Tragedy in Virginia

This blog would be remiss if we did not express our deepest sorrow for the shooting at Virginia Tech today. I for one believe it speaks to the slow devolution of our community fabric that Our Common Concern was formed to resist. In light of this recent tragedy, we should redouble our efforts to care for one another and to realize our stake in the well-being of people, animals, and the environment.

I'm sure there will be opportunities to support the Virginia Tech community. I'll post that information here when it becomes available.

Yours,
Jared

Part II: Zimbabwe

Now, the second country you don't hear much about. By Dan Gilligan:

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Part II of this three-part series takes us to Zimbabwe. The media recently gave some attention to the political and human rights situation there following the March 11^th arrests of several political activists and members of the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Over fifty members were reportedly arrested and brutally beaten by police officers and most are still believed to be held in custody. Their crime? Peacefully assembling in support of open and fair democratic elections for new leadership of their country.

Since initially being elected Prime Minister in 1980 Robert Mugabe has moved to consolidate power and committed egregious violations of human rights to maintain it, including but not limited to:

- Rigging elections

- The forced relocation and evictions of minorities, notably the recent Operation Murambatsvina or ‘Drive out the Rubbish’

- Systematic discrimination against women, the disabled, and homosexuals

-Curtailing basic needs such as: food, shelter, as well as freedom of movement and residence

-Limiting important political freedoms such as assembly, the press, and participation in civil organizations or opposition parties

While Mr. Mugabe focuses on policies that maintain power and offer short-term solutions, his country long ago collapsed economically and continues to worsen. Simultaneously, he’s obstructing the efforts of outside aid organizations to offer even basic humanitarian relief.

Fast Facts:

1. Robert Mugabe just celebrated his 83rd birthday; average life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 38.

2. Zimbabwe’s Infant Mortality Rate nears 52 per 1000 births.

3. Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998 to a high of 1,730% on March 10 of this year, which is currently the world’s highest.

4. The ‘official’ unemployment rate in Zimbabwe in 80%.

Operation Murambatsvina is estimated to have affected some 700,000 people. 5,000 - 6,000 are estimated to be housed in ‘transit camps’ while the rest been absorbed into now severely overcrowded households in urban and rural areas or are sleeping outside in small groups scattered across the country.

Learn More By Visiting:

1. Amnesty’s Country Report

2. BBC News Profile

Take Action by:

1. Contacting UK Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones-Parry and support his effort to get the UN Security Council to step up its actions against Robert Mugabe.

2. Contact National Media and tell them you want to see more coverage of the ongoing political crisis in Zimbabwe following the March 11^th arrests for a peaceful political rally.

Our Twelfth Concern: Three Countries You Don't Hear Much About

Our Common Concern is back with a new look and a very thorough guest blog by Dan Gilligan. Dan's a fellow N.C. State grad and he focuses our attention on three countries we don't hear much about, beginning with Turkmenistan. Look for a discussion on Zimbabwe this coming Sunday.

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Our First Concern was the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. While there are many human rights concerns throughout the world, it may be worth some time to look at three more countries. These nations have very different but sadly very similar problems that don’t get as much media attention as others at the moment: Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, and Burma/Myanmar. We’ll look at the first of these today and the others shortly. In no way is focusing on these three meant to suggest that there are not many other countries with grave human rights concerns; rather, this is just meant to provide a starting point.

Part 1: Turkmenistan

The most recent coverage of Turkmenistan in mainstream media occurred this past December when their current and only President in the post-soviet era Saparmurad Niyazov, a.k.a. Turkmenbashi or “Father of the Turkmen” passed. Turkmenbashi had long been a punch line, especially in European media, for some of his eccentricities which were reminiscent of the most decadent of the Caesars. Among them:

- renaming months of the Turkmen calendar after himself and his mother

- having an oversized solid-gold statue of himself installed in front of his palace that was rotated to always be facing the sun

- and styling himself after Elvis Presley.

What was not so funny was the fact that while Turkmenbashi was spending much of the profits from his country’s vast resources building palaces and statues meant to build a ‘Turkmen Identity’. 60% of the population lived and still lives in poverty. As well as making a reservoir in the desert and ski slopes on sub-tropical, arid mountains for his and his family’s recreation, minorities suffer under repressive government policies. Religious minorities were persecuted under Turkmenbashi, and the only allowed religion was a truncated form of Islam presented in the form of the Ruhnam, a collection of sayings and Koran tracts collected and authored by Turkmenbashi, which incidentally was the only book that schools are allowed to teach from.

