Reason why Lack of Peace and Harmony is all around us:
Where there is no Peace and Harmony it has been noted that, Selfishness & Greed of the Rich and the Wealthy Corporate Special Interest took center stage to influence manipulation through monopolizing business and trade to benefit a few and is what has fueled Racial animosity, brought poverty, destroyed middle-class and which resulted to bad economy that now affects the whole region of the world. When special interest take control of everyone's life, the wheel of life's survival through the economic span grinds to a halt and this as a result throws people out of balance and thus weakens the Society. Hate, Selfishness and Greed make those who suffer from it fail to make constructive logistical fair judgement of equating and balancing principles of what makes a good life. Most of them believe that, pressurizing people into submission to fear-factor through pushing people into pain and suffering, poverty, careless killings, marginalization, discrimination and intimidation is the answer to wealth and power........and as a result is the ticket to happiness. This they are all wrong.
Lack of Peace and Harmony puts us at loggerhead and we find ourselves to hate and be at war with each other. This situation is made worse from those characters who produce bad leadership and it is because of lack of ability to generate enough confidence, failure to build trust, lack of knowledge and understanding and failure to create environment for love.
Lack of Truth and Transparency comes from self-pride, selfish-ego and greediness……..with this one cannot avail checks and accountability but instead engage in Excessive lies that come from those who demand leadership by force to protect their bad deeds.
No Nation or society can flourishing or do well when there is no love amongst its citizens and with that it is not possible to generate peace and unity for all; and so happiness is left to only a few rich, of which the greater part of members of the society remain poor, unhappy and are miserable.
At this point and because of disparity the vibrant youth engage in bad groups in gangs or in drugs, others engage in child porno or prostitution, child abuse and neglect, or are simply wasted. This results in the destruction of the Society's fabric, strength and stability.
If people of a Nation are satisfied, have affordable healthcare, can afford education even when one is from poor family, enjoy themselves in Social Diversity programs and have access to opportunities to creative arts, innovation technology and science; peace and unity abounds. Where there is no harmony, hate thrives and people plan bad things against each other all the times……..
There is really no need for war against each other if solutions can be found to harmonize our differences. This is why we all must go in search for good leadership. Good Leadership is able to provide a balance, where unity for common good of all can be found……..a good leader will strive to find ways and means to avoid excitement for violence. It is because, a good leader understands that frustrations comes as a result for lack of needs which generates sense of deprivation and which provide an opening for conflict. A good leader will provide a balance by creating opportunities for engagements; But organized crime can provide nothing good at the end of the day, except pain and sufferings with disunity that directs destructive channel to interfere with public peace and unity which is unacceptable and must be suppressed by good people who are after Peace and Unity for common good of all.
Good Leadership: Leadership is a skilful talent needed to organize logistics from groups of people and direct Plan of Action to improve matters or level up programs that leads to achieving desired goals.
A good leader is in command to influence harmony and is able to generate conducive environment where Peace and Unity for common good of all is able to thrive. A good leader is guided by Wisdom and is defined by principles of character that shape his or her aspirations and passion for uprightness and in virtue. A good leader is always in command at any given time and when situation gets out of control, he or she is able to find collective solution and drive calmness in a short space of time. As an organizer, he or she plans with specifics laid down to achieve the desired goals. A leader should engage and direct logistics, theories and ideas into perspectives for sustainability in achieving both short-term for immediate or emergency and long term goals for sustainability in a diversified Plan of Action; and where opportunities for progressive agenda is open to all without animosity, hate, discrimination, biasness or marginalization or racial discrimination of any kind. A good leader is able to make solid foundation that lasts.
Good leaders can be trusted to offer good guidance, most favorably and in Truth have substances to which are laid on reliable Plan of Action with an aims to meet specific targets in a specified given time-frame where, at the end, the success story is listed in history of honors. Good leadership qualities are in-built characters that attracts likeability and Trust. If a leader cannot be liked or trusted, that spells danger of some sorts.
Building collective proposal that generates unity of purpose for Mutually common good of all is an ingredient mostly needed at a time of change and where Strategic Plan of Action is developed to accommodate diversity of interests that are acceptable and appeals to public mandate without discrimination.
Bad Leaders: Unfavorable bad leaders are associated with meanness, selfish, greedy, hate, divide and rule elements, are ready to go for war even where there is no need for war….and a bad leader produces unfavorable bad results that can turn destructive or catastrophic endangering many lives.
When lawmakers engage in unfavorable behaviors and still have guts to tell bold lies repeatedly…….lie after lie after lies, there is an expansive problem looming and people must be ware……it is equally not wise to follow such leaders. It is because their judgments are questionable and they cannot be relied upon…….It has been tested before that, where there is too much lies, there are corrupt practices of intimidations, marginalization, bad secrets and fear spells that go with it and consequently there are pools of graft and impunity that go a long way in order that their plan s become successful under threats, fears and intimidation………..This is not right……….It is a backward way of life……….
In reality, there are no truth that can be found in such group of characters who 24/7 engage in lies, and in definition, they are hard product to sell. Their lives are surrounded with suspicious characters, their business are done in secrets, they make it difficult for people to get to know who they really are………most of them engage in syndicates of business that avoid paying taxes but overload public to pay their debts, and engages in conspiracy theories of prejudices dividing people against each other, approve and supports clandestine government plans to deprive their people through Intellectual Property Thieving of public wealth resources, elaborate murder plots to acquire public and community land, engage in suppression of secret plan with other organized criminals and schemes behind certain political powers that be………and these are all doomsday………These behavior cannot escape massive destruction and slaughter of human beings lives and livelihood, a Holocoust of Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of human lives where people get burned alive, or are killed en mass. Where is the happiness or fun in all these…….???
