Category Archives: Government Oppression

Marching in local July 4 parades is a tradition for members of Congress, who use the holiday to show their constituents that they are part of the communities they represent.

But this July 4, a number of Senate Republicans sat out the festivities, deciding instead to lay low amid a fierce debate over the GOPs health care plan thats unpopular among voters in every state in the country.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) didnt march in any July 4 parades in her home state, which voted for President Donald Trump by a 42-point margin, according to the New York Times. However, her Democratic colleague Joe Manchin, one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2018, did choose to march.

Also missing from home-state July 4 parades were Iowa GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner and Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman, the New York Times reported.

Republican senators who did march in parades were met by voters angry over the health care bill which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will lead 22 million people to lose coverage.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was greeted by protesters at a July 4 event in McAllen, a town located on the states border with Mexico.

Ted wants us dead, one protesters sign read, according to the Texas Tribune.

Isnt freedom wonderful? Cruz said, referring to the protesters, according to the Texas Tribune. Think about it: In much of the world, if protesters showed up, they would face violent government oppression. In America, weve got something different.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) one of the Republican senators most vocal about her opposition to the GOPs bill said voters thanked her for standing up to the legislation proposed by her Republican colleagues.

There was only one issue. Thats unusual. Its usually a wide range of issues, Collins told the Washington Post after marching in a parade in a rural area of her state. I heard, over and over again, encouragement for my stand against the current version of the Senate and House health care bills. People were thanking me, over and over again. Thank you, Susan! Stay strong, Susan!

Senate Republicans are still working on crafting a plan to make good on their promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. One version of the bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell submitted for CBO analysis contains changes, crafted by Cruz, that would essentially create high-risk pools for Americans with pre-existing conditions.

Its unclear whether that plan will be put up for a vote when Congress returns to Washington, D.C., on Monday.

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Senate Republicans avoid July 4 parades and their constituents amid health care debate - Mic

TEHRAN: Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has urged his countrys judiciary to extend support to oppressed Muslims in Kashmir, news agency IRNA reported. Khamenei called on the Iranian judiciary to firmly declare support or opposition to legal and humanitarian issues, such as sanctions, terrorism and oppressed people in the world, in order to reflect its stance on them throughout the world. Khamenei had met with government heads and officials belonging to the judicial system. The Iranian leader also called on the judiciary to support Sheikh Zakzaky, a Nigerian Shia scholar who had been detained by the government. Earlier, Khamenei had, during an Eid-ul-Fitr sermon, called upon the Muslim world to support the oppressed people of Bahrain, Yemen and Kashmir, in what is believed to be the first time he publicly called for support for Kashmir in seven years. The last time he spoke about Kashmir, the Indian government had formally lodged a protest with Tehran. Khamenei in 2010 had said: The major duties of the elite of the Islamic Ummah is to provide help to the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to sympathise and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime. Agencies

Kashmir conflict, Kashmir Dispute, Kashmir issue

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Khamenei urges formation of policy on oppression of Muslims in Kashmir - Kashmir Reader

Ezgi Aksoy cant remember when she first knew she wanted to be a writer forLeman, one of Turkeys most popular satire magazines. But that feeling, she says, grew throughout her high school years.

I remember that Leman was something very cool to read, very intellectual, and very special back then, the 35-year-old Istanbul native says.

That dream came true for Aksoy in 2008, when she started writing forYeni Harman, a monthly magazine focused on politics and culture that is one of many magazines under theLemanumbrella. The self-described alternative and left-leaning writer has since published two books, but her greatest claim to fame came in 2011 when she co-founded of a popular satire magazine,Bayan Yan, which is createdalmost exclusively by women.

In 2011, lifeas a woman in Turkey was getting worse. Increasing rates of murder of women and growing pressure to live a certain way by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyp Erdoan led Aksoy and two female caricaturists working forLemanto take action.

They decided to create a special issue focused solely on women, and they called itBayan Yan, referencing the practice of Turkish private buses refusing to seat together women and men who dont know one another. What Aksoy and the other founders didnt expect was how much their publication wouldresonatewith women from all over Turkey.

The one-off special edition, coinciding with International Womens Day, became its own monthly magazine that is still printed today.

A typical issue ofBayan Yanhas a meditative article by Aksoy on a controversial topic in Turkish society regarding women (one of her latest is on hair and reactions to her decision to stop dyeing her own)and a mix of caricatures satirizing news in Turkey or Turkish society. In the May issue, a cartoon touts research that polarization occurs because people think they know which party people belongto according to their appearance, with two village women judging a new neighbor based only on her looks.

