Buffalo Expatriate

The World Bank recently released a report on what gaps Eastern European countries need to fill if they want to sustain their current growth, Innovation, Inclusion, and Integration: From Transition to Convergence in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

Countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have put the crisis of the 1990s behind them, but they need to innovate, include all their citizens in the development of their countries, and integrate with the broader global economy if they want to sustain growth, says a new World Bank report.

The International Herald Tribune focused in on one of the suggestions that the report makes concerning the workforce of these countries, which is to bring in more foreign workers to fill the gaps created by population decline (both natural and due to native workers going elsewhere):

Countries in eastern Europe will have to open up to new waves of immigrants to prevent their economies being hobbled by labor shortages caused by rapidly aging populations, a senior World Bank economist warned Wednesday.

After years of exporting workers westward, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the Baltic states must bring in labor from outside Europe to offset their demographic decline, or forget hopes of catching up with Western economies, said Pradeep Mitra, the World Bank’s chief economist for Europe and Central Asia.

“There’s no question that immigration will be needed to fill labor shortages,” Mitra told reporters. “The trade off is: accept migration in a regulated way or don’t be serious about converging with EU 15 living standards.”

Mitra was referring to the 15 Western nations who made up the European Union before the entry of 12 other European nations since 2004.

Launching a World Bank report on the region’s economy, Mitra said falling birth rates were expected to lead to Ukraine’s population falling by a fifth by 2025. Bulgaria, Georgia, Belarus, Latvia, Russia and Lithuania are all expected to see population declines of more than 10 percent over the same period.

U.N. data show just 200,000 foreigners are registered as living in Ukraine, mostly from other former-Soviet nations. Experts warn that without action to address looming labor shortages, the country of 46 million will not be able to maintain its healthy economic growth, which topped 7 percent last year.

“There is not an organized policy to identify those gaps and to seek legal mechanism to fill those gaps,” said Jeffrey Labovitz, head of the International Organization for Migration mission in Ukraine.

Pradeep Mitra also acknowledged that there is the possibility a sudden influx of foreigners may trigger backlash from the native population. The IHT article discusses the already rising rate of xenophobic violence in Ukraine.

It seems that xenophobic attacks in Ukraine will increase whether or not Ukraine decides to boost its efforts to bring in more foreign labor if the government doesn’t uniformly recognize the problem and deal with it appropriately. The government still releases conflicting information and policy statements that do everything from recognize the problem to fall back on statistics that “show” crimes by foreigners are increasing (thus creating further resentment against them) to saying that there is no racism in Ukraine, there are only manifestations of racism. I am not sure where the author of the IHT article gathered her statistics on attacks in Ukraine against foreigners with possible racial motivations. The only source it cites is “the police,” which, not surprisingly, are a weak link in the response to racially motivated-attacks in Ukraine. So, the source seems strange to me.

This post will not argue whether or not Ukraine needs more foreign workers to fill its labor needs. The World Bank report has already come to a conclusion about that with facts and figures. However, can Ukraine really handle an influx of foreign workers when the country has a broken immigration system with a lack of an organized policy and a problem with xenophobic attacks that is increasing in numbers and the level of violence? It will be interesting to see what the official response (more likely responses) from the Ukrainian government will be towards this report.

Today is World Refugee Day. I hope the events in Buffalo went well.

This article was in the New York Times on June 18:

Refugees From Wars and Persecution Increase, U.N. Agency Says

GENEVA — The number of refugees fleeing to other countries to escape conflict and persecution rose in 2007 for the second year as factors from climate change to over scarce resources threatened to increase the flow, the United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday.

A total of 11.4 million refugees were under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2007, including some 400,000 feeling conflict in their home countries, the agency said. The report for 2006 numbered 9.9 million.

The total was modest compared with the 17.8 million refugees in 1992 at the time of the Balkan wars, but after a steady drop between 2001 and 2005 it represented a worrying trend , the relief agency said.

“We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future,” Antonio Guterres, the high commissioner for refugees, said in a statement. “They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in world hotspots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increase competition for scarce resources and extreme price hikes that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places.”

The number of people displaced by conflict but remaining within their own countries also rose in 2007 to 26 million, the agency said, citing statistics provided by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, a private organization.

