Colombia’s City of Women: The War Goes On

How a group of female victims of violence displaced by Colombia’s conflict united to build their own city.

by Maya Thomas-Davis, Julia Zulver  from AJE with thanks

Dayanera and her daughter at the stand where they sell food to neighbours; opportunities to make money are limited, and often confined to the community itself. [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]
Dayanera and her daughter at the stand where they sell food to neighbours; opportunities to make money are limited, and often confined to the community itself. [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]
“We made little cardboard houses and put them in a big box, and you reached your hand in and pulled one out … ‘What number are you in? … Aiyee! you’re my neighbour!'” says Lubis proudly. “It was an amazing experience. From that moment forward, we thought as a collective.”
Lubis, one of the leaders of the League who helped to build the City of Women [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]
Lubis, one of the leaders of the League who helped to build the City of Women [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]

Lubis is the owner of one of the 98 life-size, concrete realisations of those little cardboard houses and one of the leaders of the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas (League of Displaced Women), the Colombian women’s group. The organisation’s efforts have built a community known as the City of Women, to restore the right to housing to some of its most vulnerable members and their families.

Based in the northern region of Bolivar, the Liga is a grassroots group run by and for women who are victims of the conflict between the government, right-wing paramilitaries, crime syndicates and leftist armed rebel groups, such as FARC, a battle that is still ongoing despite a peace process which began in 2012. The six-decade long conflict in Colombia has displaced more than six million people, hitting indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in particular.

While most of the combatants in this war’s armed factions are men, more than 50 percent of those forcibly displaced by it are women. It is estimated that half of these have experienced sexual violence: perpetrated systematically mainly by paramilitary groups, but also by state forces and rebel groups. Continue reading “Colombia’s City of Women: The War Goes On”

CO2-FREE FUEL REVOLUTION .. by Alex Lightman.. Ted-Talk

After 21 Conferences to ‘Fix The Climate’ we still see CO2 emissions rising and new fossil fuel prospection surging ahead. With the whole biosphere now teetering on the edge of collapse we need every tool possible to postpone disaster

Ammonia Energy SystemAlex Lightman has challenged the oil giants, with: 

  • his brilliant Ted-talk ‘How To Rid The US of Fossil Fuels by 2030′ see below. ,
  • slideshow (see below)
  • his presentation at the NH3 Fuel Conference :  NH3, Food Security, and The Transition to Fossil Fuel Free
  • and his coming book “The Infinite Feast: Food Security via Clean Energy”
  • WATCH HERE:

  • NH3 part starts at  minute 13.00

At last a major US  ‘tech guru’ is in favour of green-NH3, the non-fossil and CO2-free fuel that has always existed, suppressed by the fossil fuel industry.  We’ve been saying it for years with zero impact. all combustion motors can be run on green NH3, cutting climate destroying gases by 30% and minimizing air pollution,  and saving millions of us from an agonizing death.

Continue reading “CO2-FREE FUEL REVOLUTION .. by Alex Lightman.. Ted-Talk”

1000’s rally in UK and Spain against bombing Syria

Protesters call on their respective countries not to get involved in Syria, as Paris attacks fuel political momentum.
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A British parliamentary vote on bombing Syria is expected next week [Andy Rain/EPA]

Thousands of people have protested in London and Madrid against the potential participation of their respective countries in air strikes in Syria, as political momentum mounted to broaden the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

At least 5,000 people gathered in central London on Saturday, carrying placards reading “Don’t bomb Syria”, “Drop Cameron, not bombs” and “Don’t add fuel to the fire.” Continue reading “1000’s rally in UK and Spain against bombing Syria”

Climate Criminals Rajoy, Cameron, Modi, Erdogan to face Charges


climate chaos

” ..Biggest climate criminals to be executed. ”

by Anya Keyes.   Indymedia

The destruction of the large Spanish renewables sector, ordered by premier Mariano Rajoy, joins him to the club of top climate criminals, alongside David Cameron of the UK, Narendra Modi of India, and Recep Erdogan of Turkey.

