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Tuesday, September 6, 2022
PreventionWeb. News and Blogs Weekly Newsletter. September 6, 2022
Monday, September 5, 2022
Cuba relations with the U.S. and the World. U.S. 'DROP' the sanctions. September 2022
'A country that sends doctors to the poorest places in the world, offered assistance to Americans after Hurricane Katrina, fought cholera in Haiti and Ebola in Africa, and sent doctors to over 56 countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot be a foe. '
 The US Keeps Betting on Cuba Surrendering Out of Hunger
and Desperation By Gustavo A Maranges on September 4, 2022 Last
week, US President Joe Biden extended for one more year the sanctions on
Cuba, arguing the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. This mechanism has
been used for the last 60 years to back the countless sanctions that make up
the US blockade against Cuba.  This time, Biden only limited himself to saying that it was a
“matter of interest to the United States.” By a stroke of the pen, he
condemned the Cuban people to continue to suffer all the economic shortages
caused by the blockade. Sanctioning and playing with the welfare of millions
of people, with their very lives, seems to be a reflex action of US political
class. For Biden, it was just one of the hundreds of documents he
signed last week. Although, for Cubans, this one is a critical signature
that has a direct impact on their health, food for their families, working
conditions, possibilities to enjoy their country, and everything they do to
see their country flourish. The blockade is, without a doubt, the main
obstacle to Cuba’s development. Many of our readers know about all the scientific and social
achievements of the island despite the sanctions. Meanwhile, Cubans only
think of how much more they could have done without a blockade. The annual
losses to the Cuban families’ economy are estimated at billions of dollars,
but this is not nearly the worst damage. Enjoying a full childhood or further
progress in gender equality or women’s empowerment is hindered by the
sanctions, something recognized by UNESCO and NGOs such as OXFAM. Today, Cuba is going through the worst economic crisis in
decades, which is the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deficiencies of
the national business system, and the so-mentioned US sanctions. It is not
possible to explain Cuba’s reality without understanding the effect of the
blockade, since it catalyzes every mistake or wrong internal decision while
inhibiting any loophole of development. However, it has been a long time since the blockade, based on
an archaic Act, ceased to be only economic aggression; it now includes the
psychological level. This is no coincidence since it was its main objective,
as the State Department official Lester Mallory clearly stated in a
memorandum: the blockade main’s intention is to “(…) provoke hunger,
desperation and the overthrow of the government.” The Trading with the Enemy Act was the legal basis found by
the Kennedy administration in 1962 to sustain sanctions against Cuba by
considering it a “hostile state.” Despite the Cold War scenario, it was not
true then, and it still is a lie now. A lie repeated many times becomes
truth, the saying goes, although this is the exception that proves the rule.
No matter how often they repeat it, no one can believe in such absurdity. A country that sends doctors to the poorest places in the
world, offered assistance to Americans after Hurricane Katrina, fought
cholera in Haiti and Ebola in Africa, and sent doctors to over 56 countries
amid the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot be a foe. How can Cuba be so hostile if
there are eight bilateral cooperation agreements in force since Obama’s
administration? Cuba’s response was not long in coming. President Miguel
Diaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, as well as several
high-ranking Cuban diplomats, criticized Biden’s cowardly decision and
ratified Cuban’s will of not kneeling down before the extortions of any foreign
government. Cuba is socialist because we decided so in 1961 and ratified it
after every Constitution. Today, despite Cuba’s complex economic situation, those who
continue fighting for their social and political project are more than those
who abandon it. The US government thought it was impossible to survive
without its help in the sixties, then they got ready to return during the
special period. They thought everything would end after Fidel Castro left his
government position or later when he passed away. They bet on breaking us
during the COVID-19 pandemic, and today, they continue to do everything
possible to achieve the long-standing goal. All this shows the Machiavellian
character of the US policy towards Cuba and its shameful historical amnesia. Biden has maintained his predecessors’ bet, which confirms his
memory is not the best. Perhaps his case is even more reprehensible, not only
because it goes against his electoral promises, but also because his long
years in politics have allowed him to see all these failures with his own
eyes. Ratifying Cuba as a “hostile state” says more about the
current administration than about the Caribbean island itself. If someone
sees Cuba as a “hostile state”, it is because they feel threatened by its
example, by what it means to Latin Americans and many Americans who want a
fairer US. Cuba has never been hostile to Americans and they will never be.
