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Africa Union Symposium

November 20, 2009 By ethnicsupplies View Comments

A little while ago I “met” Dr Sam Kawumi in cyberspace and many conversations later I found myself addressing an African Union Symposium at the University of East London on 14 Nov 2009 under the supervision of the Libyan Students Union here in the UK.

The Union of Africa is something that is dear to their President and a subject for discussion on this blog

Some of the highlights of the event covered the multi level governance, education for women, the law as well as the role of traditional leaders in modern day politics.

The weather on  Saturday was dreadful consequently some people were unable to attend the event in person but listened in on a web based radio and here are their comments about the event

When I left the event I pondered the whole issue role of traditional leaders in modern day politics and started a discussion on facebook and here are the views of my facebook friends

Another conversation continued on twitter with @shiraabel, although I must admit we seemed to be speaking at cross purposes or at least didn’t quite understand each other.

I am always amazed at how technology makes it easy for us to have conversations about issues that matter to us without necessarily being in a given place physically as well as the opportunities that come with chance encounters on social media platforms.

On the subject of the role of traditional leaders in modern day politics, have you got a view either way? If so please share it

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Filed Under: Policy, Politics Tagged With: Africa Union, Gaddafi, ICT, Libay Students Union, Social Media

I would like to get fat on good quality food

November 1, 2009 By ethnicsupplies View Comments

including meat, this was a statement made by Ken Clarke on BBC Radio 4′s ANY QUESTIONS  dated 30/10/09 Listen at 40 minutes.

A question was  put to the panel by a member of the audience as a result of Lord Stern’s report regarding climate change The Times has quoted Lord Stern as advocating for a vegetarian diet due to the level of carbon is produced during the production of meat, as well as the amount of water that goes into meat production. This issue was raised as part of George Alagiah’s programme the FUTURE OF FOOD .

According to Ken Clarke it is right to think about climate change and make adjustments elsewhere but not by meat reduction nor become a vegetarian. Like Ken Clarke I am unlikely to become vegetarian but have reduced my meat in take due to fears of high cholesterol a point raised by the Spanish MEP on the panel.

That said I could not help but wonder, whether Ken Clarke had somewhat been flippant in his response! Is it double standards on my part since I eat meat too? Perhaps! I felt that he could have chosen better examples of steps he takes in his daily life to address climate change as someone in public life and certainly his opening remark (the heading of this blog) will not endear him to tree huggers.

Incidentally when I listened to the programme that followed ANY ANSWERS, it transpired that I was not alone in my views that Ken Clarke had been flippant in his remarks. We do have a dilemma on our hand though. As humans we were never meant to be purely vegetarians, so what do we do about climate change as an effect of our meat eating?

What about the food crisis elsewhere? Should we be cutting down whole forests in order to provide animal feeds whilst folk elsewhere in the world are dying of hunger?

What do you think?

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Filed Under: Environment, Policy Tagged With: Any Answers, Any Questions, BBC Radio 4, Climate change, GEORGE ALAGIAH, Ken Clarke, Lord Stern

Roman Polanski- views from Switzerland vs USA

September 30, 2009 By ethnicsupplies View Comments

Roman Polanski was recently arrested in Switzerland over a crime committed  in the USA way back in 1978. The world of film has vowed to stand by him and many have signed a petition to have him released.

What has caught my attention in all this was a radio interview I heard the other day in which the views of ordinary Swiss and US folk were solicited.

Those in USA were of the view  that regardless of what time has elapsed the Swiss authorities were right to arrest Polanski whilst those in Switzerland were of the view that, it was wrong to arrest Polanski especially given the time taht has  elapsed and he should released immediately.

A comment from a Swiss woman stood out for me in particular she said,

Switzerland tolerates terrible crimes all the time why are the authorities so fussed about an incident that is over 30 years old?

An interesting if not curious statement to make, and what sprung to mind was all the money that the corrupt african leaders have reportedly hidden in secret Swiss accounts over the years, whilst their country folk  die of hunger!

Is this what the Swiss woman was referring to?  I don’t know for sure but I certainly wondered.

So is it right that  Swiss banks should if it is true allow African leaders to steal from their countries and hide their loot in the Swiss bank vaults? If Africans asked the Swiss authorities to return this loot would they?

Should Switzerland be focusing on this instead of a crime committed in 1978 in which the victim has since dropped the charges?

My answer is of course not, abuse of any sort should not be tolerated  regardless of the amount of time that has elapsed.

However the Swiss authorities need to be more consistent in their approach as opposed to being selective as to which crimes they will prosecute

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Filed Under: Good Practice, Policy Tagged With: Africa, African leaders, Film, hunger in africa, Roman Polanski, Swiss banks