INDIA: Cheapest Car Rides on Govt Subsidies June 26th, 2009
Dear Editor,
According to your corrected story of June 5, the state of Gujarat in India is giving Tata motors $6 billion to locate an assembly facility there. Could you explain how that is possible? The originally reported figure of $600 million sounds more plausible. The cost of an assembly plant in the US is only about $1 billion, so how could a facility in India, where construction labor is much less expensive, cost six times as much? Even then, it would require a 100% subsidy to get a $6 billion subsidy. Also, I read a story in “The Rupee” saying that the original facility in West Bengal only cost $300 million.
I am the author of the Global Subsidies Initiative’s report “Investment Incentives: Growing Use, Uncertain Benefits, Uneven Controls,” which I am currently expanding into a book for Palgrave Macmillan. I definitely want to include this case in my book regardless of the correct amount of the subsidy. Thanks very much for your help.
Sincerely,
Kenneth P. Thomas
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Missouri-St. Louis
St. Louis, MO 63121 USA
**************************
Dear Mr Kenneth P. Thomas,
The total cost of the Nano car project of Tata Motors, when it was supposed to be established in Singur, West Bengal, was Rs 2,000 crore or Rs 20 billion which works out to the equivalent of US $ 0.4 billion or $ 400 million. This was stated by Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors and Ravi Kant, the company’s CEO, on more than one occasion between June 2008 and August 2008. The project was originally envisaged to manufacture 300,000 cars a year. After the project moved from Singur, West Bengal to Sanand, Gujarat, the scope of the project and the scale of the car assembly line was substantially enlarged. Current indications are that the Tata Motors plant that is coming up would have the capability to manufacture not less than 500,000 cars each year at full capacity, perhaps more. A simple extrapolation based on the higher capacity and inflation would lead to a total project cost estimate of at least Rs 3,200 crore or Rs 32 billion or $ 640 million. Thus, the figures referred to by Mr Thomas are more or less correct. Now comes the issue of subsidies — explicit and hidden.
As already stated in the article I have written, according to an internal document prepared for the Gujarat government (that has been quoted in a number of newspaper and magazine articles), the total amount of subsidy that would accrue to the Nano project over a span of 20 years is nine-ten times the initial project cost. Parts of the document referred to were leaked to journalists in Ahmedabad (capital of Gujarat state) and its contents were published first in various Gujarati language newspapers. In English, it was published in “Current” weekly (November 17-23, 2008) and thereafter in other English publications. The contents of the leaked note have never been officially denied. Here is a summary of the “Current” report:
The total subsidies given by the Gujarat government to Tata Motors add up to more than Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 6 billion). The state government has granted Tata Motors 1,100 acres of land at a subsidized or below-market price of Rs 400.65 crore (USD 80.13 million) to be paid in eight equal installments at eight per cent compound interest with a moratorium of two years. There was no charge for transferring the land from agricultural to non-agricultural purpose. Registration fees, too, were not charged, while the state government met the entire infrastructure cost of developing roads, electricity and gas supply and also allotted an additional 100 acres of land on the outskirts of Ahmedabad to build a township for Tata Motors employees. The state government agreed to provide a soft loan of Rs 9,750 crore ($1.95 billion) (or three times the initial cost of the project) at an interest of 0.1 per cent per annum to set up the project and also allowed deferred repayment of the principal amount of the loan spread over 20 years. The Gujarat government also met the cost of shifting the project to the tune of Rs 700 crore ($140 million) this amount includes expenses for bringing machinery and equipment from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat. Among other facilities provided to Tata Motors by the state government at no cost to the company are provisions for power supply of 200 KVA up to the project receiving station, exemption from electricity duty, 14,000 cubic meter water supply per day at the project site, facilities for disposal of hazardous waste, facility for a transport hub, and a pipeline for supply of natural gas to the project site. Mr Tata has gone on record saying that the benefits provided by the Gujarat government are “as good or slightly better” than the facilities that had been offered by the West Bengal government.
This is the information I have. The figure mentioned by Mr Thomas is correct if one includes only the initial cost of setting up the car manufacturing facilities and excludes all supporting infrastructure and related facilities (detailed above) over a span of two decades.
