Syed Atiq ul Hassan: Pakistan: The Election Watered Down On Change Lovers
Political observers, experts and senior analysts were predicting that the election 2013 in Pakistan will write new history in the country. The 11th May 2013 election will bring a new change in the corrupt political system of Pakistan. Those who were praying for the betterment of Pakistan were expecting that the political system which has been dominated by feudal cum politicians... More>>

Binoy Kampmark: Stopping The Drones: Pakistan-US Relations In The High Court
Alternate realities in the conflict Pakistan is waging against insurgents in its tribal areas tend to be regular affairs. Intrinsic to them is the contorted relationship the country has with the United States, three bits domestic violence to two bits political expediency. This produces unhealthy effects, if one is to see Pakistani sovereignty as a creature that has been abused and discredited during the course of its campaign against “terror”. More>>

Ramzy Baroud: The Pain Of Bangladesh: T-Shirts Made With Blood And Tears
As they spoke to a BBC correspondent in their run-down room which they call home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a man sobbed as his 12-year-old daughter sat close to him. His face, wrinkled before its time, was a picture of utter anguish. It could only be understood by a parent whose child was dying under giant slabs of concrete where nothing could be done. More>>

David Swanson: Death Penalty Dying Out
Most of the world's governments no longer use the death penalty. Among wealthy nations there is one exception remaining. The United States is among the top five killers in the world. Also in the top five: the recently "liberated" Iraq. But most of the United States' 50 states no longer use the death penalty. More>>

Sherwood Ross: Drone Strikes Fuelling Anti-U.S Hatred as Fear Spreads in Middle East
U.S. drone strikes are creating cadres of anti-American fighters, furious over the killing and wounding of thousands of civilians. Far from the drone attacks being “on a very tight leash,” as President Obama claimed, they have generated widespread terror across Muslim populations in the attack regions as they disrupt civilian lives and activities, literally driving people mad, reliable authorities state. More>>

David Swanson: Asking Amnesty International To Oppose War
Some human rights groups, especially Amnesty International, seem to have forgotten an important human right: peace. A petition has been launched to remind them. These organizations are not the warmongers. They do tremendously great work addressing some of the symptoms of warmaking, including imprisonment and torture. But, because they avoid taking any position on war...More>>

Binoy Kampmark: The Death Of Il Divo: Andreotti And Modern Italy
Giulio Andreotti was a creature of the Italian post-war scene, with its astonishing volatility and kaleidoscopic deals. Unlike his opponents, he proved astonishingly versatile. He seemingly occupied every notable position in Italian cabinets he could before his death at the age of 94. He was elected to parliament in 1946, and proved to be... More>>

Robert J. Burrowes: Understanding Obama And Other People Who Kill
When Barack Obama orders the US military to attack people in another country, whether in a war or by using an illegal drone strike, he knows that people, including innocent men, women and children (called 'collateral damage'), will be killed. How can he do this? When Benjamin Netanyahu orders Israeli military attacks on unarmed Palestinians, he knows... More>>

Werewolf: Fighting To Choose
On 17 May 1974, in a refitted residential house in the Auckland suburb of Remuera, the non-profit Auckland Medical Aid Trust opened New Zealand’s first abortion clinic. For $80, it provided women who met the legal criteria with counselling and pregnancy termination. More>>

ALSO:

• Werewolf issue #39

Binoy Kampmark: Totem And Taboo: The Non-Closure Of Guantánamo
Guantánamo’s resplendent carceral facilities remain a classic example of double realities, the co-existence of totemic impulses and the reflex of taboo. On the one hand, it has become an institutional reminder of the extensive, vague and indefinite “war” on terror, a foolish, reactive statement to calamity. More>>

Ramzy Baroud: Boston, Brazil And Islam: Irrational Rhetoric, Illegal Wars
During his talk sponsored by the New American Foundation in March 2008, author Parag Khanna addressed the rising challenges facing the US's global hegemony. According to Khanna, China and the European Union are the new contenders with the battlefield being a global ‘geopolitical marketplace.’ More>>

Alexander Lowë: Queer Birds Of New Zealand
Lesbian albatrosses, gay kokakos, bisexual takahe and transgender bellbird - the New Zealand bird community is as unique and diverse as the New Zealand LGBT community. Some birds’ stories are as fascinating as novels, featuring betrayal and devotion, foster parenting, arranged civil unions and forced breakouts. More>>

Jamal Kanj: Israel's Ethnocentric Experiment
Israeli leaders are masters at muddling the international community with trivial issues while turning the peace negotiations into a temporising process "to end all peace." Assured by US subservient backing, and for more than 15 years prior to current Sisyphean process, Israel rejected Palestinian's peace overtures...More>>

