Entries For: October 2005
2005-10-30
Meet Micki K., the Hollywood Blogger
Filed Under:
I love Micki! I have actually never met her, but I think she is a terrific human being.
Here is what I know about her. Micki is in charge of participate.net (http://participate.net/), an online community for film lovers who want to change the world. They go see movies with a social message, like “Good Night, and Good Luck” about the power of the press to advance social change, or “North Country,” about sexual harassment laws and how one individual can make a difference.
Then they visit Micki’s Web site to learn how they can actually create meaningful change.
Now, what’s interesting is that Micki also keeps a photo blog on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/redcarpet/), the online photo community owned by Yahoo! She snaps pictures of her glamorous Hollywood life with her trendy Moto Razr mobile phone, and uploads them right then and there.
That’s how I learned that someone scratched her car recently, or that she attends swimming pools parties just about every night.
Social entrepreneurs should learn how to deal with the Mickis of the world. The new generation of social activists is using new digital tools to connect, to network with each other and to gather information about their favorite causes. Knowing about Google, Safari and Instant Messaging is good, but not enough. These people think blogs, moblog and wiki. Their daily jargon includes RSS feeds, 360, and Orkut.
My advice: take a young social activist to lunch and find out how the Micki generation will change the world.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/
Here is what I know about her. Micki is in charge of participate.net (http://participate.net/), an online community for film lovers who want to change the world. They go see movies with a social message, like “Good Night, and Good Luck” about the power of the press to advance social change, or “North Country,” about sexual harassment laws and how one individual can make a difference.
Then they visit Micki’s Web site to learn how they can actually create meaningful change.
Now, what’s interesting is that Micki also keeps a photo blog on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/redcarpet/), the online photo community owned by Yahoo! She snaps pictures of her glamorous Hollywood life with her trendy Moto Razr mobile phone, and uploads them right then and there.
That’s how I learned that someone scratched her car recently, or that she attends swimming pools parties just about every night.
Social entrepreneurs should learn how to deal with the Mickis of the world. The new generation of social activists is using new digital tools to connect, to network with each other and to gather information about their favorite causes. Knowing about Google, Safari and Instant Messaging is good, but not enough. These people think blogs, moblog and wiki. Their daily jargon includes RSS feeds, 360, and Orkut.
My advice: take a young social activist to lunch and find out how the Micki generation will change the world.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/
2005-10-26
HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Catastrophe!
Filed Under:
The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa and its direct consequences are simply dreadful. Here are the raw facts:
• Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world’s population, but it is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV –over 25 million men, women and children.
• Just last year, 3 million people got infected, and over 2 million died of AIDS in the region.
• Twelve million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Who will raise them? What will happen to them?
• Women are the most likely to become infected: 78% of young people aged 15-24 living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are female. There are on average 36 young women living with HIV for every 10 young men.
• South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world.
• Up to 20% of nurses in South Africa are HIV positive. Who will take care of the other patients?
• Because of AIDS, life expectancy at birth has dropped below 40 years in nine African countries: Botswana, the Central African Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• In Zimbabwe, life expectancy at birth was 34 years in 2003, compared with 52 years in 1990.
• Research in Tanzania has shown that women spend 50% less time doing farm work when their husbands are ill. Who will feed their children?
The bottom line: The ABC prevention approach (Abstinence, Being faithful or reducing the number of sexual partners, and Condom use) is clearly insufficient.
Indeed, we know that fear of violence often prevents many women from accessing HIV information, getting tested and seeking treatment. They know that they may face violence if they are found to be HIV-positive.
Social entrepreneurs should address issues generated by gender inequalities and should include violence prevention in their work. They should also work on property and inheritance rights, access to basic education and employment opportunities for women and girls.
Africa was the cradle of civilization. Let’s make sure that it doesn’t become its graveyard.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/
• Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world’s population, but it is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV –over 25 million men, women and children.
• Just last year, 3 million people got infected, and over 2 million died of AIDS in the region.
• Twelve million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Who will raise them? What will happen to them?
• Women are the most likely to become infected: 78% of young people aged 15-24 living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are female. There are on average 36 young women living with HIV for every 10 young men.
• South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world.
• Up to 20% of nurses in South Africa are HIV positive. Who will take care of the other patients?
• Because of AIDS, life expectancy at birth has dropped below 40 years in nine African countries: Botswana, the Central African Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• In Zimbabwe, life expectancy at birth was 34 years in 2003, compared with 52 years in 1990.
• Research in Tanzania has shown that women spend 50% less time doing farm work when their husbands are ill. Who will feed their children?
The bottom line: The ABC prevention approach (Abstinence, Being faithful or reducing the number of sexual partners, and Condom use) is clearly insufficient.
Indeed, we know that fear of violence often prevents many women from accessing HIV information, getting tested and seeking treatment. They know that they may face violence if they are found to be HIV-positive.
Social entrepreneurs should address issues generated by gender inequalities and should include violence prevention in their work. They should also work on property and inheritance rights, access to basic education and employment opportunities for women and girls.
Africa was the cradle of civilization. Let’s make sure that it doesn’t become its graveyard.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/
2005-10-24
Let them do business –or they will starve!
Filed Under:
The World Bank recently published its annual “Doing Business” report, showing where it is easy to start and run a new business… and where it is not so easy. In the past, the report listed only the top performers, those countries where opening a business could be done in days, if not hours. This was probably to avoid humiliating those at the bottom of the list.
This year, the list includes all 155 countries, ranging from New Zealand (#1) and Singapore (#2) down to Burkina Faso (#154) and the Congo (#155).