DEVELOPMENT: Investment in Small Farmers Crucial in Africa June 18th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I appreciate your news service very much. I am individual who reads IPS Genderwire and other parts of your news service. Thank you for the article on the World Economic Forum and small farmers.
I was left me very interested in knowing who these people and NGOs in Africa are, especially the first woman quoted, Florence Wambugu, founder of Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation.
So I looked at her web site and did some Internet searches, which turned up this interesting story on a correction by Reuters who had not acknowledged her funding and previous positions with corporations who are very hungry to get their GMO seeds and biotech products sold to African farmers.
In my opinion, Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation is not a true NGO and Florence Wambugu’s voice (even if she is a woman!) should not be included in the article without making clear where her funding comes from.
Thank you for taking a look at the article on spinwatch.org on Florence Wambugu and her Foundation.
Rights: Sri Lankan Journalists face severe persecution June 18th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Sri Lanka is losing its best journalists, says writer Marina Livinsky. Lots of journalists fled Sri Lanka because they were paid by LTTE, the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world to spread their false propaganda. Two surrendered LTTE leaders (Daya Master and George Master) named lots of journalists who got money from LTTE. Why CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists — very bias toward LTTE) research doesn’t show this?
Sri Lanka is not losing its best journalists. It is losing its worse journalists. They got BAD money from LTTE to spread their lies. They are terrorists. Therefore it is not fair to say that Sri Lanka has no press freedom. Only terrorists have no freedom. As ordinary people we don’t want writers who write lies for LTTE money. Defeating terrorism, Sri Lanka Gov. gave us enough freedom to live in peace.
No matter who says what, peace loving Sri Lankans love the government. Local elections clearly show that. (Landslide victories everywhere)
Editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper, Lasantha Wickramatunga is not a TOP journalist in Sri Lanka as Marina Livinsky says. Only after he got murdered we heard his name. The Sunday Leader is an English newspaper and only a handful of English speaking people in Colombo would read it. The rest of the country’s (83 %) Sinhalese do not read or speak English.
People in the West have a little knowledge about this. They get most of their news from English media. That is not enough to get the true picture of what’s going on in the country. Unfortunately, the LTTE (terrorist group) paid and got most of the English speaking journalists. So they can easily spread their lies to the West.
Speaking about The Sunday Leader news paper’s (I am a Sri Lankan and I didn’t even know this newspaper exists) editor Lasantha Wickramtunga’s editorial, who knows who wrote that. Anybody could have written that and says Lasantha wrote it. Only dead Lasantha knows who wrote it and therefore it is not credible to say Lasantha wrote that.CPJ can not see this side of the story and making a big issue out of it .Please do not believe in those NOT CREDIBLE reports. It will harm your good name.
On Feb.24, 2009 in front of Senate Foreign Relation Committee Hearing in Washington DC about Sri Lanka, Bob Dietz from CPJ (Asia program coordinator) came as a witness. At the end of the hearing (After all lies about Sri Lanka’s press freedom) he asked Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) for money to protect journalists.
Their game is to go to war torn countries (legally or illegally) get local journalists to lie about the government and get the false propaganda to the West. So they can beg money from western governments. As Sri Lankan Sinhalese Diaspora, we do not believe what CPJ reports say. Those are not credible and there is no proof.
Sri Lanka is a free and beautiful country for everybody. We have a very strong team on the top and that’s why we won the war. Nobody can deny that. No matter what says terrorists and their supporters, Sri Lanka has its own people. That is what matters. People’s choice.
Sincerely,
Senani Garuthara, Sri Lanka
A true Sri Lankan
AGRICULTURE: GM Maize Finds Its Way to Cuba’s Fields June 18th, 2009
Dear Editor,
The domination of multinational companies in seed manufacturing is alarming. The economic impact on developing countries is far reaching and detrimental.
Cuba genetic &biotechnology engineering center research in transgenic crops, is a ray of hope for the confused governments, peasants and intellectuals in developing countries. Research by MNC’s are one-sided and may not bring out the truthful facts about the harmful effects of genetically modified seeds.
A country which treats the health interests of the common man above everything else will definitely conduct the research on genetically modified seeds, crops and foods.
Let us wait for the scientific evaluation of effects of genetically modified seeds on health and environment.
HEALTH-KENYA: Two Dollars And Change: Enough To Save a Mother’s Life June 14th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Thank you so much for printing this article. I was very heartened to read it. The voucher system is a great way to preserve maternal lives, and probably is saving many newborns in the birthing process as well. What a wonderful story of hope. Joyce Mulama did a fantastic job writing it!
BRAZIL: Environment Minister Under Fire from All Sides June 13th, 2009
Dear Editor,
There should be a way for IPS to press the Brazilian government (President Lula) into NOT signing this environmentally criminal law. As a cult Brazilian I vouch for the good intentions of Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc. He is absolutely RIGHT and the civilized world should do something before Brazil continues to give away land to the large multinationals which will buy many large tracts of lands occupied illegally.
As a true patriot I say: The corruption made by Brazilian corporate lobbies in Congress MUST end! LEt’s initiate a campaign for SHAME ON BRAZIL!
MAURITIUS: ‘’Exporting Monkeys for Research Helps Conservation'’ June 13th, 2009
Dear Editor,
However well these monkeys are taken care of before their export to labs does not make them any happier when tormented by the hands of experimenters performing tests that could be done on computer simulators or convicted murderers, rapists, or child molesters. Many of these tests are redundant and serve no purpose other than obtaining grant funding. There is more money in research than in cures.
SRI LANKA: Will Tamils Have A Say In Reconstruction? June 12th, 2009
Dear Editor,
The story seems to offer a glimmer of hope. However a few queries irk in one’s mind.
1. Why did the journalist mentioned move along with the displaced? Had he ever reported Tamil civilians suffering under the rebels?
2. What concrete evidence is there to show that the Government is serious about the ‘massive reconstruction and rehabilitation effort? Tamils claim that they have a long history of empty promises and say they were cheated on every occasion.
3. Why are the civilians ‘rescued’ from the rebels being punished in camps under barbed wire in appalling conditions as the Chief Justice remarked? How many thousands have disappeared and how many are dying every day?
4. Is the number of civilians killed understated as thousands, while the Tamils claim that more than fifty thousand, of which twenty to twenty-five thousand, were killed during the last few days of the war?
5. Why is the blackout on credible information prevailing even after burning of the remaining heavy weapons in different army camps and destruction of all evidences of crimes against humanity?
6. What is the urgency of the security measures mentioned? Is it to suppress the Tamils and make them suffer in open camps? Is it to settle Sinhalese prisoners, rowdies and army in Tamil areas?
7. Who wants the facilities mentioned when the only cry of the inmates in the camps is ‘ allow us to go back to our villages?
The world is a happier place now as terrorists have been wiped out, says the Government, but the miseries of Tamils have not only returned but increased million fold. Tamils will never have a say except the few stooges who stick to them for selfish reasons.
This story of helping Tamils is nothing but one of the continuing propaganda ploys to cheat the international community to win its favour. Tamils’ only request is to free them and allow them to settle back in their own lands. Any aid in the name of helping Tamils will never reach them and will only help to crush them. Tamil areas were the most affected by tsunami. What fraction, if any, of the international aid went to Tamil areas? They had to help themselves! Or suffer in silence.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Obama Sounds Too Much Like Bush June 12th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Obama is doing the only thing reasonable considering the circumstances. In spite of the howls of catastrophe from organizations like WWF and Friends of the Earth, the science on global warming is looking more uncertain all the time. Current peer reviewed literature is shredding many of the assumptions of AGW including the recent Esper paper that gives very strong support to the reality of the Medieval Warm period and at least 5 studies the past 2 years that show clouds to have a negative feedback for the limited warming effect of CO2 (instead of the positive feedback proposed by the IPCC models) Also the satellite temperature readings show a decrease in temperatures over the past 10 years. Given the current state of the science and the global recession, I applaud Mr. Obama for his discretion and common sense.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Another Go at Cracking Those Hard Nuts June 12th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Julio Godoy underestimates current sentiment in the United States regarding global warming and a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol (”CLIMATE CHANGE: Another Go at Cracking Those Hard Nuts,” June 11, 2009).
