Politics

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hundreds of people streamed through Kinshasa on Saturday for the funeral of Floribert Chebeya, one of Congo’s top human rights activists. Chebeya was found dead in his car two weeks ago after being summoned to meet the chief of the national police. Supporters of Chebeya have called for an independent probe into his death.

“I have a dream”. Ask anyone where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. first proclaimed those words, and the response will most likely be at the March on Washington in August 1963. But in fact, he delivered them two months earlier, on June 23, in Detroit, leading a march down Woodward Avenue.
King said: “I have a dream that one day, …

When a hitherto ‘straight’ well-known individual breaks into a protest fast, it certainly raises eyebrows and draws attention to the particular issue. This is the case with the Diamond Industry, a certain Mr Rappaport, and a campaign to include Israel among the nations branded as part of the Conflict Diamonds debacle.

Gypsies have been universally discriminated against because, as nomadics, they were seen as strangers everywhere and that attitude is only slowly changing. Valery Novoselsky tells his story and how, despite that Israel is very keen on building up its resident population in general, for him it was the same story played out yet again.

Sir Richard Jolly, former Assistant General to the United Nations and co-director of UN intellectual history project, will give the Annual Erskine Childers Lecture entitled “Inequality and Millennium Development Goals.” at Friends House on Tuesday 15th June, 2010 at 6.30pm hosted by Uniting for Peace, Action for UN Renewal and World Disarmament Campaign.

The only sustainable way to overcome the crisis is to reactivate the economy and create jobs, the general director of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Juan Somavia, affirmed on Monday.
Addressing the International ILO Assembly, he also said it was imperative to fight not just the fiscal deficit, but also the lack of decent jobs.

Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) called on Israel to soften its blockade on the Gaza Strip and broaden the list of items allowed into the territory.
The extreme situation in Gaza was the focus of the agenda of the meeting of EU Foreign ministers, who failed to condemn explicitly the violent Israeli attack at a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza on May 31.

The results of the Global Peace Index for 2010 suggest that the world has become slightly less peaceful. The Index, which gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society and militarization in 149 countries, registered overall increases in several indicators, including the likelihood of violent demonstrations and perceptions of criminality.

The Israeli military has announced that it will conduct its own internal investigation into last week’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish passengers dead. Israel has rejected calls for an international tribunal. On Monday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there should be an international presence in the inquiry.

What started as joyous preparations to welcome 700 activists on breaking the siege at Gaza’s Harbor the Israeli government maneuvered into a tragic turn of events. Their naval forces’ savagely attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla carrying 700 solidarity activists from 40 countries and materials for an impoverished Gaza Strip.