“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

White farmers leaving SA

iafrica.com, by Johannes Myburgh, Mon, 17 Jan 2011

Thousands of white South African farmers are leaving their homeland to work abroad due to post-apartheid land reforms, a shortage of affordable territory and severe water shortages.

South African farmer Lance Spear stands in his banana
plantation in Mafavuka, Mozambique.
AFP
Lance Spear is among those in neighbouring Mozambique who are renting land at a fraction of the cost paid back home and where he can also pay lower wages to workers and make better profits.

"The big incentive is the availability of land and water," the 39-year-old says, as he strolls across the dark brown, rain-soaked soil of his 200-acre (81-hectare) banana plantation in Mozambique.

"South Africa doesn't have any land or water. It's all gone," he adds, watching 20 workers pack freshly-picked bananas into boxes headed across the border to South Africa or to markets in the local capital Maputo.

Although South Africa will soon join the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) group of global emerging nations, talk of the country being a regional economic powerhouse rings hollow to Spear.

Five years ago, the third-generation planter joined a growing group of white South African farmers who have left the rainbow nation.

Around 1500 South Africans have established farms in 23 African countries as far as Egypt and Sudan, most going to Mozambique, in the past decade, according to Agri South Africa (AgriSA), the national trade association.

In the same timeframe, around 4000 others have started afresh in Canada, Australia, South America and the Middle East, farming-hungry countries keen to attract expert producers with tax reductions, subsidies and free imports.

They have felt forced to move because after apartheid ended in 1994, the government launched a project to return 30 percent of the country's 104 million acres to the black majority. At the time blacks, who form more than 80 percent of the population, lived on only seven percent of its land.

Due for completion in 2014, the government project is lagging far behind target, however, with only five percent of territory redistributed by the end of last year, a worrying trend that has made farmers nervous to invest.

Some countries have already benefited from South African expertise. In only four years food-scarce Zambia has become a net food exporter after a group of 34 South African and Zimbabwean farmers turned around its agricultural output.

Only 10 percent of Mozambique's arable land is being farmed, though it has four times more high potential agricultural territory than South Africa.

At a recent conference in the central Mozambican city of Xai-Xai to attract South African farmers, Dikgang Moopeloa, the rainbow nation's ambassador to Mozambique said regional development would be boosted by the migration.

Profitability, however, is the main reason for the exodus, according to Theo de Jager, vice president of AgriSA.

"A farmer in Mozambique will make more money because he has to spend less," says De Jager, alluding to high input costs in South Africa that have driven out all but the largest operators.

"There isn't space to expand," he adds. "The policy to redistribute a quarter of the land aggravates this."

Dairy farmer Tobias Fourie, 36, attended the conference to scout for opportunities to expand the family business, backing up what De Jager says is a trend of South Africans looking abroad to expand.

"Would you invest in land if you know they're going to take it?" Fourie asked, alluding to Pretoria's land reforms.

"I am a positive South African. Only the unfinished land claims make me negative."

Widely-publicised farm murders have also contributed to the anxiety of whites, with at least 1,200 farmers killed during violent robberies over the past 20 years.

Yet farmers moving elsewhere on the continent do not leave simply because of political issues, says De Jager.

"If they are negative in South Africa they will not farm in (the rest of) Africa, because the situation there is worse," he adds.

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