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Messages from the G20 Summit: Rising Tide

March 31, 2009 2:43 PM

In preparation for the G20 Summit, ABC News asked a variety of groups from around London for their views. This is an exclusive interview with Sam, 43, from the grass root environmental group Rising Tide. He is also a musician and a journalist, and is involved with the group Art, Not Oil. He plans to protest at Climate Camp on April 1.

How did you get started with Rising Tide?

I got involved about 9 years ago -- I co-founded it. I don't have a specific position, but I help out.

Why did you get involved with Rising Tide?

I was first interested in climate change when I realized that our current culture is destroying the environment. I realized that to deal with climate change, there needed to be a direct action base to combat government and businesses who fundamentally don't have the environment's best interests at heart. We realized that the best way to combat them was not through large organizations but by grass root-based activities. Hence, Rising Tide.

Why Climate Change/Business?

Because the current system is not working, and there is something fundamentally wrong in depending on fossil fuels and businesses to run our lives. Humans are suffering, living against the natural world because a lot of the population has bought into "progress."

What is the ideal?

The ideal? The dismantlement of large fossil-fuel-guzzling corporations, big businesses. We need to rebuild a society which is based more on close communities and close relationships, so that we don't have to rely on these top-down entities that are focused on hierarchical organizations and profits. I think people have got a slight sense of this -- see the euphoria surrounding Obama's victory. I think they are seeking that change. But I don't think Obama, as one person, can change the way things are. He, too, is wired into market organizations.

What keeps you going after nine years?

Relationships. I get a sense of personal fulfilment every time our small (but growing) group of individuals stand up for change. We have a singular purpose, and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a group of smart, creative, talented, empowered people sensing what is wrong and sensing how the world should be.

How about the resistance? You are against great odds; does that fuel you?

Oh, that's a deep question. I don't know whether activists are fueled by resistance. For me, it's a matter of principle, this way of life that I believe in.

Any particular goals for the Climate Camp?

Awareness. I want people to know that you can build the world that you want. Grass root events like this spread this message. I think the danger now is that businesses have wonderful PR that paints them as "responsible businesses," when, in fact, this is not the case. The structure makes it virtually impossible to be truly responsible. The BP could be 99% solar, and I'd still not support them.

More specific messages?

We're trying to build a vision of the future. That, and carbon trading is a scam.

What are you looking forward to at Climate Camp?

I'm a musician. I'm in a Ceilidh band, and so, I look forward to bringing a bit of soul to these dark city corridors. It's very appropriate, since the music is about rebirth.

Last words?

We want people to have a good time resisting, building the world they want.

March 31, 2009 in Esther Young | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Why the G20 Is Hard Work for Protestors

March 31, 2009 10:28 AM

From Lindsey German
National Convenor, Stop the War Coalition

Diary (Day One)

The G20 is hard work, if not for the world leaders, then for those of us protesting against it. It started on Saturday with the big Put People First march through central London, where the anti-war movement had a large and lively contingent. Then it rolled on into Monday with a big meeting called 'Meet the Resistance' with speakers from Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine.

Tonight there's a gig with the rapper Lowkey launching his song on Palestine. Then tomorrow's demo which is looking good. Then Thursday at the Excel Centre, then Strasbourg for demos and conferences all weekend in opposition to NATO, which is celebrating its 60th birthday there.

Unfortunately I woke up with a raging toothache this morning so off to the dentist. Need to get all my interviews in before then. Been on BBC news channel and talked to numerous journalists. Our (very compact) office is crammed and the phones ring all the time. It seems to be the law of demos that everyone turns up in the office to do all sorts of things that could be done some other time just when you need some thinking space.

I'm speaking on the demo and have to organise the other speakers and entertainers. Always a headache, especially when people find out how little time there is for them to speak! Anyway the weather forecast looks good, the usual obsession even for demonstrators.

March 31, 2009 in Guest | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Arab League Embraces Sudanese President Wanted for War Crimes

March 31, 2009 3:14 AM

By Lara Setrakian, ABC News, Doha

When the 22-nation Arab League gave Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir a warm, red-carpet welcome, it came off as a broad stroke of defiance.

