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Wednesday, February 7, 2007
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Massacre in China to harvest human organs
The horrific trade of human organs that is claiming millions of lives of unwilling human being all over the world is adding new dimension into the brutality of human being themselves after the horrors of holocaust of the 40s in the last century.
Amid huge demand and thriving market for body parts especially the eyes, hearts and kidneys belonging to children, reports have it that at least one million children have been kidnapped and killed in the past 20 years for organs. A kidney or eyes can fetch up to US $10,000 and a heart could cost US $50,000 or more, writes Prakriti Gupta for aaswat.com. The writer further declares that men involved in the business may earn between US $50 and US $20, 000, similarly impoverished parents persuaded to sell their children's organs for as little as US $500.
Recent studies on organs harvesting indicate that kidney fetches US $5000 in Turkey , however a kidney from an Indian or Iraqi child, would cost a mere US $2000.
Canadian investigators involved in a research concerning organs trafficking in China claim that this business has become a state sponsored one in the country. According to the report published by the research group on last January in China members of the Falun Gong cult– a native spiritual movement in opposition to the communist government – are especially targeted by the state.
News reports also claim that during a conference held in the Philippines in 2005 the Chinese Deputy Minister of Public Health, Huang Jiefu, admitted that organs are indeed taken from executed prisoners.
The report citing the Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by Stepháne Courtois, et al., declares that Chinese communists have been responsible for killing more innocent people than either Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin were able to do in toto. Millions of peasants, intellectuals, missionaries, political enemies, and others were swept up into China ’s decades-long murderous rampage. Women who bear more than the one child allowed by the Chinese government are forced to abort their unborn children. Tibetan Buddhists fleeing from their Chinese-controlled homeland are shot as they try to escape to neighbouring Bhutan , India , and Nepal .
The report on organ-harvesting notes, China directs its ire especially at the Falun Gong, Christians, Tibetans, Buddhists, and minorities. But it is Falun Gong that receives special attention. Those of Falun Gong who self-identified were treated viciously after the famous Tianamen Square protests. Once arrested, they were tortured and taken to their home districts where their family members and co-workers were also singled out for having been exposed to the Falun Gong contagion. Those arrested are first killed and the organs thus received are sent overseas. A recent write up on organ harvesting in China claims that in the cold calculation of China’s ever more prosperous communist masters, the transaction of organs harvested from prisoners (presumably having had the organs removed while they were still alive) is an merely an efficient and profitable use of a human resource that would otherwise go to waste.
[Various Sources]
Political Education Need of the Day
Dr. Prem Sharma, Program incharge CDRD,TU
Educating Nepali citizen with politics has become imperative of the hour. Not only for the eligible voters, but also the elite people, political cadres of the respective political parties who have begun to guess and define the upcoming constituent Assembly (CA) are curious to know what it is. Except few students of political science who happen to study constitutionalism and electoral system may be familiar with it. So it has become elephant identification to the curiosity blind people. On the other, new pundits (born at Janaipurnima) are being parsons who are ritualizing provocative dreams sans their true virtue of mantra. Therefore, it is widely felt that political discourses should be held at two tiers, i.e., to the academia and among the elite people who educate and impart what it is.
Therefore, the concern responsible stakeholders- political parties, educational institution, lawyers associations, media establishment, civil societies, GOs and I/NGOs and other related institutions should come up with responsibility to impart a basic political education programs for a while. Awareness formulating the great citizen charter must be given. People have faith and myths on political jargons that emancipate their decades long sorrow plaits and mischievous fortune. Let them fully aware about the modus operandi of what constituent assembly and state restructure inclusive democracy, republican setup, and so forth offing on the screen. What position and role of a sovereign citizen does have the right and responsibility of the state for the well being of its citizen, and likewise of the popular elected bodies at the centre and the local. Even, if it is possible, they should be given knowledge about the mandate of the ballot, what legitimacy does mean in governance, how popular sovereignty is periodically renewed (elections), how general will transformed into law, the majority (50 plus one) and minority governing mechanism (First- Post-The- Post, the present election system), etc. It will certainly enhance democratization and institutionalization of Nepalese politics in days ahead.
