Audax- Suggestions for your homework.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Pirates have been around forever. Their tales of looting the seas, pillaging villages and sailing across the globe survived long after the golden age of piracy. Cilician, Viking, Arab, Slavic or Chinese pirates all took to the sea, some as late as the last century.
Others ended their pirate “careers” as far back as medieval times.
Surprisingly, a few are still practicing this antiquated means of subsistence. Among them, the Somalis.
While other nations develop new technologies used in medicine to cure incurable diseases, or explore the universe and oceans for new forms of life, today’s pirates are incapable to relate to modern times, remaining in the rear of our epoch.
I just read that three Somali pirates have died during a gun fight among themselves on the Ukrainian-operated cargo ship they hijacked off Somalia's coast.
The episode is tragically funny. Besides, it presents an accurate depiction of the geographical area populated mainly by rival clans. What are the chances for these clans to put their egos aside, work for the benefit of their country and stop relying on foreign help?
There are voices trying to victimize the pirates, suggesting an explanation of the piracy consequential to extreme poverty and lack of opportunities.
What the rest of the world should know is that Somalia is not exclusively famine and fly-ridden children.
Some claim that Somali piracy is triggered by hunger as they seem to target ships delivering UN food aid, however crew members have been kidnapped for ransom. The French luxury yacht seized on 4 April, 2008 or the Hong Kong chemical tanker seized on 15 September, 2008 are only two examples that defy the hunger theory.
Pirates are almost exclusively based in Puntland, a rich coastal region of Somalia abundant in fish and other resources, exporting large quantities of seafood, dried fish, tuna, frankincense, gum Arabic and sea salt.
Recently, the pirates have hijacked ships carrying Russian tanks to Nigeria (“nice” job, Russia!) and 30,000 tonnes of petrochemicals (a Malaysian tanker).
All nations affected must act immediately. Ignoring the escalation of violence at sea gives Somalis a green light on piracy. A country without a national legal system, Somalia lacks the juridical apparatus to crush sea piracy. Some clans might even be against criminalization, just as they opposed the abolition of slavery in the past.
Reading about piracy today, when advanced societies travel in space and discover new planets, is like reading a book about cave men.
They should be sentenced to community service for at least 10 years.

Photos:Wikipedia

KATOUCHA NIANE DEAD: ACCIDENT OR MURDER?

February 28, 2008

Some tradition-minded families have their daughters undergo FGC whilst on vacation in their home countries.
Some women take the hard road and speak out against the abuse and humiliation dictated by what some call “tradition”. Katoucha Niane was one of them. Born in Guinea, she was one of the world’s first models to have come from Africa. In the 1980s she modeled for Thierry Mugler, Paco Rabanne and Christian Lacroix and was described as Yves Saint Laurent’s “muse.”

Even if she was born to educated parents (Djibril Tamsir Niane, her father, is an author, playwright and historian, specialized in the history of the Mali Empire. In spite of his studies made in France, he has remained deeply anchored in the primitivism of the rituals dictated by his religion and agreed on his daughter to undergo the repellant procedure)at the age of nine, she had to experience one of the most barbaric rituals still practiced on Earth: female genital mutilation or cutting.

As Western governments become more aware of FGC, legislation has come into effect in many countries to make the practice of FGC a criminal offense. In the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, it is practiced mainly among foreign workers from East Africa and the Nile Valley.

In Indonesia, the practice is fairly common among the country’s Muslim women. Due to immigration, the practice has also spread to Europe, Australia and the United States. Some tradition-minded families have their daughters undergo FGC whilst on vacation in their home countries.

In 2006, Ethiopian Khalid Adem became the first man in the United States to be prosecuted for mutilating his daughter. He had personally excised his 2-year-old daughter’s clitoris with a pair of scissors, in order to preserve “her virginity”. Katoucha Niane stopped modeling in 1994 to focus on activism and has become an outspoken activist against female circumcision, a rite constantly performed in Mali, Senegal, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Tanzania and some groups in the Arabian Peninsula.

In the Arabian peninsula, Sunna circumcision is usually performed, especially among Arabs (ethnic groups of African descent are more likely to prefer infibulation). The practice occurs particularly in northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, and Iraq. Egypt recently passed a law banning FGC. She created the organization KPLCE - Katoucha pour la lutte contre l’excision (Katoucha for the battle against female circumcision).

In 2007 she published a book about her mutilation experience,”Dans ma chair,” in France. On February 1st, 2008, she returned to her houseboat from a party. This was the last time she was reportedly seen alive. Police believed that she was likely intoxicated and fell into the Seine. Her body was found in the Seine on February 28th, 2008.

While some customs and traditions must be protected and preserved, others are only remains of obsolete social realities or simply symbols of ignorance. Foot binding was a custom practiced on young girls or females for approximately one thousand years in China. In Chinese foot binding, young girls’ feet, usually at age 6 but often earlier, were wrapped in tight bandages so that they could not grow and develop normally; they would, instead, break and become highly deformed, not growing past 4-6 inches (10-15 cm). As the girl reached adulthood, her feet would remain small and dysfunctional, subject to infection, paralysis, and muscular atrophy. This mutilation requested by social status ended in the early 20th century.

FGC is the next on the list.
http://www.afrol.com/Categories/Women/FGM/netscapeindex.htm