When we look further into their plans questions arise who is really going to benfit form this releif.

Most of the general public will presume it will reach all Africa.

[QUOTE]There is only a 60% chance of a deal on debt relief, it is no means certain, and on aid we don’t expect very much at all which is very disappointing

Romilly Greenhill, ActionAid [/QUOTE]

The true picture is this:

The G8 countries are United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

The 27 countries who have qualified for debt relief under the HIPC (highly-indebted poor countries initiative) are: Benin, Bolivia, Burkino Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Malawi, Mail, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

The 14 countries who theoretically qualify for debt relief but have not allowed to join so far are: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Comoros, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Mynamar, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Vietnam, Yemen.

The Jubilee Debt coalition argues that another 21 countries should qualify for full debt relief: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Georgia, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lesotho, Nepal, Moldova, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Zimbabwe.

Thousands of fans began trooping into the Hong Kong Football Stadium shortly after noon today to ensure they got the best seats for the seven-hour variety show, which showcased many well-loved singers who have not performed in public for years.

The “Crossing Borders” concert began with the screening of a video showing some of Asia’s best loved stars like Chan, Andy Lau, Miriam Yeung and Teresa Carpio recording the signature song “Love”, which is the Chinese version of “We Are The World”.

Tickets to the show were free and it was beamed live to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Bands which have long disbanded, such as the Grasshoppers, and wildly popular girl and boy bands belted out love ballads. Many wore white, the colour of mourning in China.

Big names like Leon Lai appeared within the first hour of the show, delighting his many fans. Taiwan’s Jay Chou, Chang hui-mei and boy band F4 were also expected to appear.

Giving Generously

Hosts urged fans and television viewers to donate generously by calling hotlines as company representatives took turns to walk onstage to hand over giant cheques.

“Now is the time to give generously,” one host said.

Organisers have not set any targets for the fund raiser, but said donations would really take off when the stadium fills up to its 40,000-capacity after people get off work in the evening.

The show is the latest in a string of private sector initiatives in Hong Kong to raise funds for survivors of the December 26 tsunami which killed over 150,000 people in Indonesia, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries as far away as Africa.

More than five million people are homeless or displaced, mostly in unsanitary conditions and experts have warned that they face a range of epidemics if help is not made available.

The catastrophe has left no one untouched and ordinary people from across the territory have dug deep.

Over the weekend in Hong Kong, hawkers donated vegetables and shoppers paid as much as HK$1,500 (102 pounds) for a small bag of lettuce, with the proceeds going to help the relief effort.

More than 760 prisoners in the high-security Stanley Prison, where some of the city’s most hardened criminals are locked up, donated HK$141,788 on Thursday after learning of the catastrophe on the news.

Hong Kong’s government, which came under criticism for acting too slowly after the tsunami, has pledged HK$17 million and the city’s ordinary people and companies have been far more generous.

Private donations have surged way past HK$500 million so far.

Straw said that in addition to the 49 confirmed deaths, 391 Britons were missing and were highly likely to have been victims of the giants waves which devastated Indian Ocean nations on December 26.

Britain had previously put its casualty toll at 41 confirmed dead and 159 missing.

“What we’ve sought to do is give the figures about confirmed deaths and in addition to those, give the best estimates of the experts (on missing Britons),” Straw told a news conference on Friday during a visit to the devastated Thai island resort of Phuket.

The total death toll from the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, stands at over 150,000, according to government and health officials.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were the hardest hit. Indonesia’s health minister said the toll in his country was likely to be more than 100,000.

Straw went on to imply that the British toll would rise yet further.

“The fact that (the figures) have more than doubled in the space of four days indicates the imprecision of estimates of this kind,” he told BBC radio.

“The scale and magnitude of this disaster makes it literally unique.In this case, bodies are still being washed up, unearthed, so the total number of potential casualties is still not known.”

This is dreadful news as families, friends and loved ones are still awaiting news on the missing. It could be quite a while before we know the true figures.

For those waiting for news, that is a heavy load to carry. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I was in an exhibition a couple of weeks ago, and a brother was talking about different issues regarding black people.

During his speech, there was something that took my attention. It was the fact the he stated that the every person’s imagination is based on images. He went on saying that many of us, who are living in Europe have been and are being affected in somehow by the “white machinery” that stops us from imaging in “black” or from constructing images with black characters.

When we enter the school, the first images that we are exposed to, are those where white people are portrayed in a idealistic level. For instance, in all schools is compulsory to read Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and so on.

The pictures or illustrations of these fierceless story tales, after several exposures, are recorded in our memory unconsciously, therefore from there on, most of our images will be based to a ceritain degree in these icons.

