Time is passing soooo fast... Things are changing by the time... Tiiiime.... tiiimee... tiiiiime...

Interfaith Conference in Kazakhstan (Photo: GPO)

During his address today to the Interfaith Conference in Kazakhstan, President Shimon Peres called upon King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia to come to Jerusalem, or to meet with him in Riyadh, to initiate discussions that would enable the implementation of their shared vision – the realization of a comprehensive peace between Israel and all the Arab states.

In his address before some 150 leaders of all the world's religions, including a large delegation of imams led by Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki, Secretary General of the World Moslem League and Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, the Chief Rabbis of Israel and senior Church officials, President Peres called on leaders of the world's religions to separate religion from terror and to condemn religious leaders, who, in the name of God, advocate murder, warfare and bloodshed. The President appealed to his audience to promote peace, both around the world and in the Middle East, and emphasized that Israel's course was one of appeasement and peace with all its neighbors.

It should be noted that all the Arab and Moslem delegates at the conference listened attentively to President Peres' address, and only the Iranian delegate, Mehdi Mostafavi, senior advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left the hall, returning only after President Peres had finished his address.

In response to questions by reporters regarding the departure of the Iranian from the conference hall, President Peres stated that "There were times when Israel remained alone in the conference halls. This time, Iran was alone, while the Islamic religious leadership remained with Israel."

The conference was also addressed by Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who raised a picture of Gilad Shalit and called on the attending religious leaders to assist in the efforts to return him home, and by the Secretary General of the World Moslem League, Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki, who stated that "I take this opportunity to call upon all religions to unite, to tear down the walls that separate us, and together promote a world of peace, tolerance and appeasement between all nations and all believers."

Shortly after the session's conclusion, President Peres conducted a prayer ceremony attended by hundreds of members of the Rahel Synagogue in Astana, and participated in a farewell event for members of his entourage, which included cabinet ministers and senior Israeli executives.

At the conclusion of the four-day visit to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, President Peres noted that the visit was very successful. "It was an historic visit to two Moslem nations who have stood with Israel and have officially declared their intent to raise the level of their diplomatic relations with Israel. The official instructions of both presidents, Aliyev and Nazarbayev, to their heads of government, directing them to conclude the business transactions with Israel and to expand political and security cooperation with it, opened a tremendous opportunity for Israel to strengthen its position in the world."

Shraga Brosh, chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, advised the president that during the visits, large-scale contracts between Israeli, Kazakh and Azerbaijani corporations had been signed, and that the high technological level of the Israeli companies made them extremely attractive for economic cooperation between Israel and these countries.

During the visits, a space technology agreement and an agreement on establishing unified industrial standards were signed with Kazakhstan, and a communications, cultural and scientific agreement was signed with Azerbaijan.

rewanda become reborn and sing my children

World: Africa
Rwanda: Churches protest new law on religion
Leaders of various churches wrote to the government of Rwanda with concerns about stipulations in a new proposed law on religion. Freedom is at issue.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
By Spero News
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Religious leaders from different denominations have protested at certain clauses in the Religious Bill saying they are an upfront to religious freedom.

In a letter presented to the Local government minister, the prelates led by Bishop Emmanuel Koline of the Anglican Church last week said that the bill is putting churches in the category of NGOs and associations yet they differ from the two.

“Articles; 21, 32, 36 make it difficult to start a religious organization and their proper functioning, they said in remarks published by the Times, "the bill articulates that for someone to start a church, one must have at least 100 associates to sign in your statute while he/she must be a graduate."

While arguing that starting a church does not require someone to be academically upright but integrity, the leaders accused the state of handling churches like NGOs.

"Actually, I think if this law is passed, it is likely to cause tension," said bishop Koline.

