There is a very interesting process which I have been so privileged to observe from a front row seat. As I write, election results are being announced from difference races across the country, they are appearing slowly, but surely. I think it is important to give a context to how this election has been set up:
There are 4 different elections happening simultaneously: local council elections, lower house parliamentary seats [House of Assembly], the Upper House of parliament [The Senate] and the Presidency. There are 1 958 local council seats up for election in 1 958 wards around the country, there are 210 House of Assembly seats up for grabs, there are sixty senate seats and one presidential seat. Now each one of these positions has at least two candidates contesting, with some having as many as seven candidates (and in other cases more). So there are a lot of people involved in contesting for all the elected offices in zimbabwe.

The post-voting electoral process

The process itself, that has come about out of a series of negotiations between the government and the opposition over the course of the past 12 months has meant that significant changes have been made to the electoral law in the country. New law requires that every polling station counts their ballots AT the station – this is in order to avoid rigging or tampering with ballot boxes in transit to any other location. This has been done in accordance with the law in every case. In a ward, you can get up to 3 or 4 polling stations depending on population data. In a constituency, you can get as many as 15 wards. This means that per constituency you get about 60 polling stations.

When the voting is done in that polling station, counting for all four seats begins – the local council, the lower house, the upper house and the presidency. For each candidate, there is a polling agent present to preside over the counting and to contest what they may deem to be deviations from due process or law. A result is only official when all the polling agents agree to it; hence in the case where there are disputes, this can take a while. Now remember, that this is happening for every single ballot, and every candidate's representatives can argue their cause. When a final result is reached and agreed upon by all parties and everyone signs to confirm such, the result for that polling station is posted on the entry way to that station. The official result is then sent to the 'Command Center' of that constituency. So in each constituency, they would have to wait for all sixty or so polling stations to reach that agreement, and then send the results to a central place where they are collated, and again agreed upon by all the Chief Election Agents of the candidates [if they chose to have agents represent them] and then a final result is reached. So in these cases, you can imagine how long this process may take given that (i) this is the first time that this was done in Zimbabwe; (ii) as in a big sporting game, the world cup final or something, every possession is contested – the same with these elections.; (iii) in some of the rural constituencies [actually, in most of them] the roads are horrendous. In some cases, non-existent. So moving a distance of 30 kilometres can actually take as long as an hour and a half to two hours. So movement is slow and complicated. And there are no telephones or electronic communications.

So the process is a slow one, and I think most people are doing the best to get these results out as fast as possible.

I observed the process in three electoral constituencies in rural Matabeleland. In VERY rural places so I am writing about all of this from first hand experience. The polls closed Saturday at 7pm. In the one constituency we only got a final result (after the process above was complete and all agreed upon) on Monday morning. Another one only by Monday afternoon. Others are not yet complete.

The mistake most people are making is that they see the result outside one polling station, take that as the overall result and then cry "that results are out. Why are they not being announced" and are completely ignorant of the process that must be taken to ensure that all parties involved at that local level are satisfied.

Allegations of Rigging etc

The international news media is buzzing with stories about how these delays are being caused by the government trying to buy time and rig the election. I think that is all the elections I have participated in and observed in Zimbabwe, this has been the most free, fair and competitive election. There was almost no violence leading up to the election. For the first time, you actually had a lot of oppositions parties using main stream including government controlled media to campaign and having access to the electorate almost on par with the government [I saw almost, because the government always has the advantage of incumbency. If a government minister is commissioning a new project for example, that is a 'national duty' and not a political meeting so the electoral rules don't necessarily apply, but any smart operator would use that platform to plug for their cause]. This doesn't mean that everything about the period leading up to the election was fair, but I think the environment really has allowed for people to express their will.

Even the post-election process I feel has provided for much more fairness than before. What is really surprising to me is the extent to which immediately after the election was done, the main opposition (the MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai) went on a global media blitz claiming the election is being rigged and already setting up an environment for those who are either not really aware of the details of the process, or who are far removed from it to prejudge all that is happening. I was really surprised by this and think it to be a really sleazy tactic.

Rigging, if it is taking place, is not happening with people stuffing boxes full of paper etc. It is happening on very technical grounds where those who are least informed on electoral law and procedure don't know how to play the game fully.

Most people reading this will be surprised by what I am about to say, but in my observations, I saw the greatest cases of foul play [call it rigging if you will] coming from the opposition. And their methodology for this is very sophisticated. Let me try and explain…

When we were children, there was a tactic where if there was a dispute between us as kids playing together, lets say, one kid hits another, the initiator of the transgression would run to an adult and cry the loudest and claim they were hit. The adult would run out in response and to the surprise of everyone watching would lash out at the person who actually was smacked in the first place, but it was too late, the initiative had been lost by the 'victim'. It was a smart tactic which worked most of the time, but it left the person who was really hit feeling very, very unjustly treated.

A similar thing has happened in this election from what I have seen. The MDC has run out screaming that we've been cheated, there is rigging etc. they've smartly managed tog et everyone watching the wrong place while they smugly cook the books where they can. It's a very close election in most cases so every point counts. Let me give you examples of what I mean, without mentioning specific locations and situations as this could have legal implications.

The widespread belief is that the government will rig the election because it is so popular that it cannot win the election fairly. They say it will rig it because it has deployed civil servants to oversee the election. In reality, the people who have the greatest animosity towards the government are civil servants. Teachers, Nurses, Police etc. they are the lowest paid people in the country and yet have the most expected from them. So we found in 3 places, and I think this is a sample behavior of what you would find nation wide, whereby you had electoral officials, employed by the government trying to work things in favor of the opposition.
In one polling station, where a government candidate had won and the papers confirming this were signed at that station, the delivery note meant to go to the Command Centre with the result 'disappeared.' There was a recount and a revisiting of the whole process I've described, the result again came out in favor of the government. Again, the delivery note disappeared. Eventually, the culprit was identified and arrested and the processes repeated once again and the result eventually went through. In that constituency, the government representative for that seat won, and there were incredible delays in releasing that data over endless, undescribed technicalities. Eventually, representatives from the electoral commission from the region's capital had to be called in to settle it.
Another incident, there was a case whereby a person standing for office of the government had a comfortable lead in their constituency with a margin of over 1000 votes. Two wards were still outstanding [about 6 polling stations]. When results came in, the ZANU PF [the governing party] representative won one constituency, and lost the other. The margin of the loss was significantly smaller than one thousand. The candidate's polling agent left the scene assuming victory. This was on Monday morning. Monday afternoon, we heard the results announced that the ZANU PF candidate has lost by over 2000 votes. Mathematically, this is not possible. There was most certainly an 'accounting error' in that case and the result will most probably be legally challenged.
The opposition has set up all of these 'parallel' structures to feed the word election results as 'they' see them. Some of them are so grossly wrong its disturbing. Yesterday they projected that out of 210 Lower House seats, the government has won only 50, the opposition 117 and the balance going to independents – which would of course mean a land slide for the opposition. As I type, about 90 results for the House of Assembly have been announced with 43 going to ZANU PF, 41 going to one faction of the MDC (Tsvangirai's faction) and the balance to independents and the smaller MDC Faction.

One thing that is being done which could be seen as controversial is that the results in the early stages are being announced almost in a balanced manner – i.e., you announce one victory for the opposition, one for the government etc. one reason for doing this may be so that you don't raise expectations of one side and then have a Kenya-type dispute when the final results swings in contradiction to early results. I think this makes sense because you do want to maintain calm in such a tense situation. Those advocating for this to be done "as results appear" seem to not have learned from what happened just north of Zimbabwe a few months ago.

I am sure there are cases of government (ZANU PF) rigging happening too, but I think ZANU's mischief would more have been done before the election, in the process leading up to it rather than during or post the election. But I am sure others elsewhere have their own reports and perspectives to share on this, especially those participating or observing the election for places that overwhelmingly support ZANU PF, of which Matabeleland isn't traditionally one of them.

Contrary to 'popular' expectations
Most commentators outside the country expect the ruling party and president to lose the election. The economic situation and an environment that actually allows more of a freer expression of people's will are cited as some of the influencing factors in those calculations. This is plausible thinking to some degree. I did not expect the president to have any support in Matabeleland at all. Given the history of this region, given the economic situation and the strong support the opposition has always had here, I was surprised to see the results in some places.

You would see results in a polling station where the president won by a significant margin over his opponents. You would get some where he lost by a very wide margin, and others that were close. I certainly expected him to lose everywhere in this part of the country. It's not turning out that way. In most areas here where I observed things up close, except for Bulawayo and urban centers, the presidential contest seems to have been between Robert Mugabe and Simba Makoni. Surprisingly, there is not much traction for Morgan Tsvangirai (which may be different in the northern and eastern regions of the country). In one entire constituency, Robert Mugabe beat Simba Makoni in the final tally of about 55 polling stations! It was a small margin but extremely surprising. In general, I think he will lose Matabeleland, but not by the wide margins people predict.

Where there is the greatest volatility in the election has been the local councils. That's where you get the most surprising results with many, many incumbents being thrown out. In retrospect, it makes sense because those are the candidates they know the best, that have the most direct contact and influence and that people have some form of control over. Again, that surprised me, given that the elections have always been billed as a presidential contest primarily.

The funny thing is that, you have external commentators surprised by the victories that the government achieves despite the situation economically. I feel that most people who vote for the president or governing party candidates have really done so out of their will. Many have chosen not to vote [hence the low voter turn out] for whatever reasons. When you have a 'democratic' election, and the candidate that outsiders don't prefer wins, there is always a problem. Ironically, those are the people who become hypocritical and do not accept the results. When Hamas won the elections in Palestine we saw the same thing happen. It's really funny watching the perspective of the 'western media' on Zimbabwe. BBC, CNN et al have been giving some pretty hilarious (and infuriating reporting). Partly because of their obvious biases, but also because of their location – they are not on the ground in Zimbabwe (for various, debatable reasons).

There are all sorts of notorious reports out there:
The president has left the country – Not True
The Military has been ordered to announce the president the winner – again, I don't think this is true. (http://www.swradioafrica.com/news300308/military300308.htm)

And so on … Most of these are not really true from what we can acertain, although confirming anything like that isn't really easy to do.


