Dan Roodt, Author at praag.co.za

Welkome terugslag vir hoof-Tshwene

Hoofman “Tshwene”

Welgedaan aan die VF+ en Afriforum wat daarin geslaag het om die Afro-fasciste van die Pretoriase stadsraad tydelik te stuit om Pretoria se naamborde te vervang met naamborde wat na ’n imaginêre stamhoof, ene Tshwane – iemand wat nooit bestaan het nie – verwys. Min Afrikaners is egter so naïef om ons te verbeel dat hierdie oorwinning enigsins meer is as ’n tydelike uitstel van die onvermydelike.

Te oordeel aan die uitsprake van die persoon in beheer van die stadsraad, burgemeesteres (of is dit hoof-Tshwene?) Gwen Ramokgopa, gáán die ANC egter sy kultuurmoord op Afrikaners pleeg, bloot omdat hy kan. Pretoria gaan uiteindelik Tshwane word. So ook gaan Louis Trichardt en Potchefstroom se name verander. Wat staan ons te doen, gegewe bogenoemde realiteite?

Die Amerikaanse wetenskaplike, Carl Sagan, het ’n stuk geskryf oor menslike gedrag en verhoudings met andere. Hoe behoort ons teenoor ander op te tree, het Sagan gevra. Sagan identifiseer ’n paar verskillende benaderings tot interpersoonlike verhoudings. Een is die goue reël, wat ook in die Bybelboek Mattheus opgeneem is: “doen aan andere soos jy aan jouself gedoen wil hê”.

’n Volgende een is die silwer reël: “moenie aan andere doen wat jy nie aan jouself gedoen wil hê nie.” Gandhi was ’n voorbeeld van iemand wat hierdie benadering gevolg het. Hy het sy volgelinge aangemoedig om nie geweld te gebruik nie, maar hulle terselfdertyd ook aangemoedig om nie aan die owerhede gehoor te gee nie.

Die brons reël sê: "beloon barmhartigheid met barmhartigheid, maar kwaad met geregtigheid." Dit kan gesien word as die goue reël gekombineer met “’n oog vir ’n oog”. As iemand jou ’n guns doen, beloon hom ook met ’n guns. As iemand jou benadeel, benadeel hom ook of straf sy optrede. Ons is nie onvergewensgesind nie, maar daar kan nie net oor ons geloop word nie, met ander woorde.

Die ysterreël is: doen met andere net wat jy wil, omdat jy kan, en alvorens hulle dit aan jou doen. Dit kan ook geformuleer word as: die een wat die mag het, maak die reëls en te duiwel met die ander.

Nes hul ideologiese voorgangers soos Marx, Lenin en veral Stalin, val die ANC-regime duidelik in laasgenoemde kamp. In die ANC se werklikheidsmodel is daar slegs die wil van die etniese swart massa, en natuurlik word daardie wil uitsluitlik deur die ANC geïnterpreteer en afgedwing (niemand is verras dat die ANC hom die alleenreg hierop toegeëien het nie). Omdat die ANC deur middel van die manipulasie van stedelike grense op ’n rassegrondslag politieke mag in Pretoria gekaap het, voel hy dat hy uit hoofde van die etniese diktatorskap van die massas, die reg het om van Pretoria Tshwane te maak.

Hoe behoort die meerderheid blankes wat die naamverandering teenstaan, te reageer op die ANC se ystervuis? Na Sagan se mening werk die goue reël slegs in ’n geïdealiseerde samelewing waar almal in volmaakte vrede saamleef. Dit werk met ander woorde nie in die praktyk nie, omdat menslike samelewings onvolmaak is. Die goue reël sou van Afrikaners verwag om bloot die ander wang te draai oor Pretoria, Potchefstroom en Louis Trichardt, iets wat ek persoonlik nie bereid is om te doen nie.

