PRI's The World » 01/26/2010

Entire program – January 26, 2010

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:05:31 +0000

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Today on The World: A community in Haiti where earthquake survivors are helping each other out; Also, a museum in Mexico City that displays artifacts from the fight against drug traffickers; And an ancient form of music makes a comeback in Vietnam.

Haitian self-reliance

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:00:57 +0000

Haitian President Rene Preval has made an urgent appeal for more tents to house up to a million people left homeless by the quake two weeks ago. Preval said 200,000 tents were needed before the expected start of the rainy season in May. His call came as donor nations and international organizations met in Montreal, Canada to assess the aid effort and plan the next steps. Delegates at the meeting agreed Haiti would need long-term outside help. However not all Haitians are simply waiting for help from the outside, as WAMU’s Sabri Ben Achour reports. Download MP3

BBC coverage
On The World: medical challenges in Haiti
List of aid organizations

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today rebuked critics of the U.S. effort to help survivors of the earthquake in Haiti. Those critics have included officials from France, Brazil and Italy. Haitians themselves have complained that food, medicine and water have been slow to reach them, but Secretary Clinton today said she resents those who attack U.S. efforts to respond to historically disastrous conditions. Meanwhile, Haitians are finding ways to help themselves as we learn in this report from Sabri Ben-Achour in Port-au-Prince.

SABRI BEN-ACHOUR: At the half collapsed St. Francois de Salle hospital amputees lie in gurneys in the grass and in the garden. A few have tarps above them, others just the trees. One woman is injected with Morphine on what remains of her amputated leg as her wound is dressed. Nearby a group of nurses is folding linens. They begin singing to her. Their songs praise God for keeping them alive.

Madame Pierre Viaux is head nurse. We aren’t anybody special but God did miracles for us. So many died, but we’re alive. When we sing it gives comfort to the patients and they know that soon they’ll feel better.

In what in normal times would be a stone paved parking area, Michelle Marielaude leans on a baby’s crib where her nine-year-old nephew sits quietly. He has some bandages and a lot of scrapes, but he’ll be okay. Soon the family will go back to a camp in the public square that they now call home. We’re a family, my sister, my nephew. I asked them what there is to eat. Nothing, nothing at all she says. Doesn’t the Ministry of Health help and NGO I ask. No, our Haitian friends, our neighbors help us.

Neighbors are helping each other everywhere we look here, up in the hills perched over the devastated city Fritz Mevs walks through the rubble strewn floors of his crumbling mansion. The Christmas tree is still standing. Not one of the golden ornaments broke in the earthquake. Mevs didn’t lose family and he can afford to rebuild, so he shrugs off the loss of his home. Mevs says he’s much more concerned about others in his neighborhood. Their homes are gone and two dozen are living in his garden. About a third are children and they take turns singing. The songs end when one of the little boys chimes in. My father is dead, he sang.

These neighbors didn’t have much before the earthquake and they have less now. But they do have each other. Twenty-one year old Jamson Coassiq. Mr. Mevs is our neighbor and he’s helped us a lot with food and water. Mevs son, Digo, pulls up in an SUV full of water bottles he’ll fill for the people here.

DIGO: We’re still bringing every morning food and water. Like right now I just brought a bag of rice.

SABRI BEN-ACHOUR: The stew for that rice is simmering over a charcoal fire a few yards away by a patch of ginger lilies. Dinner for everyone. This neighborhood he says, has become like a big family. For The World, I’m Sabri Ben-Achour, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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Haiti’s own reconstruction efforts

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:55:02 +0000

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive says his government is able to lead efforts to rebuild the country in the wake of the devastating earthquake. However, “massive support” from the international community was needed, he said. Marco Werman talks with Dr. Joia Mukherjee, the medical director of Partners In Health, a not-for-profit aid group that advocates solutions that are driven by Haitians. Download MP3

MARCO WERMAN: Joia Mukherjee is the Medical Director of Partners in Health based here in Boston. It’s an aid group with community based clinics throughout Haiti. Dr. Mukherjee arrived in the country the day after the earthquake struck.

DR. JOIA MUKHERJEE: There were no pain medicines at first. Many people were injured. Many of the children were there unaccompanied and so there was a lot of crying and calling out for help from God, from other people. It was actually quite orderly, which was shocking to me given the magnitude of the suffering. There was little chaos and a lot of suffering.

MARCO WERMAN: And you got back just this weekend. So in the two weeks that you were there did you see an improvement?

