An entry by Allie Funk, cross-posted from http://www.GirlHeadQuarters.org

 *I feel the need to place a warning of sorts here, as the topic of this post involves a series of ads which are rather graphic and disturbing.*

Last week, Demos hosted a conference (A Better Deal Conference) in Washington, DC, which created a convenient opportunity for leading organizations in the youth movement, including YP4, to discuss where the movement was headed. A meeting was called by Mattie Weiss of Campus Camp Wellstone with the intent to get organizing groups to talk to policy organizations about the efficacy of grassroots support and to get policy organizations talking with grassroots organizations about why its important to understand and fight for policy.

The Democratic nomination race is not over yet, and I am not sure how I feel about this. The delegate counts are very close and it is clear that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama are ready to call it quits. As the nation waits for the fat lady to sing, it seems the excitement surrounding the Democratic National Convention is mounting.

 On the one hand, many are happy to see the process of democracy continue, though superdelegates question the validity of such an assertion. Howard Dean has made is thoughts on the matter very clear, sighting the need for the Party's special delegates to affirm the voice of the people....which is not, at the moment, very clear.

I was at the gym earlier this afternoon, working out beside a gentleman twice the size. Though superficially it may have seemed we had nothing in common other than our shared commitment to physical fitness, the most amazing thing happened between sets: we rested. For those of you who regularly go to the gym, this might already be common sense. Even one of my closest friends who earned the title Mr. Junior World Bronze (fyi: Arnold Schwarzenegger is Mr. World) takes time to rest in between sets. Likewise, in my yoga class, there is great emphasis on pranayama, the art of breathing, as well as taking the child's pose, which you are recommended to take anytime during class to recenter yourself. Now what does all this talk about exercise, bodybuilding, even yoga, have to do with leadership?

Yesterday the headlines in South Africa's Times newspaper read, "Our children are dying." In South Africa 75,000 children die before they turn 5 each year. As one of 12 countries, South Africa has a rising child mortality rate. Of these 12 countries the top causes of a rise in child mortality is war and HIV/AIDS (and the UN Security Council disregarded HIV/AIDS as not important enough). The statistics come from a report released two days ago by the national health department, the Medical Research Council and the University of Pretoria.

Abstract

Conflict over the oil resource in Nigeria is not an issue that can be simplified into a single driving cause. The issue is complex and cuts across the topics of violence, environmental degradation, and democratic representation in the Niger Delta. These topics within the issue of conflict over oil encompass political, economic, and social histories where effects can be seen at the local, state national, and international levels. The conflict over oil is largely fueled by the financial interest of western Multinational Oil Corporations. With over 80% of the Nigerian federal revenue being supplied by oil exports to foreign countries, the US in the lead, it is not difficult to identify one of the driving factors of Nigeria's oil conflict. The Chevron Oil Company has established itself as a formidable force within Nigeria's oil fields, particularly in the Bayelsa State. Chevron and its partners have held a presence in Nigerian oil discovery and production since the Gulf Oil Company's first off-shore mining in Okan conducted in 1963. In Bayelsa State there have been frequent kidnapping and attacks carried out by youth, citizens and militias unhappy with the environmental degradation and distribution of the oil wealth. Chevron, among other oil corporations, has been accused of exploiting local rivalries and ethnic differences as well as assisting the government in carrying out raids on communities hostile to Chevron's presence. More recently Chevron has changed its position from one of suppressing local communities' concerns to increasing development assistance and community investment. The effectiveness of these new programs will help to determine the stability of Niger Delta region in the future as other Multinational Oil Corporations recognize the importance of engaging local communities instead of forcibly suppressing their growing concerns.

(disclaimer: lengthy research paper below)

I sat down with Elody Gyekis the other day to chat about change through art, community organizing, and what makes being an activist worthwhile (and hard!).
Check it out!

Politically, the nation-state will always be the highest form of socialization and the psychological framework that most individuals actually identify themselves with—Americans, Zambians, Russians, Kenyan. The nation-state and the theoretical framework envisioned by Thomas Hobbes and other political theorists still holds and for many International realists, such as myself, seem to hold sway and have complete hegemony over other nucleus forms of identification. Even our news reports to Russia having done A or the United States having done B. However, of particular interest is maintaining what is a legal entitlement that nations seem to have and something that should be universally be held such as human rights. In other words, is ‘national sovereignty’ truly a basis for allowing some of the most flagrant abuse of human rights or total waste of country resources by uncouth rulers a legitimate basis for not intervening?

The votes of Florida and Michigan should be counted for determining the Democratic nominee for President. I think that everyone’s vote should count. While it is true that those two states didn’t comply with the rules of the Democratic Party, that was not the fault of the individual voters in those states. I think it is ironic that many Democrats who complained that not all votes were counted in Florida in the 2000 Presidential race but now some of those same people don’t want to count the votes in Florida’s and Michigan’s Democratic primaries.

Think Progress has a great article on how military leaders are beginning to oppose Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

For quite some time, U.S. troops have supported repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. A December 2006 poll of servicemembers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan found 73 percent of those polled were “comfortable with lesbians and gays.” A 2004 poll found that a majority of junior enlisted servicemembers believed gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, up from 16 percent in 1992.