Knowldege is power

Launched in the summer of 2006, "Dropping Knowledge" is a historic high profile event that will gather 112 participants as a group to respond to 100 of today's most pressing questions. The questions will be asked one by one, and the participants will respond simultaneously into individual cameras (see picture of the Table of Knowledge). The responses of each participant will be recorded as a single audio visual portrait. Together these portraits create the base of the archive-672 hours of recorded material. The table of free voices provides the initial momentum and content for all the components of dropping knowledge. The participants were selected for their innovative, creative, or humanistic impact on the international public. Amongst other you might recognize: Milan Kundera (Czech Rep), Joseph Stiglitz (USA), Yungchen Lhamo (Tibet), Ravi Shankar (India), Thar Ben Jelloun (Morocco), Manu Chao (Spain-France), Francis Deng (Sudan), Naomi Klein (Canada), Oscar Olivera (Bolivia), Fernando Solanas (Argentina), Jose Bove (France), Isabel Allende (Chile), Neela Marikkar (Sri Lanka), Yosepha Alomang (Indonesia), etc... Musicians, farmers, writers, activists, political leaders, philosophers, dancers, researchers, journalist, environmentalist, poet, lawyer... Join this great initiative by dropping your question on the website and talking about it to your friends. Knowledge is power, and it's time to put the power back in the hands of people!

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The beginning of the end...

The war in Iraq was a bad idea, needless to say. The Bush Administration planned that the transition phase would result a reduction of human and economic costs. Instead, the conflicts totals over 15,000 Iraqi civilians deaths, plus a count of over 40,000 wounded, coalition casualties nearing 10,000 soldiers, and an average of 17 non-Iraqi contractors dying every month. And the health impacts of the 2,200 tons of depleted uranium weaponry used during the March 2003 bombing campaign are yet to be known. This was all approved by the US Congress, which released $151.1 billion and is currently debating a supplemental appropriation of $60 billion. As I write this article, the total financial cost of war was $161,667,491,991… How can there be any money left to invest in social development?
The war budget voted by the Congress could have paid close to 23 million housing vouchers; health care for over 27 million uninsured Americans; salaries for nearly 3 million elementary school teachers; 678,200 new fire engines; or health care coverage for 82 million children. But it won’t. It won’t because the Congress has not social agenda. The price to pay for poor Americans goes far beyond actual figures. The war in Iraq will generate decades of economic troubles in the US, including an expanded trade deficit and high inflation. This economic crisis will be cushioned by the usual policy of social budget cuts, which will causally increase poverty, inequalities and discrimination; and consequently exacerbate civil unrest and internal security issues. Such predicament, accompanied by the increasing power of China and the EU, can only precipitate the weakening and the inevitable end of USA hegemonic position in the international scene. Thirty years from now, some folks in Texas will remember: “This war was a bad idea… a bad idea.”