LIFE-NET NEWS

by Ret Z.

Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices

2004 April 21	No Profit; No Proceeds
Volume 7 Number 28	All-Volunteer

"Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal;  give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life."

The Value of a Vote

Sixty-year-old Mongoli Patra is a beggar in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. He had a shower on Tuesday morning for the first time in three days. He felt it was the proper way to prepare before going to exercise his most important duty as a citizen.       He arrived at a polling station with a wooden stick to support his frail body. Patra, who spends his days begging on the streets of Dhenkanal, says casting his vote is the only way of being involved in the democratic process in the country. "I want to elect a leader who will provide some permanent shelter to people like us."       "It is by God's grace that we at least have got voting rights. Otherwise, in this country, who cares about us?" he asks.       Residents of Dhenkanal are deciding between a member of a royal family and a journalist. The town is festooned with the colors of the rival political parties. Contrary to expectations, voters came out in large numbers early in the morning. Evading the afternoon's scorching heat, they made a beeline to local schools, where the polls had been set up.       Businessman Niraj Kumar Maduli has a down-to-earth view of what he wants from the electoral process. "Forget about lofty promises; water supply in this area is only for an hour a day," he points out. "I have cast my vote and if that candidate wins, I wish he can solve the water problem. I have asked all my family members and friends to vote for him because I think he can solve this problem."       For 18-year-old Bhabesh Jena, the anticipation of casting his vote is more important than his decision who to vote for. "I have chosen the candidate I want to vote for, but I am just waiting for the moment when I shall cast my vote. It is a great feeling when one presses the button on the electronic voting machine for the first time."       However, some people, like leprosy patient Bhuban, know they will not enter a polling booth. She waits outside, hoping voters will spare her a few coins. "I wish I could vote but I do not have any identity card."       Minutes later a policeman comes and forces her to leave.       Source:  BBC

Radio Show Invokes Violence Against Recovering Addicts

The stigmatization of persons in recovery from addictive illnesses hit a low in New Jersey on April 13, during the live broadcast of the daily Carton and Rossi show on radio station "New Jersey 101.5" FM. The call-in show unleashed a tirade against individuals in recovery under the cover of addressing concerns raised in the Trentonian by South Ward, Trenton, residents who are objecting to the opening of a new recovery home for women.       The Trentonian quoted Len Puciatti, Trenton’s director of inspections, as saying these houses have posed minimal problems in the city and calling most of the tenants "hardworking people" who go to work, attend recovery meetings and return home.       A Not In My Backyard reaction to such a home opening would be typical, but one host of the show, Craig Carton, resorted to a rant that included incitement of violence against people in recovery from addictive illness. For example, during the show Carton stated that if such a recovery home were opened next to his house he would burn the place down, preferably with the recovering people in it. He also suggested he would shoot them in the head.       NCADD-NJ thinks that we can all agree that this kind of trash talk is beyond any civil discourse over the opening of a recovery home for women and the NIMBY concerns that it evokes. NCADD-NJ is pushing to get a transcript of the hour-long program and will be pursuing remedies against the station in the very near future.       Source:  NCADD-NJ (with action links)

Afghan Refugee Camps Set to Close

The head of the UN refugee agency, Ruud Lubbers, has said all new refugee camps inside Pakistan's border with Afghanistan will close by September. Lubbers said the camps were too close to areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants were active.       The 15 camps are home to around 200,000 Afghan refugees. Back in Afghanistan, Pakistan and US-led forces have both recently stepped up operations against militants.       The camps were set up after the American bombing campaign drove hundreds of thousands of civilians from Afghanistan two and a half years ago. The UN body fears the camps have become recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. Lubbers, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said he believed that penetration of refugees by militants was limited but that even 5% of a camp's population was significant. He said their closure would be good for Afghanistan, his agency, and Pakistan.       Pakistan currently hosts more than 1,500,000 refugees, more than 1,000,000 of them in the border provinces. Most poured in during Afghanistan's 25 years of war and turbulence. Now that that's over, Pakistan is pressing for all to return.       The minister responsible for the border regions said economic development in Afghanistan was the key to encouraging repatriations. Lubbers believes improved security in Afghanistan is also vital. He has called for the NATO-led force based in Kabul to be doubled and spread around the country.       Source:   BBC

