Category: Politics

Behind Global System Collapse: The Life-Blind Structure of Economic Rationality | Prof John McMurtry

This study examines the system-deciding principle of economic rationality for its logical soundness and effects in global practice. Analysis demonstrates the fallacious structure of the underlying assumptions of homo economicus across theories and institutions, and explains how cumulative destruction of global economic, social, and ecological life systems follows from its life-blind mechanism. Higher-order concepts of life-capital, life-value efficiency, and life-good supply and demand are then defined to bring economic rationality into coherence with terrestrial and human life requirements. Read More

Public Health, Embodied History, and Social Justice: Looking Forward | Nancy Krieger

This essay was delivered as a commencement address at the University of California–Berkeley School of Public Health on May 17, 2015. Reflecting on events spanning from 1990 to 1999 to 2015, when I gave my first, second, and third commencement talks at the school, I discuss four notable features of our present era and offer five insights for ensuring that health equity be the guiding star to orient us all. The four notable features are: (1) growing recognition of the planetary emergency of global climate change; (2) almost daily headlines about armed conflicts and atrocities; (3) growing public awareness of and debate about epic levels of income and wealth inequalities; and (4) growing activism about police killings and, more broadly, “Black Lives Matter.” The five insights are: (1) public health is a public good, not a commodity; (2) the “tragedy of the commons” is a canard; the lack of a common good is what ails us; (3) good science is not enough, and bad science is harmful; (4) good evidence—however vital—is not enough to change the world; and (5) history is vital, because we live our history, embodied. Our goal: a just and sustainable world in which we and every being on this planet may truly thrive.
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CCJ Vote Down Lessons | Dr Patrick Martin MD

What lessons reside in the CCJ referendum failures in Antigua/Barbuda and Grenada? A resounding win in an election does not automatically translate to referendum success of one’s position. The Office of the Prime Minister is not invincible, notwithstanding its far-reaching powers. Caribbean people understand the value of checks and balances on the exercise of political power. Read More

The Political Economy of the Weapons Industry | Prof Joan Roelofs

Guess Who’s Sleeping With Our Insecurity Blanket? For many people the “military-industrial-complex (MIC)” brings to mind the top twenty weapons manufacturers. President Dwight Eisenhower, who warned about it in 1961, wanted to call it the military-industrial-congressional-complex, but decided it was not prudent to do so. Read More

The mandala of health: a model of the human ecosystem | Prof Trevor Hancock (1985)

IN RECENT years a major transformation in the understanding of health and disease has taken place. The emphasis has shifted from a simplistic, reductionist cause-and-effect view of the medical model to a complex, holistic, interactive, hierarchic systems view known as an ecologic model. That shift may be so profound as to constitute a paradigm shift or a change in the collective mind set and world view regarding what the rules are and what is possible.1

An ecologic model of human health is consistent with the broad field of human ecology, which is “the study of the interactions of man and human society with the environment. It is concerned with the philosophy and quality of life in relation to the development of biological and geological resources, of urban and rural settlements, of industry and technology and of education and culture.”2(p1)

To paraphrase Pierre Dansereau,3 human ecology is the study of the issues that lie at the intersection of environment and culture. Public health lies within the broad field of human ecology.4 A public health model of the human ecosystem, such as the one that follows, helps greatly to clarify the interaction of culture with environment within the context of the holistic, interactive, and hierarchic nature of health. Read More

Watch the Wisner Interviews – Institute for Responsible Technology

“The Rookie Off the Bench Saves the Day!

Listen in to Brent Wisner’s moving story of how freak accidents to Lee Johnson’s attorneys landed Wisner in charge of this epic high-stakes trial just two weeks before it started. Discover the dramatic events leading up to the historic verdict.

Monsanto’s HUGE Mistake: How we got the secret Monsanto Papers

This video reveals the courtroom drama of how The Monsanto Papers — their internal corporate documents — were exposed during the trial and then released to the public. Watch this moving tale of one attorney’s courage as he risks his law license and reputation to pierce Monsanto’s veil of corporate deceit and manipulation. Please note: this video occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children).

Monsanto’s Shocking Disregard for Science and Truth

In this interview, Wisner outlines Monsanto’s shocking manipulation and willful disregard of scientific evidence which proves the harm caused by Roundup. This video goes deep into the science of GMOs and pesticides, with Jeffrey Smith mining his decades of experience and Brent bringing his deep understanding gained from his trial research and preparation.

The Most Dramatic (and Pivotal) Day of the Trial

This highly personal and riveting interview recounts Lee Johnson’s heroic testimony, and its winning impact on the jury, as well as the testimony of his wife and physician. Wisner also provides the insider information that just the day before Johnson’s testimony, his team was gravely concerned about the outcome of the trial.

Guilty! Monsanto Acted with Malice

In this interview, Wisner outlines Monsanto’s malice and blatant disregard for human safety as demonstrated in their own documents and even in their statements and behavior during the trial. Wisner explains how this evidence provided the basis for the enormous punitive damages award. Despite the recent reduction in Johnson’s award, the judge upheld the verdict that Monsanto was acting with malice. Click here to view court documents and transcripts from this trial from Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman.” Read More

A life-course approach to health: synergy with sustainable development goals | Bulletin of the World Health Organization

The aim of this article is to show how a life-course approach can be extended to all health topics, age groups and countries by building on a synthesis of existing scientific evidence, experience in different countries and advances in health strategies and programmes. Aligned with the Sustainable Developmental Goals and Universal Health Coverage, a life-course approach can facilitate the integration of individual, social, economic and environmental considerations. Read More