It was a quintessentially cold night in Moscow when Anna Politkovskaya arrived back at her flat with her shopping on October 7, 2006. As she took the elevator down for the last bag of groceries, she was confronted by a gunman who shot her twice in the chest and once in the head. She died instantly. Ms. Politkovskaya’s murder sparked worldwide outrage because she was a prominent journalist and an outspoken critic of Vladmir Putin, the Russian government and its polices in Chechynya. Her death has come to personify the long, lamentable list of journalists killed in Russia, whose murders remain unsolved.

It is estimated that over 300 journalists have died or disappeared in Russia since 1993 as a result of their work.  This figure is all the more shocking when we consider that the impune murder of journalists is acknowledged as a sign that a country does not observe the fundamental right to freedom of speech and is the reason that Russia is ranked by the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) as the third-deadliest country in the world for journalists. Despite the fact that current Russian President Dimitri Medvedev came to power last year promising to end the legal nihilism that peremeates the country’s judicial system, the Russian government’s unwillingness to prosecute many of the cases has persisted. While justice lags, the murders continue unabated, as demonstrated by the murder this year of Stanislav Markelov, and Natalia Estemriova.

The international community has reacted in typically futile fashion. The EU keeps its mouth closed for fear that Russian criticism will adversely affect its gas supply, something Ukraine experienced last winter. Meanwhile, the Obama adminstration is eager to reset relations with Russia and is therefore reluctant to make demands, given that it needs Russia’s cooperation on Iran and nuclear proliferation. On a trip to Russia last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was pushed by Russian journalists to make a statement on the Russian Government’s refusal to comprehensively investigate the murders of their colleagues. Clinton responded by commenting that the situation “is a matter of grave concern”.

Yet it is clear that merely paying lip service to human rights groups will not be enough to end this wanton wave of violence. It is high time that the U.S. and the E.U. pressurized Russia into taking action on this matter. Medvedev, Putin and co. must realize that while they may not be pulling the trigger, they are ultimately responsible for the failures of the justice system. Although the days of Gulags and communist repression are long gone in Russia, blood remains on the hands of those in the Kremlin.

Michael Collins, November 2009

michael.mc.collins@gmail.com

Post by Alex Simon, George Washington University

When Lily first invited me to a discussion on foreign assistance reform on Capitol Hill, I must admit my expectations were low.  Not only had I come to think of government approaches to global development as weakened by their bureaucratic processes and special interests, but looking briefly at the history of attempted foreign aid reform, there hasn’t been a lot of progress.

To my surprise, the meeting, convened by House Foreign Affairs Committee Senior Staffer Diana Ohlbaum last Tuesday, was filled with optimism and a sense that the time to modernize US foreign assistance has finally come.

The topic of discussion:  “Discussion Paper #1: Development Assistance Reforms” released by Chairman Berman’s committee staff on October 6^th of this year.  Currently, foreign assistance priorities are driven by Washington, not by the needs of the countries receiving the cash and long-term development success is compromised by annual appropriations and Congressional earmarks.

The paper outlines 10 reforms directed at fixing these bureaucratic barriers and balancing what are often perceived as competing objectives.  According to the paper, the following reforms could

“Provide greater support for country-owned plans while serving U.S. national interests; allow greater input from USAID field missions while advancing policy priorities; offer greater flexibility while demanding greater accountability; respond to areas of greatest need while rewarding good performance and addressing security threats; and achieve a measurable impact that leads to sustained economic growth.”

The proposed reforms are as follows:

1. Set aside the vast majority of economic assistance for country-based strategies.
2. Create a flexible formula for country allocations.
3. Make a clear distinction between development assistance and strategic assistance.
4. Develop and use coordinated, concise and results-oriented strategies.
5. Obligate development assistance up-front for the entire 3-5 year period.
6. Reserve 5-10% of all country budgets for unanticipated contingencies.
7. Revitalize an interagency coordination mechanism.
8. Obtain Congressional buy-in for country and sectoral strategies, rather than individual projects.
9. Provide public access to real-time information about outlays and program results.
10. Prioritize interventions that build local capacity.

