http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/microcredit-schemes-creates-strong-independent-businesswomen-1708434.html
6.25.2009
6.15.2009
6.11.2009
6.10.2009
6.09.2009
6.06.2009
6.04.2009
Anti-Apartheid Movement : 50th Anniversary
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/antiapartheid-movement--50th-anniversary-1695769.html?action=Popup&ino=1
5.30.2009
Recycling Electronic Waste in Africa
This pilot project in South Africa seems to be having some success:
5.29.2009
5.13.2009
5.12.2009
United States Bombing Massacre in Afghanistan
Reports say that as many as 130 civilians were killed in this massacre.
Comprehensive Healthcare Reform? Not if the Republicans have anything to do with it!
These stupid idiot Republicans are totally blind to the fact that a healthy population (e.g. one served by a working healthcare system) leads to a better economy. There is a direct connection you bleeding idiots!
Urban Decay in Detroit
The beautiful old Michigan Central Station has been abandoned, and is in dire need of restoration.
Needle Exchange
Hello Obama...needle exchange programs are important in the fight against HIV/AIDS...stop reneging on your campaign promises!
5.09.2009
5.07.2009
5.02.2009
4.29.2009
War - Torture - Violence
A recent New York Times opinion piece "Torture Versus War" asks "What is it about the terrible intimacy of torture that so disturbs and captivates the public? Why has torture long been singled out for special condemnation in the law of war, when war brings death and suffering on a scale that dwarfs the torture chamber?" The author then proceeds to indulge in some hand-wringing over the effectiveness of torture in eliciting information, and to a lesser extent itslegality, with scarcely a mention of moral and ethicalconsiderations. And he appears, to me at least, to take as given that war is perfectly reasonable, in terms of efficacy, legality, morality and ethics, and to assume that his readers must accept this position.
These are exactly the kind of hypocritical moral contortions that make me see red!
Firstly, let me say it plainly: TORTURE IS WRONG. In defending the Bush administration's torture program, Republicans have likened the "high-value" detainees to mass murderers, who don't deserve to be treated humanely. The Republicans seem to have a gift for always missing the moral crux of every question. By deeming any other human being as "unworthy of humane treatment", one denies one's own humanity, and hence, I would think, one's own worthiness of humane treatment - a dangerous position to take. There are not now, nor can there ever be, extenuating circumstances, legal posturings or moral arguments that can change that. So, once again: TORTURE IS WRONG, ALWAYS!
But what really angers, shames, disgusts me is the bland assumption that everyone agrees that war is a perfectly acceptable political instrument. Wrong. I would venture to say that almost no "rational" human being accepts that view. What is almost universally accepted is that despite any misgivings or moral qualms that may exist, somehow nation-states possess an inalienable right to wage war. Poppycock! Where did this cockeyed notion come from, that somehow disembodied entities - states, corporations - have rights beyond those of individuals, that there is somehow a different set of ethical values that applies, apparently simply by dint of their supra-individual character?
The ten commandments of the old testament have become controversial in the U.S., but nevertheless I think we can all agree that the proscription of murder, theft, adultery and other anti-social behavior simply codifies an ethical stance that is almost universal, Further, it seems plain to me that ethics and morality are the foundation of all law. No one seems to have any objections to the notion that an individual has no ethical right to seek to achieve an end, no matter how just that end may be, through violent means, nor to the codification of that view into law. True, the law sets forth the notions of extenuating circumstances, justifiable homicide, self-defence, but these are all subsidiary to the essential moral truth. So I ask again: if an individual is subject to this ethic, and bound by the laws based upon it, how is it that nations and corporations are held to a lower standard? As I can imagine no argument from ethics to support this standard, I can only conclude that it exists purely through coercion. In the case of nations through the near-monopoly of violence enjoyed by the state. In the case of the corporation, the enormous economic coercive power it enjoys - though the rise of privatized arms of state violence is a deeply disturbing new development.
But if it is wrong, ethically, legally, for an individual to try to achieve his ends through violence, then surely it is, if anything, more wrong for the state or corporation, given their enormously greater destructive power? In which case it would appear logical to impose more stringent laws against state and corporate violence. To which the standard response is that the state monopoly of violence is required to control the violence of criminal citizens, and as a defense against the violence of other (always "less civilized") states. This position is based upon a false premise, whose falsity moreover is taken as given in the case of the individual: namely that violence is an acceptable tool, and that violence is the only available response to violence.