JOIA MUKHERJEE: Massive.

MARCO WERMAN: In terms of the suffering that people were – -

JOIA MUKHERJEE: Massive improvement. I mean pain medicines alone to people who have had massive crush injuries of their limbs and their trunk have alleviated suffering. I think the biggest lack is food and water. So as we’re going on rounds, as we’re seeing patients, of course people’s chief complaint now is that they’re hungry.

MARCO WERMAN: Well that leads to my next question because your organization, Partners in Health, is not a relief group. Partners in Health distinguishes themselves as a group that advocates for solutions driven by Haitians. So what does that mean on the ground today in Haiti when the main issue is preventing death and disease?

JOIA MUKHERJEE: I think the Haitian government needs to be capacitated. We talk a lot about accompaniment at Partners in Health. There is a government in the chaos that everyone has experienced. The Haitian government has lost many people and their physical facilities. The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the Parliament, the Palace. I heard a report this morning that the Haitian government is giving press conferences under a mango tree. That’s unacceptable. The international community needs to support the Haitian government at this time. Can the international community help more in providing a tent, food and water and internet communications for the government? Yes we should be doing that.

MARCO WERMAN: That kind of thing, though, is relief. That’s an urgent need and I’m wondering if you can give me an example, a concrete example, of how a community based response is working on the ground now in post-earthquake Haiti.

JOIA MUKHERJEE: Yes. So we need community health workers on the ground to go and find people. Help organize mobile clinics. Help identify tent cities, communities that are not getting assistance. That needs to be driven by people who are the eyes and ears on the ground. We believe that also paying grass roots workers and enabling Haitian grass roots NGO’s right now would be a very effective money, relief dollars into the hands at the very lowest grass roots level, or the highest level and to try to empower them to be able to try to help their families.

MARCO WERMAN: You mentioned this press conference that the government held under a mango tree. Government officials are working in tents and living in tents. Are you worried about the government’s, the Haitian government’s, ability to spearhead a reconstruction effort?

JOIA MUKHERJEE: Sure. I’m worried about anyone’s ability. And so I think this is where we need accompaniment. I don’t think it’s going to be a solution that drops in by parachute. I think it’s going to be a long term need for solidarity and accompaniment among the appropriate partners who can help with telecommunications, who can help with reconstruction, quick reconstruction. I wish the Haitian government was working under a tent. I’m not sure that they even have a tent.

MARCO WERMAN: Well western governments and even individual donors are quite concerned about writing big checks given Haiti’s long history of corruption. We spoke earlier today with Haiti’s Tourism Minister, Patrick de la Tour who’s spearheading the reconstruction effort and here’s what he had to say when we asked him about mismanagement.

PATRICK DE LA TOUR: I’m not worried about corruption at all. I do not – - we are designing the solution that we are not – - without funds. We are just starting to see to what extent one of those – - they do not – - you should assume – - mission of the financial investment of the – - .

MARCO WERMAN: That was Patrick de la Tour, Haiti’s Tourism Minister who is spearheading the reconstruction efforts there. So, Joia Mukherjee, they’re designing the solutions and will eventually manage the funds when it comes in. What do you think about that?

JOIA MUKHERJEE: Yes, I actually agree with the Minister. I think the fact is the solution has to be designed by the Haitian government and the Haitian people. This is a democratically elected government. He’s saying we’re going to have other partners that are perhaps more expert in managing this large scale funds. I don’t think any country in the world has managed relief that well. Look at the problems that our own government had with the management of funds for Katrina. And who can assure the vigilance? I don’t know if it’s the World Bank. But I think in partnership and making things as transparent as possible and as well documented as possible, we can alleviate and minimize the loss of money.

MARCO WERMAN: Dr. Joia Mukherjee, the Medical Director of Partners in Health, a non-profit aid group with community based clinics throughout Haiti, thank you for coming out.

JOIA MUKHERJEE: You’re welcome. Thank you.

Mexico City’s drug museum

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:45:56 +0000

In 1985 the Mexican military opened a small museum chronicling the history and use of drugs in the country. It started with just a few displays. Now, 25 years later, The “Museo de Enervantes” in Mexico City is packed with artifacts from the country’s battle against the drug cartels. From Mexico City, Jennifer Schmidt reports. Download MP3

MARCO WERMAN: In 1985 the Mexican military opened a small museum that chronicles the history and use of drugs in the county. It started with just a few displays. Today the Museo de Enervantes in Mexico City is packed with artifacts from the country’s battle against the drug cartels. Jennifer Schmidt shows us around.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: Last month the Mexican military killed one of the top drug kingpins in the country. Arturo Beltran Leyva was known as the boss of bosses. He died during a bloody shoot out with soldiers at a posh condo complex in the southern city of Cuernavaca.

