Me emocioné mucho cuando hace unos días recibí finalmente el link para poder ver el video que grabamos sobre el producto de nuestro II Encuentro AccionArte, que tuvo lugar en la Ciudad de Santiago del Estero, en el marco de las actividades simultáneas de la Sección Infancia y Juventud del 10* Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos.
Gracias a todas las personas e instituciones que nos apoyaron en esta iniciativa autogestiva de los miembros de la Red AccionArte y de la Asociación Vientos del Sur.
What a great film. Disturbing and haunting. Great performances from Kate and Leo. And raises so many questions about how social convention and mores destroy the hearts and minds of good people.
Este jueves 30 de octubre comenzamos el ciclo de Talleres de Teatro y Reflexión Creativa del Proyecto Jóvenes Refugiados en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires: Una mirada desde adentro.
Este proyecto, de la Asociación Vientos del Sur, pretende ser un espacio de encuentro e intercambio que permita la autoorganización de jóvenes provenientes de diferentes países para facilitar su integración y el mejoramiento de sus condiciones de vida a través del conocimiento de sus derechos, el desarrollo de iniciativas propias y la valoración positiva de su identidad mediante el dialogo intercultural.
Participaron del encuentro unos 25 jóvenes de Sierra Leona, Costa de Marfil, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Bangladesh, Colombia, Inglaterra, Hungría, Alemania, República Dominicana, Senegal y, por supuesto, Argentina.
Fue un hermoso comienzo, con mucho entusiasmo y mucha entrega por parte de todas y todos.
En la foto, el afiche con el producto de la dinámica "El mar de las expectativas", donde quedó plasmado qué es lo que las y los participantes esperan de este espacio de encuentro, qué es lo que tienen para compartir y qué es lo que les preocupa.
Próximamente.... más novedades.
Un especial y enorme agradecimiento a todas las personas que generosamente están contribuyendo para que este sueño compartido sea una realidad =)
We must act to uphold fairness, stewardship and co-operation in dealing with the credit crisis, writes British PM Gordon Brown.
LIKE most of you, I have come from a family that values hard work and that brought me up to take responsibility and appreciate the importance of enterprise. For generations my father's family worked the land as farmers and many Browns still do. So it's hardly surprising that I believe in markets, competition and rewarding creativity and effort.
I admire the market's ability to release the dynamism and enterprise of people and so my Labour Government is pro-business and pro-markets and always will be.
But I also know that we do not live by markets alone. I have long understood that markets rely on values that they cannot generate themselves. Values as important as treating people fairly, acting responsibly, co-operating for the benefit of all. And these values that our economy and society need in order to flourish are not born in markets, nor in states.
These values - fairness, stewardship, co-operation - are learned in families, neighbourhoods and communities and developed in the relationships we enjoy as a society.
The first financial crisis of the global age has now laid bare the weaknesses of unbridled free markets. In the past few weeks trust, the most precious asset of financial institutions, has been eroded.
Families whose only speculation is buying a lottery ticket or a premium bond or a few shares rightly feel they are being unfairly endangered by storms they had no hand in creating. And what's happening around the world is raising fundamental questions for the new global age about the right relationships between markets and governments.
In this unique period of global change we are in uncharted waters. But we do have a compass by which to navigate. And while action is being taken to rectify the financial weaknesses of our banks and institutions, we must now also act decisively to uphold and apply the fundamental values which can shape a stronger economy and fair society of the future. This is not something that can be guaranteed by more and more intrusive regulation - it is about upholding three key ethics in public policy and across the public arena.
Markets work best when underpinned by an ethic of fairness. The institutions of the marketplace need to be founded on the ethic of stewardship. And this new interdependent global economy cannot work for the world's people without an ethic of co-operation.
Firstly, the ethic of fairness means we reward hard work, thrift, enterprise, effort and responsible risk-taking, but refuse to condone or reward irresponsible or excessive risk-taking. We celebrate those who profit from creativity and hard work but not those who make reckless gambles with other people's money. That's why, for example, a new Financial Services Authority code of conduct will make long-term success the basis for bonuses in the future.
