Welcome to the Street News Service
There's a hearty helping of news, views and features from street papers around the world. Please feel free to read all material provided. Currently, the reproduction of material is available for paid up members of the International Network of Street Papers and the North American Street Newspaper Association only.
Want to submit a story? Please email it to sns@street-papers.org.
Last Updated: Wednesday, 7th May 2008
You can now search Street News Service 132
FEATURED ARTICLES
Breathless (The Big Issue Australia)
Melissa Cranenburgh
Melissa Cranenburgh gets wired up to learn what really goes on after her head hits the pillow. A first-hand account of a night in a sleep clinic. (814 words, English)
Sleepstalking (The Big Issue Australia)
Romy Ash
When I was 11 years old I suffered the anxious fog of insomnia. The memory of that time is like a half-remembered dream. For the year my family lived in a little beachside cottage we referred to as The Grey House it took me hours to go to sleep each night. Once asleep, I would soon wake and yell for my parents every couple of hours. I broke each night into fragments.” According to Romy Ash, if you think sleeping is simple, you’re dreaming. (2,057 words, English)
TOP STORY: Singing for freedom (The Big Issue in the North, UK)
Billy Briggs
A decade ago, a group of jailed Buddhist nuns became symbols of hope for fellow Tibetans at home and abroad. The Drapchi 14, or “singing nuns” as they became known throughout parts of the world, risked their lives by speaking out from the confines of their cells in Drapchi Prison, in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. In this piece, Billy Briggs learns why they have reunited ahead of the Beijing Olympics. (1,614 words, English + pictures)
CARTOON: Bob & Spencer, the Happy Homeless Guys – ‘Cheap’ (Homeward Street Journal, USA)
Scotty Valentine and Mike Diaz
The latest in a series of regular cartoons printed regularly in Homeward Street Journal.
A Homeless Winter in Sacramento (Homeward Street Journal, USA)
Cathleen Williams
Winter can be brutal in California. In the week after New Year’s day, storms brought slashing rains and high winds to the state’s capital. On a patch of open ground donated by a local land-owner, homeless people had built an encampment in defiance of the anti-camping laws which are enforced by the city and county police in order to keep people who live outside constantly on the move. However, the homeless weren’t moving. (283 words, English)
TOP STORY: A dogged voice for dogfaces and other underdogs (Real Change, USA)
Robin Lindley
In his sweeping biography of the Pulitzer-Prize willing cartoonist, Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front, historian Todd DePastino recounts Mauldin’s unsettled childhood, wartime exploits, early fame, personal struggles, and his post-war commitment to civil rights and tolerance. In this interview DePastino reflects upon his interest in Mauldin’s life and the continuing resonance of his legacy today. (1,878 words, English + cartoons)
BOOK REVIEW: A requiem for the Green Movement (Real Change, USA)
Sean Hughes
Following from the critiques of their 2004 essay, “The Death of Environmentalism,” Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus's new book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, expand on their previous arguments and attempts to advance the politics that they believe can remake environmentalism — and progressivism in general. (914 words, English)
BOOK REVIEW: Green acres, New Mexico-style (Real Change, USA)
Raef Harrison
These days, “going green” has moved from a mantra among the uber-crunchy to the painfully hip, to where it is practically a fashion trend all its own. But can the average person sustain a truly green lifestyle and reduce his/her carbon footprint, without giving up the frills, which make us uniquely American? In Farewell, My Subaru journalist and author Doug Fine forgoes life’s conveniences to find out just what it takes to “get off the grid”. (356 words, English)
Still groovin’ (Real Change, USA)
Lester Gray
The colorblind Oakland funk band Tower of Power bucked the counterculture to become one of the longest-running soul bands around – and counting. A reflection on the music and the legend with founding member Emilio Castillo. (1,059 words, English)
Golf courses, developers nibble at Asia's rice paddies (Reuters)
Sara Webb
The tourists who tee off at this golf course on Bali's west coast are probably unaware that the ground beneath their feet is connected to a global panic over rice supplies. From Bali to Vietnam, rice paddies are being replaced by golf courses, hotels, villas and industrial parks as Asian economies surge ahead, the standard of living rises and locals opt for higher-paying, less labour-intensive work away from farming. (1,175 words, English + picture)
TOP STORY: Shock gardening troops attack urban eyesores (Reuters)
Kate Kelland
They work under the cover of night, armed with seed bombs, chemical weapons and pitchforks. Their tactics are anarchistic, their attitude revolutionary. Their aim: to beautify. An army of self-styled Guerrilla Gardeners is growing across the world, fighting to transform urban wastelands into horticultural havens. To document and encourage their victories, one of the movement's top generals has written a handbook. (875 words, English + picture)
In South Africa, Zimbabwean Refugees Find Sanctuary and Contempt (Inter Press Service)
Michael Deibert
