Category: Uncategorized

In the afternoon of Aug. 14, the Saudi police raided the safehouse of the migrant NGO Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan and arrested and detained 18 Filipinos, including several runaway OFWs. Their crime? They violated a Saudi law that forbids unrelated men and women from living together.

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO, Migrant Watch, Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan is a nongovernment organization based in Saudi Arabia that helps overseas Filipino workers. It provides assistance, counseling and, in several instances, opens its safehouse to distressed OFWs – mostly victims of maltreatment and abuse by their employers — who have no one else to turn to.

In the afternoon of Aug. 14, the Saudi police raided the group’s safehouse while KGS leaders were holding their weekly dialogues and counseling to OFWs. Their crime? They violated a Saudi law that forbids unrelated men and women from living together.

At the time of the raid, distressed OFWs had sought refuge at the KGS safehouse. Out of the 18 leaders and members of KGS and OFWs who were arrested and detained, only six were released. The others remain in prison as of press time and are afraid that they would soon be deported to the Philippines.

“When has it become a crime to advise others who are in need?” the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, a nongovernment group, asked in a statement after the raid.

Bulatlat for more

Malalai Joya was one of the first women to be elected to Afghanistan’s parliament. Having denounced her warlord fellow MPs, she was subsequently banned. In the run-up to the 20 August elections, Joya speaks openly to journalist Lucinda Dunn about the Government, the Taliban, the war and the plight of her country’s women.

Photo by: Vahid Sadeghi Shirazi

Lucinda Dunn: You are wearing a badge saying: ‘Troops out of Afghanistan’…

Malalai Joya: This Government, the US and its allies are not being honest with the Afghan people. These troops are the victims of the policies of their Government, and to you democratic people I pay my condolences, on behalf of my people, to those families who have lost their sons.

They say Iraq is a bad war and Afghanistan is a good war. I say war is war. And if we support criminals, the situation will be worse
Seven years ago, the US and its allies occupied Afghanistan in the name of human rights and women’s rights, while at the same time they betrayed these values. They brought into power the Northern Alliance, who made civil war from 1992-6, and have turned the Taliban from mice into wolves.

We are now fighting against two enemies: those internal – the Taliban, many of whom are now in power – and those external, the occupying forces.

Malalai shows images of civilian injuries inflicted by a white phosphorous bomb, apparently dropped in Farah province in May (after Obama took office) by the allies. There were 150 civilian casualties, most of them women and children.

Newint for more

The strike against Vale-Inco in Sudbury heats up as company threatens to use non-union labor.

The nickel miner strike in Sudbury, Canada is about to enter its seventh week, and there is no sign that the company, Vale, is willing to compromise on its demands for concessions. This despite the fact that the demand for nickel has surged causing the price to rise and Vale to default on at least one contract. Worker’s argue that the mine is hugely profitable, sighting $4B in profit made in Sudbury alone over the past two years, but as Industry Analyst Marin Kotusa explains, being profitable is just not enough. “You have to be number one in all sectors,” he says, referring to the requirements for victory in the global mining game, in which the winners are the ones who integrate all facets of the supply chain, not just mining, into their business. This requires extracting as much profit as possible in order to finance the necessary expansion into other sectors, lest be gobbled up by one’s competitors. The union however, believes that the federal government of Canada ought to protect its people against such threats, and that work can be done to unify unions around the world to even the playing field.

The Real News for more

Although the dairy industry wants a free pass for carbon emissions, some scientists are looking for ways to help it cope with a warming climate.

By Brendan Borrell

In July 2006, a monthlong triple-digit heat wave scorched California, killing more than 25,000 cattle and reducing dairy production in the region. Land O’Lakes Creameries, which normally produces six million liters of milk daily, was short 1.5 million liters per day. All told, experts estimate that the high temperatures caused $1 billion worth of dairy shortfalls.

