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Surviving on Hope in Sierra Leone's Isolated Camps
While sitting in a dark, humid room at a war wounded camp on the outskirts of Freetown, one of the residents asked a question: If there is suffering, is there peace? As we walked around this camp, and many others, that question crossed my mind more than once. In 2002, following the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone, tens of thousands of people were left dead, the country was torn apart, and most of the population had been victimized. Camps were set up throughout the country, created for specific victim groups - child soldiers, war widows, sexual assault...More
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Add to NewsvineSierra Leone's Memory of a Violent Past
During our first few days in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, many describe the need to forget and move away from a haunting past. Their optimism is unexpected because we had drawn certain conclusions about their collective trauma and the country’s history of violence. In contrast, as we make our way through different parts of Sierra Leone, it becomes apparent that many locals are reluctant to let go of their traumatic past. Their memories tell the story of mutilations and scars that are shocking indications of the barbarism and violence that plagued Sierra Leone during its decade long war. One woman,...More
The Right to Housing in Haiti (The Urgency of Housing, Part III)
Colette Lespinasse is director of the Support Group for the Repatriated and Refugees (GARR, by its French acronym) in Port-au-Prince. Here are her thoughts on solutions to the crisis in which 1.9 million homeless people are still living in precarious tents and other makeshift structures, six months after the earthquake and almost two months into hurricane season. Colette talks both about the need for the government to guarantee the human right to housing, and how grassroots organizations can create homes in livable communities. We hear that in the camps there are groups who have started organizing themselves to assert their...More
The Psychology of Sports
It cannot be denied that the recent World Cup helped focus on one of the world’s most popular sports. And it cannot also be denied that psychology plays an important part on who is going to be the winner. During the World Cup, the Algerian team prepared for its matches by watching the legendary movie “The Battle of Algiers.” The movie, which depicts the fight of Algerians against the French ruling their country, perhaps helped them to a reasonable performance during the Cup. The Brazilian team, which was on the way to what the players thought was a certain victory,...More
In Russia, Drug Use is Fueling AIDS Epidemic
Russia has one of the world’s most serious epidemics of injection drug-use, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS. It is estimated that Russia has two million injecting drug users (IDUs), 60-70% of whom have HIV-related illnesses. In the past decade, the number of HIV-infected people has increased from an estimated 100,000 to over one million. Sharing syringes by injecting drug users is the most prevalent cause of HIV transmission in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, where it is responsible for more than 80 percent of all HIV infections. The Russian authorities have come under strong, widespread criticism...More
From War to Peacebuilding
“I fought in the war with the Civil Defense Force. I had been a hunter and I had experience with community mobilization. I didn’t need much training to fight. I thought there was no other option but to fight.” An employee at Bo Peace and Reconciliation in Sierra Leone spoke frankly to our research group. He was a distinguished middle-aged man who spoke in an authoritative manner. He was the first ex-combatant we had knowingly encountered. “How does your past dictate your role and aid your work at Bo Peace and Reconciliation?” I asked. He confidently explained that he has...More
Misogyny: The Principle of Adversity Among Khomeini's Followers
The following is an excerpt from Azam Haj Heydari's book The Price of Remaining Human. I think however much I speak of and write about Khoemeini’s ideology, that my father and brother were so devoted to, and however much I explain how this ideology makes a human so cold-hearted and emotionless to one’s family, wife and children, I still haven’t said enough. My father never showed any emotions or kindness. He believed if you give a child a kiss, it will become impudent. I don’t remember him kissing me or my sister even once. In those days, I didn’t understand...More
Israel Should Release Mordechai Vanunu
On May 23, 2010, Mordechai Vanunu, whom Amnesty International calls a “prisoner of conscience,” was again sent to prison for a new three-month sentence, accused of violating the terms of his previous release. Previously, he had been in prison for 18 years, and spent the first 11 years in solitary confinement. According to Amnesty International, the restrictions placed on him were not parole, since Vanunu had already served his full term. “They arbitrarily limit his rights to freedom of movement, expression and association and are therefore in breach of international law,” said Amnesty International. Vanunu is a former Israeli nuclear...More
Motorbike Riders in Sierra Leone: Menace to Society or Social Indicator?
