Haiti’s electoral council has banned the influential party of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from next year’s legislative elections. The Fanmi Lavalas party, which remains a major party with support from the capital’s urban poor, is among 17 groups barred from February’s elections because they submitted improper documents. The list includes the Lespwa movement that formed around President Rene Preval when he ran for president in 2004.

Aristide, who has been living in exile in South Africa after he was overthrown during a 2004 rebellion, called the decision to eliminate Lavalas “an electoral coup d’etat.” He spoke in an interview late Wednesday with Radio Solidarité.

Lespwa officials did not answer phone calls seeking comment on Thursday.

The Lavalas party boycotted Senate run-off elections in June after the council disqualified its candidates on a technicality, and was barred from 2006 presidential elections. Lavalas executive council head Maryse Narcisse told The Associated Press on Thursday she did not understand why the party was rejected. “We did everything that we were supposed to do,” she said. “We were excluded without any reasons, and now we are waiting for an answer.”

The council approved 53 parties to run in the elections. The vote is now scheduled for Feb. 28, but might be postponed to coincide with presidential elections later in the year. Rejected parties can appeal.

For more go to http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwk_RJA8imQ2nmsEHQfRcrTkzcJgD9C7FO0O0

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

I thank God today for so many things… for my beautiful family, for  my health, for our amazing friends and our mission family, for the opportunities God has given us to shine His light in this world.

I thank God for the countless blessings He has showered us with over the past year.  I thank Him for the good times.

I thank Him for the lessons learned through the hard times… for showing us that we ALWAYS have more to learn.  I thank Him for the beautiful acts of kindness and love that have been shown to my family as some of our roads have seemed to be  uphill battles.

I thank Him for placing Godly people in my life.  For friends who know just what I need to hear and when.  For people who speak TRUTH even when it’s hard.

I thank God for always being there with arms wide open when I need a lap to climb into.  When I need comfort that only my Father can give.

I thank God for using me,  a broken, imperfect girl, to help spread His love in a place so desperate to feel. it.  How amazing that He can use us just as we are.

What more can I say?

Haiti’s electoral council has banned the influential party of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from next year’s legislative elections.

The Fanmi Lavalas party, which remains a major party with support from the capital’s urban poor, is among 17 groups barred from February’s elections because they submitted improper documents. The list includes the Lespwa movement that formed around President Rene Preval when he ran for president in 2004.

Aristide, who has been living in exile in South Africa after he was overthrown during a 2004 rebellion, called the decision to eliminate Lavalas “an electoral coup d’etat.” He spoke in an interview late Wednesday with Radio Solidarite.

Lespwa officials did not answer phone calls seeking comment on Thursday.

The Lavalas party boycotted Senate run-off elections in June after the council disqualified its candidates on a technicality, and was barred from 2006 presidential elections.

Lavalas executive council head Maryse Narcisse told The Associated Press on Thursday she did not understand why the party was rejected.

“We did everything that we were supposed to do,” she said. “We were excluded without any reasons, and now we are waiting for an answer.”

The council approved 53 parties to run in the elections. The vote is now scheduled for Feb. 28, but might be postponed to coincide with presidential elections later in the year. Rejected parties can appeal.

Haiti’s legislature chose a new prime minister last week as tensions remain high over the presence of 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers, who arrived in the impoverished country after the 2004 rebellion.

Jean-Max Bellerive is the sixth prime minister to hold the post since 2004.

I’ve embarked on a new project, being dissatisfied with much of the available content (or lack thereof) of Haitian Creole language resources online, I’ve decided to create my own. Now I’m not a Creole expert, but as I travel through the resources I am able to find online and in my local libraries (which isn’t much at the moment) I will be doing my best to sift through and present in an effective method resources to assist others in their learning of the Haitian Creole language.

http://haitiancreole.wordpress.com/

I finished Part I at the end of our visit at the Port Salude orphanage. On our way back from Port Salude we took a trip into the hills to Ananicent (a bit north of Torbeck). This orphanage had been devastated by recent flooding, so they were working on building a second floor on top of the current building – to increase the orphanages capacity and also serve as a safe place during times of higher water levels.

Orphanage Construction

We followed by visiting the orphans, who were staying at the school a couple of minutes away while their building was being completed where were treated to the orphans signing “Somebody prayed for me.” As we began treating these orphans, we noticed a viral infection that had seemed to sweep through all the orphans, many had ear aches, and many were malnourished. We found out that many of these orphans were new to orphanage and had just recently been taken off of the streets. We treated what we could and left a lot of hand sanitizer to try to prevent even more extensive spreading of the viral problem.

Our last day consisted of visiting two more orphanages the first of which was northwest of Les Cayes in an area called Dibilejee. After crossing a river in our van, we arrived at the well established orphanage, school, and church complex. Throughout the trip it was easy to see the areas that El Shaddai had been present at for longer periods, the orphans were visibly more healthy, happier, and energetic. This orphanage didn’t seem to be plagued by many of the very contagious problems of the others, few ringworm and scabies. Carla sang “hokie pokie,” with the children and we blew up exam gloves as balloons for the kids.

We then traveled through some very windy mountain roads to Big House. It has been difficult for El Shaddai to build ministry services in this area. There was a church and orphanage but still a very strong voodoo presence with a local houngan (witch doctor). The road to Big House was a challenge, steep at parts, always narrow, and winding around many obstacles and livestock. The children here were in pretty rough shape; most were very quiet and seemed downcast. While we were attending to the children a rain storm came out of nowhere, drenching the area. This made our trip home very interesting, forcing us to get out of the van and walk across some deep ditches so that the van could cross without slipping and falling in.

This wrapped up our November of 2008 Trip, my appologies for taking a year to get any real content up. We’ll be going back this coming March, this time to visit four orphanages in Gonaives. Let me know if you would like any more information about this trip or how you can help.

Lately, on Twitter and Facebook, many of my friends have made comments about “Wow, you run a lot!” or “Is all you do run?”

This is for you.

Yep, I run a lot.  It didn’t used to be that way.  Let me explain.

In high school, I was fat. Some people knew me then and can vouch for that. This isn’t a sob story at all.  As a sophomore in high school, I was at 240.  By the time I graduated, I had dropped a little bit by being more active in playing baseball my senior season.  I entered college at 225.  I simply didn’t want to be at that weight.  My senior year, I would go to the middle school track in my town and run a mile or so.  I can remember going and running a mile in 7:48 in the spring of 2004.  It was the fastest I could squeeze one out.  And of course, after that I was so spent I couldn’t do anything else.

I got to college and was able to get a job at FedEx Ground. From the beginning of September to the end of September, my body became used to moving for 5 hours straight in the back of a truck.  I lost 20-25 lbs. in the first month of working there. I eventually moved into being more active and got down to right about 200 lbs. and stayed there for a while.

The summer of 2005, as I was more active, I began to run more.  It’d be two miles, one mile, mile and a half; that was all.  I began to read online about 5k’s and races and running and it piqued my interest. I began to go running regularly. I would go up to the same middle school track and run. When I did a mile time trial on June 3, 2005 (the day before my niece was born…only reason I remember the date is because as soon as I got done, I got the call that we had to travel to ATL for her birth on the 4th). I ran that mile in 6:18.  That’s a huge change.  1:30 in a little over a year.  Weight helps.  I began to run 3 miles at a time or so. Total miles for 2005 = 62.5.

When I got back to college, I ran 4 miles one Sunday night and thought I would die.  It was horrible. I continued to run 3-3.5 miles throughout the next college school year on occasion. By April 2006, I had started a new job working at the Hilton downtown Nashville, Tennessee which happens to be the headquarters for the Country Music Marathon.  I was still running often, reading the magazines, and keeping up with the sport. The atmosphere on Friday before the marathon was so ridiculous.  I was hooked. That afternoon, after never running more than 3.5 miles, I started running.  I ran.  7 miles.  I hurt horribly the next day, but I was hooked. The atmosphere was amazing. I continued to run throughout the year.

