JAMAICA NEWSWEEKLY For the week ending March 29th, 2013

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THIS WEEK”S SUMMARY
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JAMAICAN PILOTS REFUSED PERMITS IN TRINIDAD, SAY UNION—03/23/13
According to the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), three pilots working for Caribbean Airlines (CAL), which is based in Trinidad, were refused work permits and made to leave the country. The union has asked for the help of Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and has questioned the commitment of nations in the region to the free movement initiative of CARICOM.

GOLDING RETURN EYED BY JLP—03/24/13
Supporters of the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) are suggesting that former Prime Minister Bruce Golding reconsider his plans not to return to politics. JLP supporters say Golding is looking increasingly attractive as a candidate to “retake the leadership” of the party instead of Andrew Holness. Recent remarks by Golding appeal to many JLP members, who say that the former leader’s comments sound better than anything else coming from the party since its defeat in the last elections.

GOVERNMENT CALLING FOR “CALM” IN FACE OF BUDGET CUTS—03/25/13
Jamaica’s government is trying to instill calm in the population in the midst of an economic crisis by assuring that the country will soon recover. The concern stems from the required budget cuts imposed by an agreement with the international Monetary Fund (IMF). Peter Phillips, Minister of Finance and Planning, said no one should “fear” the budget, while acknowledging that Jamaica will face difficult times. The IMF is providing a loan of $750 million, subject to measures designed to reduce the country’s high debt.

DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE EASIER, SAYS PRIME MINISTER—03/26/13
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has called on members of her Cabinet to make it easier for Jamaicans to do business with the government and not focus all their energy on foreign businesses. Members of the executive branch support her position, and at least one tax expert has questioned the plans of the government to grant tax waivers to overseas businesses without imposing conditions of any kind.

FIREFIGHTERS RESCUE MAN BARRICADED IN CLOCK TOWER—03/27/13
Firefighters in Jamaica rescued a man from inside the Half-Way-Tree clock tower where he had barricaded himself. No one could say what had provoked attacks on the mentally challenged man, who had taken shelter in the tower to protect himself from further violence. Witnesses reported that the man had run into the tower and barred the door after being doused with water by a group of men. The man hit the bell in the tower repeatedly beginning at about two in the morning. Firefighters were called to the scene and took him safely from the tower. He was then taken to Bellevue Hospital by police.

GOVERNMENT PLANS TO SUE TEACHERS FOR BROKEN BOND ARRANGEMENT—03/27/13
Jamaica’s Attorney General’s department will bring legal action against over 200 teachers who have broken a bond arrangement and owe the government over $400 million in total. The teachers do not currently have the support of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) because the organization’s president, Clayton Hall, wants to government to pursue the delinquents and/or their guarantors, who were also government employees, to obtain the outstanding monies.

JACKSON RESIGNS FROM DISASTER PREPAREDNESS OFFICE—03/28/13
Ronald Jackson has resigned as the director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency. He will take a new position as executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. His new job begins on April 3, 2013. Jackson has served as director general since August 2006.

MAJOR POLICE OPERATIONS CONDUCTED IN MONTEGO BAY—03/29/13
Two prominent residents of Montego Bay were arrested, and police seized a number of luxury vehicles, computers and documents during a 12-hour operation. The operation was headed by the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA). Nine people were arrested and will be charged with a variety of offenses. Police declined to state the nature of the charges.

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JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
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JAMAICAN WOMAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN THE U.S.—03/23/13
Jean Brown, 43, described as a “gangster” and “drug kingpin,” received a life sentence in a United States Court on charges of murder, kidnapping, and racketeering. Brown was one of the leaders of the Brown Organization, a criminal gang responsible for distributing narcotics in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Arizona, California, and Jamaica. Authorities have been investigating Brown since 2009 and seized some 100 pounds of marijuana, over $850,000 in cash and bank accounts, and six firearms from co-conspirators.

JAMAICAN TEACHERS IN TURKS AND CAICOS COULD LOSE JOBS—03/24/13
Over 200 Jamaican teachers working in Turks and Caicos could lose their jobs. The government of that nation is considering a proposal to eliminate the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) curriculum. If the public approves the court’s action, Jamaican teachers, who represent about 70 percent of the teachers in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) will have to leave.

MOURNERS PAY RESPECTS TO TEEN KILLED BY POLICE IN NEW YORK—03/25/13
Hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects to Kimani “Kiki” Gray, 16, who was shot and killed by New York City police March 9, 2013. Kimani, who is of Jamaican and Guyanese parentage, was killed when he allegedly pulled a gun on two plainclothes police officers who approached him. Eyewitnesses have disputed this characterization of the crime, however, and residents in the Brooklyn neighborhood where the incident occurred held week-long protests against what they say are aggressive tactics by police, who may stop and search young black men at random and without good reasons.

JAMAICAN FARM WORKERS IN WASHINGTON CONTRIBUTE TO RETIREMENT HOME—03/26/13
About 400 seasonal Jamaican farm workers at Gebbers Farms in Brewster, Washington, have made a contribution to the Golden Age Home in Kingston totaling J$250,000. Jamaica’s Minister of Labor and Social Security Derrick Keiller took part in a ceremony presenting the check to the retirement home. He praised the workers benevolence and their willingness to improve the lives of people back home.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS SUMMARY provided by Caribbeantopnews.com
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ELEVEN NATIONS IN CARIBBEAN DISCUSS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS—03/23/13

GILCHRIST JOINS CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE—03/24/13

AIDE TO HAITI PRIME MINISTER KILLED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING—03/25/13

CARIBBEAN SPENDS US$321 MILLION YEARLY TO FIGHT DENGUE FEVER—03/26/13

PNDER TOUTS EPA AS BASIS FOR INTER-CARIBBEAN TRADE—03/27/13

GRENADA TO REINSTATE PROGRAM TO SELL CITIZENSHIP TO FOREIGN INVESTORS—03/28/13
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BUSINESS NEWS SUMMARY
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IMF LOAN UNLIKELY TO BE APPROVED BEFORE END OF MARCH 2013—03/25/13
Jamaicans are concerned about whether the International Monetary Fund will make time in its schedule to approve a $750 million loan for the country before the end of March 2013. According to former Prime Minister Bruce Golding, replacing Jamaica with the Philippines in a scheduled meeting on the IMF executive board calendar for March 29 raised a “matter of concern” about whether Jamaica will receive an answer in March, since the date is Good Friday, which is a holiday in Jamaica, and the last two days of the month fall on a weekend.

JPS THE BIDDING FOR NEW POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION—03/27/13
The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) announced it is one of a number of bidders that offered proposals to the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) for the construction of new power plants on March 15, 2013. Kelly Tomblin, president and CEO of JPS, said the chief goal in the proposals is to sustain lower electricity costs and ensure fuel diversification that will reduce Jamaica’s dependence on oil. The JPS proposals are for building 360MW of new electricity generation capacity, or a portion of that capacity, via combined cycle technology and combining fuel sources.

PHILLIPS SAYS IMF DELAYS HURT JAMAICA—03/28/13
Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of Finance, believes that the delay in securing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan is having a negative impact on Jamaica. Phillips noted that Jamaica would not meet a deadline for security an agreement by the end of March and said that issues being addressed are related to funding support for Jamaica’s program. The IMF agreement is critical in stopping the depreciation of Jamaica’s dollar, said Governor Brian Wynter of Central Bank.

ENERGY PROBLEM IN JAMAICA NEEDS IMMEDIATE ATTENTION—03/29/13
J. Paul Morgan, previous head of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), believes it is time for Jamaica’s government to step in and present a clear energy policy. Stakeholders are split between the use of coal or liquefied natural gas (LNG). A general agreement between the government and OUR states that fuel oil is not an option for generating power on the island. While interests have argued about coal versus LNG for years, Jamaica has done nothing in regard to fuel diversification since the 1970s when it experienced its first energy crisis, Morgan said.

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CARIBBEAN TECHNOLOGY NEWS SUMMARY provided by Caribbeantopnews.com
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JAMAICAN WINS TOP U.S. ENERGY INDUSTRY AWARD—03/23/13

INTER-MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON BIOSPHERE RESERVES HELD IN ST.KITTS—03/26/13

LIME MAKES SEVEN-YEAR DEAL WITH ERICSSON—03/27/13

JAMAICA COULD SEE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM LOCAL FORESTS—03/28/13

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ENTERTAINMENT
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GREEK-JAMAICAN SINGER POPULAR IN U.S.—03/23/13
Lianne La Havas, a Greek-Jamaican singer, is taking the United States market by storm during her first tour of the U.S. Her album “Is Your Love Big Enough” was named Album of the Year on iTunes for 2012. The singer’s Jamaican mother introduced her to artists like Jill Scott and Mary J. Blige, while her Greek father, an instrumentalist, taught her to play many instruments, including piano and guitar.

LOCAL FILMMAKER TAKES HUMOROUS VIEW OF JAMAICAN TRAGEDY—03/24/13
Michael “Ras Tingle” Tingling, local Jamaican filmmaker, has taken a humorous view of one of Jamaican history’s great tragedies in his film “Parish Bull.” The short film was featured at the Kingston Book Festival in New Kingston. The comedic film is based on the Kendal train crash in Manchester on September 1, 1957, which left almost 200 people dead and more than 700 injured.

TIVOLI, CORAL GARDENS HOLD MARCH—03/28/13
One year after independence and two years before Jamaica celebrated its 50th anniversary, Jamaica experienced some high profile conflicts. In 1963, the Coral Gardens Incident marked the origin point of repression against Rastafari. In 2010, the so-called Tivoli Incursion, in which over 70 citizens were killed according to a widely disputed official count, took place. A march and motorcade in 2013 have linked the two incidents, connecting them in a protest of the treatment of Jamaican citizens by the state, by moving from downtown Kingston to Half-Way Tree. Poet and broadcaster Mutabaruka focused on the links between the two incidents, despite the fact that they are separated by 47 years.

PERFORMERS IN SANKOFA PLAY TOTALLY INVOLVED IN ROLES—03/29/13
Shanique Brown, lead actress in the Sankofa production of “Red and Brown Water,” by American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, became so emotionally involved in her role that she had to be help off the stage at the Pantry Playhouse. The director, Fabian Thomas, said the same thing happened on the previous night and that he was pleased that all of his cast members became so immersed in their roles. The play only ran for two weekends, causing many to miss the experience, but the players will offer the second part of the McCraney trilogy, providing another chance to enjoy the theater’s efforts.
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SPORTS
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JAMAICAN RUGBY TEAMS OVERCOME HARDSHIP TO MAKE SEVENS PROGRESS—03/24/13
Jamaican rugby players must often play in dangerous neighborhoods where local gangs rule and bullets fly, where their fields are less than optimal, and where they have no opportunity for extensive training. The poor playing and training facilities represents just two of the obstacles facing Jamaica’s rugby organization, but the sport has continued to grow. Now the team has obtained a spot in the sixth leg of the International Rugby sevens to make its debut in the 38th annual tournament in Hong Kong. Rugby sevens uses seven players on a side instead of the traditional 15. It has grown from an amateur sport to a fully professional competition. Over 20 countries now compete in the tournament and organizers hope to have a place in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

BOLT, FRASER-PRYCE, BLAKE LOSE AT UWI—03/27/13
Both Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, champion Jamaican runners, had to settle for runners-up in the 400-meter competition at the UWI Invitational meet at the Usain Bolt/UWI Track.  Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took fifth place in the women’s 400 meters at the meet.

BOLT, BLAKE TO RUN AT JAMAICA INTERNATIONAL; CAMPBELL-BROWN, FELIX TOO—03/28/13
While both Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake will run at the Jamaica International Invitational Meet, the renewed rivalry between American Allyson Felix and Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown in the 100-meters is expected to garner the most attention. Campbell-Brown has two Olympic titles and one World Championship, while Felix has three Worlds and one Olympic. The events for Bolt and Blake have yet to be confirmed.

TRACK STARS BOOKED FOR JAMAICA INVITATIONAL—03/29/13
Jamaica’s major sprint and running champions will compete at the 10th annual Jamaica International Invitational scheduled for May 4, 2013 at National Stadium. Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and American Allyson Felix will participate. The staging of the meet has not been easy, however, due to financial problems in Jamaica and most local firms having entered into a second National Debt Exchange (NDX) program with the island’s government. Many potential sponsors expressed concerns about the NDX initially.

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JAMAICAN JOBS
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– ACCOUNTING CLERK

– RESTAURANT MANAGERS & SUPERVISORS

– SENIOR INVESTMENT ADVISOR

– MANAGER

– CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE – EMAIL CHAT AGENT
Visit JAMAICAN JOBS.

 

CARIBBEAN NEWS SUMMARY for the week ending March 29th, 2013

ELEVEN NATIONS IN CARIBBEAN DISCUSS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS—03/23/13
Representatives of governments and civilians in the Caribbean region have joined to discuss freedom of information, public participation in governance, and access to justice. These topics were addressed at the Regional Conference on Freedom of Information in the Caribbean: Improving Management for the Environment,” which was held in Kingston, Jamaica. The meeting resulted in a plan to launch a network of freedom of information in the Caribbean and to support ways to improve standards for accessing information in the area.

GILCHRIST JOINS CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE—03/24/13
Former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist is the second international franchise player to sign on with the newly formed Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The league is to begin July 29, 2013 and end on August 26, 2013. The tournament will include six franchise nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Gilchrist said he was excited to be joining the league, which features some of the best cricketers in the world.

AIDE TO HAITI PRIME MINISTER KILLED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING—03/25/13
Georges Henry Honorat, an aide to the Prime Minister of Haiti, was killed near his home in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince, the victim of a drive-by shooting. Honorat, 55, was shot twice as men drove by and died at the scene. Honorat worked as editor in chief for the weekly newspaper Haiti Progres and was secretary general of the Popular National Party. According to reports, Honorat had received constant threats from anonymous people.

CARIBBEAN SPENDS US$321 MILLION YEARLY TO FIGHT DENGUE FEVER—03/26/13
Countries in the Caribbean are spending US$321 million every year to battle dengue fever, which is spread by a particular breed of mosquito. According to Professor Christine Carrington, who works with using molecular genetic methods to find ways to reconstruct the history of the dengue virus populations in Trinidad and throughout the Americas, said the total did not include indirect costs, such as lost time due to sickness or premature death.

PNDER TOUTS EPA AS BASIS FOR INTER-CARIBBEAN TRADE—03/27/13
Ryan Pinder, Minister of Financial Services, is urging nations in the Caribbean to pursue regional trade integration via the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Regional Preferences Article, using the EPA as the basis for regional integration. Without creating economic opportunities for people in the Caribbean such as jobs and the chance to build careers, there can be no successful integration.

GRENADA TO REINSTATE PROGRAM TO SELL CITIZENSHIP TO FOREIGN INVESTORS—03/28/13
Grenada has decided to bring back a program designed to permit foreign investors to purchase citizenship in the country. Carlyle Glean, governor general of Grenada, said the plan represents a portion of an overall strategy to increase revenue on the island. Grenada will join St. Kitts, Dominica, and Antigua in allowing the purchase of citizenship in return for significant contributions or investments.

FIREFIGHTERS RESCUE MAN BARRICADED IN CLOCK TOWER—03/27/13
Firefighters in Jamaica rescued a man from inside the Half-Way-Tree clock tower where he had barricaded himself. No one could say what had provoked attacks on the mentally challenged man, who had taken shelter in the tower to protect himself from further violence. Witnesses reported that the man had run into the tower and barred the door after being doused with water by a group of men. The man hit the bell in the tower repeatedly beginning at about two in the morning. Firefighters were called to the scene and took him safely from the tower. He was then taken to Bellevue Hospital by police.

GOVERNMENT PLANS TO SUE TEACHERS FOR BROKEN BOND ARRANGEMENT—03/27/13
Jamaica’s Attorney General’s department will bring legal action against over 200 teachers who have broken a bond arrangement and owe the government over $400 million in total. The teachers do not currently have the support of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) because the organization’s president, Clayton Hall, wants to government to pursue the delinquents and/or their guarantors, who were also government employees, to obtain the outstanding monies.

JACKSON RESIGNS FROM DISASTER PREPAREDNESS OFFICE—03/28/13
Ronald Jackson has resigned as the director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency. He will take a new position as executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. His new job begins on April 3, 2013. Jackson has served as director general since August 2006.

