FROM COMMON DREAMS
Electronics Firms Urged to Boycott 'Blood Minerals': how "conflict minerals" that are mined in the war-torn DRC are sold by rebel groups to purchase arms, and serve as a direct cause of widespread sexual violence in the war-torn country. - By Marina Litvinsky , April 2, 2009 published by Inter Press Service- Washington - The world's mass consumption of cell phones, laptops and other electronics fuels widespread sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a new study released Wednesday by the non-profit Enough Project that echoes what many human rights activists and humanitarian workers have been saying for years.
The paper, "Can You Hear Congo Now? Cell Phones, Conflict Minerals, and the Worst Sexual Violence in the World," details how "conflict minerals" that are mined in the war-torn DRC are sold by rebel groups to purchase arms, and serve as a direct cause of widespread sexual violence in the war-torn country.
Published on Enough (http://www.enoughproject.org)
Can You Hear Congo Now? Cell Phones, Conflict Minerals, and the Worst Sexual Violence in the World
By John Prendergas, Apr 1 2009,
Strategy Paper [1]
Audio [2]
The time has come to expose a sinister reality: Our insatiable demand for electronics products such as cell phones and laptops is helping fuel waves of sexual violence in a place that most of us will never go, affecting people most of us will never meet. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the scene of the deadliest conflict globally since World War II. There are few other conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and mass human suffering is so direct.
This reality is not the result of an elaborate cover-up, either. Most electronic companies and consumers genuinely do not appreciate the complex chain of events that ties widespread sexual violence in Congo with the minerals that power our cell phones, laptops, mp3 players, video games, and digital cameras.
But now that we are beginning to understand these linkages, we need to do all we can to expose them and bring this deadly war fuelled by “conflict minerals” to an end. As a start, the Enough Project has worked with other like-minded groups to create a conflict minerals pledge that commits electronics companies to ensure their products are conflict-free. We are initiating a consumer campaign aimed at encouraging the users of these electronics products to let the biggest companies know that it matters to us that our purchases don’t prolong this ongoing tragedy.
Rape as a tool of war—and profit - Congo’s protracted wars have led to incredibly wide and diverse violence against civilians by an array of armed groups. The general use of violence against communities includes forced labor, torture, recruitment of child soldiers, extortion, and killings by armed groups to oppress and control civilians. In particular, sexual violence has become a tool of war and control for the armed groups in Congo on an immense scale.
Same-Sex Partners Mired in Deportation 'Nightmare' - by Cynthia Hubert , published on Friday, April 3, 2009 by the Sacramento Bee - Pacifica - Shirley Tan, a petite stay-at-home mother of twins, is wearing pink slippers on her feet and a black electronic bracelet around her left ankle.
"I feel like a criminal," said Tan, sitting on the sofa of the ocean-view home she shares with her longtime partner, Jaylynn Mercado, their 12-year-old sons and Mercado's mother, Renee.
In the eyes of immigration authorities, Tan is in the country illegally. Federal courts have denied her bid for asylum. But beyond that court battle, she argues that the law discriminates against her because she is a lesbian - and cannot be sponsored for citizenship by her partner.
Later this month, unless her pleas to congressional leaders and the courts are successful, Tan, 43, will be deported to her native Philippines, more than two decades after she fled a murderous relative and began a life in the United States.
The Killing Fields of Inequality - by Göran Therborn, Published on April 7, 2009 by Open Democracy - There are at least three quite different kinds of inequality, and they are all destructive of human lives and of human societies.
The first is inequality of health [1] and death, what might be called vital inequality. Here, hard evidence is accumulating that health and longevity are distributed with a clearly discernible social regularity. Children in poor countries and poor classes die more often before the age of 1, and between the age of 1 and 5, than children in rich countries and rich classes. Low-status people in Britain die more often before retirement age than high-status people. Vital inequality, which can be measured relatively easily through life-expectancy and survival rates, destroys millions of human lives in the world every year.
The second is existential inequality, which hits the individual as a person. This kind of inequality restricts the freedom of action of certain categories of persons, for instance that of women and other marginalised groups in public spaces and spheres. This form of inequality means denial of (equal) recognition and respect, and is a potent generator of humiliations - for women in patriarchal societies, for indigenous [2] groups in the Americas, for poor immigrants, for those of low caste, and for black people or stigmatised ethnic groups. It is important to note here that existential inequality does not only take the form of blatant discrimination; it also operates effectively through more subtle status hierarchies.
