Leith Community portal, edinburgh, eh16, Leith, Persevere

On the 24th of January this year, my wife and I visited the sites of the death camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau, in a group of fifteen people from the Church of Scotland.

I was struck by the sheer scale of the camp at Birkenau, known as Auschwitz II. Although only one of forty camps, it was the largest. Like the whole complex, it served a dual purpose. It operated as a concentration camp, where prisoners mainly died of starvation and related diseases. It was also an extermination camp, where people were put to death in gas chambers and then cremated. This camp alone covers over 140 hectares or 345 acres. Sadly, it is all too easy to imagine how a million people could have died there.

And yet, it was the personal and individual suffering and death that affected me most directly and painfully. The pictures of the first prisoners to die there, Poles, each individually photographed and fastidiously recorded by the Nazis. Two drawings, one of a town square, the other of a group of children playing, drawn by a Jewish prisoner and pinned to a barracks wall; an extraordinary attempt to brighten the last few hours of children who were only alive because the gas chambers were too busy to accommodate them.

My wife met a Jewish lady in Israel last year and told her of her plans to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. The lady responded by saying that she could not do so and felt that ‘nothing good could come out of that place.’ Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the camps serve as a warning of what can result if we forget that we are all created in the image of God.

Scott McCarthy
March 2009

On the 24th of January this year, my wife and I visited the sites of the death camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau, in a group of fifteen people from the Church of Scotland.

I was struck by the sheer scale of the camp at Birkenau, known as Auschwitz II. Although only one of forty camps, it was the largest. Like the whole complex, it served a dual purpose. It operated as a concentration camp, where prisoners mainly died of starvation and related diseases. It was also an extermination camp, where people were put to death in gas chambers and then cremated. This camp alone covers over 140 hectares or 345 acres. Sadly, it is all too easy to imagine how a million people could have died there.

And yet, it was the personal and individual suffering and death that affected me most directly and painfully. The pictures of the first prisoners to die there, Poles, each individually photographed and fastidiously recorded by the Nazis. Two drawings, one of a town square, the other of a group of children playing, drawn by a Jewish prisoner and pinned to a barracks wall; an extraordinary attempt to brighten the last few hours of children who were only alive because the gas chambers were too busy to accommodate them.

My wife met a Jewish lady in Israel last year and told her of her plans to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. The lady responded by saying that she could not do so and felt that ‘nothing good could come out of that place.’ Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the camps serve as a warning of what can result if we forget that we are all created in the image of God.

Scott McCarthy
March 2009

In January 2007, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received a donation of a photograph album. The inscription “Auschwitz 21.6.1944″ on its first page signaled the uniqueness of the album—there are very few wartime photographs of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, which included Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center. Though his name does not appear anywhere in the album, the dates of the photographs and various decorations including adjutant cords on the uniform of the album’s owner, indicate that the album almost certainly belonged to and was created by SS-Obersturmführer Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Sturmbannführer Richard Baer. Höcker was stationed at Auschwitz from May 1944 until the evacuation of the camp in January 1945. for more click here

In January 2007, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received a donation of a photograph album. The inscription “Auschwitz 21.6.1944″ on its first page signaled the uniqueness of the album—there are very few wartime photographs of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, which included Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center. Though his name does not appear anywhere in the album, the dates of the photographs and various decorations including adjutant cords on the uniform of the album’s owner, indicate that the album almost certainly belonged to and was created by SS-Obersturmführer Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Sturmbannführer Richard Baer. Höcker was stationed at Auschwitz from May 1944 until the evacuation of the camp in January 1945. for more click here

Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, launched the eleventh annual report on human rights on 26 March 2009 at an event attended by an audience of NGOs, academics and journalists. The report reflects the range of work the FCO does to promote human rights worldwide. for more click here

On the 24th of January this year, my wife and I visited the sites of the death camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau, in a group of fifteen people from the Church of Scotland.

I was struck by the sheer scale of the camp at Birkenau, known as Auschwitz II. Although only one of forty camps, it was the largest. Like the whole complex, it served a dual purpose. It operated as a concentration camp, where prisoners mainly died of starvation and related diseases. It was also an extermination camp, where people were put to death in gas chambers and then cremated. This camp alone covers over 140 hectares or 345 acres. Sadly, it is all too easy to imagine how a million people could have died there.

And yet, it was the personal and individual suffering and death that affected me most directly and painfully. The pictures of the first prisoners to die there, Poles, each individually photographed and fastidiously recorded by the Nazis. Two drawings, one of a town square, the other of a group of children playing, drawn by a Jewish prisoner and pinned to a barracks wall; an extraordinary attempt to brighten the last few hours of children who were only alive because the gas chambers were too busy to accommodate them.

My wife met a Jewish lady in Israel last year and told her of her plans to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. The lady responded by saying that she could not do so and felt that ‘nothing good could come out of that place.’ Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the camps serve as a warning of what can result if we forget that we are all created in the image of God.

Scott McCarthy
March 2009

On the 24th of January this year, my wife and I visited the sites of the death camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau, in a group of fifteen people from the Church of Scotland.

I was struck by the sheer scale of the camp at Birkenau, known as Auschwitz II. Although only one of forty camps, it was the largest. Like the whole complex, it served a dual purpose. It operated as a concentration camp, where prisoners mainly died of starvation and related diseases. It was also an extermination camp, where people were put to death in gas chambers and then cremated. This camp alone covers over 140 hectares or 345 acres. Sadly, it is all too easy to imagine how a million people could have died there.

And yet, it was the personal and individual suffering and death that affected me most directly and painfully. The pictures of the first prisoners to die there, Poles, each individually photographed and fastidiously recorded by the Nazis. Two drawings, one of a town square, the other of a group of children playing, drawn by a Jewish prisoner and pinned to a barracks wall; an extraordinary attempt to brighten the last few hours of children who were only alive because the gas chambers were too busy to accommodate them.