The magazine has an avowed feminist slant recurring themes include child brides in Turkey and the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault though its readers include women as well as men across the country, the founders say.

Caricaturistpekzssl, 32, a Mersin native who moved to Istanbul for college and has lived there since, has been with the magazine since its founding. The outspoken caricaturist is known for her urban characters with spidery eyelashes and wild hair.

She says that the magazine has such a strong following among both genders because of its nonsexist language.

For most of the media, satire magazines predominantly use male language,and this wearies men as well as women, which is why they both love us,zsslsays. Other satire magazines frequently feel like a boys locker room, with cursing andcrude bathroom humor. WhileBayan Yan often pokes fun at female stereotypes, it does so to break stereotypes, rather than reinforce them.

Another feature ofBayan Yanis that it regularly criticizes Erdoans government, particularly for itsnonsensicalstatements about women.Erdoan has infamously called birth controltreason,has regularly told Turkish women to have at least three and, at times, up to fivechildren.

In 2014 he stated,"You cannot make men and women equal. That is against creation. Their natures are different. Their dispositions are different."

Those are the kinds of statementsBayan Yandirectly addresses, drawing both Erdoan and his ministers, despite the coup attempt in July 2016 making the staff second-guess their work. More than 47,000 Turkish citizens have been imprisoned in the coup's aftermath, according to Amnesty International. Included in that number are more than 120 journalists and 2,500 media workers, including cartoonists and satirists.

Bayan Yanitself has not faced direct pressure from the government, but its parent satire magazine,Leman, has been charged more than 20 times by Erdoans Justice and Development Party(AKP)since 2002,according to Leman's editor, Zafer Aknar. Aksoy says after the coup attempt, an unidentified group attacked Lemans office with gasoline, though none of the staff was present. At other times,police raids have preventedLemanfrom being distributed. Putting together the magazine today requires courage.Aksoy saysshe has no illusions about the dangers of her work.

Theres no use for fear, zssl adds. We do double-check our work, but we are afraid.

Aksoy says any negative reactions against the magazine have come from women. The magazine published a cover in which a burkini-clad woman points at a woman in a bikini and says,Look at that cellulite! Afew women emailed to say they were offended andsaidMuslim women didnt act that way.

Its not about Islam, she says she wrote back. Its a joke. This isself-taught conservatism. These kinds of rules are not written anywhere, but women apply them to themselves and to other women. They think that they must live in a certain kind of way, one that isnt written anywhere.

Bayan Yanhas the distinction of being one of the few remaining satire magazines in Turkey, which is no small feat when popular magazines likePenguenstopped printing in April, citing financial infeasibility.Another popular magazine,Grgr,was shut down by the governmentin February over a cartoon featuring Moses.

Like most satire magazines,Bayan Yanis distributed at newsstands and bookstores, but it does hope to reach a wider audience digitally on Turkcell Newsstand, a magazine app for subscribers using the countrys major telecommunications company. As of May,Bayan Yanhas been the fifth-most read magazine on the app for two months in a row,according toHrriyetnewspaperand the magazines owner, Tuncay Akgn.

Bayan Yans popularity shows no signs of letting up, and it seems for now that it will continue to be a cultural feminist bulwark in an unceasingly hostile environment.

From PRI's The World 2017 PRI

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Turkish female cartoonists get political tackling oppression with humor - WUNC

Ezgi Aksoy cant remember when she first knew she wanted to be a writer forLeman, one of Turkeys most popular satire magazines. But that feeling, she says, grew throughout her high school years.

I remember that Leman was something very cool to read, very intellectual, and very special back then, the 35-year-old Istanbul native says.

That dream came true for Aksoy in 2008, when she started writing forYeni Harman, a monthly magazine focused on politics and culture that is one of many magazines under theLemanumbrella. The self-described alternative and left-leaning writer has since published two books, but her greatest claim to fame came in 2011 when she co-founded of a popular satire magazine,Bayan Yan, which is createdalmost exclusively by women.

In 2011, lifeas a woman in Turkey was getting worse. Increasing rates of murder of women and growing pressure to live a certain way by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyp Erdoan led Aksoy and two female caricaturists working forLemanto take action.

They decided to create a special issue focused solely on women, and they called itBayan Yan, referencing the practice of Turkish private buses refusing to seat together women and men who dont know one another. What Aksoy and the other founders didnt expect was how much their publication wouldresonatewith women from all over Turkey.

