US Response to Physical Torture

The United States response to female genital cutting has only come to the forefront in recent years. While the act of female circumcision is seen as physical and mental torture to most individuals around the world, it is strongly defended by those who are deep rooted in its culture and practices.

USAid, (who I have cited as a primary US relief group helping many international causes), released a policy on September 1, 2000 officially stating: "Policy: By this guidance, USAID recognizes FGC as a harmful, traditional practice that violates the health and human rights of women and hinders development. USAID opposes any practice of or support for Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and works toward the goal of total elimination of FGC. Under no circumstances does USAID support the practice of FGC by medical personnel. " (www.USAid.gov). The purpose of this policy is to spread awareness about the travesty going on in other countries and to support the Agency Strategic Plan along with other US Government policies trying to end FGC. Specific actions that this policy address include:
*updating agency strategy to include topics of gender, personal health, human rights and democracy governance
*support indigenous women's groups community leaders and religious organizations to ensure that all eradication activities are culturally appropriate
*identifying that FGC is only going to stop once the demand for it ends. Therefore USAid will work in close partnerships with indigenous community leaders as well as national and global policy leaders to promote broader education of the dangers and perils that FGC poses.
*coordinate elimination efforts and public support through working with donors and advocacy groups to enhance collaboration and coordination of elimination efforts.

The United Nations and the World Health Organizations (WHO) have both been privvy to the happenings regarding FGC, but have only recently begun to speak about it. In 1979, a formal policy statement was released, recommending to eliminate the practice.

Often, we only attempt to spread awareness and relief to causes that affect us personally (poverty, hunger, war, etc.) Because of this attribute of human nature, there is not as much US aid to FGC as I would have thought. There are many International groups and initiatives forming in countries in Africa and the Middle East, where FGC poses as a direct threat to the women that are born there. Other than releasing official statements condemning these procedures, the United States preveriably has its hands tied due to the deep rooted cultural ties this terrible tradition holds.

FGM! NO WAY!

Tribal communities around the world find westernization as a threat to maintaining cultural value. When the world began to recognize FGM as a human rights violation, practicing communities spoke out in defense of the procedures.

For example, the men in an Egyptian village demonstrated against the states attempt to ban 'circumcision'. This country is conservative, religious and guided largely by traditions, even when those traditions do not adhere to the tenets of their faith, be it Christianity or Islam. For centuries Egyptian girls, usually between the ages of 7 and 13, have been taken to have the procedure done, sometimes by a doctor, sometimes by a barber or whoever else in the village would do it.

FMG is considered necessary here to preserve chastity and honor. The skeptical public must be convinced that men will marry a woman who has not undergone the procedure and that circumcision is not necessary to preserve family honor. It is a challenge to get men to give up some of their control over women.

Both sides have been heard, but the terminal health risks associated with this tradition has the world speaking out against it. Culture can be upheld without threatening the lives of the women who cherish their heritage just as much as their grandmothers and mothers have in the past.

The Story of Yasmine a Victim of Female Gental Mutilation

Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally as a human rights violation. According to the World Health Organization “It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women.” Since it is usually performed on minors, it is often classified as a violation of the rights of children. FGM is a tradition, inherent to Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East that arises from social, rather than religious customs. Its purpose is to safeguard young girls’ virtue, as the procedure makes sexual intercourse unpleasant and painful. FGM has severe short term and long term consequences, ranging from life-long psychological and psychosomatic disorders to death.

The statistics is sticking - between 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the consequences of FGM. In Africa, about 92 million girls age 10 years and above are estimated to have undergone FGM. Many women are unwilling to give the practice because they see it as continuing traditions passed from generation to generation.

Here is the story of Yasmine, who was 14 when she underwent FGM.

I’d never heard of FGM [female genital mutilation] before it happened to me. Then one morning, when I was 14 years old, my uncle came and woke me up and took me to the house of a tall woman I didn’t know.

Together, they tied my hands and blindfolded my eyes. Then they laid me in the backyard with big banana leaves spread out on the ground. They took off my pants. I was fighting, but the woman sat on my chest. I wanted to die at that moment but I couldn’t scream – they put a cloth in my mouth. It felt like I was suffocating. There were no anaesthetics – they just cut me.

