Darius Clark Monroe

 

Watch “Slow”

- A Short Film

By Darius Clark Monroe

(Short Shouts)

A tweet from the filmmaker, who we’ve featured in the past, Darius Clark Monroe: “In honor of SLOW’s @outfest World Premiere screening this wknd, I’ve decided to release it online for the next 48hrs )

Logline reads: “26yo, DDF, 5’ 11”, 185 fit. 7 cut. Vers. Looking to host now. 420 is cool. Send a face pic. ”

tambay posted to Film Festival, Shorts, Watch Now at 11:21 am on July 16, 2011

__________________________

Welcome to The Short Story

The Short Story was set up in 2011. It is designed to showcase the best short stories from around the world.

The idea is simple. Submit your story to us and you will automatically enter The Short Story competition.
Three cash prizes will be awarded.

First prize: £300

Second prize: £150

Third prize: £50

The winners will be published on our website.
Deadline for submissions is 15th September 2011.

Winners will be announced in December 2011.

 

Submission Guidelines

Please take time to read these guidelines. If you don’t, the dolly will be out of the pram before we even start to read your story. No-one wants that.

1. Word limit: 1,000-5,000 (maximum).
2. Email your story as a Word document or pdf.
3. Font size: 12 point, Times New Roman or Arial, preferably.
   No fancy fonts.
4. No poetry, novel chapters, sci-fi, fantasy or stories for children.
5. Put your name, email address and telephone number at the footer of each page.
6. Page numbers are important. Make sure each page is numbered consecutively.
7. Submissions by email only. We do not accept snail mail or hard copies.
8. Only one story allowed per person. We do not accept simultaneous submissions. Pick your best one and send it to us.
9. This competition is only open to people over the age of 18.
10. All submissions must be original and unpublished.
11. Please submit your story here:
    submit.theshortstory@gmail.com

By submitting your work to The Short Story you grant us first serial rights and the right to archive your work online for an indefinite period of time. You retain all other rights.

Contests for Writers

Rules for the 2012 St. Martin’s Minotaur/ Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition

St. Martin's Minotaur and Mystery Writers Writers of America are pleased to announce the winner of the 2011 First Crime Novel Competition. The winner is Eleanor Kuhns. The announcement was made at the 2011 Edgar® Awards Banquet on Thursday, April 28, 2011.  The winner of the 2012 contest will be announced at the 2012 Edgar Awards banquet on April 26, 2012.

Sponsored by St. Martin's Minotaur and Mystery Writers of America (MWA)

1. The Competition is open to any writer, regardless of nationality, aged 18 or older, who has never been the author of any Published Novel (in any genre), as defined by the guidelines below, (except that authors of self-published works only may enter, as long as the manuscript submitted is not the self-published work) and is not under contract with a publisher for publication of a novel. Employees, and members of their immediate families living in the same household, of Minotaur Books or Mystery Writers of America (or a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of either of them) are not eligible to enter.  Only one manuscript entry (the "Manuscript") is permitted per writer. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. To enter, you must first request an entry form by sending an e-mail to: MB-MWAFirstCrimeNovelCompetition@StMartins.com and include the following information:

Name of Entrant:

Manuscript Title:

Address:

Phone:

All requests for entry forms must be received by Minotaur Books by email by November 15, 2011. DO NOT SEND MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS TO MINOTAUR BOOKS.

2. Each entrant will receive an entry form by email containing the address of the judge to whom he or she will send (by regular mail or next-business-day delivery service) his or her manuscript. Entries must be postmarked no later than November 30, 2011 and received by judges no later than December 15, 2011 and must include:

a) A double-spaced and neatly typed copy of the manuscript (photocopies are acceptable), with pages numbered consecutively from beginning to end.

b) A letter or cover sheet containing the name, address, email address and telephone number of the entrant and the entrant's previous writing credits, if any.

c) The application form, printed from their email, duly completed.

d) A digital copy of the manuscript burned to a CD or saved to a USB stick as a Microsoft Word document. All CDs and USB sticks should be marked with the author's name and the title of the manuscript.

