Act Up Against ACTA Saturday Feb 11th
By Staff, Access Now | YouTube | Haiti Chery. Protests against ACTA will take place worldwide on Saturday February 11th. Over 1.75 million people have signed a petition against ACTA that is expected to get the endorsement of more than 2 million. Information about petition and protests. UPDATE Feb 11th: Videos of some of the protests. Over 2 million signatures.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Staff ([jep kft gp apr), AlterPresse. According to Haitian Director General of the Department of Public Health and Population (MSPP), Gabriel Timothee, initial tests of a cholera vaccine are scheduled to start in Haiti in February in "disadvantaged areas" of Port-au-Prince and the Plateau Central [meaning on poor folk in Cite Soleil and the region most impoverished by the collapse of farming]. “Studies of the vaccination will be conducted in collaboration with a center called Haitian Studies of Kaposi syndrome and opportunistic infections (Gheskio) and Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health, PIH).” This is worrying because Kaposi syndrome and opportunistic infections are associated with AIDS, not cholera. (English | French)
ACTA Ratification Suspended in Poland
By Staff (ps, PAP, IAR), TOK FM | Edited by Haiti Chery. “Unless all the questions are explained, the ratification process for ACTA will be suspended, and we cannot exclude the fact that the final decision might be a lack of acceptance for this contract.” – Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. UPDATE Feb 6th: Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas has also suspended the ratification of ACTA.
ACTA Not Yet International Law | French MEP Quits in Protest
By Olivia Solon, Wired | Kader Arif, European MP Socialists & Democrats of the EU, Translated from the French by Dady Chery for Haiti Chery. “As the rapporteur on this text, I also faced unprecedented maneuvers from the right of the Parliament to impose an accelerated schedule to pass the agreement as rapidly as possible and before the public was alerted….” – Kader Arif, French MEP. It is not over. ACTA will not become law if the European Parliament is prevented from making it so in June 2012. (What you can do and English translation of full statement from Kader Arif included.) UPDATE Feb 3, 2012: ACTA ratification suspended in Poland.
Oral Cholera Vaccines Cannot Control Haiti Cholera: Rebuttal to an Article in Scientific American
By Rashid Haider, Haiti Chery | Editorial Comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. From the moment cholera appeared in Haiti, a series of “experts” started to promote oral cholera vaccines for the country in articles that did not require a declaration of conflicts of interest or a critical review by independent scientists who study cholera. Here Rashid Haider, who is knowledgeable about the cholera trials in Bangladesh and Peru, provides a devastating rebuttal of the most recent of such articles, which extensively quotes Paul Farmer and appeared in the January 12th issue of Scientific American. DC
Pirate Party: a Global Civil Rights Movement
By Helen Pidd, The Guardian | PP International | Wikipedia. “I think this is really the last chance we have to change attitudes and listen to the 99%.” – Virag Kaufer, Deputy from Hungarian party Lehet Más a Politika (LMP, Politics Can Be Different) rooted in green and anti-globalization movements. Currently Pirate Parties are in place or being formed in over 50 countries. See Principles of Pirate Party (included).
Haiti-Bound Cholera Vaccine ‘Absolutely Useless’ According to Bangladesh Field Trial
By Dr. Rashid Haider, The Independent | Ahmed Sadiq, News from Bangladesh | Translated by Dady Chery for Haiti Chery. Incidents of scientific fraud involving fabrication and falsification have reached a record high, and one area that requires careful scrutiny is vaccine trials in far-away developing countries where both infectious disease and corruption are endemic. A detailed report of Bangladesh’s 2011 field trials for the Shanchol vaccine — currently being pushed on Haiti — thoroughly disproves claims made by western scientists about this vaccine. The report is provided here. (English | French)
Cholera Vaccines Unnecessary, Ineffective, Expensive, and Dangerous
By Rashid Haider, Haiti Chery | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Cholera vaccines are being pushed on Haiti, especially Shanchol, a vaccine that protects only 45% of those vaccinated during the first year and is unsuitable for controlling epidemic or endemic cholera. Shanchol is expensive. In addition, preparations of it for use in developing countries contain the dangerous mercury-based preservative thiomersal.
By Harry Wilson, The Telegraph | Guardian (photo) | Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy, You Tube (video). The European Union is set to move ahead with plans for a financial transaction tax — also called the Robin Hood Tax — by the end of the year, despite opposition from Britain and Sweden. (Very funny video)
By Julio Godoy, IPS | Tierramérica. Common cranes normally migrated in September from their spring and summer habitat in Europe to spend the autumn and winter in northern Africa. But climate change is altering their natural migratory patterns, sparking conflicts between farmers and environmentalists. (English | Spanish)
The Uses of Haiti’s Poor Children: Guinea Pigs for Cholera Vaccines
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s Ministry of Health finally gave in and officially announced the beginning of a vaccination campaign against cholera, after one year of pressure from the UN’s Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The proposed vaccine, called Shanchol, is wrought with scandal, and preparations for use in developing countries contain the dangerous mercury-based preservative thiomersal. UPDATED Jan 15, 2012. (English | French)
Peter Vinthagen Simpson and staff, The Local. Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who was on Thursday named the 2011 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, has published a relatively small body of work, often addressing themes of death, history and nature. Here is an English translation of a short poem entitled “National Insecurity,” followed by a brief bibliography.