Afghan Peace will NOT come from the Powers

Hakim
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad

ourjourneytosmile on Mar 8, 2011

Before the Afghan winters…
Children like Abdulai collect fuel
9 Kunar fuel-collecting children were killed by NATO helicopters
Peace was vandalized
We’re committed to peace & will rewrite peace 100 times over
Ali, what is Aziz Jan writing?
Aziz Jan is writing, ‘Why not love?
Ali Agha, what does’ Why not love’ mean?
It means…’Why not be friends?’
The wishes of the People are not fulfilled by the Powers
Dear youth, to bring peace, let’s not just talk like the elders
Just come and walk the path of peace
Why not bring peace?
Why not love?
We grieve for those killed in war.
We will walk and work for peace.
‘I wish to live without wars’
Day of the People’s Peace
Afghan News Year’s Day
21st of March 2011
http://livewithoutwars.org

Haiti: Mirlanda’s story + Nixon, the boy who survived Haiti’s earthquake

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msfuk | January 12, 2011

Six months after the January earthquake, photographer Nicola Vigilanti travelled to an MSF reconstructive surgery in Haiti. There he met Mirlanda, an inspiring 10 year-old girl who lost her mother and her leg in in the earthquake. Vigilanti recorded her slow recovery, as she received treatment for a crushed arm and learned to walk again with the use of a prosthetic limb. Despite the severity of her injuries and restricted mobility, Mirlanda always continued smiling and never let the fact that she had lost a leg stop her joining in with the other children in the hospital, even to play football.

Millions Of Flood Victims In Pakistan Now Face Harsh Winter by Brian McAfee

by Brian McAfee
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
Dec. 18, 2010

Image by Oxfam International via Flickr

Reports indicate that the hardships from Pakistan’s earlier monsoon floods have been exacerbated by the onslaught of winter. The floods impacted 20 million of Pakistan’s population of just over 180 million people. As the temperature dips, hundreds of thousands of displaced children and adults are susceptible to pneumonia and other cold related diseases. According to Director of the National Institute of Child Health (Pakistan), Professor Jamal Raza states that the flood victims becoming ill from cold related causes, particularly children, could almost double from the current number.

We want you out!

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photo by Dandelion Salad

Sent to DS from Hakim in Afghanistan.

ourjourneytosmile | December 14, 2010

Nowhere to Turn and Nowhere to Hide

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Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Sent to DS from Hakim in Afghanistan.

ourjourneytosmile | December 01, 2010

Helen Caldicott on the Nuclear Power Conspiracy + Our Childrens’ Legacy

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

mediasanctuary | November 27, 2010

http://www.mediasanctuary.org http://www.helencaldicott.org Noted anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott speaks about the effect of radiation on children, calling for a revival of anti-nuclear activism. Excerpted from a talk at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY on November 13, 2010.

B-58’s Are Why I Didn’t Get Laid by Daniel N. White

by Daniel N. White
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 29, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Ran into my friend Robert the other day at the gym.  He and I have been going to this gym or some other most all of our adult lives.  Probably for about the usual reasons–we are both physical, physically active people stuck in desk jobs, neither of us wants to get fat like a third or better of everyone has nowadays, male vanity some no doubt too, and at least for me, Robert in his single days too, it isn’t a bad place to meet women.  Over the last couple of years we’ve gone from conversations at the gym to friendship.  We both read books, damnere a rarity these days, follow current events, both of us are keen on airplanes and aviation–Robert has his pilots license and I never got mine, I went to college instead, and after an epic struggle with indifference and boredom I finally got my problematical liberal arts degree from the big state U downtown–Robert got fed up earlier and harder than I did with the educational process (a cousin to the digestive process, you know) and never got his, which hasn’t stopped him any. 

Detainee 239 by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
13 October, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

” …and if any one saved a life, it would be as if s/he saved the life of all mankind. …” (Qur’an 5:32)

“How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.” (Henry David Thoreau,1817-1862.)

On Tuesday,13th April, as British politicians travelled the country, promising a brave new world on Election day (6th May) a letter was delivered to the British Prime Minister’s residence, Number 10, Downing Street.

