Spennende program for AUF i Georgia

AUFs internasjonale ressursgruppe i sentralstyret (IRG) deltar i januar på program med sin søsterorganisasjon Young Socialist of Georgia (YSG). Delegasjonen har besøkt ulike organisasjoner (LHBT-org, politiske partier, HR-organisasjoner, med flere), deltatt på "Caucasus Dialouge", samt vært observatører på YSGs aller første årsmøte.

http://auf.no/aktuelt/413-auf-i-kaukasus




IPDs
Spesielt gjorde møtene med organisasjonene som jobbet med flyktningesituasjonen inntrykk.Rundt 500.000 IDPs (internally displaced person) lever i Georgia i dag. Disse menneskene har flyktet fra ulike konflikter i det krigsrammede landet, og organisasjoner som jobber med deres situasjon opplever at det internasjonalet miljøet stadig trekker seg ut, da det ikke lengre er en umiddelbar krise. Finanskrisen har også forverret de internasjonale bidragene til flyktningene.



Situasjonen kan nå virke forverret. Det er lite penger til arbeidet i leiren generelt, og nylig ble hundrevis av IDPer kasta ut av hjemmene sine i Tblisi. Mange av IDPene i Tblisi eier ikke egne boliger, og regjeringa vil nå bruke boligkompleksene i Tblisi til annen byggevirksomhet. Mange familier er derfor kastet på gata, og flere folk er eksportert til landsbyer i fjellene. Dette gjør at de må forlate familie, skole og eventuelt arbeid i hovedstaden.

Se filmer og artikler fra utkastelsene her: http://liberali.ge/



Caucasus Dialogue
En viktig del av AUFs prosjekt i Georgia er Kaukasus dialogen. Her møtes organisasjoner fra regionen for å diskutere aktuelle politiske spørsmål og gi hverandre
en oppdatering fra den politiske situasjonen i hjemlandet. Denne gangen blei også grasrota, IDPs, likestillingssituasjonen, sentralisering, og ungdomsaktivisme debattert.



Kutaisi Congress
For første gang i historien har ett av YSGs lokallag årsmøte. Kutaisi er den andre største byen i Georgia, og den regionale avdelingen her har bare vokst det siste året. Per nå er YSGs Kutaisi avdeling den sterkeste, og etter at organisasjonen i 2009 hadde landsmøte, har målet vært og avholdet et årsmøte.

Se tv-innslaget fra årsmøte her: http://www.myvideo.ge/?act=dvr&chan=gpb&seekTime=29-01-2011+16%3A22 (mellom 16:22-16:23)



Årsmøtet ble avholdt på en svært demokratisk måte, og det blei vedtatt både organisatorisk og politisk manifest. Det nye fylkesstyret består av 7 fylkesstyremedlemmer og nestleder og leder. Årsmøtet fikk utfordret de demokratiske prosessene da det var 2 kandidater til ledervervet. Valget gikk ryddig og rolig for seg.


Registrering


Stempling og signering hos kontrollkomiteen

I stemmeboksen

Stemmeseddelen på vei ned i urna

AUF og PYO

AUF ser på muligheten for å starte opp et prosjekt med Progressive Youth Organization i Libanon. PYO er ungdomspartiet til Progressive Socialist Party (Mr. Jumblats parti).

Programmet til AUF- delegasjonen (Eskil Pedersen/Leder, Åsmund Aukrust/Nestleder, Mari West/AU-medlem, Ida Spjelkavik/internasjonal rådgiver) var variert, og målet var å lære mest mulig om PYO og om den politiske situasjonen i Libanon for et mulig samarbeidsprosjekt.

AUFerne deltok blant annet på eksterne møter med Den norske ambassaden i Libanon, Progressive Scouts, NRC, NCLW, UNRAW, Palestinsk flyktningeleir (Shabra Shatila), og historieprofessor fra American University of Beirut.

AUFerne deltok på interne møter med PSPs talsperson, PSPs kvinnenettverks leder, PSPs ungdomsrepresentant, PYOs sentralstyre, PYOs lokallag på American University of Beirut og regionale og fylkesledere.

AUF på Midt-Østen komitemøte i Amman

Nestleder i AUF, Åsmund Aukrust deltar på IUSYs Midt-Østen komite i Jordan.
Møtet i Amman er ett dialogmøte, og alle land fra regionen var tilstede.

IUSYs svenske generalsekretær Johan Hassel var en av arrangørene, og det var også deltakere
fra ECOSY tilstede.

AUF har prosjekter i Palestina (FYO) og i Libanon (PYO), og har gjennom dette vært svært aktiv i regionen.