There are reports of civil unrest, and the military and police on the street. That is CERTAINLY not the case. Definitely not the case in Bulawayo and from what friends are telling me, it's not the case in Harare. It's one thing to look for an interesting story. It's mischief to say things that could lead to a tense (but calm) situation becoming tense and volatile.

I think if I called the BBC and claimed that I was being attacked by a Sabre Tooth Tiger sent by the government, I'd be on the front page of their website and on satellite TV within the hour!

It's a pretty close election – I think it could go either way. You'll probably get nothing more dramatic than a 55% -- 45% margin in the final result as far as parliament is concerned. The same may hold for the presidency.

I don't think Robert Mugabe is going to lose. If he does, I think he will probably accept the result, but expect some trading to take place about a way forward depending on his margin of defeat. But I don't think he will lose.

Well, my 'few thoughts' did become rather long and protracted – but other than that, we are all fine and awaiting the completion of the process with as much anxiety as everyone else.

Actually, the REAL result we are awaiting has NOTHING to do with the election. At around 3am this morning my sister, Mvuse, went into labor with her first pregnancy! So we are all on edge because that will be my parent's first biological grand child!!! It's a girl, that we know – but we're super excited to have her finally arrival. And what perfect timing, in time for the election results and on April Fool's Day no less!

Coup d’Media in Zimbabwe

It is shocking how the media in South Africa and that emanating mainly from countries in Europe and North America has gone ahead and made bold declarations about Zimbabwe’s recent election without paying much attention to the legal proceedings that dictate the unfolding of events here.

1. they have been drumming up since before voting closed been declaring that the president, Robert Mugabe, as lost the election, and the blitz has been so total that the intention seems to be to convince the whole world that the desired outcome of people not in Zimbabwe, who did not vote, becomes the dominant perception and in a way, reality.
2. the bias on the commentary on the satellite TV station is not surprising, but it is surprisingly anti most of the ethics and values you associate with the ‘independent press.’
3. the media went on for days about how the president and the ruling party were attempting to ‘rig’ the election. The opposition has gone on to declare victory unilaterally before any of the processes stated under law are complete which are actually slow by their nature and based on the nature of this most recent election. No one is accusing the opposition of ‘stealing’ the election. Where is the balance there? Imagine the President had declared himself the winner Sunday morning. What would those same ‘defenders of democracy’ have stated?
a. The same opposition which woke up the morning after the election is claiming fraud is now claiming that the same fraudulent election is one which they have won… how?
b. The same people who stated last night that they will wait for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to issue the official results and that they will follow the official results have now gone and stated that they will declare victory based on their own results which they have collated [some of which I have seen and are very different to what has been the actual results]. Yet the same media stations are accepting, tolerating and even promoting all of this.
c. Imagine if the government had done the same – the outrage, and retaliation by the ‘international community.’

Then when Robert Mugabe rages on about his fight against imperialism and western domination, and western bullying and the lack of respect of the principles of sovereignty, people say he is a disgruntled old dictator? Wouldn’t you be upset if you were in his position everyday for 15 years?

If i had the time, i would do a fuller analysis of this, but i am not sure it's even worth the time. No one out there listens to any other perspectives other than the ones that they want to see as reality

There is a very interesting process which I have been so privileged to observe from a front row seat. As I write, election results are being announced from difference races across the country, they are appearing slowly, but surely. I think it is important to give a context to how this election has been set up:
There are 4 different elections happening simultaneously: local council elections, lower house parliamentary seats [House of Assembly], the Upper House of parliament [The Senate] and the Presidency. There are 1 958 local council seats up for election in 1 958 wards around the country, there are 210 House of Assembly seats up for grabs, there are sixty senate seats and one presidential seat. Now each one of these positions has at least two candidates contesting, with some having as many as seven candidates (and in other cases more). So there are a lot of people involved in contesting for all the elected offices in zimbabwe.

The post-voting electoral process

The process itself, that has come about out of a series of negotiations between the government and the opposition over the course of the past 12 months has meant that significant changes have been made to the electoral law in the country. New law requires that every polling station counts their ballots AT the station – this is in order to avoid rigging or tampering with ballot boxes in transit to any other location. This has been done in accordance with the law in every case. In a ward, you can get up to 3 or 4 polling stations depending on population data. In a constituency, you can get as many as 15 wards. This means that per constituency you get about 60 polling stations.

When the voting is done in that polling station, counting for all four seats begins – the local council, the lower house, the upper house and the presidency. For each candidate, there is a polling agent present to preside over the counting and to contest what they may deem to be deviations from due process or law. A result is only official when all the polling agents agree to it; hence in the case where there are disputes, this can take a while. Now remember, that this is happening for every single ballot, and every candidate's representatives can argue their cause. When a final result is reached and agreed upon by all parties and everyone signs to confirm such, the result for that polling station is posted on the entry way to that station. The official result is then sent to the 'Command Center' of that constituency. So in each constituency, they would have to wait for all sixty or so polling stations to reach that agreement, and then send the results to a central place where they are collated, and again agreed upon by all the Chief Election Agents of the candidates [if they chose to have agents represent them] and then a final result is reached. So in these cases, you can imagine how long this process may take given that (i) this is the first time that this was done in Zimbabwe; (ii) as in a big sporting game, the world cup final or something, every possession is contested – the same with these elections.; (iii) in some of the rural constituencies [actually, in most of them] the roads are horrendous. In some cases, non-existent. So moving a distance of 30 kilometres can actually take as long as an hour and a half to two hours. So movement is slow and complicated. And there are no telephones or electronic communications.

So the process is a slow one, and I think most people are doing the best to get these results out as fast as possible.

I observed the process in three electoral constituencies in rural Matabeleland. In VERY rural places so I am writing about all of this from first hand experience. The polls closed Saturday at 7pm. In the one constituency we only got a final result (after the process above was complete and all agreed upon) on Monday morning. Another one only by Monday afternoon. Others are not yet complete.

The mistake most people are making is that they see the result outside one polling station, take that as the overall result and then cry "that results are out. Why are they not being announced" and are completely ignorant of the process that must be taken to ensure that all parties involved at that local level are satisfied.

Allegations of Rigging etc

The international news media is buzzing with stories about how these delays are being caused by the government trying to buy time and rig the election. I think that is all the elections I have participated in and observed in Zimbabwe, this has been the most free, fair and competitive election. There was almost no violence leading up to the election. For the first time, you actually had a lot of oppositions parties using main stream including government controlled media to campaign and having access to the electorate almost on par with the government [I saw almost, because the government always has the advantage of incumbency. If a government minister is commissioning a new project for example, that is a 'national duty' and not a political meeting so the electoral rules don't necessarily apply, but any smart operator would use that platform to plug for their cause]. This doesn't mean that everything about the period leading up to the election was fair, but I think the environment really has allowed for people to express their will.

Even the post-election process I feel has provided for much more fairness than before. What is really surprising to me is the extent to which immediately after the election was done, the main opposition (the MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai) went on a global media blitz claiming the election is being rigged and already setting up an environment for those who are either not really aware of the details of the process, or who are far removed from it to prejudge all that is happening. I was really surprised by this and think it to be a really sleazy tactic.

Rigging, if it is taking place, is not happening with people stuffing boxes full of paper etc. It is happening on very technical grounds where those who are least informed on electoral law and procedure don't know how to play the game fully.

Most people reading this will be surprised by what I am about to say, but in my observations, I saw the greatest cases of foul play [call it rigging if you will] coming from the opposition. And their methodology for this is very sophisticated. Let me try and explain…

When we were children, there was a tactic where if there was a dispute between us as kids playing together, lets say, one kid hits another, the initiator of the transgression would run to an adult and cry the loudest and claim they were hit. The adult would run out in response and to the surprise of everyone watching would lash out at the person who actually was smacked in the first place, but it was too late, the initiative had been lost by the 'victim'. It was a smart tactic which worked most of the time, but it left the person who was really hit feeling very, very unjustly treated.

A similar thing has happened in this election from what I have seen. The MDC has run out screaming that we've been cheated, there is rigging etc. they've smartly managed tog et everyone watching the wrong place while they smugly cook the books where they can. It's a very close election in most cases so every point counts. Let me give you examples of what I mean, without mentioning specific locations and situations as this could have legal implications.

The widespread belief is that the government will rig the election because it is so popular that it cannot win the election fairly. They say it will rig it because it has deployed civil servants to oversee the election. In reality, the people who have the greatest animosity towards the government are civil servants. Teachers, Nurses, Police etc. they are the lowest paid people in the country and yet have the most expected from them. So we found in 3 places, and I think this is a sample behavior of what you would find nation wide, whereby you had electoral officials, employed by the government trying to work things in favor of the opposition.
In one polling station, where a government candidate had won and the papers confirming this were signed at that station, the delivery note meant to go to the Command Centre with the result 'disappeared.' There was a recount and a revisiting of the whole process I've described, the result again came out in favor of the government. Again, the delivery note disappeared. Eventually, the culprit was identified and arrested and the processes repeated once again and the result eventually went through. In that constituency, the government representative for that seat won, and there were incredible delays in releasing that data over endless, undescribed technicalities. Eventually, representatives from the electoral commission from the region's capital had to be called in to settle it.
Another incident, there was a case whereby a person standing for office of the government had a comfortable lead in their constituency with a margin of over 1000 votes. Two wards were still outstanding [about 6 polling stations]. When results came in, the ZANU PF [the governing party] representative won one constituency, and lost the other. The margin of the loss was significantly smaller than one thousand. The candidate's polling agent left the scene assuming victory. This was on Monday morning. Monday afternoon, we heard the results announced that the ZANU PF candidate has lost by over 2000 votes. Mathematically, this is not possible. There was most certainly an 'accounting error' in that case and the result will most probably be legally challenged.
The opposition has set up all of these 'parallel' structures to feed the word election results as 'they' see them. Some of them are so grossly wrong its disturbing. Yesterday they projected that out of 210 Lower House seats, the government has won only 50, the opposition 117 and the balance going to independents – which would of course mean a land slide for the opposition. As I type, about 90 results for the House of Assembly have been announced with 43 going to ZANU PF, 41 going to one faction of the MDC (Tsvangirai's faction) and the balance to independents and the smaller MDC Faction.