The one-off special edition, coinciding with International Womens Day, became its own monthly magazine that is still printed today.

A typical issue ofBayan Yanhas a meditative article by Aksoy on a controversial topic in Turkish society regarding women (one of her latest is on hair and reactions to her decision to stop dyeing her own)and a mix of caricatures satirizing news in Turkey or Turkish society. In the May issue, a cartoon touts research that polarization occurs because people think they know which party people belongto according to their appearance, with two village women judging a new neighbor based only on her looks.

The magazine has an avowed feminist slant recurring themes include child brides in Turkey and the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault though its readers include women as well as men across the country, the founders say.

Caricaturistpekzssl, 32, a Mersin native who moved to Istanbul for college and has lived there since, has been with the magazine since its founding. The outspoken caricaturist is known for her urban characters with spidery eyelashes and wild hair.

She says that the magazine has such a strong following among both genders because of its nonsexist language.

For most of the media, satire magazines predominantly use male language,and this wearies men as well as women, which is why they both love us,zsslsays. Other satire magazines frequently feel like a boys locker room, with cursing andcrude bathroom humor. WhileBayan Yan often pokes fun at female stereotypes, it does so to break stereotypes, rather than reinforce them.

Another feature ofBayan Yanis that it regularly criticizes Erdoans government, particularly for itsnonsensicalstatements about women.Erdoan has infamously called birth controltreason,has regularly told Turkish women to have at least three and, at times, up to fivechildren.

In 2014 he stated,"You cannot make men and women equal. That is against creation. Their natures are different. Their dispositions are different."

Those are the kinds of statementsBayan Yandirectly addresses, drawing both Erdoan and his ministers, despite the coup attempt in July 2016 making the staff second-guess their work. More than 47,000 Turkish citizens have been imprisoned in the coup's aftermath, according to Amnesty International. Included in that number are more than 120 journalists and 2,500 media workers, including cartoonists and satirists.

Bayan Yanitself has not faced direct pressure from the government, but its parent satire magazine,Leman, has been charged more than 20 times by Erdoans Justice and Development Party(AKP)since 2002,according to Leman's editor, Zafer Aknar. Aksoy says after the coup attempt, an unidentified group attacked Lemans office with gasoline, though none of the staff was present. At other times,police raids have preventedLemanfrom being distributed. Putting together the magazine today requires courage.Aksoy saysshe has no illusions about the dangers of her work.

Theres no use for fear, zssl adds. We do double-check our work, but we are afraid.

Aksoy says any negative reactions against the magazine have come from women. The magazine published a cover in which a burkini-clad woman points at a woman in a bikini and says,Look at that cellulite! Afew women emailed to say they were offended andsaidMuslim women didnt act that way.

Its not about Islam, she says she wrote back. Its a joke. This isself-taught conservatism. These kinds of rules are not written anywhere, but women apply them to themselves and to other women. They think that they must live in a certain kind of way, one that isnt written anywhere.

Bayan Yanhas the distinction of being one of the few remaining satire magazines in Turkey, which is no small feat when popular magazines likePenguenstopped printing in April, citing financial infeasibility.Another popular magazine,Grgr,was shut down by the governmentin February over a cartoon featuring Moses.

Like most satire magazines,Bayan Yanis distributed at newsstands and bookstores, but it does hope to reach a wider audience digitally on Turkcell Newsstand, a magazine app for subscribers using the countrys major telecommunications company. As of May,Bayan Yanhas been the fifth-most read magazine on the app for two months in a row,according toHrriyetnewspaperand the magazines owner, Tuncay Akgn.

Bayan Yans popularity shows no signs of letting up, and it seems for now that it will continue to be a cultural feminist bulwark in an unceasingly hostile environment.

From PRI's The World 2017 PRI

View original post here:

Turkish female cartoonists get political tackling oppression with humor - KUOW News and Information

The Supreme leader had spoken in support of the held valley on Eidul Fitr as well

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has urged his countrys judiciary to internationally express support for Kashmiris who are fighting against Indian oppression in the occupied valley.

It is highly important that Irans judiciary officials comment on international legal issues after closely examining them, IRNA, Irans official news agency, quoted Khamenei as saying during a meeting with government heads and officials belonging to the judicial system.

Regarding its legal position, Irans judiciary should enter international issues such as the sanctions, US confiscations of property, terrorism, the support for oppressed personalities like Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky [Nigerian Shia leader] or Muslims of Myanmar and Kashmir, and should express its firm support or opposition in order to be reflected globally, Khamenei said.

