Thru Novel Lenses! New Vision New Perspectives New Ideas New Directions For the New World! Futuring Sustainable Development in the Post Pandemic Planet From Pre School to Policy Making
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Facebook murders
The Facebook murders
The wires were abuzz around this time last year. Twenty five year old Paul Bristol flew to London from Trinidad and Tobago to kill his ex-girlfriend, 27-year -old Camille Mathurasingh. He was enraged after seeing a photo of her on Facebook with another man. He stabbed her 20 times in her car in London. It became known as the Facebook murder.
There have been other similar incidents. One recalls the shock that shook Siparia when a mother of four left home for a date with a man she “met” on the internet. It turned out to be a date with death. Her decomposing body was found four days later mangled with the mangrove in the Manzanilla River. The autopsy revealed she had been strangled.
There are increasing reports of similar incidents around the world.
Emma Forrester of the UK changed her Facebook status to single after separating from her husband, Wayne He returned to their family home and hacked her to death with a meat cleaver. He claimed he was provoked when she changed her marital status to 'single' on Facebook.
In October last year, a married Zimbabwean man accused his mistress of having an affair after she altered her Facebook account. He whipped her with wire. Both were immigrants to Britain. He told British police that “such savage attacks” were common in his homeland.
Another, a mother-of-two was murdered by her jealous husband after she posted on Facebook that her marriage was over.
Teenager Ashleigh Hall was lured to her death by a convicted serial rapist,Peter Chapham. He had posed as a teenage boy on Facebook. They planned to meet. He collected her from her home in Britain, drove her to a lay-by, tied her up, raped and strangled her. Another schoolgirl met her ex-boyfriend, who was charged with murdering her, on the site.
Also in the UK Mary Griffiths was a Facebook friend of John McFarlane. He broke into her home when she was asleep, beat her and shot her twice with a bolt gun, normally used for stunning animals. He claimed to have been provoked by a message she had posted on Facebook that he was "delusional" if he believed they would ever have a relationship.
In less bloody forms of abuse, a former boyfriend posted nude photos and videos of a Philippine girl in an account he had created under her name. He mailed a copy of the video to her Muslim parents.
UK studies have shown increases in crimes linked to the social networking site - more than 100,000 in the last five years. Murders and rapes were among them bit they also found a range of range of other crimes, from terrorism and gun crimes to pedophilia, fraud, hate crimes, malicious messages, suicides and threats of violence.
Investigators found that offenders sometimes use fake identities and befriend victims scandalously in order to abuse their trust, bully, harass and use their private information for various ill doings.
The incidents have stimulated a raging debate on an off line. Facebook fans have been discussing their occurrences and entering the debating whether Facebook and similar social networking sites are encouraging such crimes, or whether the incidents merely mirror the extent of violence and abuse of women that already exists in societies.
Facebook estimates that more than 700 million Facebook updates are posted each day by its more than 400 million active users who share photos, messages, contact friends and link with others who share similar interests. In many cases, some of these interactions take place with strangers. One UK study found 85 per cent of women on Facebook in that region had been contacted by strangers on Facebook.
The internet has opened up private lives into new avenues of potential violence and has led to a rise in cases of electronic violence against women through cyber harassment, stalking, online pornography, and unauthorised recording, reproduction and distribution of images and videos.
Yet, it is believed to be social, even professional, “suicide" to avoid such sites. Even organisations like End Violence Against Women (EVAW), and the UNIFEM virtual knowledge centre to end violence against women, use the internet with the former also on Facebook.
The Association of Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Program (APC WNSP), based in the Philippines, is working to help women around the globe better understand new technology and its potential and impact on their rights and lives.
They too use the internet, among other forums, to communicate their messages, functioning from a belief that persons who understand technology - know how it works, how to use it and change it with technical knowledge have more control over it. Some of the tips they offer to persons to protect privacy on the internet are:
• Do not to disclose too much personal information to social networking or dating site, even such information as place of work, address or telephone number which can become a map to a potential killer.
• Pay attention to the consistency of the information being revealed by online ‘friends’. The more inconsistencies, the greater the chance that the person is lying about themselves.
• Stop all communication with people who are obsessed with trying to pry personal information from you.
• Be on the look-out for warning signs such as the use of foul language, disrespectful remarks, signs of anger for no apparent reason and elusiveness in answering direct questions.
• If one decides on a face-to-face meeting with a strange “friend”, under no circumstances agree to meet with that person at one’s home. Have these meetings in public and tell someone where the meeting would be, with whom and expected time back.
