A Call from Open Democracy Web Magazine for readers.

July 2010
Dear reader
As openDemocracy enters its tenth year as a web magazine we are turning to you, one of our regular readers, for your advice on how we should fund ourselves.
In our first decade we have been mainly supported by many charities and foundations; in our second we believe that we can only survive and grow if you and other readers become our principal funders.
Web publishing is moving towards making users pay for content. But we would never make it a requirement for our readers to pay since this is against our ideals and constituency.
Yet we believe that you and many of our readers would consider a voluntary supporter subscription. We do not need many to underpin our future.
Across the whole site we publish about 20 items a day of which four or five are fully edited articles read around the world. Yet our annual costs are less than £250,000 of which two-thirds goes towards editorial, mainly our dedicated team of five full and part-timers and columnists, and the balance to website and administrative costs including publishing and marketing. Other websites with global readerships cost millions.
I ask you now to consider giving us a contribution of £50 or £100, but at a level of your choice, either once a year or monthly, by clicking here.
Provided you can afford it. By doing so your support will have a double value by ensuring that many of our readers who are not able to pay, especially readers in developing countries, can continue to read openDemocracy without restriction.
As important as your donation, is your advice to us as to how we should fund openDemocracy in the future. Do please email me with your views at davidelstein@openDemocracy.net.
Yours sincerely,
David Elstein
Chair

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BENGALI COMMUNITY AND FOREIGN INVESTORS ARE WELCOME TO JOIN WITH US

upport the International Violence Against Women Act

Take Action On This Issue

The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) is the first comprehensive piece of legislation in the United States aimed at ending violence against women and girls around the world. It would improve our government’s response when women are victims of sex trafficking and rape during war and would provide aid to women’s groups on the ground working to help survivors of domestic and sexual violence. It would focus resources on prevention and ensure that dollars are used in the most effective ways possible. In some countries, it truly could mean the difference between life and death for a woman or girl. We are asking that Members of Congress cosponsor this important piece of legislation.

Courtesey : Amnesty Int'l

Add Your Voice to Help Rwandan Journalist/Rwandan Journalist Charged With Defaming President, Espousing Genocide

JULY 13, 2010
Rwandan Journalist Charged With Defaming President, Espousing Genocide


Add Your Voice to Help Rwandan Journalist

The IWMF is speaking out on behalf of Agnes Uwimana, the editor of Umurabyo, a private newspaper in Rwanda. Uwimana was arrested July 9 and chaged with defaming the president and espousing genocide. She faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
Umurabyo is the third private newspaper in Rwanda to face legal trouble before the elections. The government recently shut down two other leading independent newspapers, Umuseso and Umugizi.
"In arresting Agnes Uwimana, the government of Rwanda is invoking the legacy of genocide and national security to silence independent voices in the media," said IWMF co-chair Barbara Cochran.
Washington, D.C. -- The International Women’s Media Foundation today condemned the arrest on July 9 of Agnes Uwimana, the editor of Umurabyo, a private newspaper in Rwanda, on charges of defaming the president and espousing genocide.
In recent months the government of Rwanda has shut down newspapers that raise sensitive topics and are critical of government policies. These topics include reporting on the murder of journalist Jean-Leonard Rugambage, the fallout between President Paul Kagame and exiled military leaders and reports of lavish government spending.
“In arresting Agnes Uwimana, the government of Rwanda is invoking the legacy of genocide and national security to silence independent voices in the media, “ said IWMF co-chair Barbara Cochran. “We call on the government to release Ms. Uwimana immediately.”
“The timing of Agnes Uwimana’s arrest calls into question the government’s motivation,” said Campbell Brown, IWMF co-chair. “Silencing an independent media voice one month before a presidential election smacks of an attempt to control the media.”
Umurabyo is the third private newspaper in Rwanda to face legal trouble before the elections. The government recently shut down two other leading independent newspapers, Umuseso and Umugizi.
Uwimana faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted. This would be her second conviction. In 2007-2008, she served a one-year sentence on charges of ethnic division and libel after she published a column with the headline You Have Problems if You Kill a Tutsi, But You go Free if You Kill a Hutu. At that time, she acknowledged that the article might have upset some people, promised to print a correction and requested clemency from the courts.
Courtesy :IWMF