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Below from Socialist Banner
Time To
Demilitarize US Policy in Africa
From an article on American foreign policy in Africa by Bruce Dixon in Black
Agenda Report -"the
journal of African-American political thought and action " . It makes
some pertinent points but unfortunately ends up with an appeal for an
"ethical" American policy - as if capitalism can ever be morally good...More
Poor Health in
Sierra
Leone
The
BBC has been carrying a series of reports from a medical clinic in
Sierra Leone and it makes dire reading . Needless to say , poverty as
both a cause of illness and a problem in providing health -care is
highlighted but no more so than in its latest
instalment .
"The
biggest emergency ...has been a possible case of pre-eclampsia - a
condition where the pregnant woman has high blood pressure and swells
up. It may kill both the baby and the mother. We knew she might have
pre-eclampsia and that she needed to go to the hospital as quickly as
possible. We called her relatives and told them that they must take her
to the hospital - fast. First they pleaded with us, saying, "Please let
her stay. She will make it... she can deliver here." They
were worried about possible medical fees at the hospital..."
...More
Still in Chains
From the March 2008 issue of the
Socialist Standard
"They
never freed us. They only took the chain from around our neck and put
it on our ankles." Anti-aparthied activist Rassool
Snyman to Naomi Klein.
The
fight against the system of racial segregation and white supremacy
called apartheid ("apartness" in Afrikaans) was one of the great
liberal and left-wing causes of my generation. It was a fight not only
for political democracy in South Africa but also for socio-economic
reform.The Freedom Charter, adopted by the African National Congress in
1955 ( http://www.anc.org.za/),
called for "restoring national wealth to the people"
(understood as nationalization of the mines, banks and "monopoly
industry"), "re-dividing the land among those who work it to
banish famine and land hunger," improved pay and working
conditions, free healthcare, universal literacy, and decent housing for
all .....More
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All below from Socialist -Courier
SITUATIONS
VACANT
"Ireland,
a country that used to export its Catholic clergy around the world, is
running out of priests at such a rate that their numbers will have
dropped by two thirds in the next 20 years, leaving parishes up and
down the land vacant. ...One hundred and sixty priests died last year
but only nine were ordained. Figures for nuns were even more dramatic,
with the deaths of 228 nuns and only two taking final vows for service
in religious life." ( Times, 27 February) RD
WHEN
RELIGION RULES
"Prosecutors
in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested
on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca. The
men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and
dancing in order to attract the attention of girls, the Saudi Gazette
reported. They were arrested following a request of the Commission for
the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The Mutaween enforce
Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism. Earlier in the
month, the authorities enforced a ban on the sale of red roses and
other symbols used in many countries to mark Valentine's Day. The ban
is partly because of the connection with a "pagan Christian holiday",
and also because the festival itself is seen as encouraging relations
between the sexes outside marriage, punishable by law in the kingdom." ( BBC
News, 23 February) RD
SCIENCE
AND THE VATICAN
Professor
Stephen Hawkings: "At a conference on cosmology at the Vatican, the
Pope told the delegates that it was OK to study the universe after it
began; however, they should not enquire into the beginning itself,
because that was the moment of creation and the work of God. I was glad
he didn't realise I had already presented a paper at the conference
investigating precisely that issue: I didn't fancy the thought of being
handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo." (Daily Telegraph,
26 February) RD
DID THE
EARTH MOVE FOR
YOU?
"An
Israeli lawmaker said Wednesday that several earthquakes felt in Israel
recently were a consequence of gays and the parliament's acceptance of
them. Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the
way to stop the tremors was for parliament to reverse its trend of
liberalizing laws concerning homosexuals. Two quakes originating in
neighbouring Lebanon shook much of Israel last week, the first coming
two days after Israel's attorney general ruled that same-sex couples
could adopt children. ..."Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons
is the things to which the Knesset (parliament) gives legitimacy, to
sodomy," Benizri said during a parliamentary debate on earthquake
preparedness. A cost-effective way of averting earthquake damage, he
added, would be to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage
homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about
earthquakes." ( Time, 21 February) RD
posted by egoutture @ 2:08 AM
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