High Schoolers Need to Learn By Serving

A number of points must be worked out, and there certainly will be opposition, but a proposal by New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey (Dem.) to include community service as a high school graduation requirement is worth considering. Under the proposal, New Jersey high school students would be expected to complete at least 15 hours of volunteer service with a community organization or service agency, according to the Associated Press. Among states, only Maryland now has such a requirement.       Codey's plan makes sense because it addresses one of the problems in today's schools. Primary and secondary education aren't intended to involve only the rote learning of facts; they also should include broadening the kids' opportunities and experiences. Too often, students fall into ruts that narrow them.       What Codey has proposed offers a significant chance for students to get out of ruts by learning about people with different needs, backgrounds, or age brackets. A similar program in Princeton gives students a menu of more than 30 volunteer options, including reading to elementary students, working at a local chapter of the Red Cross, or volunteering at a hospital, said Andrea Dinan, who directs Princeton's program.       In its previous incarnation, some said Codey's plan sounded like socialism. That's inaccurate: Codey isn't proposing that children do their work for the state; they'll be working for independent volunteer organizations.       The proposal does have a fixable flaw: The volunteer work must be completed after school, on weekends or during summer break, according to the AP. Requiring students to perform community service might simply be too much for students with heavy homework loads. So, since the program really is part of a full education, Senator Codey should find a way to fit it into the normal school year.       Source:  Courier-Post (Camden)

Chinese Infants Die 'From Fake Milk'

Dozens of babies in China are said to have died from malnutrition in the past year after being fed fake or inferior baby milk powders. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said makers of the products would be severely punished, the China Daily paper reported. State officials have been sent to the city of Fuyang, in Anhui province, to investigate further.       Correspondents say the case highlights the widespread problem of counterfeit foodstuffs and medicines in China. According to official media reports, up to 200 babies who were fed formula milk of little nutritional value were affected. Local media said some of the babies developed what doctors called "big head disease", where infants' heads appear abnormally large in comparison to their bodies.       It was not clear if the counterfeit powder included any toxic ingredients, but some children were reported to have died within three days of being fed the fake milk. Others were hospitalized when their parents realized they were ill. Fuyang's People's Hospital alone received more than 60 babies who had been fed fake milk formula, according to the Beijing News.       "My girl, the first child of mine, died when she was only four months old," said Zhang Linwei, from Wangzhuang Village in Fuyang. Zhang told China Central Television that he only realized his daughter was ill when she refused to drink any more powder. "Before that, I thought my daughter's face was becoming fatter and fatter because she was fed well and grew fast."       An analysis of one formula found it contained as little as one-sixth the required amount of protein and other nutrients needed for a baby's proper development. Zhang Fangjun, a medical expert at Fuyang's Renmin Hospital, told the China Daily, "Drinking such fake milk powder is no different from drinking water."       Source:  BBC

