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Global Exchange is an advocacy group and non-governmental organization (NGO), based in San Francisco, California, United States. The group's mission is to promote human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice around the world.^[1]

History[link]

In 1988, Medea Benjamin, Kevin Danaher, Kirsten Moller, and Kathie Klarreich founded Global Exchange. The formation of the organization was rooted in the increasing interdependence of national economies and the subsequent need to build political alliances across national boundaries to protect the economic, social and political rights.^[2] Since inception, Global Exchange has reached thousands of members and supporters, through educating the U.S. public about root causes of injustice and the impacts of U.S. government policies and corporate practices. The group builds people-to-people ties, engages grassroots education for action and linking social and environmental movements through public education, speaking tours, experiential travel called Reality Tours and activism.

Overview[link]

Global Exchange has worked to increase public awareness of what it feels are the root causes of injustice, by changing the rules across the globe from a profit-centered global economy to thriving people-centered local economies; from the politics of greed to a living democracy that respects the rights of workers and nature; and from currency to community.

It works closely alliance with U.S. based and international NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Along with Rainforest Action Network and the Ruckus Society, Global Exchange played a central role in organizing the mass actions against the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle in 1999.

It attempts to address a wide range of issues ranging from worker abuse by U.S. companies to the U.S. war in Iraq, to fair trade issues involving the WTO.

Global Exchange gives Reality Tours to various countries of the world with the stated aim of educating the visitor with the realities of living in different cultures.^[3] Global Exchange Reality Tours organizes trips to over 30 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Reality Tours offer experiential educational tours, connecting people to issues, issues to movements, and movements to social change social change. Global Exchange offers legal trips to Cuba for US citizens.

In 2001, Global Exchange began producing the Green Festivals in partnership with Co-Op America, now Green America, across the United States. Green Festivals bring together fair trade merchants, environmentally responsible and otherwise progressive companies to showcase their goods and services to consumers and environmental and social justice leaders from around the world for weekend long events.

The Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores in San Francisco, Berkeley, Washington DC and Arlington VA encourages the principles of socially and economically responsible business by selling products according to Fair Trade Federation standards. Also in 2001, Global Exchange began an annual Human Rights Award gala.

Global Exchange is a 501c(3) and its board of directors includes Walter Turner, Tony Newman, Deborah James, Niki Armacost, Ann Wright, Allen Gunn and Eric Casher.

Activities and Programs[link]

The Community Rights Program assists communities confronted by harmful corporate projects to assert their right to make important decisions that impact them by passing binding laws that place the rights of residents (and nature) above the claimed legal "rights" of corporations. It also focuses on advancing the Rights of Nature, a paradigm shift championed by the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth held in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2010, by President Evo Morales. In 2011 Global Exchange released a book called, The Rights of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, with articles by Maude Barlow, Pablo Solon, Vandana Shiva, Nnimmo Bassey and others.

The Economic Activism for Palestine project focuses on corporate accountability for human rights and international law violations from companies profiting from the occupation in Palestine. The program targets corporations that are directly involved in Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank – contributing to and perpetuating the restriction of Palestinian basic rights and in the exploitation of Palestinian resources and labor.

The Fair Trade Program works to promote Fair Trade, end child and forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry, as well as educate and empower children and adults to advocate for and purchase Fair Trade. Previous corporate campaign targets have included Starbucks, M&M's. Currently Global Exchange is working with Green America and the International Labor Rights Forum to go push The Hershey Company to go fair trade and end forced labor in the cocoa fields. The campaign is called Raise the Bar, Hershey.

The Green Economy Leadership Training (GELT) program implements green economy solutions (home weatherization, establishing urban gardens, etc.) while training individuals in how to build, work and live in a new green economy/clean energy framework. GELT is based in Highland Park – a low-income community in Detroit. Dozens of full-time volunteers work side-by-side with Highland Park community members to put energy efficiency and LEED for Neighborhood Development guidelines into practice, demonstrating what the transition to and opportunities in a clean energy economy look like.

The Mexico Program confronts the rising violence and unrest resulting from the relationship between criminal enterprises, Mexican power structures and U.S. military aid. The program develops dialogue and effective advocacy toward bi-lateral military policies, gun trafficking, drug policy and democratic reform.

Global Exchange was part of a coalition of groups that successfully charged US retailers, including Gap, with illegally underpaying workers in their sweatshops in Saipan.

