FOCUS ON THE GLOBAL SOUTH will be holding a series of activities as it marks its 15th year. The celebration, hosted by Focus Philippines, will kick off on January 17, with an internal seminar on Alternative Regionalisms. This will be followed by the 3-day Focus staff planning/retreat, and will culminate with a dinner party on the 20th,where the new Focus on the Global South logo and the Focus on the Philippines 2009 Yearbook will be launched.
17 January: RECLAIMING THE REGION: Developing an Alternative Regionalisms Framework and Programme (An Internal Seminar)
18-20 January: Staff Meeting/Retreat
Venue: University of the Philippines
20 January: 15 Years of Focus: Dinner and Launch
Time: 7 pm
Venue: Village Patio, 185 Maginhawa St, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City
Call for Civil Society’s Participation
In the 2nd ASEAN Peoples’ Forum / 5th ASEAN Civil Society Conference
18-20 October 2009
Cha-am, Phetchaburi Province, Thailand
http://aseanpeoplesforum.net
Video now available! To obtain a copy please contact
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The issue of climate change has come to the forefront and people both in the North and the South have been feeling the devastating effects of global warming. However, the links between the neo-liberal system and the model of over consumption to the climate crisis are not clearly stated.
New Power Politics in Asia: Briefing note on the Shanghai Cooperation Organzation
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a regional mechanism, which
was created in 2001 and consists of the following:
People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan. It was inspired by the need to solve the border disputes lingering between the Soviet Union's successor states and China in the wake of the end of the Cold War. Originally a Chinese initiative, taken after resolving their border problems with Central Asia and Russia, it was also profitable for the Central Asian States, which were lacking in consistency, stability and resources in the midnineties and struggling to establish multilateral and bilateral relations beyond the region. It was also designed as a platform to balance the role of the United States in the Central Asian region.
Main findings of this paper :
The SCO has been able to meet with its initial objective to establish
geopolitical multipolarity in Central Asia and check the US advance into
the region.
It is a reflection of the emerging multi-polar world.
Its increasingly acquiring strength is suggestive of becoming a major political force of the Eurasian region.
The SCO will play a vital role in ensuring international security.
China’s New Role in Africa and the South: A search for a new perspective
Edited by Dorothy-Grace Guerrero and Firoze Manji
China's New Role in Africa and the South: A search for a new perspective
China's global expansion is much talked about, but usually from the viewpoint of the West. This unique collection of essays, written by scholars
and activists from China and the global South, provides diverse views on the challenges faced by Africa, Latin America and Asia as a result of China's rise as a significant global economic power. Chinese aid, trade and investments - driven by the needs of its own economy - present both threats and opportunities for the South, requiring a nuanced analysis that goes beyond simplistic caricatures of ‘good' and ‘evil'.
Introduction
“Three-quarters of the world’s 852 million men and women suffering from hunger are found in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their survival. Most of them are landless farmers or have such tiny or unproductive plots of land that they cannot feed their families”. This was the assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released at the second International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in March 2006.
Unconventional Warfare: Are US Special Forces Engaged in an ‘Offensive War’ in the Philippines?
Focus on the Philippines Special Reports, No. 1, January 2006
Since January 2002, US Special Operations Forces (SOFs) have been stationed in the southern Philippines and have not left since then. Their deployment has significant implications for issues of peace and security in the southern Philippines, on democracy in the country and its sovereignty, on the geo-political balance in the region, and on the US’ global military posture. But – because of domestic historical factors and the current balance of political forces – it is on the claim that the US Special Forces are not engaged in “actual combat” that their continuing presence in the Philippines seem to stand.
In India it's not business as usual. Economists claim that India is hurtling along the superhighway of growth and audaciously predict that along with China, Russia and Brazil, it will be one of the giant economic forces in the coming century. The Outlook magazine recently (November 6 2006) carried a cover story with the title 'Taking over the World' waxing eloquent on India Incorporated and how the axis of corporate power is now shifting from Europe to Asia. While there is quite a bit of corporate spin and hyperbole surrounding these prophesies they should not be underestimated by progressive forces. From a business point of view India is firmly on a corporate-led reforms trajectory that seems irreversible there will be more Special Economic Zones (SEZs), new world class infrastructure in urban areas, super highways, five-star hotels, airports, super markets and shopping malls and less of government intervention in public policy.
The Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has closely worked as an agent of big business. Nothing epitomises this better than a banner sponsored by the UPA Government and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year under the 'India Everywhere' campaign which said '15 years, six governments, five prime ministers, one direction'. Reality is not far from this. Corporate India is on the warpath; between January and October 2006 Indian companies spent thrice the money buying foreign firms compared to what MNCs have acquired here.
Focus on the Global South, a programme of development policy research, analysis and action, opens its 2009 Volunteer/Internship Program. The Focus internship is a non-salaried programme that is designed to provide exciting opportunities and exposure to highly-motivated college students, graduate students and fresh university graduates. Accepted interns/volunteers will have a chance to assist in a research on climate change.
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Introduction
Focus on the Philippines Special Reports, No. 1, January 2006
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