Each entrant must keep a copy of the Manuscript for his or her own protection. Minotaur Books will not be responsible for lost, stolen, or mislaid manuscripts. Because of the great volume of submissions we receive, the fact that judges are volunteers with full-time responsibilities elsewhere, and the fact that most writers now have the work in their computers, Manuscripts, CDs and USB sticks will not be returned. Please do not send return postage or envelopes for return of your Manuscript.

It is important that you submit your Manuscript as early as possible. Our judges are volunteers who are extremely busy with their primary concerns, and submissions will get a more careful reading if the judge does not have to contend with a flood of last-minute entries.

3.  Entrants must have a valid e-mail address.  In case of dispute as to identity of an entrant, entry will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address provided to Minotaur Books.  "Authorized Account Holder" is defined as an actual person who is assigned an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) responsible for assigning e-mail addresses or the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.  Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America are not responsible for technical, hardware, software, telephone or other communications malfunctions, errors or failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, website, Internet, or ISP unavailability, unauthorized human intervention, traffic congestion, incomplete or inaccurate capture of entry information (regardless of cause) or failed, incomplete, or delayed computer transmissions which may limit one's ability to enter this Competition, including any injury or damage to any computer relating to or resulting from downloading any materials in this Competition.

All Manuscripts submitted: a) must be original works of book length (no less than 220 typewritten pages or approximately 60,000 words) written in the English language; b) must be written solely by the entrant, who may not be the author of any previously Published Novel; c) must not violate any right of any third party or be libelous, and dmust generally follow the Guidelines below.

GUIDELINES

a. Murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story.

b. WHAT CONSTITUTES  A PUBLISHED NOVEL: For the purpose of this Competition, a "Published Novel" means a work of fiction of at least 40,000 words in length that has been published or distributed, in part or whole, in paper or electronic format or in any other medium, excluding, however, self-published works. This does not include a chapter excerpt on an author's website, subject to the conditions that: (i) the excerpt is the only text that exists for public viewing; (ii) the excerpt is not for sale to the public, and (iii) the number of words in the excerpt does not exceed 10% of the total number of words in the work as a whole.

(The decision of the Competition's judges as to whether or not an entrant or a Manuscript qualifies will be final.)

4. Nominees will be selected by judges chosen by MWA, with the assistance of the editorial staff of Minotaur Books, and the winner will be chosen by Minotaur Books editors on the basis of the originality, creativity and writing skill of the submission. The decision of the editors as to the winner of the Competition will be final. Minotaur Books reserves the right to cancel or modify the competition if, in the sole opinion of the editors, an insufficient number of qualified Manuscripts are received.

5. An attempt will be made to notify the Competition winner, if any, by telephone or U.S. mail no later than March 31, 2012.  If the winner cannot be contacted, an alternate winner may be selected.

6. If a winner is selected, Minotaur Books will offer to enter into its standard form author's agreement with the entrant for publication of the winning Manuscript. After execution of the standard form author's agreement by both parties, the winner will receive an advance against future royalties of $10,000. On the condition that the selected winner accepts and executes the publishing contract proposed by Minotaur Books, the winner will then be recognized at the Edgar Awards Banquet in New York City in April 2012. THE WINNER WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY OTHER PRIZE AND WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY PART OF THE ADVANCE UNTIL THE STANDARD FORM AUTHOR'S AGREEMENT HAS BEEN EXECUTED BY BOTH PARTIES. Those terms of the offer not specified in the printed text of the Minotaur Books standard form author's agreement will be determined by Minotaur Books at its sole discretion. The entrant may request reasonable changes in the offered terms, but Minotaur Books shall not be obligated to agree to any such changes. Minotaur Books may, but will not be required to, consider for publication Manuscripts submitted by other entrants.

7. No critical evaluation or commentary will be offered by the judges or the editorial staff of Minotaur Books unless, in the sole opinion of the editorial staff, evaluation or commentary is appropriate in the case of a Manuscript being considered for publication.

8. General:  No cash substitution, transfers or assignments of prize allowed.  All expenses, including taxes, relating to the winner's publishing contract, are the sole responsibility of the winner.  By accepting a prize, the winner releases Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America, and the parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers and agents of each of them from any and all liability for any loss, harm, damages, cost or expense, including without limitation property damages, personal injury and/or death, arising out of participation in this Competition or the acceptance of the publishing contract.  If, for any reason, (including unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other cause beyond the control of Minotaur Books which corrupts or affects the administration, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Competition), the Competition is not capable of being conducted as described in these rules, Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America shall have the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Competition.

