HelpSweden.Org

Because of Sweden’s presidency in the European Union in the second part of 2009, the Millennium Goal Campaign has constructed a website called HelpSweden.Org

Here, a reverse situation is shown where Sweden is dependent on assistance from third world countries. This campaign is made in order to raise the awareness of poverty in third world countries but also to inform about the fact that the development aid is not properly used.
This year it is estimated that African countries south of Sahara (Sub-Saharan countries) will receive 36 billion dollars in development aid. It is as much as the region pays in interest and repayment to the rich world. Money that could be used to invested in infrastructure, education and health is also missing due to corruption, unfair pricing, tax manipulations and other illegal activities such as drug and arms trafficking.
In order to achieve the Millenium Goal about poverty by 2015 the development aid has to increase and be used more efficient. The HelpSweden.Org campaign suggests that Fredric Reinfeldt during the Swedish presidency in the European Union focuses on encouraging European leaders to;
 

* give more and more efficient development aid

* make trade more development friendly

* cancel debts so that developing countries can invest in their own future

* assist poor countries in adapting to changes in the environment that the rich countries to a large extend have caused.

 

If you want to support the HelpSweden.Org campaign you can sign a letter to Fredric Reinfeltd on the HelpSweden.Org website.

 Danielle Bersztel 

 

South Africa enters a new phase.

South Africa’s political, and economical, patch will take another route from this week forward as President Mbeki announced his reassignment live on Sunday. Mbeki was accused of having set up prosecutors to go after his rival, charges which the President denied in a defence speech. This seemed to gain a lot of public and media attention and lead to a situation. After putting the President under extreme pressure, the African National Congress (ANC) decided to step up and deal with the matter.

The ANC discussed for hours if its Mbeki’s time to step aside, the decision was that the Presidents campaign should come to an end, leaving South Africa in a rather unstable situation. President Mbeki stated that the ANC would decide the date of his leaving and also expressed his thoughts concerning the National Congress: “I have been a loyal member of the African National Congress for 52 years. I remain a member of the ANC, and therefore respect its decisions,” he said.

Thabo Mbeki became the leader of South Africa in 1999 and has during his presidential period established an economical growth in the country, but has however failed in ensuring an even wealth distribution. What the country now faces is a period of uncertainty, and according to the Los Angeles Times the situation might even get worse if loyal cabinet members quit after the Presidents resignation. Therefore, the government is urging these members to avoid any drastic measures to ensure that the country can continue in a peaceful and effective path towards replacing Mbeki.

South Africa is facing a time where national cooperation is essential, especially in finding someone that can fill in now that Mbeki steps down. This can however be achieved, all that’s required is the adaption of a peaceful and justice measure.

 

More on the news as well as two video clips can be found on BBC’s link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7627957.stm

Arad Hosseini

Hi!

This week we have been working with the UN Millennium Development Goals. There are eight goals which are supposed to be achieved by 2015. Our assignment was to read about the goals in groups of two, and discuss them in class. If you want to read more you can do that on UN’s Development program. One thought to have in mind while you read is: are the goals really realistic?

This week the media have given Africa a lot of attention, the most important event is the new coalition government in Zimbabwe. On Monday the 13th of September President Robert Mugabe and Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai signed an agreement to rule Zimbabwe with a coalition government. It is not determined when a new government will be designated, however Zimbabwe is filled with hope. A hope for a better economy and a better standard of living, but will this lead to a new Zimbabwe?

However that is not all that has attracted medias attention. Every Tuesday at 20.30 SVT2 show a TV-series, Världens Konflikter, which is about conflicts, both historical as well as conflicts of present day, around the world.
The episode this week was about Darfur. The program presented the causes as well as the effects of the conflict and in this case it made a complex conflict easier to understand. We met Yonis who came to Sweden four years ago as a refugee from Darfur. To read more visit SVT2’s homepage. http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=85652&a=1245117. You are able to see the episode there or on SVT2 on Saturday at 13.15. The next episode will be about Kongo-Kinshasa conflict.

Michaela Sand

The diversified Africa

Hello!

This is the first real blog entry here, as well as the first blog entry written by a student attending this course. For those of you who didn’t know, this course is called SH C and focuses on Africa. It will include a trip to the East African Model United Nations (EAMUN) in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Although we just got started, already we are starting to gain a more balanced view of what Africa is and is not.
The common conception of Africa in general, and Sub-saharan Africa in particular, does not include it being very diversified in matters of welfare and economy. However, as Hans Rosling shows in the presentation beneath, the difference between African countries is far greater than that between OECD countries.

Even though Rosling shares an optimistic view of African development, one cannot ignore the fact that the development of Asia has been far more successful. I personally hope that we in this course will be able to look into the reasons for this difference. We will keep you posted on any interesting conclusions about this that we make.
Niclas Rudolfson

more about “Hans Rosling shows the best stats you…“, posted with vodpod