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I went to go and meet the 50 bloggers who have been brought to London to cover the G20 summit by Oxfam. See the last blog post about who they are and where they’re from.
Cheryl Contee who worked with Your Story for Obama’s Inauguration, has been writing about arriving in London here.
She writes..
I walked the wrong way to the hotel and saw the entrance to G20 ground zero – the ExCel Centre.
There are a lot of cops around dressed in bright yellow plastic vests and funny shaped round black hats, but they are all very nice and quite helpful. Though like Obama’s inauguration, they are perhaps not as well trained as they might be given the circumstances. One cop whom I asked for directions shrugged his shoulders and good-naturedly exclaimed: “I have no idea. They brought me in from Bristol!” Right…
The bloggers have been meeting up today and talking about the things they care about. I also went along and spoke to the Saudi Jeans guy, Jessica from Mexico – vivrmexico.com, Daudi Were from Kenya, his blog is mentalacrobatics.com and Michael Kleinham from humanitarianrelief.change.org.
I’ve recorded some of their thoughts on what they think the G20 should be talking about and that piece is going to be broadcast on the World Today programme tonight.
Photo by Kemorphosis
I want to find a cocaine user who will interview other drug users they know – about the drug wars raging in Mexico.
Drug rehab centres near the US-Mexico border are a good place to start, so I’ve contacted a couple of them for help on this. I’m also in touch with this guy who posted a photo of himself smoking meth on flickr.
But of course, most people don’t like to admit they’ve taken cocaine or other drugs, to people they don’t know. Have you ever taken drugs? Would you be willing to admit so, on this blog?
Hillary Clinton meets Felipe Calderon in Mexico
Hillary Clinton has been talking about the insatiable demand in the US for drugs and that this means there is a shared responsibility when it comes to dealing with the trade and the violence that comes with it.
But do the people who buy cocaine feel this responsibility? If not, then what, if anything, can be done to change this attitude?
And are addicts really to blame for the drug trade, when their reasons for using may stem from a need to anaesthetise pain in their lives?
Maybe there is someone trying to put a direct and personal message across to western drug users, linking the demand for drugs with the violence they’ve experienced themselves in Mexico. If you know of someone doing this, I’d be interested in hooking up with them.
The message in western schools currently says a flat “no to drugs”, maybe it needs to say “please say no to drugs because the cartels are threatening to kill my family”.
Perhaps that is too big a connection to make in peoples’ minds. Maybe drug users cannot think past their hard week in the office and having a good time in the club. It is after all, a far cry from the streets of Ciudad Juarez.
Photo by Andy Ciordia
My friend used to work as a madam in a place that had “high class” call girls offering sex at a premium price. I know all kinds of people!
It operated out of a gleaming high rise glass building in an area of London called the Docklands, where many rich city workers live.
She used to tell me stories about the pop stars and sporting personalities who used to turn up, the champagne they offered at the door and the money being made by the beautiful women who worked there.
A luxury suite in a New Zealand brothel
It’s a similar picture to what New Zealand women are saying has happened to prostitution over there. That it’s attracting a better class of clientele now, which they put down to the fact that their profession has been decriminalised.
But that’s hardly the norm is it?
The reality for most prostitutes is not a luxury suite but the cold hard streets. As this report from South Africa details - women working in the sex trade suffer drug problems, and fear violence and disease. This, for me, is where the real story is and I’m looking for a citizen journo who has personal experience of this life, to report it.
I had a quick look around myself and found Debbie Toughey in Durban, Kathleen Mitchell in Ohio, Anju Pawar who is a social worker with the ASHA project in Mumbai and Somaly Mam in Cambodia.
If you want to suggest someone, you can contact me by adding your comment to this post.
David worked with Your Story a few months ago from the Mexico AIDS conference – I wrote this blog post about his piece. He just sent me this message …
Congratulations.
It is a good job of yours informing and spreading the news for people all over the world; yes, I can live well and be as happy as possible even if I live with hiv. I am unemployed for the moment thks to the virus and stigma, but I am happy as well, couse I am alive. If there is anything I can do for you please let me know how, if there is any profit I coud make it would be greately appreciated, if not, I would consider it as a service for humanity. Best regards, and again congratulations.
I´m attaching a pic when I was just a wonderful baby a few moths old and even then a surviver, a few weeks before the pic was taken, me and my family had a car accident and my mom´s love was so great that she had embraced me so I would not be hurt, and nothing happened to me.Next first of dec. (World Day VS. hiv/aids) there is going to be two inportant events, one in Toluca the capital city of the surrounding state of mexico (Estado de México) only an hour and a half away from México City (I would need travel expenses alowance besides the tape rec), it will be hosted by the Mexican Health Ministry. The other event is taking place in Mexico City mainly coordinated by NGO´S and the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Agency (CENSIDA).
Thanks for your post David and I am hoping we can get another piece together for World AIDS Day on Dec 1st 2008.
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