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
Chinese Hunger for Sons Fuels Boys’ Abductions
- “If you have only girls, you don’t feel right inside,” said Ms. Zhen, who has one child, an 11-year-old son. “You feel your status is lower than everyone else.”
By Andrew Jacobs, April 5, 2009, Shenzhen, China — The thieves often strike at dusk, when children are playing outside and their parents are distracted by exhaustion.
Deng Huidong lost her 9-month-old son in the blink of an eye as a man yanked him from the grip of his 7-year-old sister near the doorway of their home. The car did not even stop as a pair of arms reached out the window and grabbed the boy.
Sun Zuo, a gregarious 3 1/2-year-old, was lured off by someone with a slice of mango and a toy car, an abduction that was captured by police surveillance cameras.
Peng Gaofeng was busy with customers when a man snatched his 4-year-old son from the plaza in front of his shop as throngs of factory workers enjoyed a spring evening. “I turned away for a minute, and when I called out for him he was gone,” Mr. Peng said.
These and thousands of other children stolen from the teeming industrial hubs of China’s Pearl River Delta have never been recovered by their parents or by the police. But anecdotal evidence suggests the children do not travel far. Although some are sold to buyers in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, most of the boys are purchased domestically by families desperate for a male heir, parents of abducted children and some law enforcement officials who have investigated the matter say.
Karzai Vows to Review Family Law - By Carlotta Gall and Sangar Rahimim, April 5, 2009 - Kabul, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai ordered a review on Saturday of a new law that has been criticized internationally for introducing Taliban-era restrictions on women and sanctioning marital rape.
The president defended the law, which concerns family law for the Shiite minority, and said Western news media reports were misinformed. Nevertheless, he said his justice minister would review it and make amendments if the law was found to contravene the Constitution and the freedoms that it guarantees.
Related article:
Trading Afghan Women's Rights for Political Power . New Afghan Law Comes as No Surprise: Women’s Rights Have Always Been Traded for Political Power Published on April 6, 2009 by CommonDreams.org by Sonali Kolhatkar - The proposed new Afghan law requiring (among other things), women to have sex with their husbands on demand and not leave home unescorted, has shocked the West. But for women in Afghanistan whose rights have always been bargaining chips to be given or taken away for political gain, it comes as no surprise. Despite the rhetoric from the Bush Administration in 2001 that “to fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women (Laura Bush),” Bush’s own military strategy set the stage for the new Taliban-like law today. In hiring the fundamentalist warlords of the Northern Alliance to defeat the Taliban, the US knowingly sacrificed women’s rights for political gain.
The Northern Alliance warlords were notorious misogynists, criticized harshly by women’s rights groups like the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). In statement made days after the fall of the Taliban, RAWA urgently declared that “[t]he people of the world need to know that in terms of widespread raping of girls and women from ages seven to seventy, the track record of the Taliban can in no way stand up against that of [the] … Northern Alliance.” It was a warning that went ignored to the detriment of all Afghan people, but especially women, who time and again have been promised liberation by (mostly male) warlords, foreign and domestic.
FROM WASHINGTON POST
D.C. Council Votes To Recognize Gay Nuptials Elsewhere
Decision Comes as Vermont Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage - By Nikita Stewart and Tim Craig Washington Post - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - The D.C. Council unanimously voted yesterday to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere, joining a growing number of states to loosen restrictions on the unions.
The District's actions came the same day as Vermont became the fourth state to recognize same-sex marriages and a week after the Iowa Supreme Court legalized such unions. The moves generated a sense of momentum and hope among gay activists and anger among some religious and conservative groups.
Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage With Veto Override - The Associated Press, April 7, 2009 - Montpelier, Vt. -- Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage _ and the first to do so with a legislature's vote.
The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.
The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law.
It's now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.
