2016 – Page 6 – Upside Down World

Does Brazil’s Proposed Anti-Terrorism Law Threaten Public Protest? Two Opinions

March 30, 2016 Paulo Pimenta and Aloysio Nunes Ferreira. Translated by Holly Holmes 0

As the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro quickly approach, Brazil continues to debate the introduction of a new counterterrorism law. Despite strong criticism from Human Rights Watch that the bill is “overbroad and vague”, the bill has passed in both the Brazilian Senate and, as of February 24, the House of Representatives. As the bill makes its way to President Rousseff’s desk, we consider the arguments of two politicians.

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More or Less Dead: Feminicide, Haunting and the Ethics of Representation in Mexico – A Book Review

March 29, 2016 Jen Wilton 0

More or Less Dead, author Alice Driver’s first book, is a critical and timely look at the ethics of portraying violence against women in the media. The book’s title refers to the ways that disappearances leave families in limbo, robbing the victim of even having the right to death. Although Driver focuses on the issue in the context of Mexico, the ideas and conclusions she comes to are equally applicable to other cultures and geographies.

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Interview with Berta Cáceres: “To Fight Against Repression in Honduras is to Fight for our Whole Continent”

March 25, 2016 Beverly Bell and Berta Cáceres 0

The coup in Honduras hasn’t just been against Honduras. It’s been against all emancipatory processes. It’s been a clear, threatening message to the progressive and leftist governments in our continent. It’s a message that the ultra-right and the imperialists aren’t going to stop. They want to reclaim power, and they know very well that they need our resources. – Berta Cáceres […]

Millennials Are Taking to the Streets to Defend Democracy in Brazil

March 25, 2016 Greg Grandin 0

Source: The Nation You wouldn’t know it from reading the media, but huge numbers have turned out to preserve the rule of law and the gains of social democracy. There is one small bit of […]

Chile lawmakers lift abortion ban introduced by Pinochet

March 25, 2016 BBC 0

Source: BBC News Chile’s lower house of Congress has approved a proposal that lifts a ban on abortion in cases of rape, when there is health risk for the mother, or when the foetus is […]

Occupy Buenos Aires: the workers’ movement that transformed a city, and inspired the world

March 25, 2016 Matt Kennard and Ana Caistor-Arendar 0

Source: The Guardian Unlimited The Hotel Bauen in downtown Buenos Aires looks like its best days are behind it. The art deco interior is crumbling, three of the lifts are out, and the whole place […]

Across Latin America, governments criminalize social movements to silence dissent

March 25, 2016 Jeff Abbott 0

Source: Waging Nonviolence Below the Tribunal Towers in Guatemala City, within the first level of the parking garage, are the cells where those accused of crimes are held prior to court hearings. At the gate […]

Honduras: Gustavo Castro Soto and the Rigged Investigation into Berta Cáceres’ Assassination

March 23, 2016 Beverly Bell 0

The sole eyewitness to Honduran social movement leader Berta Cáceres’ assassination on March 3, 2016 has gone from being wounded victim to, effectively, political prisoner. Now Gustavo Castro Soto may also be framed as the murderer of his long-time friend, Berta Cáceres. Both the Mexican Ambassador, Dolores Jiménez, and Castro himself are worried that he will be charged by the government for the killing, they told the National Commission of Human Rights of Honduras on March 16.

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Mexico: The Struggle of Traditional Pulque Against European Beer and Colonization

March 21, 2016 Tamara Pearson 0

Pulque, once the most consumed alcoholic drink in Mexico, is fighting to regain broad appeal following decades of being out-marketed by the European beer industry. But the current struggle goes much further than the drink. It is also an attempt to preserve an indigenous tradition that dates back thousands of years.

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¡Berta Lives! The Life and Legacy of Berta Cáceres

March 10, 2016 Beverly Bell 0

I began writing a eulogy for Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores years ago, though she died only last week. Berta was assassinated by Honduran government-backed death squads on March 3. Like many who knew and worked with her, I was aware that this fighter for indigenous peoples’ power; for control over their own territories; for women’s and LGBTQ rights; for authentic democracy; for the well-being of Pachamama; for an end to tyranny by transnational capital; and for an end to US empire was not destined to die of old age. She spoke too much truth to too much power. […]