Causes of War and how to Avoid Wars and Disharmony Across the world, people are at pains and are extremely very angry for one reason or the other……to push the world into war because of selfishness and greedy for special interest would be a disaster. No one wants to go to war……..especially when people know what war entails with its repercussions………
If truly someone cares, no one will drive people to war to kill each other…….No…….We need each other and can plan better to improve each others lives in a shared plan for "Give and Take"…….Why must we kill……….shouldn't we care to Love and enjoy the blessings of happiness….???
War interventions have been done time and again but Special Interest take people of the world for granted ……. ……United Nations international court to arbitrate disputes have not been taken seriously to produce the desired goals, ……..people get fed up ……. as these prescriptions have turned out ineffective, people's anger grows……. Some governments freely ignore arbitration rulings that are against them…… but we still believe that, collective security idea can be reached when strict measures are imposed by good leaders of the world.
A good plan should be appealing and be adoptable to suit the majority of the Society fairly: It is a pity and a shame that unscrupulous Special Interests with corrupt governments of the world continued to cause all manner of Violations and Abuse against Human Rights with outrageous Crime, destroying livelihood and survival and inflicting pain and sufferings all around, is by all means not acceptable and must be condemned by all good people of the world.
In focusing for the poor of Africa, may people of the world stand with Africa to bring normalcy and order for the goodness sake. With excessive corruption, graft and impunity in Africa, a demon that has eaten deep into the African fabric is now threatening Global livelihood and survival of all people of the world. This monster is threatening to devour livelihood of the poor victims in Africa while the corrupt leaders after stealing public wealth and resources, are given national honors at high places in the world by the wealthy and most powerful.
This is very sad, defies logics, is inhuman, must be condemned with the strongest words it deserves and good people of the world must unite to influence good measure of change and discourage this behavior for goodness sake…… Judy Miriga Diaspora Spokesperson Executive Director Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc., USA http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com --- On Sat, 10/6/12, margaret gichuki <Wams2006@gmail.com> wrote: From: margaret gichuki <Wams2006@gmail.com> Subject: [uchunguzionline] Re: [Mwananchi] The Mega Bandits and Super Heavy-Duty Looters of Africa's Wealth To: Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com Cc: "Africa-Oped" <africa-oped@yahoogroups.com>, "NVK-M MAGEUZI" <NVK-Mageuzi@yahoogroups.com>, "uchunguzi online" <uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com>, kenyaonline@yahoogroups.com, "Cameroon Network" <Camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>, NigerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, October 6, 2012, 10:37 AM Uncle G, You make me laugh.All the time when I read you. Did you say they memorize the act #'s.............?????..............lol!!!!!!!!!!! But seriously, this is a shocker.Can't the Swiss banks give the money back to their countries after they die.? Shouldn't there be some international law to this effect.?..Are you saying the Libyan Gov.(or what looks like a Gov) won't get Gaddafi's root back.? And I thought all along Mubarak was a saint.Gwa! Heavens G,....$ 10 is alot then.I mean alot of money if it can do all that. I need you to smash the Kenyan coconut heads.They are too many.I will help you identify them.")) On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 8:57 PM, George Ayittey <ayittey@gmail.com> wrote: The "GODS" may hae gotten rid of them but we still haven't receivered the loot. They keep the loot in SECRET NUMBERED Swiss bank accounts and, since the money is stolen and they don't trust anybody, they keep the secret numbers in the heads. So when they die, they take the numbers with them. According to Swiss law, if the money in a numbered account is not claimed after a certain period, it is turned over to the bank. So the standing joke among Swiss bankers is this: "When is the next African tin-pot going to die?" Now, here is what you can do with $10 billion, which is $10,000.000.000. You can:
Had to give up the Cutlass. It was no match for hardened coconuts. Since they are stone0deaf and imervious to reason, you smash them! George On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 12:12 PM, margaret gichuki <Wams2006@gmail.com> wrote: Get me the SLEDGE-HAMMER! GA, Please, why do you need sledge hammer.? Haven't the ''GODS'' taken care of those leaders.BTW, you are a Prof. of #'s.Can you tell me what say $ 10 billion can do a country like yours 'Ghana or Kenya. Give me something to work with.Like your cutlass that you no longer use.:)))...I want to keep busy. Wams Margaret, The Mega Bandits and Super Heavy-Duty Looters of Africa's Wealth In 2004, the African Union claimed that corruption alone costs Africa $148 billion a year and "Africa experiences capital flight of up to $90 billion a year and the external stock of capital held by Africa's political elites is $700 billion-800 billion" . http://bit.ly/Q178GX, http://bit.ly/uc25jQ Let's place these figures in perspective. In 2009, Africa's total foreign debt stood at around $300 billion. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Africa not only fed itself but exported food as well. Not anymore. Today, it spends over $20 billion a year on food imports. [Nigeria is said to spend $120 billion annually (unsubstantiated) on food imports.] Africa also spends $20 billion a year on its military – importing weapons, maintaining equipment, paying soldiers and service personnel, etc. The military is a colonial institution, introduced into Africa to suppress the aspirations of the people for freedom. Only few traditional African societies – such as Ashanti, Dahomey, Kanuri and Zulu – out of the over 2,000 ethnic societies had standing armies. In the vast majority of African societies, the people were the army. In the event of conflict, the chief would summon men of certain age grades and lead them into war. After the cessation of hostilities, the people's army was disbanded so that it did not become a drain on the tribal economy. Therefore, military rule is as alien as colonial rule itself. What benefits have Africa derived from its military? The military has now become a destabilizing and destructive force – a scourge – in Africa. Soldiers have ruined one African economy after another with reckless abandon and looted one treasury after another with brutal military efficiency. Though ALL dictators have stolen millions of Africa's wealth, the mega bandits and super heavy duty looters have all been military officers. Between 1970 and the early 2004, more than $450 billion in oil money flowed into Nigerian government coffers. But according to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set up in 2004, £220 billion ($412 billion) was "squandered" or looted by Nigeria's military rulers – s slew of military generals. "We cannot be accurate down to the last figure but that is our projection," Osita Nwajah, a commission spokesman (Telegraph, June 25, 2005). The stolen fortune tallies almost exactly with the £220 billion of western aid given to Africa between 1960 and 1997. That amounted to six times the American help given to post-war Europe under the Marshall Plan. Between 970 and 2008, $854 billion was removed from Africa by illicit financial flows http://bit.ly/s1Zf9a Here is the list individual cases of banditry: Name Family Fortune 1. Col Muammar Khaddafi of Libya Over $60 billion 2. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt Over $2 billion 3. Ben Ali of Tunisia Over $13 billion 4. General Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire Over $10 billion 5. General I.B. Babangida of Nigeria Over $9 billion 6. Lt. General Omar al-Bashir of Sudan Over $7 billion 7. General Sani Abacha of Nigeria Over $5 billion 8. General Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo Over $3 billion Notice the preponderance of "Generals." Mubarak was a former officer in Egyptian air force and so was Ben Ali. Get me the SLEDGE-HAMMER! Colonised and coloniser, empire's poison infects us allIdeas that underpinned Britain's imperial project led not only to torture in Kenya, but war and catastrophe in Europe
o The Guardian, Monday 8 October 2012 20.30 BST
'The ideology that led to Hitler's war and the Holocaust was developed by the colonial powers.' Illustration by Daniel Pudles Over the gates of Auschwitz were the words "Work Makes You Free". Over the gates of the Solovetsky camp in Lenin's gulag: "Through Labour – Freedom!". Over the gates of the Ngenya detention camp, run by the British in Kenya: "Labour and Freedom". Dehumanisation appears to follow an almost inexorable course. Last week three elderly Kenyans established the right to sue the British government for the torture that they suffered – castration, beating and rape – in the Kikuyu detention camps it ran in the 1950s. Many tens of thousands were detained and tortured in the camps. I won't spare you the details: we have been sparing ourselves the details for far too long. Large numbers of men were castrated with pliers. Others were raped, sometimes with the use of knives, broken bottles, rifle barrels and scorpions. Women had similar instruments forced into their vaginas. The guards and officials sliced off ears and fingers, gouged out eyes, mutilated women's breasts with pliers, poured paraffin over people and set them alight. Untold thousands died. The government's secret archive, revealed this April, shows that the attorney general, the colonial governor and the colonial secretary knew what was happening. The governor ensured that the perpetrators had legal immunity: including the British officers reported to him for roasting prisoners to death. In public the colonial secretary lied and kept lying. Little distinguishes the British imperial project from any other. In all cases the purpose of empire was loot, land and labour. When people resisted (as some of the Kikuyu did during the Mau Mau rebellion), the response everywhere was the same: extreme and indiscriminate brutality, hidden from public view by distance and official lies. Successive governments have sought to deny the Kikuyu justice: destroying most of the paperwork, lying about the existence of the rest, seeking to have the case dismissed on technicalities. Their handling of this issue, and the widespread British disavowal of what happened in Kenya, reflects the way this country has been brutalised by its colonial history. Empire did almost as much harm to the imperial nations as it did to their subject peoples. In his book Exterminate All the Brutes, Sven Lindqvist shows how the ideology that led to Hitler's war and the Holocaust was developed by the colonial powers. Imperialism required an exculpatory myth. It was supplied, primarily, by British theorists. In 1799 Charles White began the process of identifying Europeans as inherently superior to other peoples. By 1850 the disgraced anatomist Robert Knox had developed the theme into fully fledged racism. His book The Races of Man asserted that dark-skinned people were destined to be enslaved and then annihilated by the "lighter races". Dark meant almost everyone: "What a field of extermination lies before the Saxon, Celtic and Sarmatian races!" Remarkable as it may sound, this view soon came to dominate British thought. In common with most of the political class, W Winwood Reade,Alfred Russell Wallace, Herbert Spencer, Frederick Farrar, Francis Galton, Benjamin Kidd and even Charles Darwin saw the extermination of dark-skinned people as an inevitable law of nature. Some of them argued that Europeans had a duty to speed it up: both to save the integrity of the species and to put the inferior "races" out of their misery. These themes were picked up by German theorists. In 1893 Alexander Tille, drawing on British writers, claimed that "it is the right of the stronger race to annihilate the lower". In 1901 Friedrich Ratzel argued in Der Lebensraum that Germany had a right and duty, like Europeans in the Americas, to displace "primitive peoples". In Mein Kampf, Hitler explained that the German empire's eastward expansion would mirror the western and southern extension of British interests. He systematised and industrialised what imperial nations had been doing for five centuries. The scale was greater, the location different, the ideology broadly the same. I believe that the brutalisation of empire also made the pointless slaughter of the first world war possible. A ruling class that had shut down its feelings to the extent that it could engineer a famine in India in the 1870s in which between 12 million and 29 million people died was capable of almost anything. Empire had tested not only the long-range weaponry that would be deployed in northern France, but also the ideas. Nor have we wholly abandoned them. Commenting on the Kikuyu case in the Daily Mail, Max Hastings charged that the plaintiffs had come to London "to exploit our feeble-minded justice system". Hearing them "represents an exercise in state masochism". I suspect that if members of Hastings' club had been treated like the Kikuyu, he would be shouting from the rooftops for redress. But Kenyans remain, as colonial logic demanded, the other, bereft of the features and feelings that establish our common humanity. So, in the eyes of much of the elite, do welfare recipients, "problem families", Muslims and asylum seekers. The process of dehumanisation, so necessary to the colonial project, turns inwards. Until this nation is prepared to recognise what happened and how it was justified, Britain, like the countries it occupied, will remain blighted by imperialism. • Twitter: @GeorgeMonbiot • A fully referenced version of this article can be found atwww.monbiot.com No virus found in this message. Top China delegate pulls out of IMF meet amid islands rowBy Lesley Wroughton | Reuters – 3 hrs ago