Gandhi se silwer benadering het ook geblyk om totaal oneffektief te wees teen die ANC, want Afrikaners het uit hoofde van hul ordentlikheid al baie probeer om in dialoog met die ANC te tree. Carl Sagan skryf dat Gandhi se benadering daarop gerig was om die harte van sy onderdrukkers week te maak. Die geskiedenis het egter geleer dat die ANC bloot ordentlikheid, onderhandelinge, redelikheid en oop gesprekvoering soos in Potchefstroom se geval vir swakheid aansien, en dan in ieder geval maak presies net soos hy wil. Selfs ’n oorwinning in ’n hofgeding gaan die ystervuis van die ANC slegs tydelik stuit.

Omdat politiek en mag in Suid-Afrika bykans uitsluitlik op ’n rasgrondslag bedryf en misbruik word, is die ysterreël as gevolg van die getalleoorwig nie vir Afrikaners beskore nie. Al wat dus oorbly, is die brons reël. Die ANC se naamsverandering van Pretoria is iets wat ontwerp is om blankes te na te kom, om hul geskiedenis te ontken en om sy mag op blankes af te dwing. Dit kom neer op naakte magsmisbruik gemik teen ’n ras- of etniese minderheid. Daar is ’n sterk saak daarvoor te maak dat blankes dus mag reageer op hierdie aanval, al is sulke optrede streng gesproke onwettig.

Wanneer die regime egter sy mag en die wet gebruik, veral op ’n rassistiese wyse, het hy en nie Afrikaners nie die deur oopgemaak vir vergeldende optrede. Die brons reël tree dan in werking. Sou die regime dus uiteindelik Tshwane se walglike bobbejaannaam op padtekens aanbring, sou Afrikaners heeltemal geregverdig wees om Pretoria se naam terug te plaas op padtekens met behulp van byvoorbeeld plakkers of verf. Ander verset is ook moontlik, byvoorbeeld vir Afrikaners om hul munisipale belasting te weerhou, of doelbewus laat te betaal. ’n Oog vir ’n oog, met ander woorde. Sou die regime dan sy les leer en sy posisie heroorweeg, kan Afrikaners hul optrede dan tydelik opskort.

Laat die verset begin.

воронеж тестеры

The RNA revolution

Nature is full of surprises. When atoms were first proved to exist (and that was a mere century ago), they were thought to be made only of electrons and protons. That explained a lot, but it did not quite square with other observations. Then, in 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron. Suddenly everything made sense—so much sense that it took only another 13 years to build an atomic bomb.

It is probably no exaggeration to say that biology is now undergoing its “neutron moment”. For more than half a century the fundamental story of living things has been a tale of the interplay between genes, in the form of DNA, and proteins, which the genes encode and which do the donkey work of keeping living organisms living. The past couple of years, however, have seen the rise and rise of a third type of molecule, called RNA.

The analogy is not perfect. Unlike the neutron, RNA has been known about for a long time. Until the past couple of years, however, its role had seemed restricted to fetching and carrying for DNA and proteins. Now RNA looks every bit as important as those two masters. It may, indeed, be the main regulator of what goes on in a cell—the cell’s operating system, to draw a computing analogy—as well as the author of many other activities (see article). As important, molecular biologists have gone from thinking that they know roughly what is going on in their subject to suddenly realising that they have barely a clue.

That might sound a step backwards; in fact, it is how science works. The analogy with physics is deeper than just that between RNA and the neutron. There is in biology at the moment a sense of barely contained expectations reminiscent of the physical sciences at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a feeling of advancing into the unknown, and that where this advance will lead is both exciting and mysterious.
Know thine enemy

As Samuel Goldwyn so wisely advised, never make predictions—especially about the future. But here is one: the analogy between 20th-century physics and 21st-century biology will continue, for both good and ill.

Physics gave two things to the 20th century. The most obvious gift was power over nature. That power was not always benign, as the atomic bomb showed. But if the 20th century was distinguished by anything from its predecessors, that distinctive feature was physical technology, from motor cars and aeroplanes to computers and the internet.