The idea is to make project planning more local, reporting more efficient, and ensure that USAID missions build local capacity.  It’s almost refreshing.

The room packed with representatives from different aid organizations and think tanks (Academy for Educational Development, CARE, Center for Global Development, American Jewish World Service, International Women’s Health Coalition, Advocates for Youth, etc.).  While questions were still tough and targeted, most were preempted with excited (and relieved) thanks to Chairman Berman and his committee staff for championing this reform and actually listening to the concerns of those in the field.

Diana chuckled, pointing out that, in comparison to her previous efforts at foreign aid reform (she’s been at it since the 80s) where she might have only seen 5 faces in the room, the current effort has to its advantage an actively engaged public, a highly relevant context in light of continued US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and actual momentum on Capitol Hill.

But, she was also clear to say that in order to succeed, she needs our help educating Americans and Members of Congress on the importance of these reforms.

Wouldn’t you say it’s time to step out of Cold War politics and modernize our foreign assistance dollars from a tool against Communism to a tool for long-term sustainable development and organic community-driven processes?

Cross-post from It’s Getting Hot in Here (IGHIH) by Jamie Henn, organizer with 350.org…

Many, many thanks to all of you at IGHIH who took part in yesterday’s International Day of Climate Action from our tired-but-psyched, humbled, and completely blown-away 350.org crew. October 24 succeeded beyond our wildest imaginations — journalists are calling it the most widespread day of political action in history.

Stay tuned to the 350.org blog for more updates and some of the best highlights from the day. And if you haven’t had a chance to watch the slide-show or visit our Flickr page, take a moment. The photos are truly spectacular and drive home the real message of the day: we’ve got a huge, beautiful, international movement.

Read on for a few photos here (they’re 16,000 in our Flickr set right now):

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Afghanistan:

Almaty, Kazakhstan:

Cebu, Philippines:

Dalien, China:

Dominican Republic:

Pyramids, Giza, Egypt:

Shores of the Dead Sea in Israel, Palestine, Jordan:

Kathmandu, Nepal:

Mumbai, India:

Sydney, London, Copenhagen:

Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa:

While on the campaign trail for the 2008 election Barack Obama often extolled the virtues of the Afghanistan War, contrasting it sharply with the disastrous Iraq War which he had vociferously protested.  A year after winning that election, he faces arguably his toughest political decision to date: should he send more troops to Afghanistan? The debate within the White House appears to be focused on how Obama should continue this war (more troops or more sophisticated technology such as unmanned drones) as opposed to why he should. In reality, sending in more troops is delaying the inevitable and Obama must put an end to this war as soon as possible.

The first reason to end this war is the lack of clarity over the war’s objective. In March, the President stated that his goal in Afghanistan was to “to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda”. Yet most experts will tell you that al-Qaeda is a diminished force which has largely fled Afghanistan. It would be more prudent for the U.S. to concentrate on defeating al-Qaeda in countries such as Yemen and Somalia, which have recently become a hotbed for Islamic extremists, while paying more attention to the tinderbox that is Pakistan. Unfortunately, the U.S. is bogged down in a perpetual battle with the Taliban at huge human cost for all concerned. The War in Afghanistan has evolved into another nation-building exercise, despite the fact that Obama stated that “We are not going to be able to rebuild Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy“.

The military is ostensibly in Afghanistan to protect the U.S. from future al-Qaeda attacks, yet how many of al-Qaeda’s most devastating attacks have been organized from Afghanistan? 9/11? Yes. The attacks provided the casus belli for the war. The 2002 Bali Bombings? No. They were planned in Thailand. The 2004 Madrid Bombings? No. They were planned in Spain and North Africa. The 2005 London Bombings? No. They were planned in England. The idea that the War in Afghanistan will protect the U.S. from future attacks is naïve and myopic.

It is also important to remember that there are many other nations involved in the Afghanistan War alongside the U.S.  Nevertheless, these countries have grown reluctant to send more troops and now resemble a coalition of the whining rather than a coalition of the willing. Many governments are under severe domestic criticism over the futility of the war; as the fatalities rise, international support wanes.