TOKYO (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that China's central bank governor will not lead the Chinese delegation at the IMF's semi-annual meeting this week, in what appeared to be a snub to host Japan. Zhou Xiaochuan's failure to attend the meeting comes after relations between China and Japan have slumped to their worst in years over their competing claims to sovereignty of some islands in the East China Sea. The row has been marked by violent protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese products in China. Japanese car makers, including Toyota Motor, later reported a tumble in auto sales in the world's biggest car market. "We were informed two days ago that Governor Zhou's schedule might require him to cancel his lecture in Tokyo," an IMF spokeswoman said. "It has now been confirmed that his deputy Yi Gang will represent him." Zhou had been set to deliver what amounted to a closing keynote lecture on Sunday. "The Tokyo meeting is an extremely important international summit," Japanese Finance Minister Koriki Jojima said at a press conference. "It is deeply regrettable that the representatives of the (Chinese) authorities are not participating." The IMF comments confirm a report on Tuesday by Chinese state news agency Xinhua that China's delegation will not be led by its most senior finance officials. According to Chinese protocol, only the most senior officials usually lead such trips. China's delegation will be led by Yi Gang, vice head of the People's Bank of China, and Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, Xinhua said. The disputed group of islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are located near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge oil-and-gas reserves. Taiwan also asserts its sovereignty over the uninhabited islets. Japan is scheduled to host the IMF and World Bank annual meetings for the first time in nearly half a century. About 20,000 people are expected to attend the events, which end on Sunday, making it one of the world's largest international conferences. "If he (Zhou) is not coming, it is regrettable that a representative of the Chinese authorities does not participate in this important international meeting in Tokyo. At all events, Japan-China economic relationship is very important and Japan will continue to communicate with China from a broader standpoint," said a Japanese government official. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in Tokyo on Wednesday that he had great faith Japan and China would find a way to cooperate in the future. "SYMBOLIC" Earlier this week, Xinhua also reported that China's state-owned banks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, will not attend the IMF and the World Bank meetings. Tim Condon, head of Asian research at ING, said Zhou's absence was a way for Beijing to express its displeasure over the islands row and would not have a material impact on the country. "It's very symbolic and attention grabbing, but doesn't really inflict any economic harm," he said. "It would be very easy for China to escalate the matter if they wanted to and inflict economic damage." Tokyo and Beijing have traded increasingly sharp words in the dispute, which has seen both countries send patrol boats to waters near the disputed islands, raising concerns that an unintended collision or other incident could escalate into a broader clash. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China and Japan to let "cool heads" prevail in the dispute. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in late September that his country will not compromise on the islands, saying they were "an inherent part of our territory in light of history and also under international law." Chinese state media say the islands have been "sacred territory since ancient times". The dispute has bubbled as several Asian governments have argued over sovereignty of islands in the South China Sea. But the Senkaku/Diaoyu row escalated in September when Japan bought the islands from their private owner to prevent fiery nationalist politician from buying them. (Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneka in TOKYO: Koh Gui Qing in BEIJING; Editing by Neil Fullick) Africa: World Bank Refuses Call to Halt Land DealsBy Carey L. Biron, 5 October 2012 Washington — The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative impact of international land speculation in developing countries. "We share the concerns Oxfam raised in their report," the bank stated in an unusually lengthy public rebuttal to the Oxfam Report. "However, we disagree with Oxfam's call for a moratorium on World Bank Group...investments in land intensive large-scale agricultural enterprises, especially during a time of rapidly rising global food prices." "A moratorium focused on the Bank Group targets precisely those stakeholders doing the most to improve practices - progressive governments, investors, and us. Taking such a step would do nothing to help reduce the instances of abusive practices and would likely deter responsible investors willing to apply our high standards," the rebuttal said. Relevant LinksOver the past year, aid agencies, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and development watchdogs have warned that international investors are increasingly engaging in massive and sometimes predatory land deals in the developing world, particularly in Africa. These acquisitions are partly to blame for rising food insecurity. Food prices are once again nearing record highs. In late August, the World Bank warned that due to adverse weather in parts of Europe and the United States, the global cost of certain staple crops was approaching levels last seen in 2008. Ironically, multinational companies interested in growing food crops to address this need have been doing much of the recent investing. According to Oxfam, however, two-thirds of the investments made between 2000 and 2010 were exclusively for export-oriented crops, while other lands are being used to meet the increasing international demand for biofuels. "Already an area of land the size of London is being sold to foreign investors every six days in poor countries," Oxfam stated, noting that in Liberia, land deals have "swallowed up" 30 percent of the country over the past five years. The report did not reject what good can potentially result from private investment but warned that food-price spikes from 2008 to 2009 led to the tripling of land deals, as "land was increasingly viewed as a profitable investment" even though it largely failed to benefit local communities. Slow the speculation "The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a lifetime in poverty. The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this," Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's executive director, said Thursday, noting that the bank both invests in land and advises developing countries. Oxfam is calling on the World Bank to temporarily halt its investments in agricultural land to give it time to review the advice it offers developing countries, and to put in place stronger policies to slow or stop the speculation and "land-grabbing" projects in which it is said to be involved. World Bank investment in agriculture has reportedly tripled in the past decade. Since 2008, however, local communities have also brought 21 formal