In August 2006, my father began to experience some chest pains.  At the doctor’s request, he checked in and they performed a five bypass surgery. It was a scary time, but amazing to see God through quick recovery, as well as through friends. Dad recovered great. Before we left the hospital, the surgeon came in to check on him in his regular room (he was out of ICU post-surgery a full day before the normal time…God’s hand) and essentially just old the entire family that heredity had everything to do with it. It was at that point, I realized I had to do something.  I was 20 years old at the time and it was scary to think of my future like that.

The year continued with a few more miles here and there. On Thanksgiving day, three years ago today, I got a call from my wife (just a friend at the time) and she said, “Did you hear about G?” G was a friend of my roommate’s, and he had become a friend of mine. Gerald Lynn Turner was the student body president of the college we attended. While playing football on Thanksgiving with his wife’s family in Florida, he dove after someone to tackle them and never got up off the ground.  His heart stopped.  He had been married 2 months and working as a youth pastor at his home church in Mississippi.  It was scary, again.

At that point, I had decided I had to do something.  I was going to run the Country Music Marathon in 2007.  I got my buddy Alan Skiles to run with me.  We started training around Christmas.  I had it in my head that we were running for G. When we got back to school, I talked to a teacher and a scholarship was set up.  It was official, we were running for G. 2006 total miles = 304.8 miles.

2007 rolled around by running 4 runs a week.  Alan and I trained and trained and trained. We raised money for the scholarship for the G foundation that was set up.  April rolled around and the marathon hit.  Alan and I had no idea how to run or train or any of it, but I finished in 4:16:32.  I crossed the finish line with tears in my eyes.  I had accomplished what I had seen as impossible for me in high school.  I had run a marathon.  It was an amazing feeling.  My mother was there.  My girlfriend (wife now) was there.  I just stood and talked with tears in my eyes.  The rest of the day was filled with amazing feelings.  I lived on that high and was hooked.  

For the rest of the year I ran here and there.  I was close to 400 miles in April.  The summer came and I did a youth ministry internship.  I got back to college and ran here and there.  But, when it finally rolled around to December, I knew it meant I had to run more in order to get to the finish line faster. In the mean time, in September 2007, I took my first trip ever to Haiti. To say the least, I was moved. The quality of life embarrassed me at how selfish I had been. The love of the people convinced me that I don’t love enough. Something needed to happen. 2007 total miles = 698.3

2008 rolled around and suddenly I was running more.  It was 5 days a week.  In March, I ran a 15k where I finished 18th overall with a 1:07:55 – a 7:16 pace.  Say what?  Three years prior, I couldn’t run one mile at 7:16 pace, let alone 9.3.  The spring was great.  April rolled around. I ran by myself this time.  My mom and girlfriend were there for me and saw me at different places, along with Alan who was unable to run and his girlfriend, who turned into his wife.  It was a struggle, but the training paid off as I crossed the line in 3:57:50.  It was awesome!

While training, I sent out letters and MySpace notices that I was raising money for Haiti.  Of course I called it…Run 4 Haiti.  That year, I had a few donations that totaled about $300. I ran for them.

It was awesome until I realized that I was capable of more.  You see, there are runner-people who have figured out that based on shorter races times what you should be capable to run at other distances.  Based on my 15k time, I knew that I was capable of running faster than what I did.  The answer?  Run more.  In fact, the saying on the website that taught me how to run from a group of amazing runners that congregate there is this: Run lots. Mostly easy. Sometimes hard. It began to make sense.  The more you run…the more your body thanks you for it. 

I graduated college in May 2008 and moved to New Castle, Indiana.  I ran a little bit each week after the move. I returned to Haiti in September 2008.  I was moved even more.  This time, I felt that God really wanted me to do something for Haiti.  I felt like I was involved.  Suddenly, I came back and Mountain Faith Mission of Haiti was almost life to me.  I built a website and began to do whatever I could.  