I would like to humbly suggest that this is complete and utter hogwash. While it will probably remain true for the foreseeable future that there exists no greater coercive power than the individual nation state to curb the "natural" tendency to violence of nation states - the UN has repeatedly proved itself to be utterly impotent - this does not mean that war is ever justifiable or necessary. One might think that the the failure of the "Great War to End Wars" to do any such thing would be proof enough of that.
So if on the one hand violence is unacceptable, and on the other there is no power great enough to curb the violence of nations, what is to be done?
Firstly we need to take seriously the ancient idea that in fact the the only legitimate response to violence is loving kindness.
Secondly, each of us, as an individual, has the moral duty to oppose state violence, and to oppose the production, distribution and use of the tools of that violence. Siddhārtha Gautama, Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and countless other unsung heroes have shown in word and deed what must be done. If we fail, the 21st century is already shaping up to make the 20th, the bloodiest in history, look like the garden of Eden.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one"
VIOLENCE IS WRONG, ALWAYS! TORTURE IS WRONG, ALWAYS! WAR IS WRONG, ALWAYS!
Andrew Maben
http://wow-thats-deep.blogspot.com/
4.28.2009
Organic Food...A Luxury...Think Again...
Organic Food is a Luxury?
In a recent op-ed piece in the New York Times by Maureen Dowd, one line in particular struck me as particularly illustrative of the looking-glass world-view of those who continue to uphold the "right" of the U.S. to despoil the world with impunity:
National Review stirred the pot against her: “The truth is, organic food is an expensive luxury item, something bought by those who have the resources.”
On the face of it, yes, if you are doing your grocery shopping in a typical american supermarket, just compare the price of "organic" tomatoes with ordinary tomatoes and you are sure to be hit with sticker shock.
Unsurprisingly this argument is dishonest on multiple levels.
For all of human history, except for comparatively few recent years, "organic food" was the only food available. Though then it was simply "food". For millions today, subsistence farmers and their local communities, cultivating meagre plots that have not yet been appropriated by the agribusiness corporations, planting seeds carefully stored from the previous harvest, those of them at least who have not been coerced in the name of "international aid" to purchase seeds from those same agribusiness corporations, nurturing their crops through the sweat of their brows, using natural fertilizers, unless coerced by the same forces into buying chemical fertilizers, these people do still eat "organic food", though they too just call it "food", and, monetarily at least, this food is cheap.
When comparing the "cost" of the manufactured foods (and make no mistake, even the raw vegetables are manufactured) versus the cost of organic foods, no account is taken of the unaffordable costs of manufactured foods. No account is taken of the incalculable environmental costs of manufactured food. No account is taken of the incalculable health costs resulting from the poor nutritional value of manufactured food. No account is taken of the moral cost to our society as a whole, and each of us as individuals of manufactured food.
If the cost of organic food is so prohibitively high, then I wonder how it is that I see so few luxury cars parked at my local farmers' markets? Are the rich attending in disguise?
No the high cost of supermarket organic food appears to me to result not from "natural market forces" (as if there were such a thing - but another time), but from the cynical market manipulations of corporations trying to co-opt another trend and turn it to their own profit.
I have seen suggested (apparently in all seriousness!), that the time it takes to prepare organic foods is a hidden cost. This argument from indolence carries no weight whatsoever. This unaffordable time comes at the expense of what? Beer slurping in front of the TV with a bag of chips? One of my school teachers used to tell us "I didn't have time means I couldn't be bothered to make time". Guess what, if you are too damn lazy to take time to cook yourself a nutritious dinner, that imposes an unacceptable cost on us all!