Only those seeking to crush their neighbors’ sovereignty, stand for
imperialist policies, and this profoundly unequal world order, can see Cuba
in that way. For Democrats and Republican administrations alike, Cuba has
always been a thorn in their side. Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US |
2022 Relaunch of the NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant Program
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2022 Relaunch of the NALAC
Fund for the Arts Grant Program: Applications Now Open $10,000 Grant
Opportunities for Latinx Artists and Organizations April 14, 2022, San
Antonio – The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC)
announces the release of the 2022 guidelines and open call for applications
for the relaunch of the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) grant program. Latinx
artists and organizations of all disciplines based in the U.S. and Puerto
Rico may ... |
$10,000 Grant Opportunities for Latinx Artists and
Organizations
April 14, 2022, San Antonio – The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) announces the release of the 2022 guidelines and open call for applications for the relaunch of the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) grant program.
Latinx artists and
organizations of all disciplines based in the U.S. and Puerto Rico may apply
for $10,000 grant awards. The
NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) includes the NFA Adán Medrano Legacy Award in
Film, a $10,000 award for one emerging Latinx filmmaker.
For over 15 years the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) has been the
only national grant program of its kind, exclusively providing grants to Latinx
artists and arts organizations. In 2020 and 2021 NALAC’s grantmaking focus
shifted to create Actos de Confianza, a
COVID-19 relief effort which provided over a million dollars in need-based
funding to impacted artists and organizations.
This year marks the
return of the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), with a renewed focus on supporting
Latinx artists and organizations through project-based grant
awards.
“Through our Actos de Confianza relief program, which we ran in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, we aligned our support with
the resilience of our field, providing hundreds of artists with emergency
relief grants. Throughout the pandemic, we all experienced loss, challenge, and
uncertainty around the future of the arts. During this time, we persevered and
created, and the art created by our field has inspired the world and supported
collective healing in countless ways,” said Jackelin Treviño, NALAC Grants
Manager. “As we relaunch the NALAC Fund for the Arts, providing more funding to
the field than ever before, we are honored to support Latinx creators as they
get back to doing what they do best- making art and building community.”
T
he Flamboyan Artist Fellows
Interested applicants are encouraged to register for a NALAC
Fund for the Arts (NFA) support webinar. Support webinars will be held for both
individual artists and organizations. Additional support opportunities are
available on the NALAC website.
Support Webinars for Organization Grants
View the 2022 NALAC Fund for
the Arts (NFA) guidelines and application.
The NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) is made possible with significant
support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and Flamboyan Foundation.
About NALAC
The
National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is the nation’s
premier nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion,
advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field. For more
information about NALAC and its programs please visit www.nalac.org.
Jackelin Treviño, Grants Manager, jtrevino@nalac.org
Penny Rodriguez, Communications Coordinator, prodriguez@nalac.org
Sunday, September 4, 2022
True Equity. Grant Opportunity up to $500k. NAACP Environmental Justice
The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure. Nikki Giovanni
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Just 9 simple pages. Remember
we are a strategic intelligence organization. Information is the key. You
have until September 16th to get your interest
application in. environmentaljusticedatafund.com If
you know of an official IRS 501c3 in your community, pass along. Recommendation\Advise:
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Black
Emergency Managers Association International
Washington,
D.C.
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LATV
https://latv.com/afrolatino?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkuz69uX6-QIV-B6zAB08EQV8EAEYASAAEgI7hfD_BwE
LATV is more than a media company, it is a direct link to the growing voice of the Latino experience. As the original alternative, and only remaining Latino-owned TV network in the Hispanic television space, LATV has established itself as a pioneering network, a trend-setting brand, and an innovative content hub.
Does it still exist? Repost from April 2012 - IPS-Inter Press Service: Trash Disposal Complicates Climate Change Fight in Jamaica
 KINGSTON, April 25, 2012 (IPS) - For more
than a week this past February, the city choked on the acrid smoke that
forced schools and business to close. It racked up millions of dollars in
lost production and an estimated 60 million dollars in firefighting costs as
the city tried to combat yet another fire at Kingston's Riverton city dump.
