'Unseen' News and Views
16 May 2017- Wall Street International – Herodotus wrote that Egyptians of about 1000 BCE were the healthiest of all civilized people. Both the Hebrews and Greeks benefited from Egyptian science.
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By Robert J. Burrowes*
DAYLESFORD, Australia, 15 May, 2017 – One inevitable outcome of the phenomenal violence we all suffer as children is that most of us live in a state of delusion throughout our lives.
Robert J. Burrowes
This makes it extraordinarily difficult for accurate information, including vital information about the endangered state of our world and how to respond appropriately, to penetrate the typical human mind.
‘Phenomenal violence?’ you might ask. ‘All of us?’ you wonder. Yes, although, tragically, most of this violence goes unrecognised because it is not usually identified as such.
For most people, it is a straightforward task to identify the ‘visible’ violence that they have suffered and, perhaps, still suffer.
However, virtually no-one is able to identify the profoundly more damaging impact of the ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’ violence that is inflicted on us mercilessly from the day we are born.
So what is this ‘invisible’ and ‘utterly invisible’ violence?
Photo: UNEP
Despite a 50 percent reduction in malaria infections in sub-Saharan Africa over the last fifteen years, almost half of the world’s population still remains at risk of the deadly disease.
Insecticide-treated nets are responsible for 68 percent of the decline in malaria transmission, but more could be done to help reduce the burden of disease and help reduce the dependency on insecticides – including Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).
16 May 2017 – Deeply concerned by the continued increase in conflict-related child deaths in Afghanistan, the UN Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMA) has urged parties to the conflict to take immediate measures to reduce harm.
Children play in the Sosmaqala Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in northern Afghanistan. The camp is comprised of returned Afghans following many years as refugees in neighbouring Iran. 30/Aug/2009. Sar-e-Pul, Afghanistan. UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein.
– Immediately after the vote on Brexit, thousands of young people marched in the streets of England to show their disagreement over the choice to leave Europe. But polls indicated that had they voted en masse (only 37 percent voted), the result of the referendum would have been the opposite.
Roberto Savio
In the political system, it is now taken for granted that youth will largely abstain, and the agenda tends to ignore them more and more.
This has created a vicious circle, setting up priorities which do not represent them.
Yet, the analysis of the elections after the shattering economic and social crisis of 2008-9 is clear and statistically evident.
The European Parliament conducted research on the European elections of 2014 in the 28 member countries.
While the youngest Europeans (18-24) are more positive about the European Union than the oldest (55+), far fewer of them turned out to vote. Turnout was higher among the oldest respondents.
– Later this month, the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) will take place in Mexico. This meeting provides an important opportunity to reboot global progress on embedding gender equality in disaster risk management and redress deadly exclusion.
A woman dries blankets after her home went underwater for five days in one of the villages of the Morigaon district, India. Credit: Priyanka Borpujari/IPS
9 May, 2017 – GREENPEACE – Free speech is a right. So how can a corporation possibly stop you from speaking out? Using a legal tactic called a SLAPP, corporations like the massive Canadian logging company, Resolute Forest Products, are attempting to crack down on free speech by suing their critics into submission.
Resolute has filed two lawsuits — one in Canada against Greenpeace Canada for CAD$7 million, and a CAD$300 million suit in the United States against Greenpeace Fund, Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace International, Stand.earth and several individuals.
Resolute is relying on the fact that this tactic is obscure and confusing, so arm yourself with all the information you need to protect your right to free speech.
13/05/17
THE PRESENT Israeli government coalition consists of 67 (out of 120) members of the Knesset.
Uri Avnery
Each member wants to be elected again (and again and again).
In order to be reelected, he or she must attract the attention of the public.
How? The simplest way is to propose a new law. A bill so outrageous, that the media cannot possible ignore it.
This sets up a natural competition. To draw attention, each new bill must be a bit more outrageous than the last. The sky is the limit. Perhaps.
THE LAST bill, concocted by a Member who is an ex-secret service chief, is called “Israel – the National State of the Jewish People”.
In general parlance, the Jewish People consists of all the Jews in the world, more than half of whom live outside Israel and are citizens of other states. They are not asked if they want the State of Israel to represent them. Goes without asking.
Although global understanding of sexual violence in conflict is shifting, there remains the need to tackle the root causes of such violations that lie in fundamental inequality and discrimination against women, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on 15 May 2017 told the United Nations Security Council.
A woman stands in a shelter for girls and women who have endured sexual and gender-based violence, in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Photo: UNICEF/Kate Holt
At the current pace in 2030 there will still be one person in ten without electricity. Credit: Bigstock
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 