Even the strong China cannot escapte from the ethnic violence. The recent bloodbath in Xinjiang province between the Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs signal the worst days.

The Times of India editorial says (8 July 2009)

In some ways, China's reaction to the worst ethnic violence to erupt between the Han Chinese and the Muslim Uighurs in the troubled Xinjiang province in a decade stayed true to the copybook for repressive regimes. Authorities blamed western agencies for inciting and organising the riots while clamping down on the dissemination of information. The state media has been saturated with the official version of events, while online services like Twitter have been blocked. Access to mobile phones and the internet has been cut off, ostensibly to prevent the riots from spreading.

The spark that ignited decades of accumulated ethnic tension into a full-blown riot seemed to have come from the recent deaths of two Uighur men during a dispute between factory workers in Guangdong. Although there have been scattered reports of unrest in Xinjiang before, more information is leaking out this time. That may be due not only to the advent of new media, but also to a change in strategy by Beijing itself. Rather than banning foreign media and journalists from the region entirely, Beijing invited some foreign journalists to Urumqi, to see first-hand where the riots happened. But there are divergent stories of whether the initial protests were peaceful. The official story suggests that the Uighur protesters violently attacked innocent passers-by. But footage circulating on the internet even before the state media acknowledged there was a problem seems to show a peaceful protest.

We may never know who really started the violence, or what the truth of the matter is. The official story, however, suggests that the violence is the handiwork of Uighur separatists with Islamist leanings. If that is the case, Xinjiang could be developing into China's Kashmir. That would have interesting strategic implications, as Beijing has so far given New Delhi little sympathy on Kashmir. It has also refused to join Washington in pressuring Islamabad to turn decisively against international jihadists based in its tribal territories, leaving an escape hatch that Islamabad adroitly exploits.

Since public opinion in Pakistan tends to be anti-American and pro-Chinese, pressure from Beijing could be very effective in persuading Islamabad to commit the bulk of its forces to fighting the Taliban instead of squaring off against India. That's what both Washington and New Delhi should be telling Beijing now. China should no longer be in denial about what its skewed South Asia policy is doing to its own interests.

Despite the global meltdown and negative local weather, Pranab Mukherjhee had presented a positive budget. The sily market which is very selfish had reacted badly by shedding over 800 points. But who cares about it? After all 80% of the Indians don't know about the stock market. The private sector naturally unhappy with the budget which gave priority to the aam admi should learn to live with the mass situation. It is high time they drop the useless ideas of over leverage to the corporate and undervaluing the public enterprises. At no point of time profit making PSUs should be privatised.

The Hindu editorial writes (8 July 2009)


The United Progressive Alliance government counts among its successes the high growth rate of 8.5 per cent registered during the last five years and its programmes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) that sought to make that growth inclusive. The budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee focusses sharply on one part of the success story, that is, inclusive growth, even as its efforts to restore the economy to the path of high growth h ave not been so robust. The big idea that emerges out of this budget is the Food Security Act to which there is now an express commitment of a time frame for implementation. That measure would guarantee as a right to every family below the poverty line the supply of 25 kilograms of rice or wheat at Rs. 3 a kg. Who exactly will be eligible, when it will be rolled out, and whether it will be started on a smaller scale before it is extended to the whole country much in the manner of the NREGS remain unclear. Unlike the NREGS, which has a works component built into it, the food security scheme would be a pure income transfer programme; it is bound to have an even more direct and dramatic impact on poverty. The experience of States that have launched subsidised foodgrains programmes – at Rs. 2 a kg – shows that it would be politically rewarding as well. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has indicated that finding the resources for such a programme going by the conservative estimates of the below-the-poverty-line population adopted by the Planning Commission would be within the realm of practical politics, although a larger programme based on higher poverty estimates may pose problems of funding.

The focus on inclusiveness continues through the increased allocations for the flagship programmes, with the NREGS getting a 144 per cent increase to a total of Rs. 39,100 crore. A total of 44.7 million households are expected to be covered this year as against 33.9 million last year and the scheme is to be brought into convergence with other rural schemes such as water and forestry projects to ensure that tangible assets are created through work under the NREGS and the rural infrastructure strengthened. The Bharat Nirman programme and the National Health Mission are also to get substantially higher allocations. Also commendable are the plans to increase credit availability in the rural areas, assistance for women’s self-help groups, and the commitment to provide social security to sections in the unorganised sector. The extension of the Integrated Child Development Services to cover all children under six is a measure that was overdue. An attempt has been made to take advantage of the changing demographic profile with the continuing increase in the working age population through the emphasis on skills development programmes.