MAJOR POLICE OPERATIONS CONDUCTED IN MONTEGO BAY—03/29/13
Two prominent residents of Montego Bay were arrested, and police seized a number of luxury vehicles, computers and documents during a 12-hour operation. The operation was headed by the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA). Nine people were arrested and will be charged with a variety of offenses. Police declined to state the nature of the charges.

 

CARIBBEAN TECHNOLOGY NEWS SUMMARY for the week ending March 29th, 2013

JAMAICAN WINS TOP U.S. ENERGY INDUSTRY AWARD—03/23/13
Paul Richardson has been named a winner of the Technology Transfer Award from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a national energy research organization. Richardson, who is working in the U.S. energy industry, won the award for his work on a safety project that makes it possible for utility workers to discover stray voltage using a smart phone or tablet computer. He worked with two other Con Edison employees to research the use of smart phones and tablets for detecting voltage on the street.

INTER-MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON BIOSPHERE RESERVES HELD IN ST.KITTS—03/26/13
Environmental experts and government ministers met in St. Kitts for the two-day conference on Biosphere Reserves in the Caribbean. The conference focused on transforming an action plan for Caribbean biosphere reserves into reality. Telca Wallace of the National Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Committee made a presentation concerning St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve on St. Kitts, emphasizing efforts to save the nesting area of sea turtles at Keys Beach and preserving local caves and waterways in the mountains.

LIME MAKES SEVEN-YEAR DEAL WITH ERICSSON—03/27/13
LIME Jamaica has decided to outsource all of its external installation and maintenance operations to Ericsson, a global firm, in an agreement that covers seven years. The agreement will go into effect on May 20, 2013, and provides for Ericsson to manage, install, and repair the fixed, mobile, Internet, and data networks of LIME. The action will result in an undisclosed number of job losses at LIME, although affected workers will be given a chance to reapply for jobs with Ericsson.

JAMAICA COULD SEE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM LOCAL FORESTS—03/28/13
Dr. Arun Kashyap, resident representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), believes that there is a potential for Jamaica to earn as much as US$30 billion through its forest resources. The money could be realized under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program sponsored by the UN. Dr. Kashyap noted that the economic potential of forests is often ignored by countries that have such resources. Sustainable management could result in practical solutions that could minimize the impact of adverse weather conditions like drought on Jamaica’s economy, Kashyap stated.

 

Future Choices II

by Jessica Arons and Liz Chen

SOURCE: AP/Denis PoroyGuadalupe Benitez, right, walks with her partner Joanne Clark, left, and their son Gabriel Clark-Benitez, center, after a news conference held at the Hall of Justice in downtown San Diego, Monday, August 18, 2008. The California Supreme Court ruled that Benitez, a lesbian, was unfairly denied a common infertility treatment by doctors at the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group based on their religious beliefs.

Endnotes and citations are available in the PDF version of this report.

In 2007 the Center for American Progress released its report “Future Choices: Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Law,” which described a range of assisted reproductive technologies and their legal and regulatory background. The report also examined the policy implications of the largely unregulated field of reproductive technology, especially in the context of traditional feminist positions on reproductive rights. If a woman has the ultimate right to decide whether or not to bear a child when she is pregnant, for instance, does that principle hold true when she would like to become pregnant with the use of specific embryos? Is surrogacy a noble pursuit undertaken by autonomous, well-informed, and altruistic women, or is it a practice that exploits the low-income and vulnerable?

These questions have not gotten any easier to answer in the intervening years. Indeed, advances in reproductive technologies have continued to outpace the development of the laws that might govern them. At the same time, more and more people who would have been unable to procreate or become parents in past generations have been able to bring a child into their home or build a family of their choosing, including those who have historically been deemed “infertile” for social reasons such as their sexual orientation, gender identity, or unmarried status. When things do not go as planned, however, the law’s failure to prescribe clear guidelines for resolving the disputes that inevitably arise can lead to real confusion and hardship for families. And all the while, the questions keep coming.

The landscape of assisted reproductive technologies has continued to evolve since our 2007 report, and new questions have arisen as a result. Case in point: In 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Should fertility treatments be considered essential health benefits that must be required in every health plan, and what are the implications of including or excluding these services?

As assisted reproductive technologies become increasingly common and accessible, other questions demand answers: How should states define family relationships? Should the government support children created after the death of a parent as it does the children of deceased parents created when that parent was alive? Should religiously affiliated employers be allowed to discriminate against employees who use assisted reproductive technologies with which the employers disagree? How do we address the rise in international surrogacy and other forms of reproductive tourism as world economies become increasingly globalized? What are the parameters for establishing citizenship for such children born abroad?

While some court opinions offer new clarity to a handful of unresolved issues, many court decisions only further muddle the landscape. We find that despite the increasing popularity of assisted reproductive technologies, the rights and responsibilities surrounding those who take part in these processes are still largely undefined.

As with the first “Future Choices,” this report examines the three primary areas in which legislatures and courts have spoken—health insurance coverage, embryo disposition, and parentage determinations—as well as additional areas where significant developments in the laws governing assisted reproductive technologies have occurred.

Jessica Arons is the Director of the Women’s Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress. Elizabeth Chen is a Policy Analyst for the Women’s Health and Rights Program at the Center.

 

Continuing Former Secretary of State Clinton’s Efforts to Elevate the Global Status of Women and Girls Is a Must

by Peter Juul and Arpita Bhattacharyya

SOURCE: AP/Manuel Balce CenetaThen-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, right, accompanied by then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), left, talks about the START Treaty on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 17, 2010.During her four years as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton was a global advocate for women’s rights and championed the security, health, and empowerment of women and girls throughout her record-breaking number of trips and meetings with world leaders and communities around the world. Her leadership and well-known personal interest in these issues dismantled silos and integrated women’s and girls’ issues across programs and offices at the State Department. But the promotion of international women’s issues as a key component of U.S. diplomatic and development efforts cannot begin and end with Secretary Clinton’s personal interest and hard work.

Newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry can ensure that the initiatives and funding for women’s and girls’ issues championed by former Secretary Clinton continue over the next four years. Kerry’s record as a senator and his past statements on international women’s issues are promising, and the institutional framework established by former Secretary Clinton is sturdy. Moving forward, Secretary Kerry will have the opportunity to further integrate international women’s issues into effective diplomatic and development strategies that recognize the direct importance of women’s empowerment to global economic progress and stability.

Looking back

Advocating for equal rights and opportunities for women is not only morally aligned with American values, but it is the right path forward for successful societies. Research shows that communities are prosperous when they promote women’s health, security, and economic, social, and political empowerment, both in the United Statesand around the world. Secretary Clinton took this as a guiding principle in her work at the State Department and paved the way for women’s issues to be a central component in U.S. development and diplomacy, stating that “The United States must be an unequivocal and unwavering voice in support of women’s rights in every country, on every continent.”  The first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review and the creation of the Office of Global Women’s Issues were two of the former secretary’s early moves toward a comprehensive approach to women’s issues.

Secretary Clinton tapped Melanne Verveer to lead the effort as the first-ever ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s issues, tasked with the job of integrating women’s issues into U.S. foreign policy. Under Ambassador Verveer’s leadership, the Office of Global Women’s Issues oversaw the development of two women’s security strategies—the Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally and the Implementation Plan of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. The broad frameworks provide U.S. government agencies, embassies, and consulates guidance on protecting women around the world. The two strategies recognize that women cannot progress politically or economically unless they are safe and protected from violence and conflict.

Moreover, the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review commissioned by Secretary Clinton stated that women should be central to U.S. development and diplomacy and listed six specific areas in which women should be a key consideration, including sustainable economic growth, food security, global health, climate change, democracy and governance, and humanitarian assistance.

In addition to these overarching institutional directives, the State Department established various partnerships with both nongovernmental organizations and private companies to promote women’s economic empowerment. Secretary Clinton began the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership to discuss the advancement of women in international business and economic policy globally with American and foreign leaders of both private and public organizations. She also championed for the inclusion of women in economic growth in multiple meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, asserting that “We need the economic engine that women can provide in every one of our countries, and I pledge that the United States will continue to work with you as a partner as we make progress together.”

The Women’s Entrepreneurship in Americas, or WEAmericas, which works with public and private partners to train women entrepreneurs and help them launch small- and medium-sized enterprises throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, is an example of the United States’ commitment to women’s economic empowerment. TheTechwomen program also provides support for emerging women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and math from the Middle East and Africa for a professional mentorship and exchange program with women in the United States. This initiative is coordinated by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, demonstrating that women’s issues have diffused across departments and do not stay solely within the Office of Global Women’s Issues.

More recently, Secretary Clinton launched several initiatives in October 2012 on the eve of the first International Day of the Girl Child to protect girls from child marriage and promote education, including a pilot program in Bangladesh to address child marriage and ensuring schooling for thousands of adolescent girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along with the Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative and theTechie Exchange Program for Teenage Girls, the State Department has shown its commitment to girls as well as women.

The cross-cutting nature of women’s issues in the State Department’s overall work is perhaps the most important legacy that Secretary Clinton leaves behind—more than one standout program or initiative amongmany. The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review highlighted the need for greater integration of women’s issues across development and diplomacy programs and there is evidence that this is happening. From the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID , to the various bureaus, the action plans and programs across the State Department reveal awareness that men and women are affected differently in U.S. foreign policy and development initiatives, and we must actively engage with women and girls to promote the progress of women globally. The further institutionalization of women’s issues at the State Department is the task for Secretary Kerry.

Looking forward

While Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Verveer—now heading Georgetown’s Institute on Women, Peace, and Security—have left office, they leave behind a legacy of institutionalizing the importance of international women’s issues in American diplomacy and development policy. On January 30, Secretary Clinton’s penultimate day in office, President Barack Obama signed a memorandum on the “Coordination of Policies and Programs to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women and Girls Globally.” This memorandum plays a key role in promoting the institutionalization of international women’s issue going forward by directing the secretary of state to appoint a coordinator with the rank of ambassador-at-large to run the Office of Global Women’s Issues—providing an enduring upgrade in status to the position formerly held by Ambassador Verveer. The next ambassador heading the Office of Global Women’s Issues will continue to report directly to Secretary Kerry as well.

Moreover, the memo enhances the institutionalization of international women’s issues across the foreign policy apparatus. It also orders USAID to maintain a senior coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment to “provide guidance to the USAID administrator in identifying, developing, and advancing key opportunities for U.S. development assistance.” What’s more, the memo directs the National Security staff to work with the White House Council on Women and Girls and the ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues to form an interagency working group that will “develop and coordinate Government-wide implementation of policies to promote gender equality and advance the status of women and girls internationally.” This group will include “senior representatives” of major cabinet agencies, including the State and Defense Departments, the intelligence community, and development agencies such as USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Peace Corps.

Secretary Kerry therefore has clear presidential guidance to continue the work begun by Secretary Clinton, and he has vowed to maintain “the momentum Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Verveer have built through their innovative office and laser-like focus.” But as with any endeavor, vigorous implementation will be critical to maintaining and increasing that momentum. Secretary Kerry’s Senate record, however, gives hope that implementation will not be lacking going forward.

As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary Kerry sponsored and led the passage of the International Violence Against Women Act of 2010 out of his committee. In addition to codifying programmatic and emergency response plans to violence against women abroad, this legislation would have written into law many of the provisions institutionalizing international women’s issues in government agencies contained in President Obama’s executive memorandum. Unfortunately, then-Sen. Kerry’s international violence against women legislation failed to receive a vote in the full Senate. But Secretary Kerry now has an equally important opportunity to implement and further institutionalize many of the goals he pushed for in that legislation as head of the State Department.

In addition to this important, albeit failed, piece of legislation, Senator Kerry supported moves upgrading the importance of women’s issues in international forums and American foreign policy. He issued statements supporting the creation of a consolidated U.N. Agency for Women, condemning attacks against girls in Afghanistan, and applauding additional funding to combat gender-based violence through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, program. As Planned Parenthood recognized when his nomination was announced, “Senator Kerry has been a consistent supporter of women and their access to health care here in the U.S. and around the world.”

Since becoming secretary of state, Kerry has maintained the rhetorical commitment to international women’s empowerment established by Secretary Clinton. In major public remarks at the University of Virginia, for example, he noted “that countries are, in fact, more peaceful and prosperous when women and girls are afforded full rights and equal opportunity.” Similarly, speaking at USAID, Kerry said that in Afghanistan “we can be proud that even as we’re engaging the government and working to build their capacity of governance, we are also building it around a set of principles that are our values about those opportunities women ought to have.”

In the near term there are some important issues to watch that will indicate whether Secretary Kerry is following through on the institutional legacy of Secretary Clinton. First and likely most visible will be the implementation of President Obama’s memorandum, especially the appointment of a replacement for Ambassador Verveer as head of the Office of Global Women’s Issues. The formation of the interagency working group on international women’s issues will also be a critical signal of continued forward momentum. On more specific policy issues, further international initiatives on violence against women and, in particular, efforts to maintain the status of women in Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of U.S. military forces and negotiations for a political settlement will serve as important indicators.

Secretary Kerry faces a daunting array of issues in his first weeks and months as America’s chief diplomat, from Iran’s nuclear program to Syria’s civil war and fortifying relations with Europe while increasing attention to Asia and the Pacific. But these challenges do not obviate the imperative of building on the institutional and programmatic legacy on international women’s issues left by Secretary Clinton. This legacy serves as a sturdy foundation on which Secretary Kerry can build and strengthen the role international women’s issues play in American diplomacy and development policy.

 

Ex-Felons Seek Greater Voting Rights In Virginia

By Paul Shepard

 

Michael Edwards, a community leader in southern Virginia, spent eight years in prison for a marijuana-trafficking conviction in the 1970s.

But he said he feels like he was punished for more than 30 years — the time it took for him to regain his voting rights in Virginia.

That won’t happen to any other ex-felons in Virginia if a group of civil rights organizations are successful in their campaign to push Gov. Robert McDonnell to provide an easier path to voting for ex-felons who have served their time.

“These people live and work and pay taxes but don’t have a voice on this issue,” said Edgardo Cortes of the Advancement Project, a voting rights group based in Washington, D.C., during a national telephone press conference Wednesday. “The governor has shown leadership on this issue but now is the time for him to take additional action.”

In Virginia and three other states, a felony conviction means the automatic loss of many civil rights — chief among them being the right to vote — even after the criminal serves their time in prison.

But the civil rights groups are pushing McDonnell to bypass the state legislature and automatically restore voting rights for ex-felons by executive order.

While the civil rights groups and Gov. McDonnell agree ex-felons should have their voting rights restored automatically after paying their debt to society, the sticking point is how to achieve it.

McDonnell, a Republican, wants the state legislature to act but Cortes says McDonnell has the power to act on his own, which he has been reluctant to do.

In January, the Republican-led Virginia House blocked a measure to expand voting rights for ex-felons,even though McDonnell had given a speech in support of it days earlier.

Tram Nguyen, a director of Virginia New Majority, a voting rights group, said not only would ex-felons benefit from expanded voting rights but it would help the general population through lower crime rates.

Nguyen cited a study, showing that ex-felons are less likely to commit new crimes if they have their civil rights, such as voting, restored after serving their sentences.

“This is based on the ideas of forgiveness, rehabilitation, and community involvement,” Nguyen said.

Edwards agreed.

He said that after being denied by Virginia authorities three times in his efforts to get his voting rights back, he won’t be giving them up anytime soon.

“I can’t see me doing anything to ever lose that right [to vote] again,” Edwards said.

Cortes said Florida, Kentucky, and Iowa also take away voting rights for ex-felons and require their respective governors to restore them. He said that civil rights groups are hoping that automatic voting rights restoration in Virginia could help ignite greater action in the other three states.

 

Report Documents Seven Years of Humanitarian Media Assistance to the Darfur Refugee Crisis in Chad

 

Refugees who have fled Darfur for eastern Chad rely on the radio to meet their local information needs. (credit: Meridith Kohut/Internews)

“I listen to the radio all day,” says eighteen year-old Rahma Mohamed Ibed. “In the afternoons to Radio Sila when it comes on air at 4pm, and then the rest of the time I listen to BBC on shortwave or Sudanese radio.”

“Radio Sila promotes friendship between the journalists, the people in Goz Beida and the refugees. If you have a question and you don’t know the answer, you can call them or text them and they will reply,” he says. “I would really love to be a journalist one day because I see what an important service they provide in the community.”

Rahma lives in the Djabal Darfur refugee camp in eastern Chad where Internews has built three humanitarian radio stations, starting in 2005, to help those fleeing the violence in Darfur to receive the critical news and information they needed to survive.

