Humanitarian Crisis and Citizen Journalism

Today, as I got distracted from my Africa into the 21st Century paper, I found a really interesting article on staff of aid agencies acting as citizen journalists when they are on the front lines of a humanitarian crisis. No time to write more about it, but check it out because it's pretty cool.

The Ravaging of Africa

Sorry for my holiday absence! I should have warned you of it ahead of time. The semester starts tomorrow, and it promises to be a full one- the last one, in fact, if all goes according to plan. My focus this semester is on finishing my thesis (on the impact of economic empowerment projects on HIV incidence), and also an independent study course on recent Ethiopian history/politics and Orthodox Christianity. It's likely that I'll be posting about both those subjects here!

First up, in my quest to experience development in 2008, I'm planning to attend Canada in the World. It's put on by the UofT International Relations Society, and focuses on three areas: arctic sovereignty, climate change and human security. I'm pretty excited, as I should get a better idea of my country's role in the issues in which I'm interested! Designed for undergraduate students, I'm not sure if it's open to the public, but I will try to report back on what I've learned.

For the time being, check out the radio documentary here, called The Ravaging of Africa. It's about the 'destructive impact of US imperialism on Africa.' I haven't listened yet myself (and don't know if I agree or not), but it's on my to do list!

Internationalism's last chance?

Doug Saunders of the Globe and Mail has just written an interesting piece about Bernard Kouchner (the father of humanitairan action) in the role of France's foreign minister. Check it out here.