Archive for the ‘poverty’ Category

CounterPsyOps

Unemployment in Spain already stands at 26%. Crowds scavenge the streets at night for food. And life is about to get tougher still

20130102-185104.jpg
A family prepares to sleep on the street in Madrid. Oxfam says that by 2022, 38% of the Spanish population could be in poverty. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

By Giles Tremlett, The Guardian

Forget, for a moment, the Greek tragedy. The tale of social woe set to play out in Spain this year is both bigger and more important to the world. For the drama of rescuing the euro, or letting it sink, will be played out on Spanish soil.

That is not to say Spaniards will have it worse than Greeks, though Eurostat figures show only Bulgaria and Romania now have a higher percentage of people deemed at risk of poverty. Spain’s economy will shrink, once more, by 1.5% – a dramatic enough figure, though one most…

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Violent clashes erupted between police and protesters in the northern Italian town of Riva del Garda as tens of thousands took to the streets of Italy in a nationwide anti-austerity demonstration dubbed ‘No Monti Day.’ – READ MORE http://on.rt.com/yg6nrw

In Rome police expected some 30,000 to take to the streets, but activists estimate that up to 100,000 showed up.

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Occupied Palestine | فلسطين

By Markus Fitzgerald | 15 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On the evening of July 26, social media lit up with messages from residents of the village Nabi Saleh.

“Four army jeeps and around 20 soldiers standing at the entrance” tweeted Manal Tamimi, and later, “for the third day (in a [row]) the army invading the village before eftar.”

Nabi Saleh resident Manal Tamimi – click to see more photos

Since late 2010, Nabi Saleh has been raided regularly by Israeli forces, and the religious month of Ramadan is no exception. The long awaited eftar meal brings relief to the fasting people. In the little village, only a 15 minute drive northwest of Ramallah, eftar often arrives with uninvited guests.

The reasons for these punitive raids must be found in late 2009 when people from Nabi Saleh and nearby villages organized to protest the occupation and the…

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CounterPsyOps

 

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A NUN who has been superior at a Syrian monastery for the past 18 years has warned that media coverage of ongoing violence in that country has been “partial and untrue”. It is “a fake”, Mother Agnes Mariam said, which “hides atrocities committed in the name of liberty and democracy”.

Superior of the Melkite Greek Catholic monastery of St James the Mutilated in Qara, in Syria’s diocese of Homs, which is in full communion with Rome, she left Ireland yesterday after a three-day visit during which she met representatives of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Maynooth.

She told The Irish Times she was in Ireland “not to advocate for the (Assad) regime but for the facts”. Most news reports from Syria were “forged, with only one side emphasised”, she said. This also applied to the UN, whose reports were “one-sided and not worthy…

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Silver Lining

Press TV

Bahraini protesters have held demonstration in the capital, Manama, demanding the downfall of the Al Khalifa regime in the country.

The anti-regime rally was staged on Monday night following similar protests in several villages and towns across the country over the past days.

Bahraini government forces have used excessive force against the protesters since the beginning of demonstrations in February 2011.

According to the leading opposition party, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, more than 1,400 prisoners are being kept as hostages in the regime’s jails.

The group has accused the Manama regime of responding to the demands of the people with killings, arrests and torture.

Meanwhile, Bahraini security forces arrested four protesters in the northern village of Tubli on Sunday. The Bahraini forces also attacked protesters during an anti-regime rally in the northeastern island of Sitra.

The police frequently use teargas canisters, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to disperse…

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PN

Disclose.tv
August 8, 2012

The pineal gland (also called the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, epiphysis or the “third eye”) is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions. Its shape resembles a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it is located near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two rounded thalamic bodies join.The Secret: What they don’t want you to KNOW!

Every human being’s Pineal Gland or The third eye can be activated to spiritual world frequencies and enables you to have the sense of all knowing, godlike euphoria and oneness all around you. A pineal gland once tuned into to proper frequencies with help of meditation, yoga or various esoteric, occult methods, enables a person to travel into other dimensions, popularly…

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Silver Lining

Palestinian woman hospitalized after settlers’ attack

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– A Palestinian woman from Al-Khalil was hospitalized after a group of Jewish settlers threw rocks at her south of the city on Wednesday evening.

Security sources told Quds Press that the settlers of the Kiryat Arba settlement threw rocks at a 28-year-old Palestinian woman.

They said that the woman suffered head injuries and was taken to Al-Khalil government hospital where her condition was described as moderate.

