World Bank: Poverty ‘more widespread’

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What We Always Believed, World Bank Finally Confirms

Chinese Government: No Protests!

Chinese Government Prevents Aggrieved Parents Lodging Lawsuit

Chinese police broke up a demonstration by dozens of aggrieved parents protesting outside a Dujiangyan courthouse over the loss of their children on Tuesday, and prevented them from lodging a lawsuit over a collapsed school building. On Wednesday the police blocked access to the schools that collapsed on May 12 earthquake.

The father of Li Yun, a 15-year-old student who died in the May 12 earthquake, flashes a photograph of her through a police car’s window after he was forcibly detained and taken away from the Juyuan middle school in Juyuan, Sichuan province June 4, 2008. REUTERS/Nir Elias. Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

Chinese police broke up a demonstration by dozens of aggrieved parents protesting outside a Dujiangyan courthouse over the loss of their children on Tuesday, and prevented them from lodging a lawsuit over a collapsed school building. On Wednesday the police blocked access to the schools that collapsed on May 12 earthquake.

China’s State Council said Wednesday that the death toll rose to 69,122, with 17,991 more missing and likely dead. More than 9,000 children lost their lives in the massive earthquake. Many parents blame sub-standard buildings were responsible for the death of their loved ones and vowed to press on with their complaints.

“The government has said it will address our complaints, but the officials are too corrupt to actually do anything,” said Zhao Deqin, a mother whose 15-year-old twin daughters, Yajia and Yaqi, died when the Juyuan Middle school collapsed.

“We certainly want to sue the school and whoever was responsible,” said Zhang Xianqing, a parent whose 15-year-old boy also died in the school, in a town near Dujianggyan.

“We will help them solve their difficulties so that they can receive consolation,” a government spokesman said in Beijing. “This is a very painful thing. Who would not feel fluctuations in emotions? It will take time for them to calm down. Much work needs to be done.”

The official statement, however, contradicts some of the parents who said local authorities were harassing them.

“We went to seek justice for the children and they said we were troublemakers. The police were in a row and would not let us pass,” said Li Guilong, 20, whose 16-year-old sister Li Zhuan was killed in the collapse of the Xiang’e Middle School.

Another parent, Li Fuliang, who lost his 14-year-old son aid the police had visited his house to warn him off against “making any trouble.”

“They told me not to go and make trouble. If the government does not give us a clear response I will keep going to seek justice. My child died,” he said.

Reporting Protests Banned

“But the protests by parents have not been reported locally, and efforts by officials to discourage foreign reporters talking to parents underscore the school issue’s sensitivity when the government wants the focus on massive relief efforts for millions of displaced people.” Reuters reported.

Police and soldiers react to being photographed as they guard the entrance to the earthquake-destroyed Xinjian primary school in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, China June 4, 2008. REUTERS/Nir Elias. Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

“This is going to be a touchstone issue that brings together questions about how to deal with the quake aftermath — accountability, the public interest and compensation,” Xu Wu, a former Chinese journalist and now a public relations expert at Arizona State University, said of the schools.

“Normally four to five weeks after a disaster, relatives of victims recover from the initial shock and become more demanding and questioning. I think that will start happening.”

“In Beijing, lawyers have held meetings on the rights of quake victims and issued calls for a full inquiry into the schools.” Reuters said.

“That it was school rooms that collapsed first in the earthquake is a national disgrace,” rights campaigner Xu Zhiyong told a recent forum, according to a transcript seen by Reuters. (Source)

Related Links:

• China earthquake: Teacher left students behind as he ran to safety
• Chinese quake investigator pinpoints school failings
• China “quake lake” fears compound survivors misery

Analysis:

• Why Didn’t China Prevent the Loss of 86,000 Lives?
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• How Many More Survivors?
• Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?

• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath
• Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

• Earthquake Predictions In China Are Also Political

Related Links:

• China “quake lake” fears force new evacuation
• Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
• Big aftershock causes more misery in China

Relate Videos:

• Long road ahead for quake victims
• China’s shattered villages.
• Aftershock hits China quake zone

China earthquake: Teacher left students behind as he ran to safety

“I’m a Coward, So What? I’m Still Alive!” —’Runner Fan’

“In matters of life and death, it’s every man for himself, the cowardly Chinese teacher, Fan Meizhong, said.

“I ran towards the stairs so fast that I stumbled and fell as I went. When I reached the center of the football pitch, I found I was the first to escape. None of my pupils was with me,” said the coward, known as ‘Runner Fan.’

Later, when some of his students who managed to scape asked him how he could have left them behind, he replied: “I have a very strong sense of self-preservation … I have never been a brave man and I’m only really concerned about myself.”

