Jon Popham
November 25, 2008 | 12:50 pm EST
Andy Kondrat:
I ask you to learn about Boikarabelo, the amazing community featured in our film, Angels in the Dust, today, World AIDS Day. Located in a rural area close to Johannesburg, Boikarabelo is a community founded by Marion and Con Cloete, two bold individuals who were anti-apartheid activists and are now HIV/AIDS activists. They’ve taken in hundreds of individuals from nearby towns who are victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
One cannot live in South Africa today and not be affected by this horrible disease which has ravaged the country. Approximately 4 million people died from AIDS between 1997 and 2006. Nearly one third of all pregnant South African women are HIV positive. Until recently, the South African government wouldn’t acknowledge the crisis and its interventions were limited and overwhelmingly ineffectual. Things have finally changed and infection rates have started to stabilize and perhaps even come down slightly.
What does the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic mean to you on World AIDS Day? takepart to learn more about the Cloetes and Boikarabelo. They need your support to continue their tireless work of providing education, housing, meals and most importantly a stable, loving community and support network. Boikarabelo is a bold, defiant community that enables children and adults to live with HIV/AIDS and to carry on the daily fight to stop this disease from spreading.
The Pelindaba Nuclear Research Facility in South Africa
The Pelindaba Nuclear Research Facility, the primary nuclear site in South Africa, was the setting for an armed raid last year with terrifying implications. In the 1970’s the South African government began a secret military program, like far too many nations around the world, to arm with nuclear weapons. By the 1990’s however, under international pressure, and with the promise of international incentives, South Africa disarmed its nuclear arsenal. The stockpile of nuclear fuel, in the form of highly enriched uranium (HEU), stayed in the country however and today resides at the Pelindaba Nuclear Research Facility about 18 miles west of Pretoria.
HEU is a very difficult substance to process, and is the most difficult phase of the manufacture of a nuclear weapon. Once the uranium is properly refined there’s a relatively simple method involved in making a crude nuclear weapon, which would not be difficult for anyone with a PhD in Physics to figure out. Unfortunately it takes only a few pounds of the highly enriched uranium to make a crude atomic device. It is estimated that 1,000 pounds of HEU are currently stored at Pelindaba, which be worth, conservatively, hundreds of millions of dollars on the Black Market. The South African government has repeatedly assured the international community however that the facility is a fortress, heavily guarded against any potential attack. The events of a chilling raid last year however, demonstrated otherwise.
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by Daniel Maree
Last week brought the news of Thabo Mbeki’s official resignation as President of South Africa please, hold your applause.
Although his departure draws much needed attention to the seriously damaged South African state, it means little in the way of significant change for the country’s thoroughly corrupted ANC government.
Not surprisingly, US media coverage of the unfolding events (that is, what little coverage there has been) leaves more questions than answers.
Soccer/Football! I grew up playing it and love it to this day. I’ve always found it to be a sport that unites people, from the folks working together on the field, to the fans in the stands. Susan Koch takes that idea to the next level in her new documentary Kicking It. The film follows the lives of seven people that decide to represent their country at the Cape Town 2006 Homeless World Cup.
Plus, how can you go wrong with Colin Farrell?!
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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie Halper:
Necklacing Returns to South Africa, Tutu Calls for Peace, and History Repeats Itself
Ted Kennedy’s Malignant Brain Tumor: Sad News, But the Work Goes On
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Nicole Hughes:
Bush’s Food Aid Package Promotes Use of GMOs
Gas Prices Exceed Those of 1973 Oil Crisis
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Cost US 38 Trillion Annually
USDA Budget Squeeze Forces Agency to Stop Tracking Pesticide Use
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Jon Popham:
Brooklyn Bridge Birthday Celebration!
Smokey the Bear: Environmental Icon
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Giulia Rozzi:
Suicide Tourism in New York City
Kristin Davis and Her Solar Powered Home
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Gina Telaroli:
Media That Matters Film Festival Premieres on May 28th
Top 10 Ways Indiana Jones Saved the World: Part #1
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Necklacing– in which a rubber tire, filled with kerosene, is forced around a victim’s chest and arms and set on fire– was a common form punishment imposed by “people’s courts” Apartheid-era South Africa. The practice was first captured by the late photographer Kevin Carter. And Archbishop and peace activist Desmond Tutu once intervened to stop a man who was about to be necklaced. Tragically, nearly 20 years later, Tutu must, once again, call on South Africans to stop this brutal practice. Before the victims were suspected collaborators (with the apartheid regime) and criminals. Now refugees from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, who flee violence and poverty in their own countries are the victims. They are being blamed for taking jobs and driving up crime rates. 42 people have been killed, 28,000 people have been displaced by the violence and more than 400 have been arrested.
The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Want to learn our top eco-kinky tips for ‘greening up’ your sex life? How about the top 10 ways to take action against AIDS? Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie:
Annie Lennox & Top 10 Ways to Take Action Against AIDS
Somewhere Over the Rainbow: American Idol & Yip Harburg
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Nicole:
Top 10 Ways to ‘Green Up’ Your Sex Life
Top 10 Global Warming Myths Debunked
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Gina:
Boarding Gate’s Empty Adventure of Capitalism
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Say Hello to Our Guest Bloggers!
Jon Popham wrote:
Young At Heart Hits the Silver Screen
Andy Kondrat wrote:
Annie Lennox really does rock and SING! On American Idols Gives Back, The 53 (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?) Year old Scottish former Eurythmix singer performed Many Rivers To Cross and urged people to take action around women with HIV in South Africa.
Annie’s single Sing is from her album Songs of Mass Destruction. And she teamed up with 23 singers including Madonna, Celine Dion, Gladys Knight, Faith Hill and Shakira to record the song. Annie also started the SING campaign which raises awareness and money for organizations fighting HIV in South Africa. What inspired Annie?
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With the highest HIV infection rate in South Africa, the province of KwaZulu-Natal has become actress Charlize Theron’s charitable focus.
In partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation, Theron created created the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project. As its first mission, the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project is working in collaboration with Oprah’s Angel Network to provide lead funding to create a mobile health and computer unit designed to improve the health and social development of youth in Umkhanyakude District in South Africa. The mobile health and computer clinic is owned and operated by Mpilonhle, a community-based, non-governmental charitable organization that brings life-saving services directly to schools in the rural KwaZulu-Natal province.
and visit charlizeafricaoutreach.org to donate to this great cause.
Our second installation of the TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is here give you the very best of Katie, Nicole, Giulia, Gina and Kerry! More blogs means more to love this Valentine’s Day week, and more social action means a healthier and happier world for everyone. Check out our most popular posts of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.
Katie:
5 Ways to Take Action and Get Action On Valentine’s Day
Top 10 Guilt-Free Valentine’s Day Jewelry Gifts: Show Your Valentine You Have a Heart
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Nicole:
Kiva: Microlending to Change Lives
Top 10 New Releases to Inspire Social Change
Alicia Keys Uses Grammys to Help Keep a Child Alive
V-Day Celebrates Its 10 Year Anniversary!
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Gina:
Top 10 Movie Characters That Make A Difference
Art As Politics In “The Silence Before Bach”
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Kerry: