Karen Morrison-Hume is inspired by the struggles and courage of others

INTERCONNECTED: Karen Morrison-Hume, a champion for social justice issues, works tirelessly for Anglican Action and says people need to focus less on the individual.

Having worked with society's most at-risk for the past 16 years, the missioner who breezes into Anglican Action's reception area is not the wearied woman you might expect.

Karen Morrison-Hume is immaculate, articulate and engaging, and seemingly as motivated as ever towards helping those who, for whatever reason, have found themselves at the bottom of life's pecking order.

When Mrs Morrison-Hume says on the glass half full or empty scale, hers is "always overflowing", it is easy to believe her.

Her endless enthusiasm for helping others may stem from the fact she does not perceive it as helping at all, instead looking at such interactions as symbiotic.

"The more we go out into these places where life is toughest, the more we'll receive."

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Gordon Brown demands R&A golf club to admit female members

Gordon Brown speaking at the Scottish parliament

Gordon Brown has accused one of the world's most influential golf clubs, the Royal and Ancient in St Andrews, of perpetuating discrimination by refusing to admit women as members.

The former prime minister said it was indefensible that the club, which until 2004 set the rules of the game worldwide, was still men-only after Augusta National, the most powerful club in the US, abandoned its ban on female members this week.

"If the golf club in Augusta can admit women, then shouldn't St Andrews? If they can do it in South Carolina, can we not do it in Scotland?" Brown asked.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Local Press targeted on the Ivory Coast

The offices of the Cyclone Media Group were attacked on Sunday. (AFP/Sia Kambou)
Lagos, Nigeria, August 24, 2012--Ivorian authorities must immediately halt censorship of news outlets reporting critically on the government and investigate an armed assault on the offices of a publishing group, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Iranian women banned from universities in their own country

Iran Bans Women University

Universities across Iran have announced that almost 80 subjects in both the liberal arts and sciences will be off limits to incoming female scholars.

Female students learned of the bans, which will affect 77 fields across 36 universities, in letters received throughout the past couple of weeks, according to the Telegraph.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

African American Celebrities who support Gay Rights



Oprah Winfrey recently admitted that she received some of the most vitriolic and racist criticism of her career for supporting Ellen DeGeneres when she came out as a lesbian in 1997. Winfrey had guest-starred on the well-known episode of DeGeneres' sitcom in which the comedian let the world in on her sexual orientation.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

San Fransisco 49ers tell LGBT Youth: It gets better

Sean Chapin's petition urged the 49ers to do a video. Photo: Lea Suzuki / SF

The San Francisco 49ers have become the first professional football team to join the online antibullying It Gets Better campaign intended to build confidence and spark optimism in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths.

"Something you should never experience is being bullied, intimidated or being pressured to being a someone or something that you are not," 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks said, looking straight into the camera for the one-minute video that was posted Thursday on YouTube.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Immigrants in Greece marching against Racism



Thousands of immigrants marched in Athens on Friday to protest police sweeps and a rash of racist attacks in Greece as the country struggles to pull itself out of a huge debt crisis.

Greece is the main entry point for illegal immigrants seeking a better life in the European Union.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org