It is too early to be sure if the distinguishing feature of the 21st century will be biological technology, but there is a good chance that it will be. Simple genetic engineering is now routine; indeed, the first patent application for an artificial living organism has recently been filed (see article). Both the idea of such an organism and the idea that someone might own the rights to it would have been science fiction even a decade ago. And it is not merely that such things are now possible. The other driving force of technological change—necessity—is also there. Many of the big problems facing humanity are biological, or are susceptible to biological intervention. The question of how to deal with an ageing population is one example. Climate change, too, is intimately bound up with biology since it is the result of carbon dioxide going into the air faster than plants can remove it. And the risk of a new, lethal infection suddenly becoming pandemic as a result of modern transport links (see article) is as biological as it gets. Even the fact that such an infection might itself be the result of synthetic biology only emphasises the biological nature of future risks.

At the moment, policymakers have inadequate technological tools to deal with these questions. But it is not hard to imagine such tools. Ageing is directly biological. It probably cannot be stopped, but knowing how cells work—really knowing—will allow the process to be transformed for the better. At least part of the answer to climate change is fuel that grows, rather than fuel that is dug up. Only biotechnology can create that. And infections, pandemic or otherwise, are best dealt with by vaccines, which take a long time to develop. If cells were truly understood, that process might speed up to the point where the vaccine was ready in time to do something useful.

But physics gave the 20th century a more subtle boon than mere power. It also brought an understanding of the vastness of the universe and humanity’s insignificant place in it. It allowed people, in William Blake’s phrase, to hold infinity in the palm of a hand, and eternity in an hour.
Know thyself

Biology, though, does more than describe humanity’s place in the universe. It describes humanity itself. And here, surprisingly, the rise of RNA may be an important part of that description. Ever since the human-genome project was completed, it has puzzled biologists that animals, be they worms, flies or people, all seem to have about the same number of genes for proteins—around 20,000. Yet flies are more complex than worms, and people are more complex than either. Traditional genes are thus not as important as proponents of human nature had suspected nor as proponents of nurture had feared. Instead, the solution to the puzzle seems to lie in the RNA operating system of the cells. This gets bigger with each advance in complexity. And it is noticeably different in a human from that in the brain of a chimpanzee.

If RNA is controlling the complexity of the whole organism, that suggests the operating system of each cell is not only running the cell in question, but is linking up with those of the other cells when a creature is developing. To push the analogy, organs such as the brain are the result of a biological internet. If that is right, the search for the essence of humanity has been looking in the wrong genetic direction.

Of course, such results are speculative and primitive. But that is the point. Lord Rutherford, who proved that atoms exist, knew nothing of neutrons. Chadwick knew nothing of quarks, let alone supersymmetry. Modern biologists are equally ignorant. But eventually, the truth will out.

бачок для Фильчаков прокурор

Pro-Pretoria-groepe wen in hof

‘Gaan terug Europa toe!’

Die dringende hofaansoek wat vanmôre deur verskillende Pro-Pretoriagroepe, onder andere die Vryheidsfront Plus in die Pretoriase Hooggeregshof gebring is, het geslaag en die stadsraad mag geen verdere naamborde verander totdat uitsluitsel in die naamstryd verkry is nie.

Die verrigtinge vooraf is gekenmerk deur spanning tussen pro- en anti-Pretoriabetogers. Terwyl die anti-Pretoria-faksie getoitoi het en liedjies soos "Ons gaan Tshwane toe" gesing het, het die ander groep spontaan Die Stem en Die Lied van Jong Suid-Afrika begin sing.

Dr. Dan Roodt van PRAAG is so byna-byna deur ‘n groep van veertig swart betogers aangerand toe hy aan die burgemeesteres van die Tshwane-munisipaliteit, Gwen Ramakgopa geskree het: "Maar tans vedruk u ons met u naamsveranderings!" Dit was in reaksie op Ramakgopa se toespraak vanaf ‘n bakkie in Vermeulenstraat waartydens sy gesê het dat die naam van Pretoria sál verander omdat dit die stad is waarvandaan swartes in die vorige bedeling "verdruk" is.