Bashir’s controversial trip to the Doha Summit defied an arrest warrant indictment from the International Criminal Court over war crimes in Darfur. Though not party to the ICC the U.S. State Department voiced its disapproval, saying the Doha Summit should have been a forum to condemn what is happening in Darfur, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke on the summit floor denouncing Sudan’s expulsion of foreign aid workers.

Bashir himself spoke to the summit, accusing the expelled aid groups of working with the ICC and accusing Israel of supporting insurgent groups in Sudan. Tensions have been high since Israel launched an operation striking alleged weapons convoys passing through Sudan that Israeli officials said were destined for the Gaza Strip.

In rejecting the arrest warrant, the Arab League argued that it violates national sovereignty and complicates ongoing peace negotiations in the Sudan. An alternate rationale, advanced by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, cast Bashir’s case in neo-colonial terms.

"The warrant issued by the ICC against an Arab president, under false pretexts, is the first step towards dividing Sudan in order to weaken it, then control its resources and divide them," Assad said in his opening remarks. With that, the summit invoked early on the two themes -- anti-colonial and anti-Israel -- that are staples of Arab political rhetoric. For more insight, the Christian Science Monitor ran an analysis piece headlined "Why Arab Leaders Embrace Sudan’s Indicted President."

Bashir’s arrival in Doha was dramatic: Arab and Sudanese journalists applauded as he stepped off the plane. It came after weeks of speculation about whether he would make it to the summit, some predicting his plane might be intercepted or that he’d be arrested in Doha or Cairo, where he visited Egyptian leaders days before.

A Saudi Princely Promotion Twists Talk of Succession

March 29, 2009 5:35 PM

ABC News' Lara Setrakian reports:

Middle East analysts watch Saudi Arabia much as Kremlinologists once studied the power plays of the Soviet Union -- looking for signs of who's moving up and who's keeping in the good graces of the top man. Perhaps justifiably, since the Saudi Kingdom, a U.S. ally with the world's largest proven oil reserves, might be on the verge of a royal succession essential to America's strategic interests.

With the reigning King Abdullah well into his 80s and his named successor, Crown Prince Sultan, seriously ill, the wide field of outcomes invites speculation.

When King Abdullah tapped one contender, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, for a serious promotion last Friday, it was taken as the first major signal of whose hands would rule the kingdom next. The country's interior minister for more than thirty years, Prince Nayef was named second deputy prime minister - one notch below the ailing Crown Prince Sultan.

"This places him in direct line to the throne," wrote Ted Karasik of INEGMA, a think tank based in Dubai that is tracking the Saudi succession.

"Prince Nayef has been helping oversee the government since Crown Prince Sultan had his relapse five months ago," Karasik wrote. "This appointment makes his supervisory role official."

Prince Nayef's ascension is not automatic -- he needs the support of the 35-member Allegiance Council, the body of royals meant to choose the future king through consensus. But King Abdullah's vote of nconfidence carries weight, and says a lot about where he sees the kingdom going.

Prince Nayef, like all Saudi rulers of modern time, is a son of the country's founder, King Abdulziz ibn Saud. There was talk of the next king coming from the next generation, young blood from among the dozens of grandsons of Abdulaziz. That generational jump now seems unlikely, says Karasik.

Prince Nayef is a traditionalist, close to the Wahhabi establishment and controversial for some of his positions -- among them on on statement that Jews and Zionists were behind 9/11. He has a mixed record on rights for women and the kingdom's Shiite minority. His strong suits, on the other hand, include being credited with keeping stability and fighting al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.

"Despite being a controversial figure, Prince Nayef is nonetheless credited with the improvement of security conditions in the kingdom, and no one disputes his effort in the field of counterterrorism," wrote Rochdi A. Younsi, Middle East & Africa Director for the Eurasia Group. Younsi sees a tribal-political battle ahead before the naming of a future king.

"Only ultraconservatives would welcome [Prince Nayef's] candidacy to the throne. He has repeatedly reassured the powerful Wahhabi establishment whenever it felt threatened by King Abdullah's push for social change."

Even after Friday's promotion, interested parties are waiting to see how high Prince Nayef can go.

Why Did China Ban Traditional Flying Lanterns?

