World Refugee Day June 20

[dgriffin]

Did you know tomorrow is World Refugee Day? I didn't.






Montenegro's Roma camp shame


By Phoebe Greenwood in Podgorica, Montenegro



More than 2,000 Roma refugees live in Konik camp just minutes outside the capital of Montenegro



In a series of special reports, Al Jazeera examines the plight of refugees across the globe to mark Refugee Day on Saturday, June 20.


Elvis has never been to school and he doesn't think he would like to.

He will be seven in August and has lived his entire life in the Konik camp for Roma refugees, a sprawl of tents and makeshift wooden huts on the outskirts of Podgorica, Montenegro's capital, next to the country's largest rubbish dump.

His family has lived here since they fled the fighting in Kosovo ten years ago, leaving their homes and all their belongings behind as they ran for their lives.

MORE at:
english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/06/2009617174646135402.html

[corner]

oooooookaaay??

[Clipper]

Hmmm. Sounds like a very sad and heartbreaking story, and I don't know the answers to the problem.

I DID notice one thing in the article. It seems that they were all fired from the cleaning company because they "didn't have the correct documentation."

Damn, at least Monenegro has laws in place that requires people to be citizens or at least "legally documented" before they can be employed. Hell, that is more than I can say for OUR OWN country.

That is my only observation, and YES the camps ARE disgusting and oppressive. It is sad that they have to exist in such and environment, and I am glad the WE as Americans treat refugees much better, although we need to work on the PROCESS by which they come to the US, not whether or not they CAN come.

[corner]

we got enough of our own problems without worrrying or inviting in anybody elses

[dgriffin]

You're a hard one, corner. I didn't suggest we invite them here.

[clarencebunsen]

One thing I didn't understand from the story is why they can't return to Kosovo. We should have enough influence with the Kosovar (?) government to pressure a return.

In a way it is our problem since we basically created an indepentent Kosovo. The break away would never have survived without US bombers dropping bridges into the Danube and taking out Serbian power plants & Yugo factories.

[corner]

dave just covering the bases wasnt suggesting you did,,its about time european and african and even asian countries start taking care of their own i think they all got more resources than we do lately...tomorrow is fathers day and i,ll say aprayer to mine that this planet gets it shit together before the asteroid comes.

[chris]

Do Geoogle search: 2012

[dgriffin]

Jun 21, 2009 7:38:53 GMT -5 chris said:

Do Geoogle search: 2012

On the winter solstice of 2012, the noonday Sun exactly conjuncts
the crossing point of the sun's ecliptic with the galactic plane,
while also closely conjuncting the exact the center of the galaxy.

Oh Boy! Another Y2K! Some folks made a lot of money on the last one. Maybe they can cash in on this new threat to civilization. I guess my comments about Stittville in the Avatar Two Story were prescient.

I can say the solar cycle we're just beginning is indeed late, although that doesn't mean anything. I follow it closely re my radio work.