IPS Pick of the Week: May 30 2013

	Native People More Than Just Park Rangers  Milagros Salazar  Some good-byes can actually mean the start of a long road working together. That was how it felt at the end of the World Indigenous Network (WIN) conference in this northern Australian city. The big challenge is to consolidate “the indigenous network so its collective voice can be heard” and to ... MORE > >
	Nicaraguan Women May Have to Negotiate with their Abusers  José Adán Silva  Conservative sectors in Nicaragua have launched an offensive against the Comprehensive Law Against Violence Toward Women, seeking amendments including an obligation for women victims to negotiate with their abusers, human rights groups reported. The Supreme Court (CSJ) decided on May 23 to ask ... MORE > >
	Dreams of Education Fly Away for Ghana’s Working Kids  Albert Oppong-Ansah  It is a school day but 13-year-old Musah Razark Adams, a Grade 5 primary school pupil in Wuba, northern Ghana, is standing in a rice field wielding a “koglung” – a sling shot to hit birds with. He is not being a naughty boy. For a month of working from 7am to 6pm he is paid 10 dollars and given ... MORE > >
	Chevron Rejects Shareholder Demands to Explain Record Political Spending  Carey L. Biron  At an annual shareholder meeting held Wednesday, upper-level management for the oil conglomerate Chevron faced renewed questioning over its record-setting political contributions during last year’s national election. At the meeting, a shareholder resolution on the issue focused on Chevron’s ... MORE > >
	Sharing Indigenous Knowledge from All Ends of the Globe  Milagros Salazar  This city in northern Australia brought them together to share their experiences this week. They are indigenous Shipiba people fighting indiscriminate logging in Peru’s Amazon jungle region and delegates from the Ando-Kpomey community in Togo, which created and protects a 100-hectare ... MORE > >
	The Bitter Taste of Liberia’s Palm Oil Plantations  Wade C. L. Williams  Sackie Qwemie works for Equatorial Palm Oil, the company that took his land in northwestern Liberia. He has been working on the EPO plantation for three years because the land that he once farmed was given away in a lease to the concession company based in Grand Bassa County, one of this West ...MORE > >
	From Slum Girl to World Chess Prodigy  Amy Fallon  Phiona Mutesi was a muddy, desperate nine-year-old foraging for food in Uganda’s biggest slum, Katwe, when she discovered, through her older brother Brian, a chess programme. It was not pawns, rooks, bishops, knights or a king that drew her to a church verandah in Katwe, Kampala - it was what ... MORE > >
	Poverty Down in Argentina – But By How Much?  Marcela Valente  In the 10 years since late president Néstor Kirchner, who was succeeded by his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2007, first took office in Argentina, poverty has fallen, employment has climbed and educational coverage has expanded, although there is no agreement on the exact ... MORE > >
	Egyptian NGOs Fear Law That Would Cripple Civil Society  Cam McGrath  A controversial bill backed by Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood and submitted to the Islamist-dominated legislature surpasses previous laws used to repress Egyptian civil society, rights watchdogs say. The legislation would allow the government to intervene in the internal governance and ...MORE > >
	Wind Power Finds a Toehold in Green-Minded Nevis  Desmond Brown  When it comes to generating clean energy and reducing costs, the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis considers itself the leader within the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). But the island of 12,000 residents is finding it difficult to convince other islands to buy into its ...MORE > >
	Isolation Devastates East Jerusalem Economy  Jillian Kestler-D'Amours  Thick locks hug the front gates of shuttered shops, now covered in graffiti and dust from lack of use. Only a handful of customers pass along the dimly lit road, sometimes stopping to check the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, or ordering meat in near-empty butcher shops. "All the shops are ... MORE > >
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