bawbags

CJ urged to arrange lawyer for family of slain woman

2011-10-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

The civil society organisations on Monday renewed the resolve to help Uzma Ayub, a rape victim in Karak district, and appealed to the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to arrange lawyer for the family of married woman Saba Pervez, who was slain in Peshawar last month.

The resolve was made at a meeting attended by the representatives of the Woment Action Forum, Blue Veins, Shirkat Gah, Noor Education Trust, SPARC, Khwendo Kor, CRSD, Society for Rights and Development and Aurat Foundation.

The participants discussed the cases of Uzma Ayub of Karak and murder of Saba Pervez of Peshawar. A teenager, Uzma Ayub rape story appeared in different newspapers on October 4. The teenage girl was allegedly kidnapped a year ago, held captive and repeatedly raped by several persons, including policemen.

The CSOs representatives expressed sympathy with the victim family and vowed to support the victim girl legally, morally and ethically. The meeting discussed the facts of the case that had surfaced thus far. It was noted that the victim had recorded her statement under Section 164 of the CPC in FIR No 363 and noted that the government had constituted a three-member inquiry committee to probe the facts.

The CSOs representatives discussed the case of Saba Pervez, a married woman who was murdered last month and whose parents were running from pillar to post to find an advocate to plead their case in a court of law against the accused, who himself was a lawyer.

The participants said the father of the slain woman had deplored that no lawyer was ready to plead the case. He engaged a lawyer from Kohat but he too did not appear on second hearing. The father of the slain woman then contacted the local chapter of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which did not respond to the repeated written requests for legal help.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan gave time to the family to find a counsel for the next hearing to be held on 14th of the bail petition of the accused but the family had found no lawyer to plead the case. We have been trying to hire the services of a competent lawyer but some of the lawyers we have tried have refused to accept the case as the accused is from their legal fraternity, the family alleged as was reported in a section of the press.

The participants of the meting said the parents of the woman had no trust in the public prosecutor after they saw lawyers allegedly supporting the accused when he appeared in court for the previous hearings.

Apart from appealing the chief justice of Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to arrange a lawyer for Saba Pervez s family, the CSOs representatives demanded the bar associations to go through the matter and stop supporting the alleged murderers.

Source http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=71915&Cat=7&dt=10/11/2011

Need urged to raise awareness regarding gender equity

2011-07-26T00:02:00.001-07:00

Individualland Pakistan, with the partnership of Aurat Foundation, under USAID supported Gender Equity Program (GEP) is holding the first of its series of workshops in Islamabad from July 25 to July 27, 2011, on sensitisation of media on gender equity, in nine districts of Pakistan. On Monday, the first day of session was held, which was dedicated to the print media. The objectives of the initiative are to sensitise the electronic and print media, regarding the issue of women empowerment and use it as a medium for advocacy.

Ms. Gulmina Bilal Ahmad and Mr. Tauseeq Haider moderated the event, while gender expert Ms. Rehana Shaikh acted as resource persons on behalf of Individualland Pakistan. Senior journalists from print media participated in the event. The discussions focused on the sensitivity of communicating women related issues through media and selection of appropriate messages. Renowned journalist Mr. Umar Cheema was the chief guest on the occasion and distributed certificates among the participants, at the conclusion of the session.

Individualland Pakistan (IL-Pakistan) is an active non-partisan, not for profit registered civil society group. Since its inception, IL has worked on pertinent issues in respect to governance, rule of law, media communication skills, strengthening civil society and democratic development.

Gender inequality is one of the most pressing issues in Pakistan. Social taboos, religious and cultural elements are among the leading factors that result in a society that does not believe in Gender Equity. Individualland Pakistan, with the support of Aurat Foundation and USAID endeavours to take steps in this direction that will help create awareness among the society on this sensitive issue through the media personnel related with TV/Radio, Print and Online media. IL has also conducted a base line survey to find trends and perceptions of various media projections among the communities. The project will also contribute to lobbying and advocacy of this important issue by using media platforms, particularly to influence the policy formulation process.

The U.S. government, through United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with Aurat Foundation launched a five year Gender Equity Program in Pakistan in 2010, to advance women’s human rights and support Pakistani government’s policies against gender inequities. Individualland Pakistan, under GEP will conduct 23 sensitisation sessions in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Hyderabad and Multan.

Source http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=105303

Why India needs to keep talking to Pakistan

2011-06-22T23:06:00.001-07:00

In Groundhog Day, a Hollywood blockbuster released in 1993, a weatherman finds himself getting up to the same day over and over again. He discovers that he is condemned to going over the same routine till eternity.

Comparisons with the movie and the talks that are being held today in Islamabad between Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir, the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan respectively, may seem odious. After all the Mohali spirit, that saw the Prime Ministers of the two countries have a cordial meeting on the sidelines of the World Cup cricket match in March, did bring the promise of a new beginning.

Those who have travelled on the roller-coaster ride that describes the relationship between the two countries may regard it as déjà vu. “There is a ‘have seen it, been there, done that’ feeling. An incident here or there and we could be back to square one again,” Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, director general, Pakistan’s Institute of Strategic Studies, told me when I met him in Islamabad in April.