World must help end bloodshed in Indian Occupied Kashmir: Aziz

This is not the first time the Iranian leader has spoken in support of the oppressed Kashmiris. On Eidul Fitr last month, hereportedlymentioned Kashmir, equating the situation in the disputed region with that of Yemen and Bahrain as requiring the support of all Muslim nations.

Everyone should openly support people of Yemen, Bahrain and Kashmir: Ayatollah Khamenei, read one of his official websites on June 26.

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Iran's Khamenei urges support for oppressed Kashmiris - The Express Tribune

Teenage girls who are refugees in Chicago planted vegetables outside the Broadway Armory, the site of cooking classes that explore foods with significance in their countries of origin. View Full Caption

Provided/Peterson Garden Project

EDGEWATER On Jan. 1, 1804,slavesliving in the French territory ofSaint-Domingue, now Haiti, finally tasted freedom. They also tastedsoup joumou, a pumpkin-based dish considered a delicacy among French slaveholders, who prohibited blacks from eating it.

After that day, the dish would be known asHaitian Freedom Soup.

"Feasts Of Resistance," anew series of cooking classes open to the public, seeks to explore the history of similar foods as symbols of strife and struggle. The classes,organizedby Edgewater community groupsPeterson Garden Project and Girl Forward, willreplicatedishes that were "created or affected by social or political unrest."

Not only do the dishesrepresentrecipes borne out of historical and modern day oppression, they also represent countries that many teenage refugee girls fled on their way to Chicago'sFar North Side.

Helping teach and prepare food for the cooking classes will be students in a summer camp held by Girl Forward, a nonprofit that provides resources and programming for refugees.

Food helps connect the students, who hail from about two dozencountries, said Emily Kane, director of educational programming at the camp.

"Everybody has food, all cultures," Kane said. "I think food is a really great vehicle to be able to explorethe perspectiveand experiences of other people in a really hands-on way, and it's great in a classroom setting."

Chef Alvin Yu, a cook, organizer and board member at Peterson Garden Project, had earlier discovered through his work organizing and mentoring youth in Uptown that, "If you have food for kids, they will always show up."

Once he understood that, deeper connections could begin to take root, he said.

"Initially it was just food that represented their cultures, but then as a deeper dive, we looked at food that had a legacy of oppression, food that was borne out of struggle, food that was borne out of war," Yu said. "And there were stories behind that."

Girl Forward girls plantonBroadway. [Provided/Peterson Garden Project]

The collaboration between the groups resulted in the Feasts of Resistance project, which also opened the experience up to the public and serves as a way to help financially support future programs at Girl Forward.

Earlier this year the teens planted vegetables and herbs in planter boxes outside the Broadway Armory, where the classes take place.

Beginning July 10, they'll return to harvest their crops and thenuse them during cooking sessions, where they not only get to share their stories with people who sign up for the classes, they'll also cook dishes that have personal and cultural significance to them.

It's "really an opportunity to explore food and culture, but in a way that our girls can kind of lead the charge on," Kane said. "I think what's really powerful is that [Peterson Garden Project] decided to make this class public, so not only do our students get to engage in this, but our community does as well, which I think is such a huge form of advocacy."

Classes are $75 each and willrunfrom 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for three more Thursdaysat the armory, 5917 N. Broadway.

This Thursday's session will center on Haiti with the making ofpumpkin soup;a July 20 class will focus on Nepal and Burma, and the final lesson onAug. 3 will look at the foods of West Africa and Cape Verde.

Chef Alvin Yu watches over an earlierFilipino cooking segment. [Provided/Peterson Garden Project]

"Recipes are borne out of necessity," Yu said.

Take for example Burmese bachelor xchicken, a chicken curry dish that grew from food scarcity in Myanmar(formerly Burma).

According to legend, men who became hungry while guarding villages from government troops overnight would snatch chickens from nearby farms, along with herbs and vegetables, to feed themselves while on duty.

Though food was available, the oppressive government would often hoardit away from the people, Yu said.

Similarly, in West Africa's Cape Verde region, former slaves under Portuguese rule were allowed to cook,but not eat, coveted meats like sausage and pork that slave masters imported to the island.

"Only the slaves cooked it, but only the rich could eatit," Yu explained.

Cachupa was made from"leftovers" that began when slaves could wrangle bits and pieces of the meatsunwanted by slave mastersinto a dish with eggs and vegetables.