Extreme weather events and higher average temperatures are predicted to increase with global warming, and that’s bad news for livestock producers in the U.S. and abroad. Warming will reduce grass, brush and other forage available in many areas, and it will also directly influence cows’ physiology. Dairy production is optimal at cooler temperatures between 20 to 22 degrees Celsius, explains Terry Mader of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. “For every degree above that,” he says, “we’ll have a decline of approximately 2 percent productivity.”

Mader is one of many scientists studying the potential impacts of climate change on livestock, and how producers can mitigate them. He says that although climate models are not conclusive about whether the U.S. Midwest’s average temperature will go up 2 degrees C or 5 degrees C over the next century, the physics of cows is pretty straightforward. “You have heat generated from metabolism and digestion, and then they have to cope with the environmental component,” he explains, “How do they offset increased heat? They eat less.” The decline in feeding results in a decline in output, whether that’s meat, milk or fur. They also tend to have lower rates of conception during warmer months. “That’s just physiology,” Mader says.

Scientific American for more

By Thalif Deen

STOCKHOLM, Aug 19 (IPS) – Dr. Bindeshwar Patak, the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate and founder of a grassroots sanitation movement in India, recounts the days before his country’s independence in 1947 when toilets were a rare sight in remote villages and towns under British rule.

An English woman, who was planning a trip to colonial India, wrote a letter to the owner of a small guest house who was also doubling as the town’s schoolmaster. She was concerned as to whether the guest house contained a WC.

The school master, not fluent in the nuances of English acronyms, asked the local priest if he knew the meaning of WC.

Together they pondered possible meanings of the letters and concluded that the lady wanted to know if there was a Wayside Chapel near the guest house. That the letters WC (water closet) could mean a bathroom, never entered their minds, said Dr. Pathak.

So the schoolmaster wrote back: ‘Dear Madam, I take great pleasure in informing you that the WC is located nine miles from the house. It is located in the middle of a grove of pine trees, surrounded by lovely grounds.’

‘As there are many people expected in the summer months, I suggest you arrive early. There is, however, plenty of standing room. This is an unfortunate situation especially if you are in the habit of going regularly.’

‘I would recommend that your ladyship plan to go on a Thursday, as there is an organ accompaniment. The acoustics are excellent and even the most delicate sounds can be heard everywhere. The newest addition is a bell which rings every time a person enters.’

IPS for more

By Sheema Kalbasi

“The poet, writes in four languages and wrote her first poem at the age of eight. Her works have been translated and published in various anthologies, literary journals, and online magazines. Her poems “For Women of Afghanistan” and “Mama in the War” have attracted critical attention. She has traveled frequently, having resided in a variety of countries since a very young age. Today she lives in the United States of America.”

For Women of Afghanistan

As I walk in the streets of Kabul,
behind the painted windows,
there are broken hearts, broken women.
If they don’t have any male family to accompany them,
they die of hunger while begging for bread,
the once teachers, doctors, professors
are today nothing but walking hungry houses.
Not even tasting the moon,
they carry their bodies around, in the covered coffin veils.
They are the stones in the back of the line …
their voices not allowed to come out of their dried mouths.
Butterflies flying by, have no color in Afghani women’s eyes
for they can’t see nothing but blood shaded streets
from behind the colored windows,
and can’t smell no bakery’s bread
for their sons bodies exposing, cover any other smell,
and their ears can’t hear nothing
for they hear only their hungry bellies
crying their owners unheard voices
with each sound of shooting and terror.
Remedy for the bitter silenced Amnesty,
the bloodshed of Afghani woman’s life
on the-no-limitation-of-sentences-demanding help
as the voices break away not coming out but pressing hard
in the tragic endings of their lives.

