Conference held on HIV and AIDS at UCT

South Africa’s higher education sector begins a three-day conference on HIV and AIDS today at the University of Cape Town. For more on I chatted to Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, the Programme Director of the Higher Education HIV and AIDS programme on VOC's Breakfast Show...

16 Days of Activism: Is it effective?

This is the ninth year that I have been involved in the 16 Days of Activism of No Violence Against Women and Children in some way. Either as a journalist or helping out local NGO’s in my community in raising awareness about the scourge of abuse.

I first become aware of the various forms of abuse when I was convinced by my mother to help Families South Africa’s Kensington outlet arrange a human chain in the area to raise awareness about abuse. Their target market was school children from Grade 7 to matric.

The response to this initiative was overwhelming, at the time I was not working as a practicing journalist, so instead of reporting on the event I made sure that every media house in Cape Town knew about the event.

"1 in 9 Women who are raped in South Africa go to the police to report the rape"

What was interesting about this 2008 event was not only were radio stations and newspapers interested but so too was television. Something I did not really expect, even though I do tend to push for as much coverage as possible when assuming the role of a Public Relations Officer.

This year, I find myself, talking about the 16 Days of Activism as a talk show host on a local community radio station. I thought the response would be overwhelming to opening the discussion on the campaign of no violence against women and children, considering that an abuser does not respect race, culture or creed, sadly this is not the case.

The question one has to ask is: Despite all of these efforts to raise awareness about gender based violence is it enough and is the community especially women and children prepared to speak out about the abuse or just simply become an unreported statistic?

Just before the start of this campaign, I read with interest a blog on how women often do not report crime against them or even report the sexual innuendo that they at times they have to endure especially in a male dominated environment. Surely now that were are living in 2012,s this stigma associated with reporting sexual crime would by now be something of the past, but this seems to not be the case.

"During 1992 Famsa recognised the threat domestic violence posed to relationships, families and the communities on a whole."

Some of the programmes on offer by Families South Africa (Famsa) includes the Men Stopping Violence Project. According to their website http://www.famsawc.org.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_project&project_id=7559&cause_id=1753

The Men Stopping Violence Group aims to improve the safety of survivors of domestic violence by the implementation of specialised interventionist programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence as well as counselling and support measures for survivors of domestic violence.

The group involves confrontation of the perpetrator with regard to the abuse, challenging cognitive distortions that support abusive behaviour and patterns, as well as challenging myths and stereotypes, while also providing empathy and support in terms of addressing early trauma.

During 1992 Famsa recognised the threat domestic violence posed to relationships, families and the communities on a whole. This prompted the organisation to become the first in a third world country to begin working with male perpetrators of violence. Since the inception of the domestic violence programme’s in 1992, Famsa continues to run weekly men’s groups for perpetrators of violence.

In 1992 FAMSA, recognised the threat domestic violence posed to relationships, families and communities. In response to this Famsa became the first organisation in the third world to begin working with male perpetrators of violence. From the domestic violence program’s inception in 1992 until the present day Famsa continues to run weekly men’s groups for perpetrators of violence.

Famsa's Domestic Violence Project consists of two components comprising intervention and prevention methods.

For the last two years I have made a point of covering Famsa’s mini men’s march to Parliament, which despite its name includes young boys and girls who have been through the NGO’s gender identity workshops run at various schools across the province.

In addition to the programmes run at Famsa’s office there also NGO’s like the one in nine campaign that also raises awareness about abuse against women. You can visit their website here: http://www.oneinnine.org.za/22.page . Sadly, only one in nine women report that they have been raped to the police. The organisation was first founded in 2006 at the start of the rape trial of now President Jacob Zuma who was subsequently found not guilty of raping an HIV positive young woman.

According to their website approximately 53 000 rapes are reported annually in South Africa and it is more likely that a South African woman will be raped the country than learn to read.

The question we need to ask ourselves are the demands of our young children, to live in a safe environment where they do not need worry about been raped, or abused falling on deaf ears? How many more times do I need to open the paper and read about a young defenceless toddler been raped before society and we as communities realise that we need to speak out about abuse not just against women but men as well.

Additional information from FAMSA and the 1in9 Campaign website

380 000 New HIV infections recorded in 2011

Currently South Africa has more people living with HIV in the World. Last year an estimated 380 000 new HIV infections were recorded in South Africa. With World Aids Day just a few days away,Voice of the Cape Current Affairs Producer and Breakfast Show host chatted to Dr Michael Mol about the latest developments in the treatment of HIV and AIDS.





That was a short extract of an interview I conducted with Dr Mol on Friday morning, which forms part of a new feature I'm working on for World Aids Day.

