sábado, 30 de abril de 2011
miércoles, 27 de abril de 2011
martes, 26 de abril de 2011
lunes, 25 de abril de 2011
domingo, 24 de abril de 2011
Mujeres argentinas bancan en liderazgo(1)
Argentina es gobernada por una presidenta, Cristina Fernández, y es además uno de los países donde las mujeres tienen mayor participación parlamentaria. Sin embargo, hay otros liderazgos a la sombra de la escena político-partidaria."Identificar y visibilizar experiencias valiosas lideradas por mujeres en sus organizaciones sociales fue uno de los objetivos del proyecto", dijo Natalia Garabano, coordinadora de un novedoso Banco de Experiencias.
En la investigación que acaba de publicarse, 87 mujeres líderes de organizaciones que bregan por los derechos a la vivienda, a la salud sexual y reproductiva, a la educación, a la no discriminación y a la no violencia, relatan sus experiencias.
Garabano, del Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género (ELA), explicó que "para legitimar la democracia y hacerla más robusta es necesario favorecer la participación política de las mujeres, pero en un sentido amplio, no solo partidario".
Esa mayor participación no se consigue solo con aumentar el acceso a cargos políticos sino también desde la sociedad civil. Esta concepción más amplia de la participación llevó a ELA a desarrollar el proyecto Lidera que tiene tres componentes.
En primer lugar está la investigación "Mujeres participando en ámbitos locales. Banco de experiencias", que consistió estas entrevistas en profundidad a mujeres que lideran organizaciones sociales en seis ciudades de Argentina.
En paralelo realizó el estudio "Sexo y poder", sobre participación de mujeres en puestos de decisión en diversos ámbitos de la actividad pública, que, si bien no está publicado aún, arrojó resultados desalentadores.
Las mujeres ocupan solo 15% de los 13,627 lugares de decisión en más de 4,000 instituciones, anticipó Garabano.
Un tercer eje del proyecto fue indagar en la trayectoria de los legisladores nacionales y provinciales para saber quiénes son. Cómo llegaron al cargo, con qué formación, qué temas proponen y cómo hacen para conciliar trabajo y familia.
De los tres componentes, ELA presentó el Banco de Experiencias.
"La participación de mujeres en el ámbito local debe consolidarse para que se fortalezca su liderazgo sobre bases sólidas y en contacto con sus bases sociales", apuntó Garabano. "Dar a conocer estas ‘formas de hacer’ puede inspirar acciones y estrategias en diversos contextos para dar a conocer condiciones, modos de enfrentar obstáculos, aprovechar oportunidades y trabajar en redes", dijola coordinadora.
Las organizaciones lideradas por mujeres seleccionadas para este proyecto están en la ciudad de Buenos Aires y en el municipio de Morón, al oeste de la capital argentina y parte de su área metropolitana.
Pero también representan a otras ciudades del interior, como San Salvador de Jujuy, 1,800 kilómetros al noroeste de Buenos Aires, Mendoza, 1,050 kilómetros al oeste, Neuquén, 1,156 kilómetros al sudoeste, y Rosario, en la oriental provincia de Santa Fe y a 300 kilómetros.
Mujeres argentinas bancan en liderazgo(2)
La investigación se propuso mostrar cómo surgen y se consolidan los liderazgos de mujeres en ámbitos locales. Cómo enfrentan las dificultades y cómo se relacionan con el Estado y sus políticas para alcanzar sus metas, que son diversas. La Organización Barrial Tupac Amaru, de Jujuy, liderada por Milagros Sala, comenzó en plena crisis socioeconómica en 2001 a construir hornos de barro para hacer pan y comedores para la merienda de los niños.
Para 2003, esa entidad organizó cooperativas de vivienda y emprendimientos productivos y hoy cuenta con 4,500 soluciones habitacionales en Jujuy, además de unidades que ofrecen servicios de educación, salud y esparcimiento para poblaciones vulnerables.
"Ahora las mujeres trabajan en la construcción, en la metalurgia, en la fábrica de bloques", dice Sala al narrar su experiencia que creció a partir de la articulación con el Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y el de Infraestructura y Vivienda.