The sentiment of the April mass movement 2006 should not be unleashed on sentiment and cashed sans prudence or reason. The greatest trust or responsibility of the nation has been befallen upon the Nepali citizen to discharge (it with) wisely. No one to blame about the past deeds ever since 1950s, Nepali citizen could not manage the restoration of democracy (following it) in 60s, 80s and 90s. Therefore, the event (2006) of 21 st century should verdict the left over tasks for the past and really empowers the Nepali citizen. It is not to retreat the state function in the past track. The making and remaking of the constitution has taken over six decades long time. We have not yet a single constitution where amendments could accommodate the issues and grievances that arise time and again while discharging the state function. Thus, it is advisable to those makers who are at the mandap (authority) to possess the basic fundamental knowledge of the great responsibility (charting out the CA) and the ground reality of Nepalese socio-political domain. It is neither a gun nor a fun driven by sentiment and rash. Nor it is restoring the incompetent, and unaccounted corrupted rulers who did lot misdeeds in the past.
The popular demand of the movement is for the behavioral or change in the mind set of our past rulers, since all Nepali are aware of the performances of King Prithivinarayan Shah till the immediate past rulers. The aspirations and expectations of the movement activists are boundless. It must be measured and manifested validly. The just deed of the state or popular government can only satisfy the people’s grievances and can tear out illusions occupied in our mind set. The democratic era post 1990 was observed vividly by Nepali citizen. They waited the implementation and execution of the state laws, documents etc that had been enacted and avowed. The words must transform into action and deeds. The change should change the legacy. In of those days, great discrepancies took place.
It is undeniable fact that the new generation will not be satisfied with the democracy or what so else, political set up vividly painted in the canvas unless the change owns (changes) their well-being. Then the popular charter, the Nepali Magna Carta (the constitution of the people of Nepal) should be sincerely executed. It should not be misinterpreted as it used to “according to the spirit and will of the constitution” itself rather the will and spirit of the popular legitimacy. The constitution or any public document is for the well-being of the citizen or general public and it is nor for document to document. The maker (Nepali citizen) themselves should feel and directly benefit from its practices. Verbal and paper democracy is over as we witnessed the destiny of the 1990s Constitution and its preamble or article- 116. The doctrine of “two pillar theory” and “alliance among constitutional forces” wished by our friends have hardly worked. The will or power of the people became/is ultimate.
Thus, the verdict of the re-restoration of democracy is not to see and hear the democracy in the paper and on the lips or mouth of the rulers rather to feel as well as enjoy oneself practically what one had not obtained and the things been translated into practice. Therefore, the concerns stakeholders, authorities and responsible citizen have to draw the attention of the Nepali citizen what they are doing and what ought to do. The ignorance to the forth coming participation of the citizen to decide on their own fate themselves should be disillusioned.
Endless Divide
-Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma, Development Analyst, New Delhi, India
For once, numbers are indeed dazzling! Markets are booming with unprecedented gains at the stock exchange; growth rate has brought us into the big boys’ club; and the best of brands have made a beeline to enter the country’s bustling superstores and malls. India’s image of fly-ridden, poverty-stricken and dynastic politics has long been forgotten as it surges ahead to be the next investment avenue for the best in business across the globe. Seems, India has finally arrived!
India may have arrived as a rich state but it presides over relatively poor populations. The national wealth may have grown but the per capita income continues to wriggle at the bottom of the table. With 300 million people still living less than a dollar a day, India has justifiably slipped to 127th rank - from 124th in 2002 - in the UNDP’s annual human development index. This annual report ranks 177 nations on basic parameters like poverty; gender equality, education and access to water.
Yet, the entire world has been fascinated by our successes; many predict India to be the next superpower. It is of little concern that over 100,000 farmers have committed suicide between 1993 and 2003; some 116 districts in the country have been under the control of Naxalites; and nearly half of the population still eases itself in the open. India may have emerged on the global scene but as a nation it is divided on various ideas of nationhood.
Our inherited division along religion, caste, language and ethnicity has been superimposed by new divisions. Hindutwa, Naxalites and Peoples War Groups are new identities that are creating a deep divide amongst the communities. As our society embraces these new identities, the existing divides get perpetuated by the opportunistic politics of our times. These new divisions in the society are being built on the economic criteria of classes. Undoubtedly, middle class has emerged as a cushion to justify all aberrations.
The growth-led model of Indian economy has been legitimized by the middle class, which may have lost interest in electoral democracy but sustains market-driven economy with its insatiable urge for consumption. It helps create and sustain the image of ‘shining India’, as it asserts its presence in a rapidly urbanizing India. A new divide is in the making as resources from the poor are diverted to meet the growing urban demand. Be it bottled water or soft drinks, urban middle class demand sustains the market-led economy and vice versa.
