The Guardian has released its top 10 troublespots for 2010. Iraq isn't on it! Which is pretty fantastic given the elections will occur this coming March and things are already starting to heat up. I dig the positivity... (or the Iraq-Fatigue?)
Maybe they don't include ongoing and constant trouble spots - Afghanistan is not... oh wait yes it is there?
Maybe it's that, sadly, everywhere is actually much worse? Yes.. even Belgium.
It's CrazyEndOfGrant period here, so I have not had time to eat vegetables let alone write for fun!
Christmas this year coincided with the Shia’ festival of Ashura. It is the commemoration of the death of the Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make their way to the holy city of Karbala to pay homage to the Imam. Some even practice “bloodletting” which can include whipping oneself. But while the rest of the country was on high alert with the clash of religious festivals, up north in Sunni Kurdistan (did you catch that play on words) Christmas was in full swing. For a predominantly Muslim region, the love of Santa Clause or “Baba Noel” (commonly pictured with a saxophone?) is unparallel. If coke was to launch its santa clause ad campaign in July it would be a hit.
In downtown Erbil the Citadel was lit up in lights and the street were lined with Baba Noel. This was times 10 in Ainkawa, the Christian suburb where I work. The village has lights strung up every square inch, and each church (there’s about one every two blocks – complete with services in Aramaic!) was transformed into what resembled Pagodas. I wish I could say that it was all very tasteful, but they only sell lights strings here that have two settings – blinking and seizure inducing. The default is seizure inducing.
As for activities a bit closer to home, there is actually a lot of “us” aidworkers sticking around for the holiday season. Most people are on a rotation, and only so many people are allowed to be out of the country at one time. The predominant force behind our Christmas celebrations was the International Committee of the Red Cross who mandated themselves to be the party organizers – with the bulk of the activity occurring on Christmas eve. Members of my household had to negotiate a Christmas day lunch into the agenda before the Swiss ran away with the fun.
Despite it being over 15C outside, we had a fantastically normal Christmas Eve cocktail party with presents and a proper, albeit late, Christmas lunch the following day. I even made mince pies and pfeffernuessen. Boxing day involved obligatory leftovers and a day full of James Bond. So it wasn’t too far off a regular Christmas in southern Ontario. Although it would still have been much better if I were at home.
Now to continue celebrations this week, I will be heading to Beirut and Damascus (finally!) for the New Year. And I will be “home” (o.k. Vancouver… but same country) in February.
I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday. They slept a lot and ate more. I also wish you all the best for 2010.
We have a date. Elections were originally for the end of January. To coincide with what's stated in the.... I don't know... constitution. After much back and forth, sqwabbling, vetoing, concessions and compromises the new election law was passed in the wee hours of the morning yesterday.
The election is now set for March 6th 2010, 49 days past its last proposed date. It gives ample time for campaigning, but also for the security surrounding the elections to deteriorate. Much like today, when a series of coordinated bombings targeting government buildings, public areas, Al Mustensari University and the Institute of Fine Arts. It is believed that over 120 people were killed and 450 injured. Those numbers are likely to rise - sadly following November - the month with the least amount of violence related deaths since the start of the 2003 war.
There are a lot of rocks up here. As well as building materials. Erbil itself is essentially one giant consrtuction site. It may be considered the perfect place to bring in a great Canadian tradition of Inukshuk markings?
Although the rocks aren't ideal - smaller and rounder rather than the bigger, flatter shield cast offs - it is still a great way to pass time in villages.
Everytime I come around yo city Bling bling Pinky ring worth about fifty Bling bling
It's a good time to be an Iraqi parliamentarian! France 24 reported on a Iraq's law makers approving a massive personal budget and payrise, plus other lavish perks.
Under the law, an MP will have a monthly budget of around 25,500 dollars (17,230 euros) encompassing a salary of 8,450 dollars and allowances for up to 30 staff, primarily security... They will receive 80 percent of their MP salary as a pension for 10 years after they retire, as well as a plot of land of up 600 square metres
They will also be receiving diplomatic passports for themselves are their family members, good for the rest of their lives.
You can imagine this has stirred some controversy in a country where unemployment has skyrockted, particularly after ministries cut government jobs, and where 2 million + people are displaced with little to no help from the government. This is an astronomical amount of money in comparison to what an average (employed) Iraqi makes. The organisation I work for pays between $400 - and $700 a month for support staff, and $1000 - $2000 a month for operations/program staff depending on experience and qualifications. This is an international organisation - which is seen (outside of plum government postings) as la creme de la creme of salary options.
Religious leaders have been speaking out about this in mosques. This is great because the government has also started heavily censoring media through lawsuits for defamation. They have sued papers such as the Guardian and the New York Times, and kicked Al Jazeera out of the country. The fines have been heavy (upwards of 10's of thousands)- payable by the big names, but stiffling for local media (especially if their paper is forced to close).
Reporters Without Borders reported that news outlets have been been prevented from objectively reporting on internal security - even when it is massive breach - such as the August Baghdad Bombings. Therefore it is unlikely that much will get out about this.
I got sidetracked for about 4 weeks. October is one of those months where US government grants get the best of you. Since everything operates on the US fiscal year, something unfamiliar to me until I joined the aid world (why can't they operate a fiscal year on a calendar year... nothing is wrong with the Gregorian calendar), one month after each fiscal quarter is what I like to call... Hell.
This kept me from writing on somethings that are very important (not the UN shootings, I totally missed the boat on that one too) and that I'm keenly interested in. Arms trading, comedy and protest.
There was a report in the Guardian back in October that showed "police spotter cards" aimed at helping police identify "trouble makers" at protests. Except this one was created for the Docklands Biannual Arms Fair, and the people listed were not "troublemakers" but comedians and community workers(well I guess it depends on your definition of troublemaker - one man's troublemaker is another man's comedic genius and social worker!).
People who are genuinely concerned about arms, who they are sold to, and how nations are involved in this trade are targeted, rather than those who embezzle money through parastatles to finance civil war in... oh I don't know... say Angola. I'm looking at you Jean-Christophe Mitterand (son of former French President Francois Mitterand), Chales Pasqua (currently a French Sentaor) and Arcadi Gaydamak (who, despite several international arrest warrents, was running for mayor of Jerusalem when I was there).
Mark Thomas, the comedian in question, wrote a response piece that I enjoyed attacking the democratic right to peacefully protest at events. Particularly when those events host the likes of those that commit horrendous acts through the goods that they purchase at said events. Blurg.
Now why might a comedian be persona non grata at an arms fair is another thing:
If you watch the whole show on You Tube... you can see maybe why the arms world does not want Mark Thomas kicking around. But the stifling of protest on such an important topic so much that community activist are unwelcome is infuriating. Not many people know about the arms trade, and I'm pretty sure governments and arms companies are keen on making sure it stays that way.