Related articles:
In Historic Vote, Vermont Legislature Legalizes Gay Marriage - The Vermont legislature made history Tuesday by becoming the first in the nation to vote in favor of gay marriage. Vermont lawmakers had voted for a same-sex marriage bill last week, but it was short of a veto-overriding majority, and Governor Jim Douglas vetoed the bill Monday. But on Tuesday, enough House members switched sides to override the veto and voted 100-to-49 to make gay marriage legal. House Speaker Shap Smith announced the final tally to resounding applause. We speak with Vermont state legislator Bill Lippert and Beth Robinson, an attorney who has led the struggle to legalize gay marriage for years.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/8/in_historic_move_vermont_legislature_legalizes
Testimony of 12-Year-Old with Two Moms Moves Some Vermont Legislators to Support Gay Marriage Bill - Evann Orleck-Jetter testified at the public hearings on gay marriage last month before Vermont's Joint Senate and House Judiciary Committees. Many legislators later told Evann and her parents that her testimony had moved them to support the bill.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/8/testimony_of_12_year_old_with
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Hails Enactment of Vermont Legislation Granting the Freedom to Marry to Same-Sex Couples
Vermont becomes the fourth state allowing same-sex couples to marry
Washington - April 7 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force hails the Vermont Legislature's override today of Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill extending the freedom to marry to same-sex couples. The Senate passed the measure by 23 to 5 and the House by 100 to 49. Vermont is the first state in the nation to extend the freedom to marry through the legislative process.
Gay and Lesbian Tourists: New York {heart} You - Associated Press, - New York, April 7 -- New York City officials are turning to gays and lesbians to help reduce a projected $4 billion budget deficit.
The city unveiled a marketing campaign Tuesday to attract more gay and lesbian tourists, as other U.S. cities compete to strip New York of its title of No. 1 vacation destination for gays and lesbians.
The Rainbow Pilgrimage campaign comes as state and city officials grapple with diminishing revenue resulting from the global economic crisis, which is forcing many people to forgo leisure travel plans or take "staycations" near home.
The campaign kickoff also comes ahead of the 40th anniversary in June of the Stonewall riots in Manhattan, considered the start of the modern gay liberation movement.
IOWA CITES EQUAL PROTECTION: The state's Supreme Court found that "limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution," adding that protecting the right to same-sex marriage is comparable to past rulings by the Iowa Supreme Court that protected women's rights and struck down slavery and segregation laws. "This issue comes to us with the same importance as our landmark cases of the past," wrote the court. "How can a state premised on the constitutional principle of equal protection justify exclusion of a class of Iowans from civil marriage?" The court also directly addressed concerns that its decision would trample on religious views of marriage, writing that "a religious denomination can still define marriage as a union between a man and a woman." Rep. Steve King (R-IA) decried the decision, saying that "the logical approach to this — to get something that we can do -- I think is to pass a constitutional amendment to correct the court." However, State Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D) said that there will be no debate in the this session on such an amendment.
THE RIGHT-WING RESPONDS: King also pressed for immediate action to prevent Iowa from becoming a "Mecca" for gay couples. "[T]he legislature must also enact marriage license residency requirements so that Iowa does not become the gay marriage Mecca due to the Supreme Court's latest experiment in social engineering," said King. He was not alone in his outrage. Immediately after the Vermont legislature made its decision, conservatives railed against the "wealthy homosexual activists" who they claim are driving a "form of tyranny" aimed at dismantling "democracy." "Same-sex 'marriage' is a movement driven by wealthy homosexual activists and a liberal elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well," saidTony Perkins of the Family Research Council. "The consequences will rest on their shoulders and upon those passive objectors who know what to do but lack the courage to stand against this form of tyranny," added the Liberty Council's Matthew Staver.Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, went so far as to claim that Vermont'svote "clearly goes against the peoples understanding of marriage. Common sense and basic democratic norms dictate that such an important question should have gone directly to the voters of Vermont." But asDavid Catania, a D.C. City Council member who voted for the amendment to recognizemarriage equality noted, the votes in D.C. and Vermont represented "super majorities of the elected leadership in both jurisdictions."
FAR-RIGHT GROUP WARNS OF A 'GATHERING STORM' OF MARRIAGE EQUALITY: In the wake of marriage equality victories in Iowa and Vermont -- and promising signs in New York and Washington, D.C. -- far-right activists are gearing for a battle. Yesterday, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced a $1.5 million national advertising campaign to fight marriage equality. NOM executive director Brian Brown s "the biggest lie" that marriage equality advocates tell "is that it's not going to have any affect on you." He argued, "In state after state, we've seen same-sex marriage directly conflict with the people's religious beliefs." The group's first ad featured "people describing same-sex marriage as a threat to their personal and religious freedoms against a backdrop of dark clouds and bolts of lightening." One actor warned of "a storm gathering"; "I am afraid," another woman intones. A third complained that she is "helplessly watching public schools teach my son that gay marriage is OK." It's true, Center for American Progress Action Fund Fellow Matthew Yglesias noted, that with the end of Jim Crow came the end of teaching that racism was acceptable -- "a big imposition on racists." Similarly, "people who don't like gay people can be legitimately concerned that the spread of gay equality will create an environment in which their children are less likely to share their own prejudices." The Human Rights Campaign has more on the lies peddled by the ad.