In a separate incident, large numbers of Israeli occupation forces stormed Beit Ummar village to the north of Al-Khalil on Wednesday night. IOF soldiers broke into and searched many homes but no arrests were reported.

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Palestinian journalist survives settlers’ attack

JENIN, (PIC)– Jewish settlers opened fire at a Palestinian car on the Ramallah-Nablus road near Sinjil village on Wednesday night hitting the car but not the driver.

Radio Palestine said that…

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By Dr. Mercola

african child Poor African Countries Get Vaccines but No Food or Clean Water

As one of the world’s most well-known and respected voices, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has a unique opportunity to call attention to important social issues and make a huge impact worldwide.

Unfortunately Gates, through his foundation, has been partnering with not only biotech giant Monsanto to hoist genetically modified seeds on third-world countries, but also with Big Pharma, to whom he pledged $10 billion to provide vaccinations to children around the world.

This is billed as a humanitarian effort to save lives, but what children in developing countries need is healthy food, clean water and better sanitation.

These are the keys to preventing the spread of infectious disease, and they are being wholly ignored by the likes of Bill Gates and other vaccine proponents – at the children’s expense!

The Aftermath of a Bill Gates Vaccine Campaign …

An American family, the Gianelloni’s, visited a village in Uganda shortly after a Bill Gates vaccine campaign swept through and discovered what Bill Gates’ money does for hungry, sick children – essentially nothing.

The family found that the children were starving, living on one meager meal a day. Their only water source was the same stagnant stream that they bathed in. They had no sewage or sanitation. But, thanks to Gates, they were now vaccinated against measles and polio. Never mind that the most pressing epidemics in the area were actually Yellow Fever, malaria, HIV/AIDs and diarrhea …

Worse yet, one little girl who had received a measles vaccine two weeks earlier was now suffering with the measles as a result! After this blogger left, thanks to her and the mission group that arrived with her, the village had a water tank and clean water system, a cow, and a year’s worth of rice and beans. You can probably understand why the blogger made this comment about Gates’ “philanthropy”:

“I don’t care who you are or what side of the vaccine philosophy you fall under, there is no logic in the world that can explain that going into a remote village and giving children who only eat one meal a day and have never had clean drinking water, a vaccine. 

Seriously? Think about it. Can you imagine walking up to this precious little girl and saying ”I know you are starving, but here is a measles vaccine instead. I promise this will make you much healthier than food or water”. It’s a scary day when simple logic no longer exists.

Food & Water, nope. Vaccines, yep. And innocent children suffer the consequences. It’s absurd.

Food, Water, Sanitation is What’s Needed to Help Prevent Disease

The most vulnerable of the world’s children are those in the poorest countries where death and disease are often a result of malnutrition and lack of adequate sanitation and clean drinking water. In many third-world countries, children are often battling some sort of infection 200 days out of the year. Vaccines can be devastating to these already immunosuppressed children, as well as to adults, because vaccines often weaken and confuse the immune system, which ultimately increases the recipient’s susceptibility to the very infectious diseases vaccines are designed to prevent.

Nonetheless, emerging vaccine markets like third-world countries will soon outgrow developed markets by hundreds of billions of dollars. Emerging markets are areas of the world that are beginning to show promise as a profitable venture for many products, including vaccines. And emerging markets – primarily in developing countries in Southeast and Central Asia, and Africa – have been on vaccine makers’ radar for quite some time.

One reason that vaccine makers are interested in these parts of the world is that that’s where most of the world’s deaths from major infectious diseases occur. The only problem has been that, until recently, making vaccines for undeveloped countries with no money to pay for them was not exactly a profitable goal for vaccine makers.

Concerned that developed countries would have little or no resources for addressing serious infectious diseases if vaccine makers continued their pull-out, the World Health Organization and the G8 – the top developed countries in the world – responded with a plan for enticing vaccine companies to stay in the business. That plan was called Advance Market Commitments (AMCs).

AMCs Guarantee Drug Company Profits

Under AMCs, developed countries make legal, binding agreements to purchase vaccines that are needed in low-income countries. The purchase guarantees a bottom line for the manufacturers. In return, the manufacturers promise to sell those vaccines at reduced prices in the countries where they are most needed.

The idea is simple: “rich” nations sign legally binding commitments to purchase and/or finance an AMC vaccine once it’s ready for market. In return for the guaranteed market and income, drug companies promise to sell the new vaccine to “poor” countries at vastly reduced prices.

To speed up the process, the World Health Organization “prequalifies” AMC vaccines in an approval process that slices years off the time it normally takes a vaccine to make it to market.