Good luck!

American Art International Essay Prize for Non-US Scholars

Deadline: 15 January 2012

The Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize recognizes excellent scholarship by a non-U.S. scholar in the field of historical American art (circa 1500–1980). The winning manuscript should advance understanding of American art and demonstrate new findings and original perspectives. It will be translated and published in American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum's scholarly journal, which will also cover the cost of image rights and reproductions, and the winner will receive a $500 award. This prize is supported by funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The aim of the award is to stimulate and actively support non-U.S. scholars working on American art, foster international exchange of new ideas and create a broad, culturally comparative dialogue on American art. To be eligible, essays should focus on historical American painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, decorative arts, photography or visual culture. Preference will be given to studies that address American art within a cross-cultural context as well as new ways of thinking about American art. Manuscripts previously published in a foreign language are eligible if released within the last two years (please state the date and venue of the previous publication). For scholars from English-language countries, only unpublished manuscripts will be considered. Authors of eligible essays are invited to submit their own work for consideration. We urge scholars who know of eligible articles written by others to inform those authors of the prize.

The length of the essay (including endnotes) shall not exceed 8,500 words with approximately twelve to fourteen illustrations. The text of the essay should be submitted by e-mail as a Word file, accompanied by a PDF file containing all of the illustrations. A brief curriculum vitae should be included. Manuscripts submitted in foreign languages should also be accompanied by a detailed abstract in English. The submissions must be sent to TerraEssayPrize@si.edu by January 15, 2012.

For more information on American Art, please consult americanart.si.edu/research/journal. For details on the Terra Foundation for American Art, please visit terraamericanart.org.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: TerraEssayPrize@si.edu

For submissions: TerraEssayPrize@si.edu

Website: http://terraamericanart.org

 

Kehinde Wiley - The World Stage: Israel

Leonard Peltier put in

solitary confinement

after releasing

public statement

Jul 072011

Political prisoner, Native American and American Indian Movement activist, Leonard Peltier who has been locked up for the last 35 years has been put in solitary confinement since june 27th, a day after releasing the following statement:

June 26th Statement by Leonard Peltier

Hello my friends and relations,

I always try to come to you full of good spirit and vigor. But I cannot lie. There are days when the ugliness of my situation weighs me down. I swear I never thought this could happen. I never believed law enforcement and the government of this country would go so far for so long to keep their dirty laundry hidden away.

Over the years, you my dedicated friends and believers have kept a vision of justice alive. That really is something special. Because of you, we have learned of hidden evidence, coerced testimony, and outright lies by the FBI and prosecutors. Because of you we have been able to uncover thousands of documents the government wanted to stay secret. And yet they have been able to squirrel away thousands more pages of their biggest secrets about me, about the theft of Indian land, their motives behind murder, and their operations to silence people like me. I am living proof that my case is about squashing Indian rights and Indian sovereignty, otherwise why would I be serving a sentence so much longer than what is normal for my so-called conviction?

Those that believe in law and order should be the loudest voices calling for my release! The fact is the day I walk free is the day they are forced to deal with my innocence, and they are so very afraid of doing just that! No matter what they say, the dirty little secret underneath all of this is America’s fear and loathing of Indian people. In over five hundred years, they have not yet learned how to deal honorably with us.

The burden is great sometimes, but the encouragement I get from you helps me to keep my faith that freedom will one day come my way. No matter what happens, on the day I draw my last breath I will be proud to have taken my place alongside my ancestors, knowing I did all I could do, and gave all I could for my people. For those FBI agents and prosecutors in my case, their last moments will include shame.

So remember all of you my friends and relations, this case is about much more than me. If you believe in truth, justice, honor, freedom, all of what is supposed to make America great, then help me open the door to my release. If you believe in Indian sovereignty, join my cause and in doing so help yourself. Take your place in the struggle and do all you can to eradicate injustice.

Thank you for your time. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you for your work. Thank you for your love.

Aho! Mitakuye Oyasin!

