Once again, Hower Productions is bringing a top rate theatre company to the Lake Geneva Region - and once again for an outdoor presentation at the Chateau de Prangins Thursday, Friday and Saturday (20,21 & 22 June, 2008). This time it's The Merry Wives of Windsor performed by the Illyria production company. Last year, it was the Taming of the Shrew - and a superb performance it was. Merry Wives promises to be just as much fun! And not just for adults. So bring the family.
During the 1970s, 80s and into the 90s, numerous conflicts, particularly in Africa, were tainted by mercenaries from Britain, United States, Belgium, Yugoslavia and other largely Western countries but also from South Africa and former Rhodesia. Many fought alongside one Third World regime or another, or with opposition guerrilla factions. These included colourful but highly dubious figures such as France’s Bob Denard and Britain’s Mad Michael Hoare, or companies such as Executive Outcomes. For many governments, the use of mercenaries was regarded with distaste, primarily because they tended to be white (or Coloureds with many of the South Africans) and were involved in propping up unpopular dictatorships or questionable private interests. At the same time, much to the embarrassment of humanitarian groups, some of these soldiers of fortune filled an unintentional void by establishing security zones, such as the diamond areas in Sierra Leone, which came to represent safe havens for hapless civilians in search of refuge. This prompted some observers to propose the deployment of contracted mercenaries, particularly in areas where no one, whether UN peacekeeping forces or other representatives of the international community, could be bothered to provide protection.
More recently, attitudes toward mercenaries have changed. Western governments, such as the United States and Britain, are now themselves engaged in hiring mercenaries through companies such as Blackwater and Dyncorps to protect their diplomatic missions, military enclaves, aid projects or simply to fill in the gaps with their regular armed forces as part of counter-insurgency or counter-narcotics operations. Many are deployed in conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands are local nationals, but thousands more are former US, British, South African and others serving as guns for hire. The business is now estimated to be worth more than 100 billion dollars a year and in Iraq now represents the second largest foreign military force. The problem is that these well-armed militia – now euphemistically referred to as “private military contractors” –largely operate without any form of effective accountability. With above- law attitudes that alienate local populations, they tend to do more harm to undermine the reputation of international humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts than anything else. At the same time, they are not counted as casualties if killed or injured. Nor are their families provided with compensation.
Pam Taylor of the Geneva-based Human Rights Tribune (www.humanrights-geneva.info ) highlights a report recently presented to the Human Rights Council on the problems of human rights violations by private security companies:
American film director Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” on health care in the United States – 50 million people without insurance or access to proper treatment – may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole to make its case. But the film was convincing on one point. You don’t want to be sick in America if you have no money. The fact that two billion other people, mainly in the developing world, also have no adequate health care should shame Americans. Journalist and writer Edward Girardet draws on a recent personal tragedy which shows how lucky many Europeans are to have such access…even if we do complain about the inadequacies of National Health in the United Kingdom, the high premiums of Switzerland’s health insurance cartels, and overstretched facilities in French hospitals.
The Geneva Health Forum, which has launched its second international health conference (May 25-28, 2008) – this time focusing on strengthening health and the global health workshop - with over 1,200 global experts. The Media21 Global Journalism Network (www.media21geneva.org) , a non-profit initiative to help promote better reporting of global issues, has brought in some 20 editors, journalists and producers from all over the world – India, Sri Lank, Brazil, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa… - to provide more critical and broader reporting of the issues at hand. The journalists will then travel to Uganda and Haiti as part of specially-tailored field trips to explore the impact on the ground. Over the next few days and weeks, The Essential Edge will post some of their articles offering a different view.
Last month, Britain’s Channel Four, announced that it was testing free-to-air (FTA) broadcasting. This prompted numerous excited viewers to re-jig their receivers for the new service. Shortly afterwards, however, the London-based independent television channel started messing about with the audio and many of you had your new toy snatched away.
Charges by the premier BBC documentary show, Panorama, that UN peace keeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo allegedly sold ammunition to militia groups, including some leaders who have now been charged with war crimes, are hardly new. The BBC actually broke the story last July citing confidential UN documents.
What is new (or old, depending on how one looks at it) is the UN’s failure to act once the information had been made public. The Panorama documentary, which aired Monday night at 8:30 PM on BBC One, and can be viewed online for the next several days (Click here to go to the Panorama website), reports that a UN investigation was cut short for political reasons.