It would appear that, by staying in Afghanistan, Obama is trying to protect his country’s military image and avoid the embarrassment of the U.S. withdrawing from two wars in quick succession. Yet the U.S. must learn a tough lesson on the limitations of its military might and the danger of entering a war without an exit strategy.

The question is: does Barack Obama want the next decade to pan out the same way as this one has, with the U.S. incessantly engaged in an unwinnable ‘war on terror’? Mr. President – the time for change has come.

Michael Collins, October 2009

michael.mc.collins@gmail.com

So if you hadn’t heard, Power Shift Regional Summits have been happening all over the country (check out the map for a summit in your area). This weekend, Power Shift Pennsylvania pulled off our own summit at Penn State University.

While I hope to submit additional posts on the overall turnout, content of each panel and activists work around the first week of Senate hearings on the Kerry-Boxer bill, I want to start with the discussion that I found most interesting–the panel I facilitated on How Coal & Natural Gas Disrupt Communities and Degrade the Environment.

Presenting were Andrew Munn, from the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), Jay Sweeny and Brady Russell from Clean Water Action (CWA), Stephanie Simmons from both CWA and the Sierra Club, and Raina Rippel from the Center for Coalfield Justice and the newly formed Alliance for a Coal-Free Generation.

Andrew has been working and living in the Coal River Valley in West Virginia, working with communities affected by Mountaintop Removal. Jay and Brady have been working with communities affected by Natural Gas drilling into the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, along with Stephanie. And Raina has been doing some amazing organizing against Longwall Mining in her community.

Each panelist gave a rundown of each of these practices–Longwall Mining, Mountain Top Removal and Natural Gas drilling. The one I knew least about was the practice of hydro-fracturing and its impacts on Pennsylvanian communities. (Oddly enough, my home newspaper just recently ran a story on the dangers of this practice, so please reference that news article, and here and here, for more information.)

They touched on how campuses and communities who are not directly affected by these problems can act in solidarity and contribute to ending these dangerous practices. Stephanie Simmons highlighted the importance of organic, grassroots organizing in leading to real, positive and long-term solutions to these problems as well as empowering communities to successfully confront the corporate mammoths that so often attempt to silence their communities. We also talked about the role of the State Department of Environmental Protections in re-enabling Environmental Impact Statements and government structures that people can count on to protect them, their natural resources and the future of their communities.

While at first glance, No Coal and No Natural Gas campaigns might seem a contradiction, they are actually fighting for the same thing. Both movements face similar problems within their communities.  Both have identified identical visions for our future. Their strongest point of commonality is the power being created within affected communities.

As facilitator, I brought it back to Copenhagen and the work being done by communities across the globe (see 350.org) to hold our individual leaders and global power structures accountable for a serious new global climate agreement.

Our diverse movements must compliment one another.  Each campaign must enable and amplify the voice of the other if we are to effectively communicate to our decision-makers that we are not going to sit back any longer. That the effects of Climate Change and environmental degradation are affecting not only women in developing countries, but mothers in the rural counties in Pennsylvania as well. The link? Corrupt or defunct government agencies and corporations that see surrounding communities as nothing more than expendable.

Come December, let’s make something happen. Let’s get Obama to Copenhagen. Let’s pass a strong, just and equitable climate bill through the House and Senate that gives % 5 in Adaptation Aid. Let’s move our campuses beyond Coal. And let’s save our future, our lives and our planet, by finally listening to the science and to the communities that are being affected by Climate Change NOW.

With 50 days left before the COP-15 international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, we’ll need a serious shift in climate (figuratively speaking) for any significant shift in climate (literally speaking) to happen after the close of negotiations on December 18th.

Developed and developing nations remain at an impasse over two major points of negotiation–who will incur the brunt of the costs to help developing countries adapt to climate change, and who will take the lead and stop pouring green house gases into the atmosphere. So, what are young people across the country doing to shift the climate state-by-state as our leaders remain stagnant and unproductive? Power Shift.