Where the budget falls short is in the area of stimulating growth. The increased expenditure of Rs. 61,000 crore over the interim budget should overall serve as a substantial stimulus. Not much need be made of the reaction of the stock markets that had gambled on some parts of their wish list coming through and were disappointed. Yet there is nothing in the budget that is particularly significant or dramatic enough to change the mood of uncertainty and pessimism that has gripped business and industry. The Finance Minister was not inclined to reduce the corporate income tax rate on top of the plethora of exemptions that result in lost revenue but the corporate sector did get some relief through the abolition of the fringe benefit tax. This tax was meant to discourage the loading of personal benefits on to companies as business expenses but was regarded as too burdensome in terms of record-keeping and compliance. Also, the sharp cuts in excise duties effected at the beginning of the slowdown have not been reversed. In customs duties, the goal that has been set by the government is to take the peak import duty rate close to the levels prevailing in the ASEAN countries. Yet at a time when industry has been hit by the downturn, a measure of protection was considered necessary and the Finance Minister did not move towards that goal. The increase in the personal income tax exemption limit by Rs. 10,000 is no more than a token gesture to the middle class, although Mr. Mukherjee did not really have headroom to give away much more. Even more significant than the rates is the Finance Minister’s promise to simplify the tax code and make tax collection procedures less burdensome. While the budget may be short on measures that have an impact on business sentiment, the increased outlays on infrastructure, particularly agricultural and rural infrastructure, will strengthen the foundations for long-term growth.

The Finance Minister has made a huge gamble in moving so far from the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act targets and leaving a fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product. Add to this the off-budget items and the deficits of the States, the combined total fiscal deficit may well exceed 12 per cent of GDP. Excess capacity in many industries does provide a cushion against an immediate spurt in inflation but after a period when the slack is taken up, the build up of liquidity is bound to have its impact on prices. Further, as the excess of expenditure over income is to be funded almost wholly through government borrowing, there will be a hardening of interest rates at a time when a lowering is called for. Mr. Mukherjee has promised a return to the process of fiscal consolidation at the earliest, but he will have to reckon with several imponderables, among them the recommendations of the Finance Commission that will have a deep impact on central finances. The widening deficit certainly poses a major risk but it is a risk taken in pursuit of the broader objective of inclusive growth and may well be politically justifiable.

For the last twenty years the finance ministers have discovered an open secret to overcome the budget deficits. To show the world they are smarter and intelligent ministers they have sold the PSUs for peanuts. Especially the government hotels and industries were sold for petty prices. Now Mr. Pranab Mukherjhee is keen to sell off major stakes. I plead humbly to him not to sell profit making PSUs. Even the loss making ones should be sold for reasonable price.

Siddharth Vardharajan writes in The Hindu (9 July 2009)



Of all the affronts that the slogan ‘India Shining’ evoked in 2004, none was symbolically more fatal for the political fortunes of the Bharatiya Janata Party than the “strategic sale” of key public sector assets to a handful of lucky private companies.

In the most well-developed of capitalist economies with bureaucratic transparency, a well-functioning judicial system and deep competition, the auction-based sale of companies is fraught with problems of price discovery. That is why the offering of PSU shares to the public through the stock market has been the preferred route to privatisation in advanced market economies rather than the outright sale of the company. India, where virtually none of the textbook conditions for efficient auctioning obtains, made the mistake of following the second route with disastrous results.

Whether there was collusion or not, the sale of Modern Foods, BALCO, IPCL, Centaur and the numerous standalone hotels of ITDC amounted, in the public mind, to little more than sweetheart deals. Not only did the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance government not realise the full value of all underlying assets these companies came bundled with, especially land, but the very rationale for privatisation was never very convincing. At a time when a single bungalow in Lutyens Delhi was selling for more than Rs. 100 crore, the sprawling Lodhi Hotel complex nearby was auctioned for just Rs. 72 crore. The official valuation made of BALCO, sold to Sterlite/Vedanta for Rs. 550 crore, was a scandal, as was that of IPCL, a fact noted by the CAG. And the extensive property owned by Modern Foods in every big metro was not valued, with the government claiming — falsely — that the new owners, Hindustan Lever, would have no right to dispose of the land.

