Weave Bloggers

The Mediterranean is a place of apparent difference, but one in which politics and culture are often more similar than we might at first suspect. This blog looks at Italy, Egypt and the relationship each has with the other shore of the 'Med', thinking about political trends in both countries, reflecting on the dangers and opportunities for democracy each of these experiences presents us with.

Estella Hefti writes about political violence in Colombia with a special focus on the underreported issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Urban poverty affects too many people to ignore.  Weave blogger Steve Peraza is exploring the problem's many dimensions and thinking through possible ways to solve it.

Erkinalp Kesikli will be contributing about issues on human rights, social movements, and militarism, with a particular focus on Turkey.

"These people would be dangerous for the governments if they were left outside the governments and rose against them, by influencing the only, most powerful government instrument - public opinion." - Leo Tolstoy, 1895

Somdeep Sen blogs about issues of political radicalism and other underreported stories from around the globe.

Dan Shafer blogs about international humanitarian work, NGOs, and whistleblowers around the world.

Nicole Szucs Guzman reports on international climate change negotiations and other news related to social movements. 

Karen Sesterhenn provides Spanish translations of selected Weave blog content. 

True: the arts are underreported.  False: they don't matter.  Explore the issue with the Weave's Adriana Cordero-Calderón.

Ruvimbo Mangoma's blog provides an insightful mix of stories in and around the African continent.

The Clinic on Human Rights, an undergraduate project at St. Lawrence University, focuses on the mass killings of women on the border.

Scott Robinson is casting a critical eye on media portrayals of Uganda and placing news from that country in a global context.

Ten students and two professors from St. Lawrence University recently spent three weeks travelling and studying in India with a focus on the challenges facing Indian farmers.  The trip was funded by the university's Mellon Foundation Grant For Environmental Education Initiative.  This blog is the result of their work. 

This blog features interviews with members of Spain's "indignados" movement, which began on May 15, 2011 when the people of Spain took to the streets to demand economic justice and a real voice in a truly democratic system. 

Using the specific examples of the Maasai of Kenya and the Māori of New Zealand, this blog deconstructs how Western perceptions influence the tourist activity of cultural performances and the displayed indigenous people's identities.

This blog shifts the debate about drilling for energy away from the economic framework that has flowed in and out of the political realm and sheds light on the environmental and social health effects of this addiction – effects that should change the political and social debate entirely.

The forms of sustainble living in Upstate New York are vastly diverse, yet largely unknown. Weave blogger Annie Hopkins is investigating the underreported "green living" stories, news, and accomplishments found in the North Country.

In this blogspace I am examining free-market influences on disease-response efforts in Kenya and the South Indian state of Kerala. My critique reveals the economic pressures, socio-historical factors and political interests which have allowed Kerala to largely meet the medical needs of its citizens while hindering Kenyan attempts to decrease malaria rates.

This blog aims to provide readers with a clearer understanding of the full realm of actions being taken by global citizens in the name of environmentalism by focusing on the “underside” of the environmental movement through critical analysis of issues like greenwashing, ecoterrorism, and radical environmentalism.

Native American communities suffer from an array of issues, but one of the most unknown is within the law enforcement agencies and the states within which they live. This blog will discuss some of the main issues of the problem with a unique inside perspective of Akwesasne, a Mohawk territory with 5 borders.

Climate science is undeniable yet journalists still get the story wrong. Whether it's proffering consumerist solutions or ignoring the global ethics of the climate crisis, news media portray an ideology of technology and individualism. It's time to take a look behind the headlines to find out how scientists frame themselves for media representation and who's getting the story straight.

The trafficking of human beings is something that is happening all over the world. An unrepresented country that is a major contributing factor to this organized crime network is the United State of America. This blog looks at policies that are in place and media coverage on trafficking in the US. 

Brand awareness has become more prevalent than ever before in China. China’s interest in the Western luxury market continues to change the political, economic and social aspects of China today. Not only affecting class division but also economic growth, the counterfeit market plays a large role in which the Chinese are now capable of obtaining Western goods at a cheaper price with the same luxury logo. Today, Western designers are more aware of these counterfeit markets than ever before. Meanwhile, China’s government continue to permit this markets to exist due to the economic prosperity in which these markets bring to Asia. 

This blog will explore the issues and debates that have surfaced because of the pipeline that is planned to be an extension of the Keystone project.  This pipeline is called "Keystone XL" and the pipe itself will run from Alberta to southern Texas.  There have been protests in both Ottawa and Washington D.C. as well as across the United States. 

The pipeline was intruded on wildlife as well as human territory.  Government officials have been working hard, it seems, to cover up the issues the pipe has already caused, but opposers of the pipeline bring these stories to the media. 

As political, cultural and social protests are popping up around the world, it is undeniable that the "old school" style of protesting with signs and banners has changed. This blog will analyze the use of social media in these current movements and how it is impacting the way activists, social groups and institutions organize themselves and communicate.

