Fifteen minutes to live

How do you condense two times 15 plus four years into 15 minutes? The word ‘sorry’ springs to mind. Sorry that I won’t be able to enjoy another beautiful day on this beautiful earth with all its horrors and tragedies. Sorry that I won’t get another chance to walk in the sun and be warmed and comforted by its rays. Sorry that I won’t get to journey to faraway lands to meet faraway people whose lives are so very different yet similar to my own for, at the end of the day, we’re all human after all, some for longer than others for when my fifteen minutes are up, I cease to be. That doesn’t void my previous existence though, and, in fact, I’m comforted by the thought that my passing makes way for someone else to come into existence. I just hope that I can leave the world a better place than when I entered it, for my nephews and their relatives to be. 

Life has been a wonderful challenge. A constant battle and a constant pleasure. For, as the saying goes, how can you appreciate pleasure without first having experienced the bitterness of pain? That makes the good things all the more sweeter. And there were plenty of good things to accompany the plenty of bad. In fact, the good far outweighed the bad. 

Thank you for the music. This isn’t a reference to Abba but a heartfelt appreciation that, while alive, I inhabited a fully-functioning body whose five senses were in perfect working order allowing me to experience the world in all its fullness. And music for me is the pinnacle of pleasure. Thank God for music. Thank God for family, my nuclear one at least. Mum, dad, brother, nephews, boyfriend. Not to mention the uncles who stepped into the breach when my dad was prematurely taken from us. He is irreplaceable but they were stellar substitutes and for that I’m grateful. 

My mum. Not even fifteen lifetimes would be enough to sum up my debt to her let alone fifteen minutes. So all I shall say is… 

And to all those I offended, I apologise. Not least to myself, for I spent a lot of time admonishing rather than forgiving myself and moving on. And as I move over to the other side I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed every minute of my last fifteen and every year of the 34 that preceded it. To those who remain, have a blessed life.

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

Model on a Mission: Noella Coursaris

Noella Coursaris

Noella Coursaris’ face may be her fortune but her charity work is worth more than its weight in gold. In 2007, the model established the Georges Malaika Foundation (GMF), named after her late father, to provide educational opportunities for young girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

By Sylvia Arthur, from The Courier

Read more...

Word from the Portuguese street

From www.beinternacional.eu

From www.beinternacional.eu

10 ways to counter populism

Monica Frassoni addresses delegates at the European Green Party Council staging an anti-nuclear action in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, 2 April 2011

Here are 10 ways to counter populism from my talk to the European Green Party Council in Budapest on 2 April, 2011:

1.   Use populism to counter populism

But not by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Think fair populism. Counter hyperbole with facts. Condense the message. Keep it simple. Don’t intellectualise the debate. Keep the same message but tell it in a way that people can identify with. Tell stories. Develop narratives that speak to the concerns of ordinary people. Humanise concepts.  Change the vocabulary. Don’t be afraid to engage in the debate.

2.   Avoid preaching to the converted

Don’t preach, it turns people off and don’t speak to the converted (but don’t neglect them either).Broaden your base by reaching out to people you wouldn't consider your natural constituency. Don't be afraid to engage them.

3.   Convince people of why they should vote Green

Every political party is Green now so why should voters opt for the Greens? Develop a portfolio of policies that address the concerns of ordinary people. Sell the social dimension while plugging the planet.

4.   A campaign is for life, not just for an election

People feel used and abandoned when politicians only engage them during election campaign periods. Continue interacting with voters throughout the year so that they know who you are, are clear what you stand for and what your values are and don’t just think that you’re only out to get their vote, even if you are. They have to believe that you care about them enough and not just at election time.

5.   Populism is proof that people matter not the planet

This may be the hardest thing for a Green to accept but it’s a fact - the majority of people care more about themselves and their families before they think about the planet. Greens have a tendency to think that because they’re arguing from a fundamentally moral standpoint that everyone should agree with them. But not everyone’s morality is the same. Listen to people’s concerns and address them in ways that are practical and plausible.

6.   Cultivate your own media

The internet is hugely important but it’s not a panacea. Not just using the web and internet but at a local level producing newsletters, holding events etc. Use examples from outside of groups that have managed to bypass the media but still get media attention e.g. UK Uncut.

7.   Never waste a good tragedy

Rahm Emmanuel, the former chief of staff of the White House, now mayor of Chicago, famously said “Never waste a good tragedy” and as populist as it is, it’s very true. Fukushima, freak floods, unexplained wildlife deaths, toxic sludge – green politics has never been more relevant and all these are opportunities to explain why Green politics matters. Appeal to self-interest. Even if people don’t care about what happens in Japan they do care about the fact that the same fate could befall them. This may be selfish but it’s human.

