CHUKWUBIKES' .... Day by Day

LA NEVE FA BENE AL LUPO...........ROMA 4 INTER 0

2012-02-05T17:34:00.000+01:00

La recita …il crimine non paga !!!!!...(centro INEMA)

2012-01-23T10:41:00.000+01:00

THE DRAMA: ..'CRIMES DON'T PAY'

Publish Post

Crescono le rimesse degli immigrati

2012-01-09T23:40:00.000+01:00

Crescono le rimesse
degli immigrati

ATTUALITÀ

LUN09GEN

Sono consistenti le rimesse dall’Italia all’estero. Gli immigrati residenti nella nostra provincia nell’anno 2010 hanno inviato ai loro parenti nei paesi d’origine più di 59 milioni di euro. A livello nazionale sono 6,3 miliardi, su 37 dichiarati al fisco. Sono soldi guadagnati nell’attività lavorativa in Italia e risparmiati per sostenere famigliari lontani. Una cifra che è cresciuta nel tempo. Nell’anno 2005 i trasferimenti da Reggio sono stati di 25,5 milioni di euro, nel 2006 di 36,8, nel 2007 di 43,3, nel 2008 di 45,9, nel 2009 di 49,9 e nel 2010 di 59,3 milioni.

Gli stranieri in provincia di Reggio sono circa 69mila, di cui 61mila di origine extra-comunitaria. I canali di trasferimento del denaro sono in primo luogo i money transfer, i cui gestori, autorizzati dalla banca d’Italia, effettuano le operazioni di movimentazione della valuta con obbligo di identificazione del cliente. Queste attività sono svolte anche dalle banche, in base a un accordo interbancario, e dalle Poste. I money transfer hanno costi meno elevati. Poi ci sono canali irregolari, che sfuggono alle statistiche, ma sono stimati a livello nazionale in un terzo dei trasferimenti regolari. Trasferire denaro per via ufficiale ha un costo piuttosto elevato, superiore al 7% della somma versata, anche se c’è un impegno del governo italiano di ridurlo al 5%.

La comunità più attiva nell’invio di denaro è quella cinese. I cinesi a Reggio sono poco più del 7% del totale degli stranieri presenti, ma effettuano il 23% delle rimesse. Nel 2010 da Reggio sono stati destinati alla Cina 13,5 milioni di euro. Seguono il Marocco con 5 milioni, la Romania con 4,4, la Georgia con 4,2, l’India con 3,1, la Nigeria con 2,8, l’Ucraina con 2,2 e il Brasile con 2 milioni. A livelli più bassi tutti gli altri paesi.

di Gian Piero Del Monte
© RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

http://www.telereggio.it/2012/01/09/rimesse-immigrati-money-transfer/

MERRY CHRISTMAS.......Michael Bublé - "Christmas" Medley Clip

2011-12-25T12:32:00.000+01:00

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE
BUON NATALE A TUTTI

Senegal calls for inquiry into Florence murders

2011-12-14T14:49:00.000+01:00

Senegal calls for inquiry into Florence murders

City offers sympathy to Senegalese community

14 December, 13:37

Guarda la foto1 di 1

(ANSA) - Florence, December 14 - The government of Senegal on Wednesday expressed its indignation over the brutal killing of two Senegalese street vendors in Florence and called for a "full inquiry into the incident".

The government issued a statement through Agence France Press news agency after the two men were gunned down and three others were wounded by right-wing extremist Gianluca Casseri who killed himself after the shootings on Tuesday.

The city's professional soccer team Fiorentina cancelled a youth festival on Wednesday and called for a day of mourning after the shootings shocked the city.

The three wounded men, who are also Senegalese, are in a serious but stable condition. Florence's city council issued a statement, also translated into French and English, saying: "The city of Florence offers its sympathy to the Senegalese community".

Mayor Matteo Renzi met community officials on Wednesday and was to meet Minister for Cooperation Andrea Riccardi to discuss the murders.

Police manned the streets in front of the city's cathedral or Duomo late Tuesday when members of the Senegalese community took to the streets to protest against the killings.

Many Senegalese closed their stalls in the San Lorenzo market area in the city's historic centre where the second wave of shootings took place.

A banner erected in the area said: "No to racism. We are closed in a sign of solidarity for the victims of racism".

The city called for a minute's silence to remember the victims and the council was to hold a special meeting late Wednesday to discuss the killings.

http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2011/12/14/visualizza_new.html_13721707.html

Non fa sesso con la moglie: condannato

2011-12-02T11:35:00.002+01:00

Non fai più sesso con tua moglie? Devi risarcirla. In Francia, almeno, funziona così. Un giudice, infatti, ha condannato un uomoa versare alla moglie un risarcimento di 10 mila euro per non aver ottemperato agli obblighi sessuali contratti con il matrimonio. La sentenza, che sta facendo discutere tutto il Paese, è stata emessa dalla Corte d'Appello di Aix-en-Provence. La coppia è sposata da 21 anni, ma negli ultimi anni il matrimonio sarebbe diventato «bianco».

Sesso per entrare all’Università

Pur di evitare rapporti con la moglie, l'uomo ne avrebbe inventate di tutti i colori: dai falsi problemi di salute fino alla stanchezza cronica. La moglie, invece, ha cercato in tutti i modi di riaccendere la passione con il padre dei suoi due figli, inutilmente. Così, dopo tanti fallimenti, la signora ha deciso di rivolgersi ai giudici, presentando loro una «prova» inoppugnabile: una lettera con la quale il marito le spiegava di essere troppo stanco per «onorare gli obblighi matrimoniali».

Le adolescenti e il sesso telematico

La Corte d'Appello, considerato che l'articolo 1382 del codice civile stabilisce che «ogni persona che produce un danno a un altro soggetto deve riparare tali danni», ha condannato l'uomo al risarcimento. Confermata la condanna di primo grado emessa da un tribunale di Nizza. I giudici, insomma, stanno tutti dalla parte della moglie.

http://it.notizie.yahoo.com/non-fa-sesso-con-la-moglie--condannato.html?nc

Ojukwu is dead

2011-11-26T18:03:00.000+01:00

Ojukwu is dead

The former leader of Biafra died in London at the age of 78

Article | November 26, 2011 - 9:22am | By Chidi Okoye

The leader of the All Progressive Grand Alliance party (APGA), and former leader of the defunct Biafra, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu has been confirmed dead.
The Ikemba, who has been receiving treatment in a hospital in the United Kingdon since he suffered a stroke in December 2010, died on Friday night.
It will be recalled that Ojukwu's 78th birthday was celebrated in absentia on November 5.

EMPOWERING AFGHAN WOMEN

2011-11-06T05:20:00.001+01:00

Q&A: Al Jazeera meets photojournalist Reza

After witnessing inequality, veteran photojournalist Reza started Aina, a media training NGO to empower Afghan women.

D. Parvaz Last Modified: 04 Nov 2011 18:39

One of Aina's students, Mehria Aziz, co-directed the Emmy nominated Afghanistan Unveiled [Reza Deghati]

Reza, who goes only by his first name, has spent 25 of his 30-year career as a photojournalist in war zones. In that time, he noticed the real cost of war - the destruction of cultures and of human relations.
He then noticed that in Afghanistan - where he's spent a lot of time since the early 1980s - most NGOs tend to focus on rebuilding the things that have been physically destroyed by bombs. In other words, schools were built, but little attention was paid to where the education provided in those buildings would come from.
Motivated by a heady mixture of frustration and hope, in 2001 Reza - a celebrated Paris-based photojournalist and documentarian for National Geographic - sold off some of his own prints and equipment to kick off Aina (Farsi for "mirror"), a program aimed at providing media media training to women (whose stories he said male foreign correspondents could not tell) and educational material to children.
In the decade that has past, Aina has trained at least 500 Afghan women in audio and video techniques, teaching them how to report, photograph and document their own lives. Aina has also produced an educational magazine, Parvaz (pronounced Par-vaaz and no relation to this writer) and completed pilot projects in Sri Lanka, Uganda and more.
Reza, who had started informal photography training in Pakistani refugee camps in 1983, spoke to Al Jazeera when he was at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar, participating on the "Learning from Game Changers" panel.
Parvaz: Tell us about your first trip to Afghanistan - what was the situation like then?
Reza: The fist time was in 1983, when Afghanistan was occupied by the Russian army. I was working for Time magazine at the time ... During the Russian invasion, Afghanistan was still a really old, traditional country, and the Russians were really trying to emancipate Afghan women, and this was the biggest mistakes the Russians made. They tried to push women to the front too fast, and it created a lot of reactions [among] the people.
Parvaz: Then you kept going back.
Reza: I kept going back. I was there for the collapse of the Russians and the pro-Russian government, and I went there many times during the time of the Taliban, all during times of war. And this was not only a photographer, In 1990, I worked as the director of operations for the United Nations in Afghanistan, so I was very engaged with the condition of women there.
Parvaz: Does what's being reported about the state of Afghan women comport with what you're observing on the ground?
Reza: First of all, even the female journalists coming from the outside and trying to work with Afghan women, they are not really allowed to enter the intimate lives of the women because they are somehow always surrounded by male drivers, male interpreters, male security - that's whey even foreign women don't have a chance to intimately understand Afghan women.
The only way to have the stories told was to train Afghan women themselves. And through their eyes, we were able to hear and see much deeper stories.
Parvaz: So there's no reluctance for these women to tell their stories, they just need the right way to tell it.
Reza: They need to be able to really work with people who they trust. When we train women there, they work with other Afghan women. And they have all suffered the same things.
Parvaz: The US invaded/occupies Afghanistan for a number of stated reasons, one of them to improve the state of human rights in the country, especially for women. Have things improved for women there?
Reza: The way that foreign countries came and started to emancipate women was wrong. For them it was "Hey, everybody, let's take off the burqas and go out onto the street. Even better with a miniskirt." This is the concept of freedom that was shown to them by international organisations, while we know how many generations it takes to bring cultural change to a country.
They don't want miniskirts, but they want rights - they want to be educated, they want access to jobs, they want equality. But all this, when you look at the Afghan culture, it takes time ... When Afghans see women in Bermuda shorts, wearing sleeveless shirts and no bra, talking to men on American military bases, they ask me: "Is this democracy?"
Parvaz: Has the situation for women improved, and how, specifically?
Reza: Yes.They're not living under the Taliban now and they have more economic comforts.
There are more women getting educated, and what my organisation is doing is training as many women as possible to enter communication and information centres.The effects of this will show in two or three generations, when more and more women will be running media organisations. And what they are writing, producing and broadcasting now comes from Afghan women, and they know how to spread their words and their education ...even if the Taliban come back into power, these women are there as the seeds of the resistance.
Parvaz: What is the future for women in Afghanistan?
Reza: It will be very tough. They were given false signals by the coalition forces that they would get freedom - [the] same for Afghan men, but women suffered more. Aina will stay there after US forces leave - I've been there for 30 years. I've seen Russians coming and leaving; I've seen Taliban coming and leaving, I've seen al-Qaeda coming and leaving, I've seen Pakistan's army coming and leavin

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/11/201111425558372171.html

CHIDI & DEB 232 BY by chukbyke

2011-10-30T07:01:00.000+01:00

CHIDI & DEB 22 BY by chukbyke

2011-10-30T06:46:00.000+01:00

OKWELE COMMUNITY ROME & FRIENDS

2011-10-26T18:24:00.001+02:00

‘LA POLIZIA E’ ANCHE NOI’......PROTESTA....ROMA

2011-10-16T07:38:00.000+02:00

‘LA POLIZIA E’ ANCHE NOI’
Un amico poliziotto in ferie voleva andare con i figli e moglie per la manifestazione (pacifica) di oggi a Roma ma era stata chiamata di urgenza per mantenere ordine durante la manifestazione……. E tornato ferito…non grave…… che ironia …che vita…

DEB & CHIDI RECEPTION by chukbyke

2011-09-11T23:47:00.000+02:00

NOL: DALLAS 27/08/2011 CHIDI, DEB & NOL (a)

2011-09-03T15:47:00.000+02:00

NOL: DALLAS 27/08/2011 CHIDI, DEB & NOL (a)

DEB &CHIDI...Dallas 27/08/2011

2011-08-28T16:39:00.000+02:00

The Nigerian Connection

2011-08-15T09:01:00.000+02:00

The Nigerian Connection - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/08/201189141348631784.html

The Nigerian Connection - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

Investigating the plight of African women caught up in a web of organised crime, prostitution and human trafficking.