Unfortunately, legally binding, advance market commitments to purchase vaccines that are mostly needed in third-world countries could backfire on developed countries that don’t need – or want – certain vaccines.

For instance, HPV (human papillomavirus) statistics show that HPV causes 4,000 deaths from cervical cancer per year in the United States, compared to 274,000 worldwide, 88 percent of which are in developing countries. So why were the HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix — which have known safety issues — introduced in the U.S. and Europe, first, instead of going straight to where they’re needed most, if not to help sell huge quantities of the vaccine at premium prices, in anticipation of it becoming an AMC?

Even Gates and a Leading Vaccine Maker Admit Clean Water is Key

Malaria is another one of the top neglected diseases that world health leaders want to address with AMCs, but the ability to resist diseases like malaria requires a strong immune system, and for that, you require good nutrition, clean drinking water, and sanitation. If we want to help people in other countries to lower their malaria rates, and rates of other infectious diseases (like infection-associated diarrhea, which is one of the most common, and most preventable causes of death among children in the developing world) it would be wise to focus on these basics first.

Infectious organisms are more likely to penetrate the bodies of malnourished children due to inadequate vitamin C, which causes their skin to break down more easily and facilitates the entry of bacteria and other pathogens. The same is true for vitamin A deficiency, another common third-world problem, which results in increased susceptibility to infection and which could be rectified in individuals for pennies a day. Also, the living conditions of third-world children are often so poor that they are exposed to inordinately large numbers of pathogens, from which they have little defense.

In order to eradicate infectious disease from a nation, you also have to first address compromised immune systems. If you hit immune suppressed children with a potent, adjuvant-loaded vaccine, you’re far more likely to create new disease, not eradicate it.

With all of the billions being poured into vaccines to “save” the children, how many water purification systems could have been built? How many sanitation facilities? How many rations of meat and fresh produce?

Even Bill Gates himself has admitted that vaccines alone don’t eradicate disease. In a Wall Street Journal article about the resurgence of polio in African countries, Gates said that’s why he is revamping his disease fight to incorporate health, hygiene, and clean drinking water programs into vaccination programs.1 Polio spreads, after all, largely through feces-contaminated water, so ignoring that major risk factor while trying to eradicate the disease is ignorant, to put it nicely.

What’s really interesting is that at least one major vaccine maker has also echoed these sentiments, as evidenced on the front page of GlaxoSmithKline’s presentation to shareholders in June 2010:2

“With the exception of clean drinking water, vaccines are the most cost-effective public health measure,” GSK said.

What if, just what if, the same amount of money that has been spent on vaccines over the past decade had been spent on sanitation facilities, toilets, healthy food and clean water instead?

What You Can Do to Make a Difference

Increasing numbers of vaccines are being introduced not only in third-world countries but also in the developed world, and it’s simply not wise to blindly depend on the information coming directly from the vaccine makers’ PR departments, or from federal health officials, agencies or foundations that are mired in conflicts of interest with industry …

No matter what vaccination choices you make for yourself or your family, it is a basic human right to be fully informed about all the risks of medical interventions and pharmaceutical products, like vaccines, and have the freedom to refuse if you conclude the benefits do not outweigh the risks for you or your child.

Unfortunately, the business partnership between government health agencies and vaccine manufacturers is too close and is getting out of hand. There is a lot of discrimination against Americans, who want to be free to exercise their human right to informed consent when it comes to making voluntary decisions about which vaccines they and their children use.

We cannot allow that to continue.

While it seems “old-fashioned,” the only truly effective actions you can take to protect the right to informed consent to vaccination and expand your rights under the law to make voluntary vaccine choices, is to get personally involved with your state legislators and the leaders in your community.

THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.

Mass vaccination policies are made at the federal level but vaccine laws are made at the state level, and it is at the state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights will have the greatest impact.

Signing up to be a user of NVIC’s free online Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you access to practical, useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community. You will get real-time Action Alerts about what you can do if there are threats to vaccine exemptions in your state. With the click of a mouse or one touch on a Smartphone screen you will be put in touch with YOUR elected representatives so you can let them know how you feel and what you want them to do. Plus, when national vaccine issues come up, you will have all the information you need to make sure your voice is heard. So please, as your first step, sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal.

Right now, in California, the personal belief exemption is under attack by Pharma-funded medical trade organizations and public health officials trying to get a bill (AB 2109) passed that would require parents to get a medical doctor’s signature to file an exemption for personal religious and conscientious beliefs. Watch NVIC’s 90-second public service message and learn more about what you can do if you are a California resident.