Running wise, well, Run 4 Haiti was essentially born a little over a year ago on the web.  I ran a 5k last fall in 20:18 – a 6:33 pace – who’d a thunk?  I ran a 4 miler last December in 27:02.  I just ran.  A year ago next week I began a streak of running at least 50 miles a week.  A year from Saturday, I began to run every day (a streak which broke on August 22 when I left for Haiti after 264 days). Total miles for 2008 = 1684.9.  It was a significant difference and my mileage increase showed through my better times.

2009 rolled around and suddenly I had this running thing down.  In March I ran a half marathon in 1:34:21 – a 7:13 pace…the numbers just kept getting smaller.  I toed the line for Nashville’s marathon hoping to run a 3:25, but mother nature heated up and was a punk.  But, I still crawled in at 3:50 – a 7 minute improvement simply because of the training.  The summer brought a lot of busy-ness.  Marriage, youth trips, travels, so the mileage decreased.  

Haiti 2009 really did something though. As I had mentioned, I felt like a part of something bigger.  Since then, my work with MFM has manifested itself in new ways.  

The fall brought a 5k with a 25 second improvement.  It was a 19:53.  I broke 20…that’s crazy.

And so, now it’s Thanksgiving.  I find myself reflecting today on what I’m thankful for: family, friends, church, job, God, finances, etc.

But really, I’m thankful for running.  This really long post is really what my life is about a lot of days.  Yes, I love to run.  I run lots of miles.  In fact, after today, my total for the year will be 2018 miles.  But it’s what motivates me that I’m thankful for.

Health motivates me of course, but Haiti is it.  People pay money for people to do stupid things, like run.  And I want to do those stupid things because I enjoy it.

MFM has use for money of course.  It’s a poverty-stricken country.  I don’t ask for money for my benefit, but I ask for money for those people in Haiti that I know can use it.  The Sandia’s who was just happy when I gave her a ball-point pen for school.  The Milan’s who called herself my sister at VBS this year, laughing, and then with a serious look asked me if I was taking her back home with me since she was my sister.  And for the Jean-Bofet’s, who live in the orphanage that MFM runs.  What does money bring?  It just brings the ability for God’s work to be done.  It makes their life easier.  It changes the life through others.  The missionaries there want to change life’s both spiritually and physically.  It just happens.  But, it doesn’t happen unless someone gives.  It doesn’t happen unless Christians give.

That’s what I want to motivate. I want to motivate those people who think, “Man, you’re stupid because you run so much…” to give.  It does so much. In fact, if there’s a specific way and area that you want to give…then I’ll make sure it gets done.  

But that’s why I run.  I run for them.

By Woon Cho Kim

BATILLE, ,CASSE DISTRICT, Haiti—Three whole days of rural outreach clinics and couple of hundreds of patients later, my mind is absolutely overwhelmed with too many thoughts, reflections, and emotions. Coming to Haiti as a young medical student in training may just be one of the best decisions I have made in my academic career so far.

As soon as we set up the clinics this morning, an 80-year-old woman stumbled into the OB/Gyn clinic, moaning in pain. Sameer had spotted her from the crowd in the waiting area and quickly referred her to the clinic. She was in so much pain that she could not walk on her own. After getting her trembling body on the bed and going through the translators, we learned that she hasn’t urinated in the past three days. This is how the next hour panned out: after a quick pelvic exam, the attending diagnoses her with final stage of cervical cancer.

She only has a few days to live.

Through a translator, the attending delivers the grim news to the family members. While the family listens to the doctor, I feel a weak squeeze on my hand. The old lady, too exhausted to move, had reached out to hold my hand.

I will never know why she did that. Perhaps she needed to communicate, or maybe she wanted a human touch at the moment. I have never been so appreciative of the scorching heat—I think my sweat masked my tears pretty well.

In the end, she is sent back home with a packet of Tylenol to relieve her pain. I watch her leave the dusty compound with her family, transported on a horse.