Despite originating as a meal for survival, today it's one of the island's most famous meals.

Now, these and otherstories will be shared among the community, which Yu said can help to "bridge the gap" between people of different backgrounds, while also empowering the young women.

"If we can open up peoples' eyes to the fact their cultural heritage and their legacy has some of these roots, then we can start to find more commonalities between us than we do differences," Yu said. "Food is a good access point for people because if you're going to sit at somebody's table and eat somebody's food, it would be very hard to hate them. ... If I understand your food as part of your culture, it's the first step in bridging the gap."

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Edgewater's Refugee Girls Share Stories Of Struggle Through Cooking Class - DNAinfo

Bangladesh News 24 hours

Government has roles in abduction of Farhad Mazhar, says BNP Bangladesh News 24 hours Rizvi backed his claim against the government, saying it was trying to stifle opposition voices. We think the abduction was done so that no-one writes against oppression and misrule. So that people's sufferings do not reach the newspapers. So that the ... and more »

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Government has roles in abduction of Farhad Mazhar, says BNP - Bangladesh News 24 hours

Firmly in power? President Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwes problem is not Mugabe. Your problem is the opposition. That is because Mugabe is still in power for one reason and one reason only: your opposition leaders are working at a level no higher than school children fighting over sweets. They are not behaving in the adult, responsible way that is needed if a tyrant is to be removed.

I hate saying this because I am fully aware, as the whole world is, of the enormous sacrifice many members of your opposition have made over the years: abuse, wrongful imprisonment, brutality and murder. How many bodies lie in unknown, unmarked graves?

But, unfortunately, bravery alone does not win battles. To win, one must still fight in the right way. And it hurts to see people hurling themselves impotently against a solid door when all the time the key was there if only they knew how to use it.

This article is as much for the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe so that you can see what your opposition leaders ought to be doing but are not to help you escape oppression and poverty, and how you can apply pressure on them to find and open that door.

Because there is only one way to remove a bad government, and that is by having a properly organised and directed opposition. Such a thing in Zimbabwe would have ousted Mugabe many years ago. Good oppositions will quickly rid citizens of bad governments. But, unfortunately, bad oppositions have the opposite effect. They allow bad governments to stay in power a lot longer than they should have done, and this is what your opposition has done.

In other words, the important part of any nations political framework is not so much having good governments, it is having good oppositions. And that you have never had since Independence.

In fairness, that does not prove that Zimbabweans have some inherent fault, because EVERY African nation has had exactly the same problem since the end of colonialism. So this is an African problem, not a Zimbabwean one.

Lets face the truth: all African citizens not just Zimbabweans should have been taken out of oppression and poverty years ago, and by now be enjoying living standards every bit as good as Westerners do or if not that, fast approaching it. There is absolutely no intrinsic reason why they should not be.

But if that is true, what has gone wrong?

The reason the ONLY reason why the majority of Africans are not now enjoying Western-quality lifestyles is because African oppositions have so far not managed to work together on either a national or pan-African stage to carry out the effective, concerted action needed to improve the standards of living of the common people. I will try to show you why.

Most Africans see Westerners as always having lived in wealth. That is not so. At the start of colonialism, Western peasant farmers and farm workers lived no better than typical African villagers did. The only noticeable difference was that the Western poor wore more clothing. But that was only because it was much colder in Europe, and even then their clothes were often rags. Industrial workers often lived in slums as bad as any in Africa today, with hunger and disease rife, and famine common. That lasted for the Western working class until relatively recent times.

Nor were Western workers at the start of their social revolution any better educated than African workers at the end of colonialism. In fact, a smaller percentage of the population had been to school, and a much higher percentage were unable to read or write.

Nor were Western governments any less repressive than African ones today, often using force to put down attempts by the working class to demand better living conditions.

So the West then was as Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa is now a small and very wealthy elite of governments and businesspeople living in often obscene opulence surrounded by extreme poverty and (in town) slums, and effectively keeping the vast majority of the population in extreme poverty and repression.

So what changed? How did Western citizens who were worse educated, and as poor and badly oppressed as Africans are today manage to escape from extreme poverty into the affluence they now have?

They realised they could not win by force of arms (although there were some exceptions like France) because the ruling elite had an army and they did not. Nor could they win in parliament because only better-off citizens had the vote, whereas none of the working class (and no women from any class) were allowed to vote.

But one thing they did have was an overwhelming mass of people, if only they could be mobilised, just as in Africa today.

