For women entrepreneurs of a certain age group, learning how to adapt to the modern market is essential for survival. A method that will certainly help you out is blogging – just one of the many technological offshoots of copyediting, copywriting, and proofreading for businesses. Yvette Williams, PhD says that in order to connect with your clients, you must first establish your voice. Fortunately this task is completely achievable with the help of an excellent freelance writer. But how can you make sure that the resulting copy reflects your authentic voice as an entrepreneur? Learn more about the crazy profitable world of copywriting and blogging from Yvette Williams, PhD, one of the most respected experts in the industry.
If you are a woman entrepreneur who loves to talk about your organization but needs help writing about it, Yvette can help! Her expertise is helping you figure out what to say and how to write it while bringing out your unique voice. She specializes in copy-editing and proofreading print and website copy and writing blog articles that speak to your target audience.
Our guest is Yvette Williams, PhD. She's a freelance writer for her company, The Esteemed Scribe, LLC. Her company provides expertise in copyediting, copywriting, proofreading and blogging. She specializes in helping women entrepreneurs write informative, creative and inspirational copy that expresses their unique voice and propels their business forward. Welcome to Heartrepreneur Radio, Yvette.
It's good to have you. A lot of times people don't know the difference between copyediting and copywriting, and copywriting versus copywriting material. Would you address those?
Copyediting is more of what I call the behind-the-scenes grunt work. It is the skill set in which I would be looking at sentence structure errors, grammar, punctuation, consistency in how words are used and quite a few other things that I look at as far as the quality of the writing. Copywriting includes copyediting but it's more of the expressive, creative and at times the instructional piece of writing. In a sense, if you are making a cake, you want the cake to come out perfectly smooth and round and there may be some things that you have to do in order to have the cake presentable. For example, the copyediting would be brushing off the crumbs and filling in the areas so that the cake looks uniform. The copywriting is adding the frosting and the decoration to make it look presentable.
One of the areas that everyone can use, whether they know it or not, is proofreading. I get articles submitted for Heartrepreneur Magazine or for the Heartrepreneur blog on a regular and the biggest issue is that they didn't proofread their own articles. Can you speak to proofreading at all and your thoughts about that?
Proofreading is what you want to apply before the article, the blog, or whatever written material goes out the door before your audience. My skills that I use for proofreading include making sure that there's consistent font, making sure that the items in the copy are well aligned, and also doing some additional copyediting. That may be catching some last-minute typos and not creating disastrous spelling errors, which can skew the meaning of your copy.
Blogging is extremely important as a writer. It establishes voice.
You have expertise in blogging. Can you talk to why you believe blogging is or isn't important?
I believe blogging is extremely important as a writer. It establishes my voice. It helps me to be able to connect with clients. Also, to be a part of the larger writing community. I find that the more that I write, the more I learn from my community because I've often get feedback, comments and it's a way of engaging. It's a way of expression. It allows my clients to be able to see what it is that I could provide a service to them and how I can in turn be able to write in a voice that speaks for what they need.
My route wasn't direct. I had been doing some both professional and personal writing for probably close to ten years now. I didn't professionally or formally start as a business until a few years ago when I came across a situation where I decided to test run some of my writing services. I was excited because I did a little website marketing and I was able to get my very first client. With the beauty of online businesses, my client came all the way from Los Angeles and I'm currently in Connecticut. I was excited and decided that it was time for me to put down my shoes and put the rubber to the road and establish myself as a business owner and a writer.
We've got some readers who are in different places on the journey, some who are still perhaps working at a job, some who are ready to make a move, so I always like to hear someone's story. Why did you decide to focus on women entrepreneurs?
My inspiration for working with women entrepreneurs came on as a result of a coaching program that I was a part of. My coach encouraged me to not only write, but I had mentioned I was interested in writing blogs to inspire women in that age group. As a result, I merged both my writing skills and my interest in writing inspirational and empowering blogs to work specifically with women in that age group because I feel like I could connect with them because I'm in the age group and I can share some challenges, obstacles, as well as opportunities for women as entrepreneurs in this age group.
I love that you talk about copy that expresses their unique voice. I believed that we have to have a unique voice. How do you help people even know what their unique voice is?
My inspiration for that came when I had one of my very first clients and she was so excited after I helped her prepare a blog that she said to me, "This sounds like something that I wrote." She said, "I was so excited because you've got it so on point with what I wanted to say and who my audience was that that became in my own thinking." This is the value that I bring to my customers. This is the value that I bring to my clients. If I'm able to talk to a client about their personal experiences or a marketing angle that they're interested in for their business and I can express it in a way so that they can not only feel confident that this is something they would have said their selves and that they're confident they can reach their clients, then I feel like that's a job well done and a task accomplished.
Copywriting For Women Entrepreneurs: The copywriting is adding the frosting and the decoration to make it look presentable.
I'll share an example of something that happened. It's very similar. This is going back fifteen years ago. I had an assistant who did a lot of writing for me and really got familiar with me and my voice. I was at a meeting with a big corporation. They pulled up one of my blog articles and they said, "This is really interesting that you wrote this." Then made quote and I thought, "I don't remember writing that." Although it sounds like the exact words I used, I said, "Can I see which blog you're reading from?" because they had printed it and they handed it out to everyone in the meeting. When I looked at it, Donna had written it, not me. It clearly was my voice. It sounded like my words. No one could tell the difference. I was like, "I don't remember writing that." It works magically.
It's interesting when someone can express your unique voice, how much attraction power you have, being authentic and using your own voice. I have my own blog at Heartrepreneur. I talk about things that I believe, that are my philosophies, and that I stand for as well as things that I stand against. I do think that when we're writing, when we're blogging, when we're doing a Facebook Live, when we're doing a podcast, whatever we're doing, it is about expressing our unique voice all the time. How can people connect with you, Yvette? How can they find out more about you and if they want your services for copyediting, copywriting, proofreading, and blogging, how can they make contact with you?
There are a few ways. One way is through my blog, The Esteemed Scribe Blog. The other way is through my social media platforms. I'm currently on Twitter and you can find me @EsteemedScribe. You can also find me on Facebook, Facebook.com/TheEsteemedScribe. You can also find me on my website, which is www.TheEsteemedScribe.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you so much for being here creating value. If you want to write more informative, creative copy, and really getting your unique voice out there in a way that can propel your business forward, I highly recommend that you go ahead and connect with Yvette very easy. For everyone, as a thank you for being here with us, you can grab some free gifts. We have a Consumer Awareness Guide that was just put you at Heartrepreneur.com It's a free gift just for you. We also have a free webinar that was just redone at GetHotPayingClients.com. If you want to connect with us on social media, join our Heartrepreneur Facebook Group, which is #Heartrepreneurs with Terri Levine. Thank you for tuning in and being here at Heartrepreneur Radio.
If you are a woman entrepreneur who loves to talk about your organization but needs help writing about it, I can help! My expertise is helping you figure out what to say and how to write it while bringing out your unique voice. I am passionate about helping you get your message out clearly and effectively.
Whether you need to create or spruce up your mission statement, write a powerful testimonial, or share a success story, I can help!
Copy-editing and proofreading print and website copy so that your message sounds clear, concise, and informative.
Improving the flow of sentences, re-structuring, and reorganizing paragraphs so that your written material looks and sounds flawless.
Writing blog articles that speak to your target audience and gets them to engage with your message.
Let me help you save time and your reputation with clear, concise, and attention-grabbing writing!
I guarantee professionalism, integrity, and timely delivery.
Visit my website: www.theesteemedscribe.com and fill out my short intake form. You receive a FREE 30-minute consultation to discuss how I can create high-quality content for your business.