Doksha,

Leonard Peltier

 

Allegedly Peltier was placed in solitary confinement because “a woman in the UK mailed a silver coin which was actually delivered to him by prison officials, and a light switch that had been tampered with by a cellmate some time ago,” according to his attorney, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco.

for ongoing info and support visit The Leonard peltier Defense Ofense Commitee

The Rape of Men

Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women. Yet huge numbers of men are also victims. In this harrowing report, Will Storr travels to Uganda to meet traumatised survivors, and reveals how male rape is endemic in many of the world's conflicts

By Will Storr

• The Observer, Sunday 17 July 2011

Dying of shame: a Congolese rape victim, currently resident in Uganda. This man’s wife has left him, as she was unable to accept what happened. He attempted suicide at the end of last year. Photograph: Will Storr for the Observer

 

Of all the secrets of war, there is one that is so well kept that it exists mostly as a rumour. It is usually denied by the perpetrator and his victim. Governments, aid agencies and human rights defenders at the UN barely acknowledge its possibility. Yet every now and then someone gathers the courage to tell of it. This is just what happened on an ordinary afternoon in the office of a kind and careful counsellor in Kampala, Uganda. For four years Eunice Owiny had been employed by Makerere University's Refugee Law Project (RLP) to help displaced people from all over Africa work through their traumas. This particular case, though, was a puzzle. A female client was having marital difficulties. "My husband can't have sex," she complained. "He feels very bad about this. I'm sure there's something he's keeping from me."

Owiny invited the husband in. For a while they got nowhere. Then Owiny asked the wife to leave. The man then murmured cryptically: "It happened to me." Owiny frowned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old sanitary pad. "Mama Eunice," he said. "I am in pain. I have to use this."

Laying the pus-covered pad on the desk in front of him, he gave up his secret. During his escape from the civil war in neighbouring Congo, he had been separated from his wife and taken by rebels. His captors raped him, three times a day, every day for three years. And he wasn't the only one. He watched as man after man was taken and raped. The wounds of one were so grievous that he died in the cell in front of him.

"That was hard for me to take," Owiny tells me today. "There are certain things you just don't believe can happen to a man, you get me? But I know now that sexual violence against men is a huge problem. Everybody has heard the women's stories. But nobody has heard the men's."

It's not just in East Africa that these stories remain unheard. One of the few academics to have looked into the issue in any detail is Lara Stemple, of the University of California's Health and Human Rights Law Project. Her study Male Rape and Human Rights notes incidents of male sexual violence as a weapon of wartime or political aggression in countries such as Chile, Greece, Croatia, Iran, Kuwait, the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia. Twenty-one per cent of Sri Lankan males who were seen at a London torture treatment centre reported sexual abuse while in detention. In El Salvador, 76% of male political prisoners surveyed in the 1980s described at least one incidence of sexual torture. A study of 6,000 concentration-camp inmates in Sarajevo found that 80% of men reported having been raped.

I've come to Kampala to hear the stories of the few brave men who have agreed to speak to me: a rare opportunity to find out about a controversial and deeply taboo issue. In Uganda, survivors are at risk of arrest by police, as they are likely to assume that they're gay – a crime in this country and in 38 of the 53 African nations. They will probably be ostracised by friends, rejected by family and turned away by the UN and the myriad international NGOs that are equipped, trained and ready to help women. They are wounded, isolated and in danger. In the words of Owiny: "They are despised."

But they are willing to talk, thanks largely to the RLP's British director, Dr Chris Dolan. Dolan first heard of wartime sexual violence against men in the late 1990s while researching his PhD in northern Uganda, and he sensed that the problem might be dramatically underestimated. Keen to gain a fuller grasp of its depth and nature, he put up posters throughout Kampala in June 2009 announcing a "workshop" on the issue in a local school. On the day, 150 men arrived. In a burst of candour, one attendee admitted: "It's happened to all of us here." It soon became known among Uganda's 200,000-strong refugee population that the RLP were helping men who had been raped during conflict. Slowly, more victims began to come forward.

I meet Jean Paul on the hot, dusty roof of the RLP's HQ in Old Kampala. He wears a scarlet high-buttoned shirt and holds himself with his neck lowered, his eyes cast towards the ground, as if in apology for his impressive height. He has a prominent upper lip that shakes continually – a nervous condition that makes him appear as if he's on the verge of tears.

