Petition to condemn Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill

I have just had this sent to me by a friend on Facebook and thought it worth posting it here. Check out and sign this worthy petition if you can, by following this link:

http://www.change.org/petitions/barclays-barclaysonline-and-citibank-citibank-condemn-uganda-s-kill-the-gays-bill?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=2911934

In a matter of days Uganda is set to pass the so-called “Kill the Gays” bill. The Bill could enshrine in law the death penalty for LGBT people. Activists in Uganda say that one way to stop this is by putting pressure on powerful international banks in the country to condemn the bill. 

Barclays and Citibank - two of the largest banks in the world - both have millions of pounds invested in Uganda and wield a huge influence on the government. Citibank has nearly $300 million in assets invested Uganda, and is a major leader in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce based in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Barclays is Uganda’s third largest bank, with more than 1,000 employees in the country.

A public statement from Barclays speaking out against the "Kill the Gays" bill might be the best chance to stop it and save gay people from being executed.

Both banks have supported human rights for LGBT people in the Europe and the US. Barclays is one of the UK's top employers for LGBT people and prides itself on its work championing gay equality in Britain. But they cannot help us in the UK while helping to prop up a regime that kills LGBT people in Uganda.

With the “Kill the Gays” bill looming in Uganda’s parliament, Citibank and Barclays could help stop this bill in its tracks. Their presence in Uganda is significant, and their voices in opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill could keep LGBT people in Uganda safe.

Ask Barclays and Citibank to publicly condemn Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and send a message to Ugandan legislators that criminalising homosexuality with lifetime prison sentences and the death penalty will not be supported by major international businesses.

This is a global campaign. Collin Burton a Citibank customer in the US started a petition there and as a UK Barclays customer I've started this linked petition targeting the banks here in the UK as well.  The counter on this petition reflects the cumulative efforts of both of these petitions. 

To: 

Head of Corporate Communications, Barclays (Stephen Doherty)
Head of Brand, Reputation and Citizenship at Barclays Group (David Wheldon)
Citi Executive Vice President for Global Public Affairs (Edward Skylar) 

As one of the largest banks in the world, I know you have major operations and many employees in Uganda.

You're also well known for supporting your LGBT employees and protecting employees and customers from anti-gay discrimination.

With the “Kill the Gays” moving quickly in Uganda’s parliament, you have unique and necessary voice that could help stop this bill in its tracks. Your presence in Uganda is significant, and your voice in opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill could have a profound impact in keeping LGBT people safe in Uganda.

I ask you to publicly condemn Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and send a loud message to Ugandan legislators that criminalising homosexuality with lifetime prison sentences and the death penalty won’t be supported by major international businesses.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Can anyone crack the pigeon's wartime code?

Here is an article from Yahoo news that may be of interest to readers!

Can anyone crack the pigeon's wartime code?

By Dasha Afanasieva | Reuters – 23 hours ago

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  Yahoo! News - The remains of a WW2 carrier pigeon and its red message cannister

LONDON (Reuters) - A World War Two code found strapped to the leg of a dead pigeon stuck in a chimney for the last 70 years may never be broken, a British intelligence agency said on Friday.

The bird was found by a man in Surrey, southern England while he was cleaning out a disused fireplace at his home earlier this month.

The message, a series of 27 groups of five letters each, was inside a red canister attached to the pigeon's leg bone and has stumped code-breakers from Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain's main electronic intelligence-gathering agency.

"Without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, it will remain impossible to decrypt," a GCHQ spokesman said.

The message is consistent with the use of code books to translate messages which were then encrypted, according to GCHQ, one of Britain's three intelligence agencies.

However without knowing who the sender, "Sjt W Stot", is or the intended destination, given as "X02", it is extremely difficult to decipher the code, GCHQ said.

The top secret message - but what does it mean? (SWNS)

Although the code books and encryption systems used should have been destroyed, there is a small chance that one exists somewhere.

