Dear Sylwia ,
Torture. Long-term detentions without charge or trial. Censorship of the internet and media. Does this sound like a country that’s trying to improve its human rights record?
Ye Guozhu, a human rights defender in Beijing, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for taking action against forced evictions related to the Olympics. Amnesty International fears he has been tortured while in detention. He was due to be released on Saturday, July 26 but will now remain imprisoned until October, after the end of the 2008 Olympic Games.
Chinese authorities have stepped up their repression of human rights defenders in order to “clean up” Beijing. With the Olympics only 10 days away, take action and urge China to create a positive human rights legacy.
In 2001 China made a promise to improve its human rights record if given the honor of hosting the Olympic Games. Instead, China has become increasingly repressive with crackdowns on dissent and the rounding up and arrest of human rights defenders. Citing "security", China has imprisoned individuals for doing nothing more than drawing international attention to ongoing human rights violations.
President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Games on August 8. Before he leaves for Beijing, tell President Bush to make a public statement condemning the human rights violations perpetrated in preparation for the Olympics.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Amnesty News...
Adidas Women Challenge in Amnesty News
Actions
Yemen: Fatima Hussein al-Badi After an unfair trial which was exacerbated by interference from Parliament and the President of Yemen, Fatima Hussein al-Badi is at risk of execution. Take action
South Africa: Rural women living with HIV face discrimination. Treatment for HIV and AIDS requires regular visits to hospitals and clinics. Rural women living in poverty and unemployment often cannot afford the transportation. Take action
South Africa: Inadequate care and support for rural victims of sexual assault.The South African government is obliged by law to provide a means of preventing HIV infection after sexual assault. However, poverty and distance create barriers to the access of treatment. Take action
Events
Adidas Women's Challenge: 7 September 2008. The Adidas Women's Challenge is one of the UK's biggest women-only races. It takes place in London, Birmingham and Liverpool, and over 30,000 women enter. Join them as part of Team Amnnesty
You can always find out more on these and other issues on the Women's Action Network pages of our website.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Life changing books
I started reading Fromm's Man for Himself and I feel bizarre! The book is changing me...you know the feeling when you live chaos and suddenly everything starts to fall in its place? The puzzles start to show a shape and you sit back and relax? That's what Fromm did and still does to me....but there were others too. Last weekend was quite relaxed and even though I still had no time to write down my trip to Spain (due to the fact I have 500 pix to go through and no time at all!), I decided to write down a list of books that changed my life.
1. Bible - born in a Catholic family I was raised with it, had it always around, studied it...It gave me basics for my own values, later on sadly made me realize I cannot represent Catholic Church. Nonetheless I still live most of what I've learned from it, but very much incorporated it in modern reality:)
2. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice - I remember the scene and the day when I realized the paradox of human life and longing for eternity. I was upset for a few weeks, that life was given to be taken away and art, music, architecture will survive when I will be gone. (or those who do not know me I AM and egocentric person). I kept the copy I received form a friend from Egypt as one of my little treasures:)
3. The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco - thought me to smile and appreciate what I have and the education I was given; thought me to love books and libraries.
4. Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women by Anne Moir and David Jessel - great study of female and male biology, brain structure, growing up and socialization as well as everyday behavior. I was a feminist when I read it - and stopped being one, hehe, it kinda put all sex differences in order and I learned to appreciate that men think and behave differently and it all works quite well;)
5. The Sane Society by Erich Fromm - well writer critique or a study of Western society, extremely improved my relationship with my family, opened my eyes to all the mechanisms below the surface, helps me to manage my relationship with my parents and later on with my son.
6. Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo helped me to find a balance between my Catholic background, post-modern nature and Zen philosophy - if that makes sense...
7. The Letters of Vincent van Gogh by Vincent Van Gogh, Ronald de Leeuw, and Arnold J. Pomerans - increased my sensitivity in photography and pushed me to achieve more - I always go back to this book, whenever I feel I am stuck.
8. Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz - once finished studies I went back to this - cherished in my house, since my dad comes from Lithuania - book on Lithuanian Poles during Napoleon times. I realized I miss old times, and even though I am a fan of post-modern myself I do think back on my ancestors' traditions and long for those delicious meals, huntings and picking mushrooms and blueberries in the forests that are endless and beautiful or in Hungary for example: sipping a coffeee and enjoying a gorgeous cake in one of Budapest 'cukraszdas' - any of those traditions that are gone forever .... ech...
9. Polka and Tarot Paryski by Manuela Gretkowska - first one guided my through pregnancy, second one developed my laid back attitude! I love her writing!
10. 11 Minutes by Coelho - one of those simple stories that quite you trough hard times - really helped me out of my horrible marriage:)
11. Girl with One Track Mind by Abby Lee - this will sound bizarre, I know, but the way she wrote her diary down brought back the magic to my life lately - maybe simply because she was so honest and so feminine...
11. Mental Fight by Ben Okri - sooo right about the times we live in!!!!
Well, and there is Fromm and his view on ethics now...let's see how it shapes me.
In the meantime I do follow others. Rice, Coelho and Abby Lee blog, Ben Okri was in Oxford lately and the rest...well, I guess I need to go to the local library. There were others too, but I guess I have no more lunch brake left to list them:)
How about you? Did you read a book that affected you so much that it changed our actions?
Update: good to see that Big Bloggers, like Loic Le Meur write about this traditional medium as well:)
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Mamma Mia!
