Back in September, the Globe and Mail's Marina Jimenez published a ridiculous attack on a Lancet study that showed the extent of the political violence that followed the Canadian-backed 2004 coup d'etat in Haiti. The Dominion pointed this out in a media analysis piece.

Now, four months later, Marina Jimenez (to her partial credit) has published a piece noting that after reviewing the study, the Lancet has found that the study was in fact sound, and the editorial board of the prestigious medical journal stands by its conclusions.

The recent murder of Yolanda Izquierdo by paramilitary forces in northeastern Colombia is the second murder of a leader of a land recuperation struggle in the country in less than a week.

In an article in El Diario, Izquierdo is described as "a representative of the victims of the ultra-right in her region."

There is an emergency vigil for Yolanda Izquierdo in Vancouver on Monday, February 12th, at 6pm at the Robson side of the art gallery.

It has been repeated ad nauseum that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel should be "wiped off the map". It has been said before that the quote is not accurate, but now there's a word by word translation of what Ahmadinejad actually did say.

The author runs a web site about Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran that was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup in 1953. This event, which led to the brutal militar

Jerusalem Post: "The Canadian government is establishing an 'Israel Allies Caucus' this week meant to mobilize support for the State of Israel and promote Judeo-Christian values amid a groundswell of Christian support for Israel around the world."

Judeo-Christian values? Somehow, I don't think that "love thy neighbour as thyself" is what they have in mind.

Dave Zirin: "I would also add that half the [Baseball Hall of Fame] is made of players who operated under the ultimate 'performance enhancer', not having to compete against people with dark skin."

For those not familiar, Dave Zirin writes a great column about sports and politics at EdgeofSports.com. He's also got a new book coming out. Check out this bit from his latest piece on Muhammed Ali:

Ali could have recanted, apologized, or signed up on some cushy USO gig boxing for the troops and the cameras, ultimately to go back to making money. But he refused. At one press conference later that year, he was expected to apologize for his "un-American" remarks. Instead he said, "Keep asking me, no matter how long. On the war in Vietnam, I sing this song, I ain't got no quarrel with the Vietcong. Clean out my cell and take my tail to jail. 'Cause better to be in jail fed than to be in Vietnam dead."

Counterpunch has good pieces about similar dynamics in two different US political movements, environmentalism and anti-war.

Jeffrey St. Clair on the green movement's disconnection from the grassroots, and the unfortunate accuracy of right wing claims that environmentalists are Washington elitists:

To quote Jospeh Heller: Something happened. Somewhere along the line, the environmental movement disconnected with the people, rejected its political roots, pulled the plug on its vibrant and militant tradition. It packed its bags, starched its shirts and jetted to DC, where it became what it once despised: a risk-aversive, depersonalized, hyper-analytical, humorless, access-driven, intolerant, centralized, technocratic, dealmaking, passionless, direct-mailing, lawyer-laden monolith to mediocrity. A monolith with feet of clay.

Matt Vincent of the Montana Standard has written a piece that is funny, sad and ironic as anything. Saturday morning reading at its finest.

Mongrel calls Berkeley Pit home for 16 years introduces us to the long term environmental catastrophe of open pit mining with an astounding honesty, permissible perhaps because in this story, it is a dreadlocked dog bearing the impact.

Incredible. Villages of people affected by these same phenomena, and only "The Auditor" gets special treatment.

Tim Rourke sent along these thoughts on guaranteed income:

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There is a world wide movement for a citizen’s income; 'an unconditional, non-withdrawable income payable to each individual as a right of citizenship'. Many countries are moving toward implementation. Yet most Canadians have never heard of it. It is time the movement to separate income and survival from employment took hold in Canada.

Not many people in Canada have heard of ‘citizen’s income’. The other names that the same general concept is known under ring few bells, either; basic income, mincome, guaranteed annual income.

Some government-funded folks at U of T are organizing a conference about investing in the new, "western friendly" Serbia.

The region has already seen some high-profile investment from Canadian companies. Organizers say that participants can expect a frank assessment of the potential for the region as whole as it moves towards political and economic stability along with membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union.

Democracy Now did what media are supposed to do when contentious topics are in play, and hosted a debate about the granting of "rule by decree" powers by Venezuela's legislative assembly to President Hugo Chavez.

Iraq in Fragments, James Longley's three year project, is a beautiful, poignant document that brings the viewer in for a close look at Iraq and it's people.

Coming soon to Calgary, Toronto, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Ottawa, the Peg, and more.

A week ago, we republished an excellent little opinion piece about microcredit.

As a followup, here's an older, and more harshly critical take on the phenomenon of microcredit, which makes some interesting points.

h/t: Nik Barry-Shaw

Reuters ran a story yesterday about how Rigoberta Menchu is considering running for president in the next elections in Guatemala, scheduled for September 9, 2007. According to a Prensa Latina article, Encuentro por Guatemala is interested in her candidacy and will be meeting with her next week to discuss the possibility.

The Globe notes in passing that Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Canada's old Chief Electoral Officer, is off to join the International Federation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

Dominion contributor Anthony Fenton has done a fair bit of work exposing IFES and its role in the overthrow of Haitian democracy. A little background:

IFES successfully co-opted human rights groups, lawyers, and journalists, and "set the groundwork" for the creation of the Group of 184 business-led political opposition to Aristide.

For those keeping track of the millions in funding for "pro-western" journalists and political activists flowing from the US State Department, CIDA, and others, this article is worth reading. It seems that in the case of Iran, US funding has resulted in fewer freedoms, because the regime of the day feels threatened by the use of media for US foreign policy ends.

Many observers and activists say the crackdown on intellectuals and government critics has worsened since the U.S. State Department declared last February that it was creating a 75-million-dollar fund to "reach out to the people of Iran".