New song: MC Abdul - 'I May Be Young'

 

MC Abdul - 'I May Be Young'

(Official Video)

Insight into the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

 

Listening All Night To The Rain - an exhibition by John Akomfrah
British Pavilion 2024 - Venice Biennale

Here is a little insight into John Akomfrah's piece for the Venice Biennale 2024 British Pavilion, titled 'Listening All Night To The Rain', something I filmed on Sunday at the art fair...

New music interview: with Blick Bassy

 

Cameroon's Blick Bassy seeks to unite
new generation of African music makers

Composer, singer and songwriter Blick Bassy makes music that celebrates his multiple identities: as a Cameroonian living between Africa and France, a polyglot, a travelling artist, and a Pan-Africanist. RFI met him in Paris to discuss his latest album, as well as a new project to unite music makers from across the African continent.

read from here: https://www.rfi.fr/en/culture/20240929-cameroon-s-blick-bassy-seeks-to-unite-new-generation-of-african-music-makers 

Snapshots from Venezia

 

I needed a break... to reconnect with beauty and simple joy, away from the news:

Gaza: a year of unbearable crimes

 

Gaza: Israeli Attacks Devastate
Lives of Children with Disabilities - HRW

(Jerusalem, September 30, 2024) – The Israeli government’s attacks and unlawful blockade against Gaza have inflicted profound trauma and suffering on Palestinian children, especially those with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The Israeli military’s extensive use of explosive weapons has caused serious injuries resulting in permanent disabilities and lifelong scarring for children in Gaza. The 95-page report, “‘They Destroyed What Was Inside Us’: Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza,” documents that children who have acquired a disability and children who already had a disability in Gaza face a precarious security situation and additional difficulties as they struggle to comply with frequent Israeli army evacuation orders and a lack of effective advance warning of attacks.

The ongoing siege of Gaza, the unlawful obstruction of humanitarian aid, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and damage and destruction of hospitals cause disproportionate harm to children with disabilities, who struggle to access desperately needed medical treatment and supplies, assistive devices, food, and water. They are at particular risk of lasting psychological harm.

On the road...

...In Italy

 

'Melissa' by the sweet, talented, irreplaceable Keziah Jones

 

New song, out today:

Keziah Jones - 'Melissa'
(Official Video)

LYRICS Melissa Tell Me whats on your mind girl You keep me wondering Whatever happened to me Everyday I look out for your love But nothing ever comes my way nothing ever does Melissa Now your love has died away there just one thing i wanna say Dont take my life away Melissa I just want to fly away And have your love beside to stay Disappear for ever I was a lost boy I didnt know what i wanted But now your love has gone away With you im Always haunted Melissa Now your love has died away there just one thing i wanna say Dont take my life away Melissa I just want to fly away And have your love beside to stay Disappear for ever Melissa Now your love has died away there just one thing i wanna say Dont take my life away Melissa I just want to fly away And have your love beside to stay Disappear for ever

Sécheresse et inondations en Afrique : ma chronique sur FRANCE 24

 

Sécheresse et inondations en Afrique :

comment le climat affecte le continent ?

• FRANCE 24

L’Afrique Australe est à la fois touchée par la sécheresse et les inondations. Comment le climat affecte la région ? 

Réponses avec notre invitée Mélissa Chemam, journaliste à RFI Anglais et du "Spotlight on Africa" à retrouver sur RFI.

Oxfam asks for change in the UN

 

Vetoing Humanity: 

How a few powerful nations hijacked global peace and why reform is needed at the UN Security Council

The promise of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to maintain international peace and security is broken. Conflict around the globe is rife. 

Dozens of conflicts have raged – some for decades – with no sign of abating, leaving an unprecedented trail of human suffering. 

The 23 protracted crises examined in this report have been included in the UN’s Global Humanitarian Needs Overview for at least five of the last ten years.1 Over the last decade alone, conflict has killed 1.1 million people in those 23 crises. 

Millions have been forced out of their homes, and conflict has been the primary driver of hunger – pushing 135 million conflict-affected people into severe hunger. 

During the same period, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has risen nearly four times, driving funding needs to nearly triple – from US$ 20.3bn to a staggering US$ 56.1bn – to address this escalation in human suffering.

1. Make the UN Security Council more equal and inclusive

Ahead of the Summit of the Future, Oxfam has urged the UN member states to use this ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to take decisive and bold action to rebuild a more equal, inclusive, efficient and responsive system.  

For once, it could "truly captures the UN Charter’s ambitions and puts global peace above politics".

This includes making the following changes:

 • Renouncing the P5 veto and pen-holding monopoly and, instead, expanding membership to represent people and not military power,

 • Permanent member states have a moral responsibility to uphold International Humanitarian Law and the Arms Trade Treaty, and stop arms transfers and military aid that exacerbate violence and suffering, and that are potentially used in committing war crimes,

 • Women and other disadvantaged groups must be at the heart of peace negotiations: this is the only way to find inclusive and sustainable solutions,

 • The international community must make humanitarian funding mandatory to create a humanitarian finance system that leaves no one behind

2. Build a humanitarian funding system that leaves no one behind 

 • Make humanitarian funding mandatory: 

There should be mandatory assessments of the financial capacities of all UN members to fund humanitarian assistance. 

This should be done through a similar mechanism to that used to assess contributions and funds for peacekeeping. Much of these resources should be made available through simplified funding mechanisms to local civil society organisations, especially those led by women. 

In the meantime, the target of asking countries to spend 0.7% of their GNI on ODA should be enforced.

3. Stop profiting from conflicts

 • Ratify and adhere to the Arm Trade Treaty. Those governments that have already ratified should ensure full compliance

 • Do not transfer arms where there is an overriding risk that they will be used in the serious violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)

 • Respect, and ensure respect, for IHL and all UNSC resolutions aiming at protecting civilians. Continuous impunity for violations of IHL contributes to a global erosion of trust in UN institutions and the rules-based order.

-

>> read more from here: https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/vetoing-humanity-how-a-few-powerful-nations-hijacked-global-peace-and-why-refor-621621/

New podcast episode

 

Spotlight on Africa

Zambia leads solar shift amid southern Africa's hydroelectric drought

With a prolonged drought affecting the supply of hydroelectricity all over southern Africa, a growing number of people are turning to solar to fill the energy gap. Spotlight on Africa focuses this week on progress made in Zambia. 

20/09/2024