I saw the show tonight and it made me think of Eric Falt who worked at UNEP then became #2 at UN DPI in New York where he replaced an Egyptian and is taking over the #2 job at UNESCO.

Why that? It is because DRIVING THE SAUDIS was conceived in cooperation with The International Theatre Institute of Paris that is connected to UNESCO. This means that there is still some honesty left at UNESCO – something impossible to find at the  Department of Information and Communication of the UN in New York. Under Egyptian Ahmad Fawzi the Department was all about safeguarding the interests of the oil kings. Under French Eric Falt there was no change – only a make believe of bringing in the UN Correspondents Association in decision making and the results are even worse then the starting line. What will he do when he gets to Paris? Will activities like showing DRIVING THE SAUDIS in conjunction with ITI be considered not Halal anymore?

My first posting about this one woman show was based on their publicity and I thought that the waste of oil money by the oil kings is the main issue. Having seen it now my feeling is that it is much more about the place of a woman in the Saudi Royal family.

Actually – there is no Saudi State only a privately owned huge piece of real estate that belonged to King Ibn Saud and was passed on to his descendants that multiply like rabbits – with 30 wives if not one hundred. We understood that there are only 4 at one time and they are released simply by saying three times, in the presence of a witness,  that the owner sends them off. The whole thing turned my stomach and what is the UN for? What is a the new “UN Women” creation for? What did UNIFEM do all these years? Who at the UN has said anything about this sort of slavery at the age that overpopulation does us all in. A woman must produce sons in order to have a chance to survive some longer before being replace by a younger one.

I clearly will not do justice in this second posting to the content of this reality play – and reality it is in every minute of it – in the real sense of the word. I will write more about it and hope it will get to the public’s attention and people will not shy away anymore from what it presents. The UN Headquarters are not worth the money the world spends on it if no effort is made to follow up on 21st century slavery – even if the women involved think that they benefit from the lavish life-style as long as it lasts.

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The New York Fringe Festival is the largest multi-arts festival in North America, with more than 200 companies from all over the world performing for 16 days in more than 20 venues.

DRIVING THE SAUDIS, with and by Jayne Amelia Larson, was [performed at the historic SoHo Playhouse and was about 2/3 full. Those that came early – about 50 people – looked to me as Middle Easterners. Those that arrived closer to the start were younger and looked like theater students.

The SoHo Playhouse was home to playwrights like Edward Albee, Terrance McNally, A.R. Gurney … Previously it was under the Village South & Spectrum Theatre name, and even housed at the start of the last century the Tammany Hall (New York City Democrats Hall) “Huron Club.”

I met the producer of the play – Patrick Terry – who hails from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts (Drama and Production) and is connected to Peter Goldfarb, Vice President of UN’s International Theatre Institute. From Terry I learned that the content of the play will be gathered also in a book form.

Again, getting back to the history of the play, both, Larson and Terry said that it is all true. Larson who is a theater person, director, actress, in her own right, for money reasons took on this job of being part of a group of 15 drivers that were serving a family of 7 Saudi Royals and their entourage of 50 that includes cooks, nannies, security, secretaries …, that came to Los Angeles for aesthetic surgery and shopping that lasted 50 days. They were spread out in 4 hotels. When she got the job to be chauffeuring the princess and her daughter, it turned out that she had to chauffeur also the hairdresser to Las Vegas. The family came with $20 million and that money was spent. The help had to leave their passports with the hired ex-American military and one of the help, from Sudan, at the airport, when she got the passport in her hands, simply ran away and refused to board the private 747 for the return trip to Saudi Arabia.

Larson digs into the social implications of what she saw and learned. She has sympathy for the three women she talks about – the princess, her daughter that would have loved to go to UCLA but was already promised in marriage, and a Lebanese nanny that with her earnings put through college her siblings back in Lebanon. She speaks of the men as always in need to have someone to insult bellow them in the pecking order. The men never looked into he eyes and this seemingly in an attempt to show respect. And yes – when she applied for the job, she was interviewed and there was no question about her driving only if she was not Jewish. (“You are not Jewish? Not Jewish!”)

Oh yes, I will have more on this in further postings.

We are engaged in a project which seeks to address the problem of climate change displacement.
The focus of our project is a proposal for a convention for persons displaced by climate change.

Please find attached a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about our climate change displacement convention.
The FAQs can also be found at the ‘Documents’ page of our project website – www.ccdpconvention.com.

Our proposed convention would largely operate prospectively; assistance to climate change displaced persons would be based on an assessment of whether their environment was likely to become uninhabitable due to events consistent with anthropogenic climate change such that resettlement measures and assistance were necessary.  In other words, displacement is viewed as a form of adaptation that creates particular vulnerabilities requiring protection as well as assistance through international cooperation.

If you have any questions about the paper please contact me at d.hodgkinson@hodgkinsongroup.com or on +61 402 824 832.

Best wishes
David

___________________________

David Hodgkinson

The Hodgkinson Group

+61 402 824 832 (international)

0402 824 832 (within Australia)

www.hodgkinsongroup.com

www.ecocarbon.org.au

www.ccdpconvention.com

AHEAD OF THE REFERENDUM IN SOUTH SUDAN – WATCHING THE BIRTH OF A NEW NATION.

Juba: Facing a serious challenge in the future.

 http://ethiopianreporter.com/english/ind…

By Zekarias Sintayehu,

The pilot instructs passengers to fasten our seatbelt as we approach to Juba International Airport. I try to get a glimpse of the city through the cabin window but all I can see is a marshy green area.
Some shanty houses are seen scattered here and there. The plane makes the final turn and safely touches down.

There was a drizzle when I got off the plane but I could still feel gust of the humid air gushing over my face. I quickly headed to the so-called terminal. I believe that most of the time the passenger terminal tells you a lot about the country. And I tried to visualize how the city would be like.

The terminal is very small and operates its activities in an old house. While I queue up to pass through the terminal, an immigration officer asked me to give him my yellow fever vaccination card. I told him that I didn’t have it. Then he told me to pay 20 Sudanese pounds which is above 8 USD. “Why should I pay the money?” I requested. He replied confidently, “It is a fine for not bringing the card.” He then pointed to a bunch of his colleagues’ and told me to talk to them.

A slim young guy approached me and uttered “What is the problem?” I told him that I did not bring my vaccination card. “Did he tell you to pay 20 USD” was his quick response, referring to his friend. I was a little bit surprised with the drama at the airport. Finally, he lets me go because I told him that I didn’t have an exchange.

After all the hustle at the airport, I was lucky enough to pass through the terminal. Another friend told me a true story about the immigration officers which took place a couple of years ago. They used to ask for a yellow fever vaccination card when passengers departed from Juba. I finally met a friend who was waiting for me outside the terminal. While driving to my hotel with him, I thought I was still in Ethiopia because the city resembles the Gambella region.
We arrived at Habesha Continental Hotel, which is owned by an Ethiopian businessman. The checking-in process took a few minutes and then I headed to my room. After I take a nap, I went to the hotel’s restaurant.

The big screen was blazing Ethiopian music at the open air bar. High ranking Ethiopian officials and businessmen came here every day to chill out and update each other. There were also Sudanese, Ugandans and Eritrean at the open air bar. As one friend told me, most of the officials stay at hotels since they don’t have homes. Meanwhile, the government has decreed that officials should build their own homes, as it cannot afford the exorbitant hotel expenses.

Habesha Continental Hotel is located on a riverside and the graceful White Nile draining from Lake Victoria streams down to Khartoum. I was very pleased to see ships carrying folks and goods on the river. As I heard, the ships take three weeks to get from Juba to Khartoum. I also saw small boats passing by the river. In addition, the locals fish on the river. Though I didn’t get a chance to see the Blue Nile, it was a marvelous experience to watch the graceful White Nile.

Unlike Ethiopia, the Injera (Ethiopian bread) is made from rice. I was very eager to test the white rice Injera. To be honest, there is a remarkable difference from with teff Injera but I can still stomach the rice Injera.

The next morning I went out to explore the city. The famous means of transportation at the town are the motorbikes which are called “Boda Boda.” Most of the motorbikes are owned by Ugandans. After I negotiated the price with driver to drop me off at my friend’s house in Juba, I jumped on and started to enjoy a ride on the “Boda Boda”.  While riding the bike, the wind was constantly blowing the sand into my eyes, so I had to hide my face behind the back of the driver.

I also visited the biggest market place in the city called “Konyo Konyo.” Unfortunately, at that day was a public holiday most of the shops were closed. Everything is sold in “Konyo Konyo” staring from consumers goods to electronics and cars. The shops which were open were selling fruits, onions, potatoes, meat, and other consumers goods.

That day the city was somehow calm since it was commenting the fifth year of John Garang’s death memorial. Officials and many folks memorized their hero by going to his funeral place.

I also had the chance to travel by minibuses which are mostly owned by Ethiopians and Eritreans. The locals refer to Ethiopians and Eritrean as “Habesh.” Though the Habeshs’ own the minibuses, they can’t drive in the city due to the new legislation imposed by the government. All the taxi drivers are Sudanese.