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Many if not most skin care conscious people have heard about alpha lipoic acid (often called lipoic acid for short). These days the number of skin care products with lipoic acid is growing as rapidly as its media coverage. However, as many consumers know from personal experience, neither media coverage nor acceptance by skin care companies guarantees effectiveness or even safety. So, what do we really know about lipoic acid in general, and its purported skin care benefits in particular.
It is a co-factor in a key biochemical pathway responsible for energy production in the cells (citric acid cycle).
It inhibits cross-linking which is the formation of chemical bridges between proteins or other large molecules. Cross-linking contributed to the aging process by causing hardening of arteries, wrinkling of the skin and stiffening of joints.
It has moderate anti-inflammatory effect.
Finally, it has a capacity, albeit a modest one, to neutralize and remove from the body a variety of toxic metals.
Lipoic acid supplements have been repeatedly demonstrated to benefit a number of health conditions, including the neurological complications of diabetes, arterial sclerosis and others.
In theory, all of the above effects of lipoic acid may benefit skin cells and, therefore, improve skin texture and wrinkles. However, many substances that were deemed "theoretically" effective against wrinkles, proved to be of little or no value when actually tested. (Topical collagen, aloe vera, topical amino acids to name a few.) Furthermore, even if a substance has been demonstrated to protect skin cells or stimulate collagen production in a test tube, this is no guarantee of its effectiveness when applied to real human faces in a cream. The only reliable indicators are clinical studies, preferably performed by several independent teams of researchers.
But don't get too excited just yet. Unfortunately, most studies of topical lipoic acid have been performed by the same researcher, a Yale dermatologist Nicholas Perricone. Doctor Perricone has pioneered the use of lipoic acid for skin rejuvenation, and later on promoted it in his popular book "The Wrinkle Cure." As impressive as Dr. Perricone's credentials and studies may be, the research that comes largely from a single source cannot be fully relied upon until independently corroborated. Also, note that Dr. Perricone's studies employed a rather high concentration of lipoic acid, whereas most commercial preparations are less concentrated. Finally, lipoic acid is a cornerstone of Dr. Perricone's own skin care line. I do not think that he would intentionally exaggerate the benefits of lipoic acid just to boost sales. However, a potential conflict of interest is there. Serious scientific research is a complicated business. When there is a conflict of interest (e.g. income or prestige is affected by the outcome of the experiment), a researcher may misinterpret the data without even realizing it. This is known to have happened to some of the history's greatest scientific minds, not to mention rank and file scientists and physicians.
With that in mind, the dilemma for most people is whether it is worth spending money on a 2-3 month supply of lipoic acid cream to give it a fair try. Unfortunately, even though topical lipoic acid products are proliferating, they remain somewhat costly. The prices include what I call a "hype premium" because lipoic acid itself is an inexpensive, widely available chemical. If you like taking matters in your own hands, you can easily make a lipoic acid cream yourself. The benefits of this approach include very substantial cost-savings, freshness and the ability to optimize the concentration of lipoic acid to fit your needs. There is yet another important advantage of the do-it-yourself approach in this particular case. Most lipoic acid products contain a mixture of its two variants, so-called S and R forms. (For the scientifically inclined, these are two different optical isomers of lipoic acid.) While both S and R forms are potent antioxidants, only R-lipoic acid improves cellular energy production and reduces inflammation. Furthermore, the presence of the S form appears to reduce the effectiveness of the R-form. Other conditions being equal, R-form alone is more likely to bring results than the commonly used S & R mixture. Lipoic acid creams I've seen so far all use the mixture of the R and S forms. (Assume that the cream contains a mixture unless the label explicitly says "R-lipoic acid".) Pure R-form is available as a powder, however, and is suitable for making your own R-lipoic acid cream.
For more information on making your own skincare preparations, including an alpha lipoic acid cream, see the article Do-It-Yourself Anti-Aging Skin Care.


The client had a production line that was undergoing a major upgrade in 6 months. The current performance of the line meant that it would be unable to achieve the stockbuild targets by the commencement of the planned activity. Bullant were asked to review the line and provide targetted activities that would accelerate the rate of improvement on the line.
We were able to use the insights from these tools to define 10 Performance-Centred Improvements. We also prioritised these improvements according to their calculated impact on OEE.
The client was able to marshal resources towards the 10 Performance-Centred Improvements. The gains in performance meant that the stockbuild targets were achieved and the refurbishment could take place as planned.


