NEWS & MEDIA
News gives people a false sense of wisdom. Knowing what goes on in the world does not make anyone more knowledgeable about what really matters. In fact, suggests Ode editor Marco Visscher, less news is a prerequisite for greater wisdom. How about tuning in to our own lives, instead of the lives of those who we cannot possibly influence?
Looking back at the World Social Forum
BUSINESS
When it comes to change, don't wait for governments. As citizens we need to take the initiative, says Sara Larrain. A conversation on the limitations of economic growth, the blind spot of price fixing, Santiago supermarkets and the need to develop our own vision.
LIFE
She once demanded a raise in wages in a Sony factory, and now Mexican-born Martha Ojeda has become a prominent campaigner for the improvement of working conditions. The focus of her criticism: free trade agreements that pave the way for multinationals to cheap labor in the South. "Workers all over the world are fighting the same battle for economic justice."
Solving ethnic conflicts around the world - Radha Kumar has not chosen an easy objective to tackle. For years she was the angry activist that climbed over barricades but now, thanks to pearls of ancient wisdom from her homeland of India, she is looking for peace closer to home.
Once you become aware of the amount of hunger and inequality there is in the world, your only option is to fight against it. That awareness gave Kenyan Njoki Njoroge Njehu her mission: not the reduction of poverty, but its eradication. This is a conversation about Njehu's lost innocence. 'Why do you think so few Africans ever go into therapy?'
The international business community benefits from corrupt politicians. And rulers, in turn, from an economy and society that profess to be 'free'. It is possible to stop this imperialism, Indian writer Arundhati Roy told the closing session of the World Social Forum. By refusing to believe their stories and by telling our own instead. 'Don't forget, they need us more than we need them.
Fernanda Giannasi is the personification of the fight against asbestos in Brazil. This passionate Brazilian of Italian descent only cares about one thing: the well-being of the workers who are forced to choose between money and their health.
SCIENCE
The healing influence of the Chinese movement meditation Chi Neng Qi Gong
SPIRIT
So far, no one has been able to solve the mystery of these marvellous creations. And they are attracting increasing interest.
Children should never, really never, be forced to do something against their will. That's the starting point of a curious movement of parents who think that every form of coercion is damaging. Dawn Friedman describes a controversial view on parenting.
Interest charges are a disruptive element in today's financial sector, but there are banks that charge zero percent interest.
Not all radiation is dangerous, it can have a healing effect.
Albert Woodfox is in jail in Angola. Innocent, just as two others who are imprisoned because of a murder they didn't commit. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, reports from Angola.
The United States presidential elections are tomorrow. more