Protest[link]

- As part of their campaign to reduce oil consumption, on November 29, 2006, two protesters from Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network - Mike Hudema and Matt Leonard - at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show walked onto a press stage where General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner was speaking and tried to get him to sign a pledge making GM the most fuel-efficient car company by 2010. Wagoner refused to sign, saying that he promised just that in his keynote speech.^[4]

Criticism[link]

The World Trade Organization has claimed that a number of websites such as the Global Exchange, etc., "contain accusations against the WTO which are based on incorrect information or downright falsehoods."^[5] The conservative think tank Capital Research Center claims that the group was responsible for violent demonstrations at the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle in 1999. It also claims that Global Exchange appears to be spearheading Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's public relations efforts in the United States by offering reality tours for American tourists in Venezuela.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Global Exchange
• Global Exchange Reality Tours

John Defterios at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in 2012

John K. Defterios (born April 7, 1961) is an American journalist best known for his work at CNN. He is currently CNN’s Emerging Markets Editor, host of Marketplace Middle East and Global Exchange on CNN International.

Education[link]

Defterios graduated from the University of Southern California in 1984 with degrees in journalism and political science.^[1]

Career[link]

Defterios was an intern at CNN in 1984.^[2] He worked for Reuters Television from 1984 to 1992, serving as European correspondent and special series producer for Nightly Business Report, a joint venture with PBS.^[1][3]

In 1988, Defterios served as European Correspondent and Bureau Chief based in London, managing the editorial joint-venture with Reuters Television. In that post, Defterios covered the fall of the Berlin Wall.^[3] In 1990-91, Defterios covered the Gulf War from Kuwait.^[3]

He joined CNN in 1992, serving as a correspondent for Lou Dobbs Moneyline in New York. He hosted World Business Today from 1994 to 1996 in London.^[1][4] He also served as anchor of Ahead of the Curve and Business Unusual and was principal anchor for CNNfn in New York.^[3] Since October 2007, Defterios has been hosting Marketplace Middle East on CNN International.^[4] In November 2011, he began presenting Global Exchange, focusing on emerging markets, from Abu Dhabi.^[5] He is also currently CNN's Emerging Markets Editor.^[3]

He became president of FBC Media, a media production company, in 2000.^[4] FBC also handled global communication campaigns on behalf of governments, non-governmental organizations and other companies.^[6] FBC produced World Business on CNBC, a program which Defterios hosted from 2000 to 2007.^[4]

In August 2011, BBC and CNBC cancelled all FBC-produced shows on their programming after it was revealed that the company doubled as a public relations firm for the government of Malaysia, and carried puff pieces in the shows it produced.^[7][8] Earlier in July, CNN aired an interview conducted by Defterios with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak which was criticized for being too soft.^[9] CNN denied airing any editorial content produced by FBC and insisted that Defterios had left FBC in March 2011.^[7][8]

Defterios is a World Economic Forum media leader, a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Middle East, and has served as chairman of Business Week Leadership Forums and the World Islamic Economic Forum.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Defterios married Manuela Mirkos, at the time an employee of The New York Times, in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on the island of Sifnos in 2002.^[10] His previous marriage ended in divorce.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Business 360 blog on CNN.com

Kevin Danaher (Irish, Caoimhín Ó Danachair) (30 January 1913 – 14 March 2002) was a prominent Irish folklorist with a special interest in ethnography and military history.

Danaher is the author of 10 books about Irish traditional customs and beliefs, the best known of which are The Year in Ireland, In Ireland Long Ago, and Folktales from the Irish Countryside. A respected scholar, Danaher published more than 200 articles in academic journals.

Early life[link]

Kevin Danaher was born in Athea (Ath an tSleibhe), County Limerick, Ireland, on 30 January 1913. Danaher's father, William, was the local schoolmaster.^[1] His early education was at Athea National School and Mungret College, County Limerick. In 1934, Danaher became a part-time collector for the Irish Folklore Commission.^[2]

Danaher attended University College Dublin, graduating with a BA in 1937. He was awarded a fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to carry out postgraduate studies in Germany, and studied comparative folklore and ethnology for two years at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig.^[1]

When World War II broke out, Danaher returned to Ireland and joined the Irish Army. He rose to the rank of Captain, and served as an instructor for the Artillery Corps,^[3] training soldiers in Kildare, Ireland.^[1]