Qazi should know. He was Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India during the outbreak of the Kargil war, the attack on India’s Parliament and the tensions that followed. “We could either condemn ourselves to the past or India and Pakistan can be the story of the century as part of the developing or transforming world. So in our talks we need to be hardnosed but imaginative and methodically work towards desired outcomes,” is his advice.

So what are the possibilities of these talks proving fruitful? I know it’s safe to be cynical. There is little concrete that has been achieved in the talks between the secretaries of defence, commerce and water resources of the two countries that preceded the one being held today.

The elimination of Al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden in a daring raid of his hideout in May at Abbotabad by US Special Forces saw Pakistan’s Big Lie being exposed. No more could the Pakistan government maintain that the state was unaware or not involved in fostering dangerous networks including the group that conducted the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Yet in my recent travels across Pakistan the one thing that I noticed was that much of civil society and even the Establishment was no more in a state of denial. It was not because of what India or the world was saying. But the series of deadly terror attacks in recent years had convinced many in Pakistan that state itself was in grave danger of being overwhelmed by the very militants that they had fostered or backed. The feeling of insecurity and unease was palpable. I felt that Pakistanis were desperately looking for a way out of the quagmire.

I sensed that burning need when I visited the University of the Punjab and interacted with the faculty and students. Started in Lahore in 1882 (just a year after The Tribune was established in the same city) it is now among the oldest in the sub-continent and boasts of 70 departments, a 700-strong faculty and 586 colleges affiliated to it. It now has over 30,000 students and in a sign of the changing times the ratio between male and students is now almost equal - 52:48.

Yet as even as the University does the country proud, Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran, its Vice-Chancellor, points out there are barely 2 million Pakistanis pursuing higher education or just two per cent of the population of 200 million. “If Pakistan has to develop like India or China then the only way is to have a vast educated workforce that can drive the economy,” he says. Most academics and students are keen to visit India and even study in our Universities but as Kamran says, “We are just not able to get visas even for seminars what to talk of pursuing education in India.”

Exchange of academics and students is something that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should tell India’s foreign secretary to push for when Rao meets her counterpart later today. Manmohan Singh, who was born in a village that is now in Pakistan, has consistently batted for good relations with Islamabad despite grave misgivings within his own party and in the Opposition.

I will stick my neck out and roundly endorse the Indian Prime Minister’s decision to resume the structured dialogue between the two countries, which had broken off formal talks after the Mumbai attacks. Despite the apparent lack of atmospherics, it is important that we engage Pakistan in talks. Even just talking to Pakistan gives us a first hand account of the internal churning that the country is experiencing and helps India calibrate its initiative.

There is a discernible strand among civil society in Pakistan especially the younger generation that wants their country to break free from the vicious cycle of violence, anger and despair. I sensed that when I visited Atchison College and was taken on a tour of its campus by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, its suave and erudite principal. Among the oldest schools in the region it has maintained its character over the years and grooms its students for leadership roles in the country.

When I spoke to a gathering of senior school students one of them, Humza Yusuf, asked me, “How was India able to achieve such a fantastic economic growth and how can Pakistan do the same?” It was an excellent question, one that many in Pakistan asked me when I was there. India’s economic growth is looked upon by them with much admiration and envy.

I told him that I believed that Pakistan was somewhat in the same position as India was 20 years ago. India’s economy was in a shambles, there was internal strife and lack of national unity on almost everything. The then government had no other option but to go in for a radical economic reform process that essentially ended the Licence Raj and freed Indian entrepreneurship and investment.

A constellation of circumstances has now put Pakistan in a similar predicament. The choice was for it to make. India could help by engaging it in a dialogue. “We do need to take a leaf out of India’s book and that of China’s too if Pakistan wants to achieve transformational economic growth. We would like to be part of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) grouping as among the fastest growing economies in the world,” says Qazi. Then with his characteristic humour he added, “If we did that we may have to start the acronym with P!”

Pakistan is beginning to realise that for that kind of economic growth it needs to seek a stable and self-respecting relationship with India. It is in India’s vital interest to help Pakistan do so.

Source http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110623/main3.htm

HEC – Victim of Democratic Dissolution?

2011-04-06T21:13:00.001-07:00

Ever since the Implementation Commission of the 18th Amendment to the constitution announced that several federal ministries including the education ministry were to be devolved to the provinces, certain ambiguities started surfacing in the minds of the educationists and officials.

One of the victims of this democratic move is an organization which not only created several hundred Ph.Ds for Pakistan but also earned international repute and esteem for the country. The decision of the government to dissolve the Higher Education Commission (HEC) thus generated perplexity and uncertainty not only among intellectuals but also in the civil and social society of the country.

On Tuesday, a few hundred students and teachers of the major universities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi including QAU, IIUI, NUML, AIOU, and NUST gathered in front of the HEC building to raise their voice against the devolution of HEC. “Higher education is vital to the future development of Pakistan and every effort must be made to ensure support to this sector” they believed. The protesters chanting the slogans *‘Save HEC, Save Education, Save the nation’* and ‘Stop disintegration of HEC’, recalled the words of renowned scientist Dr A.Q.

