I closed yesterday’s post with a series of questions about what matters, about what kind of a world we are creating and who we are serving. I was interested to read a similar from George Monbiot today. This is from the new introduction to his personal website: While my opinions about particular issues have changed [...]
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UK arms sales to the Middle East
In the papers today, another story about Syrian soldiers firing into protesting crowds. 17 people were shot dead last week, 112 over the weekend. It’s entirely possible that they used British ammunition. It’s not the first time our equipment has been used this year to suppress calls for the democracy that we enjoy ourselves. Bahrain: [...]
Time to cut ties with the arms trade
David Cameron is off on a tour of the Middle East this week, touching down in Egypt this afternoon. Arms sales are “expected to be on the agenda” on the tour, and there are rumours that six arms companies are travelling in the trade delegation. I don’t know if they’ve been dropped, but the Prime [...]
The other electoral reform debate: prisoner’s votes
Britain is the only country in Western Europe with a blanket ban on allowing prisoners to vote. Yesterday MPs voted to maintain the ban – but is there a single good reason to ban prisoners from exercising their democratic rights?
The Mystery of Capital, by Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto is a name that crops up regularly in my reading about development. He caught my eye partly because he is a world-renowned economist who isn’t from the English-speaking world, but also because his work is recognised by both sides of the political spectrum. He is the originator of what is, quite simply, [...]
High Street, your clothing workers called…
During the summer, Bangladesh raised the minimum wage for garment workers. It was a long time coming, and not big enough. Workers had asked for 5,000 taka a month, and they got 3,000, but it was a victory nonetheless. Wages were due to rise from £16 a month to £27 a month and come into [...]
Will we ever get the truth about Iraq?
Almost 400,000 formerly classified documents have been released by Wikileaks this week. The US Army field reports show numerous incidents of torture or execution that have been ignored. It also lists civilian casualties. This is notable because we have been repeatedly told that the US doesn’t keep records of civilian deaths – it’s why estimating [...]
Sportswear brands still failing on labour rights
Yesterday I walked past the new 2012 store in St Pancras Station, gearing up to sell Olympic branded gear two years ahead of the actual London games. There’s a lot of money to be made in sportswear, and a pile of it is being made right now at the CommonWealth Games. Last year Nike had [...]
So that everyone can have enough
I was browsing a Friends of the Earth report yesterday on the train, entitled Overconsumption: our use of the earth’s natural resources (pdf). This passage in the introduction is a rather neat summary of our philosophy at Make Wealth History. In order to create a more sustainable and equitable world, regions with high levels of [...]
Britain’s suspect new friends in Sudan
Last month the International Criminal Court issued a new arrest warrant for Sudan’s president Omar Al-Bashir. He was already wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, to which he can now add the count of genocide for his campaigns against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. In response, Al-Bashir warned Western [...]
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