US spied on UN climate summit, Snowden leaks show | EurActiv

US spied on UN climate summit, Snowden leaks show | EurActiv

EU
commissioners and experts expressed bewilderment after "worrying"
revelations on Thursday that the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied
on heads of state during the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

 

EU, US to provide ‘significant’ aid to Ukraine: Ashton | EurActiv

EU, US to provide ‘significant’ aid to Ukraine: Ashton | EurActiv

TOP STORY / EU & US to provide ‘significant’ aid to Ukraine, says Ashton


The EU and US are working on a plan for significant short-term
financial assistance for Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton was quoted as saying yesterday. Ukraine won a $15 billion (€11
billion) bailout pledge from Russia earlier and is struggling
economically throughout the political crisis.

 

Catherine Ashton at the Munich conference

Saving the forests for last – in the hope, at last, of saving the forests | International Institute for Environment and Development

Saving the forests for last – in the hope, at last, of saving the forests | International Institute for Environment and Development

A cocktail of planetary proportions – and indeed significance – will be on the table this week in New York.

In a new blog, Duncan Macqueen argues that the Sustainable Development
Goals, which nations are set to negotiate soon, must not only mention
saving the world's forests, but also explain how to do so --> http://www.iied.org/saving-forests-for-last-hope-last-saving-forests - 

 The post-2015 development agenda must recognise that the fates of forests and people are entwined. Credit: Duncan Macqueen

 

Beyond Orwell's Worst Nightmare | Marjorie Cohn

Beyond Orwell's Worst Nightmare | Marjorie Cohn:

 "Big Brother is Watching You," George Orwell wrote in his disturbing book 1984. But, as Mikko Hypponen points out, Orwell "was an optimist." Orwell never could have imagined that the National Security Agency (NSA) would amass metadata on billions of our phone calls and 200 million of our text messages every day. Orwell could not have foreseen that our government would read the content of our emails, file transfers, and live chats from the social media we use.

In his recent speech on NSA reforms, President Obama cited as precedent Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty, who patrolled the streets at night, "reporting back any signs that the British were preparing raids against America's early Patriots." This was a weak effort to find historical support for the NSA spying program. After all, Paul Revere and his associates were patrolling the streets, not sorting through people's private communications.

The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalise War | Global Research

The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalise War | Global Research

This declaration was initially adopted almost 10 years ago in
December 2005 as a consensus statement on the need to end all wars of
aggression as a means to ensuring the survival of humanity.

“Killings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times of peace. Since
killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of crime,
killings in war must likewise be subject to the international law of
crimes. This should be so irrespective of whether these killings in war
are authorized or permitted by domestic law.”

More than ever the Kuala Lumpur Initiative should be widely
understood and applied. The Pentagon and NATO are the protagonists of
war and war crimes. 

The US has embarked upon the ultimate war crimes, a military adventure, “a long war”, which threatens the future of humanity.
The Pentagon’s global military design is one of world conquest. The
military deployment of US-NATO forces is occurring in several regions of
the world simultaneously, resulting in millions of civilian deaths and
countless atrocities.

Bear in mind, the KL Declaration also calls for the criminalization of the military industrial complex including the so-called defense contractors as well as science labs which
conceptualize and develop advanced weapons systems:  “All commercial,
financial, industrial and scientific activities that aid and abet war
should be criminalised.” 

The KL declaration also targets the corporate media as well as
Hollywood which routinely glorifies acts of killing and destruction.  

Palestinians Starving inside Al Qaeda held Syria Refugee Camp. Al Nusra is supported by Israel | Global Research

Palestinians Starving inside Al Qaeda held Syria Refugee Camp. Al Nusra is supported by Israel | Global Research

Download video (37.42 MB)

http://rt.com/news/syria-camp-starve-palestinians-513/

Mass starvation, disease and hopelessness abound in the Yarmouk
Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Although a UN agency has managed
to make its first food aid delivery to the rebel-held camp in weeks,
many people are on the brink of starvation.

The camp is located on the edge of the territory the Syrian
government considers under its control, in a southern Damascus
neighborhood, just five miles away from the capital’s center.

Rebel forces have been holding the camp for more than a year and the
army started a siege in June. Nothing and no one comes in or out, as
18,000 people continue to be kept in a state of limbo.

Some of the Palestinian refugees living in the camp have been there
for decades, victims of the Palestinian people’s conflict with Israel.
Now they are hoping desperately for a resolution to this conflict, in
Syria.

 

A handout picture released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) on January 21, 2014 shows a general view of destruction in
Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus where the
organisation say thousands are trapped and in dire need of aid.
(AFP/UNRWA)

▶ The men who crashed the world - YouTube

▶ The men who crashed the world - YouTube



 The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that led to financial collapse.


In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought
down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the throne.


The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world
history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and
bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. Wall Street turned
back the clock to 1929.

But how did it all go so wrong?


Lack of government regulation; easy lending in the US housing market
meant anyone could qualify for a home loan with no government
regulations in place.

Also, London was competing with New York
as the banking capital of the world. Gordon Brown, the British finance
minister at the time, introduced 'light touch regulation' - giving
bankers a free hand in the marketplace.

All this, and with key players making the wrong financial decisions, saw the world's biggest financial collapse.





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Occupation 101: Voices of a Silenced Majority (2006) | Watch Documentary Free Online

Occupation 101: Voices of a Silenced Majority (2006) | Watch Documentary Free Online:

 A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict, "Occupation 101" presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.

The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.

The film covers a wide range of topics, which include, the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy.

„Kritischen Polizisten" Thomas Wüppesahl Interview - Teil 2 Märchenstunde für die Mainstream-Medien (14:05 min)

„Kritischen Polizisten" Thomas Wüppesahl Interview - Teil 2 Märchenstunde für die Mainstream-Medien (14:05 min)

Thomas Wüppesahl is spokesman for the
"Critical policemen". " He reports on the processes at the David Guard, a
strategically planned manipulation of the public. " He says the press
office of the police delivered a "story time for the mainstream media." A
propaganda to cover up their own mistakes to portray himself as a
"white knight". The police were so self become the "perpetrators".