8.   Don’t just talk about it, be about it

Recruit a diverse and active membership. If you’re trying to convince people that not all Roma are scroungers, workshy and benefits claimants then include professional Roma in your membership and leadership. Show people that they’re wrong.

9.   Celebrity sells

Recruit as many high-profile advocates of the cause to your campaigns as possible.

10.  Offer solutions not just problems

As the saying goes, sell heaven not hell.

Why effective communications is a political no-brainer

Missing in inaction: Labour leader Ed Miliband

Spot on article by Johann Hari in today's Independent about where Ed Miliband's communications is going wrong:

The Labour leader isn't visible enough, his message is too often unclear – and it's not connecting with voters. If he made just three key changes, the Miliband brand could become a real winner

Read more from The Plan to Save Ed at The Independent.

Libyans demonstrate in Brussels - what will it take to stop the butchery?

Link to a report from the European Council on Foreign Relations on what Europe needs to do on Libya here.

London: UK Uncut stage bail in at Barclays Bank

Protesters targeted more than 35 branches of Barclays bank, with pickets, poetry readings and even colouring competitions, in another of a series of days of direct action organised by the UK Uncut group. They were highlighting Barclays' admission that it paid just £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009 – a year when it rang up a record £11.6bn in profits. At Tottenham Court Road (above), one of eight branches of Barclays in London to be targeted, some 40 to 50 people heard comedian Josie Lawrence pledge her support, before a group of people held a two-hour sit-in in the bank.

 

Copyright: Mary Carson

Italians protest for women - and against Berlusconi - in Brussels

Allahu Akbar: The people prevail in Egypt

History in the making, history now made.
A salute to the people of Egypt and their patience, resilience and courage over eighteen days of true people power. RIP to the fallen soldiers of true democracy, the martyrs. Respect to the Egyptian army.
Shame on America and Europe. Their words of congratulation sound hollow and fit firmly in the category of too little, too late.
January - Ben Ali, February - Mubarak. Just what will March bring? The people will decide.

Protestors demand sanctions against Lukashenka

Pro-democracy campaigners outside the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels where EU foreign ministers were meeting to decide on sanctions against President Lukashenka of Belarus.

Protests and the role of social media (BBC video)

Less talk, more action: Belgians take to the streets to demand a government

Protesters march in Brussels to demand a government. The protesters in the Belgian capital numbered in the tens of thousands. Belgium has been without a government for seven months and holds Europe's record for the length of time it has been without government.

Parliamentarians in Protest

Green Party members of the European Parliament protested over a controversial new media law which came into effect in Hungary on 1 January during the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday, 19 January, 2011. Copyright DP.

Fifty years after the assasination of Lumumba, protesters demand justice

Photo by Agnes at Intal.be

The Tunisian uprising in Brussels

Jubilation at the stock exchange

Conquering lions of Tunisia

The finger of blame

Yes they did!

The placard that says it all

Estonia joins crisis hit eurozone and hopes for the best

Most surveys put support for Estonia's entry into the crisis-hit eurozone at around 50pc, with almost 40pc opposed. 

Estonia adopted the European single currency at midnight, ringing in 2011 as the 17th member of the eurozone, a bloc threatened by bailouts in Greece and Ireland and debt woes in Portugal and Spain. 

As a spectacular fireworks show lit up the sky over Tallinn, the 2004 Baltic EU entrant of 1.3 million which broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991 bade a reluctant farewell to its kroon, adopted in 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble. 

While the centre-right government of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has championed the switch to the euro as economic good sense despite the eurozone's turmoil, replacing Estonia's highly symbolic kroon has received a muted welcome among average Estonians. 

"Estonia is the poorest country in the eurozone, so we have a lot of things to do also now after the goal of reaching the eurozone has been accomplished," Mr Ansip said hailing the historic moment. 

Joblessness shot up to nearly 20pc this year as Estonia's economy struggled to recover from a recession that saw GDP shrink by some 14pc last year. GDP is expected to expand by 2.5pc this year and 4.2pc in 2011, according to Estonia's central bank. 

More from The Telegraph / AFP... 

People pass by an anti-euro currency poster in Tallinn, Estonia, as the tiny country becomes the first former Soviet republic to adopt the euro at midnight. Photo: AP

Ivory Coast / Belarus, Africa / Europe

Stolen elections and dictators for leaders are not unique to Africa, as the media would often have us believe. While I’m angered and embarrassed by the situation in the Ivory Coast, as well as worried about friends in the country (though glad that ECOWAS has seen fit to take swift punitive action against Gbagbo), and hot on the heels of this disgrace comes the news (thanks again to Wikileaks), that wanted Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir has stolen $9bn dollars of his people’s money, let’s not forget that today in Belarus presidential ‘elections’ are being held, that is to say, the 're-election' of Europe’s last dictator, Alexander Lukashenka. While he has been careful to give the polls a semblance of plurality, it’s a foregone conclusion that Lukashenka will once again be president of the former Soviet state, as he has been since 1994.