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Author Archives | czl2104@columbia.edu
A-Z of Common Housing Court Terms
Posted on 17 October 2019. Tags: bronx housing bureau, Housing Court
BronxInk reporters came across a lot of housing jargon and legal-speak over the course of our reporting on the New York City housing system. We've put some of the most common terms in the glossary below.
Abatement: if a landlord fails to provide repairs to an apartment and a tenant then withholds rent resulting in a nonpayment case, a judge can order the tenant to pay a lower amount of back rent.
Adjournment: the temporary postponement of a hearing.
Affidavit: a sworn statement, made either in writing or spoken and notarized.
Alternative Enforcement Program: once a year, HPD selects severely distressed, multiple-unit dwellings for participation in this program, which requires landlords fix problems that HPD deems serious within a certain time period, or else face fines. Also known as the "Babysitting Program."
Arrears: unpaid back rent.
Blacklist: an unofficial, illicit list detailing tenants who have been sued in court, which landlords take as an indicator of unreliability. Private companies compile lists from court records and provide them to landlords looking to screen potential future tenants. To be removed from a list, individuals first have to figure out if they're on one — often only possible by requesting the data held by multiple firms. Getting your name removed is difficult, since the lists are based on public records.
Back rent: rent owed from an earlier date. Also known as rent arrears.
CityFEPS: a previous rental assistance program that started in 2014, but has since been incorporated into the new CityFHEPS program. It previously provided one-time emergency payments on outstanding back rent, and provided a monthly subsidy to tenants depending on how many children a receiving family had.
CityFHEPS: a new program combining the former CityFEPS, LINC and SPES programs, CityFHEPS began on April 1, 2019. It aims to "help individuals and families find and keep housing" according to the city, and should expand the number of people that qualify for the programs while lifting the administrative burden of running three programs simultaneously.
Claim: a demand made in court to help enforce the law, for money or property.
Clerk: a court employee who is responsible for organizing relevant documents and files in court.
Complaint: this is the first document filed to the court by a person or entity claiming legal rights against another, e.g. a landlord alleging a tenant failed to pay rent, or a tenant alleging the property violates the NYC Housing Maintenance Code.
Complainant: the party who files a complaint with the court.
ConEdison: a utility company providing electricity, gas and steam to NYC and Westchester County.
Conference: a negotiation between a tenant, a landlord and an attorney or judge in an attempt to settle a case, rather than bring it to trial.
Contempt of court: disobedience of the order dictated by the court.
Counterclaim: defendants can file a claim against a plaintiff in a case, sometimes used as a legal strategy by defendant attorneys.
Court attorney: an attorney who works closely with a judge for the court, rather than for either party in a case.
Court reporter: court employee responsible for transcribing the proceedings in the courtroom.
CPLR: Civil Practice Law and Rules. This is New York state statute, which dictates a lawsuit's proceedings.
Default: when one party fails to appear for court proceedings, resulting in a default judgement.
Default judgement: a judgement in favor of the plaintiff is brought in a case after one party fails to submit relevant paperwork or appear in court before a given deadline.
Defense: the party against whom a complaint is filed.
Dismissed with prejudice: Legal actions that are dismissed based on elements that mean the same case cannot be brought without new evidence.
Dismissed without prejudice: legal actions brought forward are dismissed, but not based on the validity of elements presented in a way that would prevent the same case from being brought forward again.
Eviction: when someone is expelled from the property they live in, based on legal arguments.
FEPS: Family Eviction Prevention Supplement. A program run by the city that pays back rent and grants a shelter allowance for families on public assistance with children under the age of 18. Not the same as CityFHEPS.
Group HP Action: A legal action taken by a group rather than an individual, within the context of Housing Part, the courtroom reserved for tenants suing landlords for repairs.
Harassment: when a landlord behaves in a way intended to make a tenant feel uncomfortable enough to move out of the property they are renting.
Heat season: from Oct. 1 to May 31, owners of residential properties are legally required to keep their properties heated to a minimum temperature of 68 F in the daytime and 62 F at night.
Holdover case: when a landlord wants to evict a tenant for reasons other than nonpayment of rent. Lawsuits brought by landlords either fall into the categories of nonpayment or holdover.
Housing Court Answers: a nonprofit designed to help tenants without legal representation navigate their cases in the housing court system. The organization does work in all five boroughs, but its Bronx desk is in the lobby of Bronx Housing Court.
HP: Housing Part, which refers to the section of housing court that deals with nonpayment and holdover cases.
HP Action: Legal proceedings related to, but not always taking place within, housing court. HP actions are brought against a landlord for repairs or harassment.
HPD: Department of Housing Preservation and Development. This is the city agency responsible for developing and maintaining affordable housing across NYC.
HPD Online: An online data portal provided by HPD offering building data, information on building complaints and violations, litigation, property registration data, and information on blocks and lots.
HP Proceeding: actions taken in housing court to settle matters of housing law.
HRA: Human Resources Administration. This is a department run by the city, which provides tenant assistance programs with federal assistance from HUD. Services for eligible tenants include legal aid. The agency's office is on the second floor of Bronx Housing Court.
HRA rental stipends: families in shelters may be eligible to participate in HRA's Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) Program, which will pay up to 30% of an adjusted income toward rent for an apartment that meets the program's standards. It's a lottery-based system, with payments made in the form of coupons.
Illegal eviction: when someone who has resided in a property for more than 30 days or has signed a lease is evicted by anyone other than a sheriff or a marshal.
Illegal lockout: when a tenant is unlawfully locked out of their apartment by their landlord, through an action such as changing the locks without a court order.
Inspection: a visit to a property to examine violations of housing code made by a city or court employee. The visit will result in an inspection note, which is evidence of the property's conditions. Landlords may be billed by HPD for fees related to the service.
Judgement: a decision ordered by a judge defining the outcome of a case, e.g. a tenant must pay owed rent or move out.
Laches: a defense in nonpayment cases, this is when lawyers allege that tenants are being asked to pay rent from a long time ago, which they have never been asked to before. This debt is sometimes known as "stale rent," which is difficult for landlords to prove they are owed because of their delay in taking the case to court.
Landlord: the property's owner.
Legal Aid: assistance provided to people who cannot afford their own legal representation. In the Bronx Housing Court, the legal aid office can only take on seven cases a day.
Legal Services NYC: a nonprofit providing free civil legal assistance to low-income state residents.
Levy: the final stage in collection proceedings, where a sheriff or marshal is collecting assets or property as repayment ordered by a judge.
Lien: the right of the landlord to keep property or possessions as a fulfillment of debt obligation.
LINC: Living in Communities was a previous rental assistance program run by the city aimed at helping families move out of shelters and into stable homes. It has now been incorporated into CITYFHEPS.
Marshal: Similar to a sheriff, a marshal is an officer whose duty is to enforce the process of the courts. Marshals are appointed by the mayor, but are not city employees.
Mold: a fungal growth that occurs in moist or damp spaces. Within housing, mold can cause health problems such as weakened immune systems and respiratory illnesses. Certain types such as Stachybotrys, or "black mold," are notorious for the health problems they can create.
Money judgement: when the court rules the tenant owes the landlord money. This is also sometimes called a monetary judgment.
Motion: a request for a judge to issue a ruling before a case reaches trial.
Multiple dwelling registration: when a residential building contains three or more separate housing units and neither the landlord nor his or her immediate family reside in the same building, he or she must register that fact with HPD.
Non-payment case: a case brought by the landlord when the tenant has failed to pay rent. These cases can be brought to collect money owed, but can also include motions to evict tenants who are unable to pay the full amount.
Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition: a grassroots organization based in Kingsbridge that partners with local, city-wide and national organizations and institutions to tackle justice-related issues linked to housing, energy and education.
Notice of eviction: a written notice delivered by a landlord or representative, notifying the tenant that they must comply with their lease or move out of the property. This is also sometimes called a marshal's notice.
Notice of petition: a written notice of a petition delivered to a respondent, detailing when the court will hear the petition.