Report Calls CIA Detainee Treatment 'Inhuman'By Joby Warrick and Julie Tate, April 7, 2009 - Medical officers who oversaw interrogations of terrorism suspects in CIA secret prisons committed gross violations of medical ethics and in some cases essentially participated in torture, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a confidential report that labeled the CIA program "inhuman."
Health personnel offered supervision and even assistance as suspected al-Qaeda operatives were beaten, deprived of food, exposed to temperature extremes and subjected to waterboarding, the relief agency said in the 2007 report, a copy of which was posted on a magazine Web site yesterday. The report quoted one medical official as telling a detainee: "I look after your body only because we need you for information."
New details about alleged CIA interrogation practices were contained in the 43-page volume written by ICRC officials who were given unprecedented access to the CIA's "high-value detainees" in late 2006. While excerpts of the report were leaked previously, the entire document was made public for the first time by author Mark Danner, a journalism professor, on the Web site of the New York Review of Books.
Related article by War in Context, News & views & editor’s comments: april 7
Report outlines medical workers’ role in torture By Scott Shane, New York Times, April 7, 2009 Medical personnel were deeply involved in the abusive interrogation of terrorist suspects held overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency, including torture, and their participation was a “gross breach of medical ethics,” a long-secret report by the International Committee of the Red..
FROM SALON.COM
> Bristol Palin's ex talked about sex and family on "The Tyra Banks Show." It infuriated Sarah Palin -- and made me want to watch.
By Rebecca Traister, Apr. 07, 2009 | It's been seven months since Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was ceremonially hurled at the nation by former presidential candidate John McCain. Seven months of prepping and primping and practicing and coiffing and fitting and retracting and denying and obfuscating and spinning, and somehow, after 28 weeks, the woman still has no idea how to handle the press.
A media-savvy governor, upon learning that her daughter's ex-boyfriend and baby-daddy had granted an interview to talk-show host Tyra Banks, might have pounded a fist on a table, uttered a handful of salty expletives, crossed her fingers that nobody would tune in and quietly hoped that it would all get swept under the carpet.
Not Sarah Palin! No, this wizard decided the best way to tackle the (understandably irritating) problem of her loose-lipped would-have-been son-in-law was to publicly rebuke the kid, in a grandiose statement of denial and affronted morals, the weekend before the offending interview was to air, thereby ensuring that the episode of "Tyra" would become must-see television.
Related article: Sarah Palin strikes back at Bristol's ex
By Sarah Hepola, April 6, 2009 - On Friday, we brought you word that the newly scrubbed and rather monosyllabic Levi Johnston, famous ex of Bristol Palin, would be appearing on Tyra Banks this afternoon, submitting to a battery of questions such as whether or not Sarah Palin knew they were schtupping (he says she did) and if the couple practiced safe sex. (Halting, squirm-inducing answer: "Yes... I guess... Most of the time."). Well, not surprisingly, Sarah Palin has lashed out like the mama bear she is, responding to Johnston and his clan with the following statement.
Pregnant and licensed to kill, by Tracy Clark-Flory April 4, 2009 - A bill before the Oklahoma Senate would give pregnant women the license to kill. OK, so it's a bit of a stretch to envision Agent 00Baby, clad in spy maternity wear and waddling around with a gun resting on the top of her bulging belly. But, if the law is passed, expectant mothers in the state would be allowed to annihilate anyone who threatens her sensitive mission: birthing that baby.
Should abortion ads air on television? By Judy Berman, April 2, 2009 - Last week, the BBC reported that, following a review of advertising codes, "pregnancy advice services" could be allowed to advertise on U.K. television. Soon, British viewers might find themselves face to face with commercials for, among other options, abortion. The recommendation (which also suggested a loosening of regulations on condom ads) was made in response to the country's increasing teen pregnancy rates.
"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD" By Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin April 8, 2009 - A secret recording reveals the Army may be pushing its medical staff not to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder. The Army and Senate have ignored the implications...