complaints against bank-funded projects that they say have violated their rights. In a way, the bank's response to the call for a moratorium demonstrated outright denial: "The Bank Group does not support speculative land investments or acquisitions which take advantage of weak institutions in developing countries or which disregard principles of responsible agricultural investment." The bank also noted that 90 percent of its agricultural investment is focused on smallholders, and that the agricultural work of its private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has provided 37,000 jobs. By 2050, it warned, the global population is set to grow by two billion people, requiring a 70 percent increase in global food production. Still, the bank recognised that its massive systems are imperfect and highlighted an upcoming overhaul of related guidelines that would "review and update its environmental and social safeguards policies". "We agree that instances of abuse do exist, particularly in countries where governance is weak, and we share Oxfam's belief that in many cases, practices need to ensure more transparent and inclusive participation in cases of land transfers," the rebuttal stated. Impetus from below The degree to which these safeguards are followed nevertheless remains voluntary, said Anuradha Mittal, the executive director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based think tank that has been at the forefront of recent civil society warnings about the effects of land speculation in the developing world. "Back in 2009 and 2010, we were clearly identifying the role that the World Bank Group has been playing in promoting and facilitating these large-scale investments, completely ignoring the social and economic impact," she told IPS, referring to two reports (available here and here) that the new Oxfam work builds upon. "Oxfam is reiterating that this kind of investment is misinvestment in communities, in agriculture, and unfortunately the bank is choosing to ignore the clear evidence that has been brought forward." Bank officials did not respond to requests for additional comment. Mittal said that the development discussion needs to focus less on prescriptions handed down from multilaterals and more on the national implementation of internationally agreed rights including the rights to food and to free and prior informed consent. "We're not interested in voluntary guidelines coming from Washington or Geneva, but rather in strengthening local and national capacities that help communities work best themselves," she said. "Each country in Africa, for instance, is in a unique situation. So what we need are real consultations at the local level to see what kind of development actually works for the local populations." While Oxfam had called on the World Bank to move to halt its involvement in land deals before the annual meetings between the bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Tokyo next week, the bank's new president is now suggesting that he will use the meetings to begin pushing substantial reforms aimed at holding the bank's anti-poverty approaches more to account. "If we are going to be really serious about ending poverty earlier than currently projected...there are going to have to be some changes in the way we run the institution," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, preparing to attend his first annual meetings, told journalists on Thursday. Kim said he would be pushing for a model "where our board and our governors focus much more on holding us accountable for results on the ground in countries, rather than focusing so much on approval of large loans". World Bank Land GrabSOURCE: Elaine Dunbar (inunyabus@gmail.com) SUBHEAD: World Bank involved with massive predatory land deals in developing world, particularly Africa. By Carey L. Biron on 7 October 2012 for Nation of Change - (http://www.nationofchange.org/world-bank-refuses-call-halt-land-deals-1349620014)  Image above: African women on a small farm serving local markets. From original article. [Source's note: Note the push worldwide land speculation by First World on local indigenous Third World peoples. I think this is the big picture. PLDC is one of the small specks. And Agenda 21 is another one of the specks] Over the past year, aid agencies, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and development watchdogs have warned that international investors are increasingly engaging in massive and sometimes predatory land deals in the developing world, particularly in Africa. The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative impact of international land speculation in developing countries. "We share the concerns Oxfam raised in their report," the bank stated in an unusually lengthy public rebuttal to the Oxfam Report. "However, we disagree with Oxfam's call for a moratorium on World Bank Group…investments in land intensive large-scale agricultural enterprises, especially during a time of rapidly rising global food prices." "A moratorium focused on the Bank Group targets precisely those stakeholders doing the most to improve practices – progressive governments, investors, and us. Taking such a step would do nothing to help reduce the instances of abusive practices and would likely deter responsible investors willing to apply our high standards," the rebuttal said. Over the past year, aid agencies, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and development watchdogs have warned that international investors are increasingly engaging in massive and sometimes predatory land deals in the developing world, particularly in Africa. These acquisitions are partly to blame for rising food insecurity. Food prices are once again nearing record highs. In late August, the World Bank warned that due to adverse weather in parts of Europe and the United States, the global cost of certain staple crops was approaching levels last seen in 2008. Ironically, multinational companies interested in growing food crops to address this need have been doing much of the recent investing. According to Oxfam, however, two-thirds of the investments made between 2000 and 2010 were exclusively for export-oriented crops, while other lands are being used to meet the increasing international demand for biofuels. "Already an area of land the size of London is being sold to foreign investors every six days in poor countries," Oxfam stated, noting that in Liberia, land deals have "swallowed up" 30 percent of the country over the past five years. The report did not reject what good can potentially result from private investment but warned that food-price spikes from 2008 to 2009 led to the tripling of land deals, as "land was increasingly viewed as a profitable investment" even though it largely failed to benefit local communities. Slow the speculation "The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a lifetime in poverty. The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this," Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's executive director, said Thursday, noting that the bank both invests in land and advises developing countries. Oxfam is calling on the World Bank to temporarily halt its investments in agricultural land to