Voices | Heresies | Vectors | Pacific Pulse | The Americas | California | Movements | Civil Conflicts | YO!
JINN MAGAZINE
PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
Issue No. 6.10
05/15/00 - 05/26/00
VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public
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Environmental Refugees Still Fleeing Hurricane Mitch
By Isabel Alvarado
Date: 05-18-00
As thousands of environmental refugees continue to flee to the U.S. some 18 months after Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras, INS has just extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for one year to Honduran migrants in this country -- but only those who came before December 1998. Isabel Alvarado, who sells socks in the Fifth Street Market in Tegucigalpa, sees the dangerous and illegal journey north as her only escape route from the hurricane's devastation. PNS/NCM editor Mary Jo McConahay transcribed and edited her account as a first-person essay. Photographs are available on request. E-mail slouie@pacificnews.org.
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Clampdown On Internet Music Providers Is Shortsighted
By Scott S. Louie
Date: 05-25-00
To a lone music lover delighted at the chance to grab some sounds for free, the moguls of the music industry are not exactly considered giants of generosity. But their attacks on Internet music providers -- and the providers' militant response -- suggest they are both missing a major opportunity. PNS commentator Scott S. Louie writes on arts and culture trends for New California Media, PNS' ethnic news media collaborative and web site (www.NCMonline.com).
VECTORS: A Regular Column on the Ideas and Directions Behind Today's News
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Gini Out Of The Bottle -- Sierra Leone Once Again Shows High Cost Of Inequality
By Andrew Reding
Date: 05-17-00
One unexamined explanation for the terrible violence in Sierra Leone may well be the fact that the country has the world's most unequal distribution of income. This is unlikely to change by force of arms -- indeed, greater access to education is the only possible remedy. PNS editor Andrew Reding is a fellow of the World Policy Institute who specializes in human rights and Latin America.
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Drought And War -- Do Starving Nations That Make War Have Right To Aid?
By Paul Jeffrey
Date: 05-23-00
Three years of little or no rain have put Ethiopians once again face to face with starvation, while their government busies itself with a border war. For those who would provide aid, this combination raises some profound and difficult questions. PNS commentator Paul Jeffreys writes on international development issues for the National Catholic Reporter and other publications.
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Ethiopia-Eritrea War Looks Both Ways -- At An Imperial Past And An Imperial Future
By Franz Schurmann
Date: 05-24-00
Once the best of friends, comrades in arms, the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea are now at each other's throats. The brutal conflict along their border may well reflect ambitions to restore an empire destroyed 1500 years ago. Franz Schurmann writes extensively on international affairs. In the winter and spring of 1995 he traveled and worked in East Africa.
PACIFIC PULSE: The Pacific Century and Its Impact on the Americas
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Crisis Called Off -- Beijing Puts Its Foot Down, Gently But Firmly
By Franz Schurmann
Date: 05-17-00
Only a week before Taiwan's new president, elected on a pro-independence ticket, is to be inaugurated, Beijing has leaked a strategy which makes any action of Taiwan's part effectively moot. PNS editor Franz Schurmour projects.ry and sociology at UC-Berkeley and former chair of the Center for Chinese Studies, is author of numerous books on foreign politics.
THE AMERICAS: The Growing Enmeshment of the U.S. and Latin Worlds
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Mexican Elections -- Throwing The Bums Out Is No Guarantee That Democracy Will Follow
By Martin Espinoza
Date: 05-26-00
Mexico's voters may be getting ready to elect a president who is not a member of the party which has held power since the late 1920s. This is a significant step, but only a step, toward a more democratic situation. PNS commentator Martin Espinoza reports from Guanajuato, Mexico.
CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World
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Smalltown Backlash -- Reservation Casinos Could Reshape Rural California
By Koren Capozza
Date: 05-22-00
The extraordinary growth in legalized gambling on Indian land -- from nothing to $8 billion a year in a decade -- is about to grow much larger. An initiative granting each of the state's 95 tribes the right to build two casinos has Californians living anywhere near a reservation looking nervously over a shoulder. PNS associate editor Koren Capozza writes about American Indian issues for the San Francisco-based New California Media (www.ncmonline.com) and American Indian Report in Washington D.C.
MOVEMENTS: Strategies For Survival, Identity and Direction by People on the Margins
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From Serial Massacres To Migration Hazards -- Feisty Radio Station A Voice For Honduran Voiceless
By Mary Jo Mcconahay
Date: 05-18-00
Early in April, the popular news director of Radio Progreso, a 43-year-old AM station serving listeners across Honduras' hurricane-ravaged Atlantic Coast, survived gunshots to his head as he drove home from work on his motorcycle. Whether warning listeners of the dangers of migrating north, condemning bus fare hikes, or probing a serial massacre which bears the earmarks of social cleansing, Radio Progreso is emerging as the most important outlet for airing grievances and voicing concerns in Honduras. PNS' New California Media editor Mary Jo McConahay lived and worked in Central America for over a decade. Photos are available on request. E-mail slouie@pacificnews.org. (First of two stories)
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Boys Will Be Boys -- Internet A Powerful Instrument For Those Bent On Revenge
By Kerry Tremain
Date: 05-19-00
There's nothing new about young men acting in ways that put fear into the hearts of ordinary mortals, and we have lots of laws to keep them away from danger. But as several recent news items attest, there's no way to keep them away from the Internet which may have an unparalleled capacity for making mischief. PNS commentator Kerry Tremain is co-author of the upcoming "Witness In Our Time," published by Smithsonian Institution Press.
CIVIL CONFLICTS: Interpretive Reports on Ethnic, Religious, and Inter-National Conflicts Worldwide
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Suing Multinational -- Asia's Oldest Insurgency Will Try Novel Legal Approach
By Rich Mercier
Date: 05-15-00
For more than 50 years, Karen people in Burma have been fighting for autonomy at great cost. That armed conflict continues, but may be opening a new front next week as representatives of the Karen seek to sue a multinational corporation for human rights abuses. PNS correspondent Rick Mercier is a freelance journalist based in Taipei.
YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes
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Lessons From My Freshman Year -- The Meaning Of Diversity
By Nelson Tam
Date: 05-16-00
College roommates, not courses and professors, may be the best teachers when it comes to the lessons of diversity, says freshman Nelson Tam. Tam is on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a publication by and about young people published by Pacific News Service.
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