Amandla

20 years after the wall: Die Spiegel International

This website was created by German newspaper Die Spiegel to provide coverage of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism in Europe. In addition to news stories, comment and analysis from journalists, it also offers photographs, interviews and eye witness accounts from Germans.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,k-7540,00.html

 

20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall: Public Sphere Formation

Public Sphere Formation is a special project of the Social Science Research Council. This special feature contains a collection of essays and articles from American academic researchers on the impact of the 1989 revolutions, the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of communism in Europe. The site also offers an annotated bibliography of key texts on post-socialist, post-communist transformations.
http://publicsphere.ssrc.org/20th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-the-wall/

 

Berlin Wall 20 years later: New York Times

This site was created by the New York Times to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. In addition to news stories, comment and analysis from the newspaper, it also provides free access to a selection of original NY times articles from 1989, photographs of events from readers, multimedia slides shows of the construction of the wall and its dismantling. These include eye witness accounts and comment. Copyright and technical information is displayed on the website. 
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/berlin_wall/in

Wide dissatisfaction with capitalism: twenty years after fall of Berlin Wall

This site provides free access to a BBC world Service poll conducted by GlobeScan Incorporated and The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland. The 27 page report contains the results of a public opinion poll conducted in November 2009. On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism in Europe in 1989, it asked citizens from different nations a variety of questions relating to their opinion on the disintegration/ break up of the Soviet Union (USSR), attitudes towards state control of industry and capitalism in general. Information on the methodology of the survey is provided. Participants include individuals in former communist eastern Bloc nations.From Intute.ac.uk

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/nov09/BBC_BerlinWall_Nov09_rpt.pdf

The Pakistan Conflict Monitor is maintained by the Human Security Report Project at the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University. It aims to highlight research about conflict and international security relating to Pakistan. This includes coverage of terrorism, Al-Qaeda, fundamental Islam, the links with the Taliban in Afghanistan and more generally government and development initiatives. The site summarises and links to key research data, press releases and reports. Information is generally available from 2009 onwards. http://www.pakistanconflictmonitor.org/

From Intute.ac.uk

Human rights in the 21st Century- Noam Chomsky lecture October 2009

http://richmedia.lse.ac.uk/publicLecturesAndEvents/20091029_1830_humanRightsInTh

This site provides free access to a recording of a public lecture by Professor Noam Chomsky which took place at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on 20th October 2009. In the 94 minute lecture Chomsky discusses the current state of human rights and future challenges in the 21st Century. It is possible to download a podcast and view a recoding of the event. In order to see the webcast users must (from the LSE podcast channel url) scroll down the list of events and click on the correct date. Technical and copyright information is displayed on the website.From Intute.ac.uk

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has released a new report, Food Security and Agricultural Mitigation in Developing Countries: Options for Capturing Synergies (pdf), examining how strategies for climate change mitigation can benefit agriculture, food security, and development (news release). UN Pulse: Permanent Link: Climate Change and Agriculture

The Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2009 presents the World Bank’s record of performance in achieving outcomes from its projects and country programs and focuses on the Bank's contributions in supporting environmental sustainability. Download the report in full (pdf,7.58KB) or by chapters from the website.From UN Pulse: Permanent Link: Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2009

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has released its Global Wage Report: 2009 Update. The report indicates that growth in wages has slowed because of the global economic crisis (news release). From: UN PULSE: Permanent Link: Economic Crisis Erodes Wages

On 7 December 2009, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, to respond to one of the greatest challenges facing humanity: climate change. To support the negotiations, (UNEP) has launched discussion series of working papers aimed at contributing to the discussions on climate change issues, including those under consideration in the UNFCCC Climate Talks. The progressive series is available in the (UNEP’s Copenhagen Series) website.

From UN PULSE 
Permanent Link: The Road to Copenhagen: UNEP's Discussion Series.

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DATE:  Wednesday, 18 November 2009

 

TIME:  17h30 to 19h00

 

CHAIR:

 Dr Comfort Ero

 Deputy Director: Africa

 International Centre for Transitional Justice

 Cape Town

 

 

SPEAKERS:

 Professor Peter Woodward

 School of Politics and International Relations

 University of Reading

 United Kingdom

 

 

 Dr John G Nyuot Yoh

 Head of Mission

 Government of South Sudan

 Mission to Southern Africa (Pretoria Office)

 South Africa

 

 All are welcome and entry is free.  Kindly RSVP for seating purposes

 

RSVP:

 Lavenia Benjamin

 

TEL:

 (021) 689 1005

 

E-MAIL:

 lavenia@ccr.uct.ac.za

 

WEBSITE:

 www.ccr.org.za

RECOMMENDED READING:

Guinea: September 28 Massacre Was Premeditated (October 2009)
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7866

Human Rights Watch exposes the killings and sexual violence that took place at a rally in Conakry in September.

Global Gender Gap Report (October 2009)
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7868

The World Economic Forum assesses how well countries are dividing resources and opportunities among their male and female populations. South Africa has leapt to sixth place in the Global Gender Gap Index.