Most of the big hotels in Juba are owned by Eritreans and the hotel I stayed is the only big hotel owned by an Ethiopian. But there are many small bars and hotels owned by Ethiopians. I visited a Ugandan bar which is located next to my hotel. There are many tents in the compound which are ready for rent. Their price, 100 USD per day, amazes was what amazes me most during my stay at Juba.

The temperature, which was around 31 degree centigrade, was relatively cold during my visit of Juba. But I still needed to be in my air conditioned room after midday. The city badly needs network infrastructures if it is to cop up with the emerging economy. The city gets electricity from generators and areas in the outskirt of the city are still in darkness. Frankly, a tough homework awaits Juba city, which will be the capital city of the Southern Sudan after the 2011 referendum.

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August 10, 2010 (KHARTOUM) as per www.SudanTribune.com – Southern Sudan Referendum Commission denied its intention to ask the Sudanese presidency to postpone the referendum scheduled for January 2011.

The official denial comes after statements published last Saturday by a member of the commission saying that some arrangements required in the conduct of referendum will have to be skipped if the vote was to be held as planned in January.

Pagan Amum, Secretary General of Southern Sudan’s ruling party SPLM, rejected the request stressing “any attempt to delay the referendum would be considered as reneging on the CPA”.

The Chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, in remarks aired by the Sudanese radio on Monday dismissed reports about the intention of the Commission to submit a request for the president to delay the referenda on southern Sudan’s independence.

Demanding to delay the referendum is a “political valuation and the Commission has a legal and constitutional mission according to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Interim Constitution and the referendum law,” Khalil pointed out.

Tarek Osman Al-Tahir, a member of the commission who requested the delay said that it would be impossible for the commission to achieve the completion of voters’ registration three months before the vote as required by the law.

“We have only two choices left: skip some of the procedures, which would be unacceptable because it could affect the endorsement of the referendum result or resort to the other choice of a limited delay to the referendum timetable to complete these procedures,” Tahir said.

However Khalil said they filed a letter to the presidency in which they demanded more support to enable the referendum commission to perform its functions. He said the commission will start work next week.

He said that in the south 80% of structures of the Commission had been completed, adding that they are currently preparing a budget for the referendum process.

He said the referendum body signed a number of agreements with the United Nations and U.S. Aid to provide technical and logistical support for the referendum.

Be’chol Lashon is the Hebrew for “In Every Tongue” and it advocates for the Growth & Diversity of the Jewish People. Today Jews come indeed in every color and every stripes and some leaders do the outreach to embrace them all. Just look at Dr. Lewis Gordon of the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Mr. Romiel Daniel of Queens, New York, The head of Jews of India in our region, Dr. Ephraim Isaac, of the institute for Semitic Studies. They do not look like your stereotype Jew. I met them and was impressed – the latter actually for the first time as we both visited Addis Ababa at the time of the delayed Ethiopian Millennium. Then Rabbi Hailu Paris with his communities in Brooklyn and the Bronx, Ethiopian born and graduae of Yeshiva University, and his Assistant Monica Wiggan (http://www.blackjews.org/Essays/RabbiParisEthiopianTrip.html), and Rabbi Gershom Sizomu of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda from whom I got a very distinctive kippah with the menorah – of the old temple worked in. Then Dr. Rabson Wuriga of the Hamisi Lemba clan in South Africa and Zimbabwe and so on – in Nigeria, in Peru, in India, in China.

And who has not heard by now of the present White House Rabbi – Cappers Funnye – the cousin of Michelle Obama – and associate director of Bechol Lashon and spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B’nei Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago?

The New York regional director of DiverseJews.org is Lacey Schwartz who is also National Outreach Director of BecholLashon.org, assisted by Collier Meyerson and to top it all Davi Cheng, Director of the Los Angeles region is Jewish, Chinese, and Lesbian. As I said it is all a new image of the Jew.

Last night, at the Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard St., NYC there was a Shemspeed Summer Music Festival event.

The two further upcoming events in New York will be on:

Monday, August 2nd – the Shemspeed Hip Hop Fest at Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleeker Street NYC Featuring Tes Uno, Ted King & guest Geng Grizlee and others with CD Release parties for “A Tribe Called Tes” and “Move On.”

Thursday, August 5th – Shemspeed Jewish Punk Fest at Pianos, 158 Ludlow Street, NYC Featuring Moshiach Oil & The Groggers.

info on each event above and at http://shemspeed.com/fest

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A Jewish Woman Living in Ethiopia

Rethinking How U.S. Jews Fund Communities Around the World.

The Forward
Published: May 27, 2010

For more than half a century, North America’s Jewish federation system has divided its overseas allocations between the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Joint Distribution Committee. The Jewish Agency has been dedicated to building up Israel and encouraging aliyah, while the Joint has focused on aiding Jewish communities in need around the globe.

Today, both agencies are working to assert their continued relevance in a changing Jewish world. With aliyah slowing, the Jewish Agency is moving toward embracing a new agenda: promoting the concept of Jewish peoplehood. The JDC, meanwhile, has sought to claim a larger share of the communal pie, which had long been split 75%-25% in the Jewish Agency’s favor.

After a recent round of sniping over the funding issue, the two sides are now stepping back from their public confrontation and recommitting to negotiations over the future of the collective funding arrangement. Underlying this fight, however, is a more fundamental tension over communal funding priorities: Should overseas aid be focused on helping needy Jews and assisting communities that have few resources of their own, or should it be used to bolster Jewish identity?

With this debate raging, the Forward asked a diverse group of Jewish thinkers and communal activists from around the world to weigh in and address the following question: How should North America’s Jewish community be thinking about its priorities and purposes in funding Jewish needs abroad?

New Century, New Priorities

By Yossi Beilin

During the 20th century, the challenges facing world Jewry were the following: rescue of Jews who encountered existential danger, assistance to Israel, helping with the absorption of those who immigrated to new countries and opening the gates for those who were denied the right to emigrate. In the 21st century, ensuring Jewish continuity is the greatest challenge facing the Jewish people.

Yet too often Jewish organizations in the United States and elsewhere remain focused on the challenges of the previous century. (Indeed, Jewish groups were not very receptive when I first proposed the idea for Birthright Israel 17 years ago.)

Ensuring the existence of Jewish life (religious and secular) throughout the world via Jewish education, encounters between young Israeli and Diaspora Jews, creating a virtual Jewish community using new technologies — these must be at the top of the global Jewish agenda. This requires American Jewish philanthropy and leadership, which in turn requires discerning between past and present priorities.

Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister of Israel, is president of the international consulting firm Beilink.

Reviving Polish Jewry

By Konstanty Gebert

The rebirth of Central European Jewish communities after 1989, though numerically not very impressive, remains significant for moral and historical reasons. It is also crucial for Jewish self-understanding. An enormous proportion of American Jews can trace their origins to what used to be Poland alone. This is where much of Diaspora history happened.

Alongside the courage and determination of local Jews, the far-sighted support of several American Jewish organizations and philanthropies made this rebirth possible. In Poland the Joint Distribution Committee, the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation and the Taube Foundation played key roles. Their support has translated not only into Jewish schools and festivals in places once believed to be Jewish-ly dead, but also in most cases into changed relations between local Jewish communities and their fellow citizens as well as clear support for Israel on the part of these countries’ governments.

Yet for all this progress, Central European Jewish communities might never become self-financing. The support given them by American Jewry remains a vital Jewish interest. It must be strengthened.

Konstanty Gebert, a former underground journalist, is a columnist at the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and founder of the Polish-language Jewish monthly Midrasz.

What We Give Ourselves

By Lisa Leff

More than any Jewish community in history, postwar American Jews have used our prosperity to help Jewish communities around the world. On one level, the greatest beneficiaries of this support have been Jews abroad. But we should also recognize that these philanthropic efforts have shaped our communal values and identity.

Through our international aid, we have dedicated ourselves to universalist and cosmopolitan ideas like tikkun olam and solidarity across borders. In helping disadvantaged and oppressed Jews abroad, we have also deepened our community’s commitments to democracy, human rights and economic justice for all. It’s only natural that Jewish groups pitch in on Haitian earthquake relief and advocate on behalf of oppressed people of all backgrounds.

Whatever the outcome of the federations’ deliberations over how to divide allocations between the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee, it is imperative that American Jewry maintain its commitment to our values through supporting international philanthropy.

Lisa Leff is an associate professor of history at American University and the author of “Sacred Bonds of Solidarity: The Rise of Jewish Internationalism in Nineteenth-Century France” (Stanford University Press, 2006).

Putting Identity First

By Jonathan S. Tobin

The choices we face are not between good causes and bad or even indifferent ones but between vital Jewish obligations. But since the decline in giving to Jewish causes means that we must make tough decisions, programs that reinforce Jewish identity and support Zionism both in the Diaspora and in Israel must be accorded a higher priority.