People and Power Last Modified: 10 Aug 2011 10:12

Filmmakers: Orlando von Einsiedel and Caroline Pare

Every year tens of thousands of West Africans migrate to Europe in search of a better life. But for some of them that search will end in tragedy, as they fall victim to competing mafia gangs that prey on the hopes of the desperate. In southern Italy, it is Nigerian women who are among the most exploited, with many ending up trapped in the nightmare world of the sex trade.

In the first of two special reports, Juliana Ruhfus investigates the plight of African women caught up in a web of organised crime, prostitution and people trafficking. In the following account Chiara Caprio, an Italian journalist who was involved in the making of the film, describes what they found out in southern Italy.

The ghetto of Destra Volturno, an assembly of houses once used by Neapolitan tourists, is surrounded by flowers as it hosts the funeral of Mary Morad, a seven-year-old from Ghana. She was killed by a man with psychiatric problems. But in Castel Volturno, more than one-third of the 25,000 official citizens are African and, in particular, Ghanaian and Nigerian.

Al Jazeera came to investigate the phenomenon of Nigerian organised crime in this small town, quickly forgotten after serious riots in 2008, when hundreds of Africans took to the streets to protest against the massacre of six young Ghanaians committed by Giuseppe Setola, the army of the Casalesi clan.

Mary's family is waiting for the coffin and tension grows as delays and friction increase. Bose Atta, Mary's Nigerian mother, who was trafficked to Italy to be forced into prostitution, is nervous. She cries as her friends express anger against Mary's father, a man from Ghana who is now married to another Nigerian woman.
Finally, the coffin arrives and a group of men start celebrating with a Muslim rite. An improvised march towards the cemetery starts under a warm sun overheating a tormented African community.

Stronger than ever

"The Domitiana crosses Castel Volturno for 28 kilometres," says Stefano Ricciardiello, a detective at the local police station, a small and shabby office overwhelmed by new and old papers covering stories of murders, repatriations and organised crime. "The new African mafia's activities have invaded the whole territory."
He is showing us along the roads where, one after another, Nigerian women and young girls are waiting for clients.

According to the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), Italy is now the main destination for more than 10,000 Nigerian prostitutes, trafficked from Benin City to European cities and criminal hubs, just like the Domitiana and its coast.

"Nigerian criminals are able to find agreements with all the mafias, from Colombians to Chinese. But it's an easy game for them in Italy also for another reason: the high number of Italian clients who look for prostitutes night and day," says Giovanni Conzo, a prosecutor at the anti-mafia section in Naples.

"This organisation is stronger than ever. We should stop them before they take full control of our region," he adds. But Conzo's words offer just a glimmer of hope.
Using voodoo to enslav
Isoke Aikpitanyi, a former victim of trafficking and now the main reference point for Nigerian women in Italy, knows how this business is managed in Caserta's area. As she walks in Castel Volturno's historic centre, she explains: "Today in Italy there are almost 10,000 madams, each one in control of an average of two or three girls."
Madams are the key, she explains. They are the main actors in this exploitation. They force girls into prostitution and ask for money to repay the debt. They work with "brothers", men who are in charge of physically trafficking the "babies", as girls forced into prostitution are called.

But Nigerian human trafficking is often associated with drug smuggling and a distorted use of religious tradition.

The women and girls are often forced to undergo a Juju oath-swearing ritual that commits them to repaying the money they owe to their smugglers on pain of death or insanity.
"The Juju, the voodoo rite, it's not a bad practice. It was used to bring justice, but they ruined everything," says Isoke with anger. "They don't care how they make their money as far as they make it. They use Juju to enslave."

Even in this hell, there are people who try not to lose hope. Sister Antonia, a Nigerian nun of the Sacred Heart of Jesus order, manages a shelter, the Casa Santa Maria dell'Accoglienza, launched in 2000 in the Fernandes centre by the Capua-based Caritas. Here, more than 70 women have found a place to stay and 10 children have been born.

"We were called by the bishop of Capua, Mons. Bruno Schettino, to promote these girls' integration. They are all former prostitutes. If they want to change their lives, they know they'll always find a place here," Sister Antonia says.

The women can stay for between six months and a year, a period when they dedicate their time to education and "to gain[ing] their dignity back," explains Sister Antonia. The nuns give the girls the opportunity to write down their stories and explain what happened and who forced them into prostitution.
"We try to make them understand that Juju won't have any effect on them," she says.
But we met girls who still work on the streets and believe in the agreements they made. Some of them have to repay debts of up to $58,000 and are still terrified of the powerful consequences of Juju on their families and themselves.

The Nigerian Connection can be seen from Wednesday, August 10, at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 2230; Thursday: 0930; Friday: 0330; Saturday: 1630; Sunday: 2230; Monday: 0930.

The Nigerian Connection II:

In the second part of the special investigation, The Nigerian Connection II, Juliana Ruhfus follows the trail from Italy back to Benin City in Nigeria, from where women, desperately seeking an escape from grinding poverty, are trafficked to Europe.
To pay for their travel, many of them incur massive debts to organised crime gangs in the false belief that a lucrative regular job awaits them at the other end. Often they are forced to undergo a Juju oath-swearing ritual that commits them to repaying the money on pain of death or insanity.

When they arrive in Europe, they discover the only way they can do this is by agreeing to work in the sex trade. A Juju priest who is involved in the trade justifies the use of ritual practices on the grounds that he is offering a service to the community.
But as Juliana discovers, it is not just traditional African religions in West Africa that contribute to this trade on bonded labour. Evangelical Christian pastors have been involved too.

The Nigerian Connection II can be seen from Wednesday, August 17, 2011.

Duncan Mighty - Koli Water

2011-08-13T11:35:00.000+02:00

ANGELUS CASTEL GANDOLFO

2011-08-03T23:57:00.000+02:00

GERALDINE

2011-07-09T01:35:00.000+02:00

MARINA (NORTH) LAGOS by chukbyke

2011-07-09T00:48:00.001+02:00

HARVEST!!!!!!!!

2011-06-30T19:53:00.000+02:00

THE BEST TIME TO BE HOME ....WHEN THEY ARE READY

BUS STOP---INTER-STATE

2011-06-28T15:30:00.000+02:00

HOME

2011-06-14T15:03:00.000+02:00

BEATIFICATION JP 2

2011-05-01T23:38:00.001+02:00

APRIL 2005 POPE JOHN PAUL DIES......REQUIEM

2011-04-30T23:43:00.001+02:00

VIA CRUCIS by chukbyke 2011

2011-04-23T16:13:00.001+02:00

FOTO BY chukbyke

ROMA 9

2011-04-16T11:52:00.001+02:00

Rep Dom by chukbyke

2011-04-02T01:15:00.000+02:00

COLORI E SAPORI DEL MONDO

2011-03-28T23:40:00.002+02:00

EMIGRANTI

2011-03-23T11:33:00.001+01:00

ANGOLAN GROUP @ CISTERNA by chukbyke

2011-03-23T08:28:00.000+01:00

The south African Group...by chukbyke

2011-03-23T00:52:00.000+01:00

Thandy,Jacqueline and co at the 'sapori del mondo' show Cisterna 20th March 2011

NO FLY ZONE

2011-03-21T18:58:00.000+01:00

"No Fly Zone" in italiano vuol dire una zona in cui non si può volare. La risoluzione 1973dell'ONU si riferisce a questo. La sua applicazione in Libia è per lo meno estesa, presa un po' alla larga. Il primo intervento francese infatti ha colpito dei carri armati volanti vicino a Bengasi. Il carro armato volante è un'invenzione libica, la solita arma segreta dei dittatori, come la V2 di Hitler, il primo missile a distanza. Sarkozy non si è fatto sorprendere. Gli americani e gli inglesi hanno poi bombardato raso terra Tripoli e Sirte, in particolare si sono concentrati sul bunker volante di Gheddafi. Un'applicazione rigorosa della "No Fly Zone". Khamis, un figlio di Gheddafi, sarebbe stato ucciso a Tripoli. Testimoni oculari lo hanno visto mentre volava come Icaro nei cieli della Tripolitania a dispetto delle indicazioni delle Nazioni Unite. Se un ospedale si alzerà in volo, un missile tomahawk colpirà implacabile.
http://www.beppegrillo.it/2011/03/no_fly_zone/index.html

CISTERNA vs IL MONDO 19/03/2011

2011-03-19T16:31:00.001+01:00

foto by chukbyke

Black Africans In Libya Cry Out For Help!

2011-03-10T22:39:00.000+01:00

Black Africans In Libya Cry Out For Help!

By panafricanistinternational.org

Africa | Fri, 04 Mar 2011

Rebels hold a young man at gunpoint, who they accuse of being a loyalist to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, between the towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf, March 3, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Within the nooks and creeks, even difficult for the Libyans themselves to find them are most probably black Africans, scared stiff to sneak out of their hide-outs because of the inevitable confusion with “African mercenaries” and facing mob justice. reports coming out indicate that most of these people are living under very precarious conditions which include food and water.

Reports on Al Jazeera show a Ghanaian migrant who claims that black people are being caught, armed and sent to battle front, even though they might not have an idea about what the trigger is even meant for! The effect of the use of “foreign mercenaries”, if true, has completely poisoned the budding Libyan Revolution. The real weapon that has been unleashed by Gaddafi is not those miserable mercenaries, but the reduction of the dignity of the Libyan Revolution into an insane xenophobic tantrum. The people of Libya who have aided these Africans to escape, without even asking to be paid, need to be mentioned and thanked and to balance the perspectives, and encourage such positive tendencies still found within the Libyan communities and individuals who do not see all black Africans as mercenaries.

There is no need to allow this to draw a wedge between the democratic forces who are in charge of the on-going struggle to free themselves from the longest ruling dictator in the world. Gaddafi's only olive branch to Pan-Africanism has been under the condition that we crown him as our “King of Kings”. So we are not confused at all, and can understand why the good people of Libya would want to get rid of him. But the People's Revolution in Libya, unlike the ones in all the other Arab countries which have so far enjoyed our unalloyed solidarity, is being dangerously diluted with politically toxic and and extremely alarming systematic and sporadic attacks on black African migrants living in Libya.

The Pan-Africanist International was among the first international organisations that cried out as soon as the first violent attack on unarmed protesters occurred:

“We are shocked and horrified by the reckless abandon and the extents taken by the Libyan authorities, including reports of the hiring of foreign mercenaries to kill and maim peaceful protesters by a leader who prides himself as being “democratic” in his own Green Book!

As the third largest supplier of Europe's oil, and by far the biggest customer of Gadaffi, the carnage going on must be clearly condemned and further measures taken to ensure the will of the good people of Libya prevails!”

The International Solidarity Committee of the Pan-Africanist International stands firmly in support of the heroic people of Libya. We stand with them in this great hour of need! We urgently call upon the international community to do something now!” See: http://www.panafricanistinternational.org/

This time we call upon the leaders of civil societies in Libya to urgently take visible steps to restore the right of these Africans to the same human rights they are fighting for, otherwise their revolution is void ab initio. Already, people who never really liked what their limited understanding of what the Libyan revolution represents are furiously presenting all Libyans as racists. We know that this is certainly false. But as stories of harassments continue to pour out, these sentiments would be repeated across black Africa, particularly by those who want to create a wedge and frustrate the Pan-Africanist project.

