Catholic News Service
Daily Archives: November 18, 2015
Catholics Urged to Address ‘Sin of Racism’
A seismic shift in demographics in both society and the U.S. Catholic Church in the coming decades will create a church that is far less white, Father Bryan Massingale told a New Orleans audience Nov. 6.
The church will be unprepared to deal with that reality, he continued, unless it addresses “the ongoing struggle for racial equality.” Continue reading Catholics Urged to Address ‘Sin of Racism’
Students in South Africa win language victory
The elite Stellenbosch University will now teach in English, the rector has declared. The move comes amid mounting pressure across South Africa to end the vestiges of racial oppression in education.
Student protesters scored a victory on Friday following months of unrest at universities across South Africa. The administration at the prestigious Stellenbosch University announced that classes will now be taught in English instead of Afrikaans, a triumph for increasingly combative students who see the university system as a racist relic of the country’s apartheid past. Continue reading Students in South Africa win language victory
SA needs new source of water
As a crippling drought tightens its grip on the country, South Africa may soon have to turn to alternative water sources, including making acid mine water and sea water drinkable.
Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said these options were on the table as the state investigated ways of mitigating the current drought, especially as significant rain is only expected in March 2016.
“We’re looking at the creation of water banks. We want to move away from over-reliance on surface water,” said the minister. Continue reading SA needs new source of water
South Africa: Recent Rains in KZN Not Enough – Umgeni Water
By Kaveel Singh
The rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal over the past two days was insufficient to increase dam levels, an Umgeni Water official said.
KwaZulu-Natal experienced heavy rainfall this week, but Umgeni Water spokesperson Shami Harichunder said on Thursday the 4mm and 10mm rainfalls was “insufficient”.
“What we have to understand is a lot of this was soaked into the ground and does not raise the levels for the dam. We need significantly longer bouts of rain to [pick] levels up again.” Continue reading South Africa: Recent Rains in KZN Not Enough – Umgeni Water
How ruthless coffee mafia enslaves Kenya
British charity Oxfam says the price of raw coffee exported from producer countries accounts for less than seven per cent of the eventual cost of coffee to Western consumers. When Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua tried to organise the industry in Nyeri and bypass the cartels at NCE in the hope of selling coffee through direct sales, the cartels fought back viciously. They have no negotiating power, no knowledge and no responsibility over their crop.
By John Kamau
![https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShvN3l-0BxU ]](https://sndden.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/screen-shot-2015-11-16-at-6-58-09-am.png?w=474)
Caught between profit-seeking international coffee houses and their local networks’ search for cheap beans, Mr Wainaina is one of the few remaining prisoners of faith: He still believes that one day the government will end the international cartel that strangles the local coffee industry.
Kenya, through the blessings of soil, climate and passionate peasant farmers, produces one of the most valuable crops in the world.
TPP Ignores Workers’ Needs and Fails to Address Weaknesses from Past Trade Agreements
“They buy and sell us like cattle.” — 25-year-old Bangladeshi worker, who was trafficked among three contractors for six months without receiving any pay on Malaysian palm oil plantations. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Co-authored by Abby McGill, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum
The text of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) finally became accessible to workers and the public last week, though insiders from more than 500 major companies have had access to the negotiation and writing process for years. The result predictably values the rights of corporations over the needs of workers and fails to address the most glaring weakness of past trade deals: the utter failure of the parties to uphold their commitments to respect workers’ rights. Continue reading TPP Ignores Workers’ Needs and Fails to Address Weaknesses from Past Trade Agreements
Kenya’s human rights groups still in the crosshairs
There is a serious concern that Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is targeting human rights groups, especially those that called for accountability for Kenya’s 2007-2008 post-election violence and those documenting security forces abuses.
Otsieno Namwaya
For the third time in close to a year, Kenya announced plans to deregister civil society groups, this time including the well-respected Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) which pioneered human rights documentation work in Kenya in the early 1990s. Continue reading Kenya’s human rights groups still in the crosshairs
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