Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Haiti and the African Union-Uniting the African Diaspora

As an observer to the African Union for years, the Western hemisphere's most impoverished nation -Haiti-will finally become a formal member in 2013. What are the advantages to Haiti? From the 'Arab Spring' to 'Occupy', the worlds' people are in the grip of revolution. Only two years after the earthquake(2010) and devastating hurricane (2004), and decades of systematic  impoverishment, is the Martelly regime doing good by Haiti? More than 200,000  children work as 'restavecs' (unpaid household servants) and gender inequality is swelling.

http://www.bet.com/news/global/2012/02/07/haiti-to-join-african-union.html

Sunday, February 19, 2012

The 'Arab Spring moves to Sudan

In Sudan this past Friday, the Bashir regime police forces stormed the University of Khartoum in a pre-emptive move to stop a student demonstration planned for today. The 'Arab Spring', like other revolutions, is a movement of the citizenry to exercise their universal right of protest. 300 students , arrested in Khartoum this weekend in the night while sleeping, were interrogated, jailed, and later released. They join students throughout the Arab world who have become the vanguard in helping to shape the future of global governance based upon equality and justice. this is a human wildfire that cannot be stopped.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202180112.html

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Civil society movement will revolutionize everyone!

Global unrest, street protests, and citizen activism are happening everywhere as broad social movements that express civil discontent about social and economic inequalities, and lead to revolution and change. From every level of society around the world, our world is changing. Change is inevitable, healthy, and life-enhancing. In my travels on and offline, I am interacting and working with people-in villages, on webinars, on projects, in cities. As conflicts mount, as traditional power is challenged, we're all feeling a greater interdependence. Average citizens are using collective action to demand social transformation through innovative uses of technology and social networking, anti-violence campaigns, civil society alliances, and community organizing as forms of civic participation. From Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Together and the ‘Arab Spring’, climate change to immigration reform, widening economic inequalities, to the new learning modalities of the Digital Age and Open Courseware that democratizes education, we all are caught in the mix. We ALL have skin in the game.  Social movements aim to raise human consciousness, improve the quality of life for all, and challenge political repression or economic crisis through grass-roots movements that resist government crackdowns and confront corporate greed. It is an exciting time to be alive!
Check in with your projects, your commitments, your new circles of co-workers rebuilding society everywhere. Meanwhile, view this episodic cartoon on development in South Africa-using art for civil and political awareness.

http://cdrablog.net/2012/02/13/civil-society-at-the-crossroads/