Three days later they said that they hadn’t cut me properly, that my clitoris was "growing back" and they had to scrape it off again. I can’t describe the feeling; you only know when it happens to you.

I stayed there for three weeks. They used to put herbs in a bottle and put it on the wound – it was so painful, like putting pepper on a cut.

I think the mutilation is cultural – many groups of African people are circumcised. They say that if you don’t get circumcised you will smell and a man will not want to marry you.

After they cut me they burned all my clothes and everything I had touched. Then they took the ashes and rubbed them on my stomach. They said that if I told anyone what they had done my belly would swell up and I would die.

Sometimes I get very, very angry. I wish I could talk to the people who did this to me – I wish I was back in that position to stop them. I wish I had a choice.

I had "type three" FGM, and I still feel the effects. I shuffle when I sit down because I get uncomfortable. I feel pain in the night. My period pain is terrible, and I always get infections. And there is a scar.

I came to the UK when I was 15. I was seeking asylum from the war, and from my uncle, who was sexually abusing me. The Home Office said that I was lying and wanted to send me back – that’s when I got married.

Now I’m 19 and I’ve just finished studying for a B-Tec diploma in health and social care. I’m looking for a job – I want to become a social worker so that I can stop other girls going through what I did. In Africa, there are no social workers, but some cases of FGM would be prevented if there were – that’s why I want to be one.

The first time I told anyone what had happened to me, I was 17. I told my best friend in college.

I was scared to talk. I was paranoid that my belly would swell up like they said; I started dieting after I told my friend what happened, and I’d cry if anyone said that I looked fat.

I’m scared to give my name or photo in case someone attacks me because I’m a disgrace, but I don’t feel I have betrayed anyone.

Now I work with groups of young people in the UK. I tell my story so that no one else has to go through it. When I tell the Asian girls in my college they get sad and scared. "This is not Sunni," they say; it’s not. They’re from Bangladesh so they’re Muslim, but they don’t practise FGM.

My husband and I want to open a charity in Sierra Leone. We want to give money to girls who are trying to leave their families because they don’t want to undergo circumcision.

My husband is my everything. Without him I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you now, and I wouldn’t have got my award from college. He sat crying with me on the floor when my asylum application was refused. He took me to Africa to see about my visa although he is not rich. I wake up every morning and think: "Thank God I have you."

I don’t think FGM is taken seriously enough in Britain – girls are still being taken out of the country. We need more education on it – people don’t really believe it’s going on and they don’t know how serious it can be. A lady in my country bled to death after she was cut. There can be tetanus on the blade or HIV if they don’t sterilise the needle. Having a baby can be made a lot more difficult by circumcision.

We shouldn’t keep quiet; we should stand up and say that those people are not forgiven for what they did and prevent it happening to others. If I heard about any cases of FGM I’d be the first to go to the police.

If someone breaks your teeth you can replace them, if someone knocks out your eye you have a second eye, but when they take this part of you away no one can ever replace it.

If I have a baby girl and any soul tries to touch her, I’ll kill them. I’ll go to prison, but I’ll never let it happen.

No further comments…….

Resources used:

Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project(http://www.fgmnetwork.org/faq.php)

UNFPA (http://www.unfpa.org/gender/practices1.htm)

World Health Organization(http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en)

Religious Tolerance (http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm )

Must-see videos on youtube: http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=bg&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:bg:official&hs=NUZ&q=female+genital+mutilation&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

Female Genital Mutilation

GENITAL MUTILATION

Female genital mutilation is also known as female circumcision (FC) and female genital cutting (FGC). Circumcision gained a growing support in the 1970s. This term was adopted at the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children.

The World Health Organization uses the term Female Genital Mutilation to describe varying types of genital cutting. Type I is the total or partial removal of the clitoris or prepuce. Type II focuses on partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora. Type III is the narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal that cuts the labia minora and/or labia majora. Type IV is referred to as “all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes such as pricking, pinching, piercing, incising, and scraping. It is found in many diverse ethnic groups. These ethnic groups include: Senegal on the West Coast, Ethiopia on the East Coast, Egypt in the north, Tanzania in the south, Sudan, and Mali. Northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, and Iraq are the other countries where genital mutilation is prevalent.