The Montreal-based Alternative
Channel (www.alternativechannel.tv )
is holding its first international Forum 30 April 2008 in Barcelona, Spain,
to explore better social networking and more responsible but
independent media. The Forum is being organized in collaboration with the dev.tv
production group in Geneva,
the Iwith.org Foundation providing internet for NGOs, and the Association
Communication et Information pour le Development Durable (ACIDD). The over 200 professionals
registered to participate in the Forum will discuss more effective ways of promoting
new information technologies as a means of helping different actors ranging from
international aid agencies and local civil society involved in sustainable development
and humanitarian aid to put their messages across in a broader and more credible manner.
The Alternative Channel itself
is a recently established humanitarian and development internet broadcasting company that offers NGOs, concerned citizens, researchers
and others dealing with global issues, such as climate change, food security or
HIV/AIDS, an audio-visual and web TV platform for communicating their respective
activities to the public but also for debating key issues. The day-long
Forum, which will provide an award for the best video, is available live in
English, French and Spanish from 9.00 am onwards on http://forum.alternativechannel.tv/en/live/
Is the current international system for food security really not up to the job?Figures don’t lie. Back in 1996, when 10,000 participants from 185 countries met at a five-day World Food Summit in Rome, the goal was to cut world chronic “undernourishment” in half by 2015.At the time, the FAO estimated that 841 million people fit that category. Today, the estimate is 854 million. Roughly10 million people die from the effects ofhunger every year, and the number of people facing undernourishment is growing by four to five million annually.If food security has not broken down completely, it is pretty clear that our current system is not moving things forward.At a recent three-day conference on rethinking food aid and food security in Rome, CARE and Oxfam issued a joint press release declaring the current system “not fit forservice.”
Security Update: Bike thefts & carjackings
Police in Geneva, Nyon and other towns are warning cyclists to take even more precautions when leaving their bicycles in urban areas, including on the other side of the border, notably Annemasse... Full Story
Le Cheval Blanc in Nyon
Located along the old town Rue de Rive
almost opposite the Beau Rivage Hotel down by the lake, this small
brasserie-style restaurant is a nice choice for anyone interested in good fish.
The... Full Story
Once again, Hower Productions is bringing a top rate theatre company to the Lake Geneva Region - and once again for an outdoor presentation at the Chateau de Prangins Thursday, Friday and Saturday (20,21 & 22 June, 2008). This time it's The Merry Wives of Windsor performed by the Illyria production company. Last year, it was the Taming of the Shrew - and a superb performance it was. Merry Wives promises to be just as much fun! And not just for adults. So bring the family.
During the 1970s, 80s and into the 90s, numerous conflicts, particularly in Africa, were tainted by mercenaries from Britain, United States, Belgium, Yugoslavia and other largely Western countries but also from South Africa and former Rhodesia. Many fought alongside one Third World regime or another, or with opposition guerrilla factions. These included colourful but highly dubious figures such as France’s Bob Denard and Britain’s Mad Michael Hoare, or companies such as Executive Outcomes. For many governments, the use of mercenaries was regarded with distaste, primarily because they tended to be white (or Coloureds with many of the South Africans) and were involved in propping up unpopular dictatorships or questionable private interests. At the same time, much to the embarrassment of humanitarian groups, some of these soldiers of fortune filled an unintentional void by establishing security zones, such as the diamond areas in Sierra Leone, which came to represent safe havens for hapless civilians in search of refuge. This prompted some observers to propose the deployment of contracted mercenaries, particularly in areas where no one, whether UN peacekeeping forces or other representatives of the international community, could be bothered to provide protection.
American film director Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” on health care in the United States – 50 million people without insurance or access to proper treatment – may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole to make its case. But the film was convincing on one point. You don’t want to be sick in America if you have no money. The fact that two billion other people, mainly in the developing world, also have no adequate health care should shame Americans. Journalist and writer Edward Girardet draws on a recent personal tragedy which shows how lucky many Europeans are to have such access…even if we do complain about the inadequacies of National Health in the United Kingdom, the high premiums of Switzerland’s health insurance cartels, and overstretched facilities in French hospitals.
The Geneva Health Forum, which has launched its second international health conference (May 25-28, 2008) – this time focusing on strengthening health and the global health workshop - with over 1,200 global experts. The Media21 Global Journalism Network 
Last month, Britain’s Channel Four, announced that it was testing free-to-air (FTA) broadcasting. This prompted numerous excited viewers to re-jig their receivers for the new service. Shortly afterwards, however, the London-based independent television channel started messing about with the audio and many of you had your new toy snatched away.
Click here...