Now that Climate disaster is a proven and accepted scientific reality we can begin to apportion direct blame for crimes being committed. It makes no difference if there is a delay of decades between  a genocidal action and its consequences, if for example someone for personal profit hides a bomb in your house with a timer to go off in 10 years, he is still a killer, as are the club of top climate criminals. Continue reading “Climate Criminals Rajoy, Cameron, Modi, Erdogan to face Charges”

Turkey violated Greek airspace 2,244 times in 2014

 Turkish claims that the downed Russian Su-24 jet “violated” its airspace have sparked outrage among Greeks, who took to social media to say it is a clear-cut case of double standards as Turkish jets breached Greek airspace 2,244 times in 2014 alone.

They wondered what would happen if Greece had authorized engagement of Turkish aircraft, which breach the country’s borders on a regular basis.

comment: The ultra nationalist Turkish government under ‘Emperor Erdogan’ is also accused of collusion with and support for ISIL in Syria, of breaking a ceasefire and massacring peaceful Kurdish protestors, of climate crimes, of openly blackmailing Europe with threats of dumping refugees and of stealing recent elections with a terror campaign of bombings, shootings, curfews, torture and manipulation of voting results.

 On Wednesday, the Protothema newspaper released the numbers of breaches saying the Turkish Air Force is usually reluctant to share any details when it comes to such violations.

The newspaper quoted University of Thessaly statistics based on the Greek military’s count – there were 2,244 violations in 2014, an increase from 636 in 2013. Continue reading “Turkey violated Greek airspace 2,244 times in 2014”

STATES OF TERROR by Chris Hedges

imgview-artillery-fire-landing-exercises-guided-by-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-not-seen-thisBy Chris Hedges  truthdig.com  .  It is nearly certain that we will endure, sooner rather than later, another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil. The blundering of our military into the Middle East; the failed states that have risen out of the mismanagement and chaos of Iraq and Afghanistan; the millions of innocents we have driven from their homes, terrorized or slaughtered; the bankrupt puppet regimes we have equipped and trained that will not fight; the massive amounts of munitions and military hardware we have allowed to fall into the hands of jihadis—thousands of them carrying Western passports; and the myopic foreign policy whose single tenet is that more industrial violence will get us out of the morass created by our industrial violence in the first place means that we, like France, are in for it.Screen-shot-2015-08-23-at-10.54.51-AMAll the major candidates for president, including Bernie Sanders, along with a media that is a shameless echo chamber for the elites, embrace endless war. Lost are the art of diplomacy, the ability to read the cultural, political, linguistic and religious landscape of those we dominate by force, the effort to dissect the roots of jihadi rage and violence, and the simple understanding that Muslims do not want to be occupied any more than we would want to be occupied. Continue reading “STATES OF TERROR by Chris Hedges”

Spanish Church and State still silent on Stolen Babies

iThe victims are asking the Pope to oblige the bishops to open their files to learn the truth.!

babies

Those who suffer pain, loss and heartbreak after learning that their parents are not their parents, who at the time of birth were torn from their mother’s arms, who were sold by doctors, clergyand nuns, who systematically erased their tracks without a trace. The Stolen Babies scandal, one of the most rancid crimes of Nacional Catholicism, continues as part of democracy, forty years after the death of Franco, and still today cries out for justice and reparation.

“Hundreds of thousands of people in Spain, right now, walk the streets without knowing their identity.” says José Luis Gordillo,  journalist and author of Los hombres del saco (the Men of Cloth), a shocking exposé which addresses the mega scandal of the stolen babies. the work was printed by a religious publishing house (part of the Pauline brothers) a decision that was not without criticism within the Church. “It’s a question of justice,” says the editorial director, Octavio Figueredo. “We can not remain silent about the suffering of the people.”

Continue reading “Spanish Church and State still silent on Stolen Babies”