the drop » Politics & Governance

Outsourcing Migrant Processing

New proposed rules for those seeking refuge in Australia

Last month, when Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley proposed that migrants and visitors sign an agreement to respect Australian values, a volley of debate ensued. Today, the Australian government released a discussion paper on refugee admission policy changes, which include an English-language course for refugees before they reach Australia’s shores. The discussion paper is currently up for community feedback.
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WORLD WAR NO: Apocalypse Impending?

'The Middle East Theatre of War' (GlobalResearch.ca)

When a former Middle East bureau chief of The New York Times is writing that “War with Iran — a war that would unleash an apocalyptic scenario in the Middle East — is probable by the end of the Bush administration,” we should awaken to the possibility. When he continues, “It could begin in as little as three weeks,” concerned citizens everywhere should resolve to work together to prevent it.

Writing on Alternet on Tuesday, Chris Hedges warned of an American naval armada barreling towards the Strait of Hormuz: the 50 kilometer-wide, 21 kilometer-narrow waterway adjoining the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea…

“The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it.“

Three weeks ago, a Time magazine cover-story broke the news of a “‘Prepare to Deploy’ order sent through [U.S.] naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters” alongside “a second request, from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)” asking “for fresh eyes on long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf.” A follow-up post in The Nation reported the public affairs office of the Navy Department at the Pentagon confirming that “the Eisenhower Strike Group, bristling with Tomahawk cruise missiles… is scheduled to arrive off the coast of Iran on or around October 21“ — next Saturday — just over two weeks before mid-term elections in the US.
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Abortion Ban Debate

The Fall issue of Ms. features the cover story â��We Had Abortions.

On November 7th, South Dakotans will vote on whether to ban abortion or not. The choice is whether to approve a sweeping ban on all abortions or not, an intentional provocation meant to set up a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. The law makes it a felony to perform any abortion except in a case of a pregnant woman’s life being in jeopardy.
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EU REACH Legislation on Hazardous Chemicals

NGOs and chemical companies battle over European REACH legislation. (Photo: Photocase)

An article in the International Herald Tribune announced that the European Parliament environmental committee approved proposed REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) legislation. The draft rules, which are being contested by major chemical companies, still need to pass voting by the EU Parliament and member governments.

At the Chemical Policy Institute website, there’s a comprehensive rundown on the stakeholders in the fight to pass REACH. The outline analyzes the key issues of the dispute, the costs and benefits of the legislation, and the major players.
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Violence Against Women Is A Violation Of Human Rights

WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women

The United Nations released a report late last week officially classifying violence against women as a human rights violation. From the Human Rights Watch press release:

“Human Rights Watch and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership welcomes the report that classifies abuse against women - whether it happens in the home or elsewhere - as a human rights violation. As such, states are obliged by international human rights standards to hold perpetrators accountable.”
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Ban on Child Labour in India Comes Into Force Today

Thousands of children work in roadside food stalls (bbc)

A new law that bans the employment of children under 14 in residences and the hospitality sectors comes into force today in India. It also prevents children from working in teashops, restaurants, spas, hotels, resorts and other recreational centres. Officials say the ban on employing children in homes and roadside food stalls will affect 255,000 children. But activists say these numbers could be as high as 20 million and point out that the most widespread forms of child labour in India continue to be allowed.
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Death of a Journalist: Anna Politkovskaya

Time Europe 2003 Hero: Anna Politkovskaya © Time Magazine

Since the death of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, bloggers have been positing possible theories of her murder. At Global Voices, there’s a translation of one of the most popular posts in the Russian blogosphere, which discusses the journalist’s murder and her investigative work in Chechnya. The Diplomatic Times Review provides a good number of related links on the news of her death.
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Rewriting Africa: Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Hunter-Gault pushes for diverse reporting on Africa, supports local journalism

AllAfrica recently interviewed journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who talks about her experiences as a correspondent for an entire continent. The 5-page article digs into her opinions on media coverage, biased journalism, the changes in local journalism, and her personal experience fighting to get certain stories covered.

“Reporting is dominated by the four ‘d’s… - death, disease, disaster and despair.”

Hunter-Gault has a lot to say regarding the state of reporting from the African continent.

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Upgrading International Development, Part II

A Talk with Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices Online Co-founder, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law

In part two of the interview, Ethan shares his views on conquering digital divides, activism and technology, and how improvements in technology might affect us in the future. You can read the first part of the interview here.
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How can we use technology to turn apathy into action?

I think the only force that combats apathy is empathy. Until you care about a situation in another part of the world, it’s very hard to decide to pay attention to that situation and even harder to decide to act.

To get people to care across cultural, language and geographic barriers requires some sort of exposure. I knew very little about Africa and cared very little until I lived in Ghana as a student in 1993. Coming back to the US, I was suddenly interested in African politics because there were a lot of people in Ghana I cared deeply for. This discovery is what led me to form Geekcorps - I wanted to give other geeks the chance to get exposed to different parts of the world, build interpersonal ties and work on solutions to tough technical problems.

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Power Players in Net Neutrality

Proposed US legislation on Internet neutrality is being hotly debated.

At Salon, there’s an interesting read about the grassroots organizations taking on large telecom companies in the fight for Net neutrality. The Telecom Slayers provides a clear overview of the main concerns with the proposed Internet legislation, as well as a rundown on the organizations and lobbyists working for and against the issue.

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Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Switzerland received the best ranking on the BPI 2006

Transparency International released the Bribe Payers Index yesterday, an analysis of the custom of bribing by companies from the top exporting countries. The index sheds light on a problem that is often characterized as rooted solely in the developing world. Switzerland ranked the highest on the list. Germany came in at number seven; The United States was ranked number nine.

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Regulating What We Eat

NYC Board of Health proposes regulating trans fats in restaurants

As obesity and diabetes statistics are climbing steadily in the U.S., health experts are caught in between public policy makers and the food industry. The numbers have been debated and revised without any viable public health strategies developing. Yesterday, the New York City Board of Health voted to propose regulating the maximum amount of trans fats used in NYC restaurants. Stepping out of the obesity debate, the regulation is focused on reducing heart disease.

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Foreign Policy Index: Commitment to Development

The Netherlands tops the 2006 FP Index

Foreign Policy and the Center for Global Development released their annual ranking of the 21 richest countries, as posted on Idealist.org. The Commitment to Development Index analyzes at seven government policy categories to determine which countries are living up to promises to end world poverty.
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NGO ACTION: Human Rights Watch calls on Swiss voters to reject asylum restrictions

Swiss referendum today on changes to asylum law (LaSi), Photo:Freefoto.com

In an e-mail bulletin sent yesterday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on voters to reject changes to the Swiss asylum law (LaSi) in today’s referendum. HRW released an analysis of the proposed amendments in an open letter, detailing the failure to comply with international standards.

Elisa Mason provides a quick overview of pro and con links at the Forced Migration Current Awareness blog, including a post at the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR).
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Migrant Crisis Continues in Spain

Spain signed a repatriation agreement with Senegal, Photo: BBC News
You had promised me that I would never be hungry
You had promised me of true activities and a future
Really up to here I still see nothing
That’s why I decided to flee

The lyrics are from DJ Awadi, a Senegalese rapper and producer, who is promoting awareness of the migrant crisis with his song Sunugaal and an online slideshow.
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Branding for a Good Cause

Co-branding football and children's rights © UNICEF/HQ06-1220/Markisz

According to mediafamily.org, children are able to recognize brand logos as young as three years old, while brand loyalty influence can start at age two. Branding is effective and ubiquitous, especially at sporting events, where it’s difficult to find a square inch of non-sponsored space. Breaking the spell of sponsoring trends, FC-Barcelona recently decided to donate 1.9 million USD over the next five years to UNICEF, displaying the NGO’s logo on its 2006-7 jersey.
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Purge of Liberal Academics in Iran and… USA?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks to revive Islamic radicalism

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just called for the expulsion of all professors from Iranian universities who do not submit to the fundamentalist doctrines that underlay the Iranian revolution of 1979. In what some analysts interpreted as the start of a clampdown, Ahmadinejad derided secular lecturers as a fifth column of Western colonialism which he said was seeking to expand into Iran.
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Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Be sure to take a close look at Arundhati Roy’s provocative question about the future of non-violent resistance and armed struggle. “What is effective?,” she wonders. “What is the right thing to do?”
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Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

July 2004 elections in Indonesia © 2004 AP

Global Voices On-line reports an interesting piece of “bridge blogging” about Islam in Indonesia which shows once again how the Western, mainstream media is being monitored closely via the net. Indonesian blogger Rasyad A. Payinduri of Sarapan Ekonomi takes on the Washington Times, and finds them guilty of fudging their statistics.
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Environmental Justice and Katrina

In the Wake of the Storm is a case-study based analysis of Katrina in the context of the greater movement for environmental justice, published by the Russell Sage Foundation. After the “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) trends of the 70’s, U.S. environmental justice campaigns became more prevalent in the decades following, in an attempt to protect minorities and the disenfranchised from disproportionate effects of environmental hazards within their communities.
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Right-Wing Bigotry

Pat Buchanan only want to allow white immigrants into America

Think Progress takes a look at Pat Buchanan’s new book state of emergency where he argues for “an immediate moratorium on all immigration.” Why? To preserve the dominance of the white race in America. Using racist arguments of ‘genetic superiority’, Buchanan explains that:

“America faces an existential crisis. If we do not get control of our borders, by 2050 Americans of European descent will be a minority in the nation their ancestors created and built. No nation has ever undergone so radical a demographic transformation and survived.”
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ASK YOURSELF: “Is it irresponsible for somebody like me, who isn’t really educated in matters of politics, to vote?”

This question was donated to us on the World Question Tour and is available on our website in video format. Jordan Copeland from London, who is asking the question, regards himself as politically uninformed due to lack of interest. What do you think? Should people be able to answer certain criteria before they go to the polls? what can be done to better educate people about politics? Please leave your thoughts and comments in the field below.

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Single-Sex Ed: Policy, Research and Charity

The debate on single-sex schooling continues (Photo:Photocase)

The recent PR blitz around Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls is characteristically uncritical, after the announcement of the first 75 South African girls selected for enrollment. Despite general praise, single-sex schooling remains hotly debated in the educational field, a discussion touching on elitism, faltering public education, segregation and discrimination.
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Law Clinics: Social Justice or Political Agenda?

Earlier this week, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) announced the opening of South Africa’s first law clinic for media freedom and access to information. Citing growing restrictions on public protest and marches, FXI is hoping to counter the problem with legal aid relating to issues such as “gagging” orders and the protection of journalistic sources.
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ASK YOURSELF: “Is it possible to have a functioning society free of corruption? How?”

World Bank Anti-Corruption Poster

Our ‘Ask Yourself’ module series continues with a question donated by Michael Sparks, 25, of Florida, USA. Feel free to spur a discussion around this question by leaving your comments in the field below…
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features

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Upgrading International Development

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

A Look Behind the Prison Walls

The Homeless World Cup 2006

Reach Out and Finance Someone

Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Iranian Bloggers Joined by President Ahmadinejad

Creating A New Universe

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Politics & Governance

Outsourcing Migrant Processing

WORLD WAR NO: Apocalypse Impending?

Abortion Ban Debate

EU REACH Legislation on Hazardous Chemicals

Violence Against Women Is A Violation Of Human Rights

Ban on Child Labour in India Comes Into Force Today

Death of a Journalist: Anna Politkovskaya

Rewriting Africa: Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Power Players in Net Neutrality

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Regulating What We Eat

Foreign Policy Index: Commitment to Development

NGO ACTION: Human Rights Watch calls on Swiss voters to reject asylum restrictions

Migrant Crisis Continues in Spain

Branding for a Good Cause

Purge of Liberal Academics in Iran and… USA?

Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

Environmental Justice and Katrina

Right-Wing Bigotry

ASK YOURSELF: “Is it irresponsible for somebody like me, who isn’t really educated in matters of politics, to vote?”

Single-Sex Ed: Policy, Research and Charity

Law Clinics: Social Justice or Political Agenda?

ASK YOURSELF: “Is it possible to have a functioning society free of corruption? How?”