Thursday 27 October 2011
WOAH! Hometown Madness!
Crazy stuff happening at the Gloucester Centre, in Ottawa, the rest will be explained in this article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/reported+dead+shooting+Gloucester+Centre/5612229/story.html
Monday 24 October 2011
Continuing With The Horn Of Africa
People are wondering why The Horn Of Africa (a region in East Africa that consists of countries such as Eritrea and Somalia) is in a dreadful state. In order to be fully aware of this situation, we have to look at the factors as "symptoms". which can be split into three separate causes that contain many sub-symptoms. The three main branches of cause include:
1. Natural Causes: Lack of rainfall, extreme weather, destructive flooding, earthquakes, climate change, fire, and other natural causes.
2. Man-Made Causes: war, bad governance, lack of facilities, corruption, lack of support from other countries, bad gov't planning, hindrances facing int'l charitable organizations (e.g. Red Cross), political differences resulting in victimization of certain groups opposed to the gov't, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, neglect, poverty, ethnic, religious and cultural differences. An important man-made symptom would be using hunger as a weapon of war.
3. (one cause to consider) Historic Causes: European colonization of these countries. Three countries that were colonially dominant in Africa: Britain, France and Italy. Kenya was under British rule, Ethiopia was largely independent, except for short Italian occupation under Mussolini. Nevertheless, conditions outside of cities were dismal. All three countries (Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia) were drawn by colonial powers hastily, thoughtlessly and without regard to the existence of the tribes and their cultures. It was done to serve only the interests of the colonial powers, not the interests of the people.
As you can see, these symptoms are not recent factors that instantly caused the famine. Rather, it goes back a long-time, what was that time is now history to us. Of these three main symptoms and each of their many sub-symptoms, one important symptom, which is the main cause that started this chaos, is drought. Drought being the lack of water in a certain area, killing agriculture in that area, agriculture being the important factor involved in growing food. You can't grow food or even live without water. Because of the drought in The Horn of Africa, 16 million Africans are being naturally and forcefully steered towards the path of death.
After looking at these "symptoms" which are the causes of this crisis. We also have to look at the consequences of this famine, a "diagnosis" do be exact. Identifying the nature of all this, the consequences of this famine define what the famine is doing, and continues to do to The Horn of Africa. Here are several consequences, that way, it will be easier to see what all the consequences are:
1. Death on a vast scale due to starvation.
2. Spread of disease because of insanitary conditions.
3. Increase in poverty levels.
4. Worsening of refugees across borders.
5. Mass movement of people to cities and increase in pressure on existing facilities.
6. Corruption.
7. Worsening of social and cultural lives of people.
8. Worsening of the civil war as Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Use of hunger as a weapon of war.
9. Lack of storage facilities and rotting of donated food and medicine before distribution to the needy.
10. Hindrances in the way of humanitarian and charitable organizations. E.g.: Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, UN agencies, and similar international organizations. There have been actual reports of people who work for support groups that were abducted and murdered by the Al-Shabaab (more on that at the end).
11. Inflation placing food beyond the reach of people. Local peasants are evicted from their own land. Compensation paid is very little and the peasants becomes a part of the unemployment statistics. In Somalia, there has been no functioning central gov't since 1991. Somalia is fractured along clan and religious lines. Some parts like Somaliland are run by local administration of sorts but the majority of them are caught up in battles between warring clans and militia groups such as Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab wants to rebuild Somalia as an Islamist state under Sharia Law.
12. Many donor organizations are unable to operate or interact with each other. Because of war, the break down of state structure and lack of even basic facilities.
13. Decimation of wild-game.
14. There is no incentive for local farmers to grow food because the gov't allows cheaper food to come from other countries.
15. Desertification is an increasing problem for The Horn of Africa and threatens grazing land and water supplies. Arid lands mean that people don't receive rain, have no trees, no grazing land and don't have water. What you get is famine. Many conflicts develop between nomads and pastoralist's over grazing land and water.
16. Huge swatches of land are sold or leased to foreign interests that use it to grow food for their own countries. Both Kenya and Ethiopia have sold or leased agricultural land to agricultural based businesses.