Fairness means that in these tougher and difficult times where there is a risk of hard-working families being hit by unemployment originating in global forces well beyond our shores, we have a duty to act with urgency. So we are extending our new deal for jobs. Where there is a threat to enterprising small businesses - the lifeblood of our national prosperity - we must be there to help with new support in accessing credit. Where people make the effort to save for a home, we must do what we can to assist by getting the housing market moving again.
Secondly, the ethic of stewardship must restore to all financial institutions their public purpose. Boards need to proceed on the basis the best companies do already: that when people start a new business or save for a wedding or Christmas they are investing not just their cash in the bank but also their hopes and dreams. Quite simply: banks are unique because they are stewards of the people's money. That's why we have acted not just to stabilise the banking system, but to ensure that financing is passed on to small businesses and families who want to get on with ordinary life in these extraordinary times: banks doing what banks were built to do and the best banks have always done.
We are also finding that in an interdependent global economy the ethic of co-operation matters more than ever. We are in this together. Risk has been globalised, but the responsibilities to act when problems arise have not been. In the 1940s, visionaries took on the challenges of the day and built international institutions that have lasted for 60 years. But they were designed for an era of sheltered markets and national competition. Now we must build global institutions for an era of global markets and global competition. I have set out my proposals for a new global early warning system, for cross-border supervision for action to eliminate the conflicts of interest that have dragged our world economy down, and for fundamental reform of international institutions.
The smallness of political debate has all too often obscured the scale of these huge global challenges that we must address together in a united way as one country.
This is not just any time - not the time for politics or economics as usual. It is a defining moment for our emerging global society. And tough times test not just our institutions, but our beliefs. In this uncertain world the values of fairness, stewardship and co-operation that underpin markets at their best have come of age. These are the values that can unite the nation, will ensure we can pull together as one country - and we will come through the downturn stronger not weaker.
IT'S amazing what a rush of Franklin D. Roosevelt can do to a prime minister's brain. One minute our PM Kevin Rudd is a super-cautious, process-obsessed, review-driven control freak. Then, after a few back-of-the-envelope sums with the man formerly known as The Least Confident Treasurer The World Has Ever Seen, he's blowing $10.4 billion of a budget surplus obsessively acquired over 12 years by The Least Relevant Former Treasurer The World Has Ever Seen.
Roosevelt, the inspirational Depression-era American president, liked to keep a lid on public expectations while at the same time taking drastic measures - overhauling the domestic economy, introducing the New Deal for the unemployed, enforcing price controls and reforming the banking system. He redefined American liberalism through radical government intervention.
Last week, Rudd had no qualms about channelling part of the Roosevelt strategy of invoking extreme economic measures while simultaneously talking down public expectations - even going so far as to borrow the president's famous quote that "we cannot ballyhoo ourselves back to prosperity".
While such artful appropriation of ballyhoo at a time of crisis has just given Kim "boondoggle" Beazley yet another reason to detest Rudd, our Prime Minister has also just gone from zero to hero when it comes to the politics of grand narrative.
One minute Rudd's critics and allies alike are pasting him for boring us senseless by failing to spin a so-called political narrative. The next thing you know he's banging on so assuredly about the threat of "extreme" capitalism, the implied venality of bank execs and the evils of avarice that you've got to wonder if the Booker Prize judges accidentally overlooked this particular morality tale by this particular loner who also happens to hold an Australian (though not an Indian) passport.
Seriously though, for some time Rudd has been trying to kickstart a debate about the obscene salaries and incentive payments trousered by some of the executives of Australia's retail and commercial banks. Fair enough - it's a worthy debate. But let's not confuse it with the current global economic and banking conflagration, triggered as it was by the subprime loans crisis that, in turn, stemmed from the genuinely immoral practices of some American lending institutions.
No. Compared to the odious banking practices in the under-regulated United States, where executive greed and apparent corporate malfeasance has undermined the financial viability of some institutions, all the Australian banks seem close to virtuous.
By all means let's try to lop a million or 10 off some bank chiefs' packages, but let us not confuse their pay with the solvency of the institutions they head. Naturally these guys and girls say they'd move overseas if their Australian packages were cut. That's not likely, you'd have to say, in this market.