One thing that is being done which could be seen as controversial is that the results in the early stages are being announced almost in a balanced manner – i.e., you announce one victory for the opposition, one for the government etc. one reason for doing this may be so that you don't raise expectations of one side and then have a Kenya-type dispute when the final results swings in contradiction to early results. I think this makes sense because you do want to maintain calm in such a tense situation. Those advocating for this to be done "as results appear" seem to not have learned from what happened just north of Zimbabwe a few months ago.

I am sure there are cases of government (ZANU PF) rigging happening too, but I think ZANU's mischief would more have been done before the election, in the process leading up to it rather than during or post the election. But I am sure others elsewhere have their own reports and perspectives to share on this, especially those participating or observing the election for places that overwhelmingly support ZANU PF, of which Matabeleland isn't traditionally one of them.

Contrary to 'popular' expectations
Most commentators outside the country expect the ruling party and president to lose the election. The economic situation and an environment that actually allows more of a freer expression of people's will are cited as some of the influencing factors in those calculations. This is plausible thinking to some degree. I did not expect the president to have any support in Matabeleland at all. Given the history of this region, given the economic situation and the strong support the opposition has always had here, I was surprised to see the results in some places.

You would see results in a polling station where the president won by a significant margin over his opponents. You would get some where he lost by a very wide margin, and others that were close. I certainly expected him to lose everywhere in this part of the country. It's not turning out that way. In most areas here where I observed things up close, except for Bulawayo and urban centers, the presidential contest seems to have been between Robert Mugabe and Simba Makoni. Surprisingly, there is not much traction for Morgan Tsvangirai (which may be different in the northern and eastern regions of the country). In one entire constituency, Robert Mugabe beat Simba Makoni in the final tally of about 55 polling stations! It was a small margin but extremely surprising. In general, I think he will lose Matabeleland, but not by the wide margins people predict.

Where there is the greatest volatility in the election has been the local councils. That's where you get the most surprising results with many, many incumbents being thrown out. In retrospect, it makes sense because those are the candidates they know the best, that have the most direct contact and influence and that people have some form of control over. Again, that surprised me, given that the elections have always been billed as a presidential contest primarily.

The funny thing is that, you have external commentators surprised by the victories that the government achieves despite the situation economically. I feel that most people who vote for the president or governing party candidates have really done so out of their will. Many have chosen not to vote [hence the low voter turn out] for whatever reasons. When you have a 'democratic' election, and the candidate that outsiders don't prefer wins, there is always a problem. Ironically, those are the people who become hypocritical and do not accept the results. When Hamas won the elections in Palestine we saw the same thing happen. It's really funny watching the perspective of the 'western media' on Zimbabwe. BBC, CNN et al have been giving some pretty hilarious (and infuriating reporting). Partly because of their obvious biases, but also because of their location – they are not on the ground in Zimbabwe (for various, debatable reasons).

There are all sorts of notorious reports out there:
The president has left the country – Not True
The Military has been ordered to announce the president the winner – again, I don't think this is true. (http://www.swradioafrica.com/news300308/military300308.htm)

And so on … Most of these are not really true from what we can acertain, although confirming anything like that isn't really easy to do.


There are reports of civil unrest, and the military and police on the street. That is CERTAINLY not the case. Definitely not the case in Bulawayo and from what friends are telling me, it's not the case in Harare. It's one thing to look for an interesting story. It's mischief to say things that could lead to a tense (but calm) situation becoming tense and volatile.

I think if I called the BBC and claimed that I was being attacked by a Sabre Tooth Tiger sent by the government, I'd be on the front page of their website and on satellite TV within the hour!

It's a pretty close election – I think it could go either way. You'll probably get nothing more dramatic than a 55% -- 45% margin in the final result as far as parliament is concerned. The same may hold for the presidency.

I don't think Robert Mugabe is going to lose. If he does, I think he will probably accept the result, but expect some trading to take place about a way forward depending on his margin of defeat. But I don't think he will lose.

Well, my 'few thoughts' did become rather long and protracted – but other than that, we are all fine and awaiting the completion of the process with as much anxiety as everyone else.

Actually, the REAL result we are awaiting has NOTHING to do with the election. At around 3am this morning my sister, Mvuse, went into labor with her first pregnancy! So we are all on edge because that will be my parent's first biological grand child!!! It's a girl, that we know – but we're super excited to have her finally arrival. And what perfect timing, in time for the election results and on April Fool's Day no less!

do the math. see if you can work out how hypocritical the media can be in this democracy thing .... this is just one [respected] publication.... but the hypocrisy i find across the board not just in The Economist.

http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9032254
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10430289
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10328986
http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10328292
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9079815
http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10880693
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8929019

This Article is called the Fakebook Generation and recently appeared in the New York Times - rather interesting... I wonder how many young people can identify with Mathias's points, which i think are a very good reflection on our generation and emerging global on-line, interconnected culture!



Op-Ed Contributor
The Fakebook Generation

By ALICE MATHIAS
Published: October 6, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06mathias.html?ref=opinion

Chicago

THE time-chugging Web site Facebook.com first appeared during my freshman year as the exclusive domain of college students. This spring, Facebook opened its pearly gates, enabling myself and other members of the class of ’07 to graduate from our college networks into those of the real world.

In no time at all, the Web site has convinced its rapidly assembling adult population that it is a forum for genuine personal and professional connections. Its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has even declared his quest to chart a “social graph” of human relationships the way that cartographers once charted the world.

Just a warning: if you’re planning on following the corner of this map that’s been digitally doodled by my 659 Facebook friends, you are going to end up in the middle of nowhere. All the rhetoric about human connectivity misses the real reason this popular online study buddy has so distracted college students for the past four years.

Facebook did not become popular because it was a functional tool — after all, most college students live in close quarters with the majority of their Facebook friends and have no need for social networking. Instead, we log into the Web site because it’s entertaining to watch a constantly evolving narrative starring the other people in the library.

I’ve always thought of Facebook as online community theater. In costumes we customize in a backstage makeup room — the Edit Profile page, where we can add a few Favorite Books or touch up our About Me section — we deliver our lines on the very public stage of friends’ walls or photo albums. And because every time we join a network, post a link or make another friend it’s immediately made visible to others via the News Feed, every Facebook act is a soliloquy to our anonymous audience.

It’s all comedy: making one another laugh matters more than providing useful updates about ourselves, which is why entirely phony profiles were all the rage before the grown-ups signed in. One friend announced her status as In a Relationship with Chinese Food, whose profile picture was a carry-out box and whose personal information personified the cuisine of China.

We even make a joke out of how we know one another — claiming to have met in “Intro to Super Mario Re-enactments,” which I seriously doubt is a real course at Wesleyan, or to have lived together in a “spay and neuter clinic” instead of the dorm. Still, these humor bits often reveal more about our personalities and interests than any honest answers.

Facebook administrators have since exiled at least the flagrantly fake profiles, the Greta Garbos and the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butters, in an effort to have the site grow up from a farce into the serious social networking tool promised to its new adult users, who earnestly type in their actual personal information and precisely label everyone they know as former co-workers or current colleagues, family members or former lovers.

But does this more reverent incarnation of Facebook actually enrich adult relationships? What do these constellations of work colleagues and long-lost friends amount to? An online office mixer? A reunion with that one other guy from your high school who has a Facebook profile? Oh! You get to see pictures of your former college sweetheart’s family! (Only depressing possibilities are coming to mind for some reason.)

My generation has long been bizarrely comfortable with being looked at, and as performers on the Facebook stage, we upload pictures of ourselves cooking dinner for our parents or doing keg stands at last night’s party; we are reckless with our personal information. But there is one area of privacy that we won’t surrender: the secrecy of how and whom we search.

A friend of mine was recently in a panic over rumors of a hacker application that would allow Facebook users to see who’s been visiting their profiles. She’d spent the day ogling a love interest’s page and was horrified at the idea that he knew she’d been looking at him. But there’s no way Facebook would allow such a program to exist: the site is popular largely because it enables us to indulge our gazes anonymously. (We might feel invulnerable in the spotlight, but we don’t want to be caught sitting in someone else’s audience.) If our ability to privately search is ever jeopardized, Facebook will turn into a ghost town.

Facebook purports to be a place for human connectivity, but it’s made us more wary of real human confrontation. When I was in college, people always warned against the dangers of “Facebook stalking” at a library computer — the person whose profile you’re perusing might be right behind you. Dwelling online is a cowardly and utterly enjoyable alternative to real interaction.

So even though Facebook offers an elaborate menu of privacy settings, many of my friends admit that the only setting they use is the one that prevents people from seeing that they are Currently Logged In. Perhaps we fear that the Currently Logged In feature advertises to everyone else that we (too!) are Currently Bored, Lustful, Socially Unfulfilled or Generally Avoiding Real Life.

For young people, Facebook is yet another form of escapism; we can turn our lives into stage dramas and relationships into comedy routines. Make believe is not part of the postgraduate Facebook user’s agenda. As more and more older users try to turn Facebook into a legitimate social reference guide, younger people may follow suit and stop treating it as a circus ring. But let’s hope not.

Alice Mathias is a 2007 graduate of Dartmouth.

Little Baby “Alia” finally came to the world last Monday April 30th, what a wonderful creature!!!I
Actually didn’t imagine she would be that lovely!!!and though the delivery experience wasn’t that pleasant, it was one of the most physically painful experiences I’ve been exposed to, but I’m so happy to finally have her with me…

It's ridiculous how the US justifies its agricultural policy at the
expense of other peoples' livelihoods.

nothing really new in this article, but it's good to see this issue
getting media attention.



From http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/06/africa/web0406-zambia.php

For the hungry in Zambia, U.S. law may hinder urgent food aid
By Cecilia W. Dugger
Friday, April 6, 2007


MULONDO, Zambia: Traveling to school in wobbly dugout canoes, Munalula
Muhau and her three cousins, 7 and 8 year olds whose parents died of
AIDS, held onto just one possession: battered tin bowls to receive
their daily ration of gruel.