give it time to review the advice it offers developing countries, and to put in place stronger policies to slow or stop the speculation and "land-grabbing" projects in which it is said to be involved. World Bank investment in agriculture has reportedly tripled in the past decade. Since 2008, however, local communities have also brought 21 formal complaints against bank-funded projects that they say have violated their rights. In a way, the bank's response to the call for a moratorium demonstrated outright denial: "The Bank Group does not support speculative land investments or acquisitions which take advantage of weak institutions in developing countries or which disregard principles of responsible agricultural investment." The bank also noted that 90 percent of its agricultural investment is focused on smallholders, and that the agricultural work of its private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has provided 37,000 jobs. By 2050, it warned, the global population is set to grow by two billion people, requiring a 70 percent increase in global food production. Still, the bank recognized that its massive systems are imperfect and highlighted an upcoming overhaul of related guidelines that would "review and update its environmental and social safeguards policies". "We agree that instances of abuse do exist, particularly in countries where governance is weak, and we share Oxfam's belief that in many cases, practices need to ensure more transparent and inclusive participation in cases of land transfers," the rebuttal stated. Impetus from below The degree to which these safeguards are followed nevertheless remains voluntary, said Anuradha Mittal, the executive director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based think tank that has been at the forefront of recent civil society warnings about the effects of land speculation in the developing world. "Back in 2009 and 2010, we were clearly identifying the role that the World Bank Group has been playing in promoting and facilitating these large-scale investments, completely ignoring the social and economic impact," she told IPS, referring to two reports (available here and here) that the new Oxfam work builds upon. "Oxfam is reiterating that this kind of investment is misinvestment in communities, in agriculture, and unfortunately the bank is choosing to ignore the clear evidence that has been brought forward." Bank officials did not respond to requests for additional comment. Mittal said that the development discussion needs to focus less on prescriptions handed down from multilaterals and more on the national implementation of internationally agreed rights including the rights to food and to free and prior informed consent. "We're not interested in voluntary guidelines coming from Washington or Geneva, but rather in strengthening local and national capacities that help communities work best themselves," she said. "Each country in Africa, for instance, is in a unique situation. So what we need are real consultations at the local level to see what kind of development actually works for the local populations." While Oxfam had called on the World Bank to move to halt its involvement in land deals before the annual meetings between the bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Tokyo next week, the bank's new president is now suggesting that he will use the meetings to begin pushing substantial reforms aimed at holding the bank's anti-poverty approaches more to account. "If we are going to be really serious about ending poverty earlier than currently projected…there are going to have to be some changes in the way we run the institution," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, preparing to attend his first annual meetings, told journalists on Thursday. Kim said he would be pushing for a model "where our board and our governors focus much more on holding us accountable for results on the ground in countries, rather than focusing so much on approval of large loans". Imperialism and the ruin of Africa
11 May 2012
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!No 113 June/July 1993 Imperialism is destroying Africa. It is destroying its land, its people, its future. That is the only conclusion that can be drawn from Oxfam's report Africa: Make or break – Action for Recovery. The report is a stunning indictment of imperialist parasitism; although it ends with an appeal to the governments of the self-same imperialist nations to now reverse their ways, the value of this kind of report should not be underestimated. The facts need to be spelled out. Average incomes in Africa have fallen by a quarter since the mid-1970s. This fall of course coincides with the onset of the imperialist crisis. The number living below the poverty line rose from 184 million in 1985 to 216 million in 1990 and will rise to over 300 million in 2000. Africa joined the other most oppressed regions of the world in experiencing a continual fall in per capita income throughout the 1980s, a process which has continued into the 1990s: Growth of real per capita income in imperialist and oppressed regions 1990-1991 (Average annual percent change)
The impact on health is staggering. Infant mortality rates are 50 times higher than in the imperialist nations. In 1990, an estimated 4.2 million children under the age of five dies from malnutrition. Another 30 million are underweight. 20% of the population are anaemic. African women are 50 times more likely to die during childbirth than women in the imperialist nations. In 1990, two-thirds of African governments were spending less on health per capita than they were in 1980. It is not merely health that has suffered: so has education. Primary school enrolment fell from an average of 78% in the 1970s to 68% in the 1980s. Less than a third of all children attend secondary school. Underlying this has been the remorseless rise in Africa's external debt to imperialism: Debt in sub-Saharan Africa (US$bn)
Agents such as the World Bank and the IMF-imposed so-called Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) on African countries to force them to pay back their debts to the imperialist banks. These SAPs involved cutting welfare expenditure, privatisation, and increasing exports to cover debt servicing. These exports were overwhelmingly primary commodities – copper, coffee, cocoa or cotton. But the prices of these commodities plummeted during the 1980s, whilst that of imports continued to rise. As the Report says (p7): 'This caused a sharp deterioration in Africa's terms of trade, the purchasing power of the region's exports have fallen by some 50% since the early 1980s...Overall the slump in commodity prices cost Africa $50bn in lost earnings between 1986 and 1990 – more than twice the amount the region receives in aid.' Despite an increase in the volume of exports, their value fell throughout the 1980s, so that for instance cocoa exporters in West Africa increased their output by a quarter between 1986 and 1989, only to see its value fall by a third. The collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989 meant that cocoa prices continued to fall, costing Africa a further $3.2bn between 1989 and 1992. Any future GATT accord on tropical