Dear peacemongers,
This issue of the digest is dedicated to Howard Zinn, historian and activist, who died in January.
A lot has happened since I sent the last digest. The International Training Course on Popular Education in Health held by Educación Popular en Salud was even more successful than we could have imagined. Alas, the EPES web site is down for a while, but when it’s back up you’ll be able to see photos and video clips (the latter in English as well as Spanish) that will give you an idea of what it was like.
On my way back from Chile I spent 3 days in Havana, where I got to know the team at MEDICC Review, a journal founded to contribute to global health equity by sharing the Cuban health experience with the global health community. I am thrilled to report that I have accepted a job with the journal. I will retire from my public service position when I finish at University of Waterloo this spring and start at MEDICC Review on September 1.
Chris
Join the international movement to pressure Uganda’s government to withdraw a bill that would make homosexuality punishable by imprisonment or death.
Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Québec, CARE and Save the Children have formed a humanitarian coalition for a united response to humanitarian crises.
Canada is hosting the G8 and G20 summits this June. This is an opportunity to bring attention and pressure to bear on the wealthiest countries to get them to live up to their commitments.
Avaaz.org is organizing a petition to finance ministers, the IMF, World Bank, IADB, and bilateral creditors to cancel Haiti’s debt.
ICAN – International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Pledge form and guidelines for video contest at
Chile’s national water commission has asked the government to bring legal action against Canadian mining firm, Barrick Gold, for failure to comply with environmental laws.
Cuban and Cuban-trained Haitian doctors are the largest contingent of medical relief workers in Haiti since the earthquake.
Nearly 30,000 foreign students study medicine at the Latin American School of Medicine. Applicants must be from a low income family and commit to practising in an underserved area on completion of their studies.
This is not recent news, but indicative of how pervasive is the pressure to stifle any criticism of the Olympics. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! was detained at the Canadian border on her way to give a speech at the Vancouver Public Library. She was questioned extensively about whether or not she intended to criticize the Olympics.
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
- Howard Zinn
How Western domination has underminded Haiti’s ability to deal with natural disasters – Amy Goodman interviews Kim Ives.
Noam Chomsky on the corporate takeover of US democracy.
Lynn Feinerman on the US’s use of torture.
Tom Green (no, not that one): “Tackling greed while recognizing ecological limits.”
The Solidarity Notes Choir sings about Coke, “The Drink of the Death Squads.” A bit off-key, but the message is right on.
Ottawa’s Raging Grannies on Stephen Harper, the proRogue King.