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worldwideWAMM November 2006
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by Sharon Grimes, W A M M
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner Has Helped Millions of Women
More than 100 million impoverished people have improved their lives in the last 30 years using microcredit. Muhammad Yunus, an economist and banker from Bangladesh, came up with the idea, for which he and his bank received this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. He began lending small amounts of money, sometimes as little as $90, to help people start businesses. Since then, his bank has lent $5.72 billion to more than 6 million people in Bangladesh, most of them women, and the concept has spread worldwide. (Star Tribune, 10/14/06)
More Soldiers Nationwide Reject Iraq Mission
An increasing number of soldiers are turning against the United States military mission in Iraq on moral and ethical grounds, according to Peter Laufer, author of Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq. He spent a year interviewing soldiers who have served in Iraq. He says that the soldiers who volunteered and have been there cannot be ignored and can help us understand what’s wrong in Iraq. One example is Clifton Hicks, who received an honorable discharge based on his conscientious objection to the war, which he developed in Iraq. Hicks says it’s a war fought for the “filthy rich too cowardly to do it themselves” who want more money, fought by “us, the masses of uneducated fools killing each other.” (http://www.alternet.org/story/42272, 9/30/06)
Local Female Reservist Rejects Iraq Assignment
Melanie McPherson, an Army reservist from Minnesota, has refused to go to Iraq. She was assigned to be an MP, a position she says she was not trained to do. Instead, she had been trained by the Army to be a photojournalist. She went AWOL in July and in September turned herself in. She has chosen to face a special or general court martial rather than a summary court martial, in which she would have received a month in prison and then been sent to Iraq. (Star Tribune, 10/13/06)
British Commander Calls for Iraq Pullout
The top military commander said the presence of British troops in Iraq is only making the country less secure. Gen. Richard Dannatt, chief of the British Army, called for a pullout of British troops from Iraq “sometime soon.” He said later that when he talked about pulling out of Iraq “sometime soon” he meant “when the mission is substantially done, we should leave.” Prime Minister Tony Blair said he supports Dannatt and that the remarks had been taken out of context. (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/ 10/12/iraq.general/index.html; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm)
West Bank Mayor Fosters Cooperation between Hamas and Fatah
The West Bank Palestinian town of Beita demonstrates that economic turnaround and cooperation between Hamas and Fatah is possible. Formerly, the town had a 65 percent unemployment rate. When Arab Ashrafa became mayor in December 2004 he cracked down on electricity theft and nonpayment of utility bills and provided help to students and the unemployed. He uses his charisma and creativity to come up with money-saving ideas and persuade business people to invest in public projects. He says that “Hamas must make peace with Israel,” and claims that 90 percent of Palestinians want a two-state solution. He says the main reason Hamas will not recognize Israel is a lack of trust. (The Economist, 9/28/06)
California Governor Signs Divesture Bill
In September, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that requires California to end investments in Sudan in order to put pressure on Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur. (Star Tribune, 9/16/06)
Liberia Reconciliation Program Initiated
In an effort to achieve reconciliation, a truth commission in Liberia began hearing testimony in October on atrocities that took place in that country since 1979. (Star Tribune, 10/11/06)
Nuclear Waste Facility on Native Land Thwarted
A nuclear-waste storage facility will not be built on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah, at least for now. The Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs said the plan did not adequately address safety and health. The plan, backed by corporations including Xcel Energy, had been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It would have allowed 44,000 metric tons of spent fuel to be stored just 45 miles from Salt Lake City. (September 2006 Energy Justice Update, www.fresh-energy.org)
Songs of Peace Popular in Iraq
Peace songs are becoming increasingly popular in Iraq. Generally, Iraqis identify more strongly with their tribes, but some of the new songs urge people from the various Muslim groups to live together in harmony. Last year Al Zawraa TV played about 60 different nationalistic and peace songs a day. Then when Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki launched an effort to make the government inclusive, more songwriters responded. Songwriter Khalid al-Iraq, who lives in Syria, says, “We are the peace ambassadors of Iraq. The majority of Iraqis are against violence and sectarianism. Peace will be restored there sooner or later.” (USA Today, 9/22/06)
Thousands of Britons Protest War
Tens of thousands of people protested the presence of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan before the Labour party’s annual conference in September. Families of soldiers killed in Iraq set up a peace camp and speakers accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of following the United States into illegal wars, as well as of failing to condemn the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. (Canadian Press, 9/24/06) |
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© 2006 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete November 2006 Index - click here
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