Human Rights Today

Hello, my name is Mariam Abuhaideri, a senior at the University of West Georgia. A human rights activist, I have served as State Outreach Co-ordinator for STAND- A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition and am currently the Student Activist Corp for Amnesty wwwInternational. Please visit http://www.amnesty.org/ for more information about AI's campaigns. Often I have pondered on the purpose of life's odyssey and have been left staring into emptiness. This emptiness exists despite the abundance of material things. There is suffering all around. The poor suffer as much as the wealthy, but yet the rich buy their way out of it. The poor unfortunately have to bear through. My interest in human rights and world peace emerged because I am frustrated with all the lies and selfishness around me. People don't care about rape in the Congo because they are sheltered and secure under the roof of their homes in Atlanta, Georgia. The media bears responsibility for this to a great extent. This is why I want to become a foreign correspondent and deliver reality to the public. I am tired of lies screaming from my television screen. People need to know more that what they perceive to be the truth.

It is my hope that soon I will be able to use the power of my pen to write true and all encompassing stories of suffering, dominance, injustice, corruption and power games that exist as part of reality for many developing nations. It is my goal to have the lens of my camera focus on communities that have become arrested by the strategic but wrongful acts of powerful governments. Finally, but most importantly, I want to encourage people to respond to injustice and prejudice with justice as assured by international law. This blog is the beginning of a long odyssey and I am ready to face the challenges that will ensue from such a journey: Global Pathways to Peace.

Our generation is so fortunate to have advanced technology to reach out to more people across borders and we should use it to our full benefit. Click on the following link to find out how this shift from traditional media to social media has helped mobilize education about one such global crisis- The Arab-Israeli conflict. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-social-media-war-was-waged-in-gaza-israel-conflict044.html.

I believe in the power of numbers whether it be one, two,…, or a million. Therefore, it is my hope that my words will encourage at least one other person, who will then spread the message to someone else. My posts, you will notice cover a wide range of topics and have references to a number of regions; it will depend on current headlines in the news, my mood, inspiration and news coverage ratio.

I have enabled comments on my blog and therefore have a question for you. Please post your answer in the body of the comment. What or whom do you think is responsible for the current plight of several African nations that have been ravaged by civil war, disease and war crimes? You may reference a country in your response. Welcome to Global Pathways To Peace with Mariam Abuhaideri.