4.24.2009
4.23.2009
Slavery in the Fields of Florida
Consciousness + Commitment = Change: How and why we are organizing... We began organizing in 1993 as a small group of workers who met weekly in a room borrowed from a local church to discuss how to better our community and our lives. In a relatively short time we have managed to bring about significant, concrete change. Since then, our Anti-Slavery Campaign has earned national and international recognition, based on its innovative program of worker-led investigation and human rights education, and a track record of real success. Our latest victory The CIW is a co-founder of the national Freedom Network USA to Empower Enslaved and Trafficked Persons. We are also co-founders and Southeastern US Regional Coordinator for the Freedom Network Training Institute, conducting trainings for law enforcement and social service personnel in how to identify and assist slavery victims, as well as advocating for the full prosecution of all traffickers, including corporations and their sub-contractors. At the state level, we are members of the US Attorneys Anti-Trafficking Task Forces for Tampa and Miami, as well as Florida State University’s statewide Working In 2001, we turned a new page in our organizing, launching the first-ever farmworker boycott of a major fast-food company -- the national boycott of Taco Bell -- calling on the fast-food giant to take responsibility for human rights abuses in the fields where its produce is grown and picked. The fast-food industry as a whole -- including industry giants such as McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and Wendy's -- purchases a tremendous volume of fruits and vegetables, leveraging its buying power to demand the lowest possible prices from its suppliers. Through this unprecedented market power, the fast-food industry exerts a powerful downward pressure on wages and working conditions in its suppliers' operations.
Following the successful conclusion of the Taco Bell boycott, the national network of allies that had helped carry that campaign to victory consolidated to form the Alliance for Fair Food, signalling the fast-food industry that the Campaign for Fair Food would not stop at Taco Bell. Since its birth in March of 2006, the AFF has become a powerful new voice for the respect of human rights in this country's food industry and for an end to the relentless exploitation of Florida's farmworkers.
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The CIW is a community-based worker organization. Our members are largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida. 
Southwest Florida is the state's most important center for agricultural production, and Immokalee is the state's largest farmworker community. As such, the majority of our more than 2,500 members work for large agricultural corporations in the tomato and citrus harvests, traveling along the entire East Coast following the harvest in season. Many local residents, and thus many of our members, move out of agriculture and into other low wage industries that are important in our area, including the construction, nursery, and tourist industries. The community is split, roughly, along the following ethnic/national origin lines: Mexican 50%, Guatemalan 30%, Haitian 10% and other nationalities (mostly African-American) 10%.
dollars annually for the community in increased wages) and a new-found political and social respect from the outside world. 
against indentured servitude came in January of 2007, when a crewleader by the name of Ron Evans was sentenced to 30 years in prison. You can read more about the Evans case and the CIW's work against the most extreme forms of farm labor exploitation by clicking on the following link: 
Group against Human Trafficking through its Center for the Advancement of Human Rights.
The Taco Bell boycott gained broad student, religious, labor, and community support in the nearly four years since its inception, including the establishment of boycott committees in nearly all 50 states and a fast-growing movement to "Boot the Bell" from college and high school campuses across the country. Large scale national actions helped move the boycott forward. For example, in 2003 we organized a 10-day hunger strike outside of Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, CA -- one of the largest hunger strikes in US labor history, with over 75 farmworkers and students fasting during the 10-day period -- galvanizing the support of national religious, labor, and student organizations and thousands of individuals. During that strike we posed Taco Bell’s executives one question: “Can Taco Bell guarantee its customers that the tomatoes in its tacos were not picked by forced labor?” The company had no answer. In 2004 and 2005, we organized cross-country tours featuring marches and actions in Louisville, KY, and Irvine, CA, lifting the campaign to new heights.
In March 2005, amidst growing pressure from students, churches, and communities throughout the country, Taco Bell agreed to meet all of our demands to improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers in its supply chain. The boycott victory was celebrated by observers including former President Jimmy Carter, former guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello, and the 21 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The Hispanic Caucus said of the accord, "This is a truly historic agreement, marking perhaps the single greatest advance for farm workers since the early struggles of the United Farm Workers. To the the workers and organizers of CIW, we express our deepest gratitude for their determined work for their own dignity and their historic contribution to advancing the cause of labor rights."
And in April of 2007 -- following a two-year battle with the largest restaurant chain in the world, McDonald's -- the Campaign for Fair Food took an important new step forward. With an announcement at the Carter Center in Atlanta (President Jimmy Carter's center for conflict resolution), McDonald’s and the CIW reached a landmark accord that not only met the standards set in the Taco Bell agreement, but also committed the fast-food leader to collaborate with the CIW in developing an industry-wide third party mechanism for monitoring conditions in the fields and investigating abuses.