We call upon Colonel Gaddafi to ensure the safety of black Africans. We believe that just as the Libyan government and the opposition are agreed upon their rejection of US offers of “No Fly Zone”, we call upon both sides of the warring parties to reject the maltreatment of foreign migrants who have been living peacefully and working to help improve the Libyan economy and to improve their own lives. We don't see this as a crime. The are your brothers and sisters. They need help. Please help them!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
Cheers!
–
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
Member, International Solidarity Committee
of the Pan-Africanist International
Read Stories:
http://rosebellkagumire.com/2011/03/03/a-mercenary-and-an-immigrant-a-story-of-africans-and-libya/A mercenary and an immigrant; a story of black Africans and Libya MARCH 3, 2011

A mercenary and an immigrant; a story of black Africans and Libya

by Rosebell
How do you prove that you are just an immigrant not a mercenary? It's a question I have been pondering on the week and it's a situation that thousands of Africans stuck in the Libya uprising have to deal with, that is if they are given chance.

Sub Saharan Africans had not surfaced much in the story of the protests and revolutions that have swept across North Africa until Libyans decided to take on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, their leader for the last four decades.

Protests first broke out in Libya on 15 February 2011 and a few days after that the international media got its juicy story of foreign fighters working for Gaddafi. It wasn't long the term 'African mercenaries' came into full use.

To me it was like I was aback to one of my secondary school history classes about events in the 19th or 20th century and stories of African men taken to the fight in “world wars” where they had no idea.

Before the African mercenaries term was coined, there had been the African the migrant. The 'possible mass migration' of Africans to Europe was one of the very first stories about Africans and the Libya protests to hit the international scene. It was about the fear European countries had that Libya, one of the main routes forAfrican immigrants, could pose them a problem if it plunged in state of lawlessness.

Gaddafi who had been helpful in significantly reducing the numbers of African immigrants crossing to Europe through pacts with EU members, then rushed to use this as a bargaining chip as the protests spread. And the African the migrant at this point became both a weapon and a threat. Actually the BBC reporter based in Nairobi said “The fear with Libya is that sub-Saharan Africans will try to leave and there are more of them.”

Out of a population of about seven million people in Libya, about one million are believed to be from sub-Saharan African countries. There are no concrete figures. Reports claimed that about three quarters of these Africans are sort of on a waiting list to try by any means to cross to Europe.

After the story of the African -the immigrant, came the African -the mercenary as Gaddafi became increasingly violent and killing hundreds of Libyans. Social networks and twitter were abuzz with words African mercenaries, some with outright racial undertones. Some tweets suggested Gaddafi had “brought Africans to break into their homes and rape their women.”

I thought ok, recent African civil wars which have been characterised by rape used as weapon of war have not helped perceptions about the continent that often people want to project! This rape aspect has been repeated in many tweets although we are yet to see reports on actual cases of rape in the international media.

Today I watched Al Jazeera showing a tweet from Redafayr linking mercenaries to 20 African countries where Tamoil, a Libyan petroleum company operates. Today Reuters reported that the rebel National Libyan Council in Benghazi, the insurgent capital said it believed Niger, Mali and Kenya were sending troops to support Gaddafi, who is now directing his forces from Tripoli.

These kinds of statements can only further fuel anger among those opposed to Gaddafi and puts more lives of immigrants held up in houses and other hiding places in Libya at great danger. We have seen reports that indicate dozens of immigrants have so far been killed. These are not deaths inflicted on the 'Gaddafi's African mercenaries' but on African immigrants that have nothing to do with the parties in the conflict.

We have seen slow reaction and attention on international scene and on the part of the African Union and African countries on the mercenary issue. We have not seen bold statements against these xenophobic attacks.

In Uganda we have instead seen a national broadcaster sack two journalists over broadcasting of events in Libya and we don't expect much from government to try and tell the nation that there is no Ugandan Libya as a mercenary. In Zimbabwe, Bob is busy charging anyone who mentions anything close to Libya with treason. It's important that these countries come out and tell the world what is happening.

Kenya has done a lot to evacuate its citizens and others from the East African region. I know that an MP last week called on the country to investigate if young Kenyans who had gone to Islamic schools in Libya might be among the said mercenaries but yet to hear progress. Nigeria is continuing to evacuate its citizens from Libya but many other immigrants from other African countries are still stuck and governments are simply not doing much. I was shocked to see a Ugandan embassy employee saying if it hadn't been for Kenya she would have died in Libya.

U.N. officials have warned that the latest charges from the council in Benghazi could escalate attacks on African migrants in rebel-held areas. We are yet to see the full coverage of the story of the African 'the mercenary' in Libya. We have seen a few pictures that came from protesters but the story is one of the hard ones to get and it will probably take as long as the uprising itself to know the entire story.

While there have been reports of many kind Libyans volunteering to watch over those immigrants that made it to camps, generally many on the continent fear that the impact of racial discrimination not only against immigrants but also black Libyans will continue to be manifested alongside the story of the African mercenary.

We will take long to see a positive story for instance on what African immigrants have contributed to the Libyan economy and how their absence could be felt in either post Gaddafi or post protests Libya. Ultimately the absence of a sub Saharan media will continue to put the African story to hands of foreign media whose plates are often to full too do it justice.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/461773_sub-saharan-africans-in-libya-bearing-the-brunt-of-the-uprising#ixzz1FagIm3kY

'Libya hires African mercenaries'
Libya has hired foreign mercenaries from French speaking African countries as crackdown on pro-democracy protesters has intensified, witnesses say.

Three buses full of mercenaries were seen in a small suburb of the capital city of Tripoli and elsewhere, a witnesses told Press TV on Tuesday.

People on the ground also said that mobile phones and the internet are jammed and there are only about 15 Soraya satellite phones among activists for communication.

This is while army warplanes bombed protesters in Tripoli early on Tuesday, according to the reports.

An activist said warplanes and helicopters are “indiscriminately bombing … There are many, many dead.”

The North African country is in turmoil since last week after people took to the streets to protest against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

In a short appearance on state-run television on Tuesday, Gaddafi rejected reports that he was fleeing to Venezuela, saying that he is in the Libyan capital.

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for an international probe into Libya's violent crackdown on the protesters.

She also called for an immediate end to “unconscionable violations,” warning the Libyan authorities that the systematic attacks against civilians could amount to “crimes against humanity.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged Gaddafi to show restraint and stop the violence against the anti-government demonstrators immediately.

http://www.modernghana.com/newsp/318974/1/pagenum2/black-africans-in-libya-cry-out-for-help.html#continue

Una mostra di pittura sull'immigrazione

2011-03-06T13:02:00.000+01:00

Una mostra di pittura sull'immigrazione

CARO CHARLES,

abbiamo bisogno del tuo aiuto..

Con la galleria La Mimosa, (cisterna di latina) stiamo organizzando una mostra di pittura sull'immigrazione, quindi sulla presenza degli stranieri che vivono sul territorio pontino "i colori del mondo" la cui inaugurazione ci sarà sabato 12 marzo (AIUTO)...
se conosci artisti (pittori/scultori) di etnie diverse, non italiani, che vivono nel lazio e sono interessati ad esporre ti chiediamo la cortesia di girare loro il messaggio e di metterli in contatto con noi con una certa URGENZA ....
Con la presente siamo ad informare che relativamente alla mostra I Colori del Mondo, gli artisti che vogliono prendere parte all'iniziativa, sono convocati per portare le proprie opere ( un massimo di 3 per artista) sabato 5 marzo ( chiamare e concordare gli orari per trovare la curatrice e gli organizzatori ELEONORA GENTILE 334/9833437 oppure PATRIZIO VERONESE 340/9706622)

Si possono portare le opere anche mercoledì 9 e giovedì 10 ( chiamare MARIO SPIGARIOL 329/7436995)
Ricordiamo inoltre che il tema dell'allestimento è il viaggio: le opere saranno divise per cromatismi:

1- PRIMA SEZIONE: La partenza e l'abbandono dalla terra natale: dominano i colori scuri

2- SECONDA SEZIONE viaggio/ la speranza/le illusioni/le aspettative: dominano rossi, i colori passionali di un viaggio magari sofferto ma vissuto con patos
3- TERZA SEZIONE l'arrivo/ nuova vita/: colori verdi della speranza , il bianco, l'oro....la speranza a nuova vita

CONTATTI:
Eleonora Gentile: 334/9833437
Patrizio Veronese: 340/9706622

Cordiali Saluti.
Eleonora Gentile

334/9833437

AFRICAN DIASPORA: REBELLION,DEMOCRACY AND DICTATORS

2011-03-05T21:23:00.000+01:00

AFRICAN DIASPORA: REBELLION,DEMOCRACY AND DICTATORS

Security Council imposes sanctions on Libyan leadership (Update 1)

2011-03-01T15:43:00.000+01:00

Security Council imposes sanctions on Libyan leadership (Update 1)

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday adopted a resolution imposing sanctions on Libya's leadership, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.

The resolution introduces "targeted measures" against the current Libyan government. Sanctions, designed to end violence in the African state, include a total arms embargo, travel bans and a freeze of certain accounts.

The arms embargo was imposed on "arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned," the resolution reads.

The travel ban list has 16 names, including 68-year-old Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his four sons, daughter Aisha and ten ministers and top defense and intelligence officials, thought to be responsible for atrocities in the country. The asset freeze concerns only Gaddafi and his five family members.

The resolution also refers an investigation into possible crimes against humanity in the African state to the International Criminal Court.

The ICC prosecutor was invited to "address the Security Council within two months of the adoption of this resolution and every six months thereafter on actions taken pursuant to this resolution."

Russia's representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said the resolution introduced "targeted and precise restrictive measures against those responsible for violence against civilians," but ruled out any possibility of military interference into Libya's domestic affairs.

"We resolutely call on the Libyan authorities to comply with the demands of the international community," Churkin said. "This is necessary to prevent a full-scale civil war and to preserve Libya's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

He said Russia, a veto-wielding Security Council member, supported the sanctions because of "serious concern over events in Libya."

"We condemn and consider absolutely inadmissible the use of military force against peaceful demonstrations," the Russian diplomat said.

The draft resolution was put forward by France, the United Kingdon, Germany and the United States.

According to various estimates, from 1,000 to 2,000 people have been killed since protests against the country's longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi began on February 15. Gaddafi refused to cede power despite repeated calls from the international community.

NEW YORK, February 27 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20110227/162777642.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SECURITY COUNCIL UPDATE REPORT
	25 February 2011 No. 3

Libya

Expected Council Action

Duringinformal consultations on Thursday 24 February, Council members discussedtaking action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to impose deterrent measuresagainst the Libyan regime. There seemedto be wide support for moving down that track and the UK offered todraft some elements for further discussion once Council members had a furtherbriefing today. It is possible that aformal resolution could follow quite quickly, although procedural requirementsmean that at least 24 hours must pass before a draft could be put to the vote.

Abriefing on the situation in Libyaby Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected today at 3pm.

Key Recent Developments

On 25 February the Human Rights Council met on Libya. (Libya is amember of the Geneva-based body and this is the first time it has held aspecial session on one of its own members.) The Genevadelegates endorsed High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s call for aninternational investigation. Pillay said “in brazen and continuing breach ofinternational law, the crackdown in Libya of peaceful demonstrations isescalating alarmingly with reported mass killings, arbitrary arrests, detentionand torture of protestors…tanks, helicopters and military aircraft havereportedly been used indiscriminately to attack the protestors, and that,according to some sources, thousands may have been killed or injured….underinternational law, any official, at any level, ordering or carrying out atrocitiesand attacks can be held criminally accountable and that widespread andsystematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes againsthumanity.”

Also on 25 February, NATO called an emergencymeeting on Libyawith NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen saying the immediate priority would beevacuation followed by humanitarian assistance. Rasmussen also said that NATO can act as an enabler if individual stateswant to take action. He made no specific mention of a no-fly zone. On 24 February Rasmussen had said that anyintervention in Libyawould require a clear Security Council mandate.

Further media reports on 25 February indicate thatRasmussen and EU head Catherine Ashton were expected to join an informalmeeting of EU defense ministers and that the EU had agreed to a sanctionspackage against the Qaddafi regime.

On 22February in New York, the Security Councilissued a statement (SC/10180) on the situation in Libya. It condemned the use offorce against civilians, expressed deep regret at the deaths of hundreds ofcivilians, called on Libya to meet its responsibility to protect civilians andrespect international humanitarian law, called for humanitarian access,stressed the importance of accountability, expressed concern for the safety offoreign nationals and the Council’s intention to follow the situation closely.

