HIC at the World Urban Forum
The next annual events of Habitat International Coalition will take place in Vancouver, Canada, from 18 to 24 June 2006
Joint Declaration of Social Movements in Defense of Water
From March 14 to 19th, we, human beings with a holistic vision of life, activists from social movements, non-governmental organizations, and networks that struggle throughout the world in the defense of water and territory and for the commons, have shared ideas, struggles, worries and proposals. At the same time we have realized how our struggles have brought change around the world, slowing the process of water privatization. Now that we are not on the defensive, we are capable of promoting concrete proposals advancing in the life of every corner of our world.
Destroyed shelters, destroyed lives
In Cameroon, thousands of people have seen their houses destroyed and hundreds of others will undergo the same violence. “One day they came with an eviction notice, and the following morning, they came with their machines and destroyed everything, including banana and avocado trees, everything.” says Ms. Edzogo, resident of a partly destroyed neighbourhood in Yaounde.
Concerned at evictions, UN calls on Angola to comply with human rights laws
Not only Zimbabwe is executing massive eviction campaigns against informal settlers in Southern Africa. The Angolan government has maintained the same policy "for many years," a UN human rights official today revealed. He in particular criticised Angola for "violent cases" in the capital Luanda and for not letting him visit the country to make an inspection.
El-Hurriah Dwellers go on a Hunger Strike to defend their Housing Rights
The Egyptian Center for Housing Rights has kept track of the latest events witnessed in Port Said city, which have led 23 families to have come into a sit-in before the faculty of education, located at Mohamed Ali Street in Port Said, and been on a hunger strike since Thursday 23/3/2006.
People’s properties: Communities resist ‘ugly’ development
Whether it is against the megadam to be built over the Narmada River in India or the Kalabagh dam between Sindh and Punjab provinces in Pakistan, communities that share a legacy of oppression, social exclusion and economic deprivation vow to resist this aggressive brand of development.
WSF: Karachi and the road to Nairobi 2007
The political atmosphere has changed since the first Forum, organised as a counterpuch to the all/mighty World Economic Forum. The question that hangs at the end of the three-legged Polycentric WSF 2006 is what comes next. While the WSF is no longer a yearly festival of political losers, neither is it anything else.
Hope when there is no hope
Polls reported recently that more than 80% of Filipinos hope that 2006 will be better for them than the past year. This seems a good example of Christian hope of which it is said, “Christian hope begins when there is no hope.” Such hope appears to be deep in the bones of Filipinos, and luckily so for government and all in authority. In Happyland, Tondo on January 2 we met thousands of such people, still patient, forbearing and hopeful for better days, though a fire destroyed the homes of 3,000 families there two days before the New Year began.
World must ensure women’s advances in decision-making are sustained and irreversible
Today, important decisions that shape and determine the lives of individual women and men are made in many places: in families and communities, in businesses and civil society organisations, and in political structures at the international, national and local level. While, on a global scale, this process is still dominated by men, women are continuing their struggle for equal access to the channels of formal and informal decision-making worldwide.
IFI loans and the failure of urban development
Between 1976 and 2003, the government of Pakistan has taken loans from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) for urban development
projects. These loans amount to US$ 1,472.44 million (Rs 88.346 billion)
and most of them have been for water and sanitation projects. They have multiplied over the years due to the devolution of the rupee and interest. These loans were identified through technical assistance for which an additional US$ 16.95 million (Rs 1.017 billion) was provided. Technical assistance includes development of human resources and the capacity building of relevant government institutions.
Home demolition in Naqab/Negev, Israel
Israeli police and Interior Ministry officials demolished five homes in Um Mitnan village on 27 February 2006. The demolition force entered the homes and forced out the women and their children, who were crying and scared. The authorities demolished these homes were two days after the Solidarity Day organized last Saturday, 25 February, protecting such demolitions and population transfer. This action seems to be a direct challenge to the Arab public and organizations that showed solidarity with the people in the unrecognized villages.
A escobazo limpio
Las fuerzas oscuras del mundo parecen obsesionadas estos días con la limpieza urbana. El "embellecimiento urbano", obvio es decirlo, ha sido siempre un eufemismo orwelliano. En el tercer mundo urbano las personas pobres temen siempre los acontecimientos internacionales de alto nivel -conferencias, visitas de dignatarios, competiciones deportivas, concursos de belleza y festivales internacionales- que empujan a las autoridades a lanzar cruzadas de limpieza de la ciudad. Los habitantes de los barrios miserables saben que son lo "sucio", el "tizón" que sus gobiernos prefieren ocultar al mundo.