Geoffrey and Reihana Robinson: Fire On The Mountain
The Department of Conservation is attempting to break the back of New Zealand’s anti-1080 movement once and for all -- right here in the Waikato on the flanks of iconic Moehau mountain at the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula. More>>

Robin Gunston: Rubbing Hydrochloric Acid Into Community Wounds!
How can a prison construction and PPP ownership project, that only scraped through its resource consent process due to the formative opposition of some 43 community groups back in May 2011, have moved to a stage where it has now got an International financing award, according to Euromoney’s Project Finance magazine? More>>

Uri Avnery: In Praise Of Emotion In Peacemaking
It was a moving experience. Moments that spoke not only to the mind, but also – and foremost – to the heart.
Last Sunday, on the eve of Israel’s Remembrance Day for the fallen in our wars, I was invited to an event organized by the activist group Combatants for Peace and the Forum of Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Parents. More>>

War Is A Crime: Vieques Vive La Lucha Continua 10 Yrs After Bombing Stopped
Ten years ago May 1, the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico and their supporters from around the world defeated the most powerful military machine ever, through mass civil disobedience and without firing a single shot. On May 1, 2003 the bombing stopped and the bases were officially closed. People from all over the world supported the struggle on Vieques, and the activists and residents have an incredible victory to celebrate. More>>

Anne Russell: The Symbolic Victory Of Same-Sex Marriage
Over the past year or so, the marriage equality bill has essentially served as a filter through which New Zealand has discussed queer sexuality and gender identity. Marriage is perhaps one of the least threatening manifestations of contemporary queer identity, reassuring all but the most raving queerphobes that queerdom does not, in fact, destroy the fabric of society as we know it... More>>

ALSO:

• Gordon Campbell - On the same-sex marriage vote, and the current Dotcom law case
• Image Alex Parsons - Alex Parsons Cartoon: The Marriage Bill

The Scoop Foundation: New Foundation For Public Interest Journalism In New Zealand (And Pacific Scoop Internship)
In a push to offer new support and momentum for public interest journalism, the country’s leading independent news provider, Scoop Media, is lending its weight to two initiatives being announced for the first time today. More>>

ALSO:

• Alastair Thompson - A New Foundation For A New Journalism In New Zealand
• Pacific.Scoop - Scoop public interest advocate slams NZ state media policies
• Out-Link - Scoop Foundation Project Launch - AUT Pacific Media Centre and Media 3 - April 10-11 2013 - Google+
• Out-Link - The Scoop Foundation Project
• Out-Link - MEDIA3 - Flat3, The Scoop Foundation, Maori Maps - Public Address
• Out-Link - Scoop Foundation – how it could work | FutureNews
• Out-Link - New Scoop foundation will fund public-interest journalism | Te Waha Nui
• Image - 2012 - Nethui Editorial: News Disrupted - Has News Lost Its Mojo?

Asia-Pacific Journalism: At Pacific.Scoop

• Jane Jeffries - Political dilemmas face Fiji regime over ‘flawed’ draft Constitution
• Karen MacKenzie - Photographer John Miller, a ‘sympathetic observer’ for NZ’s turbulent times
• Finian Scott - Pacific media associations slow to face up to digital era ‘reality’
• Jamie Small - Sale of New Caledonia’s daily newspaper stirs free press strike, debate
• Holly Ryan - Media critics see new report as hopeful for ‘dysfunctional’ national bodies
• Greg Asciutto - Moves to tackle sexual exploitation of young girls in NZ, Fiji and PNG
• Michael Sergel - Divisive debate stalls controversial Philippines reproductive health law
• Khing Chadwick - Jailed former MP writing tell-all book exposing his experience of ‘injustice’

Robert J. Burrowes: Time To End The Adult War On Children
Perpetrators of violence learn their craft in childhood. If you inflict violence on a child, it learns to inflict violence on others. The terrorist suffered violence as a child. The political leader who wages war suffered violence as a child. The man who inflicts violence on women suffered violence as a child. More>>

Binoy Kampmark: Sexual Violence And The Tahrir Syndrome
The accounts send a shudder down the spine, reports of systematic and orchestrated assaults against women that have taken place in Tahrir Square this year. The incidents are a reminder that nature, in abhorring a vacuum, often fills it with hideous subject matter. On the edge of reason, when political structures are finding a basis of stability and fear, victims abound. More>>

Gordon Campbell: On Christchurch Cathedral Options (And Criminalising Protest)
One of the really odd aspects of the unveiling of the three Cathedral replacement options in Christchurch last week was that there seemed to be only one “contemporary” design up for consideration. More>>

ALSO:

• Joint Press Release - Design Options for ChristChurch Cathedral

With Full Translation: Danish MP Apologises Over Calling Powhiri ‘Grotesque’, Mocking NZ Defence
In early March, Krarup, who is the defence spokesperson for the far-right Danish People’s Party, witnessed the Māori welcoming ceremony as one of six MPs from the Danish Committee on Defence... More>>

ALSO:

• Conservative Party - Half Naked Welcomes Should be Optional

Werewolf: London Calling : Sold, And Cold
Here in Glasgow, the only mighty river power is the nuclear submarine fleet docked in the Clyde. But John Key’s breezy assurances about carving up New Zealand’s state-owned power companies seem ever more absurd, viewed from half a world away. More>>

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• Werewolf - Issue 38

Mark P Williams: Access All Areas: Launch Of The Open Library Of Humanities
Everywhere we go we create or share knowledge via our networks of communication; the internet has helped us all see its concrete effects on our everyday lives. The next issue is to decide how open access to knowledge ought to be — it's a pressing concern for Higher Education institutions with far wider social implications for us all. More>>

NAACP: A Year Later, Trayvon Martin Tragedy Still Stings
One year later, the Trayvon Martin tragedy still stings - and some people are still throwing salt on the open wound. Last week George Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman, posted a tweet comparing Trayvon Martin to De'Marquis Elkins, 17-year-old black teenager charged with fatally shooting a one-year-old baby. More>>

Rev Mike Coleman: Elderly Woman Coerced From Red Zone Home Of 70 Years
Rev Mike Coleman interviews Jo, a woman in her mid-80s who is so scared she will not show her face to the camera. She is alone, has no family and is in a suburb where houses have been arsoned and burglaries are regularly taking place. She has been told she is in the red zone so must move even though she has been living there for 70 years tending her vegetables and flowers. More>>

Franklin Lamb: Imam Sadr Case: Is Kuwait Trying To Scapegoat Palestinians?
The Imam Musa Sadr, Sheik Mohammad Yaacoub, and journalist Abbas Badreddine case, like the Tell Tale Heart in Edgar Allen’s Poe novel, will not stop crying out for justice despite more than three decades of political efforts to close the file. More>>

Citizens for Legitimate Government: Ex-CNN Reporter Ordered To Manipulate News On Syria And Iran
Ex-CNN reporter Amber Lyon revealed that during her work for the channel she received orders to send false news and exclude some others which the US administration did not favor with the aim to create a public opinion in favor of launching an aggression on Iran and Syria. More>>

Gordon Campbell: On The Latest Messy Falling Out Among Syria’s Rebels
Routinely, US foreign policy in the Middle East seems to suffer from a karmic backlash. Ten years ago, the Iraq invasion was supposed to produce a democratic state that further isolate Iran’s Shia revolution. Instead, the March 2003 invasion has installed in Baghdad a Shia-dominated partner state to Iran... Much the same thing seems to be happening in Syria right now. More>>

ALSO:

• 2012 Image Out-Link - Wikimedia Commons

Ian Anderson: Wellington Water Crisis: Drought Risk Driven By Capitalism
In mid-March 2013, Wellington City Council announced a water crisis. Nigel Wilson, chair of the region’s committee in charge of water supply, stated that Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley had only 20 days of water left. From March 16th, the city announced a ban on outdoor water use by residents, with a $20,000 fine for violating – commercial users faced no restrictions. More>>

Selpius Bobii: The Annihilation Of Indigenous West Papuans: A Challenge and a Hope
This article will present a challenge to all who have a heart for and who are working without reward to save the ethnic people of West Papua which are now heading towards annihilation. This article will in particular consider the question as to whether there is truly annihilation occurring of the indigenous West Papuan people. More>>

Adeline Guerra: Will The U.S. Back An Arms Trade Treaty?
As the debate over domestic gun control is going strong in the U.S., so too is a worldwide advocacy effort to regulate the international arms trade. The UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) currently under negotiation seeks to do just that by creating common international standards for arms transfers. How the U.S. approaches the vexed question of ammunition may determine the success of negotiations. More>>

Jamal Kanj: Obama Visit & Israeli Penchant For Conflict...
President Barack Obama's visit to the Middle East has coincided with the 10th anniversary of the killing of American peace activist Rachel Corrie. She was murdered by an American-made and financed Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003. More>>

Franklin Lamb: Defending Our Own In Damascus
It is well known in this region that powerful foreign and domestic forces in nearly every country, but particularly Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, are increasingly acting, for purely political purposes, to ignite a bloody internecine conflict within Islam. More>>