After the raid, news footage revealed piles of weapons in the bullet ridden condo, including grenades, handguns, automatic rifles and a gold-tipped knife shaped like a scorpion’s tail. The knife, at least, is likely to end up in a display in Mexico City’s Museum of Drugs. The museum is already packed with an astonishing number of ornate weapons from a handgun enveloped in gold, rubies and emeralds to an AK-47 plated in silver. The arms once belonged to some of Mexico’s most infamous drug lords.

MALE VOICE 1: [interpreter] This is the museum of Narco Culture.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: The museum’s curator is Captain Claudio Montane, a former front line soldier in the country’s battle against drug trafficking.

MALE VOICE 1: [interpreter] What is Narco Culture? Well, it’s the way narco traffickers behave, communicate, live, show off and intimidate their rivals by exhibiting power.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: Gold seems to be at the top of the list when it comes to Narco ostentation, followed closely by precious gems. Among the items on display here is a cell phone covered in gold and diamonds. It belonged to a founding member of the Zetas, the killing arm of the Gulf cartel. Nearby is the personal gun of Alfredo Beltran Leyva, Arturo’s younger brother who is now in prison.

MALE VOICE 1: [interpreter] It’s a .38 caliber with a gold handle, artistic engraving along the sides of the weapon, which is also in gold.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: The Collection of weapons is impressive but the point of this museum is not to impress. It’s to educate Mexican soldiers on every aspect of the drug trade. The museum is run by the military and it’s situated on the heavily guarded grounds of the Defense Ministry in Mexico City. It is not open to the public. When asked why, Montane offers a somewhat cryptic explanation.

MALE VOICE 1: [interpreter] Not all the people see with good intention.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: But the point is clear, the military isn’t interested in showing off the material riches of drug traffickers or sharing information that could fall into the wrong hands. There is a large amount of sophisticated technology here, including a sensor that Montane can detect the presence of drugs on a molecular level. But it’s hard to beat the simple ingenuity of the traffickers. One room full of confiscated goods shows how drugs are smuggled out of Mexico in everything from submarines to doughnuts.

MALE VOICE 1: [interpreter] In wood, inside blocks of cement, in cans, books, in the soles of shoes, anything that can provide space for a concealment can be used to transport drugs.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: Even the Virgin of Guadalupe. A print is on display. The frame has been cut open to reveal the tightly wrapped packages inside. One of the last objects in this museum is a bright orange hookah in a glass case. At first it seems odd that a museum dedicated to the eradication of narco trafficking would display a water pipe like a work of art. But it’s here, says Montane, as a reminder of just who provides the fuel for the drug trade.

MALE VOICE 1: [interpreter] Everything that narco traffickers have, everything available to them comes from the money that comes from consumers.

JENNIFER SCHMIDT: And Montane says, with the help of that money drug traffickers are threatening the security of the nation. To drive home the point, the museum has placed a large plaque just beyond the exit. It bears the names of more than 600 soldiers who have died on duty since Mexico began fighting the drug cartels more than 30 years ago. For The World, I’m Jennifer Schmidt in Mexico City.

Forgiving Haiti’s debt

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:35:26 +0000

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The World’s Jason Margolis reports on calls for international lenders to forgive Haiti’s debt in the wake of last week’s devastating earthquake.

MARCO WERMAN: That seemingly perpetual corruption in the Haitian government may be dissuading international organizations and countries from forgiving Haiti’s substantial debt. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez says he’ll pardon Haiti’s debt for oil imports, but there’s no indication of when that will happen and how much of the debt Venezuela will forgive. Still, advocacy organizations welcomed Chavez’s announcement, and the World’s Jason Margolis reports that they’re calling on others to follow suit.

JASON MARGOLIS: Haiti owes the outside world slightly more than $1 billion dollars. Those obligations are spread among five major creditors: Venezuela and Taiwan, along with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and International Monetary Fund or IMF. The president of Oxfam America, Raymond Offenheiser, says those creditors must understand that Haiti’s billion dollar debt is too heavy a burden to carry.

RAYMOND OFFENHEISER: At a time when a nation is facing such a dramatic calamity, and is in effect on its back and it’s faced with rebuilding its national institutions, its state institutions, as well as its civil society institutions, debt forgiveness I think is a first step, and an important step. And we’re hoping the IMF can lead and others will hopefully follow.

MARGOLIS: The head of the IMF has said his organization should erase Haiti’s debt, $165 million, but that’s easier said than done. Tom Hart, of the musician Bono’s, The One Campaign, explains somebody else picks up the tab when international financial organizations forgive debt.

TOM HART: These are all owned by and controlled by their shareholders, which are countries, like the United States and France and Great Britain. So it is about convincing those nation states to agree, and then have them vote at those institutions to relieve the debt.

MARGOLIS: Still, Hart is optimistic that Haiti’s debt will be forgiven. He points out that Haiti has no way of paying back the money any how.

HART: These loans were given at a time when things were really looking up for Haiti. They were based on assumptions about Haiti’s growths and exports and, of course, all those assumptions are now moot.

MARGOLIS: In recent years countries such as Uganda and Bolivia have had debt forgiven. They qualified by demonstrating that they had straightened out their economic policies. Homi Kharas is with the Brookings Institution. He says international financial institutions had insisted on that.

HOMI KHARAS: They asked for budgetary reforms so that one could track where the monies that were being saved from debt relief would go. And the donors wanted those monies to go to poverty reducing programs.

MARGOLIS: Kharas says the Haitian government had made strides in the past three years toward greater transparency and fiscal responsibility. As a result, the IMF and other financial organizations relieved about $2.1 billion dollars of Haiti’s debt last year. Still, concerns have been raised that Haiti’s historically corrupt leadership could mismanage the funds that further debt forgiveness would free up. That’s why western countries have been hesitant to write a blank check to the Haitian government for reconstruction. Nevertheless, Peter De Shazo at The Center for Strategic and International Studies says you’ve got to give money to Port au Prince.

PETER DE SHAZO: If you don’t provide more funding to the government of Haiti, it’s not going to be able to stand itself up, it’s not going to be able to carry out the functions that it needs to, to be effective.

MARGOLIS: Homi Kharas at Brookings agrees a partnership between a donor nation and the Haitian government is necessary. But he adds that certain projects are better done with outside oversight.

KHARAS: For example, the airport has to be rebuilt, the port has to be rebuilt. These are very large, technically complex projects. Everybody agrees on them as priorities. So there I think the international community will have a tremendous role to play in providing both the financial resources and the technical expertise to actually put that infrastructure in place.

MARGOLIS: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. must work as a partner with Haiti, not a patron. She also says that Haiti’s needs must be assessed first and money should be pledged after. The government of Haiti says reconstruction will cost $3 billion dollars and take five to ten years. For the World, I’m Jason Margolis.

Cap and trade concept in Europe

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:30:15 +0000

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The World’s Gerry Hadden reports on Europe’s “cap and trade” system to help limit greenhouse gas pollution. Some in the United States see the European system as a model for the US to follow.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman, and this is The World. Cap and Trade is an idea that’s struggling to get traction among American politicians. Many environmentalists here are pushing it as a way to cut global warming pollution. They’ve been looking to Europe as a possible model. Five years ago the European Union set up the world’s largest Cap and Trade system for greenhouse gases. But as The World’s Gerry Hadden reports, the EU’s carbon market is still very much work in progress.

GERRY HADDEN: Pollution is free, at least it always was until recently. That’s why companies generally haven’t cared how much of it they produce and that’s why many governments are now trying to put a price on it. The idea in this case is to make greenhouse gas emissions expensive says European Union Energy Commissioner Andres Pielbags.

ANDRES PIELBAGS: It’s very important that the carbon has a price. So as a result, whatever investment decision is taken is based on the perception what will be carbon price in the future and how much it will affect my business.

GERRY HADDEN: That’s where Cap and Trade comes in. It sets caps on how much carbon dioxide big companies can emit and then issues them annual emissions permits based on those amounts. If a company exceeds its cap, it has to buy more permits from other companies. If it cuts back its pollution, it gets to sell its excess permits to dirtier enterprises. Over time, the number of permits is to be reduced, thus driving their value up. It sounds logical and the idea has already worked well in the U.S. to reduce acid rain pollution. But Europe’s Cap and Trade system has had problems right from the start. First, the EU’s governments issued too many permits, causing prices to collapse. Polluting didn’t get more expensive, so it didn’t go down much either. Also, companies got their permits for free and the allocations were based on previous emissions levels. That angers climate activists like Annie Leonard.