India may have become a convincing democracy for the world at large. Deep within, it seems to be failing for the lower half of the population. The dominating elite and the expanding middle class does not vote any longer — an electoral divide in the making— because it can fix its problems through a phone call. It runs its generator if the electricity fails and pumps its own water if the municipal tap runs dry. Far from raising these concerns, it legitimizes the continuance of weak governments by withdrawing its social obligations.
No wonder, the state has become arrogant in the pursuit of narrower interests. Is Indian democracy working? The disillusioned lot often shuns the electoral process, leaving the dominant decisions to be decided by a few. Governments’ chosen by minority votes conveniently rule the majority, another divide that has far-reaching implications. Ever-lower voter turnout is as much a reality in the US as in India, a perpetual story repeated during each election in two of the world’s largest democracies.
Endless debates and disagreements; unending tale of political controversies; growing misuse of public funds; and conversion of non-issues into issues have indeed driven the conscientious crazy about the way democracy governs people. With tenure in government reduced due to emergence of coalition politics, democracies run the risk of losing out credibility faster. Mud-slinging does the rest, clouding truth behind political muddle.
A study in the United States has confirmed the worst. People show little interest in what is going on. For them, the change of face of the government does not mean change in governance. Out to outsmart the previous regime, the new faces plunge democracy into deeper malaise. In the bid to juggle competing interests, governments end up favoring the section they seek support from. Amusingly, democracy indeed is turning people off!
Gone are the days when political debates were followed with apt attention. With contents having been reduced to political rhetoric, the debates lack vision to sustain interest of the people. Most put the politicians into ‘they are all the same’ category. Media’s projection of political turmoil, of exposing the insidious political hobnobbing is viewed akin to sops, however, with a political flavor. Clearly, democratic governance has lost its contemporary relevance.
Political analysts are a concerned lot. Why have people lost interest in the way they are governed? Will this disinterest not encourage autocracies to develop? Is disenchantment and violence growing because democracies have failed to honor popular will? Is the experiment with democratic form of governance all but over? Baffling as these are, the questions reflect the deep despair in the system and a lack of faith in those who stand custodian to it.
The decline in quality of democratic governance has seen a concurrent rise in neo-consumerism at the same time. Unmindful of what we might be consuming, most of us now live to consume. As waistlines expand out of proportion, the role of a responsive citizen seems to be getting squeezed out. With the market growing and reaching out to every conceivable corner, the consumer in us is usurping the social conscience - leaving the governance to somebody else.
Presumably, this transformation comes handy for those who govern. If people could be unmindful of what the government does, the room is laid wide open for political manipulations and maneuvering. So, how about turning the last man a mindless consumer too, politicians wonder? Hands in glove, market nurture the government and the government encourages the market. From this nexus has emerged a strong army of consumers, the I-don’t-care kind.
Providing easy credit at the doorsteps seems to work, the corporations are out there to appropriate every penny of this newfound empowerment, a la surplus. Trapping every citizen into the credit-debt-credit cycle seems to have eased governance. Depending on plastic currency, the Americans encash some seven trillion dollars a day from their credit cards. In order to wriggle out from this credit that becomes a debt the following day, the crucial governance is left to the likes of Bush and Blair.
Watch out! Responsive governments all across are encouraging easy credits to their people. Be it micro-credit or micro-finance, the modus operandi is masked by intentions that seem progressive to the army of non-governmental actors. Eased of their obligations towards the poor, governments get their portfolio skinned down to serving narrower interests. No wonder, the corporations and the media are getting encouraged to even elbow out the politicians!
The politician-corporate nexus is out in the open. Swearing-in ceremonies are brazen display of powerful alliances - citizens are marginalized behind gun-wielding security. Democracies are indeed turning out to be ‘masked’ autocracies, perpetuating inherited divided alongside creating fresh new divides. British imperialism sustained itself on ‘divide and rule’; present democracies pursue the same but ‘under wraps’. As popular will disappears and the concerns do not get systematically addressed, power concentrates on the top perpetrating the abuse of power and civil rights of the citizens.
The social development processes have yet to make a sense of this ongoing multi-layered division that the society is continuously being subjected to. •
Text courtesy: The Dialogues; a FES New Delhi publication Number 3, 2006. The author is also the Director of the Delhi based Ecological Foundation-Thanks the FES and the author-ed.
