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Greenpeace members jailed in Denmark for twenty-two days for bursting official dinner

January 11, 2010 By irenesword Leave a Comment

By Irene Gimeno

Four Greenpeace members, including the president of the organization in Spain, were arrested in Copenhagen on the 17th of December 2009 to remain in prison until the 7th of January because the Danish Superior Court decided so after they faked their identities in an official dinner organized by Margarita II of Denmark for the Heads of State of those countries attending the Climate Conference.

Juan Lopez de Uralde, president of Greenpeace in Spain and Nora Christiansen, from Norway, were walking through the red carpet when the extended a banner which said “politicians talk, leaders act”. They had claimed to be the “Head of State” of Greenpeace and his wife, followed by Christian Schmutz, allegedly their bodyguard. The three of them were arrested ipsofacto whilst a fourth member of the most popular ecologist organization in the world. Joris Thijssen was arrested the next on the grounds of the mind of the action since he was the International Responsible for the Climate Change Campaign.

The usual procedure of next-day-release arrest in this kind of situations surprised everyone in the organization when Denmark’s Superior Court announced that the activists must stay in prison until the seventh of January of the following year – a total of twenty-two days of imprisonment – which resulted excessive by both the affected and their families and colleagues, considering that the arrested were deprived of spending Christmas with their loved ones, accused of offences such as “identity supplanting”.

Greenpeace claimed that during the last twenty years, world leaders have ignored the climate change problem, risking the planet’s welfare; therefore, they decided to intervene in the social act to remark that the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 was the first real opportunity to take a step, says Mario Rodriguez, Greenpeace Spain. He asserts at the Spanish website of the organization that once again politicians failed to their duty of creating “a legally binding treaty to ensure the proper reductions of greenhouse-effect-gases emission to prevent the increase of the Earth temperature by two degrees celsius”, signing instead “The Copenhagen Treaty” which constitutes, according to the ecologist member “a void shell: a hand grenade against the multilateral efforts to stop the climate change“.

Not only do the activists recently released assure that the incident will not stop them, but that it will in fact increase their fight. Their members back at home, the organization wants to make sure the average citizen know the challenge the planet is facing and that society should respond to that in a practical way. A vital call for the action is been made after the severe punishment the four ecologist received in Denmark.

Filed Under: All Politics, Life and Society Tagged With: climate change, Copenhagen, Greenpeace

Baby RB’s father agrees to terminate his son’s life

November 16, 2009 By irenesword Leave a Comment

By Irene Gimeno

As Baby RB’s father agrees to switch off his one-year-old son’s life support, the debate about euthanasia in the United Kingdom re-opens. Mr AB has withdrawn from the legal battle he started after the doctors made a counter-request to disconnect the baby from external aid, an option supported by the mother.

After a week of hearings in the Family Division of the High Court the father agreed with the expert opinion, evidence proving that medical assistance can no longer help to improve the baby’s health was heard.

The final decision of the parents was praised by Mr Justice McFarlane, the judge who summarized the case, who declared that they had had an “exemplary” attitude. Both parents burst into tears in the courtroom, the mother having to leave before the session ended.

Nevertheless, not all people support the parents’ torment. Voices have arisen to criticize both the experts and the parents will in blogs and forums- classifying the Justice and parents’ approach to the case as “disgusting” and condemning their decision. Although owing to the extremely sad characteristics of the case, no one has openly expressed themselves against the couple.

On the other hand, there are other sources which oppose to the critics. Not only do they support the parents’ decision but they consider the case should be put aside the euthanasia debate. Mr Chris Docker, Masters of Philosophy (Law & Ethics in Medicine), Director of Exit (formerly the Scottish Voluntary Euthanasia Society), said “the Baby RB case is not really a euthanasia case at all. I looked at similar cases when I was doing my Masters degree. You will find there are clear precedents as to when the courts have ruled when a baby must be given every chance to live at one end, and extreme examples at the other end where the only possibilities facing the child were pain – not even any other sensation. The law does not permit euthanasia. But it allows doctors not to provide treatment if it can have no possibility of benefitting the patient.”