We now know the "symptoms", which are the signs that tell that this famine is real. We now know the "diagnosis", which are the consequences that are caused by the "symptoms" of this famine. It is now time to take a look at an educated solution, a "prescription" that can be used to cure East Africa from its famine based misery. We can't look at this issue as one huge thing that has a "one answer to solve all" solution, because there many branches, each branch is a consequence, all these consequences become the famine when added together. Some solutions to help include:
Rather than sending food to the gov't and wonder if the gov't will actually do their part to give food to the people (fear of corruption and lack of governance), we should deliver the food straight to the people in East Africa. If they are starving at a fast rate and are dying quickly, then rather than wiring it through to the gov't and letting them distribute it across the country, let us send people down there to distribute equal portions to the people in the different countries of that region. Then again, there could be the risk of Al-Shabaab taking the food away and ambushing groups that distribute the food (abduction and murder, rebuild Somalia as an Islamist state, rejecting help from the west). So its possible that the attempt would be hit or miss. Another idea, in order to get rid of corruption once and for all is a major change in gov't. A gov't that has no tolerance for corruption or terrorism, a gov't encourages human rights for the people of East Africa, continuing to stick to the cultural values of the people in that area of Africa. We still have to remember that Africa is a very multi-cultural continent, and that having people from the west come and build a gov't that doesn't represent anything that the African people stand for could be dangerous. Is it possible that these very actions are the reason that the people of Africa seem to harshly question the actions of westerners? But I digress, the final option, one that although sounds crazy, but makes sense, it could work and it seems logical, I would choose this option out of the three. To educate the people of The Horn of Africa, teaching them that they could make a difference, the most reasonable values, ideals and concepts that make a structured gov't. We and possibly the help of other powers, could convince the current gov't's to resign, just for the record; we are not trying to act as a huge western power thats trying to violently take over that area. We are trying to make a new alternative towards the structure of African gov't. We can teach the people how to make a difference, possibly a revolution, much like some European countries did years and years ago. By educating, Africans can restart their way of living in a confident manner. This new gov't can stay devoted towards the original beliefs and cultures of the people there, making this new system compatible and easy to understand and conform to since this structure is designed to make things better and have a gov't that works and is liked by the people. Doing so will then lead to fixing all the other problems that rest in The Horn. Let me remind you that this issue is not in anyway new, recent weather and gov't is not the only thing that is making the famine worse, it's a long line of corruption, terrorism, all the major and minor "symptoms" and "diagnosis" that has been present for decades. If we can prevent those things from happening now, the future of The Horn of Africa will look bright.
The good news is that we don't have to wait until we are older in order to help out in anyway, we can help now. There are many ways that you can help by supporting the cause to end the East African famine. One of the most useful ways to do so is to donate food, money, etc. to any support group near you, whether they are big or small. Some support groups in North America actually have small bases in various spots in East Africa so they can actually be there to monitor and see what needs to be done so this crisis can be averted.
http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/support_groups/interstitial-cystitis-support-groups.htm#ixzz1Xx9JKL2O
The URL above is a reference site that gathers support groups together, groups that raise awareness and funds to support world issues. Because the famine in East Africa is a recent issue that is still continuing, what better way to raise awareness of the issue by promoting support groups that want to help, help with ending this crisis, issue, madness, whatever word you preferably use to describe whats going on in The Horn of Africa.
Also, if you are looking for online news articles that are related to this issue, or if you would like to stay up to date with recent news that has an effect on whats going on in The Horn of Africa, my suggestion would be to look at the non-biased, highly informed international news site; Al-Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/. If you type in keywords such as "famine" or "Horn of Africa" or even "East Africa", you'll be surprised when you see the many results; such as stories and updates, both old and new that lead to the crisis, including some intense stories about support groups workers that were abducted by Al-Shabaab (as mentioned before).
1. Natural Causes: Lack of rainfall, extreme weather, destructive flooding, earthquakes, climate change, fire, and other natural causes.
2. Man-Made Causes: war, bad governance, lack of facilities, corruption, lack of support from other countries, bad gov't planning, hindrances facing int'l charitable organizations (e.g. Red Cross), political differences resulting in victimization of certain groups opposed to the gov't, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, neglect, poverty, ethnic, religious and cultural differences. An important man-made symptom would be using hunger as a weapon of war.
3. (one cause to consider) Historic Causes: European colonization of these countries. Three countries that were colonially dominant in Africa: Britain, France and Italy. Kenya was under British rule, Ethiopia was largely independent, except for short Italian occupation under Mussolini. Nevertheless, conditions outside of cities were dismal. All three countries (Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia) were drawn by colonial powers hastily, thoughtlessly and without regard to the existence of the tribes and their cultures. It was done to serve only the interests of the colonial powers, not the interests of the people.
As you can see, these symptoms are not recent factors that instantly caused the famine. Rather, it goes back a long-time, what was that time is now history to us. Of these three main symptoms and each of their many sub-symptoms, one important symptom, which is the main cause that started this chaos, is drought. Drought being the lack of water in a certain area, killing agriculture in that area, agriculture being the important factor involved in growing food. You can't grow food or even live without water. Because of the drought in The Horn of Africa, 16 million Africans are being naturally and forcefully steered towards the path of death.
