| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2003 December 10 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 7 Number 21 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| In Bhopal, The Poison Still Flows |
|
It's a ghost factory, frozen in a toxic tableau. Nothing
has been cleaned up at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal,
India, where the greatest industrial catastrophe of all time
took place. Tank E-610, the source of the gas leak that
killed 3,000 people in a single night and has killed another
10,000 since then, is still there in the grass -- additional provocation. Set in the vegetation, the gigantic maze of
vats and pipes has never been dismantled. The spun glass
and polystyrene that insulated the pipes fall in tatters. The vats, still full of toxic products, leak onto the ground. In some places, the obviously noxious effluents take the visitor by the throat, while no one knows what they are. Cows wander all around, grazing between rusted pieces of debris, while women look for firewood at twilight. In hangars dispersed among the four corners of the gigantic site, hundreds of ripped open bags of pesticide spread out on the ground. Some of them warn in big printed letters, "Poison". Abandoned kites and cricket balls signal the use of the site as a playground by children in the surrounding slums. "Every day, the first thing that I see when I get up is this deadly factory that took my husband and my two sons," moans Kusum Bai, a resident of Jai Prakash Nagar, one of the neighborhoods most affected by the accident. The ghost factory continues to kill. The leaks from the rusted vats and, above all, the wastes buried during the time when it was in operation have infiltrated the water table from which the surrounding neighborhoods draw their water. According to Greenpeace estimates, 10 to 15 people a month continue to die to the most complete indifference. Internal Union Carbide documents revealed last year prove that the multinational knew all about this contamination, from at least 1989. It has never said anything. According to the analyses effected by Greenpeace, the ground and the water of surrounding wells contain alarming levels of heavy metals and other toxic products. In some places, mercury levels are six million times greater than normal. This mercury, like the other poisons, is found in the vegetables and even in the breast milk of mothers from the neighboring regions. In these neighborhoods, some of which are stuck to the wall enclosing the factory, men, women, and children suffer from illness. Respiratory problems and especially gynecological problems for women, cancers, tuberculosis, vision problems, intestinal difficulties, joint pains, chronic headaches, psychiatric problems. These illnesses affect those who breathed the deadly gas at the time of the accident, but also others through the water. "I can't even cook because I suffocate immediately there is smoke," explains Ram Pyari Suha, 40 years old, who didn't move behind the factory until 1991, seven years after the catastrophe. Her husband and four children, aged 2 to 13, also suffer from health problems. Two of her neighbors, little girls at the time of the accident, went through menopause at age 25. The men don't have the strength to do the manual labor that is the source of daily bread in poor neighborhoods. According to a recently published study, children of the victims are deformed or weakened, with less than normal height, weight, muscle mass and pulmonary capacity. "The Bhopal scandal goes beyond anything," rages Sathyu Sarangi, an official of the NGO, Sambhavna, which helps victims. "We're now at the second, even the third generation affected by the accident, and no one does anything to help them. It makes you think you have to be raped in the street or struck with a bullet in the head to attract world public opinion's attention." Sources: La Liberation |
| Faith Helps Prisoners |
|
Religion has a positive impact on inmates and their
behavior, said Devon Brown, commissioner of the New Jersey
Department of Corrections, Tuesday, during a panel
discussion on spirituality and its effect on prisons and the
recidivism rate. Inside prison walls, faith reduces
threats, assaults and helps resolve conflicts. Spirituality
gives ex-inmates a moral foundation and increases their
chances of success in society. That's important, because
14,000 state inmates are released back into the community
each year, Brown said.