Veterans Betrayed

The ultimate betrayal on this side of the Iraq war is of the young, sent to war with grandiose promises and falsehoods about freedom and democracy, duty and patriotism. Americans don't know their history well enough to remember that this pattern began long ago.       Young men -- boys, for the armies of the world have always been made up of boys -- were enticed into the Revolutionary army of the Founding Fathers by the grand words of the Declaration of Independence. But they were mistreated, barefoot and in rags, while their officers lived in luxury and merchants made war profits. Thousands mutinied and some were executed by order of General Washington.       After the war a rebellion of western Massachusetts farmers (many of them veterans) against the foreclosure of their farms was put down by force. When soldiers realize they have been betrayed they rebel.       During the Mexican war, thousands deserted.       In the Civil War, many resented the financiers who profited and the rich who bought themselves out of the obligation to serve. Black soldiers who joined the Union army and were decisive in its victory came home to poverty and racism.       Soldiers returning from the first world war, many crippled and shell-shocked, were hit by the depression just over a decade later. Unemployed, with their families hungry, they descended on Washington -- 20,000, from all over the US, pitching tents across the Potomac from the capital and demanding that Congress pay the bonus it had promised. The army showed up and dispersed them with tear gas.       The veterans of the second world war benefited from the GI Bill, entitled to free college educations, low interest mortgages, and life insurance. Maybe this was meant to wipe out the ugly memory of the earlier veterans' experiences. Perhaps it came as a side effect of the euphoria induced by the great victory over fascism.       From Vietnam, veterans came home to find that the government that had sent them to an immoral, fruitless war -- leaving so many wounded in body and mind -- wanted to forget about them. Troops were exposed to Agent Orange, suffered its effects, and asked the VA for help. The government denied responsibility.       The government was proud that, though 100,000 Iraqis may have died in the 1991 Gulf war, there were only 148 US battle casualties. It has concealed from the public that 206,000 Gulf veterans filed claims with the VA for injuries and illnesses; 8,300 veterans have died, and the VA has recognized 160,000 claims for disability.       The betrayal of military personnel continues in the war on terrorism. Promises that the US soldiers would be greeted as liberators have disintegrated. Soldiers die daily in guerrilla warfare that tells them they are not wanted in Iraq. Those who return alive but maimed find that the Bush administration has cut funds for veterans. His State of the Union address, while thanking those serving in Iraq, continued his policy of ignoring the wounded in this increasingly unpopular war.       Don't forget the veterans.       Source:  Le Monde Diplomatique

Living in Lebanese Limbo

"We have no drinking water, no electricity, and no means to make ends meet," said Um Rashid, a 69-year-old woman living in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila.       Located south of the Lebanese capital, the camp is clashingly out of place amid the clean streets, fancy cars, luxurious restaurants and sky-high prices of Beirut. Painted with the colors of the Palestinian flag and decorated with pictures of Palestinian "martyrs," the corridors inside the camp are so narrow, people can barely walk two abreast.       The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has registered at least 394,532 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, in addition to other thousands not registered. Lebanese laws make Palestinians ineligible for health care services, social insurance, employment in more than 73 syndicated professions, and even property ownership.       "Nothing here encourages us to settle," said Nehad Hamad, who heads the Association Najdeh vocational training center in the camp. Established in 1978, Najdeh is an independent NGO working in and around the 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon to help make refugee life bearable. "With watertight Lebanese restrictions on Palestinians, we teach women hairdressing, clothing and other skills that might help them support their families," Hamad said. She added that they teach reading to Palestinian children who stand no chance of enrolling in Lebanese public schools and cannot afford private ones.       Hoda El-Turk, in charge of the UNRWA Public Information Office in Beirut, said that at least 43,000 of the Palestinian refugees registered in Lebanon are classified as "special hardship cases." She said, "They are the poorest of the poor," adding this entitled them to receive cash assistance of $10 per person in addition to a food ration every three months.       Hamad complained that while donations still flow in from European NGOs, funds from American civil society have almost dried up since 9/11.       Source:  Islam Online

Life-Net News Extras

When Victims Become Perpetrators

Adapted from a piece by George Monbiot:       I first encountered the phenomenon of Victim's Licence when arguing on a radio show with a British importer of Amazonian mahogany. I had pointed out that the timber cutters who supplied him were hiring gunmen to shoot indigenous people.       "Well," he replied, "life is cheap in Brazil."       I told him that was a shocking thing to say.       "Don't you lecture me about human rights," he snapped. "My parents were killed in the Holocaust."       And, of course, he put me on the back foot. I mumbled something to the effect that he of all people should know the consequences of waiving the value of human life. But despite his evident hypocrisy, he had acquired moral authority: He had suffered horribly as a result of mass murder; I had not.       It's partly for this reason that we overlook the atrocious crimes committed by the government of Rwanda. Early this month, as we commemorated the genocide of 1994, the Kagame government's foreign policy was all but ignored. The good guys were murdered by the bad guys; the good guys fought back, drove the bad guys out, formed a new government, and peace came to a troubled land. This is the story our fairytale view of history demands. The victims remain victims, the aggressors remain aggressors. The crimes the victims might commit are licensed by compassion and embarrassment.       It is arguable that nothing so endangers world peace and human rights as official victimhood. Hitler played upon the German people's grievances about the reparations exacted from them after the first world war. The Allies overlooked the expulsion of 3 million Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia after the second world war. The Israeli government insists that anyone who criticizes its human rights record is "anti-semitic", a participant, in other words, in the oppression of the Jews. George Bush claims that America has a right to take its war on terror wherever he pleases, as a result of the atrocity it suffered in 2001.       We must never forget the appalling crimes from which they draw their license. But if we really wish to ensure that it "never happens again", we must judge people by what they do rather than by who they are.       Source:  The Guardian

AIDS Threatens World Peace, Says UN

The spread of the deadly HIV virus is a threat to world peace like terrorism, the chief the United Nations AIDS agency said Monday. Calling AIDS "an earthquake in slow motion," the UNAIDS head also slammed the European Union for failing to cope with the fast-growing epidemic in Eastern Europe as the EU expands.       "Millions of orphans, children with no future -- it's enough that there is a warlord who puts a Kalashnikov in their hands," UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot told Reuters on the sidelines of a speech in Oslo.       "It's as big of a threat as terrorism," he said, referring to massive poverty as a result of AIDS, sparking political unrest which could even lead to cross-border conflicts, as well as a weakening of defense forces in heavily infected countries.       More than half of the military forces in some poor African states are infected with HIV, children have been orphaned, many schools have no teachers and companies no staff because of HIV and AIDS, he said.       AIDS is the number one killer in Africa, the home of at least 70% of the world's 40 million HIV-infected people, but the fastest growing epidemic is in Eastern Europe. The former Soviet bloc has seen a 50-fold increase in HIV infections in the past eight years, to around 1.5 million -- the most dramatic rise in the world. "The EU has failed in dealing with AIDS at its borders, at its doorsteps, including in some of the new enlargement countries," Piot said.       Speaking at a seminar organized by the Red Cross in non-EU Norway, Piot also called on the EU to designate one commission to manage the fight against AIDS, saying there was so far no clear definition of responsibility within the Union. "Some of the enlargement countries have done very well, like Poland, but the Baltic states have big problems," Piot said.       Source:  Reuters

Abuses Abound in Housing Plans for Malaysia's Poor

The government's aim to provide housing for the poor is a laudable one, but as with the execution of many such well-intentioned schemes, the devil is in the details.       The prices of apartments for the poor are fixed at between RM35,000 (S$17,000) and RM42,000, and poverty is defined as a family of five earning less than RM529 a month in peninsular Malaysia. But a taxi driver claims that he paid RM2,000 to secure a government flat for rent at RM200 a month. He earns about RM1,000 a month, well out of the range of eligibility. He said, "I do not know who got the money as I paid through a friend, but I needed the unit badly. I got it soon after paying up."       Clearly, abuse of the system is something that has to be addressed. For another example, in the Jelatek Public Flats, units are rented from Kuala Lumpur City Hall for RM124 a month. The blocks of 60-square-meter two-bedroom units are just 5 km from the city center. A City Hall rule states that only those who cannot afford a car could rent a unit. Yet dozens of cars are parked under the blocks in the evenings.       These abuses are not helping the needy like blind masseur S. Siva who works in a mall in Kuala Lumpur. He commutes an hour and a half by bus six days a week to get to work. "I can't afford a house here. I really hope the government could help me so that I don't have to spend a lot of time travelling every day."       As the government works to fine tune the system, it would do well to tighten the laws to ensure that only those who qualified are allowed in. Just as important, post-sale enforcement action should target those who take shameless advantage of the system.       Source:  Straits Times (Malaysia)

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