Internet Resources

To learn more about vaccines, I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:

  • NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
  • If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
  • Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment by doctors or state officials for making independent vaccine choices.
  • Vaccine Ingredient Calculator (VIC): Find out just how much aluminum, mercury and other ingredients are in the vaccines your doctor is recommending for you or your child.
  • Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) on MedAlerts. Search the government’s VAERS database to find out what kinds of vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths have been reported by patients and heath care workers giving vaccines.

Find a Doctor Who Will Listen to Your Concerns

Last but not least, if your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don’t want, I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to punish those patients and parents, who become truly educated about health and vaccination and want to make vaccine choices instead of being forced to follow risky one-size-fits-all vaccine policies.

If you are treated with disrespect or are harassed in any way by a doctor (or government official), do not engage in an unproductive argument. You may want to contact an attorney, your elected state representatives or local media, if you or your child are threatened.

That said, there is hope.

At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that they’re starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.

So take the time to locate and connect with a doctor who treats you with compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child, and isn’t just competing for government incentives designed to increase vaccination rates at any cost.

Read the entire article here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/06/healthy-foods-not-vaccines.aspx

Fair Use Notice: This web site contains some copyrighted material whose use has not been authorized by the copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Fair Use notwithstanding we will immediately comply with any copyright owner who wants their material removed or modified, wants us to link to their web site

Never seen this, but it is on my “To Watch” list so i thought i would share, feel free to leave comments about it and i will reply once watched.

The Extinction Protocol

August 6, 2012ROMEThe big news this morning is coming from an interview Italy’s Mario Monti gave to German magazine Der Spiegel, in which he warned that growing Italian resentment against Germany risks the break-up of not just the eurozone but the European Union itself. He said the eurozone tensions “bear the traits of a psychological dissolution of Europe,” adding that Europe “must work hard to contain it.” Asked about a strengthening in resentment between the allegedly profligate southern European nations and the bloc’s thrifty northern members, Monti told Der Spiegel “it is very alarming, and we have to fight against it. Yes, there is a front line in this area between north and south, there are reciprocal prejudices,” according to AP’s report of the interview. In the meantime, tensions between Germany and Italy appear to be on the rise. The news comes after an Italian newspaper…

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Who profits from our foreign aid?: carving up the pie, where the little-known dominate | Crikey.

 

Who profits from our foreign aid? Today, continuing Crikey’s special coverage, we carve up the cake to show who’s getting what from Australia’s foreign aid budget.

 

The biggest benefactors are not who you think. Rather than the big NGOs, who actually get very little government aid money to deliver programs, the little-known Coffey International tops the list (we’ll delve into them next week). Here are the key findings:

 

  • Corporations get the majority of Australian aid contracts and nearly 85% of the value of those contracts
  • Six corporations get between them more than half of the value of the contracts
  • The corporate share is even larger when you consider the university sector also is nearly always under pressure to include corporate-style profit margins as they seek to compensate for government funding cuts
  • Coffey International gets the largest share and in one year got 37% of the value of the contracts
  • A dramatic shift from NGOs to corporates took place over the Howard years — before 2003, NGOs got a larger share of contracts
  • The aid budget has increased under the Rudd government but for the most part it has been business as usual
  • The proportion of aid contracts going to corporates has slightly declined under Labor with most of the shift going to individuals rather than aid NGOs
  • Many individuals are also trading as small businesses but if the business only appeared to have one or two individuals, these contracts have been included with individuals
  • Contracts often last for several years so some trends across the years may simply reflect that the companies have plenty of work on the books.

 

Read the full Original Post here at Crikey News.

Chart3

Note: This information is posted under the Copyright “fair use policy”. This information is provided free of charge and no monetary gains will be made by the sharing of this information. it is my belief that this information is important to the Australian citizens.  Original source identified and Website and Author stated.

What is the Robin Hood Tax you ask? Check out this video!


Robin Hood – Takes from the rich, and gives to the needy.

HARDA = Horn of Africa Relief and Development Agency.

FAMINE IN HORN OF AFRICA

What is HARDA doing??

HARDA is working with our on the ground partners whom, as you can see from the photo on the left, are distributing food aid right now. Dr Mohamud Sheikh, an executive member of HARDA, has been using his holiday to help with our initial aid effort in Northern Kenya, thanks to a very generous donation from Muslim Aid Australia. He reports “we fed up to 5,927, buying only essential food stuff to increase the number of people that we can reach. We provided Corn meal (maize flour), Oil and Beans – the common diet of the people. The community elders were so pleased that we dd not leave without feedng anyone who turned up for food”.

