North Korea is a giant concentation camp where hunger and repression reign supreme under megalomaniac Kim Jong-il

North Korea is a one party state led by megalomaniac Kim Jong-il and the Korean Workers Party. It is essentially a Stalinist dictatorship underpinned by a most extreme form of Marxist-Leninism.
There is no freedom of assembly or speech. Freedom of religion is outlawed. It has been replaced by worship of a mad man. Human rights have been trampled upon. There are thousands of public executions annually. Murder, rape, forced abortions and medical experimentation are other tools of repression used by the regime. Millions have fled, and thousands have died trying to escape North Korea.It is estimated that there are at least 150,000 people held in prison and detention camps.

Aid agencies estimate that 13 million people in North Korea — more than half the population — are malnourished. Two million people have starved to death.

The North Korean government has claimed that military expenditure for 2009 will amount to 15.8% of GNP. This is a gross underestimate. The real level of military expenditure is believed to be at least 25% of GNP. The country has the fifth largest army in the world. The regime has assembled a massive surveillance network within the country-similar to that operated by the Stasis in East Germany- designed to cow its citizenry. The Communist regime pursues an ambitious missile and nuclear programme designed to blackmail its neighbours whilst its citizens undergo the most intolerable privations. The giant military machine mops up scarce financial resources whilst millions suffer hunger and malnutrition. This is the legacy of the world's newest Stalin.

Starving Zimbabweans mix cow dung with their food

Zimbabwe's official inflation rate stands at 231,000,000%. In all probability this is an underestimate of the real inflation rate. The Zimbabwean Dollar is practically worthless. It is estimated that more than 80% of the country's population lives on less than $1.5 dollars a day whilst 50% is chronically malnourished. Cholera has spread from the cities to rural areas whilst an anthrax outbreak has also been reported in Hurungwe 300km north of the capital, Harare. Local government services have in many cases collapsed. Raw sewage frequently seeps out onto streets and there are widespread sanitation problems.
Now comes a report from Caritas which states that Zimbabweans are mixing cow dung with their food.

Zimbabwe's economy, agriculture, its education and healthcare systems have virtually collapsed. Caritas staff in rural Zimbabwe are reporting that families are mixing their dwindling food supplies with cow dung to stave off hunger. Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight said, “Our staff say that people in Zimbabwe are dropping dead on the streets from Cholera. They’ve witnessed people mixing cow dung with what’s left of their food to make it go further. This is poverty at its most dehumanising.”

Caritas aid operations are planning to ramp up across the country with hunger likely to increase after poor harvests. A Caritas survey in the areas it works in October found 70 to 90 percent of households going hungry depending on the area and the rest on the brink of starving. At least 5.1 million people are facing starvation out of a population of 13 million people. Nearly 14,000 cases of Cholera have been reported. It’s unknown how people living with HIV and AIDS are surviving without either the necessary medicines or the necessary level of nutrition that is key to the effectiveness of anti-retroviral treatment.......

The international community must maintain the pressure on Zimbabwe for an end to this crisis. We must also prepare ourselves for the implosion of the country and the catastrophe that will mean in terms of human suffering across the region. Zimbabwe’s neighbours must address the xenophobia directed at Zimbabwean refugees in their own countries.....

Mugabe clings to power whilst the international community stands idly by.

RTE Documentary on Haiti would draw a tear from a stone.

RTE has a long history of accomplishment in the production of documentaries. However it is doubtful if any has left as big an impression as Jim Fahy's Haiti A Hundred Dead People In My Truck . The graphic footage of squalor, hunger, malnutrition, shanty towns and trucks carrying the bodies of up to 100 people would draw a tear from a stone. The stench of death was everywhere. The film also contained a brief historic background to the problems of the country. In addition it described how First World countries still demand their pound of flesh in the form of loan repayments from a country on its knees. The activities of kidnappers were recounted-ears of hostages cut off if they are lucky. Murdered if they are unlucky.
Widespread hurricane damage is a common occurrence. Haiti is the country that has been largely forgotten by the western world. Of course UN troops are stationed there to maintain a semblance of order.

Two Irish women childcare specialist, Gena Heraty from Mayo, and Dubliner Dr Louise Ivers a world expert in infectious disease - have been working for years in Haiti’s slums and in the mountainous areas. Working alongside them as a doctor and hostage negotiator is Fr Rick Frechette, a Passionist Priest, from Connecticut in the United States.
The film footage featuring all three was so moving. Their determination to swim against the tide, their exhausting schedules, their compassion and their dedication to the cause of social justice is an inspiration to all.

Gena Heraty has dedicated her life to improving the lot of orphans. She is determined to live out her life in Haiti. She stressed that all children are equal irrespective of where they live and entitled to an equal chance to progress. Dr Louise Ivers is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School . She works in a gradually expanding clinic through the nonprofit organization Partners In Health. She said "I can’t sleep at night because of the things that I see".

The spectre of Fr Rick Frechette helping to load up the bodies for transport and his prayers over mass graves would send a shudder through the hardest heart. The convoys of lorries carrying corpses through the streets merited scarcely a glance from the citizens. As far as they were concerned this was normal.

Congrats to Jim Fahy and the whole RTE team. This documentary should be disseminated throughout the world. It might soften the hard hearted bankers and politicians. This has the potential to shock viewers into action. The full programme may be viewed here