This blog is a platform for critique and conversation about grassroots humanitarian efforts for education, particularly in East Africa and South Asia.  It seeks to: advocate for the local voices being affected by large-scale and grassroots development strategies, profile non-governmental organizations and individual work, and to act as a research journal.

America has long had a soft spot for the automobile and it has shaped our nation drastically. We are now at the stage where cars are so integrated into our society that they are often overlooked even when they have a definitive effect on the margins of our society.

Reflecting on observations of the 2011 UN Climate Change Negotiations in Durban, South Africa, this blog ventures into the realms of planetary scale and grassroots action.  It begs the question, how do we reconnote "climate change" to be a force of empowerment and action, rather than of despair and disregard?

This blog follows the path of censorship across the viral community and discusses the issues that the future of the Internet could face.  Our freedom of speech on social network sites and other online media outlets are threatened and could change the accessability of information for everyone. I will also be taking a look at the latest breakthroughs in technology since the market for applications and devices is as evergrowing as the Internet.

This blog aims to expose some of the underreported realities behind the American justice system.   It attempts to explain why incarceration rates have soared since the 1970s while crime rates have dropped.  It also explores the role of capitalism in the prison industrial complex.

This blog examines media coverage and representation pertaining to subjectivity and the "psy-disciplines" (psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis). What are the effects of proliferating mental health discourse and practices? Does there exist a politics of "therapy," "health," and "well-being?" Where is the subject - the self - in the multiplicity of mental health practices today?

In addition to the video responses catalogued in our Big Questions section, the Weave's Big Questions project now features its own blog space.  Watch this space for additional video, commentary, and reflections on the issues raised by our Big Questions!

Art is often down played in the media. The media indulges in atrocities, deaths and explosions, and most often ignores positive action, such as art.   Media so often becomes a spectacle, and it only serves to distract people from the true context in which events occur.  Art, on the other hand, makes people think, to consider issues critically and analyze them from different points of view. This form of artistic and creative analysis has been flourishing in the Arab Spring, Occupied Wall Street, and movements for change throughout the world. It is this force that traditional media and systems of power dislike, because it gives a human face to global dilemmas. 

Łukasz W. Niparko invites YOU to come to the SOLIDARITY Avenue; to the space where we recreate the agora of free-thinking individuals who are not afraid of speaking their minds and are ready to shape reality! SOLIDARITY Avenue is a name of the street in Poznań, Poland and memorizes the Polish Movement of Solidarity, which became a platform of freedom operating inside the regime.

“Children On The Move” focuses on the effects that human trafficking has on children. Author Clare Kelly researches the different ways in which children are trafficked all over the world. She examines not only what actions children are forced to commit, while traveling far from home; but how and why child trafficking continues to be an increasing issue throughout developed and developing countries. (Photo source: www.notforsalecampaign.org)

Anna Kassab works to overcome the stereotypical association of Islam with violence, terrorism, and the exploitation of women. These stereotypes are related to hte media's failure to properly detach the religion of Islam from what has become politicized as Islamism (a violent political agenda).  This blog works at isolating them and increasing American’s understanding of Islam as a religion. (Photo source: http://muslimvillage.com)

The Human Rights Violations in Eastern Congo are brutal and sensitive. Weave Blogger James Fordyce is looking at the deeper issues of why cell phone companies such as Nokia might be buying from these mines in Kivu for cheap. The economic deterrent of shutting these mines down is being overlooked by my many governments, and we are here to explore why!

In our global society, filled with consumerism and materialism, Weave blogger Kate Higgins believes there to be a significant gap between who consumes a product and who consumes the trash said product produces. Where does it all really go? This blog aims to shed light on who are the dumpers and who are the dumpees?

Fish. They live in our oceans, streams, and rivers, but what do we really know about their existence in relation to modern topics such as capitalism, environmental degradation, or globalization? Weave blogger Benjamin Landry drags fishing issues out from the deep, untangles the net of secrecy surrounding fishing regulation, and makes known about commercial fishing what the media chooses to ignore!

With approximately 12 million people worldwide in a "legal limbo," statelessness is a human rights issue that receives little active attention from mainstream media. In this blog, Weave Blogger Fulya Eroglu sheds light on 'invisible people' by exploring statelessness both as an individual issue, and in the context of specific groups of stateless people.

After more than a year and a half since the inception of the Arab Spring, the path that Yemen will take to recovery remains an important question. Weave blogger, Abdulla Zaid, explores the economic challenges that Yemen is facing on its path to development. (Photo source: Ebrahim Al-Sharif: ebrahim.alsharif@gmail.com)

This blog explores a theme central to the Weave’s mission: media reform. Beginning with the Weave’s preparation for the 2013 National Conference for Media Reform, author Chloe A. McElligott discusses everything from internet freedom to the struggle for more democratic news media, highlighting why changes are so desperately needed.

Weavers are everywhere, and we are always looking for examples of how ordinary people are using public space to act politically. In this blog we are creating a "people's archive" of street art and other traces of actions, movements, and forms of expression that are often ignored by mainstream media.