Power Shift is a campaign for young people, by young people. It is a coalition of some 50 forward-thinking, progressive organizations (including AIDemocracy) that empowers youth to push the envelope around issues of climate change mitigation and adaptation, international climate justice, green jobs, etc. Last spring, 12,000 young people gathered in our nation’s capital for Power Shift 2009, helping inspire the introduction of the American Clean Energy and Security Act in the House. This fall, we’re branching out. Students have organized regional conferences in Oregon, in North Dakota, in Missouri, in Indiana, in Appalachia, in Michigan, in Maryland, in Florida, in the Carolinas, and, most importantly, in Pennsylvania (my home state!)!

After serving on the planning committee for several months, I’m finally seeing Power Shift Pennsylvania take shape. This weekend, we’re going to pressure our elected officials, show solidarity with the international community during the 350.org International Day of Climate Action, and discuss a plethora of issues important to those within the youth climate movement. With the help of AIDemocracy, I’m helping to facilitate a panel with Jim French, a regional advocacy lead with Oxfam America, on the impact of climate change on developing countries, the difference between adaptive and developmental aid to countries, Pennsylvania’s role in the negotiations, and what young people can do to influence those attending the upcoming UNFCCC summit in Copenhagen.

Check back this weekend for a post about the conference, our panel, the 350.org Day of Action, and much, much more!

Post by Julie Turkewitz, Campus Progress

Twenty university teams descended on the National Mall last week for the fourth Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the Department of Energy, which is an international competition designed to build the most energy efficient solar-powered houses possible.

The teams came from around the world – including Spain, Germany and Puerto Rico. Judges will rate the homes in 10 different categories, but the prize isn’t so much university bragging rights as it is the opportunity to play a key role in the future. The United States consumes about 100 quadrillion British thermals units (BTUs) of energy each year, and about 84 percent of our energy consumption is consumed through burning fossil fuels. As climate change becomes a more pressing issue, it’s critical that Americans change the way we use energy.

We need these houses now. The teams could be designing the homes of the future.

Check out the video to hear from Chip Clark, a three-time solar decathlon participant from Virginia Tech. Go to solardecathlon.org to learn more about the competition.

Visit the solar village Oct. 8-18, 2009 on the National Mall. Homes are open to the public 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Homes will be closed on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Julie Turkewitz is a video intern at Campus Progress

Something else to consider on Columbus Day…  What does the way we celebrate our past say about the way we live in the present?

Post by Denver Anarchist Black Cross

Columbus Day has become a day to commemorate resistance against the colonization and genocide of the native peoples of the Americas, a legacy that Columbus initiated in 1492.

In Denver, the annual Columbus Day parade has become a flashpoint for the anti-colonialist struggle. Just days before this year’s parade, local media outlets reported that the parade would be canceled this year after receiving a press release stating as much. The press release appears to actually be yet another act of resistance against the legacy of genocide that a celebration of Columbus represents.

Some further suggested reading:

500 years of Indigenous Resistance article from Oh-Toh-Kin, Vol. 1 No. 1, Winter/Spring 1992 Although this article is over a decade old, it is still one of the most comprehensive articles chronicling native resistance on this continent.

Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee Supporting the struggle for freedom of American Indian Movement organizer Leonard Peltier, now imprisoned in Pennsylvania. Leonard has been imprisoned for over 30 years for his role in the fight for self determination for indigenous people.

Leonard Peltier’s 2001 Columbus Day statement

Remembering the 1990 Oka Uprising The Mohawk Defense Of Kanasetake (aka Oka, Quebec, Canada)

Indigenous Resistance to 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver Remember the history, and support the growing modern day resistance.

It had started off simple enough.

Two weeks ago, still relatively new in my position as a Northeast Regional Coordinator with AIDemocracy, I spent a few hours trawling through Social Edge and twitter. With an eye on global development and security, my goal was to discover what was being done already in the non-profit world, who was doing it best and who among these folk were the most open to collaboration.

I made a number of new friends: the people at Acumen Fund, Water Charity (not to be confused with charity:water), Be Unreasonable, Sangam India, CORD and Open Society Institute were fantastic right off the bat– They were engaging, interested and human. It was like a Utopian first day at school.