After looking at these "symptoms" which are the causes of this crisis. We also have to look at the consequences of this famine, a "diagnosis" do be exact. Identifying the nature of all this, the consequences of this famine define what the famine is doing, and continues to do to The Horn of Africa. Here are several consequences, that way, it will be easier to see what all the consequences are:
1. Death on a vast scale due to starvation.
2. Spread of disease because of insanitary conditions.
3. Increase in poverty levels.
4. Worsening of refugees across borders.
5. Mass movement of people to cities and increase in pressure on existing facilities.
6. Corruption.
7. Worsening of social and cultural lives of people.
8. Worsening of the civil war as Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Use of hunger as a weapon of war.
9. Lack of storage facilities and rotting of donated food and medicine before distribution to the needy.
10. Hindrances in the way of humanitarian and charitable organizations. E.g.: Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, UN agencies, and similar international organizations. There have been actual reports of people who work for support groups that were abducted and murdered by the Al-Shabaab (more on that at the end).
11. Inflation placing food beyond the reach of people. Local peasants are evicted from their own land. Compensation paid is very little and the peasants becomes a part of the unemployment statistics. In Somalia, there has been no functioning central gov't since 1991. Somalia is fractured along clan and religious lines. Some parts like Somaliland are run by local administration of sorts but the majority of them are caught up in battles between warring clans and militia groups such as Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab wants to rebuild Somalia as an Islamist state under Sharia Law.
12. Many donor organizations are unable to operate or interact with each other. Because of war, the break down of state structure and lack of even basic facilities.
13. Decimation of wild-game.
14. There is no incentive for local farmers to grow food because the gov't allows cheaper food to come from other countries.
15. Desertification is an increasing problem for The Horn of Africa and threatens grazing land and water supplies. Arid lands mean that people don't receive rain, have no trees, no grazing land and don't have water. What you get is famine. Many conflicts develop between nomads and pastoralist's over grazing land and water.
16. Huge swatches of land are sold or leased to foreign interests that use it to grow food for their own countries. Both Kenya and Ethiopia have sold or leased agricultural land to agricultural based businesses.
We now know the "symptoms", which are the signs that tell that this famine is real. We now know the "diagnosis", which are the consequences that are caused by the "symptoms" of this famine. It is now time to take a look at an educated solution, a "prescription" that can be used to cure East Africa from its famine based misery. We can't look at this issue as one huge thing that has a "one answer to solve all" solution, because there many branches, each branch is a consequence, all these consequences become the famine when added together. Some solutions to help include:
Rather than sending food to the gov't and wonder if the gov't will actually do their part to give food to the people (fear of corruption and lack of governance), we should deliver the food straight to the people in East Africa. If they are starving at a fast rate and are dying quickly, then rather than wiring it through to the gov't and letting them distribute it across the country, let us send people down there to distribute equal portions to the people in the different countries of that region. Then again, there could be the risk of Al-Shabaab taking the food away and ambushing groups that distribute the food (abduction and murder, rebuild Somalia as an Islamist state, rejecting help from the west). So its possible that the attempt would be hit or miss. Another idea, in order to get rid of corruption once and for all is a major change in gov't. A gov't that has no tolerance for corruption or terrorism, a gov't encourages human rights for the people of East Africa, continuing to stick to the cultural values of the people in that area of Africa. We still have to remember that Africa is a very multi-cultural continent, and that having people from the west come and build a gov't that doesn't represent anything that the African people stand for could be dangerous. Is it possible that these very actions are the reason that the people of Africa seem to harshly question the actions of westerners? But I digress, the final option, one that although sounds crazy, but makes sense, it could work and it seems logical, I would choose this option out of the three. To educate the people of The Horn of Africa, teaching them that they could make a difference, the most reasonable values, ideals and concepts that make a structured gov't. We and possibly the help of other powers, could convince the current gov't's to resign, just for the record; we are not trying to act as a huge western power thats trying to violently take over that area. We are trying to make a new alternative towards the structure of African gov't. We can teach the people how to make a difference, possibly a revolution, much like some European countries did years and years ago. By educating, Africans can restart their way of living in a confident manner. This new gov't can stay devoted towards the original beliefs and cultures of the people there, making this new system compatible and easy to understand and conform to since this structure is designed to make things better and have a gov't that works and is liked by the people. Doing so will then lead to fixing all the other problems that rest in The Horn. Let me remind you that this issue is not in anyway new, recent weather and gov't is not the only thing that is making the famine worse, it's a long line of corruption, terrorism, all the major and minor "symptoms" and "diagnosis" that has been present for decades. If we can prevent those things from happening now, the future of The Horn of Africa will look bright.