It is during this first stages of our learning process, where we are showed the standard of beauty. Milky white with blonde, red, black hair and blue or green eyes.

These images are not only in schools, they are reinforced through the media on daily basis. Why? Because mainly, regarding black people, they don’t want any black person looking up on his/her inner beauty, therefore natural Nubian beauty; as they considered themselves to be the only valid icon of beauty.

That’s why we see that they tend to be more obsessed with beauty, they are always talking about beauty. They have an incredible range of beauty products and treatments. What’s the point of talking about beauty all the time if they say to be the most beautiful people on Earth? (Be aware that that take their pictures, images, around the world).

Due to the fact that we are bombarded with these Caucasians images; in a subconscious way, everytime we think or use our imagi-nation, these pictures with white characters, pop in in our minds without us realizing; and some of us, some more others less, project them via style, way of thinking, image, hair, skin and so on.

So, next time you see Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs try and imagine the story being Ebony Brown & the Seven African Princes and see what imagery comes to your head!

With all the recent talk about the military career of Sen. John Kerry, one thing is inescapable: He is a true hero (he has the shrapnel in his body and the testaments of those who fought with him and those whose lives he saved to prove it).

This fact comes shining through though the Republicans, and particularly the Bushes, have tried with their mean spiritedness and lies, yes, lies, to belittle his service to the country. And the reason for their attacks may be found in the fact that the current occupant of the Oval Office, with all of his tough talk and swagger, is not a real hero or a warrior as he tried to portray himself at the Republican convention.

Mr. Bush is a person who can’t think of a mistake that he has made when examples of his mistakes and poor judgment are strewn all around us, from the legions of those disenfranchised in Florida by his undemocratic actions through the lines of those unemployed because of his economic policies and the thousands killed because of his failure to heed apparent warnings of terrorist activity in this country contained in the presidential briefing document of 8/6/01 to those soldiers injured or killed as a result of his ill-conceived and deceptive foray into Iraq.

Through all of this one thing is predictable and that is the demagoguery and hypocrisy of Mr. Bush. He can be counted on not to accept responsibility for his poor judgment, cloak himself in the flag, say anything and play on our fears for blatantly political purposes through use of the “two D’s,” demagoguery and deception. He can be counted on to talk mightily about morality and then do the most immoral things, such as sending troops into war knowingly based on lies. He speaks about democracy in Iraq, but when he had an opportunity to stand up for democracy in this country in Florida, he chose to thwart democratic principles and the law and steal the presidency.

War Lies

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again and again; if the war was so just, then why did he not tell the American people the truth for going to war? If the war was so just, then why the need to change the reasons for going to war, all of which have proven to be untrue? The reason for the numerous changes in rationale for going to war is obvious; if the truth had been told, neither the Congress nor the American people would have approved.

Much is made about Mr. Bush being strong on national security. Based on recent polls, it appears that the American public has a misconception of strength, particularly with respect to national security and more particularly with respect to the current occupant. It is important to note that true strength is not measured by one’s inflammatory and boastful words, but rather by one’s deeds and the values and principles that underpin those deeds.

Accordingly, one demonstrates strength not by doing the easy things, like uttering demagogic words that play upon our emotions, but rather by doing the difficult things like accepting responsibility for one’s mistakes and taking action based upon the values and principles upon which this country is founded – values such as truth, the rights of the individual, the rule of law and the sovereignty of nations.

Sen. John Kerry has demonstrated his strength by, among other things, his acts of heroism on the battlefield, his humility in not being overly boastful about those acts, his acceptance of responsibility for his unpopular act of opposing the Vietnam War following his release from the Navy and his appreciation of the basic tenets upon which this country is founded, as exemplified by his acknowledgement that the United States should go to war because we have to, not because we want to.

The same qualities that the current occupant, who is strong on bravado but cannot account for his whereabouts in the National Guard, clearly has demonstrated he lacks by his repeated failure to accept responsibility for his actions, his apparent willingness to say or do anything for political expediency, including sending soldiers to their deaths based on lies, and most importantly, his callous disregard for the very principles upon which America is founded by sending the country to war based on lies.

And so this is the choice that the electorate faces in 2004, a real hero versus a hypocrite, a demagogue and God knows what else.

There is saying in Darfur “the solution to the crisis requires three things “security, security, security.”

Having been in El Fashir for the last two months I can attest that this. One hundred percent of the time, when I ask an IDP (internally displaced person) if they would like to return home, they say yes. And 100 percent of the time, when I ask an IDP what they need in order to return home they say “security or protection.”

In Zam Zam, I met a young woman (approximately eighteen years old) she has a daughter that is eight months old. Her mother died during the conflict, her father died in a hospital in El Fashir just after the conflict, and she has not seen or heard from her husband, who is a soldier in almost a year. Needless, to say he has never seen his new daughter. In Tawilla, I met another young woman who is taking care of eight children, only two of which are her own children – the rest belong to her sister that has been missing since the attack on their village in February. Her husband was killed during this attack as well.

From numerous conversations with IDPs, I have learned that just disarming the militias is not enough for the IDPs to feel safe and return home. I asked a group of IDP women why they had not returned to their village, they told me it was not safe there. I asked them how they knew it was not safe, if they had not been back. They told me because their loved ones have not been returned to them. Many girl children, boy children, men, and women were abducted or disappeared during the attacks in Darfur. Most of these people are still missing. Having a loved one remain missing is a vital indicator in the minds of the IDPs that the situation is still not safe, insecurity remains.

But, all in all – I have to say the most profound conversations I have had – are the ones with the children of Darfur. In Fata Borno camp, I asked girl and boy children “if you had a million dinars what would you do with it?” they all said “buy food” – an uncomplicated, unselfish, very basic need (will come back to the issue of food a bit later). I asked “what do they think is the solution(s) to the problems in Darfur ” – they said “collect and take away all of the guns” – precise, apolitical, and astute. And finally, I asked them, “If I could deliver to the world a message from you – what would it be?” they said “that there is a camp in Fata Borno” – we are here, do not forget us.

Children’s Plight

The children are still in that camp in Fata Borno and thousands more children are in the camps and settlements all over Darfur and Chad. Children make up more than fifty percent of Sudan’s total population. Children are made to suffer the devastating consequences of the problems caused by adults.

As a child protection officer for UNICEF, looking out for the rights of all children is a labour of love. In North Darfur we have begun recreational and psychosocial activities for more than 22,000 children. But even before the footballs, skipping ropes, and volleyballs arrived – I saw children playing in the camps all the time. Children using their shoes to draw designs in the sand, playing games with soda bottle tops, making car toys out of tin cans, sewing brilliant handicrafts with local materials, and skipping with rope usually used to steer horses. Children inherently know how to play – it is their best means of coping, returning to things familiar, and connecting or re-connecting to peers and family members.

There is an incredible amount of work to do in Darfur. But, I think if we continue to ask and to listen to the IDPs – especially the children – we will continue on the right path … and provide assistance where it is most needed.

In the meantime, I also aim to amplify the voice of the IDPs to the Government of Sudan and to the international community. The world knows that the situation in Darfur is very, very grim. But, I think what the world may not know, is that the situation will be even more fragile and quite possibly worse a year from now. The vast majority of the IDPs are farmers and agriculturists. Due to the brutal attacks and consequently, fleeing of villages, these 1.2 million people have not planted or sown seeds for planting at all this harvest year. What this means is not only are over a million IDPs without food for this coming year – but that the people in towns (like EL Fashir for example) are also facing severe food insecurity as well. The people in town rely heavily on the village farmers for vegetables, grains, and fruit. So, this time next year – where will the food come from for all of Darfur?

The solution is known – security, security, and security. Time is ticking … listen to the children and take away the guns; listen to the women and release loved ones back to their families. In Sudan , every interaction begins and ends with “a salaam alekum” translated literally this means “peace be upon you.” I have heard this from the mouths of soldiers, police, and everyone in between. Let us say what we mean and mean what we say – let us all be active in bringing peace to Sudan.

MORE INFO

Support the movement against this genocide happening and continuing. Here’s what you can do:-

• [url=http://therespublica.org/Alliance/defaultwestern5.php]Sign the petition[/url]
• [url=http://www.darfurgenocide.org/donate.htm]Make a donation[/url]
• [url=http://www.darfurgenocide.org/news.htm]Read the latest news on the Darfur situation[/url]

Kristen Geary is a UNICEF, Child Protection Officer in North Darfur. This piece was written on August 22, 2004.

Are you paying attention? Good! Saddam has just entered the

courthouse.

We hold this truth that all human beings are created different.

That every human being has the right to be mentally free and independent. That every human being has the right to feel, see, hear, sense, imagine, believe or experience anything at all, in any way, at any time.

That every human being has the right to behave in any way that does not harm others or break fair and just laws.

That no human being shall be subjected without consent to incarceration, restraint, punishment or psychological or medical intervention in an attempt to control, repress or alter the individual’s thoughts, feelings or experiences.

The British government is apparently quite concerned that the nation is becoming one of binge drinkers..

