Be wary of torture-induced confessions before police Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence, the Supreme Court held on Thursday. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra gave this ruling, setting aside a designated court judgment which convicted Arup Bhuyan under Section 3 (5)...
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Activist Outrage at the UN Climate Conference by Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle
During protests against the WTO (World Trade Organization) meetings in Cancún, Mexico in September 2003, Lee Kyung Hae, a South Korean farmer and La Via Campesina member, martyred himself by plunging a knife into his heart while standing atop the barricades at Kilometer Zero. Around his neck was a sign that read, "WTO Kills Farmers." At that time, activists around the world were rallying under the umbrella of the global justice...
More »Poverty without Borders by Andrea Lunt
It's the land of freedom, of bright lights and burgers, where daring entrepreneurs arrive from across the planet in search of fame and fortune. The United States of America - the world's melting pot - has been a symbol of hope for centuries, but behind this vision of wealth and wonder is a tale often untold. Food security, lack of water rights and unemployment might sound like the type of problems...
More »An aam aadmi sarkar fights the poor by Vidya Subrahmaniam
It is tragic that the same government that gives huge corporate concessions and loses money in corruption is fighting over minimum wages. As India's — and by some reckoning the world's — largest rights-based rural safety net programme completes five years, here is a reality check. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has become the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). But in a monumental affront to the...
More »It's the courts for Posco unless it wins over villagers
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh has passed the Posco buck, nominally to the government of Orissa but, in reality, to the courts. His final clearance of the project depends on a categorical assertion by the government of Orissa that there are no 'other traditional forest dwellers' among those whose land would be diverted for the project. Three committees appointed by the Union environment and forests ministry, which do not see eye-to-eye...
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