Category Archives: Transhuman News

An exhibition exploring the concept of freedom through post-World War II artworks begins a European tour here Wednesday, a stone's throw from where the Berlin Wall once stood.

With paintings, videos, photos, drawings and art installations, the "Desire for Freedom" exhibition at the German Historical Museum in central Berlin spotlights the work of more than 100 artists from the East and West since 1945.

Featured artists range from German painter Gerhard Richter, Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte and Christo, known for his environmental works of art including the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin in 1995.

"It's not in chronological order and national differences are not underlined because basic questions such as 'who am I?', 'to what extent am I free?', 'who are the others?' are always the same," curator Monika Flacke said.

She said that freedom originated from the ideas of the Enlightenment and was much wider than just the division between East and West which resulted from World War II.

Divided into 12 sections, the exhibition, in Berlin until February, seeks to outline the idea of freedom in its different guises, from revolution to utopia via politics and sustainable development.

Visitors are reminded on entering the display of Article One of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights".

The idea of freedom is "deeply anchored in Europe and has moved to America where it has also found expression in all these revolutions of recent years, in the Occupy movement, in student revolutions," Flacke said.

Berlin provides a fitting backdrop, having seen two dictatorships in the last century and been the setting of a peaceful revolution which led to the tearing down of the detested Wall in 1989 at the end of more than four decades of the Cold War.

And one photo by British sisters Jane and Louise Wilson questions repression or the deprivation of freedom with their work depicting a Berlin prison of former East Germany's dreaded Stasi secret police.

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Post-war art show in Berlin traces desire for freedom

Published: Oct. 16, 2012 at 12:16 PM

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Naval Health Research Center has given Virginia-based SAIC a prime contract to support its Warfighter Performance department.

Under the award, Science Applications International Corp. will provide research and development support services in aspects of human performance, physiology and psychology investigative studies that involve planning, coordinating, designing, and executing experimental protocols.

Work will include the study and development of new strategies for enhancing human performance. Among them: thermoregulation to prevent heat-related illnesses; return to duty following a heat-related illness; exposure to cold; human performance at high altitudes; traumatic brain injury and its effects on biomechanics and cognitive functions; the definition of patterns of resiliency to physical and psychological injury; strategies to improve post-deployment behavioral health; and establishment of return-to-duty criteria for wounded troops.

"We are pleased to continue supporting the Naval Health Research Center and providing the scientific and technical expertise to help ensure our military personnel are ready for duty, and can perform at the highest levels -- both physically and psychologically," said Steve Comber, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager.

The contract has a one-year period of performance and four one-year options. Its total value if all options were exercised would be $24 million.

The NHRC Warfighter Performance department conducts research related to the measurement, maintenance, restoration, enhancement, and modeling of human performance.

Read more from the original source:
SAIC to support human performance research

A Regina judge has stayed a charge against Terry Tremaine, who was accused of continuing to post hate speech online in defiance of an order from the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

In 2007, the commission ordered Tremaine to stop posting anti-Jewish material on the internet.

In 2009, Richard Warman who initiated the complaint against Tremaine said in an affidavit that Tremaine is disobeying the order and was, at that time, continuing to post material that advocates the extermination of the Jewish community and also attacks blacks and other non-whites.

With a stay of proceedings, Tremaine is no longer before the courts over the allegation of disobeying the commission's order.

It is the second time this fall that a charge against Tremaine has been stayed.

In September a charge of promoting hatred was discontinued because the judge said the case took too long to get to trial.

Tremaine is a former math instructor for the University of Saskatchewan.

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Terry Tremaine no longer facing charges over alleged online activity

Regional News of Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Source: Joy Online

Many people in West Africa may not be aware of its existence, but there is an ECOWAS Community Court of Justice that adjudicates human rights and post-election violence cases.

The court established in 2005 seeks to ensure that the principles of equity and human rights within the ECOWAS community are duly observed.

At a stakeholder's forum in Accra to make the operations of the court more visible to the media and member states, officials highlighted the need for ECOWAS member states to respect the treaties and provisions in the ECOWAS constitution to make post-election violence and corruption a thing of the past.

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice is composed of seven independent judges appointed by their respective heads of state and government for a four year non-renewable tenure.

Since its inception in 2005 the court has sat on some high profile cases including Laurent Gbagbo vs. the Republic of Cote D'Ivoire over the Ivorian election crises and the Media Foundation for West Africa vs. the republic of Gambia over the detention of some journalists in Gambia without trial.

With the Ivorian case for instance the court was in the process of establishing an independent committee to investigate the results of the Ivorian election before violence broke out in the country and the subsequent arrest of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.

According to Justice Anthony Benin, a justice of the ECOWAS court of justice, the court is open to all persons within the ECOWAS community.

President of the supreme court of Ghana, Dr. William Atuguba called on ECOWAS to be active and influential in its role to address the challenges of drugs, crimes against humanity and post-election violence within the sub region.

Excerpt from:
ECOWAS Court of Justice engages media