children in Asia

Study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality. No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health -including the prevention of HIV/AIDS. No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation.’

(Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, International Women’s Day 2005)

Untitled -

Tear drop falls from her almond eyes, transforming into nectar of love

It floats into my heart, invoking body and mind

I dissolve into you and you into me

There is no you and there is no me – we become one – we become love

I touch your smooth coffee skin, and realize I have embraced you in my dream

What is dream what is reality, since I am drunk as drunk can be from the nectar of love

Who are you? Where do you come from? I do not care

I am you and you are me – we become one – we become love

A thousand smiles that you possess

Like innate beauty of thousand splendid moons

You are moon and moon is you, I see the moon and you smile at me

You are moon and I am star – we become one – we become love

I feel your touch and hear you whisper

Thousand butterflies comes alive

Vanishing into the thin Himalayan air and invoking the mantra of divine love

You are wind and I am air – we become one – we become love

ΤΦ

2008

Jika Western Sahara memilih untuk tidak menggunakan kekerasan

Jika Sahara Barat tidak memilih cara-cara teror untuk menyuarakan kenyataan mereka,

apakah dengan demikian, dunia berhak untuk melupakannya?

Apakah hanya jalan kekerasan yang membuat dunia menjadi terkesima dan lalu menjadi  peduli?

apakah tidak cukup pelanggaran hak asasi manusia yang telah berlangsung sekian puluh tahun di negeri ini bisa mengetuk empati dan memberi ruang yang lebih pantas untuk dukungan, cinta dan perlindungan kepada mereka? terutama perlindungan hak-hak sipil dan politik Saharawi.

Perempuan-perempuan yang tangguh selalu mengandung sang pemberani.

tapi kewajiban siapa  untuk menyelamatkan anak-anak yang dikandung dan dilahirkan oleh mereka?

……….

Kebun ini sehening surga ditinggalkan Hawa

Selembar tubuh mawar terkulai sintal tanpa gairah

Kupu kupu terakhir sayapnya terluka

Jejaknya pada daun segelap duka bercinta

Kau remangkan kudukku

Menari telanjang dan syahdu

terasa perih nafasmu di ubunku

seperti apa rasanya manusia, rayumu

Kemana aku mencarimu dan menghisap setiap tetes luka

dirongga tubuhmu

tak beda rasa madu dan kelu

begitu sunyi rasa mencari

Mengapa mesti ada rahasia antara angin dan aku

Kita bercinta dengan riang nestapa

Tubuhku dan jantungnya segaduh raung lebah betina

Kupu kupu, kemana kau bawa debar terakhir kita?

Aminatou Haidar to be presented with RFK Human Rights Award for her campaign for the self-determination of Western Sahara and against government abuses and disappearances of prisoners of conscious. The ceremony will take place in Washington, D.C the morning of November 13th, in the Russell Senate Office Building’s Caucus Room.

Washington DC, September 16th, 2008— Aminatou Haidar is the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate. Ms. Haidar is being recognized for her courageous campaign for self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco and against forced disappearances and abuses of prisoners of conscious. Regularly referred to as the “Sahrawi Gandhi,” Ms. Haidar is one of Western Sahara’s most prominent human rights defenders.

“For me, as an individual, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award represents a great honor. As a Sahrawi human rights activist, I consider it recognition that the cause of the Sahrawi people is just and legitimate and that our non-violent resistance is noble and righteous, in spite of the risks and the intimidation of the Moroccan authorities,” said Aminatou Haidar. “The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award will provide constructive support to the struggle of the Sahrawi people for liberty and human dignity.”

“I congratulate Aminatou Haidar for receiving this honor. All who care about democracy, human rights, and the rule of law for the people of the Western Sahara are inspired by her extradorinary courage, dedication and skilled work on their behalf,” said Senator Edward Kennedy. Senator Kennedy has been an outspoken champion of Western Sahara in the U.S. Senate for over two decades.

Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy will present Ms. Haidar with the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award in a public ceremony sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy the morning of November 13th, 2008 in the Russell Senate Office Building’s Caucus Room. Stay tuned to www.rfkmemorial.org for details.

“Aminatou Haidar has shown extraordinary courage and heroic leadership for human rights in Western Sahara, one of the forgotten corners of the world and the last colony in Africa. Her nonviolent struggle for the freedom and dignity of her people reflects the kind of leadership that Robert Kennedy most admired, and that his brother, Ted Kennedy, has long supported,” said John Shattuck, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, current CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and RFK Human Rights Award Judge.