TheCouncil released this statement after a briefing on Libya the same day by the head ofthe UN Department of Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe. The meeting wasrequested by the Libyan deputy permanent representative (the mission's charged'affaires at the time) and there was strongsupport for such a meeting by European members of the Council. It was aclosed meeting under the agenda item "peace and security in Africa" with 75 member states, including the Libyanpermanent representative, also in attendance (S/PV.6486).

On 21February, Ibrahim Dabbashi, the deputy permanent representative at the Libyanmission to the UN, held a press conference publically breaking from Libyanleader Muammar al-Qaddafi’s regime and reporting the regime’s use ofmercenaries to quell peaceful demonstrations. Dabbashi called on the Security Council to take up the issue andinstitute a no-fly zone and refer the situation to the ICC to investigate warcrimes being committed by Qaddafi's regime. In remarks to the press after the Security Council’s meeting on 22February Dabbashi characterised the Libyan regime’s actions as potentiallygenocidal. (Media reports indicate that Libyan envoys posted to Australia, Bangladesh,France, India, the US,the UN in New York and Geneva, and the Arab League have broken withthe Qaddafi regime.)

On 22 February, theArab League condemned the use of force against civilians and suspended Libya’s participation in the League until Libya meets itsdemands to immediately stop all violence.

On 23 February theAU issued a statement condemning the use of force against civilians, urging theregime, in particular, to desist from making statements that could escalate thesituation and decided to send a mission to Libya to assess the situation.

On 22 February the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on thePrevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, and the Special Adviser on theResponsibility to Protect, Edward Luck, said in a joint statement “widespreadand systematic attacks against civilian populations by military forces,mercenaries, and aircraft are egregious violations of international humanrights and humanitarian law…if the reported nature and scale of such attacksare confirmed, they may well constitute crimes against humanity, for whichnational authorities should be held accountable.”

Key Issues

Anissue that has been regarded as a precursor to any action is the need forverifiable information and this has led to the request for a Secretariatbriefing. For many members, however, the evidence of brutal violence, use ofmercenaries and refugee flows are already well documented as is the impact onthe region’s stability and indicate a clear threat to international peace andsecurity.

Asecond issue is the nature of sanctions that would have a real impact on theLibyan regime. Targeted sanctions such as travel bans, asset freezes and armsembargoes are slow to have impact and in the current situation would beessentially symbolic. Broader sanctionssuch as a ban on oil exports would have a real effect but raise issues for someCouncil members.

Alsoan issue is the capacity to enhance a sanctions resolution. A no-fly zone wasproposed by Dabbashi. There are clearprecedents for such action in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. But such an option would need to be backed upby air assets and it is unclear if any country or NATO is willing to take thisstep.

Anotherissue is whether economic sanctions, if they were in place over a long periodof time, would impact the local population and the related issue ofhumanitarian access. (The World Food Programme has said that Libya is a netfood importer with limited agricultural production and recent events areputting the food chain at risk.)

Options

Oneoption for the Council is adopting a resolution containing targeted sanctionsagainst regime members, including also a ban on oil exports while violencecontinues and a no-fly zone to deter use of Libyan air assets against civilians.

Anotheroption is a resolution which contains only targeted sanctions such as assetfreezes, travel bans and an arms embargo.

Anotheroption is for the Council to demand humanitarian access to areas not underregime control in light of the responsibility to protect to warn the regimeagainst blocking or attacking humanitarian action.

Afurther option is to discuss possible referral of the situation to the ICC at alater stage.

If aresolution will take some days to negotiate a possible immediate option is forthe Council to issue a presidential statement signaling it was consideringconcrete measures to the situation in Libya.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Asignificant majority of Council members have reacted positively to the idea ofimposing legal measures on the Libyan regime to deter further violence againstcivilians. Among the measures suggested have been targeted sanctions such as anassets freeze, travel bans and arms embargo but there also seems to be someinterest in even stronger measures such as a no-fly zone, ICC references andlanguage on the responsibility to protect. However, in relation to a no-fly zone, there seem to be some concernsabout progressing on this front until the safety of foreign nationals can besecured.

Aresolution imposing sanctions on the Libyan regime seems to be broadlysupported by the Libyan mission to the UN in New York which publically brokeranks with the regime on 21 February. There is also wide interest in the issue among the general UN membershipindicated by the 75 member states participating in the Council’s 22 Februaryclosed meeting.

Regionally,both the Arab League and the AU have issued statements condemning the Libyanregime’s excessive use of force against civilians. There also seems to be an Arab/Africaninitiative in the General Assembly to vote Libya off the Human RightsCouncil.

Russiaand China seemed concerned about the need for verifiable information beforefurther action is taken. In that regard,the Secretary-General will be briefing on the Libyan situation later thisafternoon. However, it seems that the broad support among wider UN memberstates, including in the Middle East, for concrete measures against the Qaddafiregime is an influential factor.

Withthe refugee flows and consistent media reports of aerial bombardments andmercenaries from Africa and Eastern Europe being used by the Libyan regime itseems that most if not all Council members are satisfied that the Libyansituation can now be clearly categorised as a threat to international peace andsecurity.

Thepossibility of an embargo on oil exports doesn’t seem to have any significantsupport at this juncture.

The UKappears to be taking the lead on the issue.

UN Documents

Security Council Press Statement

SC/10180 (22 February 2010) condemned the use of force against civilians, called on Libya to meet its responsibility to protect civilians and stressed accountability.

Security Council Meeting Record

S/PV.6486 (22 February 2010) was an official communiqué listing the 75 member states who participated in the closed meeting.

SECURITYCOUNCIL REPORT STAFF

Colin Keating Executive Director

Joanna Weschler Deputy Executive Director& Director of Research

Amanda Roberts Coordinating Editor &Research Analyst

Shamala Kandiah Senior Research Analyst

Robert Afriyie Research Analyst

Clare Gatehouse Research Analyst

TroyPrinceResearch Analyst

AstridForberg Ryan Research Analyst

Tim Caughley Research Consultant

Eran Sthoeger Research Consultant

Dahlia Morched Research Assistant

Robbin VanNewkirk Publications Coordinator

Jamaal A. Young Media Research Administrator
Maritza Tenerelli Administrative Assistant

SecurityCouncil Report is published with the support of the Governments of Canada, Denmark,Liechtenstein, Norway and Singapore, The Rockefeller Foundation, the John D.and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundationand the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It is incorporated as a not forprofit Organisation and operates in affiliation with the Schoolof International and Public Affairs atColumbia Universityin New York.

The materialin this publication is subject to copyright ownership. Material in thispublication may be freely used as in the public domain. You are free to copy,distribute, or make derivative works of the work under the followingconditions: you must attribute the work to Security Council Report, Inc.; youmay not use this work for commercial purposes; if you alter, transform, orbuild upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under alicense identical to this one.

-------------

Fighting Spreads as Ivory Coast Draws Closer to Return to Civil War

2011-02-26T23:47:00.000+01:00

Fighting Spreads as Ivory Coast Draws Closer to Return to Civil War

Scott Stearns | Abidjan, Ivory Coast February 26, 2011

Photo: AFP

People stand next to stores set on fire during clashes between supporters of Alassane Dramane Ouattara and soldiers of the FDS, loyal to outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo, in the Attecoube neighborhood, in Abidjan, February 24, 2011.

Shar

Ivory Coast is moving closer to a return to civil war with rebels claiming to have captured new territory in the west and supporters of the incumbent president calling for attacks against foreigners and U.N. peacekeepers.

Incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo's youth leader says Gbagbo supporters should chase foreigners from their neighborhoods and block the movement of United Nations peacekeepers who he says are backing rebels allied with the U.N.-certified winner of the presidential election, Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo youth leader Charles Ble Goude says Ivory Coast's political crisis is now reaching a critical stage and it is time for what he calls "real Ivorians" to protect the country from foreign interference and U.N. peacekeepers who he says are waging war on behalf of rebels.

Rebels say they have captured two towns near the Liberian border that were previously part of a buffer zone between the rebel-held north and areas controlled by the pro-Gbagbo military.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says fighting in the west coupled with clashes in the political capital, Yamoussoukro, and continued fighting in the commercial capital, Abidjan, are a disturbing escalation of the political crisis that is drawing the country closer to re-igniting civil war.

Ibrahim Wani, who heads the Africa branch of the U.N. human rights office, says there is serious concern about the recruitment of young militants as a force for further violence.

"So long as this stalemate continues and the arming goes on, we have had an intensification of inter-communal violence. I am afraid that the situation of protection of civilians does not look good at all," he said.

The United Nations says at least 315 people have been killed since the release of election results in early December. Wani says the human rights situation has deteriorated in areas held by both Gbago and Ouattara supporters.

"Most of the human rights violations, the most serious that have been reported, have been committed by the security forces under the control of Laurent Gbagbo mostly in the Abidjan area," he said. "Nonetheless, there have been some human rights violations in the northern and western parts as well including reports of rape that have taken place in the western part in relation to some inter-communal violence."

Gbagbo's government says a U.N. peacekeeper shot and killed an Ivorian police officer Friday during the handover of pro-Gbagbo protesters who had been arrested earlier in the day. A spokesman for the U.N. mission in Ivory Coast says no one was killed in the prisoner exchange, but peacekeepers did fire their weapons in the air to disperse a pro-Gbagbo crowd.

TRIPOLI ....LIBYA FEB 2011

2011-02-21T23:07:00.003+01:00

FOTO BY CHUKBYKE

8 cancerogeni che teniamo in casa senza saperlo

2011-02-10T15:54:00.000+01:00

8 cancerogeni che teniamo in casa senza saperlo

In certi detersivi e in situazioni apparentemente innocue sono nascoste sostanze molto pericolose per la salute. Quali sono, come evitarle

Staibene - gio 10 feb 2011 01:00

La casa è più bella e più sana, quando è pulita. Ma dietro la sacrosanta voglia di pulizia tra le pareti domestiche, c’è un rischio che corriamo senza saperlo. Diversi prodotti che usiamo abitualmente, e che troviamo senza problemi nei supermercati, contengono sostanze potenzialmente pericolose per la nostra salute perché cancerogene. Qualche esempio? Formaldeide, nitrobenzene, cloruro di metilene, naftalina. Per non dire di altri ingredienti capaci di provocare allergie o asma, e problemi a fegato, reni, cervello e apparato riproduttivo. Per fortuna è abbastanza facile intervenire per sostituire i prodotti più "a rischio" con alternative non tossiche e altrettanto efficaci. Tuttavia, meglio conoscere almeno 10 dei principali aspetti al di là dei semplici detersivi che sarebbe meglio tenere d’occhio quando si parla di salute e sicurezza in casa.

1) Deodoranti per l’ambiente - Possono contenere naftalina e formaldeide. Meglio sostituire con qualcosa che contenga zeolite o fragranze naturali da oli essenziali.

2) Prodotti per l’arte - Se avete l’hobby dell’arte (pittura, scultura, bricolage…), occhio a colle e mastici epossidici, pitture acriliche e solventi, i pennarelli indelebili: spesso contengono sostanze cancerogene.

3) Candele Evitate quelle alla paraffina aromatizzate artificialmente: producono sostanze pericolose (fuliggine compresa). Molto più sicuro usare soltanto candele in cera d’api, con stoppino in cotone.

4) Shampoo e detergenti per tappeti e moquette - Cercate soltanto quelli che abbiano ingredienti naturali.

5) Abiti lavati a secco - Preferire abiti che non richiedano percloroetilene per essere puliti: sempre meglio il lavaggio con acqua, che quello a secco; eventualmente, cercate lavaggi a secco che usino anidride carbonica liquida o detergenti a base di succo di agrumi.

6) Antipulci, zecche e pidocchi - Evitate insetticidi a base di lindano.

7) Pitture e vernici - Privilegiate i prodotti che a basso contenuto di composti organici volatili (Voc), meglio ancora quelli che non ne hanno affatto.