Jean Paul was at university in Congo, studying electronic engineering, when his father – a wealthy businessman – was accused by the army of aiding the enemy and shot dead. Jean Paul fled in January 2009, only to be abducted by rebels. Along with six other men and six women he was marched to a forest in the Virunga National Park.

Later that day, the rebels and their prisoners met up with their cohorts who were camped out in the woods. Small camp fires could be seen here and there between the shadowy ranks of trees. While the women were sent off to prepare food and coffee, 12 armed fighters surrounded the men. From his place on the ground, Jean Paul looked up to see the commander leaning over them. In his 50s, he was bald, fat and in military uniform. He wore a red bandana around his neck and had strings of leaves tied around his elbows.

"You are all spies," the commander said. "I will show you how we punish spies." He pointed to Jean Paul. "Remove your clothes and take a position like a Muslim man."

Jean Paul thought he was joking. He shook his head and said: "I cannot do these things."

The commander called a rebel over. Jean Paul could see that he was only about nine years old. He was told, "Beat this man and remove this clothes." The boy attacked him with his gun butt. Eventually, Jean Paul begged: "Okay, okay. I will take off my clothes." Once naked, two rebels held him in a kneeling position with his head pushed towards the earth.

At this point, Jean Paul breaks off. The shaking in his lip more pronounced than ever, he lowers his head a little further and says: "I am sorry for the things I am going to say now." The commander put his left hand on the back of his skull and used his right to beat him on the backside "like a horse". Singing a witch doctor song, and with everybody watching, the commander then began. The moment he started, Jean Paul vomited.

Eleven rebels waited in a queue and raped Jean Paul in turn. When he was too exhausted to hold himself up, the next attacker would wrap his arm under Jean Paul's hips and lift him by the stomach. He bled freely: "Many, many, many bleeding," he says, "I could feel it like water." Each of the male prisoners was raped 11 times that night and every night that followed.

On the ninth day, they were looking for firewood when Jean Paul spotted a huge tree with roots that formed a small grotto of shadows. Seizing his moment, he crawled in and watched, trembling, as the rebel guards searched for him. After five hours of watching their feet as they hunted for him, he listened as they came up with a plan: they would let off a round of gunfire and tell the commander that Jean Paul had been killed. Eventually he emerged, weak from his ordeal and his diet of only two bananas per day during his captivity. Dressed only in his underpants, he crawled through the undergrowth "slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, like a snake" back into town.

"The organisations working on sexual violence don't talk about it:" Chris Dolan, director of the Refugee Law Project. Photograph: Will Storr for the Observer

Today, despite his hospital treatment, Jean Paul still bleeds when he walks. Like many victims, the wounds are such that he's supposed to restrict his diet to soft foods such as bananas, which are expensive, and Jean Paul can only afford maize and millet. His brother keeps asking what's wrong with him. "I don't want to tell him," says Jean Paul. "I fear he will say: 'Now, my brother is not a man.'"

It is for this reason that both perpetrator and victim enter a conspiracy of silence and why male survivors often find, once their story is discovered, that they lose the support and comfort of those around them. In the patriarchal societies found in many developing countries, gender roles are strictly defined.

"In Africa no man is allowed to be vulnerable," says RLP's gender officer Salome Atim. "You have to be masculine, strong. You should never break down or cry. A man must be a leader and provide for the whole family. When he fails to reach that set standard, society perceives that there is something wrong."

Often, she says, wives who discover their husbands have been raped decide to leave them. "They ask me: 'So now how am I going to live with him? As what? Is this still a husband? Is it a wife?' They ask, 'If he can be raped, who is protecting me?' There's one family I have been working closely with in which the husband has been raped twice. When his wife discovered this, she went home, packed her belongings, picked up their child and left. Of course that brought down this man's heart."

Back at RLP I'm told about the other ways in which their clients have been made to suffer. Men aren't simply raped, they are forced to penetrate holes in banana trees that run with acidic sap, to sit with their genitals over a fire, to drag rocks tied to their penis, to give oral sex to queues of soldiers, to be penetrated with screwdrivers and sticks. Atim has now seen so many male survivors that, frequently, she can spot them the moment they sit down. "They tend to lean forward and will often sit on one buttock," she tells me. "When they cough, they grab their lower regions. At times, they will stand up and there's blood on the chair. And they often have some kind of smell."

