World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia 2012

I just found this but haven’t had a chance to look over it.  It looks like a fun site to cruise.  Jump in for yourself and see what you can find.  Let me know if you find something interesting.

From weforum.org

World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia 2012

Bridging Regions in Transformation
Istanbul, Turkey 4-6 June 2012

The pace and complexity of global change in recent years have been unprecedented, with Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia emerging as a key mega-region of the future.

The World Economic Forum on Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia will therefore convene over 1,000 leaders in Istanbul, Turkey, to catalyse new partnerships for growth and human development.

• In light of the global economic contraction, how can governments and business leaders design and deliver new models to drive innovation and economic agility across this mega-region?
• How can the region strengthen energy cooperation and deliver the high-value trade and investment in science and research that are critical to knowledge economies?
• How can the social dynamism unlocked by developments in the Middle East and North Africa be transformed into a decade of entrepreneurial opportunity, human security and good governance?

Abused Woman Given 20 Years for Firing Warning Shot

FREE  MARISSA  ALEXANDER

Victims aren’t the people who are supposed to end up in jail.
FREE MARISSA ALEXANDER.

Update: June 23, 2012 Search Twitter for Marissa Alexander. I just remembered that tomorrow is day of action. The change.org petition I posted at the bottom is circulating with less than 5,000 more signatures needed.  Here are some tweets about how you can show your support:

dlathamwhite ‏@msladyD

JUNE 24, 2012 NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR MARISSA ALEXANDER AND VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE http://shar.es/sh9oh via @sharethis

 

Darren Anthony ‏@djanthony13

Sun 6/24/12 is a Global Day of Rallies in Support of Marissa Alexander & all domestic violence victims http://ow.ly/1NYzup @RolandSMartin

 

Happily Natural ‏@happilynatural

Global Day of Rallies In Support Of Freedom For Marissa Alexander – In Your City or In Jacksonville, Florida http://p.ost.im/p/ec8xJv

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Note: I inadvertently posted a rough draft of this on approximately May 18th. This is the rewritten version. I mainly corrected sentence structure and fixed a few broken links, and roped in the rogue copy and paste errors

Marissa Alexander has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for invoking her unenumerated right to protect herself.  Her abusive husband threatened to kill her just nine days after she’d given birth. After an unsuccessful attempt to escape, she grabbed a gun and fired a warning shot, not aiming for any person.  I’ve read articles saying she shot into a wall, and others saying she shot into the ceiling, but she never shot her husband or anyone else.   However, Marissa Alexander, the victim, was found guilty when prosecuted by the same attorney that is prosecuting George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting.  She was given the mandatory maximum sentence of twenty years in jail.  From CBSnews.com:

Stone says the case is “not perfect from a defense perspective,” but believes Alexander may have grounds for an appeal based on the judge refusing to admit testimony from witnesses who could tell the jury about Gray’s history of violence against women.

First, according to court documents, Alexander violated her bail by returning to the home where the shooting incident took place several months later.