Every artist was first an amateur.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.
Albert Camus

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An artist is always alone - if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.
Henry Miller

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The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
Friedrich Nietzsche

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Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
Twyla Tharp

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Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scott Adams

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Lady Gaga FAIL !!!

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, activist, businesswoman, fashion designer, actress and philanthropist. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She soon began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. By the end of 2007, record executive and producer Vincent Herbert signed her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Initially working as a songwriter at Interscope Records, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who also signed her to Kon Live Distribution, his own label under Interscope.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album, The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”. After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles “Bad Romance”, “Telephone”, and “Alejandro”. The Fame Monster’s success allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album, Born This Way (2011), topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, including “Born This Way”, “Judas”, and “The Edge of Glory”.

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Britneys Schwester Jamie Lynn Spears ist verlobt

Britney Spears hat sich erst im Januar von ihrem Verlobten Jason Trawick, 41, getrennt. Aber im Hause Spears gibt es jetzt andere, und zwar erfreuliche Verlobungsnachrichten: Schwesterchen Jamie Lynn Spears, 21, wird bald vor den Altar treten!Über ihren Twitter-Account gab die kleine Schwester von Britney bekannt, dass sie und ihr Freund, Jamie Watson, 30, sich verlobt haben. Und mit was für einem Ring! Stolz und glücklich strahlt die junge Schauspielerin in die Kamera und zeigt aller Welt ihren Verlobungsring. Das Foto postete sie mit dem Untertitel “Ratet mal??” und fügte noch ein extra Bild des Rings hinzu, das sie mit “Das hat er gut gemacht” betitelte.  Schon im Januar wurde vermutet, dass die 21-Jährige bald diesen Schritt wagen wird.  Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Für Jamie Lynn ist es die erste Hochzeit, aber die zweite Verlobung. Mit ihrem ersten Verlobten, Casey Aldridge, hat sie eine kleine Tochter, Maddie, 4. Die beiden haben sich jedoch im Februar 2010 getrennt. Mit ihrem neuen Zukünftigen ist sie bereits sei drei Jahren liiert.

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Pakistan Prime Misister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso

 

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Figuring out the future of online privacy


What level of privacy will we have online in the future?
Will people share their personal data freely in exchange for more customized service? Or will they become fiercely protective of private information, using tools and browsers that protect their identity from advertisers and other third parties?  Privacy experts from Facebook, Google, Mozilla and Microsoft have been tackling these big questions this week at the RSA security conference in San Francisco.

Public changes to privacy policies, like the ones that make news when Facebook or Google change their settings, are just a small part of the story. Behind the scenes, these companies have full-time staffs of privacy experts, lawyers and engineers who are juggling an array of privacy demands. In addition to what the users expect, there are government regulations, industry standards and rules that vary across operating systems. Companies that provide free services, such as search engines or social networks, have to strike the right balance between respecting their customers’ privacy concerns and serving advertisers.
“It’s important and easy for everyone to acknowledge that much of the incredible growth of the Internet today has been fueled by advertising,” said Keith Enright, Google’s senior privacy counsel. “I believe that will continue to be true.”
For Web titans, the money still flows in from advertisers, not consumers. Facebook made $4.2 billion, or 84% of its revenue, from online advertising in 2012. Google saw $43.6 billion in advertising last year, accounting for almost 95% of the company’s revenue.
Customers’ leverage
They may not be paying for the services directly, but customers still have a lot of power — and companies know that they need to listen. People can switch to another browser, ditch Facebook and go back to writing e-mails, stop Googling and start Binging. And privacy is becoming more and more important to them.
“Privacy is increasingly becoming a feature,” said Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer.The customer demand for stronger data controls led to the introduction of the “do not track” feature. “Do not track” is a setting that can be now found on all the major browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari. When turned on, it asks sites not to track that person’s online activities. A Microsoft survey found that 75% of people were concerned about online tracking and thought the setting should be turned on by default.
“Do not track” seems like a clear, smart option to give consumers, but it has has been difficult to enforce. There are talks under way by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organization that develops standards for the Web, to make it official. However, advertisers and other third parties are pushing back.
Changes to consumers’ data, like “do not track,” can come at the expense of advertisers, creating friction. When Mozilla recently announced that it was testing a feature that disabled third-party cookies by default in its Firefox browser, the general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau called it “a nuclear first strike” against the ad industry on Twitter.
“We can’t just sit back and allow the industry to just continue to ignore a core component of the user experience online,” said Alex Fowler, Mozilla’s global privacy and public policy leader.
The issues will become only more complex in the future, when small sensors and devices that can track things like location, fitness and environment become ubiquitous. The more devices that connect to the Internet, from smart cars to home thermostats, the more data there are about a person to collect.
Location data are already being tagged on to photos, tweets and other online actions when people use their mobile phones. For many people, they are considered private data, whether they show where someone is at that exact moment or where they’ve been over time.
“How can you take the data, make it less sensitive but still make it of value to the user?” asked Lynch.   

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Emma Watson goes crazy in night club!!! She shows more than usual….. 

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and model. She rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series; she was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. She starred in all eight Harry Potter films, alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Watson’s work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million. She made her modelling debut for Burberry’s autumn/winter campaign in 2009. In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in The Tale of Despereaux and the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes, which was broadcast on 26 December 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million. The Tale of Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed more than US $86 million in worldwide sales. In 2012, she starred in Stephen Chbosky’s film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and was cast in the role of Ila in Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah.London quartet Night Engine follow up their February debut single ‘Seventeen’ with their second release ‘Young and Carefree’ alongside B-side’ Give Me A Chance’ due out on May 27th 2013. Alongside this new release is a new video (sort of) of minimal proportions. It is a hdoesn’t distract from the track which is a captivating electronic number reminiscent of the likes of Bowie and INXS. With deep, thought provoking lyrics like that, you hardly need a particularly entertaining music video to go with it. Night Engine; who are vocalist Phil, keyboardist Dom, bassist Ed and drummer Lee; have been touring extensively over the last few months, including with Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs in February and Welsh rockers The Joy Formidable in March. They are now set for several dates in May at a handful of festivals including Dot to Dot, following their festival debut at SWN in 2012, plus a major headline show at London’s XOYO club at the end of May.This is a video of Emma Watson in a night club where she is very provocative.She shows something more than usual.Do you want to see what??? Than watch thevideo.

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Dream-Team bei “Kid’s Choice Awards”  : Katy Perry & Selena Gomez

Das berichtet zumindest “hollywoodlife.com” und kann sich gut vorstellen, warum die Verantwortlichen dort sich für diese Sitzordnung entschieden haben.