Within weeks, those rations, provided by the United Nations World Food
Program, will run out for them and 500,000 other paupers, including
thousands of people wasted by AIDS who are being treated with
American-financed drugs that make them healthier - and ravenously
hungry.

"Not to put too fine a point on it," said Jeffrey Stringer, an
American doctor who runs a non-profit group treating 50,000 Zambians
with AIDS, "but it will result in the death of some patients."

Hoping to forestall such a dire outcome, the World Food Program made
an urgent appeal in February for cash donations so it could buy corn
from Zambia's own bountiful harvest, piled in towering stacks in the
warehouses of the capital, Lusaka.

But United States law requires that virtually all donated food be
grown in America and shipped at great expense across oceans, mostly on
vessels that fly American flags and employ American crews - a process
that typically takes four to six months.

For a third year, the Bush administration, which has pushed to make
foreign aid more efficient, is trying to change the law to allow the
United States to use up to a quarter of the budget of its main food
aid program to buy food in developing countries during emergencies.
The proposal has run into stiff opposition from a potent alliance of
agribusiness, shipping and charitable groups with deep financial
stakes in the current food aid system.

Oxfam, the international aid group, and other proponents of the Bush
proposal, say it would enable the United States to feed more people
more quickly, while helping fight poverty by buying the crops of
peasants in poor countries.

The U.S. Agency for International Development estimated that if
Congress adopted the Bush proposal, the United States could feed at
least a million more people and save 50,000 more lives.

But Congress quickly killed the plan in each of the past two years,
cautioning that untying food aid from domestic interest groups would
weaken the commitment that has made the United States by far the
largest food aid donor in a world where 850 million go hungry.

Representative Tom Lantos, Democrat of California and chairman of the
House Foreign Relations Committee, warned last year at a food aid
conference in Washington that decoupling food aid from American
maritime and agribusiness interests "is beyond insane."

"It is a mistake of gigantic proportions," he said, "because support
for such a program will vanish overnight, overnight."

But James Kunder, acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for
International Development, said in an interview that the
administration proposal - which would affect less than half of one
percent of American agricultural exports - would not undercut American
interests.

"The burden of proof is on producers and shippers to show this is
going to significantly damage their interests," he said, "because we
can provide compelling evidence that allowing local procurement is
going to save lives by speeding up delivery of supplies."

Here in Zambia, population 11 million, more than a million children
are already orphaned, mostly because AIDS killed their parents. Life
expectancy has plunged to 38 years, and countless sickened adults,
unable to work, can no longer feed their families.

On a recent day, patients on U.S.-financed AIDS drugs and their
families streamed into a food distribution point at the Lewanika
Hospital in Mongu town. Already, as the World Food Program's stocks
have run low, rations have been almost halved. Some were so hungry
that they scooped handfuls of corn-soy powder into their mouths
without even adding water to make porridge.

One of the patients, Annie Mubita, a 32-year-old mother of six, said
her strength is returning, and so is her appetite, which had shriveled
when she was sick. Mubita assumes her children are also HIV positive,
she said, but has not had them tested because if they, too, go on the
drugs, they will be as hungry as she is.

"If the children have an appetite like me, the food won't last even
two weeks," she said. If the rations end, she said, "me and my
children will die."

Kandundu Litia, a 12-year-old orphan with AIDS, also fears a cut-off
of food. Before the rations began, she said, her aunt, uncle and
cousins would eat when she was at school. "There was none left when I
got home," she whispered, her head dropping. The short shock of hair
springing from her head still had the telltale reddish tint of the
malnourished.

David Stevenson, who heads the World Food Program's Zambia office and
has worked for the organization in Africa for 15 years, through war
and drought, says he has never seen a crisis on the scale of what AIDS
and drought have wrought in Zambia. He worries as supplies dwindle.

With cash donations, the World Food Program could get Zambian corn to
the hungry in a month, far faster than the United States could
typically act.

The cash would also stretch further than in-kind food. In recent
years, the World Food Program has procured 75 percent more food for
Zambia, Kenya and Uganda by buying corn grown in those countries,
rather than shipping American food, according to Michigan State
University agricultural economists who studied crop and shipping data.

There is hope that Zambia, a relatively stable democracy, can become a
bread basket in a region roiled by conflict, disease and economic
collapse, at least in years when it is not devastated by drought.

In lean years, the World Food Program shuts down its buying operation
here for fear of driving up the prices of corn, the main staple,
beyond the reach of poor consumers. It imports food instead.

But during bumper harvests, the World Food Program has become a major
buyer of Zambian-grown corn. Since 2001, it has bought more than $1
billion worth of food in some of the poorest countries on earth.

For farmers like Catherine Hangama, 36, that money makes all the
difference. She works a small plot with her husband in the village of
Nakandyoli in Mumbwa district. For the first time last year they sold
a small surplus of maize for $53 to the Zambian government's Food
Reserve Agency, one of the World Food Programs biggest suppliers here.

That money bought soap and paid for uniforms and fees to send three
children to school. This year, she and her husband have planted more
and hope to sell 15 bags after this year's harvest.

"If I don't plow well, the children won't be able to go to school,"
she explained, with one twin baby at her breast and the other on her
back.

What Hangama earns is a pittance compared with the billions at stake
for the main players in American food aid.

Over the past three years, the same four companies and their
subsidiaries - Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Bunge and Cal Western
Packaging - have sold the American government more than half the $2.2
billion in food for Food for Peace, the largest food aid program, and
two smaller programs, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Shipping companies were paid $1.3 billion over the same period to move
the food aid overseas, the USDA figures show.

And nonprofit groups received over $500 million in donated American
food, which they sold at market rates in developing countries to raise
money for antipoverty programs, according to U.S. AID and a recent
study by Emmy Simmons, a retired U.S. AID official.

Agribusiness and shipping groups vigorously oppose the Bush
administration proposal to buy food in developing countries with cash,
which they argue is more likely to be stolen. They say American food
is safer and of higher quality and that the government can speed
delivery by storing it in warehouses around the world.

And they defend the idea that federal spending should benefit American
business and farming interests, as well as the hungry. Without support
from such interest groups, food aid budgets from Congress would
whither, they say.

"It would be at extreme risk of being diminished," said Paul Green, a
consultant to the North American Millers' Association, a trade
association for the milling industry that counts Archer Daniels
Midland, Bunge and Horizon Milling, a joint venture of Cargill and CHS
among its members.

Gloria Tosi, a lobbyist and immediate past president of the American
Maritime Congress, an association of U.S.-flag ship owners, agreed.
"There's no constituency for cash," she said.

Many charitable groups involved in food aid share that worry, and also
warn that a badly managed program to buy food in poor countries could
drive up food prices and worsen hunger.

The Alliance for Food Aid, 14 nonprofit groups involved in
distributing and selling American food aid overseas, maintains that
the Bush proposal is too ambitious and advocate a modest pilot
program.

"Do a demonstration," said Robert Zachritz, a senior policy adviser at
World Vision. "Does it work? Then you can go from there."

For now, the World Food Program is hoping other rich nations or
individuals will donate cash to keep rations flowing for the half
million needy Zambiams, among them Manaluna and 135,000 children fed
through community schools.

The pupils in this grass hut schoolhouse are from families so poor
they cannot afford the flip flops and $6 uniforms required to attend
public schools.

Beatrice Nyambe, 64, a retired public school teacher who serves
without pay as principal, worries that when food from school runs out,
most of the children will go back to day work in the fields so they
can buy a few handfuls of corn meal to fill their bellies.

Munalula, whose own mother was an untrained teacher before AIDS took
her, is the best student in the school and wants to be a teacher as
well. She helps her cousins with their homework, scratching out sums
in the dirt with a stick.

At school, she and 50 other children in the dirt-floored classroom in
the village of Nalusheke fell silent but for the smacking sounds they
made eating a boiled mush of American bulgur wheat. Each bowlful,
topped with split peas from Canada, cost 12 cents. The bulgur came
from sacks emblazoned with the words, "Gift of the People of the
United States of America."

Munalula and her barefoot cousins scraped their bowls clean, savoring
each unsweetened bite. But some children barely touched theirs.

Sisi Negenda, a six-year-old with little braids, shyly explained why.
She has a younger sister, 3, and several orphaned relatives at home.
She said she wanted to share with them. She carried off the bowl,
still heavy with porridge, as though it were a precious, breakable
object.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=304054&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

US reveals its efforts to topple Mugabe

The United States admitted openly for the first time on Thursday that
it was actively working to undermine Robert Mugabe, the President of
Zimbabwe.

Although officially Washington does not support regime change, a US
state department report published on Thursday acknowledged that it was
supporting opposition politicians in the country and others critical
of Mugabe.

The State Department also admitted sponsoring events aimed at
"discrediting" statements made by Mugabe's government.

The report will be seized on by Mugabe, who has repeatedly claimed
that the US and Britain are seeking regime change.

The comments are contained in the state department's fifth annual
Supporting Human Rights and Democracy report. It sets out in detail
actions the US government is taking worldwide to promote human rights.

The report has had a troubled history. Three years ago publication had
to be hastily delayed when details emerged about US human rights
abuses at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

The US, compared with the United Kingdom, was initially slow to
criticise Mugabe, but has since adopted an increasingly critical
stance, most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last
month.

In an unusual piece of candour, the State Department report says: "To
encourage greater public debate on restoring good governance in
[Zimbabwe], the United States sponsored public events that presented
economic and social analyses discrediting the government's excuses for
its failed policies.

"To further strengthen pro-democracy elements, the US government
continued to support the efforts of the political opposition, the
media and civil society to create and defend democratic space and to
support persons who criticised the government."

While the US and British governments still insist their aim in
Zimbabwe is not regime change, they have been encouraging the main
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangarai, who was beaten up last month.

The report says that while Zimbabwe is nominally democratic, the
government of Mugabe is "now authoritarian".

At a press conference to launch the document, the Assistant Secretary
of State, Barry Lowenkren, said the US goal was not necessarily regime
change but to create a level playing field for all parties. He added
that where there was a country with record levels of inflation, denial
of basic human rights and other abuses, the US had a duty to speak out
so that people in Zimbabwe knew they had support.