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Danger area! Interview (part 2) with speakers of Critical policemen

Kollision - Merchant of Evil ▶ Kollision - Händler des Bösen - YouTube

▶ Kollision - Händler des Bösen - YouTube



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OalyWGKrqk

TTIP Freihandelsabkommen: Das Märchen vom Jobmotor (8:52 min)

TTIP Freihandelsabkommen: Das Märchen vom Jobmotor (8:52 min)

Behind closed doors negotiating for months:

It's about the free trade agreement between the EU and the USA. Critics fear an unprecedented loss of consumer protection and civil rights.

EU Commission and the Federal Government to counter with generous promises.
Accordingly, the transatlantic free trade agreement with the U.S. to
create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help Europe out of the economic
crisis.


However: The impressive growth figures are based on completely
unrealistic scenarios, such as the U.S. accession to the European Union.


Critics speak of an unprecedented campaign to cover the growing concern
about loss of democracy and the reduction of consumer rights.

This is exactly what the EU also suggests a secret strategy paper, which is present MONITOR.  

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Are CIA Cyber-Spooks Hacking Americans' Computers? | American Civil Liberties Union

Are CIA Cyber-Spooks Hacking Americans' Computers? | American Civil Liberties Union

 If Senators Wyden and Udall are sounding another warning call about
ANOTHER government agency running afoul of the law without regard to our
privacy – we should be listening.

Change Your Profile Picture Today | Human Rights Watch

Change Your Profile Picture Today | Human Rights Watch

 Let the world know that you stand against Russia's homophobic laws and
with Russia's human rights activists, its LGBT community, and the
remarkable athletes of the Sochi Olympic Games. Update your Facebook
profile picture today! http://trib.al/NdoRBl3

Download this image and make it your Facebook profile picture before the
Olympics to stand with Russia’s local human rights activists, its LGBT
community, and the inspiring athletes of the Sochi 2014 Games.  

5 steps to escape the trap of limiting beliefs

5 steps to escape the trap of limiting beliefs:

 (NaturalNews) Imagine that you are driving down a country road. Suddenly, the road comes to a "T" - a three-way intersection that requires you to turn left or right. You look up and notice the most puzzling road sign.

 

Activist Post: I Am Steve Marsh: Global organic protection campaign faces trial

Activist Post: I Am Steve Marsh: Global organic protection campaign faces trial

Steve Marsh’s ‪#‎organic‬ canola fields in Western ‪#‎Australia‬ suffered 70% genetic contamination from a neighboring ‪#‎biotech‬ farm that sowed Monsanto seeds. As a result, he lost organic certification after 11 years, and his livelihood was destroyed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmu7v2oDk5c&feature=player_embedded

How to Resist Pediatrician Vaccination Tactics | The Healthy Home Economist

How to Resist Pediatrician Vaccination Tactics | The Healthy Home Economist:

 A Pediatrician recently commented on a blog I wrote a few weeks back titled, “Six Reasons to Say NO to Vaccinations”. Her comment got me thinking about how parents could best deal with the tactics that Pediatricians frequently use to compel their patients to vaccinate.

Here are a few of the most effective ploys I’ve experienced or heard about at the Pediatrician’s office and how to best thwart them.

 

Cabot Oil & Gas Goes After 63 Year Old Anti-fracking Activist

Cabot Oil & Gas Goes After 63 Year Old Anti-fracking Activist:

Vera Scroggins, an outspoken opponent of fracking, has been legally barred from the new county hospital. Also off-limits, unless Scroggins wants to risk fines and arrest, are the Chinese restaurant where she takes her grandchildren, the supermarkets and drug stores where she shops, the animal shelter where she adopted her Yorkshire terrier, bowling alley, recycling centre, golf club, and lake shore.

 

Iraq: 935 Lies, A Tyrant with “Weapons of Mass Destruction” | Global Research

Iraq: 935 Lies, A Tyrant with “Weapons of Mass Destruction” | Global Research:

 “The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy.” (Former US Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, b 1927.)

As outlined by Felicity Arbuthnot in this incisive historical review, the US is now providing weapons to the Maliki government to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant (AQIL). In a bitter irony, they are also supplying AQIL with weapons to fight the US puppet regime.

This article carefully documents the role of war crimes in feeding the military industrial complex. “War is Good for Business” and so are war crimes. Russia is tacitly complicit in selling weapons to the Iraqi “government” which constitutes a US proxy regime.

The not so hidden objective is twofold: to feed multibillion dollar contracts to the US weapons producers while also contributing to the ongoing destruction of Iraq as a nation state. (GR Editor. M.Ch.)

Towards a Renewed Imperialist Intervention in Libya? Anti-NATO Forces Retake Areas in Southern Libya | Global Research

Towards a Renewed Imperialist Intervention in Libya? Anti-NATO Forces Retake Areas in Southern Libya | Global Research

For nearly seven months
in 2011, NATO planes — particularly from the U.S., France, Britain and
Canada — carried out a massive bombing campaign in Libya intended to
overthrow the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

After getting the U.N.
Security Council to pass a resolution imposing an arms embargo on Libya
and then another authorizing a so-called “no-fly zone” in which only
their planes could fly, the imperialists succeeded in having Gaddafi
captured and brutally killed, opening the way for the establishment of a
new regime that would further their interests in that oil-rich North
African country.

Now, just two and a half
years later, this puppet government is losing ground in southern and
western Libya to pro-Gaddafi forces, who have taken back several towns
and an air base.

These developments have
prompted French Admiral Edouard Guillard to appeal for a renewed
imperialist intervention in Libya, claiming that developments on the
southern border could lead to a “terrorist threat.” (Washington Post,
Jan. 27)

Guillard claimed that any
intervention would require the “consent” of the neocolonial regime that
these same imperialists set up in Tripoli. It is headed by Prime
Minister Ali Zeidan and the General National Congress.