In the context of my new job and projects I had in mind, I needed to know what was being done in terms of technology support for non-profit outreach and education services. One name that came up regularly was Ken Banks, founder of Kiwanja.net

I had heard of Kiwanja in passing before, but didn’t know much about it’s main project FrontlineSMS, otherwise known as \o/ (Which, btw, is a design based on this fantastic visual here).

I wasn’t sure what to expect. Before this Saturday, I had no idea who Ken Banks is as a person, and was as wary as a product of post-post-colonialism can be of anybody who does “non-profit work” in “Africa”. I was afraid I might run into yet another individual who’s working to “save Africa” just because that’s what Bono, the UN and everyone else is talking about right now.

[And if this is something that bothers you, Aid Watch has a great post on the issue here.]

I sent an email to Ken, one of those self-introduction/basic outline of project/can we chat sometime emails. You must remember that I moonlight as a writer: after all my experiences writing lit mag queries, I was prepared to face rejection or silence.

Imagine my shock then, when I checked mail the next day to find a reply from Ken. Yes, Ken Banks himself! Not an intern, volunteer, automated message or brush-off.

He said he’d love to talk further. Over a couple more emails I discovered he would be in Providence for the Better World By Design conference, and thanks to Barbara Grota, Assistant Dean of the Business School at my uni and a small set of practical miracles, this Saturday afternoon saw Ken, Barbara, two other students and I sit down together for an intimate conversation on change-making, mobile-for-development and non-profit developmental programs.

Ken is that guy you see in TED videos, the ones that go viral the moment they’re uploaded on TED’s site and Facebook page.

He showed up in a white cotton shirt and no jacket, laughing at how unprepared he was for New England weather, how he should’ve known better. Over coffee and a banana, he told us about how Kiwanja got started: his love for computers, how he had first traveled to the African continent in ‘93, how he spent 16 years living and working in countries that included Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Uganda. He spoke about his focus on using mobile tech for conservation and development, and mentioned he was a Liverpool fan.

He was alright.

As part of his presentation, he introduced us first to the role of mobile technology in the daily life of small business owners in African countries:

Ken told us that this picture is of a woman who started off a small business by providing a cell phone connection to her community, at a time when not everyone owned a handset of their own. She then built a small grocery store around this business, and when competition stepped in in terms of wider coverage and other small business owners who had the same idea, she secured her handset with a wire so clients could enjoy a private conversation while making sure no one would make off with her phone at the same time.

Ken pointed out that small, lean-to mobile charging stations and stores just like this one were common all over East and South Africa, making a case for mobile-enabled entrepreneurship among communities that are often labeled as being aid-dependent or in need of immediate charity.

These pictures immediately struck a chord with me– these shots could have been taken anywhere in any rural or urban area, back home in India.

What Ken’s presentation did was to focus our attention on ways in which ordinary people without much skill training or capital have adapted mobile phones and mobile technology to serve as both economic and service delivery solutions– Not only are individuals across Africa and Asia making a business for themselves out of selling & repairing cell phone hardware and connections, they are also utilizing mobile technology to stay updated on medical services and market prices for agricultural produce. He then introduced us to how FrontlineSMS functions– Take the tour and see for yourself here.

Ken built the original software and threw it out into the world “dirty”, much like how Google first opened up Gmail Beta for public users. He’s been generous with both its code and its core idea, a generosity that has enabled other entrepreneurial men and women around the world to up and run with it. One of the immensely successful ideas to come out this sharing is FrontlineSMS:Medic.

FrontlineSMS:Medic (or \+/ for short) has enabled regional hospitals that serve remote, isolated communities and villages to get the word out regarding updates in treatments, schedules for open clinics, and test results. And if that wasn’t incredible enough–

Patient View, a module of \+/ enables a health worker to access a patient’s records using FrontlineSMS and respond in real-time to complaints from patients many miles away.

