Fortunately still with us, big media outlets falsely reporting his passing! The brightest, fiercest, most learned, yet humble intellectual of our era is recovering, the good people of the world wish him well! Let's reread and relisten all that he has written and said chomsky.info/

chomsky.info : The Noam Chomsky Website

The Noam Chomsky Website.

A UN Body signs an agreement with a specific Airline, which also happens to be the heavily subsidized flag carrier of a rather controversial regime, to promote "Sustainable Tourism"?? Do UN Nations actually vote for such decisions, or does a small team feel entitled to take them by themselves without asking anyone? www.timesaerospace.aero/news/sustainability/turkis…

Turkish Airlines and UN Tourism to work on sustainable tourism | Times Aerospace

As the airline flying to more countries than any other airline in the world, Turkish Airlines will be collaborating with UN Tourism to achieve common…

Yanis Varoufakis' two proposals for escaping Debt and Capitalism: "One employee, one share, one vote" (=workers' self-management) + a free digital wallet to all (from the Central bank) so that everyone could transact directly without banks. Certainly, two clear proposals but can they be implemented from below? Or without someone (party/alliance etc) espousing them gaining considerable power? And...Yanis Varoufakis' two proposals for escaping Debt and Capitalism: "One employee, one share, one vote" (=workers' self-management) + a free digital wallet to all (from the Central bank) so that everyone could transact directly without banks. Certainly, two clear proposals but can they be implemented from below? Or without someone (party/alliance etc) espousing them gaining considerable power? And even if they do, could these be applied in just one country, or would we have a repetition of the Greek summer of 2015 with currency controls and long ATM queues? And how would these two measures exactly guarantee equality and even avoid new debt being generated? Old and new questions seeking answers... the truth is that the problem is not just capitalism, it is a lot more complicated. It's one thing accurately summarizing how the current system works and another how to replace it with a better system that will also work, against formidable and multi-faceted opposition. newint.org/debt/2024/problem-capitalism Show more

The problem is capitalism | New Internationalist

Yanis Varoufakis explores how we can transform debt from ball and chain to an enabler of shared prosperity.

Mega-events as an excuse for xenophobic "social cleansing"? Imagine all that Olympics money being spent on a humane migration and integration policy instead... www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240417-france-evic…

France evicts hundreds of migrants from Paris squat ahead of Olympics

French authorities on Wednesday evicted hundreds of migrants from a squat in a southern suburb of Paris with just 100 days to go until the…

On Europe Day 2024, and a few weeks before the EU Parliament elections, "Europe" sounds powerless, indifferent and divided, with nationalism and xenophobia once more rising. In other parts of the world it is also despised and hated, for the past (still unpaid) crimes of Colonialism, and its ongoing crimes including neocolonial conduct by European businesses, pushbacks and incarceration of asylum...On Europe Day 2024, and a few weeks before the EU Parliament elections, "Europe" sounds powerless, indifferent and divided, with nationalism and xenophobia once more rising. In other parts of the world it is also despised and hated, for the past (still unpaid) crimes of Colonialism, and its ongoing crimes including neocolonial conduct by European businesses, pushbacks and incarceration of asylum seekers by European governments, and arms exports by the European military-industrial-banking complex so that people on other continents can get more effectively killed and so on. Worse, progressive forces in Europe including the Center-Left, the Left and the Greens are increasingly co-opted by the establishment and have swallowed their tongue on many issues. Their slogans like the "just transition", or "tax the rich" etc are too timid and cannot inspire or unite the opposition to the polycrisis and those who created it. We need a new unifying vision/theory/action asap, before we are perpetually divided and confined in a perpetual quarantine of cheap virtual entertainment, joblessness, meager neoliberal coupons, violence, pandemics, never-ending wars and fear of one another. Until such a new vision/movement emerges who knows from where (with fresh terms - the old ones probably carry too much baggage and historical errors), two peaceful, practical ways forward are to focus (a) on electing progressive mayors that may experiment with new community-based institutions, infrastructure and instruments and (b) on democratizing workplaces, one by one. This includes supporting (buying from) such democratic (worker/employee-owned) businesses/social enterprises/cooperatives in every sector - we can not have a real democracy without an economic democracy. For those of us who do not tolerate authoritarianism in society, why should we tolerate it in the economy, in the workplace? It goes without saying that we should also resist the privatization of (what's left of) the so-called welfare state (public health, education, housing, public utilities) and of the commons (parks, protected areas, beaches, forests, wild places etc). Show more

Cornell's Megan Epler Wood doubts that (over)tourism taxes are effective. My take is that tourism taxes, including green ones, are effective only so far as the proceeds are adequate and used for the stated purpose, locally, by those that need them most. If they are collected by the central government to plug budget holes they remain just an excuse. and the more (tourists) the merrier...Cornell's Megan Epler Wood doubts that (over)tourism taxes are effective. My take is that tourism taxes, including green ones, are effective only so far as the proceeds are adequate and used for the stated purpose, locally, by those that need them most. If they are collected by the central government to plug budget holes they remain just an excuse. and the more (tourists) the merrier. Overtourism taxes if improperly planned could even make a destination more dependent on tourism receipts. news.cornell.edu/media-relations/tip-sheets/are-en… Show more

Are entry fees effective? Sustainable tourism expert weighs in | Cornell Chronicle

Venice has begun charging an entry fee for day trippers in an effort to keep tourism down. Residents protested the action and argued it will…

How many whistleblower deaths until someone gets the odd idea it may not be a coincidence?
www.democracynow.org/2024/5/2/headlines/another_bo…

Another Boeing Whistleblower Has Died | Democracy Now!

Jeremy Corbyn exposes the slippery slope of "pragmatic", inhumane immigration policy across Europe that legitimizes xenophobia, emboldens rather than weakens the far right, and erodes civil liberties for all. tribunemag.co.uk/2024/05/jeremy-corbyn-our-politic…

Jeremy Corbyn: Our Political Class Are Emboldening the Far Right

The Rwanda scheme is a repulsive election stunt from a government devoid of humanity. We must resist both the policy and the racist rhetoric that…

As the "Olympic flame" is handed in Athens to the Paris Olympics organizers, I cannot stop thinking that this tradition originated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics for specific propaganda reasons. Why has the IOC kept it? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics_torch_r…

1936 Summer Olympics torch relay - Wikipedia