The Comment Factory

Si la perspectiva de unas elecciones te desespera, considera al ejemplo del gobierno boliviano, liderado por Evo Morales como una fuente de inspiración

President Obama has taken the leap; let’s hope he finds some remaining Palestinian ground to land on. Given his new commitment, if he fails, I wonder if he is willing to lay blame where it duly resides for Israel’s continued rogue action—in Washington D.C.

Growing up in Pakistan, I was made acutely aware of income inequality at multiple levels. My earliest childhood memory of poverty comes from observing the desperation of hawkers in street crossings who tapped on the windows of every car at a stop-light, trying to sell all kinds of “stuff” from hairpins to roses. Should these street vendors have stuck to subsistence lifestyles in the fields and just have been contented with having enough to eat and leading a simple life? Who was I to ordain such simplicity on them?

Few are aware that this Christmas past, when most of us were enjoying our extensive festive indulgences, a chronic shortage of affordable housing left 83,000 homeless British children in temporary accommodation. Over 33% of these children cannot go to school due to appalling disruption in their lives and are twice as likely to suffer poor health. In describing the appalling disruption and emotional distress that children suffered, Adam Simpson, the director of the charity Shelter, described the euphemistic term “temporary accommodation” as a “terrible parody”

A new building in Ramallah, or 100 for that matter, make for good ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but are as far from economic state-building as is wrong is from right

Since 2002, Joost Hiltermann has managed a team of analysts based in the Middle and North Africa to conduct research and write policy-focused reports on factors that increase the risk of and drive armed conflict

One in ten Colombians have been uprooted because of the violence. It is estimated that there are over 3.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country, the second highest number in the world after Sudan. Within this panorama of internal violence and forced acquisition of lands, women have been adversely affected

It appears that some of our leaders are seeking to destroy the established working order of humanity to create a “New World Order” which is really nothing new in human history. The problem is that they seek to replace our cherished democratic, law-abiding traditions with slavery, heavy drug use and other disengagement of the human intellect

I felt disgusting, ugly, and the worst part was that I blamed myself for my ugliness. That was probably what hurt the most – when a parent would say ”your eyebrows are so thin, have you pulled again?” and I’d become angry and say no, on the inside, I’d scream at myself because I knew it was the truth – and I felt like I was making myself uglier, when I could become more beautiful

This documentation initiative is a welcome step in community safety, and can only help one of the world’s safest nations. If the strategy is adhered to and implemented effectively then the result will likely slightly lower an already low crime rate. It is a step in the right direction and should be followed with more moves towards an increased focus on crime prevention and a pro-active focus.

Bolivia has bucked conventional developmental economics–which outsources development and production to foreign companies expert in the field and with reserves of capital–and has endeavored to develop its deposits with state-owned companies, rebuffing the overtures of countless Western companies. Evo Morales needs to raise $800 million to construct the mines and processing plants needed for this approach

Information defines people in the eyes of organizations that don’t know them. Societies and civilisations have grown in their complexity and organization, and so too has the information collected about us.