Seven years after the first station went on air, Internews has left eastern Chad as funding to international agencies has significantly reduced. Internews has spent the past year preparing the stations for independence, including establishing rent-free premises, community governing boards and marketing strategies.

Journalist Celeste Hicks and photographer Meredith Kohut spent a month with the stations in July 2012 to document the past seven years – and what the future holds as these enormously popular stations strike out on their own. Their report – Chad and the Darfur Refugee Crisis – profiles each station, the dedicated journalists who work at them and what it means for the listeners to have access to this valuable resource.

Internews’ work in Eastern Chad has been funded over the years by: UNHCR; The US Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM); USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI); USAID; the US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Rights and Labor (DRL); UKAid; and several private foundations and individuals.

Read or download the report, Chad and the Darfur Refugee Crisis.

 

South African President launches Commonwealth youth worker conference

 

South African President Jacob Zuma and University of South Africa Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Mandla Makhanya (right) with delegates

First Commonwealth conference on training of youth workers will chart a way forward for professionalising the sector

South African President Jacob Zuma yesterday opened the firstCommonwealth Conference on the Education and Training of Youth Workers, by calling for greater recognition of the “crucial” role played by the frontline providers of services to young people.

The three-day meeting taking place in Pretoria, South Africa, will focus on professionalising youth work, to ensure practitioners are recognised for the part they play in developing young people’s potential.

“We are all present here today because young people hold the key to our future. We can only prosper if there are dedicated efforts to invest in the youth,” Mr Zuma said.

He noted that while training has taken place for many youth workers, the sector is still not recognised as a profession. The South African President said the conference will go a long way towards raising awareness so that practitioners can be recognised accordingly.

“This conference enables an opportunity to support young people in their pursuits, and in particular, to appreciate the efforts of youth workers as they are the frontline providers of services to the youth, be it healthcare, education or developmental work.”

In his speech, Mr Zuma applauded the Commonwealth for its investment in youth and education, given that more than 50 per cent of the Commonwealth’s population is under the age of 30. “The future of the Commonwealth is tied inexorably to the future of young people,” he said.

Delegates at the biennial conference will chart a way forward for creating standards and professional networks to enhance the practice of youth work.

In her speech to delegates, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba said: “In many Commonwealth countries youth work is still an emerging discipline and profession that needs to take greater root in the national development strategy. Investing in the development of professional youth workers will bring together, at local and national levels, the persons with the right skills and approaches to engage and support young people who still remain as an untapped potential in many respects.”

Key issues on the conference agenda include creating a map of current programmes for educating and training youth workers, sharing national experiences of professionalising and creating awareness of youth work, current qualifications and research on the sector, and a Commonwealth framework on moving towards standardisation of youth work.

Delegates will also explore the promotion of youth work through national youth policies and programmes and the formation of youth worker professional associations and a Commonwealth Youth Workers’ Association.

Mr Zuma said the conference follows many years of advocacy by the Commonwealth for the professionalisation of the youth work sector.

In 1973, Commonwealth leaders created a dedicated Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) to train government staff and other interested persons with the skills and knowledge to lead youth empowerment work in their member countries.

Over the subsequent 40 years, CYP has partnered with member governments and academic institutions to provide education and training for youth workers through programmes such as the Diploma in Youth Development Work – delivered by more than 30 higher learning institutions – and short courses. With the Commonwealth’s support, the University of the West Indies in the Caribbean recently launched a new Bachelor’s Degree in Youth Development Work, with over 150 students from 16 countries now enrolled. The Commonwealth is examining how to replicate the degree in other countries and institutions.

The 2013 conference is hosted by the Government of South Africa in partnership with CYP, the National Youth Development Agency and the University of South Africa.

The outcomes from the conference will feed into the 8th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting in Papua New Guinea from 15 to 19 April 2013.

 

Salute! Journalist Gil Noble Foundation Launched

 

Legendary interviewer’s daughter hopes to preserve 43 years of father’s work

The late black journalist Gil Noble has interviewed “everybody!” (Look back at his work highlighting issues concerning African Americans and the larger African Diaspora and you’ll see that’s not much of an exaggeration.) In that spirit, his daughter Lisa Noble has formed a foundation to preserve and manage the archival footage from the 43 years of work her father amassed as host of WABC’s “Like It Is.” Lisa Noble told The Amsterdam News that she is in the process of appointing a board to organize fundraisers and a business model for selling access to the archival footage. There will also be an educational arm of the foundation, run by Noble’s friends and fellow journalists. “That’s very important to me,” Lisa said. “That’s why people from all over the world want [the archival footage.] It is an African-American talking about his own history, and I would like it to come from other African-Americans.” (Amsterdam News)

 

10 Models for Student-Loan Repayment

 

by Sarah Ayres

SOURCE: AP/Ed AndrieskiStudents walk the campus at Metropolitan State University in Denver, Thursday, February 28, 2013.Download the details of all 10 models (PDF)Endnotes and citations are available in the PDF version of this issue brief.

As more students are struggling to pay back their student loans after graduation, it is now more important than ever for borrowers to have access to a student-loan-repayment plan that eases the burden of repayment and minimizes the risk of default. Students today face staggeringly high tuition bills, a youth unemployment rate of 12.5 percent, and a complicated assortment of student-loan-repayment plans that can be difficult to navigate even for the borrowers lucky enough to find well-paying employment. Recognizing these obstacles, President Barack Obama and Congress have expanded student-loan repayment options, and advocates have proposed various plans to make it easier for borrowers to pay back school debt. Even with these advances, however, it is clear that existing student-loan-repayment options aren’t working for many borrowers.

Borrowers of federal student loans are finding it increasingly difficult to make timely payments on their debt. With $864 billion in federal loans and $150 billion in private loans, student debt in America now exceeds $1 trillion. More than 13 percent of students whose loans came due in 2009 were in default on their debt as of September 2012, meaning that they hadn’t made a payment in at least nine months. What’s more, another 26 percent of borrowers were delinquent on their loans, meaning that they missed payments on their loans for more than 60 days. Borrowers who fall behind on their student-loan payments can face poor credit ratings and wage garnishment, and the federal government incurs additional costs as it attempts to recover the loans.

The Higher Education Act—which authorizes federal student-aid programs for postsecondary education and is up for reauthorization in 2013—provides an opportunity for policymakers to redesign the student-loan-repayment system. As Congress considers possible changes, it is important for everyone to understand the various options.

Everyone can agree that making it easier for students to pay back their loans will benefit both borrowers and federal balance sheets, and there are a number of existing and proposed plans designed to achieve this objective. As lawmakers evaluate the options, they should keep in mind that any student-loan-repayment system should be designed to provide a safety net to the low-income borrowers who need it most, to minimize defaults, and to be accessible and easy for students to use.

This issue brief will outline the parameters of 10 different student-loan-repayment plans, highlight the benefits of each, and suggest issues for policymakers to take into account when considering each plan.

10 student-loan-repayment plans

Existing repayment plans

Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan

The Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan is a plan that is currently available to all borrowers of federal student loans. Under the plan, the borrower fully repays the loan with interest by making the same fixed monthly payment every month for 10 years.

A borrower with a starting balance of $25,000 at 6.8 percent interest, for example, would make 120 payments of $287.70 each, for a total of $34,524.10.

The advantages of the Standard Repayment Plan are that borrowers will pay off their loans sooner—compared to most other repayment plans—and end up paying the least interest overall. The disadvantage of this plan, however, is that borrowers who start their careers with a low income may find making payments in the early years to be difficult or even impossible.

Graduated Repayment Plan

The Graduated Repayment Plan is also currently available to all borrowers of federal student loans. Under the plan, the borrower fully repays the loan with interest by making monthly payments that increase in time for 10 years.

The same borrower with a starting balance of $25,000 at 6.8 percent interest, for example, would make 120 monthly payments that start at $197.54 in the first two years of repayment and increase every two years until they reach $431.55 in the last year of repayment, for a total of $36,388.89.

The advantages of the Graduated Repayment Plan are that borrowers will still pay their loans off sooner than is the case with most other plans and are able to make lower monthly payments in the first years of employment, when their incomes are likely to be lowest. The disadvantages of the plan, however, are that borrowers will end up paying more interest than they would if they repay according to the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan; borrowers who start off with a very low income may still find that the early payments are difficult or impossible to make; and borrowers must make payments in later years that are substantially higher than they would have been under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan.

Extended Repayment Plan

The Extended Repayment Plan is currently available to borrowers of federal student loans who have a starting balance of more than $30,000. Under the plan, the borrower fully repays the loan with interest by making either fixed or graduated monthly payments for up to 25 years.

A borrower with a starting balance of $45,000 at 6.8 percent interest, for example, could make 300 payments of $312.33 each, for a total of $93,699.73. Alternatively, he or she could make 300 graduated payments—starting at $258.93 in the first two years of repayment and ultimately reaching $435.36 in the last year of repayment—for a total of $100,910.03.

The advantage of the Extended Repayment Plan is that borrowers with more debt are able to make lower, more affordable payments by extending the length of the repayment period. The disadvantages of the plan, however, are that borrowers will pay more interest overall and borrowers who start off with a very low income may still find that the early payments are difficult or impossible to make.

Income-based repayment

Borrowers who took out loans before 2008 are eligible for income-based repayment, in which they may make monthly payments based on 15 percent of their discretionary incomes if they face financial hardship. Under income-based repayment, a borrower makes monthly payments equal to 15 percent of his or her income above 150 percent of the poverty line and any unpaid principal or interest is forgiven after 25 years. Under the plan, the minimum monthly payment may never be greater than what the borrower would have paid under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan. Under income-based repayment, borrowers employed full time in public service may qualify for loan forgiveness after 10 years.

A borrower with a starting balance of $25,000 at 6.8 percent interest, for example, would make monthly payments of $38 in his or her first year of repayment when his or her income is $22,000. Years later, when the borrower’s income increases to $70,000, he or she would only have to make minimum monthly payments of $289—the same amount he or she would have paid under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan.

The advantages of income-based repayment are that borrowers will have manageable payments when their incomes are low and loan forgiveness after 25 years of payments. The disadvantages of income-based repayment, however, are that borrowers will accrue more interest than they would if repay according to the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan; they must submit annual documentation of income and family size to demonstrate eligibility; and they will have to pay taxes on any loan forgiveness that occurs after 25 years.

Pay as You Earn

Borrowers who took out loans after 2008 are eligible for Pay as You Earn, in which they may make monthly payments based on 10 percent of their discretionary incomes if they face financial hardship. Under Pay as You Earn, a borrower makes monthly payments equal to 10 percent of his or her income above 150 percent of the poverty line and any unpaid balance is forgiven after 20 years. As with income-based repayment, the minimum monthly payment may never be greater than what the borrower would have paid under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan. Also as with income-based repayment, borrowers employed full time in public service may qualify for loan forgiveness after 10 years.

Under Pay as You Earn, the borrower in the earlier example with a starting balance of $25,000 at 6.8 percent interest would make monthly payments of $25 in his or her first year of repayment when his or her income is $22,000. Even when the borrower’s income grows to $60,000, he or she would only have to make monthly payments of $284, less than the amount he or she would have paid under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan.

The advantages of Pay as You Earn are that a borrower will have low monthly payments when his or her income is low, although the payments for low-income borrowers are not significantly less than they would be under income-based repayment—$25 instead of $38 in the above example. The borrower also has the opportunity for forgiveness after just 20 years.

The disadvantages of Pay as You Earn, however, are that borrowers must submit annual documentation of income and family size to demonstrate eligibility and will have to pay taxes on any loan forgiveness that occurs after 20 years. As analysts at the New America Foundation have suggested, the biggest beneficiaries of the program might be high-income, high-debt borrowers who receive substantial loan forgiveness after 20 years.

Consolidation

Consolidation is currently available to borrowers who have multiple loans and would like to combine them into a single loan. Under consolidation, the newly combined loan carries a fixed interest rate based on the weighted average of the interest rates of the underlying loans rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of a percent and not exceeding 8.25 percent. A borrower with $15,000 in unsubsidized federal Stafford loans at 6.8 percent and $20,000 in federal direct PLUS graduate loans at 7.9 percent, for example, would be able to consolidate his or her loans into one $35,000 consolidation loan at 7.5 percent.

After consolidating, a borrower repays the loan by making payments that are fixed, graduated, or income-based for up to 30 years, with the length of the repayment period depending on the size of the loan. Under the Standard 10-Year Repayment Plan, for instance, the borrower in our example would make payments of $281.96 per month, for a total of $67,669.83.

The main advantage of consolidation is that a borrower can combine his or her multiple loans into a single loan with a single monthly payment. The disadvantage of consolidation, however, is that a borrower will pay more interest overall by extending the length of the repayment period.

Options for repayment reform

New America Foundation plan

Under the New America Foundation’s new proposal to reform federal student aid, all borrowers would repay their loans based on a percentage of their incomes. A borrower whose income is less than 300 percent of the poverty line would make minimum monthly payments of 10 percent of his or her income above 150 percent of the poverty line. A borrower whose income is greater than 300 percent of the poverty line would make minimum monthly payments of 15 percent of his or her income. Unlike both income-based repayment and Pay as You Earn, there is no upper limit on the minimum payment amount—a borrower must always make payments equaling 15 percent of his or her discretionary income.

Under the New America Foundation plan, student-loan interest rates are set at the 10-Year Treasury rate plus 3 percent. Under that formula, the rate on loans taken out in the 2012–13 academic year would be 4.9 percent. Borrowers with an initial loan balance of less than $40,000 would have any unpaid debt forgiven after 20 years, and borrowers with an initial loan balance of more than $40,000 would have any unpaid debt forgiven after 25 years. Unlike the current system, the New America Foundation plan would eliminate taxes on loan amounts that are forgiven.

The advantages of the New America Foundation plan are that borrowers will have low monthly payments when their incomes are low, loan forgiveness after either 20 or 25 years, and will not have to pay taxes on debt forgiveness. Furthermore, the plan targets federal dollars toward the low-income borrowers who need the most help. A possible disadvantage of the plan, however, is that students who take out loans when Treasury rates are high will face significantly higher interest rates on their loans.

Australian model

Under Australia’s current student-loan repayment plan, all borrowers repay a percentage of their incomes through payroll withholding. When a borrower reaches a minimum income threshold equivalent to about U.S. $50,000, a payment of 4 percent to 8 percent of income is collected through routine payroll deduction. Instead of charging interest, all loans are assessed a set fee of 25 percent of the initial balance of the loan, and the balance of the loan is then adjusted annually for inflation.

The advantages of the Australian model are that borrowers have either low or no payments when their incomes are low, never pay more than 8 percent of their incomes, and do not have to worry about paying more in interest if they take longer to repay their loans. Furthermore, borrowers do not have to choose between multiple repayment plans, set up monthly payments, or document their income in order to qualify for low or no payments.

A disadvantage of the Australian model, however, is that—because repayment occurs through tax collection—graduates who leave the country do not pay back their loans. According to a recent report by Australia’s Grattan Institute, an estimated 20 percent of Australian student-loan debt will never be paid off due to borrowers either earning too little or moving out of the country.

Petri Bill (ExCEL Act)

Under legislation proposed late last year by Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), all student-loan borrowers would repay 15 percent of their discretionary incomes through payroll withholding. The bill would combine all federal loans into one loan with a fixed interest rate based on the 10-year Treasury rate plus 3 percentage points for loans up to $31,000 and 4.1 percentage points for loans exceeding $31,000. A borrower would repay 15 percent of his or her income above 150 percent of the poverty line through routine payroll deduction. Unlike with current repayment options, interest accrued during repayment would not compound, and interest would stop accruing when the total amount of interest accrued equals 50 percent of the loan’s original balance. Under the plan, there is no loan forgiveness for public service.

A borrower with a starting balance of $40,000, for example, would make monthly payments of $103 when his or her income is $25,000. Later, when his or her income increases to $75,000, he or she would make minimum monthly payments of $728.

The advantages of the Petri model are that borrowers have either low or no payments when their incomes are low and can only accrue a limited amount of interest. Moreover, they do not have to choose between multiple repayment plans, set up monthly payments, or document their income in order to qualify for low or no payments.

Additional issues to consider with this model involve the interest-rate calculation, the treatment of loans held by public servants, and the lack of deferment or forbearance. While 10-year Treasury rates have recently been as low as 1.9 percent, rates were as high as 15 percent in the 1980s. Under the Petri formula, this would result in student-loan interest rates ranging from 4.9 percent to 18 percent. The cap on accrued interest, however, may offer some protection to borrowers from extremely high interest rates. The Petri bill also eliminates loan forgiveness for public service and the option for deferment or forbearance that is currently available to borrowers in other plans under special circumstances such as economic hardship.