Help urgently needed

The United Nations declared a famine in parts of Somalia. Famine is declared when a number of preconditions are met. These include when hunger rates among children rise above thirty precent and many people are unable to get food and other basic needs. The UN believes that it is likely that tens of thousands have already died, the majority of these being children.

And the famine is spreading with the Horn of Africa experiencing its worst drought in sixty years. UN officials have said more than eleven million people are in need of food aid.

What can you do??

Please HELP those in such desperate need. Each life is precious and each donation helps preserve a life!
100% of what you donate is going directly to those in need, providing much needed food to those heading to the camps and to those outside the camps who are dying so close to help.
The pictures and stories coming out of these regions would break your heart; and we have so much in comparison to their need!


Donate to HARDA’s HORN OF AFRICA FAMINE AID APPEAL | www.harda.info

Twitter: @AussieActivist

With Christmas fast approaching, i just wanted to remind everyone of the Child Headed Household that i help to support through Joy for Children Uganda.

I have opened this STORE to enable me to sell items i create to help me cover the costs of the sponsorship $157US a month, 100% of the profits made on these items are sent directly to Joy for Children and then used to pay for their education, food, kerosene (no elec), clothing, blankets, medical expenses and more.  I currently pay this by my own finances and as a lower income family with 3 children of our own to support we sometimes struggle to make the full amount to send.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could purchase 1 item from our store and help us to help support 5 Children ranging from 8mths to 17yrs in Uganda to have a better life and some hope for the future.

VISIT OUR STORE HERE.

It’s yet again coming up to Christmas time and there are over 1 billion people in the world starving this Christmas. Why not use your money for good and change and sponsor a child for someone you love for christmas this year, or even for yourself!

A most rewarding way to spend $25 – $50 dollars a month is to help those who are the innocents in all this chaos in the world….the children.

JOY FOR CHILDREN UGANDA is a great NGO whom are locally run in Uganda and you can sponsor a child direct through them (please note, this is NOT tax deductable for Australian Citizens)

COMPASSION AUSTRALIA is another great Australian Based NGO who sponsor children. Your money actually gets to the child you sponsor and not the whole community.

If you do anything this Christmas “Just for the sake of it” – Sponsor a Child and the gift of love you will receive is priceless.

-Freeuganda

My Sponsored Children – Please check this page out and visit our Store. 100% of the profits from the sale of these items are sent directly to Uganda for support on the Sponsorship of a Child Headed Household. Please consider purchasing a gift from our store and help us support this wonderful family of children. (NB: Betty is a budding scientist and has dreams to make it big and attend University. Please help by purchasing our products or contact us if you wish to donate)

From Right: Norman (baby), Betty, Isaac, Naume and Peter.

So recently i’ve heard some fasinating stories that refugee’s and asylum seekers here in Australia receive greater benefits from Centrelink than our ordinary citizens! WHOAH !! so what i’ve done is found the information so that you guys can educate yourselves and understand more about what is true and what is false. So here we go!

The circulation of myths and misinformation is one of the biggest barriers to understanding the issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers. Myths create confusion and can fuel conflict, resentment and disharmony.

Refugee Children and Family in Australia Dention Centre

MEDIA BLUNDERS

Refugees, asylum seekers and the Australians who support them have had to endure countless media articles full of inaccuracies and stereotypes. But sometimes media organisations go one step further and public information which is blatantly false. To see a full list of media releases in response to Media Blunders – CLICK HERE

Hoax Emails about Centrelink Benefits

In October 2007, ROCA issue a media release calling on Australians to ignore a hoax email which clamined that refugees receive more money from centrelink than age pensioners. Recently, a new hoax email, which claims that illegal immigrants and refugees receive higher rates of payment under a number of centrelink programs, has also been circulated. Both emails are blatantly inaccurate and intend to create resentment towards refugees and fuel disharmony.

The Refugee Council recommends that anhone receiving these hoax emails should delete them and inform the person who forwarded the email that the information it contains is false. A media release containing updated information and responding to the claims in the new hoax email can be found here.

Why the emails are inaccurate

MYTH: Refugees can receive social security payments simply because they are refugees.
FACT: A refugee who has premanent residency in Australia receives exactly the same social security benefit as any Australian born person in the same circumstances. Refugees apply for social security through centrelink like everyone else and are assessed for the different payment options in the same way as everyone else. There are no separate centrelink allowances that one can receive simply by virtue of being a refugee,nor do refugees receive cash payments under either the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS) or the settlement grants program (SGP).