The leaders of the Western social revolution also had an understanding of what a citizen power movement must have if it was to succeed. That is what is lacking not just in Zimbabwe, but throughout Africa today. The essential elements of this were:

In contrast, African opposition leaders tend to see the battle as a political one, but this has two serious downsides if one wants to defeat oppression and poverty. First, it means most Africans leave it to the opposition political parties to conduct the fight, not understanding that they, too, must put their full support behind tye movement irrespective of party allegiance. Second, it means they allow political differences or differences in tactics to split the opposition.

In the case of African nations such as Zimbabwe, we must add to this list all the foreign and domestic NGOs working in the country, and the whole business community which will benefit more than anyone else from the success of the movement. So the potential opposition in Africa now is very much bigger than it was in the West. Unfortunately, so far the liberation efforts of the Christian Churches, the NGOs and the business community have been, frankly, pathetic, as are those of members of the media who chicken out.

In contrast to the West, African opposition political parties have not appreciated how vital it is to get all these disparate groups engaged. This should be the most important part of their job of opposition, but they dont see it that way. This is an added and very important reason why it must be seen as purely non-partisan movement against oppression and poverty, because then none of the non-political opposition groups will have any qualms about joining.

African opposition leaders do not understand this. Ego, the cult of the individual and personal ambition have dominated and undermined every African opposition, not just Zimbabwes. This is what I meant earlier when I said they behave like children fighting over sweets, instead of responsible adults who realise that their job is to work for the Greater Good.

In other words, the great majority of Africans are still in poverty, when they should have escaped it years ago, because their opposition leaders have habitually sacrificed the well-being of all African citizens on the altar of their own personal egos and ambitions.

This puts a huge question mark over the recent actions of Nkosana Moyo in entering the presidential battle so late in the day and refusing to join the coalition. Moyo had better make sure he is right and win the election because, if he doesnt, he will be directly responsible for Mugabe or ZANU-PF remaining in office, and for consigning every Zimbabwean to yet more years of oppression and poverty. He bears a heavy responsibility for his decision.

His argument that the coalition will fail because it is trying to mix oil and water is pathetic. Probably every successful opposition in history has managed to mix oil and water very successfully, so is he saying that Zimbabweans are not mature and adult enough to do that?

There was no middle ground, and anyone not siding with the movement would be seen as by default helping the ruling elite to stay in power. Sitting on the fence was not an option, just as a footballer who sits down cross-legged on the pitch is actually helping the other team to win.

In contrast, African opposition leaders rarely spend time on teaching all citizens that they, too, must join in the fight if they want to be free of oppression and poverty.

Remember, too, that this job of educating the public was much harder when Western citizens gained their freedom, because the opposition leaders did not have the benefit of social media, radio, TV or even telephones to help them. There were newspapers, but these were rarely read by the working class. So the leaders and their supporters had no choice but to get out and meet the public, spreading the message by word of mouth.

Beyond empty platitudes and meaningless promises, no African opposition has had this plan, and nor does the Zimbabwean opposition have one now. This is why, almost without exception, getting rid of one corrupt, repressive government has merely meant replacing it with another corrupt, repressive government. Sometimes, the new government was even worse than the old. Zimbabwe is a good example of this.

And that is another reason why Africans are still in poverty when they should have been taken out of it years ago. Now, for the first time, governments do have a plan available to them for how to take their citizens from poverty to wealth as quickly as possible. The plan is the AUs Agenda 2063 with its accompanying First Ten-Year Implementation Plan 2014-2023.

All African governments, including Zimbabwes, have already signed up to Agenda 2063. However, not one of them is implementing it. Not surprising when one of its intentions is to put power firmly into the hands of African citizens, and that is the last thing any African government wants, especially Mugabes!

For this reason, the AU has made it abundantly clear that, unless African citizens themselves insist on all politicians and political parties making Agenda 2063 part of their manifestos, it will fail, leaving them open to yet another corrupt, repressive government.

So, for the first time, Zimbabweans have it within your own power to break the constant pan-African cycle of one repressive government succeeding another, simply by insisting that, whichever political party takes power, Agenda 2063 will be the basis of their manifesto.

If you dont do that, the chances are you will stay much as you are now: repressed and in poverty, although not as badly so as under Mugabe. The choice now lies in your hands as Zimbabwean citizens. How much do you really want to escape oppression and poverty? Enough to insist that the new government adopts Agenda 2063 as the basis for their manifesto? Or not? The choice is yours.

