Attention starvation, a real killer

A VIVID memory I have of my early years at school involves an envelope, corn kernels and white rice. The small amount of the stables were sealed in a little bag and distributed to the class. While the details are hazy, I remember being told this was the amount of food a Somali child had access to over a particular length of time. This was in the famine of 1992 and I was about 6 or 7 years of age at the time. While at such a young age I was unable to make a contribution towards putting food in a starving child’s belly, it had a profound effect, and has sustained my commitment to doing my best to eliminate hunger in whichever way I can.

Somali mother Faduma Hussein Yagoub, a polio sufferer brought her family to Dadaab, Kenya, often referred to as the “World’s Largest Refugee Camp”. Her husband and two of her five young children died of hunger on the way. (Picture courtesy of Oxfam East Africa)

While we’ve focussed on the Royal Wedding, Christmas, Easter and birthdays, increasingly desperate parents have had to look into the eyes of their hungry, malnourished children and tell them there is no food to eat. La Nina has resulted in a dry couple of years in the Horn of Africa, primarily Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Now 12 million people – just like us – are going hungry. It’s been acknowledge as the worst drought in the region for “over 60 years”. While there are number of challenges our world faces at present, for me, it’s a somewhat depressing sign about the state of our humanity that a shortage of food is one of them. It needn’t be. While the Australian and other governments have rightfully offered aid, people have already died. More as you read this. We need to demonstrate to fellow humans with the donation of our own money and spirit, their plight is our fight to ensure future generations don’t face the needless, painful, end.
- Several Australian and international aid organisations are helping feed people in the Horn of Africa. Donations can be made at http://www.unicef.org.au, should you feel so inclined.

Hatred helps no one

There are some customs, traditions and beliefs which can be excused by cultural difference. There are others which cannot. The treatment of homosexuals in parts of Africa – particularly Uganda – in recent years is an example of the latter. Twitter, Facebook and news sites been flooded with discussion in recent days about the Ugandan Parliament’s decision to debate the Anti-Homosexuality Bill first proposed a couple of years ago by MP David Bahati. He writes the legislation, as he has devised it, would “protect the traditional family by prohibiting any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex… This Bill aims at strengthening the nation’s capacity to deal with emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family. This legislation further recognises the fact that same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic.” Death or at least a lengthy period of incarceration is his suggested penalty.

Mr Bahati’s plan was met with rightful international condemnation. Sadly though, at home in Uganda, it gave credibility to the misguided views religious zealots and homophobics, fuelling some of the most vile acts of violence imaginable – spurred on by newspapers. One headline on Rolling Stone newspaper (unrelated to the American title of the same name) displayed images of the nation’s “top 100 gays with the simple, but equally as inflammatory headline, “HANG THEM… THEY ARE AFTER OUR KIDS!!” The Observerhad the front page, below, which was no better.

The Rolling Stone, Uganda

As a result, open gays and lesbians have been attacked, menaced and even murdered. The most high-profile victim is David Kato, who was murdered in January. His killer has not been found. Despite countless gruesome acts, negative international reportage, petitions and protests from disgusted world leaders, the culpable newspaper editors in the country continue to defend their publications’ despicable editorial stance. The Bill will be debated and likely voted on in coming days. The words crafted by Mr Bahati et al have already resulted in needless bloodshed proving such ideals only foster and promote hatred and intolerance. Who benefits from that?

-       Should you wish to put your name to the international effort underway to pressure Ugandan parliamentarians to vote down the proposal, you can do so here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/uganda_stop_homophobia_petition/?twi.

The revolting consequences of a forgotten “revolt”

UPDATE: Munyaradzi Gwisai and the other five who have been incarcerated in a Harare jail since February were granted bail on Wednesday. The surety was set by the court at US$12,000, which is still being raised. Mr Gwisai’s wife Shantha Bloeman tweeted: “Munya and 5 others all released on bail. $2000 and surrender passport, report 3x each week at police. State yet 2 make s121 application.”
“Too late to get bail paid today. But hopefully will secure funds early tomorrow so we can get them out. Just one more night in detention.”
“Bought lots of lice shampoo. How will we ever get them out of munya’s dreds? Will this mean a radical new hair cut and much arm twisting?”

