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After a lengthy internal battle, the Obama administration has formally rolled out its new Sudan policy. The policy spells out some ambitious goals: a definitive end to conflict and genocide in Darfur, implementation of the 2005 North-South peace deal and peaceful moves toward a 2011 referendum that will likely result in South Sudan becoming independent. Like many such policy reviews, this one looks good enough on paper. But how will we know if this policy is actually working? These are the practical measures by which Obama's new policy will ultimately be judged a success or a failure. Returns In Darfur, there is probably no better barometer for the relative success or failure of the international community than the almost 3 million people who remain displaced or refugees after having been forced to flee from their homes by the government-backed janjaweed militias. Refugees and the displaced vote with their feet. They are almost universally desperate to return to their former homes, but will only do so if security is sufficient for them to do so. To date, the UN force on the ground in Darfur has been largely ineffective, there has been no credible effort to disarm the janjaweed militias that caused such havoc and peace talks for Darfur have moved forward fitfully. Refugees and displaced persons know full well that their lands and villages are still occupied by armed thugs responsible for some of this century's most horrific war crimes. Under such conditions it would be pearl jewelry madness for these families who have already suffered so much to return home. The answer: a far more effective and robust peacekeeping force on the ground (with Khartoum's de facto veto power over UN operations taken away), practical steps to disarm the janjaweed and a solid peace agreement between the government and rebel forces brokered with international oversight and guarantees. The White House policy review places a lot of emphasis on a peace deal in Darfur. However, there have been few signs Washington or European capitals are willing to tackle the tough choices required to improve security on the ground, and officials have often been overly eager to portray a recent lull in fighting in Darfur as a sign that the fundamentals are improving. "Day after" understandings The independence referendum for South Sudan is a historical event of enormous importance. If handled poorly, tensions surrounding the referendum or its results could plunge Sudan back into a full-blown civil war with fatalities even more numerous than we have seen in Darfur. With a large number of southerners supporting independence, it is likely that any fair ballot would see Sudan split in two, with considerable implications for regional relations and security. The policy review acknowledged for the first time from a US government perspective that the independence option is an increasing likelihood, and that has helped still fears in South Sudan about a drift in US policy. Given the already tense relations between North and South, international diplomats will have their hands full keeping the existing peace agreement between the two on track and in responding to the daily fires that will surely mark the period running up to the referendum. However, it is important not simply to biwa pearl make it to the referendum without war breaking out and keeping the existing peace agreement intact, but to have a series of agreements in place for the day after the referendum 每 on borders, revenue sharing, assets, water rights and the many other factors that could precipitate a return to conflict. This will involve a great deal of diplomatic heavy lifting behind the scenes, and while progress may not be visible day to day, these side deals will deeply shape the future. Power-sharing Conflict has been recurring in Sudan because power remains held tightly by a narrow elite in Khartoum at the expense of the country's broader population. The international community will find that until they deal with this essential fact Sudan's conflicts will remain unending. National elections are scheduled for 2010, before the 2011 referendum, but expectations for elections to produce more democratic governance are slim. The ruling party has studiously avoided implementing those provisions of existing agreements that would allow for free assembly or a free press. In Darfur, it is virtually impossible to imagine how a free and fair ballot would take place with so many people still driven from their homes and living in acute insecurity. Any lasting peace plan for Sudan, regardless of the future of southern Sudan, needs to incorporate practical steps forward that create a more inclusive Sudan 每 not in rhetoric, but in practice. The 2010 election will probably be the first acid test of whether the administration is serious or not about exerting pressure on Khartoum if it fails to implement existing agreements. Accountability As much as some would like to push accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan aside, to do so would neither be productive nor right. The policy review produced by the Obama administration made the case that without accountability in Sudan, peace will likely prove elusive. The international criminal court has found sufficient evidence against Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, to akoya pearl accuse him of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. While we should not expect Bashir to show up in the Hague overnight, whether justice is achieved or not will speak volumes over time about the efficacy of this new policy out of Washington. If justice is not part of the solution in Sudan, it probably is not much of a solution at all. | ||