For as long as I can remember, I have been terrified of cab drivers. The thought of entrusting my life to one stranger for the duration of the itinerary, under the premise that they will receive payment upon my safe arrival, can be a bit daunting. After all, unless you engage your driver in conversation, you will know nothing about their life. The good or the bad. If you’re anything like me, you might walk away with their taxi identification number. But what if you knew that your cab driver had witnessed the death of his mother? What if you...More
"For a Better Life for the Peasants": Food Sovereignty and Land Reform in Haiti (Part II)
Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen (Heads Together Small Producers of Haiti) is one of Haiti’s two national peasant farmer movements. The oldest peasant group in Haiti, it was born in 1970 under the Duvalier dictatorship. Tèt Kole’s history is notable also because of the violence it has faced at the hands of large landowners. Two massacres have been committed against Tèt Kole members, one in 1987 in Jean-Rabel, the other in 1990 in Piatte. Those hired by the landholding families to commit the attack also burned farmers’ homes and crops and killed their animals. In separate incidents, two of Tèt...More
Health in China: The Environmental Toll on Children
In recent times, China has greatly improved the health status of the majority of its population — while also maintaining a sustained economic expansion. Some of these achievements have been a model for developing countries worldwide. Gains in the health sector, however, are being curtailed by the environmental consequences of the rapid economic expansion of the country. To continue the country’s economic growth — while at the same time protecting people’s health — is one of the main challenges facing Chinese authorities today. In the last two decades, China has had average economic growth of 9.4%. For the last 50...More
Witnessing First-hand: The Crux of Sierra Leone's Conflict
I decided to go on a field trip to the West African state of Sierra Leone in January 2010 because studying societies in conflict -- Africa’s in particular -- has been one of my interests. However, it was not an easy undertaking for various reasons. I was aware it would be both emotionally heart-wrenching and physically taxing, especially if we were to see many war affected areas and war victims. But the whole trip was worth it in a lot of ways. The best parallel I can give here is my personal experience of misrepresentation of the conflict in my...More
Stories that Shine: Women Entrepreneurs in Baghdad and Beyond
Folk tales, Greek tragedies, age-old epics, and fables: stories are human currency, traded between people to forge friendships and alliances, to preserve cultures and warn against the pernicious cycle of history. Stories pop up like weeds; they persist, they survive. But what about the stories that come to us not through words woven together by mothers and fathers at bedtime, or images projected as quick flashes of color on a movie screen? What about the stories we can actually hold in our hands? These, though sometimes vulnerable to physical wear and tear, can be just as long lasting and often...More
What Would Einstein Have Said About Gaza?
On April 9, 1948, 120 fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin, near Jerusalem, a Palestinian-Arab village of approximately 600 people. During the assault, around 107 villagers were killed, including women and children. In addition, several villagers were taken prisoner, and were later jeered, spat at, and stoned. According to most accounts, those villagers lived in peace with their Jewish neighbors from nearby villages. Some of them, from the Givat Shaul Orthodox community just across the valley, tried to help the Deir Yassin villagers during the Irgun-Lehi combined attack. After the attack, the Irgun and...More
Sierra Leone: Will This Place Know War Again?
Our bus cruised down the bumpy dirt road and I stared out the window admiring the landscape. The cool ocean breeze blew through my hair and in these moments I was left alone with my thoughts. Sierra Leone is blessed with dazzling beaches, rolling hills, and a lush green landscape. It has also been cursed with war, brutality, and greed. A constant haze hangs over the country, like a remnant of the sins the land and her people have witnessed. In 1991 there were many reasons to go to war. A corrupt government had left the people poor and illiterate....More
"We've Lost the Battle, but We Haven't Lost the War:" Haiti Six Months After the Earthquake
Haiti during the World Cup is much like my hometown of New Orleans was during the Superbowl. Don’t try to make plans with anyone to do anything during a game. (In the more cash-rich New Orleans, the ban on non-game-related activity stretched back a day or two before a game, because there was food and alcohol to be purchased and a feast to be cooked.) I make the mistake of trying to go to a cell phone office during that time; employees sit hypnotized in front of the big-screen TV, unwilling to be distracted by clients. When Argentina, a favorite...More
Gulf Hemorrhage
In mid May, a group of women, living in New York and Boston, who have been writing together for the past eight years, chose to sit together and write their responses to the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. They found that their passions coalesced around the subject in surprising ways. LIZ GOREN Prisoner 2876 enters the classroom of Louisiana’s low security prison. He takes a seat and stares at the instructor. A lady with a bird in her hand is explaining how to comb it clean. He makes sure to look like he’s paying attention; he’s learned...More
