Rebecca Haslam, an Outreach Volunteer, and Lisa Rutherford from the London Campaigns Office, rapped on the door of Number 10 and delivered 86,000 I'm in names and a letter to Tony Blair. Photo: OxfamYou've got mail:
Tony Blair responds to Oxfam campaigners
Last year 40 million people successfully campaigned against poverty. Rich countries promised debt cancellation for 40 countries and £27 billion more aid, already this has changed lives.
This year we want more.
We want developing countries to get the six million more health workers and teachers they desperately need.
It's still absolutely crucial to keep the pressure up on the richest countries to make sure they don't lose sight of the promises they made in 2005.
We didn't see much progress on poverty at the 2006 G8 Summit, but there is a real chance the fight against poverty could be back at the heart of the agenda at the 2007 summit in Germany.
You can help.
What You Can Do
Help Oxfam and its allies keep the pressure up on Tony Blair and other world leaders. Say "I'm in" to the fight against poverty. Say "I'm in" by signing this petition calling for more aid, better spent, on health care and education for the poorest people in the world
Oxfam
Tony Blair means well and his appeal is from his heart and soul. But I doubt the integrity of the other world leaders and here in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, scores of innocent poverty-stricken Nigerians have been shot and killed by soldiers of the Nigerian Army on the Shoot-at-sight order of President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria in his desperation to stop the operations of militants in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. And the oil producing states are still wallowing in abject poverty while Nigerian politicians are busy witch-hunting and assassinating themselves.
Tony Blair must not be fooled by the lip service of President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.
How can we fight against poverty in a state of chaos?
IT IS impossible to vilify Islam without also vilifying Muslims, because the two are indistinguishable, the Victorian Court of Appeal was told yesterday.
"If one vilifies Islam, one is by necessary consequence vilifying people who hold that religious belief," Brind Woinarski, QC, told the court.
Mr Woinarski was appearing for the Islamic Council of Victoria in the appeal by Christian group Catch the Fire Ministries and pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot against a finding under Victoria's religious hatred law that they vilified Muslims in 2002. The Racial and Religious Tolerance Act defines vilification as inciting hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against a person or class of persons.
Cameron Macaulay, for the pastors, argued that the act explicitly confined the prohibition to vilifying persons, not the religion — otherwise it could operate as a law against blasphemy. Instead, it recognised one could hate the idea without hating the person.
Justice Geoffrey Nettle asked Mr Woinarski: "There must be intellectually a distinction between the ideas and those who hold them?" "We don't agree with that," Mr Woinarski said. "But in this case it's an irrelevant distinction, because Muslims and Islam were mishmashed up together."
Justice Nettle: "Are you saying it's impossible to incite hatred against a religion without also inciting hatred against people who hold it?" Mr Woinarski: "Yes."
Mr Macaulay said orders by Judge Michael Higgins against the pastors to take out a newspaper advertisement apologising and not to repeat certain teachings were too wide, and beyond his powers under the act.
He said it was surprising that the pastors could hold the beliefs but not express them. "They are restrained by law from suggesting or implying a number of things about what in their view the Koran teaches: that it preaches violence and killing, that women are of little value, that the God of Islam, Allah, is not merciful, that there is a practice of 'silent jihad' for spreading Islam, or that the Koran says Allah will remit the sins of martyrs.
"Contentious or otherwise, these are opinions about Islam's doctrines and teaching. Statements of this kind are likely to offend and insult Muslims but their feelings are not relevant under the act." Mr Macaulay said the act burdened free speech, contravened international treaties Australia had signed and breached the Australian constitution.
The act, amended in May, has been controversial. Opponents rallied against it outside Parliament earlier this month, and some Christians vowed to make it an issue at the state election.
This case has been monitored by Christian and Muslim groups overseas, and at one point Judge Higgins had to assure the Foreign Affairs Department he was not considering jailing the pastors after a flood of emails from America.
