Justice for all

A few links for you to start off your Friday:

1. Wronging Rights: A Compound WTF, Wrapped in Proto-Colonialism, Wrapped in Bacon

2. Fascinating post on Study Hacks; Is allowing your child to study while on Facebook morally irresponsible? - A post discussing how our brains become more distracted in the long-run due to social media.

3. Bikini or headscarf - which offers more freedom? A beautifully written post about confronting stereotypes.

4. Do donors care about impact? Not really.

5. A good point to bring up, and worth thinking about: After war, who’s not a ‘vulnerable population’?

6. An excerpt from Muhammad Yunus’ new book - Social entrepreneurs must drop the balancing act; entrepreneurs seeking to solve social problems cannot also maximize profit. I agree with his assertion, and I’m glad he has the conviction to say this loud and clear.

7. David Brooks from the NYT, “History for Dollars,” a column on the importance of studying the humanities even in these difficult economic times.

8. This is ridiculous. Bhopal verdict: two year sentence, $2100 fine.

9. NYT: The Female Factor: In Sweden, the men can have it all - a fascinating look into Sweden’s far more progressive, feminist government policies and widespread practice (85% of Swedish men take parental leave).

Sorry guys, I really wanted to do a Feature Friday today but honestly, I do not have the time. Finals are next week, I’m frantically writing papers and cramming information into my brain for exams, and I’m running around trying to last-minute finish Fellowship applications! Thus I’ll probably won’t be posting anything very interesting or extensive next week. But the week after, I’ll be back with a vengeance (due to winter break :D)! So please bear with me…

In the meantime check out these interesting articles/videos I found throughout the week!

• The 25 Best Philanthropists - Barrons rates them by the effective, immediate impact they’re making. But can they even BE ranked?
  
• Similarly, how Philanthrocapitalists are reshaping the world of charity, in Foreign Policy
• Foreign Policy’s huge list of 100 Top Global Thinkers. However, I’m not sure how much I trust the list due to Dick Cheney’s debut at #13…
• This week, India steps up and pledges emissions targets. Nice job, India!
• Nice Foreign Policy article - Never again? What the Holocaust can’t teach us about modern genocide.
• Amazing, and inspirational closing speech at Pledge2Protect Conference by Sam Bell, the Executive Director of Genocide Intervention Network (I am so jealous - amazing speaker and I wish I was there!)
• Oh man…New York Senate votes down gay marriage bill…
• Great article by Nisha Chittal at Politicoholic about Obama’s Afghanistan policy - we can’t afford more war. I don’t necessarily agree because I don’t think the choice is that clear, or that stark. If we backed out right now, the country might spiral further downwards. War isn’t good, but we started this. Perhaps we owe something to wrap it up well.
• What was Twitter thinking? Nice article that sums up my thoughts too — why did Twitter turn all tweets with the word “Africa” in them red for World AIDS Day? Stereotyping at it’s best - there’s more to Africa than AIDS.
• Pretty horrible “badvocacy” over at Wronging Rights…as you tear open a ketchup sachet, you are “tearing off” a kid’s leg to raise awareness of landmines. Crazy!
• Good piece in The Atlantic about the trial of Thomas Lubanga. I got to sit in on the trial when I visited the ICC, so that was incredibly exciting! I’m happy to nuanced articles about transitional justice issues (I’m doing my thesis on trans justice in Rwanda and Sierra Leone). H/T Texas in Africa!
• Top Ten Gen Y blogs for December, I received some votes so thank you all who voted for me!!
• Check out the transcript for #ypsc - Young Professionals for Social Change - chat which took place last night. We talked about social change & blogging; how to turn online action into offline change.
• Lots of frustrations about Gration’s words during his testimony to the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health. Just admit it’s genocide, be firm about the issue, and tell us the benchmarks/incentives/pressures, dammit!

Hope you enjoyed, guys. Also — I changed this layout but I’m thinking of changing it again. Any suggestions? I’m not sure I’m a fan of this one. So let me know I really dislike wordpress because it requires so much manipulation to get it to look the way I want. I find it frustrating. Anyway, good bye for now and wish me luck on finals!

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

From now on, I’m going to keep Feature Fridays shorter and add on a list of my favorite links from the past week or so I constantly run across so many fascinating articles and blog posts to share that I felt I should start sharing them over here, too! Here goes…Enjoy!

Feature Friday: Asylum Access

I recently heard of Asylum Access, and love their innovative approach. When most refugees flee, they usually go to neighboring countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America first - not immediately the U.S. or U.K. Asylum Access fosters the development of refugee rights projects & puts trained legal advocates around the world to connect with refugees who are seeking asylum. The organization also advocates for other human rights for refugees, like the right to work, send kids to school, and gain access to healthcare through international and national level policymaking and advocacy. They also educate refugees on their rights, educate local communities to understand the rights of refugees, and educate those in the U.S. to encourage action on behalf of refugees. Learn more about this great organization here!

Links for this week

• GiveWell blog questions whether Acumen Fund’s “patient capital” model is actually effective or not.
• “There Will Be Blood” – why focusing narrowly on Darfur while ignoring the secessionist South could spell big trouble for all of Sudan.
• In 2010, Desis are taking over Congress! Check out the 6 Indian American candidates who are running.
• Female circumcision/cutting - is it Islamic? A fascinating discussion.
• Check out Philanthropedia — a new way of ranking non-profits, based on experts’ recommendations and testimonials.
• Nick Kristof provides a balanced take on the aid debate, taking a middle ground between Easterly/Moyo and Sachs camps.
• Interesting interview with Louise Arbour, who is now the head of International Crisis Group; “From Justice to Prevention.”
• Are there too many non-profits is the wrong question to ask.
• Be sure to check out Ryan Stephens’ December Top 10 Gen Y bloggers ballot, and vote for your favorites.
• I LOVED reading some of the winning articles in the 2009 Guardian International Development journalism competition. It was an amazing way to bring attention to issues that are rarely touched upon in the Western media. Some of my favorite articles were — Tanzania tries to expel its refugees; street children in Cambodia; discrimination against Dalits in Bangladesh; post-war life for LRA child soldiers who are returning home; Bangladesh’s “Info Lady” phenomenon. Check them out!