Dear UCR students,

I write to you to let you know that you are not alone in your frustrations with incompetent student leadership. That may be a comforting thought, or it may dash your hopes even further. Last week, the elections for the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) wrapped up, and unofficial results have the incumbent party winning by a landslide. However, I regret to inform you that the elections process was far from fair. [Read more...]

Last Thursday commemorated the one-year mark since the initial uprising of the Syrian people against Bashar Al-Assad’s government. On March 15th, 2011, also called “the Day of Dignity,” the Syrian people gathered in the streets to protest against the indecent actions of government officials against young children, who were imitating images of other revolutions shown on television, as well as other political prisoners being held for dissidence. Open, political dialogue was not tolerated, and discourse was silenced, as turmoil within Syria increased.

In response to the protests, the government, along with arresting people, opted to open fire on the peaceful civilians. This inspired and provoked more demonstrators, creating increasingly heated, mass protests and fighting, especially in the towns of Daraa, Homs, Hama, and Damascus.

[Read more...]

March 14th, 2012
HOMS, SYRIA –

Over 1100 bodies were found piled up in the National Hospital of Syria, today, as reported by an anonymous source* in Saudi Arabia. This news comes from opposition activists, after heavily-armed forces, loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, fought with rebels controlling the main district of Daraa on the border with Jordan, early this Wednesday.

“‘Around 20 tanks and armored vehicles surrounded the al-Balad area of city, which is right on the border, and fired anti-aircraft guns into buildings,’ activist Rami Abdelhaq told Reuters by phone from Deraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began a year ago.” [Reuters reports]

Wild animals were reportedly found eating torn limbs off of dead bodies inside the hospital. Following a series of very serious threats and international pressure to end the slaughter, the Ba’ath party has begun to increase attacks on civilians, killing 110 people yesterday in the cities Idleb, Homs, and Hama.

Many opposition forces claim that the government is doing all that it can to crumble the Free Syrian Army, which protects civilians from military tanks and ongoing mortar attacks on major cities.

Some have begun to call for international help, from personages such as Senator John McCain, who believes that it is time for us to “intervene” for the sake of the Syrian people. The determining factor in this issue is, however, whether the U.S. is willing to take a risk on open war in Syria, whose closest allies are Iran, China, and Russia.

Looking to stem away from any conflict, President Obama would not comment on the recent attacks, stating only that he is working with his administration to conduct further research in order to assess what can be done to help the Syrian people.

With food, water, and energy becoming unavailable for an increasingly large number of Syrian people, the question, now, is: how long will it take before the current situation turns into genocide?

*The source and writer of this article are being kept anonymous for their protection. Both the source and the writer have been confirmed by Akshay Manhas, Editor-in-Chief of Spoiled Minds.

The deadliest of the Arab Spring revolts continues to escalate, as the death toll in Syria passes 7,500, according to the U.N.  Syrian government forces continue to slaughter civilians on a daily basis, with estimates reaching 100 dead per day; in fact, just recently, on March 12th, dozens of women and children were massacred by Syrian government troops — all this, and there is still no international intervention. Why?

The answer is simple: not enough people have been killed in Syria for Russia and China to find the tragic genocide in Syria “unpalatable.” According to David Neressian, the author of Genocide and Political Groups, the violence would have to spike to “something like the wholesale slaughter in Rwanda in 1994, with half a million killed in four months,” before Russia and China would reconsider their veto against U.N. attempts to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

Russia and China made it clear, at the U.N. Security Council on Syria, that they do not support a change of regime in Syria. They declared that they would not partake in a resolution that would not yield acquiescence from the Syrian “opposition” — that is, the resistant, subaltern civilians.

Mrs. Clinton argued against Russia and China’s position, by stating, “We reject any equivalence between premeditated murders by a government’s military machine and the actions of civilians under siege drive to self-defense.”

The U.N. has failed not only the people of Syria but also the international community who has put its trust in those on the U.N. Security Council. “In the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the world, this council has so far failed in its responsibilities towards the Syrian people,” Mr Hague, a Foreign Secretary of the United Nations in New York, stated.

What can we, as college students in The United States, do to help?

Spread awareness. Write. Read. Converse. Make a catchy movie that goes viral. Make eye-catching posters. Let the world know of Bashar al-Assad and his crimes. Sound familiar? #Bashar2012

Sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9138600/UN-has-failed-in-duties-to-protect-Syrian-people-says-William-Hague.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html

http://www.africasia.com/services/news_mideast/article.php?ID=CNG.f119d41299fffc8a8f86252540de18bb.341

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/world/middleeast/death-toll-in-homs-rises.html?pagewanted=all

Bannerjee and Duflo discuss the social and economic obstacles of lending money to the poor. Generally, the poor have higher interest rates than the rich when taking out a loan. A fruit seller in India, who had taken out a loan to support her business, had to pay 4.69% interest a day: “If you borrowed 100 rupees today and kept it until tomorrow, you would need to repay 104.69 rupees.” Because of these high interest rates, the founders of microfinance institutions “were called to action”.
The poor do not receive loans from “a proper lending institution like a commercial bank or a cooperative.” They borrow from moneylenders, relatives, and shopkeepers. The interest rates and the lack of oversight of the loan (i.e. extortion, not paying the loan back, etc.) have caused reason for Microfinance Institutions in “poor” countries.

[Read more...]

Laurie Kate Abraham’s book, “Mama Might Be Better Off Dead,” is a true story that takes place in the “Chicago Loop,” North Lawndale, and is about four generations of the same family that are afflicted with chronic diseases and the inadequacy of the healthcare. The story is made even more poignant because the author highlights the fact that Chicago possesses some of the best medical facilities in the world. “When people are poor, they become sick easily. When people are sick, their families quickly become poorer,” she writes.

[Read more...]

Kony 2012 is a campaign to stop Joseph Kony, a fugitive indicted by the ICC on July 8, 2005, from continuing to commit crimes against humanity. These crimes include, but are not limited to, murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement and rape.

The Kony 2012 campaign is using trendy marketing techniques to save the lives of innocent children, and it’s working. These marketing techniques typically include state of the art video editing, t-shirt designing or producing a line of distinctive bracelets. Causes that do not practice such marketing techniques rarely harness the attention of the public eye. Luckily for the children of Africa, the Kony 2012 campaign is a brilliant example of integrating lucrative strategies into a non-profit effort to save lives.

If you were ever to hop on a “band wagon” this is the time to do it. Please join me in buying a Kony 2012 Starter Kit to begin campaigning against Joseph Kony. This kit includes Kony 2012 posters which will be put up all over the world, including Riverside, on April 20th, 2012. To buy a starter kit as well as to learn more about the cause please click here.

For more information on KONY 2012 check out the links below:

KONY 2012 UCR – click here.

ICC articles regarding Joseph Kony – click here.

New York Times article regarding Kony – click here.

Wiki Article on Joseph Kony – click here.

Many ancient astronaut theorist believe that the answers to our past lie in the 22,000 ancient Sumarian tablets founded by a British archaeologist Austin Henry Layard in 1849. These plates were found in the ancient Sumarian city called Ninevah which is now commonly known as Iraq. The tablets contained the earliest writing known to mankind, which was created nearly 6,000 years ago.

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As of August 3, 2011 the United Nations has declared famine in five regions of Somalia.

Famine, as described by the U.N, exists when the following conditions are met in a particular region:

• Malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent
• More than two people per 10,000 people are dying with in a 24-hour period
• Severe lack of food access and other basic needs for a large population

[Read more...]