Over the past several years, through the Campaign for Fair Food and our anti-slavery work, Immokalee has evolved from being one of the poorest, most politically powerless communities in the country to become today a new and important public presence with forceful, committed leadership directly from the base of our community -- young, immigrant workers forging a future of livable wages and modern labor relations in Florida's fields. In recognition of their work, three CIW members were recently presented the prestigious 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the first time the award has gone to a US-based organization in its 20 years of existence. In recent years, the CIW and the Campaign for Fair Food have been recognized by several other institutions, including the World Hunger Year's 2006 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award, the Freedom Network's 2006 Wellstone Award, and the 2005 Business Ethics Network's BENNY Award.Abuse of Latino Workers in the Deep South
The Southern Poverty Law Center has just released a report, Under Siege, detailing the abuses that Latino workers, both documented and undocumented, experience in the Deep South. These abuses included consistently being cheated out of wages, as well as failure to abide by federal health and safety regulations.
4.22.2009
Climate Change Shrinks Some of the World's Largest Rivers
BOULDER, Colorado, April 21, 2009 (ENS) - Many of the greatest rivers in some of the world's most populous regions are losing water, according to a new study of stream flow in 925 large rivers. Led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the study indicates that the reduced flows are associated with climate change and could threaten future supplies of food and water.
Several of the rivers channeling less water serve large populations, such as the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa, and the Colorado River in the southwestern United States.
By contrast, the scientists reported greater stream flow over sparsely populated areas near the Arctic Ocean, where snow and ice are rapidly melting.
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The water level in the river Ganges is low at Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Farms have cropped up in the dry river bed. February 17, 2008.(Photo by Vivek Jishtu) |
"Reduced runoff is increasing the pressure on freshwater resources in much of the world, especially with more demand for water as population increases," says lead author Aiguo Dai a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. "Freshwater being a vital resource, the downward trends are a great concern."
The research team examined stream flow from 1948 to 2004 and found significant changes in about one-third of the world's largest rivers. Of those, rivers with decreased flow outnumbered those with increased flow by a ratio of about 2.5 to 1.
The rivers in the study drain water from every major landmass except Antarctica and Greenland and account for 73 percent of the world's total stream flow.
Dai and his co-authors combined stream flow measurements with computer-based stream flow models to fill in data gaps.
They found that over the 64 years studied annual freshwater discharge into the Pacific Ocean fell by about six percent, or 526 cubic kilometers - approximately the same volume of water that flows out of the Mississippi River each year.
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The Colorado River is the primary river of the American Southwest.(Photo credit unknown) |
The annual flow into the Indian Ocean dropped by about three percent, or 140 cubic kilometers.
But annual river discharge into the Arctic Ocean rose about 10 percent, or 460 cubic kilometers.
In the United States, the Columbia River's flow declined by about 14 percent during the study period, due to reduced precipitation and higher water usage in the West.
The Mississippi River, however, has increased by 22 percent over the same period because of greater precipitation across the Midwest since 1948, the scientists said.
Some rivers, such as the Brahmaputra in South Asia and the Yangtze in China, have shown stable or increasing flows. But they could lose volume in future decades with the gradual disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers feeding them, the authors warned.
"As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and water resources that society has come to rely on," says NCAR scientist Kevin Trenberth, a co-author of the study.
Many factors can affect river discharge, including dams and the diversion of water for agriculture and industry. These researchers found, however, that the reduced flows in many cases appear to be related to global climate change, which is altering precipitation patterns and increasing the rate of evaporation.
The results are consistent with previous research by Dai and others showing widespread drying and increased drought over many land areas.
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Fisherman on the Niger River near Timbuktu, Mali (Photo by JNDB) |
The study raises wider ecological and climate concerns.
Discharge from the world's great rivers results in deposits of dissolved nutrients and minerals into the oceans.
The freshwater flow also affects global ocean circulation patterns, which are driven by changes in salinity and temperature and which play a vital role in regulating the world's climate.
Although the recent changes in the freshwater discharge are relatively small and may only have impacts around major river mouths, Dai said the freshwater balance in the global oceans needs to be monitored for any long-term changes.
Scientists have been uncertain about the impacts of global warming on the world's major rivers. Studies with computer models show that many of the rivers outside the Arctic could lose water because of decreased precipitation in the mid-latitudes and lower latitudes and an increase in evaporation caused by higher temperatures. Earlier, less comprehensive analyses of major rivers had indicated, however, that global stream flow was increasing.
The findings will be published May 15 in the American Meteorological Society's "Journal of Climate."