My wife met a Jewish lady in Israel last year and told her of her plans to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. The lady responded by saying that she could not do so and felt that ‘nothing good could come out of that place.’ Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the camps serve as a warning of what can result if we forget that we are all created in the image of God.

Scott McCarthy
March 2009

On the 24th of January this year, my wife and I visited the sites of the death camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau, in a group of fifteen people from the Church of Scotland.

I was struck by the sheer scale of the camp at Birkenau, known as Auschwitz II. Although only one of forty camps, it was the largest. Like the whole complex, it served a dual purpose. It operated as a concentration camp, where prisoners mainly died of starvation and related diseases. It was also an extermination camp, where people were put to death in gas chambers and then cremated. This camp alone covers over 140 hectares or 345 acres. Sadly, it is all too easy to imagine how a million people could have died there.

And yet, it was the personal and individual suffering and death that affected me most directly and painfully. The pictures of the first prisoners to die there, Poles, each individually photographed and fastidiously recorded by the Nazis. Two drawings, one of a town square, the other of a group of children playing, drawn by a Jewish prisoner and pinned to a barracks wall; an extraordinary attempt to brighten the last few hours of children who were only alive because the gas chambers were too busy to accommodate them.

My wife met a Jewish lady in Israel last year and told her of her plans to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. The lady responded by saying that she could not do so and felt that ‘nothing good could come out of that place.’ Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the camps serve as a warning of what can result if we forget that we are all created in the image of God.

Scott McCarthy
March 2009

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, a blackout is descending across Tibet – cutting the Tibetan people off from the rest of the world.

But together we can beat the blackout. Donate below to provide crucial communication technology and equipment to Tibetan civil society groups, such as Voice of Tibet, and help protect Tibetans from further human rights violations. Contributions, no matter how small will make a difference:

* For $90 we can fund the transmission of an entire hour of Voice of Tibet radio network, which provides unbiased news across the region
* $25 each from just 100 of us supports new technology that allows Tibetans to safely avoid censorship
* For $100 from just 100 of us we can help upgrade a radio transmitter in India, broadcasting deeper into Tibet.

for more click here

Dear friends,

As we mark 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped to India, a dark curtain is being pulled across Tibet — foreign media detained and expelled, armed troops patrolling the streets, citizens imprisoned for political purposes. And yet many of these violations will not reach the outside world because communications have been cut off.

Without our immediate support, those who are cutting vital holes in the censorship curtain won’t be able to alert the global media or other Tibetans to disappearances and the denial of human rights. Open communication is the best insurance to prevent future infringements taking place.

Watch the video from Tenzin Choeying talking about the crackdown in Tibet. Donating today will help ensure that the flow of information so critical to the Tibetan people isn’t shut off completely:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_blackout

A modest donation can have a major impact:

* For $90 we can fund transmission of an entire hour of the Voices of Tibet radio network, which provides unbiased news across the Tibetan plateau
* $25 each from just 100 of us will support a new technology program that allows Tibetans to avoid censorship and safely communicate their plight with the world and each other
* For $100 from 100 of us, we can help upgrade a radio transmitter just over the border in India, so that it can broadcast deeper into Tibet and China for one month.

Only freedom of information and dialogue among Tibetans and Chinese can help bring a lasting and peaceful solution to the Tibet problem. Click below now to make a contribution:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_blackout

The situation is dire, and some reports suggest it’s getting worse. The Chinese government has even cut phone networks to hinder grassroots organizing efforts by Tibetans and blocked their contact to the outside world – including to Chinese progressives. If we don’t help Tibetans access new technologies that can breach the communications blockade, their plight could be silenced behind an impenetrable firewall.

Radio stations, bloggers, censorship avoidance technologies are like fog-lights out of the dark – and vital to the survival of the Tibetan people. Here is what the Dalai Lama says about Voice of Tibet radio – which your support today can help keep on the air:

“This is the only radio service in [the] Tibetan language with a Tibetan editorial board in charge allowing us [Tibetans] to comment on events of Tibetan interest from our perspective…. I would appreciate [...] if sympathetic organizations and individuals could help Voice of Tibet continue functioning…”

Donate today and help keep critical programs like this one alive – they’ve never been more urgently needed:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_blackout

Freedom of information is vital to the survival of Tibetan culture and a key ingredient in securing Tibetan autonomy. It is also a key way to reach out to progressive Chinese in China, many of whom are looking for alternative perspectives and information. As a global community, we can help ensure access to vital information for Tibetans, Chinese and those of us who are beyond the veil.

With hope,

Brett, Ricken, Alice, Paul, Graziela, Ben, Paula, Luis, Pascal, Veronique, Iain, Milena and the rest of the Avaaz team

P.S. Consider donating to support organizations like Voice of Tibet at this crucial time. They need our support now more than ever. Even a modest donation will go a long way: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_blackout

A year of escalating violence:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/011/2009/en

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/china-amnesty-international-calls-chinese-authorities-open-tibet-2009030

UN Committee Against Torture Report covering the 2008 protests. Relevant section is pages 8-10:
www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf

Human Rights Watch report detailing those unaccounted for:

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/03/09/china-hundreds-tibetan-detainees-and-prisoners-unaccounted

Reports of increased violence across Tibet to 2009:

http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-press-releases/a-great-mountain-burned-fire-chinas-crackdown-tibet

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ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva. Call us at: +1 888 922 8229 or +55 21 2509 0368 Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages!
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Human rights remained poor in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, according to the U.S. State Department’s global survey released on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of some of its findings:for more click here