Does Race Exist?

Scientific American: Does Race Exist? [ BIOLOGY ]
If races are defined as genetically discrete groups, no. But researchers can use some genetic information to group individuals into clusters with medical relevance ...

People will only believe that things like mass killings, rapings, amputations, maimings and so on are stories of the past, only accepted to be events of the 12th Century when people like Jesus Christ were beaten and nailed on crosses. I know you will say such things don't happen now - these are modern times - we are civilised people living in a modern world. Well, all these atrocities were committed here on earth, in Sierra Leone, a small West African state just as we approached the turn of a new century - the 21st Century.

So I felt that if I can properly document the shocking and horrific images of a war I risked my life to cover, then no one will deny the fact it never happened. Moreover, knowing that a country like Sierra Leone and many other African countries only occupy the very bottom end on the UN Index ladder I felt that I will be able to get the rest of the world to understand about the neglect of the African people and at least set a few minds thinking of how to help reverse in Sierra Leone and Africa in general.

Some viewers might say the barbarity of the documentary is too graphic, and this might be true - but I still believe that the case of brothers killing, raping, and maiming their own brothers and sisters who have lived in the same community is proof of how neglect, greed and corruption can reduce human beings to lowly, beastly life and therefore must be seen in the hope that it will send all of us into deep soul searching... Africans as well as non-Africans, especially the mineral thirsty hunters with blood on their hands, and not to mention the power hungry mad guys of Africa who may be contemplating using similar methods to enthrone themselves.

Also, my personal conviction was that once these repulsive, barbaric, ghastly stories of the war and of neglect by the West is put into proper context and shown to the outside world, a platform for corrections would have been built and very serious lessons would have been learnt. I believe that we now have got some people thinking maybe, just maybe this could be the first step to start turning the African Continent around and go back to what we used to be, “our brothers keepers” which is very African instead of “our brothers killers”.

By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

Staying away

The protocol will enter into force only when 55 signatories have ratified it: they must include industrialised countries responsible for 55% of the developed world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 1990. Some critics say President Bush's decision that the US, which emits more greenhouse gases than any other country, will not ratify the protocol condemns it to irrelevance.

“There are 119 countries which have ratified the protocol, and I get the impression they are committed to implementing it regardless of it entering into force.”

“In the developing countries, known in the protocol as non-Annex One countries, we're seeing a keen interest in Kyoto.”

“Countries like India, China and Cuba are all waiting for the protocol's clean development mechanism to start working - that will let richer countries invest in projects to cut greenhouse gases in the developing world.”

“The rapidly industrialising countries see their environmental and economic interests coinciding. China is really decoupling energy use from GDP.”