tagged w/ Johannesburg
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Out of Sight, explores the lives of blind undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe as they try and eke out a living begging on the streets of Johannesburg.Out of Sight, explores the lives of blind undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe as they... more
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U.N. declares famine in southern Somalia
By Robyn Dixon | 2:19 p.m.
To declare a famine, child malnutrition must be at 30% or higher, daily deaths at two per 10,000 people and people are not able to access food and other basic necessities.
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U.N. declares famine in southern Somalia
Famine, a highly technical term, means that the rate of child malnutrition and deaths in two areas of southern Somalia, a country riven by fighting and drought, has risen. Agencies appeal for aid.
PHOTO: Eleven-month-old Abdifatah Hassan, suffering from severe malnutrition, is cared for at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders at a camp housing Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. The United Nations officially declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia, saying child malnutrition rates exceed 30% and as many as six children age 5 or younger are dying daily. The region is suffering its worst drought in 60 years and tens of thousands are feared dead.
(Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images / July 4, 2011)
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times
July 20, 2011, 2:19 p.m.
Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa—
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For months, people have been trudging out of the desert, leaving their dead children behind and carrying those who have managed to survive. On Wednesday, the horror of hunger and death unfolding in the Horn of Africa officially got a name: famine.
It's actually a very technical term — unless you're one of those walking for weeks in a last-ditch hope to save your family.
For the United Nations to declare a famine, as it did at a news conference in Nairobi, child malnutrition must be at 30% or higher, daily deaths at two per 10,000 people and people are not able to access food and other basic necessities.
According to Unicef, the U.N. agency that focuses on children, the rate of child malnutrition rate in southern Somalia has doubled in a single month; in some places it has reached 55% and infant deaths have increased to six per day.
Yet the global response has been dismal. An appeal late last year for $535 million to address the need is still more than $250 million short. Officials hope the famine declaration will help focus global attention on the Horn of Africa.
Across the country, about 3.7 million people, half the population, are facing starvation, with an estimated 2.8 million of them in the south. The agency says another 6.3 million in other countries in the Horn of Africa affected by hunger.
It's the worst African hunger crisis in 20 years, according the Rozanne Chorlton, Unicef's representative on Somalia. The last time things were this dire in Africa was 1991. Then, as now, it was in Somalia.
The U.N. famine declaration Wednesday formally covered two regions of southern Somalia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, where farmers' crops failed and their livestock died. Malnutrition rates exceed 30% and more than six children age 5 or younger are dying daily in some areas. But in coming months, neighboring regions will inevitably fall into famine too, said Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.
U.N. and non-governmental agencies are appealing for $300 million in the next two months to increase their operations in the worst-hit areas.
If it seems extraordinary that millions of Africans can be facing starvation in 2011, despite the focus of a raft of humanitarian agencies and their early-warning networks, it is, Bowden said.
Part of the problem is that many donors had written off Somalia as too hard, he said in a telephone interview. Aid agencies must grapple with a long-running civil conflict and Somalia's extremist Shabab militia, which controls much of the south, where the worst hunger is.
"We have good warning systems, but we don't always listen to them, particularly if we put some countries in the too-difficult-to-deal-with basket," Bowden said.
Two decades with no government and the failure of successive efforts to restore peace have left donors cynical. The country's global reputation for piracy and mayhem have done it no favors.
The 1991 Somalia famine occurred after civil war destroyed agriculture and clan warlords hijacked humanitarian aid, leading to the U.S.-led Operation Restore Hope. That resulted in bloody fighting with militias in Mogadishu portrayed in the book and film "Black Hawk Down."
But Bowden, who recently met Somali refugees walking to Ethiopia, said the problem today was mainly one of successive drought, compounded by global warming.
"They are victims of drought. They are also victims of climate change. They're people who have lost everything after years of successive drought."
The situation is complicated by the Shabab, which in the past has imposed informal taxes on humanitarian agencies, limited their access, and demanded they send female staff home. The World Food Program withdrew early last year from areas controlled by the Shabab because of security threats and unacceptable working conditions. It recently announced it would resume it work there if conditions allowed.
Aid agencies have been negotiating access with local leaders, but security remains uncertain.
"We need predictability," Unicef's Chorlton said in a telephone interview. "The important thing is that those who are there [in Somalia] should be able to act unhindered to deliver the services to children and families that are so desperately needed."
Unicef has doubled its food, health and water programs in Somalia, she said.
"Somalis have always helped each other to cope in times of crisis, and they have been incredibly resilient over the years. I think what has not been quantified is that people's resistance has been so undermined over the last year, it's no longer adequate to the task," she said. "The issue is now we need donors to massively increase their contribution."
.U.N. declares famine in southern Somalia
By Robyn Dixon | 2:19 p.m.
To declare... more
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Alleged rape, killing of gay rights campaigner sparks call for action
By Faith Karimi, CNN
May 5, 2011 7:36 a.m. EDT
The term "corrective rape" started following the rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, a well-know lesbian soccer player.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
She is attacked after dropping off her girlfriend in a township near Johannesburg
She is raped, stabbed with broken glass several times and hit with rocks, group says
South Africa sets up a task force to address hate crimes
(CNN) -- A 24-year-old who was stabbed to death in South Africa is the victim of "corrective rape," gay rights activists said Thursday, a crime where men attack lesbians in an attempt to reverse their sexual orientation.
Noxolo Nogwaza was attacked late last month after dropping off her girlfriend in Kwa-Thema township near Johannesburg.
She was raped, stabbed with broken glass several times and her face pummelled with rocks, Human Rights Watch said.
"A beer bottle, a large rock and used condoms were found on and near her body," the rights group said.
Earlier this week, the nation's Justice Ministry set up a task force to address hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender South Africans.
The task team was set up after activists worldwide signed an online petition demanding the South African government act to halt the attacks. The call to petition intensified after Nogwaza's killing.
Police in Gauteng province, where the township is located, said they have not found any evidence of a hate crime and an investigation is under way.
But some gay rights activists disagree.
"Her attack is a case of corrective rape," said gay rights activist Lydia Kunu. "Neighbors said they heard her attackers telling her, 'We will take the lesbian out of you. ' They were mocking her and asking her why she acts like a man."
Kunu is a community networking organizer for Ekurhuleni Pride Organizing Committee, where Nogwaza worked as well.
The death has sparked renewed calls for action as rights groups warn of escalated homophobic attacks.
"In these cases, killing is the end of the spectrum," said Siphokazi Mthathi, the South Africa director for Human Rights Watch. "It follows a trail of other problems -- rape, violence, problem accessing health care and violation by police."
Mthathi said it is hard to get an overall number of the people subjected to violence because attacks go unreported over the distrust for the judicial system.
"There's a great deal of under-representation because they are going to face secondary victimization," she said. "We've heard of cases where when they report a rape, the police tell them, 'aren't you happy that you got a real man for a change.'"
The use of the term "corrective rape" started three years ago after the rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, a well-known soccer player who lived openly as a lesbian.
Nogwaza's attack is similar to the soccer player's in some ways: police say they were both raped and stabbed to death. And just like Nogwaza, Simelane's body was dumped in a public place in the same township .
Two men were found guilty in the soccer star's death and sentenced to prison terms, but the judges quashed any motions linking her attack to her sexual orientation.
"Nogwaza's death is the latest in a long series of sadistic crimes against lesbians, gay men, and transgender people in South Africa," said Dipika Nath, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch.
"Police and other South African officials fail to acknowledge that members of the LGBT community are raped, beaten and killed simply because of how they look or identify, and they are attacked by men who then walk freely, boasting of their exploits," said Nath.
A police spokesman slammed the accusations, and said authorities are working to ensure safety for all.
"It is our responsibility to provide safety, and we take that job seriously," said Col. Tshisikhawe Ndou, the provincial spokesman for Gauteng.
The spokesman said there have been no arrests in Nogwaza's killing, but investigations are under way.
"We're following some leads, and in this specific case, we'd like to ask anyone with information to contact the police," he said. "They can even do so anonymously if they are scared."
Outspoken gay rights activists have faced harassment and attacks in the nation, Human Rights Watch said.
Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries, based on rules left over from the British colonial era when sodomy laws were introduced.
However, the post-apartheid constitution bans prejudice against gays in South Africa, the first African nation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Despite the law, attacks based on sexual orientation are still going on, rights groups said.
The new task force is scheduled to start working in July. It will address issues such as whether police and social workers should undergo sensitivity training, and whether rapists who target sexual minorities should get harsher sentences.
Mthathi said having the anti-prejudicial constitution in place is an indicator that the task force alone won't resolve underlying problems.
"South Africa is a very misogynist and homophobic society," she said. "We welcome the task team, but it won't solve social problems. We need to address the culture of accountability in judicial and social institutions, we need to address the attitudes ... disrupt the culture of impunity."Alleged rape, killing of gay rights campaigner sparks call for action
By Faith... more
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Follow Franco, as he shares his trip from New York to Madagascar. We will encounter: Madagascar mining, pristine beaches, ancient wooden fishing boats, beach fires,the prized Zebu,and the cuisine of the indigenous Malagasy peoples of Madagascar.Follow Franco, as he shares his trip from New York to Madagascar. We will encounter:... more
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There were reports on Nelson Mandela staying in hospital for a respiratory infection, which brought worldwide concern on the 92 year old's health. There is now the good news that Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital.
Doctors say Mandela is reacting well to treatment and is ready to receive care from his home.