The wires were abuzz around this time last year. Twenty five year old Paul Bristol flew to London from Trinidad and Tobago to kill his ex-girlfriend, 27-year -old Camille Mathurasingh. He was enraged after seeing a photo of her on Facebook with another man. He stabbed her 20 times in her car in London. It became known as the Facebook murder.
There have been other similar incidents. One recalls the shock that shook Siparia when a mother of four left home for a date with a man she “met” on the internet. It turned out to be a date with death. Her decomposing body was found four days later mangled with the mangrove in the Manzanilla River. The autopsy revealed she had been strangled.
There are increasing reports of similar incidents around the world.
Emma Forrester of the UK changed her Facebook status to single after separating from her husband, Wayne He returned to their family home and hacked her to death with a meat cleaver. He claimed he was provoked when she changed her marital status to 'single' on Facebook.
In October last year, a married Zimbabwean man accused his mistress of having an affair after she altered her Facebook account. He whipped her with wire. Both were immigrants to Britain. He told British police that “such savage attacks” were common in his homeland.
Another, a mother-of-two was murdered by her jealous husband after she posted on Facebook that her marriage was over.
Teenager Ashleigh Hall was lured to her death by a convicted serial rapist,Peter Chapham. He had posed as a teenage boy on Facebook. They planned to meet. He collected her from her home in Britain, drove her to a lay-by, tied her up, raped and strangled her. Another schoolgirl met her ex-boyfriend, who was charged with murdering her, on the site.
Also in the UK Mary Griffiths was a Facebook friend of John McFarlane. He broke into her home when she was asleep, beat her and shot her twice with a bolt gun, normally used for stunning animals. He claimed to have been provoked by a message she had posted on Facebook that he was "delusional" if he believed they would ever have a relationship.
In less bloody forms of abuse, a former boyfriend posted nude photos and videos of a Philippine girl in an account he had created under her name. He mailed a copy of the video to her Muslim parents.
UK studies have shown increases in crimes linked to the social networking site - more than 100,000 in the last five years. Murders and rapes were among them bit they also found a range of range of other crimes, from terrorism and gun crimes to pedophilia, fraud, hate crimes, malicious messages, suicides and threats of violence.
Investigators found that offenders sometimes use fake identities and befriend victims scandalously in order to abuse their trust, bully, harass and use their private information for various ill doings.
The incidents have stimulated a raging debate on an off line. Facebook fans have been discussing their occurrences and entering the debating whether Facebook and similar social networking sites are encouraging such crimes, or whether the incidents merely mirror the extent of violence and abuse of women that already exists in societies.
Facebook estimates that more than 700 million Facebook updates are posted each day by its more than 400 million active users who share photos, messages, contact friends and link with others who share similar interests. In many cases, some of these interactions take place with strangers. One UK study found 85 per cent of women on Facebook in that region had been contacted by strangers on Facebook.
The internet has opened up private lives into new avenues of potential violence and has led to a rise in cases of electronic violence against women through cyber harassment, stalking, online pornography, and unauthorised recording, reproduction and distribution of images and videos.
Yet, it is believed to be social, even professional, “suicide" to avoid such sites. Even organisations like End Violence Against Women (EVAW), and the UNIFEM virtual knowledge centre to end violence against women, use the internet with the former also on Facebook.
The Association of Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Program (APC WNSP), based in the Philippines, is working to help women around the globe better understand new technology and its potential and impact on their rights and lives.
They too use the internet, among other forums, to communicate their messages, functioning from a belief that persons who understand technology - know how it works, how to use it and change it with technical knowledge have more control over it. Some of the tips they offer to persons to protect privacy on the internet are:
• Do not to disclose too much personal information to social networking or dating site, even such information as place of work, address or telephone number which can become a map to a potential killer.
• Pay attention to the consistency of the information being revealed by online ‘friends’. The more inconsistencies, the greater the chance that the person is lying about themselves.
• Stop all communication with people who are obsessed with trying to pry personal information from you.
• Be on the look-out for warning signs such as the use of foul language, disrespectful remarks, signs of anger for no apparent reason and elusiveness in answering direct questions.
