Today, March 21, is recognized as the International Day Against Racism. The date is historically significant. We have also recently seen in stark and tragic detail how discrimination can lead to violent conflict.

In the United States, it was fitting that on Tuesday, March 18, Senator Barack Obama made a speech addressing the question of racism that has been raised in the current US presidential campaign. 

The terrible and traumatic events occurring in Kenya are threatening people’s safety. This information is especially helpful to eveyone, including those interviewing and assisting people who have survived horrible events - such as journalists, aid workers, or truth commission personnel.

You may be experiencing many reactions for the first time. For those who have had previous traumatic experiences, you may find that you are re-experiencing thoughts, emotions, symptoms, and fears associated with previous experiences. You are not alone.

Today in the United States we are honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated forty years ago on April 4, 1968.

One of the New Tactics project grant partners, Tolekan Ismailova, director of the Human Rights Center/Citizens Against Corruption in Bishkek, Krygyz Republic, was arrested outside the parliament on December 18th with 20 young people and re-arrested again on December 20th along with 31 young people. They were peacefully protesting irregularities of the December 16th parliamentary elections.

You can submit an online letter or e-mail message to President Kurmanbek S. Bakiev regarding the wrongful detention of non-violent activists at:
http://eng.president.kg/feedback/ or http://eng.president.kg/president_ev/vopros/
Email: office [at] mail [dot] gov [dot] kg

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed today at a political rally near the capital, Islamabad. News reports have said that she was shot just after addressing her supporters in a rally. A suicide bomb then exploded, further injuring Bhutto and resulting in the deaths of at least 20 other people.

Her assassination comes just days after President Musharraf lifted the state of emergency. This tragic event raises concerns about far more violence arising in the coming period.

The situation for citizens in Zimbabwe is becoming dire. Harare looks calm on the surface, but a bit deeper examination yields a different story.

A very meager shopping basket will cost you 51.1 Million Zimbabwean Dollars and won’t feed you much beyond one day.

Tell us how you're making change on these important human rights struggles.

1 December is World's AIDS Day - the 2007 theme is "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Leadership". You can get more information from the World AIDS Campaign (WAC), who chose Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise main theme for World AIDS Day observences through 2010.

3 December, International Day of Disabled Persons the 2007 Theme is: "Decent work for persons with disabilities". For more information you can go to United Nations Enable - Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

10 December is International Human Rights Day - the 2007 and year-long campaign theme leading up to the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights is , “Dignity and justice for all of us.”

From Moscow to Dubai to Bombay women are making the streets safer by becoming drivers of pink taxi cabs. Women understand all too well what being vulnerable feels like at a physical level. What should be a simple and safe way to travel - getting in a taxi to go from one doorway (from work) to the next doorway (home) - all too often has ended in rape or death.

The women driving the Pink Taxi cabs are not only creating a a safe way for women to make their journey, they have broken with many traditions by entering a predominately male occupation, breaking stereotypes and earning decent wages for their work.

Can we also find ways for women who can't afford a taxi to get safely from one place to next as well?

In a recent e-newsletter I received from FORUM-Asia I was very excited to see highlighted a "landmark case in Malaysia granting a [human rights activist who was a] former detainee RM 2.5 million (about US $ 0.74 million) for