Schließlich haben sich sowohl Selena Gomez als auch Katy Perry vor Kurzem von ihren Freunden getrennt und wären sonst solo unterwegs. Warum also nicht einfach zwei gute Freundinnen nebeneinander platzieren. Schon beim “UNICEF Snowflake Ball” im November hatten sich die beiden Sängerinnen bestens verstanden und können sich nach Angaben des Promi-Portals nun nicht nur gegenseitig ihre Geschichte erzählen, sondern auch eine Stütze in Sachen Liebeskummer sein.

Bei beiden dürfte das Thema immerhin noch relativ präsent sein. Selena Gomez und Ex-Freund Justin Bieber sind erst seit Anfang des Jahres kein Paar mehr und erst vor wenigen Tagen wurde bekannt, dass auch Katy Perry und John Mayer sich getrennt oder zumindest eine Pause eingelegt haben.

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ArtGenio

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Thank you for choosing ArtGenio to conduct SEO for your Company/Website. Our company has been providing services in SEO for last 4 years.

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            a) Determine primary, secondary and tertiary keywords.

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                        a. # of back links

                        b. Quality of back-links

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            d) Approval of keywords chosen target

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            a) optimize Meta Tags

                        a. Meta Titles for all pages

                        b. Meta keywords for all pages

                        c. Meta description for all pages

            b) structure / re-structure internal linking

                        a. Analyze H tags

                        b. Analyze High-Page-rank pages of current site

                        c. Determine PR Tier structures.

                        d. Analyze google webmaster tools for errors and warnings.

                        f. Submit XML Sitemap

Step 3: Begin Back-Linking

            a) write and submit press releases to target media announcing new Company.

            b) Submit website to top directories

            c) Submit website to maximum directories. (1000+ approx.)

            d) Create or submit site on social network

contact us : 0331-4046932 , 0323-4219522, 0321-4358085

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Sajjad Ali - Har Zulm (Official Music Video)

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How do national strategic plans for HIV and AIDS in southern and eastern Africa address gender-based violence? A women’s rights perspective


Andrew Gibbs, Mildred Mushinga, E. Tyler Crone, Samantha Willan, Jenevieve Mannell

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a significant human rights violation and a key driver of the HIV epidemic in southern and eastern Africa. We frame GBV from a broad human rights approach that includes intimate partner violence and structural violence. We use this broader definition to review how National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS (NSPs) in southern and eastern Africa address GBV. NSPs for HIV and AIDS provide the national-level framework that shapes government, business, donor, and non-governmental responses to HIV within a country. Our review of these plans for HIV and AIDS suggests that attention to GBV is poorly integrated; few recognize GBV and program around GBV. The programming, policies, and interventions that do exist privilege responses that support survivors of violence, rather than seeking to prevent it. Furthermore, the subject who is targeted is narrowly constructed as a heterosexual woman in a monogamous relationship. There is little consideration of GBV targeting women who have non-conforming sexual or gender identities, or of the need to tackle structural violence in the response to HIV and AIDS. We suggest that NSPs are not sufficiently addressing the human rights challenge of tackling GBV in the response to HIV and AIDS in southern and eastern Africa. It is critical that they do so.
Introduction

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the key human rights violations that contributes to the high levels of HIV and AIDS in southern and eastern Africa. 1,2,3 In this paper, we build on a broad understanding of a human rights approach to GBV that moves beyond narrow understandings of GBV as intimate partner violence or other forms of direct violence, to encompass structural GBV, particularly for women living with HIV and women with non-confirming sexual identities. We then use this to reflect upon how National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS (NSPs) in southern and eastern Africa integrate policy and programmatic interventions that seek to prevent GBV and mitigate its impact. Within national responses to HIV and AIDS, NSPs provide a broad framework and guiding tool, as such how they conceptualize and program for GBV is critical to the HIV response as a whole.

Gender-based violence as a human rights issue

Understandings of GBV and its relationship to human rights are widening to include the multiple forms that this violence can take. Initially, human rights frameworks were quite narrow, excluding GBV and violence against women as private acts not covered in a human rights framework.4 This, however, has been changing; since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), GBV has been seen as a critical human rights issue and a central component of women’s human rights.5 This view has increasingly become codified in international legislation, including the Protocol of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (referred to as the African Women’s Protocol), which provides a strong perspective on the relationship between violence against women and human rights.6 These broader human rights frameworks typically build on definitions like that outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which defines “gender-based abuse” as “any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”7

Definitions of GBV have further expanded in two important ways. The first expansion provides for a broader understanding of gender violence as any form of violence perpetrated against an individual or a group because of gender, rather than the typical focus of male violence against a female intimate partner, with the assumption of a heterosexual relationship. This expansion makes it possible for a human rights framework to be applied to gender violence against people because of their non-confirming sexual identities. Such an expansion has enabled issues such as the “corrective rape” of lesbians to be framed from a human rights perspective and used to hold states accountable for their ineffective responses.8,9 Furthermore, it means that gender-specific work, such as female sex work, can be framed within human rights language and can highlight the high levels of violence that clients and police inflict on female sex workers.10

The second expansion of the GBV framework moves away from focusing on direct forms of violence by recognizable actors (typically physical, emotional, and economic forms of violence), to include indirect forms of violence ingrained in social arrangements and institutions. Paul Farmer’s seminal work on structural violence emphasizes how broad social forces, including gender, race, and class, shape health outcomes and access to specific forms of health care.11 In this way, broad social arrangements, including economic forces of neoliberalism, legal frameworks, policing systems, and health care systems that perpetuate unequal social relationships, are all capable of causing violence, even though they are not autonomous actors. In terms of GBV, this helps us recognize the significance of the criminalization of non-conforming sexual identities, coercive sterilization of women, and the criminalization of sex work as forms of systematic structural violence with a gendered dimension. This expansion of the GBV framework allows for inclusion of violence that undermines women’s human rights and that would not have been included in early conceptualizations of GBV.

Gender-based violence and HIV

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has created a focus on the role of violence and human rights violations in undermining health.12 There are multiple potential pathways between GBV and HIV. Evidence clearly shows that GBV is a cause of HIV transmission. A range of cross-sectional studies showed that women who experience intimate partner violence are more likely to be HIV-positive.13,14 However, these studies have been criticized as not being able to show the temporal relationship between HIV and violence. More recent work by Jewkes et al., using a cohort sample, showed that women who experienced intimate partner violence were more likely to contract HIV than those who did not.15

In addition, there is growing evidence that women who are HIV-positive experience high levels of intimate partner violence because of the intersection between their gender and their HIV-positive status.16 A study by Gielen et al. maps women’s lives following an HIV-positive diagnosis, showing the multiple risks and forms of intimate partner violence the women faced, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.17 Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that women living with HIV are subjected to a wide range of structural violence because of the intersection between their gender and HIV status. Forms of documented violations include the coerced and forced sterilization of women living with HIV, poor treatment in antenatal clinics and during delivery, and the criminalization of HIV transmission.18-22 All these factors undermine HIV-positive women’s access to effective treatment and care services, and expose them, directly and indirectly, to institutional violence.