Last week I heard a very interesting presentation about a pattern that is emerging in Europe around the seizure of generic medicines. According to Percy Makombe from the Economic Justice Network presenting a paper at the Symposium on Health For All in an Interconnected World at York University, its possible to draw parallels between recent drug seizures (17 in Holland in 2008 alone) in Europe and the havoc being wrought by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Though the generic drug trade is legalized through the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), there is some confusion about their legal status, says Makombe. There is a perception that generic drugs are pirated or counterfeit, while in actual fact international agreements create certain provisions related generic medicines.

Makombe cites the example of a recent seizure of a shipment of Amoxicillin in Germany because the shipment - destined for the Pacific Island of Vanuatu - was suspected of violating trademarks. It wasn’t until GlaxoSmithKlein, the former patent holder of the drug, verified that there was no conflict that the drugs were released. They had been held for four weeks.

But, as Makombe points out, this is by no means an isolated incident. Ron Labonte from the University of Ottawa goes further to state explicitly that it is “fairly clear that there is a deliberate block against generic medicines by the European Commission.”

Some of the issues:

• Seizures are allowed based on “suspicion” that they could be counterfeit rather than real legal issues.
• Slowing down the transit of essential medicines has real implications for public health in the destination countries.
• Seizures block the legitimate growth of the generic industry.
• The European argument is that they are “saving lives” by verifying that the drugs are not counterfeit or pirated.

For more info:

• European Commission Regulation 1383/2003 (22 July 2003)
• June 2009 TRIPS Council Meeting; more
• Additional media coverage; more

(photo credit: aussiegall)

Rewanda is still trying to heal from the Genocide of 1994. Now missions are started to help heal the hurt of the perpetrator s and victims. A hospital was recently built for mothers who had to walk to get maturnity care

Yesterday I went to a Global Health Discussion Forum, a “monthly forum for members of the healthcare and educational communities to learn more about international projects around Toronto.” This particular one highlighted the brand new Textbook on International Health: Global Health in a Dynamic World, written by Anne-Emanuelle Birn (a former professor of mine), Timothy Holtz and Yogan Pillay.

In the discussion, Birn focused on how the textbook is different from those that have come before it, emphasizing that it approaches the subject of international health from a critical political economic perspective.  In other words, the textbook not only provides information, but tries to situate that information in a broad context of global neoliberalism.  Written by a historian, epidemiologist and policy maker who all met at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health as students, it sounds like the book does a good job of looking at the issues from a variety of angles.

The authors divide the book up into three general sections:

Basic Tools (Chapters 1-6)

• including history, actors, the political economy of health and development, data on health, and epidemiological profiles of health and disease

Key Lenses and Priority Areas (Chapters 7-12)

• including social determinants of health, health under crisis, globalization/trade/work/health, health economics, health care systems, and health & environment

Change through Action (Chapter 13-14)

• including a “hopeful realist approach” to where do we go from here, and an appendix of organizations that work on global health issues

Unfortunately, they sold out all their copies of the book before I could get a hold of one, so I’ll have to wait until it arrives from Amazon.

(photo credit: Diego Cupolo)

"MOMENTUM: Mission, Passion, Expression" is a youth-led magazine and a website dedicated to helping youth become more informed and engaged in society. The co-founders of this project are Yassir and Ilyes El Ouarzadi, two young laureates of the Millenium Excellence Scholarships. These young leaders both participated in the leadership program Shad Valley as well as in the 2008 World Youth Congress and in the Dictée des Amériques and they wish, through this project, to give the opportunity to hundreds, even thousands of young people from Canada and abroad, to live such live-changing experiences. Therefore, MOMENTUM is a by-youth, for-youth network dedicated to social change.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MOMENTUM MAGAZINE ?

We welcome your submissions (on current events (economic crisis) or on any topic related to youth engagement, global issues, and leadership) in the form of articles, interviews, poetry, personal reflections, short stories, photography, etc.

Your written submissions should be no longer than 1000 words in length.
Please email all submissions by July 31st to info.momentum@yahoo.com in Word format.

