WDM blog

Guest post by Jonathan Treat

Bernardo Vásquez was the second anti-mining activist to be shot dead in Oaxaca in the past two months. Three others at the scene of the assassination of Vasquez were also shot and remain in serious condition.

"One thing is clear: this was a political hit. Bernardo was murdered because he dared to speak out." (Dawn Paley)

by Heidi Chow, food campaigner

Knutsford is a small town in East Cheshire, just 16 miles from Manchester. It's known locally for customs such as ‘sanding the streets’ on May day and the three-hour endurance race for penny farthing bicycles every ten years. It’s also home to UK chancellor, George Osborne, who is the MP there.

Christine Haigh, food and finance campaigner

The news that Greg Smith, executive director of Goldman Sachs’ European equity derivatives business, resigned yesterday accusing the Wall Street bank of being morally bankrupt is the latest reminder of the morally dubious practices of one of the world’s biggest investment banks. Among its many divisions is a commodity derivative trading arm - big enough that the firm is generally regarded as one of the two top players in food and other commodity speculation, which experts increasingly agree is contributing to global food price spikes.

David Dominic 

This week I read a recent report by Friends of the Earth Europe. ‘Farming Money: How European banks and private finance profit from food speculation and land grabs’ is an interesting read for anyone concerned about poverty and social justice issues.