Once again a little bit of entertainment - I think I have decided to see more ambitious movies on DVD at home;) nevertheless I did enjoy this one! Made me cry, made me laugh, almost made me clap - oh, well, I WAS in a good mood, hehe...but seriously - Mamma Mia! is worth watching simply because it's well done and extremely feminist...I would be interested to see, what male audience think of it...
BTW - something a lovely American lady (met on Tube to London) said about older generation educating younger Americans was very transparent in this one, so thank you for that info, Susan - it was a pleasure to meet you and your Other Half! Please stay in touch!
Motivation
It's great to go to Hyde Park for a short walk (waiting for the Tube to Oxford) and to see so many people running - purely for their own pleasure! It's so motivating!
I spent half of my day traveling. I met few friends, made my son happy with few presents, and talk to my parents - feel quite fulfilled - still, the best part of my day became the evening when I went for a run - and did 1.5 km!!! And it's just the third day of my proper training. (It's true - taking a day off to let my muscles recover proved to be more effective than running every day!). Shocking how you can stretch yourself if you see a good example and basically decide to do it!
I will enjoy it even more once I start running with music. I bet Orishas will give me a good kick;)
Carla Bruni - Sziget Festival
OK, since I have the tickets and places to sleep sorted and I know my friends will be around in Budapest to spend few moments with me I started checking program of the Sziget Festival.
By coincidence I managed to get hold of Carla Bruni's CD as well...well, honestly I am slightly confused - my first impression was 'boring, monotone, flat voice'...still, as I listen to it all over again - still cannot decide if it's so bad, or so good I cannot make a proper statement:/ - I think I might be changing my mind...
I think I will go to see R.E.M., Kispál és a Borz (oh, how I miss them!), Goran Bregovic and definetly Anima Sounds System (boys whom I remember from underground clubs), I am not sure I will go to see her...
Friday, 25 July 2008
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
just give me a smile
I always used to do that - count daily amount of smiles random people would share with me. There is something magical in that facial expression which originally happened to be a warning sign! How bizarre. As a little girl I would have this thought at the back of my head and wait for the first person - complete strangers or friends, family members - to smile at me unconditionally. There is a way to do it, actually - all you need is the intention, the atmosphere of suspense, light look into their eyes showing encouragement...and there it is - pure, uncontrolled smile. They pass you by and do not even realize why it happened.
I still consider a day successful if I get at least one of those smiles!
Tonight the run was a torture - second time is always worst than the first one. Tomorrow will be easier, I guess. But, my efforts were rewarded - a complete stranger smiled at me - pleasantly, not in a mocking way. It gave me a good kick of energy and calmed my poor heart down. I survived!
The day was successful.
:)
I need audience, but I'm not killing for it;)
Please do not make me do that! I appreciate blogging for fun, but do not make me read your stuff if it's boring or simply if I have no idea who you are...two much info=bad info...
from Doug Savage's site.
Podcast on WOM Marketing
Just decided to browse for some audio shizzle (no Colin, not STUFF, but SHIZZLE;)) found interview with Walter Carl, buzz marketing specialist, as a podcast - you can listen to it here, but only if you are interested in the definition and basics of WOM Marketing - very top line shizzle...
Monday, 21 July 2008
First run
...was awful! I do not want to write about it...I hate myself for being big, clumsy, and weak. Looser... you know, I bet you know what comes to my mind - what the f@@@ have I been doing for the last 2.5 years? Raising a kid, going though hell marriage and ..FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF, FEELING MISERABLE instead of moving my ass. Looking for excuses not to do anything about my health! Ah, I was happy for a sec, now I am going mad from my own stupidity. 30 years old, and so dumb...
Sunday, 20 July 2008
WOM in Polish - terminology of World Of Mouth marketing
I finally managed to find a good Polish blog on WOM Marketing, actually via this viral posted on YouTube...
Dawid Trzeciak just tought me the Polish expression for it: 'marketing szeptany' which is 'whispering marketing'...cute:) Apart from videos, worth checking is the link to Dave Balter's 'The Word of Mouth Manual Volume II' .
Not long to go
...and I am still not running! It freaks me out, but I am just trying to get out of bronchitis I managed to get last weekend, so I think I should be patient with myself. I am worried though - I did not swimming for two weeks, and skipped few home trainings last weeks too:@ Bad, bad girl. I still believe that I can make it, but I might decide to walk the 5k and shift to writing about chocolate even more often:P
Compromise: Flock and Firefox 3
I am forced to compromise. After long weekend away from my laptop I finally managed to grab my dongle and test a few browsers. I must admit my sentiment towards blogging with Flock stays the same, so I am leaving it purely for those and social networking purposes. I decided to use Firefox 3 for work and serious browsing, since this software seems to be most developed and reliable so far. Let me know if I made a good choice, or shall I look for more options still...tempted to get them both in Polish though.
Update: I have just been contacted by Evan from Flock, who asked me about my issues with their browser - appologies, but it is private communication via comment, so I deleted it, and responded to him via e-mail. It's good to know Flock guys are interested in our problems and willing to potentially sort them out. Thanks, Evan!
Sunday, 6 July 2008
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Emergency chocolate...
lengis something that I have found in my local store today...together with other useful ideas. I got it and I will keep it until September. By then the collection will probably grow and I will have a nice box of chocolate to feed on after those few weeks of starvation:/
and stylish?
Good night, SWEET dreams!
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