Asked whether US efforts to promote human rights worldwide were being
undermined by the hundreds of of people being held at Guantánamo,
Lowenkren insisted the issue was not raised by non-governmental groups
at conferences he attended and participants were more interested in
what the US could do to help them in their own countries.

He also denied the report was softer on authoritarian governments
allied to the US, such as Belarus, than to Zimbabwe.

Lowenkren said $66-million was being spent on promotion of democracy
and human rights in Iran, about half of which was devoted to
broadcasts from outside the country and the rest spent on support for
non-governmental exchanges, cultural exchanges such as the visit by
the US wrestling team and a Persian internet service.

The report is critical of Russia, noting the killing of the journalist
Anna Politkovskaya.

It says: "Political pressure on the judiciary, corruption and
selectivity in enforcement of the law, continuing media restrictions
and self-censorship, and government pressure on opposition political
parties eroded the public accountability of government leaders.

"Security forces were involved in additional significant human rights problems."

University considers revoking degree
Meanwhile, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) is considering
revoking an honourary doctorate of law it awarded Mugabe in 1986.

Some students at the Boston campus have circulated a petition asking
for the university to revoke the degree, and officials say they are
considering doing so.

"Mugabe's actions during the past decade show he's fallen from being a
good citizen of the world," said Shauna Murray, a graduate student who
helped circulate the petition. "He has a track record of suppressing
basic human rights like free speech and the right to protest, and that
doesn't represent what students here stand for."

The issue also has surfaced at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland
and Michigan State University, which gave Mugabe honourary degrees in
1984 and 1990, respectively.

Terry Denbow, a Michigan State spokesperson, said administrators have
received letters requesting that Mugabe's degree be rescinded.

"There have been discussions, but I know of no formal process for
rescinding the degree," Denbow said.

Officials at Edinburgh said the issue of Mugabe's degree was under review.

According to the UMass policy, honourary degrees are handed out to
people "of great accomplishment and high ethical standards".

Recipients have included former South African president Nelson
Mandela, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, author
Toni Morrison and comedian and educator Bill Cosby.

Once lauded as a model for African democracy, Mugabe has tried to
crush opposition to his power and has threatened to expel Western
envoys for criticising his government.

The country's Roman Catholic bishops said last month that health,
education and other public services "have all but disintegrated".

"Mugabe has become a scourge of his people and a scourge of Africa,"
said Michael Thelwell, a professor in the UMass Afro-American studies
department.

But Thelwell and others cautioned against revoking the degree just to
appease Mugabe's critics.

"The task of intellectuals is to seek the truth, not to be swayed by
pressures of the moment," said Bill Strickland, a UMass politics
professor. "If they take away the degree, they have to look at all the
facts surrounding what is happening in Zimbabwe and not simply blame
just one person." - Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian News and Media
Limited 2007, Sapa-AP

i never thought i'd say this about an article from the Daily Mail or Mail on Sunday from Britain - but this is a great article :-) it's so well written that i don't think i need a comment to contextualize it.

enjoy it!



http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2007/03/fake_caring_abo.html
Fake caring about Zimbabwe

Read Peter Hitchens only in The Mail on Sunday

Do I care about Zimbabwe? Should you? Every few months, the British media, together with a certain number of politicians, make a fuss about the misery now afflicting that sad country. They sympathise with its ill-fed, oppressed people and with the leaders of its opposition movements. Pictures and reports are published of the horrible beatings given to those who dare to oppose the country's tyrant, Robert Mugabe. The BBC makes a great to-do about how it is banned from Zimbabwe but still manages to get information out.


Nobody can read these accounts without a feeling of outrage and a desire to do or say something. But in my view this is in fact a selfish impulse, unless you are prepared to act personally in some way that will improve matters. We become inflamed with righteous anger about these things, only to prove to ourselves that we are nice, civilised people. In truth, we have absolutely no intention of doing anything about it.


And if we did, it would probably fail. I don't know how many of those who call for intervention in Zimbabwe could find it on a map, but the fact that the country has no coastline could present a small problem to anyone who wanted to invade it. In any case, this is all futile stuff.


The disastrous and irreparable defeat of British arms by the Japanese in Singapore in 1942 finished the British empire for all time, though it would take a little while for this truth to become obvious. India went first, and, after a pause ended by the Suez fiasco, the rest followed soon afterwards. Not only could we not afford the empire any more. Our reputation for invincibility had been smashed by Japan, and we had lost the psychological advantage we had gained in the 18th century and had reinforced by our merciless crushing of the Indian mutiny in 1857.


All over Asia, the Japanese had been careful to see that captured British officers and soldiers were visible to their former colonial subjects, reduced to the status of humiliated, suppliant slaves. The effects of this were enormous and permanent in Asia, and word spread to Africa quite quickly.


Britain, which during the war against Hitler was understandably paying less attention to the Empire than it would otherwise have done, was slow to realise how much things had changed. But by the end of the 1950s, its leaders decided it could not afford an African colonial empire.


Its influence in the area has been in decline ever since, replaced by the USA, China, Cuba and - to a surprisingly small extent - Russia. The problem with Zimbabwe, formerly Southern Rhodesia, was that it was already semi-independent and self-governing in any case, with a white minority that did not wish to lose its privileged way of life because of Britain's decline. It was very difficult for a British government, trying to soothe the feelings of the United Nations and to scrub away all traces of unfashionable colonial supremacy, to force the Southern Rhodesians into giving up their power. They had good reason to suspect that, when they did, they would swiftly lose their pampered way of life.


So London devoted much of the late 1960s and all the 1970s to trying to force a settlement there that would enable the British government to avoid all future responsibility and appear in tune with modern thinking. This ended in 1979, under the Thatcher government but endorsed by the whole British establishment, with the Lancaster House agreement.


This handed Zimbabwe to the sinister Robert Mugabe - mainly because he was too politically and militarily strong to be denied. there were better men available, but they were not strong enough, and the rigged elections which followed confirmed the Lancaster House settlement


The history of that process is long, complicated and not specially honourable on any side. It involves, as so often, the curious paradox that the campaigners for 'freedom' turned out to be tyrants themselves once they had power, and that life under the 'colonial oppressors' was in many ways more prosperous and peaceful than it was to become later. You do not have to be a sympathiser of Ian Smith, the leader of the Rhodesian Front and the chief opponent of majority rule, to recognise that Robert Mugabe has done terrible damage to the country and its people. You do not have to be a partisan of Robert Mugabe to recognise that Smith's Southern Rhodesia was a state based on racial discrimination, that could not survive and should not have survived as it was. Was this unavoidable? Possibly.

Mugabeepa2102_228x197

Intelligent British politicians and diplomats knew, or at least suspected back in the 1950s and 1960s that the end of empire might well mean severe suffering for the people involved. Most of them probably privately admitted that - as in India in 1947 - this country simply no longer had the strength to rule, and that it must make the best of a very bad bargain by trying to leave behind as much democracy, law and freedom, and as strong an economy, as it could manage.


Many of the British colonial administrators, in Africa and Asia, were genuinely devoted men who had worked very hard to bring incorruptible justice, education and prosperity. Such men did all that they could to leave good things behind - and I am always greatly moved by two legacies that seem to have lasted specially well.


Even where elections are rigged and parliaments fail, and civil servants are corrupt, it is amazing how often African judges defy the new tyrants of Africa, releasing political prisoners and halting torture. And it is equally amazing how often African journalists continue to print the truth, despite the very real danger of torture and death, or the smashing of their presses. Free speech and law, interestingly enough, may be more important and enduring than democracy in securing justice and liberty.


What practical conclusions can we draw from this? First, that our power in these parts of the world is gone for good, and it is just posturing to imagine that a protest in London will make any difference there. Comrade Mugabe's response that his critics could 'go hang' is rude and brusque, but also an accurate estimate of how things stand. He doesn't care what we think, and what's more he doesn't even pretend to care.


That's embarrassing of him. We would much prefer an expression of concern, some sign that we matter, even if don't. In fact, his taunting of us for our powerlessness may be his greatest offence against those interventionist liberals who like to imagine that a tough leading article in the Guardian will make Harare tremble.


Second, that the worst crimes of empires often come at the finish of them. Having persuaded people to rely on our power and our ability to protect them, we abruptly change our minds and disappear over the horizon, leaving them with a parliament building, a flag, an anthem, several unresolved territorial disputes and (quite often) a Mugabe figure who, if not very pleasant, is at least strong enough to take over the state.


This is, so far as I have been able to work out, the most powerful argument against empire - which in its British form was often highly benevolent so long as it existed. It has to end, and when it does, there is almost always tragedy. People often say, without thinking, that the winding up of the British empire was a civilised and creditable episode. I completely disagree. the scuttle from India, 60 years ago this year, and the smaller but more poisonous scuttle from Palestine soon afterwards, are among the most shameful episodes in British history. Our departure from Africa was not much better. The USA, and its ring of loyal client states in the former Soviet Union, from the Caucasus to the Baltic, should beware of a comparable bout of shameful departures, probably in the next 30 years, when Washington loses interest in this part of the world and Moscow reasserts its ancient dominance.


Third, that other countries do not exist to provide broad open spaces in which we can exercise our constipated, under-used consciences. It is incredibly easy, and rather enjoyable, to rail against tyrants and injustice a long way away. The tyrants cannot get at you, and if you travel to these places on a Western passport, the worst you are likely to face is expulsion. But it is so much harder, and less glamorous, to challenge the power-grabbers and would-tyrants, and petty but persistent injustices, in your own home country - where your targets can take revenge.


Fourth, that intervention cannot permanently alter the balance of power in foreign lands. Unless you are prepared to stay forever, the 'improvements' you achieve will not survive your departure by more than a few years. Worse, people who trusted you and relied on you will be left to dreadful fates.


Caring about a foreign injustice is futile unless you have the means to express your concern through effective, sustained action. It is an impulse designed to make the carer feel good to himself, and look good in the eyes of others, rather than to do good. So the honest answer, for most of us, is that we do not really care. But who dares say so? To say in a public place that you do not think Britain should intervene in Zimbabwe is to court shocked disapproval. Yet those who say they think we should intervene are applauded - even if they have no intention of doing anything.