Nationwide, at least 90% of inmates will be released eventually, said US Marshall James Plousis. About 40% end up back in custody. "The true challenge is how we can make these people leaving the institutions better than when they came in," Plousis said. Law enforcement needs more resources to fix the problem, Brown said. There is no money to help ex-inmates adjust to life on the outside after serving their full sentences. Employers have little incentive to hire them, and offenders often have no family connections to help them stay out of trouble. Faith-based organizations and volunteers can help, panelists said. Camden is part of a pilot program connecting faith-based groups with violent offenders who are about to be released, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said. Launched in October, the Violent Offender Re-entry Program assists adults and juveniles. "We're hopeful these kinds of programs can be expanded." Source: Courier-Post |
| Year of Extremes Confirms Global Warming |
|
Since January, many of the predicted consequences of a
steadily warming atmosphere have started to come true. In
June the World Meteorological Organisation drew attention to
extreme weather events across the world and in a highly
unusual move, it linked them to global warming explicitly.
India, Sri Lanka and the United States have registered record high temperatures, rainfall and tornadoes this year. There has been an increasing number of scientific reports of rapidly melting ice in both the Arctic and the Antarctic, and rapidly melting mountain glaciers. Continental Europe has seen forest fires like never before, and great rivers like Italy's Po have been reduced to a trickle. Britain had its own extreme: on August 10 it registered the first three-figure Fahrenheit air temperature -- 101.3F (38.5C) -- in a reliable record that goes back to 1659. The 10 hottest years in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1860, have all now occurred since 1990. The hottest year was 1998, which, according to the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, was probably the hottest year in the northern hemisphere for 1,000 years. It is followed in the table by 2002 and then 2001. It is already clear that 2003 will also be in contention as one of the hottest years ever. Source: Independent UK |
| Brother, Can You Spare A Card? |
|
Panhandlers asking for money are a frequent sight in many
US cities, but in Stockton, California, spare change may
give way to small cards. The cards say, "Sorry, I don't
have spare change", and tell the recipient where they can
find a hot meal or spare bed.
"Eighty percent of the folks that are panhandling out there are looking for drugs and alcohol. That's what they want the money for," said Stockton Homeless Shelter spokesman John Reynolds. Officials said the cards are better than giving change because they can only be used for one purpose. The plan is to distribute the cards at businesses throughout the city, not just downtown. Source: The KCRA Channel |
| Israel Bars Aid Workers |
|
Over 60% of Palestinians live below the poverty line and
with Israel's military occupation showing no signs of a
let-up, and many local Islamic charities forced to close,
there is a greater need than ever for outside humanitarian
assistance and development projects. In the past two years,
however, the staff of hundreds of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) have faced ever-greater obstacles
coming into and moving about the country.
Darryl Li, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate, an American citizen, was an employee with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza. He has not been allowed into Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories since August 2002. "Beginning in January 2002, I experienced a pattern of systematic and gradually escalating harassment." Eventually, access was denied altogether. Israeli authorities told his lawyer that there was "secret evidence" against him and that there was no way he could enter. "It was like living in a Kafka novel. Everything was being done because of 'security', but nothing could be explained because of 'security'. Since when is seizing a bar of soap or a jar of dried dates vital to Israel's security?" International organizations have not been spared either. In addition to sometimes being denied entry to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, international NGO staff from organizations such as Save the Children, CARE, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are often harassed and sometimes threatened by the Israeli military. According to Tom Neu, chair of the Association of International Development Agencies, an umbrella network of over 60 relief and development organizations working in the occupied territories, there are countless examples of NGO staff being denied entry into certain towns and cities, and even into the country. Japanese and European NGOs are particularly vulnerable, says Neu. Just last month, an elderly Swedish couple invited by an AIDA member as part of a cultural delegation to Bethlehem was denied entry for no stated reason. "Access seems only to apply to approved NGOs, and Israelis define this." "The soldiers interpret our identity cards on their own terms. They can be very rude and aggressive. Our ability to enter is arbitrary and subject to their mood," said Neu. "It's a daily concern -- there are staff members who worry they might not be allowed back, and in many cases this does happen." "The disturbing thing is that are no rules or norms. The Israelis tend not to set any rules -- it's like playing roulette," said Fabricio Lamanto, Coordinator of AIDA. Leading Israeli human rights lawyer Shamai Liebowitz says the Israeli government makes it difficult for aid workers to enter precisely because of the work they do. They fear they will tell a different story of Palestinian suffering to the world than the one posited by them. "Israel likes to portray the Palestinians as one big mob of terrorists and this contradicts the image." Source: Al-Jazeera |
| Shareholders Challenge Insurance Giant on HIV/AIDS |
|
Socially responsible money managers and religious pension
funds in New York City Friday announced they were asking
insurance giant American International Group (AIG) to report
to shareholders on the threat the HIV/AIDS-TB-Malaria
pandemics pose to the company, which has a major
international presence and operates in 130 countries.