Because there has been so little research into the rape of men during war, it's not possible to say with any certainty why it happens or even how common it is – although a rare 2010 survey, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 22% of men and 30% of women in Eastern Congo reported conflict-related sexual violence. As for Atim, she says: "Our staff are overwhelmed by the cases we've got, but in terms of actual numbers? This is the tip of the iceberg."

Later on I speak with Dr Angella Ntinda, who treats referrals from the RLP. She tells me: "Eight out of 10 patients from RLP will be talking about some sort of sexual abuse."

"Eight out of 10 men?" I clarify.

"No. Men and women," she says.

"What about men?"

"I think all the men."

I am aghast.

"All of them?" I say.

"Yes," she says. "All the men."

The research by Lara Stemple at the University of California doesn't only show that male sexual violence is a component of wars all over the world, it also suggests that international aid organisations are failing male victims. Her study cites a review of 4,076 NGOs that have addressed wartime sexual violence. Only 3% of them mentioned the experience of men in their literature. "Typically," Stemple says, "as a passing reference."

“One man was told: ‘We have a programme for vulnerable women but not men”: a Congolese rape victim. Photograph: Will Storr for the Observer

 

On my last night I arrive at the house of Chris Dolan. We're high on a hill, watching the sun go down over the neighbourhoods of Salama Road and Luwafu, with Lake Victoria in the far distance. As the air turns from blue to mauve to black, a muddled galaxy of white, green and orange bulbs flickers on; a pointillist accident spilled over distant valleys and hills. A magnificent hubbub rises from it all. Babies screaming, children playing, cicadas, chickens, songbirds, cows, televisions and, floating above it all, the call to prayer at a distant mosque.

Stemple's findings on the failure of aid agencies is no surprise to Dolan. "The organisations working on sexual and gender-based violence don't talk about it," he says. "It's systematically silenced. If you're very, very lucky they'll give it a tangential mention at the end of a report. You might get five seconds of: 'Oh and men can also be the victims of sexual violence.' But there's no data, no discussion."

As part of an attempt to correct this, the RLP produced a documentary in 2010 called Gender Against Men. When it was screened, Dolan says that attempts were made to stop him. "Were these attempts by people in well-known, international aid agencies?" I ask.

"Yes," he replies. "There's a fear among them that this is a zero-sum game; that there's a pre-defined cake and if you start talking about men, you're going to somehow eat a chunk of this cake that's taken them a long time to bake." Dolan points to a November 2006 UN report that followed an international conference on sexual violence in this area of East Africa.

"I know for a fact that the people behind the report insisted the definition of rape be restricted to women," he says, adding that one of the RLP's donors, Dutch Oxfam, refused to provide any more funding unless he'd promise that 70% of his client base was female. He also recalls a man whose case was "particularly bad" and was referred to the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR. "They told him: 'We have a programme for vulnerable women, but not men.'"

It reminds me of a scene described by Eunice Owiny: "There is a married couple," she said. "The man has been raped, the woman has been raped. Disclosure is easy for the woman. She gets the medical treatment, she gets the attention, she's supported by so many organisations. But the man is inside, dying."

"In a nutshell, that's exactly what happens," Dolan agrees. "Part of the activism around women's rights is: 'Let's prove that women are as good as men.' But the other side is you should look at the fact that men can be weak and vulnerable."

Margot Wallström, the UN special representative of the secretary-general for sexual violence in conflict, insists in a statement that the UNHCR extends its services to refugees of both genders. But she concedes that the "great stigma" men face suggests that the real number of survivors is higher than that reported. Wallström says the focus remains on women because they are "overwhelmingly" the victims. Nevertheless, she adds, "we do know of many cases of men and boys being raped."

But when I contact Stemple by email, she describes a "constant drum beat that women are the rape victims" and a milieu in which men are treated as a "monolithic perpetrator class".