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan accounted for more than half the world’s refugees in 2007. More than 2 million Iraqis have sought refuge in Syria and Jordan, and 3 million Afghans in Pakistan and Iran, the refugee agency said…

The latest statistics contradicted a number of misconceptions about the impact and distribution of refugee patterns, officials said, starting with the notion that Western countries admit most fugitives from conflict.

Instead, 80 percent of refugees remain in developing countries in the immediate vicinity of their own country, the UN agency said.

Pakistan accepted more than 2 million refugees and Syria 1.5 million in 2007 while the United States sheltered 281,000, the statistics showed.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees released its 2008 World Refugee Survey, which includes a list of the worst places for refugees to be in displacement or to try to resettle. These countries include Bangladesh, Russia, Europe, Malaysia, China, Iraq, India, Kenya, Sudan, and Thailand. More than 2 million of the world’s refugees are located in these countries. Ukraine, despite the small number of refugees residing within its borders as it rarely grants refugee status, has a serious problem with refoulement, and a rising problem with violence against visible minorities, is also among the world’s least safest places for refugees.

As the New York Times article stated, Iraq produced the highest number of refugees worldwide. According to USCR, this is the third year in a row that this has been the case. Although the U.S. stated in 2007 that it would resettle 7,000 Iraqi refugees, the U.S. only resettled 1,608. Refugees International, UNHCR, and Amnesty International recognize the situation facing Iraqi refugees as a crisis in desperate need of attention.

Refugees International’s page on the situation states that one in five Iraqis have been displaced:

According to the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration in 2007, almost 5 million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country, the vast majority of which had fled since 2003. Over 2.4 million vacated their homes for safer areas within Iraq, up to 1.5 million were living in Syria, and over 1 million refugees were inhabiting Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Gulf States.

There were reports last year that Iraqi refugees were actually returning to Iraq because of the decrease in violence. However, UNHCR noted that these refugees often returned to Iraq because they had ran out of resources in whatever country they had fled to after violence continued to spiral at home. As well, once they attempted to return home, they often found that their homes had either been destroyed or taken over, which forced them into secondary displacement contributing to an increased number of internally displaced persons.

With the number of refugees at over 14 million worldwide, there are, of course, other crisis situations that have lacked the kind of international attention needed to provide assistance to people fleeing from conflict and persecution:

Sudan, which is dealing with two separate refugee situations: Darfur/Chad and Southern Sudan. While the resettlement process is ongoing in Southern Sudan, it has been a fragile process as the situation regarding the Peace Agreement tends to shift on a regular basis. The crisis in Darfur continues to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese, and is especially affecting women. In fact, it has come to a point where gender-based violence is a regular part of the lives of female refugees of all ages trying to survive the conflict that plagues their homeland.

Sudan is also home to over 300,000 refugees from the neighboring countries of Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic. Unsurprisingly, it has been found that the human rights of these refugees are not protected during their time in Sudan.

Refugee International on Sudan, UNHCR on South Sudan, UNHCR on Darfur/Chad

Burma (or Myanmar), where refugees are displaced not only by the persecution they suffer in their home country, but also from the recent Cyclone that forced over a million people out of their homes and has shown that the government could care less about the survival and protection of its citizens.

Millions of people are currently forced from their homes in a kind of horror that no one should ever know. Today, we should remember them and pledge to support them as they struggle to survive.

Give Refugees a Hand on Facebook

Last night, Lenny Kravitz rocked Palatz Sportu in Kyiv. I know the picture quality is not super, but I think the sound turned out ok.

A few things from the list of 12 Things You Don’t Know About Lenny Kravitz from What’s On Kiev:

- He’s Ukrainian!
(In part at least.) He’s the son of a Ukrainian Jewish father and a black mother of Caribbean descent. Kravitz considers himself both Christian and Jewish, describing the faiths as “all the same to me.” He also notes that the melange of spirituality he inherited “has been an important issue in my growth.”

-His father, Sy Kravitz, was a news producer for NBC television. He was also a jazz promoter, which allowed him to make friends with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Miles Davis and other jazz greats. Ellington played ‘Happy Birthday’ for little Lenny one year.