The good news is that we don't have to wait until we are older in order to help out in anyway, we can help now. There are many ways that you can help by supporting the cause to end the East African famine. One of the most useful ways to do so is to donate food, money, etc. to any support group near you, whether they are big or small. Some support groups in North America actually have small bases in various spots in East Africa so they can actually be there to monitor and see what needs to be done so this crisis can be averted.
http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/support_groups/interstitial-cystitis-support-groups.htm#ixzz1Xx9JKL2O
The URL above is a reference site that gathers support groups together, groups that raise awareness and funds to support world issues. Because the famine in East Africa is a recent issue that is still continuing, what better way to raise awareness of the issue by promoting support groups that want to help, help with ending this crisis, issue, madness, whatever word you preferably use to describe whats going on in The Horn of Africa.
Also, if you are looking for online news articles that are related to this issue, or if you would like to stay up to date with recent news that has an effect on whats going on in The Horn of Africa, my suggestion would be to look at the non-biased, highly informed international news site; Al-Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/. If you type in keywords such as "famine" or "Horn of Africa" or even "East Africa", you'll be surprised when you see the many results; such as stories and updates, both old and new that lead to the crisis, including some intense stories about support groups workers that were abducted by Al-Shabaab (as mentioned before).
Friday 14 October 2011
My interview with Sir Ken Robinson
Last Monday, I had the honor of interviewing education expert, Sir Ken Robinson. You may have known him through his amazing TED Talk, where he asked "Do schools kill creativity?" Last Monday, he came to Ottawa and gave a lecture on "Why finding your passion changes everything". Before his lecture, I had the pleasure of interviewing him, I couldn't have done it without the help of my fellow Radio Club comrades (thank you Najeeba and Mr. M). Before you listen to my interview I just want you to know, like with all interviewers, I get pretty nervous, I have every right to. Sadly, with my nervous curse, I have the tendency to stutter, which creates a few small instances where I mix words up. Also, more and more I realize that my voice sounds horrible when recorded, my voice may not sound that attractive at all, especially to you ladies, I understand if you feel that way, I still enjoy my single lifestyle :P. Other than that, enjoy the interview: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=babf58be1a&view=audio&msgs=132de4768102b0ad&attid=0.1&zw
More Egyptian Chaos
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/2011109155853144870.html I found this very interesting. I won't go too in to the story, i'll let the good people of Al Jazeera take care of that with the link that leads you to this article.
The Horn Of Africa
As most of you know, there's a massive drought in East Africa, and for those who don't know, well that's why I made this fucking blog, to inform you and enlighten your little minds. Ya, so, yesterday, I read and interesting article online, by BBC UK, reading about how the drought in East Africa is making a big effect on the Turkana region, here's the article in case your interested http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14458109. I believe that all this is not being settled or concluded because of the government, they are not doing their job, they are not holding their responsibility, and are not handling the situation well. In the article, they interview John Githongo, a well known anti-corruption activist. Saying in detail all the terrible things that are happening in Turkana, he explained the situation well by saying the following, "Drought is an act of God. Famine is an act of man. What we are going through - it's an act of men.” Now I'm asking you, fellow readers, what do you think about this issue? How do you feel about? And whats your view on this issue?
Wednesday 12 October 2011
New Idea
I realized, maybe I should have seen this before...
Before the school year started, I realized that managing three blogs (This one and my journalism blog, and politics blog) would be somewhat difficult and unnecessary. So effective imedia..... actually rather than giving myself impossible deadlines, I'll re-post everything from my other blogs whenever I get around to it, hopefully by the end of the week or even the weekend. If I'm not busy, all the posts from S.O.R. and Politics with RED AC!D will be re-posted on this blog. Because this is my main blog, and this blog focuses on a variety of topics, I will continue to use this blog and blog about my favored topics, and branch out on topics that relate to journalism and Canadian/World politics. These are the two classes in school that require you to input your opinions on these topics through a blog.
Before the school year started, I realized that managing three blogs (This one and my journalism blog, and politics blog) would be somewhat difficult and unnecessary. So effective imedia..... actually rather than giving myself impossible deadlines, I'll re-post everything from my other blogs whenever I get around to it, hopefully by the end of the week or even the weekend. If I'm not busy, all the posts from S.O.R. and Politics with RED AC!D will be re-posted on this blog. Because this is my main blog, and this blog focuses on a variety of topics, I will continue to use this blog and blog about my favored topics, and branch out on topics that relate to journalism and Canadian/World politics. These are the two classes in school that require you to input your opinions on these topics through a blog.
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