A spokesman for GCHQ said it was "disappointing" that the message brought back by a "brave" carrier pigeon cannot be read.

He added: "It is a tribute to the skills of the wartime code-makers that, despite working under severe pressure, they devised a code that was undecipherable both then and now."

The Curator of the Pigeon Museum at Bletchley Park, north of London, Britain's main code-breaking centre during World War Two, is also trying to trace the identity numbers of the pigeon found in the message, according to GCHQ.

Pigeons were used extensively in the war to carry vital information to Britain from mainland Europe. Flying at speeds of up to 80 km per hour, they can travel distances of up to 1,000 km but were vulnerable to hungry hawks and bored soldiers who used to take pot-shots at them as they flew overhead.

For a Reuters video on the pigeon's discovery: http://uk.reuters.com/video/2012/11/02/wwii-carrier-pigeon-remains-found-in-uk?videoId=238829953

(Reporting By Dasha Afanasieva, editing by Paul Casciato)

@YahooNewsUK on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook 

Mahatma Gandhi : Film : MAHATMA - Life of Gandhi, 1869-1948 (5hrs 10min)

I have just found this video on YouTube and thought that a documentary on the life and philosophy Mohondas K Gandhi, one of my great pacifist heroes, might inspire you over the weekend. It is a bit of an epic at over 5 hours, but perhaps you can watch it in more manageable chunks. I will keep it on the blog, so that it can be viewed over a long period if necessary.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Full Video)

As I have visitors arriving this evening for the weekend, I am not sure how much time I will have to blog before next week, so to keep readers entertained, here is one of my favorite antiwar films, All Quiet on the Western Front downloaded from YouTube. 

Enjoy!

N.B. There is a long video at the beginning that I could not get rid of, so if you want to go straight to the film, it starts at 3.58 mins

Filipina 'comfort women' await Tokyo apology - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Filipina 'comfort women' await Tokyo apology - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Here is the second of the posts on Comfort Women that I have shared from Al Jazeera website, the link is at:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/08/201281835643311972.html

Regular readers will know of my support for the cause of the Comfort Women, and my on going campaign to publicize their campaign. Please feel free to share any posting on this site with your friends and colleagues, and particularly those that relate to these courageous women.

Here is the accompanying text to the video:

It has been 67 years since the end of World War II, but its shadows still haunt those who survived it. 
 
Dozens of Philippine women say they were used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers.  
 
Al Jazeera first reported the story of the "comfort women" five years ago.
 
As part of the "What Happened Next" series, Marga Ortigas revisited some of the women who are still waiting for justice in Manila.

Sex slaves demand Japan apology - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Sex slaves demand Japan apology - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Having now found out how to share content, here is an article on my pet campaign, Comfort Women from the Second World War, with a further post to follow. Here is the link:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2007/05/200852512226943709.html

and the accompanying text:

Sex slaves demand Japan apology

Ex-comfort women tell global forum of horror inflicted by Japanese soldiers. Last Modified: 23 May 2007 00:36 GMT inShare Email Print Share Feedback

