This personal report from Eddie Cross, an MDC parliamentarian in Bulawayo whose accounts The Essential Edge has already published, appears to sum up the current situation in the country. We are also including a cartoon by our colleagues at The Zimbabwean , an opposition newspaper-in-exile that has been reporting courageously and without letup on what is happening inside Zimbabwe. It is a poignant reminder of how the continued lack of real pressure by the international community, particularly by other African countries, has enabled Robert Mugabe and his cohorts to continue with their blatant disregard of the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Since its creation in June, 2006, the Geneva-based Human Rights Tribune (HRT) has provided invaluable coverage in English and French of the United Nations Human Rights Council, an institution broadly supported by the major donors. Sadly, the HRT is in danger of collapse because of financial constraints. Donor patronage of the Council becomes meaningless if there is no one properly – and independently - reporting its sessions, including what goes on behind the scenes. It also smacks of political agenda without accountability. Without credible and investigative media coverage by organizations such as the HRT, there is no way of knowing whether the Council is actually performing a credible function or whether it is just another costly talk-shop pretending to the world that it is taking human rights seriously.
If challenged to hum, whistle or sing 12 Beatles songs in the space of five minutes I could offer Hey Jude, Fool on the Hill, Obladi Oblada, Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday, Something in the Way she Moves, She Loves You, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Lovely Rita Meter-Maid, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Lady Madonna. And for a baker's dozen I'll chuck in Lennon's Imagine. That actually took two minutes and I could give you another dozen within the remaining three minutes.
These and a great many of the others – Wikipedia lists 258 of them – are so familiar that at any time you can hear and recognise them on ring-tones, through a random scan of your radio channels, on the annoying musak of supermarkets or in music shops from Kyoto to Quito and from Hobart to Harlem.
Belgian doctor, Peter Piot, the former executive director of UNAIDS, is moving onto new challenges following his nearly 13-year tenure at the agency. Piot, now a Fellow and senior advisor of the Gates Foundation, will head up a new ground-breaking Global Health institute at Imperial College in London in April. He is also a driving force behind the aids2031 initiative, intended to outline the future of the disease over the next 25 years. Looking back, Piot explores the key issues regarding AIDS, including the need to mobilize the public - and the media - to take advantage of the scientific knowledge that has been acquired so far.
If you’re looking for a simple, but intriguing weekend escape, we found the Hotel Lac du Bretaye above Villars-sur-Ollon a good option both in winter and summer. The Villars-Gryon-Diablerets region may not be the most challenging of skiing areas, yet you’re only an hour and fifteen minutes from Geneva. And the slopes are superb with lots of red and blue pistes with some blacks tossed in. The crosscountry skiing is exceptional. And you have the most amazing views of the Alps from all sides. During the summer, you are surrounded by pastures with hiking trails and lots of wildlife in all directions. There are several nature areas within hiking distance promoting varied examples of alpine flora. If you are lucky, you will also see chamois, Ibex and eagles. And even if you just want to do a day’s trekking, picnicking or skiing, the area is a great option. The sort of place to take visitors who need a bit of impressing and you’re running out of ideas…
Not everyone suffers equally during a financial downturn--even one that is beginning to look more and more like a nascent depression. One of the gems hidden away in the International Telecommunication Union’s latest report, “Confronting the Crisis,” released in February, was the observation that economic recessions can provide a fertile environment for launching new companies that have come up with nifty solutions involving problem solving technologies. When the economy is booming, there is less incentive to try something new just to cut costs and boost efficiency. When every cent counts, the picture begins to look different. The key term here is “disruptive technologies,” new ideas or innovations that change the way we think and the way the market operates. Digital cameras would be a disruptive technology, particularly if, like Kodak, you had been in the photographic film business. The impact that digital music sales over the net have had on the music industry is another, and it is beginning to look like web-based publishing is threatening to put an end to the costly formula that wags characterize as "Yesterday's news in tomorrow's paper."
Tamil mourners crowded into a small Catholic church a few blocks form the Palais Nations on Friday to pay their last respects to Murukathasan Vanakulasingam. The 27-year old former computer science graduate had doused himself with gasoline turning into a human torch in front of the main gates to the United Nations at eight o’clock on Thursday night, February 12. His suicide was intended to protest what he believed to be the failure of the UN and the international community to respond effectively to the massacre of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. Tamils at the funeral
told me that they believed the lack of media interest was one reason
that the slaughter was allowed to continue. TIME Magazine had recently
listed Sri Lanka as one of the three most under reported international
stories. The irony in Murukathasan’s martyrdom is that it went
virtually unreported in both the Swiss and international press. His
parents in England, where he was currently as a stock clerk in a
Sainsbury supermarket, only learned that he had died by scouring Tamil
internet blogs. In a letter that was found 30
feet from Murukathasan’s charred body, he explained, “I have no words
to wake up the international community. The flames over my body will be
a torch to guide Tamils to the path of liberation.”
The move by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the media by stimulating a new generation of readers through free newspaper subscriptions to teenagers is an excellent initiative. It is also one which the Swiss authorities - and the international agencies in Geneva - should consider. Unless they’re reading the free web newssites such as the BBC, Christian Science Monitor or Global Post, young people simply cannot rely on U-tube, the Daily Show or 160-character SMS items alone as reliable information sources about their society and world events. There needs to be far more creative thinking of how to develop new readership, whether in print, broadcasting or new media, that is both critical and discerning. Just handing out subscriptions will not be enough. We need to get to kids even younger.
This personal report from Eddie Cross, an MDC parliamentarian in Bulawayo whose accounts The Essential Edge has already published, appears to sum up the current situation in the country. We are also including a cartoon by our colleagues at 
Since its creation in June, 2006, the Geneva-based 
If challenged to hum, whistle or sing 12 Beatles songs in the space of five minutes I could offer Hey Jude, Fool on the Hill, Obladi Oblada, Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday, Something in the Way she Moves, She Loves You, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Lovely Rita Meter-Maid, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Lady Madonna. And for a baker's dozen I'll chuck in Lennon's Imagine. That actually took two minutes and I could give you another dozen within the remaining three minutes.
These and a great many of the others – Wikipedia lists 258 of them – are so familiar that at any time you can hear and recognise them on ring-tones, through a random scan of your radio channels, on the annoying musak of supermarkets or in music shops from Kyoto to Quito and from Hobart to Harlem.
Belgian doctor, Peter Piot, the former executive director of 
If you’re looking for a simple, but intriguing weekend escape, we found the Hotel Lac du Bretaye above Villars-sur-Ollon a good option both in winter and summer. The 
The move by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the media by stimulating a new generation of readers through free newspaper subscriptions to teenagers is an excellent initiative. It is also one which the Swiss authorities - and the international agencies in Geneva - should consider. Unless they’re reading the free web newssites such as the BBC, Christian Science Monitor or Global Post, young people simply cannot rely on U-tube, the Daily Show or 160-character SMS items alone as reliable information sources about their society and world events. There needs to be far more creative thinking of how to develop new readership, whether in print, broadcasting or new media, that is both critical and discerning. Just handing out subscriptions will not be enough. We need to get to kids even younger.