Human rights: the people vs the UN

By Eric Walberg

Even as the US government is re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Committee Against Torture hears a complaint against Bush, notes Eric Walberg

The recent death of Iranian dissident blogger Sattar Beheshti in police custody was a sad event. All human life is precious. “If anyone kills a person unless in retribution for murder or spreading corruption in the land – it is as if he kills all humanity,” states the Quran. An investigation by the Tehran prosecutor, the head of Tehran police and the head of Tehran prisons was ordered by Iranian parliament and Beheshti’s interrogators were hauled on the carpet.

At the same time, the US was elected to a second three-year term on the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). President Bush boycotted the HRC for criticizing Israel too much, but Obama joined in 2010 to ‘improve’ it. US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice welcomed Washington’s re-election this week, saying that the HRC “has delivered real results”, citing its criticism of Syria, though she criticized the rights council’s continued “excessive and unbalanced focus on Israel”.

US emphasis on the HRC is on freedom of expression, religion, and the rights of women and gays, and of course criticism of Iran. Beheshti’s case will surely be raised by the US rep in the near future.

The US government-funded Freedom House huffed that seven of the countries on the HRC – Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, UAE, and Venezuela – are “unqualified for membership” on a body that requires members to “uphold the highest standards regarding human rights”, and that the qualifications of Brazil, Kenya, and Sierra Leone were “questionable”.

What about the US ‘qualifications’? During its first term, the US
*continued its illegal occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq (1.5 million Iraqis have been killed as a result of the US invasion in 2003)
*used its veto at the UN to conemn Israeli human rights violations (the 2009 invasion of Gaza killed 1400)
*accelerated its use of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia (3,400 have been killed by drones in Pakistan alone since 2004)
*persecuted Wikileaks’ Julian Assange for his attempts to give substance to the concept of ‘freedom of expression’ in the interests of curbing US war fever.

The ongoing trial of US Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers – “heinous and despicable crimes” according to the prosecutor – makes you stop and think: each day, US troops, carry out similar mass executions in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and, in connivance with Israel, in Palestine.

The alleged comment by Stalin to Churchill is chillingly apropos: The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

Coincidentally, as Rice demanded less criticism of Israel in the HRC, the Israeli army launched another attack on Gaza, with 21 Palestinian deaths so far, including Hamas deputy military chief Ahmed Al-Jaabari.. Earlier attempts to assassinate him include an air raid in 2004 which killed his eldest son, his brother and several of his cousins. (Rest assured, the US HRC rep will do his/her best to keep this off the agenda.)

But though the slaughter and torture in Afghanistan and Gaza continues on a daily basis, with hardly a peep from the media, the force of world opinion has meant that US leaders commanding the likes of Bales, such as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, and virtually all Israeli leaders, now have to be more careful about where they go. People around the world who refuse to consider the death of millions as an inconsequential statistic are waiting to enforce citizens’ arrests.

This week, four survivors of US torture filed a complaint against Canada with the United Nations Committee Against Torture for the country’s failure to investigate and prosecute Bush during his visit to British Columbia last year, the first such complaint filed with the UN Committee. As a signatory to the 1984 Convention Against Torture, Canada has an obligation to investigate and prosecute a torture suspect on its soil, argued the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ) and the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

Canada’s attorney general refused to consider the CCIJ’s call to conduct a criminal investigation during Bush’s visit last year, and the British Columbia provincial attorney general quickly shut down a private criminal prosecution. Bush cancelled a trip to Switzerland last year after he heard of plans for a similar prosecution and the apparent unwillingness of Swiss authorities to stop it.

Citizen diplomacy is coming alive. So far, there is no such campaign to try Obama for continuing the drone operations that kill civilians and non-civilians, men women and children, indiscriminately. However, popular support for Assange convinced Ecuador to give him asylum. As for Israel, its actions are increasing resistance rather than quelling it. Hamas militants in Gaza vowed to continue on the path of resistance, asserting that “the occupation opened the gates of hell.” Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi vowed that such violations of human rights would no longer be tolerated by Egypt, as they were in the past 30 years under US ally ex-President Hosni Mubarak.

The US and Israel have become infamous for their eagerness to torture and/or kill those they don’t like. US and Israel attacks have killed dozens, if not hundreds of Beheshtis daily for decades, and not at home, but as part of their aggressive wars abroad. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Operation Cast Lead may have been crowded out of western media, but the crimes committed there will not go away.

A US Viet Nam War veteran at a Remembrance Day rally in Toronto this week spoke of “the heaps of corpses generated by modern industrial warfare. Every time I attended such ceremonies in the US, I speak up for the millions of Asians who died in that criminal folly. We slaughtered millions.”