Not that modern medicine could have cured her cancer; plan for treatment and care would have been very different for someone in her situation back home. Extreme poverty, lack of access to medical care, and inequality in health resources are all scary realities here in Haiti. And many other parts of the world, U.S. included. The amount of injustice is an unsettling feeling for me. It is even more disturbing to be reminded how easy it is to forget what it is like for the majority of the people in this world.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be here, to be part of the reality of the people. The reality that we should face as medical professionals is a grim one, but it is a noble task. My trip to Haiti is making me realize just that.

Woon Cho Kim is a first year student at Emory Medical School.

(I intended to post this in October after returning from Haiti, but did not get around too it.)

Blue for Leadership

Red for Risk

Green for Compassion (or you can cheat a little and cut off the “com” and shorten it to “passion”)

Yellow for Service

Each night before heading to sleep, our small group of six would gather and discuss the events, people and places of the day together.

Joe Knitting, Executive Director of The Global Orphan Project, (whom was hosting our Haiti adventure) plunked a bag of assorted colored beads on the table in front of us.

“The rules are quite simple.  Blue stands for Leadership, Red for Risk, Green for Compassion, and Yellow for service,” he began.

“Each of you needs to select one bead and give it to one other person and speak to them why you chose the bead you did.  You do not need to “speechify” to the group, rather speak directly to the person, as the rest of us listen. Pick just one bead and one person”

It was quite a touching experience. 

If you have a difficult time expressing words like this to others (or receiving them) it could be quite intimidating.  One would need a red-risk bead to even participate.

People who are naturally overflowing with yellow-compassion would find it unfair to just choose one person and leave someone out.

Consider that Joe had met each of us, but prior to the trip did not have a basis for “knowing” much about the five folks he was with. Todd and I just knew one other.  The three others, Gary, Lynelle and Stephan were from the same church in Kansas City and knew each other well.

We did this together for three nights.

 Eventually everyone would have to pick someone they did not already know.   (Or give it to the same person again.)

Surprisingly, the first night, most everyone picked a new face to give a bead and express what they had observed during the day and their reason for their color selection.

It was also fun to see how everyone defined the colors they chose.  Everyone had a slightly different reason for each color.

Not everyone received a bead each night.  Some received multiple beads, but not the same colors.

After the first night I decided I wanted to come to the end of the day with a person and color already selected.  I asked God to show me someone and something specific each day.  I don’t like the pressure of having to do it on the spot.

The ceremony presented an intimate way to look at and appreciate one another’s true colors.  Not just in observing the little and big things throughout the day, but by listening to them speak to one another each night.

On the last night Joe waited to go last and then declared that he had the power to break the rules and gave one bead to each person for the closing ceremony.  

Thanks Joe for introducing us to the bead ceremony.  I hope you don’t mind me passing on this little treasure to everyone.

• Congo massacre witnesses were threatened [AP]
• UN chief urges new election date for Cote d’Ivoire [China News]
• Education not Execution: Uganda’s Defilement problem [Independent]
• Did Mbeki really support, for a while at least, the Equatorial Guinea coup attempt? [The Daily Maverick]
• Israel announces plans to limit West Bank construction for 10 months [LA Times]
• Burma engagement offers false hopes [Sydney Morning Herald]
• Indonesian government may allow mining in protected forests [The Jakarta Post]
• Haiti: UN troops shoot again [World War 4 Report]
• Blood Oil [VF]

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

Nature and Animal Conservation

 

     Preserving species and their habitats is important for ecosystems to self-sustain themselves. Yet, the pressures to destroy habitat for logging, illegal hunting, and other challenges are making conservation a struggle.

Visit : http://www.globalissues.org/article/1…

 What is Biodiversity ?

 

    The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.

   

    Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power, greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Does it really matter if there arent so many species?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.

For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Who Cares?

  Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions

It is feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. From various animal species, forests and the ecosystems that forests support, marine life. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert ecological problems.

 

  

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The white ribbon has become the symbol for the day.