• If one decides on a face-to-face meeting with a strange “friend”, under no circumstances agree to meet with that person at one’s home. Have these meetings in public and tell someone where the meeting would be, with whom and expected time back.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
PM to PM: Kamla to Julia: woman to woman
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s pitch to her Australian counterpart, Julia Gillard to put a woman’s touch on the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) sets a new tone to these meetings. For the first time, the Commonwealth has a woman as its chair-in office who will transfer the baton to another woman. The ‘chair-in-office’ is assigned to the host country of the previous CHOGM. Persad-Bissessar inherited the post when Patrick Manning was moved from the office of Prime Minister, given that Trinidad and Tobago hosted the 2009 CHOGM; and it will pass to the Australian Prime Minister which hosts the 2011 CHOGM.
It changes the tone of CHOGM meeting because these have historically been male dominated. In fact, in this period in which Persad-Bisessar and Julia Gillard are on the scene, they are among only three women of the fifty-four political leaders of the Commonwealth. The third female political leader in the Commonwealth is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh.
The PM’s call is the kind of woman-to-woman conversation that new development thinkers are encouraging and believe is essential if there is to be progress in the UN’s Millennium Development Goal towards more balanced global development.
It is anticipated that it will also change the tone and impact of women in local politics where the track record has not been altogether encouraging.
A review on interventions in support of women’s participation in electoral processes in the Caribbean between 2007-2008, released by UNIFEM last year, tells that women in politics have not had the impact on their societies as expected.
In the first instance, the review which initially targeted examination of interventions in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and either St. Lucia or Guyana, had to curb its ambitions and focus only on Trinidad & Tobago and the Put a Woman project of the Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women because it was the only one that “provided a substantial enough base for making an assessment.”
To its key question on “whether the significant increase in the number of women Members of Parliament (MPs) in Trinidad & Tobago in 2007 had led to an increase in the representation of women’s interests in Parliament,” the simple answer was, “No”.
It describes the aim of Put a Woman to transform the culture of politics in Trinidad & Tobago by making it more inclusive, beginning with women. This was to be achieved through:
Training women across party lines to understand government at both local and national levels and in gender mainstreaming government decision-making;
Encouraging more young people to take part in the electoral process;
Documenting and publishing information on women in local government in Trinidad and Tobago;
Making the environment conducive for women to effectively participate in the highest levels of decision-making; and
Creating a critical mass of gender-sensitive elected or appointed women representatives who would influence policy in national political bodies.
This translated into actions involving political skills training; revitalization of the Women’s Political Platform; documentation of women in local government; and the establishment of a Women’s Political Participation Fund.
The review identified Put a Woman’s major successes as the reach of the training it provided and the significant increase in the number of women elected to Parliament following the training. With local government elections postponed in 2007 and 2008, the Political Skills Training concentrated on training for the national elections of 2007. It used various approaches to working with women who were potential nominees or candidates along with women working to support them and reached more than 500 women. It updated the Women’s Manifesto; prepared a document on women’s contribution to local government and the establishment of a small Women’s Political Participation Fund which distributed nominal sums as expressions of support to 13 women candidates.
Among the weakness it review identified was the project’s inability to establish a Women’s Political Caucus.
But, it concluded, “more critically, “the project did not lead to increased representation of women’s interests by women Members of Parliament in spite the increase in their numbers and the exposure to ideas and tools which the project had provided.”
It found that women MPs were in the main not raising issues of concern to women, and cited reasons as their failure to work across party lines and with women’s organisations. the problem was one of the quality, not the quantity of women MPs.
But there are other broader underlying factors. These, the review identified as:
The nature of the political party culture in the region;
The sometimes antagonistic differences among women and how this impacts on the aim of creating a critical mass of women in Parliament;
The diminishing space that national governments have for decision-making; and
The possibilities and limits of national and local government.
This was discovered of the political environment in Trinidad and Tobago, but it is also a reflection of the political environment globally. And these are the areas that Persad-Bissessar and Gillard will have to transform in their party systems and in their local and national politics, if they are to make substantive impact on the policies and directions and affect a ripple effect across the Commonwealth.
It changes the tone of CHOGM meeting because these have historically been male dominated. In fact, in this period in which Persad-Bisessar and Julia Gillard are on the scene, they are among only three women of the fifty-four political leaders of the Commonwealth. The third female political leader in the Commonwealth is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh.
The PM’s call is the kind of woman-to-woman conversation that new development thinkers are encouraging and believe is essential if there is to be progress in the UN’s Millennium Development Goal towards more balanced global development.
It is anticipated that it will also change the tone and impact of women in local politics where the track record has not been altogether encouraging.