Since mid-January forces
that remain allied with the former Jamahiriya political and economic
system set up by Gaddafi have taken control of several cities and towns
in the south. Clashes have also been reported around the capital of
Tripoli, where nationalist forces have fought pitched battles with
militias and military forces backed by the GNC regime. (Libya Herald,
Jan. 20)

 

Carlos Fuentes, la subversion baroque, par Guy Scarpetta (Le Monde diplomatique)

Carlos Fuentes, la subversion baroque, par Guy Scarpetta (Le Monde diplomatique)

La cause est entendue : ce qui qualifie les grands romans, c’est de
produire des effets de vérité qui échappent à tous les autres systèmes
de représentation ou d’interprétation ; de révéler une part de l’expérience humaine à laquelle seul l’art du roman permet d’accéder.

C’était là la grande thèse d’Hermann Broch, développée aujourd’hui
par Milan Kundera, et que Carlos Fuentes, de son côté, n’a cessé de
reprendre et d’amplifier.

Et de fait, si l’on veut comprendre, par exemple, quelque chose au
Mexique (à ses paradoxes, à ses ambiguïtés, à sa violence fondatrice
enfouie et toujours présente, à sa mémoire plurielle et enchevêtrée), il
vaut mieux lire, plutôt que des discours historiques, philosophiques,
politiques ou sociologiques, des romans comme La Plus Limpide Région, La Mort d’Artemio Cruz, Christophe et son œuf ou La Frontière de verre...

Lorsque Fuentes a commencé à écrire, les jeunes écrivains d’Amérique
latine étaient pour ainsi dire sommés de choisir leur camp : on devait
prendre parti pour le réalisme ou pour l’imaginaire, le fantastique ; pour l’ancrage dans la réalité nationale ou pour l’ouverture cosmopolite ;
pour la littérature engagée ou pour de pures recherches formelles. Ils
furent quelques-uns, autour de lui (le Colombien Gabriel García Márquez,
l’Argentin Julio Cortázar, le Péruvien Mario Vargas Llosa, le Cubain
José Lezama Lima), à choisir de ne pas choisir, à entreprendre de
surmonter ces antinomies figées, et à réconcilier ce que la doxa
s’obstinait à opposer. On a nommé cela le boom du roman latino-américain
— en réalité, le plus prodigieux renouvellement de l’art du roman,
probablement, qui ait surgi dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle.

Syria: ‘Human Rights Watch’, Key Player in the Manufacture of Propaganda for War and Foreign Intervention | Global Research

Syria: ‘Human Rights Watch’, Key Player in the Manufacture of Propaganda for War and Foreign Intervention | Global Research

The Washington-based group ‘Human Rights Watch’– controlled by the US
foreign policy elite – has released another volley in its campaign to
back the ‘humanitarian war’ being waged against the independent nation
of Syria.

This is not the first or
second fabrication against Syria run by Human Rights Watch. The group
was amongst the first to falsely blame the Syrian government for the
East Ghouta chemical weapons incident of August 2013. The ‘moral panic’
from that accusation almost sparked a major escalation of the war.

Several reports have since proven that the accusation was a fraud. A
group led by Catholic nun Mother Agnes Mariam produced a report showing
the video evidence of the incident had been manipulated and staged; US
investigative journalist Seymour Hersh showed that US intelligence
implicating the Syrian Government had been fabricated; and the New York
Times retracted its support for speculative telemetry evidence, which
they had claimed implicated the Syrian Army. On the other side, Syrian
witnesses, a Jordanian reporter and a Turkish human rights group (‘Peace
Association and Lawyers for Justice in Turkey’) implicated Saudi-backed
terrorists. Further, the last UN report on the incident says that, in
most instances, chemical weapons were used ‘against soldiers’; that is,
against the government. HRW has neither retracted nor apologised for its
role in this scam.

The latest HRW story (‘Razed to the Ground’, 30 Jan) is that the
Syrian Government over 2012-13 demolished residential buildings in seven
areas of Hama and Damascus as ‘punishment’ for certain neighbourhoods
supporting ‘the rebels’. Thousands of families lost their homes in this
way, yet there have been ‘no similar demolitions in areas that support
the government’.

HRW said it ‘has not documented that anybody was injured or killed in
the process.’ Nevertheless, the use of home demolition as punishment
was ‘a violation … of the laws of war’ and amounts to a war crime. HRW
‘calls on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the
International Criminal Court’.

Google’s “Smart Home” Surveillance Plans, or, How Not to be Colonized | Global Research

Google’s “Smart Home” Surveillance Plans, or, How Not to be Colonized | Global Research:

Two weeks ago, the New York Times’ truth-humor strip on “The Home of the Future” came on the heels of Google’s purchase of ‘smart thermostat’ manufacturer Nest for $3.2 Billion.

With power utility commissions such as California already stating their intention to “expand third-party access” to in-home data, the perfect storm is brewing for Google’s mission of making you their product – even in your own home.

Iraq Puppet Regime’s Crimes against Humanity: Stop the Al-Maliki Government’s Atrocities against Civilians | Global Research

Iraq Puppet Regime’s Crimes against Humanity: Stop the Al-Maliki Government’s Atrocities against Civilians | Global Research:

On behalf of a coalition of NGOs Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) has sent an urgent appeal to the International community and UN bodies following its appeal from 13 January 2014 in view of the horribly deteriorating human rights situation and the continuous brutal attacks against civilians in the province of al-Anbar/ Iraq.

All content on South Sudan | Doctors Without Borders

All content on South Sudan | Doctors Without Borders:

 South Sudan

You are viewing all content tagged South Sudan. You can also read an overview of MSF's work in South Sudan.

CATALONIA --- Abroad.cat welcome - YouTube

Abroad.cat welcome - YouTube



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CATALONIA --- Catalan News Agency - Politics

Catalan News Agency - Politics

• 
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  “An independent Catalonia should not pay” for Spain’s “odious debts”, says employer association

  
  
  
  
  

  The President of the employer’s association Cercle Català de Negocis
  (CCN), Albert Pont, stated that part of the Spanish Government’s debt
  is “odious” and therefore Catalonia cannot recognise this “illegitimate
  debt”. However, Pont underlined the “willingness” to pay for the
  proportionate share of the rest of the debt, which should be calculated
  “item by item”. In an exclusive interview with the CNA, he denounced a
  public debt generated “for the benefit of no more than a few companies”
  that “provide works, services and infrastructures” for the Spanish
  Government. “If Spain does not recognise the independence of Catalonia,
  Spain should assume its debt completely and the Catalan Government its
  own debt”, he warned. In addition, Pont denounced the fact that the
  Spanish Executive is taking away “between €16 billion and €18 billion”
  from Catalonia each year, a fiscal deficit amounting to “around 9%” of
  the Catalan GDP. “The IMF already established that fiscal deficits
  exceeding 4% of the GDP of a territory amounted to colonial relations”,
  he highlighted. Besides, he explained that “the average custom duty is
  between 1.4% and 1.5%”. However, Pont ruled out this possibility since a
  “political solution” will be reached to keep Catalonia within the EU.