I am no big fan of Paul Wolfowitz and his vision of international affairs. But if he is personally responsible for this change, hats off to him! We should have no qualms at pointing the finger at those governments who like to blame the rest of the world for the poor state of affairs in their country, when their own bloated bureaucracies are responsible for blocking personal initiative and the spirit of competition.
Why does this report matter? Because the World Bank’s analysts, who focused on tax costs, access to credit and property rules, found out that an entrepreneur in Benin has to pay far higher social taxes than his counterpart in Denmark. And because they found out that regulation of hiring, firing and working hours is vastly stricter in Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone than in any parts of the developed world, including Scandinavia and Western Europe.
In general, if the business regulatory burden is cumbersome, the black economy will thrive and the poor will not be able to escape poverty. In addition, an excess of regulations often means more money for corrupt officials. Bureaucratic steps required to launch a private venture are often just tricks to extract bribes by local authorities.
The BRIC countries, which are de facto the largest emerging market countries, are among the most difficult places in which to do business. They all rank in the bottom half of the 155 nations reviewed by the World Bank: Russia is 79, China is 91, India is two places behind Iraq at 116, and Brazil is 119.
However, hope is insight, at least in some parts of the world. Some of the former Soviet republics have made big advances in supporting private business. For example, Lithuania (14) and Estonia (15) ranked ahead of Switzerland and Germany.
The bottom line: streamline and simplify! Let your entrepreneurs thrive and feed their families.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/
This year, the list includes all 155 countries, ranging from New Zealand (#1) and Singapore (#2) down to Burkina Faso (#154) and the Congo (#155).
I am no big fan of Paul Wolfowitz and his vision of international affairs. But if he is personally responsible for this change, hats off to him! We should have no qualms at pointing the finger at those governments who like to blame the rest of the world for the poor state of affairs in their country, when their own bloated bureaucracies are responsible for blocking personal initiative and the spirit of competition.
Why does this report matter? Because the World Bank’s analysts, who focused on tax costs, access to credit and property rules, found out that an entrepreneur in Benin has to pay far higher social taxes than his counterpart in Denmark. And because they found out that regulation of hiring, firing and working hours is vastly stricter in Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone than in any parts of the developed world, including Scandinavia and Western Europe.
In general, if the business regulatory burden is cumbersome, the black economy will thrive and the poor will not be able to escape poverty. In addition, an excess of regulations often means more money for corrupt officials. Bureaucratic steps required to launch a private venture are often just tricks to extract bribes by local authorities.
The BRIC countries, which are de facto the largest emerging market countries, are among the most difficult places in which to do business. They all rank in the bottom half of the 155 nations reviewed by the World Bank: Russia is 79, China is 91, India is two places behind Iraq at 116, and Brazil is 119.
However, hope is insight, at least in some parts of the world. Some of the former Soviet republics have made big advances in supporting private business. For example, Lithuania (14) and Estonia (15) ranked ahead of Switzerland and Germany.
The bottom line: streamline and simplify! Let your entrepreneurs thrive and feed their families.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx/
2005-10-19
Turkey and the European Union
At
last, Turkey and the EU started talking seriously about what it would
take for the predominantly-Muslim country to be accepted in the Club of
25 European nations. It is about time!
I spent a lot of time in Turkey in the 80’s as a photojournalist and I was impressed by the level of individual entrepreneurship and the strong separation of mosque and state.
Why did it take so long for the two parties to talk? Turkey’s population is mostly Muslim, as most Christians and Jews left in the 19th and 20th centuries. And European nations, especially France and Austria, are reluctant to give 70 million Muslims (most of them quite young) the key to the European kingdom. They know that in 10 years, Turkey will be the largest country in Europe by population, and may be "overly" represented in the European Parliament.
Enough with that! Before being called Istanbul, Turkey’s largest and most exciting city was first called Byzantium, then Constantinople. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Turkey belongs to Europe, and Europe needs Turkey’s young and ambitious entrepreneurs.
Besides, what is the alternative: should Europe let Turkey move towards Muslim fundamentalism or militaristic nationalism? Should Europe let Turkey get closer to its eastern neighbors –Iran and Iraq? Would Europe and the rest of the world be a safer place?
Jean Monnet, the social entrepreneur who envisioned a united Europe while the continent was still in ruins because of WW2, knew that building consensus would take time. Twenty-five countries later, now is the time to bring the Eastern cousin back into the family.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile blog at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx
I spent a lot of time in Turkey in the 80’s as a photojournalist and I was impressed by the level of individual entrepreneurship and the strong separation of mosque and state.
Why did it take so long for the two parties to talk? Turkey’s population is mostly Muslim, as most Christians and Jews left in the 19th and 20th centuries. And European nations, especially France and Austria, are reluctant to give 70 million Muslims (most of them quite young) the key to the European kingdom. They know that in 10 years, Turkey will be the largest country in Europe by population, and may be "overly" represented in the European Parliament.
Enough with that! Before being called Istanbul, Turkey’s largest and most exciting city was first called Byzantium, then Constantinople. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Turkey belongs to Europe, and Europe needs Turkey’s young and ambitious entrepreneurs.
Besides, what is the alternative: should Europe let Turkey move towards Muslim fundamentalism or militaristic nationalism? Should Europe let Turkey get closer to its eastern neighbors –Iran and Iraq? Would Europe and the rest of the world be a safer place?
Jean Monnet, the social entrepreneur who envisioned a united Europe while the continent was still in ruins because of WW2, knew that building consensus would take time. Twenty-five countries later, now is the time to bring the Eastern cousin back into the family.
Global X keeps a wireless mobile blog at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalx
