The simple glyph we know as "the Peace Symbol" has become so universally used and recognized that it may come as a surprise to learn that it was actually created specifically as an emblem for nuclear disarmament exactly 50 years ago this year.

That half-century history, including the debut of the peace symbol at a historic march against nuclear disarmament in England in 1958 (pictured below) is the subject of the recentbook, Peace, the biography of a symbol, co-written by Forestville author and activist Ken Kolsbrun. He talks about the book in this North Bay Report:

Ken Kolsbrun has collected more stories about the peace symbol here .

 There's a high cost involved in the commercialization of drinking water, especially in under-developed countries. 

                                                                                                                                                            Irena Salina is the director of FLOW (For Love Of Water), which was produced by Steven Starr. 

Six years in the making, FLOW  debuted at the prestigious Sundance Festival almost a year ago, but Starr notes that it was still timely then and remains so now.
 

Watch the trailer for FLOW here:

You can also add your name to the petition to add access to fresh water as Article 31 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Companies that sell bottled water in this country are now looking to make expanded use of agricultural water rights, Starr says, an approach that may require redefining the scale of those rights.

Building on the information contained in the film, Starr has begun a web-based networking site called FreeFlo to enable water rights activists to share ideas and information collaboratively. 

freeflo.org

Mission Statement

FreeFlo is a communication network designed to strengthen the global water activist community, to challenge the privatization of water, to promote solidarity and water justice for all. FreeFlo illuminates issues impacting water ecosystems and individual access to water, and supports local, community-controlled solutions for sustainable water use. Find out more about FreeFlo here.

Not one but two Project Censored stories this past year came from the work of Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine.

 Matthew Rothschild (below) the Editor of The Progressive magazine spoke last night at Sonoma State University, as part of Project Censored's Modern Media Censorship lecture series. Rothschild had two of his own stories selected by Project Censored for their Top 25 of th4e past year, including one about a shadowy partnership between the FBI and American businesses called InfraGard. You can read it here.

President Elect Barak Obama is on the cover of the current edition of The Progressive, but editor Matt Rothschild is openly skeptical about the cabinet picks and other early moves by the new chief executive.

Newspapers across the country are struggling to reinvent themselves and survive in the Internet age, but Rothschild suggests that the situation for niche magazines such as The Progressive is not so dire.

Much of Rothschild's other recent reporting has addressed the erosion of civil rights in this country over the past eight years, stories he has compiled in his most recent book, You Have No Rights:  Stories of America in an Age of Repression.