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Chilling, isn't it

Folk songs of protest

I just came across this group - The Messenger Band. They are a Cambodian folk group. Each member is a former factory worker. As it says on the Womyn's Agenda for Change website, singing is a safer way of advocating for change, especially in a climate that represses protest and where journalists self-censor.

Check out these videos. They are subtitled in English. Listen to the words of young Cambodian women singing about the issues that effect them.

Suffering from Privatisation



Life and land



All their lyrics are available in English here.

YouTube fun

It's Tuesday. Have some Doctor Who.



I love this song.

The girl effect

Go here to learn more.

Conflict updates

Paris Hilton for president part 2

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

And to continue the theme

they don't make ads like they used to

Just might be the best ad ever

TGIF 90s Harp ads

Loved these ads

Just because it's Wednesday

and in honour of the financial (and other) crisis...

PowerPoint: less is more

I had a Very Important Presentation that went off well today. I spoke for 5 minutes and used 7 PowerPoint slides. I hate PowerPoint mainly because it is so often abused by those who think that a presentation is PowerPoint. And so here's a vid for those of you who lay on the PowerPoint a little thickly.



and for the laughs

UN on YouTube

The UN has a YouTube channel.

Check it out

More wars?

VIA Debs.

There are disturbing images in this vid

What are you going to do to stand up against poverty in 2008?

Almost nine years ago, 189 governments pledged to end poverty by 2015. It takes time to achieve such a lofty goal but still 50 000 people die every day because of poverty. 35 000 are women.

Lousy maternal care, inequality, sexual exploitation, domestic violence and global gag rules that ignore reality, are some of the reasons why women suffer disproportionately.

It's time to stand up and order our governments to fulfill their promises. Governments are supposed to work for the people. Well it's time for a change. Order your politicians to end poverty now.

The Stand up against poverty 2008 campaign is in one month. What have you planned to do for it?

The campaign is very simple - we all demand our governments to fulfill the promises that they have made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The ground has been set. There are projects in place but there is a lack of political will and/or finances to eradicate poverty. So what are you going to do?

One simple way is to participate in Blog action day. Register and plan a post. Profbwoman has resources and more. All we are asking is for our governments to honour their promises - there's nothing too political about that eh!


Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

There are other activities and ideas so go ahead and stand up against poverty.

Jerry O Connell rips the piss out of Tom Cruise

Here's the vid...

(h/t dlisted)



And just in case you missed the original...

Frank Kelly's Christmas countdown

And now for some Christmas humour!



Day One

Dear Nuala,
Thank you very much for your lovely present of a partridge in a pear-tree. We’re getting the hang of feeding the partridge now, although it was difficult at first to win its confidence. It bit the mother rather badly on the hand but they’re good friends now and we’re keeping the pear-tree indoors in a bucket. Thank you again.
Yours affectionately,
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Day Two

Dear Nuala,
I cannot tell you how surprised we were to hear from you so soon again and to receive your lovely present of two turtle doves. You really are too kind. At first the partridge was very jealous and suspicious of the doves and they had a terrible row the night the doves arrived. We had to send for the vet but the birds are okay again and the stitches are due to some out in a week or two. The vet’s bill was £8 but the mother is over her annoyance now and the doves and the partridge are watching the telly from the pear-tree as I write.
Yours ever,
Gobnait

Day Three

Dear Nuala,
We must be foremost in your thoughts. I had only posted my letter when the three French hens arrived. There was another sort-out between the hens and the doves, who sided with the partridge, and the vet had to be sent for again. The mother was raging because the bill was £16 this time but she has almost cooled down. However, the fact that the birds’ droppings keep falling down on her hair whilen she’s watching the telly, doesn’t help matters. Thanking you for your kindness.
I remain,
Your Gobnait

Day Four

Dear Nuala,
You mustn’t have received my last letter when you were sending us the four calling birds. There was pandemonium in the pear-tree again last night and the vet’s bill was £32. The mother is on sedation as I write. I know you meant no harm and remain your close friend.
Gobnait

Day Five

Nuala,
Your generosity knows no bounds. Five gold rings ! When the parcel arrived I was scared stiff that it might be more birds, because the smell in the living-room is atrocious. However, I don’t want to seem ungrateful for the beautiful rings.
Your affectionate friend,
Gobnait

Day Six

Nuala,
What are you trying to do to us? It isn’t that we don’t appreciate your generosity but the six geese have not alone nearly murdered the calling birds but they laid their eggs on top of the vet’s head from the pear-tree and his bill was £68 in cash! My mother is munching 60 grains of Valium a day and talking to herself in a most alarming way. You must keep your feelings for me in check.
Gobnait

Day Seven

Nuala,
We are not amused by your little joke. Seven swans-a-swimming is a most romantic idea but not in the bath of a private house. We cannot use the bathroom now because they’ve gone completely savage and rush the door every time we try to enter. If things go on this way, the mother and I will smell as bad as the living-room carpet. Please lay off. It is not fair.
Gobnait