Structural forms of GBV are also implicated in facilitating HIV transmission and undermining access to prevention, treatment, care and support. For instance, a significant body of work shows that the criminalization of sex work undermines sex workers’ access to HIV prevention and care; this has led to a high rate of HIV among this population. 23 Similarly, the criminalization of people based on their sexual identity, and the subsequent forms of direct violence against criminalized groups, are also potential modes of transmission. In South Africa, for instance, there is an increase in the number of women who report being raped for self-identifying as lesbian.24 Furthermore, formal institutions such as the police and health care facilities often exclude or give poor treatment to women with non-conforming sexualities.

Economic forms of structural violence and their intersection with gender inequalities are a key factor in understanding HIV transmission and high levels of direct violence against women.25,26,27 In southern and eastern Africa, this relationship has primarily focused on transactional relationships, whereby women’s exclusion from the formal economy makes them financially dependent on male partners. Women’s economic dependency on men, places them at higher risk of intimate partner violence as well as unable to negotiate sexual relationships, factors that place them at increased risk of HIV acquisition. 28

Responding to GBV

Responses to GBV have increasingly emphasized a holistic approach to tackling the relationship between GBV and HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO), for instance, has developed and applied an ecological approach to GBV. An ecological approach recognizes that the causes of violence range from individual psychological factors, through to community, social, policy, and structural factors. As such, they argue that any comprehensive response to prevent violence needs interventions targeted at all of these levels.29 There has also been an emphasis on providing support for survivors of violence. In particular, in the context of HIV, providing post-exposure prophylaxis has been a central response.

National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS

National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS emerged to provide a holistic and coordinated response to HIV and AIDS that moved beyond HIV being seen as a health issue alone.30,31 For many countries, including all of those in southern and eastern Africa, NSPs are a key guiding document that outline a national framework and approach to the HIV/AIDS response.32 As such, NSPs include the broad principles guiding the approach, as well as clearly identified policies, programs, and interventions to effectively manage HIV and AIDS. Furthermore, they allocate roles and responsibilities to government agencies, as well as to civil society and the business sector.33

As NSPs have a central role in setting the parameters of a national response to HIV and AIDS, ensuring that a comprehensive response to women’s equality, and specifically GBV, is included in NSPs is critical if we are to address both GBV and HIV. Indeed, the current UNAIDS strategy Getting to Zero explicitly recognizes the importance of including effective responses to GBV and women in NSPs.34 Yet little is known about how NSPs in southern and eastern Africa specifically address GBV. Our study seeks to fill this gap.
Methods

As part of a wider process around strengthening the response to women, girls, and gender equality in NSPs in southern and eastern Africa, the Gender Programme at HEARD and the ATHENA Network developed a policy framework of strategies, interventions, and programs that should be included if NSPs are to meaningfully integrate the response to women, girls, and gender equality. To develop this framework, we undertook a multilevel process of consultation and review, which included the following steps:

1. We reviewed evidence on good practice and effective strategies in academic and grey literature looking at the intersection of gender, human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and HIV;

2. We reviewed key international and African protocols, platforms for action, and legal frameworks and commitments such as the African Women’s Protocol, CEDAW, and the Maputo Plan of Action;

3. We sought input from regional and global actors, ranging from HIV-positive women’s groups, organizations working to involve men and boys in women’s rights, women’s groups, human rights groups, the UN family, and academics.

Through this process, we developed nine key strategic areas for the framework.35 These nine areas are:

1. Enabling environment: Focuses on the wider legal and policy contexts that support women’s rights

2. Meaningful involvement of and leadership by women living with and affected by HIV: Focuses on ensuring that women living with and affected by HIV are included in policy and programmatic decisions affecting their lives

3. Utilizing a sexual and reproductive health and rights approach: Recognizes and outlines policies and programmatic responses that locate HIV within the broader needs of women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights

4. Preventing HIV transmission among women and girls: Includes a focus on preventing vertical transmission and horizontal transmission of HIV

5. Eliminating GBV and discrimination: Focuses on strategies to prevent GBV and support survivors of GBV

6. Increasing access to and uptake of treatment for women and girls: Emphasizes policies and programs that can support access to anti-retroviral treatment

7. Strengthening care and support by and for women and girls: Focuses on ensuring support for women and girls undertaking caregiving

8. Accountability: Creates mechanisms to monitor and hold government to account

9. Inclusion of key stakeholders: Ensures women in all their diversity are included

In each of the strategic areas of the framework, we developed specific policy language and interventions to support the strengthening of the NSP’s ability to meaningfully respond to these key issues. The intention was that many stakeholders, from civil society to governments to UN agencies, could evaluate their NSP against this framework and adopt policy language and programs into the new generation of NSPs. UN agencies and civil society organizations have indeed used the framework as they move to strengthen NSPs globally, and in particular across southern and eastern Africa.36

This paper draws exclusively on the fifth strategic area of the framework: eliminating GBV and discrimination. We report on the full findings of how countries in southern and eastern Africa compare to the framework elsewhere.37 Within the fifth strategic area, we identified 15 approaches to GBV and HIV. These ranged from the need for NSPs to identify GBV as both a cause and consequence of HIV to the provision of a broad definition of GBV (as economic, physical, and psychological violence to many survivors, rather than only as violence against women), to legal responses for violence prevention and ensuring justice to survivors. The approaches also included primary prevention interventions aimed at working with men and boys and women and girls to prevent violence. Further, the strategic area included interventions to support the immediate and longer-term needs of violence survivors, particularly in the context of HIV. This included strategies such as access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Table 1 provides the comprehensive review of all interventions and policies outlined in the framework.
Table 1: How do NSPs integrate gender-based violence?

   

Angola
   

Bots.
   

Comoros
   

Eritrea
   

Eth.
   

Kenya
   

Lesotho
   

Madag.
   

Malawi
   

Maur.
   

Moz.
   

Nam.
   

Rwan.
   

Seych.
   

S.A.
   

Swaz.
   

Tanz.
   

Uga.
   

Zamb.
   

Zim.

NSPs must recognize gender inequality
as a fundamental driver of GBV with attention
to addressing GBV as both a cause and a consequence
of HIV transmission.
   