NYCHA: New York City Housing Authority. This is the government body that oversees providing housing for low- to mid-income residents in the five boroughs.
OCA: the Office of Court Administration, overseen by the state and used by landlords. It gained notoriety for its past practice of selling Housing Court data to tenant-screening companies, resulting in names appearing on tenant blacklists.
One-time emergency grant: also known as a 'one-shot deal,' this is a one-time emergency payment from HRA awarded to eligible tenants facing expenses they are unable to pay themselves at that moment, such as back paying rent arrears, utility or moving costs, etc.
Order to show cause: courts often issue an order to show cause in cases where they believe a judge will need more information on a case in order to reach a decision. It is often used as a way to argue that a judge should offer relief to one party.
Part: another term for courtroom.
Petition: Similar to a complaint filed in court, a petition is a paper filed in special proceedings and states what is sought from the court and the petition's respondents.
Pro se: self-represented, as opposed to being represented by a lawyer in court.
Rent delinquency: when a tenant pays rent late, or fails to pay at all.
Resolution Part: before housing cases go to trial, they will first go through Resolution Part. This is where a judge will attempt to reach an agreement with the landlord and the tenant to avoid trial.
Right to Counsel: otherwise known as the Universal Access to Legal Services Law, a 2017 law that guarantees free legal aid to certain residents of the state by zip code. By 2022, all tenants should qualify.
Section 8: also known as the Housing Choice Voucher program, this is a program created in 1978 and operated by NYCHA to help low-income tenants in finding rental properties in the private property market.
SEPS: Special Exit and Prevention Supplement, another previous rental program run by the city and recently incorporated into CityFHEPS. SEPS was used to help those already in shelters, or in danger of depending on them, secure permanent housing.
Slum: housing not fit for human habitation. This often occurs across multiple buildings in one area.
Slumlord: a landlord of a slum property. Slumlords are often notorious for charging unreasonably high rents for substandard properties while not addressing repairs.
Stipulation: an agreement between tenants and landlords in court, in writing, on how a case will be resolved. Also known as "a stip."
Subpoena: a summons ordering someone to attend court. Courts issuing subpoenas will specify any documentation or evidence that a subpoenaed party is also required to provide.
Superintendent: a live-in employee of a private landlord or of NYCHA, who is responsible for supervising the operation and maintenance of properties under the direction of the landlord or the housing agency. Also known as a "super."
Tenant: a person renting a property from a landlord.
Testimony: a statement made under oath related to a case or claim.
Trial: the formal examination of a legal claim in court. Most housing court cases do not need to go as far as trial, as agreements are often made in the Housing Part of the court.
Posted in - Housing Court Project Officials0 Comments
How HIV outreach is tackling an "invisible crisis" in The Bronx
Posted on 13 October 2019. Tags: barber, barbershops, church, Health Care, health outreach, health problems, HIV, HIV/AIDS, Hunts Point, Morrisania, Mott Haven, South Bronx
Aviles looks on as his colleague prepares for a customer in a Bronx barber academy.
Charles Aviles, a 36 year-old Bronx resident, will always remember his mother's childhood friend Ronnie when he thinks about growing up during the 1980s. Ronnie had treated Aviles like a son, helping him with things like tying his sneakers.
"He had one of those million-dollar smiles, like nothing ever bothered him," he said.
But when Aviles was just 10-years-old, Ronnie passed away suddenly. That was when Aviles first became aware of AIDs. The global epidemic continued to rage throughout Aviles's childhood years and into the early 1990s.
HIV and AIDs rates have decreased globally since the peak of the epidemic in the 1980s, and earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the number of HIV diagnoses in the state had declined by 28 percent since 2014. But that doesn't mean progress is evenly spread: just as the Bronx was disproportionately affected during the crisis's peak, today it is one of the Center for Disease Control's 45 HIV hotspots across the country.
There are several factors that feed into the "invisible crisis" of HIV in the south Bronx, according to Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, director of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health. HIV rates are higher among Latino and African American populations, which disproportionately populate the borough. There are also generally higher rates of HIV among men under 25 years old, particularly those who are gay and bisexual. The Bronx also has the largest youth population of any of New York's five boroughs. Language and cultural differences also play a role.
Both government and non-profits have been trying to address the issue with outreach programs tailored to specific demographics.
For example, hair care professionals were one of the groups identified by the CDC as potential partners for its Business Response to AIDs initiative, which began in 1992. The program partners with businesses, health departments, community based organizations and government agencies to provide public education on HIV. As barbers in New York are already required by state law to receive training on contagious disease transmission associated with their professional duties, training centers for hair care professionals were an obvious group to incorporate into the program.
Aviles, who is training to become a barber at the Beyond Beauty & Barber Academy in the Bronx's Westchester Square neighborhood, is also being trained to talk to people about HIV. For Aviles, it's important not just to have practical knowledge about safe barber practices – sanitizing equipment, taking care with pimples and open wounds – but also about how the community provided by space can facilitate difficult talks.
"Barbershops are the places where you let loose, where you want to be able to talk sometimes and at home you can't really have certain conversations," he said. "But when the fellas are around, it's a great environment to have certain conversations."
But despite efforts like the CDC's, there are several reasons that HIV rates remain high across the Bronx today.
There are fewer health services in the area than elsewhere in the city, and Latinos and African Americans are disproportionately uninsured, or have inadequate coverage. For many, that means that PrEP, a highly effective antiretroviral drug, often isn't available to them. Bronx residents generally have lower incomes than in other parts of the city, Dr Guilamo-Ramos said, and other expenses might seem more urgent than medication for a chronic health condition.
People also feel scared about going into formal spaces like hospitals or clinics to take an HIV test test, said Daniel Leyva, the Latino Commission on AIDs's press secretary. This discomfort can be especially prevalent among Latinos and people of color, who can feel socially and culturally excluded in places like sexual health clinics.
"It's really sad to see that a lot of people in our community are still dealing with so much stigma," said Ivan Ribera, a community engagement specialist at Latino Pride Center whose daily work involves approaching people to talk about HIV prevention.
All of this has grave consequences for the Bronx. The borough's rate of premature deaths from HIV was twice as high as the New York City average in 2018, according to Community Health Profile data., which put the Bronx's rate at 12.3 deaths per 100,000 compared to Brooklyn's 6.4 and the New York City average of 5.9. In total, the Bronx saw 792 premature deaths from HIV last year.
Moreover, the South Bronx itself is a pocket with much higher HIV death rates than anywhere else in New York City. Morrisania, Mott Haven and Hunts Point were among the worst-affected areas.
Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has piloted a number of pioneering outreach and education programs in recent years, but described youth infection rates as a "raging epidemic". As a result, two of the programs he runs – Families Talking Together and Fathers Raising Responsible Men – target teenagers and work with families to communicate on the issue.
Ribera said he talks to approximately eleven people a week on an individual basis as part of his outreach work, and that much of it involves trying to get people to use condoms. "There's this idea that NYC condoms don't work," he said, alluding to rumors that condoms issued by the city's Health Department are faulty. "So we try to push condoms, to eliminate those patterns." In addition to approaching people in the street, Ribera and the Latino Pride Center produce discreet boxes filled with a range of differently-sized and -flavored condoms and leave them in places like barbershops.
Churches are another space being leveraged to offer a culturally-specific outreach service, due to their standing in minority communities and the close personal relationships they often cultivate in areas such as the Bronx.
"Churches are becoming a mediator between communities and its services people who are nervous about seeking services somewhere else," said Leyva, adding that they can be particularly important for people who don't see themselves as a part of at-risk groups or who don't realize the breadth of health services they are entitled to use. "At the end of the day, it's about promoting safe spaces for people to discuss sensitive issues."
In Aviles's mind, the necessary outreach work to combat HIV in the Bronx shouldn't pose as many challenges as it appears to. "It doesn't mean you got the cooties or anything like that. You're just a normal person," he said. "Things happen."
