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Politics, activism and timely social issues
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Building Libraries Around the World
"We do three things: We build schools. We establish multilingual libraries and fill them with thousands of books. And we provide long term scholarships for girls because girls are often left out of the education system. Basically, we're a group that is committed to reaching 10 million kids across the world with the life-long gift of education. In education lies the key to self sufficiency--and the best long term ticket out of poverty."-John Wood, Founder & CEO, Room to Read-  Read Good Magazine's interview with Wood, who left Microsoft to found Room to Read, a non-profit committed to providing children around the world with access to books and educational resources.
posted by Alexandra at 7/01/2008 09:39:00 AM
The Right to Blog
"Many of the bloggers who gathered on 27-28 June 2008 in Budapest, Hungary for a Citizen Media Summit organised by Global Voices Online had at first glance an unlikely appearance. These representatives of a growing worldwide network of citizen journalists and digital activists looked rather studious, a touch morose, even - to many bloggers themselves a key marker of social distinction - uncool.Moreover, these idealistic people did not talk much about gadgets, fashion, or campaign-financing; nor rush to praise or scorn Barack Obama or John McCain; nor fret over the latest celebrity-hunt or political trick in the style of Gawker or the Huffington Post. Instead, they got into heated discussions (often in heavily accented English) over a different set of topics: internet filtering, human-rights violations, and the future of freedom of expression."Read the rest of "The Right to Blog: Freedom's Next Frontier" by Evgeny Morozov, a technology and new-media expert and independent consultant.
posted by Alexandra at 6/30/2008 12:38:00 PM
Perspectives on World Refugee Day
"Over the past five years, the US has resettled just 5,000 Iraqis. Compare that to Sweden, a country of only nine million people, which resettled 18,000 Iraqis last year alone. And among the most desperate seeking asylum are those Iraqis who have been forced from their homes because they helped the US government in Iraq, serving as interpreters and civil society experts for the military, State Department and federal agencies such as USAID."-DemocracyNOW!- Read Amy Goodman's interview with Kirk Johnson, former USAID worker in Iraq and founder of the List Project, Haydar Saeed Assad, a translator with the US Army in Najaf, Iraq for four years, and Maura Stephens, journalist, educator and peace activist who co-authored the book Collateral Damage.
posted by Alexandra at 6/25/2008 10:28:00 AM
Reporting from Zimbabwe
"The announcement by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he will not contest the second round of the presidential election scheduled for 27 June 2008 comes amid increasing violence in urban areas of Zimbabwe - and signals of concern among Robert Mugabe's erstwhile African allies at events in the country."Jabu Shoko reports from Harare on the latest political developments in Zimbabwe. Read more here. Check out the African Commission on Human and People's Rights for more information.
posted by Alexandra at 6/24/2008 04:49:00 PM
American Radical
"I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."-George Carlin- Read "George Carlin: American Radical" here. A quote from Carlin: "Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here...like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.'"
posted by Alexandra at 6/23/2008 01:31:00 PM
The Weapon of Rape
"World leaders fight terrorism all the time, with summit meetings and sound bites and security initiatives. But they have studiously ignored one of the most common and brutal varieties of terrorism in the world today."-Nicholas Kristof, Common Dreams- Read the rest of Kristof's article "The Weapon of Rape," which explores how rape has been used as a weapon in Serbia, Darfur, and the Congo and the international community's lack of response thus far. An excerpt:
"The rape capital of the world is eastern Congo, where in some areas three-quarters of women have been raped. Sometimes the rapes are conducted with pointed sticks that leave the victims incontinent from internal injuries. A former UN force commander there, Patrick Cammaert, says it is 'more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier.'
The international community's response so far? Approximately: 'Not our problem.'
Yet such rapes also complicate post-conflict recovery, with sexual violence lingering even after peace has been restored. In Liberia, the civil war is over but rape is still epidemic.
Painfully slowly, the United Nations and its member states seem to be recognizing the fact that systematic mass rape is at least as much an international outrage as, say, pirated DVDs. Yet China and Russia are resisting any new reporting mechanism for sexual violence, seeing such rapes as tragic but simply a criminal matter."
posted by Alexandra at 6/19/2008 10:59:00 AM
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