ANNIE LEONARD: The more they’ve been polluting, the more they get. It’s like we’re thanking them for creating this problem in the first place.

GERRY HADDEN: Leonard has made an online movie urging American’s to oppose what she calls Cap and Give Away. Many other greens support Cap and Trade, but its fate in the U.S. is very much uncertain. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a Cap and Trade bill, but its prospects are fading in the Senate. Meanwhile, backers everywhere are watching as the EU tries to iron out the kinks. To start with, says European Commission Vice President Margot Wallstrom, Europe will issue fewer annual permits and those permits will be auctioned off instead of given away.

MARGOT WALLSTROM: We knew that this was a learning by doing the first period of emissions trading. Now we have seen also the opportunity to strengthen it. To put a much straighter cap and to improve the functioning of it.

GERRY HADDEN: Today stricter controls have stabilized the price of carbon permits. Earlier this week it cost about $18.00 to emit a metric ton of carbon. That’s up from less than $1.00 in 2007, but still far below what analysts think is necessary to really affect emissions. Critics of the EU’s system also point to a mechanism that lets companies avoid having to buy more pollution permits altogether, by investing in green projects in the developing world. For example, the Spanish energy giant, Endesa, has over a billion dollars invested in projects from Brazil to China, says Endesa’s Jesus Abaria. He says it doesn’t matter where you cut greenhouse gases because they’re contaminating the whole planet. In our case, it’s cheaper for us to invest in clean energy in China than say to buy extra pollution permits from Germany. But critic Annie Leonard says carbon offsets allow European companies to avoid actually reducing pollution. Perhaps more importantly, she argues in her film, it creates a sort of carbon shell game.

ANNIE LEONARD: Like in Indonesia, Sinar Mas Corporation cut down indigenous forests, causing major ecological and cultural destruction. Then they took the wasteland they created and planted palm oil trees. Guess what they can get for it? Yes, offset permits.

GERRY HADDEN: Even supporters say the holes in the system must be plugged. Dutch Economics Minister Maria van der Hoeven says the solution is to get everybody on the Cap and Trade bandwagon.

MARIA VAN DER HOEVEN: It is really necessary to have a global wide Cap and Trade system because if you don’t have a global system, then the problem of carbon leakage is there and also the problem that companies, for instance, choose to go abroad.

GERRY HADDEN: But the prospect of that happening anytime soon is remote. The failure of last month’s UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen to agree on common carbon reduction goals undermined hopes that the agency could take on the task of overseeing carbon offset projects. The election last week of Republican Scott Brown to replace the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy helped shift the momentum in Washington sharply away from adopting a Cap and Trade system in the U.S. For The World, I’m Gerry Hadden.

Divorcing Swans

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:25:18 +0000

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Swans are known to mate for life. So the recent break-up of a swan couple in England is causing a stir. Anchor Marco Werman finds out more about the couple and their troubles from Julia Newth of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Center in Slimbridge, England.

Slimbridge Wetlands and Wildlife Trust

MARCO WERMAN: This next story is about the biggest break up of the past year. Yes, bigger than Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. We’re talking about Saruni and Sarindi. They are two swans. Bewick’s swans to be precise. That’s spelled B-E-W-I-C-K. You see, swans almost never separate, they mate for life. But Saruni and Sarindi seem to have gotten a divorce. Julia Newth is a swan researcher at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, England. Julia, tell me what happened with this swan couple Saruni and Sarindi? How do you know they broke up?

JULIA NEWTH: Well it’s quite an interesting story actually, very unusual. Saruni and Sarindi have been coming to Slimbridge for a couple of years as a pair. We know then by their individual unique bill patterns, so we can tell them apart. This year Sarindi flew in with a new partner. So we were kind of thinking maybe something untoward had happened to Saruni. We were very surprised when a few weeks later Saruni also flew in with also a new partner. So it’s quite a bizarre situation.

MARCO WERMAN: Do you know why these swans would have broken their mating bond?

JULIA NEWTH: Like I say, it’s very unusual. They’re notorious monogamous, swans. I mean a possible reason could be failure to breed. They’ve brought no signets back to Slimbridge in the years we’ve know them to come here. This could be a reason as to why they separated.

MARCO WERMAN: Right, signets are baby swans?

JULIA NEWTH: Yes.

MARCO WERMAN: How do you know from the start that they are a couple?