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Community Resources, Featured, Front Page, Health, south bronx, Southern Bronx0 Comments
Stone Soup of the South Bronx
Posted on 29 September 2019. Tags: Afro-latino culture, Dominican, Green Workers Cooperative, Hunts Point, puerto rican culture, Sancochazo, South Bronx
Sancochazo stew simmered over an open fire in Brook Park, South Bronx. Credit: Ciara Long.
Salsa rhythms pulsed from a hidden spot on the afternoon of Saturday September 28, floating over the trees shielding Brook Park from view along with wafts of cilantro, garlic and cassava. At the park's entrance, a hand-painted yellow sign offered an explanation in capital letters for the 200-person crowd gathering inside: BIG BRONX SANCOCHAZO.
Now in its sixth year, the Big Bronx Sancochazo is an early fall staple organized by South Bronx's Green Workers Cooperative. Centered around sancocho, a traditional cassava-based meat stew popular in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, participants are invited to bring something to the table: ingredients, entertainment or even just an extra pair of hands to help with the cooking.
Children paint slabs of wood and rocks, making balloon animals and playing in front of a community garden, while adults hug neighbors and community members like long-lost friends.
Laticosina worker makes maize tortillas to accompany the Sancochazo. Credit: Ciara Long
The idea behind the event originated from the children's story of the Stone Soup, where a group of people work together to make and eat soup together as an illustration of community and cooperation. "So, we created the South Bronx version of the Stone Soup," said Omar Freilla, Green Worker Cooperative's director and founder.
Making the sancocho itself is a laborious, hours-long process that requires collaboration. Ysanet Batista, creator of plant-based Dominican catering service Woke Foods, oversaw the stew's preparation. Over a sizzling hot plate, the women's catering collective Laticosina made maize tortillas and pupusas, a typical Guatemalan snack made by stuffing corn flatbreads with vegetables, beans and cheese. Freilla, meanwhile, poked at the fire underneath thigh-high stew pots, sending scents of oregano and sweet potato flying through the air and cutting across people's conversations.
"It's a labor of love. It's very Caribbean," said Sheena Sheena Sepulvedam, a 28-year-old chef attending the Big Bronx Sancochazo for the first time. "It tastes really good, but it's even better being surrounded by other people eating it as well, with that idea of communal cooking and communal energy along with the blessings."
Ityopia Rootz, a catering co-op working with hydroponic vegetables, at El Gran Sancochazo del Bronx. Credit: Ciara Long
As they wait for the sancocho, a purple-haired DJ spins vinyl records from Latin America, the Caribbean and West Africa, accompanied by a white-clad conga drummer. Riaan Tavares took the stage to teach salsa in 2, a faster incarnation of the traditional Latin American dance that originated in the Bronx.
Shortly before the food was served, indigenous Mexican Veronica Raya and her family performed traditional dances and invited participants to form a "friendship chain", which they led in a meandering circuit across the yard. When the stew was finally ready, Raya and her family blessed the food with a chant as hungry Bronxites formed a patient line.
For Khadiedra Williams, the 31-year-old head of hairstyling cooperative Hair for Purpose, the mix of cultures and communities is what makes the Sancochazo special. "You have everything right here in a melting pot," she said. "There's nothing that specifically you or me, everything is for everybody."
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Culture, Southern Bronx1 Comment
Cryptocurrency Comes to The Bronx
Posted on 18 September 2019. Tags: ATMs, banking, BankNote Building, cash alternatives, cryptocurrency, immigration, Morrisania, South Bronx
One August weekend, a dozen 18- and 19-year-olds filed into a large, former industrial building in the South Bronx for a class on how to better manage their money. Once a factory where pennies were minted and paper money was printed in the early 20th century, the landmark Hunts Point BankNote building found a new purpose in 2014 when it was converted into office spaces.
And for two full summer days, an entrepreneurship incubator inside the former money factory became a boot camp about the 21st century's answer to currency woes: cryptocurrency, a form of digital currency that allows people to make financial transactions without using a bank.
Cryptocurrency allows individuals to make peer-to-peer transactions whose authenticity is verified by a network of computers rather than a third-party institution like a bank. People using cryptocurrency can use digital wallet apps to pay for goods and services.
It's often heralded as a solution for developing countries where banks are scarce, but Morrisania high school teacher Carlos Acevedo argues that the cryptocurrency industry could have just as much impact closer to home.
"My point of view was that you don't need to go that far," said Acevedo, who lives in the suburbs of New York and has taught English in the Bronx high school for the last seven years. "You're four miles from the World Trade Center, and this is the unbanked right here."
Acevedo hopes that the technology can help Morrisania and East Tremont, where 28 percent of the residents don't have bank accounts, according to a 2013 study from the Urban Institute. That can mean paying additional fees when cashing checks or paying bills, and a higher likelihood to turn to predatory lenders in times of financial difficulty.
The Bronx has adopted cryptocurrency faster than almost anywhere else in New York because banks are so scarce, said Leighton Banton, a program assistant at BXL, an entrepreneurship incubator inside BankNote that hosted Acevedo's class for the weekend.
"There are so many corporations that say they can't make their way out here," Banton said. "But I see people using Bitcoin ATMs all the time. They have more faith in the cryptocurrency than in the actual financial systems we have."
The idea for this crypto boot camp came two years ago when Acevedo realized that even his most diligent Advanced Placement English students knew nothing about managing their personal finances. Many of his students' parents had no bank accounts.
He began teaching voluntary classes after school hours to help them learn about bank accounts, credit cards and money management.
"Eighty to 90 percent of my students will have talked about having to send money home to family members," said Acevedo, "or not being able to have a credit card, or having to pay money to get to a bank branch because they don't have one near them."
Acevedo said that in addition to a lack of financial knowledge among his students, there's a noticeable absence of banks in the Bronx. In the four-mile stretch that he commutes every day, from Fordham University to the high school he teaches at in Morrisania, he barely sees any branches.
Despite more than two dozen ATMs, there are just six bank branches in his corner of the South Bronx, including one municipal credit union. Even other South Bronx neighborhoods are better served than Morrisania: Pelham Bay has 10 bank branches, eight of which are only a few hundred meters apart. By comparison, Manhattan's Upper West Side has 38 branches.
"People get the short end of the stick and they don't know what to do," said Tashima Lee, one of the boot camp's attendees and a former Acevedo student who became interested in cryptocurrency after one of the teacher's financial lessons. "And they end up spending money because they burn it in a flash."
For South Bronx residents, it made sense to find alternative ways to make essential financial transactions – like cashing a salary check – that didn't involve paying to take public transport, or relying on restrictive opening hours.
Cryptocurrency provides a different way for South Bronx residents to make their financial transactions where banks are most scarce; despite the short time that the technology has been around, there are already seven cryptocurrency ATMs in Morrisania alone.
As a part of his education initiative, the Crypto Community Project, Acevedo rounded up eleven industry leaders from national firms including the Electric Coin Company and Gemini to speak to his former students about cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies (which underpin the security of cryptocurrency transactions) for a two-day boot camp.
In addition to lectures, the class gave students the chance to put theory into practice, using a digital wallet to purchase ice cream at the local ANC theater.
Leighton Banton said Acevedo's initiative means that Bronx residents have a chance at becoming active participants rather than just consumers with cryptocurrencies.
Banton said Acevedo's initiative means that Bronx residents have a chance at becoming active participants rather than just consumers with cryptocurrencies.
"Black and brown Bronx kids can get a $100,000 job without college if they apply themselves to this," said Banton. "I know that someone from that program is going to be a millionaire one day, because of something they learned here."
Jemima Joseph, an 18-year-old former Acevedo student, said that while she hadn't spent the cryptocurrency during the workshop, she sees the potential it offers for when it comes to sending money to family outside of the U.S. She hopes that one day it will make it easier and cheaper for her to send money to relatives in Togo and Nigeria.
"This isn't a short-term accomplishment,' she said, when asked what the practical use of cryptocurrencies to her now. "It will take a while, but I see it gaining momentum."
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Neighborhoods, Featured, Money, Morrisania, Morrisania, south bronx, Southern Bronx0 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Ulica Piesza – ulica na warszawskim Nowym Mieści, biegnąca od Rynku Nowego Miasta do ul. Kościelnej.