   

   

   


Attention must also be paid to addressing GBV in all its forms, such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and psychological violence as well as systemic, structural violence in peace, conflict, and post-conflict settings. Specific interventions and approaches should include the following
   
Interventions to create supportive legal and policy frameworks to prevent and redress all forms of violence against women, including in intimate partner settings
                           


Legal reform to criminalize marital rape
                                                                   

         
Interventions that build the capacity of the police, health care workers, social workers, and the judiciary to respond more effectively and sensitively to GBV
               
               
Interventions to alleviate stigma and discrimination on the basis of HIV status, gender, and sexual orientation in the police, health care sector, social services, and judiciary
   

Interventions to support violence survivors' access to justice and remedies
   
Legal and other responses to end cultural and traditional practices that are harmful to the health and rights of women and girls                           


The decriminalization of sex work
       
The decriminalization of consensual adult same-sex sexual conduct

Comprehensive post-rape care protocols for HIV prevention, including:

Post-exposure prophylaxis available within 72 hours
Psycho-social support
Emergency contraception
           
Access to voluntary, safe, and comprehensive termination of pregnancy care and services
           
Primary prevention strategies around GBV need to include:

Comprehensive sexuality education for all women, men, girls, and boys (both in and out of school) that includes factual information on knowing one's body and a focus on gender equality, human rights, and transforming social norms

Women's economic empowerment and gender equality interventions to reduce GBV
                   
Interventions to halt intimate partner violence, including marital rape
              
Interventions to halt and address violence and discrimination against sex workers
                                                   

Interventions to halt and address violence and discrimination against lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women
                                                                               

Interventions working with men and boys to challenge notions of violence, transform gender norms, and address harmful masculinities
          
Management of drug and alcohol substance use for individuals, including harm reduction for women who use drugs and specific interventions for women who are partners of injecting drug users
  
We then reviewed NSPs for HIV and AIDS for 20 countries in southern and eastern Africa against the framework and its recommendations. The countries are, Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, against the framework and its recommendations. 38 In reviewing the 20 NSPs, we assessed whether they included interventions, policies, or programs that resonated with the specific components of the framework. In this paper, we report only on the fifth strategic area of the framework. Rather than exploring and comparing individual countries directly, we seek to provide a broad regional overview of NSP trends regarding inclusion of GBV.

Results and Discussion: How do National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS integrate responses to GBV?
Definitions of gender-based violence in NSPs

Despite evidence showing the strong links between GBV and HIV across southern and eastern Africa, our analysis shows that the majority of NSPs (11 out of 20) failed to explicitly recognize this relationship. Countries that did recognize an important relationship between GBV and HIV, tended to focus on narrow definitions of GBV, specifically intimate partner violence and physical violence, rather than approaching GBV more holistically as encompassing economic and psychological violence. Four countries did include this broader definition of GBV: Eritrea, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania. No countries explicitly included structural violence as an issue that required discussion.
Primary prevention responses

Primary prevention programmatic responses are interventions that seek to prevent direct physical, psychological, and economic violence. The evidence base on effective interventions in the context of HIV is relatively limited, but there is emerging evidence on broader strategies that are effective and have the potential to reduce GBV.39,40 Our analysis suggests that few NSPs included primary prevention interventions: Only five countries out of 20 included any primary prevention interventions in their NSPs, while only three countries included more than one primary prevention intervention. Three countries included comprehensive sexuality education interventions, which have been shown to reduce violence perpetration (such interventions include the Stepping Stones program).41 Furthermore, three countries included interventions working with men and boys to challenge notions of violence, transform gender norms, and address harmful masculinities. Evaluations from across the globe show important positive outcomes of working with men and boys. 42, 43 Similarly, only five countries included interventions to manage drug and alcohol use, despite the strong relationship between alcohol use and violence.44 Other interventions to prevent violence against women included interventions to halt intimate partner violence, including marital rape (three countries) and interventions to build women’s economic empowerment (three countries).

NSPs across southern and eastern Africa took a narrow view of the forms of direct violence that they sought to prevent through primary interventions. No NSP explicitly mentioned interventions to halt and address violence against lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, despite countries such as South Africa reporting increasing levels.45 Only one country, Rwanda, mentioned primary prevention interventions to halt and address violence and discrimination against sex workers, even though evidence suggests that in generalized epidemics, sex workers face a higher-than-average HIV burden, and that sex workers are at a high risk of violence from society and police. 46, 47
Policies and programs for survivors of violence

A central response to GBV has been to ensure survivors of violence have access to services and programs to provide immediate support, relief, and care. These services often focus on access to health care, psychological trauma counseling, and, increasingly, access to justice. The majority of the NSPs we reviewed included post-trauma interventions. One particular focus was on the provision of access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in the case of rape, with 14 out of 20 NSPs including this as a critical intervention. Half the NSPs (10 out of 20) expanded this to a more comprehensive response to post-rape care, including interventions such as psychosocial support and access to voluntary, safe, and comprehensive pregnancy termination services.

While the NSPs included plans for strong immediate response to post-rape and post-violence, few included policies or programs focused on building institutional capacity to support survivors of violence. Only five NSPs included interventions to strengthen health care workers, social workers, and the judiciary’s response to GBV and HIV, despite the emphasis on ensuring a comprehensive and holistic response to violence, and especially immediate post-violence care. As such, the focus of NSPs on survivors of violence was limited to immediate post-rape care and support, without building wider structures to support access to justice and a supportive environment.
Structural forms of violence

In our framework, we included interventions that tackled structural forms of violence experienced by men and women because of their gender identities and practices. Many of the NSPs included interventions that sought to create a stronger legal environment for preventing GBV, but these were often narrowly focused on strengthening the criminalization of intimate partner violence. Seven countries included legal strategies to criminalize intimate partner violence, but did not include broader legal reforms were lacking. For instance, only South Africa included a policy that sought to fully decriminalize sex work, while three others included steps that would support the decriminalization of sex work and three included legal reform in relation to the decriminalization of consensual adult same-sex sexual conduct. The criminalization of these issues contributes to direct forms of violence that sex workers and same-sex men and women experience; it also limits access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.48

Only three NSPs included interventions to alleviate stigma and discrimination on the basis of HIV status, gender, and sexual orientation in the police, health care sector, social services, and judiciary, even though these groups are often the face of structural forms of violence.
Discussion and Conclusion

GBV is a fundamental human rights violation and a key driver of HIV globally, and particularly in southern and eastern Africa.49 Typically, GBV is conceptualized narrowly as intimate partner violence or direct physical, economic, or emotional violence. In this paper, we sought to expand this definition outwards in two ways. The first was to recognize the centrality of structural forms of violence in the definition of GBV. The second was to include a broad conceptualization of how gender intersects with different issues, primarily, in this case, non-conforming sexualities (focused on lesbian and transgendered women) and women living with HIV. These two groups of women face very specific forms of GBV.