No one knows what toxins were released in the early days of the fire, even though the fumes triggered health scares in communities within a two-mile radius and, according to some, as far as the old capital, Spanish Town. Highlighting continued inadequacies in emissions control and air quality monitoring, the fire led to renewed calls for stricter air quality regulations, even as authorities have no plans to mitigate increasing greenhouse gas emissions and little knowledge about the substances Jamaicans breathe in each day. People didn't learn the levels of emissions until three days later, when the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) deployed monitoring devices to measure air quality and emissions. Their joint report noted, "The data collected gives a reasonable indication of the impact and provides a good baseline to make decisive actions and inform the public on the risk if an event of this magnitude should reoccur." NEPA's coordinator of air quality management, Gary Campbell, confirmed that "analysis indicated the presence of particulate matter at many times the levels to which humans should be exposed". According to Jamaica's second national report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), respiratory diseases were among the leading causes of hospitalisation and death in 2005. Health statistics also show that in 2008, respiratory illnesses were the second most treated complaint in hospitals across the island. Pollution tied to climate change Jamaica's need to reduce emissions and control air pollution is crucial to its efforts to adapt to climate change and its strategies to reduce greenhouse gases. Climate change is expected to increase levels of respiratory diseases and exacerbate conditions that contribute to them. The report also listed fires at waste disposal sites, leachate and emissions of methane as leading sources of pollution. Head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management Ronald Jackson has recommended permanent closure of the site, noting that Riverton has passed the five-year limit for landfill operations. "It is advice we have already given. We have also suggested options that include waste-to-energy options; air quality monitoring to know what is happening with the people who live near by and the capping of the dump," he said. Aside from Riverton, six other dump sites do
not meet international standards as landfills, and trash pickers often cause
fires by burning tyres and other material to salvage metals. It is reported
as well that extortionists sometimes set fires in a bid to create jobs out of
the need to extinguish the blaze. Jamaica's inadequate trash collection system means that only 70 to 75 percent of household garbage reaches the dumps. There are no separate industrial dump sites. With most of rural Jamaica lacking regular garbage collection, estimates of garbage that is burnt, buried or improperly disposed of fall between 191,000 and 228,787 tonnes each year. Also contributing to emissions are farmers who use fire to clear the land, the production of charcoal and the burning of cane to facilitate reaping. In Negril, fumes from cane fires and burning peat are the bane of the resort town's idyllic setting because cane fires coincide with the height of the tourist season, while peat fires smother the town during the summer, the hottest time of the year. Industrial emissions are also reportedly on the rise. The UNFCC report noted increases in emissions from electricity generation and that emissions should increase with the expected restart of the bauxite and alumina industry. Carbon dioxide emissions data show a steady increase between 2000 and 2005, from 9,531 gig grams to 13,946 gig grams, when there were between 381,776 and 501,985 motor vehicles on the island. Data also show increases in particulates, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide and methane levels. Today motor vehicles number more than a million. Conflicting interests "Unfortunately, there are no efforts to manage air quality," Simone Williams, technical director at the Negril Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT), told IPS. Williams said that despite obvious increases in the level of pollutants, Jamaica had no initiatives to mitigate greenhouse gases, a view shared by the experts. Peat fires, in addition to being "an inconvenience", also affect "the hotel infrastructure (and) people's health", Williams added. But recent work to restore the wetlands will "significantly reduce the fires and emissions", he said, "if not eliminate it". But eliminating fires in the Morass, despite its protected status, could prove challenging, as many farmers make their living there, Damian Salmon, chairman of the Negril Chamber Of Commerce said. "Restoring the wetlands would solve a lot of Negril's problems including the loss of the beach, because the ecosystems are interconnected, but we can't drown out the farmers. Many will tell you that they have nowhere else to go," he noted. All agree that air quality monitoring is essential. But NEPA's CEO Peter Knight pointed to critical shortcomings in the collection of solid waste and the urgent need for effective public awareness programmes to drive home the negative effects of open burning. The agency has already begun to plug the holes in air quality regulations, which has no emissions standards for motor vehicle and open burning. At its drafting, the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Ambient Air Quality Standards Regulations (2006) aimed to use permits and licenses to control emissions from industrial installations. "We are revisiting the act and are working with the relevant agencies. There are already draft motor vehicle emissions standards," Campbell said. He added that the NEPA had not negated its responsibility, but rather had sought to prevent overlapping legislation by including only industrial emissions. "NEPA is not responsible for the monitoring of motor vehicle emissions," Knight elaborated. "That is the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport. There are the Country Fires Act under the Fire Brigade that covers open burning and the Public Health Act under the Ministry of Health." But environmentalists want to see stiffer penalties for open burning. The fine of 2,000 Jamaican dollars and/or three months in prison under the Fires Act are considered too lenient to deter offenders. Nevertheless, the findings after the Riverton fire have prompted NEPA to recommend additional equipment and monitoring for at least a year. The agency is also seeking funds to increase its monitoring sites across the island. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107578 |
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Black
Emergency Managers Association International
ashington,
D.C. 20020
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bEMA International
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Cooperation,
Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and
Partnering (C5&P)
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A 501
(c) 3 organization
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“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is
today. We are confronted with the
fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding
conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination
is still the thief of time.
Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost
opportunity.
This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Where Are We Going
From Here: Chaos or Community’.
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