Khan who has also vigorously opposed the move and called it “a sure recipe for disaster” aimed at (in his words) ‘destruction of the country’s highest forum (the Higher Education Commission) that guaranteed for quality of education’.

Meanwhile, *a report also claimed that due to the Government decision of dissolve the (the Higher Education Commission), the United States has instantly put on hold 250 million dollar aid meant for foreign scholarships and research for Pakistani students.*

Dr. Atatur Rehman, the commission’s founding chairman who held the position from 2002 till late 2008 has termed the dissolution of HEC as *“a national disaster of horrendous magnitude that will push Pakistan back by 40-50

years.”* In an apparently unsuccessful bid Dr. Rehman, has written several letters to the government pleading not to devolve this Federally-run esteemed Commission. *“A multiplicity of standards and regulations would be

disastrous* and that is why the world over, including in India,* higher education planning and funding is done centrally, even though universities are located in the provinces*, he argued but failed to convince the democrats.

Although, there has been criticism on Prof. Rahman, for spending billions of rupees without any visible impact on quality and performance of universities but “those who have closely watched the development and have been involved in the programmes in the past eight years can testify to the contrary as t*he progress made (by HEC) was breath-taking and has put Pakistan ahead of comparable countries in numerous aspects”* stated Dr. Michael Rode, Chairman/European Coordinator of Network of European and Asian Universities (ASEA-UNINET).

*It remains an undeniable fact the while Pakistani universities managed to produce nearly the same number of PhDs in the last 8 years (3280) in 55 years, HEC produced a record of 3000 Ph.Ds during a short span of time. *Since the inception of HEC, research output has also grown six-folds since 2002 (from 815 in 2002 to 5068 in 2010).

Other accomplishments of the HEC include the establishment of a free access to scientific literature by high-speed Internet for all universities, thousands of promising young scientists who were granted PhD studies at top universities abroad, the upgrade of research equipment accessible across the country and the programme of establishing new universities of science and technology, including technology parks attracting foreign investors, prove the efficiency and the long-term benefits for the country.

An eminent international educational expert, Professor Wolfgang Voelter of Tubingen University, paid tributes to the HEC in an article “The Golden Period” in these words. *“The scenario of education, science and technology in Pakistan changed dramatically as never before in the history of Pakistan.”*

According to Athar Minallah, a lawyer “the amendment made it a constitutional requirement for the government to devolve all those subjects to the provinces that the 1973 Constitution originally listed as Concurrent (that is in the shared administrative control of the federal and the provincial governments).” However, there is also a difference of opinion among educationists and legal experts with some of them claiming that the 18th Amendment provides legal cover to functions of the HEC.

Apart from all the wise arguments, the fact remains that the legislative, administrative, and financial relocation of the ministries from the federal to provincial level appear an uphill task for the people’s government mainly when the citizens of the democratic country are ardent to use their right of freedom of expression to protest against government’s move to dissolve HEC.

Source http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/2011/04/06/hec-victim-of-democratic-dissolution/

More int'l orgs rally around Prof Yunus

2011-03-29T00:34:00.001-07:00

Supports continue being channeled to Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus from around the world after a number of Italian and European parliamentarians, civil society, and microfinance institutions from Pakistan, Peru, and the Philippines urged the government to find a solution to the current crisis.

In a statement, Mario Baccini, president of Italian Committee for Microcredit; Sam Daley-Harris, director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign; Mario Baccini MP; Prof Luisa Brunori of Bologna University; and European Member of Parliament Sylvia Costa; said, “Prof Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have made an important contribution to social development in Bangladesh through microfinance.”

“Prof Yunus and Grameen Bank are leading actors in the fight against poverty. This is why we express deep solidarity with Prof Yunus with the wish that there can be a solution to the situation.”

Their calls came at a workshop on microfinance in Rome, organised by Italian Committee for Microcredit in partnership with Bologna University.

Global Center for Development and Democracy (CGDD), headed by Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru, expressed full support for Prof Yunus and Grameen Bank.

In an open letter by its executive director, Ana María, it said, “On behalf of CGDD, and particularly, on president Alejandro Toledo's, we wish to express our support in these moments which we believe are not easy for you, your organisation and all the women members of your world-class institution that serves millions of poor people.”

“Our organisation, which cares about international development, has been following very closely the happenings, and is very much concerned about the progress which could be lost if the country's leaders fail to appreciate what makes the Grameen Bank work.”

The Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions Leadership or CARD MRI of the Philippines, which has more than 15 lakh members and clients, said, “We have witnessed your strong commitment for poverty eradication.”

“We have witnessed how you have inspired many individuals of various professions, different institutions, donor agencies, cooperatives, all sorts of banks including commercial and international, to adopt and implement microfinance as an effective and strong tool for poverty eradication worldwide.”

CARD MRI is a member of the Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association, Thailand, Microfinance Council of the Philippines, and the Women's World Banking, the USA.

Pakistan-based Kashf Foundation said Dr Yunus and Grameen Bank are today global icons and torchbearers for the mission to eradicate poverty and to provide sustainable choices to poor households across the world. The work of Grameen has been replicated across 100 countries and has benefited over 17 crore poor women globally.

