FAQs: Failed States

Q: So what’s a failed state?

A: A failed state is country where the government can no longer do its job.

Q: So what’s the job of a government?

A: To maintain order and control within its territory.

Q: Where are these failed states? And what's it like for people who live in them?

Haiti-- Guinea-- Ivory Coast--Dem. Rep. of Congo-- Central African Republic-- Sudan-- Chad--Zimbabwe-- Iraq-- Somalia--Afghanistan-- Pakistan

Q. Why should I care about failed states? I don't live in one!

A. Because what happens to them eventually will affect us.

Read the brutal truth article here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/20/the_brutal_truth

For more on failed states please visit:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/17/2011_failed_states_index_interactive_map_and_rankings

7 Billion People, 7 Billion Actions, 7 Billion Reasons

YOU are the Change

National Geographic has launched a special series dedicated to the major milestone the world will encounter in October 2011—hitting a population of 7 billion people. The time it takes the world to gain another billion people is shrinking—meaning that a much larger amount of people are being born than dying. This does not only affect the geographic areas with a surge in population, it affects you as an individual as well. We must overcome the struggles of maintaining a world with 7 billion, and focus on what opportunities this brings us. After all, the future generations will be the ones experiencing life with 7 billion+ people.

7,000,000,000 is merely a number that is too hard for a human mind to grasp. But the organization 7 Billion Actions puts actual faces onto these numbers.

The McGehee Global Issues class is challenging you to LOOK UP from your daily life, and take a moment to reflect on what life with 7 billion people will be like. Does it matter to you? How can you make the world more unified with 7 billion people?

Have You Ever Been Hungry?

The famine in Somalia is one of the most serious famines that the world has experienced in recent years. Over 750,000 people are in danger of dying of hunger, that’s more than twice the people in the New Orleans area- there are only 343, 829 people living in New Orleans. Early warning signs of the famine were available, but because Somalia is a failed state not much could be done. The Somalian government was not strong enough to prevent the famine—they were too busy with internal conflict and won’t allow western aid.

Check out...

http://act.one.org/sign/horn_of_africa_us/

http://www.fews.net/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/17/2011_failed_states_index_interactive_map_and_rankings

Why Should you care about China?

did you know there population is shrieking? and why?

- in 1977, China implemented the one Child policy, this policy tries to ensure that on couple have more than one child per family.

- forced sterilization and abortion are used to enforce this policy.

- for the population to stay the same, each couple would have two children, this is called replacement. Today, the average fertility in China is less than two.

you might not think about how much labor and trade we as Americans depend on from China.

- 70% of all the product sold at Wal-Mart's YOU shop at are made in China.

- This graph illustrates that China's economy is growing at a MUCH faster rate than our ours (9%- china, 2% U.S.)

- to find out more about China's Economy visit: http://useconomy.about.com/od/worldeconomy/p/China_Economy.htm

11- Year Hunger Strike in India Wages On

Political activism is common in America; participate in rallies, sign petitions, lobby, make our voices heard within the media, etc., but in India it takes a whole new step. Poet and activist, Irom Chanu Sharmila, has been on a hunger strike for the past 11 years. Her hunger strike is based a massacre in November of 2000 within the village of Malom. A surprise explosion along one of the main roads sent soldiers running to the site, where they proceeded to shoot and kill 10 people. The soldiers claimed that they had been fired upon first, but a judiciary inquiry found no evidence that they had. Two days after the shooting, Sharmila began her hunger strike: getting India to remove laws that shield the countries army forces from prosecution from the central government. In India, soldiers are protected by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958. It states that military personnel can arrest people without a warrant, shoot and injure/kill on suspicion, and use deadly weapons to break up gatherings of 5 or more people. They can only be prosecuted by explicit permission from the central government, which in almost all cases never comes. Sharmila was almost immediately arrested because of the Indian penal code that says committing suicide is a crime. The longest they can hold her is 1 year. Every year for the past decade the government has released Sharmila, only to imprison her again when she refuses to eat. The courage of Sharmila and the brutality of government in India are shocking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/world/asia/11manipur.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=india

Iran will reportedly release 2 jailed Americans

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that two Americans who were arrested on espionage charges would be freed in two days. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided to release these two American hikers as a humanitarian gesture but its more likely due to the fact that Ahmadinejad is attending the United Nationals General Assembly. The two American hikers, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal who graduated from University of California- Berkley, were sentenced, eight years in imprisonment in Iran for allegedly spying and trespassing. Americans feel as if the imprisonment was unjust and a very harsh sentence. There are similar cases to this one; Bauer and Fattal, Americans that were arrested on Iranian grounds (Sarah Shroud, Roxana Saberi). The Americans told reporters that they had made an innocent mistake wandering off the unmarked borderline. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than decided that these two Americans would be freed if they posted bail, “a ransom payment for their freedom.”

Kimathi: 'I was framed over Kampala World Cup attacks'

Kenyan human right activist Al-Amin Kimathi stated that the Kenyan government framed him for the 2010 Kampala World Cup bombing because as he says "It was pay-back time for my previous human rights defense of victims of extraordinary rendition". He was head of the Muslim Human Rights Forum that has been accused over the years of doing illegal rendition. Most of the people in Kenya and Uganda that are involved in this are being arrested without giving them access to fair and even trial processes. The Kenyan government have let Kimathi and four others go because they have stated that there is a lack against them and two Ugandans have already plead guilty to the suicide bombings. It has been confirmed that the Kenyan Government did organize Kimathi’s arrest before. This shows us that his arrest was the result of profiling and really was a symbol of the unfair treatment of radicals in Kenya. Kimathi was arrested without fair trial or evidence and that shows that he was profiled and framed into it.

Main article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14900624