Editor’s Note: This story was written for New America Media as the first in a series of columns by Dr. Sanjay Basu called A Doctor’s Word, exploring the impact of the recession on health care for poor people. It appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Insight and on SFGate.com, media from where Pressenza obtained it.
Of all the myths obstructing the honest portrayal of events in Syria this past year, none has been more fiercely guarded by regime-change advocates than this one stark falsehood:
Myth – the Syrian regime has only been shooting unarmed, peaceful protestors until very recently when opposition groups finally decided to arm themselves in self-defense.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is warning that more than a million children below the age of five in the Sahel are facing a disaster amid the ongoing food crisis in the drought-prone region of Africa.
Cairo – The women of Egypt were at the vanguard in the eighteen day January 2011 mass uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. But since then, they have been sidelined and pushed back into the shadows.
After escaping Ethiopia, Oromia refugees were subjected to further human rights violations including being hunted by armed groups. Within the last two days, Somaliland Authorities destroyed belongings of refugees and asylum seekers outside of the Social Welfare Center in Hargeisa. They used bulldozers to clear the surrounding with armed men inside the Social Welfare Center.
Bad news, very bad news, for the survival of planet earth. On the one hand, politicians attempt to gain votes by claiming a kind to and iron-and-steel, unwavering commitment commitment to save humankind, reduce destructive greenhouse gas emissions and produce “green energy”. On the other, governments spend 1.4 billion dollars… per day… to destabilize climate.
Geneva – The UN launched an emergency appeal for just over $300 million to assist Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who are still dealing with the effects of the conflict that ended three years ago as well as various humanitarian needs.
Geneva – Two years after the devastating earthquake that flattened Haiti, the country remains “a fragile State, beset by chronic poverty and under-development. Its weak institutions leave children vulnerable to shocks and the impact of disaster”.
Somaliland officials are abducting and refouling Oromo, Ogaden and Eritrean asylum seekers. This is against international law as it pertains to refugees. Dr Trevor Trueman has co-ordinated a report on this matter which turns around the incident that took place late December 2011 where twenty refugees from Ethiopia were detained by Somaliland security forces.
We are used to working out in our minds which side is speaking when politicians or the media talk about “guerrillas” or “freedom fighters”. The simplicity of the bipolar Cold War is no more. A study carried out by the Guardian and the LSE showed that in some cases the recent UK riots was a protest of sorts, whilst the police qualify the Occupy protesters as terrorists.