“As South Asians, we are all extremely proud that Dr Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, a veritable honour that highlights the pioneering role that Bangladesh has played in the field of poverty alleviation.”

“We are opposed to the current campaign to maliciously malign the reputation of Dr Yunus and the government's attempts to remove him from office.”

The foundation urged the government of Bangladesh to retract from its position and allow Dr Yunus and the Grameen Bank to continue their work in the field of dignity building.

It said, “We have always viewed the Bangladeshi government as a supporter of microfinance programmes and it is through the active support of the government that Grameen and other MFI programmes have burgeoned across the country.”

“The current stance of the government is therefore extremely surprising and equally unacceptable.”

Kashf Foundation, the first specialised microfinance institution in Pakistan, said they have seen the positive impact that Grameen has had on the lives of poor people. As a result of Grameen's successes, similar programmes have been established in Pakistan, including the organisations Kashf Foundation and Kashf Microfinance Bank.

The foundation urged the Bangladeshi government to resolve the issue so that the work of Grameen, Dr Yunus and that of millions of women across Bangladesh continues growing stronger.

The supports for Yunus came after Bangladesh Bank terminated him from the office of managing director of Grameen Bank, causing outrage home and abroad, and prompting calls from countries such as the USA to reach a compromise.

Source http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=179599

10 Things To Expect From Rino Gattuso During Tottenham-Milan

2011-03-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

10) Before kick-off, Rino Gattuso mocks ex-Milan striker Joe Jordan’s goalscoring record at San Siro: “Jordan has the same amount of Serie A goals as lost front teeth! Even I have 400 per cent more goals (and teeth) than that!”

9) Jordan proudly points out that he scored in three consecutive World Cups. 2006 champion Gattuso responds that the first in 1974 was against a Zaire team that didn’t know the free kick rule, and the second in a 3-1 hammering to a Peru squad that threw games.

8) Gattuso invites Joe Jordan to his fish shop and brings five live sharks to swim there. Jordan tells Pippo Inzaghi, “this is not a swimming pool”, as the prolific poacher dives into the water tank.

7) Gattuso defies club orders to travel to White Hart Lane and watch the game in the stadium. Rino ends up moving more in the West Stand than midfield replacement Clarence Seedorf does on the pitch.

6) Gattuso actually receives less abuse from the home crowd than Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie. “Van-Per-Sie...when the referee blows ignore him” they chant to the sound of Craig David’s Re-Rewind.

5) Gattuso claims at half time that he is more Scottish than Jordan. “I played a season with Rangers. Sharkie spent his whole career outside Scotland. Except for eight games with Goal.com Chief Editor Ewan Macdonald’s hometown team - Greenock Morton. Who are bloody Greenock? A cold, grey and wet village full of unemployed teenage bawbags who drink buckfast!”

4) The English media again remarks that ageing 33-year-old Gattuso “wouldn’t last five minutes” in a fight with a youthful 60-year-old Jordan. The Daily Mail and The Sun add that the 32-year-old Manny Pacquiao wouldn’t make it through Round 1 against 76-year-old Henry Cooper.

3) With Milan losing 2-0 with five minutes to go, Gattuso reproduces his starring role from the Teen Wolf movie by transforming into a werewolf, racing onto the pitch, and scoring a late hat-trick to take the Rossoneri through.

2) Silvio Berlusconi immediately hands Gattuso a new contract as a reward. Not because he scored a decisive hat-trick, but for being a teenager.

1) Gattuso gets the girl too, and goes home with pneumatic glamour model Katie Price (left) after misconstruing advice to 'stick one on Jordan'.

Source http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2292/editorials/2011/03/09/2386302/10-things-to-expect-from-rino-gattuso-during-tottenham-milan

Civil Society in 1989 and 2011

2011-02-08T22:34:00.000-08:00

At the Munich Security Conference, David Cameron announced the end of multi-culturalism and the need to confront those who oppose British values – democracy, integration and equality of the sexes. Yet the crowds in Tahrir Square are proving that these values are not the preserve of the British, far from it. Like the crowds in Prague or Berlin in 1989, they are showing that they can be the agents of history. Muslims and Christians are standing together. The Muslim brotherhood has said that it will not put up a candidate for president. Women in veils and women with their hair streaming behind them are equal participants with men in this game-changing moment. They have confronted Mubarak’s thugs with huge dignity and restraint. It was civil society not western military strength that brought down communism, said the Hungarian writer Gyorgy Konrad. The same is true in the Middle East; whatever happens in the next few days and weeks an active civil society has begun a movement for democracy across the region.

The Egyptians and the Tunisians before them are showing great ingenuity in confronting Mubarak’s dire warnings of chaos. People’s committees have sprung up across both countries to provide security in the wake of retreating police. A myriad other projects are afoot from those cooking for the demonstrators and providing them with first aid to those drafting a new constitution. The sight of Egyptians forming an orderly queue to be searched for weapons before entering the square to protest is a paradox unthinkable just a week ago. The revolutions have unleashed the people’s creativity and optimism: “Leave already” a placard proclaimed “my arm is beginning to hurt”.