After his discharge from the army, Danaher resumed his studies, being awarded his MA from the National University of Irelandin 1946.^[1]

In early 1940 he once again worked for the Irish Folklore Commission, first as a field worker and then as the Commission's official ethnographer, collecting, cataloging and illustrating large amounts of traditional tales and folklore, primarily from his home county of Limerick. Some of his sources were family members, such as his father, Liam. His groundbreaking work in the area of seasonal customs and folk practices would later appear in his many articles and books.^[1]

Academic career[link]

In 1952-53 Danaher was visiting lecturer at the University of Uppsala, Sweden.^[1][2][3]

After further education abroad, in 1971 Danaher was appointed a statutory lecturer in Irish Folklore at University College Dublin. In 1974 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature by the National University of Ireland in recognition of his original contribution to scholarship.^[1][3]

From 1973 through his retirement in 1983 Danaher was lecturer for the Department of Irish Folklore, University College Dublin. As an expert in military history, he was a member of the Irish Military History Society, serving on their council in a variety of capacities. He was the group's president from 1971 through 1980, and editor of their journal, The Irish Sword, from 1960 through 1970. He was also a member of The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland and contributed to the Society's journal. From 1988 through 2002 he served as co-Patron of the Folklore of Ireland Society, and continued to publish article in their journal, Bealoideas as he had done regularly since 1935.^[1]

When Danaher retired from his position at University College Dublin, his students organised a celebratory volume in his honour: Sinsear: The Folklore Journal 4 (1982-3). Many of his students, colleagues and prominent scholars made up the international roster of writers paying tribute to Danaher, his work, and his influence.^[1] At the same time, his academic colleagues organised the publication of a festschtift, Gold Under the Furze

In 1986 Danaher suffered a stroke, the effects of which put an end to his professional career.^[3] He died on 14 March, 2002, after a long illness.^[4][5]

Books by Kevin Danaher[link]

Note on nomenclature: Danaher published his "popular" writings, on folklore and military history, as "Kevin Danaher". His "academic" works were signed with his Irish name, Caoimhín Ó Danachair.^[3][6]

• The Danish Force in Ireland 1690-91 (With Dr. J.G.Simms) (1962) Dublin, Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission. - A scholarly edition of original documents and letters relating to the Danish mercenaries in the Williamite war.
• In Ireland Long Ago (1962) Dublin, Mercier Press. ISBN 0-85342-781-X. - Danaher's 1st collection of popular articles
• Irish Customs and Beliefs (Originally published as Gentle Places and Simple Things) (1964) Cork, Mercier Press. ISBN 1-85635-442-4 Danaher's 2nd collection of popular articles
• Irish Country People (1966) Cork, Mercier Press. - Danaher's 3rd collection of popular articles
• Folktales from the Irish Countryside Dublin, Mercier Press. (1967) ISBN 0-85342-849-2. - Stories collected by Danaher in West Co. Limerick.
• The Pleasant Land of Ireland (1970) Cork, Mercier Press. - The scripts of the television series "The Hearth and Stool and All".
• The Year in Ireland (1972) Dublin, Mercier Press. ISBN 1-85635-093-2. - Customs and ceremonies relating to feast-days and different seasons of the year.
• Foirgneamh na nDaoine: Ireland's Vernacular Architecture (1975) Cork, Mercier Press. - A fully illustrated account of traditional house designs and construction. This was also published in a new edition with many new illustrations as
• Ireland's Traditional Houses Dublin, Bord Fáilte. ISBN 0-901146-12-9
• A Bibliography of Irish Ethnology and Folk Tradition (as Caoimhín Ó Danachair) (1978) Cork, Mercier Press.
• "That's How it Was" (1984) Cork, Mercier Press. ISBN 0-85342-714-3 - Danaher's 4th collection of popular articles
• The Children's Book of Irish Folktales (1984) Dublin, Mercier Press. ISBN 0-85342-718-6. - Selected stories from Folktales from the Irish Countryside, simplified and illustrated.
• The Hearth and Stool and All!: Irish Rural Households (1985) Cork, Mercier Press. ISBN 0-85342-734-8 - The guidebook to the Bunratty Folk Park, revised and expanded.

Other works[link]

• In the Spring of 1968 he presented a 5-part TV programme about Irish Traditions, "The Hearth and Stool and All".

References[link]