Historia
Ulica została wytyczona około roku 1650 między zabudowaniami Rynku Nowego Miasta jako dojście do wznoszonego w tym okresie kościoła św. Benona, w swoim dalszym biegu, podobnie jak sąsiednia ul. Kościelna pierwotnie wiodąca do Wisły.

Nazwa nadana w 1769 pochodzi od kwater królewskiej piechoty mieszczących się w okolicy w XVII wieku. Według innego źródła nazwa wzięła się stąd, że uliczka była miejscami tak wąska, że mogła jedynie służyć dla przechodu piechotą idących.

Połączenie obu ulic przebito dopiero w latach 1950–1954 podczas rekonstrukcji zabudowy Rynku Nowego Miasta.

Zabudowa ulicy częściowo przyporządkowana jest numeracjom Rynku i ul. Kościelnej.

Ważniejsze obiekty
 Kościół św. Benona

Przypisy

Bibliografia

Piesza
Ulica Piesza w Warszawie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Cell to monitor welfare schemes in Dhenkanal
By Bijay Kumar RoutDhenkanal, June 27: In a major decision, Dhenkanal district administration has set up a Monitoring Cell at the district headquarters town at Dhenkanal to ensure the proper implementation of various welfare services in the district as per government guidelines.It has also opened an e-mail account meets.dkl@gmail.com to invite complaints online from the people about the services given under government schemes to them.The Cell is for monitoring efficient effective and transparent delivery of services.The cell started functioning from June 25, according to a district office source.There will be 33 members in the 15 monitoring squads which will work under the cell headed by District Collector Roopa Roshan Sahoo.The nodal office of the Monitoring Cell is located at district headquarters at Dhenkanal and Deputy Collector Saroj Kumar Sahu is the Nodal Officer.Initially, it will keep a watch on six service areas, source added."To ensure proper implementation of government services in six vital areas like education, health, public distribution system, excise, woman and child welfare and illegal lifting of minor minerals, we invite complaints from public online through our mail.We will also entertain complaints from media reports and also from our own supervising sources on these areas.After the complaint is received one of the squads will rush to the spot and conduct enquiry and must report to the Collector its report within 24 hours," said the Collector."The District Collector after receiving the report of the squad will have to act within 24 hours deadline.Either action will be initiated from the district office or if necessary government will be intimated for follow up action.Media will be informed from time to time on the activities of the cell and squads," she added.The Nodal Officer informed that all the three Sub-Collectors, Tehsildars, Block Development Officers and Chief District Medical officer are the members of the squads in their respective areas.If the current exercise achieves results then the monitoring system will be expanded to other services."Basically the Cell has two main functions.First, it monitors the delivery of services and second it conducts raids as per the complaints received from various sources," said the Nodal Officer.


