| Now that Global Focus: U.S.
Foreign Policy at the Turn of the Millenium is set to be published
at year’s end by St. Martin’s Press, the Foreign Policy in Focus
project is concentrating on special reports and foreign policy briefing
papers.
In August Corporate
Welfare and Foreign Policy was distributed to organizations working
on tax issues. The report mixes criticism and analysis in an effort to
halt the billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks doled out annually
to corporations. It provides a welcome opportunity to engage groups normally
on opposite ends of the political spectrum that share the goal of a fairer
tax structure. Ten briefs and the report are available as a packet that
provides an overview of how the U.S. government subsidizes corporations
at the expense of taxpayers and social programs alike.
In late August, Containment
Lite: U.S. Policy Toward Russia and Its Neighbors was distributed
among congressional members, scholars, and foreign policy analysts in
hopes that a more constructive policy agenda will be adopted to guide
Russia out of its chaos. Shortly after the report’s release, the
Russian embassy military attache visited the Foreign Policy in Focus office
in Washington to request copies of the report.
In September, look for Global
Environmental Protection in the 21st Century and Repairing
the Global Financial Architecture. Both reports will be available
with related In Focus briefs in packets that will provide overviews of
global environmental and monetary issues.
In Focus briefs published in August have addressed timely foreign policy
issues. AIDS
and Developing Countries analyzes the role of U.S. patent laws
and the pharmaceutical industry in denying access to essential medicine.
Multilateral
Debt will be in the registration packets at the “No Debt,
No Sweat” Conference in Washington on September 23.
Also, we hope Bill Hartung’s brief, Star
Wars Revisited: Still Dangerous, Costly, and Unworkable, will
be a useful resource on Capitol Hill in September, when Senate Democrats
prepare to force hearings on a treaty to ban underground testing of nuclear
weapons. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed by President Clinton
nearly three years ago and has since been signed by 152 countries, but
has languished in the Senate because Jesse Helms, Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, has refused to hold ratification hearings.
On October 25th, the FPIF project will co-sponsor the 1999 International
Grassroots Summit on Military Base Cleanup, convened to help activists
cope with toxic and hazardous materials cleanup of American military bases
overseas.
Foreign Policy In Focus website: http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/
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|
INCITRA
has a New Name
The IRC’s borderlands program is going through some
exciting changes that we feel will improve our ability to meet the information
needs of U.S.-Mexico border residents, NGOs, and activists.
After carrying out a survey and speaking with activists
and academics throughout the borderlands, we realized that there was much
confusion regarding the nature of INCITRA and its relationship to borderlines.
In many cases, people were unaware that INCITRA even existed or weren’t
aware of research and information services the project provides. Others
thought of the INCITRA Action Kit simply as a part of borderlines.
As a result, we sat down to reorganize our border work and
have decided to bring everything together under one name: Border
Information and Outreach Service (BIOS).
That doesn’t mean that our past work has ceased; BIOS
is all that INCITRA was and more. We hope that by simplifying our name,
we’ll be more successful in our efforts to make our services known
and the information we offer operational.
borderlines will continue to be BIOS’s monthly
publication, and each issue will have a topical Action Kit directory.
The BIOS staff will still collect, index, and archive information on the
border environment and related issues, and we will make it available to
the public via our information request service and online database retrieval
system. We will also continue looking for new ways to foster information
sharing in the border community.
BIOS offers:
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Research to fulfill requests for information pertaining
to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
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Information packets on specific borderlands topics such
as hazardous waste and maquiladoras.
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An in-house library and bibliographic database of over
1,300 border-related publications, searchable online.
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Contact information for hundreds of border-region experts,
NGOs, and government agencies.
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Online links to more than 1,000 border-related websites,
including regional libraries, newspapers, and academic institutions.
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Information on border grant opportunities, upcoming
conferences, workshops, and publications available at our website.
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Training in computer skills, computer-based information
retrieval, and the use of the Internet.
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Networking assistance to link groups working on the
border.
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Needs assessments for NGOs and activists working on
the border.
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Presentations on a variety of border topics.
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Assistance with distributing NGO publications to a wider
audience.
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Assistance in sharing information and fostering communication
among individuals, organizations, and communities across the borderlands.
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Publication of borderlines, a monthly print
and electronic bulletin on U.S.-Mexico border issues, and the borderlines
UPDATER, an electronic border news service.
BIOS
WELCOMES DEBRA ROSE
In August, Debra Rose started as the new Outreach Coordinator
for BIOS. Debra comes to us from the Conservation & Development Forum,
an international program similar to BIOS that sought to facilitate networking
and mutual learning among environment and development professionals around
the world. We’re confident that Debra’s experience there makes
her a strong addition to the project.
If you have any questions regarding BIOS and its services,
please contact the BIOS staff by phone at: (505) 388-0208 or by email
at: bios@irc-online.org
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