The reputation held by the Berlin Wall before it was ‘torn down’ twenty years ago was largely a product of propaganda machines. Clearly, it was just another Cold War myth. It played neatly into a Cold War cliché about The Free World vs. Communist Tyranny. ‘In 1961, the East Berlin communists built a wall to keep their oppressed citizens from escaping to West Berlin and freedom. Why? Because commies don’t like people to be free, to learn the “truth”.’

That alone was a myth. ‘Before the wall went up thousands of East Germans had been commuting to the West for jobs each day and then returned to the East in the evening. So they were clearly not being held in the East against their will.’

The truth is that the wall was built because the West was vigorously ‘recruiting East German professionals and skilled workers, who had been educated at the expense of the Communist government. This eventually led to a serious labor and production crisis in the East.’

Also, ‘American coldwarriors in West Germany instituted a crude campaign of sabotage and subversion against East Germany designed to throw that country’s economic and administrative machinery out of gear’ during the 1950s.

Therefore, the wall had less to do with communist tyranny than with the freedom of the Free World to do what they wanted to do.

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Via counterpunch

This question seems totally meaningless. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of her life between prison and house-arrest. The verdict at the end of this week will again be one of the two. Freedom and justice will again be denied to world’s most popular brave Burmese opposition leader and to the people of Burma.

The trial of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is coming to an end this week. This most publicized trial started after an eccentric American swam across to the meet her at the house where was she spending last months of long house arrest. She is accused of violation of the terms of her house arrest by offering the mad man food and shelter and is likely to be convicted and sent to prison for another five years.

Some diplomats speculate that if at all due to international pressure Burma’s General Than Shwe decides to pardon her, the sentence may be commuted to house arrest once again. Diplomats of some countries have been allowed to witness the trial. It seems Aung San Suu Kyi told the diplomats during the trial, “I’m afraid the verdict will be painfully obvious”. Burma’s ruling military regime will not let her walk free before next year’s election or even after that.

Wars are being fought to reinstate democracy in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan but unfortunately Burma continues to be ignored.

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Via Timesonline

The term Third World should not be based on any political or economic criteria. Whose arbitrary criteria are those, anyway? But there may be common characteristics today, post-Cold War, among so-called ‘Third World’ countries.

The aggregate term ‘Third World’ has come to mean:

1. The demand and receipt of foreign aid (more aptly called Western aid). Some countries such as Myanmar (after Cyclone Nigris) and Sudan (in the wake of the Darfur war) are just some examples of countries that have repelled Western aid. In the process, they have become tagged as more repressive than ever.

2. The seemingly legalized dumping of toxic waste in exchange for bilateral trade relations and bilateral aid. An example of repelling this hidden and unspoken arrangement is the Philippines that is not too receptive in accepting Japan’s offer for bilateral aid under the already signed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

Next time that you encounter the term ‘Third World’ or are even tempted to use it, think of it beyond those lands of starving children and savage tribes. Stretch your imagination a little bit more. Think of it as:

1. Those countries that are seduced to borrow from the IMF and ultimately languish in debt servicing hell

2. Countries whose agricultural livelihood is eradicated because of their forced ties to the World Bank, again through aid that isn’t really for free, comes by the name Official Development Assistance or ODA which is actually a loan package that they have to pay for in terms of being a dumping ground for foreign surplus agricultural products

3. Countries whose migrant labor runs the agricultural and industrial machinery of rich countries

4. Countries whose citizens are used as human guinea pigs for multinational big pharma’s latest vaccine testing

5. Countries whose populations reeling under the devastating effects of malaria and dysentery are pronounced dying with AIDS and thus administered antiretrovirals which are actually chemotherapy that lays their bodies wasted, but whose production means huge funding

Next time, please ask yourself the question: who holds the appropriate definition for the term repression?

And while you’re at it, also ask the question: who holds the franchise for the correct definition of freedom?

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When William Wallace, portrayed by Mel Gibson in the film ‘Braveheart,’ screamed “Freedom!” moments before he was decapitated, one can’t help but notice that the cause which the national hero of Scotland fought for is no different from the freedom causes that others likewise died fighting for, and still some are fighting for to this day.

Wallace was executed for treason after a trial on 23 August 1305. He was meted with what in England was a penalty once ordained for the crime of high treason. Wallace was ‘hanged, drawn and quartered.’ He was strangled by hanging ‘while he was still alive, emasculated, eviscerated and his bowels burnt before him.’ He was ‘beheaded, and then cut into four parts. His preserved head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge. His limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling, and Aberdeen.’ His crime of ‘high treason’ was uniting the Scots to overthrow English rule.

This is not a digression as much as Scotland is neither a Third World country. This is just another story of resistance and independence, two buzzwords that still buzz to this day so long as there is reason to resist foreign domination and demand national independence.

