ac's blog

René Préval has won Haitian Election

Fri, 2006-02-17 10:02 — ac

As of yesterday, the long-awaited results of Haiti's February 7 elections are in: René Préval has won with 51.15% of the vote, with 96% of votes counted.

Haiti: Elections Under Occupation

Wed, 2006-02-15 11:50 — ac
A week later, the results of Haiti's first ostensibly "democratic" presidential election since the ousting of democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide are still indeterminate. Why is that?

South African Gold Mine Workers Strike for Living Wage

Tue, 2005-08-09 20:54 — ac

[Cross-posted at A.C.]

110,000 gold miners, members of the National Union of Mineworkers and Solidarity, are striking in South Africa for better wages, in the first industry-wide strike in 18 years. The strike started on Sunday, after union-management negotiations collapsed. Miners' wages are 2500-3000 rand (around 400USD) per month, and they work in dangerous and stressful conditions -- descending as far as 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) into the earth to extract gold ore.

"The Rules of the Game Are Changing: Blair announces New Anti-Terrorism Measures"

Fri, 2005-08-05 11:23 — ac

[Cross-posted at A.C.]

The Guardian has published the full text of Tony Blair's speech on the new anti-terrorism measures that the administration is trying to implement. Unsurpringly, they focus on "foreign nationals" - non-status residents, refugees, and asylum-seekers.

Pledge to Struggle to Eliminate Gendered Violence

Wed, 2005-08-03 11:00 — ac

I've just started a pledge to end gendered violence (violence against women and non-normatively gendered people) at PledgeBank. This is the pledge:

"I will commit to struggle to eliminate violence against women in my community; formally or informally support women in my life or in my community who are in abusive situations to escape them; and help to create a culture of non-violence and respect for women, starting with the way I interact with acquaintances, colleagues, friends, family, children, and my partner(s). but only if 100 other people from anywhere in this dangerous world will commit to do the same."

Iraqi Feminists Protest the New Iraqi Constitution

Tue, 2005-08-02 23:57 — ac

Iraqi women staged a sit-in in downtown Baghdad on July 19 to protest the erosion of women's rights in the new Iraqi constitution, which is currently under construction. This demonstration barely registered in the international press, but the Guardian ran a short article about it:

"Despite the appalling security situation in Iraq (two Sunni members of the committee who are drafting the constitution were gunned down last week), thousands of brave Iraqi women, from different governorates, risked their lives last Tuesday when they congregated in Baghdad's Al-Firdaws Square to protest against their exclusion in the draft constitution. The international press, busy reporting the continuing violence of the insurgency, failed to cover this event and it got little publicity within Iraq."

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