Van die ANC-betogers het ook aan dr. Roodt geskree: "Gaan terug Europa toe." Volgens die burgemeesteres van die Tshwanestruktuur is Afrikaners "slegs in die land welkom indien hulle die ANC respekteer".

slots bonus прокурор Фильчаков

Let?s Not Cower From The Hard Truth About Race And IQ

The debate over racial differences in IQ represents perhaps the greatest scientific controversy of the past half-century. The facts are not in serious dispute: blacks score, on average, significantly lower than whites in IQ tests in the United States, Britain and beyond.

Some argue that the only plausible response is to accept that blacks are naturally less intelligent than whites, a view that causes outrage among equal rights campaigners. But is there an alternative explanation for these puzzling statistics and what would it mean if there were not?

All too often the liberal establishment has stifled debate on the issue by pretending that it does not exist. It is asserted, for example, that the concept of intelligence is culturally relative. Even if this is (relatively) true, it does not alter the fact that the kind of intelligence revealed by IQ tests is crucial to one’s prospects in the modern world. It hardly helps the cause of racial equality to argue that, although blacks do worse at IQ tests, they have the kind of intelligence that is useful in preindustrial societies.

The reluctance of liberals to engage in real debate has left the impression that there is an inconvenient truth about IQ differences that is being suppressed by political correctness. This has bolstered the phenomenon of black skin being used subconsciously as an information-bearing trait, so that blacks are judged as a group rather than as individuals. This has prejudiced blacks in finding jobs and amounts to de facto affirmative action for whites.

The unwillingness to engage with the IQ controversy is based upon the fear that an exclusively environmental explanation is difficult to sustain. It is generally accepted that the variation in IQ within the white population is largely heritable, as is the variation within the black population. But if white-white and black-black IQ differences are predominantly heritable, how could it be that the black-white difference is exclusively environmental? This argument was first put by Arthur Jensen in 1969 in his seminal paper, How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?

But it rests upon a confusion. To see how, imagine a sack of genetically diverse seed that is randomly divided into two bunches. Bunch A is grown in a field with good lighting and Bunch B in a field with poor lighting. The differences in height between the seedlings in Bunch A will be exclusively genetic since they have all been subjected to the same environment. The same is true of Bunch B. But the difference in the average height between Bunch A and Bunch B is exclusively environmental—caused by the difference in lighting conditions.

This tells us that the variation within two populations (such as whites and blacks) has no logical connection with the variation between populations. This insight is particularly powerful when combined with the research of James Flynn, a New Zealand psychologist who discovered that IQ scores are inflating over time, a phenomenon that can only be explained by environmental factors.

Flynn’s discovery provides a real example of the thought experiment involving the seeds: IQ variation within each generation is largely heritable; IQ variation between generations is exclusively environmental. For the environmental hypothesis to work, we need only show that today’s black Britons face comparable conditions to whites in the mid1950s, something that chimes with common sense and social data. Allied with evidence of how IQ differences disappear when black children are brought up in residential nurseries with white children, the environmental hypothesis becomes convincing.

This will not come as a surprise to geneticists who have long understood that racial categories are social constructs lacking genetically rigorous boundaries. Most genetic variation exists within groups rather than between them and skin colour can be a highly misleading measure of the genetic distance between populations. It would have been astonishing if the diverse peoples who happen to share darker skin all had a genetic IQ inferiority.

The environmental explanation for racial IQ differences might also come as a relief to whites, a group that scores lower than East Asians. The idea that whites are naturally inferior in IQ to East Asians is worth pursuing if only to observe the reaction of white supremacists. But, as Flynn has shown, the environmental explanation is as persuasive for the difference between whites and East Asians as between whites and blacks.

But need liberals have been so paranoid about the possibility of natural IQ differences between the so-called races? Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that whites have a genetic advantage in IQ over blacks. Would this sanction the kind of policies favoured by the far Right, such as segregationist schooling or a bar on blacks entering university?

It is not difficult to spot the logical fallacy. Even if the average black had a naturally lower IQ than the average white this would not mean that all blacks had lower IQs than all whites. There would still be a significant overlap such that if a white person and a black person were chosen at random there would be a fair chance that the black would have a higher IQ. This demonstrates that even in a hypothetical society with genetically based racial differences in IQ it is sensible to treat people as individuals rather than as group members.