He asserts there is “an unchanged U.S. opposition to substantial reductions” in greenhouse gasses.
Opposition goes much deeper than Mr. Godoy suspects, and it is gaining momentum in political, scientific and public circles. That momentum challenges the fundamental assertions behind the drive to restrict emissions of carbon: that human activity has caused catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and threatens Earth’s climate.
At the third International Conference on Climate Change, held June 2, 2009 in Washington DC and attended by nearly 300, including Members of Congress, their staff, policy makers and scientists, it was clear that the debate is not over and the science of global warming is not settled.
During the conference, the 2009 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), “Climate Change Reconsidered,” was released. The NIPCC report brings together in one 880-page document the peer-reviewed literature that challenges and contradicts, point by point, the latest reports of the United Nation’s global warming panel.
A copy of the NIPCC report can be downloaded for free from the publisher, The Heartland Institute, at this address: http://www.nipccreport.org/index.html
None of the UN document’s principal claims is left standing. No objective reader can walk away from the NIPCC report without realizing how weak the case is for alarm over global warming. Global warming
simply is not the crisis so many politicians and activists claim it is. It never was.
Dan Miller
Publisher/Executive Vice President
The Heartland Institute
Chicago, IL USA
POLITICS-US: Vets Health System in Need of Triage June 11th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Thank you for opening the door to this travesty of justice and the shortage of quality pain management being received by our Wounded Warriors.
Our proposal to deliver acupuncture treatments hit the table in Long Beach, California on January 25th, 2009, just a few short days after IPS analysis was posted online.
Please visit Our Blog for a response to the needs unmet by our Veterans.
Be In Good Health.
Laura L. Dawson, Dipl.Ac., L.Ac.
Q&A: Fighting to Free Those Found “Guilty” of Homosexuality June 10th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I am proud of Barrister Alice Nkom. May God bless some of these open-minded Cameroonians. I am a successful Cameroonian lesbian and I cannot live or invest in my country for fear of been sent to jail, both me and my partner and our two beautiful children. Africans need to wake up!
ENVIRONMENT: Damaged Ecosystems Not Lost Forever June 10th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Interesting article. One point left out: when a road is widened and plants are scraped away that may not grow anywhere else–what then? There are seed banks being maintained, but some wildflowers are not going to make it. How will you bring those back?
So where there has been destruction and desecration of land due the need or imagined needs for roads for mining or recreation it may be true that some will recover. That is not an excuse for doing more damage. Ever.
ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: Coal Mine Hurts Highlands Lake, Farms June 7th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Same thing is happening all over the world only when the food runs out and the water is unfit to drink will common sense prevail. These people need to start growing food instead of chasing dirty coal dollars. Nobody has a right to knowingly destroy the earth nobody owns it.
POPULATION-SOUTH AFRICA: Inter-Country Adoption a Last Resort, or Best Hope? June 5th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Any updates on this subject since 2005? SA had not yet completed the ratification or the signature of the Hague convention because of their constitutional article 21 line 8 chapter 4 law no 74 (1983). Any changes on this?
BIODIVERSITY: Scientists Build a Macroscope of Life on Earth June 3rd, 2009
Dear Editor,
Not to put too fine a point on it…doesn’t that just make it easier to engage in BioPiracy?
After the US has catalogued every living thing… & made their decision on which private corporation owns what, who can tinker with what & own that ‘intellectual property right’ over the building blocks of Life.
And what about all those DNA & biometric international citizen databases the FBI is assembling? You can’t tell me it’s for ‘my safety’… I’ll take my chances & prefer my UN-declared privacy-related human rights…
No, I’m not encouraged by a Biodiversity cataloguing project. Biopiracy, GM Seeds and Rural India Displacing farmers: India Will Have 400 million Agricultural Refugees
Vandana Shiva: interviewed on The Jeff Farias Show
We look forward to your correspondence.