At this point in our history, with assimilation thinning the ranks of Diaspora Jewry and with continuity problems arising even in Israel, the need to instill a sense of membership in the Jewish people is an imperative that cannot be pushed aside. Under the current circumstances, absent an effort that will make Jewish and Zionist education the keynote of our communal life, the notion that Jewish philanthropies or support for Israel can be adequately sustained in the future is simply a fantasy.

Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of Commentary magazine.

Collective Responsibility

By Richard Wexler

One cannot have a meaningful discussion about framing the national Jewish community’s priorities and purposes in funding Jewish needs abroad without first asking the question: Is there actually a collective “North American Jewish community” today?

Collective responsibility has been and remains the foundation upon which the federation system and, therefore, the national Jewish community are built. It is what distinguishes the federations from all other charities. It is embodied in our participation in the adventure of building Israel and in meeting overseas needs through the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee, in the dues that federations pay to the Jewish Federations of North America and so much more. But today, federations “bowl alone.”

Collective responsibility gives meaning to kol Yisrael arevim zeh l’zeh — all Jews are responsible for one another. Until federations understand once again that Jewish needs extend beyond the borders of any one community, we cannot have a meaningful priority-setting process for funding Jewish needs abroad.

Richard Wexler is a former chairman of the United Israel Appeal.

Originally published here: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/rethinking-how-u-s-jews-fund-communities-around-the-world-1.292527

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Rabbi Gershom Sizomu and Be’chol Lashon director Diane Tobin at the opening of the Health Center.

Gary Tobin’s Legacy Lives on in New Ugandan Health Center

By Amanda Pazornik

The J Weekly
Published: July 22, 2010

On the day of the grand opening of the Tobin Health Center in Mbale, Uganda, health professionals were already hard at work treating patients inside.

The center was open for business, but that didn’t slow down the lively June 18 celebration, which featured song and dance performances and speakers. About 3,000 people gathered at the center’s grounds to mark the occasion.

Seated under colorful tents was Diane Tobin, director of S.F.-based Be’chol Lashon and wife of the late Gary Tobin, for whom the center is named, along with three of their children, Aryeh, Mia and Jonah.

“Everyone was amazing, friendly and so generous of spirit,” said Tobin, who was visiting Uganda and its Abayudaya Jewish community for the first time. “They were so appreciative of having the center and demonstrated a tremendous willingness to work together. It’s a great model for the rest of the world.”

Andrew Esensten, Be’chol Lashon program coordinator, and Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, spiritual leader of the Abayudaya Jews and the first chief rabbi of Uganda, joined them, in addition to government and medical officials, and representatives from Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.

The Tobin Health Center is named for Gary Tobin, the founder of the S.F.-based Institute for Jewish and Community Research, of which Be’chol Lashon (“In Every Tongue”) is an initiative. Tobin died one year ago after a long battle with cancer. He was 59.

“He really has left a legacy,” said Debra Weinberg of Baltimore, who attended the opening with her husband, Joe, and their 14-year-old son, Ben. The couple also helped fund the project. “I think he would feel deeply comforted to know it’s improving the lives of people.”

The 4,000-square-foot facility is a major component of the ongoing Abayudaya Community Health and Development Project undertaken by the Abayudaya Executive Council and Be’chol Lashon, a nonprofit that reaches out to Jews of color and helps educate the mainstream community about Jewish diversity.

It cost approximately $250,000 to erect the two-story center, using donations collected over five years. While patients pay for their services, continuous fundraising is a necessity, Tobin said.

Construction began in July 2009, enabling more than 50 Africans from diverse ethnic backgrounds to earn a living.

Stars of David are featured in the window grids, ceilings and floors of the health center, a “lovely expression of their Judaism,” Tobin said. Private rooms make up most of the top floor, with patient wards on the ground floor. A mezuzah is affixed to every door.

A large portrait of Gary Tobin hangs in the lobby.

“It’s so heartwarming,” Diane Tobin said of the visual tribute. “Gary would be so honored to have this health center in the middle of Africa named after him.”

Prior to the opening of the Tobin Health Center, the nearest medical facility to the Abayudaya Jews was Mbale Hospital, an overcrowded and understaffed institution not accessible to all the residents of the region. Tobin said there are other clinics in the area, but they lack the preventive health care measures necessary to respond to the community’s needs.

The Tobin Health Center is licensed by the Ministry of Health and is certified to operate a pharmacy and laboratory. It serves all who seek basic medical care in the region, providing life-saving health services and simultaneously creating jobs.

“The goal is to raise the standard of medical care,” Tobin said.

In addition, rental units on the bottom and top floors of the center will provide more job opportunities for locals. The first business recently opened — a hardware store that sells bags of cement, plumbing equipment and sheet metal — with a beauty salon and video rental outlet in the works.

The center “is rewarding on a number of levels,” said Steven Edwards of Laguna Beach, who, along with his wife, Jill, has been involved with the Abayudaya for six years. “The most obvious is to see this beautiful, clean building. On top of that, local dignitaries noted how lucky Mbale is to have the Jewish community and how much they contribute to the larger community by bringing jobs.”

The Abayudaya Jews comprise a growing, 100-year-old community of more than 1,000 Jews living among 10,000 Christians and Muslims. They live in scattered villages in the rolling, green hills of eastern Uganda. The largest Abayudaya village, Nabagoye, is near Mbale, the seventh-largest city in Uganda and the location of the center.

Research conducted by Be’chol Lashon in 2006 showed that contaminated water and malaria-carrying mosquitoes pose the biggest health risks to the community. A year later, the organization launched the Abayudaya Community Health and Development Project with the drilling of the first well in Nabagoye.

Since then, nearly 1,000 mosquito nets have been purchased and distributed throughout the community.

“Our goal is to respond to the needs of communities,” Tobin said. “If there are other communities that need health centers, we will be there.”

Originally published here: http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/58727/s.f.-researchers-legacy-lives-on-in-new-ugandan-health-center/

For one thing, see there is a good South African Restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and we go there for inspiration and nourishment from time to time. www.madibarestaurant.com/  – info@madibarestaurant.com.
 http://politic365.com/2010/07/19/happy-b…

Based on the above – we write: Two freedom fighters I most admire, writes Noel Anderson, Professor at Brooklyn College, in the struggle for South African democracy are Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela. Law partners and comrades, both men helped to shape the direction of the country, with Mandela leading the struggle from within, while Tambo raised international consciousness and money while exiled abroad. Tambo is no longer with us, but Mandela keeps the best of that struggle alive, becoming the first truly democratically elected President of South Africa after decades of imprisonment, and continuing to serve as a moral symbol for African and world affairs.

Born 92 years ago on July 18th, 1918, into a royal family in the Transkei, Mandela has been at the center of not just South African but global freedom struggles. He was the head of the ANC youth league and became a founding member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”) the armed wing of the ANC, before being imprisoned for 27 years.

President Obama, in tribute to Mandela’s work, has called on all to engage in community service. (In effect this past weekend everyone of us was called to put aside 82 minutes of his time and dedicate those 82 minutes to the community.  The United Nations has also recognized his birthday as Nelson Mandela International Day by calling on November 10, 2009 to make the !8th of July The International Mandela Day – and this year – the July 18th 2010, was supposed to be The First International Mandela Day. But it fell on a Sunday and that is a no-no for the UN Free Birds that must keep the weekend in New York for free enjoyment – really – what other reason for spending the time in this hot city? So, the UN moved to celebrate the day, this year, on  Thursday night and Friday Morning – 15th and 16th of 2010.

Strange as it sounds, its important to recognize that “Madiba” (his term of endearment), the 92 year old grandfather, still has a revolutionary spirit and still… very much alive. The press tends to talk about him the past tense, as if he is long gone and only his legacy survives. Yes, health concerns has led him to retreat from a once rigorous travel schedule, and his chronological age puts him in the twilight of his life. But Mandela is  mentally very lucid, weighs in on global politics and still advises in the affairs of his philanthropic foundation. Further, despite the controversial painting of Mandela, depicting him as dead and being used for an autopsy by political leaders, he still speaks with leaders on pressing concerns, and remains loyal to those countries that supported the freedom struggle.  Happy Birthday, Madiba!

{Dr. Noel S. Anderson is Associate Professor of Political Science and Education at the City University of New York – Brooklyn College. His work focuses on urban politics, human development and education and comparative issues in public policy – U.S. and South Africa}.

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The celebration started on Thursday night 6:30 pm with a series of three talks and the screening of the documentary “MANDELA: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation, in the new ECOSOC Chamber in the UN temporary North Lawn building.

No one from the high flyers of the UN was there – their place taken by fill-ins, but luckily Jonathan Demme the director, and Peter Saraf, the co-producer of the film were there – so the aesthetics of their production could be brought up.

For the UN spoke Margaret Novicki and Nicholas Haysom.

Margaret Novicki was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan  as the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Pretoria, South Africa.  Ms. Novicki, a national of the United States, brings to this post extensive experience in communications, media relations and journalism, much of it acquired in Africa. Prior to Pretoria she worked for the UN in Accra. She chaired the evening. She spoke on behalf  of the UN USG for UNDPI – Mr. Kiyotaka Akasaka.
Why DPI? Why not the Secretary General himself?