CATALONIA -- Attacks on linguistic immersion generate indignation and calls for disobedience - VilaWeb

Attacks on linguistic immersion generate indignation and calls for disobedience - VilaWeb

 Minister Rigau is completely opposed to the TSJC ruling 

'The People’s Party (PP) wants to impose the same model in Catalonia
that they have in Valencia and the Balearic Islands,' said Irene Rigau,
Catalonia's Minister of Education with respect to the Supreme Court of
Justice (TSJC) ruling that requires five Catalan schools to set the
minimum usage of Spanish at 25% of class time. Current Catalan law
stipulates that Catalan be the language of instruction in Catalan
schools, except for required Spanish language classes.

Rigau
added, 'They want to extend the special treatment recognized by the law
for a single student to the entire group and all of the courts had
accepted that that is an unimaginable situation, a conflict that we have
always tried to avoid in our schools,' But reactions from the school
system and civil society were much more blunt. Somescola, Esquerra,
Iniciativa, and the CUP demanded that the Catalan government defend
linguistic immersion in the schools against the attacks from the TSJC
and to disobey the court's orders.

In their communiqué, Somescola said that the education model in our
country should not be decided through the legal system but that it must
be the Parliament of Catalonia who establishes its own legislation,
'according to the democratic mandate that we Catalans have expressed at
the polls'. Somescola rejected the ruling out of hand, and asked the
Generalitat to continue to safeguard the Catalan model of linguistic
immersion, insisting that 'the Department of Education is the
administrative organ that has jurisdiction over the distribution of
class hours and assigning the amount of usage of languages. The TSJC
does not have this pedagogic capacity nor this organizational function.'

Somescola.cat—a coalition that organizes civic end educational
groups—explains in the same communiqué that next week the group will
meet to prepare a response to the TSJC attack and will make a call to
the community 'in order to continue defending the consensus forged over
the past thirty years in Catalonia on linguistic immersion, which
guarantees equal opportunity and social cohesion in Catalonia.'

Iniciativa, Esquerra, and the CUP demand that the government maintain
the linguistic immersion model, irrespective of the TSJC ruling

For its part, ICV's national coordinator, Dolors Camats, asked the
government yesterday to maintain the linguistic immersion model
irrespective of what the TSJC ruled. The spokesperson for ICV-EUiA, Joan
Mena, expressed the same opinion to the Education Committee, demanding
that the government exhaust 'all legal recourses possible in order to
keep the legal impositions from overruling educational criteria.' Mena
stressed that the judges cannot establish percentages without knowing
the plurilinguistic reality of the schools and warned that this decision
not only tries to undermine the linguistic immersion model but also the
principle of autonomy of individual schools.

The spokesperson for Esquerra, Anna Simó, also insisted that the
Catalan government defend linguistic immersion to the end, if necessary
in the Constitutional Court (TC). Simó underscored that the legal
framework in Catalonia is the LEC, which guarantees linguistic
competency in both Catalan and Spanish without discriminating against
students or separating them into language groups. Given the TSJC ruling,
Simón said it was 'completely unfair that the will of the minority
should try to overrule the laws that apply to the majority, and that
violate the rights of the other schoolmates, and Catalonia's
legislation.' 'There is a minority that wants to exclude Catalan from
the model we have agreed on democratically,' she said. And she stated
that 'a completely orquestrated battle is being fought in the legal
system that was already lost at the ballot boxes'.

The member of Parliament for the CUP, Isabel Vallet, was even more
clear as she called for disobedience and warned of the 'Spanishizing
offensive' all around the Catalan Countries and in all areas. She gave a
few examples: the Wert law (which centralizes school curriculum in
Madrid, and minimizes use of Catalan and Catalonia-related subjects in
school), the public administration law, the law of symbols, the
elimination of Catalan as the language of instruction in Valencian
schools, and the trilingualism decree in the Balearic Islands (which
substitutes Spanish for Catalan under the guise of expanding English
use). For the CUP, civil and institutional disobedience are key. 'If we
don't take advantage of the strength of our unity, we will be destroyed
as a people,' said Vallet, paraphrasing the Valencian essayist Joan
Fuster.

CATALONIA -- Súmate: 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia, there is no division. We will forge a new country.' - VilaWeb

Súmate: 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia, there is no division. We will forge a new country.' - VilaWeb

Súmate: 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia, there is no division. We will forge a new country.'

The presentation was attended by many
prominent Catalans, including Columbia professor Xavier Sala i Martin,
Tricentennial director Miquel Calçada, Òmnium president Muriel Casals,
and ANC president Carme Forcadell

 

The Súmate group (Twitter and Facebook) introduced
itself yesterday in Barcelona in a moving event in the packed CCOO
auditorium and with the attendance of an important number of Catalan
personalities: Xavier Sala-i-Martín, Miquel Calçada, Muriel Casals,
Carme Forcadell, Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal, Francesc Marc Álvaro and
Lluís Cabrera, among others. 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia
there is no division. We will forge a new country,' said the
association's president, Eduardo Reyes, who added, 'as Spanish as we
feel, we have the obligation of defending the land where we are now'.
The event, in addition, was attended by two former members of the
People's Party and UPyD, Carlos Treviño and Manolo Ortega, respectively.

Ortega
who said that he had voted and been a member at the side of UPyD leader
Rosa Díez, made Súmate's message very clear, 'The ones who are dividing
us are those that say that to be Spanish means you can't be Catalan,
the ones who are dividing us are the ones who don't let us vote.' And
with respect to his former party, he added, 'I thought that it was a
center-left, federalist party, but they said in order to be Spanish I
had to stop being Catalan.'

