Tuesday, August 31, 2010

BBC News - Assessing America's 'imperial adventure' in Iraq

BBC News - Assessing America's 'imperial adventure' in Iraq: "By John Simpson
BBC World Affairs Editor, Baghdad

US troops have been packing up as their combat operation in Iraq officially ends
'This,' a leading American supporter of President George W Bush wrote in a British newspaper back in February 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, 'is our imperial moment'.

He went on to argue that the British had no right to criticise America for doing what they themselves had done so enthusiastically a century before.

But America's imperial moment did not last long. And now, seven years later, the US is criticised for just about everything that happens here.

Opinion is evenly divided between those who are glad to see the Americans go, and those who criticise them for leaving too soon and potentially laying Iraq open to fresh sectarian violence."

Monday, August 30, 2010

BBC News - First Australian Aboriginal in House of Representatives

BBC News - First Australian Aboriginal in House of Representatives:
"An Aboriginal man has won a seat in Australia's House of Representatives, becoming the first indigenous person to do so in the country's history.

Ken Wyatt, 57, took the seat of Hasluck in Western Australia for the centre-right Liberal Party."

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Rwanda threatens to withdraw peacekeepers - Africa, World - The Independent

Rwanda threatens to withdraw peacekeepers - Africa, World - The Independent:

"Rwanda threatened to withdraw its troops from United Nations peacekeeping operations if the world body publishes a report accusing the Rwandan army of committing possible genocide in Congo in the 1990s, Rwanda's foreign minister said in a letter sent to the UN."

Gender politics in Mexico City: Pink cabs rev up | The Economist

Gender politics in Mexico City: Pink cabs rev up | The Economist:

"Pink cabs rev up
A blow for feminism—or against it?
Aug 26th 2010 | MEXICO CITY"

A Global Graveyard for Dead Computers in Ghana - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

A Global Graveyard for Dead Computers in Ghana - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Friday, August 27, 2010

BBC News - DR Congo killings 'may be genocide' - UN draft report

BBC News - DR Congo killings 'may be genocide' - UN draft report:

"A draft UN report says crimes by the Rwandan army and allied rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo could be classified as genocide.

The report, seen by the BBC, details the investigation into the conflict in DR Congo from 1993 to 2003."

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Nathan Myhrvold: Could this laser zap malaria? | Video on TED.com

Nathan Myhrvold: Could this laser zap malaria? | Video on TED.com:

"Nathan Myhrvold and team's latest inventions -- as brilliant as they are bold -- remind us that the world needs wild creativity to tackle big problems like malaria. And just as that idea sinks in, he rolls out a live demo of a new, mosquito-zapping gizmo you have to see to believe."

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

BBC News - UN investigates claims of mass rape by DR Congo rebels

BBC News - UN investigates claims of mass rape by DR Congo rebels:

"The United Nations is investigating claims that rebel fighters raped more that 150 women and baby boys in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The attacks happened over four days within miles of a UN base, a US aid worker and a Congolese doctor said."

BBC News - Arabic to become compulsory in Israeli schools

BBC News - Arabic to become compulsory in Israeli schools: "The Israeli authorities are introducing a new scheme to make Arabic-language classes compulsory in state schools.

The programme, which will start in 170 schools in northern Israel, will make lessons mandatory for fifth graders."

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

BBC News - The secret life of Dr Marie Stopes

BBC News - The secret life of Dr Marie Stopes:

"Marie Stopes (1880-1958) shook the world. She wrote a best-selling sex-manual for women and was a controversial birth control pioneer.

When Stopes set up her first birth control clinic in 1923, all assumed that she had trained in medicine.

Yet, bizarrely, she was an expert on fossil plants and coal.

So how did this young palaeontologist come to transform Western society and become one of the most infamous women in history?"

BBC News - Pakistan floods: Painfully slow progress of aid effort

BBC News - Pakistan floods: Painfully slow progress of aid effort: "As the flooding that has made millions destitute across Pakistan moves down through the country, the BBC's Ben Brown travelled by hovercraft and helicopter to follow relief efforts in southern Sindh province."

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Why growth, not consumerism, is good - U.S. Economy - Salon.com

Why growth, not consumerism, is good - U.S. Economy - Salon.com:


"TUESDAY, AUG 17, 2010 16:30 ET
Why growth, not consumerism, is good
It's not about having more 'stuff.' It's about the U.S. providing everything its citizens need"

Saturday, August 7, 2010

BBC - Mark Mardell's America

BBC - Mark Mardell's America

Looking at immigration to the US from several viewpoints. 1 consensus- the status quo isn't helping anybody.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

BBC News - US judge overturns California same-sex marriage ban

BBC News - US judge overturns California same-sex marriage ban:

"4 August 2010 Last updated at 21:54 GMT
US judge overturns California same-sex marriage ban

The judge found 'California has no interest in discriminating' against gays and lesbians
A US federal judge has overturned California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage."