In 2001, the Supreme Court unwisely put its imprimatur on the sell-off process by declaring in the BALCO case that economic policymaking was beyond the purview of judicial review. However, the political controversy generated by these sales — and the inter-corporate battle over who would get to grab the lucrative rents on offer — led to the slowing down and eventual suspension of the privatisation drive even before the NDA’s defeat in 2004. When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government came to power that year, it did not require much prodding from the Left to declare that disinvestment would no longer be a priority. And with India’s GDP continuing to grow at a fast rate, it became clear the lack of privatisation was not a binding constraint on the economy’s potential.

Nevertheless, for the corporate sector and followers of the Sensex cult, the fact that this potential ‘sale of the century’ had come to an end so abruptly was always the source of heartburn. And today, with the economy in the doldrums and the stock markets not quite in recovery mode, the sale of public sector assets is being pushed as a tonic for restoring investor confidence, kickstarting growth, promoting economic efficiency and reducing the fiscal deficit.

In the run-up to the budget, the markets had worked themselves up into a frenzy because the re-election of the Congress and the formation of UPA-II without Left support seemed to suggest the return of aggressive reforms. When the budget failed to deliver the opportunities for quick enrichment that ‘reformers’ were clamouring for, the markets tanked. However, it would be a mistake to assume that the privatisation agenda has gone away. In their post-budget statements, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee have both spoken of the importance of disinvestment. One can only assume the government is waiting for a more propitious moment, both politically and financially, before rolling out its sell-off plan.

Before going down this route, however, it is essential that the case for privatisation be discussed anew from first principles. And that this discussion be conducted rationally, without the free market dogma and leftist sentimentality that has tended to cloud the real picture.

Broadly speaking, one needs to ask four questions. First, is public ownership of industry inherently inferior to private? Second, is private ownership the only way to deal with managerial inefficiency? Third, is there a difference in the positive and negative outcomes produced by privatisation through the strategic sale route and through the sale of shares to the public? Fourth, is plugging the fiscal deficit a sound rationale for disinvestment?

In his recent book, Privatisation in India: Challenging Economic Orthodoxy (RoutledgeCurzon, 2005), by far the most comprehensive and rigorous study of the issue in the Indian context, T.T. Ram Mohan of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, conclusively debunks the assumption that the private sector is more efficient than the public. After carefully reviewing both financial performance and input-output related physical productivity in the two sectors, he concludes that “the evidence thus shows that the perception that the private sector is uniformly superior to the public sector … rests on a weak evidential foundation.” This does not mean other aspects of the reform package are necessarily bad.

Indeed, Professor Ram Mohan argues that the advent of reforms in the early 1990s has led to a convergence between the public and private sectors. If this is so, there is a strong case for looking at the reforms process — especially the introduction of greater competition, and the partial public listing of PSUs — as a way of unshackling the public sector rather than doing away with it altogether. Indeed, the empirical data of the past decade strongly indicates that those PSUs which had greater functional autonomy and public accountability through mechanisms like stock market listing and professional boards improved their financial performance.

Like other serious scholars of management, Prof. Ram Mohan also points to the pervasive nature of the “agency problem” in modern capitalism where there is a separation between ownership and control in large corporate entities. Public ownership may exacerbate this problem but poor corporate governance and law-enforcement make it likely that agency problems will be as acute under private ownership. In other words, serious reform should focus not on a change in ownership but on devising mechanisms for more effective governance. One suggestion has been made by R. Nagaraj of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in a recent paper: that the government examine the feasibility of “Japanese and German style interlocking ownership of complementary PSUs tied together with a bank that enforces greater managerial accountability, and encourages long term outlook of output growth and acquisition of technological capabilities.” There may be other ways of doing this as well.

On the third question, international evidence suggests there is no reason to assume that the strategic sale of PSUs will produce better efficiency outcomes than the sale of PSU shares to the public. So far, at least, it seems as if this is one lesson the Manmohan Singh team seems to have learned from the negative experience of the BJP’s experiments with privatisation. Mr. Mukherjee’s budget speech spoke of bringing the government’s holdings in the public sector down to 51 per cent. If this is done gradually, the limited sale of shares to retail investors may raise substantial revenues. Prof. Ram Mohan’s study conclusively suggests that this kind of limited disinvestment enhances the managerial efficiency of PSUs, especially if it is accompanied by greater autonomy. But care has to be taken to ensure that the issuing of shares does not turn into a cover for the eventual transfer of ownership to private hands, an outcome that would have no fiscal, commercial or social rationale if the PSU concerned is actually making profits.