Geeta Aiyer, President of Boston Common Asset Management, a pioneer in global socially responsible investing, explained, "The insurance and financial services industry is particularly exposed to HIV/AIDS, because this disease shifts the demographics of entire continents. As the pandemic expands from Africa to India, Russia, and China, we need to hear how AIG will respond." Investor concerns about the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic are borne out by recent economic studies. A recent World Bank report warns, "a complete economic collapse will occur" unless there is a response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in southern Africa. Even "a delay in responding to the outbreak of the epidemic, however, can lead to collapse." Vidette Bullock-Mixon of the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits, UMC -- the largest denominational not-for-profit financial service organization in the US -- said, "Dealing effectively with HIV/AIDS is a core corporate social responsibility issue, and some financial services companies have become models for their peers." South African insurance giant Old Mutual has received widespread praise for its handling of HIV/AIDS issues, which includes providing their workers with treatment with anti-retroviral drugs, as well as implementing aggressive prevention programs. Old Mutual also conducted an in-depth survey of how HIV impacted their operations and is making appropriate changes to their business model as a result. Other companies with large African operations, including mining giant Anglo-American and Dutch beer maker Heineken, have taken similar steps to combat HIV/AIDS. New evidence suggests that aggressive treatment and prevention programs in the workplace make business sense. The Harvard Business Review reports, "Investments in programs that prevent infection and provide treatment for employees who have HIV/AIDS are profitable ... their cost is less than the savings they lead to." Source: Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility |
| Ancient Advice: Eat Plain |
|
Bites from The Instructor, by the great Christian teacher
Clement of Alexandria, circa 195 AD:
Some men, in truth, live that they may eat, as the irrational creatures, "whose life is their belly, and nothing else." But the Instructor enjoins us to eat that we may live. For neither is food our business, nor is pleasure our aim; but both are on account of our life here, which the Word is training up to immortality. Wherefore also there is discrimination to be employed in reference to food. And it is to be simple, truly plain, suiting precisely simple and artless children -- as ministering to life, not to luxury. And the life to which it conduces consists of two things -- health and strength; to which plainness of fare is most suitable, being conducive both to digestion and lightness of body, from which come growth, and health, and right strength, not strength that is wrong or dangerous and wretched, as is that of athletes produced by compulsory feeding. We must therefore reject different varieties, which engender various mischiefs, such as a depraved habit of body and disorders of the stomach, the taste being vitiated by an unhappy art -- that of cookery, and the useless art of making pastry. For people dare to call by the name of food their dabbling in luxuries, which glides into mischievous pleasures. Antiphanes, the Delian physician, said that this variety of viands was the one cause of disease; there being people who dislike the truth, and through various absurd notions abjure moderation of diet, and put themselves to a world of trouble to procure dainties from beyond seas. For my part, I am sorry for this disease, while they are not ashamed to sing the praises of their delicacies, giving themselves great trouble to get lampreys in the Straits of Sicily, the eels of the Maeander, and the kids found in Melos, and the mullets in Sciathus, and the mussels of Pelorus, the oysters of Abydos, not omitting the sprats found in Lipara, and the Mantinican turnip; ... Altering these by means of condiments, the gluttons gape for the sauces. "Whatever earth and the depths of the sea, and the unmeasured space of the air produce," they cater for their gluttony. In their greed and solicitude, the gluttons seem absolutely to sweep the world with a drag-net to gratify their luxurious tastes. These gluttons, surrounded with the sound of hissing frying-pans, and wearing their whole life away at the pestle and mortar, cling to matter like fire. More than that, they emasculate plain food, namely bread, by straining off the nourishing part of the grain, so that the necessary part of food becomes matter of reproach to luxury. There is no limit to epicurism among men. For it has driven them to sweetmeats, and honey-cakes, and sugar-plums; inventing a multitude of desserts, hunting after all manner of dishes. A man like this seems to me to be all jaw, and nothing else. Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library |
| Life-Net News Extras |
| Homeless Memorial Day |
|
Each year since 1990, on or near the first day of winter and
the longest night of the year, National Coalition for the
Homeless (NCH) has sponsored a National Homeless Persons’
Memorial Day to bring attention to the tragedy of
homelessness and to remember our homeless friends who have
paid the ultimate price for our nation’s failure to address
the issue. This year's commemoration occurs on December 21. The NCH is asking groups to plan special events in their locales. (On that, more info below).
