh-khalili-the-geopolitics-of-maritime-transportation-in-the-mid
THE GEOPOLITICS OF MARITIME TRANSPORTATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Conversation recorded with Laleh Khalili in London on May 18, 2015
▻https://soundcloud.com/the-archipelago/laleh-khalili-the-geopolitics-of-maritime-transportation-in-the-middle-e
This conversation with Laleh Khalili evolves around her on-going research about the geopolitics at work in the capitalist and military ship transportation around the Arabian Peninsula. This interview is structured in a geographical manner, reproducing the trip Laleh accomplished in February 2015 on a container ship between Malta and Jabal Ali (Dubai’s container port). We first address the politics of the ship itself, before going through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Hormuz Strait, and the Persian Gulf, to finally end on the narrow Iraqi shores.
Laleh Khalili is a professor of Middle East Politics at SOAS, University of London. She is the author of Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge 2007) and Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies (Stanford 2013), the editor of Modern Arab Politics (Routledge 2008) and co-editor (with Jillian Schwedler) of Policing and Prisons in the Middle East: Formations of Coercion (Hurst/Oxford 2010).
Syria Comment » Archives Harakat al-Hawiya al-Arabiya al-Druziya: Defending Druze Identity in Suwayda’ - Syria Comment
▻http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/harakat-al-hawiya-al-arabiya-al-druziya-defending-druze-identity-in-su
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Although the Druze originate from a sect within Shi’i Islam, the religious movement evolved over time such that the Druze identity is deemed separate from that of the Shi’a. The same has been true of the Alawites, though as is well known, a number of efforts have been made in the recent past to bring the Alawites into the fold of mainstream Shi’i Islam, such as Musa Sadr’s fatwa in 1974 that recognized the Alawites as Shi’a- a trend of identification strengthened by the post-1979 alliance between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Assad dynasty. More recently, extensive Iranian and pro-Iranian Shi’a militia involvement on the ground in the Syrian civil war has given rise to claims of further Shi’ification trends targeting the Alawite community in particular, such as the opening of husseiniyas (Shi’i centres) in the Damascus and Latakia areas.
Less well known is that allegations of Shi’ification efforts also exist with respect to the Druze community in Syria. It seems that primarily in response to these developments has come the emergence of the Harakat al-Hawiya al-Arabiya al-Druziya (“The Arab Druze Identity Movement”), also known as the Harakat al-Difa’ ‘an al-Hawiya al-Druziya (“The Movement to Defend Druze Identity”), which first appears to have come on the scene in late 2015 (c. October 2015). Ethnically speaking, the ‘Arab’ aspect has long been a strong component of Druze identity.
Unsurprisingly, given the context in which this movement has emerged, it is highly critical of the regime and those associated with it. However, it is also consistent in its opposition to attempts to alter Druze identity (real and perceived), and so has also drawn attention (approvingly quoting independent Druze opposition activist-in-exile Maher Sharf al-Din) to the treatment of the Druze in Jabal al-Summaq in Idlib at the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra, which has not only implemented forced conversions to Sunni Islam but has also confiscated property of those from the area who fled to/live in regime-held areas and are thought to work with the regime, while altering the demographics with an influx of Turkmen people. This contrasts with the reluctance of anti-regime Druze in Lebanon associated with Walid Jumblatt to admit these realities, playing up instead the false idea that some kind of agreement to protect the Druze was reached with Jabhat al-Nusra (a falsehood recently repeated by Fabrice Balanche).
Syria Comment
AUTHOR
Joshua Landis
Director: Center
for Middle East Studies
and Associate Professor,
University of Oklahoma
405-819-7955
Email: Landis@ou.edu Follow @joshua_landis
Co-Editor: Matthew Barber - University of Chicago
Email: SCmoderation@mail.com
Follow @Matthew__Barber
Picture books aren’t just fun - Eurekarlert
▻http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uow-pba042214.php
Raffa
Picture books aren’t just fun - Eurekarlert - ►http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_rel...
