by Bia Assevero
- USA -

It didn't take a genius to predict that Nicolas Sarkozy was going to be a president, the likes of which France had never seen before. But no one, not even Nostradamus, could have predicted where things would stand after Sarkozy’s first nine months in office.

His approval ratings are plummeting, hitting new low after new low, but it’s not because of his politics. Truth be told, Sarkozy has made very little progress on the reforms that he swore he would execute, but he’s hardly the first politician to break campaign promises.

So why then, are the French people cringing in horror at their president’s behavior?

by Vera von Kreutzbruck
- Germany -

This year’s 58th International Film Festival in Berlin is offering a heterogeneous mix of topics and genres with many documentaries, a lot of pathos, a few lost souls, war and violence, politics as usual, and last but not least, some comedy.

by Rose-Anne Clermont
- Germany -

They leave holding only their children's small hands in their own. A crumpled photo of a relative might find its place among their few possessions. Most often it is nothing more than a prospect—of safety, peace, or a new chance at life—that accompanies millions of people who flee their homes.

• Kenyan women flee the post-election violence with their belongings on their backs. Photo courtesy of the Humanitarian Coalition. •

Two women we have now come to know by name, Barbara and Renée, were lucky. Barbara didn't squeeze herself into the back of a VW Bug to get across the East German border. Renée did not cling for her life on a shabby boat in shark infested waters to get to America. They did, however, leave their homes and their families for a chance at a better life, a decision, which is never free from risk or worry.

Renée left Haiti with her husband in 1966 so that he could finish his medical studies in Canada. Uncertain of what lay ahead, they left behind their infant daughter and paid off a Haitian official to let them out of the country. Although a newly married couple, they sat separately on the plane to avoid suspicion by Canadian officials that they might be planning to stay. Their efforts would prove futile.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Forty years of unending gang violence between rival gangs, the Bloods and Crips, has killed over 15,000 people in South Central Los Angeles. It seems counterintuitive that one of the most dangerous places in the United States is so close to one of the most famous places on earth; the sunny palm tree lined streets of Hollywood seem worlds away from the dangerous and economically depressed streets of South Central LA. But the sad reality is that children are regularly gunned-down while walking to school at 10 a.m. a mere twenty-five miles from Disneyland.

• Playboy Gangstas Crip, Nikko De. Photo courtesy of the filmmakers. •

The film’s director Stacy Peralta is no stranger to the rough side of Southern California; his rise to fame as skateboarder who revolutionized the sport on the seedy sidewalks of Venice Beach in the 1970s is chronicled in the documentary film Dogtown and Z-Boys (which he also directed) and in the feature film The Lords of Dogtown. Besides Peralta, this film has an extraordinary amount of star power behind it, especially for a documentary: actor Forest Whitaker narrates and NBA star Baron Davis, who was raised by his grandmother in South Central LA, financed and produced the film.

by Philo Ikonya
- Kenya -

Dear Njeri,

Tonight, I am unable to sleep. You see, my country - our country - is on fire. It is almost the end of February: is it the end of Kenya as we knew it? Kenya beloved and full of potential. Kenya our country.

• A woman seeks refuge in a church, one of the many internally displaced people fleeing Kenya's violence. Photograph courtesy of the Human Coalition. •

Before we had passed the years when we could only turn on BBC for trustworthy news even before we elected Kibaki on a reform platform in 2002, let me come back to how I feel and why I am unable to sleep. It is because of you Njeri, my sister in the struggle. It is because you told us how you have received persistent death threats because you believe in human rights and standing up for the truth. I have to write this letter to you tonight, even if it is an hour to midnight.

by Constance Manika
- Zimbabwe -

On March 11th, 2007, 64 year old Sekai Holland woke up unusually early. She was restless and anxious because of the scheduled protests that her party was going to go ahead with against the police's will. She knew it was going to get nasty.

by Shailja Patel
- Kenya -

A February 7th article in The Economist, "Ethnic Cleansing in Luoland," dangerously presents the crisis in Kenya as an issue of inter-communal violence. It focuses on the violent attacks on Kikuyu Kenyans in Western Kenya, by their Luo neighbors, following the December 27th election.

The term "ethnic cleansing" is both inaccurate and unhelpful to Kenya's current crisis. It fuels the buildup by the Kibaki (Party of National Unity) camp to the declaration of a state of emergency, the deployment of the military or, worse, the usurpation of civilian governance by military governance.

Unquestionably, victims of the current violence experience the violence as being directed at their ethnicity. But the violence is politically instigated. It finds ethnic expression or manifests itself ethnically because Kenyan politics are organized ethnically.

by Rose-Anne Clermont
- Germany -

Before we had our own children, my husband and I began sponsoring a child in Senegal named Absa, a pretty little girl with clever eyes.

• Absa in Senegal. Photo courtesy of World Vision Germany. •

It has been seven years and our children know the pictures of Absa, standing behind a large wooden bowl and holding onto a tall wooden mortar.

Recently, we received a check-list with a blank space next to school attendance. My eyes rested on the latest picture of Absa, now almost a woman, and I wondered what would become of her?

I called the aid organization and asked why Absa was no longer in school. The woman on the other end of the telephone line sighed.

by Nomi Prins
- USA -

Depending on the measure of ‘liberalness’ used to evaluate past voting records, there is next to no difference between Clinton and Obama. In fact, with all her emphasis on ‘experience’ and his on ‘change,’ their voting patterns are almost identical. Both follow the party line, 97.1% of the time for Clinton, 96.5% for Obama - which doesn’t particularly highlight unique experience nor change.

• Finding her voice, Clinton campaigns in Arizona. Photograph by Dugi Jenkins. •

So, does the mere rhetoric of change trump the reality of past behavior? And is unity amongst political views – ‘no red states or blue states, just the United States’ - really a philosophy that will provide the majority of Americans (not the middle class, but the non-wealthy class) a more secure domestic future? Will that philosophy be able to drive more legislation and assure that funds are spent on equalizing citizens? What is needed is to lower the cost and expand the availability of necessities like health care, education, gas and energy, a home that the banking system isn’t stealing, and financial stability from birth through retirement.

by Bia Assevero
- USA -

Are you bored yet?

Have you seen one talking head too many?

Does exit poll sound like a dirty word?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then fear not. You are very probably not alone. We are one year on from the launch of the party nomination campaigns. By the time the next President is elected in November 2008, we will have survived nearly two years of constant and intense political bombardment. In a country that is big on instant gratification and where attention spans can be shorter than one episode of American Idol, this is to put it mildly, a problem.

For as much as Republican and Democratic candidates have bandied about the word change - as if it was the latest “in” word, something a teenager might use in lieu of “whatever” or “as if” or “wicked” – the process itself is unchanged. The candidates’ policies and positions are forced to take a back seat because the elections process itself is flawed.

by Natasha Dokovska
- Macedonia -

“I have seven children, I don't work, neither does my wife. For many years I thought about selling my kidney so I could give my children a better life, but just recently I found someone to buy it,” says 40 year old Ekrem. He explains that it was not a difficult choice because the 1,000 Euro ($1,465 USD) he got as compensation for the lost kidney will enable him to mend some holes in his home, pay electricity bills, and get enough firewood to last for the rest of the winter.

“Fortunately this was not a cold winter so we managed to keep warm with what we've got, otherwise we would have frozen to death,” says Ekrem.

Ekrem is one of the many Macedonian citizens who see selling their organs as a chance to save themselves from poverty. He does not consider the consequences. According to a Macedonian organization that works with people with kidney diseases, for Ekrem and about a hundred other Roma citizens in the country, it is the only way to offer a modest life for their children.

by Lelety Mabasa
- Zimbabwe -

There was chaos and pandemonium at Harare’s city center on January 23rd, as thousands of ordinary people came face-to-face with the wrath of the police’s riot squad, who were summoned by Zimbabwe’s aging President, Robert Mugabe. That day, about 40,000 people, including shoppers, workers on lunch break and those who were in bank queues joined together to form the largest procession ever seen in Harare. They were intent on peacefully expressing their disgruntlement over the country’s continued economic meltdown, now in its eighth year. Thirty-seven Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters were injured in the skirmishes, 21 of them seriously, when the police tear gassed and beat them up as they headed towards Glamis Stadium where MDC’s president, Morgan Tsvangirai was due to address them.

Before dawn at 4:30am, plainclothes policemen from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Law and Order section had swooped down on Tsvangirai’s residence and arrested him. They also arrested two other MDC officials, Ian Makone, the party’s Secretary for Elections, and Dennis Murira, Director of Elections. The three were detained for more than four hours at Harare Central Police Station where they were quizzed about their party’s intention to “cause mayhem in the city.”

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

If you want to see interesting independent films and the movie stars in them, the Sundance film festival, held in the picturesque ski town of Park City, Utah, is the place to go. The annual festival attracts movie stars, independent filmmakers, studio executives, journalists, and people who love movies. Sundance has gained a reputation as the premier American film festival for independent feature films and documentaries. Although the festival itself has an air of exclusivity, to me and most people who care about film, the independent films shown represent film at its best: a medium that transcends boundaries and moves people to a greater understanding of humanity, even if the world they’re watching is completely foreign to them.

by Rose-Anne Clermont
- Germany -

As a child, my parents told me almost every day to be grateful for the food on my plate. When I occasionally grimaced at the offerings, my father would say, “No problem, we can put you on a plane tomorrow. There are plenty of kids in my hometown who would love to trade places with you.” I took my father only half seriously, but was still too young to be completely sure. It wasn’t until I saw true poverty for myself, that I understood just how quickly another little girl would have taken my place at our table; delighted to sit behind a mound of food that I was too spoiled and finicky to finish.

I was seven years old when I first went to Haiti, and I will never forget the other children my age who smiled at me in wonder, their bare feet scurrying across the hard pavement. To see their bones poking through their skin made my own bones ache. Every time they smiled at me, despite me having everything they didn’t, a piece of my naïveté drifted away.

by Michelle Chen
- USA -

Feb. 5th - Today marks Fat Tuesday in New Orleans and the most celebrated day of Mardi Gras festivities. As thousands of visitors flock to the city to celebrate, thousands more have yet to return home. - Ed.

• Despite demonstrations and resistance, the demolition of New Orleans' public housing continues. Photograph by
Mavis Yorks. •

Her home survived Hurricane Katrina, but it will crumble under the city’s plan to demolish low-income housing in the name of “redevelopment.”

To the 33 year-old single mother of three, the officials pushing to raze St. Bernard are carrying out disaster by design. “How could they just get away with it?” she asks.

The pending demolition of the St. Bernard, B.W. Cooper, C.J. Peete, and Lafitte projects has confirmed the fears of the city’s poorest, blackest, and hardest hit communities: that New Orleans’ “recovery” in the wake of the storm is built on the city’s old demons of racial and class strife.

by Nomi Prins
- USA -

Earlier this week, speaking for Washingtonia and unburdened by high expectations, President Bush said “all of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people’s business.”

• President Bush delivers the State of the Union address flanked by Vice President Cheney (left) and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Photo by Eric Draper, courtesy of The White House. •

Because if it’s the majority of the population, and it’s life not war, we’re not even close to having it carried out.

He acknowledged, “at kitchen tables across our country, there is a concern about our economic future.”

The question remains – our? Who do you mean by ‘our’, Mr. Bush?

Because for three-quarters of the population’s kitchen table concerns are over gas costs, health insurance, debt payments, tuition, and home values. For nearly 24% of the population, depending on what race you are, the issue of paying for one’s next meal and balancing child-care with multiple jobs is center stage.

by Susan Lavine
- USA -

Quoting from a historic speech given by Robert F. Kennedy during his visit to South Africa in 1966 to show solidarity with Martin Luther King and South Africa’s struggle for civil rights, Barack Obama brought his campaign to American University in Washington, DC. As Obama eloquently calmed the crowd he recited the words, “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.”