MYTH: A single refugee receives $1458 more per month than an age pensioner.
FACT: A single person applying for a special benefit or the newstart allowance (whether he/she is a refugee or not) will receive $456 per fortnight, where as a single person on the age pension payment will receive a fortnightly payment of $671.90. A single age pensioner therefore receives over $200 per fortnight more than a single refugee (or a single Australian Born Person) who qualifies for special benefit or newstart – not $1458 per month less, as claimed in the first hoax email. Australian citizens and permanent residents with dependent children on lower to middle incomes (including refugees) may also be eligible to recieive family tax benefit or parenting payments, however none of these allowances are paid at a higher rate than the single age pension.

MYTH: Refugees receive higher rates of payment under the centrelink programs than age pensioners or other australians.
FACT: Centrelink payments are calculated at exactly the same rate for both refugees and non-refugees (for instance, a single australian born person and a single refugee on the newstart allowance would both receive exactly the same payment of $456). The hoax emails which claims that illegal immigrants and refugees receive higher rates of payment than age pensions under a number of centrelink programs, including the partner allowance and the hardship allowance, quotes figures which are grossly inaccurate. For instance, a single person on an Age Pension payment receives a fortnight payment of $671.90, not $253 as claimed in the email and the maximum payment for the partner allowance is $411.50 not $472.50 as claimed.

MYTH: Asylum seekers can receive centrelink payments.
FACT: Asylum seekers are NOT entitled to the same forms of financial support as citizens or permanent residents. The asylum seeker assistance (ASA)Scheme provides assistance to eligible asylum seekers who are in the process of haaving their refugee status determined. The ASA Scheme offers income support to cover basic living expenses, paid at 89 percent of the centrelink special benefit. This would equal approximately $405.84 per fortnight for a single asylum seeker – over $260 less than a single pension.

MYTH: Illegal Immigrants can receive centrelink payments.
FACT: In general, only Australian citizens and permanent residents can receive social security payments from centrelink and illegal immigrants would certainly not be entitled to such support. It is also factually incorrect to refer Recognised refugees in australia by defintiion hold either a refugee visa or protection visa, both of which entitle the holder to permanent residency. Asylum seekers – regardless of how they arrive in Australia – are permitted under australian and international law to enter australia for the purpose of seeking asylum, therefor asylum seekers have not broken any law and should not be referred to as illegal immigrants.

Further Reading:
Statements about the hoax emails have been issued by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Minister for human services. These statements can be found here

Information on the IHSS can be found HERE

Information on the SGP can be found HERE

Information on the ASA Scheme can be found HERE

URGENT APPEAL LAUNCHED FOR HAITI CRISIS

Compassion Australia has launched an urgent appeal for the children of Haiti after the recent devastating earthquake. Compassion has more than 64,000 children supported in the country, including more than 4,600 sponsored by Australians.

* DONATE NOW

The organisation has committed 100 per cent of funds raised through the Haiti Earthquake Disaster Appeal to the people of Haiti. Compassion is not withholding ANY funds for administration purposes.

Compassion CEO Paul O’Rourke said the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the country of Haiti this morning was cause for grave concern for the thousands of Compassion assisted children in the region.

He said the organisation had already mobilised an emergency response team from Miami that will fly to the Dominican Republic and bus into the capital of Port-au-Prince, as the airport has been closed.

via Compassion Australia.

Gulu

Former internally displaced people who have returned to their homes in Gulu District are facing shortage of clean drinking water, Daily Monitor has learnt.

In an interview over the weekend, the chairman of Palaro Sub-county in Gulu, Mr David Ngole, said women walk for over 15 kilometres in search of drinking water. Mr Ngole urged the government to intervene immediately, adding that any delay could severely frustrate resettlement efforts in the war battered district.

Danger

“They are exposed to rapists at night and snake bites as they travel in the bush in search of water,” he added. Mr Ngole added that water sources in villages like Abwoc Bel, Wipolo, Owalo and Kalali dried up when people were still in the camps.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Works and Technical Services, Mr Alex Otim, said some women are forced to collect rain water from mud ponds. “Some of them drink unsafe water and this exposes them to risks of getting bilharzia,” Mr Otim said. He added that the council would make provision of safe water and roads a priority.

Official figures indicate that in Gulu District alone, over 85 per cent of former displaced persons have returned home and several camps have been closed. The Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency displaced thousands of people in northern and eastern Uganda and forced them into camps.

