January 11

Haiti one year after the quake is still destitute, lacking infrastructure and basic items necessary for subsistence. At least a million people still live in tent cities, and violence such as looting and rape continue. Meanwhile cholera is still ravaging the country. Desperate people are bound to commit desperate acts.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/01/reporters-notebook-memories-from-haiti.html#

January 10.5

They walked out of their dark cozy home.
The old man held the hand of the tiny girl with wide, bright eyes.
The first beams of light started to peek from beyond the warm grassy hill, lighting their path, the sun stretching itself towards them as if also newly awakened.
They lift their faces to the sky, and raising their arms, greet the day.
The nearby plant life trembles in an unseen wind, as if returning the greeting.
The girl lets out a laugh, sounding like bubbling water flowing over a creek bed.
The sun now bursts forth, revealing itself entirely.
The land is washed in light.
The old man and little girl share a knowing smile.
The old man kneels down.
Eye level, he smiles again and warmly says to her, "close your eyes. What do you see?"
Again she lifts her face to the sun, eyes closed, she tilts her head to the side as if listening.
"I see them all here."
She opens her eyes and excitedly looks back at the old man.
He looks at her kindly and says, "And what would you like to do?"
"Let's go find them!" She replies eagerly, pulling the old man forward.
He laughs and together, hand in hand, they move forward.

January 10th

Rape as a weapon of war destroys communities through the demoralization and immobilization of its (for the most part) women. According to the report below, 15,000 women are raped a year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). I believe it is one of the most cruel devices of war, which keeps civilians trapped in a state of fear. They are thus controllable and less likely to oppose their attackers. The war in the DRC is continuous in large part because it is funded through the sale of electronics which contain items found in the mineral rich country. These minerals are fought over by gorilla groups, government militia,warlords, as well as armed forces hired by Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, who siphon the minerals through their countries and on to Australia, where they are mix and become untraceable from other minerals.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gunmen-carry-out-new-year-gang-rape-in-congo-msf

Want to know what your favorite electronic companies are doing to combat the use of conflict minerals in their products (computers, ipods, dvd players, cell phones, ect.)?
Read the below company ratings:
http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/getting-conflict-free?elq=9fa1e70026d847cb87d7e1d4cec6fc99

Make sure that the regulation of conflict minerals is strong, sign the petition to aid in ending violence in the Congo!
http://www2.americanprogress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=113

January 8

Never Again. This is what world leaders continue to say about genocide. They said it about the Holocaust, they said it about Rwanda, they said it about Bosnia. Darfur is on-going, forgotten. Before the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement, the Janjaweed (a government backed armed group) killed as many non-Arab Sudanese as possible. They then signed the peace deal to pacify the international community. The eradication of non-Arab Sudanese has been called "the final solution". The same term used by Hitler for the eradication of the Jews. The conflict began in 2003.

I understand what people mean when they talk about the North interfering in Africa as colonial and why they would say such a solution lacks sustainability. I understand that the West has in the past destroyed culture and altered facts, in order to achieve its own ends.

If it were my family being killed and raped, I wouldn't care who intervened, or why.

Indifference is not an option. Apathy inhuman. Ignorance self-destructive.
I am sick of a lack of action being coated in the guise of enlightenment, as committees of the educated and privileged discuss; the screams of the dying are muffled by the shuffling of paper. We must stop destroying ourselves.

http://www.sudanreeves.org/

January 7

Reminiscent of Rwanda and Darfur...
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/gbagbo-tied-forces-back-icoast-ethnic-killings-un/

It's terrifying that such actions are still permitted in a world which has experienced atrocities such as the Holocaust, the genocides in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and the ongoing killings in Darfur, not to mention the over 500 million who have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over resources and ethic conflict, the greatest number killed in war since World War 2. At least UN troops are insisting on staying in the Cote d'Ivoire, despite Laurent Gbagbo, the man who has declared himself president after elections did not go in his favour, insisting they leave. Let us hope that this is not history repeating itself as UN troops stayed in Rwanda until ten Belgium peace keepers were killed, leaving the country, and the Tutsi people to their fate. The most concerning part, to me, is the sanctioning of ethic killings by would-be-government forces. With the UN unwilling to intervene in the sovereignty of another state, except in an instance of genocide, and with the UN being unwilling to label any war as 'genocide', what is to be done?
The only answer I know of is public awareness, which increases media attention, which in turn puts pressure on international governments, which hopefully pressures the offending government(Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire) to reform. The only problem in this case is that the offending government is illegitimate. Perhaps Gbagbo's need for power will be satisfied by the international attention...

Post-Stephen Lewis Thoughts...

A new free-trade deal between the EU and India may block access to generic antiretroviral drugs (ARV), the drugs needed to control HIV. Currently a years supply of generic ARV's cost $137 per person, per year. The spread of HIV is somewhat on the decline in Africa, and UNICEF has released a report stating that an HIV-free generation is possible if mother-to-child prevention drugs (which prevent the disease from being transmitted from a mother to her unborn child...obviously) are made accessible. So why are 1,000 babies a day in Africa still being born with HIV? With 22.5 million people in Africa living with HIV, this is an achievable goal. That's less then the populations then Canada, and we all get free healthcare, which is a hell of alot more social spending then $137 a year. But how to go about advocating for it? Canada has committed 1.7 billion towards maternal healthcare...to provide each person with ARV drugs for a year it would cost about 3014000000, which is 3 billion if I'm counting the zero's correctly, and using a calculator correctly. Only twice as much as Canada committed. And all together the G8 committed 7 million. So where is this money going.
Thoughts? Ideas?

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/kenyans-rally-against-eu-india-deal-on-aids-drugs
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/hiv-free-generation-achievable-unicef/

December 2nd

“After all, the preferred definition of ‘lead’ is to ‘show the way to’; only the secondary definition is to ‘cause to follow’. Likewise, the preferred definition of leadership is ‘the position or guidance of a leader.’ Only the secondary definition is ‘the ability to lead’. One can be a leader, at least in moral terms, without exerting controlling or decisive influence.”
(Forsythe, David. “Human Rights, The United States and the Organization of American
States.” Human Rights Quarterly)

It takes alot of pressure off to know that, by definition, to be a moral leader you should not be strong arming world leaders into being moral. That's sinking to their level.