Of course, if the far Right were sincere in its motivation for the different treatment of blacks it has a far more effective policy at its disposal. Why not set a mandatory IQ test and then divide people into high, medium and low IQ? Anecdotal evidence suggests that a disproportionate number of the far Right would find themselves in the lowest category and ripe to be bossed around by intelligent black masters.

This ought to demonstrate to all shades of opinion that apartheid is an evil whether it is based upon colour, IQ or anything else. The fear of the Left over possible natural differences between the so-called races is understandable but exaggerated. It is founded upon the idea that political equality is derived from some actual equality that we all share. The truth is that political equality is a moral abstraction, not an empirical discovery. Grasping this important truth should enable us to celebrate our differences rather than cower in fear of them.

deposit free

Sarkozy wants SA in G8

A proposal by France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy that South Africa and four other emerging economies be included in the influential Group of Eight (G8) has met with mixed response from local commentators.

Goolam Ballim, the group economist at Standard Bank, said the inclusion would be a constructive gesture. "There is increasing recognition that, in their current format, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will become irrelevant if they don’t evolve to include both leadership and opinion of emerging markets, and the same is true of other international groupings."

Bloomberg reported that Sarkozy, in his first major foreign policy speech yesterday, proposed the inclusion of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa in the G8. Sarkozy’s call flies in the face of the position adopted by the body’s chairman, Angela Merkel. The German chancellor has opposed the extension of G8 membership.

Ballim added that the inclusion of emerging market leaders would give credibility to global dialogue. "It is recognition that, for global dialogue to have a genuine meaning, the leading emerging economies do need a seat at the table. South Africa can be a meaningful voice for Africa’s interest at the altar of global dialogue."

Steve Friedman, a research associate at Idasa, holds a similar view. "It would create a platform for a more equal conversation about international trade."

But Garth le Pere, the executive director of the Institute for Global Dialogue, said it would not be in South Africa’s interests to join the G8 as this would compromise its position "as a strong proponent of South-South co-operation".

Finance minister Trevor Manuel, who has played a high-profile role in engagements between the developed and developing worlds, would not comment, said national treasury spokesperson Thoraya Pandy. She referred inquiries to the presidency, which also declined to comment, referring all questions to foreign affairs, which could not be reached.

The G8 is an informal, but powerful, grouping of the world’s seven leading industrialised countries – the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Canada and Italy – and Russia. While the size of gross domestic product (GDP) is no longer a major qualification for membership, it did determine the original membership in 1975.

South Africa’s inclusion would break the mould. Cees Bruggemans, the chief economist at First National Bank, said South Africa, with an economy worth only $280 billion (R2 trillion), was far smaller than the G8 members.

The World Bank’s July 2007 development indicators show South Africa has the 27th-biggest GDP. Russia, the smallest of the G8 economies, has a GDP of $986 billion, while the biggest is the US, with an economy worth $13.2 trillion. After South Africa, Mexico is the smallest of the proposed entrants, with GDP of $839 billion.

Ballim said, however, that South Africa "can be seen to represent the considered opinion of emerging markets and also is a beachhead for Africa. Even though Africa comprises less than 3.3 percent of global GDP and 2.5 percent of world exports, it houses at least 13 percent of the world’s population."

Bruggemans added that global institutional arrangements were changing daily as emerging markets gained in stature.

Peter Draper, a research fellow at the SA Institute of International Affairs, said an important question was whether the other members would accept the inclusion of the five countries. And he pointed out that China was not a democracy, which is seen as a precondition for membership.

A South African-based observer commented that it was unlikely there would be support from other members, except for the UK.

Bloomberg said Sarkozy’s comments came two months after the last G8 meeting established the Heiligendamm Process, in which Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa would have regular, formal talks with the G8. Previous invitations tended to be ad hoc.

для автосервиса депутат лобановский

No whites allowed

A parent has objected to the "no whites" entry requirement for an accountancy Olympiad.

The parent, Rhett Kahn, whose daughter attends Welkom High School, said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a notice for entry to the Olympiad which stated: "No white students are allowed to enter."

