South Africa vs. Big Pharma: Duking It out over Patent Law
May the better side win.
Read MoreWord by Word
The dream of any leader is that the people obey what they say word by word. When Napolean Bonaparte issued the Civil Code of 1804 he did not want anyone interpreting his laws, he only wanted people to obey them.
Read MoreThe Law as a Form of Politics
Carl Von Clausewitz once said that war is the continuation of politics through other means. Many Colombians think that something similar happened with the law here; that is, the the legal debates are a continuations of politics by other means. At least that appears to be the opinion of the 73 percent of residents of Bogota who believe the removal of their mayor Petro from office was unjust.
Read MoreSawhoyamaxa and the Struggle for Land
For the last 7 years, Paraguay has failed to comply with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ decision ordering land titles for their ancestral land to be granted to the Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community.
Read MoreThe Other Side of the Protest March
While many celebrate Colombia´s World Cup classification, the indigenous people have been marching in protest for over a week.
Read MoreThe Amazon: between oil and natural parks
Oil exploitation in Ecuador and the enlargement of a park in Colombia show the contrast in visions on the Amazon.
Read MoreLegal Framework for Peace
“After a public hearing convened by the Constitutional Court about the Legal Framework for Peace, the Kaleidoscope Team interviewed Luz María Sánchez Duque, researcher from the Center for the Study of Law, Justice, and Society (Dejusticia).”
Read MoreMister “Rayón”
Mister “Rayón” is a curious character that appeared this semester in the Bogotá campus of Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dressed as a superhero and wearing a gas mask, his mission consisted in modifying the serious and conservative revolutionary graffiti filling the walls of the so-called “White City”.
Read MoreFARC and the people
Now that political participation is being discussed in Havana, FARC proposed to radically reform the structure of the state, build a political system based on popular organizations and to countersign all this through a constitutional assembly.
Read MoreSophisticated lawyers
In 1974 Marc Galanter wrote a notorious article about how justice operates in the Unites States. Its title in Spanish could be something like: Why do rich people always win? Throughout this text, Galanter shows how a litigation depends less on the judges and the laws than of the lawyers: the greater prestige and wealthiness of the lawyers, the easier to win lawsuits.
Read MoreRule of opinion or rule of law?
President Uribe has suggested in more than one hundred occasions that Colombia is under a “Rule of opinion”, a superior stage of the Rule of law. The idea may sound beautiful, but in truth it is ambiguous and dangerous.
Read MoreThe media prefers “gringas”
A judge’s election in the US is more relevant for the media than the election of national (Colombia) judges.
Read MoreThe outrages
Angel Genivet, an intellectual of the ’98 Generation, said that the Spaniards’ ideal was to carry an official document that stated they were authorized to do anything they wanted.
Read MoreDivide and re-elect yourself
Too much has been said about the President’s statement of the Rule of opinion as a higher stage of the Rule of Law.
Read MoreWar against latifundium
Up to date, land distribution to peasants hasn’t been seen. Instead, the State distributes it to few owners.
Read MorePolitics overdose
After three years of permanent presidential debate due to re-election, we head towards Uribe’s last year in office, which is nothing else than one full of presidential debate.
Read MoreForgiveness without acknowledging guilt?
Who genuinely apologizes acknowledges his guilt. He accepts to have offended somebody or to have contributed in some way to the humiliation.
Read MoreDepression and paranoia
I once heard a psychology professor say that mental illness depends a lot of the society where one lives. For example, while in the US lots of people get depressed, in Latin America they suffer from paranoia. I have no idea what theory explains this phenomenon, but mine is as following.
Read MoreCan Somebody Give Me a Hand with a Telmex Account?
The government announces the possibility of a new anti-paper law that eliminates public sector proceedings.
Read MoreConscientious objection debate between Father Giraldo and Mauricio García Villegas
Can we disobey the unfair law?
Read More