UK Indymedia - UK Analysis Newswire Archive

UG#610 - From Enclosure to Privatization (Luddism, Magna Carta & Debt)

16-01-2013 10:52

We start with Peter Linebaugh on Luddism and the multifaceted enclosure movement in UK. Then, a report on prison privatization in Canada. We conclude by starting chapter 10 of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years on the decline of the Axial age empires and social systems in India and China.

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Brazil: the perfect freedom of expression?

14-01-2013 17:32

"I don't agree with only one of the words you say, but I will defend to the death your right to do so!"(Voltaire),

It is controversial the relationship between freedom of expression and the degree of development of societies.

Many seek to justify the repressive character of the current regimes as a price that must be paid for achieving progress.

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So What of the SWP Now?

13-01-2013 20:18

What's going to happen to the SWP? Maybe now it's time for good Socialists to do something worthwhile.

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UG#606 - Flight From Meaning 1 (The Superior Human, Debt in The Axial Age)

12-01-2013 12:21

The first of a two part series, we consider the bigger question of meaning in life. In our first hour we look at a prejudice shared by many people of differing backgrounds and inclinations - the notion that human beings are somehow innately superior to all other life forms - with a radio adaption of the 2012 film The Superior Human. We conclude our second hour by resuming reading from David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years where we left off in episode 597.

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UG#607 - Flight From Meaning 2 (Money = Competition = Psychosis)

12-01-2013 12:17

Although in the 'Flight From Meaning' series, a rather traditional show concludes my second year of making Unwelcome Guests. First, a regular speaker, Alfie Kohn, speaking on why he believes that any competition is too much. We conclude with the end of chapter 9 of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years, on the introduction of coinage in India, Greece and China.

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UG#608 - Flight From Meaning 3 (Science, Chimpanzees and The Monongahela)

12-01-2013 12:12

I start my third year with an unusually open ended love-it-or-hate-it next episode in the 'Flight From Meaning' series, centered on an essay by philosopher Steve Talbott on how biologists contrive to study life itself as if it were merely a lifeless mechanism. We also hear from Jane Goodall about chimpanzee society and read some of Underground History of American Education on John Taylor Gatto's boyhood.

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UG#609 - Flight From Meaning 4 (Crazy Like Us,Instructed Organism,Peace Pilgrim)

12-01-2013 12:07

Three contrasting pieces for you which all hint at the inadequacy of limiting self as the skin-encapsulated ego. Firstly, Ethan Watters on socially defined aspects of madness, including how Glaxo Smith Kline aggressively globalized Western ideas of depression in Japan. Next, I summarize Steve Talbott's essay on problems of the 'man as machine' metaphor. Finally, an hour on Peace Pilgrim, whose 'retirement project' was to walk across USA for over 25 years without using money or asking for food or shelter.

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We'll all be Greeks

11-01-2013 15:29

What is happening in Greece - and can it happen elsewhere?

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Austerity: Another Word For War.

10-01-2013 14:49

The article equates global austerity to a condition of large-scale 'war' by the upholders of the capitalist mode of production - against the rest of society. The article considers two possible lines of resistance and defence which could put ordinary people onto a self-reliant and defensive war footing.

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Fracking will help America take down OPEC

08-01-2013 19:06

The drive behind extreme energy is extreme concern over the loss of western economic power in the next two decades as demonstrated by new research from the US intelligence community.

The most recent US National Intelligence Council Global Trends report predicts the possibility by 2030 of 'a major impact on oil-export economies' as a result of US energy independence through fracking.

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Tower Hamlets Community for a new Council

06-01-2013 20:54

This week sees new central Govt measures in Tower Hamlets. Why so? Isn't there an elecetd mayor in place there already?

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UG#602 - Ancient Languages of The Future 1 (Piraha, Non-Violent Communication)

04-01-2013 21:31

This show we take two very distinct looks at human communication. Firstly we hear half an hour from a recent talk from Professor Daniel Everett on Language, Culture and Being Human. Next psychologist and negotiator Marshall Rosenberg, describes NVC (Non-violent communication).

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ug#603 - Ancient Languages of The Future 2 (Piraha, Non-Violent Communication)

04-01-2013 21:28

A sequel to last week's show on human communication. We hear the rest of the talk by Professor Daniel Everett on 'Language, Culture and Being Human', with some Q&A. We hear more on NVC from Marshall Rosenberg.

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UG#604 - Occupy The Past (Gandhian Non-Violence and Direct Action Movements)

04-01-2013 21:26

Another show made with the ongoing Occupy movement in mind. Our main feature is author and researcher James Douglass on his book Gandhi and the Unspeakable, and we hear thoughts from Chris Hedges and Barbara Epstien also from earlier this year.

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Yuletide in Parliament Square – War and Peace

29-12-2012 06:29

As we approach the New Year whither the prospects for peace? The honourable members of Parliament are on their Christmas break while long term peace campaigner Mrs Barbara Tucker will spend both Xmas and New Year opposite the great facade of democracy at constant peril of arrest and assault.

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UG#601 - The Psychopathology of Money (Nick Leeson, The Economics of Happiness)

27-12-2012 00:28

We continue examining money with radio adaptations of 2 films. In our first hour, Adam Curtis' 25 Million Pounds narrates the rise and fall of financial fraudster, Nick Leeson. In our second hour, The Economics of Happiness which recommends relocalization as the urgent solution to economic globalization.

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China: with a little help from my friends.

21-12-2012 18:10

Dear friends, the article that you see below, in Mandarin, is that same one "Brazil: structural changes on the way", that I've published here a few days ago. Unfortunately, I have not found no open publishing site, at China. So I ask your help to take our message to the Chinese people, who surely visit your worldwide known site, which is a reference to freedom, all around the world. Thank you, very much indeed. * For those who have not seen it, I do reproduce the original, in English, there at the end.

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UG#600 - Evolution Beyond Money (Giftivism, Reforming and Quitting Money)

21-12-2012 15:51

This week, a follow up show to our last show on money. We begin with a talk by Nipun Mehta on 'Designing for Generosity'. Then, an interview with Suelo, now moneyless since 2000 and his biographer, Mark Sundeen. In our second hour, an audio adaptation of the 2011 money reform film, Money As Debt III.

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Won't Get Fooled Again? Hyping Syria's WMD 'Threat'

13-12-2012 09:42

Reading about crimes of state over many years, it is tempting to try to fathom the mind-set of political leaders. What actually is going on in their heads when they order sanctions that kill hundreds of thousands of children? What is in their hearts when they wage needless wars that shatter literally millions of lives? Are they desperately cruel, mindlessly stupid? Do they imagine they are living in a kind of hell where monstrous acts have to be committed to avoid even worse outcomes? Are they indifferent, focused on what will bring them short-term political and economic gain? Are they morally resigned, perceiving themselves as essentially powerless in the face of invincible political and economic forces ('If I didn't do it, someone else would.')?

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Brazil: Structural changes on the way.

12-12-2012 18:31

Our president also studies rebuilding the soil, flora, fauna and rainfall in semi-arid areas (see map!), Home to 18 million Brazilians and it occupies nearly one million square kilometers.This reconstruction will take place at very low cost, without engineering works, but supported on the natural succession of species, according to a technique called Agroforestry Regenerative Analog System (ARAS), developed and disseminated in Brazil by swiss citizen Ernst Götsch, who is in full activity.