Related article:
Tale of the secret Army tape. By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna, April 9, 2009 - After a soldier taped a psychologist saying he'd been pressured not to diagnose PTSD, the Army launched an investigation. Read the details of how the Army declared itself innocent..Forced to abort? By Lynn Harris, Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - Legislators are moving to address the problem of forced abortion in China Missouri. (Again.) As Missouri resident Pamela Merritt writes at RHRealityCheck, HB 46 & 434 (PDF) (passed in the House, stalled in the Senate by Democratic filibuster) (1) heaps requirements onto the "informed consent" procedure for abortion (e.g.: "Provide the pregnant woman with printed or video materials from the Department of Health and Senior Services that describes the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child's brain and heart functions, extremities, various methods of abortion, risks associated with each method, possibility of causing pain to the unborn child, alternatives to abortion, and that the father of an unborn child is liable to provide child support, even if he has offered to pay for an abortion") and (2) creates the crime of coercing an abortion. Coercing how?
- Controversial "Wetlands" author Charlotte Roche talks about bodily functions, shaving pubic hair, and why there are so few euphemisms for female masturbation. - By Nina Power, Apr. 04, 2009 | Charlotte Roche is a curious mix of old radicalism and new daring. A well-known music and talk show host in Germany, Roche has produced a minor literary scandal, not to mention a major commercial success, with her first novel, "Wetlands," which is now being published in the United States. The first German book to make Amazon's worldwide bestseller list, "Wetlands" is a savage, darkly humorous attempt to depict the contours of female anatomy and desire that has appalled as many as it has delighted with its graphic details.
From Predator to Person, Then Back to Jail Again - By Annette 2009, April 4, 2009 1:41AM - Fear came so easily when I first heard about you, a child convicted of sexual assault, a child who would soon join my daughter’s homeroom class. I felt fear, based on the approximately seven sentences of information I knew about you from a closed meeting and a website. I wanted to warn my daughter that you might be a possible danger. I wanted to warn my friend that you had moved in with a family just three doors down from her house.
FROM MOTHER JONES
Is Homophobia Just Narcissism? — By Debra J. Dickerson | April 2, 2009
Ta-Nehisi Coates thinks so:
Bigotry is the heaping of one man's insecurity on to another. Sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Islamism, anti-immigrantism, really all come from the same place--cowardice. In his history of lynching, Phillip Dray notes that mob violence against black men wasn't simply about keeping black men in their place--it was about keeping white women in their place. Lynching peaked as white women went to work outside the home in greater numbers, developing their own financial power base. White men, afraid that they couldn't compete with their women, would cowardly resort to lynching. I am not saying that the anti-gay marriage crowd is a lynch mob. But in tying opposition to the sexual revolution what you see is, beyond a fear of gay marriage, a fear for marriage itself. A fear that their way of life can't compete in these new times. It's ridiculous, of course. But bigotry always is.
Remembering Rwanda--and the Clinton Failure - By David Corn | April 7, 2009 - This week the world--that is, those in the world who give a damn about such things--is marking the 15th anniversary of the horrific Rwanda genocide. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama released a to-the-point statement on the Rwanda nightmare. It's below. Read it, and tell me if you can spot what's missing:
Pap Smears Begone! - By Debra J. Dickerson | April 7, 2009 - What? "Spread em and grin" might be hitting the bricks? Yep, according to the Times:
A new DNA test for the virus that causes cervical cancer does so much better than current methods that some gynecologists hope it will eventually replace the Pap smear in wealthy countries and cruder tests in poor ones.
Not only could the new test for human papillomavirus, or HPV, save lives; scientists say that women over 30 could drop annual Pap smears and instead have the DNA test just once every 3, 5 or even 10 years, depending on which expert is asked.
Legendary Latinas: A Song to Liberty
From Jump Off the Bridge. com, March 27, 2009 This is the sixth and final profile in my Women's History Month series, Legendary Latinas, in which I highlight the lives and accomplishments of influential Latinas. You can find the other posts here. Please read the disclaimer if you have questions about my sources; otherwise, ENJOY!
This series would not feel complete without highlighting Las Mariposas, Las Hermanas Mirabal -- Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal. For Dominicans, these women represent liberty and freedom. For the rest of the world, they've become symbols of violence against women, and yet many would be hard-pressed to identify their names or their importance. The memory of these women is very dear to me, and I humbly share it with all of you in the hopes that their legacy lives on.
On The Issues Magazine: The progressive women's magazine: We asked leading thinkers to describe New Revolutions We Need for a feminist and progressive future. Here's one response:
I once visited a native church in San Juan Chamula, Mexico. Lining the sidewall of the church were dozens of individual altars to various saints. Families prayed and made offerings in front of their favorites, seeking to have their needs meet. As I left the church, in a back corner, there was a pile of saints lying in a jumble. I asked about them and was told, “They didn’t work.” How perfect, I thought. Gods that do not serve the people are discarded.
