Action Aid campaign on HIV and violence against women

Courtesy of the F Word is news of a campaign by the charity ActionAid to highlight the link between sexual violence against women and the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to move on from acknowledging this link to doing something about it. I've highlighted the most shocking statistics:

A girl born in South Africa has a 50% chance of being raped* . Combine this with the number of South Africans living with HIV - currently more than 5 million - and the risk of HIV infection is extremely high.

Across the world, the threat of violence prevents women from refusing sex or insisting on the use of condoms, even when they suspect their partners are HIV-positive. Many women also face violence and abandonment on disclosure of a HIV positive diagnosis.

The UK government has just launched a seven year strategy for tackling AIDS in developing countries. In that strategy, they acknowledged that widespread violence against women increases their risk of HIV infection, but they haven’t said what they’re going to do about it. Now it’s time to move them from acknowledgement to action, and you can help.

ActionAid wants to collect 2,876 shoes, one for every woman who contracts HIV around the world each day. These will be developed into a sculpture which we will present to the government on International Women’s Day in March, to highlight both the scale of the problem and the numbers of people who are concerned.

We urgently need your help to reach our target by International Women’s Day. Take part online and send it to all your friends and family.

Put your foot down on violence against women and help to end HIV and AIDS.

*[From ActionAid's website: A girl born in South Africa has a higher chance of being raped than of learning to read. With 5 million South Africans living with HIV the risk of HIV infection for women is extremely high.]

To put that infection rate in perspective the female population of Aberdeen is approximately 100,000, that's approximately how many women are infected with HIV every 35 days worldwide. A large proportion of the rate to female dis-empowerment. Whether it be through the prevalence of sexual violence or a lack of control over prophylactic measures, especially in particularly patriarchal societies in which men refuse to wear condoms and women feel unable to insist.

ActionAid's self-described purpose is an extremely positive one; long term development is just as important (if not more so) as short term alleviation of suffering when it comes to tackling the effects of poverty.

ActionAid doesn't just tackle the effects of poverty.We also change what keeps people poor.

ActionAid improves people’s lives every day. But we know that’s not enough. So we work relentlessly to change whatever is keeping them trapped in poverty.This means we have a better chance of ending poverty for good.

You can sign their petition and send a virtual shoe here.

No Ifs, No Buts, Give up the Bonus

The Go4th campaign to win Labour a fourth term has a new press release from John Prescott on the huge bonuses that certain banks want to pay out to their executives despite having to be bailed out at the taxpayer's expense:

Prescott launches online grassroots campaign to stop bank bonuses


John Prescott today (Sunday Feb 8th) called on people to join him in an online grassroots campaign to stop RBS and other banks that have been bailed out by the Government giving out bonuses.

Speaking to supporters at a rally in Manchester this morning he warned RBS, which is 68% owned by the Government: "We are all shareholders now and the shareholders demand you give up the bonus."


Mr Prescott is using Facebook to mobilise people into showing their anger against the bailed out banks. He already has more than 2,000 people signed up to his on going campaign called 'No Ifs No Buts, Pass On The Cut."

The campaign's aims were to get banks to pass on the interest rate cuts to customers and to turn the Post Office into a People's Bank.

Now the campaign is focusing on stopping the bonuses.

Mr Prescott is calling on people to send in their case studies and campaign ideas to his Facebook group No Ifs No Buts, to stop the bonuses.

Today in a speech to campaign supporters in Manchester Town Hall he called on those angry with proposed bonuses to join him in the fight.

He said: "This week President Obama made it clear to the US banks that it was the taxpayer that saved them. Some of you may have read my recent blog where I showed great admiration in him standing up to the bankers and proposing the executive pay cap.

"He has also been very successful in creating an online army to support his fiscal stimulus package through Congress - and we should use that people power here.

"We must utilise these same online grassroots tactics to force these greedy and indifferent banks that the taxpayer bailled out to give up their bonuses.

"We know that RBS, in which we own 68% of the shares after giving them £20billion of our money , is considering handing out £1b of it in bonuses to their bankers and traders. This is morally and economically outrageous.

"This is raw capitalism and this country rejects it. We don't want to hear that RBS has to pay out the bonuses because of 'contractual obligations.' If we hadn't bailed them out to save homeowners and businesses, their contracts would be worth nothing as they'd be out of work.

"So I'm calling on everyone who feels outraged by this to join me in the battle. It doesn't matter about what party you support, let's join together and stop this payout.

" We are all shareholders now and we the shareholders demand RBS give up the bonus. No Ifs, No Buts."

People are being encoraged to leave their support on the campaign Facebook page - No Ifs No Buts at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41481071905 or leave comments at www.gofourth.co.uk

I'm going to higlight one particular excerpt of that (emphasis mine):

"We know that RBS, in which we own 68% of the shares after giving them £20billion of our money , is considering handing out £1b of it in bonuses to their bankers and traders. This is morally and economically outrageous.

That's right, RBS wants to give £1,000,000,000 of our money to the very same people whose reckless trading to led to us having to bail them out in the first place.

Scottish Labour Students' Campaign

This is just a short post to note that at today's Scottish Labour Students' Council Meeting it was resolved that the priority campaign for 2009 will be entitled:

"The Campaign to End Student Poverty - A Response to the Scottish Government's [Higher Education] Support Review"

Which, briefly, is a campaign based on the belief that it is possible to secure a minimum income of £7,000 a year for students in Scotland. And that students should not have to live on the cusp of poverty, but should, through governmental support, be able to maintain a standard of "socially acceptable living" in line with research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

More details will be published as they arise. Also I would like to note that the Scottish Labour Students website is expected to be online in the not too distant future.

December 1st: World AIDS day

News from Anne Begg MP

Dear Friend,

Are you fed up of Christmas shopping?
Do you want an excuse to get out of the library and also help the Labour Party in the process?
Then I have the perfect opportunity for you!

I will be conducting a leafleting session to deliver my Council Cuts Survey on Saturday 6th December, with a free lunch provided afterwards.

Everyone will be assembling at the Unison Office on Victoria Street (west end of Union Street) at 10am with the leafleting session concentrating on the Ferryhill, Rosemount, Peterculter and Queens Cross areas of the constituency.

While I realise that you will already be very busy with your studies at this time of year, all donations of time will be gratefully received.

Anne Begg MP

Why do we do it?

At times i ask myself why we spend all the time we do working unpaid to see members of the labour party elected.

You know what i mean, standing on doorsteps talking to people who at times are not very nice to you, at other times they make you feel that you are doing one of the most important jobs in the world, we don't get any thanks all we get is asked to do more and more..... so why do we bother.

Well for me that answer is a simple one, its thanks to the NHS that we created 60 yrs ago that my grans last days were pain free, its thanks to the welfare state that we created that my family was able to survive under the worst days of thatcher and it was thanks to this labour government that i had the opportunity as a mature student to go to Aberdeen and for that i am eternally grateful.

so i ask the question of anyone who reads this blog (and i know we are new) so why do you do it, why do you hit the streets and why is it important.