Social Justice Blog

This is the kind of corporate social responsibility that’s great to see — technology answering a pressing social need. Vodafone has teamed up with the United Nations and the Rockerfeller Foundation’s mHealth Alliance to connect the use of mobile phones to healthcare in the developing world.mHealth Alliance uses the technology to provide virtual doctors to […]

“Of the 14,400 candidates, 4,000 of them were women. Originally the Iraqi Constitution, responding to the demand of women, called for a 25 percent quota for women. Without explanation, the Electoral Commission interpreted the law to mean that this percentage is not guaranteed. Nevertheless, women stepped forward. Their courage is awe-inspiring.”-Madeleine Kunin-Kunin, the former governor […]

On the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Wall Street Journal profiles five Iranians and their disparate views on the upcoming presidential election in their country.All under 36 (more than 70 percent of Iran’s 70 million people are), each faces a crossroads. To quote the article, “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hard-line regime has put pressure […]

Over at In These Times, Christopher Weber explores the development of green jobs and asks such questions as: “Will these jobs be as plentiful–and as worker-friendly–as the new administration and environmentalists would have us believe? And can green businesses really create opportunities for workers given the current economic crisis?”Good news for Christopher and others in […]

If you haven’t already succumbed to the addictive micro-blogging site, Twitter, like I have, nor dismissed it as a time and energy wasting medium, you’ll be pleased, as I was, to see its founders endorsing it as a platform with democratic aims.Founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams recently cited the “tweets” that first reported the […]

Now that Tom Daschle and his funny red glasses have been jettisoned from consideration for the Obama administration’s Secretary of Health and Human Services position, a logical replacement seems to be the passionate former Vermont governor (and physician) Howard Dean. In fact, the Facebook group “Appoint Howard Dean to HHS” has, as of this writing, […]

Should the Obama administration prosecute the Bush administration for violating up to 269 national and international laws (you know little things like torture, wiretapping and “extraordinary rendition”)? Amy Goodman’s new article in the San Francisco Chronicle investigates the possibilities and wonders whether Obama’s claims of an “open government” will usher in an era of accountability […]

Now that Barack Obama has been sworn in and the transition away from George W. Bush’s rule is complete, whitehouse.gov also got a makeover. You can read the new administration’s agenda, check out his briefing room (which includes a blog, news on appoinments and exective orders), and of course learn about the history of the […]

Something I do every MLK Day is read Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Below is an excerpt. To read the entire letter, please click here.Also note that today at 12PM, CNN will air the “I Have a Dream” speech in its 17-minute entirety. Not to be missed.“Human progress never rolls in on wheels […]

Woody Tasch, venture capitalist and author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered talked to Plenty Magazine about his vision for a new economy, one in which capital is steered in support of local food systems. What exactly does that mean and what are the implications?“It […]

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released its “Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008″ this week. The crises include:1. Somalia’s Humanitarian Catastrophe Worsens2. Critical Health Needs in Myanmar Remain Unmet3. Health Crisis Sweeps Zimbabwe as Violence and Economic Collapse Spread4. Civilians Trapped as War Rages in Eastern Congo5. Millions of Malnourished Children Left Untreated Despite Advances in […]

“John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as ‘not one of us,’ I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence.”-Republican Frank Schaeffer-Read thoughts from those […]

The prize goes to Martti Ahtisaari.“Through his untiring efforts and good results, he has shown what role mediation of various kinds can play in the resolution of international conflicts. The committee cited Ahtisaari’s ‘significant’ part in establishing Namibia’s independence and his ‘central’ role in solving the question of the Indonesian province of Aceh in 2005.”Read […]

The New York Times is reporting that tens of thousands of voters have been removed from registration talleys in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.In an effort to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (to remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed) it appears as though […]