Day Eight

Nuala,
Who the hell do you think gave you the right to send eight, hefty maids-a-milking here, to eat us out of house and home? Their cattle are all over the front lawn and have trampled the hell out of the mother’s rose-beds. The swans invaded the living-room in a sneak attack and the ensuing battle between them and the calling birds, turtle doves, French hens and partridge make the Battle of the Somme seem like Wanderly Wagon. The mother is on a bottle of whiskey a day, as well as the sixty grains of Valium. I’m very annoyed with you.
Gobnait

Day Nine

Listen you louser!
There’s enough pandemonium in this place night and day without nine drummers drumming, while the eight flaming maids-a-milking are beating my poor, old alcoholic mother out of her own kitchen and gobbling everything in sight. I’m warning you, you’re making an enemy of me.
Gobnait

Day Ten

Listen manure-face,
I hope you’ll be haunted by the strains of ten pipers piping which you sent to torment us last night. They were aided in their evil work by those maniac drummers and it wasn’t a pleasant sight to look out the window and see eight hefty maids-a-milking pogo-ing around with the ensuing punk-rock uproar. My mother has just finished her third bottle of whiskey, on top of a hundred and twenty four grains of Valium. You’ll get yours!
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Day Eleven

You have scandalised my mother, you dirty Jezebel,
It was bad enough to have eight maids-a-milking dancing to punk music on the front lawn but they’ve now been joined by your friends the eleven Lords-a-leaping and the antics of the whole lot of them would leave the most decadent days of the Roman Empire looking like “Outlook”. I’ll get you yet, you ould bag!

Day Twelve

Listen slurry head,
You have ruined our lives. The twelve maidens dancing turned up last night and beat the living daylights out of the eight maids-a-milking, ‘cos they found them carrying on with the eleven Lords-a-leaping. Meanwhile, the swans got out of the living-room, where they’d been hiding since the big battle, and savaged hell out of the Lords and all the Maids. There were eight ambulances here last night, and the local Civil Defence as well. The mother is in a home for the bewildered and I’m sitting here, up to my neck in birds’ droppings, empty whiskey and Valium bottles, birds’ blood and feathers, while the flaming cows eat the leaves off the pear-tree. I’m a broken man.
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Language matters

All girl UN squad a success

Why is the BBC using such a sexist infantilising title to refer to adult soldiers. I imagine it is to tantalise male readers with the image of "sexy girls in uniform", which is a disgusting tactic to use on UN peacekeepers.

Imagine the outrage if male soldiers were called boys. The protests would inflame the blogosphere. Why is it so acceptable to belittle and infantilise women? Why is a somewhat reputable source of international news as the BBC demeaning over fifty percent of its readers?

It is a pity because the article itself is interesting and informative and more importantly is manages to be so without infantilising adult soldiers. One point, of some import, is that the reason women were chosen for this mission is extreme sexual violence in Liberia.

The UN is experimenting with all female units because female soldiers are seen as less threatening and more approachable in post-conflict situations, where populations are recovering from years of violence and fear.

In Liberia this is of particular importance because the country has experienced an epidemic of sexual violence against women.

Lucia Williams, a midwife who works at a free medical centre with Medecines Sans Frontiers in Monrovia, says rape is on the increase and "has become a sport."

As part of the ongoing campaign to end sexual violence, it is hoped the visible presence of female soldiers will empower local Liberian women and encourage them to join the police force. (Source)

The all female peacekeepers were chosen to because of the rampant sexual violence in Liberia. (See here for more information including a video) Anybody see the irony in belittling the female peacekeepers who are there because of the all male units in the past?

The use of the term "girls" shows a clear a lack of respect when applied to adult women and seems to be implying that, hey, if a bunch of girls can do it - anybody can. It cheapens the peacekeeping work of these and other soldiers.

The world's first all-female unit of United Nations peacekeepers has been deemed a success, and has had its mission extended for another six months.

A 105-strong paramilitary police unit of women from India has been based in Liberia since January, working to help keep the peace in a country which is still recovering from 14 years of civil war.

For the last six months, the unit has patrolled the capital, Monrovia, 24 hours a day. They have kept guard at public buildings such as the foreign ministry and protected the unarmed, recently-trained Liberian National Police officers as they gained "on the job" experience. (Source)

On the BBC there is nothing but respect for male soldiers who are serving overseas. All I and others ask is for the same courtesy. Do not infantilise women.

Poem

Perhaps it would not pass the muster of a literary critique, but it is hard hitting nonetheless.

To every man who never called himself a feminist

Alanis versus Fergie

This is one number on YouTube at the moment. It's a vid of Alanis singing Black Eyed Peas "My Humps". I hated the song before I knew the artist. When I saw it was BEP's I was so disappointed. How could such a group go from

If love and peace so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations dropping bombs
Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones
With ongoing suffering
As the youth die young

to

I drive these brothers crazy,
I do it on the daily,
They treat me really nicely,
They buy me all these ices.
Dolce & Gabbana,
Fendi and NaDonna
Karan, they be sharin'
All their money got me wearin' fly

Anyway I hated that song until I heard the Alanis version because of the terminology BEPs use, the image of Fergie as a golddigging tease and the inevitable conclusion that certain people draw - "women are just golddigging whores". But thanks to Alanis for turning it into a parody and we can laugh at Fergie as a result.

Vids

TocciOnline has another great video out - Gasoline from the people who brought you Preggers and D.R.A.F.T

It's hot here.