What we are seeing in Tunisia and Egypt and across the Middle East is the power of civil society. The people in the streets are proving that western orientalist attitudes, the arguments of western governments about Arab exceptionalism, are simply wrong. Many western liberals suggest that civil society is a western phenomenon. The late Ernest Gellner, a scholar whose work I greatly admire, argued for example that civil society is one route to modernity – something that north western Europe stumbled on by lucky accident. Nationalism, socialism and Islam are civil society’s rivals – alternative authoritarian routes to modernity. Islam, Gellner said, never had a tradition of protestant individualism. As the Middle East became urbanised, the new middle classes aspired to a rule-bound scripturalist form of Islam, which largely applied to everyday life rather than politics and which was ideally suited to ‘the long march to a disciplined, modern, industrial society.’(page 23)

It was this kind of theory that has informed western attitudes and indeed helped to hold back civil society in the Middle East. Huge amounts of economic and military aid, in addition to oil revenues, have underpinned dictators in the region based on the assumption that this is the only way to ensure stability and, in particular, to prevent Islamic fundamentalism and to protect Israel. Yet the places where we have seen the kind of chaos that the west supposedly fears include Algeria, when the Islamic movement was suppressed and Iraq, after the western military intervention. Without the western backed military suppression of the Islamist election victory in Algeria, there would not have been a bloody civil war and Algeria might well have ended up like Turkey where a democratically elected Islamist party, combined with an active civil society, has succeeded in establishing civilian control of the military. Without the western intervention in Iraq, we might have seen a ‘Day of Departure’ much earlier in Baghdad; as it is, Iraq is likely to end up as one of the least democratic countries in the region. Far from preventing Islamic fundamentalism, it has been nurtured by western-supported regimes like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. As for the argument about protecting Israel, while it is clearly the case that the Egyptian people are much more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than their governments, genuine peace is more not less likely within a democratic environment. Arab dictators have an interest in permanent conflict with Israel to justify huge military build-ups; within the framework of democracy, it would be possible to hold a serious discussion about the human security of both Israelis and Arabs as opposed to the state security of Israel and the Arab countries.

Western governments and most western scholars were totally taken by surprise when the 1989 revolutions took place. This is because they studied the behaviour of states and political leaders rather than society. Those of us who were engaged with opposition groups in Central and Eastern Europe expected something to happen although we did not know how or why. The same is true in Egypt. The youth groups who have coordinated the protests have not sprung from nowhere. They had been involved in campaigns like Kifaya ‘Enough’ or the April 6 facebook group. There have been numerous political initiatives for change – the judges club, the National Association for Change started by Mohamed El Baradei, Workers for Change and Journalists for Change. Just as in Central Europe, television played a role in helping to cultivate a sense of being part of Europe, so Al Jazeera has helped to foster the idea of a Middle Eastern civil society.

Like the intellectuals in Prague, Warsaw, Berlin or Budapest, there has been an intense discussion about civil society. Among Islamic scholars, there has been a serious effort to show that, contrary to Gellner, civil society has its roots in classical Islam. Thus, classical Islamic thought distinguished between the realm of Islam dar al-Islam and the realm of war dar al-harb, which was very similar to the distinction between civil society and war taken up during the western enlightenment. The term ba’ya for example referred to a social contract. Indeed, the Arabic term for civil society, Almujtamaa Almadani, derives both from the word for city and from Medina, the city where Mohammed first established his Islamic society/city state. Just as the East European intellectuals gave new meaning to the term civil society, so the protestors in Egypt are showing that civil society can bring together Islamists and secularists and that no culture has a monopoly on human values.

Despite their failure to predict the 1989 revolutions, those same western governments assumed that that they knew best how to manage the transition to democracy. They imposed a neo-liberal formula of privatisation, budget cuts, and liberalisation. Former communist elites were able to exchange their political positions for material wealth while the majority came to associate democracy with deprivation and inequality – ‘we got banks instead of tanks’ said young Hungarians. Drastic military cuts did not lead to demilitarisation; soldiers sold their services and their weapons across Eastern Europe and Africa, contributing to a wave of privatised violence. Only a few countries, Poland, for example or Slovenia, escaped the fate of renewed authoritarianism, casino capitalism, rising nationalism and Islamism, widespread crime, and a nostalgia for the past.

What is happening in Tunisia and Egypt is the completion of the 1989 revolutions - the Egyptians are reclaiming the values of the Solidarnosc and the Civic Forum from the neo-liberals who usurped them. They call for a total rethinking of western security, foreign and economic policies. Instead of imposing yet another neo-liberal formula, western countries and institutions should consult the people of the Middle East about how they can help to construct a fairer, more sustainable economy. Instead of giving governments money to buy western weapons, they could discuss with civil society how they could help to restructure the armed forces to provide human security, to establish civilian control over the military, and to convert the substantial military industries to peaceful uses.

After 1989, everyone celebrated the idea of civil society. But it was rapidly reduced within the framework of neo-liberal thinking to mean western-supported NGOs who would help to smooth the path of neo-liberal transition. The people in Tahrir Square and elsewhere are giving us back the meaning of civil society – a place where people can talk, discuss and act freely.