Thank you for your time & consideration in this matter.
BlueBerry Pick’n
Associate Producer, The Jeff Farias Show
WORLD WATER DAY: Nile Bounty Not Enough to Supply Egypt June 2nd, 2009
Dear Editor,
Egypt has little choice but to reduce its water use and to focus on growing and diversifying its GDP. Especially important here is the development of industries that produce low water using goods for export and provide employment alternatives to farming in rural areas. Such industries would also generate the foreign currencies needed to import high water using foodstuffs instead of growing the food at home.
With a population of 82 million, Egypt needs some 82 billion m3 of water to grow the food it needs to make it food self-sufficient. Egypt’s annual water volume from the Nile River for foodstuffs is 55 billion m3. The difference of 27 billion m3 is “imported” in the form of foodstuffs, quietly. The future promises more food imports as Egypt’s population continues to grow.
Egypt’s difficult economic circumstances expose its national security to the irrigation actions of its upstream riparians. Consequently, the government of Egypt has been threatening its upstream riparian countries with war if the Nile waters were to decline as a result of irrigation projects in those countries. Ethiopia provides around 55 billion m3 of the Nile’s annual flow, or around two thirds of the flow to Sudan and Egypt. Ethiopia has 200,000 irrigated hectares out of a potential 3.7 million hectares of irrigable land. With a population nearly the size of Egypt, and facing problems in sustaining, Ethiopia will need to develop a large portion of this land for agricultural use. If Ethiopia irrigates20only 500,000 hectares, for example, the flow of the Nile to Sudan and Egypt will drop by 6.25 billion m3 per annum.[44]
Furthermore, Egypt’s water woes could be exacerbated by the possible effects of global warming on the flow of the Nile from less rain and increased evaporation.
Abject poverty and hunger/famine, which afflict Egypt’s nine upstream riparian countries, combined with Egypt’s own poverty and economic plight make it reasonable to predict that it is only a matter of time before violent conflict erupts over the Nile’s waters, unless remedial action to lessen reliance on irrigation water is taken.
LATIN AMERICA: Remittance Drop Will Hurt Poor June 1st, 2009
Dear Editor,
This was a very good story. Ironic to come from Havana, using Washington-based data. I think it could have been better if contributions had included South America: Remittances in Bolivia, for example, are substantial, though mostly not spoken of.
ECONOMY: Using the Rand Makes Zimbabwe ‘South Africa’s Province’ June 1st, 2009
Dear Editor,
Why are we bailing Zimbabwe out when our own people are suffering? After 15 years RDP housing has been lacking amidst corruption and bad management, infra structures such as public transport systems and roads have been sorely neglected, police and hospitals understaffed / under-paid and equipment in a serious need of repair or replacement. Mandela’s promises of housing and education have fallen short 15 years later, since most schools not only lack the essentials (such as books or desks) but even buildings to house the pupils.
Now we run the risk of aligning our country with Mugabe’s dictatorship which quite simply opens doors to new funding - the South African Tax Payers money. This, amidst massive over expenditure for the 2010 World Cup and a world wide recession.
I’m an artist, not a politician or financial analyst, but I would have to say this seriously worries me - and I would like experts in the field to explain how this will affect South Africa, what could go wrong and what measures are in place to rectify or salvage those problems if they happen.
EGYPT: Viral Time Bomb Set to Explode May 31st, 2009
Dear Editor,
Human rights violations charges were filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights against the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH). At issue are charges that the NYSDOH impeded - and eventually blocked - the progress of clinical studies designed to find treatment options for the hepatitis C
pandemic currently afflicting the Egyptian population.
In Egypt, where a hepatitis C pandemic has been growing for decades, the prevalence rate for hepatitis C is the highest in the world. Some studies show that up to 20% of the Egyptian citizenry - now estimated at 70 million - has come in contact with the virus. A vaccination program gone awry provides a partial explanation for this massive infection rate.
The National Research Centre (NRC) in Cairo, Egypt, responding to this huge public health crisis, contacted Medizone International, Inc., a U.S. company engaged in developing complementary therapies for
hepatitis C, seeking its immune activation technology.