Otra de las experiencias recogidas por el banco es la de Fundación PH15 para las Artes, liderada por Moira Rubio, que brinda cursos de fotografía para jóvenes en el barrio Ciudad Oculta, un asentamiento marginal de Buenos Aires.
"El objetivo no es que todos se conviertan en fotógrafos, sino que la idea es mostrarles que pueden, que pueden ser reconocidos como artistas, como personas, y no ser discriminados", explicó Rubio.
Otro de los ejemplos relevados es el de la Federación de Entidades No Gubernamentales de Niños y Adolescentes de Mendoza. Allí, Patricia Spoliansky explica cómo fue que lograron incidir para conseguir cambios.
"Nos empezamos a juntar para tratar de impactar en el diseño de políticas públicas. Para ver cómo hacíamos para que el Estado nos escuchara. Conseguimos algunos proyectos de atención a la infancia y logramos que se incorpore la representación de las organizaciones sociales en el Consejo Provincial de la Niñez", relató Spoliansky.
Otra que cuenta su experiencia es Marta Vitta, presidenta de la Fundación Síntesis de Rosario, que comenzó trabajando en temas de mujer y luego en el desarrollo de programas de economía social.
"Yo trabajé mucho coordinando grupos de mujeres y siempre había un cuello de botella en lo económico. Por ejemplo, para una mujer golpeada, el primer trabajo es desnaturalizar la violencia. Pero después la economía es fundamental para modificar la situación. Había un montón de mujeres que no tenían como sobrevivir", comentó.
Fue entonces que su organización resolvió articular sus objetivos con una propuesta del Ministerio de Desarrollo Social de financiar un banco social para avanzar en planes de desarrollo de microempresas.
La investigación remarca que hay temas recurrentes en las entrevistas. Uno es la importancia de crear vínculos que les permitan un mejor acceso al financiamiento, al asesoramiento profesional o a incidir mejor en lo público con sus intereses.
También hay preocupación en casi todas por la forma en que se tejen las relaciones con las instituciones públicas, de modo de obtener el máximo de beneficio, si es necesario mediante una gestión bipartita, pero sin perder autonomía.
Finalmente señalan que en algunos casos, el liderazgo social tiene costos ocultos por la necesidad de articular entre las responsabilidades hogareñas, el trabajo remunerado al que no siempre se puede renunciar y la participación comunitaria.
sábado, 23 de abril de 2011
jueves, 21 de abril de 2011
domingo, 17 de abril de 2011
Mexicans must fight crime from their society(1)
In countries where powerful organized crime groups operate, like Mexico, there is a kind of "mafiosity" or culture of illegality rooted in society, which must be fought by educating the young, says Italian priest Tonio Dell'Olio, one of the leaders of the anti-mafia organization Libera.
Dell'Olio has launched campaigns for economic and social justice and disarmament as international director of Libera, an Italian organization that has fought organized crime for over 15 years by promoting a culture of lawfulness through cultivation of land confiscated from the mafia, fair employment practices, sports, education, assistance to victims, social mobilization and other activities.
Libera was a sponsor of law 109/96, passed in 1996, under which property seized from the mafia is distributed to local communities to promote social growth and development.
The activist, who in his work against organized crime has joined efforts with hundreds of labor unions, community organizations and religious groups, visited Mexico several weeks ago to establish contacts for a seemingly titanic task: building a Latin American network of civil society organizations for a culture of peace.
The only effective way to combat organized crime is by attacking their finances, while working to win over their support bases through "education for peace, not war," Dell'Olio said in this interview in Mexico.
Q: Where do you start, when it comes to creating a network for culture and peace?
A: The first line of action has to be to strike at the heart of the criminal organizations, by attacking their economic interests. Because it is from their money that their power comes. In other words, it isn't violence that produces wealth, but wealth that generates violence.
The problem the world's large criminal groups are facing now is how to invest the money they obtain.
In Italy, the mafia generates 150 billion euros (213 billion dollars) a year. It is the country's biggest company! So there has to be a push for investigation of their wealth, and for transparency among civil servants regarding funding and incomes, and a lot of work has to be done with the people, to build a culture of lawfulness.
Q: What do you mean by that?
A: There is the mafia, or criminal organizations, but there is also 'mafiosity' – a kind of culture where a society accepts coexisting with illegal activities in different forms. And that's where the most work has to be done: in educating for peace, not war.