Stories from last year's Homeless Memorial Day: AUSTIN, Texas -- At 6:58am, House the Homeless congregated on the shore of Town Lake to sing, to pray, to cry and to remember the men and women who passed away on the streets. The service honored the 62 men and women who died in 2002. Richard Troxell, president of House the Homeless, wrote, "We think it’s incredibly important that once a year, we take stock of what’s going on, of who’s died, and make it public. To us every one person who has died on the streets without friends or family is too much." BOSTON, Massachusetts -- On Beacon Hill, 183 cardboard tombstones lined the lawns in honor of the men and women who died over the previous 12 months. Surrounding the tombs, homeless people, social workers and others both mourned and protested the Legislature’s budget cuts. GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- On December 19, the Greensboro Homeless Prevention Group gathered to honor the year’s deceased with a candlelight vigil, light folk music, a supper of bread and soup. In addition, the group read a prayer asking for forgiveness for those who had forgotten the homeless. MARION, Florida -- Honoring both the lives and spirits of homeless people, the United Way sponsored a small ceremony with the planting of a new tree and "Santa’s Holiday on Ice" for homeless children. In an effort to celebrate both lives and life, people were encouraged to honor the deceased and enjoy the energy of companionship. MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota -- Mourning the deaths, but celebrating the lives of the 94 people who passed away during 2002, hundreds of people lined the pews of Simpson United Methodist Church. As they entered the Church, people carried large white placards, emblazoned with names written with black marker, crayons and paint, and taped them to the walls of the Church as a reminder during the service. Source: National Coalition for the Homeless Resources: Organizing Manual with sample press release, sample proclamation, and flyers |
| Samaritan's Purse Ships Love in a Shoebox |
|
Whether its workers are dodging bombs in Africa or its
leader is dodging political bullets in America, Samaritan's
Purse is delivering much needed physical and spiritual
relief to hurting people in crisis around the world. Its
work in war-weary south Sudan is one example. Samaritan's
Hospital in Lui provides Western quality healthcare to
thousands of suffering Sudanese. In late winter 2000, the
government of Sudan bombed the hospital twice in one week.
Franklin Graham's response? Samaritan's Purse would expand
its work in Sudan despite the risks.
In late 2001, as American soldiers waged war against the Taliban, Muslim children in Dasht-e-Qualah, Afghanistan, received shoe boxes filled with gifts as part of Samaritan's Operation Christmas Child program. This year, the program's focus is on Sudan. Children from around the US have packed shoe boxes to brighten Christmas for hurting kids in 95 countries. Samaritan's Purse says seven million will be hand delivered around the world and 80,000 airlifted to children in Sudan. In all, Samaritan's Purse says 24 million children have received gift-filled shoe boxes since the inception of its children's Christmas project 10 years ago. If all of the shoe boxes from Operation Christmas Child were stacked on top of one another, they would rise more than 250 times higher than Mount Everest. Source: CBN |
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