According to Gerard Sunnen, MD, former president and director of research for Medizone, the NYSDOH stopped the study at a time when all contracts were signed and study volunteers in Egypt had already been
selected. ‘’The motives seem clear. The NYSDOH strongly opposes complementary therapies. More importantly, however, is the influence of special interests fighting to keep the status quo on established
pharmaceutical pipelines. Conventional hepatitis C drug therapies are prohibitively costly for such large target populations and are inordinately prone to failure and to serious side effects. The Medizone process, by contrast, is considerably less onerous,“ Dr. Sunnen said. “For a state agency like the NYSDOH to actively interfere in the internal operations of a company engaged in an international goodwill mission is as puzzling as it is outrightly destructive,“ he added.
“Special interests and other agendas can all too easily kill innovative medical research,” Dr. Sunnen concluded, adding, “When that happens, the public interest invariably suffers. In this case, the disenfranchised include not only the millions of Egyptian patients, but also the some 170 million people who, according to World Health
Organization estimates, are afflicted with this serious disease.”
The complaint was filed with the New York State Human Rights Division on behalf of the Egyptian hepatitis patients wronged by the study’s demise. “Patients have a right to the fruits of research created to benefit them,” Dr. Sunnen said, adding that “by bringing down this study the NYSDOH transgressed fundamental human rights and tampered with international goodwill.”
Contemplated, however, is a new research project involving US-Egyptian collaboration in healing diabetic skin ulcers, utilizing the remarkable antimicrobial properties of externally-applied oxygen-ozone gaseous mixtures.
Gerard Sunnen, M.D.
Ozonics International, LLC
New York, NY USA
SOUTH AFRICA: Community Gardens Contribute to Food Security May 31st, 2009
Dear Editor,
I found your article about community gardens very interesting. I work with a Foundation in the rural area in Limpopo and for a long time vegetable planting has been a topic of discussion. This area is very hot and dry. The general idea is that hydroponic would be very suitable for this climate. Our idea would be household size set ups: have you got information in this regard? We have volunteers and funding available but no know-how.
ENVIRONMENT: Soaring Energy Costs May Force Low-CO2 Living May 30th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Price is the one and only way to properly control a commodity’s consumption and use. Fiddling with prices through controls, taxes and abatements, and subsidies is how we got into these troubles. The automobile was never really affordable mass transit. Oil is more valuable as chemical feedstock, anyway. If we (the people) had been paying full price for each thing directly, solar energy would have always been more competitive. So would fuel from waste, better insulation and everything else we need to do. In the USA, we started monkeying with energy prices in the 1880’s. It has taken them quite some time, as there has been a great deal of very inventive effort to prevent and delay them, but the chickens have come home to roost.
BRAZIL: 100,000 Hectares of Atlantic Forest Lost in Three Years May 29th, 2009
Dear Editor,
This is great news. I live in Salvador in Bahia and day by day we see the expansion of condos etc destroying prime Atlantic rain forest! This law will be the last hope of saving this important forest.
U.S.: “There’s No Way I’m Going to Deploy to Afghanistan” May 28th, 2009
Dear Editor,
While I disagree with his point of view, he is allowed to have it. This is the USA. He also is subject to the UJMC and will be in huge trouble too. I personally think he is dead wrong. When I was in, I didn’t have a choice. He also knew that he could be extended too, so I am not sure the surprise. He could have a great future, or a BCD and no future. He will have to look at himself.
RIGHTS: Recession Bringing Repression May 28th, 2009
Dear Editor,
This is sad news. Things just seem to be going from bad to worse. Wonder when normalcy will return.
Incidentally there is an interesting website that is specifically dedicated to recession victims. It offers help and discusses all issues related to recession- http://www.angstcorner.com. It’s worth a visit!
MIDEAST: Political Clouds Hang Over UNESCO Selection May 27th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I understand France has withdrawn support from Hosni. Candidates from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Tanzania and possibly Russia seem strong. There has been a great dissatisfaction with the Brazilian government’s statement that it will support Hosni rather than one of the two Brazilians who have been identified as possible candidates.
