Hey Check out this website:
This is a website that was started by some friends of ours that has alot of great information about the counter-recruitment movement.
Click on the image above for more information...
|
Hey Check out this website:
This is a website that was started by some friends of ours that has alot of great information about the counter-recruitment movement. Click on the image above for more information... |
|
------ Headlines from around the world! ------ |
|
Posted on: 7/22/05 - By: Marcdefiant. UNHEARD CRIES FROM CONGO-written by: Ashley Kline While American news sources focus on top stories such as the on-going terrorism "threat", Iraq and our own political disputes, it’s understandable that raging conflicts in other regions of the world are bumped from the front page of the newspapers. But after re-thinking that scenario, I find it extremely difficult to believe that the atrocious conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo are so easily forgotten during the six o’clock news. Unimaginable acts of violence are committed against the citizens of the Congo, especially women. A recent episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show and the release of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ have finally brought much needed attention to the disheartening circumstances the Congolese have had to face for years. This is an area of the world that has seen nothing but mass murders and tragedy in the past ten years. Hutu rebels, who were responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, continue to terrorize the Congo region where they fled after the genocidal killings. Rwanda has invaded the Congo three times in the past decade in response to the Hutu militiamen occupying the area. When Rwanda invaded the Congo in 1998, civil war broke out among different anti-government militias. The war claimed the lives of 3.8 million civilians within a five year period. The war was declared over in 2002, however, the war continues to wage on for civilians. At the brunt of this war are Congolese women. We have all seen the horrors of war on the news, but not a war quite like this. Rebels continue to terrorize Congolese women on a daily basis. These women are subjected to physical beatings, extreme torture tactics and rape. At nightfall, rebels break into their homes, torture the women and then proceed to rape them while their husbands and children are forced to watch, or even participate in these uncomprehensible acts. It's typical for women to encounter multiple rapes and beatings in a single night. Girls as young as 12 years old are being raped on a regular basis by rebel soldiers. Congolese women are not seen as human beings, they are only viewed as slaves. Women are taken from their homes into the deep forests of the Congo where they are enslaved as sex objects. Women are forced to stay there for months before returning home. Their family members do not know if they will ever see their wives or mothers again, because most of the time, the women do not make it out alive. But what kind of life would they return to, anyway? After being raped and beaten for months, they are forced to live in an intense state of fear that this will happen again. And who is to say that it won’t happen again when there is little effort to prevent such occurrences at this time? Because these women have endured so much suffering, they feel they have no choice but to flee their homes in search for a better life. The effort to help Congolese women has failed. The U.N. sent soldiers to the Congo, but some of the peacekeepers may be as terrible as the militiamen. According to Reuters, when investigators were sent to the Congo, they found that a number U.N. soldiers had traded eggs and milk in exchange for sex with Congolese women and young girls. These are women who have been subjected to sexual exploitation all their lives, and now the people who are sent to protect them, are now abusing them as well. To make matters worse, the soldiers will most likely go unpunished due to lack of sufficient evidence. Investigators fear that this type of behavior will be continuos. That may be even more unbelievable; who are these women supposed to trust? When they realize the “protectors” aren’t even on their side, they must feel complete and utter despair. Congolese women know there is no protection against the brutality they face every day. The lives of Congolese women and their families are been torn apart by violence everyday, and we rarely, or never, hear about it. According to Reuters, 1,000 Congolese are dying daily. This is happening right now and hardly anything is being done to stop it. When are other nations going to step in and put an decisive end to this humanitarian crisis? As the result of a civil war, 3.8 million people are dead, and three years after the end of the war, 1,000 people are still dying everyday. I think a resolution is way past due. Now is the time for nations around the world to pull together and offer their help and support to put an end to the violence. Posted on: 7/13/05 - By: Marcdefiant. -128,000 Iraqis killed since the U.S. invasion began. An Iraqi humanitarian organization (Iraqiyun) is reporting that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003. The toll includes everyone who has been killed since March 2003-current, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women and children aged 12 and under. To read more about this report: Click here! -The London suicide bombers were all British born. Scorces say that at least three of the four suicide bombers were British-born, from outwardly respectable families of Pakistani origin. Their identities emerged after police raided a number of addresses in West Yorkshire, including the dead men's homes. Their ages range between 19 and 30 and they all lived quietly in the Leeds area and none had criminal records. Click Here! to read the first intitial reports reguarding the suspects. Go Here! to read the update. -Baghdad Car Bomb Kills 24 Children. In Iraq a car bomb has claimed the lives of 26 people- most of whom were childern- The children gathered round the American troops who were handing out chocolates. A witness Mohammed Ali Hamza said U.S. forces had gone to the southeastern district of Al-Jedidah to warn residents to stay indoors because of reports of a car bomb in the area... Click Here! to read a story posted on www.masnet.org. Posted on: 7/07/05 - By: Marcdefiant. -The G8 Summit: Power and Protest, what does it all mean.... POWER: The world's wealthiest nation's meet this week and their discussions will shape the world. This week, England hosts the annual G8 summit meeting at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. "G8" stands for "Group of Eight," and is a regular, informal meeting of the heads of the eight most powerful nations on Earth. Those 8 people are: Unlike other summit meetings like the WTO or NATO or the OECD, the G8 is not an institution. It's eight guys who run eight countries, who make decisions that are going to affect the rest of the world, unrestrained by charters or constitutions or rules. The agenda for the 2005 G8 meeting will be two-pronged, focusing on the issues of global warming and Africa's many catastrophes. Issue # 1: Global Warming! The debate over global warming will take center stage at the "G8" Summit this week. However we've already seen the likely outcome of the global warming discussion; the White House has been working behind the scenes to weaken the "draft action plan" to such an extent that it even refuses to acknowledge that global warming is actually occurring, let alone taking steps to prevent/reverse it. On a side note:* In November 1992 some 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including the majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences, issued this appeal. The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity (1992) The appeal is worth the read so please take a second to check it out. Issue #2: Africa. The second G8 issue could have some positive effect. Already the US and UK have agreed to forgive the debts of 18 poor nations, totaling $40 billion. However the UK charity "Christian Aid" estimates that unfair "free trade" policies have cost sub-Saharan Africa $272 billion over the past 20 years. PROTEST: Clashes as protesters breach G8 security fence. Riot police clashed with protesters who tore down part of a security fence close to the G8 summit venue at Gleneagles today... {Read More} -Police clash with anti-G8 protesters. GLENEAGLES (Reuters) - Anti-G8 protesters clashed with police on Wednesday as the heads of the Group of Eight industrialised nations prepared to meet at the heavily fortified Gleneagles golfing resort near Edinburgh. {Read More} To read more about the "G8" summit click on the links posted below: |