- In 1993, Kravitz wrote ‘Line Up’ for Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and appeared on Mick Jagger’s solo album ‘Wandering Spirit’, in doing a version of Bill Withers’ soul classic, ‘Use Me’. That year Kravitz also got to work with his idols Al Green and Curtis Mayfield, two of the great names in soul.

- He’s a vegetarian. Which is a shame for him really, as he’ll miss out on great Ukrainian cuisine such as shashlyk and salo.

A letter to the editor in the Opinion section of the New York Times:

To the Editor:

In “The Sex Speech” (column, June 12), Nicholas D. Kristof urges Barack Obama to address women’s rights issues like maternal mortality.

As it happens, Senator Obama has an opportunity right now to demonstrate his commitment to women and girls.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act is up for reauthorization. In December 2007, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill strengthening the law to enable more effective prosecution of sex traffickers. Sadly, these criminal provisions were dropped by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Sam Brownback in the trafficking reauthorization bill they recently introduced.

Senator Obama could help ensure that the Senate legislation incorporates the criminal justice provisions included in the House bill and does justice to victims of sex trafficking. Such action could go a long way in establishing his credibility with women voters.

Jessice Neuwirth
President, Equality Now
New York, June 12, 2008

Yes, this would establish more credibility among women voters after Senator Obama fought a long, hard campaign against a woman candidate.

However, let us not forget that human trafficking increasingly affects men and children, as well. Also, women are increasingly found to be trafficked for purposes of labor as well as sexual exploitation. Modern slavery is really an issue that affects all people in all countries, whether they live in a country of origin, destination or transit (of victims). It is a criminal process that affects the security and challenges the law enforcement of every country, and it is a serious violation of human rights.

In the international community, trafficking is recognized as a form of gender based violence (article 2, United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women) because the problem, as it is currently known, disproportionally affects women.

While human rights are violated during the process of being trafficked, according to a report produced by La Strada International, trafficking in women is also connected to rights abuses that occur prior to being trafficked. This includes domestic violence, violations of women’s rights in the labor market, and a lack of rights and social protection for female migrants (now comprising approximately half of all migrants).

Domestic violence increases a woman’s risk to trafficking by acting as a catalyst to make the person feel the need to escape at all costs, which traffickers exploit. It also erodes self-esteem, leaving the victim to feel as if she deserves what is happening to her. In the case of children, it may force children to be absent from school, or to engage in risky behavior, which lowers their future job prospects and increases their vulnerability to trafficking.
(from Stephen Warnath’s “Examining the Intersection between Trafficking in Persons and Domestic Violence,” 2007)

A study on the physical and psychological health consequences of women and adolescents trafficked in Europe found that 60% of victims experienced some form of violence prior to being trafficked.

The violation of women’s rights in the labor market including the gender pay gap, discrimination in hiring practices, sexual harassment, and the feminization of poverty and unemployment worldwide, are factors that, in and of themselves, prevent women from advancing, but also fuel things like human trafficking.

While I agree with the writer that Senator Obama should actively engage in the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, it is also important that he continue to support measures against domestic violence and gender-based violence, as well as put effort into addressing women’s rights in the labor market as all of these issues are inextricably connected and need international support to overcome.

A topic near-and-dear to my heart, and an organization I spent my college years with, Journey’s End Refugee Services is holding a two-day celebration from June 20 to 21 for World Refugee Day. Here is the link to the website and the announcement listed below. The picture is from WRD 2006, but I absolutely love it.

Come Celebrate

WORLD REFUGEE DAY
June 20 & 21

With:
Episcopal Migration Ministries of WNY
St. John’s-Grace Episcopal Church
Journey’s End Refugee Services
Vive LaCasa Refugee Shelter

Friday 6/20
Attend an Inter-Faith service with refugee testimonies,
prayers, choir pieces, and concluded with a candlelight
vigil/walk to Colonial Circle.
Begins at 8:00PM –St. John’s-Grace
Lafayette & Colonial Circle(Richmond Ave.)
Bring a personal care item, or household item, to donate to the
refugee agencies!