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| Children's minister Ed Balls has ballsed up in his appointment of Maggie Atkinson as children's commissioner, if the chairman of the children's select committee, Barry Sheerman, is to be believed. Sheerman said: "Most of us know that Ed Balls is a bit of a bully and he likes his own way." Michael White argued on Comment is free that Balls's bully-boy tactics were typical of the "Brownite default position". But to confuse matters, the National Children's Bureau has supported Balls's decision, saying that Atkinson was the best candidate. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of pearl jewelry Atkinson's appointment, bullying in the workplace is a serious matter. I once experienced it myself, under an editor of the old school. There was element of taking the beetroot-faced bollockings on the chin to prove you could, as they once did. The whole situation reminded me of pimply-chinned public school boys flushing each other's heads down toilets. But it's not only journalism that has a culture of taking your underlings down a peg or two. In April this year, the Health Service Journal published an article revealing that bullying is endemic in the NHS as well. A survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting found nearly a quarter of employees claiming to have been bullied at work in the previous 12 months. According to a report by the union Unite published in July last year, the annual cost to the economy of bullying in the workplace is £13.75bn. We spend an average of 35 hours at work in the UK 每 not as long as you might expect, perhaps, but still long enough for your boss to make your life miserable. If your relationship with your boss is dysfunctional, it simmers at a constant wrestle for power or you are bullied, then this piece from last week's New Scientist may shine a light on the situation. It suggests that bosses become aggressive when they are feeling empowered but inadequate. It may come as a relief to know that the tactic of flattering your boss's ego has been proven to work to ameliorate aggression. These findings are based on a biwa pearl research paper called When the Boss Feels Inadequate: Power, Incompetence and Aggression, published in the Psychological Science journal. The authors are Nathanael Fast, a psychologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Serena Chen, who is at the University of California, Berkeley. The team used online questionnaires to sound out the correlation between feelings of competence and power and aggression. The mixture of feelings of power and incompetence seemed to be related to increased aggression. To further test this correlation, Fast and Chen got a sample of 98 to write essays recalling a combination of feelings of incompetence or competence and power or lack of power, and then got them to choose noise blast levels as a punishment for a trial to take place in the future. Those primed to feel power and incompetence chose high levels, 71 decibels on average. Those manipulated to feel either competent, or incompetent and powerless, picked a volume of around 59 decibels. In another study in the paper, a sample of 54 filled out questionnaires to profile their level of competence, and then participants were tested and given results of a leadership aptitude test 每 results were fiddled to give some of the sample a boost. They then had to choose tests for their partners to compete in against others to win a $20 prize, with no gain to akoya pearl themselves. Ego-boosted participants were kinder to their partners and chose the easier tests. Arse-kissing behaviour might be a fix to aggression in the workplace, but the long-sighted strategy is to support your boss's work so they feel like they are doing a good job. Balls's staff in the Department for Children, Schools and Families might wish to take note. | ||
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| The phobia of foreign intrigue is never far away in the Islamic Republic. Iran seems to blame all its internal problems on "the intelligence services" of the UK and US, and this time we have an additional culprit: Pakistan. Whether it is the peaceful post-presidential-election demonstrations of June or Sunday's bombing in the south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, they are all "organised from abroad", according to officials. The Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Monday that the intelligence services of pearl jewelry US, UK and Pakistan had been behind the bombing in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed 42, including six Revolutionary Guards commanders. Jafari promised revenge: "We shall choose an appropriate time for retaliation," he said. In a veiled threat, he added it would not be difficult for any intelligence agency "to mount an attack like that anywhere". President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also blamed Pakistan and promised retaliation against the perpetrators. However, this seemed like an easy response to the lingering ethno-religious problems in the province, where the Baluchi Sunni minority feel they are treated as second-class citizens. They have often accused the government of ignoring their mounting economic and social deprivation. Outspoken members of the Baluchi community are often arrested and treated harshly in Revolutionary Guard prisons. There have been similar attacks in the past claimed by the Jundallah organisation, who claim to be fighting against political oppression in the province and often mount attacks when a member of their tribe is captured by Revolutionary Guards. A similar attack in February 2007 killed 11, including Revolutionary Guards. In May this year a bomb exploded at a mosque in the provincial capital, Zahedan, killing 19. So how Iran's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani could blame the US for the attack is unclear. The US, British and Pakistani governments have all rejected the accusations. Iran seems to be in the habit of heaping blame on the US and Britain without providing evidence. Four months on from the disputed June elections, the leaders of three opposition parties remain in the biwa pearl notorious Evin prison accused of being involved in sabotage "orchestrated by the US and Britain". Today, long jail sentences were imposed on two journalists who took part in the demonstrations, the Iranian-American academic Kian Tajbakhsh (12 years), and Masoud Bastani, a young journalist (six years). Opposition leaders such as Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mohammad Khatami are repeatedly accused of "collaborating with foreigners", and there are calls for their being condemned for treason. There are fresh demands today for the prosecution of Mousavi. Not a shred of evidence is offered. Documents are being fabricated against them including crimes that could carry the death penalty. Some have been sentenced to death and many others live under the daily threat of such pronouncements. The problem is