A culture of legality and an aversion to illegality must be fomented. This is work that has to be done with the people, in schools and in the communities.
Q: It's hard to think about that in a country like Mexico, where 95 percent of crimes go unpunished.
A: Yes, that's a big problem in Mexico.
The level of infiltration of organized crime in the police in Italy isn't as high as it is here. I think it's the worst problem you have in Mexico…and I don't know, I don't have answers, but you have to start somewhere, because the worst thing is to not do anything.
We have the case of a man who, when he heard shooting outside his house, locked himself in to protect himself. And when he finally opened the window, he found his son lying dead in the middle of the street. Now he's an activist who gives his testimony and explains why it's necessary to stand up and speak out.
Mexicans must fight crime from their society(2)
Q: Many people are afraid to speak up.
A: Every path to true freedom is a risky path. We sponsored law 109/96 for the social use of assets confiscated from the mafia, and we set up cooperatives of young people to produce cooking oil, wine and other organic products.
The mafia don't like that, and all of the cooperatives have been harassed and have received threats. But the threats have not been carried out because the community itself protects the cooperatives.
But even if the threats were carried out, it would be necessary to support the cooperatives because to forget our dead is to kill them twice, and it also does a favor to the mafia.
In Sicily (in southern Italy), we organize a gathering every March 21 with the families of victims and with schools where the course on lawfulness is given. That day we read out the names of every one of the victims, and we also hold two contests for the movement for education on legality.
Q: You work with schools at all levels of education?
A: Yes, we have chosen to start with the young, because it is very difficult to bring about a change in mentality among older people. We have a protocol for collaboration with the Education Ministry to carry out our anti-mafia education on lawfulness throughout the entire country.
Q: How important is political will in pushing these processes forward?
A: It is civil society in Mexico that has to start moving. The government isn't going to do it, unless people force it to.
Legal investigation is lacking in Mexico. For example, in the case of the Reyes Salazar family, (three relatives of murdered community activist Josefina Reyes who were killed in February in the northern state of Chihuahua) they were buried and no one said a thing. That is unthinkable in Italy. How can the bodies be buried before the investigation has been completed?
Q: In Mexico, politicians talk about unity and the rule of law, but the people no longer believe in what they say…
A: When we talk about lawfulness, we're talking about democratic legality. It's not simple obedience to the law, but obedience with a critical eye.
If laws were passed in Italy benefiting the enrichment of the prime minister, we would not obey them. Legality does not mean blindly following, but compliance with a pact for an order of society that people make their own.
Q: Is a Latin America-wide anti-organized crime network viable?
A: Yes. We have been in contact with people in Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, and there are useful, positive experiences everywhere.
Right here we have seen, for example, the work of a very small organization in the Gabriel Hernández slum on the north side of Mexico City, called Marabunta. The work they are doing with former youth gang members is a light that should shine brightly, and that brings hope that there are people who are working for peace.
sábado, 16 de abril de 2011
Legal lessons on Ernesto's medical saga(2)
Part two.
There are other variables to be factored in: In 2010, there was, and still is, a $200,000 remedy cap in California for a victim of medical malpractice. Fraser said that the money is not worth the legal fees and court expenses a case like Ernesto would award.
In addition, the further along the case would move in the court, the plaintiff should bring a specialist, or experts, that could testify Ernesto, indeed was target of clinical and medical negligence. This item is a must show in court, if my family had a realistic chance to fight a good battle, and recover anything.
And to hire medical experts on OI is difficult, and perhaps very expensive. Legal testimonies of medical experts can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and sometimes take several days.
I also consulted two more lawyers in the west Los Angeles area. One of them was Michael A. Dan, whose practice is located in Beverly Hills.
Attorney Dan explained in a legal letter that the plaintiff “has the burden of proof on all issues including standard of care, causation, and nature and extend of damages.”
In other words, if we were to file a medical malpractice complaint based on negligence, the plaintiff must prove the medical institution was at fault, and show, with preponderance of evidence, that the hospital breached its duty of care.
Likewise, the issue of costs, time consumption, and state laws that set caps on insurance companies, hospitals and doctors, made the case almost impossible to litigate. Attorney Dan said that unfortunately these state laws may be even further extended to the federal level.