If there is a rationale for the limited and well-planned divestment of PSU equity as part of a long-term process of governance reform of the public sector, it would be utterly myopic on the government’s part to think of such sales as an easy means of plugging the fiscal deficit. The deficit ought not to be an issue when there is a global recession lurking around the corner. But to the extent to which it is, it is far better for the government to find ways of broadening the tax base and ensuring better compliance. Here again, the myth of the private sector needs exploding. This year’s budget papers contain a study of revenue foregone under the Central tax system in the previous financial year. There we see that the effective tax rate of the corporate sector was 22.24 per cent “which was substantially lower than the statutory rate of 33.99 per cent.”

When the corporate data is decomposed, the tax liability turns out to be unevenly distributed: PSUs pay a larger proportion of their profits than the private companies; IT enabled service providers and BPO service providers and software development agencies had a tax liability of just 15 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. Total revenue foregone from corporate taxpayers in 2008-9 was Rs. 68, 914 crore. That is 17 per cent of this year’s budgeted fiscal deficit. If the government wants to cut its deficit, let it focus its efforts on the tax system. For that will pay recurring dividends rather than the one-time payoff that each piece of family silver will fetch. The only thing worse than disinvesting badly is to do so unnecessarily.

Students are unfortunately by local people whenever they are frustrated. Hassan Suroor writes in The Hindu about the fate of Pakistani students in London (9 July 2009)

Nine Pakistani students are languishing in British jails because of an absurd diplomatic stand-off that neither Pakistan nor Britain appears in a hurry to resolve. They were arrested in April in connection with an alleged terror plot whose existence was never proved and were released in May after the police failed to produce sufficient evidence to charge them. But instead of being allowed to resume their studies they were immediately detained under immigration rules relating to national security and ordered to be deported.

So, why have they not been deported?

Britain which had no qualms colluding with American and Pakistani authorities in the torture of alleged terror suspects following the 9/11 attacks (there’s a damning High Court judgment about this) is insisting on a written assurance from Islamabad that these boys would not be tortured when they return home.

This, it says, is consistent with its long-held policy of not sending people back to countries where they are likely to be tortured. It already has agreements with a number of countries including Jordan, Libya and Lebanon that terror suspects deported to these countries would not be ill-treated.

Why is, then, Pakistan not willing to give a similar assurance?

Apparently, British officials went to Islamabad to persuade the interior ministry but were rebuffed. The Pakistan government is said to be angry that its nationals are being treated as criminals without any evidence, and it does not want to be a party to their deportation which it regards as arbitrary. In fact, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in the U.K. Wajid Shamsul Hasan and officials in Islamabad have publicly called for the students to be released and allowed to resume their studies.

There is a view that Pakistan may also be reluctant to give such an assurance because it would amount to acknowledging that it has a torture policy. Whatever be the real reason, the upshot of this lingering diplomatic row is that the students who should have been pursuing their studies remain in detention while their lawyers fight a legal battle.

The students, of course, have the option to voluntarily go back to Pakistan but they say they want to clear their names first and complete their studies. They have challenged their detention on the ground that it is illegal and in breach of their human rights as the government has produced no evidence to substantiate its claim that they are a security risk. Due to Britain’s peculiar terror laws that allow the government to detain an individual on the basis of secret evidence which is disclosed to neither the accused nor their lawyers, they find themselves in a Kafkaesque situation where they don’t know what exactly they are accused of.

But in a landmark verdict last month that is likely to benefit the students a nine-judge panel of Law Lords ruled that the use of secret evidence impeded fair trial. A trial procedure could “never be considered fair” if a party to it was kept in the dark about the case against them, said Lord Philips who chaired the panel.

Human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, who is representing some of the students, says that the government continues to use secret evidence to detain terror suspects despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that it is a “non-negotiable violation of a fundamental right.” She believes that sooner or later the British state would have to stop using it.

Human rights and student groups have launched a nationwide campaign to press for the students’ release. At a meeting in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, last week speakers accused the government of abusing terror laws. Tariq Mehmood, a founder-member of the campaign, said he had just returned from Pakistan where he met the families of some of the students. They had made “enormous sacrifices” (some even sold their family jewellery) to send their children to Britain for higher studies.