Sanctions: Means for Resolution or Human Rights Violation

The response by the United States to the Darfur crisis is similar to what they did with Cuba. Economic sanctions seem to be a better alternative to war, but it may also be true that the consequences of these sanctions hurt civilians more than the target itself. The U.S. imposed economic sanctions on seven Sudanese individuals and more than 160 companies owned or controlled by the government of Sudan or linked to militia to increase pressure on Khartoum to end the violence in Darfur. In an increasingly interdependent world such sanctions cause significant suffering of the poor and indirectly furthering impoverishment.

There are some provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that are especially vulnerable to violation under sectioned regimes: the right to life; the right to freedom from inhumane or degrading treatment; the right to an adequate standard of living including food, clothing, housing, medical care; and the right to social security in the event of lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond a person's control. The U.S. addresses human rights concerns by contributing $440 million to the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Food Program. Do these efforts really fix anything? Maybe for some, but definitely not for most.

Under sanctions, the rich get richer as they take control of the black market and smuggling and the poor get poorer. The middle class, well, they fall into the former. I believe that economic sanctions are only effective in a truly democratic society. Considering the current world economic situation, I question if U.S. sanctions could possibly even hold a weight over Khartoum. Also considering that oil is Sudan's main source of wealth, U.S. sanctions are ineffective when fuel is incredibly desirable and the rest of the world does not follow suit.

"USA Sanctions have Little Effect on Sudan"

Darfur and US Support

Generally when looking for the United States response to and International problem, I have to complete multiple searches and weed around for relevant material. Upon looking for US response to the genocide in Darfur, however, I found a plethora of US based organizations and groups speaking out in support. Additionally, my searches generally result in some websites offering support, along with other websites refuting the problem or denying a crisis. The exception to this rule is apparently the Darfur situation, where the overwhelming result is for organizational and charitable support.

A few of the primary organizations I found were www.TeamDarfur.org, www.SaveDarfur.org, and DreamforDarfur.org.

Team Darfur is a coalition of athletes who are banding together to help spread awareness and to create and end to the crisis occuring in Darfur. The group was started by two Olympic athletes who vowed to donate the bonuses from their Olympic medals to help the people of Darfur. Since then, over $1 million has been raised. The campaign for Team Darfur led up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Suggested support included purchasing Team Darfur wristbands (reminiscent of the Livestrong wristbands) as well as celebrating the Olympic spirit during the 2008 games in support of the men, women, and children who are prisoners in Darfur.

Save Darfur is an international coalition of everyday citizens who are devoted to "inspiring action, raising awareness, and speaking truth to power on behalf of all the people in Darfur". The coallition is an alliance of over 180 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. The group joins together people of different races, gender, religions, beliefs, and political orientation. Save Darfur was founded in 2004 and is run by a board of directors. Additionally, the group works closely with congress in attempt to have strong UN backing for Darfur. Some examples of domestic campaigns include rallies, speaking tours, monetary donations, and awareness education.


Dream for Darfur is a completely different kind of support organization. Unlike Team Darfur, Dream for Darfur is protesting the Beijing Olympics and urging individuals to bring attention to the genocide rather than the Olympic games. Although the time has already passed, I found the website to be very interesting- taking a peaceful approach to supporting Darfur while taking a stance which is the polar opposite from a different support-lending initiative.

These are just three of the many organizations supporting Darfur. One thing they all have in common is having US government support and sometimes funding. While some are aiming to aid financially, others are just trying to spread awareness. This proves that regardless of resources, whether it is capital, time, or even passion, the smallest effort can make the biggest difference.

SAVE DARFUR TODAY!!!!!!!

Development economics defines famine as a distribution failure. In other words, famine occurs not because of lack of resources, but because of lack of fair distribution of resources. In Darfur, the lack of fair distribution of resources, combined with the lack of fair distribution of military power lead to countless murders, rapes, molestations, and abuses so inhumane that they almost seem unreal. But they are real.

