war

In 2007, a VA survey found that 18 percent of recently discharged veterans were unemployed and that of those who had found a job, 25 percent made less than $22,000 a year. Those numbers have only gotten worse since the recent recession, but with ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, more and more servicemembers are returning home and trying to find work. This video from New America Media takes a look at the struggles of veterans to readjust to civilian life.

Micha Kurz was an Israeli soldier during the second intifada, and when he left the military he co-founded Breaking the Silence, an organization that collects stories from members of the service (which is compulsory in Israel for young men and women) who served in the occupied territories. Breaking the Silence allows soldiers to confidentially speak out about the things they did and saw while in the military. Kurz is now with Grassroots Jerusalem, where he helps bring together grassroots social justice activists from across Israel.

Malalai Joya, the youngest person elected to the Afghan parliament and a delegate to the Loya Jirga, the constitutional convention joined us to talk about her new book, "A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice," and the future of her country. For more information, visit the Afghan Women's Mission.

It's a heartwrenching story: more than five million dead, and rape is used to terrorize the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where spillover from the Rwandan conflict has led to the ongoing violence of daily life despite an official ceasefire. And minerals like coltan, used in your laptop or cell phone as well as aerospace technologies, are funding the violence. We all use cell phones and computers, but what can we do to stop supporting the horrific abuse of women and children in the Congo?