“They are devastated. Other innocent Pakistani students in Britain are living in terror that they could well be targeted next,” he said.

Addressing the meeting over the phone from Pakistan, family members of two of the detained students appealed to the British government to allow them to complete their studies . Ejaz Burki said his brother Abdul Wahab Khan had finished nearly 95 per cent of his course at Liverpool University and was about to sit his final exams when he was arrested. Nasrullah Khattak said his son Abid Naseer was due to sit his final exams in September and his whole year would be wasted if he was not able to take them.

Dorothy Wright of the University Lecturers and Staff Union condemned the increasing use of secret evidence against “innocent” people in the name of fighting terror. She disclosed that a Sri Lankan Tamil Muslim student at the School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine where she taught was told that his visa had been cancelled after he returned from a brief visit to Sri Lanka. He was now in prison although he had not been told of any charge or evidence against him. There was a climate of “fear” among Muslim students, she said.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on July 27 when the High Court is due to hear their bail application.

Knowingly or unknowingly Pakistan has been breeding hardcore terrorists in its soil for a very long time. Now its own president Asif Ali Zardari had admitted this known secret publicly.

The Indian Express reports (10 July 2009)


For the first time, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari admitted that militants and extremists were "created and nurtured" in the country as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives.
But they began to haunt the country in the post-9/11 era, Zardari said in a candid admission during an interactive meeting with former senior civil servants at the presidency on Tuesday night.

Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralised, but because they "were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives," he said.

"Let us be truthful to ourselves and make a candid admission of the realities," Zardari said.

"The terrorists of today were the heroes of yesteryears until 9/11 occurred and they began to haunt us as well," he added.

Labelling Pakistan as a frontline state in the war against terrorism, Zardari pledged to eliminate this scourge from society. "I have taken charge at a difficult time and will come up to the challenges the country is facing."

His remarks came days after his comments in an interview that the Pakistan Army would even target militants it had backed in the past for use as a proxy force against India.

The army is currently engaged in a campaign against the Taliban in the northwestern Swat valley and is gearing up for a push against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud and his network in South Waziristan tribal region.

Zardari also stressed the need for greater national reconciliation, saying he intended to keep all political forces together because Pakistan cannot afford confrontation at this juncture.

"Dialogue is our most powerful weapon...we defeated a dictator through the power of dialogue and we intend to continue holding dialogue to resolve various issues confronting Pakistan," he said.

"We are on the brink and we must realise that personal political games can no longer be played," he added. Responding to various suggestions by the former civil servants, Zardari said the government is taking several steps to improve governance, tackle militancy and extremism, improve law and order, agricultural output and power generation, strengthen institutions and devolve power.

Indian women look distinct with sarees. Those charming ethnic wear is slowly disappearing. Now girls and women prefer kurtas and jeans than stunning sarees.

Coomi Kapoor writes in The Indian Express (10 July 2009)

Long after the Japanese gave up their kimonos, the Chinese their Mao boiler suits and the South Americans their boleros, we Indian woman, whether at home or abroad, clung loyally to our saris. You saw doughty sari-clad Gujarati women on the top of the Matterhorn, on a safari in deepest Africa or river rafting on the Iguaçu. When curious American tourists inquired about the practicality of the garment, Indian women would wax eloquent on the marvels of the six metres of cloth. It was cool in summer, insulating in winter, never went out of fashion, never got out of shape and doubled as nightwear, a sheet or a picnic cloth.

A tall tale retold for decades is that the sari is supremely comfortable. Examples are cited of the number of Indian women who play tennis, badminton and hockey in saris. And it is pointed out that in our villages women even go swimming in a sari. For most of us, however, the sari can start unravelling pretty fast when you exercise strenuously. And even without exercise, a woman tends to look like a dhobi bundle in a cotton sari if there is no starch in the fabric.

Another myth about the sari is that it is a modest garment since it covers you from head to foot. American actor Bob Hope once joked that the "sari was one garment which hides both the good and the bad points of the figure." This is not true. Anyone who has seen an Indian movie with the heroine drenched in the rain in a diaphanous sari will tell you differently.


Despite the constant endorsements of the sari, have you noticed that in the last two decades the sari is disappearing? Leading fashion designer Ritu Kumar, who began her career in the sixties designing saris, now focuses mostly on stitched garments like kurtas and lehengas. By the mid-seventies there were very few saris displayed on fashion show ramps.