Source http://www.opendemocracy.net/mary-kaldor/civil-society-in-1989-and-2011

Peter Ross In tune with the beat

2011-01-19T20:16:00.001-08:00

Another slamon season is ritually ushered in on the Tay where anglers gather for the drug of the tug when a fish takes

• Lee Conway (main) caught the first salmon of the day on the Tay at Kenmore, where the start of the season drew many anglers. Photograph: Robert Perry

THE Perthshire village of Kenmore, early yesterday morning. The drone and keen of bagpipes carries from the historic square across the river to the cloud-shrouded hills. Behind the band, around 100 anglers gather, rods aloft like quivering antennae. This is the opening ceremony of the salmon fishing season on the Tay. Here, as it passes under the old seven arch bridge, the river begins its journey from loch to firth.

Salmon, remarkably, find their way back from the Atlantic to the place in the river where they were born using their sense of smell. What, I wonder, does the Tay smell like at Kenmore today? Damp plaid and tweed, perhaps; tobacco, bacon, whisky and - most of all - hope. Everyone here today hopes to catch a salmon, the first of the season or the best fish, for which latter achievement a trophy is awarded. Mostly, though, people hope there will be plenty of salmon in the water this year. That is what this ceremony is about, at heart - a prayer for abundance. The quaich of whisky poured into the boat from which the ceremonial first cast is made is a sacrifice to the river spirits.

This is a grand event, much loved by regulars, of whom there are many. You might expect the ceremony to attract only the blue-blooded and green-wellied, but in fact there are a great many gallus west-coasters, bringing with them a whiff of the Clyde. Tommy Donnelly, a forty-something railway worker from Glasgow, has teamed a Barbour jacket with a "Baw Bag" T-shirt. He glares heavenward at the teeming rain. "Welcome to Scotland," he says.

Christopher McVey, 31, is a wood machinist from Hamilton, a big, solid man in a camouflage jacket with "Donna" tattooed in elegant curlicues on the ring finger of his left hand. He's excited by the prospect of a good day on the water. "Buzzing," he says. "I love it. The pipe band and all that. That's been seven years I've been coming here. I caught the biggest fish of the day last time. Just down there under the second arch of the bridge. Sixteen and a half pounds. Some feeling."

Kenmore enjoys, if that is the word, something of a rivalry with nearby Dunkeld, which holds a Tay opening event on the same morning. Last year, in fact, Dunkeld is thought to have got a line in the water first, causing some gnashing of teeth in Kenmore. However, the villagers comfort themselves with the knowledge that they have tradition on their side. The opening of the salmon season has been marked here, on the riverbank behind the Kenmore Hotel, since 1947.

At around 9.40am, local ghillie Rob McIntyre is rowed out into the middle of the Tay and makes the ceremonial first cast.

Source http://www.scotsman.com/features/Anglers-brimming-with-hope-line.6692018.jp

Was Bill & Ted 3 Rewritten Into Bio-Dome?

2011-01-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I saw a bunch of people on my twitter stream retweeting a bit of interesting film trivia: That the 1996 Pauly Shore/Stephen Baldwin “comedy” Bio-Dome was originally scripted as Bill & Ted 3. I was surprised as I had never heard this before. A quick google search showed that the information wasn’t new, as it appears on hundreds of websites across the interwebs. The problem is that many of the webpages (which include some credible movie sites in the mix) provide the same minimal piece of info, and don’t expand upon the story. IMDB’s Trivia section (which, yes, is user submitted like wikipedia) has the largest explanation:

A third sequel was planned, but was canned after Keanu Reeves, and later, Alex Winter, declined to reprise their respective roles. The script, which had already been written, was instead modified slightly, re-casted, and recycled into Bio-Dome (1996).

It’s a cool bit of trivia, but does it even make any sense? Bio-dome takes place completely inside a scientifically created closed ecological system, and doesn’t venture from modern (1996) day at all. How could a script involving time travel be re-purposed for a self contained story like this? It smelled a little fishy to me so I decided to ask someone who might know… Alex Winter (the actor who played Bill S. Preston in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, and later went to star and direct in the cult classic Freaked). He’d likely know something about this right? Find out what he said after the jump.

Peter: Did Bio-Dome really begin as Bill and Ted 3? Or is that just an urban legend that has spread throughout the years?

Alex Winter: Total urban legend as far as i know. No one involved in that movie had anything to do with Bill & Ted. So unless they were just going to try and reboot the franchise with that concept and different actors, I can’t see a connection… The only connection between Pauly and Bill & Ted is that MTV originally asked me to host the channel in the Valley character of Bill. I declined and we got the Idiot Box launched there instead. Pauly took that VJ post and did really well with it.

So there you have it: Bill & Ted 3 was not rewritten as Bio-Dome. Best I can tell, the producers might have been inspired by the time traveling stoners and went from there. Urban film legend debunked!

Alex Winter is in preproduction on the horror movie remake The Gate 3D, and previously was writing the screenplay for a remake of Rock n’ Roll High School for producers Howard Stern (yes, the radio shock jock) and Larry Levinson.