All comments are moderated by the community team. Please contact community@dailymailonline.co.uk with any queries about moderation

i found these two articles in South Africa's Sunday Times to be
somewhat refreshing and worth reading as opposed to most of the
sensational pieces floating over the internet and other newspapers.

Complicated times over here - but we're living through them... somehow!



From http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=414960

Peering through Zimbabwe's layers of deception

18 March 2007
Mohau Pheko


I have become jaded over the Zimbabwe issue.

I've been reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins,
which describes how highly paid professionals lurk in the shadows to
cheat countries around the world out of trillions of dollars. When
they emerge, their modus operandi includes overthrowing heads of
state, rigged elections, manufactured terrorist attacks, payoffs, sex,
murder and extortion.

It has me wondering whether recent events in Harare are not the
makings of an over- productive mastermind trying , through make-
believe scenarios, to evoke sympathy and outrage for what may actually
be seeds of deception.

Frankly, the reported situation in Zimbabwe has become the perfect
script for a spy movie.

On October 12 2005, Morgan Tsvangirai precipitated a fatal split in
his six-year-old opposition when he stormed out of a Movement for
Democratic Change meeting, prompting the faction led by the party's
deputy secretary, Gibson Sibanda, to suspend him .

In return, Tsvangirai supporters suspended Sibanda and members of his
faction. Stunned by their party leader's dishonesty and dictatorial
tendencies, the MDC found itself divided.

It has to be said that Tsvangirai's bizarre behaviour that day left
many formerly enthusiastic supporters baffled. Why, some question, was
he committed to boycotting the election? Why would he not countenance
an alternative plan? Why was he dogmatic and unyielding in his view,
prepared to trample on the MDC's constitution, lie to the media and
even declare to the national council, "If the party breaks, so be it"?
Why has he not done anything since to reconcile the two opposing
factions? Could a secret meeting with Zanu-PF kingmaker Solomon Mujuru
— husband of vice-president Joyce Mujuru — have changed his mind?

In the tradition of the espionage movie, conspiracy theories abound.
The Gibson Sibanda faction has been accused of secretly conniving with
President Thabo Mbeki to undermine Tsvangirai. On the other hand,
there are those who believe that President Robert Mugabe and
Tsvangirai are colluding on a blueprint that is mutually beneficial.
There are accusations that Tsvangirai has been colluding with Zanu- PF
in a plot by Mujuru's husband, betraying the MDC by pulling out of
senate elections in exchange for undisclosed political rewards.

If one links these events, recent statements by various leaders of the
ruling Zanu-PF make perfect sense. The government of Zimbabwe declares
its innocence in recent events by implicating opposition forces within
the MDC for the latest calamity. In essence, it is said the opposition
came with pangas to the recent march to deal with each other. In the
interest of public safety, the police had to intervene to stop the
altercation.

In the mind of many, this ongoing war within the opposition in
Zimbabwe is a perfect cover for the country's Central Intelligence
Organisation to meticulously deepen divisions within the opposition,
and undermine any credible opposition or threat to the ruling party.

The government's response to recent events is consistent with the
words of Emmerson Mnangagwa, shortly after the deployment of the Fifth
Brigade in Mata beleland North in 1983. As minister of State Security
responsible for the CIO, he stated: "Blessed are they who will follow
the path of the government law, for their days on earth shall be
increased. But woe to those who will choose the path of collaboration
with dissidents for we will certainly shorten their stay on earth."

In trying to discover who is culpable in the Zimbabwe crisis, Mugabe's
statement is instructive: "I would like to see an African country that
has gone this length in those directions ... abiding by the rule of
law, accepting the reign of human rights and establishing democracy.
You also have nongovernmental organisations here telling them [the
British government] the opposite of what we are. In the meantime, they
are enjoying the freedom of organising our people without hindrance."

It is clear from this that Mugabe perceives accusations levelled
against his government as baseless and unfounded.

As the plot thickens, the sad ending is that after 26 years as
distinguished architects of their own liberation, Zimbabweans pin
their hopes on the retirement of one man. Even more disappointing,
conversations in Zimbabwe have centred on dubious characters for
leadership. It is time Zimbabwe ended the personality cult in
politics. It is time to pause and not blindly follow popular and
charismatic personalities who have already shown that they are
seriously flawed as leaders. For outsiders to support and intervene in
Zimbabwe, solidarity needs to be built on a vision of a new Zimbabwe.

The lesson to be learnt from Zimbabwe is that a construction of
democracy, where the majority vote and the minority elites govern,
does not lend itself to participatory democracy where citizens can
recall their leaders. Perhaps the real lesson is, presidents do not
assume power through an exam. They are the product of the choices made
by the governed.

It is incumbent upon all Zimbabweans to elevate the level of debate to
provide a vision of their new society. This will reinforce solidarity
in the region in such a way that those who find themselves in wrong
jobs after 26 years of rule will be conscious of the pressure to step
aside in the interest of a new national vision and thereby end the
seeds of deception.

----------------------------------------------------------------

From http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=415095

Inaction lets Zimbabwe crisis play itself out

18 March 2007
Francis Kornegay


Second opinion Francis Kornegay says SA and the region have little
choice but to let Robert Mugabe's country stew

The arrest and brutal detention of Movement for Democratic Change
leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his colleagues have refocused the
spotlight on South Africa's "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe.

The assumption, as reflected in Mondli Makhanya's recent commentary
"The joke will be on us if we don't wake up to Zimbabwe's pain" (March
4), is that diplomacy is not working, though what may be the real
source of frustration is Pretoria's lack of effective public diplomacy
regarding Zimbabwe.

This becomes especially apparent during episodes of overt repression
as witnessed over the past week, though the South African government
did counsel Harare on the need to observe the rule of law and the
rights of all concerned.

If diplomacy has failed, perhaps a closer look at what is unfolding in
Zimbabwe is in order, accompanied by suggestions of what more South
Africa and/or the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should
undertake.

At the same time, it is useful to note observations about the recent
Franco-African summit to which Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was
not invited and at which his fellow heads of state made not a peep.
The loud and clear message from their silence was that they had
"washed their hands" of and were not willing to go to bat for their
tarnished icon.

Silence can be golden and, in the Taoist tradition of "dynamic
inaction", the best approach to certain intractable situations. Here,
South Africa and the SADC are not alone. Witness the equally lengthy
stalemates between China-North Korea, the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations and Burma or even the US and Cuba.

Given the fact that the military option is ruled out and cutting off
electricity and a border blockade are equally unpalatable for what
these would convey to our neighbours — the return of the neighbourhood
bully — a protracted crisis-management containment strategy has been
the only realistic option.

Pretoria has gone the extra mile in searching for a negotiated
internal settlement to Zimbabwe's crisis, to no avail. As this
diplomacy interacted with the dynamics within and between the ruling
Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC, there was less and less scope within
which to work such a settlement. Both parties became internally
divided. But these internal divisions, especially within Zanu-PF, are
what may eventually bear fruit as the country's economic meltdown,
underneath the apparently loosening grip of Mugabe, seems to be
pushing the party's rival factions towards the exit as they search for
a way out of Zimbabwe's predicament.

Once the negotiating phase of quiet diplomacy had run its course, the
only thing Pretoria and the SADC could do was sit back and, in effect,
let Zimbabwe stew in its own juices.

South Africa and the SADC must prepare for whatever emerges from this
current "dynamic inaction" phase of quiet diplomacy, which allows
Zanu-PF's internal contradictions to play themselves out towards the
long-awaited "endgame".

As a result of the growing flood of desperate Zimbabweans streaming
into Zambia — not to mention South Africa, Botswana and Malawi —
Zambian Foreign Minister Mundia Sikatana has suggested that the next
SADC summit in August take up the Zimbabwean crisis. This may signal
the need for a more highly profiled diplomacy on Pretoria's part.

Sikatana's suggestion that the SADC facilitate dialogue between
Zimbabwe and the European Union could complement some of the
diplomatic outreach being reportedly attempted by some among Zanu-PF's
divided elite. His suggestion would also be in line with the
International Crisis Group's recommendation that Pretoria engage the
EU and the US in devising a strategy to resolve Zimbabwe's crisis.

Rather than hammering Pretoria without knowing all the facts about
what is and is not happening between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the
media need to focus on breaking developments, with the aim of
stimulating constructive dialogue on Zimbabwe's future and the role
that South Africa and others should play to ensure an internally and
regionally stabilising post-Mugabe transition.


Francis Kornegay is senior researcher in international affairs at the
Centre for Policy Studies

I can definitly say it was quite a special week end, just came back now from the Diwan library, Robert Fisk the British writer and Middle East correspondant for the Independant newspaper was signing his books today…Actually, I knew yesterday by coincidence when I was there taking a look at the new books, my usual monthly visit, I just couldn’t believe myself this is going to happen in Egypt, I mean Robert Fisk one of my favourite writers, I enjoy reading his articles about Middle East a lot, he’s so like us ( I mean Arabs Middle Easterns ),having same views in those local issues that usually Westerners can’t understand quite well and we usually justify this by the word Cultural issues.

I took my book the one I book a year and a half ago ” The Great war for civilization “, actually he mainly talked about this specific 1300 pages book, he started by saying that usually he takes people who buys a 1300 pages for foolish people but he had quite a lot to say about Middle East but he promises his next book will be smaller, he’s such an ordinary man, not really looking like our famous writer who insist on wearing the most expensive suits in event like that and make a huge effort to draw that Cameras smile to seem important people, but this one was wearing the usual everyday less expensive clothes, you know that kind of clothes you wear on a daily basis as you get into the bus,and go and buy your daily stuff,and keeps jocking and laughing, he’s been just so spontanuous…

Being the only western journalist who made 3 Interviews with Ussama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, that was quite impressive, and I just couldn’t help but asking myself the same question that my mother in law asked me a little while ago, ” And he didn’t go to Jail? then why did they take Tayseer Alouni ( AlJazeera reporter ) to Jail ? “, he mainly talked about Iraq, Lebanon , Palestine, he lives in Lebanon since 31 years, he even signs in arabic his books translated into arabic…

The most impressive thing is that he has the same views like us in issues representing the elements of the Middle East Crisis : The War on Terror, Lebanese confessionalism, Israel, Palestine, Iraq,..etc, Starting by the title of his book he said that there is no such thing, there’s nothing called War for civilization neither war for freedom and stuff like that, and that the most dangerous thing is that the current wars are religious war, he says that he misses the Cold war, that now you’re just obliged to take sides, besides that now they’re fighting Islamists, so it’s not an ideological war anymore you’re not fighting Communists you’re just fighting Islam.