With the coming of age of the urban worker and a more active lifestyle, women have started looking for more comfortable, practical and smarter alternatives. The first modernisation of the sari was switching from traditional handlooms and ethnic cottons to the more easy to maintain synthetic materials, with shower curtain-style floral and geometrical prints. Dayaram Printwallah of Ahmedabad became known nationally after Indira Gandhi patronised his aesthetic block printed cottons. When I visited a Dayaram store in Gujarat recently, I found that there were hardly half a dozen cotton saris in the shop. They have been replaced by wash and wear saris and cut pieces for making a kurta pajama set.


Long years ago, the norm in Bollywood was that heroines wore saris, and vamps dresses. But then Bollywood went mod and heroines started wearing outfits just as trendy and sexy as the gangsters' molls. And since Bollywood sets the trend in sartorial styles, the rest of the country followed suit. Even girls from South India now want Punjabi lehengas for their weddings. It is not just the movie stars who have altered public taste, other visible women who set the trend have also deserted the sari. Kiran Bedi, for instance, feels that pants suit her style. TV stars like Barkha Dutt, Navika Kumar and Suhasini Haidar believe in power dressing. Most domestic airlines have done away with the sari as the uniform for their airhostesses.


A random headcount on one of the capital's busy roads indicated that only two out of ten women were wearing saris and practically none in the younger age bracket. Abroad, even the elderly NRIs have adopted pants or kurta pajamas. On a recent visit to London, I did not see a single sari in the Oxford Circus area, though there were several hijabs and even a burkha or two.


Of course, the sari still remains the dress code for women in government service and politics. The former have little choice since the official code of conduct advises IAS officers to wear saris in office unless they are from the North East, when they can opt for their traditional dress. Among politicians, Sonia Gandhi favours the ethnic chic look; handloom saris in muted mud colours, a style statement she picked up from her mother-in-law. Sushma Swaraj belongs to the other school, which opts for bright colours and wash and wear convenience. Those from royal backgrounds, like Vasundhara Raje stick to pastel chintzes and georgettes. Mayawati is something of a trendsetter among major women politicians, as she opts for kurtas not saris.

Since the founding of TakingITGlobal in 1999, I have been incredibly inspired by my interactions with thousands of young change makers from all around the world. Through my Masters Research on youth-led action in an international context along with exposure to other studies and international conferences examining the role of today's generation of youth as change agents, I have gained an important observation. My observation is that I have seen the emergence of Six Archetypes of Youth Change Makers, which provide a glance at the roles young people are taking on in the process of creating change.


The Dreamer

The Dreamer is the driver behind new ideas. Dreamers are often the first to articulate a long-term vision for the future and think big. It is the sense of aspiration, optimism and imagination of dreamers that drive progress, innovation and change.

The Megaphone

The Megaphone is a vocal advocate for change. Megaphones are very focused on delivering the message and will campaign tirelessly and work hard to lobby for a message to be heard. They inspire action through their words and help to shift priorities on the agenda.

The Spark Plug

The Spark Plug is a catalyst and has a gift for networking and connecting people. The Spark Plug is able to foster collaborations and bring many different organizations and individuals together in dialogue, convincing diverse interest groups to come together for a common goal.

The Task Master

The Task Master is often behind the scenes making things happen and is sometimes the under-rated player within a group or organization. Often, it is the Task Master who literally keeps things together by turning ideas into manageable tasks with actionable timelines. Task Masters are practical, objective-oriented individuals.

The Sherpa

The Sherpa serves as a guide who provides mentorship, insight and training through peer education. Sherpas are natural educators with a strong interest in learning and sharing knowledge. Sherpas value hands on experiences and are able to draw upon the expertise and resources of those they encounter.

The Storyteller

The Storyteller is often the documenter of an organization and its projects, preparing short stories, interviews, blogs, webcasts newsletters and more. Storytellers become a vehicle for spreading inspiration and sharing of best practices through identifying patterns and strengthening movements through recognizing exceptional individuals.

Hola, mudé mi blog a otra dirección:
www.damianprofeta.com.ar!