Our review of NSPs for HIV and AIDS across southern and eastern Africa suggests that in general, GBV is poorly integrated into them. At a very basic level, this includes a lack of recognition of the role of GBV as a key driver of the epidemic and a narrow conceptualization of what constitutes GBV. Our data suggest that the failure to identify GBV as a major driver of the epidemic means that this has been translated into few programs and policies that seek to respond to it. There are few primary prevention interventions aimed at preventing GBV and even fewer policies that seek to reduce the structural dimensions of GBV. Where there is some focus within NSPs on GBV, it centers on the provision of care and support to those already subjected to violence, in particular, the provision of PEP in the case of rape.

Where interventions and policies do exist, especially around structural forms of violence, they are primarily targeted at heterosexual relationships, with a narrow focus on intimate partner violence. There are no NSPs that include interventions to halt and address violence and discrimination against lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, and only three that include the decriminalization of same-sex sexual conduct – this is despite the fact that in southern and eastern Africa, 17 countries currently criminalize consenting same-sex conduct.50 The women constructed in the NSP policies are almost all heterosexual. Such a narrow framing of women denies the radical diversity of women’s sexualities and identities in Africa and further entrenches forms of violence against women who do not conform to mainstream sexual identities.

Our review has suggested that NSPs have some significant weaknesses in their response to GBV; we now look at the possible reasons. Buse and colleagues suggest that we should understand HIV policymaking processes as occurring at the intersection of three factors: 1) ideas and ideology (the way issues are constructed), 2) institutions (the structures that shape decisions and the ways decisions are made) and 3) interests (who potentially gains and loses through different policies). 51 They also suggest that the history of HIV policymaking is too often located in ideology rather than evidence.

We suggest that two dominant ideologies have shaped the ways in which NSPs have constructed GBV in eastern and southern Africa. The first is the assumption of a heterosexual HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.52,53 This assumption, as Eppercht points out, emerged from colonial writings and has deeply impacted HIV and AIDS research, creating a context in which homosexuality has, until recently, been excluded from the discourse surrounding HIV in Africa. 54 This exclusion of homosexuality from HIV discourse in Africa, intersects neatly with many African states’ reification of heterosexuality and overtly conservative positioning on homosexuality, which Connell has referred to as a product of the patriarchal state.55 State policies and programs typically reinforce narrow definitions of sexuality and identities, even if, as in the case of South Africa, constitutions provide broader guarantees. Furthermore, at a global level, such an approach was implicitly supported by the Bush administration in the United States.56 NSPs and how they integrate GBV can be seen as a product of patriarchal bureaucracies and an assumption of African heterosexuality that are reproducing rather than challenging existing social and gender norms. As such within NSPs women’s relationships are assumed to be monogamous and heterosexual, denying the rights of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, and female sex workers who do not conform to narrow stereotypes.

The second ideological factor that has shaped NSPs is the biomedical dominance of much HIV research and practice.57 Within NSPs in southern and eastern Africa we have previously noted the tendency to prioritize biomedical approaches to HIV, particularly in the form of antiretroviral treatment. 58 This discourse and emphasis is also apparent in the way GBV is framed within NSPs, specifically around the focus on the response to GBV in terms of post-rape protocols and access to PEP, all components that focus on a medicalized response. In an era where there is movement toward evidence-based approaches to HIV and health more widely, those developing policies and programs may feel that there is not enough clear evidence on interventions that work to reduce GBV, particularly at the time when these NSPs were being written.59 Such questions get to the heart of what is good evidence in the response to HIV, particularly in times when funding for HIV and development is shrinking. Providing support to survivors of violence is a critical component of responding to GBV, but stops short of challenging the underlying causes of violence and supports a relatively biomedical approach. Preventing GBV requires the creation of a strong evidence base to support clear strategies of what works in the context of HIV.

NSPs provide a critical platform for ensuring that GBV is meaningfully included in national responses to HIV. Our review draws on a broad human rights approach to GBV that includes structural forms of violence. It suggests that although NSPs provide a useful opportunity to address a key human rights violation and driver of HIV, they are not doing so in their current form. As organizations develop the next generation of NSPs, there must be a concerted effort to ensure the inclusion of policies and programs that respond meaningfully to GBV. The broad spectrum of actors that are drawn together in the development and implementation of NSPs offers new opportunities to hold states accountable and push the boundaries of state responses to HIV and AIDS. Strengthening the response to GBV in new NSPs is a critical opportunity for supporting human and women’s rights.
Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Christine Ricardo, who assisted us with the Portuguese language National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS, and to the two reviewers who provided thoughtful feedback. The analysis and argument of the article remain the authors’ alone.

Andrew Gibbs is a Researcher at the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Mildred Mushinga is a Junior Researcher at HEARD, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

E. Tyler Crone is Coordinating Director of the ATHENA Network, a global women's rights and HIV network.

Samantha Willan is the Gender Equality and HIV Prevention Programme Manager at HEARD, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Jenevieve Mannell is a doctoral candidate at the Gender Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

Please address correspondence to the authors c/o Andrew Gibbs, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, email: gibbs@ukzn.ac.za.

Competing Interests: None declared.

Copyright © 2012 Gibbs, Mushinga, Crone, Willan, and Mannell. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
References

1. R. Jewkes, K. Dunkle, M. Nduna, and N. Shai, “Intimate partner violence, relationship power inequity, and incidence of HIV infection in young women in South Africa: A cohort study,” Lancet 376/9734 (2010), pp. 41-48.

2. L. Gerntholtz, A. Gibbs, and S. Willan, “The African women’s protocol: Bringing attention to reproductive rights and the MDGs,” PLoS Medicine, 8/4 (2011). Available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21483715.

3. Human Rights Watch, Policy paralysis: A call for action on HIV/AIDS-related human rights abuses against women and girls in Africa (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2003).

4. D. Thomas, and M. Beasley, “Domestic violence as a human rights issue,” Human Rights Quarterly 15 (1993), pp. 36-62.

5. United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, UN Doc. No. A/Conf.177/20/Rev.1 (1995).

6. Gerntholtz (2011) (see note 2).

7. United Nations General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, UN Resolution No. 34/180 (1979).

8. N. Mkhize, J. Bennet, V. Reddy, and R. Moletsane, The country we want to live in: Hate crimes and homophobia in the lives of black lesbian South Africans (Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2010).

9. Human Rights Watch, “We’ll show you you’re a woman”: Violence and discrimination against black lesbians and transgender women in South Africa (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011).

10. A. L. Crago, Arrest the violence: Human rights abuses against sex workers in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (New York: Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network, 2009).

11. P. Farmer, Pathologies of power: Health, human rights, and the new war on the poor (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005).

12. J. Mann and D. Tarantola, “Responding to HIV/AIDS: A historical perspective,” Health and Human Rights 2/4 (1998), pp. 5-8.

13. K. L. Dunkle, R. K. Jewkes, H. C. Brown, et al., “Gender-based violence, relationship power, and risk of HIV infection in women attending antenatal clinics in South Africa,” Lancet 363/9419 (2004), pp. 1415-21.