Protecting Indigenous Land against Logging Companies in Suriname
South and Central America: Wanze Eduards and Hugo Jabini, Pikin Slee Village and Paramaribo, Suriname: To fight logging on their traditional lands, Eduards, a tribal leader, and Jabini, a law student, have organized their Saramaka communities, leading to a landmark ruling for indigenous and tribal peoples throughout the Americas to control resource exploitation in their territories.
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Head Captain Wanze Eduards and Hugo Jabini in San Francisco |
Located in the Amazon Basin, Suriname has opened up its tropical forests to extractive industries. It is the only country in the Americas that does not recognize indigenous or tribal peoples' rights to own and control their traditional territories.
The tribal peoples are Maroons, the descendants of African slaves who won their freedom and established autonomous communities in the rainforest in the late 17th to mid-19th centuries. The Saramaka are a group of Maroons who live in 9,000 square kilometers of rainforest. In 1963, they lost almost half their traditional territory to a hydroelectric dam built to power an Alcoa bauxite factory. Many Saramaka were displaced and remain in resettlement camps. Others established new villages on the Upper Suriname River.
In the late 1990s, the Surinamese government allowed logging companies to set up speculation projects and camps in the region, against Saramaka wishes.
The Saramaka were told they would be imprisoned if they tried to stop the loggers. Eduards and Jabini organized meetings, first with the affected communities and later with all Saramaka communities.
The communities established the Association of Saramaka Authorities to better defend their lands and promote their rights. ASA filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, IACHR, in October 2000.
When the Suriname government failed to completely suspend the logging projects and comply with the other recommendations of the IACHR, the commission took the claim to the Inter-American Court, a legally binding body of which Suriname is a member.
The judgment of the Court in Saramaka People v. Suriname provides the basis for the legal recognition and protection of Saramaka territory with respect to land rights and prior informed consent, and also creates a legal framework for the rights of all indigenous and tribal peoples in Suriname.
In January 2008, the Suriname government declared that it would fully implement the judgment of the Inter-American Court.
In the ruling, which applies across the hemisphere, the Court held that resource exploitation concessions may only be granted in indigenous or tribal territories subject to four conditions: indigenous and tribal peoples' effective participation must be secure; there must be reasonable benefit-sharing; there must be a prior environmental and social impact assessment; and states have a duty to implement adequate safeguards and mechanisms in order to ensure that these activities do not significantly affect the traditional lands and natural resources of indigenous and tribal peoples.
The Chinese in Africa...Bad for the Environment
Africa: Marc Ona Essangui, Libreville, Gabon: In Gabon, a West African country without a culture of civic engagement, Marc Ona, who uses a wheelchair for mobility, is leading efforts to expose the unlawful agreements behind a Chinese mining project that threatens the ecosystems of Gabon's equatorial rainforests.
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Marc Ona Essangui |
Ona is president and founder of the environmental NGO Brainforest and president of Environment Gabon. He faces arrest, imprisonment and public character assaults for his campaign to protect Ivindo National Park with its forest elephants, western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, forest buffalo and Kongou and Mingouli Falls, the most admired waterfalls in Africa's forests.
The proposed Belinga development, a $3.5 billion project that includes a mine, a dam, railroads and a port, has been negotiated in secret. Affected communities were not consulted and are unaware of the potential impacts that the dam and mining concession would have on their environment.
In July 2007, the Chinese company CMEC, in violation of Gabon's Environment Code, began constructing a road through Ivindo National Park to the waterfalls without any environmental impact assessment. The project could lead to the declassification of the national parks system and leave vulnerable ecosystems exposed to logging and other destructive industries.
In 2007, Ona located a leaked copy of the Belinga mine agreement between the government and CMEC which stated that Gabon would receive only 10 percent of the mining profits while CMEC would receive a 25-year tax break.
Due to Ona's efforts, the government is re-evaluating the Belinga concession. The area to be affected by the dam project has been reduced from 5,700 to 600 square kilometers. The road through Ivindo Park was rerouted through less of the protected area, and President Omar Bongo agreed to place two representatives of local NGOs from Environment Gabon on a project monitoring committee.
4.21.2009
Child Soldiers in Uganda
Here's a link to a site where you can download the film Invisible Children:
"Patronization is Just Another Word for Oppression"
"Ah, the "problem" of Africa - and, for that matter, of African-Americans, Latin America, South Asia, Oceania... "Patronization" hardly begins to cover it. What utter blind arrogance to speak as if these people, these human beings, as if "they" are "our" problem. What bullshit. "We" are "their" problem - 500+ years of rape, murder, slavery, exploitation, plunder. And now "they" are a problem, because "they" won't/can't adopt or adapt to the new improved model of exploitation?"
