Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Dear El Macho

First, I am happy to meet you here in this place -- I in Canada, you in Romania -- and Tilly in Bulgaria and Afghanistan. ...good people from around the world.

Yes, we are "simple citizens" as you say -- but look how we are coming together -- and by coming together our voices grow louder -- and the things that you and Tilly have talked about -- saying: THESE THINGS ARE WRONG!!... WILL be heard when we continue to speak together -- act together.

Look at (for example) what happened in the Ukraine when THOUSANDS took to the streets in peaceful protest against the election results!!... the voices and actions of thousands united in one cause can not be ignored... THEY LEVERAGED THEIR COLLECTIVE POWER for what they believed was right!

In the same way, WE can and do make a difference... you and Tilly and me... and the hundreds of others you have spoken to who think the same way... and millions of others including the many good people here at S8... all of us share similar views of non-violence and human rights!

Bless you El Macho...
I see the beautiful light that shines within you
I see the beautiful light that IS you!

Be Well
Be Strong
and
Let your voice be heard!!

WB

Dear Friends,

Please pray -- please send energy -- please do whatever it is that you believe and as your heart directs you... as together we think of Clementina, her family and the peoples of Afghanistan...

Let there be peace on Earth
And let it begin with Us!

Namaste
Janette (Whitebird Sings)


Mother of kidnapped Italian begs Afghan mothers

05 Jun 2005 15:03:08 GMT
Source: Reuters


KABUL, June 5 (Reuters) - The mother of an Italian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan made a plea on Sunday to the mothers of the men holding her, asking them to help secure her daughter's freedom.


"I imagine you have enough problems right now to pay attention to my plea, but I am a mother exactly like all of you, and my heart is bleeding because of the situation my daughter is in," Germana Cantoni said in the letter.

"I beg you all to use all your influence on your sons for the immediate release of my daughter," she said. A copy of the letter was released by the Interior Ministry.

Officials say they believe Cantoni's kidnappers are criminals, not Islamic militants, but they have declined to reveal their demands or say who they are.

They say negotiations are going on and they remain hopeful Cantoni will be released.

Cantoni's abduction has raised fresh fears among Kabul's 2,000-strong foreign community of Iraq-style kidnappings by anti-government insurgents or criminals.

In Italy, Pope Benedict called for the release of Clementina Cantoni, 32, who works for the Care international aid agency and was kidnapped by four gunmen on a Kabul street three weeks ago. In St. Peter's Square in Rome, the pope spoke of brotherly relations between all people.

"The painful experience our sister is living is a catalyst for seeking, by all means, peaceful and brotherly relationships between individuals and nations," the pope said to clapping from a crowd of tens of thousands.

Afghan and Italian negotiators have come close to freeing Cantoni three times in the last few days but talks broke down with the kidnappers, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on Sunday.

Cantoni has been living in Afghanistan for three years, most recently working on a project helping thousands of impoverished widows. Many of the women she helped have been rallying to demand her release.

Muslim clerics and scholars as well as politicians and celebrities from both countries have called for her to be set free.


AlertNet news

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL91448.htm

Tue Jun 7, 2:29 AM ET



KABUL (AFP) - Afghan authorities said they would light a beacon on the hills above the capital to keep the fate of a kidnapped Italian aid worker in the public eye, as her ordeal stretched into its third week.

People "will set a big fire on top of one of the mountains outside Kabul, it's the fire of hope for her release," Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP on Monday.

United Nations officials Monday put their names to a petition for Clementina Cantoni's release which was also signed by hundreds of the Afghan widows she had worked with.

Pope Benedict XVI and Cantoni's mother both appealed Sunday for her release.

"I add my appeal to that of the presidents of Italy and Afghanistan, and of the Italian and Afghan people, to release the Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni," said the pope after giving the traditional Angelus blessing to the faithful gathered in Saint Peter's Square.

Cantoni, 32, who works for the aid group CARE International, was snatched on May 16 while driving in the capital's Qala-i-Musa district.

She had managed a project which provides food and income-generating activities for 11,000 widows and their children since September 2003.

Cantoni's kidnappers, who are thought to be from criminal gangs, released a video last week showing her alive but flanked by two armed men.

VIVA LA FREEDOM!!!
THANK YOU ALL!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&c ... kidnapping



KABUL, Afghanistan - An Italian aid worker held hostage for more than three weeks in Afghanistan has been released in good health, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Clementina Cantoni, 32, was safely at the Interior Ministry and has spoken to her mother by telephone, Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal told The Associated Press.

Cantoni "is in good health, given the 24-day ordeal she went through," he said later at a news conference.

No ransom was paid and no concessions were given to her kidnappers, he said.

"Everything went well. We have talked to Clementina, and she is well," said her father, Fabio Cantoni, speaking outside the family's home in Milan. "She still has the sense of humor she's always had."

Combined pressure from the Afghan public, President Hamid Karzai, tribal leaders and Muslim clerics helped win her release, Mashal said.

Another ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cantoni was set free in Logar province, just south of Kabul, where police picked her up.

Cantoni was abducted by armed men May 16 as she was being driven to her home in the capital, Kabul, where she was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families.

