| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2004 July 7 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 8 Number 8 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Rwandans Face Village Justice |
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Hundreds of thousands of Rwandans accused of participating in the 1994 genocide are due to face justice for the first time under a controversial system of village courts which start hearing cases this month. Virtually the entire population will be involved in the trials, which dispense with lawyers and rely on the community to act as witness, advocate and judge of one of the 20th century's greatest crimes.
Critics have questioned the fairness of the system and its potential for inflaming ethnic tension, but most accept that there is no better alternative to deal with a unique atrocity that turned so many people into murderers. Two years ago the government launched a pilot project to see if a traditional system of justice normally used to settle minor crimes could handle genocide. The trials -- known as gacaca after the patch of grass where the community gathers to pass judgement -- were deemed a success. Last month President Paul Kagame announced that every village would follow. Trials are expected to begin this month and continue for several years. Each community selects nine judges who meet in the presence of the village to itemize crimes, typically in a dog-eared notebook. Suspects are questioned in front of neighbors and relatives. Then comes a verdict and a sentence of up to 25 years. "The purpose is not vengeance. It is to restore unity," said Ananias Sentozi of aid group World Vision. "The dead can't be brought back, but their relatives can't live without justice." Source: Mail & Guardian (South Africa) |
| Stories Debunked About NJ and Slavery |
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Erroneous to begin with, the notion still persists 143 years after the start of the Civil War that New Jersey was a Northern border state with Southern sympathies. "Nothing could be further from the truth," said William Gillette, a Rutgers University history professor in a talk last month about pre-Civil War New Jersey. "New Jersey was loyal to the Union."
Less than 1% of New Jersey's population was born in the South. Its boundaries fall far away from the Mason-Dixon line. And almost every slave in the state was freed sooner than commonly thought. Border states had high numbers of residents who were born in states that seceded. In New Jersey, only about 1,800 out of 672,035 (1860 census) residents were born in Southern states. There were fewer black people, too: about 4% of New Jersey's total population, compared to about 18% in border states. In border states, like Maryland, troops fought on both sides of the war. "But not so in New Jersey," said Gillette, "where more than 80,000 heeded the call -- to save the Union." Others may think of the state as being "soft" on slavery because its legislature didn't officially abolish slavery until 1846. "While New Jersey wasn't a strong recruiting ground for the abolitionists, it wasn't a slave-loving state either," Gillette said. "By 1820, all but about 18 slaves had been voluntarily freed." Source: Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Aid Rising Against AIDS |
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Yesterday UNAIDS released the "2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic" showing that an estimated 4.8 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2003, more than in any one year before. Today the UN released figures demonstrating a clear trend toward rising financial donations to fight the pandemic.
The latest definitive figures combing the aid efforts of major bilateral and multilateral donors show an allocation of $2.2 billion in 2002 to control and combat the disease in the developing world, according to a new UNAIDS/OECD study. The report presents the first comprehensive overview of aid allocations to AIDS activities by donor and recipient countries. Bilateral aid rose steadily from $822 million in 2000 to $1.1 billion in 2001 and $1.35 billion in 2002 -- a 64% increase over three years. Multilateral aid rose from $314 million in 2000 to $460 million in 2002, and total contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria reached $917 million by the end of 2002, 60% of which will target HIV/AIDS. The USA was the largest bilateral donor averaging $793 million per year in 2000-2002, followed by the UK at $337 million, Japan at $161 million, and the Netherlands at $135 million. The International Development Association of the World Bank was the largest multilateral donor with $237 million, followed by UNAIDS with $88 million and UNICEF with $44 million. Between 2000 and 2002 donors worked in 140 recipient countries, concentrating the majority of their efforts on 25 countries -- 10 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In total, 75% of all funds related to combating AIDS were allocated to Africa. Source: United Nations |
| How Public Is National Public Radio? |
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When National Public Radio was launched in 1971, it promised to be an alternative to commercial media that would "promote personal growth rather than corporate gain" and "speak with many voices, many dialects." Today, current NPR president Kevin Klose insists that diversity and inclusivity are among NPR’s top priorities.
