The UN's List of “Stories the World Should Hear More About 2004"
7.06.2004
I am reprinting here (without permission) The UN's List of Stories the World Should Hear More About - 2004". I would suppose there is no violation in doing so, more because these stories definitely need to be read by the most number of people. These are stories that deserves more media attention and frankly deserves the same or perhaps even more public outrage and concern than any other pressing issue at hand. Issues cover humanitarian emergencies. The list includes the plight of child soldiers in Uganda, who are emerging as central figures amid deadly violence and a growing humanitarian emergency; the crisis of children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa; and overfishing as a threat to marine biodiversity.
Here's the list:
1. Uganda: Child soldiers at centre of mounting humanitarian crisis
2. Central African Republic: a silent crisis crying out for help
3. AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa: a looming threat to future generations
4. The peacekeeping paradox: as peace spreads, surge in demand strains UN resources
5. Tajikistan: rising from the ashes of civil war
6. Women as peacemakers: from victims to re-builders of society
7. Persons with disabilities: a treaty seeks to break new ground in ensuring equality
8. Bakassi Peninsula: Recourse to the law to prevent conflict
9. Overfishing: a threat to marine biodiversity
10. Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation
You can find the details to the stories here. Incidentally, I think there are ten other stories the Philippine Media should try to cover more. There are many stories that deserve a lot of attention. My list below represents what I feel to be the most pressing concern for a culture as ours. It's entirely my opinion; I would suppose other people will have other concerns. but Here's my list:
1. The Jueteng aftermath and how the illegal numbers game continues to this day (Believe it or not it is still alive. I have seen it with my own eyes, and I'm sure others have seen it still blantantly practiced to this day.)
2. The state of the Family in war-torn areas not just in Mindanao but in rebelcontrolledd areas of Luzon and Visayas (What of their education, their value system, their rights...Etcc. How do rebels educate their kids? What kind of morality do they have in their heads? What Filipino identity will they identify with? These are just some of my questions.)
3. How the Disabled is disadvantaged and not as empowered as they should be in this society (Sad isn't it? How many blind people knock on your car windows for extra changeevery timee you stop on a red light? Our streets are not disabled-friendly for one thing. How many crippled do not have even even the littlest of jobs? )
4. The declining number of People who knows how to read and write our ancient script: Baybayin or Alibata
5. The dying breed of artisans of old arts and crafts (cooking included), and how to save their art from foreign influence (I suppose they should know well enough how to distinguish their work from others, should they fuse Philippine elements their influences)
6. How a Manila-centric History remains a highlight versus Local Histories in the collective memory of pop culture (Some effort has been undertaken to remedy this, but unfortunately, new findings by Philippine Historians have not been given much emphasis by media, hence old misconceptions still remain.
7. The non-existence of Urban planning of most cities in the Philippines. (Isn't it that the 'modern' Pinoy house is nothing but a house a wall and a gate? Worse, on the macro level this means: houses next to each other, waiting sheds, street markers or similar concrete block of anuisancee posing as a 'landmark', crazymulti-coloredd curbs and lamp posts, and a street that doubles as parallel parking space. Parks? Playground? Perhaps just one Plaza and that's it. The street is multi-purpose; it can be transformed into a basketball court)
8. Pollution of minor river systems in the Provinces (...supply your rant here...)
9. The slow death of Filipino Children's games. (I think these games deserve documentation because the games Children play are highly dynamic and varied that they are mostly left undocumented. They carry an excellent historical significance that they should not be left unrecorded.); (Addendum: Please see comment on this post.
In here I am referring to all games, not necessarily the traditional games. Hence, the songs and 'ate kuya' versions, etc. Too much emphasis have been made on the old games like tumbang preso. Our kids have other games too. I hope some good child psychlogist is undertaking a study on this right now.
Thanks to Sassy.)
and finally
10. The longterm effects of OFW Parents to kids. There has been studies of its adverse effects, including focus on material needs, desire for nurturing company, difficulty of having multiple pseudo-parents etc, but the effects of these have not been broadly brought forward.
Sadly, the creed is: if the media could not profit from it, these issues are worth only a 30 minute glimpse for a singular late night show; or worse, none a minute at all.
Labels: Culture, Philippines
posted by Jdavies @ 7/06/2004,
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The Author
J.Davies
Jdavies lives in Quezon City, Philippines and has been blogging since 2002. A brand manager in a leading technology company and a freelance new media/web strategy consultant, he has refocused his blogging from personal, political & sociological observations, to marketing-related efforts and Internet trends that are relevant to his career and branding advocacies.
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This blog is a depot of thoughts and observations on marketing trends which remain personally relevant to the Author as far as his marketing career is concerned. Having evolved from the personal blog of Jdavies, much of the earlier work contained herein are laced with personal speculation, political views, and similar advocacies. These posts are being kept for posterity's sake and for no other reason. No effort is being made to claim that the author will not contradict himself from his previous positions or that such advocacies are absolute.
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