Capitalism and Other Kids’ Stuff (2005) (must-see)

Dandelion Salad

Image by Metro Centric via Flickr

Posted previously on my old blog.

www.worldsocialism.org

The first of what we hope will be many films to appear on this site is Capitalism & Other Kids’ Stuff. It was made by four socialists on one freezing Saturday afternoon in a church hall at Hebburn in the north east of England.

The Nightmare by Felicity Arbuthnot

Warning

This article and links to other websites may contain words/graphics depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be read/viewed by a mature audience.

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
9 October, 2010

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” François-Marie Arouet -“Voltaire” (1694-1778.)

I have a deeply held belief that the duty of a commentator is, to the best of one’s ability, to record, to shine light in often dark places, to act as a voice for those whose own voice, fears, plights might not be heard or known. To write about the emotions one sometimes feels when doing it, is an anathema and anyway a redundancy. The purpose is to attempt to draw attention to wrongs, not to whinge about the effects they can have – and any way, a private life should be just that. If politicians wish to strip themselves of their dignity and allude to everything from their sex life, to using private grief to gain sympathy votes, those with a shred of self-respect do not wish to emulate them. Here, I am breaking my taboo, for a reason.

We remain sad

dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Sent to DS from Hakim in Afghanistan.

ourjourneytosmile

Oct. 6, 2010

“Look, the whole world is upside down and considers itself smart & kind,
but look at its wars and wars,
and its inability to build anything.”
15 year old Ali

We all sense that something is not quite right about the Afghan conflict, about our foundational responses to ‘terror’, about our global grasp of fear & anger.

But we do not pursue that sense.

Kucinich Proposal Would Raise $15-19 Billion for Childhood Nutrition Efforts

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by Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Washington, Sept 28, 2010

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Cynical Cuts to Food Stamps the Definition of Cruelty; Offset Could Break Through Stalemate

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today announced that the Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that his proposal to revoke corporate tax deductions for advertising and marketing expenses aimed at selling junk food and fast food to children could provide $15-19 billion (over 10 years) for child nutrition programs. The House version of the child nutrition reauthorization requires an $8.5 billion offset over 10 years while the Senate version requires a $4.5 billion offset over 10 years. The child nutrition bill that Congress could consider tomorrow is funded by cutting food stamps.

Zekerullah: If you should kill me unawares, don’t forget I had asked for your friendship and love

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Sent to DS from Hakim in Afghanistan.

photo used with permission from Hakim

All Rights Reserved

http://ourjourneytosmile.com

*through Skype calls to the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers on the 21st September 2010 International Day of Peace….. If you and your friends would reach out this way, even for a minute, please email dougwmackey@gmail.com and arrange to talk with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers!

“We will plan to be together the whole day of 21st to receive calls, for all of 24 hours from 8.00 am, … We’d rather take your calls than join the ‘officials’ in paying lip service to peace…and we’d rather stay awake to hear your voices than sleep without those human connections we yearn for.” Hakim and the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers

NOMA – The Face of Poverty By Siv O’Neall

By Siv O’Neall
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Axisoflogic.com
August 17, 2010

The following article is based on a report “The tragedy of Noma [1]”, prepared by Mr. Jean Ziegler, Vice-President of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. Unless otherwise noted, the quotes in this article are all excerpted from this report by Jean Ziegler.

Malnutrition and hunger are not only direct killers of children and adults all over the developing world. A lesser-known but horrible result of the negligence and callousness of the rich Western world is a cruelly disfiguring disease called noma (from Ancient Greek nomē “spreading of sores”), a scourge which is destroying lives in large parts of the developing nations.

Mr. Blair: About Your Book Signing: Dedication Suggestions… Every letter of Every Word is Written in a Child’s Blood by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
13 August, 2010

“Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  (Psalms 16:18.)

I note you will be signing your book, “A Journey”, at Waterstone’s flagship book shop, on London’s Piccadilly, on the 8th September. As this will seemingly be a day when democracy is suspended, security near unprecedented, bags, cameras, briefcases, mobile ‘phones checked in before being allowed to ask for your signature, I may not be able to get to near to you with these suggestions, so some ideas from afar for your dedications.