CelloPhone, new technology being developed at UCLA that will be supported by \+/

“is a revolutionary diagnostic tool that will be able to perform basic diagnostics such as Complete Blood Count, diagnosis of Malaria and TB, and CD4 T Lymphocyte count on the back of a camera cell phone, for under $1 per test. The device itself is expected to cost as little as $10. The device utilizes a new imaging technique called LUCAS, which circumvents a lens for magnification, instead taking intracellular “holograph” images of cells directly via the CCD chip ubiquitous in most camera phones. A pattern matching algorithm then analyzes cell morphology to automatically produce a diagnostic result. The diagnostic results will be communicated from the device to a central location using FrontlineSMS, and viewed with our Patient View module and/or sent to OpenMRS with our medical records module. The Ozcan lab at UCLA is developing this device, and we aim to pioneer its use in the developing world (\+/, 2009).”

All I could think at this time was, why the hell isn’t everyone talking about this? Why aren’t the modules of \+/ being utilized all over South Asia, for instance, where we and all our gods know it would be of incredible service?

Maybe it’s because of a lack of information. Maybe not enough people know about \o/, and the other activities of Kiwanja. Or maybe some global non-profits, government agencies and contractors are afraid of all the power they might lose once local community members and non-profits start empowering themselves with such technology. Who knows?

I can imagine multiple uses of FrontlineSMS in India alone:

• In disaster management response and activity coordination.
• In managing the agricultural crisis by getting out messages on weather patterns, market prices and setting up a communication network for suicide prevention.
• In responding to health care needs in remote villages up and down the east coast and in state interiors.

While I sat there, taking in how simple and yet beautiful FrontlineSMS’ design is, and how accessible its use can be, Ken spoke quietly about some of the ideas that drove him to build \o/:

“It’s not about building cool– it’s about building appropriate.”

FrontlineSMS began with one idea: to build on the existing, burgeoning mobile network in Africa instead of waiting either for some government to buy into fiber optic cables or on some non-profit or foreign assistance program to set up a development-oriented project.

\o/ also builds on local awareness and local ownership, says Ken Banks, and I believe him: you can’t read cases of health-workers in the Philippines and Malawi who downloaded \o/ all on their own and used it to improve the quality of care and then not believe in \o/, Kiwanja and Ken. And yet, none of this happened overnight. “Be Patient” is a core principle of this sort of work, according to Ken– an idea that Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz mirrored in her TED talk on Patient Capital.

Ken’s dream is that FrontlineSMS will grow to be self-sufficient, that people all over the world will adapt it to solve problems specific to their communities without needing him to be its brand ambassador. Considering the Open Source nature of \o/, this dream may soon become a reality.

Ken Banks’ energy, candor and intelligence will infect your brain with good ideas. The thought that timely, measurable change for the better can occur on the ground, on a one to one basis without needing to wait for a grant cycle or government vote to come through is refreshingly now.

I can’t wait to speak with people in South Asia about \o/ and discovering whether some of the challenges they are facing in the field can be answered with this suit of mobile technology.

What about you? Know of a non-profit, community or person who can benefit from FrontlineSMS? Direct them here. I can attest to the fact they’ll get a personal response almost immediately.

I did bring that up with Ken towards the end of our conversation. He didn’t know me from Eve, and I obviously didn’t have big money or contacts to throw at his work. Why would such a busy guy spend time on a non-lucrative email exchange and trip to a small liberal arts university?

According to Ken, nurturing conversation around the kind of work Kiwanja supports is what has brought FrontlineSMS and its associated avatars this far. He talks about the individuals who contacted him about \o/ and are responsible for developing \o/ to the level it’s at now. He also points out that he knows what it’s like to be a newbie in the non-profit field. Says he wouldn’t have got where he is now if it wasn’t for several key people giving him a break and believing in FrontlineSMS when they didn’t have to. And then, he grins.

Ken Banks, myself and Ai Jing, a fellow international student at RWU

I nod in agreement. The sun broke through a gray cloud bank, shining into the conference room we sat in. A good omen: maybe the New Age of Non-Profits is truly upon us, one in which ordinary people everywhere are empowered by need-based technology, where volunteering at a non-profit means coming up with usable ideas, not just filing proposals and where sharing real-time knowledge and experience is rated higher than how many celebrity endorsements a non-profit gets.

Cross-posted at my personal blog, here.