Here are some of IPS’s most-read stories of the past week — and stories you shouldn’t go without reading:

IPS LAUNCHES YEAR OF REPORTING ON THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

Ten years ago the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre burst onto the world stage giving social movements and civil society the space to challenge the orthodoxies symbolised by the World Economic Forum. Visit the IPS TerraViva World Social Forum 2010 site for independent news, analysis and commentary on up to 35 WSF events that will take place on every continent in 2010. What are the continuing challenges that drive social movements, and will the WSF stay relevant and innovative? Read IPS TerraViva to find out.
www.ips.org/TV/wsf2010/

HAITI: Local Leaders Shut Out of Military-Run Relief Efforts
By Ansel Herz
GRAND GOAVE (IPS) – Two gray 23-million-dollar hovercrafts sitting in the middle of a sandy tropical beach look like they are from another world. A pair of 15-foot-wide propeller fans sticks out from the back of each behemoth.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50144

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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Africa Continues to Draw Inspiration
Stanley Kwenda interviews DAKARAYI MATANGA, Southern Africa Social Forum
HARARE (IPS) – The same kind of worldwide solidarity that helped bring down apartheid is necessary to free the global South from economic domination.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50141

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MIDEAST: Pray the PA Way or Face Arrest
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH (IPS) – The Palestinian Authority (PA) is using West Bank mosques as a new battleground in its political offensive against its opponents within Hamas as well as critics from its own Fatah party.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50122

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Q&A: “Being Poor and White Is Not the Same as Being Poor and Black” in Cuba
Patricia Grogg interviews University of Havana researcher ESTEBAN MORALES
HAVANA (IPS) – The elimination of racism remains unfinished business in Cuba today. “We have to admit that the problem exists, determine its impact on the social model that we defend, and tackle it in depth,” says Esteban Morales, an Afro-Cuban economist, political scientist and author of numerous articles and essays on the subject.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50155

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PAKISTAN: Home-Based Workers Struggle to Climb Out of Poverty
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI (IPS) – Razia Khatoon, 36, crouches over a huge wooden frame, her eyes squinting in the dimly lit room inside a squatter settlement in Orangi town in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50089

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LABOUR: North America’s Long Winter of Discontent
By Peter Costantini
SEATTLE, Washington (IPS) – In the wake of a blizzard of economic hardship across North America, native land of the financial crash of 2008 and ensuing Great Recession, the shapes of other possible worlds are emerging from the drifts. Some are frozen and dystopian, but others may harbour green shoots of hope.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50125

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BURMA: Ethnic Women Expose Opium Fields in Junta Strongholds
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK (IPS) – A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50170

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SWAZILAND: Dreams of Free Education Deferred
By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE (IPS) – Ten-year-old Tembuso Magagula sat outside her classroom with her shoulders hunched against the cold today, tears streaming from her eyes. Her long-awaited first day of school had turned into a nightmare.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50114

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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “Machista” but Valued by Feminists Nonetheless
By Mario Osava *
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (IPS/TerraViva) – The World Social Forum (WSF) “changed our lives,” although it continues to be “machista,” with men significantly outnumbering women in its organisation and almost all discussion panels, commented Nalu Farias, coordinator in Brazil of the World March of Women.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50164

EUROPE: Privatised Services Back in Public Hands
By Julio Godoy
BERLIN (IPS) – After the wave of de-privatisation of water services facilities that started across the world two years ago, municipalities in Europe are now buying back the electricity utilities they sold to private investors in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50135

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