- For AUF er det natulig og delta når komiteen møtes, og det er bra med iniativ til dialog mellom landa i regionen, sier Aukrust, som også er AUFs Midt-Østen ansvarlige i sentralstyret.

AUF-lederen hos kamerater i Palestina

Les mer her:
http://auf.no/aktuelt/389-auf-leder-i-midtosten

Summer camp in Caucasus

AUF is currently visiting the first summer camp arranged by the Young Socialists of Georgia. The delegation consists of Adrian Nøttestad, Lasse Juliussen (both central comittee), Elisabeth Wickstrøm Åkredalen (AUF in Telemark) and Nina Eklo Kjesbu (AUF in North-Trøndelag). The camp started on tuesday, and about 180 young georgians are participating. So far, the Norwegian delegation has held workshops about student organizing, ideology, youth policy and gender equality.

The situation in Georgia for young people is still difficult, but the YSG members look to the future with hope for a better Georgia. They are currently working on a decleration that will be their guideline towards the next congress held in september 2011.

The YSG is growing stronger and stronger every day. Hopefully they will be recognized as a political force in Georgia within the next few years.

- It is very motivating to see how the YSG is getting stronger every day, with more members and good political discussions. Being a democratic organisation for young social democrats in Georgia, I believe it has the potential to be an important part in forming Georgias future, says leader of the delegation, Adrian Nøttestad.

The delegation will spend the rest of the week on the camp in the Borjomi-region, before returning to Tbilisi to meet with representatives from various human rights organizations.

The status with HIV/AIDS in Uganda

Experts now urge the problem with HIV/AIDS to become a bigger focus in the coming election campaign. In the 90s and the early 20s Uganda received good money in aid for HIV/AIDS challenges in the country, but after it was reviled in 2005 that a lot of money was misused by the government, many founders pulled out. Now Uganda´s HIV/AIDS statistics aren't looking good.


According to doctors working with the UN in Uganda 2,5 million are dead from the disease, and 61.000 die each year. 1,5 millions are infected, and 47% of them notes their status as married. 200.000 below the age of 18 years have the virus, and many are born with HIV. Even though there are ways of treating a pregnant woman, without hurting the baby.


Just 60.000 of Uganda´s 27 million people are tested, but many of thees don´t come to collect their results. Getting treatment to live a better and longer life, can mean a lot for supporting families and bringing income. But today at least 74.000 needs ARVS (treatment), but only 19.000 are getting it.


The government have stated that they want increase the number of treatments, so that means people have to wait in line for others to die, before they get ARVS.


Information, protection access, and help with the psychological aspect are important elements. But experts says that all the presidential candidates needs to have big and comprehensive programs for dealing with HIV/AIDS to be good candidates in their eyes.

Change of topic at the AU summit

The topic of the African Union (AU) Summit this week was supposed to be maternal health. But the summit had to change their topic,. In light of the terrorist attack on Uganda (under the FIFA World Cup Finally), the AU found it necessary to focus on security.

The president of Sudan Omar Hassan al- Bashir did not participate in the summit. He did not want to go, and no body else from Sudan was sent either. Many criticized this, but still al- Bashir was one of the big topics.

According to Reuters the International Criminal Court (ICC) this month added genocide to charges issued last year against Bashir of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war-torn Darfur region where the United Nations estimates a humanitarian crisis has claimed 300,000 lives since a 2003 revolt by rebels demanding more wealth and power.

Still the AU made a resolution to make ICC withdraw the arrest order against al- Bashir, because of the level of conflict in the area. The UYD say they are critical to the decision.

Terror attacks in Kampala

Politically, Uganda faces a variety of challenges. One of them is closely related to the country’s military engagement in the peacekeeping operations in Somalia. Being one of very few countries with troops there, Uganda has been threatened with terrorist attacks from the Islamic al-Shabaab movement.

A few weeks ago, Kampala was shaken by a dreadful attack. Suicide bombers attacked The Rugby Pub and the Ethiopian Village, both pubs where locals were watching the FIFA World Cup finals. More than 80 civilians were killed, among them 1 American.

Ethiopia is one of the other countries being involved in the operations in Somalia, making the restaurant in Uganda a “perfect” target for the terrorists.

The Museveni regime of Uganda is using the attack for what it’s worth, and the opposition claims the situation may be used by the president as an excuse for making it even harder for the people of Uganda to organize demonstrations and political meetings. In addition, it could be easier for the army and the police to arrest people and use violence. No one wants to be the ones opposing measures taken to avoid new attacks.

That makes the situation even more difficult for the opposition, already having a hard time getting their voices heard in a media world mainly controlled by the government. Everywhere we go; there are officers with rifles guarding even the super markets and restaurants.

We will keep fighting with UYD and DP, to form a new Uganda based on democratic principles. The first step is having a peaceful campaign and election next winter, getting elected as much DP candidates as possible.