"To us he is stable, but will be subject to intense monitoring," he told reporters.
A convoy is now believed to be taking Mr Mandela to his home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton."-BBCThere were reports on Nelson Mandela staying in hospital for a respiratory infection,... more
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Over a million teachers, nurses and other government workers went on strike across South Africa this week, suspending public education and health care to demand better pay from their government, which is resisting. South African police have tried to stop the labor action by firing rubber bullets and water cannons at the workers who have been applying pressure by rallying, marching and blockading roads.Over a million teachers, nurses and other government workers went on strike across... more
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This is the story of how African fashion entrepreneurs could bring new life to the continents dying cotton production. US cotton Subsidies which began in 2001 have had a huge impact on world prices for cotton in Africa, particularly Mali. This has led to a decline in cotton farming for a country that is dependent on cotton production for growing subsistence crops (food) and social services like schools and housing. The video starts and ends at South Africa Fashion Week.
The women cotton farmers featured in this video are from Bamako, Mali. Mali is one of the largest countries in Africa and also one of the poorest countries in the World. Half the population lives below the international poverty line and a third of the population depend on cotton to survive.This is the story of how African fashion entrepreneurs could bring new life to the... more
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Is there no limit to “The Daily Show’s” budget.
Last June, Jon Stewart sent correspondent Jason Jones to Teheran, capital of an Axis of Evil nation. Now, just a year later, the show invests considerable capital (both in terms of credibility and finance) by sending senior foreign sports correspondent, John Oliver, to Johannesburg. (Oliver, of course, is the one who sounds like the Geico gecko.)Is there no limit to “The Daily Show’s” budget.
Last June, Jon... more
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Thousands of South African workers on strike took to the streets of Johannesburg last week with a rail and port strike threatening to bring Africa's biggest economy to a standstill.Thousands of South African workers on strike took to the streets of Johannesburg last... more
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Inspired by a true story, GANGSTER’S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA is an unflinching look into the crime, corruption and the transgressions of those looking to survive in the most crime-infested district of Johannesburg. Written/directed by Ralph Ziman, the film stars Rapaulana Seiphemo (Tsotsi), Robert Hobbs (District 9), Kenneth Nkosi (District 9), Eugene Khumbanyiwa (District 9), and Louise Saint-Claire (District 9).Inspired by a true story, GANGSTER’S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA is an unflinching look... more
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Dr. Berger used Google Earth technology to map identified caves and fossil deposits and to discover new caves via satellite imagery: “With the help of the navigation facility and high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth, Professor Berger went on to find almost 500 previously unidentified caves and fossil sites, even though the area is one of the most explored in Africa. One of these fossil sites yielded the remarkable discovery of a new species, Australopithecus sediba. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/your-details/296-with-the-help-of-google-earth-new-hominid-species-discovered-in-south-africaDr. Berger used Google Earth technology to map identified caves and fossil deposits... more
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worrg
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You could probably forge a good, absurdist, dark comedy out of a government where racial identity can be declared and reversed by official decree, and white parents whose child’s skin is, because of a genetic quirk, darker than theirs struggle to get their kid designated Caucasian. I can imagine Terry Gilliam going to town on something like that, or maybe even Kevin Smith in a more thoughtful mode. But this isn’t absurdist comedy, this was South Africa in the throes of apartheid, and the story told in Anthony Fabian’s debut feature, SKIN, turns out to have been all too real.
The actual person, Sandra Laing, suffered through a kind of industrial-strength crisis of identity, with her parents determined to ensure that her privileges be protected via that all-important white designation, and her own growing awareness that, whatever the government stamped on a piece of paper, she would have no shortage of difficulty in finding a place in so divided a society. Director Fabian shot the film in South Africa, and brought together a strong cast, including Sophie Okonedo as Sandra and Sam Neill and Alice Krige as her parents. The result is quite moving — a human and unusual perspective on the insanity of institutionalized racism.
Anthony Fabian and I got a chance to talk about his motivation for taking on this project, and how the dictates of apartheid could twist the motives of even the best-intentioned of parents. Click on the link to hear the interview.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-persons/emmighty-movie-podcastem_b_339267.htmlYou could probably forge a good, absurdist, dark comedy out of a government where... more
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"It is not often that a director explodes onto the scene in the fashion that Neill Blomkamp has done with his first feature length film District 9. With a strong voice and a clear and unique vision, Blomkamp (with producing help from The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson) tells the story of a random species of aliens literally stranded on Earth for two decades and how the humans handle their presence. The movie is based on a six-minute short film made by Blomkamp called Alive in Joburg, but takes the ideas touched on in the short and dives deep into them in this two-hour movie."
Read the rest at the link ->
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7322-Orlando-Movie-Examiner~y2009m8d17-Review-District-9"It is not often that a director explodes onto the scene in the fashion that... more
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