“Woman, are you the brown March Violets?”
“I saw an angel in the Miramar
I carved and carved
until I freed her out”.
-Michele Angelo

My utopia brushed
an unusual current
turned into
autobiographical circulation of
devilish misplaced luck

as a woman today
I have
never had much fruit
much happiness

My parents’ ambition
not to see me sealing my body
to the sad painted windows

Men with unknown identity
without faces
decide for my very existence

My voice
a recorded statement
I am a hopping sparrow
………. Maybe tomorrow
behind the veil
the flesh
dies away
all the pain
the sorrow
of being a woman
in Afghanistan
in the year zero, zero, zero

I tried
I tried
to pour burning oil on the crying cells
on my body
Inside
only inside
the burning oil
were the poisoned houses of wishes!

A mushroom in the city-world-of universe
From trying to pass the dying
the head first and then dripping bread
comes

Shifting
from one age to another
Lively playing with death

I die-to-die and live to live
If I could only live
a noble life.

Rawa for more

Women dressing in red are using the colour of liberation
By MALLIKA ARYAL

MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA

On Sunday, Hindu women in Nepal will be decked up in different hues of red as they make their way to temples to worship Shiva and Parbati, the divine couple who epitomise the ultimate conjugal bliss.

Tij starts with dar khane din, the day of feast, as women get together and eat into the night to prepare for the next day of fasting. Tij is when the women replicate the fast observed by Parbati in order to ‘obtain’ Shiva as consort, and later that night the fast is broken with puja and fruits.

Tij is the day Nepalis celebrate womanhood. Single, married and even widowed women, break out in songs about relationships, their daily lives, pining for their husbands who have gone abroad, loneliness, inequality, discrimination, abuse, bigotry and war. It is Nepal’s own version of International Women’s Day.

As the structure of our society changes, so does the way we celebrate our festivals. Till a few years ago, it was only Bahun and Chettri women who observed fasts, today women from different ethnicities have embraced this custom as their own as well. And there are even some husbands who mark Tij with a ‘solidarity fast’.

“I will fast for my husband’s long life if he fasts for me, why is it that only women have to give pain to their bodies?” asks an educated married Bahun woman from Kathmandu. She says she is not a feminist, “but unlike our rural sisters I see this as a practice started by men so that they can feel good about themselves.”

Nepali Times for more

By Dr Shahid Siddiqui, shahidksiddiqui@yahoo.com
The writer is director of Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore School of Economics and author of Rethinking Education in Pakistan.

No doubt Hunza, known for its fruit orchards, lofty mountains, panoramic meadows and breathtaking beauty, is a major tourist attraction, but it is equally interesting to explore the educational initiatives that have empowered the local community there and set an example for other areas.

Those who are familiar with the difficult terrain and relatively scarce resources in Hunza would be pleasantly surprised to know that the literacy rate in Hunza is around 77 per cent. This must have been unthinkable when the first primary school was established there in 1913 by the British in India. The single-most important factor that transformed the educational scene in Hunza was the contribution of Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, who convinced the then Mirs of Hunza state to place greater emphasis on education.

It was in 1946 that some 16 schools were established. They were called the Diamond Jubilee schools and they set the right momentum for bringing changes to education in Hunza.

The second important initiative came when the Pakistan government started opening public schools in the Northern Areas, including Hunza. The demand for education grew but the number of schools did not meet educational requirements. With people finding that schooling was accessible two more problems were becoming visible: the quality of education and education for girls.

The third important initiative in Hunza was the establishment of a quality school for girls whose sole criterion of admission was merit.

The Academy, with hostel facilities, was founded in 1983 when Karim Aga Khan laid the foundation of the academy. He said he hoped that the Academy would, ‘provide a genuine foundation for self-generating progress in the future’. The establishment of the Academy was a strong motivation for the opening of private schools focusing on the quality of education.

The fourth initiative to have an impact on educational life in Hunza was the establishment of community schools. These schools were a welcome addition as they gave the local community a sense of participation and ownership. In 1991 a model community school, Al-Amyn Model School, was established in Gulmit, a beautiful village of Hunza. This school helped re-establish the broken linkage between school and home. Here parents and grandparents are invited to share their wisdom with the younger generation. Parents come to know that their knowledge is not obsolete and that the younger generation can benefit from it. The success of Al-Amyn heralded the establishment of a number of community schools over the years.