Lumni model

Lumni is a social enterprise that provides loans to students who agree to pay back a set percentage of their incomes to the lender after graduation. Under the Lumni model, the borrower typically agrees to pay between 4 percent and 8 percent of his or her first 10 years of income, with the percentage depending on the size of the loan and the borrower characteristics. The loan does not accrue interest, and the borrower may end up paying back more or less than the original amount of the loan depending on his or her income over 10 years.

In one example provided by Lumni, a nursing student in Colombia borrowed $8,530 from Lumni in exchange for agreeing to repay 14 percent of his salary for 118 months. If he makes the expected salary for a nurse, he will end up paying the equivalent of a 17 percent interest rate. If he is unable to find employment for a portion of that time, however, he might only repay the balance of the loan—or repay even less, if his eventual earnings are low.

An advantage of the Lumni model for students is that a borrower who struggles to find work or ends up in a low-paying career will never have to pay more than a certain percentage of his or her salary. A disadvantage, however, is that high-income borrowers may end up paying the equivalent of extremely high interest rates. One issue to consider is how Lumni determines payments—is there a poverty exemption, for example, or is there a salary below which borrowers do not make repayments?

Conclusion

Rising student debt and high default rates on student loans indicate that the safety net for student-loan borrowers is insufficient. This brief outlines 10 commonly discussed models for student-loan repayment, ranging from existing repayment plans to foreign models to proposed legislation. Key principles for student-loan repayment are that the system should:

• Provide a safety net for borrowers who need it
• Minimize defaults and delinquencies
• Be easy to use

Easing the burden of repayment is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to fixing America’s student-debt crisis. Reforms must also address the rapidly increasing cost of college, the rise of for-profit colleges offering worthless credentials, expensive private student loans, the inability of borrowers to refinance their student loans at lower interest rates, and the restriction against discharging student loans in bankruptcy. As part of these broader reforms, lawmakers should place a priority on creating a student-loan repayment system that provides an adequate safety net for borrowers.

Sarah Ayres is a Policy Analyst with the Economic Policy team at the Center for American Progress.

 

Farsighted engineer invents bionic eye to help the blind

Bioengineering professor Wentai Liu uses a toy eyeball to illustrate the electronic retinal implant that helps restore eyesight to the blind.

For UCLA bioengineering professorWentai Liu, more than two decades of visionary research burst into the headlines last month when the FDA approved what it called “the first bionic eye for the blind.”

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System — developed by a team of physicians and engineers from around the country — aids adults who have lost their eyesight due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP), age-related macular degeneration or other eye diseases that destroy the retina’s light-sensitive photoreceptors.

At the heart of the device is a tiny yet powerful computer chip developed by Liu that, when implanted in the retina, effectively sidesteps the damaged photoreceptors to “trick” the eye into seeing. The Argus II operates with a miniature video camera mounted on a pair of eyeglasses that sends information about images it detects to a microprocessor worn on the user’s waistband. The microprocessor wirelessly transmits electronic signals to the computer chip, a fingernail-size grid made up of 60 circuits. These chips stimulate the retina’s nerve cells with electronic impulses which head up the optic nerve to the brain’s visual cortex. There, the brain assembles them into a composite image.

The retinal implant, picking up signals from a camera in a pair of sunglasses, sends electronic impulses up the optic nerve to the brain, which assembles them into an image. Courtesy of Doheny Retina Institute, USC.

Recipients of the retinal implant can read oversized letters of the alphabet, discern objects and movement, and even see the outlines and some details of faces. And while the picture is far from perfect — the healthy human eye sees at a much higher resolution — it’s a breakthrough for people like the first patient, a man in his 70s who was blinded at age 20 by RP, to receive the implant in clinical trials. “It was the first time he’d seen light in a half-century,” said Liu, adding that “it feels good as the engineer” to have helped make this possible.

Liu joined the Artificial Retina Projectin 1988 as a professor of computer and electrical engineering at North Carolina State University. The multidisciplinary research project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science because it envisioned a potential pandemic of eyesight loss in America’s aging population. Leading the project was Duke University ophthalmologist and neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Humayun, now on faculty at USC. He tapped Liu to engineer the artificial retina.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Liu said. “But I asked, ‘What can I do?’ because I didn’t know much about biology.” Humayun handed him a six-inch-thick medical manual on the retina. “The learning curve was very steep,” Liu recalled with a laugh.

However, Liu’s fellow engineers questioned his sanity. “I was working on integrated chip design and had just gotten tenure when I signed on to this project. They said, ‘You’re crazy!’ But I’m glad I made that choice, getting into this new field.”

How the bionic eye works, demonstrated in a benchtop prototype (not the actual device) in Liu’s lab.

At the time, bioengineering was in its infancy, when areas where biology, medicine and engineering intersected were still uncharted territory. Computer chips were quite large compared to today’s chip, and the batteries required to operate them were even larger; cell phones, for instance, were the size of bricks. Yet Liu and his cohorts dared to imagine an electrical device small enough to be implanted in the delicate physiological environs of the retina.

This advanced the research and posed even more questions: “Now we were asking, ‘How can we design a system to produce electrical stimulation? How fast should the current be, how often and how long should it last?’”

A close look at retinas damaged by RP — the photosensitive layer of rods and cones is destroyed, but neurons and muscle remain intact — prompted another hypothesis: “If we could build a device that sits [near the neurons] and sends a signal, maybe we could make those neurons fire,” Liu thought. “The firing neurons can send signals back to the brain, and the brain might be able to recognize them [as sight].

“There were so many parts we didn’t know,” said Liu, looking back on two decades of biological, medical and engineering experiments by researchers trained in different disciplines who sometimes couldn’t understand each other. “It’s kind of difficult because medicine and engineering don’t always speak the same language. We had to work to know each other.”

Every new discovery by researchers in one discipline would be a steppingstone to new work by researchers in another. “It was kind of a loop. We would give them something, and they would give us something back. It was a typical engineering process,” said Liu, who took his work on the project with him when he joined the faculty at UC Santa Cruz in 2003. Near end of 2011, he came to the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“The more I work on this, the more interested I become in understanding how the brain works,” says Liu.

These days when visitors inquire about his work, Liu pulls a toy eyeball out of his coat pocket and points to a tiny, round battery glued to an area over the retina — his modest approximation of the computer chip he conceived. The Argus II technology is now available to patients through the company Second Sight, which helped the DOE fund the research. One patient, Barbara Campbell, shared her experience in a New York Times video story when the FDA gave the device a green light.

Liu continues to advance the technology. In collaboration with an international research group funded by the National Science Foundation, Liu and a team of UCLA engineering graduate students are testing two prototypes that increase the microchip density to 256- and 1,026-microchip versions that they hope to squeeze down into the size of the 60-microchip version. The more microchips you have, the higher the resolution of the resulting image.

With sharper vision, the patient’s quality of life would be improved, Liu said. Eventually, the ability to see colors will be added, said Liu. He’s also exploring how to put the camera inside the eye, too.

Liu’s research has moved well beyond his original focus. “The more I work on this, the more interested I become in understanding how the brain works,” he said. His lab is also working on devices to stop epileptic seizures, to help people who have lost their ability to speak and to re-activate facial muscles paralyzed by Bell’s palsy.

“We’re engineering hope,” Liu likes to say. “Some things you can’t cure, but in almost every problem in the human body, engineering can intervene to subdue or mediate the process or even restore function.

“My father always wanted me to be a doctor, but I chose engineering,” said Liu, whose parents were illiterate, as was everyone else in the small village in Taiwan where he was born.  “Now I realize I’ve come full-circle, working with colleagues in medicine to help people.”

 

School Closings: Subtle Move toward ‘Privatization’

 

• Written by  Dorothy Rowley

Critics of the latest round of school closings mandated in January under the Gray/Henderson administration, doubt if they will result in improvements. In 2008, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee closed dozens of schools.Photo courtesy of Empower DC

Hundreds gathered for yet another rally last week to send a clear message to District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson that her controversial plan to shutter 15 schools by the end of 2014 is a violation of civil rights.

Organizers provided an update during “The Save Our Schools Summit” on a lawsuit that will be filed next week to short-circuit Henderson’s mandate. The rally was co-sponsored by education councils from wards 5, 6, 7 and 8 and the grassroots advocacy group, Empower DC. The event, which took place on March 14 and attracted more than 200, was held at the Temple of Praise in Southeast, where the majority of the targeted schools are located.

“The closings are a cycle of unjust and discriminatory tactics,” said Daniel del Pielago, Empower DC education organizer. “… Under the previous administration, we’ve seen 29 schools close in the District, but with no notable increase in educational outcomes or savings to the city.”

Henderson has been under mounting pressure from parents and other critics since November when she first revealed her plan. But she has insisted that the closings are in the best interest of the 2,000 students who will be impacted.

Del Pielago, 39, added that in all probability, there won’t be any monetary savings with the round of closings slated to begin in August.

“The main problem that we see in this is that it’s disproportionately affecting communities of color and low-income students in the District,” del Pielago said. “The way they’re trying to reform D.C. public education is by closing down schools – and no one on the D.C. Council, not even the mayor is doing anything to control the growth of charter schools which are growing at a much faster rate than our traditional public schools.”

Empower DC initiated plans for the lawsuit which will be handled by former American Civil Liberties Union attorney Johnny Barnes, the self-described “people’s lawyer.” Barnes, 64, said in a recent interview that his strategy will be to stop the school closings altogether.

“Black and brown children are treated differently than others in this plan. Local and federal laws do not permit this.”

When Henderson, 43, unveiled her plan in November, 20 schools across the city were slated for closure. She said all of them were either under-enrolled or under-performing.

At the recommendation of the Chicago-based Illinois Facilities Fund – which invests heavily in charter schools in the Midwest – schools on Henderson’s list that were deemed under-performing would be merged with high-performing charter schools. That set off a flurry of public resentment, and following a series of community meetings – some of which Henderson attended – the chancellor returned to the table in January with a pared-down list of closings.

According to a report from the Northwest-based DC Fiscal Policy Institute, it’s doubtful if Henderson’s plan will be effective. The Institute reported that the two dozen schools that were ordered closed in 2008 by the former chancellor, cost District taxpayers more than $17 million and did not improve student test scores.

Henderson, who has been mum about the closings since her January announcement, was contacted for updated comments, but had not responded by WI press time.

Meanwhile, other community advocacy organizations are rallying behind Empower DC’s efforts, pointing out that closing schools east of the Anacostia River near the Maryland state line, is a front for gentrification and the eventual privatization of the DCPS system.

“They’re talking about closing schools in wards 6, 7 and 8, which are predominantly African-American populations, where at the same time, gentrification is taking place,” said Ayesha Fleary, a member of the grassroots coalition, Black is Back. “There’s already violence, poor teacher performance and [ineffective] programs in District public schools – and it’s not because the city doesn’t have the money to make improvements,” she said. “The education budget is there. They just chose not to spend it in those schools. They decided to close those schools because they decided that our children are disposable.”

Tim Baldauf-Lenschen, from the online-based UrWorld News and Media, cited capitalism as a root source for the closings.

“What we see going on is a privatization of the people’s common goods. Privatization even takes place with our drinking water with people around the globe having to pay. Just like privatization is taking away our natural resources, these school closings are taking away the right to public education.”

 

Michael Baisden Remains Locked Out of Studio: “Those are Re-runs You’re Listening to”

 

Michael Baisden once stood as one of the kings of radio.  But he has moved onto another chapter of his life after negotiations broke down between himself and Cumulus Broadcasting.  The network has locked Baisden out of the studio and has decided to grant his wish that he leave the air.  Baisden had originally believed that he would have a few days to bid farewell to his listeners, but the network wasn’t having it.

This week, Baisden told his readers on his Facebook fan page that he really isn’t the man they are listening to on the radio today.

“You’re listening to Re-Runs, The Michael Baisden Show Staff has been denied access to the Studios. The show will officially end Friday March 29th,” he said.

Baisden’s show was aired in 78 markets with an estimated eight million listeners each day.  His public career began when he left his job driving trains in Chicago to sell books out of the trunk of his car.  His career in radio began when he worked as an upaid host on 98.7 KISS-FM in New York.

 

Black Inventors: Thomas Mensah

Thomas Mensah was born in Kumasi, Ghana in 1950. His father, J.K. Mensah, was a businessman who shipped cocoa products to chocolate manufacturers in France. Thomas was an exceptionally bright child, learning to read newspapers at an early age and becoming fluent in French. As a child, he often conversed in French with his father’s business associates. He went on to twice win the National Competition in France in 1968 and 1970.

 

 

Thomas received his early education at the exclusive Adisadel College boys school in Cape Coast. An excellent student, particularly in science and math, he received a scholarship to study chemical engineering at the University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Ghana. An honors student, he graduated in 1974 and was awarded a fellowship from the French government to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Science and Technology in Montpelier, France (USTL). While enrolled at USTL, he took part in a program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received a certificate in Modeling and Simulation of Chemical Processes from the university in 1977. A year later, he graduated from USTL with a PhD.

In 1980, Thomas travelled to the United States where he took a job with Air Product and Chemicals in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was a research engineer in the chemical group division. One of his projects was to observe the mixing process in the Polyvinyl Alcohol Process Improvement Division. The process included injecting PVAC ( a polymer having a high resistance to to flow) with a catalyst. Inside of a thin film reactor which used a moving blade system. The resulting mixture would end up on a moving belt where it would cure into a white slab of Polyvinyl Alcohol, later cut into smaller pieces. A problem occurred when the mixture was of poor quality, as the resulting polyvinyl acetate did not cure properly, resulting in an usable product (and often causing a shutdown of the manufacturing process.

Mensah, after long research and an innovative use of high-tech video equipment was able to determine that when the centers of the vortices during the mixture process often trapped poorly mixed reactants , allowing them to proceed onto the moving belt. Thomas solved this by altering the blade configuration in the mixing process (as well as altering the notch depth). This redesign of the high speed thin film industrial mixers produced a much purer blend, thus improving the efficiency of the process and diminishing the delays which often shut down the manufacturing plant. He was rewarded by winning second prize in a prestigious research competition.
In 1983 he joined Corning Glass Works in Corning, New York as an engineer. He was brought on to help solve efficiency problems in the Corning Fiber Optic manufacturing process. Fiber optics refers to the design and application of optical fiber. Optical fibers refers to glass or plastic fiber through which light travels, usually carrying information. Fiber optics wires (or cables) are more efficient conductors of communication material than metal wire. Unfortunately, at that time it was difficult to increase the production of fiber optical material because the delicate glass fibers would break very easily if the production speed was increased. Thus, in the drawing and coating phase, the process was limited to producing only two meters per second of fiber optic stand.

Mensah saw that during the coating phase, bubbles were being trapped on the coating surface during the curing process. This caused inefficient losses of data. Using his knowledge of boundary layer theory, he solved this problem by injecting carbon dioxide gas near the boundary layer during the high speed coating process. This eliminated the bubbles from forming. He also was able to increase the strength of the glass allowing the manufacturing process to increase to 20 feet per send, a ten-fold improvement. He was awarded patents for each of these improvements along with two other patents for additional work.

In 1986, Thomas moved on to the AT&T Bell Laboratories in Georgia. At Bell he focused his attention on creating missile systems which utilized fiber optics for their guidance systems. In these systems, a small camera in the nose of the missile delivered images of a target through the fiber optic wires to the pilot who could then lock onto the target and hit them with extreme accuracy and precision. Dr. Mensah and his colleagues developed missiles that could use the fiber optic technology while traveling at MACH 1 (the speed of sound).

In addition to his work with fiber optics, Mensah found success in other areas of science. He has created superconductors for space communication, designed a system for creating solid state rechargeable cell phone batteries, developed new filament wound composite structures to be used to provide a light replacement for tank gun barrels among many other inventions. He would eventually become the Founder of georgia Aerospace which manufactured specialized composite structures for stealth aircraft.

In almost every aspect of his career,Thomas Mensah has met with enormous success on projects that have great historical significance. he has worked for private industry as well as for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense and has been awarded seven patents. He has also received awards and recognition from the high tech community including the Corning Glass Works Industrial Outstanding Contributor Award for Innovation in Fiber Optics (1985), AT&T Bell Laboratories High Performance Award (1988), and the AIChE William Grimes Award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering (2007). He serves as a great model of turning great ambition into great success.