I read a story about a villager in a Chadian refugee camp who was forced to eat his children’s ears right before he watched them burn to dead. I did a little research and it turns out that roughly at the same time about 119,569 people were watching Paris Hilton’s naked video on youtube.

Unfortunately, stories like that cannot be found in mainstream media. Mainstream media talks about with murder statistics, arms embargoes, international policies, and political talks. The real face of the horrors and atrocities in Darfur – the orphans, the cripples, the starvation, the diseases, remain largely out of sight for the general public. But they are there.

Will They Ever Find Relief?

Woman and children in traditional Turkish-Kurd dress.

Turkey has been criticised over its human rights record towards its Kurdish population. As a result of the on going war against Kurdish guerrillas, entire populations were displaced from their homes. In the past, they were denied the right to reclaim their property unless they signed papers releasing the the state from any responsibility. At one point Iraqi Kurds were granted refuge in Turkey with the stipulation that it was temporary. When Turkey no longer wanted responsibility of these refugees, they were shipped out on bus loads to Iran with little to no knowledge or where they were being taken. The reasoning? They don't want the Iraqi Kurds to infect Turkish Kurds with their ideas of autonomy. Considering Turkey's desire to be part of the European community, they probably just don't want to get into a fight with the Iraqis.

Now, with the establishment of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, Kurdish separatism seems more of a threat than ever to Turkey. Their strong reactions to rising Kurdish nationalism thus far only aggravate feelings of alienation among its Kurdish population. I question whether the Turkish government is actually trying to target more than just Kurdish rebels.

In Turkey, Kurdish nationalism seeks autonomy, not secession. Most Kurds there have stakes in the economic and political system and seek improvements in their civic and political rights rather than separation. They still admire the symbolic achievements of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, such expressions of cultural and political identity face legal persecution and administrative hurdles in Turkey.

Turkish-Kurd Conflict: An Overview

How Turkey's Political Party Wins Kurdish Support

What's All This Mumble-Jumble About? Give It To Me Simple.

History of Sudan

Arachaeological sites on the Nile and above Aswan confirm human habitation in Sudan for over 60,000 years. Prehistoric burials show northern Sudan has the earliest warfare dating from the twelfth millennium B.C. Hunting and fishing along the Nile were popular past times. Herding cattle and gathering grain were also popular. Nagadan Upper Egypt as well as Nubia were preydnastic periods that conquered and unified the whole Nile Valley.

The earliest historical records come from Egyptian sources. Egypt exerted a profound religious and cultural influence on the Kushite people. Grain was carried to Kush and returned to Aswan with hides, carnelian (a stone in jewelry and arrowheads) for shipment down the river.

Egypt established political control over Kush and destroyed forts along the Nile River in 1720 B.C. Egyptian power revived in the years 1570-1100 B.C. Egyptian became the most widely used language in every day activities. Egyptian priests and military personal, merchants, and artisans all settled in the Egyptian region.

By the eleventh century BC, the authority of the New Kingdom dynasties had diminished, allowing divided rule in Egypt, and ending Egyptian control of Kush. Kush emerged as an independent region ruled by Napata by a line of monarchs who were quite aggressive.

Another form of the Turkish population were the Ottomans in 1820-1821. The northern part of Suan was unified and conquered by them. They looked to open new markets and sources of natural resources. The pestilential swamps of Sudan disallowed expansion into the deeper south of the country. Although Egypt claimed present Sudan during most of the nineteenth century, and established a province known as Equatoria in southern Sudan to further this aim, it was unable to establish effective control over the area. This remained an area of fragmented tribes subject to frequent attacks by slave raiders. In the later years of the Turkiyah, the British missionaries traveled from what is now modern day Kenya in to the Sudd to convert the local tribes to Christianity. European initiatives in the 1870s against the slave trade, caused an economic crisis in southern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces.

