China speeds up resettlements

(January 20, 2002) Qin Feiyun dices greens with a cleaver in her restaurant, puts an oiled wok on the gas stove and waits for customers who never come. Qin’s family recently joined thousands of people forced to evacuate homes in central China that will be flooded by the reservoir of the giant Three Gorges Dam.

Boycott Burundi

The fair trade movement – designed to give Third World farmers a living wage while also protecting the environment – started with the best of intentions; it is now paving the road to hell. Although it purports to be a consumer-driven movement that promotes trade over aid, it is funded by government foreign aid agencies and trade unions bent on keeping Third World goods out of Western markets. Although it claims to have the small farmers’ interest at heart, it acts as a gatekeeper that excludes small farmers from the fair trade club to ensure the movement’s own self-preservation.