Action 250, Febrero 2003
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"Churches speak out against war on Iraq". An Arab View from Rev. Dr. Andrea Z. Stephanous. Reflection from Kristine Greenaway and another from Viliame Falekaono. "Copyright Insurgency" Pradip Thomas. In "Have a Nice Day, the semantics of occupation" Jerry Levin of the Christian Peacemakers Team in Palestine, and previously of CNN in the Middle East, shows how behaviour is masked and reflected by language. "Mixed Messages" Norman Solomon. A short history of God, the WSF and Resistance. The Unseen Gulf War, Peter Turnley. Democratic Redefinition, highlights how open source encyclopedia Wikipedia is fast becoming the biggest encyclopedia in the world, and it's free. "Blair is a Coward" by John Pilger looks at government policy and spin.
Laura Miller, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
As the World lurches awkwardly into war, we want to invite you to participate in a new project launched by the same people who brought you the Weekly Spin and PR Watch. We are calling it a "Disinfopedia" -- an online, collaboratively-written "encyclopedia of propaganda." It lets anyone, INCLUDING YOU, contribute or edit any
article at any time.
Iraqi Archbishop, Gabriel Kassab, visiting the World Council of Churches (WCC). Communicating for peace, Church leaders have issued a strong message against the planned military attack on Iraq.
Peter Turnley
As we all know, the military pool system created for Operation Desert Storm was meant to be, and was, a major impediment for photojournalists in their quest to communicate the realities of war (This fact does not diminish the great efforts, courage, and many important images created by many of my colleagues who participated in these pools.). Aside from that, while you would have a very difficult time finding an editor of an American publication today that wouldn’t condemn this pool system and its restrictions during the Gulf War, most publications and television entities more or less bought the program before the war began (this reality has been far less discussed than the critiques of the pools themselves).
Norman Solomon
A special issue of Time, the US’ biggest newsmagazine, was filled with health information in mid-January, offering plenty of encouragement under the rubric of medical science with an ethereal twist: “How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body.”
Viliame Falekaono
Our behaviour sometimes communicates better and more effective messages than those we proclaim…
Kristine Greenaway
UN Plaza in New York City was surrounded by armed guards and rows of satellite TV trucks as I passed by on 5 February. The world was waiting to hear what Colin Powell would say about the “real story” of Iraq’s arms programme.
Jerry Levin, Christian Peacemakers Team
Almost every Sunday I make the long trek from Hebron to the Arab village of Ibillin in the Northern Galilee, so that I can spend a 24 hour holiday with my wife. Each time I cross the Green Line dividing Palestine from Israel I am reminded of Dorothy remarking to Toto with wide eyed wonder that they weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Sean Hawkey
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, is allowing the redefinition of everything and becoming an invaluable resource for journalists.
Wikipedia is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia. It was started on January 15, 2001 and is already working on more than 100,000 articles in the English version, and many more in 29 other languages.
Pradip Thomas
Ingenious struggles against copyright and corporate control of our lives illustrate key issues in the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) debate. This is a theme in WACC’s Global Studies Programme and a focus for the Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society, CRIS.
John Pilger
Tony Blair is about to commit crimes that the Nuremberg judges considered to be the most grave - unprovoked invasion and the murder of civilians. Bush and Blair will not see the awful effect of their actions on ordinary lives, and neither will we. The media won’t show it.