Nicholas Haysom, as an attorney of the South African High Court, he litigated in high-profile human rights cases between 1981 and 1993.  He acted as a professional mediator in labour and community conflicts in South Africa between 1985 and 1993, and has advised on civil conflicts in Africa and Asia since 1998. Founding partner and senior lawyer at the human rights law firm of Cheadle Thompson and Haysom Attorneys, and an Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Director at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University in South Africa until May 1994, when he was appointed Legal Adviser to President Mandela.

Mr. Haysom was closely involved in the constitutional negotiations leading up to the interim and final Constitutions in South Africa.  He served as Chief Legal Adviser throughout Mr. Mandela’s presidency, and continued to work with Mr. Mandela on his private peace initiatives up to 2002.

Since leaving the office of the President upon Nelson Mandela’s retirement in 1999, Mr. Haysom has been involved in the Burundi Peace Talks as the Chairman of the committee negotiating constitutional issues (1999–2002). He continued to serve on the implementation committee of the Burundi Peace Accord after 2002.

Incoming UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Professor Nicholas Haysom of South Africa as Director for Political Affairs in his Executive Office, May 16, 2007. Our friend Matthew Russell Lee complained that he is never seen at the UN – but in a careful reading of the article we find there the concept of preventive diplomacy – we wish had more credence at the UN.  “He said there is a resistance to preventive diplomacy among member states, leading to the blocking of reform and regional offices of the Department of Political Affairs — he ascribed the most strenuous opposition to Latin America — and to resistance to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and Ed Luck’s appointment as special advisor on the topic.” In short – he actually seems to be well ahead of the UN but not really of the UN – where he finds it difficult to execute policy that is factually set by only the Permant Five of the Veto Power.

What we said above was that both speakers for the UN are somehow South Africa based and not UN based.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xo?li?a?a man?de?la]; born in a Xhosa home in Qunu, Transkei,where his father, the Town Counselor, had 4 wives and the boys lived in a separate home from the parents. Chief Jogintamba saw his potential and sent him to the Clakebury Boarding School. In 1933, at 15, he got involved in the Walter Sisulu led ANC and when he reached 30 years, that is when coincidentally Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd’s contribution to Afrikanerdom was to dress up apartheid and make it appear respectable to his followers, and the Mandela & Tambo law-firm took on the anti-apartheid legal defense.

In 1956 Mandela prepared the Freedom Charter and the people declared – “We Stand by Our Leader.” Then in 1960 happened the Sharpeville masacre and the call changed to: “Freedom in Our Time” and Wolfie Kadesh, a white man, was an activist. In 1962 Mandela went underground and George Bizios, also a white man, was his lawyer. Eventually, Mandela was apprehended and was in jail 1961 – 1988. Gowan Mbeki was imprisoned for 25 years. In August 1989 Botha resigns and De Klerk takes over and leeds the negotiations with Mandela. November 1993 both of them get the Nobel Prize. Friday, 10 Dec 1993 was Mandela’s speech in Oslo. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen…

Fully representative Democratic elections took place on 27 April 1994, and Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist. We saw how he got there from his village roots and we learned about the 27 years he spent as a FREE MAN behind bars – freer in his spirit then his captors that knew that they were the captives in the hands of the true Free World. Yes – those years – post World War II – when the UN was young and small – the World had hope for a future that will be very different from the way history evolved prior to those days. Today we can say that the hope tuned out to be pre-mature and Nelson Mandela who moved with his times forged an image for the World well ahead of his time. But no despair, his personal example moved at Least South Africa to ending its internal conflict even though many other conflicts in the World continue to rage on.

Mandela, son of Africa and Father of the New South Africa, depicted in advertisement as a barefoot young boy in what looks like a general’s coat, armed with a stick, said that his watchwords were TRUTH & FREEDOM.

———————-

From the screening event at the UN I hurried down to the Manhattan Village – to TEATROIATI at 64 East 4th Street (between Bowery and 2nd Av,) where Sabrina Lastman of Uruguay was having a showing of her CANDOMBE JAZZ PROJECT – mixture oral tradition AFRO-URUGUAYAN MUSIC with elements of Jazz. I bring this in here because in many ways it was befitting the Mandela event.

In the Mandela documentary we saw much of the peoples culture of the Indigenous Africans of the original South Africa, and somehow it must have been quite similar to what Africans, probably from the Congo region, brought with them to what are now Uruguay and Argentina. The fact that this music has survived, and in effect has now a revival, are signs of its resilience, but also of the influence Mandela’s achievements had world-wide.

The Candombe Jazz Project is a New York City-based ensemble playing Candombe, the Afro Uruguayan music tradition. CJP presents an exciting concert of original compositions by Sabrina Lastman & Beledo, arrangement of oral tradition songs, & songs by renown Uruguayan songwriters.

Candombe Jazz Project includes:
Sabrina Lastman – voice / compositions
Beledo – guitar / keyboard / compositions
Arturo Prendez – candombe drum / percussions
Special guests: Agrupación Lubola Macú

——————–

“PEACE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF CONFLICT – IT IS THE CREATION OF AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE ALL CAN FLOURISH,” Mandela said. He also wanted to see the emancipation of women – not just the races. These are things the UN must write on its flag – does it?

——————

On Friday was the Official Commemorative Ceremony, in the big General Assembly Hall, that started with the usual UN delay at 10:20 am., with many Missions to the UN having one warm body sitting in their row – only South Africa, headed by a Minister, having all six seats, and some more, occupied. This was a Special Plenary, ahead of the regular daily Plenary.

The UN had the event open to outsiders, and that was nice. The problem that there were not many insiders present.

The President of the General Assembly, the former Libyan Foreign Minister Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, who is under a Schengen Travel Ban,  was not there, and that was good. Instead was one of his seconds, but the Press kit just goes ahead selling him to the innocents. We do not even know the name of the nice lady that chaired the meeting she defined as an “INFORMAL Meeting” of the GA.

“IT IS IN OUR HANDS TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD” said Mandela – God bless him and save the GA.

That was followed by a video message from the UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, who said that Mandela’s greatness came from: “HE FOUGHT HIS OPRESSORS FOR YEARS AND THEN FORGAVE THEM. – HE CONSTANTLY REMINDS US HE IS AN ORDINARY MAN, BUT HE ACHIEVED UNORDINARY THINGS.”

—————–

This was followed by The Minister of International Relations and Commonwealth Relations of South Africa, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashbane, who said that in October 1994 he helped Free South Africa.

She continued saying that in the next two days – to July 18th, people of the globe will get together to hear the words that inspired us in South Africa. She thanks in the name of President Jacob Zuma for adopting in November 2009 this resolution to have the International Mandela Day started this year. South Africa and the World are fortunate to have had a man as Nelson Mandela. She added that the UN was all the way on “Our” side in our fight against Apartheid. We owe our freedom to the role of this august house. By celebrating Mandela Day we celebrate the best for what the UN was created. UBUNTU – we believ in ourselves for what we are.

Her words were followed by a video, and we saw February 19, 1994 people of all South Africa standing peacefully in line and giving their vote.

The Minister’s presentation was clearly the highlight of the informal ceremonial, that was then followed  {informally?} by one representative from each one of UN’s major group.

—————-

This was a sad succession of obligatory diplomatic bows with some sparks of freshness.

Egypt spoke on behalf of the Non-aligned Movement – the enigma of the UN,

The Republic of Congo on behalf of the African States, spoke of the recent World Cup,

Darussalam on behalf of the Asian States, this is the Brunei Darussalam State, that clearly needs still its own liberation,

Belarus on behalf of the East European States, spoke interestingly of a long walk to Freedom,

Saint Lucia on behalf of the Group of Latin & Caribbean States, who in our opinion was the best speech  we called the Mission and asked for the speech. We attach the full speech to the end of our posting. The Afro-Caribbean Ambassador, surely descendant of slaves, H.E. Donatus Keith St Aimee, in obvious heart felt fashion said that “Few persons whose name resonate with approval on all continents – All our efforts at the UN came to essence in his life.”

Belgium on behalf of the Western European and Other States, but was mis-introduced by the Chair as speaking for the EU as temporary President of the EU. The main point was that “Let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete – our work is for freedom or all.”

The last speaker was for the host country – the USA. who said that Apartheid was twisted and grotesque in its effort to justify oppression. Mandela overthrew apartheid by force of example.

———————————-
STATEMENT BY H. E. DONATUS ST AIMEE.

PERMANENT REPRESENTAIVE OF SAINT LUCIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN STATES (GRULAC).

ON THE OCCASION OF THE OBSERVANCE OF NELSON MANDELA INTERNATIONAL DAY.

FRIDAY JULY 16TH, 2010

Mr. Chairman, I am honored to speak on behalf of Member states comprising the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), as we show our respect and admiration for an icon of the ages.