Coming to New Terms
For 25 years, as president of Catholics for a Free Choice, I was focused on overthrowing the government of the Catholic church, which I distinguished from the message of Jesus. I took the line of many feminist reformers of religion and was careful to distinguish between the institutions of my religion, which were literally man made, thoroughly patriarchal and often corrupt, and what I saw as the humanity of the message of Jesus Christ. In my view, the narrative of Christianity, along with that of other world religions was good; men (and some women) had simply perverted that narrative to serve their own need for power and control over women.
VIDEO: FROM THE NATION
What Is the State of Feminism Today?
By GRIT TV - March 10, 2009 - As we mark the 98th annual International Women's Day, what have the feminist movements of the last half century achieved? Today on GRITtv Linda Martin Alcoff, Staceyann Chin, and Jennifer Baumgardner discuss the politics of feminism today.
For more on the program and archives visit grittv.org.
This article appeared in the April 20, 2009 edition of The Nation.
In November, Adriana gave birth to a child she never wanted and spent two months fighting not to have. The first time Adriana was raped, on January 29, 2008, a stranger forced her into his car and drove to a parking lot near the airport in João Pessoa, the capital of the state of Paraíba in northeast Brazil. The stranger's gang rented a house on her street. The second time, he drove a different car and threatened to go after her family if she told anyone what had happened.
FROM OPEN DEMOCRACY
The gender of democracy matters - By Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu Created 2009-04-07 Published on open Democracy News Analysis - Democracy has become a truly universal value and pursuit. Yet although international instruments, norms and standards continually reinforce democratic principles, achieving them remains a daunting challenge across the world. The continued lack of gender equality is central to this fundamental and enduring project. If democracy is to be realised and practiced, an understanding of how it intersects with gender equality is essential.
AIDS Campaign Aimed At Most Affected reuters.com — U.S. officials launched a AIDS awareness campaign on they said would focus on the groups most likely to be infected, starting with black men and women and later targeting Latinos and others. Several studies have shown that AIDS prevention messages are not getting through to the people who need to hear them most, and officials said they would try harder. The campaign focuses on one statistic — that every 9 1/2 minutes on average another American becomes infected with the incurable virus.
Awareness Campaign On HIV/AIDS Begins , By Darryl Fears, The Washington Post - The Obama administration yesterday launched a five-year, $45 million media blitz to spark awareness about HIV infection and AIDS, saying that Americans have grown complacent about the deadly illness even though it represents "a serious threat to the health of our nation."
ESPAÑOL
DESDE SEMLAC
REPORTAJES ESPECIALES
Cuba: Más mujeres detrás de las cámaras
OTRAS INFORMACIONES
Nicaragua: Magistrados favorecen restitución del aborto terapéutico
Uruguay: Besos que discriminan
Bolivia: Guía para periodistas le da prioridad a la niñez en los desastres
Cultura: Meira del Mar, se fue la dulce voz de la poética colombiana
TODO EN: www.redsemlac.net y www.redsemlac-cuba.net
Exige aparición con vida de su hijo, detenido en 1974
El 5 de abril de 1974 fue detenido mi hijo Jesús Ávila González, estudiante de la Escuela Superior de Economía del IPN, por elementos de la Dirección Federal de Seguridad, sin orden de aprehensión. Luis Echeverría Álvarez, mediante la política perversa de Estado, violentó los derechos fundamentales de los luchadores sociales al mantenerlos en cárceles clandestinas, como es el Campo Militar No. 1.
Lo he reclamado desde hace 34 años, en oficinas de gobierno, con plantones, huelgas de hambre, marchas, mítines al lado de cientos de madres y familiares del Comité ¡Eureka! que luchan por la aparición con vida de sus hijos desaparecidos por motivos políticos.
El gobierno mexicano ha hecho caso omiso a nuestras peticiones, tenemos los nombres de los presidentes en turno y funcionarios públicos que llevaron a cabo este crimen de lesa humanidad, no los han castigado conforme a derecho, por el control total que tienen ante las instancias que deben ejercer la justicia.
¡Basta de impunidad! No olvidamos, seguiremos denunciando ante el pueblo de México porque vivos los llevaron, vivos los queremos.
Matilde González Morales, madre; María Concepción Ávila González, hermana
Publicadio en El Correo Ilustrado LA JORNADA
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