NEW DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:
July 31st, 2009

Thanks !

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

«MOMENTUM : Mission, Passion, Expression» est un magazine jeunesse accompagné d'un site web qui a pour but d'aider les jeunes à être bien informés et bien impliqués dans la société. Les cofondateurs de ce projet sont Yassir et Ilyes El Ouarzadi, deux jeunes lauréats de la Bourse d'excellence du millénaire. Ces jeunes leaders ont tous les deux participé au programme de leadership Shad Valley ainsi qu'au Congrès Mondial des jeunes 2008 et à la Dictée des Amériques et qui désirent, grâce à ce projet, donner l'opportunité à des centaines, voire des milliers de jeunes du Canada et d'ailleurs, de vivre de telles expériences qui pourront changer leurs vies. MOMENTUM est donc un réseau de changement social, par les jeunes et pour les jeunes.


COMMENT PARTICIPER AU MAGAZINE MOMENTUM ?

Envoyez-nous vos articles, poèmes et textes d'opinion sur le thème: comment les jeunes changent le monde ? et comment vous faites en tant que jeunes la différence dans vos communautés ? Vous pouvez aussi partager votre expérience personnelle pour inspirer d'autres jeunes à s'engager et à réaliser des projets dans leurs communautés. Vous pouvez également traiter de sujets d'actualité (crise économique), de problèmes qui affectent les jeunes ou encore des problématiques mondiales comme les changements climatiques.

Les articles ne devraient pas contenir plus de 1000 mots.
Faites-nous parvenir vos écrits en format Word à info.momentum@yahoo.com

DATE LIMITE D'ENVOI: la date a été prolongée
Le 31 juillet 2009

MERCI !

Yassir et ilyes
Co-Founders of MOMENTUM: Mission, Passion, Expression
Join us at: http://momentumweb.ning.com/

"MOMENTUM: Mission, Passion, Expression" is a youth-led magazine and a website dedicated to helping youth become more informed and engaged in society. The co-founders of this project are Yassir and Ilyes El Ouarzadi, two young laureates of the Millenium Excellence Scholarships. These young leaders both participated in the leadership program Shad Valley as well as in the 2008 World Youth Congress and in the Dictée des Amériques and they wish, through this project, to give the opportunity to hundreds, even thousands of young people from Canada and abroad, to live such live-changing experiences. Therefore, MOMENTUM is a by-youth, for-youth network dedicated to social change.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MOMENTUM MAGAZINE ?

We welcome your submissions (on current events (economic crisis) or on any topic related to youth engagement, global issues, and leadership) in the form of articles, interviews, poetry, personal reflections, short stories, photography, etc.

Your written submissions should be no longer than 1000 words in length.
Please email all submissions by July 31st to info.momentum@yahoo.com in Word format.

NEW DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:
July 31st, 2009

Thanks !

------------------------------------------------------------
«MOMENTUM : Mission, Passion, Expression» est un magazine jeunesse accompagné d'un site web qui a pour but d'aider les jeunes à être bien informés et bien impliqués dans la société. Les cofondateurs de ce projet sont Yassir et Ilyes El Ouarzadi, deux jeunes lauréats de la Bourse d'excellence du millénaire. Ces jeunes leaders ont tous les deux participé au programme de leadership Shad Valley ainsi qu'au Congrès Mondial des jeunes 2008 et à la Dictée des Amériques et qui désirent, grâce à ce projet, donner l'opportunité à des centaines, voire des milliers de jeunes du Canada et d'ailleurs, de vivre de telles expériences qui pourront changer leurs vies. MOMENTUM est donc un réseau de changement social, par les jeunes et pour les jeunes.

COMMENT PARTICIPER AU MAGAZINE MOMENTUM ?

