element: emmanuel
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“I’ve survived. That means I’m here for a purpose.”
Emmanuel Jal was using AK47s by the time he was eight.
His gun was taller than he was.
Emmanuel was one of millions displaced by Sudan’s civil war, one of tens of millions of conflict refugees worldwide.
Now he travels internationally, using his music to promote disarmament and sharing his history as inspiration for the future.
He points out the link between conflict and poverty: if you can’t grow your own food, hold a job or go to school because where you live isn’t safe, how will you support yourself or your children?
Where will you go?
Between 2000 and 2002, most of the one million refugees who applied for asylum in the European Union came from Iraq, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Turkey…all countries EU states had sold weapons to in the 1980s and 1990s.
Meeting the Goals means addressing the causes and consequences of conflict.
It’s no news that the amount of money spent on arms is typically way higher than spending on education, healthcare… and aid. Under the Millennium Development Goals the world’s governments agreed to improve in these areas by 2015.
Focusing on reducing the amount of arms in the world is one way to contribute to the Goals’ success.
Emmanuel supports the Control Arms campaign started by Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). They’re calling for a global Arms Trade Treaty to bring the trade in weapons under control and for local action to protect civilians from armed violence.
You can get more info and join the petition here:
http://www.controlarms.org/the_issues/solution.htm
Emmanuel: “We all have a chance to change the world. But it has begin from one person. And if people are willing to do it, it will happen.”
Write to Emmanuel and hear his music on:
http://www.myspace.com/emmanueljal
http://www.emmanueljalonline.com
Emmanuel’s Element relates to:
Millennium Development Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Millennium Development Goal 8: Change trade and aid practices; give debt relief to poorest nations
Frode Hegland said on March 13th, 2007 at 1:25 am:
Important work, beautifully done.
Mattheus said on March 13th, 2007 at 12:28 pm:
Very interesting, though i wonder if someone who leaves his/her country because of poverty can be considered a refugee under the 1951 Refugee Convention?
Myriam said on March 15th, 2007 at 1:41 am:
Well yes, in the case of Emmanuelle it falls under the 1951 Convention because Sudan is in the midst of internal conflict. But there is a huge issue anyway around people having to leave their countries because they are too poor. Poverty fuels conflict, which fuels the numbers of refugees and it fuels the number of people who can’t survive at home and end up having to leave their homes. Whatever way you want to look at it Emmanuel explains it very well: poverty can turn a child into a killing machine. So well done for this and hopefully the other clips will be as good. But why such a very dark website where it is so difficult to read the comments? Has this passed the Bobby test?
Jamie said on March 16th, 2007 at 5:31 am:
Yes indeed, important work, beautifully done. I’m a secondary school teacher and this is exactly the kind of material that teenagers need to be seeing. Clear, sharp, short but still a way to open up the mind and heart to what this world really looks like when you take away the highstreets and the tv’s and all the wool we’ve pulled over our eyes.
laurens said on March 16th, 2007 at 6:13 am:
who is that sexy lady???
femke said on March 16th, 2007 at 6:17 am:
great video! amazing story.
can’t wait to see the rest!