8) Microonde - Meglio non cuocere o riscaldare i cibi nei contenitori di plastica, anche se sono quelli studiati apposta per finire nel forno a microonde. Preferite contenitori in ceramica o coccio.

fonte

2011-02-05T23:39:00.001+01:00

TRIPOLI closing party/ dinner

2011-02-02T23:08:00.003+01:00

Th histoic conference fo African migrants --Triopli (closing ceremony)

IKENNA & ADA 1.by chukbyke

2010-10-16T18:46:00.001+02:00

THE CHUKWUBIKES & EBONINES

2010-10-15T23:40:00.003+02:00

10.10.10 wedding

2010-10-14T17:13:00.001+02:00

ADANNA & IKENNA 10.10.10- ARRIVAL

2010-10-12T00:55:00.001+02:00

FOTO BY: CHUKBYKE
((Roma)

SUMMER 2010 @ asso.welcome

2010-09-26T16:13:00.002+02:00

CHINONSO 17 YRS

2010-09-01T17:48:00.000+02:00

L' ultima moda inglese? Mangiare gli scoiattoli

2010-08-29T11:57:00.000+02:00

Sembra che l' ultima moda inglese sia mangiare gli scoiattoli... assurdo !

Sembra che l’ ultima moda inglese sia mangiare gli scoiattoli… in questi giorni la notizia sta facendo il giro del mondo. Una cosa da far rizzare i capelli al popolo vegetariano. Dicono che su richiesta dei clienti, un supermercato del Nord di Londra la proponga già da mesi e stia facendo affari.

Si spera che nel giro di qualche anno non sarà come per il coniglio, ma passi in fretta come tutte le mode bizzarre che nacono e muoiono nel giro di una stagione. Il titolare del supermercato difende il suo piccolo buisness così: ” Perfino i grandi ristoranti di Parigi sono divenuti adepti dello scoiattolo. Lo chef del St. John, Fergus Henderson, parla di carne deliziosa, che assomiglia a quella di lepre, più grassa. Un

tempo questa vivanda era popolare. Il governo di Londra aveva proposto alcune ricette di zuppa e di torta allo scoiattolo in un periodo di razionamento durante la seconda guerra mondiale.”

Supereva animalisti si unisce ai difensori degli animali che si mostrano indignati e denunciano un massacro barbaro e inutile. Il loro combattimento è iniziato.

http://guide.supereva.it/animalisti/interventi/2010/08/l-ultima-moda-inglese-mangiare-gli-scoiattoli

FIREWORKS ..San Rocco..Cisterna 2010 ..by chukbyke

2010-08-17T08:50:00.000+02:00

FELA KUTI (Sorrow, Tears and Blood)

2010-08-12T15:38:00.001+02:00

Nordcorea, punizione a pieno regime

2010-08-05T16:28:00.000+02:00

Mondiali 2010 -

Eurosport - gio, 29 lug 10:07:00 2010
Giocatori e allenatore esposti al pubblico ludibrio per non aver superato la fase a gironi dei Mondiali. E' accaduto il 2 luglio, ma un'emittente radiofonica lo rende noto solo ora. Si salvano soltanto Jong Tae Se e An Yong-hak, rientrati subito in Giappone

Chi ha dimenticato le lacrime di Jong Tae Se? Il giocatore della Corea del Nord (il meno coreano di tutti tra l'altro, essendo lui di origine giapponese) si era sciolto in un pianto a dirotto durante l'inno della sua Nazionale alla partita d'esordio dei Mondiali. Gli asiatici si erano ben comportati con il Brasile, perdendo 2-1, ma poi avevano inccassato una serie infinita di gol con la Costa d'Avorio e il Portogallo.
L'onore perciò non è stato salvato e in patria il regime ha deciso che era il caso di prendere dei provvedimenti. Così, nel silenzio generale, i giocatori sono rientrati a casa (tranne Jong Tae Se e An Yong-hak, tornati subito in Giappone) e ad aspettarli c'era una sgradevole sorpresa. E' stato allestito per loro un palco al Palazzo della Cultura popolare dove la squadra è stata tenuta ferma in piedi per sei ore. Come se non bastasse, davanti a loro c'erano 400 persone che insultavano giocatori e allenatore per i cattivi risultati ottenuti in Sudafrica. Un'umiliazione in piena regola.
Il motivo? Hanno tradito la fiducia del dittatore, il "Caro Leader" Kim Jong-Il. Così, come se non bastasse, l'allenatore Kim Jong-Hun è stato addirittura deportato e mandato a lavorare in un cantiere edile di Pyongyang.

Ricorda tanto la storia di Emil Zatopek, straordinario campione di mezzofondo e fondo dell'allora Cecoslovacchia che subì più o meno lo stesso destino (fu spedito in una miniera di uranio, ma per ragioni politiche e non sportive), con l'aggravante di essere un vincente. Con Zatopek, però, si ritorna agli anni Sessanta, in piena Guerra Fredda e, anche se impossibile da giustificare, una decisione del genere è quantomeno comprensibile se contestualizzata.

Si può ben capire, però, anche il gesto di Kim Jong-Il, sempre tornando agli anni '60. Il padre Kim Il-Sung, a sua volta regnante, nel 1966 punì la squadra rea di aver perso con il Portogallo ai Mondiali e di aver comunque festeggiato lo storico traguardo dei quarti di finale (avendo eliminato anche l'Italia) in un locale, alla maniera occidentale. Furono tutti mandati in campi di disintossicazione dall'atteggiamento borghese, tranne Pak Do Ik, che non aveva partecipato ai "bagordi" per indisposizione.
Evidentemente il desiderio di vendetta, castigo ed epurazione è insito nella famiglia reggente nordcoreana.

Il Mondiale comunque per la Corea del Nord ha mostrato diversi problemi: un solo giornalista nazionale accreditato, allenamenti a porte chiuse, la notizia della fuga di quattro giocatori poi rientrata... Tutti segnali d'insofferenza che non possono non far riflettere, soprattutto alla luce di questa nuova notizia che risale al 2 luglio, ma che Radio Free Asia è riuscita a diffondere soltanto ora.

Eurosport

Child prodigy reads, gives medical tips aged three

2010-07-22T05:30:00.001+02:00

Child prodigy reads, gives medical tips aged three

Boy from near Pisa shows remarkable self-taught talents

16 July, 13:42

Guarda la foto 1 di 1

(ANSA) - Rome, July 16 - A three-year-old Italian boy hasamazed his family and doctors with his prodigious talents thatinclude reading the newspaper and giving medical advice.

The boy, Ettore, has also mastered use of the televisionremote control so he can flick through the TV guide on teletextand make viewing suggestions.

What makes the story even more remarkable is that hisparents from the town of Perignano near Pisa say the boy taughthimself almost all these skills, just by observing adults. ''We started teaching him the alphabet for fun. We wouldnever have imagined his abilities would develop like this,''said Ettore's father Francesco Grillo, a 44-year-old artistspecialised in portraits and reproductions of famous works.

''Then when he was about two he started to read newspapersand TV guides. Initially we thought he memorised phrases andrepeated them parrot-like. But then we realised he was readingfor real''.

Experts from the local hospital at the Tuscan town ofPontedera are impressed.

''Usually learning to read is a process that takes place ata much later stage, at school age, and it's a gradual process''said Dr. Amerigo Celandroni, the head of the hospital'spaediatric clinic.

''In Ettore's case though, he had not been taught, and yethe reads fluently''. His parents said they have to be very careful about whatthey say around Ettore because of his powers of comprehensionway beyond his years, as shown in his mysteriously acquiredknow-how of medical matters.

''One day I was talking to my wife about a health problem Ihad,'' Francesco told Tuscan daily Corriere Fiorentino. ''Ettore heard and recommended a medicine. I checked up andsaw that it was right for my case''. His parents said they were concerned about whether thethree-year-old's abilities would continue to flourish when hestarts pre-school in September.

''Let's hope it's a good thing, although we are worried''the father said. ''What if he loses this gift there? ''I don't know what he'll do with these qualities when he'sgrown up. The important thing is that it's the right thing forhim. Maybe one day this fame he's having will come in handy''.

photo: Ettore Grillo.
NEWS

FIFA FAN FEST Rome - 22-06-2010 - "Waka Waka" by dancers from Cisterna -...

2010-07-06T06:34:00.001+02:00

THE NORTH

2010-06-30T01:11:00.002+02:00

SLOVACCHIA 3- ITALIA 2 @HARD ROCK CAFE OSLO

2010-06-25T17:06:00.000+02:00

SLOVACCHIA 3- ITALIA 2.... @HARD ROCK CAFE OSLO

ONORE A MASSIMILIANO RAMADU A CISTERNA

2010-05-20T18:05:00.000+02:00

ULTIMO SALUTO A CISTERNA

foto by:

Chukbyke

20/05/2010

KATIAS CONFIRMATION

2010-05-15T09:22:00.000+02:00

Cresima 24/04/2010

virtus u 17.wmv by chukbyke

2010-05-12T22:55:00.002+02:00

Virtus Cisterna (Basket Ball)Under 17 Campioni 2010 by chukbyke

Countering trafficking in human being

2010-05-02T01:31:00.000+02:00

Nigeria

Countering trafficking in human being

The Programme "Preventing and Combating Trafficking of Minors and Young Women from Nigeria to Italy" funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was carried out by UNICRI in cooperation with UNODC, Nigerian Institutions and NGOs from March 2008 to April 2010. Designed as a follow-up of the pilot project, which was implemented during 2002-2004 - [to find out more go to Phase 1 of the Programme], the present Programme intended to: read on..............................................

ENGLISH

ITALIAN

LABOUR ...DIGINITY...RIGHTS...MAN

2010-05-01T16:47:00.000+02:00

primo maggio/first May
http://www.recsando.it/mm_forum/pnd/1maggio.asp

KATIAS CONFIRMATION

2010-04-27T21:27:00.001+02:00

ASSOCIAZIONE WELCOME: CISTERNA WINE EXPO' ULTIMO GIORNO

2010-04-18T08:28:00.000+02:00

ASSOCIAZIONE WELCOME: CISTERNA WINE EXPO' ULTIMO GIORNO

BASTA CHE VINCE LA ROMA.........

2010-03-27T12:10:00.002+01:00

WEEK-END..... 27/28 ANCHE LUNEDI 29...?
BASTA CHE VINCE LA ROMA... OGGI....

Il Progetto.......“Viviamo la città”

2010-03-21T01:11:00.003+01:00

Difficoltà di comunicazione con immigrati

Ref:(libri)

• Cross-cultural and intercultural communication Di William B. Gudykunst

• Parole comuni culture diverse: guida alla comunicazione interculturale Di Paolo E. Balboni

• Cross-cultural communication: an introduction to the fundamentals Di Donald William Klopf

• The Power of Body Language: How to Succeed in Every Business and Social ...

Di Tonya Reiman

“Viviamo la città”

“Fare sicurezza” partendo dai giovani nelle scuole fino alle infrastrutture pubbliche.

Si chiama “Viviamo la Città” e coinvolge molti settori e soggetti del territorio a partire dai giovani, prevalentemente quelli della classi IV e V delle scuole superiori ma anche quelli delle scuole medie, e poi gli anziani, le famiglie, con il coinvolgimento di operatori sociali, educatori, rappresentanti delle istituzioni, delle forze dell’ordine, delle associazioni di categoria. E poi opere pubbliche come una pista ciclabile, pubblica illuminazione, marciapiedi di collegamento, ed altro.

Le caratteristiche e gli scopi del progetto sono stati oggi illustrati anche alla stampa dal Sindaco Antonello Merolla, dall’Assessore alle Politiche Sociali Fabio Carrozza e dal personale dei Servizi Sociali.

