Opinion and Analysis from OneWorld UK

A new briefing on MDGs and minorities and indigenous peoples asks why these groups are so vulnerable.

Poor countries striving to improve their health systems deserve better than the unexplained implosion of the Global Forum for Health Research, argues Beverly Peterson Stearns.

Google new government search tool exposes state censorship and demands for user information. Emily Butselaar reports.

As Index on Censorship and English Pen launch Free Speech is Not For Sale, a damning report on English libel laws, John Kampfner highlights the pressing need for reform.

Rwanda's Science and technology Minister, Professor Romain Murenzi, says science and technology will be at the heart of his country's development strategies.

By focussing on the performance of Western leaders and on Ms. Obama's and Mme Bruni's fashion-trendsetting dresses, the media has missed the point: the vacuousness of the recent round of global summitry in the face of five major global crises, says Jan Oberg.

If any lesson is to come out of the current financial crisis, it is that the pipedream of corporate social responsibility needs to be shelved, argues Marcin Bondarowicz.

A mass campaign is needed to convince the Sinhalese majority that devolution and democratisation are in its interest as much as they are in the interest of Sri Lanka’s minorities, says Rohini Hensman.

Only four members of the UN voted against the Declaration on Indigenous Rights in 2007 - Canada, New Zealand and the US. Three are members of the Commonwealth.

Some of President Barack Obama's decisions on Bagram, the US prison in Afghanistan, have "quietly signaled support for many of Bush's 'war on terror' policies," says Stacy Sullivan.

The spate of lese-majesty cases in Thailand is a manifestation of a turn away from the democratic and social developments of the 1990s and back towards the outdated authoritarianism of earlier decades, says an Asian rights group.

Remember when environmentalists had no thought for people, and people interested in development ignored the environment? It’s like that now between the climate and development communities, says OneWorld's Daniel Nelson.

Ahead of a key House of Lords hearing, Sean Carey reflects on the disgraceful way Britain annexed a group of islands and dislodged a people to give the US an airbase.

It is high time for India and China to move beyond conflicts and start cooperating politically, economically, and technologically for mutual benefits, says Dr. Aqueil Ahmad.

The 'American Century' began only 60 years ago but seems already to be over, with the Iraq disaster forcing some of the U.S. ruling elites to realise that its hegemony has been severely weakened. Nobody seems to know what to do next, or even how to behave, says Philip S Golub.

The balance of voting in the United States Supreme Court is not quite as predictable as conservatives hope and liberals fear, says Godfrey Hodgson.
From openDemocracy

NEW YORK, Jul 5 (OneWorld) - As global concerts raise the profile of climate protection among viewers on all seven continents this weekend, some 10,000 "satellite" events are expected to bring millions of individuals into the action to help stop climate change.