The fifth initiative was the establishment of the Karakoram University in Gilgit. A number of students of Hunza are benefiting. The university may also create jobs for the local population.

The sixth factor contributing to the quality of education is the role of the different Aga Khan organisations that have played an effective role in the improvement of education by establishing schools and empowering them through capacity-building measures, and by facilitating students through scholarship. One initiative was the establishment of the Professional Development Centre in Gilgit. The centre helped train a number of teachers from Hunza by offering short- and long-term courses.

The seventh factor is the rising awareness among the local people who have come to view education as the passport to enhanced opportunities in life. There seems to be urgency in terms of acquiring education. Parents in Hunza are convinced that the best thing they can do for their children is to help them get a good education. There is a growing interest in higher education for girls. Parents are willing to send their daughters to distant cities e.g. Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar etc. for quality education. It is an approach that distinguishes Hunza from the rest of the Northern Areas.

Lastly, there is a cordial relationship among the different stakeholders. There seems to be a good working relationship between the directorate of education, the Aga Khan organisations, the local community and foreign funding agencies. It is this collaborative approach that makes things happen.

Hunza’s educational story has many lessons for other areas of Pakistan where talent is not properly exploited. It shows us that difficulties and challenges can be overcome if the leadership has political will and if the community is trusted and involved in planning and the execution of educational plans.

Dawn for more
(Submitted by a reader)

By Andrew Downie
• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is known as a man of the people. His idea of Brazilian culture is not theater and dance, but soccer and barbecue.

So it was a surprise when President Lula announced recently that he will give poor Brazilians 50 reais a month (about $27) to spend on cultural pursuits.

The money will come in the form of credits redeemable for anything from CDs and DVDs to cinema and museum tickets. It will go to some 12 million of Brazil’s poor, pending approval by Congress.

The idea is the latest in a series of handouts for Brazil’s poor and was welcomed by both the arts crowd and by officials, who say it will boost local spending.

“Where workers are demanding culture,” said Culture Minister Juca Ferreira in announcing the program, “there will be an increase in jobs, creating micro economies.” He said vouchers would pump up to $3.8 billion into the economy.

For now, it’s mostly Brazil’s urban elite who can afford to sample the nation’s cultural riches. Some 96 percent of Brazilians don’t go to museums, and 93 percent have never been to an art exhibit, according to the Culture Ministry. Some 78 percent have never seen a dance performance. Even cinemas are present in only 408 of the country’s 5,564 municipalities.

CS Monitor for more

Essay

Olivier Morin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The fact is, sex is messy. This is demonstrated in the I.A.A.F.’s process for determining whether Caster Semenya is in fact a woman.

By ALICE DREGER

The only thing we know for sure about Caster Semenya, the world-champion runner from South Africa, is that she will live the rest of her life under a cloud of suspicion after track and field’s governing body announced it was investigating her sex.

Why? Because the track organization, the I.A.A.F., has not sorted out the rules for sex typing and is relying on unstated, shifting standards.
To be fair, the biology of sex is a lot more complicated than the average fan believes. Many think you can simply look at a person’s “sex chromosomes.” If the person has XY chromosomes, you declare him a man. If XX, she’s a woman. Right?

Wrong. A little biology: On the Y chromosome, a gene called SRY usually makes a fetus grow as a male. It turns out, though, that SRY can show up on an X, turning an XX fetus essentially male. And if the SRY gene does not work on the Y, the fetus develops essentially female.

Even an XY fetus with a functioning SRY can essentially develop female. In the case of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, the ability of cells to “hear” the masculinizing hormones known as androgens is lacking. That means the genitals and the rest of the external body look female-typical, except that these women lack body hair (which depends on androgen-sensitivity).

Family/Reuters

The I.A.A.F.’s process for determining whether Caster Semenya, second from left, is a woman will involve at least a geneticist, an endocrinologist, a gynecologist and a psychologist.

NY Times for more