Tra tutte le novità che questo progetto propone forse la più innovativa di tutte è quella di voler parlare ai giovani di legalità, rispetto dei limiti e delle regole con il “linguaggio” dei giovani. Per illustrare i contenuti del progetto e del loro ruolo attivo, di protagonisti, si è svolta una festa giovedì sera nel Centro Polivalente San Valentino con l’esibizioni di gruppi dal vivo, dj, animatori indicati da loro, con distribuzione di gadget ed una rete di comunicazione su Facebook che li terrà in contatto ed aggiornati sugli eventi. Un bus navetta ha fatto da collegamento tra il centro città ed il luogo dell’evento mentre un vivace bracciale USB con il logo del progetto sarà il lasciapassare per gli incontri previsti.

Questi spazieranno dagli incontri in aula con esperti, a laboratori di comunicazione creativa con la realizzazione di una brochure, ad eventi con testimonial molto seguiti dai giovani.

Il primo di questi sarà Matteo Viviani de Le Iene di Italia Uno, giovedì 18 febbraio. Gli altri saranno ‘svelati’ di volta in volta con l’approssimarsi delle date. Infatti il progetto, che avrà valore di credito formativo per gli studenti partecipanti, si svolgerà durante tutto l’anno scolastico in corso con un grande evento e convegno finale con valore di workshop.

“Viviamo la città” è un progetto finanziato dalla Regione Lazio che va ad integrare una progettualità in corso nella programmazione comunale. L’iniziativa avrà una valeza anche extrascolastica con la realizzazione di una guida sulla sicurezza di pronta consultazione in casi di emergenza, uno sportello di assistenza ed aiuto alle vittime dei reati, una serie di incontri informativi rivolti agli anziani sulle truffe e raggiri, agli operatori del settore economico sui comportamenti “mafiosi”, ai “formatori” insegnanti e alla polizia municipale per interventi finalizzati a relazioni con minori problematiche legate a extracomunitari. E poi una pista ciclabili, pubblica illuminazione in aree del quartiere San Valentino.

“E’ un progetto ambizioso, importante – hanno detto il Sindaco Merolla e l’Assessore Carrozza – che va nella direzione della città delle persone e dei servizi che è alla base del nostro programma. E’ partito già sotto i migliori auspici e credo che investire nei giovani, nel formarli ai principi della legalità e della consapevolezza dell’importanza delle loro scelte, nel rispetto delle regole civili, comportamentali, sociali, stradali, nel divertimento come nello studio e lavoro, attraverso i loro valori, il loro linguaggio, i loro interessi possa produrre dei reali effetti positivi e duraturi per il loro e nostro futuro”.

LAMPEDUSA

2010-03-14T15:41:00.003+01:00

Esibizione culturale @Carnevale Cisternese: 2010

2010-03-07T23:51:00.002+01:00

by Nneoma June Katia Chukwubike

assowelcome masq 2.MOV

2010-02-28T06:31:00.001+01:00

Cisterna ricorda le vittime delle foibe.

2010-02-15T06:41:00.001+01:00

...PHOTO THOUGHTS...: NEVER AGAIN......ANYWHERE...#links#links#links

2010-01-28T17:32:00.000+01:00

...PHOTO THOUGHTS...: NEVER AGAIN......ANYWHERE...#links#links#links

YESTERDAY...TODAY...TOMORROW?

2010-01-12T10:50:00.000+01:00

THE OATH......

2010-01-12T00:44:00.003+01:00

TIFOSI .....VIGOR CISTERNA IN PARTENZA PER ROMA

2010-01-05T16:26:00.000+01:00

CHRISTMAS,NATALE,WEIHNACHTEN

2010-01-02T17:06:00.011+01:00

J and J FASION SHOW 1st EDITION

2009-12-06T18:04:00.014+01:00

http://fotothought.blogspot.com/2009/12/j-fashion-show.html

http://www.jjfashionsposa.com/

STANDING UP FOR FREEDOM... December 1, 1955

2009-12-02T11:15:00.000+01:00

Pioneer of Civil Rights

Rosa Parks Biography

Rosa Parks Date of birth: February 4, 1913
Date of death: October 24, 2005
Most historians date the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States to December 1, 1955. That was the day when an unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This brave woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her lonely act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere.
Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama to James McCauley, a carpenter, and Leona McCauley, a teacher. At the age of two she moved to her grandparents' farm in Pine Level, Alabama with her mother and younger brother, Sylvester. At the age of 11 she enrolled in the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, a private school founded by liberal-minded women from the northern United States. The school's philosophy of self-worth was consistent with Leona McCauley's advice to "take advantage of the opportunities, no matter how few they were."

Opportunities were few indeed. "Back then," Mrs. Parks recalled in an interview, "we didn't have any civil rights. It was just a matter of survival, of existing from one day to the next. I remember going to sleep as a girl hearing the Klan ride at night and hearing a lynching and being afraid the house would burn down." In the same interview, she cited her lifelong acquaintance with fear as the reason for her relative fearlessness in deciding to appeal her conviction during the bus boycott. "I didn't have any special fear," she said. "It was more of a relief to know that I wasn't alone."

After attending Alabama State Teachers College, the young Rosa settled in Montgomery, with her husband, Raymond Parks. The couple joined the local chapter of the NAACP and worked quietly for many years to improve the lot of African-Americans in the segregated south.

"I worked on numerous cases with the NAACP," Mrs. Parks recalled, "but we did not get the publicity. There were cases of flogging, peonage, murder, and rape. We didn't seem to have too many successes. It was more a matter of trying to challenge the powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue being second-class citizens."
The bus incident led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The association called for a boycott of the city-owned bus company. The boycott lasted 382 days and brought Mrs. Parks, Dr. King, and their cause to the attention of the world. A Supreme Court Decision struck down the Montgomery ordinance under which Mrs. Parks had been fined, and outlawed racial segregation on public transportation.

In 1957, Mrs. Parks and her husband moved to Detroit, Michigan where Mrs. Parks served on the staff of U.S. Representative John Conyers. The Southern Christian Leadership Council established an annual Rosa Parks Freedom Award in her honor.

After the death of her husband in 1977, Mrs. Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. The Institute sponsors an annual summer program for teenagers called Pathways to Freedom. The young people tour the country in buses, under adult supervision, learning the history of their country and of the civil rights movement. President Clinton presented Rosa Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. She received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.

When asked if she was happy living in retirement, Rosa Parks replied, "I do the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day, but I don't think there is any such thing as complete happiness. It pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I think when you say you're happy, you have everything that you need and everything that you want, and nothing more to wish for. I haven't reached that stage yet."

Mrs. Parks spent her last years living quietly in Detroit, where she died in 2005 at the age of 92. After her death, her casket was placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol for two days, so the nation could pay its respects to the woman whose courage had changed the lives of so many. She was the first woman in American history to lie in state at the Capitol, an honor usually reserved for Presidents of the United States.
SOURCE

ALL SOULS

2009-11-02T09:46:00.000+01:00

http://www.churchyear.net/allsouls.html

May the Souls of all departed Rest in Peace

Charles

NO RAZZISMO ROMA 2009

2009-10-19T07:29:00.000+02:00

ASSOCIAZIONE WELCOME: NO RAZZISMO ROMA 2009

NO RAZZISMO ROMA 17 OTT 2009 by chukbyke...

2009-10-19T07:06:00.001+02:00

NO RAZZISMO ROMA 17 OTT 2009 by chukbyke

POVERTY ,SOCIAL JUSTICE &PEACE

2009-10-16T15:41:00.002+02:00

“Hunger is actually the

worst of all weapons of mass

destruction, claiming millions

of victims every year. Fighting

hunger and poverty and

promoting development are

the truly sustainable way to

achieve world peace….There

will be no peace without

development, and there will be

neither peace nor development

without social justice.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

AFRICAN WEDDING IN ROME...THE FILM

2009-10-12T12:53:00.000+02:00

U.N.: Norway best in human development

2009-10-07T11:10:00.000+02:00

U.N.: Norway best in human development

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Several countries recorded improvements in human development, but inequities remain between rich and poor nations, the U.N. Human Development Index showed.
The annual Human Development Index -- a combination of life expectancy, literacy, school enrollment and gross domestic product per capita measures -- was calculated for 182 countries and territories and released Monday as part of the annual Human Development Report, the United Nations said in a release.

"Many countries have experienced setbacks over recent decades, in the face of economic downturns, conflict-related crises and the HIV and AIDS epidemic," lead author Jeni Klugman said. "And this was even before the impact of the current global financial crisis was felt."
Norway, Australia and Iceland were the top-ranked countries on the index, which is based on data gathered in 2007, the most recent year full statistics are available for, the United Nations said. Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan round out the Top 10.

Across the index, five countries rose by three or more places -- France, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and China -- largely because of improvements in life expectancy and incomes, the report indicated. Luxembourg, Malta, Ecuador, Lebanon, Belize, Tonga and Jamaica fell by three or more places.
At the bottom were Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, Klugman said.
Demonstrating the difference between the top and bottom countries, Klugman said a Norwegian child can expect to live 30 years longer and earn an average of $85 for every $1 earned by the person in Niger.
UNDP REPORT

IL VANGELO,FINI LA SINISTRA E LA DESTRA

2009-09-27T13:31:00.005+02:00

Dopo il vangelo di oggi (sotto) mi veniva in mente FINI LA SINISTRA E LA DESTRA italiana, la parola ...sincerità.... e mi veniva un gran male di testa...AIUTO!!!!!!
--------------------------------------------------------

Vangelo: Mc 9,38-43.45.47-48
Dal Vangelo secondo Marco
........In quel tempo, Giovanni disse a Gesù: «Maestro, abbiamo visto uno che scacciava demoni nel tuo nome e volevamo impedirglielo, perché non ci seguiva». Ma Gesù disse: «Non glielo impedite, perché non c'è nessuno che faccia un miracolo nel mio nome e subito possa parlare male di me: chi non è contro di noi è per noi.
Chiunque infatti vi darà da bere un bicchiere d'acqua nel mio nome perché siete di Cristo, in verità io vi dico, non perderà la sua ricompensa.
Chi scandalizzerà uno solo di questi piccoli che credono in me, è molto meglio per lui che gli venga messa al collo una macina da mulino e sia gettato nel mare..............

SAVING JOB?

2009-09-26T10:55:00.002+02:00

Family Wahala

2009-09-21T13:19:00.005+02:00

No be small Wahala oooooooooooo

Two men met at a bus stop and struck up a conversation. One of them kept complaining of family problems. Finally, the other man said:"You think you have family problems? Listen to my situation. A fewyears ago I met a young widow with a grown-up daughter and we gotmarried.

"Later my father married my step daughter. That made my stepdaughter my stepmother and my father became my stepson. Also,my wife became mother in-law of her father-in-law.Then the daughter of my wife, my stepmother, had a son. This boy was my half-brother because he was my father's son, but he was also the son of my wife's daughter which made him my wife's grand-son.That made me the grandfather of my half-brother.

"This was nothing until my wife and I had a son. Now the half-sister of my son, my stepmother, is also the grandmother. "This makes my father the brother-in-law of my child, whose stepsister is my father's wife, I'm my stepmother's brother-in-law, my wife is her own child's aunt, my son is my father's nephew and I'm My own son's grandfather!

And you think you have family wahala

AFRICAN DIASPORA MEETING

2009-09-13T19:22:00.001+02:00

CRY "ALLOUWED".....ETC

2009-08-15T01:04:00.007+02:00

'Cry allouwed and show my people their sin..
Isaiah 58 vs.1-2'

'Even devil is better than U'

'Dear God, you promise me my daily bread,
I want it now'

NIGERIAN CURIOSITY: NIGERIA'S GENERATIONAL DIVIDE & REUBEN ABATI

2009-07-01T10:50:00.000+02:00

NIGERIAN CURIOSITY: NIGERIA'S GENERATIONAL DIVIDE & REUBEN ABATI

Michael Jackson dies leaving legacy of award-winning music

2009-06-26T05:44:00.001+02:00

Michael Jackson dies leaving legacy of award-winning music

Michael Jackson, who died today at age 50, ruled the music world throughout the 1980s, selling millions of records and concert tickets and dubbing himself the "King of Pop." And while Michael Jackson won multiple times at such popularity contests as the American Music Awards and the MTV Awards, he also earned the respect of his peers in the music industry with his 13 Grammy Awards.