In Rome, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi expressed his "great joy and deep relief that Clementina has been returned to freedom and to the affection of her loved ones," a statement by his office said.

Ciampi thanked the Afghan government and Italian officials who worked to win the hostage's release.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope's vicar for Rome, began a religious gathering in St. John Lateran Basilica by giving the news, the ANSA news agency reported.

"I want to immediately give you some good news: Clementina Cantoni has just been released," Ruini said, and about 2,000 people at the gathering broke into applause, the agency said.

In Milan, family friend Marco Formigoni, who was with Cantoni's parents when they received the news, screamed "She's free! She's free!" according to Sky TG 24.

"We are very emotional and very happy," added Beatrice Spadaccini, an Italian who works with CARE International in Kabul. "We know she is well, we know she called home." Spadaccini expressed gratitude to the Italian and Afghan governments as well as to "all of Clementina's friends who have shown their solidarity and their desire to have her back."

Afghan officials had been optimistic about her release in recent days.

Last month, a video of Cantoni was broadcast on local television. On it, she was shown sitting next to two men who pointed assault rifles at her head.


http://www.geocities.com/freekidnappedp ... ntina.html

tilly... some details?? please please please
thanx

WE SING IN CELEBRATION... SHE IS FREE! SHE IS FREE!

This is the day that we have prayed for!... our sister Clementina is back among us!

...her mother will hold her in her arms again!

Thank you to all of you emailed me when you got the news of her release...

and more than this -- thank you for your constant prayers, for the candles you have lit... for the energy and love that you sent across the miles to Clementina...

And I send my thanks up through the ethers,
my Spirit Guides to the Spirit Guides
of all the women...
of all the good people of Afghanistan
who spoke out, who protested,
who petitioned for the release
of Clementina...

Praise BE... she is FREE!!

Please continue to pray for her, for the peoples of Afghanistan,
who stand and work side by side with the peoples of Afghanistan

Please continue to pray for all peoples on this planet
that find themselves the victims of violence...

Together... we can, we will and we are making a difference!

Such is the power of love for one another...

So it is.
Namaste my friends
I love you all...
Janette (Whitebird Sings)
xo...

What a relief!

the situation that hovers over all who dare to work the righteous work in the middle of an unsympathetic (yes hostile) environment has been resolved and our hearts can breathe sighs of hope once more.

Clementina - tell your story.

(has she already, J?)

judih

We are celebrating the release of our colleague.

tilly

I'm sososososososososososo happy

God Bless you all!

Shalom

...I have been watching the newswires -- and have not seen any comments from Clementina... but as you all may know, she is headed home.

Radio Free Europe reported 2 hours ago that she had boarded the plane on her way home... I think of her and her mother and how they each will feel as they rest in each others arms.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/20 ... 59dad.html

I am disappointed (not surprised - but disappointed) that the news services are only giving credit to authorities and tribal elders (who we are grateful to)... but are not recognizing the work and public organizing that the women of Afghanistan did to get Clementina released... at great risk to themselves!

WE WILL DO IT OURSELVES... PLEASE JOIN ME IN THANKING THEM...

WE PUBLICLY RECOGNIZE YOU, THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN,
WHO PROTESTED,
WHO PETITIONED,
WHO USED THEIR VOICES COLLECTIVELY...
WITH OTHERS WHO STOOD WITH YOU.
WE KNOW THAT YOU TOOK GREAT RISKS
TO YOUR OWN SAFETY AND WELL-BEING
IN ACTING ON CLEMENTINA'S BEHALF.
WE THANK YOU ALL...
WE HONOUR YOU IN OUR HEARTS AND OUT LOUD!...

THANK YOU SISTERS OF AFGHANISTAN
FOR YOUR COURAGE,
YOURS IS A BRAVERY
BORN FROM THE HEART.

TOGETHER THE GOOD WOMEN
OF THE WORLD
STANDING TOGETHER
WITH GOOD MEN IN THIS WORLD
WILL BRING PEACE...
BECAUSE WE RECOGNIZE THAT
WHILE WE ARE DIFFERENT
WE ARE SISTERS AND BROTHERS.

ONLY THIS WAY
CAN WE HAVE PEACE.

THANK YOU FOR SHOWING THE WAY!

peace
Whitebird Sings

i put everything i found about her on:


www.geocities.com/freekidnappedpeople/

Thank you el macho.

I continue to light candles and pray...
as I have done for Margaret Hassan's family and co-workers
since her capture in Iraq, and following her murder.

...as one of my friends suggested to me this afternoon,
perhaps Mama Margaret had something to do with
Clementina's release... perhaps she continues to love
and care for the people on this planet... now from the
other side...

May the beacon on the hill stay lit...
reminding us all that if we work
together... peace is possible.

So it is.
WB

Clementina Cantoni :









Florence Aubenas:








Hussein Hanoun:






Douglas Wood:







Good news!!! I'm sososososo happy Theese pictures tells everything...

peace

where´s /how´s Tilly?

I hit that post trying to search studioeight via google!!!!!!

omg what great memories.. ty for bringing this back up