products will intensify this downward pressure. With the decline in export earnings (from $65bn per annum 1981-85 to $55bn per annum 1986-90), the overall debt burden increased. Despite paying out $71.5bn between 1986 and 1992, overall indebtedness rose from $116bn to $183bn. Of this, $l1bn is arrears, up from $220m 10 years ago. So-called 'cancellation' and rescheduling such as that adopted by the Toronto Agreement have saved little more than $10bn. Meanwhile, the IMF alone drained $3bn between 1983 and 1990: like· the World Bank, it will not reschedule nor cancel debt. Imperialism has sucked Africa dry. The rate of return on foreign investment fell from around 30 percent in the late 1960s to 2.5 percent in the 1980s. The result: total private direct investment in 1990 was a mere $1.1bn, and is now little more than 0.6 percent of total worldwide foreign direct investment. Even this sum was offset by repayments of $1bn to commercial banks. The latest twist is that as Africa becomes less and less self-sufficient in food, it has become a dumping ground for heavily subsidised EC and US agricultural exports. Thus in Burkina Faso, EC grain is sold for $60 a ton, about a third lower than locally produced equivalents: this low price is guaranteed by a Common Agricultural Policy subsidy of $100 per ton. Likewise, the EC exported 54,000 tons of subsidised maize to Zimbabwe, which then had to sell its own stockpile under World Bank advice at a huge loss, leaving it without any strategic food supplies when it was hit by the 1992 drought. Whilst the EC and the US spend over $20bn annually on subsidising agricultural over-production and export subsidies, the net effect on Africa is to undermine local agriculture, increase unemployment and increase dependence on food imports. Meanwhile, the environment becomes ever more degraded, mainly because of the increasing use of cash crops as a means of generating export income. Fragile grasslands and forests have been turned over to the growth of timber and cocoa, forcing nomadic herders onto poorer grasslands which have suffered intensified erosion. The result is increasing desertification, further reducing any chance of agricultural self-sufficiency. War and famine have been increasingly the lot of millions of African people since Reagan and Thatcher sought to roll back the tide of national liberation struggles. Mozambique and Angola, Ethiopia and Somalia, the lives of millions have been part of the price that imperialism has exacted through its local stooges. The Financial Times, in a disgraceful editorial review of the Oxfam report (29 April 1993), sought to pin the blame for the deepening crisis on the continent on indigenous governments - their corruption, or their 'excessive' arms expenditure, or their 'socialism' (Nyerere's Tanzania receiving special mention). But the corruption is a necessary part of neo-colonialism: it is the basis on which the comprador bourgeoisie can arise, prepared to sell the rights of their people to imperialism, provided they receive their cut. Oxfam has been continually attacked for its exposure of the effects of imperialism, earning the particular hatred of the Tory government, and an attempt to place its political work outside charitable status. As communists, we disagree with the hopes it has that Western governments may be persuaded to adopt a Marshall Plan to regenerate Africa. But as communists, we recognise that the information it gathers on the impact of imperialism, the humanism it shows towards imperialism's victims, puts it head and shoulders above the bulk of the British left. Robert Clough Africa: Make or Break - Action for Recovery Oxfam UK and Ireland, May 1993, £3.95. Available from Oxfam House, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX27DZ. --- On Tue, 10/9/12, Charles Banda <chasbanda@gmail.com> wrote: From: Charles Banda <chasbanda@gmail.com> Subject: [wanabidii] World Bank Refuses Call to Halt Land Deals To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2012, 9:21 AM By Carey L. Biron, 5 October 2012 The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative impact of international land speculation in developing countries. "We share the concerns Oxfam raised in their report," the bank stated in an unusually lengthy public rebuttal to the Oxfam Report. "However, we disagree with Oxfam's call for a moratorium on World Bank Group...investments in land intensive large-scale agricultural enterprises, especially during a time of rapidly rising global food prices." "A moratorium focused on the Bank Group targets precisely those stakeholders doing the most to improve practices - progressive governments, investors, and us. Taking such a step would do nothing to help reduce the instances of abusive practices and would likely deter responsible investors willing to apply our high standards," the rebuttal said. Over the past year, aid agencies, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and development watchdogs have warned that international investors are increasingly engaging in massive and sometimes predatory land deals in the developing world, particularly in Africa. These acquisitions are partly to blame for rising food insecurity. Food prices are once again nearing record highs. In late August, the World Bank warned that due to adverse weather in parts of Europe and the United States, the global cost of certain staple crops was approaching levels last seen in 2008. Ironically, multinational companies interested in growing food crops to address this need have been doing much of the recent investing. According to Oxfam, however, two-thirds of the investments made between 2000 and 2010 were exclusively for export-oriented crops, while other lands are being used to meet the increasing international demand for biofuels. "Already an area of land the size of London is being sold to foreign investors every six days in poor countries," Oxfam stated, noting that in Liberia, land deals have "swallowed up" 30 percent of the country over the past five years. The report did not reject what good can potentially result from private investment but warned that food-price spikes from 2008 to 2009 led to the tripling of land deals, as "land was increasingly viewed as a profitable investment" even though it largely failed to benefit local communities. Slow the speculation "The world is facing an unbridled land rush that is exposing poor people to hunger, violence and the threat of a lifetime in poverty. The World Bank is in a unique position to stop this," Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam's executive director, said Thursday, noting that the bank both invests in land and advises developing countries. Oxfam is calling on the World Bank to temporarily halt its investments in agricultural land to give it time to review the advice it offers developing countries, and to put in place stronger policies to slow or stop the speculation and "land-grabbing" projects in which it is said to be involved. World Bank investment in agriculture has reportedly tripled in the past decade. Since 2008, however, local communities have also brought 21 formal complaints against bank-funded projects that they say have violated their rights. In a way, the bank's response