The most characteristic thing is the event was that I was for the first one to sign her book, maybe cz I was standing just infront of him, or maybe cz I’m the only pregnant in the event..:)

Was reviewing when was the last time I posted an entry on my TIG blog, and I was really shocked to find out that it was on November 2005, almost a year and a half....that's too much...I remember I used to write posts here on a weekly basis....

A lot of things, events, changes has happened to me, and to the world around me..:)
I'm now expecting my first baby girl in less than 2 months, Still working in Human rights actually, but to tell you the truth : Working in Human rights for almost 3 years now has changed a lot of my perceptions about Life, Political systems, peace, social justice,and.....even Human rights itself, sometimes I feel that my views is becoming too cynical in this specific issue,but I just say that it's only realistic, or maybe the Global system just became too corrupted....

I do ask myself is there really something called Human rights? Or it's only one of those terminologies being manipulated by Political systems, actually every single system abuses and violates Human rights of its citizend, just each in a different ways....

The ICG has yet again released a STUPID report on Zimbabwe. The
summary to their report is below and has some pretty out of touch
synopses of things over here. Below are a few highlights. What country
are these people talking about…? Sometimes I just feel that these
think-tank and advocacy and journalistic types will really never get
it!

The country is in a very fragile condition: the economy is near
meltdown, and discontent among underpaid police and troops, combined
with the willingness of opposition parties and civil society to
protest in the streets, all increase the risk of sudden major
violence
The economy is really really bad. I don't know what they mean by
'meltdown' because predictions of a meltdown have been in place since
2000. but it is rather horrific. So perhaps on that, I'd agree with
them. Public servant are well underpaid but the government seems to
manage to ease their pain whenever it gets too much. Both teachers and
doctors have now called off strikes and are back at work. The cops and
the military going on strike or protest - now that would be something!

President Mugabe must give up efforts to extend his term, and the
opposing parties must negotiate a compromise
This issue of the president's term being extended is really reported
on badly. The other option which the government is weighing is to cut
the term of parliament by two years and have harmonized elections for
the executive and legislature next year - which very well might
happen. Nothing is a done deal yet. But also, it's rather simplistic
to look at this in terms of just the president hanging on to power. If
mugabe wanted to remain president, he would keep the election on next
year and win another six year term. Why have two years when you can
have six ... if staying in power is really your end objective..? this
whole issue is taken out of context and ignore the importance of the
succession debate and process within ZANU PF. It can be critiqued all
we want, but the reality is that they are zimbabwe's dominant
political force at the moment. The opposition couldn't organize a mud
fest in a mud bath and couldn't govern Zimbabwe in its current state.
(not to say the current performance of the entire zim government
leaves much to be desired). The "opposing parties" that "must
negotiate a compromise" are all in ZANU PF. The opposition party just
loves to make itself useless to the whole political future of
Zimbabwe. And speaking of people not extending their terms, the
leader[s] of the opposition my also give up their terms of office
because they have quite frankly failed. A new start at the top level
across the board may not be a bad thing...


Pressure by the European Union and the U.S., through targeted
sanctions and isolation, has helped divide the ruling party, ZANU-PF,
persuading key figures whose business interests have been hard hit by
the current crisis, that change is needed.
Again - whoever reached this conclusion does not really understand how
the "key figures" in ZANU PF are making their money. This crisis
enables the rich to get richer more than ever. Disengagement never
helped to address a situation like the one we have in Zimbabwe. Keep
the sanctions on, and normal people suffer, are closed off from
accessing key parts of the economy because shortages mean that those
with power access the much needed resources (most of the time) and you
get a case where people made millions. The prohibition in America (a
form of sanctions) taught us all how much money is made when you try
and restrict things to achieve some idealistic pie in the sky
objective. Al Capone died a millionaire. These "key figures" are
millionaires in US dollar terms thanks to these 'targeted' or 'smart'
sanctions. Easy money. Why would they just want to let that go...? get
rid of these sanctions. Allow the economics to normalize and perhaps
most of the country will once again be interested in political
engagement. Survival as an M.O doesn't leave much room for political
analysis and participation.

These sanction also affect Zimbabwe more than anyone else because the
government runs a lot of state enterprises that are starved off
foreign investment. These enterprises (electricity, fuel, transport,
health services etc) serve a lot of normal, average Zimbabweans. Their
failure to perform because of the indirect results of these sanctions
means that the majority of Zimbabweans suffer. Not the small elite
driving gas guzzling cars which never run out of gas or have
generators to work through power outages. When a zimbabwean government
official cannot talk to potential investors in Europe or the US or any
other place, how is the economy not expect to 'meltdown' ... ? that
coupled with internal mismanagement...? so yeah, these sanctions and
isolation are really helping us. Not at all.

This pressure should be increased if ZANU-PF does not cooperate
with the opposition to implement a transitional government and restore
democracy.
And beating a dead donkey always arose it from the dead! NO! increased
pressure will ultimately help ZANU PF on a number of fronts. The
opposition will probably not get consulted or involved in any
transitional government process primarily because they take some of
their queues from thinkers people who wrote this report. They
unfortunately need to find a way to engage with the government - not
the other way round. We're being practical here, not academic. The
truth is, as much as ZANU PF is failing to administer things, for a
number of different reasons, most people in Zimbabwe today would vote
for ZANU PF (also for a number of varying reasons) regardless of how
much external forces increase pressure on ZANU.



The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the organisation
of regional countries, should work as a mediator for negotiations
between ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) and join the EU and the U.S. in defining a clear sequence of
benchmarks leading to a genuinely democratic process
SADC has tried that. Hasn't worked. The opposition leaders themselves
have helped to foil some of these efforts. I think we should stop
seeing the MDC as an alternative because most Zimbabweans just don't
think that it is. They can not govern this country effectively in
their present state. SADC is unlikely to place sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Could the writers of this report try to at least understand African
Politics 101.

"The situation today is reminiscent of the last stages of Mobutu's
reign in the Congo", says Crisis Group President Gareth Evans.
"Zimbabwe has the potential to fall into chaos and bring large chunks
of the region down with it unless both domestic and international
parties act now".
The Congo...??? the Congo...??? and Zimbabwe are similar? Mugabe and
Mobutu (who was placed in power by the US government in place of
Lumumba-which is fact and not conspiracy?) how do you compare Mugabe
and Mobutu and their situations. They ran/run two totally different
countries in very different contexts with very different approaches,
systems, achievements, etc. how can the situation in Zimbabwe (where
there is no rebel army fighting the government amongst other things)
compare to that of the Congo?

Final Comments if I was a donor to the International Crisis
Group I would be very embarrassed with the results of my
contributions. The major international crisis is the one that they
create through putting forth such ignorant, ill-informed and unhelpful
reports on countries and situations they clearly seem to know very
little about.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

From: International Crisis Group [mailto:notification@crisisgroup.org]
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 6:29 PM
Subject: Zimbabwe: An End to the Stalemate? - New Crisis Group report

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT
Zimbabwe: An End to the Stalemate?
Pretoria/Brussels, 5 March 2007: The long political stalemate in
Zimbabwe may be breaking at last, but regional intervention and
continued Western pressure are needed to ensure a peaceful restoration
of democracy.
Zimbabwe: An End to the Stalemate,* the latest report from the
International Crisis Group, examines the deadlock in Zimbabwe and sees
in the current moment a chance to resolve the situation through the
retirement of President Robert Mugabe when his term ends in 2008 and a
power-sharing deal to create a transitional government tasked with
preparing a new constitution and holding elections by 2010.

The country is in a very fragile condition: the economy is near
meltdown, and discontent among underpaid police and troops, combined
with the willingness of opposition parties and civil society to
protest in the streets, all increase the risk of sudden major
violence. For Zimbabwe to begin to recover, President Mugabe must give
up efforts to extend his term, and the opposing parties must negotiate
a compromise. The months leading to the July parliament session, when
decisions will be taken on Mugabe's fate or transition, are
crucial.

"The prospect of President Mugabe's retirement has created an
exceptional rallying point among varied constituencies within the
country", says François Grignon, Crisis Group's Africa Program
Director. "There is widespread agreement that he must leave so that
the country can finally make progress on the needed economic and
political reforms".

Pressure by the European Union and the U.S., through targeted
sanctions and isolation, has helped divide the ruling party, ZANU-PF,
persuading key figures whose business interests have been hard hit by
the current crisis, that change is needed. This pressure should be
increased if ZANU-PF does not cooperate with the opposition to
implement a transitional government and restore democracy.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the organisation of
regional countries, should work as a mediator for negotiations between
ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and
join the EU and the U.S. in defining a clear sequence of benchmarks
leading to a genuinely democratic process. SADC leaders have an
opportunity to talk to Mugabe now about a retirement package to be
implemented not later than 2008 – and at last get him to listen. The
MDC needs urgently to reconcile its feuding factions.

"The situation today is reminiscent of the last stages of Mobutu's
reign in the Congo", says Crisis Group President Gareth Evans.
"Zimbabwe has the potential to fall into chaos and bring large chunks
of the region down with it unless both domestic and international
parties act now".
________________________________________
Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) 32 (0) 2 541 1635
Kimberly Abbott (Washington) 1 202 785 1601
To contact Crisis Group media please click here
*Read the full Crisis Group report our website: http://www.crisisgroup.org
________________________________________
The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an independent,
non-profit, non-governmental organisation covering over 50
crisis-affected countries and territories across four continents,
working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to
prevent and resolve deadly conflict.
________________________________________

THE EARTH CHARTER

PREAMBLE

We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

Earth, Our Home
Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make existence a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the conditions essential to life's evolution. The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.