Saturday 6/21
The celebration continues on Bidwell Pkwy. With musical
entertainment throughout the afternoon, refugee agency
displays and awards, films inside the church, liquid
refreshments, and others. Meet and greet refugees.
Begins at 12PM and ends at 5PM.
Bring a personal care item, or household item, to donate to the
refugee agencies!

Refugees in Western New York contribute to the community, and have an enduring and contagious spirit. I’ll still be in Ukraine when this happens, but I would encourage anyone to attend either of the days and get to know people with a tremendous life experience.

On June 4th, the U.S. Department of State released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

Secretary Rice remarked on the report with the following:

“The 2008 report covers more countries than ever — 170 total. It is the most comprehensive global compendium of human trafficking trends and efforts by foreign governments to eliminate this crime… And as required by Congress, the Trafficking in Persons Report examines both labor slavery and sex trafficking.

For the first time, in this year’s report, we closely examined prosecution data and made a disturbing discovery: Although more countries are addressing sex trafficking through prosecution and convictions, the petty tyrants who exploit their laborers rarely receive serious punishment. We see this as a serious shortcoming, and as we move our efforts forward, we and our allies must remember that a robust law enforcement response is essential.

This report is a key tool in our efforts to abolish human trafficking — by raising awareness, offering clear recommendations to combat these crimes, and offering advice and aid from the United States.”

Full post on the Human Trafficking Project

Two days ago, students from Gaza received a letter stating that their Fulbright scholarship had been revoked. In fact, the State Department withdrew all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza, who were supposed to be going to the U.S. to study during this coming academic year. And no one really seems to know what’s going on or why the State Department canceled without any apparent attempts to ensure they were allowed out. Why do I believe this? Because now that the New York Times has released the article, all of the sudden people are looking up from their desks going, “What happened?”

According the Times article, “when a query about the canceled Fulbrights was made to the prime minister’s office on Thursday, senior officials expressed surprise. They said they did, in fact, consider study abroad to be a humanitarian necessity and that when cases were appealed to them, they would facilitate them. They suggested that American officials never brought the Fulbright cases to their attention.”

And then AFP reported that Secretary Rice had no idea this had happened.

“We really have to be concerned about the future of Palestinians and the future Palestine,” Rice told reporters during a visit in Iceland.

“And if you cannot engage young people and give them a complete horizon to their expectations and to their dreams, then I don’t know that there would be any future for Palestine” or the people of the region, Rice said.

“It was a surprise to me and I am definitely going to look into it… I’m a big supporter of Fulbrights for people in places that have been isolated from the international community and we will see what we can do.”

So who knew what was going on and pulled the plug? The Times article said that the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem canceled the scholarships “out of concern” that the grant money would go to waste in light of the Israeli government’s crackdown on isolating Gaza beginning at the end of last year. The article also cited that internal State Department problems may have contributed to the lack of effort to assist these students:

The State Department and American officials in Israel refused to discuss the matter. But the failure to persuade the Israelis may have stemmed from longstanding tensions between the consulate in Jerusalem, which handles Palestinian affairs, and the embassy in Tel Aviv, which manages relations with the Israeli government.

You would think that if the awarded scholarships were in jeopardy for an entire area, that the Consulates of the U.S. would step up their efforts before canceling a whole program, and in the process, dealing a huge blow to the students who had received these awards based on their merits and leaving the mess to senior officials and the Secretary of State who probably could have intervened before this fiasco. Especially because it appears even if the Israeli government allows them out at this point (along with the dozens of other students with Western scholarships and offers to study abroad), the Fulbright grantees will not be able to go.

However, there is no confirmation that the money has been reallocated and Israel said yesterday that they would reconsider the situation. So there may still be hope to reinstate these Fulbright students.

Some of the current Fulbrighters have put together an open letter to the State Department and the IIE, which administers the Fulbright Program, to reinstate these fellows and to do whatever is in their power to reverse this backward move on the part of the program. So far, eighty former and current Fulbrighters have signed it. The site also includes links to the latest news on the situation. Although it is true that some of this depends on the Israeli government and not entirely on the shoulders of the State Department, it seems there is willingness on the part of Israel to reexamine this without too much complication. In fact, there seems to be misunderstanding as to why this happened in the first place.