March 27, 2009 1:39 PM

By CHITO ROMANA, Producer, ABC News Beijing

Traditional flying lanterns were first used by soldiers in ancient China who released the paper lamps lighted by candles into the night sky as a military signal.

This primitive version of a hot-air balloon was known as “kong ming deng,” or kongming lanterns, named after a legendary Chinese strategist who used them about 1,800 years ago.

This practice somehow evolved into a traditional ritual that has become a part of Chinese festivals, along with dumplings and firecrackers.

Ordinary citizens released the flying lanterns as a symbolic way of expressing good luck during the Lantern Festival and the Autumn Moon Festival. People often wrote their wishes on these lamps, which could fly as long as the candles kept burning, sometimes reaching as high as 1,000 feet.

The ritual also took on a romantic meaning when lovers adopted it during Chinese Valentine’s Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh moon on the lunar calendar.

So it came as somewhat of a surprise to the Chinese public when the police in the resort city of Sanya declared that the flying lanterns posed a threat to civil aviation.

A police official told state media the flying lamps disrupted airline schedules by delaying 61 flights this year at Sanya’s international airport. As a result, a citywide ban on the sale and use of these lanterns took effect this week.

The most serious case occurred during the Chinese New Year festivities in February, according to the police. Hundreds of passengers were stranded for more than an hour on the night of the Lantern Festival, the 15th day on the lunar calendar. On that night alone, 15 flights were delayed in Sanya, apparently because of the flying lanterns.

This seaside resort is located in the southern tip of tropical Hainan Island, which is billed as China’s Hawaii. The city became well known to international TV viewers when it hosted the Miss World competition for four years. It is now a popular destination for Chinese and foreign holiday-seekers, and most tour agencies have included the release of the flying lanterns as part of the regular tourist itinerary.

Sky lamps attracted some controversy earlier this year when police investigators attributed a fire in Zhengzhou, a city in central China, to a flying lantern that fell on a residential area. The city then decided to ban the lanterns as a fire hazard.

According to state media, seven cities across the country, including Xian, Nanjing and Wuhan, have prohibited these sky lamps.

But how easy will it be to stop something that has become part of Chinese tradition?

Is This Proof That Ghosts Exist?

March 27, 2009 12:15 PM

By AMMU KANNAMPILLY, ABC News London

If you think ghost sightings are only for the superstitious, here are a few pictures that might change your mind.

British psychologist Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire recently held what he calls “the largest ever investigation into the photographic evidence for ghosts.” Members of the public were asked to submit photographs of possible ghost sightings to Wiseman. The best images were posted online, after which 250,000 people cast their votes on which pictures showed a genuine ghost.

The prize-winning picture, by Christopher Aitchison, is posted above. It was taken at Tantallon Castle in Scotland. Aitchison told Wiseman that he was unaware of anyone -- visitor or staff member -- being present at the castle opening. Wiseman told ABC News that he has “had a couple of Photoshop experts look at it, and it has not been digitally manipulated.”

Here are two more images that received a high number of votes from viewers. The first shows a figure in the woods, and the second shows a figure on the street. In both cases, the photographers say no one was actually there when the picture was taken, and that they cannot account for the “ghostly” presence.

What do you think? Are these ghosts or a trick of the light? To see more pictures, go to http://www.richardwiseman.com/hauntings2/experiments.html

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Even the President's Brother Can Get Cholera

March 27, 2009 11:55 AM

By DANA HUGHES, Digital Reporter, ABC News Nairobi

Earlier this week, Malik Obama, half-brother of U.S. President Barack Obama, checked into a local hospital in western Kenya with a possible case of cholera. He wouldn’t confirm to media that he had the disease, but a local source told me that Malik Obama had been treated in the cholera ward for the past three days and would be released today.

Malik Obama was a guest at his brother’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January. But Kogelo, President Obama’s father’s birthplace and where Malik still resides, is a long way from the beltway, not just in distance but also economically.

I’ve been to Malik’s homestead. By Kenyan standards, it would be considered middle class -- there’s a television, make-shift electricity, running water. But the village is largely off the electric grid and women travel distances to get daily water.

The closest thing to health care Kogelo has is a dispensary – a little clinic stocked with few drugs and health workers who can refer patients to larger hospitals in nearby towns. And so this village of 5,000 is prone to outbreaks of a disease that is nearly nonexistent in the West.