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Para emocionarse hasta las lágrimas (bueno... eso es lo que me pasó a mí)



visto en: El Caparazón, Versión Light

La historia del video, en ALT1040

La ciudad de Zaragoza que rara... Su aire(cierzo) fatal para la migraña que tengo, pero es mía. No toda la ciudad... Sólo unas partes entre unos minutiCOs son mios... Ya os voy a contar lo que es mio, para que cuidéis el espacio entre yo y mi mundo...
Depende del autobús que llega al centro, tengo 20 minutos con mi gente que miro a sus ojos cada día.. Sólo hay unas 30-50 personas que cambian pero todos ellos dicen: todos somos iguales, somos diferentes.
Esta gente son los que están en cola del registro. Unos para solicitar la nacionalidad Española están allí desde la 08.00 de la mañana, unos para registrar a sus bebes, otros sólo quieren ir un paso más allá en la vida: para casarse... Si llego un poco antes, la cola no es muy grande, sin embargo siempre con gente con los doc. en la mano, quieren que abran la puerta ya y por lo menos esperan dentro... Si sigo en el mismo trabajo, igual dentro de unos años voy a tener mi tercer padre favorito en la Calle Alfonso... ¿Quien sabe?

La ALIANZA ARAGONESA CONTRA LA POBREZA, conformada por más de 30 organizaciones del ámbito social y de Cooperación al Desarrollo, con su campaña POBREZA CERO se vincula a la Feria del Libro de Zaragoza el sábado 6 junio de 11 a 20 horas a través de diferentes actos culturales y la instalación de una mesa informativa, los actos se celebrarán en Plaza España.

El objetivo de la campaña POBREZA CERO es concienciar a la población de la necesidad de conseguir los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio (ODM) para logar disminuir los índices de pobreza en el mundo. En este sentido, es importante llamar la atención sobre este tema, aún más en el contexto actual de crisis y aumento de los precios de los alimentos que pone en peligro muchos de los progresos conseguidos en la reducción de la pobreza y el hambre. Se estima que 100 millones de personas más vivirán en la pobreza extrema y 75 millones más pasarán hambre como consecuencia de la crisis económica mundial.

Por todo esto queremos aprovechar la celebración de la Feria del Libro para hacer énfasis en el segundo de los ODM “Lograr la enseñanza primaria universal”. Cuya meta es que todos los niños y niñas puedan terminar un ciclo completo de enseñanza primaria en 2015.

Los invitamos a estar presente el 6 de junio en la Plaza España exigiendo desde el espacio de la cultura y desde el poder de la palabra, el derecho a la educación y a una vida con justicia social y equidad económica.


Programa

Día: 6 de junio de 2009

Lugar: Plaza de España (escaleras de la DPZ), Zaragoza.

Horario:

11 a 13 y de 17 a 20 horas: Mesa informativa sobre la campaña Pobreza Cero. Con libros relacionados con el tema.

18.00 horas: Lectura manifiesto

18.05 horas: Cuentos Pobreza Cero, narradores de cuentos de diferentes países nos contarán historias de la lucha contra la pobreza

Como en todos los lugares del mundo, es un libro que cuenta que "mientras los hombres duermen la siesta, las mujeres airean el corazón."

Comparto con ustedes un video de una exposición que tuve la oportunidad de hacer el año pasado en representación de la Asociación Vientos del Sur, titulada "Participación Juvenil y Nuevas Tecnologías".

La ponencia fue parte del Seminario sobre Nuevas Formas de Participación Juvenil, organizado por la Plataforma Federal de Juventudes de Argentina, el 14 de mayo de 2008 en el Centro Cultural Recoleta, en el marco del X Festival Internacional de Cine de Derechos Humanos DerHumALC.

En mi exposición abordo someramente conceptos y herramientas útiles para el trabajo de las ONGs juveniles.

Web 2.0, Ciberactivismo, los nativos digitales, el poder de los Blogs, los Wikis, las mal llamadas redes sociales, entre otros temas están incluidos en este resumen de menos de 10 minutos (la exposición original duró 30 minutos)

Gracias a Gastón por realizar la filmación y a Nacho por convertirla a formato digital.

A quienes les interese la relación entre participación, juventud e internet, los invito a leer un artículo que escribí el año pasado para un dossier sobre "juventud y TICs" para el Portal de Juventud de América Latina y el Caribe, clickeando acá

¡Se agradecen los comentarios!

Bueno, estaba sentada en el sofa, mis pies en el puff.. ¡Ahh que bien el fin de semana...!  Pero faltaba algo, siempre falta algo porque una parte mia está lejos. ¡Y vale ya! eso ya lo se... Para tapar los agujeros pequeños tengo mis libros, mi musica, mi te turco al lado...