compounded when the international community remains relatively silent on these human rights abuses while entering into nuclear negotiations. Yet the Islamic Republic plays its double act again. It agrees to a percentage of Iran's uranium being enriched in France and Russia and it allows the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to announce the agreement, only to deny it two weeks later. Then it announces it was only interested in the purchase of new enriched uranium, adding that France has been cut out of the deal because it has "foregone its commitments". The Iranian delegation to Vienna consisted of one adviser, two technical officials and Iran's representative at IAEA, none of whom are capable of making any commitments on what the international community is hoping to achieve: a timetable for the gradual reduction in nuclear enrichment. Official media in Iran reported that the Vienna meeting was solely for the "purchase" of enriched uranium. The international community is being subjected once again to Iran's delaying tactics. Ahmadinejad boasted at home that Iran was victorious at the Geneva talks, using the episode to boost for akoya pearl his damaged presidential legitimacy. It may benefit Iran to slow down enrichment and postpone weapons production, so as to let the talks continue, and allow the question of internal repression to gradually fade away as international diplomats pat Iran on the back. But one question will continue to be posed: whether or not a deal is reached with Iran, what are the ramifications of dealing with the Islamic Republic? Experience shows that Iran will not change its ways and sanctions are a non-starter, as is military action. However, there is one path that may prove more effective. Putting relentless international pressure on Iran for its serious abuse of human rights and questioning the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad's presidency may be both more appropriate and more effective than other paths at present. Contrary to Iran's constitution, the regime has consistently abused religious and minority rights, it has blocked all opposition activity, created a total media blackout, used excessive police force, made arbitrary arrests, tortured and abused inmates, fabricated evidence against opposition, and continued with juvenile executions. Perhaps questioning today's long jail sentences against two journalists could be a start. The warning by the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in a report on 15 October about these violations of human rights was ignored by the international community and by those diplomats who continue to pat Iran on its back for its broken promises. | ||
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| October is Black History Month in Britain 每 a wonderful celebration of the huge, important and valuable contribution that black people have made to humanity and to popular culture. It is also worth celebrating that many leading black icons have been lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), most notably the US black liberation hero Malcolm X. Other prominent black LGBTs include jazz singer Billie Holiday, author and civil rights activist James Baldwin, soul singer-songwriter Luther Vandross, blues singer Bessie Smith, poet and short story writer Langston Hughes, singer Johnny Mathis, novelist Alice Walker, civil rights activist and organiser of the 1963 March on Washington Bayard Rustin, blues singer Ma Rainey, dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, actress, singer and dancer Josephine Baker, Olympic diving gold medallist Greg Louganis, singer and songwriter Little Richard, political activist and philosopher Angela Davis, singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman and drag performer and singer RuPaul. Few of these prominent black LGBT achievers are listed on the most comprehensive UK Black History Month website, which hosts biographies of notable black men and women. In the section on people, only Davis is mentioned and her lesbianism is not acknowledged. The website fails to identify the vast majority of black public and historical figures who are LGBT. The Official Guide to Black History Month UK is pearl jewelry equally remiss. Why these omissions? Black people are not one homogenous heterosexual mass. Where is the recognition of sexual diversity within the black communities and black history? In contrast, LGBT History Month, which takes place in the UK in February, devotes a whole section of its website to the lives of leading black LGBT people and links to the websites for Black History Month. Disappointingly, this solidarity is not reciprocated. On the Black History Month websites I could not find a LGBT section or a LGBT History Month link. Perhaps it is unintentional but Black History Month sometimes feels like Straight Black History Month. Famous black LGBT people are not acknowledged and celebrated. Either their contribution to black history and culture is ignored or their sexuality is airbrushed out of their biographies. A good example of this neglect is the denialism surrounding the bisexuality of one of the greatest modern black liberation heroes: Malcolm X. The lack of recognition is perhaps not surprising, given that some of his family and many black activists have made strenuous efforts to deny his same-sex relationships and suppress recognition of the full spectrum of his sexuality. Why the cover-up? So what if Malcolm X was bisexual? Does this diminish his reputation and achievements? Of course not. Whether he was gay, straight or bisexual should not matter. His stature remains, regardless of his sexual orientation. Yet many of the people who revere him seem reluctant to accept that their hero, and mine, was bisexual. Malcolm X's bisexuality is more than just a question of truth and historical fact. There has never been any black person of similar global prominence and recognition who has been publicly known to be gay or bisexual. Young black lesbian, gay and bisexual people can, like their white counterparts, often feel isolated, guilty and insecure about their sexuality. They could benefit from positive, high-achieving role models, to biwa pearl give them confidence and inspiration. Who better than Malcolm X? He inspired my human rights activism and was a trailblazer in the black freedom struggle. He can inspire other LGBT people