 

 

JAMAICA NEWSWEEKLY For the week ending March 22nd, 2013

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THIS WEEK”S SUMMARY
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VISA POLICY RELAXATION WELCOMED BY UN TOURISM AGENCY—03/16/13
The tourism agency of the United Nations has welcomed a decision by the Jamaican government to relax visa rules for tourists from Eastern European nations. The government also extended current visa waiver policy to nationals from some countries in Latin America as well  The visa waiver will affect tourists from the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine, who plan to visit the island for up to 30 days.

GOVERNMENT SEEKS LEGAL COSTS FROM ATTORNEYS IN NHT CASE—03/17/13
Jamaica’s government and the National Housing Trust (NHT) are taking the two attorneys who represented a member of the Citizens Action for Principle and Integrity group (CAPI) to pay legal costs associated with the case. Hugh Wildman and Marvalyn Taylor-Wright represented Mario Harley in a lawsuit, which was ultimately aborted. The attorneys say they will be defending their position in court, believing that a citizen has a constitutional right to bring action in a public interest matter and should not be threatened or intimidated for doing so.

SOCIAL WORKER PLEADS FOR AN END TO VIOLENT DEATHS OF CHILDREN—03/18/13
Berthlyn Plummer, a senior social worker in Allman Town, Kingston, pleaded with the people of Jamaica to talk about their differences instead of resorting to violence in disputes. She made her remarks while attending the funeral of Rushawn Burford, a four-year-old who was shot and killed in January 2013 after a dispute between Marlon “Shooty” McMillan and members of the child’s family. Plummer said she and her coworkers are tired of having to respond to cases involving the violent deaths of children, urging people to contact the Dispute Resolution Foundation for help.

BUSINESS MAN IN COURT IN CONNECTION WITH SEVERAL CRIMES—03/19/13
Uriel Humphrey James, also known as “Rooksie,” a business man from the Corporate Area, will appear in court in connection with cases of murder, shootings, money laundering, and additional crimes. James was taken into custody by members of the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force. It has been alleged that members of the police may be working for James, but the Police High Command has promised to investigate and prosecute the officers if this is found to be true.

JAMAICA CONCERNED THAT ISLANDERS NOT RETURNING HOME FROM OVERSEAS—03/20/13
The Jamaican government is growing concerned about the fact that fewer Jamaicans return home from New York, London, or Toronto after traveling to these places to look for work in their younger years. In the past two decades, the yearly total of “returning nationals” has decreased by more than 50 percent. In 2011, just over 1,000 of these individuals returned to the home island.

CHANG WANTS JAMAICANS EDUCATED ABOUT WATER CONSERVATION—03/20/13
Dr. Horace Change, Jamaica’s Opposition spokesperson on water, land, and housing, is calling for a stronger approach to dealing with the island’s drought. Chang wants the government to launch a serious program of public education designed to educate Jamaicans about water conservation. A more aggressive program aimed at handling the technical losses of the NWC, which should include replacement of leaky pipes, is also supported by Dr. Chang.

MANCHESTER NAMED “HAPPIEST PARISH”—03/21/13
Manchester has been deemed the “happiest parish” in Jamaica in a survey of residents conducted by the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. On a scale of zero to 10, Manchester got a ranking of 8.3, compared to just 8.0 for St. Ann and Trelawny. The cooler climate was cited as a top reason for the high satisfaction rate of residents in the parish.

BARBADOS OFFICIALS SAY MYRIE NOT CAVITY-SEARCHED—03/22/13
Sirphine Carrington, a female drug squad officer in Barbados, repeatedly denied the claim by Jamaican Shanique Myrie that Myrie was subjected to a cavity search when she arrived at the airport on March 11, 2011.  Carrington testified on the last day of the Barbados portion of the hearing before the Caribbean Court of Justice on Myrie’s discrimination case against the government of Barbados.

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JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
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PROTEST IN NY OVER KILLING OF CARIBBEAN BOY BY POLICE—03/16/13
Some 18 people were arrested during a clash between New York Police and residents of East Flatbush in Brooklyn over the police shooting death of Kimani “Kiki” Gray, a 16-year-old son of Guyanese and Jamaican parents. The crowd at a peaceful demonstration erupted into violence when they found out Gray has been shot in the back Police alleged that the teen pointed a gun at two officers in plain clothes. Gray was shot seven times, three times in the back, according to autopsy results.

MORE CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS RELEASED BY U.S. THAN PREVIOUSLY STATED—03/17/13
Immigration officials in the United States now say that they released more Caribbean and other immigrants from detention centers and jails throughout the country than originally announced. In February and early March 2013, 2,228 illegal immigrants were released, rather than the “several hundred” originally announced by authorities.

MOTHER OF TEEN SHOT BY NY POLICE CALLS FOR PEACE—03/18/13
Carol Gray, the Jamaican-born mother of Kimani “Kiki” Gray, the 16-year-old boy shot and killed by New York police in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, has called for an end to the violent protests occurring in response to the incident. The East Flatbush site of the protests is a predominantly Caribbean district. Eyewitnesses to the shooting dispute the police claim that Kimani Gray pointed a gun at two plainclothes officers prior to being shot and killed. Carol Gray also denied reports that her son was a member of a street gang.

AMBASSADOR TO U.S. EMPHASIZES JAMAICA’S RESOLVE IN ENDING SCAMS—03/19/13
Stephen Vasciannie, Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, stated that the island’s government is focused on ending the lottery scam, which has targeted elderly individuals in the U.S. Vasciannie said the government has put several measures in place to fight the illicit actions of scammers, who are located chiefly at the western end of Jamaica. A comprehensive five-point plan has been implemented to target the scammers. It includes public education, enhanced enforcement of new laws, stronger judicial rules, and restitution for victims.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS SUMMARY provided by Caribbeantopnews.com
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EU TO PROVIDE FUNDING FOR CARIBBEAN AGRICULTURE—03/16/13

U.S. WANTS MORE DONE TO STOP DRUG TRADE IN THE CARIBBEAN—03/17/13

HAITI AT TOP OF FIFA RANKINGS—03/18/13

ALL-CARIBBEAN WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC SET UP BY DOMINICAN REPUBLIC—03/19/13

PRIME MINISTER OF ST. VINCENT CALLS FOR CARIBBEAN REPARATIONS GROUP—03/20/13

FIRST GOLD REFINERY IN CARIBBEAN COULD EARN BILLIONS—03/21/13
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BUSINESS NEWS SUMMARY
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PAN-CARIBBEAN SUGAR LOOKING FOR MARKET IN ITALY—03/16/13
Raw sugar from the Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company could soon be available in supermarkets in Italy. The firm has already obtained a market for raw sugar exports to Italy via a European Union food agency. Soon, raw sugar from Jamaica will be sold in Italian stores, according to Francis He, CEO of Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company.

ROBINSON SAYS LOTTERY SCAM RAISES COSTS OF DOING BUSINESS—03/17/13
Julian Robinson, Jamaican Junior Minister in the Ministry of National Security, states that the damage caused by lottery scammers has increase the cost of doing business in the country. This is especially the case for the call-center industry, he noted. Robinson stated that the impact of the lottery scam has added a requirement for everyone in the industry to be fingerprinted, for example, which imposes a significant cost on employers. Companies must also administer polygraph tests at a cost of about US$160 each.

BUSINESSES WARY OF PROPOSED TAXES—03/18/13
Private sector businesses in western Jamaica are concerned about the higher levy on imported goods. The levy was announced by the government and could have a negative impact on many regional businesses. The western Jamaican interests say they are being asked to pay an extra transshipment cost that is not imposed on their counterparts in Kingston. According to Montego Bay officials, containers sent there cost more because of additional freight charges associated with transferring cargo from Kingston.

JAMAICA DROPS IN TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS—03/19/13
While Jamaica is world-renowned for its music and sports attractions, the island fell by two spots in a ranking of 140 countries is regard to tourism competitiveness. Jamaica’s drop to 67 from 69 was noted in the 2013 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report. Poor scores in culture and environmental sustainability led to the lower ranking. However, according to a report from the World Economic Forum, Jamaica’s total tourism earnings and jobs related to tourism increased at the same time.

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CARIBBEAN TECHNOLOGY NEWS SUMMARY provided by Caribbeantopnews.com
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E-BOOKS BECOME MORE POPULAR IN JAMAICA—03/16/13

CAYMAN ISLANDS JOINS IN TSUNAMI EXERCISE—03/17/13

NEW MOBILE DEVICES AVAILABLE IN MARKETPLACE—03/18/13

BIOCHAR OVEN CONVERTS TRASH INTO BIO-OIL, CHARCOAL—03/19/13
 

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ENTERTAINMENT
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FILMMAKERS DOCUMENT STORY OF JAMAICAN DEPORTEES—03/16/13
Jennifer Holness, film producer, and Sudz Sutherland, director, of Toronto, are telling the story of what happens to Jamaicans who are deported from Canada under its stringent immigration laws.  As children of Jamaican migrants, they were inspired by true stories about he plight of the deportees, who often end up homeless and vulnerable living on the streets in Jamaica. Many become murder victims. The film was shot in Trinidad to take advantage of tax credits, but it is meant to portray a neighborhood in Kingston. The film, called “Home Again,” illustrates the limbo in which deportees find themselves when they are sent back to a “home” they have never known.

VELMA POLLARD LAUNCHES NEW POETRY COLLECTION—03/18/13
Dr. Velma Pollard introduced her new collection of poems at Neville Hall Lecture Theatre at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus. The book, “And Caret Bay Again: New and Selected Poems,” was discussed  and analyzed by Dr. Michael Bucknor, head of the Department of Literatures in English,  and Dr. Anthea Morrison. Selections from the book were read.

CELEBRATION FOR DENNIS BROWN—03/19/13
The Dennis Brown tribute concert was postponed twice in 2013, but what would have been Brown’s 58th birthday was celebrated by musicians Richie Stephens, Beres Hammond, and Coca Tea. A street concert on Ocean Boulevard in downtown Kingston was lauded for its improved aesthetics and greater audience space, as well as for its more attractive venue, which provided a view of Kingston Harbor. The celebration has previously been held outside Big Yard on Orange Street.

CONCERT HOSTED TO RAISE MONEY FOR MARY SEACOLE STATUE—03/20/13
The Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal is hosting a concert on March 24, 2013, to raise money for a statue to commemorate the work of Jamaican-born Mary Seacole at St. Thomas Hospital in London. The statue will be three meters high, taller than the other statues of London nurses. The organization has raised 158,000 pounds thus far, but is short 500,000 pounds. Seacole established a facility that treated thousands of wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, and she inspired the creation of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.
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SPORTS
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JAMAICAN’S MISSING SLED DOG FOUND 150 MILES FROM CHECKPOINT—03/16/13
After going missing for a week, May, a sled dog working with Jamaican Iditarod musher Newton Marshall, was found 150 miles away from where she disappeared. As Marshall tried to untangle a line, the dog ran off. Those familiar with the dog say she was likely making a run for the race starting point or her home kennel. When found, she had lost weight and had sore feet, but was in good health otherwise.

TAYLOR NAMED TO ROSTER FOR QUALIFYING MATCHES—03/17/13
Jermaine Taylor was named to the 25-man roster for Jamaica’s upcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Panama and Costa Rica. Taylor, 28, has been a stalwart member for the Reggae Boyz senior squad for some time, earning over 50 caps in his international career.

ASAFA POWELL TO BE FEATURED AT EASTR FUN KIDS NIGHT—03/20/13
Asafa Powell, Jamaican track star, is scheduled to appear at Sandown Park on Easter Thursday to participate in Easter Fun Kids Night. Powell, who has more under-10-second 100-meter races than anyone in the world, will be “king of the kids” at the event, which will allow children to meet with the famous sprinter. The event is free and will feature rides, face painting, and a barbeque.

ORANE SAYS IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE IN WIC GOVERNANCE—03/21/13
According to Douglas Orane, it is time for all involved with the West Indies Crick Board to make a dramatic change in the Board’s structure and governance. He challenged the WICB to implement the suggestions recorded in the Patterson Report of 2007. The report called for a major overhaul of West Indies Cricket, specifically mentioning the governance structure. Orane said there was “universal disappointment and frustration” that these measures were not implemented. He called on the Caribbean people to be more vocal in advocating changes in the WICB.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS SUMMARY for the week ending March 22nd, 2013

 

EU TO PROVIDE FUNDING FOR CARIBBEAN AGRICULTURE—03/16/13
The European Union (EU) will provide 8.6 million Euros to boost the agriculture sector in the Caribbean region. The European Development Fund (EDF) is providing the funds, in conjunction with the Intra-African Caribbean and Pacific Agriculture Policy Program for the area. This represents a partnership between the European Commission and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

U.S. WANTS MORE DONE TO STOP DRUG TRADE IN THE CARIBBEAN—03/17/13
While the nations of CARICOM have made progress in addressing the problem of drug trafficking in the Caribbean, the United States has called upon the nations to do more. The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report of 2013 from the U.S. Department of State praised the region for its efforts, but continued to be critical of what it calls “inefficient” measures implemented by some of the countries. Jamaica is still the largest Caribbean supplier of marijuana to the U.S., the reported noted.

HAITI AT TOP OF FIFA RANKINGS—03/18/13
Haiti continues to take the top spot among Caribbean football teams, according to the latest from the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. According to the March listing, Haiti remained 51st in the world. This represented a drop of one rank from its February listing for Haiti, however.

ALL-CARIBBEAN WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC SET UP BY DOMINICAN REPUBLIC—03/19/13
The Dominican Republic defeated the Netherlands with a score of 4-1, establishing an all-Caribbean contest versus Puerto Rico in the final game of the World Baseball Classic. The Dominicans, who were the favored team, wanted redemption against the Netherlands, who won against the Caribbean side twice in 2006. The Dominicans will face Puerto Rico in the final, after it defeated twice defending champion Japan.

PRIME MINISTER OF ST. VINCENT CALLS FOR CARIBBEAN REPARATIONS GROUP—03/20/13
Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent, is looking for nations in the Caribbean to create a regional reparations committee. He has promised to spend the rest of his life trying to get compensation from the British for the genocide against the Garifuna, imposition of slavery, and taking of land. Gonsalves is calling for a Caribbean-wide reparations committee, noting that several countries in the area have their own such committees. Nations with committees include Jamaica, Antigua, and Barbados.

FIRST GOLD REFINERY IN CARIBBEAN COULD EARN BILLIONS—03/21/13
A joint venture between the government of Suriname and the Kaloti Group of Dubai will create the first gold refinery in the Caribbean. The refinery is being constructed near Wit Santi, near Suriname’s international airport. It is scheduled to begin operations by 2014 and could produce as much as US$2.77 billion in refined gold.

JAMAICA CONCERNED THAT ISLANDERS NOT RETURNING HOME FROM OVERSEAS—03/20/13
The Jamaican government is growing concerned about the fact that fewer Jamaicans return home from New York, London, or Toronto after traveling to these places to look for work in their younger years. In the past two decades, the yearly total of “returning nationals” has decreased by more than 50 percent. In 2011, just over 1,000 of these individuals returned to the home island.

CHANG WANTS JAMAICANS EDUCATED ABOUT WATER CONSERVATION—03/20/13
Dr. Horace Change, Jamaica’s Opposition spokesperson on water, land, and housing, is calling for a stronger approach to dealing with the island’s drought. Chang wants the government to launch a serious program of public education designed to educate Jamaicans about water conservation. A more aggressive program aimed at handling the technical losses of the NWC, which should include replacement of leaky pipes, is also supported by Dr. Chang.

MANCHESTER NAMED “HAPPIEST PARISH”—03/21/13
Manchester has been deemed the “happiest parish” in Jamaica in a survey of residents conducted by the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. On a scale of zero to 10, Manchester got a ranking of 8.3, compared to just 8.0 for St. Ann and Trelawny. The cooler climate was cited as a top reason for the high satisfaction rate of residents in the parish.

BARBADOS OFFICIALS SAY MYRIE NOT CAVITY-SEARCHED—03/22/13
Sirphine Carrington, a female drug squad officer in Barbados, repeatedly denied the claim by Jamaican Shanique Myrie that Myrie was subjected to a cavity search when she arrived at the airport on March 11, 2011.  Carrington testified on the last day of the Barbados portion of the hearing before the Caribbean Court of Justice on Myrie’s discrimination case against the government of Barbados.