Never deterred by Australia's place (island, down south) and influence (not much) in global politics, Rudd now wants the G20 nations to follow his lead on the banks.
No doubt some of our bankers are cursing the heavens at the injustice of it all. For how could such a shallow morality tale be brought to them by the wealthiest prime minister Australia has ever seen, and seconded, in a spirit of genuine bipartisanship, of course, by the wealthiest Liberal leader (and a former merchant banker, no less) known to this country?
It's all part of the New Kevin-ism, which is propelled and kept on compass by the ostensible modesty, parsimony, sobriety and consideration of its gestures.
This theme of low-key piety versus bellicose consumption has, from day one, been a critical part of Rudd's personal and political story. It's only now, with the image of an economic tsunami gathering off our coast, that it has begun to resonate.
Malcolm Turnbull has little choice. The timing of all this for him, having just assumed the leadership, is appalling. He can do little but feign bipartisanship while getting his shadow ministers to take niggling potshots from the side in the hope of scoring an inside page mention or two.
Offers of bipartisanship coupled with constant claims of "but we thought of it first" seem trite in the face of the current threat. But Turnbull is absolutely right to demand the economic data upon which the $10.4 billion bailout was based. In such threatening times, taxpayers could use the added assurance that the equations used to spend their money add up.
Times such as these are truly treacherous for opposition leaders. Kim Beazley might attest to that from his experience in 2001. Tacking to victory for most of that year, the hijacked planes of September 11 and the arrival of the Tampa changed the atmospherics dramatically.
Beazley's vacillation over the Tampa, in this febrile environment, was fatal.
Britain's Tory leader, David Cameron, meanwhile, is watching his hitherto extremely bright electoral prospects evaporate as Prime Minister Gordon Brown channels Winston Churchill … and FDR.
A few weeks ago, Brown's colleagues were plotting all sorts of strategies to replace their PM. Today, having effectively nationalised three of Britain's biggest banks before moving on to redesigning the global financial architecture, Brown has transformed himself from a ditherer to a doer. Brown was a confident and assured chancellor of the exchequer (equivalent to our treasurer) before he became a largely ineffectual, indecisive prime minister.
Which brings us back to Wayne Swan, formerly known as The Least Confident Treasurer The World Has Ever Seen. Suddenly he is channelling the pre-prime ministerial Brown.
Swan is operating with increasing assuredness as he administers the Australian inoculation program.
But he could make us feel better still as he sticks the needle in by showing us the sums.
What would FDR have done?
*Last week I incorrectly said new gun laws were introduced after the Port Arthur massacre in 1997. It was 1996.
Paul Daley is The Sunday Age's national political columnist.
4th October 2008 marks the 7th Birthday of the International Young Professionals Foundation.
Born at the conclusion of the first International Young Professionals Summit in October 2001 on Australia’s Gold Coast, the IYPF has grown in to a strong global network of young professionals spanning 130 countries working together to create a better world for current and future generations.
To celebrate our 7th Birthday, we’ve put together 7 ‘gifts’ for you.
Go here to see all of the presentations, session summaries, and even live recordings from our 3rd International Young Professionals Summit, held 19-23 August 2008 in Manchester UK. Be sure to take the time to listen to the presentation by Professor Jeffrey Sachs on how young professionals can help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
At the IYPS 2008 portal, there are links to upcoming events to be held on Interwise. We will hold monthly meetings and all are invited. The October meeting will focus on projects and plans for engaging young professionals in the MDGs. The November meeting will be a learning opportunity as we invite someone working on the MDGs to brief us. In December, we will hold our Annual General Meeting + have another projects and planning meeting. Bookmark the portal website and come back regularly to see what is on.
Join hundreds of other young professionals at more than 50 events in more than 30 countries to Stand Up Against Poverty between 17 and 19 October and demonstrate that we are ready to play our role in seeing the MDGs realised by 2015.
Visit mdgpledge.org today and pledge to incorporate the MDGs in to your personal and professional e-mail signatures. It is a quick and easy way to raise awareness about the MDGs and start conversations with your friends and colleagues. More MDG pledges will follow.
We’ve revamped our website. It is now easier to quickly learn about IYPF and find out how to get involved.