Once a Spanish colony, Western Sahara has been under strict military control by the Kingdom of Morocco since its invasion in 1975. The region has experienced an extended conflict between Moroccan military and the Sahrawi (“Saharawi”) independence group, the Polisario Front. In response to the International Court of Justice’s rejection of Morocco’s claims of sovereignty in the region, the Polisario Front, in 1976, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as Western Sahara’s legitimate government in exile.

In 1988, the kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to settle the dispute through a UN-administered referendum that would allow the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence or integration with Morocco. The vote still has not been held. A UN-administered ceasefire has been in place since 1991. In 2007, the United Nations began facilitating peace talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front, but talks have stalled over disagreements including who qualifies to participate in the potential referendum and whether full independence is an option for Sahrawis.

Ms. Haidar is part of a younger generation of Sahrawi leaders working through non-violent means to organizing peaceful demonstrations in support of the referendum and to denounce the human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict. Her peaceful efforts have been met with increased police aggression and brutality. In 1987, at the age of 21, Ms. Haidar was one of 700 peaceful protestors arrested for participating in a rally in support of a referendum. Later she was “disappeared” without charge or trial and held in secret detention centers for four years, where she and 17 other Sahrawi women were tortured. In 2005, the Moroccan police detained and beat her after another peaceful demonstration. She was released after 7 months, thanks to international pressure from groups like Amnesty International and the European Parliament.

Since then Ms. Haidar has traveled the globe to expose the Moroccan military’s heavy-handed approach and to advocate for the Sahrawi people’s right to self determination. Her efforts helped change the Moroccan government’s violent tactics for dispersing pro-independence demonstrations. Unfortunately, the torture and harassment of Sahrawi human rights defenders continue behind closed doors.

“The RFK Human Rights Award not only recognizes a courageous human rights defender but marks the beginning of the RFK Center’s long-term partnership with Ms. Haidar and our commitment to work closely with her to realize the right to self-determination for the Sahrawi people,” said Monika Kalra Varma, Director of the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights.

For 40 years, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial has worked for a more peaceful and just world. The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was established in 1984 to honor courageous and innovative human rights defenders throughout the world. There have been 38 RFK Human Rights Laureates from 22 countries to date. The award includes a cash prize of $30,000 and on-going legal, advocacy and technical support through a partnership with the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights. Award winners are selected by an independent panel of human rights experts, which this year included: John Shattuck; Gay McDougall, U.N. Independent Expert on Minority Issues; Ambassador Bill vanden Heuvel, RFK Memorial Board Member and Of Counsel with Stroock & Stroock & Lavan; Makau Mutua, Dean of Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York; Sushma Raman, President of Southern California Grantmakers.

For more info on Western Sahara click here: http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/2008_factsheet

Source: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial (www.rfkmemorial.org)

engkaukah yang duduk tafakur di karpet Afghan
menggenggam debar rahasia pohon raksasa dipelataran rumah berwarna jingga
Lihat arah selatan,Tenzing
cahaya lilin gemulai menarikan Terawang Lhasa
dadaku berombak selirih tasbih Gautama
…………………

tak ada camar tak ada siul
hanya desau angin dan ombak yang malas

Perempuan ini berkisah tentang malam-malam sepi tanpa birahi.
meski kudukku meremang
Ingin ku kunyah daging selezat biri-biri muda ini,
“sudah kubilang, aku cuma pinjam lelakimu, dan akan kukembalikan saat ia harus meniupkan adzan di telinga bayimu”.
Perempuan ini, yang kulihat beberapakali nyelinap di mimpiku
Tersenyum dengan ragu
Tapi pipiku yang hangat merasakan pipinya yang pucat
” aku kesatria, aku pantang ingkari janji”
Tapi aku tak cerita tentang 27 tahi lalat lelakinya telah hilang di kelangkangku.

Dan tanganku memeluk rapat tubuhku
Kubiarkan tangis lelaki itu menjelma menjadi seekor lebah
Meninggalkan jejak sengatan di kerongkong kenangan

Sebelum tengah malam,
Perempuan itu datang mengadu, ” aku kehilangan suamiku”.

merayakan puasa
merayakan cinta