Global warming caused by humans disrupting the climate system for 1,000 years to come
Citizens-of-the-earth, Conference-for-global-ecological-governance, Paris
Protecting global environment is largely beyond the capacity of individual countries: Moon (Left Side)
Rapid environmental change is all around us. The most obvious example is climate change, which will be one of my top priorities as Secretary-General. But that is not the only threat. Many other clouds are on the horizon, including water shortages, degraded land and the loss of biodiversity.
This assault on the global environment risks undermining the many advances human society has made in recent decades. It is undercutting our fight against poverty. It could even come to jeopardize international peace and security.
These issues transcend borders. Protecting the global environment is largely beyond the capacity of individual countries. Only concerted and coordinated international action will be sufficient. The natural arena for such action is the United Nations.
I am strongly committed to ensuring that the United Nations helps the international community make the transition to sustainable development. The UN Environment Programme -- our focal point on this issue -- has embarked on wide-ranging reforms to ensure it is equal to this challenge. The other parts of the UN family are mobilizing all their efforts too. I plan to strengthen this work further.
Much more must also be done by Governments, business and civil society. The world needs a more coherent system of international environmental governance. We need to invest more in green technologies and smarter policies. And we need to focus in particular on the needs of the poor, who already suffer disproportionately from pollution and disasters.
Natural resources and ecosystems underpin all our hopes for a better world. I look forward to working with all of you to build a stronger stewardship of our one and only planet.
Climate change escapes all control: Chirac
Soon will come a day when climate change escapes all control. We are on the verge of the irreversible.
Faced with this emergency, the time is not for half measures. The time is for a revolution -- a revolution of consciousness, a revolution of the economy. A revolution of political action.
Our international political system is inadequate for dealing with the vital challenge of the 21st century -- the question of the environment. In this area too, unilateralism leads to a dead-end, existing UN Environment Programme should be transformed into a full-blown United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA), with more far-reaching powers and greater means.
This UNEA will carry the environmental conscience of the world; with a strong political mandate... it will give greater strength, greater coherence to our common action.
The Paris conference is aimed to build a coalition of support for the creation of such an agency.
We are, and rightly so, proud of our intelligence and our technical achievements. But in the space of a few centuries we have burned resources accumulated over millions of years," he told the gathering.
We are destroying eco-systems that sheltered a biodiversity lost for ever, depriving ourselves of vital keys for the future. We know all this: so what are we waiting for to take the necessary measures?"
There is a radical transformation of our methods of production and consumption, calling for a break with past technologies and a massive shift towards clean energies such as solar power, and bio-energy. But to do so we need clear and loyal rules of competition. Either the international community works to create them, or we face 'ecological war'. The effort must be fairly shared, northern countries, first to build their wealth on the mass exploitation of natural resources, must accept their responsibilities.
[Excerpts, Various Sources -Ed]
Synopsis of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report
The world’s average surface temperature has increased by around 0.74 C over the past 100 years (1906 - 2005). A warming of about 0.2 C is projected for each of the next two decades.
The best estimates for sea-level rise due to ocean expansion and glacier melt by the end of the century (compared to 1989 1999 levels) have narrowed to 28 - 58 cm, versus 9 - 88 cm in the 2001 report, due to improved understanding. However, larger values of up to 1 m by 2100 cannot be ruled out if ice sheets continue to melt as temperature rises.
Sea ice is projected to shrink in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Large areas of the Arctic Ocean could lose year-round ice cover by the end of the 21st century if human emissions reach the higher end of current estimates. The extent of Arctic sea ice has already shrunk by about 2.7 per cent per decade since 1978, with the summer minimum declining by about 7.1 per cent per decade.
Snow cover has decreased in most regions, especially in spring. The maximum extent of frozen ground in the winter/spring season decreased by about 7 per cent in the Northern Hemisphere over the latter half of the 20th century. The average freezing date for rivers and lakes in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 150 years has arrived later by some 5.8 days per century, while the average break-up date has arrived earlier by 6.5 days per century.
It is “very likely” that precipitation will increase at high latitudes and “likely” it will decrease over most subtropical land regions. The pattern of these changes is similar to what has been observed during the 20th century.
It is “very likely” that the upward trend in hot extremes and heat waves will continue. The duration and intensity of drought has increased over wider areas since the 1970s, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. The Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia have already become drier during the 20th century.
The number of tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes) per year is projected to decline. However, the intensity of these storms is expected to increase, with higher peak wind speeds and more intense precipitation, due to warmer ocean waters.