But this is merely the US agenda, just as US distaste for criticism of Israel on the HRC is, in preference for Iran. Just as is the US penchant for torture and killing, borrowed from Israel and which blossomed under Bush.
***
Eric Walberg is author of Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games http://claritypress.com/Walberg.html. You can reach him at http://ericwalberg.com/

A version of this appeared at http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/17/272774/trying-war-criminals-people-versus-un/

Food Security Conference in CT

A conference on Food Security in Southern Africa will be held from 26th-27th November 2012 at the Protea Breakwater Lodge in Cape Town. This morning I chatted to Dr Jane Battersby from the African Centre of Cities at UCT about the conference and some of the issues that they will be touching on at the conference later this month…




This interview was first broadcast on Voice of the Cape's Breakfast Show

DA Seeks African Vote

Amid much speculation on social media on Monday, about who the ‘high ranking member’ of the ANC is that would be joining the ranks of the official opposition on Tuesday afternoon, the Democratic Alliance (DA) announced that former Premier of the Eastern Cape, Nosimo Balindlela, had resigned as COPE Member of Parliament and joined the DA.

At a media briefing held at Parliament yesterday, DA Leader Helen Zille introduced Balindlela as the newest member of the party. “Balindlela resigned her COPE membership and her seat in the National Assembly. In a moment she will sign a DA membership form and receive her membership card from DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader, Athol Trollip,” said Zille.

Zille explained that with Balindlela joining the ranks of the DA, it was another step in the realignment of politics in South Africa. “Good people from across the spectrum are starting to converge around a vision and a plan for our country. We invite others like Balindlela who may be inspired by her courage and vision today to join us in building a new majority,” added Zille.

While the DA described Balindlela as been a former ANC NEC member, the spokesperson for the ANC, Jackson Mthembu said in a statement on Tuesday, that they were dismayed at the claim made by the Democratic Alliance and Balindlela that she was an NEC member of the ANC.

“She was forced out of her position as the Premier in 2008 right around the same time Mbeki was forced out of the presidency and then she resigned after that from the ANC and joined COPE”

“Balindlela has never been an NEC member of the ANC. In terms of party leadership, the furthest that she rose in leadership terms was being a regional chairperson of the ANC and the PEC of ANCWL in the Eastern Cape, and sat in the PEC as an Ex-officio member by virtue of being the Premier of the Eastern Cape. Secondly, Nosimo has never been a member of the ANC since 2008 when she joined the Congress of the People (COPE)”, said Mthembu.

He added that it was misleading to associate Balindlela with the ANC as she was a COPE member before joining the DA. According to Mthembu, this was ‘typical of the DA to use cheap propaganda to create hype over nothing’.

Poor Track Record

“It is a known factor that Balindlela was the least effective Premier in the Eastern Cape hence she was recalled. If there is anything that the DA has netted is a political liability that will further alienate the party in the Eastern Cape,” added Mthembu.

According to political analyst Professor Amanda Gouws, even though Balindlela does not have a good track record as the Premier of the Eastern Cape, it is important to take into consideration the circumstances around her being forced out of office in 2008.

“She was forced out of her position as the Premier in 2008 right around the same time Mbeki was forced out of the presidency and then she resigned after that from the ANC and joined COPE,” explained Gouws.

She adds that even though Balindlela does have a good track record when it comes to service delivery in the Eastern Cape, there has never been any issues around corruption. “I don’t think that she can be seen as one of the stalwarts of the ANC. There have never been issues around corruption with Balindlela the issues were more about her service delivery,” said Gouws.

African Vote

When asked if the acceptance of Balindlela as a member of the DA was merely window dressing, Gouws said it was too early to tell. But added that the official opposition is trying to get the African vote, which was part of the reason why DA Parliamentary leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko was appointed.

“The issue of getting the African vote in the Eastern Cape is a serious one and the DA has been trying to address that with the appointment of Lindiwe Mazibuko. However she is seen as only been attractive to the middle class,” explained Gouws.

In the last general election only four opposition parties managed to get just over 2% of the vote, while the rest got just under 1%. Gouws said that this is probably part of the decision by Badlindlela to join the DA.

“The only party that can make a difference is the DA, so in that sense it is a matter of individuals doing cost benefit analysis and looking at where they will be better off and where they can make a better contribution and if they are able to join the DA, then it is to the benefit of the DA,” said Gouws.

Hope for Somalia

VOC Current Affairs Producer and Breakfast show host, Dorianne Arendse this week spoke to Somali Journalist, Mohamed Garane about the current situation in Somalia. Garane was in South Africa for the Power Reporting- The African Investigative Journalism Conference which was held at Wits University this week…