Budgeting with the Gorillas (October 2009)
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7870

This article by an independent analyst at the South African Civil Society Information Service, comments on the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.

Labour Reform in South Africa: Measuring Regulations and a Synthesis of Policy Suggestions (October 2009)
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7872

This Working Paper from the Development Policy Research Unit of UCT,  considers labour regulation, worker protection and key legislative and institutional challenges within the South African labour market.

OPINION:

 

INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY STUDIES

Pan African Parliament II and the Potential for the Development of a Strong Continental Legislative Organ
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7873    

The opening of the second Pan African Parliament benefited from an opening address by South African President, Jacob Zuma. In his address, President Zuma highlighted the role of the PAP as the voice of the voiceless and the immense impact it could...

 

 

INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY STUDIES

The MDC “disengagement” a knee-jerk reaction
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7874  

On Monday 28 September 2009, the announcement came that the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe had upheld human rights activist Jestina Mukoko's application for a permanent stay of prosecution on terrorism charges following her abduction, illegal detention...

 

HOT SPOT

Climate policy by trade war?
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7875

Will climate policy in future be conducted through trade measures? A worrying scenario is that the current approach – negotiating climate change multilaterally, through the United Nations (UN) – could be replaced by domestic action and border...

 

INSIGHT AFRICA

South Africa: Reflecting Confidence
http://newsletters.creamermedia.co.za/servlet/link/19/1255/170894/7876

Since his retirement as president of the country and joint Nobel Peace Prize winner with Nelson Mandela, former president F W de Klerk has very commendably devoted himself to promoting South Africa internationally.  As a lawyer, his point of...

 

You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world" using extraordinary animation software developed by his Gapminder Foundation. The Trendalyzer software (recently acquired by Google) turns complex global trends into lively animations, making decades of data pop. Asian countries, as colorful bubbles, float across the grid -- toward better national health and wealth. Animated bell curves representing national income distribution squish and flatten. In Rosling's hands, global trends -- life expectancy, child mortality, poverty rates -- become clear, intuitive and even playful. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 20:35) - More TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/ ;"Rosling believes that making information more accessible has the potential to change the quality of the information itself." :Business Week Online//

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4237353244338529080#

Berlin Wall: BBC archive

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/berlinwall/index.shtml

This site provides free access to a collection of online archive films and recordings relating to the political history the Berlin Wall which have been taken from the BBC archives. They cover the period from the end of the Second World War to the fall of the wall in 1989. Materials include news films, documentaries and TV clips. Topics are the Berlin blockade, the Cold War, the fall of communism and the reunification of Germany. Copyright and technical information is displayed on the website.                 From: Intute.ac.uk

Afghan election updates 2009

http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state=henpacr&s=o&o=l=en&s=g&o=c0e025be5972ba4

This site was created by the Institute for War and Peace reporting to provide coverage of the 2009 Afghan presidential election. The include entries from June 2009 onwards. They offer insight into the conduct of the ballot, claims of electoral fraud and political violence, many from reporters on the ground. Also available are some eye witness accounts. The site links to profiles of the main candidates and a timeline of recent events in Afghan political history.

 

Afghan elections 2009: milestone for progress or mirror of malaise?

http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/Noref_AfghanElections2009_Progress

This site provides free access to a briefing paper by Robert Matthews which was published by the Norwegian Peace building Centre in September 2009, it summarises the issues relating to the disputed presidential elections in Afghanistan in 2009. Topics covered include political violence and political fraud in Afghanistan and women's political participation.

Afghanistan: politics, elections, and government performance

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21922.pdf

This site provides free access to a Congressional Research Service report which was published in October 2009. The 29 page report (intended for members of the American Congress) assesses the political landscape of Afghanistan and issues arising from the 2009 disputed presidential elections. It includes discussion of the problems in regard to the 2009 elections, its results and possible impact for the USA.

 

Impunity prolonged: Burma and its 2008 constitution

This site provides free access to the full text of a report published in 2009 by the International Center for Transitional Justice. ISBN: 978-1-936064-02-1. The 45 page report provides an analysis of the 2008 constitution which promised greater democracy for the people of Burma / Myanmar. It includes coverage of examples of human rights abuses in Burma and the house arrest of opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.From: Intute.ac.uk
http://www.ictj.org/static/Asia/Burma/ICTJ_MMR_Impunity2008Constitution_pb2009.p

Centre for Liberty in the Middle East

Centre for Liberty in the Middle East (CLIME) is a non-profit organisation which seeks to promote democracy in nations of the Middle East. It supports a network of democratic activists throughout the region. Services include training on women's political participation, and political development in general. The website includes information on the aims of the organisation, its membership and activities. It includes access to some reports and training manuals from its members. Topics covered include political reform in Egypt, Jordan and Syria; Islam and politics and women and politics. FROM: Intute.ac.uk
http://www.mideastliberty.org/