In the annals of recorded history there are few individuals whose names resonate with esteem and are uttered with deference on all continents and in all societies.  There are few lives that are unequivocally admired or unreservedly revered by all races and ethnicities; and there are few persons who in a more emotional sense, are cherished and held dear by such a large segment of humanity. Like all celebrated and remarkable men or women, this person whom we come to honor today is identified internationally with one single name befitting his role in our global society and that name is – MANDELA.

We are here today to honor Nelson Mandela pursuant to the adoption of Resolution A/64/L.13. We are here today to commemorate a man who in a lifetime of dignity has come to represent the very ideal for which we struggle daily in the United Nations. All our words, all our actions, all our individual and collective efforts aim in their sum total to equal what is represented by the life of Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela became an international symbol because of his struggle against oppression generally and apartheid in South Africa in particular. We know his history:

· From the early nineteen forties he was a leader of one of the most significant non-violent movements in history.
· For 27 years he was imprisoned under brutal conditions even as he heard of the death beyond his prison walls, of his brothers and sisters in the struggle against apartheid. How many times he must have wondered when his time would be coming to also face death at the hands of his captors.
· Finally he was released on 11th February, 1990.
· To understand the magnitude of his suffering and indignity of his incarceration, we must comprehend that he entered prison at the age of 45 and left at age 72.

These facts as we know them only scratch the surface of the beauty that is the life of Nelson Mandela. What was it that resulted in Nelson Mandela receiving more than 250 awards over four decades including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize? It was not his physical incarceration that captured the imagination of people, it was not the brutality of apartheid nor the interest of so many supporters the world over to stop this aberration.

What captured our imagination was that Nelson Mandela’s indomitable spirit, his humanity, his humility and his vast love of his people could not be imprisoned in any way by iron, concrete or barbed wire. He went into prison in 1963 as an unbowed, proud, determined South African fighter and came out in 1990 as an unbowed, proud, determined 20th Century leader and icon.

As Mandela himself put in words:

“I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom… I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I am prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free…”

Mandela turned down freedom at an earlier date because he insisted that it had to be unconditional and as President from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation in order to harness all the resources of South Africa to lift the economic conditions of his people. His spirit of forgiveness, his turning of the other cheek has ensured that South Africa joined as an equal partner in the nations of this world, so that within the past month we have all had the great joy of watching South Africa host the World Cup in splendid and successful fashion.

How important it is that the Member States of the United Nations saw it fitting to adopt a Resolution to commemorate Nelson Mandela International Day, an annual event which the world would observe, now for the first time on the occasion of his 92nd Birthday, and for years to come.

We the Member States of GRULAC, have experienced in similar forms many of the travails experienced by South Africa and personified in the life of Nelson Mandela. Our region has had its own icons, and we remember their considerable contributions to the development of our nations when we pause here to honor the life of Mandela.  For this reason his life, his response to adversity, his humanity, resonates not just in our minds for the success of his mission but in our hearts for the beacon he has become for all peoples suffering repression.

What this man said was merely a punctuation for what he did, and what he did is being recognized today in this august forum so that present and future generations need not wonder as to the path to success in nation building, but merely need to follow the footsteps of this great man.

He truly is an ordinary man who has behaved in an extraordinary way!

RECEIVED FROM: Editeur : RIAED | Réseau international d’accès aux énergies durables
http://www.riaed.net/portail

from RIAED | Réseau international d’accès aux énergies durables reply-to dufail@gret.org date Mon, Jul 19, 2010 subject: La lettre d’information du RIAED, n°41

THIS IS THE INFORMATION No. 41 from RIAED WHICH IS THE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR ACCESS TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR THE FRENCH SPEAKING COUNTRIES OF WEST AFRICA, BUT THEY HAVE ALSO A LINK TO THE ENGLISH FORM OF THIS LETTER. THE POSTING IS INTERESTING AS IT SHOWS LOTS OF ACTIVITIES THAT GO ON IN THE REGION SINCE 2006 AND CONTINUE TO DATE.

=====================================================

THE BLOGGS LINK IS THE FOLLOWING BUT IT SEEMS  OLD: http://www.riaed.net/spip.php?rubrique41

Pop goes the green myth On World Population Day, take note: population isn’t the problem.

by Fred Pearce, www.grist.org
 http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-11-…

11 Jul 2010.

Oxford and UNDP launch a better way to measure poverty.

London, 14 July 2010 - The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of Oxford University and the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new poverty measure that gives a “multidimensional” picture of people living in poverty which its creators say could help target development resources more effectively.

The new measure, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, was developed and applied by OPHI with UNDP support, and will be featured in the forthcoming 20^th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report. The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.

The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the Multidimensional Poverty Index were made available today at a policy forum in London and on line on the websites of OPHI (http://www.ophi.org.uk) and the UNDP Human Development Report (http://hdr.undp.org/en/).

The MPI assesses a range of critical factors or ‘deprivations’ at the household level: from education to health outcomes to assets and services. Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures, according to OPHI and UNDP. The measure reveals the nature and extent of poverty at different levels: from household up to regional, national and international level. This new multidimensional approach to assessing poverty has been adapted for national use in Mexico, and is now being considered by Chile and Colombia.

“The MPI is like a high resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households,” said OPHI Director Dr Sabina Alkire, who created the MPI with Professor James Foster of George Washington University.

The UNDP Human Development Report Office is joining forces with OPHI to promote international discussions on the practical applicability of this multidimensional approach to measuring poverty. “We are featuring the Multidimensional Poverty Index in the 20^th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report this year because we consider it a highly innovative approach to quantifying acute poverty,” Dr Jeni Klugman, Director of the UNDP Human Development Report Office and the principal author of this year’s Report, said. “The MPI provides a fuller measure of poverty than the traditional dollar-a-day formulas. It is a valuable addition to the family of instruments we use to examine broader aspects of well-being, including UNDP’s Human Development Index and other measures of inequality across the population and between genders.”

OPHI researchers analysed data from 104 countries with a combined population of 5.2 billion (78 per cent of the world total). About 1.7 billion people in the countries covered – a third of their entire population – live in multidimensional poverty, according to the MPI. This exceeds the 1.3 billion people, in those same countries, estimated to live on $1.25 a day or less, the more commonly accepted measure of “extreme poverty.

The MPI also captures distinct and broader aspects of poverty. For example, in Ethiopia 90 per cent of people are ‘MPI poor’ compared to the 39 per cent who are classified as living in ‘extreme poverty’ under income terms alone. Conversely, 89 per cent of Tanzanians are extreme income-poor, compared to 65 per cent who are MPI poor. The MPI captures deprivations directly – in health and educational outcomes and key services, such as water, sanitation and electricity. In some countries these resources are provided free or at low cost; in others they are out of reach even for many working people with an income.

Half of the world’s poor as measured by the MPI live in South Asia (51 per cent or 844 million people) and one quarter in Africa (28 per cent or 458 million). Niger has the greatest intensity and incidence of poverty in any country, with 93 per cent of the population classified as poor in MPI terms.

Even in countries with strong economic growth in recent years, the MPI analysis reveals the persistence of acute poverty. India is a major case in point. There are more MPI poor people in eight Indian states alone (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million). The MPI also reveals great variations within countries: Nairobi has the same level of MPI poverty as the Dominican Republic, whereas Kenya’s rural northeast is poorer in MPI terms than Niger.

The recently released 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals Report stressed that the MDGs will be fully achieved only by addressing the needs of those most disadvantaged by geography, age, gender or ethnicity, OPHI researchers point out. “Our measure identifies the most vulnerable households and groups and enables us to understand exactly which deprivations afflict their lives”, said Dr. Alkire. “The new measure can help governments and development agencies wishing to target aid more effectively to those specific communities.”

Ethiopia on Track to Halve the Poverty Rate by 2015, UN Says.

July 13, 2010.

The government has “made an enormous progress in the provision of social services such as education, health, and infrastructure by spending a large share of its budget in the pro-poor sector,” the report said. “This could be taken as the best practice from which others may learn.”

Poverty reduction is central to policy in a country where half of children are “chronically malnourished,” 47 percent are stunted and 38 percent underweight, the UN said. Still, economic growth remains vulnerable to poor weather and external financing because of the poor domestic savings rate, according to the report.

{But then we also find – } “The sustainability of this growth trajectory leaves much to be desired,” the UN said.

Rising inequality in urban areas and the poor quality of education in many schools represents a threat to the millennium goals, according to the report.

Ethiopia is also on target to achieve its goal of universal primary school education by 2015, while it is less likely to meet the targets on child mortality and environmental sustainability. The East African country is unlikely to achieve goals related to gender equality and maternal health, the UN said.

–Editors: Philip Sanders, Digby Lidstone

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at  bloomberg.net

UN Secretary-General Addresses Security Council.

7 July 2010

Secretary-General Tells Security Council Real Civilian Protection Means Addressing Broader Challenges of Governance, Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, Land Disputes .

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Security Council, today, 7 July, 2010 in New York:

I thank the Government of Nigeria for convening this debate, and I commend the Security Council for its continued engagement on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

The wilful targeting of civilians, disproportionate attacks, sexual violence, forced displacement and the denial of humanitarian access remain widespread in armed conflict, often carried out with impunity.