NPR, which now reaches 22 million listeners weekly on 750 affiliated stations, does often provide more than the nine-second-soundbite culture of mainstream news. But is the public really heard on public radio? And is NPR truly an alternative to its commercial competition? A new FAIR study of NPR’s guest list shows the radio service relies on the same elite and influential sources that dominate commercial news, and falls short of reflecting the diversity of the American public. FAIR’s study recorded every on-air source quoted in June 2003 on four NPR news shows. Each source was classified by occupation, gender, nationality, and partisan affiliation. Altogether, the study counted 2,334 quoted sources, featured in 804 stories. In addition, FAIR looked at the think tanks NPR relies on most frequently, and at its list of regular commentators. Elite sources dominated NPR’s guest list, accounting for 64% of all sources. Current and former government officials constituted the largest group of elite voices, accounting for 28% of overall sources. Professional experts were the second largest elite group -- 26% of all sources. Corporate representatives accounted for 6% of total sources; labor representatives, 0.3%. Journalists by themselves made up 7% of all NPR sources. For a public radio service meant as an independent alternative to corporate-owned, commercial-driven media, NPR is surprisingly reliant on mainstream journalists: At least 83% of its journalist guests in June 2003 were employed by commercial US outlets. In the number of non-elite sources featured, the study actually found a substantial increase, largely in the general public category, "people in the street" whose occupations are not identified and who tend to be quoted more briefly than other sources. Spokespeople for public interest groups -- generally articulate sources espousing a particular point of view -- numbered 7% of total sources, the same proportion found in 1993. Public interest voices were about twice as common on NPR as on commercial network news. Women as news sources were dramatically underrepresented on NPR in 1993 (19%), and they remain so today (21%). FAIR's examination of NPR’s commentators suggests that the network may have made more progress in racial inclusion than in gender balance since 1993. That NPR harbors a liberal bias is an article of faith among many conservatives. But little evidence has ever been presented for this belief, and FAIR’s latest study adds none. Looking at partisan sources -- government officials, party officials, campaign workers, consultants -- Republicans outnumbered Democrats by more than 3 to 2. Partisans from outside the two major parties were almost nowhere to be seen. FAIR’s study of NPR in 1993 found 10 think tanks that were cited twice or more. The current study counted 17. Representatives of think tanks to the right of center outnumbered those to the left of center by more than 4 to 1. Source: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting |
| Mercy, Alms, and Reward |
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The Greek word translated "alms" in the New Testament (elee-moSYne-) derives from the word (Eleos) for mercy or kindness. It refers to the kind deeds caused by mercy and kindness -- not just an expression of sentiment, but an outward manifestation of character. So it comes to mean giving motivated by mercy or love, hence charitable giving to the poor. The word is often translated "charitable deed."
"Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys." (Lk 12:33, NKJ) Jesus often spoke of giving alms. He made it clear that our motives are important: "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Mt 6:2-4, NRSV) The Bible tells of Cornelius, "a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always." (Acts 10:2) An angel appeared to him and said, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God." God was pleased with this Roman soldier's giving to meet the needs of the poor. Alms are not offerings to God or His ministers. Alms are charitable deeds -- gifts to the poor and needy. Helping people who are in trouble. Alms impress God. Source: Church For All |
| School Field Trips Go To ... Stores |
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A growing number of retailers, from grocers to toy stores, are paying to bring school groups through their doors, enticed by the prospect of future customers. The yellow buses are arriving, fueled by schools' tightening budgets and bursting schedules that make free, nearby field trips appealing. The only costs are bus fees; some retailers pay those, too.
Now students are as likely to visit a Petco as a zoo, a Sports Authority as a park, a Krispy Kreme as a museum. Depending on one's point of view, field trips have either evolved to embrace real-world businesses or devolved into smooth marketing ploys, further blurring boundaries between schools and corporations. In the 1930s, Procter & Gamble held Ivory soap-carving contests for schoolchildren. By the 1950s, corporate-sponsored films -- "Facts About Your Figure" from a bra maker, for example -- were typical school fare. More recently, corporate ties to schools have grown to big-box proportions. Channel One News was brought into classrooms in 1989, delivering to advertisers a captive audience with spending power. Five years ago, Susan Singer, a former marketing executive, conceived Field Trip Factory to broker business-sponsored excursions. Based in Chicago, the for-profit company is driving the retail field trip trend in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and 46 other states. Singer said, "Our goal is to use the community as a real-life classroom to learn life skills." Critics -- a small but vocal group -- blast such excursions as little more than shopping trips, another example of commercialism creeping into schools. "This is just one more way for corporations to cultivate brand loyalty in our youngest children," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a watchdog group. "Increasingly, school districts are moving to a model of corporate-indentured education." Source: Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Global Terrorists Not Poor |
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Most Americans have a false idea of the shadowy, worldwide terrorist network led by al-Qaida, according to a former CIA operative who collected the life histories of almost 400 members of the deadly movement. The stereotype that these terrorists are poor, desperate, single young men from Third World countries, vulnerable to brainwashing, is wrong, Dr. Marc Sageman told an international terrorism conference in Washington last week.
Most Arab terrorists he studied were well-educated, married men from middle- or upper-class families, in their mid-20s and psychologically stable, said Sageman, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Many of them knew several languages and traveled widely. But when they settled in foreign countries, they became lonely, homesick and embittered, he said. They felt humiliated by the weakness and backwardness of their homelands. They formed tight cliques with fellow Arabs and drifted into mosques more for companionship than for religion. Radical preachers convinced them it was their duty to drive Americans from Muslim holy lands, killing as many as possible. Sageman traces the roots of the movement to a centuries-old Islamic tradition dedicated to purifying Muslim lands of "infidels" and restoring the past glories of Islam. Members see terrorism as "an answer to Islamic decadence -- a feeling that Islam has lost its way." Al-Qaida leadership and the bulk of its global network members came from comfortable upper- and middle-class homes, challenging the argument that poverty breeds terrorism. Only a small percentage of Sageman's sample were poorly educated. Nearly three-quarters of the sample were married. Most had children. Most had normal childhoods without any trouble with the law. Sageman's breakdown (percentages in parentheses): Highest level of education: less than high school (16.7), high school (12.1), some college (28.8), college degree (33.3), postgraduate degree (9). Type of education: secular (90.6), religious (9.4). Occupation: professional (42.5), semiskilled (32.8), unskilled (24.6). Marital status: married (72.8), unmarried (27.2). Social status: upper class (17.6), middle class (54.9), lower class (27.5). Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers |
| College Tuition Burden Falls by a Third |
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What students pay on average for tuition at public
universities has fallen by nearly one-third since 1998, thanks to new federal tax breaks and a massive increase in state and federal grants to most students and their families. Contrary to the widespread perception that tuition is soaring out of control, a USA TODAY analysis found that today's students have enjoyed the greatest improvement in college affordability since the GI bill provided benefits for returning World War II veterans.
What made the difference: a $22 billion annual increase in grants and tax breaks since 1998. The 80% jump in financial aid -- targeting middle-class families earning $40,000 to $100,000 a year -- has more than offset dramatic increases in tuition prices. USA Today analyzed what students paid for tuition and fees after grants, discounts, tax credits and deductions. All numbers were adjusted for inflation. Other studies focus on the listed price of tuition. But listed college tuition is like the sticker price on a new car: Few people actually pay it. Findings:
Source: USA Today |
| Life-Net News Extras |
| Failures of Canadian Capitalism |
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For the vast majority of working-class Canadians, the defining reality of our time is the assault by corporations and governments on jobs and the social safety net. Cities and towns from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island are being devastated by plant closures, de-industrialization, and "structural adjustment." In Hamilton, steelworkers at Stelco are the latest targets in a long list of shutdowns and closures of major manufacturing operations tearing the guts out of their city. Other examples include autoworkers at GM in Quebec, woodworkers across British Columbia, fish plant workers on both coasts. In every case, when capitalist crisis hits an industry, the interests of shareholders are protected, while the rights of workers and our families and communities come dead last.
Unemployment remains a permanent feature of the system, despite rapid advances in technology which could improve working conditions and shorten hours for everyone. Instead, high-tech has become a nightmare device to speed up production, increase the profits generated by workers, and ravage the environment. Pursuing maximum profits, the same capitalists are pushing privatization, contracting out, and other schemes to destroy public assets and social programs. There is a desperate need in Canada for more teachers, more healthcare and childcare workers, more social housing, and yet all these vital areas are starved of funding by governments intent on handing out tax breaks to millionaires. Source: People's Voice (Canada) |
| Faith-Based Grant Questioned |
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The Bush administration awarded nearly $1 million in federal funding to the charitable arm of a predominantly black Philadelphia church where the President scheduled a visit to talk about fighting AIDS. The Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II, pastor of the Greater Exodus Baptist Church and its sister charity, People For People Inc., hopes that Bush's work to help inner-city religious groups get federal funding will win over black voters.
People For People won a five-year federal grant of $999,952 from the US Administration for Children and Families in 2002. The money was earmarked for 509 individual development accounts. A Washington group, however, questioned whether the funding was tied to Lusk's support. "This is a clear and sad example of how partisan endorsements lead to substantial financial gain," said the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. But Jim Towey of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives rejected the suggestion that political connections were involved. "These decisions are made on the merits. And when you see a group like People For People get a grant, you do get a sense that this money is going to make a difference for the lives in need, because they have a track record of doing just that." Source: Associated Press |
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