too. Right now, there is not a single living black person who is a worldwide household name and who is also openly gay. That's why the issue of Malcolm X's sexuality is so important. Having an internationally renowned gay or bisexual black icon would do much to help challenge homophobia, especially in the black communities and particularly in Africa and the Caribbean where homosexuality and bisexuality are often dismissed as a "white man's disease". So what is the evidence for Malcolm X's bisexual orientation? Most people remember him as the foremost US black nationalist leader of the 1960s. Despite the downsides of his anti-white rhetoric, black separatism and religious superstition, he was America's leading spokesperson for black consciousness, pride and self-help. He spoke with fierce eloquence and defiance for black upliftment and freedom. Malcolm's complex, changing sexuality was never part of the narrative of his life until the publication of Bruce Perry's acclaimed biography, Malcolm 每 The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America. Perry is a great admirer and defender of Malcolm X, but not an uncritical one. He wrote the facts, based on interviews with over 420 people who knew Malcolm personally at various stages in his life, from childhood to his tragic assassination in 1965. His book is not a hatchet job, as some black critics claim, it is the exact opposite. Perry presents an honest, rounded story of Malcolm's life and achievements which, in my opinion, is far more moving and humane than the better known but somewhat hagiographic The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told To Alex Haley. Based on interviews with Malcolm's closest boyhood and adult friends, Perry suggests the US black liberation leader was not as solidly heterosexual as his Nation of Islam colleagues and black nationalist acolytes have always claimed. While Perry did not make Malcolm's sexuality a akoya pearl big part of his biography 每 in fact, it is a very minor aspect 每 he did not shy away from writing about what he heard in his many interviews. He documents Malcolm's many same-sex relations and his activities as a male sex worker, which spanned at least a 10-year period, from his mid-teens to his 20s, as I described in some detail in a previous article for the Guardian. Although Malcolm later married and, as far as we know, abandoned sex with men, his earlier same-sex relations suggest that he was bisexual rather than heterosexual. Abstaining from gay sex after his marriage does not change the fundamentals of his sexual orientation and does not mean that he was wholly straight. Towards the end of his life, Malcolm's ideas were evolving in new directions. Politically, he gravitated leftwards. Faith-wise, after his trip to Mecca, he began to embrace a non-racial mainstream Islam. His mind was becoming open to new ideas and values. Had he not been murdered in 1965, Malcolm might have eventually, like Huey Newton of the Black Panthers and the black power leader Angela Davis, embraced the lesbian and gay liberation movement as part of the struggle for human emancipation. Instead, to serve their homophobic political agenda, for over half a century the Nation of Islam and many black nationalists have suppressed knowledge of Malcolm's same-sex relations. It is now time for Black History Month to speak the truth. Malcolm X was bisexual. Get over it. | ||
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| Knowledge about the wider picture of trafficking can be accumulated only over time and gleaned from a detailed and dedicated approach to the cases of individual victims. This requires improved systems for protection and assistance, which is the only way that frightened and vulnerable trafficked people are enabled to come forward. So the pearl jewelry comparison made in today's report between the existence of trafficking victims and that of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was overblown and inappropriate. At the Helen Bamber Foundation we provide psychological care and treatment to survivors of torture, genocide and those who have suffered gross human rights violations including those who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced labour. But the referral of these women, men and children to us for clinical services or documentation of injuries relies upon whether individuals come into contact with a small number of specialised professionals who have the expertise to identify and assist them. As almost all of our trafficked clients have claimed asylum, we do not have much information concerning cases that do not come through that system. Through our work we find those who have been trafficked are often realistically afraid of being penalised as "immigration offenders"; they feel stigmatised by their history of exploitation, sexual or otherwise; do not realise that they have any legal rights to protection; or fear reprisals against themselves or their families by the traffickers. They face difficulties in biwa pearl talking about their experiences due to a profound fear that they will not be believed. This is compounded by complex psychological trauma. With improved access to appropriately specialised legal advice and mainstream medical services, there is greater potential to identify and therefore assist victims of trafficking. The trafficked people we work with may not have been identified for years, either while being exploited or after their escape from the control of traffickers; and we find that the long-term influence of traffickers over individual lives is often underestimated. In our experience, even victims who have serious, documented injuries sustained from trafficking and exploitation may have their cases denied by the UK authorities. There is no room for complacency on this issue, or dismissal because the problem is not considered to be on a significant scale 每 it involves servitude, and therefore the devastation of human lives. Any debate about the wider picture of trafficking can be helpful, but only if it leads to a akoya pearl reasoned approach and further investigation of the problem, rather than shutting down vital public interest and resources. We believe that collation and analysis of information by an independent national rapporteur on trafficking would be the best way forward. | ||
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