Stop Fracking In South Africa

Fracking is a disastrous and harmful practice, and South Africa's beautiful Karoo region is now under threat.

Tens of thousands of square kilometres of South Africa’s beautiful Karoo region are being threatened by a polluting and extremely water-intensive method of natural gas extraction called fracking.

Tell the South African government to protect this extremely water-stressed and ecologically sensitive area and ban fracking.

Numerous instances of catastrophic groundwater and air pollution as well as devastating health impacts on humans and animals have been documented in the USA where fracking has experienced an unprecedented boom in recent years.

This supposedly clean technology is no answer to climate change either. When its entire lifecycle is considered, natural gas produced by fracking has been shown to have a carbon footprint that is comparable to or substantially larger than that of coal.

It’s not too late. Right now, South Africa is in a position to learn from the negative American experience with fracking and to avoid its devastating consequences by denying Shell and other oil and gas companies permission to use it in the country.

You can help us convince the South African government to put an end to this insanity by signing our petition to stop fracking in the Karoo. »

War Against Corrective Rape Is Going Strong!

A small group of lesbian activists from the poverty-stricken townships of Cape Town walked into South African parliament on Monday and convinced their government to finally start fighting the country’s decades-old scourge of "corrective rape" -- where men rape lesbian women to "turn" them straight. .

Late last year, these activists called on the world to help them pressure their leaders to take action on corrective rape. People from over 163 countries signed up petitions to help them out.

Three and a half months later, they succeeded. Teaming up with 23 major South African organizations, they got some of the most powerful officials in the country to agree to bring together various government arms and civil society groups to develop and implement a national action plan to combat corrective rape.

The ministry officials asked for details of specific cases in need of immediate attention, committed to a series of meetings beginning in six weeks, and promised to present concrete proposals to prevent corrective rape by the next meeting.

The petitions by people from all over the world led to the international press coverage of the campaign, taking corrective rape from an unspoken epidemic to a prominent international issue. In the last two weeks alone, the campaign against corrective rape has been covered by Time Magazine, the Washington Post, USA Today, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Seattle Times, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Fox News, MSNBC, Dan Rather, Forbes, Yahoo! News, Salon, and dozens of global outlets from Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia, Canada, Spain, and even a Finnish tabloid.

It’s an astounding victory, far beyond what we ever could have imagined when we set out late last year. Please sign up the following petition to continue building up pressure on the government against corrective rape.

Take Action Here.

Dead Baby Found In Oprah's South African School

Oprah Winfrey must be troubled and under a lot of stress because the famous TV host has always stood up for human rights and strongly supports the idea of helping one another to make the world a better place.

However, everything she does with the good intentions don't always end up the way she wants them to. Oprah Winfrey opened Leadership Academy for Girls in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recent news is that a dead baby was found in a bag in the premises of the school.

It is believed that the baby belonged to a 17 year old student of the Academy. The hospital staffers discovered the baby in her bag when she came there because of non stop bleeding. Police is investigating the case but have not filed any charges as yet. They don't think that the child died because of foul play.

Oprah has decided to not comment because a minor is involved here. This is not the first time, Oprah had to face criticism for her rather scandalized school. 

In 2007, the school's former dorm matron was accused of molesting several students. Virginia Tiny Makopo was acquitted and Oprah was disappointed. She dismissed the headmistress and said she would do anything to protect the students. But in 2009, four students were expelled and three were suspended for inappropriate behavior and sexual  misconduct towards other students.

Thus, we can see the journey for Oprah Winfrey and this school is not all that great. The fact remains, that humans are unpredictable and even if you build something with the good intention, corrupt minds and badness from within does show itself and ruins the over all big picture. But, without being so critical on Oprah we can also see things minus her star fame. Kids that age do get pregnant and often their babies die. Teachers can also be molesters because no body can guarantee what someone would do alone behind closed doors. And youngsters do engage in sexual misconduct and bullying since forever. These are otherwise wrong things that disturb the society as a whole and Oprah can not be entirely be blamed for everybody else's actions that take place in an Academy she made perhaps.

Nevertheless, Oprah is under stress because of recent developments of the dead baby discovery.

Declare 'Corrective Rape' a Hate-Crime

"Corrective Rape" is a term used to describe when a male rapes a lesbian with the aim of 'turning' her heterosexual!

This heinous crime is prolific in South Africa, especially in the "townships".

The South African government and justice system are failing the victims of Corrective Rape by letting the perpetrators out on ridiculously low bail, and taking literally years to bring the court-cases to a conclusion. In the meantime the victims have to live with seeing and being taunted and threatened by their rapists every day, as do those who help the victims.

In the last 10 years:

*31 lesbian women have been murdered because of their sexuality

*More than 10 lesbians a week are raped or gang raped in Cape Town alone

*150 women are raped every day in South Africa

*For every 25 men accused of rape in South Africa, 24 walk free

Despite all this, hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised by South African law!

Therefore, please sign up to make sure you that you think corrective rape is also a heinous crime that needs to be dealt with seriously.

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime

Ban Gin Traps

GIN TRAPS– horrible, mechanical devices, designed to grasp an animal by the leg using spring-operated metal jaws. In their desperation to escape the pain and terror of being trapped, the captured animal will sometimes bite off the limb that has been caught. The use of gin traps has been illegal in the UK since 1958 and is banned in 90 other countries around the world.

The Government of South Africa is now proposing new legislation which appears to have re-named Gin Traps as ‘Soft Traps’ – a totally misleading name for such a nasty, cruel device. The legislation, if approved, will permit the continued use of these soft traps.

There is ample scientific evidence to show that even if an innocent animal survives the trapping, it often ends up with damaged tendons or ligaments in its efforts to escape. Trapped animals still suffer from torsion injuries, fractures, soft tissue damage and other limb injuries. Innocent animals caught by mistake often have to be euthanized as a result.

Please sign the petition…thank you!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-leg-hold-traps/

Favorite Ranger

I got this very nice forwarded email about a ranger in South Africa who prevents poaching in the wild life area of Lanseria. Just look at the pictures below and see how the lions and hyenas trust him and interact with him. They know he is their to protect them. Hyenas are said to be vicious but not with him. While lions hate water but with him they just love playing in the water.

Brilliant pics.

I particularly love the one in which he is kissing the lion and the lion and him are looking at the camera. Great shots.