Politics

Many experts, as well as hangers-on to a semblance of expertise, have been wont to use the term Third World when referring to unrecognized freedom. What they actually mean is the state of political repression and poor recognition of political rights and civil liberties.

In other words, they have strung together the oft-abused term of ‘Third World’ with the concept of ‘freedom.’

The result is a stereotype.

The term Third World is actually and originally a Cold War nomenclature. The Cold War harbingers didn’t know what to do with those countries that neither aligned with the capitalist West (NATO bloc) nor with the Communist Soviet bloc of the East. From day one, Third World already figured out as a stereotype – amidst the other classification stereotypes of ‘West’ (free world) and ‘East’ (Communist bloc).

Other less imaginative but pretentiously creative things happened along the way, and so, Third World, today, is used to describe those developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania – which means that those who did not align themselves with the classification categories of the Cold War became known as Third World.

And because ‘West’ and ‘East’ have also become economic classifications, many poorer nations started to use the term Third World to describe themselves.

Today, the ‘Third World’ stereotype has come to mean a land of starving children and savage tribes.

Economics

Third World also means economically underdeveloped or still developing countries. That, we hear a lot about. The benchmark for comparison is the OECD or the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization of some 30 countries that practice the principles of representative democracy and free-market economy. This group has christened itself as ‘developed countries’ because of their high-income economies.

Thus, ‘Third World’ countries are former imperialist colonies that didn’t know how to fend for themselves and establish their own nation-building and institution-building.

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In this day and age when education is seen as ticket to a wealthier future, the true purpose of education is missed. In a time when education has come to simply mean a good passage to a higher-paying job, the lofty goals of education are put on the sidelines. There is a dire need for people to advance as a community of individuals – a community that is bigger than the individuals that pursue their respective personal interests.

Even as they pursue education for future personal material gain, people should view education as a means to discover solutions to problems that ail this world, education to foster good relationship among the peoples of the earth, and education to reveal the truth to the greater many.

Education should be for the advancement of scientific knowledge that is measured, evaluated, and reviewed. This kind of knowledge is what cures diseases. It is what forwards technology towards the cutting-edge the kind of which we have not yet seen. This scientific information will truly make people’s lives easier, better, healthier, happier, and longer. Education is needed to discover, process, and validate these areas of information.

Education should be used for social purposes, as well. It is in the realm of education or learning where strategies are found and processed to be made useful in the negotiations for peace and end to strife, unrest, chaos, and violence. When we learn the appropriate ways to recommend for good relations among people, we promote peace. Peace does not just happen. It takes informed decisions to create peace. These informed decisions can only come from educated minds.

Finally, education is for the discernment of reality and the promotion of the truth that comes from reality. It takes an educated mind to know the difference among truth, half-truth, and lies. This world certainly needs more of the truth. Education teaches people to recognize the truth based on realities, and subsequently have the authority and confidence to spread that truth. Unless man learns of the truth, he shall continue to suffer. It is education’s role to teach the truth to as many people as possible. It is also education’s role to teach people how to spot fraud, prejudice, and injustice.

Education should be harnessed for the good of the majority. It takes education to discover ways to solve problems such as finding treatments to the otherwise incurable diseases of today. It takes education to build the means to unify people such as finding strategies to get to the root causes of hatred and violence that lead to the huge and costly wars on this planet. It takes education to learn the best practices to spread the truth around such as making people realize the irrevocable truth that they are the masters of their fate. Problems remain as problems until solutions are found. It is the noble goal of education to lead this world to the realization that solutions are sought.

Via YOUNG PEOPLE FOR/fie-conference/infoDEV

There are indicators of socioeconomic well-being, and all these are materially measured. They may all contribute positively to a person’s comfort, convenience, mobility, freedom, and further opportunity in life. On the other hand, these material manifestations are not distributed equally in society. That is why if these provide advantage to one person who has more of them, they may also prove to be disadvantage to someone who has less of them. These measures of socioeconomic well-being are also the benchmarks of inequality in this world.

Income is the opportunity for consumption, and is usually measured in monetary terms since consumption comes at a material cost in what is called consumerism. As a measure of socioeconomic well-being, income’s strength is its beneficial effect on the owner of the income, endowing him with a certain comfortable level of standard of living.

The weakness of income lies in the convenience it gives its owner. Someone with higher income or consistent income not only gets used to his living standards but will aspire for even higher standards. In the process, he will do what it takes to earn more so that he can spend more and consume more.

In the end, income affects a person’s level of contentment. But resources are finite in this world. Someone with more income will hoard more of those limited resources, tipping the balance against those who may not have the income to avail themselves of those resources – but have the same need. Food is a pertinent example that is proportionate to income. While everybody needs nutrition, those who cannot afford to buy more nutritious food end up with poorer health.

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Via LIFE-WALKER