Ongoing or recent events and conditions in Kyrgyzstan, Gaza, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere remind us that the protection of civilians remains a huge common challenge.

This Council has adopted important measures designed to put civilians first. It has been especially encouraging to see the institutional steps the Council has taken to improve its ability to respond.  The aide-memoire is bringing greater consistency to efforts to address protection concerns.  The establishment of the Informal Expert Group has become a valuable forum for providing the Council with essential and timely perspectives of the humanitarian community.

But there is more that the Council can and must do.  With that in mind, today I will focus on specific aspects of the core challenges I identified in my report of May 2009.

First is to maximize the impact of peacekeeping missions in protecting civilians.  I welcome the Council’s efforts, in designing peacekeeping mandates, to increase the emphasis on the protection of civilians.

However, in order for peacekeeping operations to successfully implement these challenging mandates, it is essential that the Council provide them with the sustained political support they require.  The Council’s engagement is vital to make certain that peacekeeping operations are adequately resourced, and to ensure that mission leadership is fully empowered to take forward this complex mandated task on the international community’s behalf.  Similarly, troop and police contributors must arrive to the mission area with a common understanding of what protection of civilian mandates entail, and with the capabilities and willingness to implement them.

As we seek to protect civilians from the effects of violence, it will also be critical to manage expectations.  Certainly, we would like to be able to protect all people, from all threats, at all times, but this is a very difficult task even for national Governments in times of peace.

The dialogue on these issues has made positive progress within the Council, as well as within this year’s meeting of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.  The recently published OCHA/DPKO independent study also offers important suggestions for bridging the gaps between mandates and action on the ground.  I count on Member States’ support as the Secretariat continues to address the areas in which its performance vis-à-vis the protection of civilians must be improved.

Developments in two missions warrant particular attention.  In Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we are facing the withdrawal and drawdown, respectively, of United Nations peacekeeping operations.  While I welcome the wish of host Governments to uphold their sovereign responsibilities to their civilian population, we must fully consider the effects of a premature drawdown in situations that are still fragile.  Clear benchmarks should be set for the achievement of civilian protection goals.  Once set, they should be achieved before peacekeepers leave.

A second core challenge is increased compliance by non-State armed groups with international law.  With non-State armed actors figuring in every armed conflict today, there is clearly a need to engage such groups on humanitarian issues.  Let us recognize the distinction between dialogue for humanitarian purposes and for political ones.  This is necessary so that States can overcome their reluctance to engage for fear that doing so is tantamount to according recognition or status to such groups.  It is also essential since even armed groups that violate basic international norms as a matter of routine can and should be brought into dialogue for purely humanitarian purposes, including humanitarian access.

Indeed, States and non-State actors alike must be encouraged to provide and permit greater humanitarian access.  In too many cases, States lack capacity, or worse, are inclined to deny their responsibilities, deny the existence or degree of humanitarian need, and construct unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles.

This brings me naturally to another core challenge:  accountability.  Violent crimes are not the only ones that harm civilians.  Acts of omission, including the hindering of humanitarian access, can be just as, or even more, damaging.  Those who create such obstacles must also be held accountable, be they State or non-State actors.  This is a crucial part of our work to rid the world of zones where humanitarian needs go unmet.

There have been significant advances in the normative capabilities of national and international systems.  Much of this progress derives from the work of the International Criminal Court and its beneficial effects, including the integration of the Rome Statute crimes into national legal systems.  But here, too, more must be done to increase the expectation that violators will have to face the consequences of their actions.

Earlier this year, and in consultation with regional organizations, I dispatched a Commission of Inquiry to Guinea to help bring accountability for crimes committed during violence there last September.  In Sri Lanka, I have emphasized the importance of an accountability process for alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law by all sides in the conflict that ended there last year.  I have appointed a Panel of Experts to advise me on these issues.

Over the past decade, the protection of civilians’ agenda has advanced considerably, thanks in great part to the work of this Council.  While the conduct of hostilities and their immediate consequences must remain a major focus, that alone would mean treating symptoms rather than causes.

Armed conflict, particularly the intra-State disputes that are now the norm, is often the result of a lack of good governance, competition for scarce resources, the complex interaction of factors including ethnicity, or all of these combined. Climate change, desertification and land disputes can be additional drivers of conflict. And a lack of effective security and rule of law mechanisms can exacerbate the problems.  These are the broader challenges the Security Council must address with determination to prevent and resolve conflicts.  That, in the longer term, is the best way of bringing about real protection for civilians.

Spills in Nigeria Dwarf Gulf Oil Spill Almost Every Year.

 http://www.globalwhisperer.com/2010/06/s…

More than 1,000 spill lawsuits have been filed against Shell alone.

TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 2010
 http://ipsterraviva.net/UN/currentNew.as…

Q&A: “There Is Almost Total Impunity for Rape in Congo”
Jennie Lorentsson of IPS/TerraViva interviews MARGOT WALLSTRÃ-M, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 28 (IPS) – Sexual violence against women has become part of modern warfare around the world. In some countries, women cannot even go out to draw water without fear of being attacked and raped.

On Apr. 1, Margot Wallström became the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Her job is to investigate abuses and make recommendations to the Security Council. The appointment of Wallstrom, currently a vice president of the European Commission, comes amidst continued reports of gender violence, including rape and sexual abuse both locally and by humanitarian aid workers and U.N. peacekeepers, mostly in war zones and in post-conflict societies.

The incidents of sexual attacks, both on women and children, have come from several countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti, Burundi, Guinea and Liberia. One of Wallstrom’s first assignments was a trip to the DRC, a nation she calls “the rape capital” of the world. Excerpts from the interview with Wallström follow.

Q: Tell us about your trip.

A: Congo has attracted attention in the media [as a place that is suffering] systematic rape in war. One statistic quoted is 200,000 rapes since the beginning of the war 14 years ago, and it is certainly an underestimate.

When in Congo, I met government representatives and particularly women who had been raped and violated. It was interesting but also disappointing – nothing is getting better and more and more civilians are committing rapes.

But I should be fair and say that there has been progress, the government has introduced laws against rape, it has a national plan and there is political will. There is a lot to do to implement the legislation, but now there is an ambitious legal ground to stand on to be implemented by the police, judiciary and health care.

Q: What are the roots of the problem?

A: The sexual violence in Congo is the result of the war between the many armed groups. To put women in the front line has become a part of modern warfare.

Men often feel threatened in times of conflict and stay inside, but the women have to go out and get water and firewood and go to the fields to find food. In many cases they’ll be the first to be attacked. Especially if there is no paid national army that can protect civilians, rape is a part of the looting and crimes against the innocent. In addition, there is almost total impunity for rape in the Congo.

Q: The U.N. has its own force, MONUC, in Congo to protect civilians. What is being done to help women?

A: MONUC has had to adjust their operations after the conditions in the country. For example, MONUC has special patrols which escort women to health care clinics and markets.

Q: The U.N. and the Congolese government are discussing when the U.N. should leave the country. What would happen if the U.N. left the Congo now?

A: We have reason to be worried if the United Nations would leave the Congo. It is still unsettled in some parts of the country and the U.N. provides logistics for many of the NGOs operating in the country, and they rely in the U.N.

What is happening right now is that [the government] wants to show that it can protect the country itself – it’s a part of the debate on independence.

Q: How do feel when you hear about U.N. peacekeepers committing atrocities?

A: Just one example is too much. It destroys our confidence in the U.N.’s ability to do great things.

Q: There is criticism that the U.N. is a bureaucratic and inflexible organisation. Do you agree?

A: In every large organisation there is critisism like this. After 10 years in the European Commission, I can recognise such trends here, there is always. But basically, there are high hopes and great confidence in the U.N. and the energy and passion that exists for the U.N. is very useful.

Q: The Security Council has promised to focus even more on the issue of violence against women. Which countries should be focused on?

A: Congo is a given, also Darfur and a number of other countries in Africa. We will also focus on Liberia, where it is more a post-conflict society which has been brutalised and where rape is the most common offence. We cannot be in all countries with conflicts, we will comply with the Security Council agenda. This is a problem that not only exists in Africa.

Q: What can your staff do on site?

A: Our team of legal experts can help a country to establish a modern legislation. Impunity is the foundation of the problem, the women have to go with guilt and the men go free. We must try to understand how such a culture is created and how it can be a method of warfare. Then we can stop it.

FROM:            Women’s Dialogue for Action / Cecilia Attias Foundation

CONTACT:     Rubenstein Commuications

Tom Chiodo (212) 843.8289 tchiodo@rubenstein.com

Iva Benson (212) 843.8271  ibenson@rubenstein.com

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

More than 100 NGO’s,

50 Public & Private Sector Executives,

20 Media Leaders

Including Cindi Leive of Glamour Magazine,

Sade Baderinwa of ABC News,

Alison Smale of the International Herald Tribune,

Gisel Khoury of Al Arabiya and

Pamela Gross of Avenue Magazine

To Participate In

Cecilia Attias Foundation for Women’s Dialogue for Action

***

Cecilia Attias Foundation for Women’s Inaugural gathering will unite NGO’s, media, civic and business leaders from around the world to define and work towards solving the most pressing issues affecting women across all five continents.