In conclusion, I believe one way to improve the legal field in cases such as Ernesto’s, is to cajole our elected representatives in Sacramento, and press them to consider higher awards in the orders a court can issue against possible negligent hospitals, insurance companies, and medical doctors.
Another is to extend to one year and six months the statutory term that allows someone, like in my family’s case, to file a wrongful death lawsuit in the state’s Superior Court.
In addition, to improve our legal system, California needs a special duty of care mandate. Individuals who are fragile, weaker, or albeit less physically fit than average people, but are taken in anyway as they come by hospitals, should be subject to the highest medical care available in all hospitals.
Because I spent several nights at Cedars Sinai in Ernesto's room during his post-surgery days, I noticed his specialist did not visit him every day. Several resident doctors, and several nurses took important decisions, both in handling his body, and administering drugs, without direct orders from the specialist.
Sacramento leaders should set rules of higher standards of care toward these individuals, whose cases pocket the hospitals hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of dollars in medical bills a month.
Legal lessons on Ernesto's medical saga(1)
By J. Alfredo Santana
Part one of two.
It’s been three years after my brother Ernesto passed away because the legs injuries he sustained in an Access Paratransit minivan accident, and the legal and tortuous lessons piled up like a mountain of terms and procedures. This is a recollection of what I learned while I tried to push a suit for medical malpractice versus Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the hospital were my brother saw for the last time daylight on earth.
First, lawyers tend to shy almost immediately away when they learn of a case whereby a person with a special disability is unlikely to survive injuries, which indeed, jeopardize someone’s life. My brother, as I have written before in this newsblog, lived with a rare condition named Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). This congenital condition makes bones very brittle. People born with it carry fractures even before they are born.
Individuals like Ernesto, and my sister Olympia, suffer many fractures all their lives. Now in her 40s, my sister has lived dozens of fractures in her ribs, legs and arms. Likewise, Ernesto had many fractures in his limbs and ribs cage before his last two leg fractures.
I consulted a lawyer in the Pasadena area. That was a little more than a year ago, knowing that statues of limitations in the state of California set a three year deadline to file complaints against medical professionals whom one suspects commit medical malpractice, or cause wrongful death.
He was attorney Neil Fraser.
Fraser said that most medical malpractices are filed within one year of the suspected occurrence. The state of California calls for filing deadlines of one year if someone suspects wrongful death. The three-year statute applies only if the malpractice shows up in the patience’s general state of health, he said. In other words, if the patient lives, but a detriment in his or her health flares up within three years, as consequence of the treatment the person received at the hospital, the person is legally entitled to file suit.
Thus, lawyers tend to agree that if something should have been filed, the suit should have taken place within one year of my brother’s departure. However, given the nature of my brother’s case, an exception could have been made in the courts, based on fraud, or intentional concealment of the evidence that caused negligence in the procedural treatment.
Here is where the case became tricky. Attorney Fraser said that because of the pre-existing condition of my brother, attorneys from Cedars Sinai could motion to dismissed the case, because the alleged pre-condition, and weakness of the legal challenge. Fraser said someone with two broken legs, and living with OI, at age 36, is reasonably and medically considered to be in great life danger, even before being treated with reconstructive surgery.
continues to part two...
viernes, 15 de abril de 2011
lunes, 11 de abril de 2011
domingo, 10 de abril de 2011
martes, 5 de abril de 2011
¿Que es lo que ahora me pasa?
¿Que es lo que ahora me pasa?
Señor, ven en mi ayuda…
Falta paz en mi casa
Me asaltan muchas dudas
Dame discernimiento
También voluntad dame
Ven calma ésta tormenta
Señor, ven a ayudarme
Señor, también te ruego
Aumenta más mi fe
Y pongas en mi el fuego
Con el que he de crecer
A mi familia ruego
Señor, les de la paz
Que te conozcan luego
Y en ti vivan no más!
Por todos los que estamos
Señor aqui reunidos
Te pido que vivamos
La paz que nos ha unido
Te pido que les llenes
Señor de bendiciones
Y de dulzura colmar
También sus corazones.
Por José Santana Díaz.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
Entradas