After striking out on his own from the Jackson Five, Jackson won his first Grammy in 1980 for best R&B male vocal performance ("Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"). That track from his chart-topping "Off the Wall" album also contended for best disco recording.

"Thriller" – his second solo effort as an adult – was released in November 1982 and spent a record 37 weeks at No. 1, producing an unparalleled seven Top 10 singles. In March 1983, Jackson debuted his moonwalk dance to "Billie Jean" on the TV special "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever." Michael Jackson earned an Emmy nod for best performance in a variety or music program. He lost to opera diva Leontyne Price for her concert with the New York Philharmonic on "Live From Lincoln Center."

At the Grammys in February 1984, Jackson shared in seven of the eight awards won by the album (the exception was for best engineered recording). Michael Jackson shared the wins for album of the year and producer of the year (non-classical) with "Thriller" collaborator Quincy Jones, who also produced his Grammy-winning children's recording "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial."

For the three chart-topping singles off the album, Jackson won Grammy Awards for male vocal performance in an unprecedented three genres – R&B ("Billie Jean"), rock ("Beat It") and pop ("Thriller"). He shared in the record of the year win for "Beat It" with the production team. And as the songwriter, he picked up a Grammy for penning the best R&B tune ("Billie Jean"). However, Sting's "Every Breath You Take" edged out two Jackson compositions – "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" – for song of the year.

Jackson's total of eight Grammy wins in one night broke the record set in 1965 by Roger Miller, who'd won six awards, most for the country hit "King of the Road." And the eight Grammys awarded to "Thriller" was another record haul as well. Both of these achievements were tied by Santana and the album "Supernatural" in 1999.

Michael Jackson won another Grammy the following year in the category of best video album for the film that documented the making of the landmark "Thriller" video. That $500,000, 14-minute video, directed by John Landis, told the story of a boy (Jackson) and girl enjoying a date until he turns into a singing, dancing werewolf.

In 1986, Jackson and Lionel Richie won the song of the year Grammy for the charity single "We Are the World," which also took home record of the year. As Jackson was one of the pioneers of the music video, it seems appropriate that the last two Grammys he won were for that medium. In 1989 he and his team won the short form video award for "Leave Me Alone" off his follow-up album "Bad." And in 1995 he and his sister Janet Jackson shared in the short form winning "Scream" from his double album "HIStory."

Photo: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

IS ANYTHING HAPPENING TO OUR MEN?

2009-06-16T22:48:00.005+02:00

During my last visit to Nigeria in March/April this year I made a casual observation which my friends and brothers living in Nigeria claimed they never took note of.

I forgot my nail-cutter and a smaller comb as usual, therefore wanted to buy new ones.This has never been a problem to me since I always see at an average 10 minutes interval. those ‘Abokis/mallams’ or the short Okoros who hawked them around my uncles shop.

Well the ‘Abokis’ and small size ‘okoros’ passed at 5 minutes intervals now but the articles they hawked were different.

Viagra and ‘Viagra function related drugs’

It was amazing to see the quantity (not quality) of mobile phone gadgets and accessories being hawked in Nigerian cities. I was particularly astonished by the articles hawked by most of these Abokis; thy included drugs according to their descriptions are light hallucinogens, lsd, ecstasy, kwaya, etc and even some veterinary drugs that they recommend for human beings claiming they would ‘have other effects’.

There were more than 60 different types of Viagra and ‘Viagra function related drugs’ They were all for men rigorously and unmistakably ‘made in China’- most of them though had no NAFDAC registration number anyway. I wondered what was happening to men in Nigeria that there should be such a great market for all these drugs,

(PICTURE TAKEN OPOSITE EKO MERIDIAN HOTEL)

The gentle and jovial aboki took time to explain to me the different functions and effects of at least 10 different Chinese ‘Viagra and associated drugs’: his prize : a plate of tuwo from the nearby buka..

My question is: Is anything happening to our men that I do not know?

However after some days I had to go to Ajaa market and there I bought a beautiful looking manicure kit. rigorously and unmistakably ‘made in China’

Chukbyke

MARRAZZO A CISTERNA (chukbyke)3

2009-06-06T22:27:00.001+02:00

PRESIDENTE MARRAZZO A CISTERNA

di mario sindaco

2009-05-29T07:23:00.001+02:00

DOTT. SANDRO DI MARIO .... CANDIDATO A SINDACO

DR.CARTURAN (sindaco) & I

2009-05-22T06:25:00.003+02:00

The out-gooing mayor of Cisterna honours some members of the community before members of the diplomatic corps during the Festa dei popoli 2009

2009-05-21T23:38:00.001+02:00

NINFA GARDEN ...CISTERNA (LT)

2009-05-20T12:28:00.002+02:00

Prostitution: The Oldest Profession in the World

2009-05-09T12:15:00.003+02:00

When it comes to sex trafficking, there is a lot of tension among abolitionists over the topic of prostitution. On the extreme ends, some see all prostitution as a form of trafficking while others make a clear distinction between a person who is a prostitute and someone who is a victim of trafficking. There is, of course, a lot of grey area in between. I bring this up though because today I'm feeling a little frustrated with people who make statements such as, "Prostitution is the oldest profession" or "It's been around for centuries," - as if that somehow proves a point or justifies anything in the prostitution vs. trafficking debate (or, the more common debate over whether prostitution should be legalized). I hate it when people point this out - as if it somehow legitimates anything. Just because something has been around for a long time, doesn't mean it's a good thing.

It's hard to say that women 2000+ years ago chose prostitution of their own free will - more likely, they chose it because it was the only option. It was certainly not some grand statement of female empowerment - rather it was a reaction to the social restrictions placed on women at the time. (Now, some might point to various societies where sex was not as taboo or wrapped up in morality as we see it today, and to them I say that we are talking about commercial transactions for sex - and that if someone can point out a society where prostitution was just as valid a decision as any other business endeavor, and garnered just as much respect and inclusion in society without any opportunity costs (such as marriage) that other business endeavors did not have - I'm willing to listen). ANYWAY - fast forward 2000 years and I wonder how much of this has changed - how much of the decision to become a sex worker today is an enthusiastic embracement of one's own sexuality and the desire to express it in a particular manner, and how much of the decisions is a product of circumstances.

In the present day tension, the idea that someone might choose or even be forced to become a sex worker because of certain circumstances is often overlooked. Now, it is true that, at least from a federal law perspective there has to be some sort of force, fraud, or coercion involved for a commercial transaction involving sex to be considered trafficking. What isn't so clear is what those three words mean. For many, there seems to be this idea that they refer to actions of violence - the woman was chained to the bed, or a gun was held to her head, or she was beaten until she finally submitted. Others consider a definition that afford a little more breadth, so that things like deliberate/blatant psychological coercion or manipulation will qualify as trafficking. Absent some egregious factor such as specific and/or severe physical, sexual, or psychological abuse (from a pimp or from her past) though, many people assume that a woman who is a sex worker is doing it of her own volition - she wants to be there, it was her choice, etc. I think though, that other circumstances play an important role in the idea of consent and that there is room in the idea of force, fraud, or coercion for a different interpretation of consent - one that considers background circumstances that may 'force' a woman into prostitution.

Consent in my mind means active and enthusiastic yes. This can include a woman who chooses, of her own accord, to engage in sexual acts for money. I do not deny that some women will and do choose, of their own volition, without any sort of past hardship or lack of opportunity, to become a sex worker - BUT I think the number of women who fit into this category is very, very small. I think that a large number of women who become sex workers are pushed to that decision by other factors in their life, and when you start adding those factors in, the line between consent and force, fraud, or coercion becomes blurry. What about the woman who did not have the opportunity for an education that would provide her with job skills? What about the woman who has kids to take care of but can't find a job that pays enough? What about the woman who grew up in foster care, or in a family environment surrounded by drug abuse, or the one who is just down on her luck? Are these women victims of trafficking, or are they consenting sex workers?

I am not in any way making a moral judgment here. For your purposes and mine, I have no opinion on the morality of sex workers. What I am trying to do is reframe the debate so people stop seeing it as a black and white, good vs bad issue. I'm asking people to look a little deeper, beyond the question of whether a woman should be allowed to choose to sell her body, beyond the question of whether the government has any right to outlaw a person's rights over their own body, and look beyond the apparent consenting adult ethos. Ask yourself what consent really means, and again, are these women victims of trafficking, or are they consenting sex workers?

My answer? I don't know. Maybe this type of circumstance-created sex work doesn't rise to the level of trafficking, but at the same time I hardly think you can view it as enthusiastic consent. I tend to think that many women who are sex workers would not be in that profession if they were given the opportunity for something else (and the idea of a different set of opportunities can go the whole way back to childhood). I also tend to think that the image we see of sex workers - on TV, on news shows that discuss the topic, etc - is a much more glamorous version of what most sex workers experience. I get a sense that the women who go on to news programs to advocate for sex workers (sometimes actual workers, sometimes not) are the exceptions to the rule - maybe even the ones that did have the opportunities others miss. (NB: that was a huge blanket statement there. Please excuse for the sake of the argument).

Now, for a full disclosure that hopefully won't distract from my above point - I don't know what I think about prostitution being legalized either. Some days I favor the idea of legalizing it - because a woman should be able to decide what she does with her body, and even if the only reason she is involved is due to circumstances that forced her there (money issues for example), far be it from me to limit the ways she has to escape those circumstances, or force her into a worse situation because that avenue of income is unavailable. Now, on those days I still favor prosecuting those who create the demand for such services to the maximum possible under the law. I have no time for people who pay for sex - I think it is wrong and pathetic and there is no way you will ever convince me that the payor is not exploiting the payee, even if the payee is a consenting adult. This is one of the few things I will express a judgment on with no reservations or qualifications whatsoever (although the law student in me still feels the need to reserve the right to change that statement, should anyone make a valid argument that convinces me I am wrong). For more on the idea of legalizing prostitution but outlawing the demand side, see Jennifer's post!

Oh - and also - take a moment to think about the phrase, "Prostitution is the oldest profession in history" before you use it to justify present day prostitution. Whether you are for or against the legalization, basing your argument on the reality of a few thousand years ago is just silly.
SOURCE

Guantanamo Libya. The new Italian border police

2009-05-08T17:44:00.002+02:00

Guantanamo Libya. The new Italian border police

TRIPOLI - The iron door is closed. From the small loophole I see the faces of two African guys and one Egyptian. I can't stand the acrid smell coming from the holding cells. I ask them to move. Now I can see the whole room, three meters per eight. There are some thirty people inside. Piled one over the other. There are no beds, people sleep on the ground on some dirty foam mattresses. Behind, on the walls, somebody has written Guantanamo. But we are not in the U.S. base. We are in Zlitan, in Libya. And the detainees they are not suspected terrorists, but immigrants arrested south of Lampedusa.

People press behind the door. They have not been receiving any visits since they were arrested. Someone raises the voice: "Help us!" A young man put the hand out of the loophole and give me a piece of cardboard. There is written a telephone number, by pen. The prefix is that of Gambia. I put it in my pocket, hiding from the police. His name is Outhman. He asks me to tell his mother he is still alive. He has been locked in this prison for the last five months. Fabrice instead spent here nine months. Both of them were arrested during police raids in the immigrants neighbourhoods in Tripoli. Since several years actually, Libya is committed to patrol the European southern border. With any means. In 2003 Italy signed an agreement with Gaddafi and sent oversea motorboats, cars and body-bags... funding detention centres and deportation flights. Since then, tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees every year are arrested in Libya and held in such inhuman conditions.

"People are suffering here! The food is bad, and the water is dirty. We are sick and there are pregnant women." Gift is 29 years old. She is from Nigeria. She was arrested three months ago, while she was walking with her husband on the street. They left two children in Tripoli, she said. She is not allowed to call them. Her husband has been repatriated the previous week. She is still here, alone, wearing the same clothes she had when she was taken prisoner. Before, she has been living in Libya for three years, working as a hairdresser, and she didn't have any idea to cross the sea towards Italy, as many of the other immigrants who are here.

