Le Monde diplomatique on Thu, 15 Feb 2001 21:25:45 +0100 (CET) |
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February 2001 |
Le Monde diplomatique ----------------------------------------------------- February 2001 LEADER The changing face of separatism by IGNACIO RAMONET <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/01quebec> Translated by Ed Emery OBSESSED WITH SECURITY Bowling alone, policing together * by ERIC KLINENBERG President Chirac has chosen security as one of the right's main campaign issues in the March municipal elections, confirming the growing political importance of the topic for the western countries. People are worried about delinquency and cities in crisis but government officials and spin doctors are playing down the underlying economic and social factors. Instead, they are increasing police powers or, as in the United States, directing civic action towards social control and voluntary policing. Original text in English UN-BACKED COVER UP Deafening silence on depleted uranium * by ROBERT JAMES PARSONS In spite of the growing number of unexplained deaths and illnesses among servicemen returning from the Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo, UN agencies have, to different degrees, cast a veil of silence over the chemical and radiological hazards of depleted uranium. It was not until this January that the World Health Organisation proposed a study of DU's effects on the peoples of the Gulf region. Translated by Malcolm Greenwood The chemical effects of DU by JACQUES BRILLOT <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/04uraniumeffects> Translated by Malcolm Greenwood REVERSING THE RULES OF NEGOTIATION Israeli withdrawal is the precondition for peace * by HENRY SIEGMAN With the election of Ariel Sharon as Israel's new prime minister and the intifada in its fifth month, the risks to Middle East peace are all too clear. The gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians were already wide on all the major issues: the nature of the sovereignty of the future Palestinian state and its territorial continuity, the scope of Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, the future of the settlements, the status of Jerusalem and the holy places, the future of the Palestinian refugees and recognition of their right of return. The precondition for any future peacemaking is now no less than Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the occupied territories. Original text in English THE EMIRS IN THE INTERNET ERA Dubai, a sheikhdom happy to embrace globalisation by DAVID HIRST Without the oil reserves of its wealthier neighbours, Dubai is a flourishing sheikhdom. Its success rests largely on its position as an intercontinental crossroads - and also on an immigration population whose size raises questions that its leaders would rather ignore. <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/06dubai> Original text in English TELEVISION'S BIG PICTURE Russia through the small screen by our special correspondents SYLVIE BRAIBANT and CAROLE SIGMAN For more than a year a judicial and financial soap opera has played out in Russia's courts and media over NTV, Russia's only privately owned national television network. Its former head is fighting extradition from Spain and its journalists fear that President Putin intends to stifle freedom of speech. The attention that the battle for NTV and its parent company has attracted is symptomatic of the importance television plays in Russian political life and the passions it arouses in viewers. <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/07russia> Translated by Luke Sandford THE PRICE OF EU ACCESSION Poland counts the cost * by BRUNO DRWESKI The Poles expected economic dividends from their political courage in being the first to break free from communism, helping to release the West from the costly Soviet threat and paving the way for German reunification. Yet now they are being asked to foot the bill for joining Nato and taking on board the acquis communautaire, the accumulated legislation of the EU. Translated by Barbara Wilson MAN'S NEW ESTATE The individual in disarray * by DANY-ROBERT DUFOUR In an article entitled "The essence of neoliberalism", published in English translation by Le Monde diplomatique in December 1998, Pierre Bourdieu suggested that neoliberalism is a programme for "destroying collective structures" and promoting a new order based on the cult of the "lone, but free individual". The claim that neoliberalism aims at the ruin of long-standing collective entities, such as trade unions and political structures, and even culture itself, is persuasive, and Bourdieu's analysis is strong on this point. But the argument needs to be taken further. In destroying collective entities, can neoliberalism conceivably leave the individual intact? Translated by Barry Smerin SOUTH AMERICA'S HOSTAGES AND VICTIMS Narco-trafficking and war in the Andes * by our special correspondent MAURICE LEMOINE In September 1999 the Clinton administration and Colombia's President Pastrana agreed to implement Plan Colombia aiming to eradicate cocaine production. Drafted in English under the watchful eye of the US State Department without consulting Congress, the plan shows what awaits the continent: military offensives against guerrillas (though not against the paramilitaries who also profit from narco-trafficking), peasants condemned to poverty, arable land destroyed. Translated by Julie Stoker Peru pays M. L. <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/11peru> Translated by Julie Stoker IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE International law and the developing world * by MONIQUE CHEMILLIER-GENDREAU Translated by Julie Stoker Why are Israel's offenders ignored? M. CH-G <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/13israelcase> Translated by Wendy Kristianasen Universal values M. CH-G <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/14universalvalues> Translated by Wendy Kristianasen MIRROR OF A SOCIETY IN TRANSITION Nigeria's flourishing home-video industry * by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE SERVANT In an increasingly divided Nigeria the struggle to control the country's oil riches continues. Early last year there were religious riots in the north and private militias are becoming increasingly common in the south. Despite US support, the new civilian government is finding it hard to exert its authority. Yet, despite the crisis, there is no lack of drive in society as can be seen from the boom in the home video industry. Translated by Harry Forster NEW CAPITALISM, NEW ISOLATION A flexible city of strangers by RICHARD SENNETT Once people used to come to the city in search of anonymity, diversity and the freedom to meet others. Cities were also places of collective struggle and solidarity. Now, just as the workplace is affected by a new system of flexible working, so the city, too, risks losing its charm as businesses and architecture become standardised and impersonal. <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/16cities> Original text in English WHY THE HAGUE CONFERENCE FAILED Lobbies derail climate accord * by AGNÈS SINAI Venice destroyed by water, Bangladesh submerged, the Maldives wiped off the map in less than 100 years? This is not an apocalyptic horror story but a scientific hypothesis of the outcome of climate change. The resounding failure of the UN conference in The Hague last November means that the atmosphere's temperature will continue to rise. At least until the next attempt at an agreement, at a re-run of the conference to be held in Bonn this spring. Translated by Malcolm Greenwood Why we need Kyoto by Agnès Sinaï <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/18kyotoconf> Translated by Malcolm Greenwood HERE FICTION HAS THE FORCE OF REALITY Imagination and the fifth dimension * by EDWARD BOND There is no innate or transcendental "humanness" to fall back on in times of crisis. It is not secured by Gods or genes. Humanness is created by imagination in the fifth dimension, the gap. Where fiction has the force of reality. Original text in English _________________________________________________________________ (*) Star-marked articles are available to paid subscribers only. Yearly subscription fee: 24 US $ (Institutions 48 US $). ______________________________________________________________ For more information on our English edition, please visit http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/ To subscribe to our free "dispatch" mailing-list, send an (empty) e-mail to: dispatch-on@monde-diplomatique.fr To unsubscribe from this list, send an (empty) e-mail to: dispatch-off@monde-diplomatique.fr English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen _________________________________________________________________ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 1997-2001 Le Monde diplomatique <http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/2001/02/> _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold