Despite increasing bans on tobacco use, smoking cigars had, and will continue to have, universal appeal. As trade embargo on Cuban cigars in the U.S. is still in place, it is good to remember one of Cuban cigars’ greatest fans, the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy. And we can reminisce of an historic moment in US/Cuba relations when President Kennedy almost broke his own embargo against the Caribbean country. We know the details from Kennedy’s former press secretary, the ebullient Pierre Salinger.

President Kennedy is just one of many famous historical figures who loved to smoke cigars. Sigmund Freud was a big addict, smoking up to 20 cigars a day, which probably was the reason for the mouth cancer that led to his death. In a conversation with Carl Gustav Jung, where they were probably discussing the allegoric meaning of cigars, Freud is supposed to have said, “You know, Carl, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

Winston Churchill, who loved to dunk his cigars in port wine or brandy, dressed an iconic figure during WWII holding a cigar in his hand. In more recent times, former president Bill Clinton was known to have enjoyed smoking cigars, although this is a pleasure now denied him out of concerns for his health.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Karl Marx was also a passionate smoker. However, both for theoretical and practical reasons he only smoked the cheapest cigars. As Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the famous Cuban writer, says in his book “Holy Smoke,” “All of them [were] of the ‘cheap and nasty’ variety; therefore the cigars Marx smoked were feared by all his friends.”

Aside from Cuban cigars, President Kennedy is known to have enjoyed Philippine cigars, probably the Alhambra brand, one of the mildest cigars made by the Philippines’ largest cigar maker, La Flor de la Isabela. President Kennedy’s favorite Cuban cigar was the Petit Upmann, also considered a mild to medium kind of cigar.

In an article published in 1996 in Cigar Aficionado, entitled “Cigars & Che & JFK” Richard Goodwin who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and who was instructed by Kennedy to draw up the executive order invoking the Trading with the Enemy Act against Castro’s Cuba, tells of a little know incident involving Che Guevara and President Kennedy.

In August of 1961, there was a meeting of all the American nations at Punta del Este, a seaside resort in Uruguay. It was there that Richard Goodwin met Che Guevara. Aware of Kennedy’s preference for Cuban cigars, Guevara gave Goodwin two cigar boxes, one for him and the other for Kennedy.

The cigar box for Kennedy was inlaid with the Cuban seal, and had a note to Kennedy in Spanish which said, “Since I have no greeting card, I have to write. Since to write to an enemy is difficult, I limit myself to extending my hand.” The note was signed “Che” over the typewritten “Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara.”

Further details of Kennedy’s predilection for Cuban cigars are detailed by Salinger in an article published in 2002 in Cigar Aficionado. Several months after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in April 1961, President Kennedy called Pierre Salinger to his office and told him that he needed some help. Always solicitous, Salinger asked him what he wanted. “I need a lot of cigars, Pierre,” Kennedy told Salinger.

“How many do you need, Mr. President,” asked Salinger. “About 1,000 Petit Upmanns,” said Kennedy. When told that Kennedy needed them by next morning Salinger shuddered, knowing how difficult it would be to get them. However, being a cigar aficionado himself, Salinger knew of places where he could obtain them. So next morning, as soon as he arrived in his office he was called by Kennedy who asked him how he had done on his errand. “Very well, Mr. President,” answered Salinger. He had gotten 1,200 Petit Upmann, among the best of Cuban cigars which he handed to Kennedy.

Kennedy smiled, opened his desk and took a long paper which he immediately signed. It was a decree by which he broadened all trade restrictions originally imposed by President Dwight Eisenhower to a ban on all trade with Cuba. The embargo on Cuban cigars has been effective since February 7, 1962.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, a New York writer, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

The Supreme Court in Mexico upheld the anti-abortion constitutional amendment added into the Baja California state constitution which asserts that life begins at conception.

• Mexico City. Photograph by Flickr user schlaeger used under a Creative Commons license. •

While 7 out of 11 members of the Supreme Court ruled this legislation as unconstitutional, they needed 8 to overturn it. The justices believe that this is an issue to be determined by state, not federal legislation. Mexico City remains one of the areas in Mexico that allows abortions up to 12 weeks. In all states, abortion is permitted in cases of rape or cases that pose severe health risks, although pro-choice activists do not believe that this is always upheld.

Should government be able to make a decision in regards to when life begins?

There's a desperate search on for a female university student in Nigeria. Some want to silence her. Others want to protect her.

On August 16, the unidentified woman was gang-raped by five male students at Abia State University -- for hours, as she begged first for mercy, and then for her rapists to kill her because of the pain. And it's all on video.

Change.org has joined bloggers and activists working to bring the victim to safety and her rapists to justice by starting a petition to Abia State University (ABSU) and state officials. Sign the petition to demand a full investigation into the videotaped rape in order to prosecute and convict the "ABSU 5" gang-rapists.

Over the past two weeks, bloggers and individuals around the world have put up reward money and used video imaging software to try to identify the victim and the rapists -- when the police should have been doing this all along. Unbelievably, state authorities have so far stymied efforts, preferring to deny the rape ever even happened under their watch.

Local women's groups fear that they're even out to silence the victim, perpetuating a culture of fear and shame around rape in Nigeria, where such crimes are dramatically under-reported and under-prosecuted.

The international outcry around the gang rape at ABSU will be decisive in protecting the victim and bringing justice. With the whole world watching, the victim may have the courage to come forward and press charges -- and other women who’ve been raped may come forward, too, when they previously would not have.

Global pressure is as important today as it was then. Demand the "ABSU 5" gang-rapists who videotaped their own crime pay for it with prison time. Sign the petition now at
http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-
the-absu-5-who-gang-raped-woman-in-nigeria-to-justice?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=PQjCvFyxOs_RlTiudUczK

and then send it to everyone you know.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

The Change.org team

Amy Poehler may have been dressed in the typical glittery-to-the-nines fashion at Sunday’s 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards; but when it came to the typical social graces of celebrity, that’s where Poehler subverted the rules.

For the past few years, award shows have become less likely to take themselves seriously, often parodying themselves - a nudge-nudge wink-wink to the audience who knows these shows are only memorable for their fashion and sound bites (There are limits—don’t make too much fun or you’ll be Gervaised out of their inner circle).

• Actress Amy Poehler. Photograph courtesy of Flickr user david_shankbone and used under a Creative Commons license. •

When presenter Rob Lowe read Poehler’s name from the list of nominees for lead comedy actress, she didn’t wait to hear the winner. Instead, she walked onstage with cocksure bravado and positioned herself near the podium with an “I got this” swagger.

Career ambition, competition is replicated for reality shows from Top Chef to Project Runway. We know what that looks like. But Poehler’s pre-victory stage walk challenged the image of women who don’t know their own worth. (Imagine if they did—maybe then, women as well as people of color and the working class—could finally get paid a fair salary.) Poehler’s Emmy persona had no problem with self-esteem. In 2011, humor should have no place for the “womanly” shtick of self-deprecation.

Yet Poehler’s strut also mirrored and mocked the way some men claim their power—it’s all in the shoulders, apparently. Many a man will walk into a room as if he owns it, even when he clearly doesn’t.

The message may have been unintentional, but any pop culture feminist worth her salt can’t ignore the fact that this was a woman who conquered the stage. If this had been a man—it would be business as usual. Another man full of himself—not exactly an act of transgression.

But this was a woman—and that changes everything.

Would the other nominees be in on the joke? According to the L.A. Times, Poehler had previously put together the takeover, even if it did have the feel of an improv. Melissa McCarthy, the next nominee on the list and a worthy follow-up to Poehler, rose from her seat, up for a fight with the attitude of “that’s how you want to play it—alright, it’s on.”

As the other nominees took the stage, the critique of the boy’s club faded into a stereotypical representation of women in competition: Tina Fey, the insecure girl; Edie Falco, the reluctant contestant who only wants a scholarship; Martha Plimpton, the obnoxious go-getter; and Laura Linney, a pageant pro with Vaseline on her teeth.

Despite the beauty pageant premise that had all six women holding hands like a Lifetime movie, it was an unmistakably feminist moment to see them standing together onstage, sharing the attention usually reserved for one winner. Gone was the hierarchy of award shows. Instead six women, who worked hard to be at the Emmys, were not sitting in their seats. They were sharing the power of walking on that stage. Many of the women (and men) in the audience must have felt that power too, because the nominees were given a standing ovation.

If this were a radically feminist moment, then someone would have torn up that envelope. But this is television, American television.

So they took the pageant motif as far as it would go—complete with roses and tiara for the beauty queen, Melissa McCarthy. Considering the thin blond cliché of traditional pageants, it was good to see McCarthy win—a real girl with a real body from Illinois. The other nominees graciously stepped aside for her “Emmy moment” and the award shows could rest easy with the hierarchy restored.

Whether she intended to or not, Amy Poehler’s performance at the Emmys showed us the power of being funny. Maybe that’s why there are people who would insist that women can’t be funny—because that’s how they try to take away that power. But Poehler and company have seen that view from the stage. There’s no turning back.

There was not a happier person in Barcelona last Saturday than an 11-year-old boy from Morocco, called Soufian. He saw his hero Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer player, slapping his thighs after scoring the first goal against the team called Osasuna. Following Messi’s goal, he lifted his hands in a characteristic gesture and immediately started slapping his thighs, a way he had agreed beforehand with Soufian so that he would know that this goal was dedicated to him.

Lionel Messi, considered the best soccer player in the world, had met Soufian last January and for some unforgettable minutes had played soccer with the Moroccan boy, a fan of his. When he met again the boy last Friday, he promised him that his first goal would be dedicated to him. And he kept his promise. It was a characteristic gesture of generosity by the most uncharacteristic, and talented, of all soccer players.

Soufian had lost both of his legs to Laurin-Sandrow disease, an extremely rare genetic condition. Set with artificial legs, he hadn’t lost his passion for soccer. And he feverishly followed Messi’s performances in Barcelona’s team. The Moroccan boy was never disappointed. Nor was the Spanish sportscaster disappointed either, aware of that promise, who kept yelling after that goal, “Messi is huge, Messi is huge!” When the game was finished, Messi’s team had defeated Osasuna 8-0, with two more goals from Messi, one of them a hat-trick.

The Moroccan boy is such a fan of Messi that he has his artificial legs painted with the colors of Messi’s team, called Barça. And he has also painted in them the number 10, Messi’s shirt number, usually given to the best player.

Since he was 19 Messi had decided to use part of the earnings from soccer to good causes. In 2007, he established the Leo Messi Foundation, a charity aimed at helping vulnerable children to gain access to better health and education opportunities. It was, perhaps, the way of expressing gratitude for overcoming his childhood health problems.

In a fan site interview Messi stated, “Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, particularly children.”

Messi came to Barcelona when he was 13-years-old, after being diagnosed with growth-hormone deficiency, which made him unable to grow at the same pace as children his age. He was then only 4 feet 7 inches. His soccer team, called River Plate, could not afford at the time the medical costs for treating his condition.

Barça’s sporting director, Carlos Rexach, aware of the boy’s talent, offered him a contract which included payment for treating his hormone deficiency. Since at the time he had no other paper at hand, Rexach drew the contract in a napkin, probably the only such contract in soccer’s history.

Although Messi now stands at 5-7, he uses his relatively short size to full advantage. He can easily dribble among three or four opponents with unstoppable speed until he can reach the opponents’ goalkeeper whom he usually also dribbles to score a goal. Because he is short, Messi’s nickname is The Flea, as he is widely known.

Messi’s foundation supports sick Argentine children (mostly from his hometown of Rosario) to allow them to get paid treatment in Spain, covering hospital, round-trip transportation from Argentina and recovery costs. In March 2010, Messi was also named Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, where he has been able to continue his work in support of vulnerable children.

Throughout his 24 years Messi has proven to be unique. He is unique as a soccer player and remarkable as a human being. He not only is the most recognizable face of soccer worldwide, he is a kind young man who brought hope and a brilliant smile to a young Moroccan boy.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York writer.

Hotel room at a Singapore resort: $253.

Discounted tickets to watch wild dolphins suffer in captivity: Priceless.

MasterCard is offering discounted tickets to the infamous Resorts World Sentosa, a resort in Singapore that recently kidnapped 27 wild dolphins for an exhibit. Two of those dolphins have already died, and the 25 other dolphins are being held in brutal conditions until construction of the exhibit is complete. The surviving dolphins' risks of illness and death increase with each day of captivity.

Statistics for captive dolphins are bleak. While dolphins in the wild usually live for 45 years, more than half of all captured dolphins die within their first two years of captivity. In tanks, dolphins swim around in circles. They can't hunt. They're exposed to bacteria that have been known to cause blindness and death.

Resorts World Sentosa has canceled ocean animal exhibits from public pressure in the past. With 100,000 Change.org members already calling for the resort to free its captive dolphins, financial pressure from Mastercard could push the resort to finally take action. Please sign the petition to ask Mastercard to cancel its ticket promotion to Resorts World Sentosa at:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-mastercard-stop-supporting-the-live-dolphin-trade

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- The Change.org team

Monsanto the corporation responsible for producing roughly 90% of genetically modified seeds around the globe, is working to bring their new, GMO "sweet corn" to a grocery store aisle or farmer's market near you.

Monsanto's GMO "sweet corn" is engineered to tolerate the herbicide Roundup, and to produce the insect-killing pesticide Bt. If that sounds dangerous to eat, there's good reason. A past study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences found that Monsanto's GMO corn led to organ failure in mammals.

This GMO corn has also recently been linked to a new pathogen causing crop failure and a sharp spike in livestock infertility — as high as 20% — which could potentially pose a health threat to humans as well. But shockingly, just as other GMO foods are not required to have special labeling, consumers will have no way of knowing if they're purchasing Monsanto's new genetically modified "sweet corn."

Some of Monsanto's GMO corn is already in human food — used to make additives in processed food products — and even in small quantities it's having scary effects. This past spring a Canadian study found that the GMO toxin inserted in Bt corn was found in the bloodstreams of 93 percent of pregnant women — just from its presence in processed grains and highly processed food products.

Now, grocery stores could be on the verge of delivering up this toxic corn, and its toxic effects, in much higher doses and without processing, and we wouldn't even know what we were eating.

We must raise our voice as consumers and urge grocery stores to reject Monsanto's potentially dangerous new product, and stop this dangerous trend of Monsanto-made, straight to table products.

As an activist and consumer, you are in a powerful position to pressure leading U.S. grocery stores to reject Monsanto's new GMO corn. Tell U.S. food companies: Americans and people all over the world don't want Monsanto's GMO "sweet corn" in grocery stores or markets!

Sign the Petition.

Thank you for standing up to Monsanto and its dangerous GMO products!

From: CREDO Action from Working Assets

For more information, read the articles below:

1. Monsanto Plans To Sell Sweet Corn In Your Local Supermarket August 8, 2011.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1771750/monsanto-reveals-sweet-corn-as-first-product-developed-for-the-consumer-market

2. Monsanto's GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure, Study Reveals March 18, 2011.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html

3. Dr. Huber's Warning: How GMOs Are Linked to Disease and Infertility May 4, 2011.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/dr_hubers_warning/

4. GM Food Toxins Found In The Blood of 93% of Unborn Babies May 20, 2011.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1388888/GM-food-toxins-blood-93-unborn-babies.html

The silent tears of women in Oloitoktok District of Kajiado County cannot go unnoticed and more importantly, cannot remain silent. For a long time, these women have suffered at the hands of their very own men. Women in Maasai culture own nothing, they inherit nothing and live their lives clamped under the authority of men. Maasai activists say it is nearly impossible to expect a Maasai woman to be elected to political office. But not any more as women are daring to walk the men’s path.

Here, patriarchy dominates and has gone unquestioned for decades until recently when women realized that they too, need a sense of belonging. And fast!

Oloitoktok is predominantly inhabited by the Maasai, a people with a strong sense of culture. This tribe is famously known for pastrolism, which is their major social and economic mainstay.

Cows are integral to Maasai lifestyle, providing them food and a livelihood, and are even part of their culture, with marriage customs revolving around the animal.

The town stretches right to the border of Tanzania and bustles with activities as international toursists enjoy the wildlife of Amboseli National Park, which lies a few kilometers from Oloitoktok.

Maasai culture propels men to positions of leadership in the community. Here male patriarchy dominates while the female gender is completely disregarded. Women are viewed as novices where leadership is concerned and are hardly given any opportunity to show their might. To a Maasai man, a woman is just like a child. She is there to listen and obey the rules and failure to adhere to that norm is risky. A woman is not supposed to go to school; that is the preserve of the male gender. She is there to procreate, cook and ensure that cows return home safely after grazing.

With the new constitution, opportunities for women are numerous and present a chance for women to excel in all areas and in all spheres. The document allows women to vie for elective seats as their male counterparts. Sadly, Oloitoktok women, save for a few ‘who have seen the light’ are not even aware of the gains in the constitution. Majority do not even know that Kenya has a new constitution as they are not even allowed by their men, to see the document. Those who have come across it are brainwashed by men, not to believe certain clauses that call for women emancipation. Non governmental organizations, civil society organizations, churches and other stakeholders have held rigorous education campaigns on the new constitution, particularly targeting women and this does not auger well with the male patriarchs. Men believe that if women get too knowledgeable about their gains in the constitution, they will outsmart them. Thus they continue to bury their heads in the sand and deny women of their basic rights. But the women will not be deterred by such suppression as they have woken up and are ready to battle it out with men, in leadership.

Retrogressive cultures barring women from advancing

In a recent trip to Oloitoktok, I came face to face with this thing called culture. It is true that the Maasai culture is beautiful if one looks at it from the dress code angle. Their colorful robes and beaded neck, ear and hair ornaments bring out the beauty in them.
They remove two down teeth and pull their ears as a sign of beauty. They are also known for their trademark long jumps which have over the decades yielded a lot of revenue from tourists. But with all the good accolades of their beautiful culture, comes the ugly side.

Early marriages; In Maasai land, the girl child is robbed of her youth and her education. Traditionally, when a girl attains the age of 8, she is sold by her father to older men, for marriage. Their suitors pay a few cows to the girl’s father and the deal is sealed. The price is often negotiated between the men; girls and their mothers have no say in the matter, hence no choice than to succumb.

Mothers are not even allowed to give any marital advice to their daughters, let alone prepare them for puberty. In this case, girls discover things on their own. The same culture views it a taboo for mothers to talk to their daughters on sexual matters.
At a tender age, the young girl, now forced into womanhood, starts giving birth. This is a major setback in as far as her education is concerned. She ends up being illiterate and hence cannot be considered in any leadership. This is a vicious cycle as the generations of girls continue to succumb to such acts.

Notably, polygamy is also part of Maasai culture. It is not uncommon that a teenage girl will become the second or third wife of an older man.

According to Ines Laufer, an online blogger, despite this procedure being often euphemistically referred to as “marriage”, it would be more appropriate to call it “slave trade”.

She adds, ”If we have a look under the surface of the Maasai’s exotic folklore, it becomes obvious that this “culture” consists first of all of scrupulously cultivated violence, and oppression against children and the female members of the society.”

Lilian Mogiti Nyandoro heads the governance project of a local NGO, Abantu for Development. Her project targets Oloitoktok women, with an aim to empower them to take positions of leadership. In a recent workshop for community leaders in the area, which I had the opportunity to attend, she questioned participants on the issue of culture.

“The reason why Maasai people continue to lag behind in many fronts is because they peg everything to culture,” she said adding that, there is nothing like culture but a ‘ghost’ thing portrayed as culture.

“Can you show me which book defines culture. Where is it quoted? It is not like law which is quoted and applied,” she challenged the participants. According to Lillian, “culture” contains a perfectly organized, ritualized and perfidy justified excess of women’s enslavement and sadistic male violence.

Despite many women organizations efforts to stop the vice, many girls are ending up in this trap. Women leaders in the area are up in arms and continue to challenge their men to stop the vice. Luckily the new constitution calls for an end to all forms of gender discrimination including early marriages and the women are using this clause to petition for their rights.

Esther S. Apale, Director of Ewang’an Women Unity Advocacy Program in Oloitoktok, says her organization has rescued several girls from marriage.

“We want our girls to go to school and become meaningful in the society,” she says adding that with the new constitution, her organization will ensure that women in the area venture into leadership.

Her organization has lobbied for women to be leaders in churches, schools, micro finance institutions and this has yielded positive results as the area now has more women in leadership.

“Illiteracy is a major hindrance here but you do not need a university degree to bring development in your area,” she says. And this is rightly so, as I realized that even those women who cannot read or right have very brilliant aspirations which they are ready to put into practice.

Female Genital Mutilation

After decades of awareness and campaigns, 93 to 99 percent of Maasai girls are still subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). FGM is the practice of cutting a woman’s clitoris and labia minore to inhibit the sexual desire and promiscuity among girls. Men value the act and consider it as a woman’s pride, with little regard to the effects associated with it. In this, they (men) take the right to buy as many female slaves as they can afford - and refuse to buy girls who have not been deprived of their sexuality.

When the government and other non-governmental Anti FGM-crusaders chastised Maasai men for practicing the vice, Maasai elders defended the act and warned the government to 'stop meddling with our culture.’

But what exactly is this culture? In my capacity as an advocate for women emancipation and a journalist, I sought to find out what was in this culture that its custodians will do nothing to let go.

“Men insist on the continuation of FGM as a way of maintaining the culture,” says Mary Kahingo, the only woman assistant chief in Namelok Sublocation of Kinama Location, Oloitoktok District.

As a woman leader, she is overwhelmed by that same culture that robs women of their womanhood and exposes them to excruciating pain and health hazards. On a normal day, she attends to so many FGM cases. She talks to men on the need to abandon the act and she is happy to note that some men are ready to stop it.

“When you bring men together and explain to them vividly without chest-thumping, they listen to you,” she says adding that she calls on men to support their women and not look down upon them.

FGM is banned in Kenya and carries criminal charges but it is still practices in some villages.

Domestic violence

The oppression of women is embedded in Maasai culture, despite the significant social and economic role they play within the community. They have to fetch water and feed the cows, build their houses, cook and maintain the home and look after the children. Looking after the animals is integral to the local economy although women face serious threats to their lives and security in doing this.

‘Women rarely get time to rest and look after themselves, “admits one Sarah Nkuraiya, 24. When we go to fetch water, we can be attacked by animals and men. We face the risks of being raped and no one can hear our pleas.

Nkuraiya was married at 13 years and now has six children.

Violence against women is common. The authoritarian position of men and the power dynamics within the family can be emphasised through domestic abuse.

‘I am up from 5 a.m. to cook breakfast to send the children to school on time. When my husband goes to the cattle shed and finds the animals are not fed, he comes and beats me,’ says Lankenua, 30.

Women face down when addressing their men and often, hold a strand of grass to apologize in advance, in case they offend men in their words.

Ray of hope

Mary Kahingo is a woman of substance. She is the only woman assistant chief in Namelok sub location, Kimana location of Oloitoktok District. Even as she works for the local government, she never fails to realize the other burden ahead of her - that of women empowerment.

"Women have so many problems because of the lack of education. As a leader, I am now trying to empower women, rescue those in early & abusive marriages, advocate for their education including married women."

Mary is not shy to stand in front of male elders to challenge them on the importance of educating girls.

“A woman standing in front of men and speaking up to them is generally unthinkable in Maasai culture, but I have managed to cross that river,” she admits.

You have to talk to the men; once they know what we are doing they understand. Now being an assistant chief, I am not afraid to tell male leaders to help women,’ she says.

Mary’s leadership is exemplary and her community describes her as the savior for women empowerment. She does not use chest thumping to raise issues but at the same time, is not cowed by men or culture. In her own capacity, she supports women organizations and urges women to form self help groups that would boost them economically. Women can now take charge of their own development; they are able to market their products better.

Maasai women are now educated about the new constitution. They are fully aware of the clause that calls for equal rights of women and men in the areas of owning property including land; rights to inheritance among many.

The bill of rights guarantees social, economic and cultural rights while recognition of the cultural practices that are harmful to women as being unlawful is big gain for women. In Oloitoktok, women can no longer be submissive to men especially where their rights are at stake.

As regards customary laws which usually discriminate against women, it will be a thing of the past in the new constitution. Oloitoktok women are elated with that clause.

Interestingly, men are coming up in large numbers to support women’s emancipation. The few I talked to want their women to be at par with women from other Kenyan region. They have vowed to support them in next year’s elections, right from the grassroots to national levels. They have realized that women are the bedrock of society for without them, no development can take place. This is seen as a radical departure to their hard-line stance of degrading women.

WLW and my dream to advocate for women’s rights

The Global Women’s Leadership Network in the US is organizing the Women’s Leaders for the World Program, slated for December 2011 and June 2012. I have applied for the December program. I believe it is the answer to my prayer. Its mission to ‘ignite a new future for humanity by galvanizing women leaders to bring us all to a world built upon social justice and economic sustainability,’ could not have come at a better time. I hope to fulfill my purpose of helping women become better beings and appreciating themselves. The knowledge I will learn from WLW will be quite resourceful to push my agenda forward. I have seen marginalized women in Oloitoktok grapple with ‘redefining’ themselves. They see themselves as second fiddle and I will teach them to see beyond that. As a leader, focusing on advocacy on women rights, I will go an extra mile to help women decipher the clauses in the new constitution that promotes their gains.

In recent times, I have been craving for leadership. I want to target marginalized women who claim for a sense of belonging. I could have easily chosen my own community but I realized that needy women in Oloitoktok need me more.
I hope to network with likeminded personalities and I invite everyone to assist me in the noble course.

Joyce J. Wangui is a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya who also publishes WIP feature stories. Please let us know if would like to support Joyce's vision to participate in this year's Women Leaders for the World Program.

Troy Davis has been on Georgia's death row for twenty years despite strong evidence of his innocence. His execution date is now scheduled for Wednesday, September 21, 2011. He has a hearing in front of the Georgia Board of Pardons & Paroles two days beforehand. We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There is too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!

Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. Here is what one had to say: “I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true."

We need to tell the Board strongly and clearly: There's too much doubt to execute Troy Davis!

To learn more about the case, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case

To sign the petition to stop his execution, visit http://www.change.org/petitions/7-of-9-witnesses-say-my-brother-is-innocent-stop-troy-davis-execution-on-sep-21?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=goPCTbusWf_ADFqfwzOzI

Thanks for being a change-maker,

The Change.org team

The issue of food safety is important in China, particularly in rural areas, that lack the controls and supervision that can be better done in cities. In the first four months of this year, there have been government supervisions on more than 8.5 million sellers of food products and over 180,000 trade markets. Although the government has stepped up the supervision of food, dairy and liquor products sold in markets in rural areas at all points in the supply chain, more needs to be done to ensure food safety.

It is estimated that 1.8 to 3.1 billion people are infected each year by microbiological contamination of the food and water supply. In addition, large numbers of people become sick as a result of the intentional contamination of food or due to careless and unsupervised practices. The addition of some prohibited substances to foods is done to mask poor quality, to extend their shelf life past their expiration date and to make them look more nutritious to the consumer.

Two years after a national health scare over melamine-tainted milk products shocked China’s dairy industry there has been a new wave of reports of adulterated food. Melamine is a substance used in concrete, fertilizers and plastics which mimics protein in food-quality tests. This substance, that some Chinese manufacturers added (and some still do) to infant food, chocolate and other products to make them more appealing can, if consumed in excess, lead to permanent kidney damage.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of pork adulterated with the drug clenbuterol, which can cause heart problems; rice contaminated with cadmium, a metal discharged by smelters; soy sauce laced with arsenic; noodles mixed with ink and wax; bean sprouts contaminated with an animal antibiotic; and artificial eggs made up of chemicals, gelatin and paraffin, among other adulterated food.

Rather than diminishing, the problem of contaminated food seems to be increasing, particularly in rural areas. What explains this situation? The lure of making money at any cost is too tempting to many food producers. They see that by using additives they boost profit margins, and they don’t consider the serious effects adulterated food can have on consumers.

In addition, China’s rapid growth in recent times has given rise to an estimated half a million food producers, most of whom employ 10 or fewer workers. Because these producers are scattered throughout the country, oversight is difficult. This situation is aggravated by the fact that there are not enough qualified supervisors in the country and that the great number of food suppliers makes it difficult to enforce national standards, monitor food production and trace problems to their source.

Since adulterated food can bring considerable economic benefits to localities, such as increased government income and employment opportunities, many local officials tolerate these activities. To make things even more complex, adulterated products are not sold around the places where they are produced but instead they are transported to other localities, thus reducing the incentives of local authorities to crack down on these counterfeiting illegal businesses.

Many adulterated food products are sold in rural areas. Such is the case of fake milk powder, whose victims tended to be mainly villagers. Some analysts attribute the prevalence of adulterated foods in rural areas to the low purchasing power of many villagers and to their lower educational level. In addition, there is a regulatory chasm between urban and rural areas.

Many experts consider that the most evident feature of China’s food safety regulatory system is the fragmentation of regulatory authority among several government agencies. There is a difference with the United States, where except for meat and poultry, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates almost the entire food chain.

In 2003, in an attempt to solve this situation, the Chinese leadership created the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), in charge of food regulation and comprehensive food supervision. However, soon after it was created, it was evident that this new agency was going to confront some serious criticism, particularly from other regulatory agencies.
Following years have shown that SFDA does not have enough authority to exercise complete supervision over food safety, and that its authority remains divided among different government agencies.

Some progress on this issue, however, has been achieved. In 2009, China adopted a comprehensive food-safety law, bringing hundreds of standards in food production in line with international norms. As a result, almost half of dairy food companies have been ordered to stop production after failing to meet new licensing requirements. In addition, the Ministry of Health is planning to update and make public a list of legal food additives and publish a black list of illegal additives by the end of the year.

It is important to increase consumer food safety education, particularly in rural areas, which will give them the knowledge and confidence to demand better and safer products. At the same time, the government should accelerate the training of more enforcement agents, since there is now less than one food inspector for every 10,000 people.

China’s food regulating agencies should be streamlined and their responsibilities should be clearly established. A clear division of duties will give the Chinese citizens the sense that their health and well being are being effectively protected by the government.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant.

Secretary Hillary Clinton! Who’s to be held accountable for the death of my brother who was killed by Iraqi forces when they raided Ashraf in July 2009?

Are you aware that we, in Camp Ashraf, are paying the price for the “goodwill gesture” the State Department made to the mullahs in labeling the MeK? We are paying the price with our bodies and souls, with the pierced hearts and blood soaked bodies of our beloved!

• Asefeh and her brother Hanif •

Ever since the responsibility for our security was handed over by the U.S. government in 2009, we, the 3,400 Iranian dissidents residing in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, including 1000 women, have consistently been subjected to acts of aggression, non-stop psychological torture, a comprehensive and inhumane siege, violence and murder at the hand of the Iraqi government. Iraqi forces have injured more than a third of the residents. Injuries that have yet to heal in light of hindrances by the Iraqi Committee for Suppression of Ashraf in denying the residents access to proper medical treatment. I, myself, was injured twice during the course of these hostilities. During this period, since 2009, and in the course of two deadly attacks perpetrated by Nouri Al Maliki, the Iraqi PM at the behest of the Iranian regime, we have lost 47 of our dearest friends. The henchmen justify their crimes against residents of Ashraf by saying, “you are on the U.S. terror list!”

It goes without saying that this designation is a betrayal of the Iranian people and their just resistance movement which is striving for freedom and democracy and only serves the Iranian regime - the leading state sponsor of terrorism – by conceding to the wishes of the mullahs and it lacks any legal merit.

Almost a year has passed since a Washington district court of appeals ordered the State Department to reevaluate its decision to list the MeK. But unfortunately, and since there are elements within the State Department who are have positioned themselves on the wrong side of history, nothing has changed in the futile policy of appeasing the mullahs. In the meantime, the Iranian people and their resistance continue to pay the price with their blood, each and every day. The bitter fruit of maintaining the MeK on the list is consolidation of the mullah’s grip on power; a gift to the Iranian regime, Iraq, and anyone else who hopes that one day the residents of Ashraf are annihilated and, each day, they are conspiring to realize this dream.

While expressing my deepest discontent at this unjust designation, I ask Secretary Clinton to immediately remove the MeK from the list. The list is the proper place for the terrorist regime ruling Iran not the Iranian resistance. Delisting the MeK, also, guarantees the security and safety of residents of Camp Ashraf and sends a message of solidarity to the Iranian people: the U.S. State Department, as in nations affected by the “Arab Spring”, supports them in their struggle for democracy and freedom.

Delisting the MeK has been delayed long enough and keeping them on the list is no longer acceptable. Each second and each day that passes, and they remain on the list, we suffer another cherished human life.

Having signed an agreement with each and every resident of Ashraf, including my brother Hanif, the United States is specifically responsible for protecting their lives; a responsibility it has, unfortunately, turned its back on when it was needed the most – when the residents were attacked and under a barrage of gun fire and explosion of grenades and when they were rammed by humvees and armored personnel carriers – instead of protecting them, America stood idly by and looked on as the blood of innocent people was spilled in Camp Ashraf. The U.S. government will be held accountable for any foreseeable atrocity that occurs in Ashraf.

After the insanity of the flower festival in August, I took a much needed vacation to the small lake town of Guatape. The town is located next to a large reservoir that was built in the late 60's for a hydroelectric dam project. Although most of the power from this reservoir is exported to Venezuela, the lake is frequently used for fishing, a variety of water sports and other boating activities. Next to Guatape is a large, 200 meter high rock monolith (called "El Peñón" by the locals), that was formed over 70 million years ago along the Antioquia rock base. The rock is the most popular tourist attraction in the town, as travelers can climb to the top using the 644 step brick-and-mortar staircase that leads to a spectacular viewpoint of the surrounding lakes and quaint villages. The center of the Guatape is also an attraction in itself, with beautifully decorated and colorful paintings on the sides of each building.

The entire time I was in Guatape, I had the feeling that I was enjoying a place that was about to get hit with tourism, and that I was one of the lucky few that had come before it was "discovered". Being in such a pleasant place close to nature with a laid-back vibe really helped me recharge my batteries and prepare for another stint at hostel management. I am glad that I took the opportunity to go, as I now have a great place to spend the weekend when the city life becomes overwhelming.

- Brent

Experiments carried out in the last several years indicate that some viruses can help in the fight against cancer. Scientists have been experimenting with genetically engineered vaccinia, measles and reovirus, and have found that they can have a negative effect on several kinds of cancers. Further studies may well demonstrate viruses offer the best chance to fight against this disease.

Scientists found that a genetically modified vaccinia virus – used to develop a smallpox vaccine - named JX-594, when injected into the blood can selectively target cancer cells in the body. Although previously some viruses had proven to have a strong effect when injected directly into tumors, this is the first time that a virus has been shown to replicate in cancer tissue after intravenous infusion in humans, according to Prof John Bell, a lead researcher from the University of Ottawa.

The modified vaccinia virus was injected at different doses into the blood of 23 patients. They all had cancers which had spread to several organs in the body. What made this experience particularly important is that in eight patients who were receiving the highest dose, seven of them had the vaccinia virus replicating in their tumors but not in healthy tissue. This modified virus has proven to be effective even against mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, which is particularly difficult to treat.

It is important to state, however, that the virus didn’t cure cancer. The experiments with modified vaccinia virus are significant because they showed that the virus multiplied only in tumor cells, leaving normal cells intact. This finding could be used in the future to deliver them directly into cancerous cells in high concentrations so as to be more effective.

“This new study is important because it shows that a virus previously used safely to vaccinate against smallpox in millions of people can now be modified to reach cancers through the bloodstream -even after a cancer has spread widely through the patient’s body,” Prof. Rick Lemoine, director of London’s Barts Cancer Institute was quoted as saying.

An additional advantage of this kind of treatment is that other treatments such as chemotherapy attack not only cancer cells but also normal cells, and as a consequence its side effects are much more pronounced. Treatment with the modified vaccinia virus only produced minor side effects such as flu-like symptoms that lasted for less than a day and could be treated with over-the-counter medications.

Reovirus, a kind of virus that can cause coughing and mild diarrhea, has also been used experimentally to kill cancer cells. Using a mutated virus, scientists have been able to accentuate the positive traits of the virus and attenuate the negative ones and have been experimenting in several kinds of cancers.

Scientists were able to show that there are synergistic anti-tumor effects of the modified reovirus when used with radiation therapy or with chemotherapy. Because of it slow toxicity, reovirus is an attractive anti-cancer option for ongoing clinical tests. In addition, infection with the mutated reovirus only produces minor flu-like symptoms.

In one set of experiments, patients with prostate cancer were injected with the mutated reovirus directly into their prostate tumors previous to having their prostate glands removed. When the prostates were analyzed, it was found that cancer cells around the site of injection were killed, but normal cells were unharmed. It was a significant discovery.
However, scientists also found that the virus didn’t spread to the rest of the prostate, thus limiting its efficacy. Different approaches are being tried at the moment, aimed at overcoming those obstacles.

Initial results with these and other viruses are important enough to raise hopes that these new approaches can be successful. It is interesting that while some viruses can cause cancers, other viruses, when properly modified and used, can be the answer to a most devastating disease.

Dr. Cesar Chelala conducted research in molecular genetics at the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York.

In solemn remembrance of the tragic events of September 11th, starting at 12a PT, Link TV will be airing an entire day of special programming devoted to showing perspectives unseen on any other media outlet. Link TV will be showcasing stories of forgiveness, healing, growth and transformation, like in Beyond Belief, the story of two 9/11 widows who channel their grief into helping war widows in Afghanistan, and 9/12 From Chaos to Community, stories from Ground Zero showing how an extremely diverse group of people transcended politics and culture in a effort to heal their city and themselves. Link TV is also one of the only networks where you’ll be able to see live coverage from Al Jazeera English throughout the day and reactions from around the Arab world, as well as special programming from news outlets such as NHK, Deutsch Welle and Democracy Now.

Tune into Link TV on September 11 at DirecTV Channel 375 or Dish Channel 9410, or online at www.linktv.org.

"According to data from UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, 793 million adults – most of them girls and women - are illiterate. A further 67 million children of primary school age are not in primary school and 72 million adolescents of lower secondary school age are also missing out their right to an education." - UNESCO

This year’s International Literacy Day, celebrated world-wide today (September 8), focuses on the link between literacy and peace.

Check out UNESCO's Media Page for more information on International Literacy Day.

Literacy is our passport to freedom. The way we function as citizens of the world depends on our literacy. How do we explore the world when we cannot read or write? Is liberation possible without literacy?

Let's talk!

Anna Politkovskaya brought more damage to Russia by her death, than by her work. - Russian President Vladimir Putin

Terrorism is the unlawful use of threat of violence against society to further a political or social objective. It is generally accepted as a means to intimidate and coerce government and its officials to modify behavior and its policies. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one “cannot bring an end to terror around a negotiating table, because the motive of terror is to exact a surrender by terrorizing the other side.” To fight terrorism, according to Netanyahu, one should never surrender, have an elaborate intelligence system apparatus in play, and maintain a well-organized early warning system.

Numerous journalists and commentators often cite the difficult role objectivity plays while covering terrorism, since the nature and genesis of media coverage is often prone to sensationalism. Yet, if exercised with professionalism and integrity, the freedom of press ought to be one of the most cherished rights in all democracies. Columnist Charles Krauthammer warns that “terrorists are rather resourceful about creating new theatrical productions; every year or two they come up with a new variant that captures the media’s imagination… we should remember that not all terrorism is dependent on the media. When we discuss terrorism we are really talking about four different kinds of political violence.”

As this essay will demonstrate, Chechen rebels in Russia infused the specter of terrorism to their operations in the 1990s, forcing the Russian government to employ a counter-terrorism strategy. While covering one of its operations, the 2nd Chechen War, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya objectively gave voice to the country’s enemies, which in turn made her an enemy in the “war on terror” approach employed by President Vladimir Putin. This essay will also show how the Russian government, specifically Putin, compromised the international tenets of journalism through accepted draconian policies, and the effective moral dilemmas created by a quest for “ultimate” security, resulting in the suppression of freedom. As Alain Besancon said, “perhaps our real problem here is not so much defining terrorism as understanding the effect that terrorism publicized by the media can have on society. After all, most terrorism is undertaken in order to arouse the sympathy of society.”

The media’s role in covering terrorism is a societal difficulty since the media is often prone to sensationalism, whilst negating objectivity. It is the journalist’s job to be objective, and yet some governments often suppress the free press for fear of compromising security. In democratic countries, the free press is a right, which should be protected, and yet in Russians, journalists are often prohibited from openly unmasking the underbelly of government in order to uncover terrorism objectively. As terrorism is often morphed by the military apparatus at play, this is where the objectivity of journalism can be construed as contradictory to its lofty ideals of seeking truth. This makes it extremely difficult for journalists effectively do their jobs, and even has journalists often fearing their lives.

Poltkovskaya had covered the rise and reign of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and became a virulent critic to his counter-terror methods against Chechen rebels. Putin’s consolidated rule had been condemned by Politkovskaya as using his “dirty little war,” against the Chechens to create a front of security. Journalists often are unwittingly complicit with the enemy, and as Krauthammer titles his article “partners in crime.”

Ironically, in this essay Krauthammer says “the media are not entirely at fault. They do what comes naturally, covering the unusual, the dramatic; and the new terrorist exploits this to get his message out. The media cannot help being enlisted… One is not asking the media to ignore terrorism, simply not to celebrate it. They can report the occurrence of political theater without disseminating the production, through the intelligent exercise of some restraint… nor is self-restraint the enemy of press freedom… the second modest proposal since the media cannot totally prevent themselves from being used by terrorists, they should at least avoid rationalizing or apologizing for them…” Although Politkovskaya did not apologize for “terrorists,” she was certainly condemned for it.

Politkovskaya covered the Chechen war between 2002-2004 in her newspaper Novaya Gazeta and later chronicled in her book, A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. She recorded the unlawfulness committed by Russian soldiers, who sought to obliterate Chechen fighters. This was the message that came directly from Putin. Since Chechen rebels are linked with Al Qaeda, branded as terrorists, aptly as their actions suggest, Putin has been validated to fight them under “just war” principles. Nonetheless, the objectivity of the job of the journalist to unmask truths about organizations, however the subject matter, Politkovskaya’s candid account likely riled Russian authorities, who were waging a “war on terror.” Putin set up a counter-terrorist apparatus in place against the Chechens when he became President in 2000, and his methods were meant to disrupt their capabilities.

In the 21st century, Islamic terrorism is the gravest threat facing Western countries, including the United States, Europe and Israel. The Russians have been seeking to dismantle Chechen rebels for two decades, waging two bitter wars. Chechens continue to attack inside Russia. As a columnist, Politkovskaya was at odds with Putin’s “war on terror” methods, depicting a ruthless former KGB officer and head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) as a hybrid system, in which democracy in Russia was impeded. Politkovskaya’s work with the newspaper Novaya Gazeta investigated the crimes and human rights abuses of the federal and Moscow- installed authorities in Chechnya and in Russia. She was an outspoken critic of the war in Chechnya, and often gave illuminating insights. When Putin launched an overwhelming military campaign in Chechnya, it was conducted under the label of an anti-terrorist operation but it was as reported: “the start of a second brutal war killed as many as one-hundred thousand people.”

In 2000, President Putin set in motion a counterterrorism initiative against Islamists seeking a separate state. He centralized his power to conduct the battle of international terrorism and religious fanatics. Some feared this was merely a ploy to prove he was a stalwart buttress against Islamic extremism, absolving himself and his military apparatus from violations of torture and other questionable tactics. It is true that during his tenure, Chechen terrorist attacks in Russia were rampant, underscoring the need for heightened security measures.

Once Russia established direct rule of Chechnya in May 2000, Chechen militant resistance throughout the North Caucasus region continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties, and the number of terrorist attacks increased. As a result, both Chechen terrorism as well as widespread human rights violations by Russian and separatist forces, equally drew international condemnation. It is possible to view the blurring of the lines between the needs for security with open and transparent reporting.

President Putin built his career as a proponent of security as the backbone of his presidency, positioning himself in the global fight against terrorism, aligning himself with US President Bush in the post-September 11th era. Putin used his experience as an officer in the Committee for State Security (better known as KGB), controlling all federal politics. “The President’s explicitly stated jurisdiction for all of these changes was to fight terrorism.”

Putin’s rationale for fighting radical Islamists could be reasoned by the principles of “Just War Theory.” Just War Theory has two sets of criteria: jus ad bellum and jus in bello. The former enables for just cause, the reason for going to war needs to be just, and this case Putin had reason to eradicate terror threats to his homeland by Chechnya. Jus in bello also deals with distinction, proportion and military necessity.”

Politkovskaya’s career as a war correspondent in Chechnya, and her reportage on Russia’s counter-terrorist methods did not win her any government friends. By the time of her mysterious murder, according to Russian newspapers, Putin was quoted as saying, that she “brought more damage to Russia by her death than by her work,” raising the question evermore about who killed her. It was universally accepted that her expose of the crisis in Chechnya was a threat to Putin’s view of homeland security.

Putin’s answer may have contributed to the inadequate investigation of her murder, but also to the subsequent killings of two of Politkovksa’s close colleagues, Natalya Estemirova and Stanslav Markelov. Markelov was a lawyer working on Chechen cases in Moscow where he was killed in January, 2009. Estemirova worked as a human rights activist and journalist in Grozny until July 2009 when she was killed. Terrorists consider most free nations and its people as their enemies. Thus, countermeasures, in the name of security must be coordinated by its government apparatus, perhaps alleviating some blame toward Putin from possible implications in their deaths. However, the role of an objective journalist should be protected by that very same system, which is seeking to secure all of its population. Thus, murder, always inexcusable, is amplified by a skewed political agenda in the face of a terrorist threat. Objective journalism finds the difficulty in meshing with this political apparatus in the age of terror. It is almost more of an indictment that Islamists did not claim responsible for Politkovskaya’s murder.

In light of this specter of terrorism, journalists have not been protected. More than a dozen Russian journalists have been killed during the tenure of Putin. Oksana Chelysheva, who is both a journalist and human rights activist, mostly seeking to carry on Politkovskaya’s memory describes the milieu in Russia: “There is a lot of evidence that Russia has moved toward autocracy and few signs of real democracy survive. Anna Politkovskaya was one of the toughest critics of the current state of things here in Russia and the situation in the North Caucuses. She revealed a lot of crimes, in which both pro-Moscow Chechen armed forces and federal agents were involved. “

Chelysheva says that the Chechen conflict is quite difficult, mainly due to its unpopularity, even in a post 9-11 mindset. There is a government dictate, as an “attempt of the Russian authorities to silence the situation in Chechnya… you see it’s a real mockery to expect that people who became victims of human rights abuses and war crimes would speak openly to foreign journalists when they are surrounded with the Russian military.” Clearly, non-foreign journalists in Russia are just as vulnerable.

In A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya, Politkovskaya highlights the brutality of the Russian invasion into Chechnya, as Putin’s guise, waging an anti-terror campaign. In reality, Politovskaya exposes the face of the nature of the war as merely a battleground of torture and war crimes perpetrated by Russian authorities. She blames Putin head-on for allowing these atrocities: “Life in Grozny (Chechnya) falls into two categories: ‘free and ‘blockaded,’ she writes. “There has been a disproportionately large military contingent of nearly one hundred thousand, opposing the Chechen population of six hundred thousand through murders, torture, and kidnapping… the purges continue, the commerce in living and dead bodies by soldiers as the principal military operation in Chechnya hasn’t ended, and thousands of people search for their kidnapped relatives and, in the best case, ransom, their corpses from those who defend the Motherland from terrorism.”

Putin’s war against Chechen Islamists in Chechnya was seen as understandable, even sympathetic to most Western countries, defending Russia’s security, and in defense of Article 51, the right of self-defense. The United States aligned itself with Putin against an asymmetrical enemy. Politkovskaya depicts a different story:

“There is only one principle guiding the birth of these fighters: the more people get humiliated and hurt, the more units are formed. These units were born in the war, recruiting from Chechens who never thought of fighting before and were even hoping for the Russian troops to come and liberate them from the Wahhabis. Small units are supported mostly by the army inside Chechnya. Of course there is more precise description of the situation: its secret financing of the Chechen civil war is in connection with antiterrorist needs. Any secret service in the world would verify that it is better to destroy the enemy by someone else’s hands than your own. This idyllic coexistence is, of course, quite unique in Chechnya… Kremlin’s control of the smoldering conflict in Northern Caucasus is its main governmental policy… there are more and more corpses every day.”

Politkovskaya depicts a ruthless dictator Putin as manipulating his role as leader, and in effect forsaking his country’s democracy, in support of a consolidation of power. Putin was elected president in 2000, after serving as a vital officer in the KGB. At the same time, the Federal Security Service (FSB) rose to prominence. He then had rested his candidacy on security, to thwart terrorist attacks by Chechens. At the time, the FSB hunted down foreign spies with any links to Chechen terrorists. This would soon get murkier, and more corrupt as “the rule of law remains a distant goal in today’s Russia, where the security services have concluded that their interests, and those of the state they are guarding, remain above the law. The mindset of Russia’s security services has undeniably been shaped by tsarist and Soviet history: they are suspicious, inward looking, and clannish…”

As an objective journalist Politkovskaya demonstrated that Russia prioritized national security over civil rights. In 2002, Chechen rebels took a theater in Moscow and held its audience hostage. By the time the Russian unit was called in, it became a botched rescue attempt, as Russian Special Forces pumped an unknown gas into the theater’s ventilation system. Most of the hostage-takers died in the incident, but so too many of the hostages. Not only had this been viewed as a counter-terrorism failure for Russia, but also a case of excessive recklessness. The authorities were accused of lack of concern for the ultimate well-being of the hostages, but more as a Machiavellian demonstration that the ends justify the means, in which case the hostage-takers were exterminated. The difficulty for an objective journalist in this case is honestly surveying and reporting the motive, and outcome, on both sides.

To his credit, Putin put into place various laws to broaden the powers of law enforcement officials, but simultaneously diminished freedoms of the press. Human rights campaigners have long decried this situation, and estimate that since September 1999; as many as five thousand people have disappeared and are feared dead. In 2005, according to Amnesty International, Russian officials state that approximately two thousand as the official figure for disappearances since late 1999. There remains a mystery how and why Politkovskaya, both an enemy of Putin and of Chechen rebels, was shot dead in her apartment building on October 7, 2006. Chechen separatists have wanted independence for more than a decade, and she had her enemies there, but the Kremlin remains both silent, and threateningly evasive about this tragedy.

The murder of Anna Politkovskaya remains a tragedy, riddled with mystery, begging the question whether journalists can be objective and protected by democracies in an age of terrorism. As demonstrated in this essay, Putin put into motion a series of steps to counter terrorism within his country, all the while silencing potential critics. There remains a sensationalist approach to covering terrorism, as the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 demonstrate, which captured its riveting -- albeit painful seconds--- live on television for the first time. Herein remains the difficulties, and ethics, of journalists covering terrorism. Democratic governments must uphold the right of free-press; yet it did not protect Anna Politovskaya. Her death remains a painful blight on Russia, even as it understandably wages its “war on terror.” Suppression of the rights of journalists, in quest of documenting true events must not be allowed to exist in the modern age of international terrorism.

I remember vividly the terrible day when our lives (our world) changed forever. I was listening to the radio in my apartment, a few blocks away from Ground Zero, when the plane hit the first Twin Tower and I heard the cries from the street below: "Oh, no, no, no!" "Oh, my God!" I ran downstairs just in time to see the second tower crumble like a sand castle. It was 9:59 am.

I joined others rushing to the spot when a large group of people came running back shouting: "Go back, go back, for God's sake, go back!" We rushed back only to discover later that it was a false alarm and that there would be no more attacks on the towers after the second plane hit. Without fully understanding the significance of events, I felt - like so many others - that a relatively peaceful way of life had been replaced by a darker, more sinister one. A great sadness came over me.

Soon after, we learned the details of what had happened, and heard stories and saw pictures of those who had thrown themselves voluntarily to their certain deaths rather than remain trapped inside an inferno. Richard Drew, who photographed one of the iconic images of that fateful day, the "Falling Man," where you see the lonely image of a man falling to his death with one of the towers in the background, said recently that for him that was the image of the Unknown Soldier. An estimated seven percent of those killed in the attack of September 11 did so by jumping into the void from their offices.

We also learned of the heroic conduct of hundreds of firefighters who risked and lost their lives. One of the firefighters was a 34 years-old Argentine man named Sergio Villanueva. That day, about an hour before the attack on the Twin Towers, he had finished his shift. But, like so many other days, he had stayed to have breakfast with his peers. When they heard news of the attack, he decided to join his fellow squad members and went with them to the towers to help in rescue efforts. Neither he nor his fellow brigade members ever returned.

We also heard heartbreaking stories about people we knew who were killed in the towers. One, the son of friends, had just enough time to call his brother and tell him, "Please tell Mom and Dad that I love them a lot as I love you," before the line went dead. To this day his parents have not regained their joie de vivre. Or the employee of a large company who left the towers, called his wife to say he was fine after the first tower had been hit, then returned to retrieve documents from his office and died shortly afterwards when the atrocious fire ravaged his office.

What promised to be a peaceful September morning turned into a nightmare. As usual, that day (a beautiful sunny day with a very clear sky) we woke up with my wife around 7 am and, after having breakfast, she had left for her work on Long Island, a distance of about 45 minutes from home. I was planning to have a working lunch at the United Nations headquarters.

After the second attack on the towers I hastily tried to contact my wife at work. It was impossible to communicate by phone with my wife on Long Island. However, I learned that it was possible to communicate by telephone with Queens, where a medical colleague, Dr. Juan Rivolta, lived. I called him immediately to see if I could communicate with my wife through him. I quickly summarized what had happened. He initially thought that I was joking but changed his mind when he heard the desperation in my voice and finally was convinced when I told him to turn the TV on and see what was happening.

Juan was able to communicate with my wife and told me that she was safe. When we spoke later that day she explained that soon after arriving at her college someone had called the office and they quickly turned the television on and were able share the horror of what was happening. Since virtually all roads leading to the New York City were closed, my wife went to a colleague’s house and stayed there until three days later when was able to return to our home.

Once satisfied that my wife was safe but still in a state of shock, I went to a nearby square and sat on a bench watching people hurrying to the scene. That state of shock was with me, like with many other New Yorkers, for at least three months after the attacks. During that time we could smell the pungent odor of burned materials, some of which certainly came from the incinerated bodies of thousands who had perished there.

One was Sean Rooney, whose last moments were described by his wife, Beverly Eckert, in a story published in New York magazine in a special issue on September 2011. Beverly described how her husband called her while he was trapped on the 105th floor, unable to find an escape route as the flames approached ominously towards him and how, during his last minutes of life could only manage to say "I love you, I love you." Then when the smoke almost prevented him from speaking, Beverly heard a terrible noise of something cracking, followed by the sound of an avalanche and a groan, probably from her husband when he felt the ground crumbling beneath his feet.

When George W. Bush later visited the scene of the tragedy, Karl Rove, one of his closest advisers, saw a fire truck completely destroyed in place. Rove then asked two firefighters to jump repeatedly on the truck to make sure that it would hold the weight of the U.S. president. When he made sure there would be no problem, Rove suggested to Bush to get on top of the truck with a megaphone and address the firefighters gathered there.

It seems impossible that someone who had been trapped inside the towers could have survived. Yet that is what happened to 20 people, including firefighters and police officers and an administrative secretary of the Port Authority called Genelle Guzman-McMillan.

As Matthew Shaer tells in New York magazine, Genelle followed a group of colleagues to the smoke-filled stairways. As they descended, Genelle was certain that she would survive and could go down and meet with her boyfriend, as they had planned to do. However, she suddenly lost her balance as a result of the collapse of the building and was dragged to the ground floor surrounded by tons of cement and steel. Finally she stopped, and felt something soft and warm under her – it was a dead person. She remained silent for 27 hours, praying and asking God for her life. After that time a German Labrador named Trakr managed to find her.

The shock people experienced as a result of the attacks may mirror the shock that Americans felt after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Such was the state of fear after the attack on the towers that the noise of the few aircraft that crossed the air afterwards was enough to frighten New Yorkers.

Such fears led to unexpected reactions. A friend, an art teacher at a university in New York, told me recently, talking about that fateful day: "Although I am a total agnostic I must confess that after the attacks I felt something strange, as if my house was invaded by ghosts whose steps I seemed to hear at night. I was so afraid, that I had to ask a Buddhist priest to make an exorcism ceremony of my apartment to feel that I was not going crazy. "

The attacks on the Twin Towers caused the most concentrated response to an emergency in the history of the United States. It is estimated that at least 100 units of emergency and dozens of private ambulances headed toward the scene from which they took the injured to nearby hospitals. At the same time, more than 2,000 police officers searched the towers and rescued survivors. But the weight of the response fell to the Fire Department of New York whose members had a truly heroic response to the events.

Will we be ever be able to eliminate terrorism? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Security Council of the United Nations on September 27, 2010, "Stopping people from becoming terrorists," Clinton said, "requires addressing the political, economic and social conditions that make people vulnerable."

On the 10th anniversary of the tragedy one of the main lessons to be drawn is: Violence begets violence, and intolerance breeds intolerance. Unless there is a new approach to preventing terrorist acts we will continue to live under the threat of preventable terror.

Political confrontation is not the answer. It's easy to create an enemy. It's much harder to understand "the other", a necessary approach if we want to eliminate misunderstandings, while honoring the desire for peace and security of all peoples of the world.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

It started in 2007. The idea, that is.

Paul Romer, an economist and Stanford professor, began to reconceptualize the idea of economic development. Dr. Romer had considered our basic economic growth models which use inputs like labor, capital, wages, etc. and came to the conclusion that they lacked ‘ideas’ as an input. What if there was a way to create a city, like an embassy, that had a different set of rules by which it was governed so as to instigate development? In 2009, the idea had made its way to the TED stage in Oxford, England. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and has become a premiere annual conference for presenting ground-breaking ideas such as this one. Here’s the idea in Dr. Romer’s own words:

When I was in Chicago, when I was a professor there before I went to Stanford, there was a woman who worked for my wife and me. My wife was in a residency program, so this woman helped cook and clean in our house. And she lived in the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago, which as many of you know is one of the most desperate failures in our public housing system. And the question that struck me, when I saw her and these two young children she was raising, is why she didn't have a chance to move to a city which could offer simple things like relatively low-cost housing and low crime. She simply didn't have that option in the United States. And I started to ask: why couldn't it be possible to create entirely new cities that could offer options like that for someone like her.

One of the models Romer frequently references is Hong Kong in the 1950s. The British entered into a sort of joint venture with China and took governing control of the island. They created a different set of rules, or ‘norms’ if you will, from China and allowed people to voluntarily move into this zone. The economic conditions of this area created opportunities that had not previously existed. Development of the island has been booming ever since. The charter city is similar, though it would operate more like a joint venture (a business concept) as opposed to a colony governed by a global power. Another similar sounding idea is a free trade zone, though the difference between these zones and the city is the scale. Free trade zones are designed around one idea: trade. However, a charter city would be designed around achieving complete self-sustainability in every regard: infrastructure, education, industry, healthcare, etc.

• President Porfirio Lobo •

The charter city works like this.

First you have to determine who wants to play this game. Honduras has offered itself as the petri dish for this experiment. Discussions are underway with other governments like Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, and other well-established, more or less neutral countries that would enter into this charter city like a joint venture. The responsibility of these countries would be to act as a guarantor in the venture – someone who would ensure fairness between the residents that live there and the companies that operate there.

Second, a zone or location for the city is established. The last article I read said they were proposing a site just outside of Trujillo on the north coast. The second step would be to establish the charter itself – the rules, a point which Romer strongly emphasizes. Rules make the difference between nations; between opportunity and hopelessness; between North Korea and South Korea. Setting up the right kinds of rules with the right incentives and consequences is the key.