Most of the sex slaves were Korean women [GALLO/GETTY] Asian women forced by Japan into wartime sexual slavery have asked for a public apology and legal compensation.   Attending the 8th Asian Solidarity Conference for Japan's Military Sexual Slavery, they also accused Japan of denying government involvement in the wartime atrocities. "Japan's sexual slavery was an unprecedented, the gravest and the most vicious violation of human rights in history," Hong Sun-Ok, North Korea's chief delegate, said.   About 100 people from 10 countries heard women from South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan talk about being Japan's sex slaves. Wu Hsiu Mei, 90, said she was put in a Japanese army brothel in Guangzhou, China, and gang raped.   "At the station ... there were 30 Japanese forces. They were scary. I was raped by the troops, all of the soldiers there," she added.   Rape and torture   Pilar, left, said she serviced up to six Japanese soldiers a night Pilar Frias, 80, of the Philippines, testified at the forum that she had to service up to six Japanese soldiers every night while travelling with troops for two months.   "I am the right evidence that there was coercion," she said, pointing to her facial burn scar she said was sustained while resisting being taken by the Japanese.   "I'm very, very ugly now because the Japanese soldier is the one who make this ugliness."   Pilar said she was kept tied by a rope to other women who served the soldiers by day and were raped at night.   "I can never forgive them for all I suffered in their hands… every time I look in the mirror and see this… that's my first memory of hardship by their hand," she added.   In the 1990s, 174 Filipino women came forward claiming to have served as sex slaves for Japan's soldiers. Many of them have since died.   'Red House'   Lita, right, entering the 'Red House' where 80 or so women and girls were raped But there are some who have been told they did not even qualify for compensation because they were not kept as "comfort women".   Lita Vinuya and her childhood friend Pilar Galang were among 80 women and girls – some as young as 11 – from Mapanique, a village 150km north of Manila, who were systematically raped in the Red House, the local Japanese army headquarters during the war.   Lita said she still remembers the room where Japanese soldiers raped five girls, including her, in the Red House.   The women have also written songs to remind the world of the "blackest night" of their lives.   No forgiveness   Lita, right, and Galang say that night was the "blackest night" of their lives Despite receiving "atonement" money from mostly private groups, the Filipino sex slaves want justice directly from the Japanese government, as well as for their stories to be noted as fact in history books.   Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, provoked a furore in Asian nations in March when he denied that comfort women were forced into sexual slavery "in the strict sense of coercion".   Abe has said he stands by Japan's landmark 1993 apology to the women and last month stressed his sympathy for Asian women driven into brothels by Japan's military.   Historians say up to 200,000 young women, mostly from Korea but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, were forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels.

Ukraine: State of Chaos - Witness - Al Jazeera English

Ukraine: State of Chaos - Witness - Al Jazeera English

Here is a documentary that I viewed on Al Jazeera this afternoon and though that readers might find it interesting, particularly as Julia Tymoshenko is still rotting in a Ukrainian jail on trumped up charges. Here is the accompanying text from and web address that I have taken this from: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2012/11/2012112261029228352.html

Filmmakers: Jill Emery and Jean Michel Carre

Ukraine, the biggest country in Eastern Europe, is sandwiched between Russia and the West. It was a vital player in the downfall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991.

And the Orange Revolution in 2004 ended the corrupt autocratic pro-Russian regime.

But six years later, through the newly elected President Viktor Yanukovich, the head of the Party of Regions, it returned to the grips of its powerful oligarchs and Russia. So the people got neither the rule of law nor the democracy they had imagined.

Filmmaker view

By Jill Emery

It's terrible to lie in chains and rot in dungy deep,
But it's still worse when you are free,
To sleep and sleep and sleep.

(Taras Chevchenko, 1814-1861, a famous Ukrainian poet and author of the national anthem)

I visited Ukraine for the first time in 1963 on a school trip to Russia for pupils studying Russian in the UK. Ukrainian Nikita Kruschev had replaced Joseph Stalin at the head of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Ukraine, at the western extremity, was not like Russia - it seemed sunnier.

In the streets, young people gave us shy glances filled with curiosity, before lowering their eyes and hastening their pace. Talking to us meant danger for them. To them, we were from outer space - the enemy. But we soon found they were ready to take risks.

During our visit we were strictly controlled by our tourist guides. But at night we managed to escape their guard to meet two boys who had earlier thrown us a discrete ball of screwed up paper, which seemed to suggest a meeting place.

They were proficient in English, keen to know about the other side, rebellious, intelligent and curious. But they disappeared as soon as they heard the familiar sound of OGPU (secret police) officers nearby.

Unfortunately, Ukraine was another planet then, and to me it still is.