Click on the picture to join the Community

ImagineHaitian.org will be one of the beneficiaries of the Alternative Giving Fair sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana. The fair offers people the opportunity to donate to a variety of local and international charities in place of buying traditional gifts. Those who donate to ImagineHaitian.org will receive one of the two cards shown below, which they may give to the person in whose name they made a donation. If you are interested in participating in the Alternative Giving Fair, please contact imaginehaitian@gmail.com for more details.

]]> http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/venezuelas-chavez-calls-for-international-organization-of-left-parties/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:03:55 +0000 magbana http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/venezuelas-chavez-calls-for-international-organization-of-left-parties/

Now this is what I’m talking about.  Amandla!

Venezuela’s Chavez Calls for International Organisation of Left Parties

Published on November 23rd 2009, by Kiraz Janicke – Venezuelanalysis.com

President Chavez addresses Conference of Left Parties (ABN)

Caracas, November 23^rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for the formation of a “Fifth International” of left parties and social movements to confront the challenge posed by the global crisis of capitalism.

The president made the announcement during an international conference of more than fifty left organisations from thirty-one countries held in Caracas over November 19-21.

“I assume responsibility before the world. I think it is time to convene the Fifth International, and I dare to make the call, which I think is a necessity. I dare to request that we create my proposal,” Chavez said.

The head of state insisted that the conference of left parties should not be “just one more meeting,” and he invited participating organizations to create a truly new project. “This socialist encounter should be of the genuine left, willing to fight against imperialism and capitalism,” he said.

During his speech, Chavez briefly outlined the experiences of previous “internationals,” including the First International founded in 1864 by Karl Marx; the Second International founded in 1889, which collapsed in 1916 as various left parties and trade unions sided with their respective capitalist classes in the inter-imperialist conflict of the First World War; the Third International founded by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, which Chavez said “degenerated” under Stalinism and “betrayed” struggles for socialism around the world; and the Fourth International founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938, which suffered numerous splits and no longer exists, although some small groups claim to represent its political continuity.

Chavez said that a new international would have to function “without impositions” and would have to respect diversity.

Representatives from a number of major parties in Latin America voiced their support for the proposal, including the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) of Bolivia, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) of El Salvador, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) of Nicaragua, and Alianza Pais of Ecuador.

Smaller parties from Latin America and around the world also indicated their support for the idea, including the Proposal for an Alternative Society (PAS) of Chile, New Nation Alternative (ANN) of Guatemala, and Australia’s Socialist Alliance, among others.

Sandinista leader Miguel D´Escoto said, “Capitalism has brought the human species to the precipice of extinction… we have to take control of our own destiny.”

“There is no time to lose,” D’Escoto added as he conveyed his support for the proposal of forming a fifth international. “We have to overcome the tendency of defeatism. Many times I have noted a tendency of defeatism amongst comrades of the left in relation to the tasks we face,” he continued.

Salvador Sánchez, from the FMLN, said “We are going to be important actors in the Fifth International. We cannot continue waiting – all the forces of the left. The aspiration of the peoples is to walk down a different path. We must not hesitate in forming the Fifth International. The people have pronounced themselves in favour of change and the parties of the left must be there with them.”

Other organisations, including Portugal’s Left Block, Germany’s Die Linke, and France’s Partido Gauche expressed interest in the proposal but said they would consult with their various parties. A representative of the Cuban Communist Party described the proposal as “excellent,” but as yet the party has made no formal statement.

Many communist parties, including those from Greece and Brazil, expressed strong opposition to the proposal. The Venezuelan Communist Party said it was willing to discuss the proposal but expressed strong reservations.

The Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA) from Colombia expressed its willingness to work with other left parties, but said it would “reserve” its decision to participate in an international organisation of left parties.

Valter Pomar, a representative from the Workers Party of Brazil (PT), said its priority is the Sao Paolo Forum – a forum of various Latin American left, socialist, communist, centre-left, labour, social democratic and nationalist parties launched by the PT in 1990.