"International human rights law leaves out men in nearly all instruments designed to address sexual violence," she continues. "The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 treats wartime sexual violence as something that only impacts on women and girls… Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced $44m to implement this resolution. Because of its entirely exclusive focus on female victims, it seems unlikely that any of these new funds will reach the thousands of men and boys who suffer from this kind of abuse. Ignoring male rape not only neglects men, it also harms women by reinforcing a viewpoint that equates 'female' with 'victim', thus hampering our ability to see women as strong and empowered. In the same way, silence about male victims reinforces unhealthy expectations about men and their supposed invulnerability."

Considering Dolan's finding that "female rape is significantly underreported and male rape almost never", I ask Stemple if, following her research, she believes it might be a hitherto unimagined part of all wars. "No one knows, but I do think it's safe to say that it's likely that it's been a part of many wars throughout history and that taboo has played a part in the silence."

As I leave Uganda, there's a detail of a story that I can't forget. Before receiving help from the RLP, one man went to see his local doctor. He told him he had been raped four times, that he was injured and depressed and his wife had threatened to leave him. The doctor gave him a Panadol.

Survivors' names have been changed and identities hidden for their protection. The Refugee Law Project is a partner organisation of Christian Aid (christianaid.org.uk)

 

>via: http://www.forcedmigration.org/video/gender-against-men/

Cynthia McKinney:

Citizen action to

stop the bombing of Africa

[Including graphic lynching video]

July 15, 2011

by Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinney protests the bombing of Libya at a press conference held in front of the Atlanta office of Congressman John Lewis, who voted against the war in Libya but did not vote to cut off the president’s funding. This vote essentially allows for the continued bombing, which Cynthia McKinney, a former presidential candidate, and many other African Diaspora leaders, such as Brother A. Akbar Muhammad, who also spoke, strongly oppose. – Photo: African Diaspora in USA

A hearty group of protesters representing several community organizations showed up recently to protest the vote of civil rights icon and member of Congress from Atlanta, John Lewis. The congressman interrupted his schedule and heard the frustrations of his constituents who are outraged at the quiescence of Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus in light of President Obama’s policy to bomb Africa.

As we were meeting with the congressman, President Obama was addressing the country on national television defending his actions in Libya. The congressman reiterated his antipathy to war by saying that “war is obsolete.” The group asked the congressman to be unequivocal in future votes and deny funding for President Obama’s current wars.

Incredibly, President Obama in his speech demeaned national and congressional concern for his war policy as “fuss” by saying, “A lot of this fuss is politics.” I think those of us who want our country to work for peace should let this president know what “fuss” really looks like.

Below are my remarks at our press conference. Below that, see what the president calls “fuss.” Our concern is a matter of life and death for the people of Libya who deserve to be able to exercise their rights without the shock and awe of NATO bombs and missiles.

Cynthia McKinney’s remarks at the press conference on the war against Libya held in Atlanta in front of Congressman John Lewis’ district office

At a time when the American people have been asked to tighten their belts, teachers are receiving pink slips, the vital statistics of the American people reveal a health care crisis in the making and the U.S. government is in serious threat of default, our president and Congress have decided that a new war, this time against the people of Libya, is appropriate.

Members of African Diaspora in USA joined Cynthia McKinney’s Dignity Delegation, which had just returned from a fact-finding tour in Libya, for a press conference at Rep. John Lewis’ office in Atlanta. – Photo: African Diaspora in USA

This comes at a time when the U.S., by one estimate, spends approximately $3 billion per week for war against Iraq and Afghanistan. The president and Congress continue to fund the war against Libya despite the fact that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that the U.S. has no strategic interest in Libya, the senate chairwoman of the Select Committee on Intelligence admits that the U.S. really does not know who the “rebels” are and while the rebels themselves, according to a Telegraph report of March 25, 2011, admit that Al Qaeda elements are among their ranks.

So while the apparatus of our government has been used for over 10 years to inform the American people and the global community that Al Qaeda is an enemy of freedom-loving people all over the world, our president chooses to ally our military with none other than Al Qaeda elements in Libya and other people who U.S. intelligence say they do not know.

Additionally, U.S. Adm. Locklear admitted to a member of Congress that one of NATO’s missions was to assassinate Muammar Qaddafi. And indeed, NATO bombs have killed Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren, just as U.S. bombs in 1986 killed his daughter. NATO bombs just recently killed the grandchildren of one of Qaddafi’s associates in a targeted assassination attempt.