 

CARIBBEAN TECHNOLOGY NEWS SUMMARY for the week ending March 22nd, 2013

E-BOOKS BECOME MORE POPULAR IN JAMAICA—03/16/13
Jamaicans are warming up to e-books, and some local publishers favor the format to help them mitigate the high costs associated with putting out books. Digital books are more cost-effective, say supporters, and authors can create more books if they utilized the e-book market effectively.  According to Kellie Magnus, author of children’s books, publications in digital format significantly reduce operating and marketing costs. The University of the West Indies and Ian Randle Publishers have embraced the digital concept, which allows them to take more books to market.

CAYMAN ISLANDS JOINS IN TSUNAMI EXERCISE—03/17/13
The Cayman Islands will join together with other nations in the Caribbean region in a tsunami-response exercise on March 29, 2013. The exercise is designed to evaluate local response plans regarding tsunamis, increase preparedness for such incidents, and improve response coordination throughout the region. The exercise has been modeled by the NOAA NWS Caribbean Tsunami Warning program. It is called CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX 13 and simulates a tsunami generated by an 8.5 earthquake 57 miles north of Aruba in the Caribbean Sea.

NEW MOBILE DEVICES AVAILABLE IN MARKETPLACE—03/18/13
A local distributor of information technology and hardware, Intcomex Jamaica, has officially launched a new brand of mobile devices. Nuqleo brand products are designed to be of high quality and reasonable price. According to Oscar Gordillo, regional sales manager, the products include Quantum 7, a seven-inch tablet and a line of cellular phones that all feature dual SIM card capabilities.

BIOCHAR OVEN CONVERTS TRASH INTO BIO-OIL, CHARCOAL—03/19/13
Researchers in St. Catherine demonstrated the biochar oven, a machine that transforms backyard debris into carbon coal, fuel and oils. The oven is 16 feet wide and six feet long and uses dried and green yard waste such as wood chips, grass, and twigs. After packing the unit with the debris, the oven converts the waste products into usable elements. It was made by Level Two HEART-certified welding students and is located at the New Horizon Christian Outreach ministries, which offers youth training in traditional skills.

 

5 Reasons Massages Aren’t Just For Pampering Yourself

By Kate Greenleaf

 

Many people believe that going to a massage therapist is just a way to pamper or indulge yourself. This is why so many of us wait to have one; we treat it as a way to reward ourselves for special occasions, like birthdays or vacations. The truth is, the benefits of receiving a therapeutic massage run much deeper than the superficial “feeling good” — which seems like a good enough reason, in my mind!

There are endless positive benefits to receiving a massage, but here are just a few:

1. Receiving a massage can alleviate chronic pain. 

This may seem obvious, but there are many people out there who live with chronic back, shoulder and neck issues. Massages can reduce the causes of this pain, which can be a healthier and more holistic approach than reaching for synthetic drugs or other forms of pain relief.

2. Massages promote better sleep. 

Many people struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep. When we get a massage, it not only reduces tension in the muscles, but it can also change our hormone levels in such a way that allows for more profound relaxation to arise. Massage therapy has been linked to increased delta waves in the brain, which are connected to deeper, more restful sleep.

3. Massage therapy may relieve mild depression. 

Massage therapy has been touted for releasing the tension, stress and anxiety that is often accompanied with mild depression. It’s believed that receiving physical touch can change our bio-chemisty and lower our cortisol levels, our bodies stress hormone. If our cortisol levels are too high on a regular basis it can lead to all kinds of imbalance in our system, including feelings of depression. Massage therapy can be a beautiful, natural way to regulate these hormones levels thus creating a more relaxed, improved state in our overall mental and physical wellbeing.

4. Getting a massage is a great way to boost your immunity.

When we’re stressed and anxious all the time, it’s harder for our bodies to fight off and defend against the pathogens we’re exposed to every single day. Even a light, gentle touch can allow the lymphatic system to drain and release waste like bacteria and viruses from the body more efficiently, increasing our chances to fight off the germs we come in contact with as a part of our everyday lives.

5. Self massages can ease your financial concerns.

If you’re someone who finds that taking the time to schedule a massage on a more regular basis is a challenge, or you feel hindered by the cost, you can always try self massages. Begin by finding the right oil — I like using sesame or coconut oil. You can add a few drops of high quality therapeutic grade essential oil to it, like lavender (this part isn’t necessary but adds a lot to the experience). I’ll have my health coaching and massage clients begin practicing this by focusing on the major joints in the body first. You can begin by gently rubbing the oil into your neck area, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Then continue by moving to your hips, knees and ankles. If that’s all you have time for, that’s still going to be of great benefit to you and will naturally lubricate these often neglected areas of the body.

So the next time you’re thinking about getting a massage, remember that the experience runs much deeper than just pampering yourself. Having a massage can be seen as a great tool for improving your overall health, and it’s a step in the direction for increasing your own capability to enhance and practice exceptional self care.

 

When Organizational Memory Stands in the Way

by Vijay Govindarajan and Srikanth Srinivas

Your company’s organizational memory might be holding it back. Consider the following parable:

Two monks — one old and one young — were walking to a village far from their monastery. Along the way they saw a beautiful, young woman waiting at the edge of a stream, too afraid to cross. The young monk reminded himself of his vow not to touch women and continued walking. But to his amazement, the elder monk sped right past him while carrying the young woman, safely across the stream, on his back! When the old monk put her down on the other side of the stream, she thanked him with a respectful bow. The old monk, in turn, gave her a bright smile, and continued walking.

The young monk considered and reconsidered the old monk’s action back at the stream. He could not stop churning. His thoughts grew angrier and angrier. Finally, hours later, he ended up shouting at the old monk, “You broke your sacred vows! You are not supposed to touch a woman! How can you forgive yourself? You should not be allowed back in the monastery!”

Surprised at his outburst, the old monk replied calmly, “I dropped her hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?”

Like the young monk, many organizations carry a heavy burden, and for far too long. The result — obsolete policies and practices, outdated assumptions and mind-sets, and underperforming products and services. This organizational memory creates biases that get embedded in planning processes, performance evaluation systems, organizational structures and human resource policies. This becomes a big burden when non-linear shifts occur.

Examples of the burden of such organizational memory include Blackberry — it could not forget about the physical keyboard when the world had moved on to touch screens, and Microsoft — it could not forget about the desktop as the key computing device when the world had moved on to mobile devices on the one hand and cloud-based services on the other.

How can established organizations be more like the elder monk — and transcend the clutches of the burden of organizational memory when there is a need to respond to non-linear shifts?

Let us look at how Infosys succeeded in this transformation. Infosys initially provided only IT services. However, they noticed that their most demanding clients were frustrated by having to work simultaneously with multiple service firms, each lacking full accountability. They realized that in this frustration lay the seeds of a non-linear shift — and that they would either have to respond quickly and master the shift or become victims of it. They perceived the need for an organization that would provide management consulting services, redesign operations, and write specifications for new IT systems; then develop, test, install and maintain it; perhaps even accept responsibility for executing routine client operations such as transaction processing.

They also realized that the current organizational memory would be a burden for this new reality. So they created a parallel world with different people and distinct processes.

They focused on three key areas:

1. Strategy Making — Instead of linear extrapolation from the past using rigorous data analysis, they focused on anticipating non-linear shifts by bringing in non-traditional voices such as, for example, key clients, and youth (who would have little, if any, organizational memory).
2. Accountability — Instead of focusing on on-time, to spec, within budget delivery, they focused on disciplined experiments with the primary emphasis on learning rapidly, thus eliminating the defensiveness inherent in traditional organizations.
3. Organizational Design — Instead of optimizing the way individuals collaborate through job specifications, work processes and organizational design, they formed special teams with a good mix of “outsiders” to challenge assumptions and bring a fresh set of skills and competencies.

All these changes helped Infosys overcome the burden of the organizational memory of a very successful IT services company, while retaining all of the essential elements that were responsible for its success. As a result of this successful transformation, Infosys grew 25-fold over the decade from 2000 to 2010 — from $200 million to $5 billion.

If you too sense big non-linear shifts in your markets, remember that “organizational forgetting” may be essential to meeting the challenges successfully.

 

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer finds female- and minority-owned businesses get only 5% of city contracts

While certifications are up, more than 50% of interested female- and minority-owned businesses are not receiving enough support on completing applications for contracts, according to Stringer’s study. The report found that in the last budget year only 5% of $10.5 billion in city contracts went to firms owned by minorities or women.

BY ERIN DURKIN / NEW YORK DAILY NEW

MARIELA LOMBARD/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer found that few minority- or women-owned businesses are getting city contracts, and less than half are being offered support on applications.

Eight years after the city enacted a law to help them, businesses owned by women and minority-group members are struggling to obtain a much larger slice of the city’s multibillion-dollar contracting pie, a new analysis shows.

The study by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer found that while the number of minority group- and female-owned firms certified to bid for city contracts has surged, relatively few are cashing in.

Stringer’s office contacted 500 firms that had been certified, and only 25.5% said they had won a contract, according to his report, obtained by the Daily News.

More than half the firms, 54.8%, said the city hasn’t given them enough support to help them apply for contracts. And a third of the businesses said they had never even completed a bid for a contract despite going through the certification process.

In the last budget year, only 5% of the $10.5 billion the city spent on contracts — for everything from construction projects to paper clips — went to firms owned by minority-group members or women.

“The good news is the city has done a terrific job boosting these certifications,” said Stringer, who is running for city controller.

“The bad news is we’re still falling short where it counts — which is getting contracts into the hands of the minority- and women-owned businesses.”

Stringer said those businesses complain about often-confusing applications, the lack of notice about contracting opportunities and fees charged by some agencies to view bidding documents.

Large, well-established companies have years of experience navigating the process. But for fledgling businesses — which are more likely to be owned by minority-group members or women — the process can be overwhelming, Stringer said.

RELATED: DEVELOPERS BUY UP AGING LOWER MANHATTAN BUILDINGS FOR CHIC CONDOS

“The city is not doing enough to help the businesses navigate the bid process, which remains too complicated and too time consuming,” Stringer said.

Asked for comment on Stringer’s report, the city Small Business Services Department said that since Mayor Bloomberg took office, 3,500 minority- and female-owned businesses have been certified, and that such firms have won more than $3 billion in contracts.

“The city has also created programs to help (the) firms win contracts by connecting them to financing, bonds, mentors and one-on-one assistance for submitting bids,” the agency said.

 

Rethinking How to Address the Growing Female Prison Population

by Julie Ajinkya

SOURCE: AP/Mel EvansInmates are seen at Integrity House, a transitional housing and residential treatment area for women incarcerated at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearney, New Jersey on August 2, 2011.

The female prison population in the United States continues to grow at an alarming rate. Specifically, from 2000 through 2009, the number of women incarcerated in state or federal prisons rose by 21.6 percent, compared to just a 15.6 percent increase for men. While the number of incarcerated men still far exceeds the number of incarcerated women, which was 205,000 women overall in prison or jail in 2010, the growth of the female prison population has a distinct effect on families and communities that are torn apart as a result.

What’s more, sexual violence, drug dependence, and poverty are all strongly correlated with women’s incarceration, meaning that our society still chooses to punish instead of heal—we lock women up instead of providing services that could help them live healthy, secure, and productive lives. Moreover, women of color experience all of these factors at disproportionate rates, which means that they also have a greater likelihood of becoming entangled in the criminal justice system.

A recent report released by the Sentencing Project, however, finds that there has been a dramatic shift in racial disparities among women inmates over the past decade. While black women were incarcerated in state and federal prisons at six times the rate of white women in 2000, this ratio declined by 53 percent, or about 2.8-to-1, by 2009. The disparity between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women declined by 16.7 percent over the same period.

There are likely many factors at play in this laudable shift in racial disparities among incarcerated women—including but not limited to changes in law enforcement and sentencing practices and policies, or the involvement of women in crime—but the same report suggests that the reduced number of drug incarcerations is the likely explanation for a significant portion of the trend. That fact alone should be lifted up—because African American women were disproportionately affected by drug offense incarceration, any policies that result in a substantial reduction in these types of offenses would also disproportionately benefit them.

Despite these notable improvements, the rising rate of incarcerated women is still a substantial problem. For starters, the narrowing in disparities has not been felt equally among all women of color. While black women experienced a decline of 30.7 percent in their rate of incarceration between 2000 and 2009, Latino women experienced a 23.3 percent rise over the same time period. Likewise, white women experienced an incarceration rate increase of 47.1 percent. These disparate trends could be explained by the combination of increased methamphetamine enforcement—a drug disproportionately used by whites and Latinos—and the continued use of harsh sentencing policies.

The real travesty, however, is that the incarceration of women often masks the fact that some women are disproportionately vulnerable to a host of risk factors that increase the likelihood of their becoming involved in the criminal justice system. The vast majority of women in prison—85 percent to 90 percent—have a history of being victims of violence prior to their incarceration, including domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, and child abuse. And racial disparities strike here too: Girls of color who are victims of abuse are more likely to be processed by the criminal justice system and labeled as offenders than white girls, who have a better chance of being treated as victims and referred to child welfare and mental health systems. This disparity is particularly devastating forgender nonconforming girls, who are up to three times more likely to experience harsh disciplinary treatment by school administrators than their heterosexual counterparts.

In addition to intimate partner violence, other risk factors contributing to women’s criminal behavior include substance abuse and mental illness. It is estimated that up to 80 percent of women prisoners suffer from substance addiction. While it would be much more cost effective to treat these women than imprison them or pay for foster placement for their children, they are refused such rehabilitative measures—measures that could facilitate their integration back into society as productive members.

These high incarceration rates for women are tearing families apart and devastating communities around the country. Sixty-five percent of incarcerated women, compared to 44 percent of incarcerated men, report havingminor children at home. Half of all women in prison are incarcerated more than 100 miles from their families and of the mothers who are imprisoned this far from home, 38 percent will not see their children even once during their incarceration. Not surprisingly, incarcerated women are often the primary caretakers of their children before their imprisonment, meaning children have the only parent they’ve ever known ripped from their lives. Fully, 77 percent of incarcerated mothers report providing most of their children’s daily care prior to being imprisoned and here again, women of color are more likely than their white counterparts to raise their children alone and be the single heads of the household.

Women’s incarceration also contributes to a significant risk factor in the future incarceration of their children.Two out of every three women in state prison have at least one family member who has been incarcerated and there are 1.5 million children who currently have a parent in state or federal prison.  These children are at a heightened risk for future incarceration and children of color are disproportionately represented in this group as well, with 1 in 15 black children and 1 in 42 Latino children reporting having a parent in prison, compared to just 1 in 111 white children.

The devastating impact of women’s incarceration doesn’t end when women are released. That’s because women also face significant obstacles to effectively reentering society and providing for themselves and their children. Once released, women find themselves restricted from governmental assistance programs such as housing, employment, education, and subsistence benefits. Many states even impose statutory bans on people with certain convictions working in certain industries such as nursing, child care, and home health care—three fields in which many poor women and women of color happen to be disproportionately concentrated.

Given the fiscal challenges that states are facing and the large-scale abandonment of children that women’s incarceration generates, it is imperative that states reassess the growing female prison population. Interestingly, just this past week Utah exceeded operational capacity for female inmates in its state prison. The limited funds that states have should be shifted from punishment to treatment and be considered an investment in rehabilitating families and communities that have already been disproportionately devastated by violence and poverty.

 

Infographic: Where Are U.S. Women in 2013?

by Jane Farrell

Women make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population and more than 49 percent of the workforce, yet they still hold a disproportionately small number of leadership roles in both the public and private sector. At every level of government across America, women are underrepresented. The United States ranks nearly 70th out of 188 countries in terms of women elected to national offices, having dropped down from 57th in November 2004.

While there is room for more research on how women in leadership roles affect policy outcomes, the advancement of women in our workplaces has had clear benefits for our economy and nation. Studies have shown that Fortune 500 corporations with more women on their boards perform better financially and that hedge funds run by women also outperform the industry standard. But right now, of the 1,000 CEOs leading our nation’s largest businesses, only 42—4.2 percent—are women.

Furthermore, women are more likely to work in many of the low-wage, service-sector jobs that underpin much of our economy. Women make up 54 percent of all service-sector workers and 77 percent of all education and health-service workers. This includes 80 percent of those in health care and social-assistance jobs, and more than 80 percent of workers in nursing and residential-care facilities. As these occupations are some of thefastest-growing jobs in our economy, it is important to pause and take note of not just the absolute gains women are making in employment, but the ways in which they are being represented and empowered—or disempowered—at every level.

