Since 1997, more than 200,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide. Their deaths are a symptom of the agrarian crisis that has plagued the kisan, or Indian farmer, over the last decade, and are indicative of a greater socio-economic struggle pervading rural India: widespread poverty and rapidly rising indebtedness. Several factors, including climate change and globalization, have been blamed for [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Human Rights Issues'
Suicide Seeds: the Death of Indian Farmers
November 8th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Human Rights Issues
Tags: Indian farmers' suicides·Monsanto·suicide belt in India·terminating seeds
Remembrance Day Comes Early With Mass Shooting at Fort Hood
November 6th, 2009 · No Comments · Human Rights Issues
Next Wednesday, November 11th is the annual day of remembrance for soldiers who have fallen in battle, though I don’t doubt victims of yesterday’s mass shooting at the army base in Fort Hood, Texas will also be honored on Remembrance Day this year. 12 soldiers and one civilian were killed and 30 others injured when [...]
Black Community Targeted in American Subprime Lending Scheme
August 29th, 2009 · No Comments · Human Rights Issues
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviewed a former Wells Fargo subprime loan officer who now works in foreclosure defense about the subprime lending scheme that made thousands homeless and allegedly targeted African Americans and other minorities. Elizabeth Jacobson worked at Wells Fargo for nine years and was one of the top loan officers in the subprime [...]
Tags: economic crisis·home foreclosure·subprime lending scheme·Wells Fargo
Free Aung San Suu Kyi, Prisoner of Conscience
August 24th, 2009 · No Comments · Human Rights Issues
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years as a prisoner, though she has not committed any crime. She is the pro-democracy leader of the opposition party in Burma (Myanmar), the National League of Democracy (NLD). She was arrested in 1989 by the military junta and put under house arrest, preventing [...]
Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi·Burma·human rights abuses·military junta·political unrest
Blame Global Warming
July 30th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Human Rights Issues
Dear God: It’s hot. And I mean really hot. I’m going to Bikram’s yoga as often as I can because it’s much cooler in the studio than it is in my apartment. I can’t keep up with the laundry; I’m soaking through my clothes within 10 minutes of putting them on. Every time I try [...]
Tags: global warming·greenhouse gasses·heat wave·record temperatures·recycling·vancouver·vegetarianism
Crisis and Crucible for Sri Lanka
May 25th, 2009 · No Comments · Human Rights Issues
When I began writing this article several days ago, the Sri Lanka civil war was raging out of control with no foreseeable resolution. Then, on the afternoon of May 18, 2009, I heard a reporter for CBC radio announce the “end” of the Sri Lanka civil war, as the army had apparently killed the Tamil [...]
Tags: child soldiers·humanitarian crisis·LTTE·political unrest·Sri Lanka Army·Sri Lanka civil war·Tamil Tigers·war casualties
Gateway Project a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
May 7th, 2009 · No Comments · Human Rights Issues
On April 26, 2009, I joined around 125 others in a three-hour trek across the Alex Fraser bridge and into Burns Bog for the annual pilgrimage to raise awareness about the effect the proposed Gateway Project would have on the community’s beloved bog. But I learned that the pilgrimage was about more than just saving a [...]
Tags: Burns Bog·environmental damage·fiscal mismanagement·Gateway Project·highway expansion·pollution