By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 45 minutes ago
The United States is lining up with China, India and the world's other biggest polluters in opposition to mandatory cuts in Earth-warming greenhouse gases sought by the United Nations and European countries.
President Bush's two-day climate meeting, opening Thursday, will emphasize creating more processes to find a solution to global warming, rather than setting firm goals for reducing carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for heating up the atmosphere.
The nations summoned by Bush will "seek agreement on the process" and more work teams for nations to set their own strategies beyond 2012, when the U.N.-brokered Kyoto Protocol expires, according to a White House statement Wednesday.
It also "could include a long-term global goal, nationally defined midterm goals and strategies, and sector-based approaches for improving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions," the White House said.
That has European leaders, who concede that the biggest polluting nations must be part of any solution, walking a thin line between skepticism and optimism.
"We can't do this on the basis of talking about talking or setting goals to set goals," John Ashton, a special representative on climate change for the British foreign secretary, said in an interview. "We know that a voluntary approach to global warming is about as effective as a voluntary speed limit sign in the road. We don't just need an approach that works; we need an approach that works very quickly."
Bush's meeting notably includes the fast-emerging economies whose exclusion from the group of industrialized nations participating in Kyoto has been cited by his administration as reasons for rejecting that international climate accord.
By doing so, Bush has competed for attention with the climate change summit that was held Monday in New York City at which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned 80 world leaders that "the time for doubt has passed" and urged fast action to save future generations from potentially ruinous effects of global warming.
The U.S.-led talks Thursday and Friday unite countries at both ends of the economic spectrum, the haves and have-nots, in opposition to mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases, but for different reasons. The already industrialized nations do not want to harm their economies, as Bush has argued. Developing nations do not want to give up ground toward industrializing — and meeting basic human needs.
"For a developing country, the main task is to reduce poverty," Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of China's national development and reform commission, told a forum Wednesday sponsored by the Center for Clean Air Policy, a think tank.
Mexico's environment minister agreed. "We have always to bear in mind that half our population is at the poverty line," said Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada. "We are also extremely concerned about the consequences, the adverse effects of climate change."
They expressed a strong preference for the climate negotiations later this year sponsored by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, for which Ban's summit Monday was intended to build momentum.
"All these discussions should be taken within the framework of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol," Xie said.
But developing countries still are trying to curb their emissions while lifting the welfare of their citizens, said Sergio Serra, Brazil's first ambassador in charge of global warming issues.
"It is a myth to think the developing countries are doing nothing to address climate change," he said.
Portuguese environment minister Humberto Rosa, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, said it would be unfair to expect developing nations to adopt firm targets for cutting carbon emissions, the way the biggest industrialized polluters should.
Three U.N. envoys on climate change and the German environment minister urged U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to commit to binding caps on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Petition to free Jena 6
I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happening today in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaign for justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-470198
Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."
A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-470198
The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.
That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.
Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended in June, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.
The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.
Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against all six young men.
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-470198
Thanks.
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-470198
Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."
A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-470198
The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.
That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.
Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended in June, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.
The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.
Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against all six young men.
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-470198
Thanks.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Jena 6 from BBC
'Stealth racism' stalks deep South
BBC By Tom Mangold, Louisiana
This World investigates the rise of discrimination in America's deep south as six black youths are charged with an alleged attack on a white student, which could see them jailed for up to 50 years.
Three rope nooses hanging from a tree in the courtyard of a school in a small Southern town in Louisiana have sparked fears of a new kind of "stealth" racism spreading through America's deep south.
Although this sinister episode happened last August, the repercussions have been extensive and today the town of Jena finds itself facing the unwelcome glare of national and international publicity.
Jena has a mixed community, 85% white, 12% black.
The bad old days of the "Mississippi Burning" 60s, civil liberties and race riots, lynchings, the KKK and police with billy clubs beating up blacks might have ended.
But in the year that the first serious black candidate for the White House, Barak Obama, is helping unite the races in the north, the developments in the tiny town of Jena are disturbing.
Nooses in the playground
It all began at Jena High School last summer when a black student, Kenneth Purvis, asked the school's principal whether he was permitted to sit under the shade of the school courtyard tree, a place traditionally reserved for white students only. He was told he could sit where he liked.
The following morning, when the students arrived at school, they found three nooses dangling from the tree.
Most whites in Jena dismissed it as a tasteless prank, but the minority black community identified the gesture as something far more vicious.
"It meant the KKK, it meant 'niggers we're going to kill you, we're gonna hang you 'til you die'," said Caseptla Bailey, one of the black community leaders.
Old racial fault lines in Jena began to fracture the town. It was made worse when - despite the school head recommending the noose-hangers be expelled - the board overruled him and the three white student perpetrators merely received a slap on the wrist.
Troubled community
Billy Doughty, the local barber, has never cut a black man's hair. But he does not think there is a racism problem in Jena.
Caseptla Bailey who is 56 and a former Air Force officer, has a degree in business management, but she cannot get a job as a bank teller. She lives in an area called Ward 10, which is where the majority of blacks live in trailers or wooden shacks. She says no whites live there at all.
"We want to live better, we want better housing." she says. "The Church says we should all be brothers and sisters in Christ".
Yet Sunday morning is perhaps one of the most segregated times in all of America. In the white neighbourhood, Pastor Dominick DiCarlo has only one black member of the Church, out of 450 resident members.
Race-related fights
As racial tension grew last autumn and winter, there were race-related fights between teenagers in town. On 4 December, racial tension boiled over once more at the school when a white student, Justin Barker, was attacked by a small group of black students.
He fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete, suffering bruising and concussion.
He was treated at the local hospital and released, and that same evening felt able to put in an appearance at a school function.
District Attorney Reed Walters, to the astonishment of the black community, has upgraded the charges of Mr Barker's alleged attackers to conspiracy to commit second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. If convicted they could be 50 before they leave prison.
Mr Walters has refused to give an on-the-record interview to the BBC about his decision on the charges.
Mr Barker has since been charged with possessing a firearm in an arms-free zone (the school grounds).
The six black students will face a hearing next month. One of them is Caseptla Bailey's son Robert, who originally had his bail set at an unaffordable $138,000 (£69,495).
She had to hire a private lawyer who managed to get Robert's bail reduced to $84,000 (£42,285) so that her family could meet it.
Michelle Jones' brother Carwyn is one of the boys charged. She is adamant that he will not get a fair trial in Jena.
"If he's tried here, the jury will pick who they want. I have no doubt that they will convict those boys of attempted second degree murder."
When they do eventually file into court, many observers believe it is the town of Jena which will really be on trial.
Once again, BBC leads the way on Truth in Media. This is just beginning to ripple in US! This World: "Race hate in Louisiana" was broadcast on Thursday 24 May 2007 at 1900 BST on BBC Two.
BBC By Tom Mangold, Louisiana
This World investigates the rise of discrimination in America's deep south as six black youths are charged with an alleged attack on a white student, which could see them jailed for up to 50 years.
Three rope nooses hanging from a tree in the courtyard of a school in a small Southern town in Louisiana have sparked fears of a new kind of "stealth" racism spreading through America's deep south.
Although this sinister episode happened last August, the repercussions have been extensive and today the town of Jena finds itself facing the unwelcome glare of national and international publicity.
Jena has a mixed community, 85% white, 12% black.
The bad old days of the "Mississippi Burning" 60s, civil liberties and race riots, lynchings, the KKK and police with billy clubs beating up blacks might have ended.
But in the year that the first serious black candidate for the White House, Barak Obama, is helping unite the races in the north, the developments in the tiny town of Jena are disturbing.
Nooses in the playground
It all began at Jena High School last summer when a black student, Kenneth Purvis, asked the school's principal whether he was permitted to sit under the shade of the school courtyard tree, a place traditionally reserved for white students only. He was told he could sit where he liked.
The following morning, when the students arrived at school, they found three nooses dangling from the tree.
Most whites in Jena dismissed it as a tasteless prank, but the minority black community identified the gesture as something far more vicious.
"It meant the KKK, it meant 'niggers we're going to kill you, we're gonna hang you 'til you die'," said Caseptla Bailey, one of the black community leaders.
Old racial fault lines in Jena began to fracture the town. It was made worse when - despite the school head recommending the noose-hangers be expelled - the board overruled him and the three white student perpetrators merely received a slap on the wrist.
Troubled community
Billy Doughty, the local barber, has never cut a black man's hair. But he does not think there is a racism problem in Jena.
Caseptla Bailey who is 56 and a former Air Force officer, has a degree in business management, but she cannot get a job as a bank teller. She lives in an area called Ward 10, which is where the majority of blacks live in trailers or wooden shacks. She says no whites live there at all.
"We want to live better, we want better housing." she says. "The Church says we should all be brothers and sisters in Christ".
Yet Sunday morning is perhaps one of the most segregated times in all of America. In the white neighbourhood, Pastor Dominick DiCarlo has only one black member of the Church, out of 450 resident members.
Race-related fights
As racial tension grew last autumn and winter, there were race-related fights between teenagers in town. On 4 December, racial tension boiled over once more at the school when a white student, Justin Barker, was attacked by a small group of black students.
He fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete, suffering bruising and concussion.
He was treated at the local hospital and released, and that same evening felt able to put in an appearance at a school function.
District Attorney Reed Walters, to the astonishment of the black community, has upgraded the charges of Mr Barker's alleged attackers to conspiracy to commit second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. If convicted they could be 50 before they leave prison.
Mr Walters has refused to give an on-the-record interview to the BBC about his decision on the charges.
Mr Barker has since been charged with possessing a firearm in an arms-free zone (the school grounds).
The six black students will face a hearing next month. One of them is Caseptla Bailey's son Robert, who originally had his bail set at an unaffordable $138,000 (£69,495).
She had to hire a private lawyer who managed to get Robert's bail reduced to $84,000 (£42,285) so that her family could meet it.
Michelle Jones' brother Carwyn is one of the boys charged. She is adamant that he will not get a fair trial in Jena.
"If he's tried here, the jury will pick who they want. I have no doubt that they will convict those boys of attempted second degree murder."
When they do eventually file into court, many observers believe it is the town of Jena which will really be on trial.
Once again, BBC leads the way on Truth in Media. This is just beginning to ripple in US! This World: "Race hate in Louisiana" was broadcast on Thursday 24 May 2007 at 1900 BST on BBC Two.
Jena 6
This is some background on the Jena 6 story which I have been following but haven't written about until now. These stories are so painful when they surface but so crucial for us to move through the chasm to the new reality. Racism still exists in America. We all know that. But do we know to what degree it does? If you are white like I am- do you really, truly know that it still exists? The Light is shining on many areas where we need to see TRUTH and need to realize the work that needs to be done. Don't just SEE it. Take action and speak up in whatever form you feel called to. What's most startling to me is in this day and age of internet technology that here we are a year later hearing about this because of activists and bloggers. Keep that in mind as we wade the Emergence waters folks. Good media true journalistic sources are BBC, Democracy Now and FreeSpeechTV.
This from www.whileseated.org
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree. (Please note, the tree above is not the tree, but a tree at Jena High School.)
The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."
Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.
Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.
Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.
In the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos from Jena that are related to the case, as well as linking to a multimedia piece I'm working on. CNN began reporting on the story today, following the lead of the BBC, who crafted an excellent hour-long documentary that can be found on P2P networks.
Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story. To send a letter to Governor Blanco, please visit Color of Change.
Welcome, BoingBoing and Kottke readers. For more information about the Jena Six, please see this youtube video and the following links:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
This from www.whileseated.org
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree. (Please note, the tree above is not the tree, but a tree at Jena High School.)
The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."
Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.
Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.
Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.
In the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos from Jena that are related to the case, as well as linking to a multimedia piece I'm working on. CNN began reporting on the story today, following the lead of the BBC, who crafted an excellent hour-long documentary that can be found on P2P networks.
Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story. To send a letter to Governor Blanco, please visit Color of Change.
Welcome, BoingBoing and Kottke readers. For more information about the Jena Six, please see this youtube video and the following links:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
Friday, September 21, 2007
War refugees
Iraqi Refugees Languish in Neighboring Countries
by Dahr Jamail
DAMASCUS - Salim Hamad, 33, glances at the sprawling buildings of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus and sees business. He has set up a small tea shop at the camp.
"I left everything behind," he told IPS. "I have no idea what became of my house."
Salim, a railways worker in Baghdad, sold his car and furniture to raise money to bring his wife and three children to Damascus five months ago. Syria it had to be, because by then Jordan's government was no longer letting in men his age.
He found the money to get to Syria, where he has all of a tea shop now, and that makes him one of the luckier Iraqis who could flee.
Yarmouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of Damascus, has long been home to more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees. It is a set of tall apartment buildings separated by small alleys stuffed with shops.
It is one of the better refugee camps. Most refugees have running water, electricity, and other basic services.
Now tens of thousands of Iraqis have flooded into Yarmouk. The exact number is unknown.
Iraqis also head for the Jaramana and the Sayada Zainab camps, besides countless other areas where they gather to live in smaller groups. The refugees are not allowed to work by law, and most have to live off their savings and are desperate for assistance.
"I left Baghdad in order to keep my family alive," Qasim Jubouri, who was a banker, told IPS. "Of course we all fled with none of our belongings."
Now the money he brought is running out, and he has no idea how he will feed his family beyond survival at a camp.
"I ask all nations, particularly the United States, to do all that they can to help us," he said. "Since the U.S. government caused all of this, shouldn't they also be responsible for helping us now?"
Thus far the Bush administration has issued visas to 466 Iraqis since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
A report released March 22 by the group Refugees International calls the flight of Iraqis from war-torn Iraq "the world's fastest growing displacement crisis." Displacement is taking place within Iraq as well.
The United Nations estimates there are now 1.9 million internally displaced Iraqis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says about 12 percent of Iraq's population of about 25 million will be displaced by the end of the year.
The UNHCR says also that about two million Iraqis have fled the country, mostly to Syria, Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, and Turkey. More than 1.5 million have fled to Syria alone.
And almost all came with nothing except what cash they could find to take.
"I was a financial manager of seven companies in Baghdad, but I had to leave my house, my car, and just about everything," said 32-year-old Ali Ahmed.
After militiamen fired at his car in the once up-market Mansoor district of Baghdad, Ali fled to Jordan. He returned, but his car was attacked again. Six men from his company were killed in the attack. And that was not all.
"We had 11 engineers from one company detained by the Mahdi Army [the militia of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr]," he said. "We never heard from them again. I knew then that I had to drop everything and run for my life."
Ali does not see himself returning soon. "I don't expect to go back for at least 15-20 years. I have left everything behind, and now I have nothing but a small food store I run here. But it is not enough. Not the UN, nor any government, least of all the Iraqi government, is doing enough to help us."
Short of both funds and staff, the UNHCR is unable to provide adequate assistance to Iraqi refugees. The agency lacks the resources even to process refugees' documentation.
The UNHCR budget in Syria for Iraqis in 2006 was $700,000, less than one dollar per refugee. It is the only UN agency assisting Iraqis in Lebanon and Jordan.
The most desperate Iraqi refugees receive food, but there is no cash available for distribution.
(Inter Press Service)
by Dahr Jamail
DAMASCUS - Salim Hamad, 33, glances at the sprawling buildings of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus and sees business. He has set up a small tea shop at the camp.
"I left everything behind," he told IPS. "I have no idea what became of my house."
Salim, a railways worker in Baghdad, sold his car and furniture to raise money to bring his wife and three children to Damascus five months ago. Syria it had to be, because by then Jordan's government was no longer letting in men his age.
He found the money to get to Syria, where he has all of a tea shop now, and that makes him one of the luckier Iraqis who could flee.
Yarmouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of Damascus, has long been home to more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees. It is a set of tall apartment buildings separated by small alleys stuffed with shops.
It is one of the better refugee camps. Most refugees have running water, electricity, and other basic services.
Now tens of thousands of Iraqis have flooded into Yarmouk. The exact number is unknown.
Iraqis also head for the Jaramana and the Sayada Zainab camps, besides countless other areas where they gather to live in smaller groups. The refugees are not allowed to work by law, and most have to live off their savings and are desperate for assistance.
"I left Baghdad in order to keep my family alive," Qasim Jubouri, who was a banker, told IPS. "Of course we all fled with none of our belongings."
Now the money he brought is running out, and he has no idea how he will feed his family beyond survival at a camp.
"I ask all nations, particularly the United States, to do all that they can to help us," he said. "Since the U.S. government caused all of this, shouldn't they also be responsible for helping us now?"
Thus far the Bush administration has issued visas to 466 Iraqis since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
A report released March 22 by the group Refugees International calls the flight of Iraqis from war-torn Iraq "the world's fastest growing displacement crisis." Displacement is taking place within Iraq as well.
The United Nations estimates there are now 1.9 million internally displaced Iraqis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says about 12 percent of Iraq's population of about 25 million will be displaced by the end of the year.
The UNHCR says also that about two million Iraqis have fled the country, mostly to Syria, Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, and Turkey. More than 1.5 million have fled to Syria alone.
And almost all came with nothing except what cash they could find to take.
"I was a financial manager of seven companies in Baghdad, but I had to leave my house, my car, and just about everything," said 32-year-old Ali Ahmed.
After militiamen fired at his car in the once up-market Mansoor district of Baghdad, Ali fled to Jordan. He returned, but his car was attacked again. Six men from his company were killed in the attack. And that was not all.
"We had 11 engineers from one company detained by the Mahdi Army [the militia of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr]," he said. "We never heard from them again. I knew then that I had to drop everything and run for my life."
Ali does not see himself returning soon. "I don't expect to go back for at least 15-20 years. I have left everything behind, and now I have nothing but a small food store I run here. But it is not enough. Not the UN, nor any government, least of all the Iraqi government, is doing enough to help us."
Short of both funds and staff, the UNHCR is unable to provide adequate assistance to Iraqi refugees. The agency lacks the resources even to process refugees' documentation.
The UNHCR budget in Syria for Iraqis in 2006 was $700,000, less than one dollar per refugee. It is the only UN agency assisting Iraqis in Lebanon and Jordan.
The most desperate Iraqi refugees receive food, but there is no cash available for distribution.
(Inter Press Service)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Darfur not part of War on Terror?!
Qaeda urges attacks on Darfur force, talks questioned By Andrew Heavens
Thu Sep 20, 11:48 AM ET
Al Qaeda urged Sudanese Muslims on Thursday to fight African Union and United Nations peacekeeping troops in Darfur as rebels cast doubt on whether peace talks to pave the way for the force could succeed.
Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called for a holy war on the troops that he said were invading Darfur, and criticized Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for accepting the 26,000-strong joint A.U.-U.N. operation.
"Bashir announced before that he would oppose the deployment of international troops to Darfur ... but this was a lie ... and he backtracked step by step until he had agreed to everything they imposed on him," Zawahri said in an 80-minute video.
Zawahri accused Bashir of abandoning his Muslim brothers to appease the United States and said he did not deserve the protection of Muslims.
"The free mujahideen sons of Sudan must organise jihad against the forces invading Darfur," he said.
A Sudanese Armed Forces spokesman denied any Al Qaeda presence in Sudan, while a diplomatic source in Khartoum said the joint U.N.-A.U. mission was watching developments closely after Zawahri's statement.
"The borders in Sudan are porous and it would not be hard for people to move around," the source said.
Opposition and rebel groups said Al Qaeda would not be welcomed in Sudan.
"These forces are coming to protect Darfuris and the Darfuris need peace," said Bashir Adam Rahma, a leading member of the Islamist-oriented opposition Popular Congress Party. "I believe the people of Darfur will fight anybody who tries to fight these forces."
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced in more than four years of conflict in Darfur, figures that Khartoum dismisses.
Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman for the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said: "We want them to stay away, out of Darfur. Darfur is not their land. The Muslims of Darfur have nothing to do with al-Qaeda."
DELAY URGED
A Darfur rebel leader said October peace talks with Sudan's government to establish stability in Sudan's remote west ahead of the full roll out of peacekeepers should be postponed.
Ahmed Abdel Shafie, head of a breakaway faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, was the third senior rebel leader to question the U.N. and A.U.-brokered talks planned for Libya on October 27, saying violence was impeding preparations.
"The parties to the conflict in Darfur are not yet prepared to enter into genuine political negotiations," the faction said in a statement.
The comments came a week after the head of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim said that continued clashes with government troops might make it impossible for him to leave his fighters to attend the talks.
Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, another SLM faction leader who lives in Paris, has said he would refuse to attend any peace talks before the arrival the peacekeepers.
Five rebel groups, including JEM and SLM factions, held a second day of negotiations in the Chadian capital N'Djamena on Thursday to hammer out a common position on the peace talks.
A conference on Darfur between the United Nations and the African Union is due to take place in New York on Friday.
Abdel Shafie said he was not yet threatening to pull out of the Libya talks, saying: "We are demanding a few months of calm, but the precise period of time is up for negotiation. If our demands are not met, it will be very hard for these peace talks to succeed."
(Additional reporting by Simon Apiku in Khartoum and Lin Noueihed in Dubai)
Thu Sep 20, 11:48 AM ET
Al Qaeda urged Sudanese Muslims on Thursday to fight African Union and United Nations peacekeeping troops in Darfur as rebels cast doubt on whether peace talks to pave the way for the force could succeed.
Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called for a holy war on the troops that he said were invading Darfur, and criticized Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for accepting the 26,000-strong joint A.U.-U.N. operation.
"Bashir announced before that he would oppose the deployment of international troops to Darfur ... but this was a lie ... and he backtracked step by step until he had agreed to everything they imposed on him," Zawahri said in an 80-minute video.
Zawahri accused Bashir of abandoning his Muslim brothers to appease the United States and said he did not deserve the protection of Muslims.
"The free mujahideen sons of Sudan must organise jihad against the forces invading Darfur," he said.
A Sudanese Armed Forces spokesman denied any Al Qaeda presence in Sudan, while a diplomatic source in Khartoum said the joint U.N.-A.U. mission was watching developments closely after Zawahri's statement.
"The borders in Sudan are porous and it would not be hard for people to move around," the source said.
Opposition and rebel groups said Al Qaeda would not be welcomed in Sudan.
"These forces are coming to protect Darfuris and the Darfuris need peace," said Bashir Adam Rahma, a leading member of the Islamist-oriented opposition Popular Congress Party. "I believe the people of Darfur will fight anybody who tries to fight these forces."
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced in more than four years of conflict in Darfur, figures that Khartoum dismisses.
Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman for the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said: "We want them to stay away, out of Darfur. Darfur is not their land. The Muslims of Darfur have nothing to do with al-Qaeda."
DELAY URGED
A Darfur rebel leader said October peace talks with Sudan's government to establish stability in Sudan's remote west ahead of the full roll out of peacekeepers should be postponed.
Ahmed Abdel Shafie, head of a breakaway faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, was the third senior rebel leader to question the U.N. and A.U.-brokered talks planned for Libya on October 27, saying violence was impeding preparations.
"The parties to the conflict in Darfur are not yet prepared to enter into genuine political negotiations," the faction said in a statement.
The comments came a week after the head of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim said that continued clashes with government troops might make it impossible for him to leave his fighters to attend the talks.
Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, another SLM faction leader who lives in Paris, has said he would refuse to attend any peace talks before the arrival the peacekeepers.
Five rebel groups, including JEM and SLM factions, held a second day of negotiations in the Chadian capital N'Djamena on Thursday to hammer out a common position on the peace talks.
A conference on Darfur between the United Nations and the African Union is due to take place in New York on Friday.
Abdel Shafie said he was not yet threatening to pull out of the Libya talks, saying: "We are demanding a few months of calm, but the precise period of time is up for negotiation. If our demands are not met, it will be very hard for these peace talks to succeed."
(Additional reporting by Simon Apiku in Khartoum and Lin Noueihed in Dubai)
Monday, September 10, 2007
Help us! Sign your name! Pass on! Do it!
WE ARE SO CLOSE---Think you can't help or do anything of significance to make a difference? WRONG! Add your name! Send on to a friend! Be a part of saying no more to Genocide NOW! 10 years is LONG enough! Help end their suffering NOW! xxxo Jill
The UN has authorized a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur. Now we must ensure that President Bush upholds the U.S. commitment to support the peacekeeping mission when the UN General Assembly meets on September 18th.
Our goal is to send 100,000 messages by the 18th urging the president to uphold his commitment.
Help us reach our goal! Click the URL below now to send your message.
http://ga6.org/campaign/unga_petition
Although the UN-AU peacekeeping mission will not include U.S. troops, it will require U.S. funding, equipment, and diplomatic support to be effective!!!
It is crucial that world leaders like President Bush stick to their commitments to Darfur and help ensure the rapid deployment of the peacekeepers.
Please make sure President Bush gets the message before the UN General Assembly meets on the 18th. Click the link below to send your email urging President Bush to support the Darfur peacekeepers.
http://ga6.org/campaign/unga_petition
The upcoming UN General Assembly meeting will be crucial to ending the crisis in Darfur. But we have only one week left to make sure that the White House gets flooded with messages urging them to support the peacekeepers before the UN General Assembly meets. Please click the link below to help us reach the goal.
http://ga6.org/campaign/unga_petition
Then please forward this message to your friends and family and ask them to join you.
If you'd like to make a donation to support the campaign, visit the link below now: http://www.SaveDarfur.org/Donate
Thank you for your help.
The UN has authorized a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur. Now we must ensure that President Bush upholds the U.S. commitment to support the peacekeeping mission when the UN General Assembly meets on September 18th.
Our goal is to send 100,000 messages by the 18th urging the president to uphold his commitment.
Help us reach our goal! Click the URL below now to send your message.
http://ga6.org/campaign/unga_petition
Although the UN-AU peacekeeping mission will not include U.S. troops, it will require U.S. funding, equipment, and diplomatic support to be effective!!!
It is crucial that world leaders like President Bush stick to their commitments to Darfur and help ensure the rapid deployment of the peacekeepers.
Please make sure President Bush gets the message before the UN General Assembly meets on the 18th. Click the link below to send your email urging President Bush to support the Darfur peacekeepers.
http://ga6.org/campaign/unga_petition
The upcoming UN General Assembly meeting will be crucial to ending the crisis in Darfur. But we have only one week left to make sure that the White House gets flooded with messages urging them to support the peacekeepers before the UN General Assembly meets. Please click the link below to help us reach the goal.
http://ga6.org/campaign/unga_petition
Then please forward this message to your friends and family and ask them to join you.
If you'd like to make a donation to support the campaign, visit the link below now: http://www.SaveDarfur.org/Donate
Thank you for your help.
climate change agreement
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago
Pacific Rim nations reached tentative agreement on the need "to slow, stop and then reverse" climate change, setting nonbinding goals to improve energy use, according to a draft statement Saturday.
The draft statement that leaders at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit will consider Saturday struck a compromise between rich and developing nations. It set a target to reduce energy intensity 25 percent by 2030 — a demand by Australia, backed by the United States.
It also affirmed that climate change negotiations should take place under United Nations' auspices, a demand of China and other developing nations.
If President Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao and the 19 other leaders accepted the draft statement, it would mark a victory for Australia and the U.S., which have sought to persuade China and other developing nations to commit to firmer goals for combatting global warming.
"Everybody cannot get everything, but everybody did not lose too much," said Salman Al-Farisi, an Indonesian official involved in the talks that drafted the agreement.
With the leaders meeting far behind a security cordon at the Sydney Opera House, activist groups hoped 20,000 people would turn out Saturday for a march against Bush, the Iraq war and corporate interests. About 1,000 protesters scuffled with police Friday near a summit hotel.
Leaders will try to approve the climate change declaration Saturday before Bush leaves early.
APEC includes four of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming — the U.S., China, Russia and Japan — so an agreement could potentially affect the wider international debate on addressing climate change.
Officials said earlier in the week that it was almost certain some kind of agreement would be worked out, but it wasn't clear if the draft would be acceptable to all the leaders.
The draft statement included two goals that Australia wanted APEC to agree on. It called for the reduction of "energy intensity" — the amount of energy needed to produce economic growth — and increasing forest cover in the region by at least 50 million acres by 2020. Forests help absorb the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Both goals are nonbinding in keeping with APEC's voluntary, consensus-based approach.
"We support a flexible arrangement that recognizes diverse approaches," the draft said.
In a concession to developing countries, the statement recognizes "common but differentiated responsibilities" in combating climate change. The phrase means richer nations will have to bear more of the financial costs and other burdens in cutting carbon emissions.
The draft calls for laying the groundwork for a new climate change agreement to replace the U.N.-backed Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. A series of meetings on a Kyoto successor will take place in coming months, including U.N. meeting in Bali in December.
Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard hoped an APEC agreement would bring a new international consensus on global warming. The U.S. and Australia refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in part because it exempted developing nations from stringent emissions targets imposed on industrialized countries.
Aside from climate change, the APEC leaders were expected to issue a statement urging a renewed push in stalled global trade talks.
On the sidelines of the summit, Bush debated Russian President Vladimir Putin on missile defense and held a testy exchange with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on forging a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.
Bush, Howard and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe planned a breakfast meeting Saturday on security issues, drawing criticism from China, which fears encirclement.
___
Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk and Tom Raum contributed to this report.
Pacific Rim nations reached tentative agreement on the need "to slow, stop and then reverse" climate change, setting nonbinding goals to improve energy use, according to a draft statement Saturday.
The draft statement that leaders at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit will consider Saturday struck a compromise between rich and developing nations. It set a target to reduce energy intensity 25 percent by 2030 — a demand by Australia, backed by the United States.
It also affirmed that climate change negotiations should take place under United Nations' auspices, a demand of China and other developing nations.
If President Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao and the 19 other leaders accepted the draft statement, it would mark a victory for Australia and the U.S., which have sought to persuade China and other developing nations to commit to firmer goals for combatting global warming.
"Everybody cannot get everything, but everybody did not lose too much," said Salman Al-Farisi, an Indonesian official involved in the talks that drafted the agreement.
With the leaders meeting far behind a security cordon at the Sydney Opera House, activist groups hoped 20,000 people would turn out Saturday for a march against Bush, the Iraq war and corporate interests. About 1,000 protesters scuffled with police Friday near a summit hotel.
Leaders will try to approve the climate change declaration Saturday before Bush leaves early.
APEC includes four of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming — the U.S., China, Russia and Japan — so an agreement could potentially affect the wider international debate on addressing climate change.
Officials said earlier in the week that it was almost certain some kind of agreement would be worked out, but it wasn't clear if the draft would be acceptable to all the leaders.
The draft statement included two goals that Australia wanted APEC to agree on. It called for the reduction of "energy intensity" — the amount of energy needed to produce economic growth — and increasing forest cover in the region by at least 50 million acres by 2020. Forests help absorb the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Both goals are nonbinding in keeping with APEC's voluntary, consensus-based approach.
"We support a flexible arrangement that recognizes diverse approaches," the draft said.
In a concession to developing countries, the statement recognizes "common but differentiated responsibilities" in combating climate change. The phrase means richer nations will have to bear more of the financial costs and other burdens in cutting carbon emissions.
The draft calls for laying the groundwork for a new climate change agreement to replace the U.N.-backed Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. A series of meetings on a Kyoto successor will take place in coming months, including U.N. meeting in Bali in December.
Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard hoped an APEC agreement would bring a new international consensus on global warming. The U.S. and Australia refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in part because it exempted developing nations from stringent emissions targets imposed on industrialized countries.
Aside from climate change, the APEC leaders were expected to issue a statement urging a renewed push in stalled global trade talks.
On the sidelines of the summit, Bush debated Russian President Vladimir Putin on missile defense and held a testy exchange with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on forging a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.
Bush, Howard and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe planned a breakfast meeting Saturday on security issues, drawing criticism from China, which fears encirclement.
___
Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk and Tom Raum contributed to this report.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