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“Children do learn a lot when parents read books with them and many parents read to their children several times each week,” said co-editor Professor Jessica Horst of the University of Sussex. “So, conducting studies using picture books and storybooks has important implications for understanding how children really learn in their daily lives.” - Raffa
As the United States Prepares to Strike Syria: Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad on Democracy Now
▻http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/13894/as-the-united-states-prepares-to-strike-syria_jada
The British have, you know, made their say, and the Americans, the U.S. government, and France is pushing forward. What I think we should do first, before we actually begin to talk about any of this, is to recognize that this is not—no longer about the Syrian regime and whatever atrocities it may have committed and whatever atrocities the rebels may have committed. This is about invading a sovereign country before even the evidence is out, before even the U.N. inspectors are out. There are decisions to already invade, to attack, to launch a strike on Syria, by a country that we should actually check the record of. The United States is not qualified to do what it claims it wants to do, as a result of its own record in violating international law for a very long time and supporting dictators and rogue regimes and the apartheid state of Israel in opposition to all manners of international law. The United States violated international law by attacking and invading a country on false premise, which is Iraq in 2003. And most importantly, the United States, in Iraq, has actually used nerve agent, mustard gas and/or white phosphorus in Fallujah and beyond, left depleted uranium all over the country in Iraq, ruined and destroyed the lives of generations as a result, and now claims that it needs to do this to protect Syrian civilians, which is exactly the opposite of what will happen in any invasion or any strike on Syria, which is not possible to happen in the surgical manner that is being discussed right now.
“Up Front” Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad on Current Developments in Syria
This interview was conducted with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad by Brian Edwards-Tiekert of KPFA’s “Up Front.” The interview discusses the staying power of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and why the regime’s days may be numbered; the ineffective cease-fire plan of Kofi Annan; what a post-regime Syria might look like; and the increase in violence between uprising forces and the regime.
Click below to listen. The interview runs from 9:00 to 18:00 minutes
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5930/up-front-interview-with-jadaliyya-co-editor-bassam
On Syria and Its Neighbors: Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad Featured in CNN Panel Column
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5575/on-syria-and-its-neighbors_jadaliyya-co-editor-bas
The Syrian situation is complex like any other uprising, but the situation has added complexity because it is at the juncture of several conflicts in the region. Those struggles involve local, regional, and international power plays that make the situation a lot more charged.
For instance, we have Syria at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Syria is part of an axis, so to speak, with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, confronting imperialism in various forms from inside and outside the region, particularly in relation to U.S. domination and Israel’s occupations and belligerence.
There is also resistance to the conservative Arab camp that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other conservative countries that are usually allies with the United States.
Also, Syria is, in many ways, the guarantor of stability in Lebanon. Syria’s presence in Lebanon has guaranteed some stability despite many violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty by Syria.
For all these reasons, Syria’s position in the region is pivotal. This is not simply another uprising against a dictator. It is also being transformed by other players into an effort to redraw the political map of the region and curtail further protests elsewhere.
“Arab League and U.S. Not Fit to Intervene in Syria”: Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3340/arab-league-and-u.s.-not-fit-to-intervene-in-syria
In this interview, Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad asserts that condemning the regime’s violence and opposing international intervention of any sort are not mutually exclusive, and that the best course of action is to leave the opposition to its own devices, as the regime seems to be heading in the direction of political and military suicide. Furthermore, the internal opposition seems to be growing in strength, a reality that is likely to produce fissures and serious splits within the regime and its armed forces about the best course of action. In this context, international intervention would only complicate matters, cause more mayhem, and produce inconclusive outcomes.
Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad on Rami Makhlouf in the New York Times
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1920/jadaliyya-co-editor-bassam-haddad-on-rami-makhlouf
Syria’s most powerful businessman, a confidant and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad, announced on Thursday that he was quitting business and moving to charity work, Syrian television said. The move, if true, would suggest that Mr. Assad was so concerned about the continuing protests that he would sacrifice a relative to public anger.
D’après Google News à l’instant, une seule reprise dans un média français :
►http://www.france24.com/fr/20110616-entrepreneur-businessman-affaires-rami-makhlouf-cousin-assad-quit