A review on interventions in support of women’s participation in electoral processes in the Caribbean between 2007-2008, released by UNIFEM last year, tells that women in politics have not had the impact on their societies as expected.
In the first instance, the review which initially targeted examination of interventions in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and either St. Lucia or Guyana, had to curb its ambitions and focus only on Trinidad & Tobago and the Put a Woman project of the Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women because it was the only one that “provided a substantial enough base for making an assessment.”
To its key question on “whether the significant increase in the number of women Members of Parliament (MPs) in Trinidad & Tobago in 2007 had led to an increase in the representation of women’s interests in Parliament,” the simple answer was, “No”.
It describes the aim of Put a Woman to transform the culture of politics in Trinidad & Tobago by making it more inclusive, beginning with women. This was to be achieved through:
Training women across party lines to understand government at both local and national levels and in gender mainstreaming government decision-making;
Encouraging more young people to take part in the electoral process;
Documenting and publishing information on women in local government in Trinidad and Tobago;
Making the environment conducive for women to effectively participate in the highest levels of decision-making; and
Creating a critical mass of gender-sensitive elected or appointed women representatives who would influence policy in national political bodies.
This translated into actions involving political skills training; revitalization of the Women’s Political Platform; documentation of women in local government; and the establishment of a Women’s Political Participation Fund.
The review identified Put a Woman’s major successes as the reach of the training it provided and the significant increase in the number of women elected to Parliament following the training. With local government elections postponed in 2007 and 2008, the Political Skills Training concentrated on training for the national elections of 2007. It used various approaches to working with women who were potential nominees or candidates along with women working to support them and reached more than 500 women. It updated the Women’s Manifesto; prepared a document on women’s contribution to local government and the establishment of a small Women’s Political Participation Fund which distributed nominal sums as expressions of support to 13 women candidates.
Among the weakness it review identified was the project’s inability to establish a Women’s Political Caucus.
But, it concluded, “more critically, “the project did not lead to increased representation of women’s interests by women Members of Parliament in spite the increase in their numbers and the exposure to ideas and tools which the project had provided.”
It found that women MPs were in the main not raising issues of concern to women, and cited reasons as their failure to work across party lines and with women’s organisations. the problem was one of the quality, not the quantity of women MPs.
But there are other broader underlying factors. These, the review identified as:
The nature of the political party culture in the region;
The sometimes antagonistic differences among women and how this impacts on the aim of creating a critical mass of women in Parliament;
The diminishing space that national governments have for decision-making; and
The possibilities and limits of national and local government.
This was discovered of the political environment in Trinidad and Tobago, but it is also a reflection of the political environment globally. And these are the areas that Persad-Bissessar and Gillard will have to transform in their party systems and in their local and national politics, if they are to make substantive impact on the policies and directions and affect a ripple effect across the Commonwealth.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Frank Birbalsingh reviews Finding A Place
Help Us Digitise
Frank Birbalsingh reviews Finding A Place http://www.indocaribbeanworld.com/archives/june4/artse.html
http://www.indocaribbeanworld.com/archives/june4/artse.html
Finding A Place Booklaunch Toronto 2003
Finding a Place by Dr Kris Rampersad was launched in Canada at the Canada-Caribbean Literary Convention in 2003. Sessions took place at the Convention as well as a reception with the author, Dr Kris Rampersad at the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in Canada.
Finding a Place presents groundbreaking research of the processes of socio-economic, political and cultural adaptation of Indian indentured immigrants in general with specific contexts of settlement and evolution in the Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago. It adapts Dr Kris Rampersad's doctoral thesis, Indo Trinidadian Literature - 1850 to 1950.
Building Capacity for advancing Caribbean Agricultural Development
One of the outstanding outreach and advocacy initiatives for agriculture and food security developed in conjunction with the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute. As the world transitioned from conventional to new media, the holistic approach involved retooling executives and extension officers in use of new media tools, revising internal and eternal communications strategies and approaches, devising new mechanisms for engaging multisectoral stakeholders and broadening partnerships in public, private, NGO, media and academic sectors as well as revising CARDI's range of outreach materials that include newsletter - the CARDI Update, the academic CARDI Journal, the bulletins on sound agriculture, animal husbandry and food security practices as well as conceptualising, coordinating and introducing the agri-journalism award and strengthening understanding of the impact of climate change on agriculture.
