Hands Across The World

Eight of the most successful music acts in Africa joined in a group called One8. The idea behind the project is to connect people through music. The pan-African super group caught the attention of Billboard International publication who included them on theirs "Best Bet for 2011" list.
Last November, R. Kelly joined the group and so the message behind the group got a wider meaning and gained an important source of energy and creativity.
The first song to come out from this collaboration is "Hands Across The World". Uplifting, with beautiful harmonies and it makes a powerful statement.
Heal The World !

One 8 are:
R. Kelly – USA, 2Face – Nigeria, Alikiba – Tanzania, Amani – Kenya, Fally Ipupa – D.R. Congo, 4X4 – Ghana, JK – Zambia, Movaizhaleine – Gabon, Navio – Uganda

 

 Hey world stand up
Stretch out your hands
One8 represent the dream
Africa
Feel free
One8 let's get them

I'm reaching out to the poor people
The sick and the alone
I'm reaching out to the fortunate who can build their own homes
I'm reaching out to the ones who seems to have lost their way
And I'm calling on all the ones who can show them a brighter day
I believe if you believe then we can achieve anything
So lift your voice and give it everything
Now let you're your heart sing

Chorus:
Africa to America
Everywhere common and spread some love
We got faith and a little hope
I believe that we can heal the globe
It's time to open our eyes and see
That all we need is you and me
Unity's like harmony
So let me see you stretch your hands across the world
Hands across the world...


I'm reaching out to all of the hoods and the streets everywhere
I'm reaching out to all in need to show the world that you care
Can't go no more you've given up and your energy's running low
I'm reaching out to the pastors and the words they give us all
I believe that if you believe then we can achieve anything
So lift your voice and give it everything
Now let you're your heart sing

Chorus:
Africa to America
Everywhere common and spread some love
We got faith and a little hope
I believe that we can heal the globe
It's time to open our eyes and see
That all we need is you and me
Unity's like harmony
So let me see you stretch your hands across the world
Hands across the world...

It's the world main project my desire
The power of love you cannot deny ya
Let's go people it's time to go higher
Let's spread your wings I believe you can fly ya
We can do anything if we believe
Let me see you dance if you got victory
If we come together we can make history
So let me see you reach

[Chorus: X 2]
Africa to America
Everywhere common and spread some love
We got faith and a little hope
I believe that we can heal the globe
It's time to open our eyes and see
All we need is you and me
Unity's like harmony
So let me see you stretch your hands across the world
Hands across the world

Cross the World
One8 project
Feel free

Be a part of Earth Hour 2011!

Earth Hour 2011: It's time to go beyond the hour

At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour.

With Earth Hour almost upon us, our thoughts are with the people of Japan during this incredibly challenging and sad time for their country.

日本の皆さん、勇気を持って頑張って下さい

Be a part of this global movement!

More info:

http://www.earthhour.org/

http://www.worldwildlife.org/

Make sure your engagement goes beyond the hour. Go and get inspired and inspire others:
http://www.beyondthehour.org/

Prepare yourself for Earth Hour 2011 with the "Lights Off" Twitter-application. http://eh2011.com #earthhour


Michael Jackson - Planet Earth



Planet Earth, my home, my place
A capricious anomaly in the sea of space
Planet Earth are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

In my veins I've felt the mystery
Of corridors of time, books of history
Life songs of ages throbbing in my blood
Have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood
Your misty clouds, your electric storm
Were turbulent tempests in my own form
I've licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet
Of every encounter, of passion, of heat
Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste
Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste
In your beauty, I've known the how
Of timeless bliss, this moment of now

Planet Earth are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid
Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart gentle and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

Planet Earth, gentle and blue
With all my heart, I love you.

----

Addition March 27, 2011:

Thank you everyone who participated in this global movement!!!

This video sums it all up. Enjoy watching:

Earth Hour 2011 Official video

Kids Take Action to Save Sharks

Every second, 3 sharks die at human hands. Many are "finned" so that their fins can be used for shark fin soup. Sharks are becoming extinct and it is affecting all ocean life.

Executive Producer/Director Gary Rose and fledgling group KISS (Kids Involved in Saving Sharks) have teamed up to create a PSA campaign aimed at halting the slaughter of sharks and preserving the ocean's ecosystem.







MJ Fam, please help those kids and spread their message to help the endangered species of sharks that are essential to our eco system!

Why?

Sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years: that makes them older than dinosaurs! There are about 375 different types of shark in the world.

The sea monster myth

Sharks rarely attack people. In fact, the chance of being attacked by a shark is less than the chance of being struck by lightning. The real dangers for people in the ocean are drowning, exposure and being struck by a boat. So no, sharks are not the sea monsters we hear about in stories.