Third, you open it up to foreign investment. The appeal of a charter city is its potential. The initial investments for infrastructure will be made in order to reap the benefits of water and electricity payments for decades to come. Other companies will move in to establish themselves under this new, favorable set of rules and take advantage of the semi-cheap labor that exists here. Let’s remember that any residents are relocating voluntarily, and as Romer mentions, the risks associated with moving to this zone are far less than the risks already being taken by those illegally crossing the border to work in the States. Also, remember the governments that have chartered this city are acting as guardians to ensure that no abuses take place on either side – the people or the companies (this goes back to the rules). The companies are driven by profit to operate within the zone and perform well, which means its employees also do well and opportunities are made available for them to prosper.

Romer mentions that roughly 3 billion people live in cities, and this century we will see another 3 billion migrate to cities before we reach some sort of world population equilibrium. This means that the opportunity to implement new ideas for cities, like charter cities, will only exist in this century. And it’s clear that people are looking for different types of solutions after seeing previous methods fail, as is the case in Honduras. There exists some pessimism about the idea, but that’s not unlike any other great idea of the century. Ultimately, there’s only one way to know if it will work.

Originally posted at:
adamdare.blogspot.com

The growing worldwide demand for resources is threatening the world's environmental health to an unprecedented extent. Unless new policies are set in place, this situation could have devastating implications for human development. In this context, women and children can be very active participants in the defense of the environment and stop, or even reverse, the degradation of our natural resources.

At a worldwide level, there is a growing awareness of the need and importance of making women contribute to the identification of environmental problems, as well as in the planning of activities geared at the sustainable development of their communities.

Over the past 200 years, industrial processes have been responsible for increasing levels of pollution and for the degradation of air, water, and land. In addition to unrestricted exploitation of natural resources, unsound agricultural practices have had devastating effects on the environment and on people's health and quality of life. Women and children have been particularly affected.

Women, especially those pregnant, are particularly susceptible to several environmental threats, particularly women living in rural or marginal suburban areas in developing countries. Until recently, women had few choices about the kind of lifestyle they wanted to lead and fewer opportunities to change unsatisfactory conditions and improve their families and their own health.

Because of their roles as home-managers, economic providers, and their role in reproduction, women are susceptible to health problems and hazards in several situations. The reproductive system of pregnant women is especially vulnerable to environmental contaminants. Every step in the reproductive process can be altered by toxic substances in the environment. These toxic substances may increase the risk of abortion, birth defects, fetal growth retardation, and peri-natal death.

Although for a long time women have been considered passive recipients of aid rather than active participants in development, their role is crucial both to the economies of developing countries and to the future of the environment. In that regard, as environmental educators and motivators for change, women are key agents in the processes leading to a more sustainable and healthy development of the planet.

Women are traditional protectors of the environment. A world survey on public attitudes on the environment sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program showed that women, when compared with men, are more likely to choose a lower standard of living with fewer health risks rather than a higher standard of living with more health risks.

Perhaps the best example of women’s participation in environmental activities is represented by the work of Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Green Belt movement. Through her efforts, more than 30 million trees have been planted by participants in this movement in public and private lands. Her work has led to the restoration of Kenya’s rapidly diminishing forests and has empowered rural women in environmental preservation techniques.

In Nepal, Saraswoti Bhetwal has been able to survive as a farmer thanks to techniques learned at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), such as roof water harvesting, drip irrigation, composting and leveling terraces. In Latin America, indigenous women have become more active in the use of poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies.

In addition, the increasing participation of women in think tanks and in environmental training activities is allowing them to educate both the public and policy makers about the critical link between women, the use of natural resources, and sustainable development.

In that regard, women have better access to local environmental issues and how to approach them than men. Women have often had a leadership role in reducing unnecessary use of resources, promoting an environmental ethic, and recycling resources to minimize waste.

There is growing evidence that women in several countries around the world are taking central roles in the grass-roots environmental movement. And there is increasing belief that development policies that do not involve women and men alike will not, in the long run, be successful.

As stated by Diane Reed, President of the Cree Society for Communications "Now the women are rising up. And when the women rise up from a nation, they are the strongest voice that can be heard and it's a voice that cannot be silenced."

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international medical consultant and the author of the Pan American Health Organization publications ''The Impact of the Environment on Children's Health'' and “Maternal Health.”

Against All Odds

Looking at her and listening to her music, her physique and voice belie her condition and nothing but a wheelchair by her bedside betrays her state.

She is a talented gospel music composer and singer, but a streak of misfortunes has kept her off the active arena of the music industry.

It began with a fish-bone that stuck in her throat as she was having a meal at a Nairobi City hotel in 2005, this led to an operation that snatched her voice for seven months, then followed a car accident that caused her spinal injuries in 2006 confining her to bed since then to date.

The predicament brought her music career to an abrupt halt subjecting her to years of pain, misery and confusion.

• Ann Muthoni Kariuki •

The soft-spoken, light-skinned lady who lives at Kikuyu Township discovered her music talent at a tender age and nurtured it to a point where she started recording great gospel songs. Her latest album is Gikombe Kia Maithori (A cup of tears). The song Gikombe (cup) is ranked among the top ten gospel songs in Kenya.

By the time she was at Masinga girls’ high school, she had written up to 100 songs, she was introduced to gospel music producers at the National broadcaster KBC in 1995 where she started singing in the then famous gospel music shows ‘Joy-Bringers and Sing and Shine.’

As is the case with many budding musicians, her first album did not perform well in 1995 but she could not lose hope. “Learning through mistakes I recorded a second cassette and a third album Nimurikiirwo (lightened-up) in 2001 that picked well.” Says Muthoni.

In 2004 she recorded a Kiswahili album Vita Tutashinda (We shall win the battle) with eleven songs. It was after that album that her music career suffered a major blow.

“In 2005, accompanied by a church elder, a pastor and a lady friend, we entered into a hotel in Nairobi on a Thursday during lunch time and I ordered chapatti and fish.” She explains.

Went on Muthoni “ after the third bite, a food particle stuck in my throat, I did not know what it was, it caused a lot of discomfort in my throat, I was tensed and alarmed as I tried to drink water, take a lump of food to push the particle down but nothing worked.”

She got more worried when she saw blood-stained saliva come out; though they had lunch together, her colleagues did not give it much concern, they deserted her afterwards. Her condition worsened, she could not swallow anything, not even liquids.

“It all came out with bloodstains” she adds. She went from one chemist to another but got no help.

She called her friend who advised her to go to hospital immediately and she was taken by relatives to Masaba hospital. Doctors located the position of the fish-bone through x-ray but referred her to Kenyatta National Hospital.

“Doctors at KNH delayed to attend to me, while unconscious, I was taken to Nairobi hospital but the doctors could not manage to operate on me, I was taken to M.P Shah Hospital where an operation that took four and a half hours was done.” Says Muthoni.

“Doctors had cautioned us that chances of losing my voice forever were high, but I clung to my faith, that I could speak and sing again” she asserts.

Singing in Silence

She lost her voice for seven months after the operation but continued composing and writing songs in silence. She wrote over 200 songs in silence and after seven months little whispers started coming up.

It was in 2006 while recuperating from the operation and trauma; that she got in a car accident along Thika Road and sustained debilitating spinal injuries that confined her to bed and wheelchair. “This somehow spelled doom to my life and career, I almost gave up life but somehow I got inner strength to move on; I lost my memory for four months, I couldn’t remember my songs or how to sing or write them” she explains. “It was however a great joy that after 4 months I opened my book and started regaining my memory and singing again; slowly by slowly.” She adds.

Doctors explained that her lower back got injured and was the source of her incapacity. “They say I had disc-prolapse and section of joints got injured causing drying of joint-fluid causing problems in movement.” She says.

She states that doctors have tried to ameliorate intense pain on her spine since 2006 to date but it has been frustrating for them due to failure of different drugs.

“Family and friends are considering plans to seek specialized treatment abroad,” she says.

She survives on drugs and in a day she takes up to 25 tablets among other liquid medicines.

She has written over 500 songs so far, and she says “I have crazy faith and hope that I will drink from this ‘cup of tears’ like Jesus Christ did and win, look up there; I have new shoes, clothes and suitcase ready to walk out of this bed and spread the gospel through music.” She says pointing at the wardrobe.

Her gratitude goes to relatives and friends who have stood by her, carrying and turning her in the bed of sickness. Losing hope is out of question for her; she says she will keep on fighting, believing that soon she will walk again.

Peter Kahare is a freelance journalist based in Nakuru County of Rift Valley province in Kenya, East Africa. He shares the untold stories from this part of the world.