Treviño, for his part, said that he ‘had been indoctrinated by the
COPE [radio station]' and that he had voted for [former Spanish
president and PP leader José Maria] Aznar. And he pointed out that he
felt mistreated by Spain. 'The Spanish government have acted like
scoundrels with us,' he said, while he applauded the Catalan character
and appreciated the tolerance toward people like him who 'are people who
maintain their Spanish culture and who feel appreciated and who receive
your support'.

Another speaker was José Rodríguez, who said he had been a member of
the Catalan Socialists' Party and the union, UGT. He said that he was in
favor of independence because it had been made clear to him that
reforming Spain was impossible. 'It's like trying to climb Everest by
kicking your feet.' In the end, he harshly criticized Spanish
fear-mongering, and commented that 'at this rate, they'll end up telling
us we'll be expelled from the galaxy'.

Confirmed: DNA From Genetically Modified Crops Can Be Transferred Into Humans Who Eat Them | Collective-Evolution

Confirmed: DNA From Genetically Modified Crops Can Be Transferred Into Humans Who Eat Them | Collective-Evolution:

In a new study published in the peer reviewed Public Library of Science (PLOS), researchers emphasize that there is sufficient evidence that meal-derived DNA fragments carry complete genes that can enter into the human circulation system through an unknown mechanism. (0) I wonder if the scientists at these biotech corporations have already identified this method? In one of the blood samples the relative concentration of plant DNA is higher than the human DNA. The study was based on the analysis of over 1000 human samples from four independent studies. PLOS is an open access, well respected peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers primary research from disciplines within science and medicine. It’s great to see this study published in it, confirming what many have been suspecting for years.

 

« Le ventre, notre deuxième cerveau »

« Le ventre, notre deuxième cerveau »:

 C’est un étrange voyage au cœur de nos entrailles que propose Cécile Denjean dans ce documentaire parfois complexe mais passionnant. Notre ventre abrite plus de 200 millions de neurones connectés qui transmettent des ordres. Ce « cerveau du bas », qui règne sur une impressionnante colonie de bactéries, décide-t-il de nos humeurs ?

 

South Sudan: MSF Staff and Patients Forced to Flee Hospital | Doctors Without Borders

South Sudan: MSF Staff and Patients Forced to Flee Hospital | Doctors Without Borders

 MSF is currently running projects in nine of South Sudan's 10 states. In
recent days, violence in Unity State has forced thousands of people to
flee into the bush, including patients and more than 200 South Sudanese
staff members from MSF's hospital in Leer: http://bit.ly/1fJ0scg

 

 

Dire situation for Syrian refugees in Lebanon - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Dire situation for Syrian refugees in Lebanon - Middle East - Al Jazeera English:

 

Syrian refugees have now outnumbered Lebanese residents in the Lebanese border town of Arsal, forcing new arrivals to set up makeshift shelters in remote areas outside of military control.

Refugees say they feel forgotten and neglected because they have been forced to find shelter in an area beyond the last Lebanese military checkpoint near Syria.

They have to walk through the checkpoint and into Arsal to receive aid.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports from Arsal.

 

Publikative.org » Blog Archive » Klage gegen Brückensperrungen in Magdeburg

Publikative.org » Blog Archive » Klage gegen Brückensperrungen in Magdeburg

 

The police closed in 2013 and just two weeks before bridges in
Magdeburg, although courts judged that "the Assembly" Tolerance and
Diversity "should take place in the eastern city of Magdeburg and thus
the access routes to the meeting should be kept."

"Thus, the
fundamental right to freedom of association and the fundamental right to
freedom of movement is already in 2013 by the police command and
control were injured in a massive way. With locking the bridge in 2013,
the police had probably already shown that they do not respect the
decisions of the administrative courts and could ignore it. "

Zuwanderung aus Osteuropa ...

Zuwanderung aus Osteuropa ...

here an almost unbelievable right Propaganda
of the German Police Union in Hessen: They say, "lost the homogeneity of
society, parallel societies arise, fear and harassment spaces arise"
that by the immigrants, there is a "Slumbildung" and also allege that "other states delegate their problems [..] to Germany. "

If they are not clear how the plight of these people made? That the
"Slumbildung" is often provoked by separating site selection by the
policy, that these people are not to blame for all the misery that they
thus create fear, criminalize people groups in Vorfelde and the error is
not in politics and in the system, but womoglich in the heredity of
people looking for? "
Do not let yourselves be guided by the
fear that they can be overlooked where the errors are and makes you
forget what really connects us with the people. More than with corrupt
and unscrupulous bankers got billions and get needed for social - for
example.

CATALONIA -- Obama aide: "each set of peoples is going to make their own determinations" - VilaWeb

Obama aide: "each set of peoples is going to make their own determinations" - VilaWeb:

 Ben Rhodes, Barack Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting, with regard to Catalonia's desire to hold a referendum on independence, said that "we support there being a process for reviewing these issues in each country". Concretely, he defended that "different solutions are appropiate to different countries". In a conversation with Xavier Vilà, correspondent for Catalunya Ràdio in Washington DC, Rhodes said, 'Sometimes autonomy works, sometimes peoples end up being independent states, sometimes there are unions, and so I think as a general matter we support there being a process for reviewing these issues in each country, but ultimately each country, each set of peoples is going to make their own determinations.' Notwithstanding, Obama's assistant said that he didn't want to interfere in an internal matter of the Spanish state.

Here is the audio from Xavier Vilà's conversation on Catalunya Ràdio with Ben Rhodes:

 

 

Here is the full transcript of Rhode's remarks:

With respect to the Scottish referendum, we would very much defer to
the process that the United Kingdom has set up, that Prime Minister
Cameron is leading. On my mother's side of the family, the MacNutts, can
trace their origins to Scotland, I can tell you, so somewhere in me is
the blood of a Scotsman, but that doesn't mean that I take any opinion
on the referendum. It just means that I have a deep appreciation for the
contributions for the Scottish people over their history. Clearly
though the United Kingdom is you know, we have no closer ally in the
world, and so we'll watch with that interest in mind and again with
respect for the process that's been set up over many years in that
country.