Envoyez-nous vos articles, poèmes et textes d'opinion sur le thème: comment les jeunes changent le monde ? et comment vous faites en tant que jeunes la différence dans vos communautés ? Vous pouvez aussi partager votre expérience personnelle pour inspirer d'autres jeunes à s'engager et à réaliser des projets dans leurs communautés. Vous pouvez également traiter de sujets d'actualité (crise économique), de problèmes qui affectent les jeunes ou encore des problématiques mondiales comme les changements climatiques.

Les articles ne devraient pas contenir plus de 1000 mots.
Faites-nous parvenir vos écrits en format Word à info.momentum@yahoo.com

DATE LIMITE D'ENVOI: la date a été prolongée
Le 31 juillet 2009

MERCI !

Hi everyone !

I wanted to post a blog about the Obama's Speech in Cairo (Egypt) since it was an important event for the Muslim world, the USA and the world in general.

For those who have not had the chance to read the full text of the speech or listen to it, here are some useful links:

To read the full text of the speech, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html

For a complete video, visit: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/full-video-of-obamas-cairo-speech/

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1234919.html

“Less than six months ago, Arabs threw shoes at George Bush. Today, in a address bound to go down in history, President Obama was unexpectedly greeted by a standing ovation in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world.

In a towering speech before 4,000 Egyptians in the Grand Hall of Cairo University, and to another 1.4 billion Muslims world-wide, the President was interrupted 30 times by applause and people shouting, “we love you”.

President Obama also noted Islam's historical relationship with the United States:

"I also know that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President, John Adams, wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims."

***

"That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."

Source of the picture and text:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/4/738719/-Masterpiece

I think that if we, as citizens of the world and youth activitists, want to ensure a better future for ourselves and the future generations, we have to cooperate and to help each other in order to solve the global problems and issues that we face: climate change, poverty, HIV, ...

«When there is a will, there is a way». Let this be the credo for the 21st Century.

All the best,
Yassir El Ouarzadi
Montreal Youth Engagement Coordinator
CLC Canada- TIG
Founder of MOMENTUM: http://momentumweb.ning.com/

FM Liberman said that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not an isolated event, but rather part of a larger struggle between extremists and moderates taking place in the Middle East which must be resolved through a comprehensive plan that involves the Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and other states.

Regarding Iran, FM Liberman said that if the talks between the West and Iran fail, then the approach must be more aggressive and include harsher sanctions against Iran. In relation to Syria, he said that Israel is ready to begin negotiations immediately, but without any preconditions.

At the meetings, FM Liberman and his hosts discussed Israeli-Russian relations and agreed to continue promoting economic ties between the two states and cooperation in the realms of space technology and hi-tech, cultural cooperation, and the international law for the protection of investments. Ministers Liberman and Lavrov signed a Protocol on Consultation between the two foreign ministries for 2010

The Globe and Mail recently ran an article called “Banned Aid” on the new funding approach to international development agencies in Canada. Canada has made recent changes to their funding approach restricting their major funding to 20 key countries essentially abandoning countries like Malawi, Rwanda, Niger among others (they still give some aid but it is a very small percentage of their former funding. When I was in university there was chatter among some of my professors that this was the way the Canadian Government was moving so I can’t say I was surprised. The article is clear in showing how the plan to restrict aid will be detrimental to countries like Malawi who remain poor but have seen some success from the Canadian Foreign Aid. Several reasons are given for the change including our recessed economy, political support and popularity for the “African Cause”.

We’ve often been skeptical of what Celebrity endorsement does to aid in terms of international economic sustainability. Optimistically, I sometimes cheered when I found out that a celebrity was taking the initiative to promote an organization but I also worried about what would happen if they lost interest. There has been a surge in popularity for African Aid in the last 20 years but, what have the actual results been? Not very successful if you look at the figures. We aren’t going to achieve our goals for the Millenium Development Goals. The 2010 deadline for the Group of 8’s promise to double their contribution to aid in Africa is looming and will fall short, having only raised $22 Billion of the $80 Billion dollar promise so far.