The Global Situation
The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

The Challenges Ahead
The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

Universal Responsibility
To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.

We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.


PRINCIPLES


I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE


1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
a. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
b. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.

2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
a. Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.
b. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
a. Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.
b. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

4. Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
a. Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.
b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's human and ecological communities.


In order to fulfill these four broad commitments, it is necessary to:


II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY


5. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.
a. Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.
b. Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth's life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.
c. Promote the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems.
d. Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.
e. Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that protect the health of ecosystems.
f. Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimize depletion and cause no serious environmental damage.


6. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
a. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.
b. Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.
c. Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.
d. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.
e. Avoid military activities damaging to the environment.

7. Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.
a. Reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used in production and consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be assimilated by ecological systems.
b. Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
c. Promote the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of environmentally sound technologies.
d. Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.
e. Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.
f. Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

8. Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.
a. Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing nations.
b. Recognize and preserve the traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection and human well-being.
c. Ensure that information of vital importance to human health and environmental protection, including genetic information, remains available in the public domain.


III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE


9. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
a. Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.
b. Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.
c. Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.


10. Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.
a. Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.
b. Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.
c. Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.
d. Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

11. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.
a. Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence against them.
b. Promote the active participation of women in all aspects of economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and beneficiaries.
c. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of all family members.

12. Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.
a. Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.
b. Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of sustainable livelihoods.
c. Honor and support the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies.
d. Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance.


IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE


13. Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.
a. Uphold the right of everyone to receive clear and timely information on environmental matters and all development plans and activities which are likely to affect them or in which they have an interest.
b. Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making.
c. Protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and dissent.
d. Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress for environmental harm and the threat of such harm.
e. Eliminate corruption in all public and private institutions.
f. Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

14. Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.
a. Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.
b. Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in sustainability education.
c. Enhance the role of the mass media in raising awareness of ecological and social challenges.
d. Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.

15. Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.
a. Prevent cruelty to animals kept in human societies and protect them from suffering.
b. Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable suffering.
c. Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or destruction of non-targeted species.

16. Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
a. Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among all peoples and within and among nations.
b. Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and other disputes.
c. Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration.
d. Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
e. Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports environmental protection and peace.
f. Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.


THE WAY FORWARD

As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles. To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values and objectives of the Charter.

This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. We must deepen and expand the global dialogue that generated the Earth Charter, for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.

Life often involves tensions between important values. This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.

In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.

Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.

Seven Practices for Peacemakers



How to end war

One person at a time



War is the plague that human beings bring upon themselves. It is also a plague we might be able to end. On any given day since you and I were born, some part of the world has been at war–in 2003 the total number of open conflicts was thirty. In the twentieth century at least 108 million people died in wars. Of the 20 largest military budgets on earth, 14 belong to developing countries. The United States spends more on its military than the next 16 countries combined.

That war is the major problem in the world is undeniable.

The need for a new idea is just as undeniable.

The new idea is to bring peace one person at a time until the world reaches a critical mass of peacemakers instead of warmakers.



"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." – Mahatma Gandhi



Why Ending War Hasn't Worked

Peace movements have tried three ways for bringing war to an end:

Activism, the approach of putting political pressure on governments that wage war. Activism involves protests and public demonstrations, lobbying and political commitment. Almost every war creates some kind of peace movement opposed to it.

Why has it failed.

Because the protesters are not heard.

Because they are worn down by frustration and resistance.

Because they are far outnumbered by the war interests in society.

Because their idealism turns to anger and violence.

Activism has left us with the ironic picture of outraged peacemakers who wind up contributing to the total sum of violence in the world.



Humanitarianism, the approach of helping the victims of war. Bringing relief to victims is an act of kindness and compassion. As embodied by the International Red Cross, this effort is ongoing and attracts thousands of volunteers worldwide. Every nation on earth approves of humanitarianism.

Why has it failed?

Because humanitarians are wildly outnumbered by soldiers and warmakers.

Because of finances. The International Red Cross's annual budget of $1.8 billion dollars is a tiny fraction of military budgets around the world.

Because the same countries that wage war also conduct humanitarian efforts, keeping the two activities very separate.

Because humanitarians show up on the scene after the war has already begun.

Personal transformation, the approach of ending war one person at a time. The prevailing idea is that war begins in each human heart and can only end there. The religious tradition of praying for peace is the closest most people will ever come to ending war in their own hearts. Most people have actually never heard of this approach.

Why has it failed?

Because nobody has really tried it.



"Can you be the change that you wish to see in the world?" – Mahatma Gandhi



Why War Ends With You

The approach of personal transformation is the idea of the future for ending war. It depends on the only advantage that people of peace have over warmakers: sheer numbers. If enough people in the world transformed themselves into peacemakers, war could end. The leading idea here is critical mass. It took a critical mass of human beings to embrace electricity and fossil fuels, to teach evolution and adopt every major religion. When the time is right and enough people participate, critical mass can change the world.

Can it end war?

There is precedent to believe that it might. The ancient Indian ideal of Ahimsa, or non-violence, gave Gandhi his guiding principle of reverence for life. In every spiritual tradition it is believed that peace must exist in one's heart before it can exist in the outer world.

Personal transformation deserves chance.



"When a person is established in non-violence, those in his vicinity cease to feel hostility." – Patanjali, ancient Indian sage

Seven Practices for Peace



The program for peacemakers asks you to follow a specific practice every day, each one centered on the theme of peace.

Sunday: Being for Peace

Monday: Thinking for Peace

Tuesday: Feeling for Peace

Wednesday: Speaking for Peace

Thursday: Acting for Peace

Friday: Creating for Peace

Saturday: Sharing for Peace

Our hope is that you will create peace on every level of your life. Each practice takes only a few minutes. You can be as private or outspoken as you wish. But those around you will know that you are for peace, not just through good intentions but by the way you conduct your life on a daily basis.



Sunday: Being for Peace

Today, take 5 minutes to meditate for peace. Sit quietly with your eyes closed. Put your attention on your heart and inwardly repeat these four words: Peace, Harmony, Laughter, Love. Allow these words to radiate from your heart's stillness out into your body.

As you end your meditation, say to yourself, "Today I will relinquish all resentments and grievances." Bring into your mind anyone against whom you have a grievance and let it go. Send that person your forgiveness.



Monday: Thinking for Peace

Thinking has power when it is backed by intention. Today, introduce the intention of peace in your thoughts. Take a few moments of silence, then repeat this ancient prayer:

Let me be loved, let me be happy, let me be peaceful.

Let my friends be happy, loved, and peaceful.

Let my perceived enemies be happy, loved, and peaceful.

Let all beings be happy, loved, and peaceful.

Let the whole world experience these things.

Any time during the day if you are overshadowed by fear or anger, repeat these intentions. Use this prayer to get back on center.



Tuesday: Feeling for Peace

This is the day to experience the emotions of peace. The emotions of peace are compassion, understanding, and love.

Compassion is the feeling of shared suffering. When you feel someone else's suffering, there is the birth of understanding.

Understanding is the knowledge that suffering is shared by everyone. When you understand that you aren't alone in your suffering, there is the birth of love.

When there is love there is the opportunity for peace.

As your practice, observe a stranger some time during your day. Silently say to yourself, "This person is just like me.. Like me, this person has experienced joy and sorrow, despair and hope, fear and love. Like me, this person has people in his or her life who deeply care and love them. Like me, this person's life is impermanent and will one day end. This person's peace is as important as my peace. I want peace, harmony, laughter, and love in their life and the life of all beings."





Wednesday: Speaking for Peace

Today, the purpose of speaking is to create happiness in the listener. Have this intention: Today every word I utter will be chosen consciously. I will refrain from complaints, condemnation, and criticism.

Your practice is to do at least one of the following:

Tell someone how much you appreciate them.

Express genuine gratitude to those who have helped and loved you.

Offer healing or nurturing words to someone who needs them.

Show respect to someone whose respect you value.

If you find that you are reacting negatively to anyone, in a way that isn't peaceful, refrain from speaking and keep silent. Wait to speak until you feel centered and calm, and then speak with respect.





Thursday: Acting for Peace

Today is the day to help someone in need: A child, a sick person, an older or frail person. Help can take many forms. Tell yourself, " Today I will bring a smile to a stranger's face. If someone acts in a hurtful way to me or someone else, I will respond with a gesture of loving kindness. I will send an anonymous gift to someone, however small. I will offer help without asking for gratitude or recognition."



Friday: Creating for Peace

Today, come up with at least one creative idea to resolve a conflict, either in your personal life or your family circle or among friends. If you can, try and create an idea that applies to your community, the nation, or the whole world.

You may change an old habit that isn't working, look at someone a new way, offer words you never offered before, or think of an activity that brings people together in good feeling and laughter.





Saturday: Sharing for Peace

Today, share your practice of peacemaking with two people. Give them this information and invite them to begin the daily practice. As more of us participate in this sharing, our practice will expand into a critical mass.

Today joyfully celebrate your own peace consciousness with at least one other peace-conscious person. Connect either trough e-mail or phone.

Share your experience of growing peace.

Share your gratitude that someone else is as serious about peace as you are.

Share your ideas for helping the world move closer to critical mass.

Do whatever you can, in small or large ways, to assist anyone who wants to become a peacemaker.



The Best Reason to Become a Peacemaker

Now you know the program. If you transform yourself into a peacemaker, you won't become an activist marching in the streets. You will not be "anti" anything. No money is required. All you are asked to do is to go within and dedicate yourself to peace.

It just might work.

Even if you don't immediately see a decline in violence around the world, you will know in your heart that you have dedicated your own life to peace.

But the single best reason to become a peacemaker is that every other approach has failed.

We don't know what number the critical mass is--the best we can hope is to bring about change by personal transformation. Isn't it worth a few moments of your day to end 30 wars around the world and perhaps every future war that is certain to break out?



"War is like cancer: it will only get worse if we don't prevent it and heal it." Deepak Chopra



Right now there are 21.3 million soldiers serving in armies around the world. Can't we recruit a peace brigade ten times larger?

A hundred times larger?

The effort begins now, with you.



"It is an illusion to think that military strength and weapons create security. Security and peace can only be obtained by those who are peaceful and defenseless."

Deepak Chopra