US universities in Africa 'land grab'

John Vidal and Claire Provost write for the Guardian:

Harvard and other major American universities are working through British hedge fundsand European financial speculators to buy or lease vast areas of African farmland in deals, some of which may force many thousands of people off their land, according to a new study.

Researchers say foreign investors are profiting from "land grabs" that often fail to deliver the promised benefits of jobs and economic development, and can lead to environmental and social problems in the poorest countries in the world.

The new report on land acquisitions in seven African countries suggests that Harvard, Vanderbilt and many other US colleges with large endowment funds have invested heavily in African land in the past few years. Much of the money is said to be channelled through London-based Emergent asset management, which runs one of Africa's largest land acquisition funds, run by former JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs currency dealers.

Researchers at the California-based Oakland Institute think that Emergent's clients in the US may have invested up to $500m in some of the most fertile land in the expectation of making 25% returns.

Emergent said the deals were handled responsibly. "Yes, university endowment funds and pension funds are long-term investors," a spokesman said. "We are investing in African agriculture and setting up businesses and employing people. We are doing it in a responsible way … The amounts are large. They can be hundreds of millions of dollars. This is not landgrabbing. We want to make the land more valuable. Being big makes an impact, economies of scale can be more productive."

Chinese and Middle Eastern firms have previously been identified as "grabbing" large tracts of land in developing countries to grow cheap food for home populations, but western funds are behind many of the biggest deals, says the Oakland institute, an advocacy research group.

The company that manages Harvard's investment funds declined to comment. "It is Harvard management company policy not to discuss investments or investment strategy and therefore I cannot confirm the report," said a spokesman. Vanderbilt also declined to comment.

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In The Street - dedicated to the Real Democracy Protests in Spain and the Young Europe Awakening

Democracy Real Ya says: 
"We are ordinary people. We are like you: people, who get up every morning to study, work or find a job, people who have family and friends. People, who work hard every day to provide a better future for those around us... We are all concerned and angry about the political, economic, and social outlook which we see around us: corruption among politicians, businessmen, bankers, leaving us helpless, without a voice... But if we join forces, we can change it. It's time to change things, time to build a better society together... We need an ethical revolution. Instead of placing money above human beings, we shall put it back to our service. We are people, not products."

http://www.facebook.com/EU.Revolution

WE CALL FOR REAL DEMOCRACY NOW. We are not a commodity lying in the hands of politicians and bankers. We blame the economic and political forces for our bad situation and demand the necessary change of course.
We call on all citizens, under the motto "Real Democracy NOW.
We are not a commodity lying in the hands of politicians and bankers." to take to the street to protest. Join us, no matter what political views you have, to make all the people heard as a single voice.
European Peaceful Revolution
Community

WΕ ΑRE PACIFISTS!
The people of Spain responded with no violence to the brutal repression of the police!No violence won and the square of Catalunia in Barcelona is back to the peoples hands!!!!POWER OF NON-VIOLENCE!
We don't belong to a political group! But we do have a political view because we do not feel represented in the decisions that are being taken by governments around Europe. POWER TO THE PEOPLE NOT THE BANKS
We stand for solidarity!Democracy is our final scope!The basis of Democracy is solidarity!WE STAND FOR SOLIDARITY!

Here are the city squares http://www.dentnews.net/?p=12594 join us


http://www.facebook.com/realdemocracynow
http://realdemocracynow.webeden.co.uk/#/resources/4551844684
http://www.youtube.com/user/EuropeanRevo29th?feature=mhee (UTUBE CHANNEL)

The Rage of the 'Indignants' - A European Generation Takes to the Streets

By Mathieu von Rohr and Helene Zuber, Spiegel

For weeks, hundreds of young people have been camping out in central Madrid. And others across Europe have now begun following their example. Protests in Lisbon, Paris, Athens and elsewhere show that Europe's lost generation has finally found its voice.

Any real revolution in Paris has to include the storming of the Bastille. Which explains why 200 young demonstrators are sitting in the shade of the trees at Place de la Bastille on this Thursday evening, wondering how to go about staging such a revolution.

Their numbers had already swelled to more than 2,000 by the Sunday before, when they had occupied the entrance to the Bastille Opera and half the square. But then the police arrived with teargas and, since then, have kept strict watch over this symbolic site.

The protestors are trying to create a movement to rival the protests in Madrid and Lisbon. They want tens of thousands of young people to march in the streets of Paris, calling for "démocratie réelle," or real democracy. They believe that there is also potential for such large-scale protest in France, with youth unemployment at more than 20 percent, precarious working conditions and what feels like a constant state of crisis.

"Until now, our problems were always seen as individual problems," says Julien, a 22-year-old physics student who has joined a group called Actions. "You were told that if you couldn't find a job, it was your own fault. Perhaps we are now experiencing a change taking place, and that we are joining forces to form a pan-European movement against this system."

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The Independent reports protests are also spreading to Turkey...

Turkish students plan anti-government protest

By Justin Vela in Istanbul

Inspired by mass demonstrations against dictators across the Arab world, a group of Turkish students have camped out in the centre of Istanbul for a three-day protest against the elected government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The "Youth are in the Square" demonstration brings together complaints that include joblessness, corruption, the building of nuclear power plants and other policies of the country's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). ...

Direct democracy Demonstrations in Greece

Marta Soler and Carlos Robles report:

"...Most of the crowd is young, the people in their twenties. The European Union, to which the Greek government is obsequious, even though headed by a Socialist (George Papandreou, who is reputed - a rarity among leading Socialists - an honest man), has demanded that the Greek parliament vote on June 15 on a maximum salary for every young worker before she reaches the age of 25: five hundred – 500 - euros a month. This is a poverty, near starvation wage for a young Athenian (barely enough to pay rent – perhaps if 4 people share an apartment - let alone eat).

The Greek parliament has been a weak institution, limited by fascism and a military coup and tyranny (1967-74). It is a series of small desks (one has to hunch in to sit in them, as I discovered when I took my students to see it three years ago). There is no space for an audience. Parliament in Greece is confined, and behind closed doors. A generally discussed proposal in the crowd is to block the parliamentarians from entering the parliament, prevent a vote, get them to drop the proposal. That is a sort of Madison, Wisconsin-like demonstration. The spreading influence of Tunisia, Egypt, Madison, and the indignados in Spain, is visible here, though the revolutionary intensity as well as a sentiment that violence may be inevitable (government violence, but more strikingly revolutionary violence) is in the air..."

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From the channel of RealDemocracyGR...