Glenn Greenwald

Debating Bill Maher on Muslims, Islam and US foreign policy

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Chairman Mao, portrayed above by Andy Warhol, wrote: 'communists … maintain control with the power of the pen.' Photograph: AP/Christie's

For ages, artists have asked difficult questions about the human condition. It is their privilege to pursue such questions without needing to yield practical results. As individuals, and as a society, we can never really say we know everything. Society allows artists to explore what we don't know in ways that are distinct from the approaches of science, religion and philosophy. As a result, art bears a unique responsibility in the search for truth.

Art is a social practice that helps people to locate their truth. The truth itself, or the so-called truth presented by the media, has limitations. Manipulation of the truth does not lead to a lack of truth – it's worse than no truth. Manipulated truths help the powerful, or advance the positions of the people who publicize them. So the arts and journalistic media play completely different roles.

I think it is important for artists to see themselves as privileged, and to bear some responsibility, because their job is about communication and expression. These are the core values of life, of being individuals. Most people don't realize that they have to fight for this, but for us artists, it's necessary.

By mixing art with personal observations and social commentary, I became part of the first generation to use the internet well. At first, I would spend day and night online – 16 hours a day, or even 24 hours, if important events were unfolding. I became excited about bloggingbecause I thought it was a way for me to accomplish something I always desired: direct communication. My first blog post in 2005 was a single sentence:

"To express yourself needs a reason; expressing yourself is the reason."

Bangladesh, lúgubres fábricas de telas con terribles condiciones laborales

Es imposible competir con la fealdad de Dacca. La capital de Bangladesh es el caos hecho ciudad, un amasijo de edificios inacabados, amontonados sin plan urbanístico alguno, que tratan de cobijar a unos 14 millones de habitantes. Solo la mitad son residentes oficiales. El resto ha llegado, procedente de los cuatro puntos cardinales de uno de los países más pobres del planeta, con la esperanza de darle un mordisco al 6% de crecimiento económico, un porcentaje que llena de orgullo al Gobierno y que convierte a la antigua Pakistán Oriental en uno de los ejemplos más exitosos del milagro económico del subcontinente indio.
Por 54 horas de trabajo a la semana, y siempre bajo la amenaza de derrumbes como el del Rana Plaza —más de 430 muertos— o incendios como el de Tazreen Fashions, con 110 fallecidos, la mayoría de los trabajadores cobra el salario mínimo más bajo del planeta: 3.000 takas (algo menos de 30 euros) al mes. 

El precio social de la ropa

La tragedia de la fábrica textil de Bangladesh reabre el debate de la responsabilidad de las marcas

El país es tan atractivo porque tiene el sueldo mínimo más bajo del mundo: 29 euros al mes

Walt Disney, la empresa que más vende vía licencias en el mundo, ha anunciado que abandona Bangladesh pero las ONG quieren que se queden, den trabajos y salarios dignos y ejerzan presión —ellos que sí tienen el poder— para que mejoren las leyes y se apliquen. La corrupción es cotidiana en Bangladesh, y sus autoridades están ávidas por atraer extranjeros al sector textil, que ha convertido a mucho político en empresario.
“Las compañías que se abastecen en el pais y conocen las condiciones tienen que hacer mucho más para asegurarse de que las fábricas de las que se surten cumplen las normas, están bien construidas, correctamente inspeccionadas, tienen salidas de incendios y tratan a sus trabajadores correctamente”, declaró Peter McAllister, director de Ethical Trading Initiative,

The Paradox Of Our Age

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense;

more knowledge but less judgment;

more experts, but more problems;

more medicines but less healthiness.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble in crossing the street to meet our new neighbour.

We built more computers to hold more copies than ever,

But have less real communication;

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall (hu)men but short characters;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It’s a time when there is much in the window

But nothing in the room.

May Day in Bangladesh

Chris Hayes takes us through the history of May Day, the original labor day, as workers marched for better wages and working conditions all across the globe, including Bangladesh, which is still reeling from the collapse of a building that housed at least five garment factories.

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

 The drive for ever more detailed information on individual behavior is on with a vengeance in the profit-driven world of data mining, as anyone who observes the ads that mysteriously pop up during Internet browsing sessions well knows. But that invasive technology is now undergoing a massive revolutionary upgrade provided by the collection of vast numbers of biometric markers. 
“Don’t think the data being collected by autocracies is limited to Facebook posts or Twitter comments,” Schmidt and Cohen warn. “The most important data they will collect in the future is biometric information, which can be used to identify individuals through their unique physical and biological attributes. Fingerprints, photographs and DNA testing are all familiar biometric data types today. ... With cloud computing, it takes just seconds to compare millions of faces. ... By indexing our biometric signatures, some governments will try to track our every move and word, both physically and digitally."