Click through to enjoy each gift and share these gifts with your friends and colleagues.
We look forward to working with you all to mobilise and engage young professionals in achieving the Millennium Development Goals over the next 12 months.
very interesting piece here from ross gittins on mining and the growth of china and india.
it does raise some serious questions about the future structure of our economy, the models of economic development and how sustainable they are, and gives further drive to changing our tax system here - taking bads not goods i think! and using the money we are making from all of these minerals to give ourselves some serious soft and hard infrastructure for the next 100 + years ... such as education, health care, low carbon energy, radically transformed buildings and housing and urban set ups, state of the art public transport infrastructure, etc.
we can't get sucked in to allowing these minerals - which belong to the nation - to make a small number of people very rich. we need to ensure we get rents from them to fund nation building.
and let's add elimination of poverty, homelessness, and the indigenous health gap to things to be funded!
The World Bank has called for the international community to beef up its response to soaring food prices that have led to starvation and are threatening political stability in the developing world.
Many ministers gathered for the World Bank's annual spring meeting also raised concerns over the increased use of bio-fuels, which share much of the blame for the lack of food supplies, as an alternative energy source.
A joint statement by the ministers urged countries to meet a $US500 million ($A536.88 million) aid shortfall at the World Food Program to help the world's poorest regions, where hundreds of thousands are threatened with starvation.
Global food prices have jumped 83 per cent over the last three years, and World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that the crisis had already toppled a government in Haiti and could push ever more people into poverty.
"We have to put our money where our mouth is now, so that we can put food into hungry mouths," Zoellick said. "It is as stark as that."
Many countries put the blame for the food crisis squarely on the increased production of certain bio-fuels that use food crops as an alternative energy source.
The United States, Europe and other regions have boosted their production of bio-fuels in recent years to reduce their dependence on imported oil and cut greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram called on industrial nations to cut off all subsidies for such bio-fuel production.
"In a world where there is hunger and poverty, there is no policy justification for diverting food crops towards bio-fuels," Chidambaram said. "Converting food into fuel is neither good policy for the poor nor for the environment."
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the World Bank's sister-lender the International Monetary Fund, acknowledged the impact of bio-fuels was a serious worry for many developing countries, and said that some ministers had labelled their production a "crisis of humanity" in informal talks.
"It shows how strong this concern is," Strauss-Kahn said in a press briefing with Zoellick after the bank's Development Committee meeting.
Strauss-Kahn also warned that the food crisis threatened to derail all progress made in reducing poverty in Africa and other regions.
"All what has been done can be destroyed very rapidly" by rising food prices, he said.
Zoellick warned last week that the food crisis could set back poverty reduction in the world's poorest nations by seven years.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling said that a key element of Sunday's meeting involved how to "mitigate the negative impact of high commodity prices on the poor in particular."
He called for a "fully coordinated (international) response to the market turbulence and commodity prices."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week sent a letter to his Japanese counterpart urging that the food crisis be a central focus of the Group of Eight industrial nations summit in July, which will be hosted by Japan.
Hundreds of thousands of people are facing starvation, and 33 countries are threatened with social unrest, the World Bank said this week.
The World Bank on Saturday promised a 10-million-dollar grant to subsidise food in Haiti, where a week of riots led to the sacking of the government of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
Nigerian Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman called on the World Bank and international community to "urgently support" efforts to meet the food needs of the most vulnerable people, the majority of whom are in Africa.
Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor
February 15, 2008
FOR the cost of a daily local phone call, Australians could cut their greenhouse gas emissions to the same ambitious levels now being considered by the most advanced European countries, an economic study has found.
The report by the management consultants McKinsey and Company, advisers to some of the world's biggest corporations and institutions, says that by 2020 Australia could cut its greenhouse emissions to 30 per cent below 1990 levels for a cost of less than 80 cents a day for each household - or $290 per year. Over the same period household income is expected to rise by more than $20,000 per year.
The cuts could be made without a big technological breakthrough or dramatic lifestyle changes, the report finds, and by 2030, emissions could be slashed up to 60 per cent.
"This is not daydreaming. This is a fact-based analysis aimed at setting the goal posts," one of the report's authors, Stephan Gorner, told the Herald.