Amnesty International has published its key concerns about human rights in Belarus in the run up to the elections. “The human rights of people in Belarus are routinely abused by the state. Freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest are not respected. Human rights defenders are harassed. We have serious concerns about unfair trials and the use of torture in detention. This is all the more worrying because Belarus is the only country in Europe still to retain the death penalty,” said Amnesty international UK Director Kate Allen.

See below a video from Al Jazeera.



**UPDATE - EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS, 20 December
Question mark over EU policy after Belarus election violence

Worse than expected violence on the streets of Minsk following presidential elections on Sunday (19 December) have placed a question mark over EU's new policy of engagement with Belarus.

The union in October again suspended a travel ban on President Aleskander Luksahenko and 35 top officials originally imposed after a post-election crackdown in 2006 in the hope that better relations would pull the administration closer to EU standards and interests.

A stream of EU VIPs have also travelled to the region in recent months, dangling the prospect of up to €3 billion in aid if the election goes off well.

But Mr Lukashenko on Sunday evening responded by sending riot police to attack a huge crowd of between 20,000 and 40,000 protesters which gathered in the capital's central Independence Square to call for him to step down or at the least to hold a second round in the vote.


Opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyaev was injured in the clash

Sixty-four-year-old opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyayev was knocked unconscious in the street by masked men, taken to hospital and then abducted from his hospital bed by plain clothes officers who locked his wife in an adjoining room, wrapped him in a blanket and took him away. His whereabouts were unknown on Monday morning.
More…

Greek chaos amid general strike and austerity protests

The former Greek development minister Costis Hatzidakis, centre, was attacked by protesters in Athens. AP.

Greece descended into chaos on Wednesday, as thousands took to the streets to protest against a new wave of austerity cuts amid a nationwide walkout and an attack on the former Greek transport minister.
The Telegraph

The facts and figures from Bloomberg here and here.

Teflon Silvio - Berlusconi survives two no-confidence votes

But riots break out in Rome. Hooded protesters set up flaming barricades as police baton-charge demonstrators in several parts of capital's historic centre. Violent clashes have left 50 police officers and at least 40 protesters injured.
More from The Guardian and video below.

Kosovo holds historic election as division persists

Kosovo is holding its first parliamentary election since unilaterally declaring independence from Serbia almost three years ago.

The ethnic Albanian majority and small Serb minority remain largely estranged, more than a decade after a Nato-led conflict broke Belgrade's control.

Serbia has not recognised Kosovo's independence and most Serbs are expected to boycott the elections.

The EU says the election is important for Kosovo's hopes of entry.

During the campaign, institutionalised corruption and the dire state of Kosovo's economy have consistently topped lists of voter concerns.

More from BBC...

Below from Al Jazeera:

Related: Wikileaks cables: Kosovo sliding towards partition, Washington told

WikiLeaks cables: Pope wanted Muslim Turkey kept out of EU

A WikiLeaks cable reports that Pope Benedict XVI, seen here being received by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara in 2006, 'might prefer to see Turkey develop a special relationship short of EU membership'. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/AFP/Getty Images

The pope is responsible for the Vatican's growing hostility towards Turkey joining the EU, previously secret cables sent from the US embassy to the Holy See in Rome claim.

In 2004 Cardinal Ratzinger, the future pope, spoke out against letting a Muslim state join, although at the time the Vatican was formally neutral on the question.

The Vatican's acting foreign minister, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, responded by telling US diplomats that Ratzinger's comments were his own rather than the official Vatican position.

The cable released by WikiLeaks shows that Ratzinger was the leading voice behind the Holy See's unsuccessful drive to secure a reference to Europe's "Christian roots" in the EU constitution. The US diplomat noted that Ratzinger "clearly understands that allowing a Muslim country into the EU would further weaken his case for Europe's Christian foundations".

More...

More financial folly from the Commission

So this year's EU Development Days have come to an end after two days of roundtables, conferences, seminars, workshops and discussions involving heads of state, diplomats, officials, development experts and interested members of the public. According to the Commission, 6,000 delegates attended the event and were treated to, among other things, a fashion show, a music concert and theatre productions. The cost for this affair? Rumoured to be in the region of two million euro. Money that would have been better spent in actual development, no doubt.