Hopefully the situation will be rectified in time to give these students the opportunity they’ve earned without having to wait another year. The Fulbright’s goals are to increase “mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries” and it serves as “a context to provide a better understanding of U.S. views and values, promotes more effective binational cooperation and nurtures open-minded, thoughtful leaders, both in the U.S. and abroad, who can work together to address common concerns.” It is pretty difficult to accomplish that goal when grants are being canceled without much effort to ensure the ability of the student to start their studies.

UPDATE!

I have just heard from my fellow Fulbrighter in Gaza and he has told me that just a few hours ago, they received this message from the Consulate in Jerusalem:

The US Department of State is working to secure exit permits for you to travel to Jerusalem for your visa interview and for final travel to the United States in order to participate in the Fulbright program this year. We are working closely with the Government of Israel in order to secure its cooperation in this matter.

Therefore, I’m pleased to inform you that the Bureau of Educational and Cultural affairs (ECA) of the US Department of State has instructed Amideast in Washington to continue the placement process at a US university for the 2008-09 academic year for your Fulbright program nomination.

We will notify you when your placement has been arranged to begin the next steps in the grant process.

WOOHOO! Such great news. Although as my contact pointed out, there are still hundreds of students that were granted study through other U.S. programs that are still trapped by this isolation policy that the U.S. has not been to negotiate their exit.

Today, we will celebrate this small victory. These students will not only become an asset to the academic and cultural communities of the U.S., but will also help shape the future and international contributions of their country. Good luck to all of them.

From the International Institute of Buffalo:

Fundraiser for Burmese Cyclone Victims

This Sunday, May 18, 1:00–4:00 pm

International Institute of Buffalo

864 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo

Featuring traditional Burmese music and dance, ethnic food, a silent auction, and handcrafted items and artwork available for sale. Burmese refugees living in Buffalo are hosting this event to aid families, friends, and countrymen in Burma suffering the effects of this disaster. Proceeds will go to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be used specifically for humanitarian aid for this tragedy.

Donation requested at the door. Open to the public. For more information, call 883-1900 x319, email dbeehag@iibuff.org, or visit www.iibuff.org.

If you would like to make a donation to help victims of Cyclone Nargis but cannot attend the event on Sunday, you can make a check out to the International Institute of Buffalo, 864 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209

Please write “Burma fundraiser” in the memo

Here is the link to the UNHCR page, and under the news links, you can find out what they’re doing in Myanmar to assist victims.

I know I raised some alarm with my last post on racial issues in Ukraine, and there is good reason to be alarmed. But at the same rate, ground has been gained. A couple weeks ago, there was the first conviction of a violent crime using Article 161 of the Criminal Code:

The Darnytsky District Court on Friday issued its verdict over the killing of Nigerian national Kunyon Myevi Hodi* in Kyiv near the metro station “Poznyaki” on 25 October 2006.

Of the group of four people whom the criminal investigation unit believed involved in the attack or present at it, one appeared as a witness and one came under an amnesty as being underage.

The other two were both convicted.

One was found guilty of murder (Article 115 § 2 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and of inciting racial hatred and enmity and denigrating a person’s ethnic honour and dignity (Article 161 § 3) and received a four year term of imprisonment. Since the sentences are to be partially merged (under Article 70 of the Criminal Code), he was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. The sentence is counted from 15 November 2006.

The other was found guilty of inciting racial hatred and enmity and denigrating a person’s ethnic honour and dignity (Article 161 § 2) and received a four and a half year term of imprisonment. This sentence is counted from November 2006.

In passing sentence, among other considerations, aggravating circumstances were taken into account – the fact that at the time of the crime, the men were in a state of alcoholic intoxication (Article 67 of the Criminal Code)

The defendants only partially admitted guilt. They have 15 days from 18 April to appeal against the verdict.

* In all the reports at the time, the name was given differently - Hodnoys Myevi. The victim was 47 years old and had lived in Ukraine for a number of years. He had graduated from the Institute of National Economy, defended his PhD thesis in economics and was married to a Ukrainian.

As well, there have been two more cases opened.

