Archive for February 24th, 2013

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24/02/2013

Did Horsemeat Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth?

Human Wrongs Watch

By Lasse Bruun*, Greenpeace – Over the past couple of weeks the ‘horsemeat scandal’ has topped news headlines, revolted consumers and forced retailers and producers to come clean and revise their supply chains.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/did-horsemeat-leave-a-bad-taste-in-your-mouth/blog/44004/

This is firstly a story of mislabelling, but mostly another insight into the untrustworthy and opaque food industry that is trying to cater to an ever growing appetite for cheap and abundant meat.

The scandal has once again put the spotlight on a broken food system  geared to feed luxury food (meat) to already overfed people in the global North, while disregarding the environmental, biodiversity and socioeconomic problems associated with the livestock industry, let alone the dietary needs of the global South.

Today, the global North – countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and Europe – are eating far too much meat and the so-called BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are rapidly catching up, fuelled by the aspirational status eating meat projects.

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Posted in Market Lords, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

24/02/2013

Crisis in Former French Colony Disrupts Schooling of 700,000 Children

Human Wrongs Watch

The education of some 700,000 children in Mali has been disrupted due to the violence in the country, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said*, adding that there is an urgent need to rebuild schools, train teachers and provide learning supplies.

A student writes on a chalkboard at a school in Bamako, Mali. Photo: UNICEF/MLIA2012-00888/Tanya Bindra

A student writes on a chalkboard at a school in Bamako, Mali. Photo: UNICEF/MLIA2012-00888/Tanya Bindra

Northern Mali has been occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels.

The conflict uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the military advance of extremist groups.

Since the violence began over a year ago, at least 115 schools in the north were closed, destroyed, looted and sometimes contaminated with unexploded ordnance. Of the 700,000 children affected, 200,000 still have no access to school, UNICEF said in a news release.

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Posted in Africa, Market Lords, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | 1 Comment »

24/02/2013

Kurdish Women in Syria Create First Female Battalion

Human Wrongs Watch

Russia Today*, 23 February 2013 – For the first time in Syria, 150 Kurdish women have set up a female-only battalion in the northern province of Aleppo, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting since the start of the Syrian uprising in early 2011.

Source: UN

Source: UN

The news comes from a statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday [23 February].

While women have been known to fight alongside men in both pro and anti-regime forces – as well as the Kurdish militia, it is the first time they have formed their own fighting unit. An amateur photograph has been circulating on the internet, showing rows of women in military fatigues during training.

The announcement comes a month after the government set up paramilitary units called the National Defense Forces, which have actively been seeking to recruit women of all ages.

This is testimony to the steady increase of women’s numbers in armed units.

They are also becoming very useful in assisting male fighters, as they arouse less suspicion when transporting supplies and weapons.

“Women are fighting on all the fronts now, though it’s possible the Islamist rebel ranks have the fewest women taking part in them,” says Abdel Rahman of the Observatory.

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Posted in Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

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