14. F. Hale, and M. Vazquez, Violence against women living with HIV/AIDS: A background paper (Geneva: ICW Global, 2011).

15. Jewkes (see note 1).

16. Hale and Vazquez (see note 14).

17. A. Gielen, K. McDonnell, J. Burke, and P. O’Campo, “Women’s lives after an HIV-positive diagnosis: Disclosure and violence,” Maternal and Child Health Journal 4/ 2 (2000), pp. 111-20.

18. J. Mallet and V. Kalambi, “Coerced and forced sterilization of HIV-positive women in Namibia,” HIV AIDS Policy Law Review 13/2-3 (2008), pp. 77-78.

19. Z. Essack, and A. Strode, “‘I feel like half a woman all the time,’ The impacts of coerced and forced sterilisations on HIV-positive women in South Africa,” Agenda 26/2 (2012), pp. 24-34.

20. M. O’Reilly, and L. Washington, “Young women from informal settlements report on their experiences of accessing sexual and reproductive and other health services from clinics,” Agenda 26/2 (2012), pp. 126-38.

21. Human Rights Watch, ‘‘Stop making excuses:” Accountability for maternal health care in South Africa (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011).

22. ATHENA Network and AIDS Legal Network, 10 reasons why criminalization of HIV exposure or transmission harms women (Seattle, WA: ATHENA Network, 2010).

23. World Health Organization, Violence against sex workers and HIV prevention (Geneva: WHO, 2005).

24. Mkhize (see note 8).

25. C. Campbell and A. Gibbs, “Poverty, AIDS and gender,” in S. Chant (ed), International handbook on poverty and gender (Cheltenam: Edward Elgar, 2010), pp. 327-332.

26. P. Farmer, M. Connors, and J. Simmons, Women, poverty, and AIDS: Sex, drugs, and structural violence (Monroe: Common Courage Press, 1996).

27. L. Thomas, J. Vearey, and P. Mahlangu, “Making a difference to health in slums: An HIV and African perspective,” Lancet 377/9777 (2011), pp. 1571-1572.

28. R. Jewkes, K. Dunkle, M. Nduna, and N. Shai, “Transactional sex and HIV incidence in a cohort of young women in the Stepping Stones Trial,” Journal of AIDS and Clinical Research 3/5 (2012), pp. 1-8.

29. E. Krug, J. Mercy, L. Dahlberg, and A. Zwi, “The world report on violence and health,” Lancet 360/9339 (2002), pp. 1083-1088.

30. E. Morah and M. Ihalainen, “National AIDS commissions in Africa: Performance and emerging challenges,” Development Policy Review 27/2 (2009), pp. 185-214

31. UNAIDS, “Three Ones” key principles: “Coordination of national responses to HIV/AIDS”: Guiding principles for national authorities and their partners (Geneva: UNAIDS, 2004).

32. UNAIDS, Getting to zero: UNAIDS 2011-2015 strategy (Geneva: UNAIDS, 2012).

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid.

35. The full framework is available at: www.heard.org.za/gender/nsp.

36. For further details on this programmatic work see: www.heard.org.za/gender/nsp.

37. A. Gibbs, E. T. Crone, S. Willan, and J. Mannell, “The inclusion of women, girls and gender equality in national strategic plans for HIV and AIDS,” Global Public Health (forthcoming).

38. As defined by the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa.

39. WHO and UNAIDS, Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: Taking action and generating evidence (Geneva: WHO, 2010).

40. WHO and UNAIDS, Addressing violence against women and HIV/AIDS: What works? (Geneva: WHO, 2010).

41. R. Jewkes, M. Nduna, J. Levin, et al., “Impact of Stepping Stones on incidence of HIVand HSV-2 and sexual behaviour in rural South Africa: Cluster randomised controlled trial,” British Medical Journal 337/7666 (2008).

42. G. R. Gupta, J. Ogden, and A. Warner, “Moving forward on women’s gender-related HIV vulnerability: The good news, the bad news and what to do about it,” Global Public Health 6/3 (2011), pp. S370-S382.

43. G. Barker, C. Ricardo, and M. Nascimento, Engaging men and boys in changing gender-based inequity in health: Evidence from programme interventions (Geneva: WHO, 2007).

44. S. Kalichman, L. Simbayi, M. Kaufmann, et al., “Alcohol use and sexual risks for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic review of empirical findings,” Prevention Science 8/2 (2007), pp. 141-151.

45. Mkhize (see note 8)

46. L. Chen, J. Prahbat, B. Stirling, et al., “Sexual risk factors for HIV infection in early and advanced HIV epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic overview of 68 epidemiological studies,” PLoS One 2/10 (2007).

47. K. Shanon, T. Kerr, S. Strathdee, et al., “Prevalence and structural correlates of gender based violence among a prospective cohort of female sex workers,” British Medical Journal 339 (2009), pp. b2939.

48. L. Itaborahy, State-sponsored homophobia: A world survey of laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults (New York: The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, 2012).

49. Gerntholtz (see note 2).

50. Itaborahy (see note 48).

51. K. Buse, C. Dickinson, and M. Sidibe,“HIV: Know your epidemic, act on its politics,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 101(2008), pp. 572-573.

52. Epperecht, M. Heterosexual Africa, (Pitermaritzberg: UKZN Press, 2009).

53. A. de Waal, AIDS and power: Why there is no political crisis - yet (London: Zed Press, 2006).

54. Epperecht (see note 52).

55. R. Connell, Gender: In world perspective (London: Polity Press, 2009).

56. De Waal (see note 53).

57. V. K. Nguyen, The republic of therapy: Triage and sovereignty in West Africa’s time of AIDS (New York: Duke University Press, 2010).

58. Gibbs (see note 37).

59. D. Marks, Perspectives on evidence-based practice (London: Health Development Agency, 2002).

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The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
Pablo Picasso

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Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
 Thomas Merton

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If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
 
Vincent Van Gogh

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Anti-Aging Foods and Nutrients to Keep You Young

Proper nutrition is essential as you age to maintain your quality of life and prevent numerous chronic diseases. With the proper nutrients, you can feel energized, stay fit and flexible and keep doing the activities you love to do, no matter what your age.

On the other hand, neglecting key nutrients is a slippery slope that can quickly lead to declining health. It's estimated that serious diseases linked to poor dietary choices -- such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure -- kill three out of four Americans every year!1 And at the very least, ignoring proper nutrition is virtually guaranteed to leave you feeling sluggish, depressed and, well, old.

You don't want that.

So, here are the top nutrition tips you should know to fight back against the hands of time and keep the feeling of youth on your side.

Eat This to Stay Healthy as You Age...