I also think that these decisions are unique to different countries.
Ultimately different countries have to work through their own process.
So, for instance, I wouldn't infer, the US is not going to take a
position for instance on some issues that Spain may be considering in
this space. Ultimately, I think history shows that different solutions
are appropiate to different countries, different regions,
sometimes—again I'm not speaking specifically of any one particular
region or country—I'm just saying that sometimes autonomy works,
sometimes peoples end up being independent states, sometimes there are
unions, and so I think as a general matter we support there being a
process for reviewing these issues in each country, but ultimately each
country, each set of peoples is going to make their own determinations.

CATALONIA -- Catalan News Agency - ‘Sciences Po’ Professor: “transition” solution needed so “Catalans are not excluded from the EU”

Catalan News Agency - ‘Sciences Po’ Professor: “transition” solution needed so “Catalans are not excluded from the EU”

Barcelona (ACN).- A
Professor at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies
(Science Po), Jean-Bernard Auby, has advocated for a temporary solution
to keep Catalonia within the European Union if it reaches independence
from Spain. This agreement should guarantee that Catalonia will not be
excluded from the EU even if it does not immediately become a
full-member. On Friday, during a conference in Sciences Po Toulouse by
the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat), Auby insisted that
“Catalonia and the Catalans are part of the EU” and for this reason,
according to him, if the country becomes independent “one shouldn’t, in a
mechanical way, impose on them to go through the procedures we impose
on those who are complete outsiders”. This conference entitled ‘The
right to self-determination of Catalonia. Legality and democratic
legitimacy’ is part of a series of debates on the right to
self-determination organised by the Diplocat and scheduled in
prestigious universities throughout Spain and Europe. The first cycle
was set in Science Po in Paris, before moving to London, Seville and
Uppsala (Sweden). The series will continue in Lisbon next February.In
the opening speech, Francesc Homs, the Catalan Government Spokesperson
and Minister for the Presidency, presented the political process to a
foreign audience, stressing the Catalans’ “utmost desire for dialogue”
with Spain and his awareness that it “is necessary to explain [the
situation] to the world first hand” in order to achieve maximum
involvement.

Professor Jean-Bernard Auby believes that when
dealing with the question of a hypothetical independent Catalonia within
the EU, one has to be more “more nuanced” than “certain individuals,
notably in the European institutions” have been. The Sciences Po
Professor argued that “Catalonia and the Catalans are subjects of the
EU”. And for this reason he said that if the country becomes
independent, “one shouldn’t, in a mechanical way, impose on them to go
through the procedures we impose on those who are complete outsiders”.

“We should find a way to keep an independent Catalonia linked with
Europe even if it doesn’t immediately have the status of a full-member”
Auby added that it would be a “transition” solution so that “Catalans
are not excluded from Europe, from its mechanisms, from its laws, and
from European citizenship in particular”.

A lengthy process following failed agreements with the Spanish authorities

The Catalan Government’s Spokesperson, Francesc Homs,
also attended the conference, explaining the ongoing self-determination
process and the independence claims to a foreign audience dominated by
students. 

Homs chronologically referred to events of the past
10 years that have led to the current situation in Catalonia. Thus, he
made it clear that “Catalonia has always tried to develop its autonomy
and its institutions under framework agreements with Spain”.  He
mentioned the 2010 Constitutional Court ruling which challenged the
Catalan Statute of Autonomy approved via a binding referendum in 2006.
He also referred to the tradition of the Catalan institutions, to the
use of the Catalan language, or to the numerous demonstrations in favour
of self-determination, claiming that there was more than one nation in
Spain. He argued Spain was a pluri-national state and Catalonia was an
old European nation within this state.

“It should be noted that the intention to hold a
referendum reflects the explicit mandate of the Catalan people who voted
in the last elections in 2012. And that this option does not come
suddenly, but is the consequence of a long and patient process including
attempted agreements with various Spanish institutions that have not
given the results established and agreed upon”, said Homs.

The referendum is a “democratic instrument” to know “the will of the Catalan people”

Regarding the self-determination consultation vote,
Homs said “is not an end in itself but a democratic instrument to find
out what the citizens, the people of Catalonia think”. In this regard,
he pointed out that “the consultation vote is not equivalent to
independence, like the Spanish Government is intentionally confused
about.”

The process “is not against anyone”

Homs said that “the process Catalonia is currently
following is nothing else but the answer to the will of the people to
democratically decide on their future”. He added it was not the result
of “the obsession of a few politicians and not a temporary issue”. Homs
insisted that “the process was not against anyone”. “It does not want to
break thing but to build” a new political framework. He emphasised that
Catalonia’s self-determination process intends to “peacefully and
democratically” take its course.

Homs insisted that “we also make and defend our
founding principles of the European Union, particularly the fundamental
rights of citizens, democracy, commitment to the Welfare State,
solidarity among different peoples in Europe and the commitment to
economic social and cultural progress”. In this respect, he refereed to
the Scottish case, recalling that within the European Union “there was
an example showing that democracy is the solution, not the problem”.

An independent Catalonia will have the “utmost will to cooperate with Spain”

Finally, regarding the relationship of a hypothetical independent
Catalonia with Spain, Homs said they intended to have “a close and
constructive relation, with the utmost will to cooperate” because “the
individual, affective, cultural and economic bonds between the two
parties are very significant”.

More on

Catalan Elections, Catalan Government, Catalan Independence, Catalan Statute Of Autonomy, Constitutional Court, Debate, Democracy, Diplocat, Diplomacy, EU Membership, European Union, France, Francesc Homs, Paris, Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia, Referendum, Self-Determination, Spanish Constitution, Spanish Constitutional Court, Toulouse, Vote

 

‘Sciences Po’ Professor Jean-Bernard Auby in Toulouse (by A. Recolons)

'Insane, Disgusting' and 'Epic Treachery': NSA Spied on Climate Talks

'Insane, Disgusting' and 'Epic Treachery': NSA Spied on Climate Talks:

 'Obama admin. clearly never wanted Copenhagen talks to work,' says Bill McKibben following latest NSA revelations concerning climate talks

While climate activists from around the world gathered outside the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009 called for "System Change, Not Climate Change' while demanding to be heard by world leaders, the U.S. delegation inside the talks was busy listening to something else: a steady stream of surveillance intelligence on other nations provided by the National Security Agency.

