Focus on the Global South-Philippines

JOB VACANCY

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH ASSOCIATE

Focus on the Global South Philippines Programme is in need of a MEDIA
COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH ASSOCIATE to join a team working
on various thematic programmes – deglobalization and trade, the commons, alter-
natives, peace and security and climate justice.

For more information click here .

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Focus Job Openings

Focus on the Global South - Internship Programme

Focus on the Global South-Philippines joins the Right to Know. Right Now! Campaign for the immediate passage of the Freedom of Information Act!
To download FOI Highlights click here
To downloal FOI Bicameral Bill click here

Focus condemns the impunity of the Ampatuan Massacre, and joins the nation's call for justice.

Announcement

Navigating Critical Waters: The Maude Barlow Water and Climate Justice Speaker Tour.
Focus on the Global South Philippines Programme.
Deconstructing Discourse and Activist Retooling Programme.

16-19 March 2010. Click here for more information

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Newsletter

Not Just Another Rally

By Julie de los Reyes Contrary to what corporate Makati feared as yet another anti-GMA rally, the thousands who marched in the streets of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas on March 8 were there primarily to celebrate International Women’s Day.
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FOP Number 5 : Debt and Denial

Debt and denial : Or how to make sure that the Philippines will end

by Walden Bello

FINANCE Secretary Cesar Purisima recently characterized the Philippines’ debt burden as a “lingering issue.” This reflects not so much the nature of our debt problem but that the government is in denial. The truth is, the Philippine national debt that has now reached 3.8 trillion pesos, or 69 billion dollars, is out of control. Total public sector debt is now estimated at 130 percent of GDP as of the end-2003.

Of the 3.8-trillion-peso debt, 1.8 trillion pesos, or nearly half, is foreign debt, according to the official story. However, according to some sources, about 80 percent of the total debt is owed to foreign creditors, including resident foreigners.
These are indicators not of a “lingering problem” but of the biggest economic problem we face. We are staring default in the face. Yet our policymakers are paralyzed.

FOP Number 4: Desperate Martians Now Wooing Venusians

In this issue In FOP 4 we feature Walden Bello's Desperate Martians Now Wooing Venusians, an article adapted from speeches during a week-long speaking tour of Italy from Feb. 22-27, 2005 coinciding with the Bush visit to Europe. Bello is Executive Director of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South and professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines.
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FOP Number 3: Chronicles of Kyoto

In this issue

We feature Red Constantino's Chronicles of Kyoto. The Kyoto Protocol came into effect last February 16 with two notable dissenters- The United States and Australia. Constantino points out the extent of these two "hooligans"
contribution to global warming, " The US is the biggest greenhouse gas polluter in the world, period; Australia is the biggest emitter per capita. Australia continues to be the number one exporter in the world of coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and has also sent fresh troops to Iraq, the frontline of America's petro-conflagration."

Red Constantino is Greenpeace Energy Campaigner. This article originally came out in his weekly column in the TODAY Newspaper last February 28, 2005.