Fermented Foods (Probiotics)

Yogurt, kefir and traditionally made (non-pasteurized) sauerkraut are examples of fermented foods that are naturally rich in beneficial bacteria known as probiotics. Although most known for their role in keeping your digestive processes moving smoothly, beneficial bacteria are also known to help protect against malnutrition and support calcium absorption and immune health. 2

People in their 60s and beyond tend to have far more disease-causing bacteria in their digestive tracts than someone decades younger, making them more prone to gastrointestinal troubles. Consuming fermented foods is a natural way to neutralize the pathogenic bacteria by encouraging the growth of the friendly bacteria.

Plus, probiotics are also known to help your body sustain healthy inflammatory balance -- another boon to help you fight the declines of aging.*

Omega-3 Fats (Fish Oil)

Omega-3 fats, found naturally in seafood and fish oil, support inflammatory balance, which is incredibly important as you get older. Plus, recent research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids help preserve DNA segments known as telomeres, whose degradation is a key marker of aging.*3

Fruits and Vegetables

You knew this one was coming … the wider variety of produce that you include in your diet, the better, as each variety has unique properties that can help keep you young. Broccoli, for instance, contains sulphoraphane, a natural anti-inflammatory phytochemical. All of the cruciferous veggies (kale, cauliflower, bok choy, etc.) contain cancer-fighting phytonutrients as well.

Tart cherries, on the other hand, contain antioxidants called anthocyanins, which may help reduce several risk factors for heart disease,4 while the anthocyanins in blueberries have also been shown to increase anti-inflammatory molecules in your body.5 There are numerous healthy attributes to virtually any fruit or vegetable you can think of … so make these a regular part of your diet.

Green Tea

Green tea is a rich source of flavonoids, which support healthy inflammatory balance and protect your body against free radicals promoting general health and longevity.*6

6 Healthy Aging Supplements to Consider...

Supplementing your healthy diet with specific anti-aging nutrients may help support your health well into your later years.

1. Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a powerful polyphenolic antioxidant found in grapes, red wine, purple grape juice and some berries, as well as in supplement form. Since 1992, research suggests that resveratrol is a powerful free radical scavenger, working by inhibiting a destructive process called lipid peroxidation, which is associated with premature aging.*

2. Vitamin B12

As you get older it becomes more difficult to absorb vitamin B12 (a vitamin necessary for proper red blood cell function, neurological function and DNA synthesis*) from food. This can lead to symptoms that are sometimes associated with aging, such as poor memory, confusion, trouble with balance, loss of appetite and more. Vitamin B12 is primarily found in animal foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products, as well as in supplement form.

3. CoQ10

Your body naturally produces CoQ10, an enzyme that helps cells produce the energy they need to fuel your body, but tissue levels peak at age 20 and decline with age, particularly in your heart. Further, certain common prescription drugs, including cholesterol-lowering statins, deplete CoQ10 levels in your body even more.

While CoQ10 is found in meat and fish, it's difficult to get enough from dietary sources alone. A CoQ10 supplement may be particularly helpful for your heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas, as well as to help support a healthy immune system.*

4. Alpha Lipoic Acid

Alpha Lipoic Acid is a powerful antioxidant that helps support liver, vision and nerve function.* It works against both water- and fat-soluble free radicals, and even helps to regenerate other antioxidants your body may be lacking. Alpha lipoic acid also helps to convert carbohydrates to energy at the cellular level, assisting with the regulation of blood sugar.*

5. Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Acetyl-L-Carnitine helps offset age-related declines in energy production, and is most helpful in supporting energy function in your brain, as well as energy production at the cellular level.* You may have heard of l-carnitine before, but studies suggest acetyl-l-carnitine may actually be more bioavailable. While your body can make all the carnitine it needs, age, dietary factors, stress and disease can contribute to deficiencies, making supplementation incredibly useful, especially as you get older.

6. Curcumin

The active compound in turmeric (an Indian spice often used in curry dishes), curcumin has powerful antioxidant properties and promotes healthy cellular division, particularly in your GI tract.* It also supports liver detoxification, healthy immune response and promotes joint flexibility, all of which are essential as you age.*

In addition to direct antioxidant activity, curcumin may function indirectly as an antioxidant by inhibiting the activity of inflammatory enzymes or by enhancing the synthesis of glutathione, an important intracellular antioxidant.*

Remember, too, that what you don't eat is nearly as important as what you do. Top foods that can quickly sabotage your health, and should therefore be avoided, include added sugars, refined white flour, trans fats, and too many omega-6-rich vegetable oils (soybean, corn, etc., as these are highly inflammatory).

Finally, as you get older your body needs fewer calories to function than it did when you were younger. If you want to avoid the dreaded "middle-aged" spread, make sure that the calories you do eat count by choosing primarily whole, fresh foods in lieu of heavily processed alternatives.       

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Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

William James

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Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.
http://fadyartgenio.blogspot.com

William James

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Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

William James

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Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

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Movie Review: Siyaah

 

 

Just right before the intermission, and seconds before the image of the demonically possessed girl is thrown at the audience for the apparent (and very obvious) “shock factor”, Zara, played by Hareem Farooq re-quotes a line straight out of Constantine, “Do you believe in the devil?” She asks. “You should, because the devil believes in you”.

