Humanosphere

Joe Brewer In the wake of Apple’s battles before Congress in defense of its $100 billion tax haven overseas we have a guest post by Joe Brewer, co-founder of /The Rules, a movement aimed at identifying the structural causes of poverty and the means to deconstruct these harmful systems – including tax havens. —————————————————————————————- For … Continue reading →

No, poverty is not an accident or a immutable fact of life. That’s according to Joe Brewer, the hyper-articulate mind from Seattle-based Cognitive Policy Works behind The Rules campaign. “Pick your issue, and you can see how the rules were constructed to make it so… Poverty doesn’t exist by accident,” Brewer says. In this extended … Continue reading →

Slum tourism is a growing industry in cities with mega-slums like Nairobi and Mumbai. Now it is popping up in the United States. First there was a gang tour in LA and now a trip through New York City’s tough and tumble neighborhoods. Real Bronx Tours offers tourists to New York City the opportunity to … Continue reading →

Flickr, gainesp2003 In a bad sign for the world’s ability to work together to fight against bird flu or some other pandemic, a flap has erupted over some Dutch scientists applying for a patent on a newly recognized SARS-like virus that has killed nearly two dozen people in the Middle East. The virus has been … Continue reading →

Healthy soil, Charles Darwin once observed, is the key to life on Earth. We take it for granted, but it is fundamental to our well-being on all sorts of fronts beginning with food production, plant life and the health of the atmosphere. Modern agricultural methods deplete the soil and we’re losing topsoil globally. Here’s a … Continue reading →

The Guardian is marking the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Organization of African Unity with a quiz that asks, among other things, where is Nollywood. Also asked: Was the capital of Liberia named after Marilyn Monroe? Inquiring minds want to know… Mark Tran at the Guardian noted this story at Africa Check reporting … Continue reading →

The Nobel Prize-winning economist and Grameen Bank founder is the pioneer of microfinance. This writer asks: Are his plans for alleviating poverty a little too good to be true? Source: Guardian At first, it is difficult to know what to make of Muhammad Yunus. In London this week to promote his work building social businesses, … Continue reading →

Here’s a somewhat hostile look at a woman who runs an organization based in Nairobi, Kenya, working to spread the use of the alternative medical therapy homeopathy in Africa. One of the first paragraphs in the story indicates the author’s view pretty clearly: Homeopathy is a bogus system of medicine that relies on the assumption … Continue reading →

India is often called the world’s largest democracy. It could also be called one of the world’s messiest democracies. Source: Ipsnews Indian Gov’t on Collision Course With Civil Society – For years India’s pro-liberalisation, Congress party-led coalition government chafed at civil society groups getting in the way of grand plans to boost growth through the … Continue reading →

Afghanistan capital city attacked by militants (BBC) — Afghan security forces have been fighting insurgents in the centre of the capital, Kabul, after the Taliban said it had attacked a guesthouse for foreign workers. Africa backs Kenyan President’s call to drop crime-against-humanity charges (Reuters) — African nations have backed a request by Kenya for charges … Continue reading →

After fifty years in the game, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) unveiled its first ever water and development strategy. Some say it’s about time. “For many years in development work, water, sanitation and hygiene have been a bit forgotten,”  said Alanna Imbach, media officer with WaterAid America, to the Inter Press Service. ”Instead, significant focus … Continue reading →

Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission has issued a report, years in the making, that finds that Kenya’s second and third presidents, Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, headed governments that were responsible for massacres, economic crimes and grand corruption, among other violations. Not mentioned in the report are current President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy … Continue reading →

Another example of how a nation’s overall wealth does not always translate into benefits for its people. Source: LightBox With its vast oil wealth, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest concentrations of super rich households in the world. But an estimated 20 percent of the population, if not more, lives in crippling poverty. Read … Continue reading →

Harvard prof, techno optimist and Africa expert Calestous Juma suggests all those soldiers in Africa be put to better use – building roads and other basic infrastructure: As Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of its declaration of unification, it should also reflect on the fact that it has recorded about 80 successful military coups. Led … Continue reading →

Kaia Chessen is a writer and cellist living in Seattle. After graduating from the University of Washington, she embarked on a solo trek through several Middle Eastern and West African countries in 2007 and is still writing about it today. Source: Seattleglobalist In a little over a year, Mali has gone from a tourist destination … Continue reading →

As a journalist who tries to cover the business side of the humanitarian endeavor, I find the lingo to be both a bit vague and ever-changing. The basic idea here is not too revolutionary – that you can accomplish a social good (reduce poverty, get kids vaccinated, etc) using a market-based strategy. So I find … Continue reading →

Congo has chance for peace, U.N. ready to enforce: Ban Ki-moon  (Reuters) – Troubled eastern Congo has the best chance in years to secure a lasting peace but the United Nations stands ready to pacify the region by force if need be, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday. Congo, Rwanda Must Commit to … Continue reading →

Children disabled by polio begging in Abuja Mike Urban On the whole, there’s been a lot of good news lately about the global campaign to eradicate polio — a significant reduction in reported cases so far this year, new money pledged to the effort and a recent announcement by the Taliban in Afghanistan that it … Continue reading →

While there has been a substantial increase in the past decade for global health funding overall, with the growth of private donors like the Gates Foundation as well as the creation of multi-lateral funding mechanisms like the Global Fund to Fight AID, TB and Malaria, many experts are concerned that the shrinking clout and influence of WHO -- as goofy as it can be -- risks undermining the primary vehicle needed to globally set global health policy. Continue reading →

I can’t decide if this good, bad or ugly. So I merely pass it on – the UN’s new iPhone or Android app that allows users to pretend to be a refugee fleeing violence, persecution or disaster. Take that Angry Birds! Source: Mylifeasarefugee Built for iOS and Android, ‘MY LIFE AS A REFUGEE’ lets players … Continue reading →