Kahn said he was outraged that his daughter could not enter the Olympiad while all her classmates could.

"I’m an ANC member and my daughter is the only white child in a black school. I deliberately kept it that way. How do I explain to her that her friends can write the Olympiad but she can’t?" Kahn asked.

But Olympiad organisers said the competition was aimed at changing the demographics of people employed in the profession.

The SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) explained that the competition – the Softline Pastel Olympiad – was aimed at transforming racial demographics among chartered accountants, and was targeting black pupils at 40 schools in the Free State.

"Our objectives are to try to change the demographic over-representation by whites and Indians in the sector," said Natalie Zimmelman, project director for transformation at Saica. The winners will be awarded bursaries to study accountancy at university.

"We aim this Olympiad very specifically at black and coloured learners, it’s a part of our broader strategy for transformation in the sector."

Zimmelman said of the 27 000 chartered accountants registered with SAICA, 25 497 were white, 2 405 Indian, 857 black and 788 coloured. "In 2006, there were 700 African students who passed maths on higher grade with a C+ or more in the country.

If you look at the average, about two will get to be chartered accountants," Zimmelman said. "We have many projects trying to change this, and the Softline Pastel Olympiad is one."

Zimmelman said the imbalance also ran across gender lines. Of the 25 497 white chartered accountants, only 5 225 were female.

мед справка 086 у

Duitsers sak op nog immigrante toe

Magdeburgse domkerk

‘n Irakese immigrant wat Saterdagaand by ‘n bushalte in Magdeburg in die ooste van Duitsland gestaan en wag het, is deur ‘n onbekende aangerand. Dié voorval kom slegs ‘n week nadat ‘n soortgelyke insident in Mügeln plaasgevind het en politici die toename in "vreemdelinghaat" sterk veroordeel het. In ‘n ander voorval in Guntersblum naby Mainz is ‘n Egiptenaar en Soedanees aangeval.

Die ses-en-dertigjarige Irakeër is volgens ‘n polisiewoordvoerder eers deur ‘n plaaslike inwoner uitgeskel omdat hy kwansuis nie tuis hoort in Duitsland nie, waarna die inwoner weer omgedraai het. Kort daarna het die inwoner egter teruggekeer met sy hond wat hy op die man losgelaat het, asook ‘n bofbalkolf. Die inwoner het die immigrant met kolf bygedam en kopwonde toegedien. ‘n Ooggetuie het die toneel gadegeslaan en die polisie ontbied.

By die wynfees in Guntersblum oor die naweek het etlike Duitsers op die twee immigrante toegesak en albei is beseer. In Mügeln het daar Saterdagaand net 200 mense aan ‘n vredesmars deelgeneem om kerse voor die Pizzeria waar die Indiërs skuiling gaan soek het, te plaas. Die Indiërs is deur 50 Duitsers aangerand en agtervolg tot in die eetplek.

Die linkse SPD-voorsitter wil graag die regse NPD-party laat verbied om vreemdelinghaat te bekamp, maar Kanselier Merkel en CSU-voorsitter Stoiber is nie entoesiasties oor die voorstel nie. Die Hessiese minister vir interne aangeleenthede, Volker Bouffier (CDU), het gesê dat die NPD met argumente bestry behoort te word. Probleme sal nie, meen lede van die regering, met ‘n verbod opgelos word nie.

‘n Emnid-meningspeiling het onlangs bevind dat soveel as 14% van stemgeregtigde vroue vir ‘n party regs van die huidige regering sal stem. Dit is ‘n verrassing volgens navorsers omdat vroue geneig is om nie so sterk na regs oor te hel nie. Van mans het net 9% gedink dat hulle sou regser kon stem.

New Anti-Slavery Law Not Enough

The Mauritanian government must take additional measures to ensure a new law criminalizing slavery has an effect, human rights activists say.

"The new law is a very positive first step. It is only a first step though," said Romana Cacchioli, Africa Programme Coordinator for the British non-governmental pressure group, Anti-Slavery International. "We don’t eradicate slavery just by introducing a law."