JULIA NEWTH: It’s usually quite obvious. In the case of Saruni and Sarindi, they certainly spent all their time together in very close proximity. Saruni and Sarindi always arrived together and departed on migration together in the spring as well, so they seemed pretty glued to each other up until this year actually.

MARCO WERMAN: Have you ever observed any other swan couples that broke up?

JULIA NEWTH: Well, we’ve been studying the swans at Slimbridge for over 40 years, and that’s included studying of 4,000 pairs and I’ve only ever known it to happen one other time, so it just kind of shows how unusual this is really.

MARCO WERMAN: So if swans typically mate for life, what about other birds? Are they generally polygamous or are there other species that also mate for life.

JULIA NEWTH: Yes there are. It does vary between different species. Certainly the goose species, for example, will quite often be monogamous too.

MARCO WERMAN: And so Sarindi and Saruni, they returned with these two other new mates. Where did they find them and where did they spend the rest of the year when they’re not in Slimbridge?

JULIA NEWTH: They’re migrating up to Russia every spring. They spend the whole summer in Russia; that’s their breeding grounds. They may have met on migration or even in the breeding grounds in Russia.

MARCO WERMAN: So they came back with illegal immigrants as mates.

JULIA NEWTH: That seems to be the case, yes.

MARCO WERMAN: Have Sarindi and Saruni had any contact since they both returned to the sanctuary?

JULIA NEWTH: Well it’s a very small lake and both from there and they’re only within yards of each other. There’s been no obvious – - communication, interestingly although they would almost certainly recognize each other through their call and also probably visually as well. But there hasn’t been any kind of aggression or anything that we’ve notice.

MARCO WERMAN: I guess we could say it’s going to be an awkward moment when the two birds and their new mates encounter each other at a tasty pile of breadcrumbs some day soon.

JULIA NEWTH: Yes. It makes quite an interesting story. We’re going to be watching very carefully for the next few weeks I think.

MARCO WERMAN: Is there, in the ornithology world a phrase for irreconcilable differences?

JULIA NEWTH: I don’t know. Perhaps we could make one.

MARCO WERMAN: Swan researcher Julia Newth at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, England thank you very much.

JULIA NEWTH: Thank you.

Halabja Kurds celebrate

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:20:32 +0000

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with New York Times reporter Sam Dagher in Halabja, the Iraqi town that was subjected to a poison gas attack in 1988. Residents there celebrated the execution of the attack’s mastermind, a man known as “Chemical Ali.”

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH in Boston. Kurdish families gathered today at a cemetery in Halabja. They were honoring the victims of a poison gas attack against the Iraqi town in 1988. The ceremony took place one day after the man who carried the attack was executed. He was Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, but he was better known as Chemical Ali. He was hanged after a series of convictions for atrocities that included mass killings and crimes against humanity. Most Iraqi Kurds are probably pleased with the way justice was done, but not Freshta Raper. She lost 22 family members in Halabja, but she wishes that Chemical Ali were still alive.

FRESHTA RAPER: I would wish him to be rotting in jail. I would wish to go at least visit him once, once at least in prison and talk to him face to face and just to see whether he showed any remorse, whether he had any regret. Just find out what make him so evil to commit such a huge crime.

MARCO WERMAN: Iraqi Kurd Freshta Raper speaking to the BBC today. New York Times reporter Sam Dagher was in Halabja today. He’s now back in Sulemaniya, about 45 miles away. Sam, what was the mood in Halabja today as you saw it?

SAM DAGHER: I headed to the center of town and the shops were open, markets were bustling, people milling about. But the sentiment regarding the execution was rather subdued. Some thought it should have happened sooner. I didn’t see any banners or anything like that cheering the execution as usually the case in Iraq during similar, when similar things had happened before. Many people did express relief and satisfaction, especially those who had lost relatives in the attacks in 1988.

MARCO WERMAN: And reaction was so strong that even people like Barham Salih, the Kurdish Prime Minister, who opposed the death penalty actually supported it in this particular case.

BARHAM SALIH: I’m an opponent of the death penalty. But I have to admit that in the case of someone like Ali Hassan al-Majid, I cannot be true to my feelings about the death penalty. I believe Ali Hassan al-Majid is an exceptional criminal and he personifies murder, personifies tyranny and this hopefully will bring a bit of solace to the families of the victims.

MARCO WERMAN: Sam Dagher with the New York Times, do you think the execution of Chemical Ali provided any solace?

SAM DAGHER: Yes particularly to those who lost loved ones as I mentioned. I spoke to a man who had lost his sister and six other relatives and he expressed some pretty strong emotions. He said Chemical Ali was not even a human being and deserved even more. But there were others that were perhaps looking for more attention from the government, perhaps more compensation, looking to improve their lot, looking for better services to their town, looking just to improve their standard of living. There were a lot of people who had thought the government had not done enough to compensate them for the atrocities. The Prime Minister Barham Salih did acknowledge that and said more would be done particularly approaching the central government in Baghdad about compensating victims of Halabja and more broadly the Amfal campaign against the Kurds that was waged during the Saddam era. He also said that his government was currently studying the possibility of suing, filing lawsuits against the companies that supplied armament to Saddam during those years.

MARCO WERMAN: New York Times reporter Sam Dagher who was in Halabja today back in Sulemaniya. Thank you very much for your time.

SAM DAGHER: You’re most welcome Marco.

Gaza support for Hamas waning

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:15:12 +0000

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The popularity of the Islamic militant group, Hamas, among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip may be on the decline. Hamas won elections in 2006, but as Linda Gradstein reports, Gazans are not happy with its leadership.

MARCO WERMAN: We stay in the Middle East for our next story. It’s set in the Gaza strip. Gaza has had more than its share of troubles and Israeli sanctions against the Palestinian territory have added to the misery. But Gazans are increasingly directing their anger at their own leadership. The Islamic militant group Hamas won elections in Gaza in 2006. Hamas forcibly ousted its rival party the following year and its ruled Gaza ever since. But Linda Gradstein reports that Hamas’ popularity in the territory seems to be waning.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Abir Salha is a tall, physically imposing, educated woman. She runs a preschool for 130 poor children in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza. Salha says Hamas leaders have done little to help the one and a half million Palestinians in this densely populated strip of land.

ABIR SALHA: [through interpreter] We want to change. We want them to go and have news ones.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Salha says she feels suffocated. Then she gets nervous and ends the conversation. She says she’s afraid that Hamas might harm her or her children for her views. Anger at Israel here is nothing new. Israel’s siege of Gaza that began in 2005 and deepened after Hamas captured an Israeli solder in 2006 has made life hard here. Last year’s war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza battered Gazans even further. Gazans are still angry at Israel, but they’re also angry at Hamas according to [phonetic] Al Azhar University Professor, [phonetic] Mujeimer Abusaddah.

MUJEIMER ABUSADDAH: Many, many of the Palestinians have negative attitude toward Hamas because Hamas has not been able to deliver its promises to the Palestinians. When Hamas ran for election in 2006 they promised the Palestinians change and reform. Change has already happened, but we don’t really have reform as they have promised. Things have gotten even worse. The situation is unbearable with levels of poverty and unemployment are very high.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Public pressure has forced Hamas to change its policies, especially on religious issues. Last year Hamas canceled a decree that required all female lawyers to wear the Hijab, or head scarf. Hamas also rolled back a similar effort to impose long skirts and head coverings on high school girls. Professor Absuddah says Hamas is feeling some political heat.

MUJEIMER ABUSADDAH: Hamas knows that it was the Palestinian people who voted for Hamas. It was the Palestinian people who brought Hamas to power. Hamas is very vulnerable we say, to Palestinian public opinion because any election, if Hamas does not improve its image, if Hamas does not improve the situation in Gaza, and definitely Hamas is not going to do well in any Palestinian legislative or presidential election in the future.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: But there is no real alternative to Hamas in Gaza. Many senior officials of the rival Futa party fled the territory after the 2007 clashes between Hamas and Futa. Hamas controls the police and security apparatus here. Hamas is widely believe to torture its political opponents. A few weeks ago Hamas seemed about to make a move that would have surely been popular. Israeli and Palestinian news reports said the two sides were on the verge of a deal that would free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, most from Hamas, in exchange for the Israeli solder Gilad Shalit. There were also reports that Israel would lift the siege on Gaza and life here would improve after the deal went through. But Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, got cold feet says Hamas Senior Advisor Ahmed Yusif.

AHMED YUSIF: I do believe that the Israelis and maybe, I don’t know, somebody actually give them a hint this kind of deal will give some kind of giving Hamas a boost or something like this. Because yes there was progress, then all of a sudden Netanyahu changed his mind regarding certain things.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Yusif says Palestinians in Gaza still support Hamas, but even he senses that their enthusiasm for the movement is slipping.

AHMED YUSIF: Because of the sanction, the pressure and the suffering, the people might turn, if there is election, will vote for somebody else, not for Hamas.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Elections for a new Palestinian President and Parliament were supposed to be held this week, but they’ve been put on hold. Yusif says he hopes that Futa and Hamas will overcome their differences and agree on elections in June. By then, he says, maybe Israel and Hamas will have reached a deal on a prisoner exchange, the borders will be open, and Hamas will win a large majority again. For The World, I’m Linda Gradstein, the Gaza strip.

Geo Quiz

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:10:10 +0000

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Where will our Geo Quiz take us today?

Geo Answer

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:05:29 +0000

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For today’s Geo Quiz we were looking for Australia’s southern-most state where today Australia Day celebrations kicked off with great food and traditional games. The answer is Tasmania. Producer Jake Warga sends an Australia Day audio postcard.

Ca Tru

The World — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:00:00 +0000

An ancient form of Vietnamese music is making a comeback. Ca Tru is spare and emotional. It’s played with percussion and one long-necked lute. Ca Tru was once the music of royal courts. Later, it became the music of prostitutes and courtesans. When the Communist Party first came to power, it banned the music. But in recent years, the government’s eased up on its moralistic stance. In fact, it successfully lobbied UNESCO to recognize Ca Tru as an “intangible cultural heritage.” The World’s Mary Kay Magistad checked it out on a recent trip to Hanoi. Download MP3

Ca Tru singer Bich Van

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MARCO WERMAN: An ancient form of Vietnamese music is making a comeback. Ca Tru is bare and emotional. It’s played with percussion and one long necked lute. Ca Tru was once the music of royal courts. Later it became the music of prostitutes and courtesans. When the Communist Party first came to power it banned the music. But in recent years the government has eased up on its moralistic stance. In fact, it successfully lobbied UNESCO to recognize Ca Tru as an intangible cultural heritage. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad checked it out on a recent trip to Hanoi.

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: Every Ca Tru song starts with a beat. Three beats actually, by the drummer. Then the lute comes in and the singer, always female, who keeps her on staccato beat with two sticks against a piece of wood or bamboo. Ca Tru songs are often full of pathos and longing about life and love, kind of like ancient Vietnamese blues. They’re based on poems by ancient Vietnamese and Chinese poets.

Viet Nam passed in and out of Chinese control after Ca Tru’s birth 1,000 years ago. While the Vietnamese never have liked being controlled by anyone, they did borrow from renowned Chinese poets like Du Fu. As Ca Tru evolved, it went from being a music used for ritual in temples and in the courts, to one used to entertain scholars and aristocrats in inns. They’d get tally cards and would give them to their favorite female singer. The more cards a singer got, the more she got paid. Ca means song and Tru means tally card, hence the name.

Under French colonial rule Ca Tru evolved again says Bich Van, the singer here and the leader of a Ca Tru club in Hanoi. She says when the Communists took over they denounced Ca Tru as being the music of prostitutes and courtesans and bourgeois elites. They banned it until economic reform started in the mid 1980′s. That’s when Bich Van started to learn Ca Tru singing. She explains to a small audience in a Taoist temple the difference between open-mouthed opera singing and Ca Tru. She says you have to keep your mouth tight and controlled. Some of the sounds almost get swallowed. Bich Van says it hasn’t been easy trying to draw new audiences to Ca Tru. It is an acquired taste. But she says hit has been part of Viet Nam’s cultural heritage for 1,000 years and it would be a shame for it to die out.

The Vietnamese government now agrees. It lobbied UNESCO to give Ca Tru the status of intangible cultural heritage, something that deserves to be protected. One of the people leading the campaign was Nguyen Chi Benh, Director of the Ministry of Culture’s Institute of Culture and Art Studies. He says there are very few singers of Ca Tru these days and most of the ones who are left are old. Many Vietnamese didn’t grow up with the music and don’t connect with it especially since some of the singing is in Chinese. He says the government has tried to promote Ca Tru through television performance and events around the country. Nguyen Chi Benh hopes the UNESCO recognition sparks a little cultural pride and maybe even international interest in the art form.

Certainly at Bich Van’s Ca Tru club meeting the few people who turn out on a drizzly Sunday morning are appreciative. During a break they stand up and praise the singers for their moving performances. It’s particularly moving that Bich Van, the daughter of a writer and a Ca Tru singer, both occupations considered bourgeois and counter-revolutionary at the height of Viet Nam’s Communist fervor is now getting help from that government to revive an ancient art form it once reviled. For The World, I’m Mary Kay Magistad, Hanoi.