Update: Cuban Embargo - 47 Years and Counting

The UN General Assembly has once again overwhelmingly condemnded the US economic embargo against Cuba.

This week, the assembly voted 187-3 in opposition to the 47 year old embargo. The only countries to side with the US were Israel (no surprises there) and the Pacific Island nation of Palau (a former United Nations Trusteeship administered by the US until 1994).

With all the positive steps that President Obama has taken to improve relations with Cuba, the question now stands as to whether he will take the ultimate step forward and end a policy that is no more than a cold war relic?

Oxfam Shake Up Aid System

Oxfam has released a new report, Band Aids and Beyond: Tackling disasters in Ethiopia 25 years after the famine, which calls for a “radical shake-up” of the aid system in order to break the cycle of hunger that exists in Ethiopia.

Rather than simply waiting for disasters to strike and then responding, the report calls for the more sustainable and dignified approach of tackling the risk of those disasters, by employing Disaster Risk Management (DRM). According to the report, DRM works by:

• Identifying all potential threats to lives and livelihoods and people’s vulnerabilities to such threats,
• Building their resilience, i.e. their ability to withstand shocks without jeopardising their ways of working and living.

DRM can operate in many ways, such as by providing micro-insurance for farmers, giving communities cash in exchange for work (examples of which are documented in the report) and by establishing early warning systems to help ensure a timely response to impending food shortages and other disasters.

With regard to Ethiopia specifically, Oxfam points out that the US Government is the source of 70 per cent of humanitarian assistance but that last year, 92% of the amount spent went on in-kind food aid. Although it is without doubt required at times, food aid does not address the fundamental causes of disasters and therefore thus does not prevent them from happening again or even limit their severity. In addition, food aid supports industries within donor countries rather than local producers. A shift in approach is required.

Knee jerk reactions are never long term solutions and Oxfam’s latest report examines one potential solution. It’s well worth a read.

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day and the chosen topic is climate change.

So I think it is important to bring attention once again to Oxfam Ireland's campaign Climate Change Destroys Lives. Let's Face It.

Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity and Oxfam is calling on world leaders to ensure that a fair and safe deal is reached at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December.

Please add your voice and help make the call louder, stronger and impossible to ignore.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize - Why?

US President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his calls to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons and working to achieve world peace.

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that seem a little premature? This is a man who currently, as commander-in-chief, is engaged in 2 wars and has control over the largest nuclear arsenal on earth. In addition, his stance on Israel and the occupied territories is not the most progressive or brave.

There is no question that he is working to address the negative relationship that the US has with the rest of the world and his calls for nuclear disarmament are very welcome, but awards should be given for results, not intentions. President Obama may well be able to realise "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons" but until then, he deserves admiration, not accolades.

Ireland Needs a New Debt Policy

Poor countries still pay $100 million dollars every day in debt repayments to the richest countries in the world. This is despite the fact that a huge proportion of these debts are historical and were accumulated by dictators such as President Mobutu of Zaire, who left the people of the DRC to repay illegitimate loans of over $12 billion. To make matters worse, impoverished countries are currently facing yet another devastating debt emergency due to the impacts of climate change, the global financial crisis and the ever increasing problem of food security.

In response, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) are campaigning to ensure that Ireland’s new debt policy, currently being formulated by the Department of Finance, supports;

1) Greatly expanded debt cancellation, free from conditions for all Southern countries that need it.

(2) Recognition by Ireland, the EU, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund of the responsibility of lenders in the creation of unjust debts.

(3) The establishment of debt audits in the global South.

(4) The establishment of an international taskforce on tackling historic, illegitimate debts.

(5) Recognition of the climate debt owed to countries of the Global South and the need for grant based support (not loans) to Southern countries to cope with climate change.

You can support the campaign by contacting your local TDs and demanding that they raise a question about the need for a new, just debt policy in the Dáil. Furthermore, encourage them to request that Minister Lenihan and Minister Power add their support to the above concerns.

Time to Vote...AGAIN

Today, the Lisbon Treaty will once and for all be decided from an Irish point of view. Regardless of the importance of this vote or indeed the potential consequences whatever the outcome may be, the important issues have once again been overshadowed by the haemorrhaging of inaccurate opinions and political sales-pitches.

We were denied a proper discourse based on the facts. Both sides were guilty of misrepresentation and scare-mongering and have attempted to influence the Irish public with nothing more than veiled threats. The debate, if it can even be called that, deteriorated into a personalised tit-for-tat series of attacks.

The entire referendum, due to this state of affairs, has been an insult to any Irish person who was willing to engage in the process and base their decision on issues of substance. Regardless of outcome, the only positive I can see is that today marks the end…or does it?