Ukraine has been shaped by centuries of invasion and today people of many different ethnic origins make up the population. The Ukrainians are an explosive, colourful, joyous people despite centuries of repression by big brother Russia. But the Orange Revolution was proof of what the people were capable of.

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By the end of 2004, I returned to Ukraine with Jean-Michel Carre to start work on a film.

It was during this period that the revolution was fully underway in Ukraine. In the capital, Kiev, people thronged the streets, night and day, old and young, together, talking in groups about their revolution, their democracy. How proud and optimistic they were.

We felt that our own democracies had a bitter flavour, but these people were so positive, so sure. Why had the Orange Revolution taken place? What had led up to it? How was history responsible for the present? A film had to be made.

We continued to film over the next six years at parliamentary election times, meeting people in different towns and villages. Crossing the country on bumpy roads, we followed the relentless and glamorous Yulia Tymoshenko as she campaigned in Siberian weather, opened blocks of council flats or visited modest shops.

People threw themselves at her feet. She was the Ukrainian Evita Peron. President Viktor Yushchenko remained more discreet, patriotic but inefficient and - to most minds - seriously, physically and psychologically diminished by his infamous poisoning during the Orange Revolution.

In the interviews we obtained, he makes damning accusations against Russian President Vladimir Putin and speaks frankly of his hatred for Tymoshenko.

For the Ukrainian people, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko's "political divorce" after only months in office was the end of a soap opera dream and the beginning of the end.

It became clear that the country was still corrupt, the political infrastructure a mess, individual personalities too important and basic essentials still Soviet.

Today, Ukraine still seems so different from Russia. The "bandit state" created by serving President Viktor Yanukovich and his oligarch cronies is even worse than the one that preceded the Orange Revolution.

Since filming, one of our journalist's assistants became councillor for her village on the outskirts of Kiev. She created a petition to protect Kiev Forest from building developers affiliated with Yanukovich. But she has had to hire bodyguards to protect her and her family from the oligarch police.

Meanwhile, our co-producer, who is now campaigning in the elections, is under investigation for his role in our film.

I have also personally received an official legal summons in Ukraine to reveal how much money Tymoshenko's party allegedly paid me to make a film against the regime.

My only hope is that the new regime has gone too far this time and that the people will revolt once again.

Ukraine: State of Chaos can be seen from Wednesday, November 21, at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 2000; Thursday: 1200; Friday: 0100; Saturday: 0600; Sunday: 2000; Monday: 1200; Tuesday: 0100. Click here for more Witness films.

The Lethal Chandeliers of Ružica Church

Here is an article from: http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=70 that I have just stumbled across and thought that readers may be interested in.

The Lethal Chandeliers of Ružica Church

 

August 16th, 2007

A gasp jumps from the lips of a surprised onlooker as their eyes fall on something that seems entirely out of place in this holy environment. One looks closer to examine it to make sure they are not mistaken. They are not. Lighting the frescoed walls of Ružica Church, a small chapel built into the side of Kalemegdan fortress, are two chandeliers made entirely of spent bullet casing, swords, and cannon parts. It is a more fitting decoration than one might realize.

A recent Curious Expeditions trip brought M and I to the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia. TheKalemegdan Fortress is as old as Beograd itself. Controlled at various times by the Serbs, Turks, Hungarians, and Austrians, the small dark church tucked in the Fortress’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/; side has seen a lot of action. The space the church now occupies was used by the Turks as gunpowder storage for over 100 years and it had to be largely rebuilt in 1920 after WWI. Though damaged by bombings there was an upshot to the terrible carnage of The Great War. While fighting alongside England and the US, Serbian soldiers on the Thessaloniki front took the time to put together these two amazing chandeliers.

WWI produced many artistic wonders. Wrought from brass artillery casing, and other detritus of war, these beautiful creations have come to be known as trench art. Artillery shells become candle holders, bullets are turned into lighters, shrapnel becomes a tiny plane. All crafted by dirty mud spattered soldiers, with their hands and the tools they had around them, all with death only a mortar shell away.