Targeted assassination is not within the scope of the United Nations Security Council Resolution and targeted assassination is against U.S. law, international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Targeted assassination is also a crime. We certainly cannot encourage others to abide by the law when we so openly break it.

Targeted assassination is a crime. We certainly cannot encourage others to abide by the law when we so openly break it.

While in Libya, I witnessed NATO’s targeting of civilians: NATO bombs and missiles landed in residential neighborhoods, hit schools, exploded near hospitals, destroyed parts of the public broadcasting infrastructure and narrowly missed killing students at Al Fateh University. When civilians are targeted in war, or “low kinetic” activities, crimes are committed.

NATO practices in Libya are exactly like Israel’s practices in Gaza: Fishermen are killed as they go about their fishing business, a naval blockade allows arms to flow to NATO’s Libyan allies but stops food, fuel and medicine from entering non-NATO ally-held areas. The entire population suffers as a result. Collective punishment is illegal when Israel practices it against the people of Gaza and collective punishment is illegal when NATO practices it.

Collective punishment is illegal when Israel practices it against the people of Gaza and collective punishment is illegal when NATO practices it.

NATO and hyperbolic press accounts have introduced a kind of race hatred that the Libyan people have been trying hard to erase. Approximately 50 percent of Libya looks like me. Innocent, darker skinned Libyans have been targeted, tortured, harassed and killed.

NATO and hyperbolic press accounts have introduced a kind of race hatred that the Libyan people have been trying hard to erase. Approximately 50 percent of Libya looks like me.

The people of Libya have the right to self-determination. They have a right to “resource nationalism.” They have a right to live in peace. They have a right to determine their future and they need not exercise their rights underneath the shock and awe of NATO bombs and missiles.

U.S.- and NATO-supported Libyan ‘rebels’ lynching a Black man

I guess this is what President Obama would call low kinetic military activity.

Lige Daniels is lynched on Aug. 3, 1920, in Center, Texas, the county seat near East Liberty, where Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff was born and raised.

Libyan "rebels" backed by the U.S. and NATO lynch a Black man in Benghazi, reversing the progress Libya, which is 50 percent Black, has made toward interracial solidarity.

The U.S. corporate media and the U.S. government continue to methodically hide from the public the fact that the Libyan rebels they are supporting are raping, mutilating and brutally murdering Black Africans within Libya. The rebels are not who they say they are. They are brutal, racist killers who are being supported by the U.S. government and its corporate media minions. The video below is an example.

 

For news from, by and about Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, check these websites: http://dignity.ning.com/, http://www.enduswars.org, http://www.livestream.com/dignity, http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun, http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney, http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney and http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun. subscribe to her email list, go to  http://lists.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/listinfo.cgi/updates-allthingscynthiamckinney.com.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Video: On Black Masculinity

and much more

 

GO HERE TO VIEW TRAILER & VIDEO 

Media Education Foundation is a useful source of documentary films on a wide set of subjects. This is a documentary I discovered thanks to my girlfriend. Check it out here. It tackles the issues of black masculinity in America through a critical analysis of the media and living sterotypes.

The websites includes many other documantaries on related subjects. It features interesting videos on race, blackness, identity, whiteness, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, stereotypes, gender, media, manhood, … all very useful in educational settings. Everyone interested in these topics should know this wonderful source of information.
 

Take your time and go check it out!

Remembering Louis Armstrong:

Satchmo, the Documentary

by Maria Popova

Celebrating the life, wizardry and legacy of one of the greatest musicians that ever lived.

Forty years ago today, the world lost one of the most influential musicians of all time. Dipper. Satchmo. Pops. The great Louis Armstrong, with his creative cornet and trumpet mastery, his distinctively gravelly voice and his remarkable stage charisma, not only revolutionized the American public’s relationship with jazz, but was also one of the first African-American entertainers equally revered by black and white audiences in a severely racially divided country. He codified the art of jazz improvisation and shaped the course of musical creativity for generations to come, his influence permeating a multitude of genres, eras, styles and subcultures.

To commemorate his legacy, we’re revisiting DVD and, with questionable legality, in eight parts on YouTube, gathered here for your convenience — enjoy.

Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.” ~ Louis Armstrong

For more on the man and the icon, Terry Teachout’s Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong is everything one could hope for and then some.