 

Memo to Staff: Take More Risks

CEOs Urge Employees to Embrace Failure and Keep Trying

By LESLIE KWOH

When Jim Donald took the helm at Extended Stay America a year ago, he sensed fear.

Justin Cook for The Wall Street JournalExtended Stay’s Jim Donald says employees ‘were afraid to do things.

Growth and innovation come from daring ideas and calculated gambles, but boldness is getting harder to come by at some companies. Leslie Kwoh reports. Photo: Justin Cook for The Wall Street Journal.

Many employees at the national hotel chain, which had recently emerged from bankruptcy, were still stuck in survival mode. Worried about losing their jobs, they avoided decisions that might cost the company money, such as making property repairs or appeasing a disgruntled guest with a free night’s stay.

“They were waiting to be told what to do,” recalls the former Starbucks Corp.SBUX +1.02% chief executive. “They were afraid to do things.”

So Mr. Donald gave everyone a safety net: He created a batch of miniature “Get Out of Jail, Free” cards, and is gradually handing them out to his 9,000 employees. All they had to do, he told them, was call in the card when they took a big risk on behalf of the company—no questions asked.

Growth and innovation come from daring ideas and calculated gambles, but boldness is getting harder to come by at some companies. After years of high unemployment and scarred from rounds of company cost-cutting and layoffs, managers say their workers seem to have become allergic to risk.

Companies large and small are trying to coax staff into taking more chances in hopes that they’ll generate ideas and breakthroughs that lead to new business. Some, like Extended Stay, are giving workers permission to make mistakes while others are playing down talk of profits or proclaiming the virtues of failure.

At Extended Stay, Mr. Donald says the small lime-green cards have been trickling in since last summer, a sign that the staff’s risk-averse mentality may be dissipating.

Justin Cook for The Wall Street JournalMr. Donald printed up “Get Out of Jail Free” cards to spur employees to take action.

One California hotel manager recently called to redeem her card, he says, confessing that she nabbed 20 business cards from a fishbowl in the lobby of nearby rival La Quinta in an attempt to find prospective customers.

Another manager in New Jersey cold-called a movie-production company when she heard it would be filming in the area. The film crew ended up booking $250,000 in accommodations at the hotel.

Workers may feel some whiplash as companies inadvertently bombard them with “conflicting messages” to be creative and cautious at the same time, says Ron Ashkenas, a senior partner at Schaffer Consulting, a Stamford, Conn.-based management consulting firm that advises Fortune 500 firms including Merck & Co. and General Electric Co. GE +0.56%

A penchant for risk can get an employee flagged as a loose cannon or hard case for management. And, while companies may talk lovingly about experimentation, they’re often quick to deem someone a failure when results don’t come quickly, Mr. Ashkenas says.

Little wonder, then, that senior managers complain that “nothing happens” when they tell their employees to feel empowered and come up with new ideas, he says. The irony, he adds, is that a company where workers fail to take risks along the way often find themselves forced into a “position where it has to take a big bet, to put all chips on one shiny new object.”

Steve Krupp, CEO of consulting group Decision Strategies International, says one of his clients, a financial-services firm, dubbed its portfolio managers the “walking wounded” because they remain traumatized by losses their portfolios sustained during the economic downturn.

Many have become overly cautious about taking even ordinary risks with investments, adds Mr. Krupp, who is devising ways for the firm’s senior leaders and employees to overcome their fears and take balanced risks.

“You can’t just avoid all risk, because it will lead to entropy,” he says.

In many cases, risk-averse employees just assume that’s how the boss wants things. Mark O’Brien, North American president of ad agency DDB Worldwide, says he got a wake-up call when workers cited “profit” as the company’s top priority in a 2011 employee survey. In previous years, profit generally ranked second to creative work, and ahead of people.

He understood why workers felt that way. His division, DDB North America, had just laid off 10% of its workforce, and clients were paying less than before. He saw the work suffer, too—the division, which brought in roughly half of the company profit, only won a tiny share of industry awards given for creative work, a key driver for attracting talent.

Talking too openly about the company’s financial pressures was dampening morale and inhibiting creativity, he reasoned, so he took managers aside and told them, “You and I can talk about money, but don’t let that spill into the rest of the agency.”

Mr. O’Brien has taken risks of his own, going beyond the usual employee pools to source new talent in the U.K. and Latin America, where he says the advertising industry is more competitive.

To prod employees into action, some management gurus are preaching the virtues of failure.

Naveen Jain, CEO of information-technology company Inome, says his own missteps as an entrepreneur led him to urge his 400 employees to “fail fast” if they can, moving on quickly from projects that don’t take off.

“My whole life has been a set of failures,” says Mr. Jain, whose Internet-search venture InfoSpace almost ran out of money in the 1990s. “It’s impossible to try something new and not fail.”

 

Computer Posture

 

Deeper issues in violence against women

Nidhi Tandon

2013-03-07, Issue 619

cc J CVictim protection is a critical response measure, but women need to address systemic issues. They need to challenge systems that undermine their ability to participate in decision making and their control over resources

‘The first and greatest violence is the systematic exclusion of people – a great number of people – by society. From this violence other violence directly and indirectly flows. Where you exclude, you must establish instruments to control those who are excluded so that they don’t invade the peace of those who have access to opportunities and wealth.” – Father Bruno Sechi, cofounder of the National Movement of Street Boys and Girls

Over the past few decades, women’s rights campaigns have focused on addressing the more obvious manifestations of violence against women. This includes domestic abuse, rape, femicide and the victimization of women during war time. The ‘solutions’ usually revolve around legal rights and recourse, policing, rape crisis centers and physical and psychological help for victims.

While it is imperative that women are protected from violence and that victims of violence are healed, we need also to engage with the underlying issues that cause the break down in values that respect and dignify men and women. In spite of a long history of fighting for human rights, the rights and assets of the poor are under siege in the face of agro-industrial investments, food-stress and climate change on a broad macro level. As these threats become more entrenched, the violence that women face will rise.

ONE OF THE UNDERLYING CAUSES IS THE STRUGGLE FOR SCARCE RESOURCES

When natural resources become scarce and livelihoods threatened, tensions along ethnic, racial and religious lines are intensified. More often than not, women are direct victims of these tensions as male/female inequalities are further magnified and suppressive gender roles reinforced. Men and women in rural settings experience climate change very differently because of their roles/ responsibilities. In Kenya, poverty associated with drought affects school attendance, with more girls withdrawn from school than boys. In Uganda, the food crisis associated with climate change has been linked to higher rates of early marriage for girls; they are exchanged for dowry or bride price. These ‘famine marriages’ make them vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and related reproductive complications. When food becomes scarce, girls are fed last and least; the weakest and most vulnerable perish from malnutrition; mothers watch their infants die. These are all forms of violence.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND THE RAPE OF WOMEN IN THE CONGO [1]

Under King Leopold II the Congo Basin saw ‘some of the worst frontier violence in modern times’. The country was pillaged and looted on a grand scale – organized violence aimed at coercively extracting labour from indigenous peoples to meet the growing demand for rubber. This violence included executions, mutilations and cutting off the hands of those men who refused to work in plantations. Some 120 years later, rape victims in eastern DRC are being forced to work in mines producing the gold, coltan, tantalum, tungsten and tin ore for jewelry, mobiles and laptops. [2] Some 1,152 women are raped every day – it is part of the coercion of men and women into submission to work against their will. While the Congo is an extreme case, it does suggest that as long as its natural assets are pillaged by corporate greed we can hardly expect women and men to be protected from rape and slavery at the individual level.

INSTITUTIONALIZED VIOLENCE AND WOMEN’S RESISTANCE AGAINST IT

Deeper causes of violence are embedded within the institutionalized structures of commodity production and exchange within the capitalist system. This violence has been meted out against both men and women with forced colonial production systems.

The land-based campaigns followed by the murders of, for example, Chico Mendez in Brazil (1988) and Ken Saro Wiwa in Nigeria (1995) are evidence of the extremes of violence. Against these institutionalized violence, people (women more often than men) have organised resistance through protracted protests, mobilizing collective action locally and internationally. In some instances, women’s groups have been successful in preventing further damage to their local eco-systems and livelihoods. The Niger Delta Women for Justice, for instance, brought together international activists, in solidarity with Nigerian peasant women, and numerous grass roots organisations, to stop the gas flaring activities of five oil companies in the country – AGIP, Chevron, Mobil, Shell and Texaco. In January 2006, Nigerian courts ordered Shell to stop the flaring of natural gas. Since the late 1990s, there have been repeated efforts to stop gas flaring, oil spillages and blowouts in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

In March 2008, peasant women mobilized against agri-business in favour of the Brazilian people’s food sovereignty. Nine hundred women, members of Via Campesina in Rio Grande do Sul, occupied 2,100 hectares of monoculture eucalyptus plantations belonging to the Swedish-Finnish transnational company, Stora Enso to reclaim their access to the land.

WOMEN RESPOND VIOLENTLY TO VIOLENCE AND VIOLATIONS

As the methods and avenues of violence intensify, violence perpetrated by women will also increase.
Some of this violence is self-inflicted or forced by circumstances. Women, for instance, will go to greater and riskier lengths to feed their children. The increasing numbers of women in prison in Zimbabwe, for example, is one indicator of the life-turning events that lead women into situations of violence and criminal behavior (for example cattle rustling). Self-inflicted violence includes selling blood, organs and body (and daughters) for cash, and in the worst case scenario, committing suicide. Women in India take a stand against the corporate takeover of their lands, at gunpoint.

HOW CAN WE ADDRESS STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE? ORGANISE, ORGANISE, ORGANISE

Structural violence refers to a form of violence based on systematic and institutionalized ways in which a social structure or institution ‘kills people’ by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. Structural violence inevitably produces conflict and often direct violence, including family violence, racial violence, hate crimes, terrorism, genocide, and war. [3]

Victim protection is a critical response measure, but women need to address systemic issues. They need also to challenge the system that undermines their ability to participate in decision making (exclusion) and their control over resources. They need to take direct action against structural violence that marginalises and steals the dignity of the poor – men and women. They need to fight every manifestation of violence against them, whether from their men or from the system. They need to organise, organise, organise.

* Nidhi Tandon is originally from East Africa and is based in Toronto, Canada where she works as an independent consultant. Nidhi is a social activist, animator and writer working with women and with marginalized communities to raise their voices in a globalized economy.

END NOTES

[1] http://goo.gl/K3BNb

[2] Interview Prof Wamba Pambazuka News 405, 2008. Also seehttp://www.congocalling.org/act/

[3] http://goo.gl/VVMXb

 

Securitization or Terrorization?

US counterterrorism policy and the crisis in the Sahara-Sahel

Jacob Mundy

2013-03-12, Issue 621

cc L MIn a number of ways, the American counterterrorism doctrine, which is a part of a long-time transnational destabilization of the Sahara-Sahel, has helped create the current conflict in the region

‘All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.’
Osama Bin Laden, October 2004

Scenes of a hostage crisis at a natural gas installation in eastern Algeria likely came as a shock to many longtime observers of the region. During the last two decades of armed violence in Algeria, very rarely did Islamists groups attack energy infrastructure, and almost never in the Sahara. Yet the ease with which it seems that a small group of Algerian and internationalist fighters were able to seize the energy facilities in In Amenas raises several difficult questions. Why has the Achilles heel of the Algerian state never been targeted by groups allegedly bent on its overthrow? Groups, that is, who seem to have absolute freedom of movement across vast stretches of the Sahara, picking and choosing targets at will?

Embarrassment, however, is not Algiers’ alone. The prolonged crisis in Mali, which has finally been subjected to a long intimated French intervention, points towards a more disturbing complex of factors driving the transnational destabilization of the Sahara-Sahel. Attempts to historicize current events in the region have often pointed to the coup in Mali, the flood of arms unleashed during the 2011 Libyan civil war, the presence of an Al-Qaida franchise (AQIM, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghrib), and the cycles of Tuareg rebellion since the end of French colonialism.

What has often been missing from these conversations is an appreciation of the US role in the destabilization of the region. Mali, after all, was the centerpiece of US counterterrorism doctrine in the Sahara-Sahel under the Obama administration and his predecessor. As has been noted by many commentators, the coup leaders had been the recipients of US military training and Azawad separatists easily confiscated military equipment supplied to Mali in the name of countering terrorism. But the processes by which US efforts to stabilize the Sahara-Sahel region have actually resulted in its profound destabilization are much longer in the making. These processes are simple to understand and not uncommon in the world of counterterrorism. That is to say, counterterrorism doctrines seem to have an amazing ability to produce, and then reproduce, the conditions of its own necessity.

It is one thing to say that the current crisis in the Sahara has been deliberately engineered, as that begs the questions ‘By whom?’ and ‘For what purpose?’ That is not what is being suggested here. The processes by which we have arrived at France’s intervention in Mali and the attack in In Amenas, I believe, lack coherence or a unitary logic. These processes can nonetheless be accounted for within a framework that seeks to appreciate the hegemony of US power in global affairs, a hegemony that is inefficient and obtuse but is nonetheless built upon a structure of historically and globally unrivaled capacities to appropriate and mobilize political, financial and military power.

Here are some analogies. Scholars working on the problem of persistent and protracted famines, notably in Africa’s Sahel (though more historical cases bear mention), have long recognized that mass starvation is not always intended butthere are nonetheless benefits to be reaped. The process here is not unlike the one identified in Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine. In its more abstract form, the basic proposition is quite simple: those who are best able to manage — and thus benefit from — the chaos of catastrophic situations are often those who made the catastrophe possible in the first place, sometimes unwittingly, sometimes serendipitously, and sometimes deliberately. Yes, it is a conspiracy theory. But it is a conspiracy in which the world’s most pervasive and powerful ideology is in the driver’s seat (for Klein, Neoclassical Economics and Neoliberal governance). We do not need a bunch of smoking men in a dimly lit room in the Pentagon to make sense of the world.

Like capitalism, terrorism — that is, late counterterrorism doctrine — has had a similar propensity to manufacture the conditions of its own necessity. In the world of (counter)terrorism studies, Joseba Zulaika has stood out as one of the few scholarsto recognize and warn against the dangers of this pathology. Adam Curtis’ documentary, , vividly narrates the ways in which Al-Qaida and the US Neoconservative movement had, for decades, been mutually constituting each other through their blind dedication to ideology and a politics of fear. Lisa Stampnitzky’s forthcoming [url= [url=http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item7118829/?site_locale=en_GB]Disciplining]http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item7118829/?site_locale=en_GB]Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented “Terrorism”[/url] promises to be the definitive account of how terrorism has been more made than found.

In the Sahara-Sahel, a similar pattern has emerged, albeit constrained by local specificities. In other words, US counterterrorism doctrine has helped make the conflict we see today possible. Invention is the mother of necessity.

To better understand what is going on in the central Sahara and the western Sahel today, one has to first look at the ways in which US counterterrorism doctrine in the region has understood itself. At the ideational level, US securitization — or rather terrorization — of the Sahara-Sahel is rooted in the problematization of 9/11 style terrorism as a confluence of vast spaces allotted to weak governments where radical ideologies can stage global war. That is, the safe haven myth. Early US initiatives were not premised on the existence of terrorism in the Sahara, but rather on an imaginative cartography of anticipation.

Roughly three months before the GSPC shocked the world by abducting several dozen European tourists in Algeria in early 2003, the US government was already implementing the Pan Sahel Initiative (PSI). The language of this counterterrorism program is drenched in the rhetoric of empty spaces, porous borders, and suspect mobilities. Nearly three years into these initiatives, the International Crisis Group, well known for its on the ground research, was still asking the basic question Is there even a threat here? Contrary to this critique, journalists like Robert Kaplan and Joshua Hammer, who were allowed to report on US Special Forces training programs in the Niger and Mali, respectively, were quick to note the uncharacteristically preventative nature of these programs.

The symmetry between the anticipatory cartography driving these preventative programs in the early 2000s and the now extant conflicts that materially populate Africa’s ‘arc of instability’ is startling. The Pentagon has postulated many arcs of instability across the globe, but across the Sahara an arc of instability has been said to run 4,000 miles from Somalia through the Sahel to the central Sahara. This arc was imagined early in the war on terror, when there were only vague indications that the GSPC was operating in the Algerian desert. Now experts debate whether or not there are ‘operational’ linkages between several groups that did not even exist before military planners in Washington constellated this arc — that is, between Al-Shabab in Somalia, Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, and AQIM in the central Sahara. Either the Pentagon was extremely prescient or something else is going on here.