Andrew Maben
Stop Mountaintop Removal
http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/
Everything in Its Path: Mountaintop Removal
Imagine a quarter-mile strip of land stretching from Washington, DC until San Francisco: An estimated 800-1000 square miles of mountains and valleys have been eliminated from the American landscape since the launch of mountaintop removal strip mining operations in central Appalachia in 1970. Using explosives and heavy machinery, over 500 mountains in the oldest and one of the most diverse ranges on earth, have been clear cut, blown to bits and then toppled into valleys and streams with their waste since President Jimmy Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977, which shamefully recognized mountaintop removal as an approved mining technique.
Mountaintop removal has not only destroyed the natural heritage; it has ripped out the roots of the Appalachian culture and depopulated the historic mountain communities in the process.
It continues today as one of the most egregious human rights and environmental violations in the nation.
4.20.2009
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4.19.2009
Ending Violence Against Women in Eastern Congo: Preparing Men to Advocate for Women's Rights
Ending Violence Against Women in Eastern Congo: Preparing Men to Advocate for Women's Rights
Over the past decade, a complex web of local, regional, and national conflict has devastated much of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ethnic strife and civil war broke out in 1996, sparked by a large inflow of refugees from the neighboring Rwandan genocide in 1994. Rebel groups from neighboring countries entered the conflict in 1998. The war, involving seven African nations and many groups of armed combatants, is the deadliest in documented African history. Mortality surveys estimate that nearly four million people have died as a result of the conflict, which has been marked by gross human rights violations, often directly targeting women by using rape and other forms of sexual violence as weapons of war. A fragile transitional government of national unity has been in operation since June 2003. General elections, the first since independence from Belgium in 1960, are scheduled for July 30, 2006.
In response to horrific reports of rampant sexual violence from the international NGO community and Congolese women themselves, Women for Women International launched its multi-tiered program of direct aid and emotional support, rights awareness and leadership education, vocational skills training and income-generation support in the DRC in May 2004 to provide services to the socially excluded Congolese women who endured, witnessed and survived these atrocities.
Echoing the reports from humanitarian and human rights organizations, many of the program participants told stories of the horrors they had endured during the conflict, including gang rape, mutilation and sexual slavery. The women also reported that because of the social stigma attached to rape in Congolese culture, they were rejected by their husbands and other members of their communities, in some cases being deserted or literally turned out of their own homes. Still others talked about the daily battles of private violence behind closed doors. As these women began to find seeds of hope through Women for Women International’s program, they called upon the organization to help them educate the men in their communities.
The Greatest Silence
http://thegreatestsilence.org/
Since 1998 a brutal war has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 4 million people have died. And there are the uncountable casualties: the many tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army.
The world knows nothing of these women. Their stories have never been told. They suffer and die in silence. In The Greatest Silence these brave women finally speak.
Raise Hope for Congo
http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/
To protect and empower Congolese women and girls, the RAISE Hope for Congo campaign works to:
- Raise awareness about the crisis, the resulting widespread sexual violence against women and girls, and the solutions that are necessary to end the conflict.
- Increase news coverage of the conflict in eastern Congo.
- Build a movement of activists who can advocate effectively for change.
- Influence and change policy on the Congo through promotion of the 4Ps – Peace, Protection, Punishment, and Prevention – the four ingredients necessary to END the mass violence against women in Congo.
Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of this crisis. Indeed, eastern Congo right now is the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or a girl. Used as a weapon of war, sexual violence and rape exist on a scale seen nowhere else in the world. Often successful in its intent to destroy and exterminate, rape is causing the destruction of women, their families, and their communities. Congo’s women are the backbone of Congolese society and are the country’s best, brightest hope. Yet efforts to protect women and girls in the Congo are failing spectacularly.
The Global Progressive Forum
http://www.globalprogressiveforum.org/
The Global Progressive Forum (GPF) is a common initiative of the Party of European Socialists along with its political group in the European Parliament, and the Socialists International. The GPF sprang up from the success of the first World Social Forum held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, in Brazil. The Global Progressive Forum aims to bring together a diversity of peoples from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, India, and Latin America to discuss and propose alternatives to the negative aspects of the current Globalization process which specifically affects Under Developed countries, Third world countries and developing countries.
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