Cholera is common on the subcontinent. It’s an intestinal disease, caused by drinking and eating contaminated water and food. An outbreak occurs when there’s a breakdown in sanitation conditions and a lack of safe drinking water.

The most prominent outbreak at the moment is in Zimbabwe where more than 60,000 people have been infected, and more than 3,000 have died. The disease is relatively easy to treat. Victims are given oral rehydration salts to replace the fluids lost through vomiting and diarrhea; in severe cases, fluids are injected intravenously. With proper care, most patients, like Malik Obama, are cured and discharged within a couple of days.

A look at the World Health Organization’s map of cholera outbreaks over the past two years shows that it is largely a poor man’s disease. It’s rampant in developing countries throughout Africa and Southeast Asia, and nearly nonexistent in the West, which has advanced water treatment systems. The last major cholera outbreak in the United States was in 1910. Kenya, on the other hand, is in the midst of at least two outbreaks.

Kenyans are very proud of the fact the President Obama has roots here, none likely more so than his own brother. “Yes we can” is a favorite saying here, often used by Kenyans to demand the same change in their government and infrastructure as the recent elections brought about in the United States.

But when the brother of the leader of the free world still lives in conditions in 2009 that leave him susceptible to a disease that the United States hasn’t seen in nearly a hundred years, it’s clear it will take more than a phrase and people power to bring health care here to a modern standard.

A Shakeup in the British Royal Household?

March 27, 2009 9:51 AM

By EMILY WITHER, ABC News London

Buckingham Palace is in talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown about rewriting the royal laws when it comes to marriage and succession to the throne.

As the law stands now, if Prince William decides not to marry Kate Middleton, his on-off girlfriend of seven years, he could wed anyone he wishes as long as she is not a Roman Catholic. If he did decide to marry a Catholic, he would lose his chance to become king of England.

This dates back to a 300-year-old rule from the 1701 Act of Settlement stating that if a royal converts to Catholicism or marries a Catholic, the royal cannot succeed to the throne.

Brown hopes to scrap the archaic rulings, saying he finds them discriminatory and out-of-place in the 21st century.

The prime minister also said it’s time to stop the discrimination against female heirs. Currently, precedence is given to male heirs over their female counterparts, and princesses are superseded by younger male siblings.

Under the proposals, which could come into force next year, the royal line would take on a new order, and Princess Ann would move from 10th in line to the throne to fourth.

But there would be no change to the constitutional role of the monarch or the Church of England as the established church.

An overhaul of the rules is going to take a long time. The Queen ought to get the blessing of every country of which she is a head of state, such as Canada and Australia. It’s thought Brown will bring the topic up at the commonwealth leader’s summit in November, which The Queen will attend, a spokesman at No. 10 Downing Street told ABC News.com

"People expect the government to look at issues of discrimination. The laws concerning marriage to Catholics and the primacy of male members of the royal family should change, but that can only happen with the agreement of the palace.”

MPs in the House of Commons debate a private members bill later today, suggesting changes. The Queen had to grant permission for the debate to take place, but Brown isn’t backing the bill.

The spokesman from Downing Street told ABC News.com that the government is keen to begin discussions with Buckingham Palace. But Brown recognizes that changes cannot happen overnight, and this is why he’s not supporting the bill today.

Similar reviews have already been made for the royal families of Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

It looks as if Brits think its time for a change too. A survey, by ICM for the BBC, showed 89 percent of voters backed giving female heirs equal succession rights and 81 percent believed heirs who married Catholics should still be able to succeed to the throne.

Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the proposals, saying it was a matter for the government.

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Weird and Wonderful Weekly

March 27, 2009 8:25 AM

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

“Even God would have a difficult time being Treasury secretary right now,” said Fred Bergsten, head of the Peterson Institute of International Economics, in sympathy with Tim Geithner who this week unveiled the Obama administration’s plan to buy $1 trillion worth of toxic assets.

British reality TV star, Jade Goody, died last week at the age of 27 from cervical cancer.

Here are some of her priceless comments, for which she was renowned and loved:

“Rio De Janeiro – ain’t that a person?”