This latest financial folly comes just weeks after a similar ill-conceived exercise to mark the EU Year Against Poverty in which thousands of free branded t-shirts were handed out to all and sundry outside the Parliament. The t-shirts were given away free, which is worth reiterating, because they weren't given in exchange for signing up to receiving more information about poverty in the EU or for pledging to help combat inequalities. No, the communications 'experts' responsible for such profligacy clearly have a complete disregard for the cardinal rule of communications campaigns: what do you want people to do NOT what do you want them to know. However much, or little, the branded t-shirts cost to produce, again, surely it's money that would have been better spent actually combatting poverty as opposed to promoting it!

In this age of austerity, surely the powers-that-be at the Commission could come up with more cost-effective ways for getting their messages out and engaging the public in a meaningful way. The key is not to throw money at comms campaigns but rather to inject a bit of common sense in to them. EC Comms Watch continues...

The people versus Paul Kagame

Men blow vuvuzelas as they gather outside the Square conventre centre to protest against the visit of Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame to the EU Development Days in Brussels, Monday, 6 December, 2010. Photo from AP.

Europe's missing millions: listen now

Click here to listen

Over the last seven years, the European Union has paid out billions of Euros in grants designed to revitalise Europe's poorest regions.

But an investigation for File on 4 has revealed the extent to which these payments are open to widespread fraud, abuse and mismanagement.

Angus Stickler tracks how money has gone astray across the 27 member states and asks why funding continues in regions with proven records of corruption and fraud. Throughout the EU there is evidence that money has been wasted or even stolen. In Southern Italy, money has gone to Mafia-controlled construction companies and bogus energy projects. Across the EU expensive projects lie unused and unfit for purpose, despite receiving funding of millions of Euros.

The EU has created its own anti-fraud agency, OLAF, to stop these abuses, but are critics right when they claim it's underfunded and ineffective?

File on 4/Bureau of Investigative Journalism co-production.

Producer: Gail Champion Editor: David Ross.

Journal d'une femme du Kosovo

As-tu oublié Sarajevo ?

I've just come back from a performance of Journal d'une femme du Kosovo (Diary of a Kosovan Woman), a production by Konitza, a Brussels-based Albanian organisation named after the writer, Faik Konitza promoting Albanian arts and culture. The play was at a tiny community theatre in Evere, a suburb of Brussels, and there's just one word that comes to mind when describing the production: powerful.

Based on the diary of Sevdije Ahmeti, Journal tells the story of women during the Kosovo war of the 1990s. A simple set with a screen backdrop projecting images of suffering caused by conflict around the world was the pefect stage for a captivating performance by actress, Anila Dervishi and musician, Afzim Jahja who, together had the audience gripped with their compelling, stripped down performances.

Journal needs to be seen by more people. It's a timely reminder of the atrocities that have been committed in recent history and is deserving of wider notice and acclaim for all the right reasons in a time of so much wrong.

Photo timeline: Europe's protests

Student protests: national walkout live

Students march in protest in Glasgow, Scotland Photograph: David Moir/Reuters

From The Guardian's live blog:

• Thousands of university students in tuition fees protest
• Schoolchildren around the country join day of action
• Violent scenes in London as police 'kettle' protesters
• Disorder as students disperse from protest
• Follow live updates here

Glad to see that people in the UK have finally woken up and caught up with rest of Europe...
And in Portugal a national strike against budget cuts brought the country to a standstill. More here.

The Hungarian Revolution: Erich Lessing at BELvue

In 1956, Austrian-born Magnum photographer, Erich Lessing used his camera to capture the unfolding events of the Hungarian revolution in the streets of Budapest, unintentionally producing an important historical document. The BELvue Museum is showing a collection of the photographer's images along with more contemporary photographs from subsequent generations of East-European and Balkan artists who registered their own personal, often more nihilistic, view of the world. The (im)potence of the image depicts the new Europe from the post-war period but also that, in process of enlargement, of the men and women that were born there at that time and are still living and working in the region.

Background
Budapest 1956. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, was an anti-Soviet revolt in Hungary lasting from 23 October to 4 November 1956. The revolt was suppressed by Soviet troops, and to a much smaller degree the Hungarian ÁVH ('State Protection Authority'). Anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 Hungarian rebels and 7,000 Soviet troops were killed, thousands more were wounded, and nearly a quarter of a million left the country as refugees.The beginning of the deStalinisation period in Hungary favoured the development of an opposition movement, particularly among students and intellectuals. Imre NAGY who was called in as Prime Minister had obtained the demand of Soviet troops being withdrawn. He became submerged by the spread of the insurrectional movement in Budapest and the provinces. Abolishing the 'unique' party system on the 13 October 1956 he demanded Hungary's withdrawal of the Warsaw Pact and neutrality. Armed insurrection started in the streets on 24 October until the Soviet troops occupied Budapest, on 1 November 1956, and crushed the movement.