MRN

Durban II: Politicizing Racism
By Ramzy Baroud

The Palestinian struggle is not meant to overshadow the struggles of oppressed nations..

Many countries are set to participate in the Conference against Racism, scheduled to be held in Geneva, April 20-25. But the highly touted international meet is already marred with disagreement after Israel, the United States and other countries decided not to participate. Although the abstention of four or more countries is immaterial to the proceedings, the US decision in particular was meant to render the conference ‘controversial’, at best.

The US government’s provoking stance is not new, but a repetition of another fiasco which took place in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

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Statement from the family of Rachel Corrie

We thank all who continue to remember Rachel and those who, on this sixth anniversary of her stand in Gaza, renew their own commitments to human rights, justice and peace in the Middle East. The tributes and actions in her memory are a source of inspiration to us and to others.

Friday, March 13th, we learned of the tragic injury to American activist Tristan Anderson. Tristan was shot in the head with a tear-gas canister in Ni’lin Village in the West Bank when Israeli forces attacked a demonstration opposing the construction of the annexation wall through the village’s land. On the same day, a Ni’lin resident was, also, shot in the leg with live ammunition. Four residents of Ni’lin have been killed in the past eight months as villagers and their supporters have courageously demonstrated against the Apartheid Wall deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice—a wall that will ultimately absorb one-quarter of the village’s remaining land. Those who have died are a ten-year-old child Ahmed Mousa, shot in the forehead with live ammunition on July 29, 2008; Yousef Amira (17) shot with rubber-coated steel bullets on July 30, 2008; Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) and Mohammed Khawaje (20), both shot and killed with live ammunition on December 28, 2008. On this anniversary, Rachel would want us all to hold Tristan Anderson and his family and these Palestinians and their families in our thoughts and prayers, and we ask everyone to do so.

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Zimbabwe issued three new denominations of banknotes today,
including a one-million-dollar note, as the impoverished country
struggles to cope with runaway inflation.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said the new 100,000-dollar, 500,000
dollar and one-million-dollar banknotes would be available immediately.

The move comes less than a month after the central bank introduced
50,000-dollar banknotes, hoping they would be large enough for
Zimbabweans to afford the skyrocketing prices of basic goods.

However, the 100,000 banknote is now worth only one US dollar on the
widely-used parallel black market and is only half the amount needed to
buy a loaf of bread.

Twenty-four new currency denominations have been introduced in
Zimbabwe this year alone.

Once described as a model economy and a regional breadbasket,
Zimbabwe’s economy has collapsed over the past decade and there are now
shortages of basic foodstuffs like sugar and cooking oil.

When central bank chief Gideon Gono was appointed in November 2003,
inflation was 619.50 percent but as of July, annual inflation hit 213
million percent.

The southern African nation is also suffering from foreign exchange
and fuel shortages and the majority of the population live below the
poverty line.

President Robert Mugabe’s government blames the country’s economic
meltdown on sanctions imposed by Britain and other Western nations,
while critics fault Mugabe’s chaotic land reform programme as one of
the main causes.

To keep pace with the rising costs, shops sometimes change the
prices of goods more than twice a day while long meandering queues have
become a familiar sight at banks as depositors seek to withdraw cash
which is rapidly losing its value.

While the currency, once on a par with the British pound, is in
freefall, unemployment is a staggering 80 percent.

The government has tried several measures — including price
controls and even striking off 10 zeros from the country’s currency —
to try to rein in the galloping inflation.

Sapa-AFP

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