It is not the case of Y. Because he really dreamed about Europe. He is Eritrean and he deserted the army in order to seek for political asylum in Europe. He was apprehended in the sea. By the Libyans police. And locked here in Zlitan. Before entering in the office of the director – Ahmed Salim -, a policeman whispers something to him. When we ask him about the conditions of the prison, he answers with a trembling voice: "Everything is good." He is frightened. He knows that if he says something wrong he will be beaten. The director smiles in front of him and grants us he will not be deported. Within the next week he will be transferred to the detention centre of Misratah, 210 km east of Tripoli, where all the Eritreans refugees are concentrated.

In the region of Zlitan, there are three other detention centres for immigrants, in Khums, Garabulli and Bin Ulid. They are smaller and detainees kept there are normally moved to the camp of Zlitan, which can hold up to 325 people. But how many detention centres are there in Libya? According to the evidences we collected in the last years, they are at least 28, mostly concentrated along the coast. There are three kinds of centres. There are concentration camps, like those of Sebha, Zlitan, Zawiyah, Kufrah and Misratah, where migrants and refugees are concentrated waiting for their deportation. Then there are smaller facilities, such as Qatrun, Brak, Shat, Ghat, Khums ... where aliens are held for a shorter period of time before being sent to the bigger camps. And then there are the prisons: Jadida, Fellah, Twaisha, Ain Zarah ... Common prisons I mean, with entire branches dedicated to undocumented foreigners. The most known one was the prison of Fellah, in Tripoli, but it was recently demolished to construct a new building, in line with the restyling of the entire city. Its function was replaced by Twaisha, the prison near the airport.

Koubros managed to escape from Twaisha only few weeks ago. He is Eritrean, 27 years old. He used to live in Sudan, but after an Eritrean friend was deported from Khartoum, he suddenly decided to leave towards a safer place in Europe. He went out from Twaisha walking with crutches. He says he was seriously beaten by a drunk policeman who asked him money. Hopefully his Eritreans cell mates collect some money to let him free. To bribe a prison guard $ 300 is enough. I met him in front of the church of San Francesco, in Tripoli. Like every Friday, about fifty African migrants are waiting for the opening of Caritas. Tadrous is one of them. He was released last October from the prison of Surman. He is one of the few refugees having been judged by a court. His story interests me. It was on June 2008. They took the sea from Zuwarah, in 90 people. But after a few hours they decided to come back, because of the stormy sea, and they were arrested. The judge sentenced them to 5 months of detention, with the charge of illegal emigration. I ask him if he was given a lawyer. He simply smiles shaking the head. The answer is no.

Nothing strange, says the lawyer Abdussalam Edgaimish. Libyan law does not provide free legal aid for crimes punishable by less than three years. Edgaimish is the director of the Bar of Tripoli. He welcomes us in his office, in the First September road. He explains us that the practice of arrest and detention of immigrants have nor legal basis neither a validation from the court. Any Libyan citizen, according to the law, could not be deprived of liberty without a warrant of arrest. But for foreigners it is not the same. Police raids are usual. The practice is that of house-to-house raids in the suburbs of Tripoli.

"Migrants are victims of a conspiracy between the two shores of the Mediterranean. Europe sees only a security problem, but nobody wants to talk about their rights. " Jumaa Atigha is also a lawyer of Tripoli, graduated in Rome in 1983. Since 1999, he chaired the Organization for the Human Rights of the Foundation led by the firstborn of Gaddafi, Saif al Islam. In 2007 he resigned. During his presidency he led a national campaign, making the Government release 1,000 political prisoners. He describes a country involved in a rapid change, but still far from an ideal situation with respect to individual and political freedom. Atigha knows well the conditions of detention in Libya. From 1991 to 1998 he has been jailed without trial, as a political prisoner. He tells us that torture is a common practice among the Libyan policemen. "The lack of awareness means that policemen think to serve justice, while they are torturing people"

Mustafa O. Attir think the same. He is professor of sociology in the Tripoli University of El Fatah. "It is not simply a problem of racism. Libyans are kind with foreigners. It is a matter of police." Attir knows what he says. He visited Libyan prisons as a researcher in 1972, 1984 and 1986. Police officers have no education – he tells us - and are instead educated to the concept of punishment.

Suddenly his words make me rethink to the Ghanaian hairdressers in the medina, the Chadian tailors, the Sudanese shops, the Egyptians waiters, the Moroccan ladies in the cafeterias, and the Africans cleaning the roads every night. While Eritreans refugees are hiding themselves in the suburbs of Gurji and Krimia, thousands of African immigrants live and work here, maybe exploited, but with a relative peace. Certainly for Sudaneses and Chadians people, everything is easier. They speak Arabic and they are Muslims. They have been living in Libya for tens of years and therefore they are quite tolerated. The same for Egyptians and Moroccans. Instead is different for Eritreans and Ethiopians. They are here only for a transit to Europe. Often they do not speak Arabic. Often they are Christians. And their grandparents fought against Libyans with the Italian colonial troops. And as they travel with the money for the crossing in the pocket, they are often stolen even in the street. For the Nigerians, and more generally for the Anglophone sub-Saharan, is different. If they are directed to Europe or not, it is not important. Their integration in the Libyan society clashes systematically with the racist stereotypes against Nigerians, linked to the crimes of some Nigerian criminal networks. They are accused of smuggling drugs and alcohol, exploiting prostitution, bringing the Hiv virus and perpetrating robbery and murders.

During 2007, professor Attir organized three conferences on the subject of immigration in the Arab countries. In Libya he is one of the greater experts. And he is ready to deny the figures circulating in Europe. "Two million immigrants in Libya are waiting to leave to Italy? It is not true." Actually there is no statistic at all. The Libyan population is five and a half million people. Foreigners can not reasonably be more than one million, including Arab immigrants. Most of them have never thought to cross the sea. And Libya need them, because its economy is growing up, and the country is underpopulated and its citizens don't want any more to do heavy and cheap labours. Attir is aware of the pressures that Europe is doing on Libya. But he also knows that "there is no way" to stop the transit of migrants in the sea.

Libya has about 1,800 km of coastline, largely uninhabited. Colonel Khaled Musa, head of anti-immigration patrols in Zuwarah, don't really think that the six patrol boats promised by Italy will solve the problem. For sure they will help to control the coast between the Tunisian border, Ras Jdayr, and Sabratah. But it is only around 100 km. The 6% of the Libyan coast. And the departures have already moved on the coasts east of Tripoli, between Khums and Zlitan, more than 200 km from Zuwarah. The department of immigration of Zuwarah was created in 2005. The number of migrants arrested fell from 5,963 in 2005 to 1,132 in 2007. For the head of the investigations department, Sala el Ahrali, the figures show the success of the repressive measures. Many smugglers have been arrested, that is why the departures decreased. And the coast is patrolled every night, by cars. Every ten kilometres there is a police tent, on the beach. But only along 50 kilometres from the Tunisian border, from Farwah, to Mellitah, near the gas treatment plant owned the Italian Eni and the Libya's National Oil Company.

It goes from Mellitah to Gela, in Sicily. Greenstream, this is its name, is the longest underwater pipeline in the Mediterranean. Ironically, it runs along the same route which leads thousands of migrants to Lampedusa. On the surface of the sea, EU sends its military forces to stop the transRit of human beings. While at the bottom of the sea, eight billions cubic meters of gas annually pass through the 520 km of pipes, among the bones of thousands of victims of migration. An image that perfectly summarizes the relationship of the last five years between Rome and Tripoli, leaded under the slogan "more oil, less immigrants".

Read also:
Libya: inside the immigrants detention centre of Misratah
Border Sahara: the detention centres in the Libyan desert
Download the Fortress Europe 2007 Report: Escape from Tripoli

CHUKWUBIKES' .... Day by Day

LA NEVE FA BENE AL LUPO...........ROMA 4 INTER 0

La recita …il crimine non paga !!!!!...(centro INEMA)

Crescono le rimesse degli immigrati

Crescono le rimessedegli immigrati

ATTUALITÀ

MERRY CHRISTMAS.......Michael Bublé - "Christmas" Medley Clip

Senegal calls for inquiry into Florence murders

Senegal calls for inquiry into Florence murders

City offers sympathy to Senegalese community

Non fa sesso con la moglie: condannato

Ojukwu is dead

Ojukwu is dead

EMPOWERING AFGHAN WOMEN

CHIDI & DEB 232 BY by chukbyke

CHIDI & DEB 22 BY by chukbyke

OKWELE COMMUNITY ROME & FRIENDS

‘LA POLIZIA E’ ANCHE NOI’......PROTESTA....ROMA

‘LA POLIZIA E’ ANCHE NOI’ Un amico poliziotto in ferie voleva andare con i figli e moglie per la manifestazione (pacifica) di oggi a Roma ma era stata chiamata di urgenza per mantenere ordine durante la manifestazione……. E tornato ferito…non grave…… che ironia …che vita…

DEB & CHIDI RECEPTION by chukbyke

NOL: DALLAS 27/08/2011 CHIDI, DEB & NOL (a)

DEB &CHIDI...Dallas 27/08/2011

The Nigerian Connection

Duncan Mighty - Koli Water

ANGELUS CASTEL GANDOLFO

GERALDINE

MARINA (NORTH) LAGOS by chukbyke

HARVEST!!!!!!!!

BUS STOP---INTER-STATE

HOME

BEATIFICATION JP 2

APRIL 2005 POPE JOHN PAUL DIES......REQUIEM

VIA CRUCIS by chukbyke 2011

ROMA 9

Rep Dom by chukbyke

COLORI E SAPORI DEL MONDO

EMIGRANTI

ANGOLAN GROUP @ CISTERNA by chukbyke

The south African Group...by chukbyke

NO FLY ZONE

CISTERNA vs IL MONDO 19/03/2011

Black Africans In Libya Cry Out For Help!

Black Africans In Libya Cry Out For Help!

Una mostra di pittura sull'immigrazione

AFRICAN DIASPORA: REBELLION,DEMOCRACY AND DICTATORS

Security Council imposes sanctions on Libyan leadership (Update 1)

Security Council imposes sanctions on Libyan leadership (Update 1)

Fighting Spreads as Ivory Coast Draws Closer to Return to Civil War

Fighting Spreads as Ivory Coast Draws Closer to Return to Civil War

Photo: AFP

Shar

TRIPOLI ....LIBYA FEB 2011

8 cancerogeni che teniamo in casa senza saperlo

TRIPOLI closing party/ dinner

IKENNA & ADA 1.by chukbyke

THE CHUKWUBIKES & EBONINES

10.10.10 wedding

ADANNA & IKENNA 10.10.10- ARRIVAL

SUMMER 2010 @ asso.welcome

CHINONSO 17 YRS

L' ultima moda inglese? Mangiare gli scoiattoli

FIREWORKS ..San Rocco..Cisterna 2010 ..by chukbyke

FELA KUTI (Sorrow, Tears and Blood)

Nordcorea, punizione a pieno regime

Child prodigy reads, gives medical tips aged three

Child prodigy reads, gives medical tips aged three

Boy from near Pisa shows remarkable self-taught talents

FIFA FAN FEST Rome - 22-06-2010 - "Waka Waka" by dancers from Cisterna -...

THE NORTH

SLOVACCHIA 3- ITALIA 2 @HARD ROCK CAFE OSLO

ONORE A MASSIMILIANO RAMADU A CISTERNA

KATIAS CONFIRMATION

virtus u 17.wmv by chukbyke

Countering trafficking in human being

Nigeria

Countering trafficking in human being

LABOUR ...DIGINITY...RIGHTS...MAN

KATIAS CONFIRMATION

ASSOCIAZIONE WELCOME: CISTERNA WINE EXPO' ULTIMO GIORNO

BASTA CHE VINCE LA ROMA.........

Crescono le rimesse
degli immigrati

‘LA POLIZIA E’ ANCHE NOI’
Un amico poliziotto in ferie voleva andare con i figli e moglie per la manifestazione (pacifica) di oggi a Roma ma era stata chiamata di urgenza per mantenere ordine durante la manifestazione……. E tornato ferito…non grave…… che ironia …che vita…