The sort of extreme poverty combined with Islamic fundamentalism present in Turkmenistan has been compared to Afghanistan in the early 1990's. Despite the opportunity for change that the death of President-for-life Saparmurad Niyazov presented, elections this past February brought to power a long-time Saparmurad aide, Acting President and head of the Turkmen Democratic Party Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow by an Eighty Percent Margin. No other formal political parties have been allowed to organize.

Fast Facts:

- Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth largest *natural gas* reserves.

- Unemployment in Turkmenistan is estimated at about 60%; the same percentage live below the poverty line.

- Turkmenistan had the second-worst press freedom conditions in the world behind North Korea.

- Any act of homosexuality in Turkmenistan is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Learn More By Visiting:

1. The BBC News Country Profile

2. Amnesty 2006 Report

Take Action by:

1. Supporting Amnesty’s recommendations to Turkmenistan’s new government

2. Joining Amnesty’s Appeals for Turkmenistan’s Prisoners of Conscience

3. Writing to your Congressperson and Two Senators asking them to make engagement with and international scrutiny of Turkmenistan a greater concern.

The Show Me Campaign

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd give you updates on previous Concerns in between new ones. Here's one on Extreme Poverty:

- Grammy-winning musician John Legend has started what he's calling "The Show Me Campaign" to eradicate extreme poverty after his visit to a Millenium Village in Ghana. Below are links to the Campaign's partner organizations:

*Millenium Promise

*Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT)

*The Gentlemen's Fund

more soon...

A Brief Hiatus

Dear Readers:

In just three months, Our Common Concern has welcomed hundreds of visitors to its site, hosted six great guest blogs, and highlighted Eleven Concerns on everything from companion animals in disasters to global warming.

This is quite an accomplishment indeed, especially for a brand new site like ours. But really, it's your accomplishment, not mine or anyone else's. It's you who read, posted, and commented every week. And it's you who took action for change.

I think three months is a great time to pause for reflection and to plan for what's next. Which is why, starting this week, I'll be taking a short hiatus from the blog.

But in the meantime, I'm asking you to send your thoughts on the site so far. What works, and what doesn't? What needs changing? Send in your thoughts today, or volunteer to guest post.

On behalf of all the guest bloggers and readers, thanks for sharing Our Common Concern. See you soon.

Best wishes -
Jared

Environmental Justice Update

Thanks again to Patrick Schwing and Jennifer Darrell of the Young Adult Ecumenical Forum for teaching all of us a bit more about Environmental Justice. Now, Part II of Our Eleventh Concern:

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It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

-Ansel Adams

The Young Adult Ecumenical Forum (YAEF)

As people of faith, we are deeply concerned about justice and the integrity of all creation. Therefore, the mission of the 2007 Young Adult Ecumenical forum is to raise questions about environmental justice and to announce good news about our ecosystem.

YAEF 2007 is a gathering of people between the ages of 18 and 35 and will include speeches on environmental justice and its connection to violence, hunger, and poverty.

More Resources

1. Eco-Justice Ministries

2. Young Adult Ecumenical Forum on Environmental Justice

3. An example of Environmental Justice work in one community

More Ways to Take Action

1. Visit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to learn more about applying for Environmental Justice grants or becoming an Environmental Justice Community Intern. Also, learn more about the EPA's definition of EJ.

2. Go to Step It Up 2007.org and take action locally!

Our Eleventh Concern: Environmental Justice

This week, Patrick Schwing and Jennifer Darrell, organizers of the 2007 Young Adult Ecumenical Forum to be held in Boston from July 26-29, tackle a topic of growing international concern: Environmental Justice. They also integrate two worldviews that I personally find fascinating: religion and the role it can play in inspiring social change and social action.

Be sure to take action on their post and support the right of every human being to a safe and healthy environment.

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"The whole style of American politics is nonecological. Ecology is a comprehension of systems, interdependencies, webs of relationship, connections extending over space and time -- and the very essence of our politics is to zero in on single causes." -Walter Truett Anderson

Environmental Justice is the right to a safe, healthy, productive, and sustainable environment for all, where "environment" is considered in its totality to include the ecological (biological), physical (natural and built), social, political, aesthetic, and economic environments.

Fast Facts:

1. 437 of the 3,109 counties and independent cities in the U.S. failed to meet at least one of EPA's ambient air quality standards.
2. 313,000 HIRED farm workers in the U.S. suffer from pesticide-related illnesses each year.

Learn More:

1. Environmental Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University

2. E.P.A-Environmental Justice Resource Page

3. Environmental Justice Scorecard

Take Action:

1. Attend the Young Adult Ecumenical Forum on Environmental Justice.

2. Go to Scorecard.org and oppose the EPA's plan to weaken pollution reporting standards.

3. Go to Scorecard.org to find out how your community is affected.

And look out on Sunday for Part II of this two-part post.