As reported via Daily Monitor: Truth Everyday; Uganda News, Business, Travel, Sports, Elections  – Gulu residents trek miles for water.

OPINION

“Whilst reading a blog tonight i come across this bit of information, i thought it would be relevant to share, i really think people should also click on the link at the end and read the full report.  This is a SERIOUS issue that needs to be taken seriously, with over 1 billion going hungry each day it is our duty to act, change and be aware of what is going on in our global community. i cannot stress the urgency of the situations for those in refugee and IDP camps worldwide. Scenes of hopelessness, desperation, suffering in the face of the most resilient people i have ever seen. I Urge the Aus citizens and Government to ACT on Climate Change, help reduce our carbon footprint for our earth to survive. ” – Rebecca Fowler (*Freeuganda)

REPORT

Shorbanu Khatun of Bangladesh stood out among the thousands of suited negotiators in Copenhagen. Khatun’s husband was killed by a tiger when their land was parched by extended dry seasons and flooded with salt water, forcing him to venture into the jungle to feed his family.

Then in May, Cyclone Aila destroyed Khatun’s home, along with those of 500,000 others, forcing her to live in an internally displaced persons’ camp on an embankment with thousands of other survivors. At high tide, they are flooded up to their chests. It is hard to imagine a more arduous existence.

Khatun describes her experience over five years: “Everything seems to have changed. It is suddenly too hot. There is a severe scarcity of rain. Because it is too hot, fish have reduced significantly in the river. Skin diseases, headache and diarrhoea have become regular phenomena… I want justice for my life; for my children’s lives and livelihoods.”

But it’s hard to see how the Copenhagen Accord delivers justice to people in poor countries that are least responsible for climate change but suffer its impacts right now.

The Australian Government should see this accord as a floor, not a ceiling. It will be hard to encourage countries such as the US and China to make real progress on climate change, if our ambitions remain low.

Australia, as one of the highest per-capita polluters in the world, and the developed country most at risk from climate change, must increase its target to a science-based 40 per cent by the February deadline. We must also contribute our fair share of climate finance, based on our historical responsibility for emissions and our capacity to pay. With Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday lauding Australia’s 19th consecutive year of growth, we can afford to do this.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd must make clear to Australians that significant changes – in our economy, our society and our relationships with the rest of the world – are needed to meet the climate change crisis.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has been irresponsible in simplifying the complex debate to trite sloganeering. As the alternative leader of our nation, he needs to understand that an effective response demands change, and this will have some costs now.

As numerous studies have shown, the cost of inaction will be far greater – it will cost the Australia dearly if we see a drop in agricultural yields in the country’s food bowl, or have to cope with a rise in the number of catastrophic bushfires and severe weather events.

Globally, 300,000 people die each year from climate change and that number is rising. People like Khatun are not victims; they are finding solutions. But they need the support of the rich countries that are responsible for three-quarters of the carbon in the atmosphere.

Read the full report via Media Releases – Campaigns & Advocacy | Oxfam Australia.

DAKAR, 6 January 2010 (IRIN) – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Guinea is seeking funds to re-stock nutritional centres which are running out of essential fortified foods at a time of rising malnutrition.

The latest monthly nutritional survey in the capital, Conakry, showed that moderate acute malnutrition rose to 8.4 percent in December from 6.9 percent in November. The surveillance, funded by the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, is carried out by Helen Keller International (HKI), the Health Ministry and the government humanitarian office.

Families are increasingly bringing children to NGO-supported nutritional centres but because of a shortage of corn-soya blend (CSB), vegetable oil and sugar – used for treating moderate acute malnutrition – WFP can no longer supply the centres as needed, according to agency officials.

“The demand for CSB is greater than the supply and currently we do not have the funds to furnish all nutritional centres,” Foday Turay, WFP-Guinea head of programme unit, told IRIN.

“WFP is therefore appealing urgently for funds to replenish its stocks of CSB, as well as vegetable oil and sugar, so that we can continue providing much-needed nutritional support throughout Guinea.”

WFP is seeking funds to help 25,000 children and 7,000 pregnant and lactating women.

Mamady Daffe, head of the Health Ministry’s nutrition unit, told IRIN: “Resources for malnutrition treatment are quite limited and this means the situation is worsening by the day.”

High child malnutrition rates are common throughout West Africa; some 4.5 million under-five children, or 9.9 percent, suffer acute malnutrition, according to the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group.

via IRIN Africa | GUINEA: Funds needed to stem child malnutrition – WFP | West Africa | Guinea | Children Health & Nutrition Conflict Aid Policy | News Item.