This collaboration, apart from the above named outputs and outcomes, provided a new unique model for multistakeholder engagement that was adopted internationally by CARDI's EU-ACP partners and the Agri Journalism award to encourage outreach and awareness about food security, healthy lifestyles and agriculture and its satellite industries and economies. To develop your campaign and outreach initiatives or to sponsor development of these experiences for further outreach make contact
CARDI Update 2009 -2 .pdf (application/pdf Object)
CARDI and the Campaigns for
One of the outstanding outreach and advocacy initiatives for agriculture and food security developed in conjunction with the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute. As the world transitioned from conventional to new media, the holistic approach involved retooling executives and extension officers in use of new media tools, revising internal and eternal communications strategies and approaches, devising new mechanisms for engaging multisectoral stakeholders and broadening partnerships in public, private, NGO, media and academic sectors as well as revising CARDI's range of outreach materials that include newsletter - the CARDI Update, the academic CARDI Journal, the bulletins on sound agriculture, animal husbandry and food security practices as well as conceptualising, coordinating and introducing the agri-journalism award and strengthening understanding of the impact of climate change on agriculture.
This collaboration, apart from the above named outputs and outcomes, provided a new unique model for multistakeholder engagement that was adopted internationally by CARDI's EU-ACP partners and the Agri Journalism award to encourage outreach and awareness about food security, healthy lifestyles and agriculture and its satellite industries and economies. To develop your campaign and outreach initiatives or to sponsor development of these experiences for further outreach make contact
CARDI Update 2009 -2 .pdf (application/pdf Object)
Friday, March 4, 2011
100 Days-100 Ways for UN Women. Stimulating the gender agenda
The challenge to the gender agenda is real to impact effective change.
Deeper analyses on capacity of women leaders for change; challenges, solutions given belief that even where women’s leadership and participation have increased, there has not been concurrent impact on their spheres of leadership. As primary transmitters of culture, knowledge, education, women have not been changing, but replicating and transferring habits, beliefs and practices that promote inequalities to the boys as much as girls. Address perceived lack of impact women leaders have been making in their spheres beyond the victims’ veil/as recipients to shapers and molders of modes/models of governance to direct targeted programmes/actions and meet targets for gender equity.
Listen: Changing the Conversation Gender & Development at Inauguration of First Female President
“100 Days → 100 Ways” for UN Women e-camp@ign launched!
The official launch of UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and women’s empowerment, took place on Thursday, February 24th, marking a new era for women not only at the UN but around the world. The event, “Honouring the Past: Envisioning the Future for Women and Girls,” was an historic occasion. The new women’s entity is now in the midst of its first 100 days and in the process of developing its strategic plan. Now is the time to provide inputs and suggestions to UN Women on how it can best serve the needs of women and girls around the world. What type of new UN Women are you envisioning? What concrete suggestions can you provide to Ms. Michelle Bachelet, the new Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women?
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day this year on March 8th, and the first 100 days of the new UN women’s entity, the “100 Days → 100 Ways” for UN Women e-camp@ign is being launched to collect over 100 contributions from around the world on how the UN Women can better serve women, promote women’s human rights and be a champion for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. These contributions will be directed to, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, and delivered to the UN Women. March 8th will be a day of action for the “100 Days → 100 Ways” e-camp@ign.
At the UN Commission on the Status of Women at the UN Headquarters in New York, the Feminist Task Force of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, organizers of the “100 Days → 100 Ways” e-camp@ign is being formally announce the “100 Days → 100 Ways” e-camp@ign at the Grassroots Women’s Speakout on UN Women event on Wednesday, March 2nd which Ms. Bachelet will attend. The final compilation of the 100 Days -> 100 Ways e-camp@ign will be delivered at the end of the 100 Days in April.
DemokrissyMarch 4, 2011 at 7:12 AM
Deeper analyses on capacity of women leaders for change; challenges, solutions given belief that even where women’s leadership and participation have increased, there has not been concurrent impact on their spheres of leadership. As primary transmitters of culture, knowledge, education, women have not been changing, but replicating and transferring habits, beliefs and practices that promote inequalities to the boys as much as girls. Address perceived lack of impact women leaders have been making in their spheres beyond the victims’ veil/as recipients to shapers and molders of modes/models of governance to direct targeted programmes/actions and meet targets for gender equity.
Dr Kris Rampersad,
Media, Cultural and Literary Consultant
Author: Through the Political Glass Ceiling & Finding a Place
International Relations Director, Network of NGOs of Trinidad & Tobago for the Advancement of Women
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