While Osman Khalid Butt’s screenplay, is not the best example of originality in dialogues (or events for that matter), the Hollywood reference somehow elbows its way into a naturally comfy seating within the scene.
It is a custom-fit moment, something that happens on-and-off within Siyaah, Pakistan’s first independent mainstream horror movie now playing in digital 2D screens everywhere.
When Siyaah opens, we see a couple – Zara and Bilal (Jabbar Naeem) – relocate to a big, generally impassive house. To say that this house will be the devil’s playground some 30 minutes into the movie, is an offset assumption (at least in the beginning).
Zara, who lost her child recently, cannot have children, so Bilal suggests that they adopt. This is the first of the clincher’s of horror. They adopt a girl, who Bilal partially confirms on the way back from the orphanage, doesn’t exist – and yet she does.
The child, Natasha (the young Mahnoor Usman), is emotionally recluse. She doesn’t mingle much, or plays scrabble and isn’t particularly fond of the telly (well, in a scene she does, but that’s a rare incident, I suppose).
It is here that the supernatural of the plot slowly creeps up for dramatic effect: the dog becomes barking mad, muddy footprints walk all over the floor, the maid gets spooked by the radio and Natasha develops a knack for massacring the veggies at top-(demon possessed)-speed.
By the intermission Siyaah is a partial success; Bilal and Zara, though sharing wit, have the chemistry of a 2o-year married couple.
The ambiance is locked in place, thanks to Production Designer Sameer Hamdani and Music Director Ahmed Ali, and the McGuffin of the movie – demon repelling taaveez – make their way into the movie.
Post the post-intermission break is when Siyaah really starts to crumble. Scene’s drag, a number of elements – which I won’t give up here, pop-up and the stability of the movie’s first act  goes belly up as the screenplay scrambles from one “shocker” to the next.
In a bid to juggle subtext, religion and real-world relevance, Siyaah amalgamates into an origin-less chimera – especially by the film’s overblown double-look climax; a singular twist reveal would’ve worked better, because the lack of space between the sequences afflict the impact of their timing.
While Siyaah may sound like a disaster from the second act onwards, what it is, (as I’ve already written above) is partially successful.
Ahmed Ali Akbar, who plays an investigating reporter  and the bookend who gets the plot running , is particularly striking, adding slight nuances in a mesmerizing, star-worthy performance.
Mr. Naeem is low-key effective as he turns Bilal’s single-dimensions into a natural, indistinguishable 9-to-5 working man (he is an architect).
Ms. Farooq, who is saddled by the bulk weight of the movie, plays Zara with oomph, despite her character’s “only on-paper” superficiality.
Ms. Usman, still a little green in some of the scenes (and I was not talking about the raised color correction of the movie), handles herself quite well, even as Siyaah shrieks itself to overkill.
The main star of Siyaah, however, is director Azfar Jafri, who, despite shunning away any cinematographic dynamics (the film lacks close-pushes/converges, tilted angles etc.) – is a wunderkind with the actors. His blocking is effective and his sense of timing within the confines of the scene are (forgive the pun) dead-on.
Mr. Jafri, who comes from a visual effects background, surprisingly stays away from elaborate visual effects. While a few of them do show up (Ms. Usman starts levitating, in perhaps the movie’s only difficult effect), they don’t really add anything to the mix – except for the more susceptible of the audiences (the gent sitting between me and producer Imran Raza Kazmi at the premiere, being the perfect, pop-corn flinging example).
Despite the aesthetic and the technical snags – the film has visible issues with focus, moiré and aliasing, as well as extreme color grading that either crushes or demolishes chromatic details – Siyaah is a testament of a young-team’s resolve in making an independent Pakistani feature film.
So what if the experience is still a little green on the edges (still not talking about the color), it’s the willingness to risk risks that’s worth the price of admission.
Director, Azfar Jafri; Script by Osman Khalid Butt; Story by Imran Raza Kazmi, Yasir Hussain, Mr. Butt and Mr. Jafri (Story Conceived by Zara Zaman Khan); Production Designer/Asst Director/Art Director Sameer Hamdani; Production Head, Bilal Sadiq; Cinematography by Mr. Jafri, Mr. Hamdani and Shan Azmat; Edited by Mr. Hamdani and Mr. Jafri; Post Production by Mr. Jafri; Music Director Ahmed Ali; Opening Credits by Rizwan Ahmad Malik; Poster by Mehran Khan; Sound Engineer, Khalid Gul; Make-up Artists, Annum Shah; Special Make-up Artists, Jibran Khan, Shah Jahan, Azhar(sonu). Produced by Mr. Kazmi.
“Siyaah” stars: Jabbar Naeem (aka. Qazi Jabbar), Hareem Farooq, Mahnoor Usman, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Aslam Rana, Sofia Wanchoo Mir, Rizwana, Sarwar Salimi and Amy Saleh.

 

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Sanjay Dutt “shattered” as sent back to jail

 

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to five years jail by the Supreme Court on Thursday for possession of illegal weapons in a long-running case linked to the 1993 Mumbai bombings, according to a report in TOI:
Dutt said on Thursday he is ‘shattered’ by the Supreme Court verdict sentencing him to five years in prison in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. He said he will complete all his pending films, and that he ought to be strong in these trying times for his family and children.
“I know in my heart that I have always been a good human being, respected the system and always been loyal to my country.”
“I have already suffered for 20 years and been in jail for 18 months. If they want me to suffer more I have to be strong. I am heart broken because today along with me, my three children, my wife and my family will undergo the punishment,” he said in a statement.
The entertainment industry reacted with shock to news of Dutt’s sentencing with the actor seen by some fans as a victim of his star lineage and own fame.
“It is a big blow. He was a prominent actor and a father figure to many in the industry,” said Bollywood trade analyst Amod Mehra. “There are 250 crore rupees riding on him.”
His lawyer Satish Maneshinde told reporters that the length of sentence had come as a shock to Dutt who has continued to make a long list of films despite the legal action against him.
“We will wait for a copy of the Supreme Court judgment and then decide the further course of action. He is a strong man and will fight back,” he said, adding that his client would need to serve three years and six months as he had already been in jail for 18 months.
The actor, who was convicted under the Arms Act for illegally possessing weapons, had been awarded six years imprisonment by the TADA (Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) court. However, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence from six years to five years. This effectively means that Dutt will be in jail for three years and six months as he has already undergone 18 months imprisonment.
The Supreme Court Thursday upheld Sanjay Dutt’s  conviction under the Arms Act in the terror attack for illegal possession of a 9 mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle.
Dutt, the son of Bollywood legends Nargis and Sunil Dutt, has films like the Zanjeer remake, Policegiri, Munna Bhai 3 and P.K. in the works.

 

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MQM’s Subzwari criticises Karachi delimitation

 

 

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Faisal Subzwari on Saturday said boundaries of several constituencies in Karachi were redrawn overnight, adding that the measure should be implemented countrywide and not simply centric to one city.

Subwari’s statement comes in the wake of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s move for the delimitation of three constituencies of National Assembly and eight constituencies of Sindh Assembly in Karachi. The city has 20 National Assembly and 42 provincial assembly seats.

Subzwari said MQM had always welcomed every legitimate call made by the election commission, adding that his party would approach the courts when it is time to do so.

Alleging that the recent move had political incentives, he said the election commission should not be turned into a wrestling ground for political parties.

Earlier on Friday, MQM chief Altaf Hussain termed the delimitation of 11 constituencies a violation of law and the constitution and said his party would challenge the ECP’s move in the superior judiciary.

Hussain also called upon Chief Election Commissioner, Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, to withdraw the notification.

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Secretary ECP says commission working pressure-free on caretaker PM selection

 

ISLAMABAD: Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Ishtiaque Ahmed on Saturday said the commission had two days to decide a name for the caretaker prime minister and would finalise one by tonight or tomorrow.
The secretary’s comments came as a consultative meeting of the ECP for the caretaker PM’s selection was taking place.
He said the ECP member from Sindh, Justice (retd) Roshan Isani, was set to arrive in Islamabad on Saturday evening, adding that, Isani was busy over the matter of constituencies’ delimitation in Karachi.
Ahmed added that the election commission was not under any kind of pressure on the matter and was deliberating over the four proposed names.
The ball came in ECP’s court after politicians in the parliamentary committee constituted to name a caretaker PM decided to give up and agreed to hand over the task to the election commission.

 

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