After reading Peter Eichstaedt: Another year for Kony and the LRA. its just confirmed what i thought to be true about Kony and the Khartoum (possibly) helping him. I said to a few people that if Kony made it to Darfur and was able to regroup the atrocities committed would be explosive.

In recent days reports have been coming through of captures and killings of LRA Rebel forces, but yet Kony still remains at large.  This one man seems to be capable of eluding forces time and time again.

The re-grouping of child soldiers is a violent act and against all human rights. these children are blackmailed, brainwashed and forced to commit atrocities. We need to do more to raise awareness for the plight of all child soldiers.

Through Invisible children over 200 US Congress have co-sponsored the LRA Disarmament and Northern Ugandan Recovery Act 2009, this is campaigning its way to the white house as we speak and they require the help of all the push this bill through. Visit Invisible childrenand check out how you can help end the longest running war in africa.

With the vast improvements in technology these days it is our duty to help those who are less fortunate. Current numbers say only around 5% of northern Uganda has electricity. To live in this century and not have access to electricity, fresh water, medical health and most of all food is atrocious. While westerners throw out tonnes of food each year to waste, over 1 billion* people are going hungry (*via WFP).

I find it hard these days to waste and i refuse to live as though we “have it all” when others have nothing. Poverty is so severe in some places lika Africa, Indonesia, Cambodia and many more, and when i see the amount of waste in my country (australia) it really hits home just how “self centred” our lives have become.

This year i am dedicating some more of my time to be more actively involved in my local community for those less fortunate as well as those abroad in other countries such as Uganda, Congo, Sudan and the like.

People ask me why i centre on Africa and its quite simply because i feel we need to take responsibility for colonilisation of africa. Alot of the issues going on there, all stem back to this time when white man entered and “took over” their countries, pitted northerner’s against southerner’s etc and thus come civil wars and rebel groups, corruption and more. Also, so much goes on in africa it gets very time consuming to spread the area to a vast local (not enough reading time with 3 young children).  A good clip to watch on the colonolisation of Africa is HERE

Each day i read reports of news from all over the world and im determined to make 2010 a year of change for myself, my family, local community and global community, i hope that others can do the same, only with all of us doing this together can we acheive the change we need for the world to survive.

*FreeUganda – Rebecca Fowler

YouTube – L’Esperance Orphanage.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) , led by Joseph Kony, operated in the north from bases in southern Sudan. The LRA committed numerous abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children. In addition to destabilising northern Uganda from bases in Sudan, the LRA congregated in the Bunia area in eastern Congo. They linked up with the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) and other rebel groups battling with forces from the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD)

Some accused the Sudan of supporting the LRA and Uganda of allegedly supporting the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the rebel movement that fought against the Sudanese government. Although both governments denied the accusations, they severed diplomatic relations with eachother on April 22, 1995. However, relations between the two countries improved. In 1999, Sudan and Uganda signed an agreement under which Sudan said it would stop aiding the LRA and Uganda would stop aiding the SPLA.

The LRA continued to kill, torture, maim, rape, and abduct large numbers of civilians, virtually enslaving numerous children. Although its levels of activity diminished somewhat compared with 1997, the area that the LRA targeted grew. The LRA sought to overthrow the Ugandan Government and inflicted brutal violence on the population in northern Uganda. LRA forces also targeted local government officials and employees. The LRA also targeted international humanitarian convoys and local NGO workers.

The LRA has abducted large numbers of civilians for training as guerrillas; most victims were children and young adults. The LRA abducted young girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown.

In particular, the LRA abducted numerous children and, at clandestine bases, terrorized them into virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. More than 6,000 children were abducted during 1998, although many of those abducted later escaped or were released. Most human rights NGOs place the number of abducted children still held captive by the LRA at around 3,000, although estimates vary substantially.

Civil strife in the north has led to the violation of the rights of many members of the Acholi tribe, which is largely resident in the northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum. Both government forces and the LRA rebels–who themselves largely are Acholi–committed violations. LRA fighters in particular were implicated in the killing, maiming, and kidnaping of Alcholi tribe members, although the number and severity of their attacks decreased somewhat compared with 1997.

The LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. They are notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become rebel fighters or concubines. More than one-half-million people in Uganda’s Gulu and Kitgum districts have been displaced by the fighting and are living in temporary camps, protected by the army.

Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

YouTube – “Northern Uganda: A History of Suffering” pt. 1.