Watch your fingernails! The brave Chinese military personnel save the earthquake survivors. The soldiers risk breaking their fingernails removing debris—one brick at a time! (Photo: Reuters). Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

“While newspapers have largely followed instructions to concentrate on uplifting tales of rescue work since the earthquake, the internet has seen a wild variety of tales emerge.” Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported.

The Chinese principle of “every man for himself,” otherwise known as the “me-first-in-rate-race,” seems to run throughout China’s officialdom to its utmost criminal extent. In Juyuan School, where according to the parents 500 to 700 of the 900 students [about 56 -78 percent] died [the official number is 278 deaths, or 31 percent] only six out of 80 teachers [less than 8 percent] perished. one explanation offered by the parents was that “teachers stood nearest the doors.”

The bottom line? “I didn’t cause the earthquake, so I have no reason to feel guilty,” he said. “When I got back to the classroom, the students were all fine.” (Source)

The only consolation? At least he admitted to his moral cowardice. Something the Chinese leaders haven’t done yet!

Related Links:

• China “Frankenstein”
• China “quake lake” fears compound survivors misery

Analysis:

• Why Didn’t China Prevent the Loss of 86,000 Lives?
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• How Many More Survivors?
• Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?

• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath
• Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

• Earthquake Predictions In China Are Also Political

Related Links:

• China “quake lake” fears force new evacuation
• Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
• Big aftershock causes more misery in China

Relate Videos:

• Long road ahead for quake victims
• China’s shattered villages.
• Aftershock hits China quake zone

Do the Poor Have Human Rights?

What Has Soaring Food and Fuel Prices Got to Do with Human Rights?

Whose fault is it If the poor can’t afford food? Give them more money and you create a bigger problem: Inflation.

It’s not the job of your government to control these things you know, they have more important things to do: National security and the Economy (!)

The poor don’t come with engines and wheels; you can’t drive them like cars. Why should they get all the grains at dirt cheap prices, when biofuels bring in a decent profit and help turn the wheels?

Neither the UN nor the so-called global relief organizations seem to care about the plight of the world’s poor. So, once again, do the poor have human rights?

Related Links:

• We Need Food!
• Rome food protesters demand rethink (Video report)
• Human right to food denied in Haiti: Preliminary findings of the fact-finding mission

China Dead and Missing Nos Climb, Again!

80,000 people are dead or missing in China’s earthquake, 300,000 injured

The government’s figure for the dead is 51,000 with 29,000 missing. It’s not known how many survivors were rescued from the rubble. In Beichuan county, about two-thirds of the population were killed.

[You Killed My Baby!] “A mother gestures as she confronts Zhu Qi (R), education dean of Mianyang city, while she and more than 100 parents attend a memorial service for their dead children at the destroyed Fuxing Primary School in the earthquake-hit Wufu town of Mianzhu county, Sichuan province May 21, 2008.” REUTERS/Jason Lee. (Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!)

A mother holding a portrait of her dead son confronts Zhu Qi (L), education dean of Mianyang city, as she and more than 100 parents attend a memorial service at the destroyed Fuxing Primary School in the earthquake-hit Wufu town of Mianzhu county, Sichuan province May 21, 2008. Parents said their children died unnecessarily because of the bad quality of the school’s classrooms. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA). (Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!)

Related Links:

• Quake-hit leg of Olympic torch relay postponed [O RLY]
  
• Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• China Earthquake, Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath

• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

Video Links:

• Quake parents mourn their only child (Every Building survived the quake, except the school!)
• Quake parents grief turns to anger
• Terror in quake’s aftershocks

Corn for Food, NOT for Fuel

“We are hungry!”

Food riots have broken out in Port Au Prince, Haiti, due to soaring food prices. The violent clashes that have paralyzed the city left 5 people dead.

In El Salvador, sky-high food prices, especially corn, the staple diet of South America, led to protests. Women took to the streets banging their pots and pans, shouting “we are hungry!” Video report

Related Links:

• Riots across Egypt amid rising food prices

Poverty, Hunger, Disease

Image based on CIA world map showing percentage of population living below their national poverty line. Right click on the image, then click View Image to see original. (Image Credit: user:Sbw01f via Wikimedia; GNU Free Documentation License)

Country In Focus
India: A soul-sick nation with a diseased psyche that spends billions of dollars on its military and nuclear armament, instead of her people!

Democracy and Freedom [sic.] Indian Style: Women washing clothes in a filthy ditch alongside a main road in Mumbai, India. This file is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Brazil License Este arquivo está licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Atribuição licença 2.5 Brasil. This photograph was produced by Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency. Their site states: O conteúdo deste site é publicado sob a licença Creative Commons Atribuição 2.5 Brasil (Content of this site is published under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil)

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Food Riots Grip Egypt, Haiti, El Salvador