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Why is Mugabe still in power? - The Zimbabwean - The Zimbabwean

Jul 3, 2017 at 6:19 pm | Print View

CEDAR RAPIDS Since President Donald Trump signed a directive last month outlining his plans to tighten travel and spending restrictions on Cuba, some Iowans say theyre disappointed with his administrations decision.

From agricultural leaders to veterans looking to help others, some residents who were optimistic about the trajectory President Barack Obama set for more open relations worry about the implications of further limiting American interactions with Cuba.

Inspired by documentaries that showed a thriving skateboard culture amid widespread poverty in Cuba, Cedar Rapids resident Jason Everett is flying to Cuba on Wednesday to bring skateboards to disadvantaged kids. He said if hed scheduled his trip much later, its unlikely hed be able to go at all.

Theres a very small window for people to do what Im doing, he said.

Trumps policy differs from Obamas in two main ways, said Martina Kunovic, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and visiting researcher at the Cuban Institute for Cultural Research in Havana.

The new regulations limit individual people to people travel the kind of trip Everett is taking, which opened up under the Obama Administration and allows travelers to visit for non-academic educational purposes and prohibit American spending in businesses affiliated with the Cuban military, intelligence or security services, which reportedly control most of the tourist industry, Kunovic said.

During his June 16 speech in Miami, Trump said he was canceling the last administrations completely one-sided deal with Cuba and implementing a new policy taking aim at what his administration sees as a repressive government.

We will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer, he said at the event, adding that the Cuban regime exploits and abuses the citizens.

However, embassies set up by President Obama wont be eliminated, and commercial flights and cruises to Cuba will continue. The Treasury and Commerce Department will begin issuing regulations in mid-July, Kunovic said. Changes will go into effect once the policies are finalized, which will likely take months, she said.

Wrong Direction

Though there wasnt significant change in economic relations with Cuba under Obama, the administrations diplomatic improvements gave some Iowa farmers hope that open trade policies were on the horizon.

The (Trump Administrations) rhetoric is a step backward, said Kirk Leeds, chief executive officer of the Iowa Soybean Association. Its headed in the wrong direction.

The nearly 60-year-old embargo is harmful for Iowa farmers while other nations benefit from trade with a country just 90 miles from U.S. shores, added Jerry Mohr, an at-large director of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and a member of Iowas Engage Cuba Coalition state council, a national nonpartisan organization working to end travel and trade restrictions on Cuba.

Logically, Iowa would be the dominant soybean supplier in Cuba if Congress lifted the embargo, said Leeds, who is also a member of Iowas Engage Cuba Coalition council.

However, since the island is relatively small and poor, Leeds isnt sure open trade would provide a significant economic boost for farmers. At the same time, every market is important, he said, and the expanding tourism industry would present the best opportunity for Iowa agriculture as travelers often expect quality beef and produce, which the U.S. produces efficiently.

So far, its unclear if the policy will further limit agricultural exports to Cuba, Kunovic said. However, if the Cuban entity responsible for imports is determined to have ties to the Cuban military, there could be increased restrictions, she said.

The embargo one of several U.S. policies intended to contain communism can only be dismantled by the Senate, Kunovic added.

The economic restrictions cause more than just financial troubles, said Craig Hill, director of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Engage Cuba Coalition member. In part because many Cuban farmers dont have access to modern production methods, the nation struggles with food insecurity, he said.

We want to be a reliable supplier, a responsible supplier and a cheap supplier, Hill said. Its a (diplomatic) and humanitarian need as well to be reliable suppliers for Cubans.

After years of economic sanctions, Mohr said, its clear that the embargo isnt effective.

Why do we want to keep punishing (the Cuban) people? he asked. Theyre great people. Lets open things up.

Study Abroad Programs

Iowa State University associate professor Rose Caraway first traveled to Cuba on a study abroad trip in 2002. Now, she hopes to launch an Iowa State study abroad program there.

After the Obama Administration loosened travel restrictions, Cubans were optimistic that continued change might allow them to communicate more easily with family and friends in the U.S., said Caraway, who researches the relationships between religion and sustainability in Cuba and has traveled there regularly for more than a decade. She worries that the new development could negatively impact Cubans perceptions of America.

Caraway doesnt have concrete program arrangements yet, but she said the ambiguity makes it hard to move forward in the planning process because, at this point, its impossible to assess how the policy will impact education and travel.

At the same time, officials at another Iowa university with an existing Cuba study abroad program say Trumps regulations dont pose concerns for educational travel.