***

www.ceciliaattiasfoundation.org

New York, NY – (June 10, 2010) – The Cecilia Attias Foundation for Women’s Dialogue for Action, being held June 24 in New York City, today announced that Cindi Leive, Editor, Glamour Magazine, Dina Powell, Chairwoman, Goldman Sachs Foundation, Sila Calderon, Former Governor of Puerto Rico, Minister of State Innocence Ntap, Senegal, Zeinab Salbi, President, Women for Women International and Dr Edit Schlaffer, President, Women Without Borders will join the many other leaders who be taking part of the Round Table discussions at the inaugural Dialogue for Action.

“I am pleased that so many prominent individuals have recognized the need to immediately gather around the same table and collaborate to find solutions to the many dire issues affecting women,” said former First Lady of France and Foundation President Cecilia Attias, “We need to work now to find implementable solutions and give a voice to the millions of women who are not able to speak out on their own.”

The first annual Dialogue for Action to take place in conjunction with the New York Forum (http://www.ny-forum.com) will bring together an exceptional group of NGO leaders, experts and influencers from the private and public sectors.  This unique, interactive format provides a new platform, where action-driven discussions will focus exclusively on identifying and finding solutions to the main issues facing women per continent.

Following the Dialogue for Action, The Cécilia Attias Foundation for Women will see that dedicated initiatives are implemented where needed.  Local regional meetings will be organized as part of the follow-up in the field to assess the progress of each initiative.

The International Herald Tribune is the Official Media Sponsor of The Dialogue for Action. WANGO, The World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations is the strategic partner of the Dialogue for Action whose global network of NGOs and affiliates has become an international leader in tackling issues of serious global concern.

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THE PROGRAM

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23
2:00 – 6:00pm
Registration
Park Avenue Room, Mezzanine Level
109 East 42nd Street at Grand Central Terminal  Tel: +1 212 883 1234

THURSDAY, JUNE 24
7:00am
Registration
Park Avenue Room, Mezzanine Level

7:15am
Welcome Coffee
Ballroom Level

ALL SESSIONS TO TAKE PLACE IN THE EMPIRE STATE BALLROOM

8:00am
Key Note Address by Cecilia Attias, Founder and President, The Cecilia Attias Foundation for Women

8:30-10:00am
AFRICA ROUND TABLE

Facilitated by Sade Baderinwa, Anchor/Reporter WABC-TV

NGOs:
· Bazaiba Masudi Eve, Senator and President of Congolese Women League for Election
· Esther Ibanga, Pastor Women on the Plateau Peace Initiative
· Molly Melching, Executive Director Tostan
· Promise Mthembu, Executive Director Her Rights Initiative

EXPERT RESPONSES:
· Letty Chiwara, Chief of the Africa Division for UNIFEM
· Innocence Ntap, Minister of Civil Service, Labor and Professional Organizations, Senegal
· Prinitha Pillay, Medical Doctor, Doctors without Borders

With the Support of:
· Fatou Sow Sarr, Professor at Dakar University

Special Closing Address by: Sophie Delaunay, Executive Director Doctors Without Borders

10:30-12:00pm
AMERICAS ROUND TABLE

Facilitated by Cindi Leive, Editor-in-Chief Glamour Magazine

NGOs:
· Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Hour Children
· Rosario Perez, CEO, Pro Mujer
· Sima Quraishi, Executive Director, Muslim Women Resource Center
· Dale Standifer, Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Women and Children

EXPERT RESPONSES:
· Adrienne Germain, President of the International Women’s Health Coalition
· Pamela Gross, Editor at Large, The Hill
· Ambassador Craig Stapleton, Former Ambassador to France
· Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO of Partnership for New York City

Special Closing Address by: Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking

12:30-2:00pm LUNCH BALLROOM I

2:30-4:00pm
ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST ROUND TABLE

Facilitated by Anita Pratap, Documentary Filmmaker, Author, Journalist
NGOs:
· Sakena Yacoobi, Executive Director, Afghan Institute of Learning
· Dr. Basmah Omair, CEO of Khadija Bint Khawilid Center for Businesswomen
· Manju Kochar, Chairman, Prasad Chikitsa
· Guy Jacobsen, Founder Redlight Children

With the Support of:
· Lucky Chherti, Founder and Program Director, Empowering Women of Nepal
· Bandana Rana, President, SAATHI

EXPERT RESPONSES:
· Chékéba Hachemi, President, Afghanistan Libre
· Dina Powell, President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation and Global Head of the Office of Corporate Engagement
· Zainab Salbi, Founder of Women for Women International
· Mu Sochua, Member of Cambodian Parliament and Human Rights Advocate

4:30-6:00pm
EUROPE ROUND TABLE

Facilitated by Alison Smale, Executive Editor, International Herald Tribune

NGOs:
· Sophie Romana, Executive Director, PlaNet Finance
· Edit Schlaffer, Chairman and Founder, Women Without Borders, SAVE – Sisters Against Violent Extremism
· May de Silva, Director, Women into Politics
· Inna Tymchyk, Board Member, Faith, Hope and Love

EXPERT RESPONSES:
· David Arkless, President, Global Corporate & Government Affairs, Manpower Inc.
· Kat Rohrer, Director/Producer, GreenKat Productions
· Fernando Villalonga, Consul General of Spain

6:00pm
Closing remarks Cecilia Attias, Founder and President, The Cecilia Attias Foundation for Women

As Libya Ejects UN Refugee Agency, Libyan PGA Treki Does Nothing, Withholds UNHCR Letter.

UNITED NATIONS, June 10 — As Libya moves to expel the UN’s refugee agency, Inner City Press has asked the office of UN General Assembly President Ali Treki, former foreign minister and senior adviser to the country’s longtime leader, if Treki is doing anything to avoid a cut of in assistance to refugees and involuntary migrants in Libya.

Rather than describe any efforts, his spokesman said that Treki “is not representing the Government of Libya. He is in his capacity as President of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly.” But UNHCR is a organ of the General Assembly. Shouldn’t Treki try something?

Many in the UN system feel that Treki should try. Others say that Treki gets along so badly with Libya’s Mission to the UN that his intervention might be counterproductive.

Ali Treki at UN, action on Libya expulsion of UNHCR not shown

On June 8 Inner City Press asked Treki’s spokesman Jean Victor Nkolo:

Inner City Press: On this question of Libya expelling the UN refugee agency, I just wonder if the President, given that he was Foreign Minister of Libya and a special or senior adviser to Muammar Gaddafi, does he see any role for himself in trying to ensure that the country for which he served in both those functions doesn’t expel the UN system in this way?

Spokesperson: Well, the President, in this whole matter, is not representing the Government of Libya. He is in his capacity as President of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly. I can confirm that the Office of the President of the General Assembly received a letter from the Head of UNHCR, Mr. [António] Guterres on this subject. But I really cannot say more at this stage.

Inner City Press: As PGA, but do you think, in particular, as a former Libyan senior diplomat with an ability to somehow solve this important issue?

Spokesperson: Well, that’s a conclusion that you may be drawing, but…

Inner City Press: Can you release the letter?

Spokesperson: For the time being, the President has not even seen the letter yet. He is resting; he is in Turkey. I think we’ll have to get there when he has seen the letter and we ask him if he has a statement or an opinion to make. He received the letter in his capacity as President of the General Assembly. As you know, UNHCR is a subsidiary body that reports to the General Assembly, and it is in the capacity of Dr. Treki as President of the GA that this letter was received.

Inner City Press: [inaudible] ask him to take some action with regard to his former senior advisee, Muammar Gaddafi?

Spokesperson: You will understand that I cannot comment on the content of the letter for the time being.

Two days later, still nothing has been said, or done.

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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
11 June, 2010 =========================================================================

FORMER SWISS LEADER ELECTED AS NEXT PRESIDENT OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

A former leader of Switzerland who was instrumental in his country joining the United Nations eight years ago was today chosen by the world body’s 192 Member States to serve as the next President of the General Assembly.

Joseph Deiss, 64, who was elected this morning by acclamation, will succeed Ali Treki when he takes over the presidency in mid-September as the General Assembly’s 65th session begins.

Accepting the post “with great hope and solid conviction,” Mr. Deiss told the Assembly that the world has entered an era of increasing interdependence.

“Everything is moving faster and coming closer,” he said. “New global challenges have also emerged – climate change, economic and financial crises, terrorism and global crime, extremism of all kinds – in addition to the perennial problems of war and poverty. They all require collective and urgent responses. More than ever before, we need to act together to be effective.”

The President-elect later called on Member States today to return to the goals set out in the UN Charter and guide their work by the principles of peace, friendship and cooperation.

“I was struck by the importance that we give in the Charter to the idea of friendship that goes much further than just defending the interests of our countries,” he told journalists at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

Mr. Deiss’ first major event as President will be the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit in September, where world leaders will be asked to accelerate progress to reach the anti-poverty goals by their target date of 2015.