Proposition 8: Long road to the Supreme Court - CNN.com

Proposition 8: Long road to the Supreme Court - CNN.com





Proposition 8: Long road to 

the Supreme Court

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
August 4, 2010 -- Updated 2101 GMT (0501 HKT)


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Proposition 8 is California's voter-backed ban on same-sex marriage
  • Federal judge rules Prop 8 unconstitutional
  • The case will undoubtedly end up up going to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
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Thirty US billionaires pledge to give away half their fortunes to charity | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Thirty US billionaires pledge to give away half their fortunes to charity | Technology | guardian.co.uk

The next question is how can we efficiently and effectively spend this money.

Ceasefire Magazine – Modern Times: Osman Rasul – In Memory

Ceasefire Magazine – Modern Times: Osman Rasul – In Memory

By Corin Faife

Ten days ago a friend of mine took his own life. His name was Osman Rasul, and he was a warm, kind, respectful man.

I first met Osman almost exactly six months ago. Sitting in a noisy bar I watched him walk in, hooded against the January cold and hat pulled low over his eyes, carrying a small rucksack with his few possessions inside. He sat with us and smiled sheepishly as another friend explained his story: how he had arrived in Nottingham with nowhere to stay, no money and no contacts to call on. How he had slept rough in the depths of winter and woken frozen almost stiff. How he had eventually found his way to a refugee support organisation and been given a place to crash temporarily, and how he was in need of a more permanent place to stay.

Looking at him I saw a face that had lived through many, many hardships, but still shone with the smile of a good person. And so, there and then, my housemates and I welcomed him to our home.

Over the three months that he lived with me I heard more stories from him: of the murder of his father and brother by a militia in Iraq, and his fear for his own life; of his journey to the UK in the hold of a ship, and his impossible struggle to prove his origin and identity when he had arrived with nothing; of his arrest and imprisonment after a false accusation, and his bitter disbelief when he was acquitted, a year later, to be thrown back out on the street with no life to go back to.

Living with Osman I saw firsthand the spirit-crushing inhumanity of the British asylum system, and how unremittingly bleak life can be for those who are left in limbo. Prohibited from working, with no access to housing or financial support after his first claim was rejected and still awaiting further documents to make a fresh claim, he was left destitute, forced to rely on the charity of others to his continual chagrin. His life was governed by an interminable waiting: for meetings with solicitors, for correspondence from the Home Office, above all for an end to the paralysing uncertainty in which he had lived for the best part of a decade. Still, he fought a daily struggle to build a life on the most uncertain of foundations, taking any odd jobs he could find to pay his own way in our household, visiting friends, growing herbs in an allotment or exploring the city by bicycle.

About a month ago we received a letter explaining that Refugee and Migrant Justice, the outstanding refugee-specific legal firm who were handling Osman’s case, had gone into administration, bankrupted by the Government’s refusal to pay for work done in a timely fashion.The thought of starting again from square one of the process, finding a new solicitor, undergoing another round of interviews, statements and still more waiting, was almost unbearable. His mental health, which had shown signs of fragility, started to decline; desperately searching for some kind of resolution he made a trip to the capital, hoping to escape the labyrinth of soulless bureaucracy and to confront the Home Office directly, to be recognised, for once, as a human being by a system constructed without humanity.

There, at the climactic moment of his journey, he was met once again with wintry indifference. And at that point the light at the end of the tunnel, which had kept him going for so long, flickered out.

——————

There is a huge political battle which must be fought for the rights of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in Britain. Collectively they have become some of the most demonised minorities in our society, flimsy spectres that can be hauled into the public eye to provoke, and then absorb the vitriol of a populace growing ever more discontented with the status quo.

But for myself and those who knew Osman Rasul, today the bigger political picture is just the ugly backdrop to an intensely personal ritual: mourning the loss of a friend.

Further coverage of the story in the Guardian can be found here.
Support the campaign to raise money for the repatriation of Osman’s body atFriendsOfOsman.wordpress.com

Corin Faife is a writer and activist. His ‘Modern Times’ column appears in Ceasefire every other Tuesday.

 
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