The report, An Australian Cost Curve for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, pre-empts the Federal Government's own studies on the cost of cutting greenhouse gases by Ross Garnaut and the Treasury. Professor Garnaut is not due to release a draft of his report until June and yesterday the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said his department's modelling would not be available until then.
The Rudd Government has consistently refused to set its 2020 target for cutting greenhouse gases until it receives the Garnaut report. It has committed only to a 2050 target of cutting emissions by 60 per cent from 2000 levels.
The McKinsey authors have briefed the offices of the Treasurer; the Climate Change
Minister, Penny Wong; and Professor Garnaut on their report, which stresses the need for urgent action to achieve the cuts.
"Significantly reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions is achievable and affordable but requires rapid action", the report concludes. It notes, "The scale of changes required is substantial."
Mr Gorner, who came to McKinsey's Sydney office from Germany, rejected suggestions that the report was too optimistic but said: "You have to act now to make it happen".
"There are likely to be winners and losers," he acknowledged
The report investigates more than 100 opportunities to cut greenhouse gases across the economy, including stepping up investment in wind power, increasing regulations to slow land clearing, using tougher regulations to lift energy efficiency, speeding up new technologies through tax breaks and subsidies, lifting fuel efficiency standards, increasing the use of biofuels and increasing the use of renewable energy.
Reducing emissions in the building sector, cutting emissions from air-conditioners, hot water systems, lighting and appliances will be the most economic way of cutting emissions because the savings to the consumer will pay for the changes, the report finds.
The heavily polluting power industry will need to radically cut its emissions, which are soaring. Without any new action, Australian emissions are set to rise to 127 per cent of 1990 levels in 2020 rather than fall.
Controversially, the report assumes that clean coal technology will be commercially available for coal-fired power stations by 2030, and two-thirds of the industry will be using it. As yet there is no clean coal plant in commercial operation. The report acknowledges that, without clean coal, the cost of slashing emissions by 60 per cent by 2030 will increase by almost a third.
Alternatively, the use of renewable energy will need to increase greatly.
Cuando vi ese video hace unos meses, además de emocionarme, pensé que tenía un gran valor artístico por la forma en que lograba transmitir eso que a veces es tan dificil de explicar: cómo cada una y cada uno de nosotros puede contribuir a modificar las cosas, manifestando su apoyo, expresándose, apoyando una causa justa. A veces parece que una firma no es nada... y cuesta entender el sentido del "granito de arena"
Felicitaciones a Amnesty y a los autor/es de esta maravilla!
PD: Les sugiero que vean también, entre los videos asociados, "El poder de tu voz", que està en una frecuencia similar.
DESPITE optimism at the Bali climate change conference when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd committed Australia to the Kyoto Protocol, there are worrying signs the Government will continue to drag its feet in setting clear carbon-emission targets.
After receiving a standing ovation from the international community at Bali, Rudd disappointed many delegates by saying Australia would not sign binding emissions targets until he had received advice from climate-change adviser Ross Garnaut.
But Prof Garnaut has now made clear his preference for long-term targets over short-term goals, stating he would favor a 2050 emissions strategy over the widely accepted 2020 targets.
Worryingly, Garnaut appears to be bringing an economist's logic to what is an urgent environmental imperative for action.
Every credible piece of scientific advice we now have, including that of Australia's peak scientific body, the CSIRO, tells us climate change is accelerating faster than previously feared.
Under the Garnaut model, gases are to be reduced over 40 years rather than adhering to short-term targets.
He also supports letting the market decide how quickly to cut emissions.
"You have to ask a question about how strongly you focus on particular dates and how much you look at the overall impact over a number of years," Garnaut says.
Of course, it is important to ensure the Australian economy is able to deal with cuts in emissions in the short and long terms.
But Garnaut's model is already sounding too much like a convenient excuse to buy more time and is radically out of step with other international climate policies.
In New Zealand, for example, Prime Minister Helen Clark has received a United Nations Environmental Program award for climate change leadership because of her adopted policies, including an emissions trading scheme and to sharply reduce dependence on fossil fuels, as well as a national energy efficiency and conservation strategy.
