Skip to content

World

Can The Global South Get Out Of The US-Dominated Financial System?

Is it possible to create systems of trade, finance, and funding outside the US-dominated system? Is the BRICS bloc able to build the necessary alternatives to challenge this system? Economists, academics, and political leaders participating in the IV Dilemmas of Humanity Conference in São Paulo tackled this pressing question that today the nations of the Global South confront. Nations, who find that their plans for poverty alleviation, economic sovereignty, and trade with their neighbors, are held back by restrictions imposed by the United States and their debt commitments, for which they need a reserve of dollars.

The World Once Again Votes To End The US Blockade Against Cuba

On October 30, the UN General Assembly once again convened to debate and vote on a non-binding resolution to end the US blockade against Cuba. This year, 187 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States and Israel were the only countries to vote against it, and only one country, Moldova, abstained. Cuba has presented the resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” every year since 1992 (except 2020), to the UNGA. Every year it passes in an almost unanimous vote, showcasing the international consensus against the US policy.

Can The UN Fulfill Its Mission In An Imperialist-Dominated World?

During the months of September and October the United Nations is holding its 79th General Assembly, which is the space of broadest participation of the international body. The United Nations’ legitimacy, credibility and capacity to fulfill its founding mission to ensure peace and security have been questioned for decades, and 2023-24 was no different. Still, never before has the world witnessed a genocide unfolding before its eyes. In this context, the United Nations’ inability to do anything to stop it shines a bright and unforgiving light on the limitations of this body. Shaky Foundations Throughout its history the United Nations has been subjected to intense efforts at control or sabotage by colonial powers and US imperialist interests.

How Working For Place-Based Solutions Can Change The World

In a world of onrushing crises, where the level of change required to meet them boggles the mind, even as too many trends are moving in the wrong direction, questions of “What will be enough?” and “Can it come soon enough?” surge to the foreground. There must be a place to begin grappling with the complex questions of societal transformation. A place to grab hold and gain enough leverage to begin making fundamental changes. That place is the communities and bioregions where we live. We must begin to build the future in place. Clearly we are over the line ecologically, as the planetary boundaries study I recently covered underscores.