On 8 August, Mauritania’s National Assembly unanimously adopted a law criminalizing slavery, which continues to exist in Mauritania in both traditional and contemporary forms. The law, passed by the Senate on 22 August, makes slavery punishable by 5-10 years in prison. It marks the first time in Mauritanian history that slave holders have been sanctioned.

However, in the wake of the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on 23 August, local and international organisations are calling on the government to do more to give the law real meaning for the estimated half million slaves in Mauritania.

"Accompanying measures are necessary so that this law is not forgotten – so that it actually contributes to the emancipation of former slaves," said Mamadou Moctar Sarr, executive secretary of the forum of national human rights organisations in Mauritania.

"It’s not too soon to start talking about the next steps that should be taken," said Julia Harrington of the Open Society Justice Initiative, an international programme for law reform. "The existing law is not really going to be effective all by itself," she told IRIN from Nouakchott, where she was meeting with NGOs to discuss how best they could lobby the government.

NGOs are asking for a monitoring and implementation mechanism that would apply the law, investigate allegations of slavery, mediate the release of slaves and award compensation.

"The passage of this law is incredibly important and symbolic, but there’s still a lack of clarity about what its practical effect is going to be," Harrington said.

As it stands now, victims of slavery must take their complaints to the police, "who probably don’t have the mentality and definitely don’t have the resources to implement the law." She said victims also need the legal right to take their masters to court in a civil suit, a provision that was not included in the law.

The NGOs insist former slaves need social and economic reintegration projects if they are to be truly free. They want the government to set up welcome centres for slaves who leave their masters and give them access to land and income-generating activities.

"Even if they are no longer slaves, as long as there is financial dependency, they will never be totally free," said Sarr, of the forum of Mauritanian human rights organisations.

Another key demand is free education for children of slave descent. "All these people need to know their rights, so that they know that they are whole persons who should be proud of themselves," Sarr added.

The groups say an awareness campaign is essential to spread the news that slavery is a criminal offence, and that it has also been deemed incompatible with Islam. Mauritania is West Africa’s only Islamic republic. According to Cacchioli, religious leaders have promised to talk about the abolition of slavery in their sermons.

The groups are also pushing for a comprehensive law against discrimination, which would address the relationship between slavery and discrimination. "Many of the legacies of slavery are around discrimination," Cacchioli added, noting some people of slave descent have been prevented from owning land, accessing water and running in elections.

Slavery has existed for centuries in Mauritania, a Sahelian country which falls geographically and culturally between Arab North Africa and black sub-Saharan Africa. The enslavement of the black Arabic speakers (Haratines) is not limited to the upper class white Moores (Berber-Arabs), but also exists among black Africans, mostly of the Halpulaar and Soninké ethnic groups.

Prevalence of the internationally banned practice is hard to quantify. One estimate by the Open Society Justice Initiative places the number of slaves and former slaves at 20 percent of the population – or about 500,000 people – but the organisation says the numbers are impossible to confirm. According to most estimates, the Haratine cast – slaves, former slaves or the descendants of slaves – make up close between 40-50 percent of the Mauritanian population, although the government has not officially released results from the last census.

Forms of slavery in Mauritania range from people who live independently but cannot get married without their master’s permission to people who "don’t get a single bit of food unless it comes from their master’s hands, spend their lives looking after their masters, and get beaten everyday," according to the Justice Initiative’s Harrington.

NGOs say that despite its shortcomings, the new law marks a huge shift in government attitude. Slavery was banned in Mauritania in 1981, but previous governments always denied the practice existed and the subject remained taboo.

"This law is a recognition that the practice exists," said Boubacar Messaoud, president of SOS-Esclaves, the local NGO that led the push for an anti-slavery law.

All NGOs contacted by IRIN said they believed Mauritania’s first democratically elected government – elected in March 2007 – was sincere in its promise to eradicate slavery and would take their requests seriously.

"We are optimistic," Messaoud said. "And we will continue to push for these accompanying measures until one day we get them because they are the solution to the problem."