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Home > English > Website archives > Globalization, resistance, immigration > Tribute to Fidel Castro
Tribute to Fidel Castro
A South African Perspective
Wednesday 27 February 2008, by Blade Nzimande
Blade Nzimande gives a comradely appraisal of Fidel Castro the revolutionary theorist, practitioner and internationalist.
Tributes are not meant only for the departed, but are also befitting to living revolutionary legends who have served the cause of humanity with distinction, like Cde Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba! Cde Fidel, as he is affectionately known in Cuba and throughout the progressive and socialist world, was until earlier this week, the President of the Socialist Republic of Cuba and Commander of the Armed Forces of the Cuban Revolution.
On the announcement by Cde Fidel that he is to resign as President of Cuba, the South African Communist Party (SACP) issued a statement in appreciation of the role that he has played in the Cuban revolution and his worldwide contribution to the struggle for an alternative, just and humane society.
The SACP, as an ally of the Cuban Revolution since its victory on 1 January 1959, thought it would be amiss not to dedicate this column to the heroic role of Fidel Castro, one of the greatest revolutionaries of our times. Cde Fidel has touched the hearts of millions of people on the globe, way beyond the borders of Cuba, due to his commitment to the building of a truly better world, free of all forms of exploitation and oppression.
Cde Fidel's struggle and that of the Cuban people mean many things to many people in the world today. But one thing is certain, to billions of starving people he has been a symbol of hope. Through Fidel's life and struggle, we today wish to highlight some of the most important areas through which his life has touched the millions, if not billions, of the workers and the poor in the world. The SACP wishes to highlight some of these, some of whom also assist us to make sense of contemporary South Africa, continental and global challenges and developments.
CASTRO AND CAPITALISM AS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
Marx and Engels, in the 19th century both celebrated and condemned the emergence and growth of capitalism as first a European system that revolutionised the world's productive systems, as well as a cruel worldwide system of brutal exploitation. Reactionaries, some of whom former Marxists, today tend to see only the positive and developmental side of capitalism. They know that by this one-sided emphasis they have sought to distort and appropriate the ``developmental'' aspects of capitalism in order to justify their abandonment of the very fundamentals of Marxism.
Those who have progressively sought to learn and consistently uphold the fundamental lessons from Marx and Engels have highlighted the deeply contradictory nature of capitalism, thus understanding and seeking to daily expose its brutal reproduction through the underdevelopment of the majority of humanity. And that it is a system that must be overthrown as it is incapable of meeting the needs of humanity today and in the future.
The Cuban Revolution has taught us that basic human needs like education, health, gainful employment and provision of basic services need not be commodities to be sold and bought through an unequal market, but that they can indeed be provided freely to society. That Cuba today, under the leadership of Cde Fidel, has one of the best health and education systems in the world, including extraordinarily high levels of literacy, and has ably demonstrated that you do not have to be rich in order to access these basic services and become literate and skilled.
The Fidel Castro-led struggle against the brutality of capitalism also exposes the extent to which what is normally referred to as the ``rule of law'' under capitalism is at its core the rule of the rich over the poor. Capitalist rule of law, including in many instances in our very own South African rule of law, privileges the interests of the rich over that of the poor. For instance serious economic crimes committed against the poor are not defined as crimes, but as matters requiring ``regulatory oversight'' and the ``discipline'' of say, competition. What is the dividing line between, on the one hand, corruption and fraud and, on the other hand price fixing robbing the poor of billions of ands over the price of bread and other foodstuffs or collusion amongst the big banks to fix higher interest rates? Yet this daylight robbery of the poor does not get the attention of the investigative authorities of the criminal justice system, but are matters for ``regulation'' and 'competition'', not defined as corruption or fraud.
What the above mean is that crimes committed by the rich against the poor are not to be prosecuted, but those by the poor against the rich have to be heavily clamped down. This therefore means that what we normally define as the ``rule of law'' is actually the rule of the rich over the poor, including decriminalisation of some of the most criminal behavior of the former over the latter. It is perhaps important that the SACP will have to wage a massive campaign for the criminalisation of some of the worst exploitative practices of the bourgeoisie against the workers and the poor, as part of struggling for a rule of law based on the socioeconomic rights of the overwhelming majority of our people, and generally the poor peoples of the world!
Indeed one of the most serious crimes visited upon humanity by capitalist mega-corporations is the pillaging and degradation of the environment and mindless squander of non-renewable energy sources. This, accompanied by global warming and other capitalist-induced environmental dangers, poses one of the most serious threats to the survival of the human species itself, as Fidel continues to forcefully remind us. In a different world, such plunder would have been amongst the high priority crimes in the work of, for instance, organisations like Interpol, yet under imperialism they are reduced to the niceties or choices of whether to sign the Kyoto protocol or not!
FIDEL, INTERNATIONALISM AND STRUGGLE AGAINT NEOCOLONIALISM
This year, 2008, Southern Africa and the Cuban people, will be celebrating the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the joint victory of the Angolan and Cuban military forces over the apartheid regime's armed forces, rolling back their aggression against the newly victorious Angolan revolution. The victory at Cuito Cuanavale was greatly assisted by the participation of the Cuban military forces in support of Angola. It would therefore be important to celebrate this battle as part of the celebration of the internationalism of Cde Fidel and the Cuban Revolution, and his leadership qualities in propelling the Cuban and Angolan military forces to inflict a resounding defeat over apartheid's armed forces.
Fidel's and Cuba's defence of a newly liberated territory like Angola was based on a belief that newly liberated nations, led by progressive national liberation movements, had a right to national self-determination and sovereignty. In addition such nations, like in the Cuban Revolution itself, also had a right to choose a radical and redistributive economic system as their economic model in reconstructing their economies destroyed through centuries and decades of colonial wars and plunder.
Cuba's internationalist support to the Angolan people were in support of the commitment and understanding by many such liberation struggles that progressive national liberation struggles were never just about political independence and freedom, important as these are, but that they were fundamentally about the transformation of the economic relations between the colony and the colonisers, and between the oppressed and the oppressors.
The above objective is, amongst others, aptly captured in the Strategy and Tactics document adopted by our own African National Congress (ANC) at its Morogoro conference in 1969:
``In our country, more than in any other part of the oppressed world, it is inconceivable for liberation to have meaning without a return of the wealth of the land to the people as a whole. It is therefore a fundamental feature of our strategy that victory must embrace more than formal political democracy. To allow the existing economic forces to retain their interests intact is to feed the root of racial supremacy and does not even represent a shadow of liberation.''
It is these perspectives that also informed the Cuban Revolution's support of many other national liberation struggles. Cuban internationalism was also informed by the fact that in many post-colonial countries, aggressive imperialist interventions sought to prevent these countries from proceeding beyond formal political independence.
