Topic: Corporate power
Der Kreuzpunkt von Politik und Spiritualität in Bezug auf die Klimakrise
Report / 26th October 2016Das folgende Interview mit Mohammed Mesbahi, Gründer von STWR, untersucht sowohl die gegenwärtige politische also auch die tiefere spirituelle Bedeutung der Notwendigkeit, die Ressourcen der Welt in Bezug auf den eskalierenden Klimawandel zu teilen.
Who owns geosynchronous orbital pathways?
Blog / 21st October 2016Who owns outer space? Our most idealistic visions of the future require us to transcend our narrow personal or nationalistic interests, but increasingly, space seems likely to be divvied up among the powerful, as has so often happened with the Earth. Can space be managed to serve the common interest? A commentary by EarthSharing.
The long march against monsanto: A letter from the Hague
Article / 21st October 2016Following the Monsanto People’s Assembly in The Hague, activists converged around the need to 'globalise the struggle' for a new model of food and farming led by the grassroots, writes Ronnie Cummins.
Think U.S. agriculture will end world hunger? Think again.
Report / 21st October 2016A new report by the Environmental Working Group confronts the myth that American farmers must double their food production to 'feed the world'. Instead, the key to ending world hunger while protecting the environment is to help small farmers in the developing world increase their productivity and income, and to promote “agro-ecology” everywhere.
Convening world conference on tax evasion should be priority for next Secretary-General – UN expert
Blog / 18th October 2016The newly selected UN Secretary-General António Guterres should convene a world conference on tax avoidance and evasion, the abolition of tax havens and the protection of whistleblowers, urges the UN’s Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas.
The privilege of being privileged
Article / 18th October 2016The route to reducing inequality is not through generating more philanthropic endeavour, but rather through transformative solutions that rely on sacrifice and sharing—hence altering the production and distribution of wealth and power in fundamental ways, argues Michael Edwards in openDemocracy.
Human rights beyond borders: The Maastricht Principles turn five
Blog / 8th October 2016Five years ago, the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States was adopted in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and these Principles are increasingly being used by civil society organisations to hold States accountable for their extraterritorial conduct. Human rights obligations are now well recognized to extend beyond borders, as explained in the following news update published by the ETO Consortium.
The struggle for a UN Treaty: Towards global regulation on human rights and business
Article / 8th October 2016A global alliance of civil society organizations are demanding a binding treaty to regulate the activities of transnational corporations with respect to human rights. The Treaty process presents a unique opportunity for governments to prove that it is in their hands to put human rights above the interests of big business. Because profits can be shared—human rights cannot, write Jens Martens and Karolin Seitz.
Monsanto Tribunal and People’s Assembly
Article / 6th October 2016Civil society groups have organised a people’s assembly to hold Monsanto accountable for their crimes against humanity and the environment, and to spell out an alternative vision for the future of food and farming based on reclaiming the commons, earth democracy and agroecology.
Seeds of corporate power vs farmers’ rights
Article / 6th October 2016The expansion of corporate control in agriculture is reflected in three international treaties that establish the global rights of various stakeholders to seeds, germplasm, and plant varieties. But the balance of power needs to tilt back the other way, with farmers’ rights taking precedence over agribusiness profits, whether in these treaties or in trade deals, explains Karen Hansen-Kuhn.