For its part, the Obama administration has done little to change his predecessor’s Saharan initiatives. Late in the George W. Bush administration, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP), citing key deficiencies in its implementation. Yet if one scrolls through the GAO’s list of recommendations to the State Department (which leads the “partnership”) and the Department of Defense (which gets most of the money), all say “Closed – Not implemented.” According to the GAO, the TSCTP — five months into the 2012 Mali crisis — was still largely running on documents created in 2005. Yet the beauty of US counterterrorism doctrine’s self-understanding is the extent to which abject failure (e.g., Mali today) is also a key rationale for more of the same (e.g., [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/29/us-mali-rebels-niger-idUSBRE90S0DX20130129]a new drone base in Niger[/url). The now demonstrated power of armed Jihadi groups in the Sahara-Sahel will not force a rethink of US counterterrorism in the region; it will likely constitute a key argument to justify the amplification of Africom’s budget.

What US counterterrorism doctrine in the Sahara-Sahel is unable to account for is its participation in the imaginative and material elaboration of the very conditions that have led to the crisis we see today. Did the TSCTP find terrorism in the Sahara or did it help make it? A good place to start looking for an answer is to trace the effects these initiatives have had on the region’s political economy. A number of competing and evolving factors likely affect the forces that are now driving armed conflict in the region, but central to the recent ‘radicalization’ of Tuareg and Arab communities in the western and central Sahara is the loss of tourism revenue. The loss of wholesale tourism witnessed in the movement of the Paris-Dakar Rally to South America is but an indicator of the loss of smaller scale tourism across the region, a loss that has hit Tuareg and Arab communities especially hard. The counterterrorism policies of the United States did nothing to address this flight of tourism and, in many ways, they exacerbated it by insinuating a threat that had yet to take significant material form.

Furthermore, in working closely with the governments in Bamako and Niamey (capitals gerrymandered by French colonialism to rule over far off Saharan populations), the US government was arming and training militaries that the Tuaregs have been fighting since the 1960s. Morocco, another key US partner in the region, has been at war with Arab Sahrawi nationalists since 1975. Thus it should come as little surprise that Rabat has been very keen to promote the arc of instability idea too, such that the western tip of the arc conveniently lands at the headquarters of the Frente POLISARIO, the Western Sahara independence movement based near Tindouf, Algeria. Washington’s support for the new revolutionary regime in Tripoli is also likely to exacerbate a disturbing native/settler discourse in contemporary Libya. Northern Arab and Berber revolutionaries are portraying supposedly darker skinned populations (Tawergha, Tebu, and Tuareg) not only as Gaddafi loyalists to be mistrusted and imprisoned, but also as non-indigenous populations to be denied citizenship and expelled, by force if needed.

A more thoughtful approach to Saharan-Sahelian security might begin with the simple acknowledgement that the core stakeholders should be, first and foremost, the people who live there, not the corrupt politicians who claim to rule there. Yet US counterterrorism policy has allied itself and worked through regimes that have historically seen indigenous Saharan populations as threats to their access to the wealth of the Sahara. These are conflicts that predate 9/11 by decades.

There is also an important knock-on effect of US securitization/terrorization of Saharan life and mobility. This is the loss of any incentive for the Sahelian and Saharan governments or local communities to combat smuggling, or at least keep the routes far away from tourism sites. Shifts in global narcotics flows also help to account for the recent transformations in the Saharan livelihoods, from one dependent on foreign travelers to one increasingly dependent on trafficking human and goods. Compounding the issues at the micro level, the region as a whole is being acutely affected by global warming, which has likely contributed to increased frequency of crop failures and famines along the Sahel. Moreover, the global food price index has not significantly abated since peaking with the outbreak the Arab Spring in early 2011. And so what little food is available remains dangerously expensive.

Life in the Sahara and Sahel is not essentially precarious. As we know from Judith Butler, the life is made precariousness by our politics. Life in the Sahara-Sahel has been recently produced as extremely precarious by forces largely beyond the control of the people who live there. One of the most potent forces is US counterterrorism doctrine. After a decade of US counterterrorism initiatives in the Sahara-Sahel, the greatest achievement of these programs (to which we can now add the US Africa Command) is in having made their warrant real and durable.

* Jacob Mundy is an Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University, where he also teaches African and Middle East studies. He is the coauthor (with Stephen Zunes) of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution and coeditor (with Daniel Monk) of the forthcoming The Post-conflict Environment. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Kent State conference ‘Humanitarian Dilemmas: Debating Interventions in Africa and the Middle East’ in April 2012.

 

As middle class grows, global brands hit Nigeria

Associated Press – In this photo taken, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 workers prepare hamburgers at Johnny Rockets restaurant in Lagos, Nigeria. As Nigeria’s middle class grows along with the appetite for foreign brands in Africa’s most populous nation, more foreign restaurants and lifestyle companies are entering the country. And the draw on Nigerians’ new discretionary spending has also put new expectations on providing quality service in a nation where many have grown accustomed to expecting very little. ( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)  

Hamburgers with a side of jollof rice: As Nigeria middle class grows, global brands hit market

by Jon Gambrell, Associated Press

Lagos, Nigeria (AP) — Inside this 1950s-style American diner, waitresses softly sing along to Aretha Franklin as they sling hamburgers and whip up milkshakes. The jukebox belts out Ritchie Valens as a customer wearing a Muslim prayer cap and flowing blue robes ambles in.

This isn’t the U.S., where the kitsch restaurant chain Johnny Rockets has several hundred locations, but instead Nigeria, where foreign companies have hesitated to invest because of logistical challenges, poor electricity and government corruption.

Now, however, as Nigeria’s middle class grows along with the appetite for foreign brands in Africa’s most populous nation, more foreign restaurants and lifestyle companies are entering the country. And the draw on Nigerians’ new discretionary spending has also put new expectations on providing quality service in a nation where many have grown accustomed to expecting very little.

“It really is impressive to go out to places and see places filled with everybody from all different walks of life,” said Christopher Nahman, the managing director at the Johnny Rockets in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. “Nigerians are a very aspirational society also. Even somebody who it might be really kind of a burden on them financially, they will still do it to just have that experience.

“It’s very encouraging moving forward because that’s what you need to sustain an economy. … There’s no going back.”

The majority of those who live in Nigeria, home to more than 160 million people, live in poverty. Just more than 60 percent of Nigerians earn the equivalent of less than $1 a day, according to a 2012 study published by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. For decades, only tiny sliver of the population either involved in the country’s oil industry or its government roundly criticized for corruption had access to wealth.

The end of military rule in 1999 saw the country’s economy slowly open up, with new professional jobs being added in banks and the rapidly growing mobile phone market. That gave birth to Nigeria’s rapidly growing middle class, whose members earn about $480 between $645 a month and represent nearly a quarter of the country’s population, according to a September 2011 study by investment firm Renaissance Capital.

Over time, those figures started to attract businesses who previously hadn’t been working in Nigeria. In retail, South African firms have flocked into Nigeria, finding places in the new malls being opened around Lagos. MassMart Holdings Ltd., of which Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Arkansas, owns a controlling stake, has its Game department there. Supermarket chain Shoprite Holdings Ltd., considered a budget grocer at home in South Africa, draws a more-upscale crowd in Nigeria, where most still shop for food in open-air markets.

The market has drawn U.S. restaurant chains as well. KFC, owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc., has seen a rapid expansion across Nigeria, with 17 restaurants opening across southwest Nigeria. Domino’s Pizza Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, recently had a franchisee open two locations in Lagos as well. Even ice cream seller Cold Stone Creamery of Scottsdale, Arizona, has opened to offer scoops and waffle cones to take the edge off of Nigeria’s sweltering heat.

At Johnny Rockets, which sits on Lagos’ swanky business-hub Victoria Island across the street from a major hotel frequented by foreigners and dignitaries, the restaurant has a velvet-roped waiting area in the parking lot. Inside, the stainless steel kitchen gleams and customers watch, often with open-mouth fascination, as workers dance each hour to “Hippy Hippy Shake” or another classic song.

The menu of burgers, fries and onion rings has the Nigerian addition of jollof rice, a spicy staple of tables throughout the country. Others coming in have followed — including Domino’s, which puts it atop a specialty pizza for the Nigerian market. However, most come for a taste of something different.

That luxury does come at a steep price. A double bacon cheeseburger sells for 3,500 naira, the equivalent of about $22. A vanilla milkshake is 1,800 naira, or $11.25. Yet the service does come with a smile, a song and a bit of spectacle often missing in Nigeria, where customer service can quickly degenerate into exasperated shouts and curses at blank-eyed employees.

“This, obviously, is not an everyday place,” said Mimi Ade-Odiachi, a landscape and garden designer dining there recently with a friend. “It’s a once in a while, I want to celebrate something small in my life” place.

Despite the possible profits, challenges still remain for these companies. Stores must rely on diesel generators for electricity, as Nigeria’s state-run power remains epileptic at best and blackouts can last days. Having adequate supply chains also can prove to be a challenge, as some Nigerian suppliers don’t immediately meet Western standards and backlogs at the country’s major port in Lagos can be weeks at a time. Corruption also remains rampant at government and regulatory agencies, analysts and private businesses acknowledge, making operating legally with proper accreditation even more difficult.

Still, there’s money to be made now and perhaps even more in the future if Nigeria’s economy continues to grow along with a burgeoning middle class looking for an escape from the grind of life in the country.

“People don’t feel like they’re in Nigeria when they come,” said Andrew Nahman, a director at Johnny Rockets. “Not necessarily that they have to get away from Nigeria, but it’s a different experience all together.”

 

Researchers show vitamin D supplementation may help African-Americans lower blood pressure

Brigham and Women’s Hospital study could have widespread public health benefits

High blood pressure, a risk factor for heart attacks, heart failure and stroke, is 40 percent more common in African-Americans than in other American ethnic groups. In a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), along with the Dana-FarberCancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital, researchers show that vitamin Dsupplementation may help African-Americans lower their blood pressure. The study publishes online in the March 13, 2013 edition of the American Heart Association journalHypertension.

“This study may explain and help treat an important public health disparity,” said the study’s lead author, John Forman, MD, a physician in the Renal Division and Kidney Clinical Research Institute at BWH. “More research is needed, but these data may indicate that vitamin D supplementation lowers blood pressure in African-Americans.”

To conduct the study, 250 African-American adult voluntary research participants were divided into four groups. Three of the groups received a three-month regimen of daily vitamin D supplementation at various doses that ranged between 1,000 and 4,000 units. The fourth group received a placebo. Participants in the placebo group saw their systolic blood pressure rise, but participants in the supplementation group had their systolic blood pressure decrease by one to four points, with those who received the highest dose benefiting the most. Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading; it measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats.

“The gains were modest, but significant,” said Forman. “If further research supports our finding, widespread use of vitamin D supplementation in African-Americans could have significant public health benefits.”

 

The Internet is a surveillance state

By Bruce Schneier, Special to CNN

Editor’s note: Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of “Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Survive.”

(CNN) — I’m going to start with three data points.

One: Some of the Chinese military hackers who were implicated in a broad set of attacks against the U.S. government and corporations were identified because they accessed Facebook from the same network infrastructure they used to carry out their attacks.

Two: Hector Monsegur, one of the leaders of the LulzSac hacker movement, was identified and arrested last year by the FBI. Although he practiced good computer security and used an anonymous relay service to protect his identity, he slipped up.

Bruce Schneier

And three: Paula Broadwell,who had an affair with CIA director David Petraeus, similarly took extensive precautions to hide her identity. She never logged in to her anonymous e-mail service from her home network. Instead, she used hotel and other public networks when she e-mailed him. The FBI correlated hotel registration data from several different hotels — and hers was the common name.

The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period.

Increasingly, what we do on the Internet is being combined with other data about us. Unmasking Broadwell’s identity involved correlating her Internet activity with her hotel stays. Everything we do now involves computers, and computers produce data as a natural by-product. Everything is now being saved and correlated, and many big-data companies make money by building up intimate profiles of our lives from a variety of sources.

News: Cyberthreats getting worse, House intelligence officials warn

Facebook, for example, correlates your online behavior with your purchasing habits offline. And there’s more. There’s location data from your cell phone, there’s a record of your movements from closed-circuit TVs.

This is ubiquitous surveillance: All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever. This is what a surveillance state looks like, and it’s efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell.

Sure, we can take measures to prevent this. We can limit what we search on Google from our iPhones, and instead use computer web browsers that allow us to delete cookies. We can use an alias on Facebook. We can turn our cell phones off and spend cash. But increasingly, none of it matters.

There are simply too many ways to be tracked. The Internet, e-mail,cell phones, web browsers, social networking sites, search engines: these have become necessities, and it’s fanciful to expect people to simply refuse to use them just because they don’t like the spying, especially since the full extent of such spying is deliberately hidden from us and there are few alternatives being marketed by companies that don’t spy.

This isn’t something the free market can fix. We consumers have no choice in the matter. All the major companies that provide us with Internet services are interested in tracking us. Visit a website and it will almost certainly know who you are; there are lots of ways to betracked without cookies. Cellphone companies routinely undo the web’s privacy protection. One experiment at Carnegie Mellon took real-time videos of students on campus and was able to identify one-third of them by comparing their photos with publicly available tagged Facebook photos.

Maintaining privacy on the Internet is nearly impossible. If you forget even once to enable your protections, or click on the wrong link, or type the wrong thing, and you’ve permanently attached your name to whatever anonymous service you’re using. Monsegur slipped up once, and the FBI got him. If the director of the CIA can’t maintain his privacy on the Internet, we’ve got no hope.

In today’s world, governments and corporations are working together to keep things that way. Governments are happy to use the data corporations collect — occasionally demanding that they collect more and save it longer — to spy on us. And corporations are happy to buy data from governments. Together the powerful spy on the powerless, and they’re not going to give up their positions of power, despite what the people want.

Fixing this requires strong government will, but they’re just as punch-drunk on data as the corporations. Slap-on-the-wrist finesnotwithstanding, no one is agitating for better privacy laws.

So, we’re done. Welcome to a world where Google knows exactly what sort of porn you all like, and more about your interests than your spouse does. Welcome to a world where your cell phone company knows exactly where you are all the time. Welcome to the end of private conversations, because increasingly your conversations are conducted by e-mail, text, or social networking sites.

And welcome to a world where all of this, and everything else that you do or is done on a computer, is saved, correlated, studied, passed around from company to company without your knowledge or consent; and where the government accesses it at will without a warrant.

Welcome to an Internet without privacy, and we’ve ended up here with hardly a fight.

 

Not too early to plan for summer camp

With spring days away and summer here before you know it, parents and children are already thinking about the two-month break ahead, and the best camp options for the time off from school.

With overnight, day and sports camps, choosing the best way to spend the summer isn’t easy.

“There’s a special camp for everything,” said Susie Lupert, executive director of the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey.

“When [kids] have a skill and can concentrate on it, it’s a wonderful opportunity,” she added.

General interest camps are important for younger children because they will benefit from a broader program, Lupert said.

But when a kid is a teenager and they have a passion, allowing them to focus and concentrate on it fully will make their summer fun as well as meaningful.

“It’s a great benefit to attend any camp, but a specialty camp is an opportunity to focus on one skill that can be life changing for a kid,” she said.

The 92nd Street Y has offered educational summer camp programming for decades.

Alan Saltz, director of that program for more than 30 years, says the definition of summer camp has evolved since the early days, when swimming and arts and crafts were the basic staples of most camps.

From digital photography to archery to robotics, the 92nd Street Y program is intended to keep kids from falling into the “summer learning gap,” Saltz said.

In fact, many camps today offer programming that flexes the brain’s muscles as well as the body’s.

“A lot of camps are thinking all the time about the educational atrophy that occurs during the summer,” he said.

Saltz agreed that the older the campers are, the more they need specialized, interesting activities during the summer.

“Teens are a population that need something unique and outstanding,” he said.

***

Camp resources
92nd Street Y: 92Y.org, 212-415-5641

New York YMCA: Newyorkymcacamp.org, 877-30-YCAMP

NYC Department of Education Summer School: The city runs camps at multiple locations in each borough at low prices. schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/SummerSchool

City of New York Parks and Recreation: Nycgovparks.org/registration/summercamp

American Camp Association of NY and NJ: Aca-nynj.org, 212-391-5208. The non-profit’s website aggregates camps from around the region with easy search options. They also offer free referrals and give certain camps accreditation.

NYMetro Parents Camp Guide: Nymetroparents.com/CampGuide.cfm: A good resource for camps all over the tri-state area.