ALAI this week - 17/12/2021
Chile at the political crossroads: social renewal or decades of painful neoliberal policy
Kast, without embarrassment, claims that Pinochet—who personified every attribute of the late 20th century’s dictators—is ironically a guardian of Chilean democracy.
Vijay Prashad, Taroa Zúñiga Silva
Cracks in the edifice: Postcards from the people’s tech frontier
Activists, workers, even nation-states are showing resistance to, and resilience against Big Tech. A chronicle of some critical moments of contestation.
The DataSyn Team
Technology and the future
In the aftermath of the pandemic, there will be more inequality, conflict, militarism, and authoritarianism as social upheaval and civil strife escalate. The ruling groups will turn to expanding the global police state to contain mass discontent from below.
William Robinson
Experts on the malicious use of artificial intelligence and challenges to international psychological security
Today, we are closer than ever to the end of human history. Further progress of AI technologies, MUAI and its large-scale use as a psychological weapon may lead to an even greater delay in an adequate public response to the dangerous behaviors of antisocial actors.
Evgeny Pashentsev
Colombia registers the 91st massacre of 2021
The paramilitaries target those who work to defend land and natural resources, and protest against the cultivation of illicit crops in their territories.
Peoples Dispatch
Financing for Latin America's energy transition
Latin America is a disputed territory for the control of renewable energy. External financing is vital for the region’s energy transition, if it is to be steady and orderly.
Carlos de León
The rights of nature and the Earth
It took a lot of struggle to fully recognize the rights of women, indigenous people, black people, just as it is now taking a lot of effort to recognize the rights of nature and of Mother Earth, made up of all ecosystems.
Leonardo Boff
The judicial kidnapping of Julian Assange
On December 10 we had the Democracy Summit and the Nobel Peace Prize being given to two journalists. On the other side we had this court decision. Democracy is no longer a political category, but a propagandistic tool.
John Pilger
Why there is no anti-vax movement in Cuba
In Cuba, there is no private pharmaceutical industry. All vaccines against the coronavirus are manufactured by state-owned biomedical laboratories. There are no outrageous prices or excessive profits involved.
Marc Vandepitte, Toon Danhieux
Honduras’ left-wing breakthrough
Since a US-backed coup toppled Mel Zelaya in 2009, Honduras has faced a clampdown on democracy and serious human rights abuses. But the election of socialist Xiomara Castro is a chance to break the cycle.
Francisco Domínguez