A resolution was passed at the conference to form a preparatory committee to convoke a global conference of left parties in Caracas in April 2010, to discuss the formation of a new international. The resolution also allowed for other parties that remain undecided to discuss the proposal and incorporate themselves at a later date.

Chavez emphasised the importance of being inclusive and said the April conference had to go far beyond the parties and organisations that participated in last week’s conference. In particular, he said it was an error that there were no revolutionary organisations from the United States present.

The conference of left parties also passed a resolution titled the Caracas Commitment, “to reaffirm our conviction to definitively build and win Socialism of the 21^st Century,” in the face of “the generalized crisis of the global capitalist system.”

“One of the epicentres of the global capitalist crisis is the economic sphere. This highlights the limitations of unbridled free markets dominated by monopolies of private property,” the resolution stated.

Also incorporated was a proposed amendment by the Australian delegation which read, “In synthesis, the crisis of capitalism cannot be reduced to a simple financial crisis, it is a structural crisis of capital that combines the economic crisis, with an ecological crisis, a food crisis and an energy crisis, which together represent a mortal threat to humanity and nature. In the face of this crisis, the movements and parties of the left see the defence of nature and the construction of an ecologically sustainable society as a fundamental axis of our struggle for a better world.”

The Caracas Commitment expressed “solidarity with the peoples of the world who have suffered and are suffering from imperialist aggression, especially the more than 50 years of the genocidal blockade against Cuba… the massacre of the Palestinian people, the illegal occupation of part of the territory of the Western Sahara, and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, which today is expanding into Pakistan.”

The conference of left parties also denounced the decision of the Mexican government to shut down the state-owned electricity company and fire 45,000 workers, as an attempt to “intimidate” the workers and as an “offensive of imperialism,” to advance neoliberal privatisation in Central America.

In the framework of the Caracas Commitment, the left parties present agreed, among other things, to:

• Organise a global week of mobilisation from December 12-17 in repudiation of the installation of U.S. military bases in Colombia, Panama and around the world.
• Campaign for an “international trial against George Bush for crimes against humanity, as the person principally responsible for the genocide against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
• ”Commemorate 100 years since the proposal by Clara Zetkin to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, through forums, mobilizations and other activities in their respective countries.
• Organise global solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution in the face of permanent imperialist attacks.
• Organise global solidarity with the people of Honduras who are resisting a U.S.-backed military coup, to campaign for the restoration of the democratically elected president of Honduras, José Manuel Zelaya and to organise a global vigil on the day of the elections in Honduras, “with which they aim to legitimise the coup d´etat.”
• Demand an “immediate and unconditional end to the criminal Yankee blockade” of Cuba and for the “immediate liberation” of the Cuban Five, referring to the five anti-terrorist activists imprisoned in the United States.
• Accompany the Haitian people in their struggle for the return of President Jean Bertrand Aristide “who was kidnapped and removed from his post as president of Haiti by North American imperialism.”

Philippe Girard – Paradise Lost: Haiti’s Tumultuous Journey from Pearl of the Caribbean to Third World Hotspot

I found this book to be an excellent and very accessible overview of Haiti’s early and more recent history. Girard often interjects his own interpretation and commentary of the historical facts, which is both very helpful in thinking about how the circumstances and various happenings influenced subsequent history and at the same time somewhat constricting as it inhibits the reader from accomplishing his own interpretations and predictions. Girard is a very fluid writer and what could have been a very dry retelling of facts, dates, and people turns into a very engaging story about the very tumultuous journey of a country whose history remains an enigma to the majority of the world.

Ralph Pezzullo – Plunging into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy

This is a part of the Adst-Dacor Diplomats and Diplomacy Series which tells the stories of various diplomacy missions and the persons behind them. I greatly enjoyed this read, very easy read, very well written. The specific diplomatic exchange that Pezzullo seeks to describe surrounds the attempt to reinstate Aristide after his first expulsion from Haiti by Raul Cedras. I was a couple of chapters in before I realized that I was reading a historical account, perhaps it was the specific situation, perhaps the writing, but I laughed and gaped at the incredibility of the account; truth is truly stranger than fiction. The story was told by alternating chapters of the contemporary account of Aristide and Clinton and chapters telling the early history of Haiti. The early accounts were told with the same edge of the seat intense narration. My main criticism of this book was that it was written with a very clear objective and from a very closed perspective. Ralph Pezzullo is the book’s main character, Lawrence Pezzullo’s, son; a fact which may have limited the retelling of the story to inadvertently place Lawrence in a very unique position of making very few mistakes amidst a sea of inept cohorts. Criticism aside, this was my favorite of the books in this list.