As long as there has been large scale war there has been trench art of one form or another. In the Napoleonic wars, the soldiers carved animal bones into complex ships. In the American Civil wars snuff boxes and game pieces were made from bone and bullets. Trench art would “http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;explode”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;, as it were, with WWI and the heavy use of machine guns and artillery. With all that used metal lying around the soldiers had plenty of material to work with. As written in a British soldier’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s letter,

“http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;The lads in the trenches while away the flat time by fashioning rings, crosses, and pendants out of bullets and the softer parts of shells.”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;

More complex items were made farther from the front lines, with simple blacksmithing techniques.

“http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;The shell case would then be filled either with a wooden block, molten lead or heated sand. This ensured that, when punching onto the side of the shell, a small indentation is made rather than a wider dent. Eventually the whole design would be hammered out through this simple process.”http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;

The fundamental creative urge shines through tremendously in these items. What could be more a better way to spend one’http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;s time in war than transforming the implements of death around you into objects that celebrate human ingenuity and artistry. The chandeliers that hang in Ružica Church, with cannon wheels as top level, sabers as supports, artillery cases as center columns and an uncountable number of bullet casings adorning them, may be one of the greatest example of Trench Art ever made.

For more on Trench Art check here, here and here.

Some excellent examples of Trench Art after the leap…http://curiousexpeditions.org.nyud.net/;

 

The The Lethal Chandeliers of Ružica Church by Curious Expeditions, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

How to Etch a Brass Shell Casing Without Acid: Update: Disposal of the Etching Solution

In my previous post last week, I told you how to Etch without using acids, by utilising a solution of copper sulphate crystals, table salt and tap water, however I forgot to explain that one of the benefits of this method is that it is relatively easy to dispose of the etching solution after use.

For the original post follow this link:

http://trenchartswordsintoploughshares.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/how-to-etch-brass-shell-casing-without.html

My trusty soda crystals are always by my side when etching shell casings, to act as a neutralising agent between periods in the etching bath

The solution itself will etch many shell casings before the need for disposal, by which point it will have turned brown in colour. Although I like a slow etch from the solution so that I have full control over the process, by the time that the solution turns brown, it will take too long to etch, even for me. At this point, the Bordeaux Technique (as this method is commonly referred to as) comes into its own when being utilised in a domestic setting without the support of a studio system and the ability for specialised disposal of chemicals, costing only the price of ordinary soda crystals available from supermarkets (I bought my last packet in a £1 shop)!

Simply, all that is needed is for the old solution to be poured away and the solids put into a plastic bag and put into the bin. This is the advice given by Hawthorn Printmaker Supplies where I purchased my Copper Sulphate Crystals from (www.hawthornprintmaker.co.uk), however I am a little more cautious. As the neutralising agent for the Copper Sulphate is the above mentioned soda crystals, I throw a bag in to the solution to dissolve before I pour it away, just to be on the safe side, and for the sake of £1, it gives me peace of mind without breaking the bank! However, if neat Copper Sulphate is to be disposed of, it must always be neutralised with soda crystals first, as it is hazardous to marine life!

As I do not etch every week, I decant my solution into 5Ltr water bottles. This is where you will notice the sediments settle in the bottom between etches. It becomes a crystalline lump in the bottom of the bottles, which, if you are not expecting it, could cause concern about the efficacy of the solution.

It should also be noted by printmakers, that this mordant will etch aluminium, zinc (which does not require the addition of salt in the solution), copper, and with time, steel plates. Although the postings have been specifically about etching brass shell casings, the general principals will work for etching plates for the purpose of intaglio processes.

If any clarification or advice is needed, I am happy to reply, and you are also welcome just to make comment.

Large shell casing etched with Copper Sulphate and Table Salt solution (Bordeaux Etching Technique)