That's according to new documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden and published Thursday by reporters at the Huffington Post and the Danish newspaper Information, with help from American journalist Laura Poitras.

Why Are Taxes So High? Because the Profits from Creating New Money Goes to Private Banks

Why Are Taxes So High? Because the Profits from Creating New Money Goes to Private Banks

Because
the profits from creating money currently go to the banks instead of to
the government, the government has to borrow much larger amounts of
money to make up for this lost income.

As taxpayers, we have to
pay the interest on all this money that the government has borrowed.
For example, people in the UK currently spend more in interest on the
national debt (£51 billion annually) than they spend on either schools,
defence, the police or on transport (including the road system). This
interest costs works out at £1,700 per UK income-tax payer per year.

 

It's the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World

It's the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World

Interest charges are a strongly regressive tax that the poor pay
to the rich. A public banking system could realize savings up to 40
percent - allowing taxes to be cut, services increased and market
stability created - with banks feeding the economy rather than feeding
off it.

In the 2012 edition of Occupy Money released
last week, Professor Margrit Kennedy writes that a stunning 35 percent
to 40 percent of everything we buy goes to interest. This interest goes
to bankers, financiers, and bondholders, who take a 35 percent to 40
percent cut of our GDP. That helps explain how wealth is systematically
transferred from Main Street to Wall Street. The rich get progressively
richer at the expense of the poor, not just because of "Wall Street
greed," but because of the inexorable mathematics of our private banking
system.

This hidden tribute to the banks will come as a surprise to most
people, who think that if they pay their credit card bills on time and
don't take out loans, they aren't paying interest. This, says Dr.
Kennedy, is not true.

Tradesmen, suppliers, wholesalers and retailers all along the chain
of production rely on credit to pay their bills. They must pay for labor
and materials before they have a product to sell, and before the
end-buyer pays for the product 90 days later. Each supplier in the chain
adds interest to its production costs, which are passed on to the
ultimate consumer. Dr. Kennedy cites interest charges ranging from 12
percent for garbage collection, to 38 percent for drinking water, to 77
percent for rent in public housing in her native Germany.

 

How Talk Of Income Inequality is Scaring the Upper Class

How Talk Of Income Inequality is Scaring the Upper Class:

 NEW YORK — The co-founder of one the nation’s oldest venture capital firms fears a possible genocide against the wealthy. Residents of Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side say the progressive mayor didn’t plow their streets as a form of frosty revenge. And the co-founder of Home Depot recently warned the Pope to pipe down about economic inequality.

The nation’s wealthiest, denizens of the loftiest slice of the 1 percent, appear to be having a collective meltdown.

Economists, advisers to the wealthy and the wealthy themselves describe a deep-seated anxiety that the national — and even global — mood is turning against the super-rich in ways that ultimately could prove dangerous and hard to control.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats have pivoted to income inequality ahead of the midterm elections. Pope Francis has strongly warned against the dangers of wealth concentration. And all of this follows the rise of the Occupy movement in 2011 and a bout of bank-bashing populism in the tea party.

Lights, Camera… Covert Action: The Deep Politics of Hollywood | Global Research

Lights, Camera… Covert Action: The Deep Politics of Hollywood | Global Research:

Originally published by GR in February 2009

Here we build a prima facae case supporting the idea that Hollywood continues to be a target for infiltration and subversion by a variety of state agencies, in particular the CIA. Academic debates on cinematic propaganda are almost entirely retrospective, and whilst a number of commentators have drawn attention to Hollywood’s longstanding and open relationship with the Pentagon, little of substance has been written about the more clandestine influences working through Hollywood in the post-9/11 world. As such, our work delves into the field of what Peter Dale Scott calls “deep politics”; namely, activities which cannot currently be fully understood due to the covert influence of shadowy power players.

Towards a Renewed Imperialist Intervention in Libya? Anti-NATO Forces Retake Areas in Southern Libya | Global Research

Towards a Renewed Imperialist Intervention in Libya? Anti-NATO Forces Retake Areas in Southern Libya | Global Research

For nearly seven months
in 2011, NATO planes — particularly from the U.S., France, Britain and
Canada — carried out a massive bombing campaign in Libya intended to
overthrow the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

After getting the U.N.
Security Council to pass a resolution imposing an arms embargo on Libya
and then another authorizing a so-called “no-fly zone” in which only
their planes could fly, the imperialists succeeded in having Gaddafi
captured and brutally killed, opening the way for the establishment of a
new regime that would further their interests in that oil-rich North
African country.

Now, just two and a half
years later, this puppet government is losing ground in southern and
western Libya to pro-Gaddafi forces, who have taken back several towns
and an air base.

These developments have
prompted French Admiral Edouard Guillard to appeal for a renewed
imperialist intervention in Libya, claiming that developments on the
southern border could lead to a “terrorist threat.” (Washington Post,
Jan. 27)

Guillard claimed that any
intervention would require the “consent” of the neocolonial regime that
these same imperialists set up in Tripoli. It is headed by Prime
Minister Ali Zeidan and the General National Congress.

 

Screen Propaganda, Hollywood and the CIA | Global Research

Screen Propaganda, Hollywood and the CIA | Global Research:

“One of the most pervasive trends in 21st century western culture has become somewhat of an obsession in America. It’s called “Hollywood history”, where the corporate studio machines in Los Angeles spend hundreds of millions of dollars in order to craft and precisely tailor historical events to suit the prevailing political paradigm.” (Patrick Henningsen, Hollywood History: CIA Sponsored “Zero Dark Thirty”, Oscar for “Best Propaganda Picture”)

Black Hawk Dawn, Zero Dark Thirty and Argo, those are only a few major recent productions showing how today’s movie industry promotes US foreign policy. But the motion picture has been used for propaganda since the beginning of the 20th century and Hollywood’s cooperation with the Department of Defense, the CIA and other government agencies is no modern trend.