Sweedse Kuifie bly

Kuifie bestuur

Die owerhede in Swede het ‘n klag van ‘n Sweedse burger wat in die Kongo gebore is om "Kuifie in die Kongo" te verbied, van die hand gewys. Jean-Dadou Monya, wat sedert 1992 in Swede woon, het verlede Donderdag die Sweedse uitgewer, Bonnier Carlsen, voor die hof gedaag om te eis dat die verkope van die strokiesverhaal gestaak word en dat dit uit biblioteke verwyder word.

Monya (42) het aan die media gesê dat hy per pos laat weet is dat die uitgewer nie vervolg sal word nie. Die besluit is glo op ‘n tegniese punt geneem en die hof het geen dieper gronde daarvoor gegee nie. "Ek het dit verwag, vir my was die belangrikste om die rassistiese trekke van die strokie uit te wys wat geen plek het in die 21ste eeu nie," was die klaer se reaksie.

"Dit is ‘n storie vir kinders en dis nie goed as hulle rassistiese dinge lees nie, soos as Kuifie op Afrikane skree en hulle lui noem," het hy voortgegaan. Hy het die klag in die naam van die Afro-Sweedse Vereniging gelê. Monya sê hy deur die klag in België teen "Kuifie in die Kongo" gesterk.

Sexual harassment in Kenya

A troop of vervet monkeys is giving Kenyan villagers long days and sleepless nights, destroying crops and causing a food crisis.

Earlier this month, local MP Paul Muite urged the Kenyan Wildlife Service to help contain their aggressive behaviour.

But Mr Muite caused laughter when he told parliament that the monkeys had taken to harassing and mocking women in a village.

But this is exactly what the women in the village of Nachu, just south-west of Kikuyu, are complaining about.

They estimate there are close to 300 monkeys invading the farms at dawn. They eat the village’s maize, potatoes, beans and other crops.

And because women are primarily responsible for the farms, they have borne the brunt of the problem, as they try to guard their crops.

They say the monkeys are more afraid of young men than women and children, and the bolder ones throw stones and chase the women from their farms.

Nachu’s women have tried wearing their husbands’ clothes in an attempt to trick the monkeys into thinking they are men – but this has failed, they say.

"When we come to chase the monkeys away, we are dressed in trousers and hats, so that we look like men," resident Lucy Njeri told the BBC News website

"But the monkeys can tell the difference and they don’t run away from us and point at our breasts. They just ignore us and continue to steal the crops."

In addition to stealing their crops, the monkeys also make sexually explicit gestures at the women, they claim.

"The monkeys grab their breasts, and gesture at us while pointing at their private parts. We are afraid that they will sexually harass us," said Mrs Njeri.

The Kenyan Wildlife Service told the BBC that it was not unusual for monkeys to harass women and be less afraid of them than men, but they had not heard of monkeys in Kenya making sexually explicit gestures as a form of communication to humans.

The predominantly farming community is now having to receive famine relief food.

The residents report that the monkeys have killed livestock and guard dogs, which has also left the villagers living in fear, especially for the safety of their babies and children.

All the villagers’ attempts to control the monkeys have failed – the monkeys evade traps, have lookouts to warn the others of impending attacks and snub poisoned food put out by the residents.

"The troop has scouts which keep a lookout from a vantage point, and when they see us coming, they give warning signals to the ones in the farms to get away," said another area resident, Jacinta Wandaga.

The town has been warned by the Kenya Wildlife Service not to harm or kill any of the monkeys, as it is a criminal offence.

Running out of options, residents are harvesting their crops early in an attempt to salvage what they can of this year’s crop.

Unfortunately, this only invites the monkeys to break into their homes and steal the harvested crops out of their granaries.

Even the formation of a "monkey squad" to keep track of the monkeys’ movements and keep them out has failed.

The area is simply too large for the few volunteers to cover, they say.

Some residents have lost hope and abandoned their homes and farms, but those who have stayed behind, like 80-year-old James Ndungu, are making a desperate plea for assistance.

"For God’s sake, the government should take pity on us and move these monkeys away because we do not want to abandon our farms," he said.

"I beg you, please come and take these animals away from here so that we can farm in peace."

детский велосипед топкарго развод