From the beginning, the mother of RB agreed with the specialists, deciding that provoking the death of the baby by terminating the treatment would save him suffering. However, the father of the baby argued that RB was capable of recognising relatives and could make the effort to play, so he brought the case to the courts. He has now given-in the reasoning of doctors, who said that it was impossible to know whether his responses where a result of his will or just automatic.

Baby RB was born in October 2008 with an extremely rare illness called congenital myasthenic syndrome which is a “neuromuscular condition that limits the ability to breathe and move limbs”. His brain being healthy is trapped in a body that needs of artificial resources to function; the doctors announced that his life hope was no more than three years with medical treatment.

It is decided that the medical treatment will end soon so the wish of the parents is now to spend the rest of their son’s days by his side.

Filed Under: All Politics, Life and Society, Science and Technology

Obama makes history with the health-care plan passed by the House

November 16, 2009 By irenesword Leave a Comment

By Irene Gimeno

Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation passed by the House of Representatives on November 7 aims to provide with medical insurance coverage for the 96% of the American population.

The project was supported in Washington by 219 Democrats -39 opposed it- and only one Republican vote, that of Anh Cao, the Representative of Louisiana. Some of the members of the Democratic Party who voted for the bill argued that it was a step forward but that they expected to see it improved during the negotiations with the Senate (both chambers have to recognise the bill for the final approval).

The vote “came on the third anniversary of the 2006 Democratic takeover of the House and the passage moves the bill well beyond the health care overhaul attempted by President Bill Clinton in 1993”. President Obama said at the Capitol that the Representatives should “answer the call of history”, while trying to persuade the lawmakers on the day of the vote; however, his appeal did not convince the opposition, which responded to the bill with an almost unanimous rejection.

The Congress also rejected the Republicans’ lower-budget plan, which was said to be more “financially responsible” by the authors, since the cost of the new project is been put at $900bn over 10 years, and other sources even reckon it will not come cheaper than $1,2tn –paid through new fees and taxes.

The vote has been described as “a significant step towards the Obama administration’s goal of extending health coverage to millions of people lacking it”, specifically, 36 million more people will benefit from the plan, which would mean that 96% of the Americans will have health insurance. “This is our moment to revolutionize health care in this country”, declared George Miller, Democrat of California and one of the authors of the bill.

So far, the American government has only provided coverage for “the poor, elderly and military veterans”; therefore the aim is to force Americans to have medical insurance “provide several subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it”. Big companies will provide their workers with insurance, so the result will be a government-regulated health insurance system.

The measure would also respond to the alarming news of the United States Census Bureau, that the figure of American citizens without health insurance increased from $45,7 million in 2007 to $46,3 in 2008 due to unemployment and recession, which shows that the medical system cannot depend exclusively on private funding.

John Dingell, a Representative who has pursued the plan to be passed over five decades, happily stated that the bill brings “peace of mind to everyone, regardless of health or income”, because everyone will be able to ask for assistance whenever they need it.

Nevertheless, the bill has taken a lot of negotiations to be passed. One of the most controversial issues in it is abortion and to what extend it will be covered by the medical insurance plan. Members from both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party had complained about the possibility of abortion being covered by the plan, so the House speaker Nancy Pelosi, known for her campaign pro-abortion rights, had to allow the opponents “to propose tight restrictions barring any insurance plan that is purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions” for the discontent of the abortion rights defenders. Meanwhile, the American religious community was campaigning against the possibility of a final bill with abortion concessions.

The final verdict will be soon given by the Senate, where the Democrats will present their plan. If it is finally approved, it will constitute a radical reform from the actual plan and a major achievement for American society in terms of public benefits.

Filed Under: All Politics, Life and Society Tagged With: healthcare, Obama

Portobello High School in Edinburgh wins “Permanent Green Status” by EcoSchools Scotland programme

November 2, 2009 By irenesword Leave a Comment

by Irene Gimeno

Portobello High School is officially the “greenest secondary school in Scotland” according to the international programme, Ecoschools. The school attained permanent “greenflag status” after winning a string of awards in 2002, 2004 and 2007 for its kindness to the environment.

The EcoSchool programme in Scotland is managed by Keep Scotland Beautiful, an environmental charity which aims to achieve litter free and sustainable environments. The goals set by the organization for the schools involved in the initiative are “to improve the school’s environment, reduce litter and waste, reduce energy and water use, devise efficient ways of traveling to and from school, promote healthy lifestyles, encourage active citizenship, build strong partnerships with a variety of community groups and develop international and global links”.