Or compare Australia's reticence with the EU's strong target strategy and budgetary framework to meet them without damaging their economic prosperity.
Legislation has been drafted to meet the EU's commitment to reduce its overall greenhouse targets by "at least" 20 per cent by 2020.
These far-reaching measures include national targets for the expanded use of renewable energy and the compulsory purchase by companies of carbon dioxide emission permits.
These are steps Australia must be take in the short term if we are to move beyond the symbolism of Kyoto.
Prof Garnaut's long-term reduction plan will not provide the incentive for sharp emission reductions needed in the next five to 10 years if we are to avoid bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef and crippling droughts.
While it is vital to protect the economy, the inconvenient truth is that this will mean little when the the worst impacts of climate change really hit home.
Como socios de esta iniciativa las y los invitamos a compartir las actividades que estaremos realizando con motivo del Día Mundial de la Lucha contra el Sida en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
Foro de PVVS del INADI
Instituto Nacional Contra la Discriminación la Xenofobia y el Racismo
Dirección Nacional de la Juventud.
Tenemos el placer de comunicarnos con ustedes para invitarlos/as a participar de la actividad a realizar el sábado 1º de diciembre - Día Mundial del Sida-
MANTENIENDO EL COMPROMISO
Actividad:
Nos encontramos 10:00 de la mañana en el obelisco (en el camión que cuenta con un preservativo gigante y también equipo de sonido y DJ). Pequeño desayuno/refrigerio
10:30 se realiza una conferencia de prensa. Terminada la conferencia nos vamos todos/as juntos/as con el camión-musical y dos micros (en los cuales cada organización puede poner sus banderas, banners, etc.) a repartir 60.000 preservativos y material grafico por distintos puntos de la ciudad: Bosques de Palermo, Plaza Francia, Costanera Sur, recital de 2 km. x el sida, etc… la idea es en cada uno de estos lugares bajarnos todos/as y hacer una intervención durante 30 minutos y continuar con el recorrido.
Al mediodía: Vianda de Almuerzo.
A la tarde: Refrigerio/merienda.
La actividad finalizará en la puerta de el recita de The Police, en donde también repartiremos material y preservativos.
El INADI va a entregar una remera a cada uno/a que participe de la actividad. Se contara con una beca para los voluntarios/as.
Organiza:
FORO DE PERSONAS VIVIENDO CON VIH SIDA DEL INADI
En articulación con:
Área de Estudios Queer, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras – UBA
Asociación Civil Voluntarios sin Frontera
Asociación Vientos del Sur
GLOBA Diversidad (Gays y Lesbianas del Oeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires)
Centro de Prevención Asesoramiento y Diagnóstico (CEPAD) de la Casa Joven de Flores, Dirección General de Juventud – GCBA
Asociación África y su Diáspora
Centro de Promoción de Dirigentes Juveniles
Chicas Ciudadanas Trans
Grupo de PVVS "Por la Vida"
Fundación Liberarte
Centro Preventivo Laboral del Ministerio de Economía – Unión Personal Civil de la Nación /UPCN-
Asociación Federico Abuelo
Saludos cordiales,
--
Mariana Ballestero
Directora Ejecutiva
Asociación Vientos del Sur
Punto Focal Nacional en Argentina
Coalición Global de Jóvenes contra el Sida www.vientos.org http://www.youthaidscoalition.org/
"Desde el extremo austral de América,
ráfagas renovadoras para la construcción de un mundo mejor"
A continuación, el registro de audio que hizo Mauro Martínez, de la Fundación Beato Adolfo Kolping, en las celebraciones por el Día Nacional de la Juventud en Argentina, organizadas por la Mesa de Concertación Juvenil de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. El sonido está bajito, así que hay que subir mucho el volumen y acordarse de bajarlo luego.
La programación puede verse en un posteo anterior, al iagual que el documento que lee Pía, de la Asociación Civil Creando el Futuro, que es presentada por Gonzalo Rodríguez, Secretario de Organización de La Mesa.
Al principio y al final, podrán escucharme a mí, respondiendo preguntas acerca del evento y de la importancia de las políticas públicas de juventud.
Comentarios, críticas y sugerencias, como siempre, son binevenidos.