It’s easy to fall under the charms of rebellion. The passion displayed when an individual takes a stand against a systematic affront to their ideals and band with others to make a difference is as intoxicating as it is admirable. In recent weeks we’ve witnessed the “Facebook revolution” unfold in Egypt. As far as revolutions go, it was relatively peaceful and smooth. But the ensuing events in Libya have been a sobering reminder the protests against Mubarack were the exception, not the rule. The “success” of people power in Cairo (prompted by the overthrow of the Tunisian

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regime) has inspired people across Africa, indeed the globe. Many Australian’s would be aware simply gathering to watch videos of demonstrations in North Africa resulted in dozens of people being incarcerated and tortured in jails in politically-fragile Zimbabwe. A nightmare for those locked in a Harare jail cell, these threats and warnings to possible rebellion and dissent have a ripple effect.  Shantha Bloemen’s husband Munyaradzi Gwisai – a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe’s law school – was one of the 45 men arrested last month. They remain in jail and face the death penalty. Six of those arrested on February 19 were charged with treason, a crime punishable by death in Zimbabwe. The Twitter feed of the young mother, Unicef worker, children and social justice advocate is a captivating chronicle of the impacts government injustice has on families. Here’s hoping the better part of human nature prevails in Zimbabwe soon.

Read the latest on Mr Gwisai’s situation here: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38010:high-court-to-rule-on-gwisai-next-week&catid=69:sunday-top-stories&Itemid=30

This NPR interview further explains Ms Bloemen’s situation: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134222022/Zimbabwe-Treason

Visit her Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/ShanthaBloemen

Cubans swelter in silence

By Luke Royes

LAST year, I visited Cuba for 20 days on a holiday. The balmy weather, the beautiful scenery and the seemingly quirky way of life was the appeal. These attributes remain a large part of why I look back at my time on the socialist isle with such fondness. But an all but complete ban on citizens being allowed access to the internet and lack of community debate was most affronting. Returning home to Australia, it’s a sense of guilt which I left the island with and which remains. I got to leave. I met some of the most incredible people which there, smart, charismatic, talented and compassionate. But as beautiful as the country was, the promise of its people is being constrained by their circumstance. It makes me sad because they, like everyone, deserve to experience what the world has to offer and live without fear. That’s why I admire someone like Cuba’s Yoani Sanchez so much. Despite having her blog shut down by authorities in her own country, she has fearlessly continued to share the battles of her countryman with the rest of the world, ensuring their struggles are not silenced. Recently, this changed.

       The Blackout Ends, by Yoani Sanchez, February 9, 2011

Seated in the armchair of a hotel with my laptop open, I note the slow blinking of the WiFi transmitter and watch the stern faces of the custodians. This could be one more day trying to enter my own blog with an anonymous proxy, jumping over the censorship with a few tricks that let me look at the forbidden. On the bottom of the screen a banner announces that I’m navigating at 41 kilobytes a second. Joking with a friend I warn her we’d better hold onto our hair so it won’t get messed up from “speeding.” But the narrow band doesn’t matter much this February afternoon. I’m here to cheer myself up, not to get depressed all over again by the damned situation of an Internet undermined by filters. I have come to see if the long night of censorship no longer hangs over Generation Y. With just a click I manage to enter the site that, since March of 2008, has not been visible from a public place. I’m so surprised I shout and the camera watching from the ceiling records the fillings in my teeth as I laugh uncontrollably.
After three years, my virtual space is again sighted from inside Cuba.
I don’t know the reasons for the end to this blockade, although I can speculate that the celebration of the 2011 Havana International Computer Science Fair has brought many foreign guests and it is better to show them an image of tolerance, of supposed openings in the realm of citizen expression. It is also possible that after having proved that blocking a website only makes it more attractive to internauts, the cyberpolice have chosen to exhibit the forbidden fruit they so demonized in recent months. If it’s because of a technical glitch that will soon be corrected, once again throwing shadows over my virtual diary, then there will be plenty of time to loudly denounce it. But for the moment, I make plans for the platforms http://www.vocescubanas.com and http://www.desdecuba.com to enjoy a long stay with us.
This is a citizen victory over the demons of control. We have taken back what belongs to us. These virtual places are ours, and they will have to learn to live with what they can no longer deny.

Check out Yoani’s blog at http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy

Welcome to TheDigitalSword.

It’s oft said the pen is mightier than the sword. This has been proven true time and again in recent centuries. Kingdoms have been toppled, governments held to account and horrific breaches of human rights have come to light, courtesy of the courageous who, no matter how browbeaten, stand up to oppression with the dignity of their words.  In the 21st century, the principle is the same, but rather than ink and paper, the internet and new technologies are the new weapons of choice. Those who use fear to reduce basic human rights and dignities as merely a reward to be doled out to their anointed few know these tools – increasingly available to the masses – have a lethal power. That’s why in the throes of seeking to defend the status quo, ruling despots in Egypt and Libya shut down the internet in an attempt to quell rebellion. This blog will echo and (attempt to) provide support to those bravely engaged in a bid for the freedom to fulfil their promise. In doing so, hopefully those of us who need not fight will be reminded of our fortune.