Several others candidates have announced: http://unescoeducation.blogspot.com/2009/05/who-will-be-next-head-of-unesco.html
RIGHTS: More Calls to Ban Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds May 23rd, 2009
Dear Editor,
Why aren’t you mentioning the endless calls from third world countries to end the illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe? We only hear one opinion: that of the West. That of powerful western companies that have been put at the door by the people of Zimbabwe because they want to manage their resources themselves, their lands and diamonds.
Accusations are called without foundation. Just because the west tries to destabilise a country does not make products that come from there spoiled with blood. First they destabilize a country and then they call it political
unstable, yes unstable in a sense that the biggest bully in the world tries to overthrow yet another government of a poor country trying to get out of neocolonialism. It’s just another popular government that the west dislikes because it can no longer steal it’s riches.
If you are really open to a different view try this article: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/22/content_11420214.htm
Reading further about the author makes quite clear what kind of demagogues you give a tribune. He is claming that the US had no hand in the removal of Aristide in 2004 while he has to admit in his own article that Aristide
“apparently flew out of the capital undetected about 6:45 a.m. in a U.S.-provided jet … both the United States and France, Haiti’s former colonial ruler, praised his resignation and said it was the only way to halt the carnage.”The government believes it is essential that Haiti have a hopeful future,” President George W. Bush said at the White House as he announced the deployment of Marines, who join 50 sent here last week to
protect the U.S. Embassy.
How helpful of the US and France to help him leave. How convenient that he leaves when they don’t like his policies. So strange they could not send protection before he left the country.
EUROPE: Trafficking Rises as Incomes Fall May 22nd, 2009
Dear Editor,
This was a very good piece, though I would like to see a comparison between the topic of human trafficking and human smuggling. I have recently been reading about illegal immigration to Europe across the
Sahara which seems to be much more a topic of smuggling, where the agents act more as couriers than as slave traders and while there are instances of abuses of the migrants, there are also instances of migrants ripping off the transporters and many smugglers attempt to maintain a descent reputation among their sub-Saharan customers. It seems that this type of migration is driven strongly by job availability in Europe and can slow dramatically when recessions hits.
I have heard that much of the legal and illegal immigration to the EU from eastern and central Europe is also job driven and has been reversing somewhat during the crisis - being unemployed with family and friends around is sometimes easier than being unemployed in a strange land.
So I am curious; what is the comparison between “irregular” immigration rates where the migrant is a customer and merely enters Europe, with the slave like trafficking where the migrant ends up as a prostitute or
indentured servant? Is the ratio known? Does the ratio change during recessions like this?
EGYPT: Thanks to Facebook, Young Women Take to Political Activism May 20th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I read the story “Thanks to Facebook, Young Women Take to Political Activism” with interest as I have a topic related to the use of Facebook for advocacy that might be of interest. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in Namibia is revising the Child Care and Protection Bill. To ensure that the Bill is in the best possible form before being tabled in Parliament at the end of 2009, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare will be running a multi-faceted multi-media project to consult with stakeholders and the public on the Bill’s contents. This is a rather unique process, as in many cases public consultation is often much more limited during the drafting of a bill. The Legal Assistance Centre is facilitating the consultation process. The reason for my email is that one of the means we are using to engage the public is through Facebook. You can see our group
Using the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=82560283754
We hope that through the multiple methods we are using for the consultation process, including Facebook, that the bill may be a true reflection of the needs and opinions of stakeholders and community members in Namibia.
I hope that this is of interest to you. I have attached press releases on the revision process and I would be happy to provide more information or an article if you prefer.
Kind regards
Rachel Coomer
Public Outreach Manager
Gender Research and Advocacy Project
Legal Assistance Centre
Winhoek, Namibia
MIDEAST: Rising Again After the Assault May 18th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Your reporting on the Middle East is so important. I enjoy (if that is the word) reading each article–but Erin Cunningham’s articles really stand out. I can feel the pain of the people, see the devastation and the articles make me angry, sad and motivated to learn more. Her writing is excellent!!
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