As a former economics professor, the President-elect said he would focus the Assembly’s agenda in 2010-11 on global governance in general and economic governance, as well as Security Council reform, climate change and biodiversity, and food security.

Earlier today, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro spoke on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in conveying congratulations to Mr. Deiss.

“The President-elect brings great experience to the job – as a scholar, as a parliamentarian, and as a government minister,” she said. “He knows the immense value of the United Nations, having led Switzerland’s accession campaign to the Organization.”

Despite having a UN office in Geneva, Switzerland did not sign on as a UN Member State until 2002 for fear that membership would tarnish its long-standing neutrality.

While serving as Swiss foreign minister between 1999 and 2002, Mr. Deiss worked to allay such concerns as headed of the accession bid. In 2004 he served as president of the Swiss Confederation for a year.

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The Swiss and Gaddafi had some hand wrestling in the past but the UN DPI announcement ,with diplomacy, does not touch upon any of that.

FRANZ FISCHLER: ZU WENIG UND ZU VIEL ZU ESSEN. PARADOXIEN DER INTERNATIONALEN LANDWIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK

Sehr geehrte Damen, sehr geehrte Herren,

im Rahmen der Reihe Food & Politics (Kurator: Michael Freund) laden wir  Sie sehr herzlich zur folgenden Veranstaltung am kommenden

Montag,  31. Mai 2010, 19.00 Uhr, ein:

FRANZ FISCHLER
Präsident des Ökosozialen Forums (seit 2005), 1989 bis 1994 österreichischer Land- und Forstwirtschaftsminister, 1995 bis 2004 EU-Landwirtschaftskommissar.

ZU WENIG UND ZU VIEL ZU ESSEN
PARADOXIEN DER INTERNATIONALEN LANDWIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK.

How to feed the world?

Es ist eine traurige Tatsache, dass entgegen den Millenniumszielen der FAO die Zahl der Hungernden bis 2015 nicht halbiert sein wird. Im Gegenteil, es leben jetzt mehr als eine Milliarde Menschen unter ständigem Hunger. Die vordringlichste Frage bleibt, wie man damit umgehen kann und soll. Es geht in einem neuen FAO-Gipfel um global food security. Was spielt da mit? Wie und wo soll Nahrung produziert, wie soll sie verteilt werden? Damit zusammenhängend wird nun in der EU diskutiert, wie sinnvoll es ist, mit Milliardenunterstützung eine Landwirtschaft zu subventionieren, die unter anderem dem globalen „Süden“ die eigene Produktion und erst recht den Export erschwert: Braucht die EU überhaupt eine Landwirtschaft? Und brauchen die Mitgliedsstaaten eine gemeinsame Agrarpolitik?

Franz Fischler ist mit den bisher genannten Themen seit langem vertraut. Zugleich befasst er sich mit den gegenteiligen Ausflüssen des Komplexes Ernährung: dass nämlich in unseren Breitengraden immer mehr und immer ungesünder gegessen wird. Wie eine von ihm geleitete Arbeitsgemeinschaft feststellte, reicht es nicht, Ernährungsfragen nur von der Seite landwirtschaftlicher Interessen, d.h. von der Angebotsseite zu erörtern. Hier sollten Forschung, Erziehung ab dem frühesten Schulalter und Aufklärung mit Kampagnencharakter eine Rolle spielen. Das Phänomen der Übersättigung und des falschen Essens ist nur die Kehrseite einer generell ungenügenden Beschäftigung mit Ernährung und Politik. Fischler beleuchtet in seinem Vortrag den Zusammenhang zwischen regionalen Initiativen und internationalen Entwicklungen.

Begrüßung: Franz Vranitzky,

Ehrenpräsident des Bruno Kreisky Forums, ehem. österreichischer Bundeskanzler

Einleitung und Moderation: Michael Freund,

Leiter des Media Communications Department an der Webster University Vienna,

Redakteur der Tageszeitung Der Standard.

Anmeldungen unter:

Bruno Kreisky Forum für internationalen Dialog | Armbrustergasse 15 | 1190 Wien

Tel.: 3188260/20 | Fax: 318 82 60/10 | e-mail: einladung.kreiskyforum@kreisky.org

Melitta Campostrini
Bruno Kreisky Forum
for International Dialogue
Armbrustergasse 15
A-1190 Vienna
tel.: ++43 1 3188260/11
fax: ++43 1 3188260/10
e-mail: kreiskyforum@kreisky.org

www.kreisky-forum.org

President Barack Obama celebrating the Seder on Monday in the White House.
(AP)

Last update - 09:19 30/03/2010

Obama in Passover message: Fight oppression everywhere.

By Natasha Mozgovaya and Haaretz Service

The celebration of Passover reminds us to fight oppression everywhere, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his annual holiday greeting on Monday, also highlighting the battle against all forms of discrimination.In a statement released by the White House and signed by Obama, the U.S. president wrote that the story of Exodus taught that, “wherever we live, there is oppression to be fought and freedom to be won.”

“In retelling this story from generation to generation, we are reminded of our ongoing responsibility to fight against all forms of suffering and discrimination,” Obama wrote, adding that by doing so “we reaffirm the ties that bind us all.”

The American president concluded his greeting by saying that “these bonds are the source of inextinguishable courage and strength, and provide hope that we can repair this world.”

Later Monday, President Obama is expected to hold a Passover seder in the White House, making it the third year in a row he had done so, and a second time as president.

The president’s weekly schedule indicated that he and the first lady president and are planned to host some 20 friends and staff members.

Obama, who has promised to conduct a dialogue with the whole world, sends many greetings over the year, including for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and the Persian New Year, Nowruz.

While the Hanukkah party he hosted at the White House was for Jewish community leaders (and was closed to the media), the previous seder was an intimate event for his Jewish campaign workers; a recreation of the makeshift seder in April 2008 – during the campaign, on the roads, in the basement of a hotel in Pennsylvania.

The battle for the nomination against Hillary Clinton was two months away from a decision. Criticism of the controversial statements of the pastor of the Holy Trinity Church in Chicago, which Obama attended with his family, refused to die down. But at the end of one more grueling day, the Jewish staffers, including Arun Chaudhary, the videographer who documented Obama’s campaign and who is half-Jewish, half-Indian, and Eric Lesser, a former baggage handler on the campaign trail who has since become senior adviser David Axelrod’s aide, were determined to keep the tradition.

Most of the people at the seder were not Jewish, but some continued with Obama to the White House, among them senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Reggie Love. According to nostalgic reports of that historic evening, it is said to have ended with Obama saying the words, “Next year in the White House.”

The next seder did indeed take place in the White House – on the second night of the holiday, after the president had delivered a greeting in which he called the Haggadah “among the most powerful stories of suffering and redemption in human history.”

It was not the hoped-for intimate family event with no wait staff; the White House kitchen went all out. But the first daughters, Malia and Sasha, lived up to their part in the evening’s festivities, searching for the afikoman.

Some Jewish community leaders were at first surprised to hear about the president’s Passover seder. Hanukkah parties at the White House have become a tradition, but the seder did not rank on the list of Washington events to which one must wangle an invitation, because there simply wasn’t one at the presidential level.

Many wondered who would be on this year’s guest list. When it turned out to be a private event, most still quickly and warmly praised the respectful nod to Jewish tradition.

This year’s guest list has not been released yet, but according to reports, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will again not attend, while David Axelrod will be there, along with Valerie Jarrett and one of the younger aides, Herbie Ziskend.

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6,000 Ethiopian Jews to attend world’s largest Communal Seder in Gondar.
By Haaretz Service, March 30, 2010.

Approximately 6,000 Ethiopian Jews will gather at a massive Seder in Gondar on Monday night, most of them hoping that Israel will soon accede to their request to make aliyah.

The Falash Mura tribe has been preparing for this night in their refugee camp for weeks, learning the songs and traditions from Israeli emissary Getent Awake, who emigrated more than a decade ago and has returned to Ethiopian to supervise the religious character of the community.

“We left our families in order to strengthen [the Jews in Ethiopia],” said Awake. “This will be the biggest Passover Seder in the world, facilitated by two rabbis. We have more than 250,000 matzahs and 2,000 liters of wine.”

In preparation for the Seder, the children at the refugee camps learned to sing the “ma nishtana”, while the adults undertook study of the Passover rulings and rituals.

Many in the community have been in Gondar for years, waiting to immigrate to Israel and have experienced this Seder before.

The Falash Mura are Ethiopians of Jewish descent whose ancestors converted to Christianity. They are not Jewish according to Jewish law, but in 1999, under pressure from local Ethiopian immigrant groups and American Jewish organizations, the government agreed to bring them to Israel.

In recent years, however, many have remained behind in Ethiopia after Israel placed a quota on their immigration.

{When they finally get to Israel, the place they fight for being accepted and moved to  – housing has to be prepared for them.}

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We celebrated last night at the Communal Seder at the 92nd Street “Y” in Manhattan.