The Struggle to Survive and the US Response

The oppression of the Turkish Kurds is one that encompasses their entire lifestyles- all national rights have been revoked (such as attempt to speak their own language, to gather a political party, to survive economically independently, and even to live...Kurds are being executed regularly). I say national rights, of course, from a Democratic point of view, which is not the case. Another factor going along with a lack of democracy is often violence and terrorism- which is how a select group of the Turkish Kurds are choosing to react to their reality. The main conflict arises in distinguishing the violence-driven PKKs (The Kurdistan Workers Party) from the peaceful oppressed Kurds who are just trying to coexist.

The United States historically has helped Turkey, its NATO ally, to the chagrin of the Kurds. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor*, the Turks have been emboldened by the suppport and intelligence recieved from the US military to carry out a sweeping air assault against the PKK (The Kurdistan Worker's Party)...thereby further encouraging the Turkey/PKK war.

In 2007, President Bush sent Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's senior aid to visit with Turkey's top diplomatic and military leaders. The result was a promise that the US would help Turkey and Iraq battle the PKK, which has been designated by both the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization. The US Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, additionally visited the Kurdish section of Iraq to take firmer steps against their armed camps. The US stance on the entire situation is that "a terrorist is a terrorist...and if they are attacking a NATO ally, it is our responsibility to defend it."

*http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0225/p01s07-wome.html

A lesson on how to Turn the problem into the Solution

The

The burden of the Kurdish issue is still hanging over the head of Erdogan and it is the issue that most severely undermines the Turkish government’s credentials in the international scene. In fact, the main criticism that the political opposition raised during the electoral campaign in 2007, was the inability of the government to tackle the guerrilla attacks that are frequenting the Southern part of the country.

The problem with the Kurdish separatism dates back to 1925 and has had huge impact on the Turkish politics ever since. The Turkish constitution does not allow recognition of national minorities with the presumption that this will unify the nation .On the contrary, the constitutional framework opened a Pandora’s Box of repression and social injustice.

The Kurds have been culturally repressed, banned from practicing their own language or expressing their ethnic identity in the public domains for decades. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), known for its terrorist activities and separatist initiatives, is perceived as the main threat to the Turkish sovereignty.

POSITIONS

The Turkish army, which is the second pillar of the Turkish governance, insists on managing the conflict by invading northern Iraq. In military terms, the fight against the Kurds is a zero-sum game and high-rank military officials have numerously censured the government for not acting firmly on the issue. The governing party, however, has to bounce off the domestic pressure and the European Union’s demands. The EU has been clear that intervention will not be well received and will block the accession process. Moreover, if Turkey is to undertake effective adoption of the acquis comunitare, it needs to not only allow the Kurds to freely express their cultural and ethnic heritage, but also to protect their right to do so. The situation is further complicated by the deterioration of the relations with the United States. Bush’s policies towards the Iraqi Kurds are seen in Ankara as hostile to the Turkish national interests. The US is unwilling to take decisive actions against PKK, because it fears that such actions will alienate the Kurds in Iraq, who have been very cooperative with the coalition forces.

THE RESULTS

That gambit situation puts Turkey in a state of limbo. Therefore, in order to strengthen and reaffirm his position as the mediator between Europe and Asia, Erdogan has manoeuvred his way back to binding with the neighbours. Considering the Islamic roots of his party and the strategic geo-political position of Turkey, the apparent shift towards Saudi Arabia and Syria has caused quite the stir in Washington and Brussels. Consequently, Turkey is reassuming its role as an important stakeholder on the international political scene.

History of Immigration (primarily U.S. immigration)

The history of immigration began with the first Americans. Most immigrant groups came with hopes and dreams of the “Promised Land” and a secure future. U.S. immigration history spans over a long period of time. The first group of immigrants who came to America was Native American. About 20,000 years ago, the Northeast Asians came to America.

In the year 1000, Vikings came to America. Then, 500 years later, the great European migration began. People from Africa also came to build a new nation. Settlers from Europe and Asia came to seek their independence.

In 1619, slaves from Africa and the Caribbean were brought to America forcibly. Between June 11 and June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson drafted the first Declaration of Independence document. The Declaration of Independence announced the separation of colonies in Great Britain. It conveyed the convictions of American people for individual liberty, and enumerated their grievances against the King to justify them breaking from the mother country.