Source http://www.slashfilm.com/bill-ted-3-rewritten-biodome/

Leading Youth sailors to test each other on Botany Bay

2011-01-04T23:47:00.000-08:00

Australia’s leading youth sailors will hit the waters of Botany Bay in Sydney later this week to contest the 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championship.

More than 160 crews will take part in Australia’s leading youth sailing regatta with the 2011 event to be held at Georges River 16ft Sailing Club from January 6 to 10.

The 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championship will have an international feel with nine countries represented.

Australian sailors make up the bulk of the entries but they won’t have it all their own way with crews traveling from Japan, Great Britain, Russia, New Caledonia, France, Cook Islands, Singapore and New Zealand to take part in the regatta.

Early registration begins on Wednesday, 5 January, with a practice race and welcome function scheduled for the following day before four days of racing begins on Friday.

The Australian crews will be competing for a position on the Australian Youth Sailing Team to take part in the 2011 ISAF World Youth Sailing Championship that will be held in Croatia in June.

Australia has a strong history at the ISAF World Youth Sailing Championship and this continued in 2010 with the open multihull crew of Chase Lurati and Paul Darmanin winning Gold in Turkey.

Racing at the 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championship will take place in six classes including boys and girls Laser Radials, Laser 4.7, and windsurfers aboard the Techno 293.

There will also be racing for boys in the Laser Standard, open in the Multihull, aboard the Hobie 16, and boys, girls and open in the 420 and 29er classes.

Those who aren’t able to attend the regatta in person will be able to follow the action at home with live tracking and a live event blog available throughout the four days of racing.

The live tracking will be available through the event website, www.youthchamps.org.au, and is the same system that was successfully used in the recent 2010 Sail Down Under Series which finished with Sail Melbourne just before Christmas.

The live event blog will allow those at home, and with internet access at the club, to stay up to date with all the action from the water.

The 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championship is also a part of the new Youth Sailing Grand Prix that began last week with a number of class Australian Championships.

The Youth Sailing Grand Prix has been designed to unearth and reward Australia’s leading youth sailors across 2011 with cash prizes available for the first time in a Yachting Australia organized youth series.

For more information on the 2011 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championship visit www.youthchamps.org.au.

Source http://www.mysailing.com.au/news/leading-youth-sailors-to-test-each-other-on-botany-bay

Playing Santa for the New Orleans Saints

2010-12-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year again when Santa BAW digs deep into his bag of presents and spreads Yuletide cheer throughout Who Dat Nation. This ol’ graybeard truly knows who’s been bad or good in 2010, at least when it comes to the Black and Gold.

So without further adieu, climb up on Santa BAW’s bony lap …

To owners Tom Benson/Rita Benson LeBlanc … the wisdom and understanding to assist your peers in striking a fair and equitable deal with the NFL Players Association to avoid a work stoppage in 2011.

To GM Mickey Loomis … A long, successful run in the upcoming postseason. There’s only one thing better than one Lombardi Trophy, and that’s two. 2DAT, baby!

To Coach Sean Payton … A flood of holiday orders for your book, “Home Team,’’ so you can at least make your sales race with Drew Brees look respectable. Ol’ Santa BAW understands No. 9 is winning the book bet in a walk.

To Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams … the right opportunity to become a head coach again. And if that doesn’t work out this offseason, c’mon back and spin your magic for another year in the Big Easy.

To QB Drew Brees … A new blockbuster contract during the offseason in line with your QB brethren Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Eli Manning. But beyond the money, continue to be the gift that keeps on giving for our city and our region.

To RB Chris Ivory … a healthy right hamstring in time for the postseason.

To LT Jermon Bushrod … a new long-term deal comparable to the one reached by Tampa Bay LT Donald Penn (6 years, $48 million, including $20 million guaranteed).

To FS Darren Sharper … when the time is right, the courage to step away from the game without regret and take the next step on your journey through life (ESPN, NFL Network?).

To Saints equipment men Dan Simmons and Glennon “Silky’’ Powell … another year together in the trenches.

To LB Scott Shanle … a year’s supply of shaving cream and 5-track razors to keep your shiny top smooth and silky sheen.

To FB Heath Evans … a buyer with deep pockets for your spacious home in old Metairie.

To RB Pierre Thomas … Never again a high-ankle sprain, or a low-ankle sprain or a torn ligament or whatever it was that sidelined you for nine games.

To RT Jon Stinchcomb … A long, healthy reign for Uga VIII, the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the original Uga, the bulldog mascot at your alma mater, University of Georgia.

To the Saints’ GAME-DAY “CHAIN GANG’’ … protective headgear and other pertinent protective gear for the body when standing defenseless on the sideline.

To CB Tracy Porter … May you always have safe passage on the street named after you in your hometown of Porter Allen, er, Port Allen.

To TE Jeremy Shockey … a new, colorful provocative tattoo to add to your collection.

To WR Marques Colston …May you walk to your own drum and never join the NFL wide receiver diva club. It appears Atlanta WR Rowdy Roddy White is trying to get in the act with T.O., Ochocinco and others.