If you look only at the figures then the media attention that Africa has received from a host of celebrities and notorious politicos hasn’t really done the continent much good. Recently Ben Affleck and The Rolling Stones have jumped on a new bandwagon with the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) to create a short film directed by Affleck to the tune of “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones. The ad campaign/documentary has been created as a part of the Gimme Shelter campaign hoping to raise funds and awareness help raise funds and awareness about the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Affleck is quoted as saying that “we made this film in order to focus attention on the humanitarian crisis in the DRC at a time when too much of the world is indifferent or looking the other way”. You don’t have to look very hard to find a book, film or documentary that is trying to spread awareness on the humanitarian crisis in any number of African countries. But if I learned anything from Renzo Martens it’s that our awareness of the plight of many impoverished Africans isn’t really helping them anyways.

If you look at how funding is spread across Africa there is disparity between countries. Canada’s explanation for this are key words like “effectiveness” and “established need”. It’s not a strategy that is unique to Canadians, the idea that aid should go to countries only if they are economically and politically stable enough to use the money effectively is a fundamental key to many global financing programmes including the World Bank. There have been good and bad examples of this.

In some countries foreign aid is making a significant improvement to living standards. The United Nations’ Millennium Villages Project is described as approaching development by empowering impoverished villages to transform themselves by investing in infrastructure and the basic needs like food, health, education and access to clean water for community led interventions and has had marked success in Uganda. The flagship project in Uganda was initiated by Jeffrey Sachs who has the idea that the Millenium Development Goals can be achieved on a modest budget, hoping to defy those failed promises from the G-8.

The Globe and Mail Article highlights several critics of International Development Aid who have put out new books recently. So, should we scrap aid programs and find new solutions? Or do we still have a responsibility as rich nations to help bridge the gap. I am still of the mind that we have a responsibility to fund aid programs but there must be a more realistic and effective way. On June 1st The Munk Debate on Foreign Aid focused on whether aid was doing more harm than good. Representing the No side was Stephen Lewis, former United Nations special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, and Paul Collier, director of Oxford University’s Centre for the Study of African Economies. For the Yes was Dambisa Moyo, a young economist who was born and raised in Zambia and Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian economist.

(The debate starts at 44.45)

A conversation has begun and hopefully we can continue to find better solutions to the aid conundrum and I can’t wait to see what Dambisa Moyo and Hernando de Soto had to say while pitted against Stephen Lewis and Paul Collier!

Good morning to the fish king. He raised his face from the soil to say hello and to tell you that he is a she and that she is in pain

On May 31^st, a team of Toronto’s social media geniuses will be participating in the World Partnership Walk-A Social Movement to raise money for the fight against global poverty.  Check out Ms. RedWire and the Dynamic Duo, Mr. Daily Challenge, Super Blogger, and others.  Or to see who’s winning the race to raise the most, visit the HeroMeter.

 

About the Charity:

Je suis étudiante, je n'ai pas forcément d'énormes moyens financiers même si je ne suis pas à plaindre...mais quand on me vole mon chargeur d'ordinateur portable Macbook Pro qui ne se vend même pas en Tunisie, ca me rend verte !

Comment se fait il que la police douanière ne fasse rien contre le vol dans les valises des passagers de l'aéroport de Tunis??

Le résultat, c'est que je dois racheter un chargeur à 89Euros, alors que cet argent je comptais l'utiliser pour m'acheter des livres (ça fait cliché mais c'est vrai).

Alors au nom de tous les passagers de Tunisair qui, comme moi, ont retrouvé à leur retour de Tunis, leur valise chamboulée avec des objets manquants, je vous demande, mesdames et messieurs qui liront mon message et auront le sentiment de pouvoir aider, renforcez la sécurité des bagages entre l'enregistrement et la soute, de façon que les touristes et les tunisiens résidant à l'étranger ne rentrent pas avec un mauvais souvenir de la Tunisie, qui n'est pas un pays de voleur, normalement.