Various – Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry

First off, I am very impressed by this idea and what it sets out to accomplish: the translation and collection of many of Haiti’s most beloved Creole poems. I’m not much of a poetry man, I’ve tried to be and I continue to attempt to expose myself to more and more poetry, but I continually find myself gravitating toward the comfort of prose. So I feel severely inadequate to review a collection of poetry. I have been attempting to progressively teach myself Haitian Creole through what happens to be the only library book on Haitian Creole (circa 1970’s) and various audio lessons (the only decent web source I could find was a geocities site which is now sadly no longer available due to the closing of geocities). I’ve found, albeit from the limited clout of my Creole, that the translations are quite superb. These poems are written by the people of Haiti and that places these accounts on a very interesting level. Seeing through the eyes of many of Haiti’s people is an invaluable resource.

Jeremy D. Popkin – Facing Racial Revolution: Eyewitness Accounts of the Haitian Insurrection

This is a collection of many first-person narratives of the Haitian Revolution. I started reading this, made it through the introduction and start of the first account, and then picked up Paradise Lost and got caught up in that book. I’ll be revisiting this soon and will have a more complete review up in the near future.

Just yesterday I got back from a week long odyssey to Haiti.  I went with a group named New Life for Haiti, headed up by my friend, Pastor Fran Leeman.  We flew from Chicago to Miami, then on to Port-au-Prince.  We stayed overnight at the Matthew 25 house, which is run by a great couple, Patrick and Vivian.

In the morning, we were driven by a wonderful old nun to the airport and then we flew to Jeremie, Haiti, which is on the southern peninsula of Haiti.  Wow, what a culture shock!!  The airport had one landing strip and the actual airport looked more like an abandoned gas station in the US.

We were picked up at the airport by Steve Moore and Josh Ridgely.  Steve and his wife, Joline have lived in Haiti for 14 years now, and the are amazingly fluent in Creole, the native language of Haiti.  Creole is sort of a phonetic French.  Josh is in the middle of a month long stay with his wife, Shauna and there boys, Jacob and Quinton.  They are considering becoming staff members of New Life for Haiti.

We drove the 12 miles from Jeremie to the little village of Marfranc.  While the driving distance was short, it took about an hour, as the roads are NOT what we in the US think of as roads.  They are rough and rugged and filled with roosters, pigs, and people with water jugs on their heads.  AND…there are seemingly no rules for driving in Haiti.  If you can drive there, you drive there, period.

I will share more about the trip later, as I’m just starting my emotional and spiritual processing of the significance of my journey.  But for now, I can say this for sure: the people of Haiti have left a permanent impression on me and God-willing, I will return.

Father, watch over my new friends in Marfranc, Moron, Jeremie, and in Chameau.  May we in the USA never forget why we are blessed…so that we may be a blessing.

Peace,

Neil

Consegui confirmar no Seminário no RJ as informações do Capitão PMPA Bassalo de que haverá aumento significativo de vagas para policiais militares brasileiros na Polícia da ONU (UNPOL) na MINUSTAH – Haiti a partir de 2010. Atualmente, o Brasil conta com modestas 04 (quatro) vagas para policiais, dentre os cerca de 2 mil. Essa confirmação vem de oficiais do alto escalão do Exército e membros do Ministério da Defesa. Estima-se que a retirada do componente militar se iniciará gradualmente ao final de 2011 e consequentemente haverá um aumento ainda maior do componente policial (UNPOL).

Sérgio Carrera