Today, I was able to get a bit more imagery on growing understanding among people in Ukraine. Today was Dehn Evropi (Europe Day) in Kyiv and there were a couple dozen tents and stages set up all the way down Khreshatik representing European countries, EU institutions, and a few others. Among the few others was the Diversity Initiative. We had hand-outs, a quiz, a skit about inter-racial marraige, and we also had an African drumming group. During the drumming, this happened:

These lovely Ukrainian ladies jumped into the circle during a drumming dance contest, and showed everyone what was up. A small reminder that this is not a foregone problem and that a little interaction goes a long way.

Burma (Myanmar) is in the news again for the suffering of its people, this time at the hands of a disastrous cyclone. On Saturday, Cyclone Nargis hit hard causing at least five states and the city of Rangoon to be declared disaster zones. At this point, the exact death toll is unknown, but just in the last day it has gone up from a little over 300 to now close to 10,000 and still counting. Whole villages have been wiped out and hundreds of thousands of people are without shelter, clean water, and basic supplies. Profiteering is taking its toll as the prices for goods are drastically increasing.

Aid organizations and foreign governments are scrambling to put together packages, as well as ship out stocks of supplies already prepared for natural disasters. The government of Burma has said they are willing to accept this aid, but it is hard to say what the future will bring for the affected populations, especially those completely cut off by destroyed infrastructure. In fact, these outlying areas are “still under negotiation” as to whether the UN and other aid organizations will be allowed to go there. The aid will also be difficult to watch from the outside as many major news organizations are still not allowed to report out of Burma.

Even in cases where countries have infrastructure, money, and the capability to respond to natural disasters, as Americans, we know what a lack of organization and political will can do to prevent assistance from reaching those most deeply affected by severe natural disasters. And if the death toll continues to rise in Burma, it will be the biggest natural disaster in Asia since the Tsunami of 2004.

Disasters of this magnitude take a great deal of time to recover from. For example, India, despite having a more modern infrastructure and more money than Burma, is still dealing with the remnants of the Tsunami in 2007, almost three years after the storm hit. This is especially the case for Indians among the poorest classes living in the affected areas. According to a report by the United Nations in December of 2007, the “recovery effort is still in full swing” as “Reconstruction has taken longer than originally anticipated” even though the national and local governments of the affected areas are credited with being helpful in the effort. Although the recovery seems to be almost complete, these populations, in the mean time, have been exposed to risks of human trafficking, setbacks in their education and livelihoods, among other issues. Not to mention this disaster affected mostly women and children. Seventy-five percent of the people killed by the tsunami were women and children.

Now, let’s take the situation and turn to Burma, where the disaster is at least equal, if not more devastating. India lost about 12,000 people, hundreds of thousands more were displaced, about 100,000 completely lost their homes. So far, Burma has lost about 10,000 with the number expected to grow as more accurate reports come in. The disaster zones encompass areas that are (were) home to about 24 million Burmese. And instead of the world’s biggest democracy working with foreign governments and aid organizations to organize the delivery of food, supplies, and basic needs, there is the military junta with a less-than-perfect record on human rights even in fair weather.

In fact, the Burmese government has decided to push ahead with Saturday’s vote on the Constitution despite the fact that almost half of Burma’s population are living in areas declared disaster zones. This is also despite the fact that some areas have reported not even so much as seeing the authorities come to their area to patrol and assist people. People have already expressed their frustrations with this blatant expression of indifference on the part of the government about the well being of its population:

Pictures on state TV show security services working to clear roads but in Rangoon and elsewhere there are complaints that the response to the disaster has been weak.

“Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year,” a retired government worker complained to Reuters news agency.

Even if it seemed likely that this vote would have a positive effect on the freedoms and rights of the Burmese people (the general consensus seems to be that it will not), the fact that at least hundreds of thousands will not be able to participate already delegitimizes the results.

But as a depressing article from the BBC expresses:

Whatever they think of their leaders right now, the people of Burma desperately need their help.

Some photos and videos from the disaster:

Photo taken during the cyclone:

Video of storm footage from the AP:

Video of the aftermath from Al Jazeera (still allowed to report inside Burma):

Aftermath pictures from the BBC:

ReliefWeb has an appeal call from Church World Services, who is working with the Myanmar Council of Churches to get aid to people affected by the storm. They are looking to raise $50,000 and fast. The details of how you can contribute are on this page.