This article by Rina Chandran was published on Rueters, November 13th, 2018. GAJAH BERTALUT, Indonesia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In a community hall, a group of men sit cross-legged on mats, poring over documents and maps marked with forests, farmland, a river and the village of Gajah Bertalut in Indonesia’s Sumatra island. They are gathered [...]
"The politics that's needed to prevent the climate catastrophe—it doesn't exist today," says Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old from Sweden. "We need to change the system." This article by Jessica Corbett was published on Common Dreams October 20th, 2018. A brief commentary by Community Rights US media team member Curt Hubatch: We at Community Rights US [...]
As mayor of Tallahassee, Gillum launched a campaign against state suppression of local democracy. This article by Simon Davis-Cohen appeared in The Nation on August 30, 2018. Andrew Gillum won the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida on a bold progressive platform. He championed Medicare for All, criminal-justice reform, abolishing ICE, and investing in education [...]
This article by Mari Margil appeared on the Oxford Human Rights Hub, August 13th, 2018. In the United States, the Fourth of July is celebrated as Independence Day. Someday history books may celebrate the Fourth of July 2018 as a new “independence day” – not for a new nation, but for a new kingdom. On that day, [...]
Four rivers around the world now have legal rights. But what are the implications of rights for nature for international environmental law? This short essay by Mara Tignino and Laura E. Turley appeared in The Revelator, August 6th, 2018. Last year, four rivers were granted legal rights: the Whanganui in New Zealand, Rio Atrato in Colombia, and the Ganga and [...]
The article below was originally published in DeSmog. Investigative journalism - such as this story by acclaimed Canadian scientist David Suzuki - purports to expose the latest corporate outrage, but ends up unintentionally burying deeper truths that the public urgently needs to understand if we are to ever end corporate control over us. Within the [...]
"Animals cannot be treated merely as Property” A Press Release from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from, July 7th, 2018. On July 4, the High Court of Uttarakhand at Naintal in northern India issued a ruling in a case brought to end cruelty of horses used in transport. The court declared that: “Every species has [...]
A leading expert said tensions have never been higher between the different levels of government, thanks in part to preemptive legislation in various policy areas. This article by Chris Teale appeared in Smart Cities Dive, July 2nd, 2018. At a Washington, DC event in May, Harvard Kennedy School professor and former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith [...]
A new book points out how companies mobilise their employees to support politicians beneficial to the corporation This article by Ganesh Sitaraman appeared in The Guardian, May 7th, 2018. Brief commentary by Community Rights US (CRUS) director Paul Cienfuegos: What happens when business corporations' Supreme Court granted First Amendment free speech rights become much more [...]
Major study calculates effect on lifespan of habits including healthy eating and not smoking This article by Ian Sample appeared in The Guardian, April 30th, 2018. Brief commentary by CRUS co-founder Paul Cienfuegos: The co-author of this research study says, "Given that the habits of a healthy lifestyle are well known, the mystery is why [...]