The following are significant historic dates in the history of U.S. immigration as found on the following website: http://www.rapidimmigration.com/usa/1_eng_immigration_history.html


Significant Historic Dates in U.S. Immigration
Naturalization Act of 1790: Stipulated that "any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States"
1875: Supreme Court declared that regulation of US immigration is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act: Prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1885 and 1887: Alien Contract Labor laws which prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1891: The Federal Government assumed the task of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the U.S.
1892: On January 2, a new Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
1903: This Act restated the 1891 provisions concerning land borders and called for rules covering entry as well as inspection of aliens crossing the Mexican border.
1907 The US immigration Act of 1907: Reorganized the states bordering Mexico (Arizona, New Mexico and a large part of Texas) into Mexican Border District to stem the flow of immigrants into the United States.
1917 - 1924: A series of laws were enacted to further limit the number of new immigrants. These laws established the quota system and imposed passport requirements. They expanded the categories of excludable aliens and banned all Asians except Japanese.
1924 Act: Reduced the number of US immigration visas and allocated them on the basis of national origin.
1940 The Alien Registration Act: Required all aliens (non-U.S. citizens) within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card (the predecessor of the "Green Card").
1950 Passage of the Internal Security Act: Rendered the Alien Registration Receipt Card even more valuable. Immigrants with legal status had their cards replaced with what generally became known as the "green card" (Form I-151).
1952 Act: Established the modern day US immigration system. It created a quota system which imposes limits on a per-country basis. It also established the preference system that gave priority to family members and people with special skills.
1968 Act: Eliminated US immigration discrimination based on race, place of birth, sex and residence. It also officially abolished restrictions on Oriental US immigration.
1976 Act: Eliminated preferential treatment for residents of the Western Hemisphere.
1980 Act: Established a general policy governing the admission of refugees.
1986 Act: Focused on curtailing illegal US immigration. It legalized hundred of thousands of illegal immigrants. The 1986 Immigration Act is commonly know as the 1986 Immigration Amnesty. It also introduced the employer sanctions program which fines employers for hiring illegal workers. It also passed tough laws to prevent bogus marriage fraud.
1990 Act: Established an annual limit for certain categories of immigrants. It was aimed at helping U.S. businesses attract skilled foreign workers; thus, it expanded the business class categories to favor persons who can make educational, professional or financial contributions. It created the Immigrant Investor Program.
USA Patriot Act 2001: Uniting and Strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism.
Creation of the USCIS 2003: As of March 1, 2003, the US immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) becomes part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department’s new U.S. Citizenship and US immigration Services (USCIS) function is to handle US immigration services and benefits, including citizenship, applications for permanent residence, non-immigrant applications, asylum, and refugee services. US immigration enforcement functions are now under the Department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate, known as the Bureau of US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

One Man's Mission for the Gaza Strip

A couple years ago, I was fortunate enough to briefly meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We were aboard a rocking ship headed to Capetown and I ran into him in the hallway. He was looking for the bathroom and I was looking for the answers to heal the world. I asked him how one man could motivate change in humanity. "Passion, dedication, faith," he answered.

This past spring, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Gaza strip and found the humanitarian situation was completely unjustified. He also called-out the international community for their complicity and silence, and even related the human rights violation to the situation in Myanmar. During his visit, Archbishop Tutu met with Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and told him the firing of rockets into Israel was also a violation of human rights. BBC Article

It may seem like a worthless effort to have a Nobel Peace Prize winner walk in and politely ask for the genocide to cease. But there are others who have also taken a stand to end the massacre. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a sociologist from the American University in Cairo. He is lobbying members of congress to attach conditions to America's $1.5 billion annual aid to Egypt. He has been criticized as an idealist, and even sentenced to two years in jail with labor when an Egyptian court ruled his writings had ruined and tarnished Egypt's reputation. Washington Post Article

We are all guilty of being silent and complicit. How is one man supposed to really make a difference? I would answer that with knowledge. We all can't put ourselves on the Gaza strip and really understand what people are experiencing. But we can make ourselves aware that the problem exists and in some way, large or small, we may be able to play a part.

Words from Saad Eddin Ibrahim