Unfortunately it is still the case that in many post-colonial societies political independence was not accompanied by the transformation of the colonial character of the economy, with the (colonial) ``metropole'' continuing to dominate the post-colonial economy as if there had been no political independence! Such a situation inevitably reproduced some of the worst features colonial domination by the former colonising power, albeit indirectly but very forcefully, thus producing what has come to be known as ``neo-colonialism'' — a seemingly outdated, but a still highly relevant concept in contemporary developing world!
It was also for the fact that the Cuban Revolution managed to break out of any attempts at imposing a neo-colonial order there that it remains an inspiration to millions of people in many post-colonial developing nations.
Fidel's internationalism is no better illustrated than by his own description of the nature of the sacrificed made by Cuban internationalists in supporting many liberation struggles. Immediately after the end of the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988, Cde Fidel pointed out that Cuba has supported Angolan and many other struggles of the African people since its victory in 1959, without Cubans expecting any material gains for themselve, other than the satisfaction of contributing towards the liberation of those countries. To that extent, Fidel said, what the Cuban government brought home from such internationalist missions was not bags of gold or diamonds but only bags carrying the dead bodies of Cuban internationalist combatants! This is unlike those who illegally raid other countries, but hide the dead bodies from their own citizens, and instead display prominently their prized trophies — the gold, diamonds and oil captured from what are described as ``wars for extension of frontiers of democracy'' and ``wars against terrorism''.
FIDEL AND THE BATTLE FOR IDEAS
Like a true Marxist and communist, Fidel has always understood that the prerequisite for any meaningful revolutionary advance or victory rests primarily on winning the battle of ideas. The first decisive defeat of the apartheid regime by the liberation forces was not so much on the streets or the factory floors, where the apartheid regime commanded more firepower than the stones thrown at them by the workers and the youth, but the superiority of the ideas of liberation over the bankrupt morality of white minority oppression over a majority.
The Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel, has always been exemplary in its detailed attention to ideological work amongst the Cuban masses. It is this ideological work that has been the pillar of the failure of the US imperialist aggression of its criminal blockade to defeat the Cuban Revolution. As we pointed out in the previous edition of this publication, it is imperative that we take the battle of ideas to higher levels as part of pursuing a radical national democratic revolution.
FIDEL AND MISTAKES OF THE REVOLUTION
A critical component of any revolution is that of timeously acknowledging mistakes and shortcomings in the very revolution itself, including mistakes made by the leadership in the conduct of the revolution. In other words, there is no revolution without mistakes, but the art of revolutionary work, as Lenin used to consistently point out, was that of timeously identifying such mistakes as mistakes, and seeking to learn appropriate lessons from these. In other words denialism of any sort is the biggest enemy to revolutionary advances.
[Former SACP stalwart] Cde Harry Gwala used to be scathing of those comrades who would pride themselves that they had never or do not commit mistakes in their work. He used to say true revolutionaries do commit mistakes, as it can only be those sitting back and doing nothing that are incapable of committing mistakes. Mistakes are an integral part of any revolution, including adoption of wrong policy choices at crucial moments in the progress of any revolution. The task is to admit and learn from these.
One of the most impressive features of Fidel's leadership and that of the collective leadership of the Cuban Revolution is the ability to candidly admit to mistakes. For instance Fidel and the entire collective leadership of the Cuban revolution readily engage self-critically on the extent to which for instance what is known as Cuba's Special Period (hardships faced by the Cuban revolution after the collapse of the Soviet Union) might not have been less difficult had the Cuban revolution not spent a long time trying to follow the Soviet model of socialism.
HEAP NO PRAISE ON FIDEL BUT ON THE REVOLUTIONARY RESILIENCE OF THE CUBAN PEOPLE
We have raised the points above not in order to romanticise Fidel, but to highlight some of the heroic contributions and dedication of this leader to the cause of the total liberation of humanity from the barbarism of capitalism. The achievements of the Cuban Revolution could never have been attained through an individual, but by the conscious mass of the Cuban people determined to defend the advance they had made in trying to build a better society. Therefore our task is not to romanticise but to seek to emulate the heroic actions of Cde Fidel.
Cde Fidel always emphasises the fact that much as Cuba is a very poor country, but its wealth is its people, wealth not determined by how much the rich can consume the earth's resources, but based on the determination of the Cuban people to work hard and contribute towards building a better Cuba and a better world.
For all the above reasons, we honour cde Fidel; he has never sold out the Cuban people and their revolution and he has never wavered in the light of numerous assassination attempts on his life, attempts relentlessly made by more than ten successive US presidents! In all of this Cde Fidel has not lost his great sense of humour, but instead tells many jokes about how the Americans have attempted to take away his life! After all, Fidel and the Cuban Revolution are a living proof that selfishness is not an inherently, natural human quality, but a social and political construct, fostered by a heartless capitalist system.
As we said at the Congress of South African Trade Unions Central Committee in September 2007, every revolution produces its heroes, but also every revolution produces its own traitors. Fidel is a hero and has refused to be a traitor! Indeed there is no nobler a cause than that of loyal service to the interests of the workers and the poor.
Fidel and the Cuban Revolution remain an inspiration to the justness of the struggle of the SACP to accelerate a radical national democratic revolution as our most direct route to a more humane alternative for our country, a socialist South Africa.
We say to Fidel, you deserve your rest. Uyibekile induku ebandla mfoka Castro!
Asikhulume!
*Blade Nzimande is general secretary of the South African Communist Party. This article first appeared in Umsebenzi, Volume 7, No. 3, 20 February 2008.
**Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Globalization, resistance, immigration
Highlights of the Seventh Asia-Europe People's Forum (AEPF-7)
The Crisis of Finance Capitalism: Challenges For The Left
The elephant not in the room: Castro and the Summit of the Americas
Y Tu, Daniel? The Sandinista Revolution Betrayed
Seattle's Lessons for London
An Exception to Lula's Rule
The new tragedy of Santa Catarina
Victory for the Left in El Salvador
`More of the same'? Or a break with `traditions'? The MAS: a paradoxical case of democratisation
This country has a woman's face


Fluid Chalk Pads. Each Colour Plate can be lifted out of the palette for direct to paper application. Permanent when heat-set Archival, and non acidic.. Safe for scrapbooking.. Colours: Deep Green, Dark Moss, Cramy Bown, Amber Clay, Olive Pastel, Dark Brown, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Cadmium.


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Watch a replay of Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge announcements
By Thomas Ricker@Trixxy Mar 2, 2015, 5:40am EST
Source Samsung Mobile (YouTube)
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We can't blame you if you had better things to do on a Sunday than watch a #brand announce new products. But now it's Monday and it's your obligation to tune in and drop out a few Tweets related to Samsung's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. After all, it's not everyday we get a new Samsung Galaxy S flagship, especially one as pretty as the Galaxy S6 Edge.


Houston University Grill Cover with Block UH Logo.
If you're a University of Houston fan then you'll need to outfit your grill with a University of Houston grill cover. Imagine being at the Robertson Stadium tailgating with your teams logo on your grill cover. You would be standing around tailgating with other fans while Shasta dances to the fight song as the Spirit of Houston marching band plays. You can show your support for this Division I team and coach Major Applewhite with the UH Logo.