 

 

Mexico energy reform sparks mass protest - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Mexico energy reform sparks mass protest - Americas - Al Jazeera English:

Tens of thousands of people have marched in Mexico City to protest against constitutional reforms pushed through by President Enrique Pena Nieto to open the oil and gas industry to foreign investment.

An estimated 65,000 people gathered for the protest on Friday in the Zocalo - a main square in the capital city - an official at the Secretariat of Public Safety told the AFP news agency.

At least 2,500 police officers were deployed but there were no incidents of violence, the official said.

The march was organised by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the leftist opposition to the president's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

One of PRD's founders, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, claimed that the foreign investors "will be interested in extracting the largest amount of petroleum possible in the shortest amount of time".

The reforms, which open Mexico's oil industry to foreign investment for the first time in 75 years, were approved in Congress and ratified by a majority of Mexican states in late 2013.

 

At least 2,500 police officers were deployed but there were no incidents of violence [AFP]

 

CATALONIA -- Catalan News Agency - Courts request Catalan schools to teach “at least 25%" of the mandatory subjects in Spanish

Catalan News Agency - Courts request Catalan schools to teach “at least 25%" of the mandatory subjects in Spanish

Barcelona (ACN).- On Friday, Catalonia’s
High Court (TSJC) requested the Catalan Government to offer “at least”
25% of the mandatory school curricula in Spanish in the
schools where a single pupil asks for it. The TSJC made this
announcement following a sentence from Spanish Supreme Court that was
issued on Monday. This represents another episode in a long sequence of
judicial appeals that aim to change the entire Catalan school model,
which has been in place for 35 years and absolutely guarantees the
knowledge of both Catalan and Spanish at the end of the schooling
period, as proven by the results. However, Spanish nationalist media and
parties have been targeting Catalan school for the last decade.
Furthermore, the Spanish Government aims “to Hispanicise” Catalan pupils with its new Education Reform. In
the last few years a dozen of parents filed several judicial complaints
and appeals requesting their children to be taught in Spanish in
Catalonia’s public schools. The Catalan school model is based on the
linguistic immersion principle and almost all the subjects are taught in
Catalan except Spanish which is taught as a language, although some
schools offer a few subjects in Spanish using their autonomy to set
their own education project. It has been praised by the UNESCO and the
European Commission since it fosters equal opportunities, strengthens a
true bilingualism and does not create two separate language communities.
The system, which schools more than 1 million pupils per year, includes
many flexibility measures for new-comers and individualised attention
in Spanish. However, the Spanish Supreme Court considered this was
insufficient and sentenced that Spanish had to be included as a language
of instruction for an entire class group if the family of a single
pupil was asking for it and even if the other children’s families had
not requested it. The Catalan Government appealed this sentence but on
Monday the Spanish Supreme Court rejected the appeal. This Friday, the
Catalan Education Minister, Irene Rigau, announced they will file
another appeal against the TSJC’s decision. She criticised the attempts
to change via the judicial system a model that has been working for more
than 3 decades and which is based on an extremely broad consensus among
the Catalan society.

Rigau said to be “shocked and outraged” because the TSJC is not
waiting for the Constitutional Court to decide on the appeal filed by
the Catalan Government a few months ago. Furthermore, she emphasised
that the Spanish Supreme Court is going beyond its jurisdiction while it
is trying to change Catalonia’s Education Law. In Spain, the
Constitutional Court is the only judicial power that can interpret and
change laws. In the past, the Constitutional Court backed the Catalan
school model, although in 2010 it introduced an ambiguous nuance while
it trimmed the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Many experts identify this
sentence from 2010 as one of the main triggers for nowadays conflict
between Catalonia and Spain.

Catalan has to be “the centre of gravity” of the system but…

On Friday, the TSJC stated that the Catalan language has to be “the
centre of gravity” but added that Spanish has to be offered “in a
reasonable proportion”. However, the measure would only be implemented
for the schools where the five families that filed the appeal bring
their children. The TSJC interprets the Constitutional Court’s sentence
against the Catalan Statute of Autonomy from 2010, which totally trimmed
the text despite it having been approved by the Spanish Parliament and
the Catalan people through a binding referendum. The Constitutional
Court validated the Catalan school system and the linguistic immersion
model recognised in the Statute of Autonomy. Years before it had already
validated the model, stating that the Constitution does not recognise
“the right to be taught in Spanish” but only “the right and duty to know
Spanish”. Since the Catalan school system absolutely guarantees the
second, the Court validated the linguistic immersion. In fact, Catalan
pupils obtain the same results or even better ones – depending on the
year – in Spanish language than the average of their peers throughout
Spain.

However, in 2010, the Constitutional Court included a nuance, which
is the excuse used by the Supreme Court to force to change the model.
The Constitutional Court stated that the linguistic immersion had to be
understood as the “Catalan language as the centre of gravity” of the
system but that “Spanish could not be excluded”. The Catalan Government
argues that Spanish is not excluded since there is the subject of
Spanish language and children totally master it by the end of their
school years. However the Supreme Court considers it is insufficient.

In previous sentences it repeatedly asked the Catalan Government to
make Spanish an instruction language but it left the Catalan Executive
to decide in which proportion. However, Catalan authorities rejected
this decision and filed several appeals against it. On Monday the
Supreme Court ruled against the last appeal and supports the dozen
families asking their children to be taught in Spanish.

The TSJC is interpreting Monday’s sentence and at the same time takes
into consideration the reports presented by the Catalan Government and
the five schools involved (where the five families who had filed the
appeal bring their children). Finally, the Court has decided that in the
classes where the family of a single pupil requests it, “at least 25%”
of the mandatory subjects have to be taught in Spanish, no matter if the
families of the rest of the children want them to be taught in Catalan.
The TSJC considered it was insufficient to offer subjects such as
Drawing in Spanish, as some schools already do. The Court has specified
that Spanish has to be an instruction language in a mandatory subject
such as History, Geography, Mathematics or Biology.

More on

Catalan Language, Catalan School, Catalan Statute Of Autonomy, Catalan Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, Education, Education Reform, Irene Rigau, José Ignacio Wert, School, Spanish Constitution, Spanish Constitutional Court, Spanish Language, Spanish Supreme Court

 

 Class in a Catalan high-school (by M. Belmez)