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Monthly Archives: August 2014

Brazil’s Largest City Faces Worst Drought Since 1930

31 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Brazil, Nature and the Environment

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

Brazil’s National Plan for Hydric Security (PNSH), Cantareira System of reservoirs/São Paulo, City of São Paulo/São Paulo, Climate Change, Prolonged drought, Sabesp, Water security and conservation

Cantareira Reservoir - Aereal View - Sao Paulo - Brazil - February 2014

Level in Cantareira System falls to 18.2 percent
São Paulo – Brazil – February 2014
Photo Credit – Cenário MT

 

Brazil’s largest city of São Paulo and its Greater Metropolitan Area are running out of water. Due to its worse prolonged drought since 1930, the State’s complex Cantareira System of reservoirs is drying up. Managed by the Basic Sanitation Company of the State of São Paulo (Sabesp), the Cantareira System supplies water to 8.8 million residential and industrial clients.

Alarms sounded in summer. Rainfall in December 2013 was 72 percent below normal. Reductions continued in the New Year with 66 percent in January and 64 percent in February. Exceptionally high temperatures aggravated the situation. Continue reading →

Guyana’s Forests Under Threat

24 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Guyana, Nature and the Environment

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Carbon emissions, Chinese Bai Shan Lin Group/Guyana, Climate Change, Guyana Forestry Commission, Guyana Forestry Industry, Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund, Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)

Bai Shan Lin Logging Concessions - Guyana

China’s Bai Shan Lin Forestry Projects in Guyana
Second World Congress on Timber & Wood Products Trade
China – November 2012
Photo Credit: Guyanese Online Blog

 

Since starting work on my second novel, I’m immersed in the rainforest of the northwest region of Guyana where the story unfolds. After watching the video of “Bai Shan Lin Aerial View of Massive Logging Exports,” posted on the Guyanese Online Blog, I was perplexed.

Just five years ago, Guyana had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Norway agreeing to work towards Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). To make this possible, Norway established the REDD+ Investment Fund with the commitment to provide Guyana with up to US$250 million by 2015. What had gone wrong? Continue reading →

America’s Culture of Violence

17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in United States, Urban Violence

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Assault on American city bus, Culver City, Culver City bus, Excessive police force, Ferguson/Missouri, Michael Brown Ferguson, Public transport Los Angeles County, Urban Violence

Armored Police - Ferguson Missouri - 13 August 2014Armored police watch protestors following fatal shooting of Michael Brown
Ferguson – Missouri – 13 August 2014
Photo Credit: Whitney Curtis / The New York Times

 

During the last week in July 2014, my eighty-one-year-old mother was physically assaulted in a Culver City bus in Los Angeles County. As a regular passenger on the Culver City line, I have never felt threatened. The bus drivers, most of whom are black, are always courteous. Therefore, the news of my mother’s assault came as a shock.

With the aid of a walking chair, my mother moves around Los Angeles by bus. When she entered the Culver City bus near her residence, two white women sat facing each other in the front section of the bus. The two seats in this section, reserved for the elderly and physically disabled passengers, fold upwards to accommodate passengers using motorized and other wheel chairs. My mother judged the stout woman to be in her fifties. The other woman was frail and older, probably in her seventies. As is normal during the slack mid-morning period, there were only three other passengers on the bus.

While the bus driver, also white, waited at the bus stop for my mother to take a seat, the stout woman stood up and spoke to the frail woman across the aisle. While they spoke to each other, my mother positioned her walking chair to sit down next to the frail woman. (These side seats each hold three passengers.) Continue reading →

Brazil Recalls its Ambassador from Israel

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Brazil, Human Behavior, Save Our Children

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Brazil Ministry of External Relations, Crimes against humanity, Humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel-Palestine Conflict, United Nations Human Rights Council, War crimes

Smoke from Israeli attack on Gaza - July 2014Smoke from Israeli Attack on Gaza – July 2014
Photo Credit: Hatem Moussa /Associated Press

 

Since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 on Palestinian territory, the two nation states are locked in a death grip. The latest renewal of fighting exploded into a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Of the 700 dead and 4,000 injured Palestinians, an estimated 75 percent are civilians. A large part is children. On the Israeli side, only two civilians were numbered among the forty Israelis killed.

As the humanitarian crisis escalated in Gaza, Brazil took three measures to call international attention. On July 23, 2014, at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, South America’s largest nation and economy voted in favor of a resolution calling for an investigation into alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. With a majority of twenty-nine votes in favor, the Human Rights Council passed the resolution. Remaining on the fence, Western European members abstained from participation. The United States was the only council member to reject the motion. Continue reading →

“When the Storm is Forgotten” – Poem by Saul Murray

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Poetry

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

African-American Poet Saul Murray, Climate Change, Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina waits with dog for help - USA - August 2005Hurricane Katrina survivor waits with dog for help
New Orleans – Louisiana – United States – August 2005
Photo Credit: Hurricane Katrina

 

My Poetry Corner August 2014 features the poem “When the Storm is Forgotten” by Saul Murray, an African-American poet, songwriter, and performing artist. Murray’s poetry blends the rhythms and themes of Beat and Black alternative hip hop.

Written in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005, Murray’s poem is not a reflection on the storm itself. Instead, it presents a dismal view about American life: complacency, self-centeredness, pride, violence, celebrity worship, and more. When the storm is upon us, we become vulnerable. We learn that our survival depends upon others.

The poet calls on us not to forget the storm. When we forget the storm, the struggle to change our lives comes to an end.

The inspiration for my Haiku poem, “In Denial,” came from the repetitive first line of Saul Murray’s poem: When the storm remains distant… In California where I live, drought and firestorms have already reached critical levels.

Read “When the Storm is Forgotten” and learn more about Saul Murray’s work at my Poetry Corner August 2014.

Guyana’s Surveillance State, Death Squad & Undercover Agents

03 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Guyana

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Allan Robert Gates, Choices in life, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, Dr. Walter Rodney, Gregory Smith, Guyana Politics, Guyana’s Death Squad, State surveillance, Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry Session Three

Robert Gates - Witness for Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry - June 2014Allan Robert Gates – Witness for Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry
Georgetown – Guyana – June 2014
Photo Credit: Guyana Chronicle

 

The three years leading up to Walter Rodney’s assassination on June 13, 1980, were dangerous times in Guyana. Living with State surveillance, the Police Death Squad, thugs of the House of Israel Sect, and economic hardships had become our new reality. Informers were everywhere. A treacherous remark could cost you your job or worse.

During session three of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, Allan Robert Gates was the star witness. Since January 2014, he has been serving a two-year prison sentence for fraudulent activities. He claimed they were “trumped-up charges” to prevent him from testifying.

Gates described himself as a security expert. As a young man in June 1977, he joined the Police Force. Two years later, he was assigned to the Special Squad of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Continue reading →

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