The University of Iowa offers an official study abroad opportunity in Cuba that predates the loosening of academic travel restrictions under Obama, said Autumn Tallman, associate director of International Health and Safety and Security at the university.

The new policy doesnt prevent the university from sending students to Cuba, said Dimy Doresca, director of the universitys Institute for International Business. Doresca, who leads the schools Cuba trip, said a spring 2018 program is in the works.

If relations open up, Caraway said, Americans may be able to learn from the emphasis on community shes observed in Cuban culture.

I think thats something to look at and maybe ask ourselves about, she said. In terms of all these issues that were dealing with here in the United States, (they) may be connected to this central question of community.

Thriving subculture

Everett, a veteran and member of the Iowa Army National Guard, said his own international travels prompted his upcoming 15-day trip to Cuba. He feels fortunate to have experienced the kindness of strangers around the world and wanted to give back, he said.

Subculture is really thriving there. The kids are hungry for ways to express themselves, he said.

Friends from as far away as China have sent Everett money to buy skateboards to bring to Cuba, he said.

But theres not much time left for people who want to take on similar projects, Everett said. He received government approval for the trip under the people to people category, but rules governing that type of travel will be stricter under Trump.

Nate Sherwood, co-owner of Cedar Rapids skate shop EduSkate, has helped Everett pick out supplies for the trip, which Sherwood sees as a chance to help passionate skaters who might not have the resources to buy a skateboard.

Theres so many cats in Cuba that are so talented, but accessing quality equipment is so hard, Sherwood said.

Everett is also working with Rene Lecour, founder of Amigo Skate, a Miami-based organization dedicated to sending instruments, art supplies and skateboards to kids in Cuba. Lecour has traveled to Cuba about once a month for the last seven years.

Having a positive impact on other peoples lives makes the risky business of bringing goods into Cuba worth it, he said.

Weve gotten to meet a lot of really sweet people over the years like (Everett), who are just taking time and energy and money and doing something to help somebody else, Lecour said. Theres nothing more beautiful than that.

l Comments: (319) 368-8542; rilyn.eischens@thegazette.com

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PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU ************************* Today, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. We come together as Canadians to celebrate the achievements of our great country, reflect on our past and present, and look boldly toward our future.

Canadas story stretches back long before Confederation, to the first people who worked, loved, and built their lives here, and to those who came here centuries later in search of a better life for their families. In 1867, the vision of Sir George-tienne Cartier and Sir John A. Macdonald, among others, gave rise to Confederation an early union, and one of the moments that have come to define Canada.

In the 150 years since, we have continued to grow and define ourselves as a country. We fought valiantly in two world wars, built the infrastructure that would connect us, and enshrined our dearest values equality, diversity, freedom of the individual, and two official languages in theCharter of Rights and Freedoms. These moments, and many others, shaped Canada into the extraordinary country it is today prosperous, generous, and proud.

At the heart of Canadas story are millions of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. They exemplify what it means to be Canadian: ambitious aspirations, leadership driven by compassion, and the courage to dream boldly. Whether we were born here or have chosen Canada as our home, this is who we are.

Ours is a land of Indigenous Peoples, settlers, and newcomers, and our diversity has always been at the core of our success. Canadas history is built on countless instances of people uniting across their differences to work and thrive together. We express ourselves in French, English, and hundreds of other languages, we practice many faiths, we experience life through different cultures, and yet we are one country. Today, as has been the case for centuries, we are strong not in spite of our differences, but because of them.

As we mark Canada 150, we also recognize that for many, today is not an occasion for celebration. Indigenous Peoples in this country have faced oppression for centuries. As a society, we must acknowledge and apologize for past wrongs, and chart a path forward for the next 150 years one in which we continue to build our nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown, and government-to-government relationship with the First Nations, Inuit, and Mtis Nation.

Our efforts toward reconciliation reflect a deep Canadian tradition the belief that better is always possible. Our job now is to ensure every Canadian has a real and fair chance at success. We must create the right conditions so that the middle class, and those working hard to join it, can build a better life for themselves and their families.

Great promise and responsibility await Canada. As we look ahead to the next 150 years, we will continue to rise to the most pressing challenges we face, climate change among the first ones. We will meet these challenges the way we always have with hard work, determination, and hope.

On the 150th anniversary of Confederation, we celebrate the millions of Canadians who have come together to make our country the strong, prosperous, and open place it is today.On behalf of the Government of Canada, I wish you and your loved ones a very happy Canada Day.

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