The case continues today.
~Barney Zwartz
August 22, 2006.
What the UN has failed to achieve since 1948 to date, the 3 years old blogosphere has achieved in 3 weeks to propel the virtual momentum to accelerate the cause of peace in the Middle East as Israeli and Lebanese bloggers establish a common rapport in their virtual world. And the expanding blogosphere is fast changing the atmosphere of enmity between these two enemies.
The Lebanese government forbids its citizens contact with Israelis. But keeping a lid on the Internet is a bit like trying to shovel sand with a sieve. And in the midst of war, scouring online for views from the other side has been one way for Lebanese and Israelis to alleviate the terrible sense of the impotence of standing by as their countries bled. Thousands of people, often posting in English, seem compelled to try to make some sense of the chaos -- or, through personal narratives, to help debunk stereotypes and misperceptions.Washington Post, 27/08/2006
Why should the UN watch as the Lebanese government forbids contact with Israelis?
Why should the UN permit such an undiplomatic state policy against Israel?
"The lack of news about Israel -- not an unimportant country in the region -- is astounding," wrote the political consultant, under his then-nom-de-Web, Lebanon Profile. "Not knowing about 'them' is the worst crime we can commit. It invalidates them as humans, as if they don't even matter. They are Stalin's faceless enemy, the rabid dog, the evil blood suckers whom it is righteous to kill. Our papers definitely need to start covering more than major political events in Israel."Washington Post, 27/08/2006
It is sheer wickedness for these sworn enemies of Israel to poison the hearts and souls of the majority of their ignorant citizens against making peace with Israel.
I have just read online that the kidnapped Fox correspondents have just been freed after 'converting to Islam' in Gaza.
The footage of them in captivity showed both men dressed in beige Arab-style robes, and the kidnappers claimed the journalists had converted to Islam.
Washington Post, 27/08/2006
This is actually what all the Islamic terrorists are doing.
They are holding the rest of the world hostage at gunpoint to convert to Islam or be killed. And the rest of the Islamic world are enjoying the whole Islamic madness and only pretend to sympathize with the unfortunate victims of Islamic terrorism.Fox News Senior Vice President John Moody said there were "high points and low points" in the ordeal, and that one of the lowest was the release of a second video at 3 a.m. Eastern time Sunday in which Centanni and Wiig said under duress that they had converted to Islam.
Washington Post, 27/08/2006
So where do we go from here? To the Hajj?
Hafsat Abiola
Dropping Knowledge today released the latest list of confirmed participants for The Table of Free Voices.
Moderating the Table of Free Voices: Hafsat Abiola and Willem Dafoe will lead question-answer-marathon. 
Hafsat Abiola is the most proactive daughter of the late Chief MKO Abiola the martyr of the presidential elections of June 12, 1993,that was annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, the then Military dictator of Nigeria. Since Chief MKO Abiola died in captivity of a heart attack on July 7, 1998, Hafsat has kept his memory evergreen. Hafsat Abiola is a young activist who works to promote women, youth, and democracy in Nigeria, her home country, and around the world. She is a founding member of several initiatives including Global Youth Connect, Youth Employment Campaign, and Vital Voices: Women in Democracy. She is a member of the World Wisdom Council and the World Future Council. Hafsat is the author of many articles published in international and national media, and assistant editor of Imagining Ourselves, an international anthology of women, that will be published in 2006.
Hafsat is also the Executive Director of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, KIND, an NGO that seeks to empower democracy and development in Nigeria by strengthening organizations and creating initiatives that advance women. KIND’s main programme is Kudra, a programme that offers leadership training to 750 young women across Nigeria each year.
The leading artist Robbie Conal contributes his work to dropping knowledge.
Former child soldier China Keitetsi, director Wim Wenders, and Internet pioneer Bill Joy among the confirmed speakers for dropping knowledge's Table of Free Voices.
Come and join us on Dropping Knowledge
