A massive online campaign by the Avaaz community in Brazil has just won a stunning victory against corruption.
The “clean record” law was a bold proposal that banned any politician convicted of crimes like corruption and money laundering from running for office. With nearly 25% of the Congress under investigation for corruption, most said it would never [...]

June 14, 2010
Ross Gittins
Should Christians support capitalism? According to a leading English layman, despite all its material benefits, capitalism as we know it contains moral flaws with serious social consequences.
I’m in no position to preach to Christians, but I’m happy to pass on the views of Dr Michael Schluter, founder of Britain’s Relationships Foundation, which [...]

By Nathan Schneider
June 1, 2010

The Israeli navy attacked an international Gaza Freedom Movement “Freedom Flotilla” intent on breaking Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, in international waters. The explosion of media coverage surrounding this makes it likely the highest-profile act of (supposedly) nonviolent resistance to occur in years. But the dust has yet to settle. [...]

Si Kahn’s new ‘guide for rabble-rousers’ challenges community organizers to think very carefully about their campaigns for justice.

By Adam Kader
June 4, 2010

In Creative Community Organizing: A Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists and Quiet Lovers of Justice (Berrett-Koehler, February), Si Kahn argues that culture must be integrated into organizing, but he does not always succeed in showing how [...]

By Susan J. Douglas
May 25, 2010

Approaching the University of Michigan’s football stadium for this year’s graduation ceremony, I had to work my way through a gauntlet of white male anti-abortion protesters holding giant images of mutilated fetuses (thank you, Photoshop), and presumed Teabaggers brandishing homemade posters about the evils of socialism, healthcare and–especially–Barack Obama.
But inside [...]

By David Sirota
May 15, 2010

Imagine, if you can, an alternate universe.
Imagine that in this alternate universe, a foreign military power begins flying remote-controlled warplanes over your town, using on-board missiles to kill hundreds of your innocent neighbors.
Now imagine that when you read the newspaper about this ongoing bloodbath, you learn that the foreign nation’s top [...]

Dave Andrews
We need to celebrate courage and comradeship wherever we find it. Wherever we find it among our soldiers in combat we need to celebrate it loud and clear. But if we choose to celebrate ANZAC day, we need to do it with extreme caution, lest we forget that our celebration of those legends can [...]

Growing popular outrage has not challenged corporate power.

By Noam Chomsky
March 26, 2010

Shifts in global power, ongoing or potential, are a lively topic among policy makers and observers. One question is whether (or when) China will displace the United States as the dominant global player, perhaps along with India.
Such a shift would return the global system [...]

Jubilee Australia eBulletin 31 March 2010

Dear Friend,
It may sound strange – receiving an email from Jubilee about tax. But let me assure you, this is a different kind of tax. Robin Hood style, in fact.
Jubilee is spearheading a broad alliance of Australian groups in bringing the Robin Hood Tax campaign downunder. Our goal is to [...]

There is an alternative between peace-building-as-war-making and inaction in the face of human suffering in wartime. Independent aid agencies and missionaries have continued to work bravely without military assistance in many of the worst conflicts for decades. They were even in Afghanistan under Taliban and will remain there long after the coalition troops have left. [...]

By Matt Stone
Traditionally the peace movement has focused on holding states to account for their injustices through tactics that rob them of their moral authority and social support. Think Ghandi. Think Martin Luther King. This tradition is outdated. Here’s why:
The rise of non-state actors
The first reason traditional pacifism is outdated is this: we are no [...]

An experiment by Darley and Batson (1973) gave the following results:
‘As demonstrated by earlier studies by Darley and Batson (1973), a situation that can effectively hinder the experience of empathy for our fellow man is being in a rush. An ingenious experimental setting was put into place where presumed powerful determinants, such as education, professional [...]