to the call for a moratorium demonstrated outright denial: "The Bank Group does not support speculative land investments or acquisitions which take advantage of weak institutions in developing countries or which disregard principles of responsible agricultural investment." The bank also noted that 90 percent of its agricultural investment is focused on smallholders, and that the agricultural work of its private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has provided 37,000 jobs. By 2050, it warned, the global population is set to grow by two billion people, requiring a 70 percent increase in global food production. Still, the bank recognised that its massive systems are imperfect and highlighted an upcoming overhaul of related guidelines that would "review and update its environmental and social safeguards policies". "We agree that instances of abuse do exist, particularly in countries where governance is weak, and we share Oxfam's belief that in many cases, practices need to ensure more transparent and inclusive participation in cases of land transfers," the rebuttal stated. Impetus from below The degree to which these safeguards are followed nevertheless remains voluntary, said Anuradha Mittal, the executive director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based think tank that has been at the forefront of recent civil society warnings about the effects of land speculation in the developing world. "Back in 2009 and 2010, we were clearly identifying the role that the World Bank Group has been playing in promoting and facilitating these large-scale investments, completely ignoring the social and economic impact," she told IPS, referring to two reports (available here and here) that the new Oxfam work builds upon. "Oxfam is reiterating that this kind of investment is misinvestment in communities, in agriculture, and unfortunately the bank is choosing to ignore the clear evidence that has been brought forward." Bank officials did not respond to requests for additional comment. Mittal said that the development discussion needs to focus less on prescriptions handed down from multilaterals and more on the national implementation of internationally agreed rights including the rights to food and to free and prior informed consent. "We're not interested in voluntary guidelines coming from Washington or Geneva, but rather in strengthening local and national capacities that help communities work best themselves," she said. "Each country in Africa, for instance, is in a unique situation. So what we need are real consultations at the local level to see what kind of development actually works for the local populations." While Oxfam had called on the World Bank to move to halt its involvement in land deals before the annual meetings between the bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Tokyo next week, the bank's new president is now suggesting that he will use the meetings to begin pushing substantial reforms aimed at holding the bank's anti-poverty approaches more to account. "If we are going to be really serious about ending poverty earlier than currently projected...there are going to have to be some changes in the way we run the institution," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, preparing to attend his first annual meetings, told journalists on Thursday. Kim said he would be pushing for a model "where our board and our governors focus much more on holding us accountable for results on the ground in countries, rather than focusing so much on approval of large loans". 'Bahrain pays to buy good image" Published on Oct 3, 2012 by FullWorldNews Bahraini security forces have clashed with pro-democracy protesters after the funeral of an activist, who died in custody while serving a seven-year sentence for participating in anti-regime demonstrations. Bahraini doctor pleads for help Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Feb 18, 2011 Bahraini troops shot at protesters near Pearl Roundabout and wounded many, a doctor of Salmaniya hospital said, a day after police forcibly cleared a protest camp from the traffic circle in Manama. Violent response to Bahrain protest Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Feb 17, 2011 [WARNING: This video contains images that some viewers may find disturbing] Hospitals, the new Bahraini battlegroundYahoo! News – Tue, Oct 9, 2012 (Warning: Video contains graphic images) It seems hard to imagine that the situation in Bahrain, a small island country off the coast of Saudi Arabia, could be any more tense than it was when we were there in late March. The Shia majority have been pushing for more rights, and the Sunni-backed rulers have been resisting with brutal efficiency. We walked down streets littered with empty tear gas canisters and past buildings covered with anti-government graffiti. We talked to protestors who had had their homes raided, their children teargassed, their loved ones detained or killed. We observed a peaceful funeral procession descend into chaos as police tried to break down the barricades that marchers had set up. But it has gotten much, much worse over there. The fighting is now an almost nightly occurrence, and we are told "there are entire villages that are turning radical." A Bahraini source smuggled out this video to us, telling us that "people have to see what is going on." As the video shows, the Bahraini government has expanded the battlefield, cracking down not just on protestors in the streets, but also on Bahraini doctors and nurses who dare treat the injured. Earlier this week, six Bahraini doctors were jailed, after a court upheld their convictions for 'working against the state' when they aided wounded protestors in 2011. Their sentences range from one month to five years. Bahrain's hospitals have become militarized zones, with security patrols and surveillance cameras. Medics must report any injuries that may be the result of 'criminal activity.' Protestors know if they go to a hospital, they will be interrogated and possibly arrested. So healthcare has moved underground. Our source filmed two Bahraini medics who, under the cover of darkness, traveled to a village outside the capital of Manama to help a group of young people who had been injured. Our source, and the medics, did this at great personal risk to themselves, knowing that if they were pulled over at a checkpoint and found with medical supplies, much less a video camera, they could be arrested or worse. As you see in the video, the injured include a small child who was hit in the thigh by a stun grenade. The wounded need more sophisticated treatment than the assortment of bandages and antibiotics the doctors are able to bring with them. At a congressional hearing in August, Richard Sollom, the director of Physicians for Human Rights, denounced the 'militarization of Bahrain's public health system.' The U.S. State Department has said it is 'deeply concerned' about the arrests of the Bahraini medics. But in May, the State Department announced it was resuming the sale of some military weapons to the country, which remains a "major non-NATO ally" and the home of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet. |
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