The Ethiopian Village

Violence in the election campaign

The situation for opposition parties are getting worse because of the coming election in 2011. UYD experienced this on a rally recently. The presidential candidate for UYDs mother party Democratic Party (DP) Mr Norbert Mao where supposed to have a rally in Kampala. They had applied for the rally, and the police where notified.

Many UYD- members where at the rally, and in the beginning everything looked good for the speech. But suddenly the police and the military showed up, and told them to end the rally immediately because of security. The UYD/DP showed their papers of approval for the rally, but the police said the had not been notified.
They disused and came to an agreement, so Mr. Mao continued.

But then the policed and military opened fire. They where shooting live bullets from behind the stage, and UYD member John Marry had to protect the president. Everybody on stage had to hid, and the crowd was naturally scared. Luckily nobody was inured or killed in the attack.

UYD- member Brenda was standing on stage when the bullets came. Two television channels where there, and one of the camera men was beaten. But the other one managed to get away, so Brenda could see her self on television later that night.

- I can see that I suddenly gets scared, and that we dont know whats going on. We though everything was clear, but then the police changed their minds. But we will continue the campaigning; the struggle is our life, says Brenda.



Mr. Norbert Mao, the presidential candidate for DP

Women can do it seminar in Kampala

For four whole days 30 participants from the UYD Women League are meeting in Hotel Nexus to have Woman Can Do it (WCDI) seminar. All the women participating are young woman leaders, and some are even candidates for the election in 2011.

The program includes gender, women in politics, the situation within UYD/AUF, networking, working successfully with media, building confidence, communications technics, public speaking, argumentation, body language, representation and presentation of women in the society, women leaders in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, advocacy, campaigning, and how to train other women in the future.


The WCDI seminar is an exchange of experience, both between ugandan women, but also sharing experiences with the norwegian youth politicians. The group are all spending time togheter during the seminar, and its only women speakers on the program.


The women attending are from all over Uganda, and from different backgrounds. The capacity building are meant to strengthen and empower young women leaders. The seminar is sponsored by LNU and the Norwegian Labour Party.

The human right situation in Uganda

The AUF & UYD delegation visited FHRI (Foundation for Human Right Initiative) to discuss the human right situation i Uganda. The delegation received reports, and got information of the current challenges.

The human rights situation in the north is still an issue due to the conditions in the camps, the psychological trauma caused by the war, and the resettlement of refuges.

The unemployment is high (some say as high as 60%), and the youths are the once most effected. But generally poverty is the biggest human right issue.

The group naturally focused mostly on the political human rights.
Because of the coming election the situation is becoming worse. The foundation director told stories of imprisonment, torture and even killings of politicians.

Åsmund Aukrust had earlier been to visit UYD- members in prison, so we also discussed the health situation and the overcrowding in the prisons.

The director finished of the meeting by emphasizing that in order to achieve change in the human right conditions, one need to change the leadership from the grasroots.



The UYD and the AUF delegation (Tore Eikeland, Ida Spjelkavik, Tonje Kristensen, Hilde F. Fjellså and Åsmund Åukrust) with FHRI

Grasroot meetings in Uganda

To engage with democratic, non-violent political activities in a country that has never had a peaceful change of power, can be challenging. AUF has for nearly ten years has had a project going with a youth organization, Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) in Uganda.

In front of the election next year (in February / March), UYD together with its mother party Democratic Party (DP) tries to mobilize large amounts of people for change in Uganda, to throw the opposition repressive President Museveni out from the Chesterfield lounge in the presidential palace, so they can create stable democratic structures.

The recent days AUF have together with our comrades in UYD, participated in major meetings in the capital Kampala, as well as in several of the districts east of the city (Gomba, Mityana og Mubende). The aim has been to strengthen local branches, and to discuss the power structures in the regions, in order and strengthen the organization as a whole.



Rita giving a speech about empowering women, youth and the grasroot

The local elections in Georgia will take place at the 26.of May

The AUF delegation and "Social democrats for development in Georiga"

Visit to IDP settlements

The leader of YSG, Georgi Kanchaveli, lead the delegation to a Internal Displeased Persons (IPD) settlement just outside of Tbilisi. Some more members from YSG, the AUF delegation, and one human right activist took the bus to see the conditions for the victims of the war in 2008.

This settlement had over 4000 people living there, and more then 900 out of them where school children. We talked to a lady working in an small shop, she told us that everybody wants to go home to South Ossetia, but their homes have been destroyed or is occupied by Russians. One of the biggest problems for the IDPs in that camp now is unemployment, war trauma and stigma.

AUF promised to raise the questions of IDPs in Georgia when the return to Norway.