To TE Jimmy Graham … May you win every jumpball inside the white lines.

To DE Will Smith … a victory for your alma mater, Ohio State, over Arkansas in the 2011 Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4 at the Superdome.

To DT Sedrick Ellis … a backstage pass to see your hero, Pee-wee Herman, in his stage show on Broadway that is currently playing a limited engagement.

To the 9 members on Injured Reserve -- S Chris Reis, CB Randall Gay, RB Ladell Betts, LB Stanley Arnoux, Jonathan Casillas, LS Jason Kyle, RB P.J. Hill, RB Lynell Hamilton, and FB Marcus Mailei ... A healthy return to the football field in 2011.

To SS Roman Harper … a year’s supply of “Just For Men’’ and a tank of gas.

To MLB Jonathan Vilma … a contract extension with WVUE-TV.

To K Garrett Hartley … no more “Captain Hook’’ cracks from this correspondent.

To RG Jahri Evans … the new CD out for the holidays entitled “Hold That Line’’ sung by the NFL Officials Choir.

To LS Justin Drescher, QB Chase Daniel and PK Garrett Hartley … the football field named after y’all at your alma mater, Southlake Carroll (Texas) High School. GEAUX DRAGONS!

FS Malcolm Jenkins … A bigger cubicle at Saints camp to hold all your weekly NFL awards. Hint: One might be opening up nearby after the season if No. 42 hangs it up.

To P Thomas Morstead … Another successful “Ambush.’’

To RB Reggie Bush … Santa BAW must be getting soft in his old age, so instead of putting a piece of coal in your stocking this Christmas, I'm going to offer a few words of friendly advice for your growing legion of critics -- DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE OTHERS DO UNTO YOU.

And to Who Dat Nation … Keep believin’ in the Black and Gold.

So from SANTA BAW and everyone at NewOrleans.com ... Yo-Yo-Yo, Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Source http://www.neworleans.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=550999&Itemid=578

2010 Census Results a Disaster for Obama Re-election

2010-12-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

John McCain won 173 electoral votes in the 2008 presidential election, but needed 270 to win. However, based on the 2010 Census numbers released today, the states that McCain won have experienced a substantial net increase in population, while the states won by Obama experienced a net loss of population.

These population changes result in a net six (6) additional Electoral Votes in the "McCain states." In other words, states that went for McCain now hold 179 Electoral Votes: 270 votes are still required to win.

But much has changed in two years since Obama's election.

In elections prior to 2008, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida and Ohio were widely considered to be strong "Red States," dependably Republican states.

Obama won in states that now clearly and strongly oppose his re-election. On virtually the most popular day of Obama's life in November 2008, the President only won North Carolina (which has 15 Electoral Votes) by 1%. In Indiana, with 11 Electoral Votes, Obama just won by 1%. In Ohio, now with 18 Electoral Votes, Obama won by only 4%; and Obama won Florida's 29 EVs by just 3%.

Obama's numbers have collapsed in these four crucial Red States, with the GOP making huge gains in all of them in 2010. Polls say that McCain would clearly win these four states today.

In three of these states Republicans now hold total control: Ohio, Indiana and Florida. These three have Republican governors as well as majorities in both the House and Senate. In North Carolina, the GOP controls both the House and Senate, though the governor there is a Democrat (who was elected in 2008, before Obama's numbers collapsed).

What does this mean in terms of the Presidential Election?

The 2012 Republican nominee starts with a base of the 179 "McCain state" Electoral Votes (post-reapportionment), plus an almost certain additional 73 votes from North Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Indiana.

That means the Republican nominee starts with a base of 252 Electoral Votes in 2012, 18 short of the 270 needed to win.

VIRGINIA, with 13 Electoral Votes, becomes the first key battleground, and today it would clearly go Republican. Republicans took back this state in 2009 with the election of a new Governor. Obama however carried the state by just 6%. Winning Virginia means the GOP would have 265 Electoral Votes, five short.

If the GOP wins Virginia, it only needs one more state to win the required 270+ Electoral votes. The easiest state-by-state path to success would be through Nevada (6 EV), Iowa (6 EV), Colorado (9 EV), Wisconsin (10 EV), or Minnesota (10 EV).

Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa all have all changed since Obama's election, and today the GOP holds dominant control in all three: Republican Governors as well as GOP majorities in both the House and the Senate. Nevada now has a GOP governor, and the GOP holds the House in Colorado.

The 2010 reapportionment essentially gives Republicans an additional crucial mid-sized state of six Electoral Votes toward the goal of 270. The GOP now needs to switch only one traditionally Blue State to Red in order to win. Reapportionment could be the defining moment of the yet-to-be-held 2012 Presidential Election.

Mark Rountree is President of Landmark Communications, Inc., a political consulting firm based in metro Atlanta. Landmark is a full-service political consulting and communications firm based in metro Atlanta, Georgia. With a staff of eight, 20 years in continual operation, and professional engagement in more than 800 different elections, Landmark is Georgia's most experienced and successful political consulting firm.

Source http://www.talkgwinnett.net/main/section/6-guests/2057-2010-census-results-a-disaster-for-obama-re-election