Breaking the Oppression of Indian Dalits
One can fight oppression with violence or one can fight oppression with education. Hema Konsotia, a 32-year-old Indian woman, has chosen the latter. She is helping to change a situation affecting an estimated 165 million Indian Dalits. Also known as “untouchables”, they are a mixed population of numerous caste groups all over South Asia. Although the caste system has been abolished under the Indian constitution, there is still widespread discrimination and prejudice against Dalits, particularly women. Dalits are frequently denied such basic rights as education, housing, property, freedom of religion, choice of employment and fair treatment before the law. This...More
A Second Slave Rebellion in Haiti (Or: What's the Worth of a Haitian Child? Part III)
This blog was co-written by Tory Field. One of the many effects of poverty in Haiti is that desperate parents regularly give away their children in the hope that the new family will feed and educate the children better than they themselves can. Instead, the children usually end up as child slaves, or restavèk. In a country which overthrew slavery in 1804, today anywhere from 225,000 to 300,000 children live in forced servitude. They work from before sunup to after sundown; are often sexually and physically abused; and usually go underfed and uneducated. (For more information, see “Slavery in Haiti,...More
A Damning New Report on George W. Bush
George W. Bush is among the five least accomplished U.S. presidents, according to a new survey by the U.S.’s top 238 leading presidential scholars. They have been polled by the Siena College Research Institute’s (SRI) annually for the last 28 years. While president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country from 1933 until his death in 1945, ranked first in overall accomplishments, former President Bush ranked worst among modern presidents –and the fifth worst in history. According to the Survey of U.S. Presidents the top five, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, are Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson....More
The World Bank Needs Your Input For Its Strategy For Africa!
The World Bank is reviewing its strategy for Africa, which is outlined in the Africa Action Plan. The strategy is being reviewed against a backdrop of changes in the global economy, in Africa and the World Bank. As part of its review and preparation, the Bank is consulting with a wide array of stakeholders to seek their views and input. The process, outlined in our Consultations Plan, is expected to be finalized in late 2010-early 2011. You can help by sharing your views on how the Bank can best support Africa reach its development goals. To read more about progress...More
LEGO GAMES SUMMER TOUR 2010
Would you like to attend a child friendly, free and fun family event this 4th of July weekend? Well, if you’re in the Baltimore area you can, if not, it will soon be coming to a US city near you soon. The 2010 Lego games tour began today in Baltimore city. The tour promoting the new Lego board game line, features life size adaptations of classic and new Lego characters. It is located right in front of Port Discovery Children’s Museum at 35 Market Place, Baltimore, MD 21202 Walk through the labyrinth, climb to the top of the Ramses Pyramid...More
Slavery in Haiti, Again (Or: What's the Worth of a Haitian Child, Part II)
This blog was co-written by Tory Field. “I’m struggling to end slavery because I know how I suffered,” said Helia Lajeunesse, a former restavèk, child slave, who is now a children’s rights advocate. Today there are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world, according to the research of Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves. This is more than at any time in history, even including during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In Haiti, the only nation ever to host a successful slave revolution, 225,000 to 300,000 children live in forced and usually violent servitude in a system known as restavèk,...More
Fracking: “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas” right here in the USA
Listen to the June 27th broadcast of Sundays at Five by clicking the play button below. Kate and Jessica discuss current issues, including the new film Gasland and the latest developments in the Gulf oil spill. It’s also the 40th anniversary of San Francisco’s Pride Festival. Jessica attends the Frameline Festival, San Francisco’s International LGBT Film Festival and encourages listeners to attend the upcoming San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io About the Broadcast: The WIP’s Executive Editor, Kate Daniels teams up with identical twin sister Ali Daniels to present Sundays at Five, a weekly radio...More
Only Death Could Silence Robert Byrd
It is fair to say that the more we love our country the more we want it to be a better, more honorable country. Using this criterion, we can say that few people loved the U.S. as much as former senator Robert Byrd did. And only death could finally silence him. Nobody was more vocal than Byrd in the opposition to the Iraq war, which he considered a disgraceful course of action that would have negative effects on the country. And he was one of the few to state that opposition as strongly on the Senate floor. On March 19,...More
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