This week the London School of Economics Gender Institute in collaboration with Imkaan and the South Asia Solidarity Group organised an open meeting in solidarity with India’s anti-rape protests and to confront gender violence in Britain.
The highlight of the meeting, attended by women’s organisations, academics, activists and interested individuals, was the input from Kavita Krishnan of the All India Progressive Women’s Association. Kavita joined the meeting from India via Skype and spoke eloquently about the situation in India and how the brutal gang rape of a 23 year old woman on a bus in Delhi has led to protests on an unprecedented scale, and prompted a rare opportunity for debate and discussion about violence against women and girls (VAWG) in India, and all over the world.
Much of the meeting focused on how we challenge a culture of acceptance towards VAWG, both in India and the UK. Kavita…
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November 21, 2012 – AFRICA – As most of the world has been focusing on ongoing conflict in Gaza, a geopolitical crisis of another sort is unfolding in central Africa where the rebel seizure of the substantial Congolese city of Goma could have grave consequences for the troubled region. “It’s just the beginning. We don’t know what will happen next and it has the potential to destabilize the Eastern Congo and the potential to destabilize the Congolese government depending on what the rebels decide to do next,” Severine Autesserre, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, told CBC News. The M23 rebels — soldiers who defected from the Congolese army — took control of the provincial capital of Goma and its international airport Tuesday, having met little resistance from government troops or the UN peacekeeping force stationed in the area. Thousands of residents from this part of the…
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November 22, 2012 – CHILE – A strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook central Chile on Wednesday, causing office buildings in the capital to sway for almost a minute but authorities said no damage was reported and ruled out the possibility of tsunami along its coast. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was 37 miles (59 kilometers) southwest of the port city of San Antonio, Chile. It struck at 6:36 p.m. local time. The USGS had reported the quake as magnitude 6.1 but revised the strength down to 5.9. Buildings swayed in Santiago and some people fled to the streets in fear. Chile’s emergency services office said no damages to infrastructure were immediately reported. The USGS reported two other temblors with magnitudes of 5.1 and 5.2 on Wednesday near San Antonio. Chile is highly earthquake-prone and residents have bad memories of other quakes that have caused widespread destruction…
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November 21, 2012 – NEW ZEALAND – A teacher who was on Mt Tongariro with a group of 90 students has captured the ‘‘absolutely spectacular’’ eruption of the volcano on video. GNS Science confirmed the eruption, at the Te Maari crater, happened shortly after 1.20pm. It is the second eruption on the mountain this year; an eruption on August 6 was the first on Tongariro for more than 100 years. Tamatea Intermediate teacher Lomi Schaumkel said they were near the Katetahi hot springs when eruption began. “We were right up there next to it. It was just amazing. It was pretty scary from where we were and it just looked absolutely spectacular, the ash that came out. It really did look like one of those atom bomb explosions, and it made a rumbling sound.’’ There were 90 students, six parents and four teachers in the group. ‘‘Some panicked, some didn’t…
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November 21, 2012 – TURKEY – ISTANBUL — Turkey has formally asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to deploy Patriot missiles to protect its long border with Syria, the military alliance said on Wednesday, raising the prospect of a further militarization of the neighbors’ tense frontier amid heightened concerns the civil war is spilling onto Turkish territory. In a statement, NATO said that it would consider alliance-member Turkey’s request “without delay” and announced that a NATO team would visit Turkey for a site-survey to consider a deployment next week. If approved, the deployment would “contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along NATO’s south-eastern border,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. “It would be a concrete demonstration of alliance solidarity and resolve.” But Mr. Rasmussen was also eager to clarify the limits of NATO’s likely commitment. “The Turkish government stressed that the deployment will be defensive only and that…
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