In Portobello High School, the task is divided in two clubs that have led the centre to an absolute success: the Porty Planeteers and S6 Energy Police. The former club is formed by students of all years who meet once a week who are focused on the school’s flora and developing energy and water projects throughout the year. The latter club is integrated senior prefect volunteers whose duties are to make sure that the all members of the staff accomplish their mission of energy saving so that those members who do not succeed are “named and shamed in the school magazine”.

A publication described the school as a cente “currently based in a dilapidated, eight-storey building, with practically no green space, ageing facilities and lack of sports areas for children’s PE lessons.” The school will have to be rebuilt by 2013, after being rated the school in worst condition in the Scottish capital. However, the paper reported Headteacher Peigi Macarthur’s words where she said that the facilities are not as important as the commitment. She said: “There’s nothing about the building that impacts on eco school stuff, it’s all about education. I think it’s important that we educate youngsters on sustainability issues in order to prepare them for the future. Eco schools work offers so many rich learning opportunities in terms of respecting the environment and saving the world in the long term. One of the things we have is a school allotment that the youngsters and staff tend and grow produce and we use that in the home economics department.”

The programme was created in 1992 at a United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to generate an ecological conscience in youngsters and introduce local sustainable development goals. Consequently the Eco-Schools programme was developed in 1994 by the Foundation for Environmental Education –of which the Scottish Government is part- and implemented in the United Kingdom a year later. Now there are more than 43 countries involved in Europe and Africa. They classify the schools with the Bronze Award, the Silver Award and its most prestigious recognition, the Green Flag, is awarded when an academic centre is committed to “the highest standards of in environmental education and management. The City of Edinburgh, with 235 schools registered in the programme, and the support received by the other 31 local authorities in the nation, make Scotland one the most ecological countries of those who follow the programme.

With regard to the news, the city education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren stated: “We are committed to putting environmental and global issues at the centre of what we do in Edinburgh. This is a major achievement for Portobello High and a great example of some of the positive work taking place in city’s schools.”

Filed Under: All Politics, Life and Society, Science and Technology

Afghanistan war reaches death toll of 223 military personnel after Corporal Thomas Mason loss

November 2, 2009 By irenesword 1 Comment

by Irene Gimeno

Twenty-seven-year-old Corporal Thomas ‘Tam’ Mason, as his comrades knew him, natural of Rosyth, Fife, died on Sunday 25^th of October at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham. The Scottish soldier became the 223^rd casualty after medical efforts were not able to save his life from blast injuries caused by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar (Afghanistan); which makes 2009 the ‘army’s bloodiest year since the Falklands conflict’ according to a publication.

The news of the fatal figure comes then days after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that 500 more army men will be sent to the Asian country. The White House supports the action and it is expected that Obama will increase the US forces personnel in Afghanistan too, although the press secretary Robbert Gibbs has declared that a decision has not been made yet. The BBC UK Politics section shows that 56% of the British population stand against this war, which began in 2001, where the country was lead by Prime Minister Tony Blair –whose foreign affairs politics were severely criticized owing to the country’s participation both in Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

The controversy about the last deaths appeared when conservative MP Adam Holloway rose the question whether the government was investing enough money and military equipment and accused the executive of not taking the war seriously. The MP claimed that an official forwarded him a memo in which Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, who was the most senior British officer to be killed -three weeks after the filming-, ‘warned about the risks posed to troops by a shortage of helicopters’. On the other hand, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said to the BBC that Lt Col Thorneloe’s brigade commander had confessed him his wish of more helicopter but he claim that ‘they would have made no difference to how certain operations were conducted’ and that ‘foot patrols are absolutely fundamental’.

In 2009, 87 British military men have lost their lives in Afghanistan, where serious trouble continues as the army has to fight the Talibans in the country. ‘A few months’ planned military operation has been extended for over the last eight years causing a terrible figure of 223 casualties. The responsible face for the Army, the Minister for Armed Forces Bill Rammel, declared for the BBC that as a politician he relies on military advice that tells him ”we have sufficient helicopters for the task” and assured that no one has died because of a lack of equipment.

Filed Under: All Politics