“Do they speak Portuganese in Portugal?”

“Has Greece got its own moon?”

“Sherlock Holmes invented toilets.”

“Margaret Thatcher -- ain’t she a prostitute?”

“Mother Theresa is from Germany.”

And about the USA: “They do speak English there, don’t they?”

WWW News

No Toilet, No Bride: Mothers in the Northern Indian state of Haryana are laying down the law for prospective sons-in-law: “If you don't have a proper lavatory in your house, don't even think about marrying my daughter.” The campaign -- on billboards, and heard on television and radio -- might sound like too-good-to-be-true toilet humor, but it bears a serious message in a country where more households have TVs than toilets.

An End to Dirty Laundry: Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata took a unique approach to fashion this week as he modeled a new line of odor-free clothing. The clothes, called J-ware, were developed by textile experts at Japan Women's University in Tokyo. The material is flame-resistant and anti-static, and can apparently kill bacteria, absorb water, insulate the body and dry quickly. It could be a breakthrough, not just for traveling light in space but for teenage boys with an aversion to changing their underpants.

See Switzerland and America in Germany: The world's longest model railway has been constructed by 41-year-old German twins, Frederick and Gerrit Braun. A fleet of 700 trains traverses 6 miles of track, speeding past mini reconstructions of the Swiss Alps and the Rocky Mountains. So far, the project has taken roughly 500,000 hours and cost $12 million, but there is still a way to go, with the complete layout scheduled for 2014 to encompass France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Member on the Roof: What’s the worst that could happen when you see an aerial photo of your house? How about discovering that your 18-year-old son has painted a 60-foot phallus on the roof? That was the exact surprise awaiting the owners of a $1.5 million mansion in Berkshire, England. The image went unnoticed for a year, and the “artist’s” parents say it will have to stay until their son can scrub it off when he returns from his travels.

Facts and Figures

$60 billion. The value of Mexican drugs traded around the globe each year.

300,000. The number of people who get married in the U.K. each year.

2,390. The number of executions worldwide in 2008; 72 percent took place in China.

$2,000. The cost of the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano. It goes on sale in India early next month.

200 miles. The distance covered by 25-year-old British runner Jack Jones, who set the world record after completing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.

20 percent. The annual proportion of the world’s food crops that is damaged by rats.

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Saudi Women Boycott Lingerie Shops in the Fight for Their Right to Work

March 26, 2009 3:07 PM

By Lara Setrakian, ABC News, Dubai

In Saudi Arabia women are boycotting stores that sell their most intimate apparel. In an ironic twist, lingerie shops in the ultra-conservative Saudi Kingdom are mostly staffed by men – ironic because Saudi law strictly divides men and women in daily life and can render snap criminal judgments on unmarried men and women interacting in public.

The practice of men staffing lingerie shops violates social sensibilities in Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press ran a piece this week on women feeling humiliated as they discuss their private wardrobe with male sales clerks.

The lingerie boycott is about more than slips and giggles. It's about combatting an insult to women in the workplace. In 2006, the Saudi Kingdom passed a law stating that only women could work in lingerie stores, creating one in a handful of protected spaces through which women could join the labor force.

But Saudi Arabia's religious establishment opposed the measure, with clerical hardliners preferring to keep women at home and out of the businesses. In theory, their opposition shouldn't carry more weight than the law. But hardliners in the form of the Mutawa, or religious police, enforce the law as they see fit in daily life.

"Legally, the government has decreed that women are allowed to work in lingerie shops. But the fact that Mutawa could harass them, threaten them or close down the shop ... They don't want to take that risk," said Samar Fatany, a Saudi writer and lecturer on women's rights.

The boycott in some ways reflects an economic battle of the sexes, a competition for jobs in a country where unemployment is rampant. But it’s also a microcosm of the Saudi Kingdom’s struggle to balance itself between two poles: strict Wahhabi Islam and slow moves toward modernity. Wahhabi purists want to keep women at home, while economic realities and a reformer king are helping women enter the workplace.

Fatany and others note that households in Saudi Arabia, as in the United States, increasingly need two incomes to get by. As more wives and mothers go to work they will speak with louder voices about the change they want to see in Saudi. This week they want to see it in the underwear aisle.