As the autumn sun sets over South Africa's most populous city, the halls of downtown Johannesburg's Central Methodist Mission fill with weary figures, many far from home, seeking solace within its walls. On every spare inch of space, the destitute curl up to find shelter as best they can. Mixed in among them every night are hundreds of refugees from South Africa's northern neighbour, Zimbabwe, who have fled their country's slow-motion economic and political implosion. (1,386 words, English + picture)
Refugees Look to Europe (Inter Press Service)
Zack Baddorf
"I'll go to any country," says Zirgon Tomas al-Aya, a 60-year-old Iraqi standing outside the UN Refugee Agency headquarters in Damascus. "I like Syria but I can't work here, I want to go somewhere else," said the asylum seeker, one of about 1.5 million Iraqis who have fled to Syria since 2003. He said he will not go back to Iraq. And he's not alone. (1,085 words, English + picture)
Workers Make a Start for Rights (Inter Press Service)
Zack Baddorf
"Parliamentarians, shame on you!" read a sign in Bosnian carried by four union workers in downtown Sarajevo. The workers hoisted the banner above their heads and joined a procession through the capital city to mark International Workers Day May 1 and to call on the government to protect their rights. (827 words, English + picture)
Armutsbekämpfung zu geringen Kosten – Direkthilfe zahlt sich aus (IPS Europa)
Mario Osava
In Lateinamerika haben sogenannte 'Conditional Cash Transfer'-Programme (CCT) zur Armutsbekämpfung große Erfolge zu verbuchen. Inzwischen setzen über zwölf Staaten in der Region auf die vergleichsweise preiswerte Hilfe, die an Empfänger direkt ausgezahlt wird, sofern sie bestimmte Bedingungen erfüllen und aktiv an der Verbesserung ihrer Lage mitarbeiten. (680 wörter, Deutsch)
Biotreibstoffproduktion schadet den Landfrauen – Hunger nimmt zu (IPS Europa)
Karina Böckmann
Die UN-Landwirtschaftsorganisation FAO hat in einem neuen Bericht vor den negativen Folgen der Biotreibstoffproduktion für die Frauen in Entwicklungsländern gewarnt, die in den ländlichen Gebieten des Südens die Ernährung ihrer Familien sicherstellen. (775 wörter, Deutsch)
Straßenhändler aus Stadtzentrum verbannt – Ärger über alternativen Markt (IPS Europa)
Rosalia Omungo
Die Stadtverwaltung von Nairobi hat die Straßenhändler aus dem Zentrum der kenianischen Hauptstadt verbannt. Sie dürfen ihre Ware jetzt nur noch auf dem 1,5 Kilometer entfernten Marktplatz in Muthurwa feilbieten. Während die Ladenbesitzer froh sind, die unliebsame Konkurrenz los zu sein, klagen die Betroffenen über ausbleibende Kundschaft und drangvolle Enge. (476 wörter, Deutsch)
Mais peso sobre as mulheres (Inter Press Service)
Marwaan Macan-Markar
Como se já não tivessem bastante sobre seus ombros, agora as mulheres da Ásia se vêem obrigadas a carregar o peso da alta de preços dos produtos básicos agrícolas, segundo ativistas da região. (787 palavras, Portugues)
Mudança Climática é assunto de vida ou morte (Inter Press Service)
Haider Rizvi
Líderes dos 370 milhões de indígenas de todo o mundo reclamaram da Organização das Nações Unidas uma participação mais ativa nas futuras conversações sobre mudança climática, fenômeno que para suas comunidades é assunto de “vida ou morte”. (783 palavras, Portugues)
Se não têm arroz, que comam batatas (Inter Press Service)
Thalif Deen
Quando uma multidão de camponeses famintos se queixava da escassez de pão na França do século XVII, a rainha Maria Antonieta fez um comentário que ficou na historia: “Que comam brioches”. (768 palavras, Portugues)
Crisis afecta a mujeres y niños primero (Inter Press Service)
Thalif Deen
La crisis alimentaria causada por la caída de las cosechas, el aumento de precios y la creciente escasez amenaza golpear con más severidad a las mujeres y a los niños, advirtieron organizaciones humanitarias y expertos de la ONU. (707 palabras, español)
Se afianza moratoria (Inter Press Service)
Patricia Grogg
La conmutación de la pena de muerte a un grupo de varios condenados, anunciada por el presidente de Cuba, Raúl Castro, fue recibida este martes como una alentadora noticia por sectores sociales que reclaman la proscripción definitiva de ese castigo. (1.340 palabras, español)
Un obispo con los pies en la tierra (Inter Press Service)
David Vargas
Entrevista Exclusiva con el Presidente electo de Paraguay, Fernando Lugo. El ex obispo católico se toma un respiro tras su histórico triunfo en los comicios presidenciales del día 20 para conversar sobre sus planes de gobierno. Entre sus prioridades están la lucha frontal contra la corrupción, que permita instalar la imagen de "un país de honestidad", la reforma agraria para que los indígenas, "verdaderos dueños de la tierra", no se mueran de hambre o tuberculosis, y la renegociación de los acuerdos sobre energía hidráulica con Argentina y Paraguay. (1.259 palabras, español)
Dödsdomar omvandlas till fängelse (Inter Press Service)
Patricia Grogg
Den kubanske presidenten Raúl Castro meddelade i veckan att de flesta fångar som blivit dömda till döden kommer att få sina straff omvandlade till fängelse. Beslutet välkomnas av dem som verkar för ett avskaffandet av dödsstraffet. (402 words, Swedish)
Svagt intresse för internationell handelsmässa i Zimbabwe (Inter Press Service)
Ignatius Banda
Zimbabwes internationella handelsmässa har arrangerats årligen i nästan 50 år. Det internationella deltagandet på årets upplaga av mässan som avslutades förra helgen var dock lågt. (392 words, Swedish)