Now what I want to know is, whose fault is that? Who was responsible for changing the opening hours for drinking?

The traditional concept of a binge conjures up an image of a self-destructive and unbridled drinking bout lasting up to several days. Another definition of a binge moves away from the binge as a solitary activity and focuses on its social components.

UK drinkers have not got a reputation for being able to handle their drink. The government only need to recall when England go abroad either to a football match or on holiday.

A nation of binge drinkers is really putting it mildly. Our prime minister has voiced his concern on this matter: didn’t anyone think this would happen before the drinking laws were changed?

What are you views on the matter?

Why does Bush insist that the Iraqis will eventually enjoy freedom and democracy, though bloody realities on the ground point otherwise?

The Iraqis have never before been subjected to such oppression, brutality and autocracy.

Addressing the America Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC) on Tuesday, May 18, 2004, Bush described Israel as “a Jewish and friendly state, renewing a commitment to its security and stability.”

On the same occasion, the chief of the pro-Israel group pointed out that Bush had kept promises he made during the election campaign for his first term of the presidency and supported his bid for a
second term.

President Bush has the right to woo Israel. Still, it is unbecoming for him as the key partner in the regional peace process to condone Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon’s rampage against the Palestinians. Sadly, Bush keeps lavishing praise and support on Israel. In his AIPAC address, Bush said that hatred of Jews was still alive in some Arab media and that Washington would keep calling on Arab
governments to stop inciting anti-Semitism!

Arabs are not at odds with Judaism or with Jews themselves. Arabs are enraged
by what the “Sharonites” do against Palestinians, including cold-blooded killings apparently to undermine the infrastructure of terrorism. Israel has stepped up its campaign to raze Palestinians’ houses and farmland. Is it fair for the world community to keep silent over those atrocities? Does Israel deserve a pat on the back for its army’s shameful acts?

It is absurd for the US to labour under the illusion that its interests in the world will be served by being so blatantly partisan towards Israel. The US administration does not see the Palestinian Authority as the appropriate partner to fulfil peace, a stand based on the obvious tilt towards Israel. It must be clear that should alestinian President Yasser Arafat be removed, his replacement would not please the Americans and Israelis simply because he would be unprepared to halt his
people’s resistance to Israeli occupation of their lands.

In fact, Iraq’s invasion was unleashed in the best interest of Israel, whom the US wants to be the region’s superpower. To add insult to injury, the Israelis were involved in brutalising detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. A telling proof is that the Americans contracted Central California Analysis, a firm specialising in intelligence systems, to offer logistics to the occupation troops. The company’s chief visited Israel several

months ago. Thus, the Israelis managed to sneak into Iraq and became involved in Iraqi prisoner abuses. In other words, Israel, a long-time arch foe of the Iraqis, has at last got a chance to take revenge.

A look at the Western media may give us an insight into the situation. For example, Brian Whitaker wrote in The Guardian an article entitled “Suspicious
Sanctions”. The story reads in part: “President Bush finally got round to imposing sanctions on Syria last week, much to the delight of Israel.”

Noting that pro-Israeli allies stood behind the anti-Syria sanctions, Whitaker writes: “The sanctions result from a draft piece of legislation known as the Syria Accountability Act, which was inspired by an alliance of Israelis, American neo-conservatives and wild-eyed Lebanese Christians…This, of course, was before the invasion of Iraq, when neo-conservatives in the US were still riding high and eager to tackle Syria once they had ‘liberated’ Baghdad.”

With all this in mind, it is high time for the US to realise that the Arabs are not naive. The US makes a grave blunder by pursuing a misguided policy and by levelling unsubstantiated charges against others. The US has yet to recognise that
violence breeds violence. Israel’s relentless war against the Palestinians is bound to unleash reprisals. Israelis claim they are pursuing terror operatives. But what Israel does is sheer terrorism.

I don’t think that the US behaves otherwise in Iraq.

It has wrought havoc and abused Iraqis who have found out that freedom, promised by the Americans, is an illusion. Iraqi writers, who dare take the US to task, are detained and thrown into Abu Ghraib.

A question arises at this point: What is the Arab response to all this? In this piece, I refer to Bush’s address to AIPAC and his undivided support of Israel. Hasn’t the time come for Arabs to set up influential organisations to project their causes in a fair and favourable light. The Jews do not fight with artillery, warplanes and missiles only.

They have groups which propagate their agenda as well. I think with all our economic and human resources, we, the Arabs, have what it takes to create such groups. Why not take the first step in this regard? I hope this suggestion will be on the agenda of the Tunisia summit, which starts on Saturday, May 22, 2004.