Threat to survival

While sharks are not a threat to people, people are a very real threat to sharks. Each year, over 100 million sharks are killed, most of them for their fins. In fact, there are now 20 types of sharks that are in danger of disappearing because of overfishing.

One of the reasons the shark population is decreasing rapidly is that it takes a long time for sharks to become adults. When a young shark is caught they do not have the chance to grow up and produce baby sharks (pups).

When it comes to reproducing, sharks are more similar to mammals such as whales, dolphins and humans than to other fish. While most fish reach maturity in only a few years and produce thousands or millions of eggs per year, sharks take many years to reach maturity, with some species not reproducing until they are over 15 years old. So when sharks are overfished it may take them many years to recover and in some cases they may never recover.

Why care?

Sharks are crucial parts to the ocean ecosystem. They are at the top of the ocean food chain. They control populations in a beneficial way by eliminating diseased and genetically defective animals. Sharks are an important part of the Earth’s biodiversity.

YOU can help endangered sharks!

1. Educate yourself and others about their importance to our world.

2. Send letters to politicians and other influential people. Let others know how you feel about endangered sharks and how crucial they are to the environment.

3. Sign a petition or start a petition against shark finning and send it to representatives of China.

4. Avoid purchasing products made from sharks.

5. Organise a fundraising activity at your school or in your community and donate to a shark conservation program or organisation.

Together we can make a difference! Tell us how you’ve helped the sharks and inspire other to do the same.

(credits: Save the sharks! on www.ecokids.ca/blog/)

For more information on sharks, please check out and support these websites:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/theglobalsharkinitiative

http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/StopSharkFinning

http://www.sharksavers.org

http://www.sharkwater.com

http://www.sharks.org

http://www.sharkalliance.org

MAKE THAT CHANGE!!!

Happy Mandela Day!

Today Mr. Nelson Mandela turns 92. 

The It´s-all-for-LOVE-webteam wishes Mr.Mandela a happy Birthday  with his beloved family around him and happy and healthy years to come. It is said Mandela's greatest pleasure, his most private moment, is watching the sun set with the music of Haendel or Tchaikovsky playing. We wish you many, many sunsets with the music you love. 

To the world Nelson Mandela is much more than the former president of South-Africa.

He became father of the whole nation.

Presidents retire - fathers go on caring.

Researching  the internet for the 5 most famous people in the world you will find different nominations but Nelson Mandela is always one of them. He is one of the most respected people in the world and for countless reasons  a huge hero all of us can learn many lessons from. Mr. Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities. He has seen almost everything in his nine decades, from being tortured to becoming president of the country he loves. He retired in 1999 but continued to  help people.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on the 18 July 1918. As student hewas suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott. At the height of the Second World War a group of 60 young Africans, members of the African National Congress, banded together.  Among them was Nelson Mandela. Their intent was transforming the ANC into a mass movement.

Mandela soon impressed by his disciplined work and consistent effort and in 1950 he was elected to the NEC at national conference.

For the second half of the 'fifties, he was one of the accused in the Treason Trial. With Duma Nokwe, he conducted the defence. 

When the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he went 1961 underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention. 

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was formed that year. In 1962 Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK members. 

On his return he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his own defence. He was convicted and jailed for five years in November 1962. While serving his sentence, he was charged, in the Rivonia trial, with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Nelson Mandela's statement from the dock
at the opening of the defence case in the Rivonia Trial
Pretoria Supreme Court, 20 April 1964 ends with these words:

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

click here to read the complete statement 

In prison, where he spent 27 years as a political prisoner before becoming the country's first black president, Mr. Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.

Sharing the dream of the "Adventure Of  Humanity" (1999)

Happy Mandela Day!

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Mandela day is a call to action to make the world a better place, one small step at a time.

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What will you be doing this year, this month,..this day to make a difference?

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Make every day a Mandela day!

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Follow these Mandela day related links, if so inclined:

o http://www.46664.com/Home.aspx

o http://en.mandeladay.com/Home.aspx 

o http://www.facebook.com/OfficialMandelaDay?ref=mf 

o http://twitter.com/mandeladay 

o http://twitter.com/46664_official 

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I stopped to talk, you had to listen.

I stopped to talk, you had to listen.

So who you're asking? Volume's increase.
All just a thriller - you want to be me?

A whisper of love. Blurring my mind.
The flower of laughter somewhere in sight.

Crucify. A lullaby. Shameful cry.
My head held high.

You call it justice. Is this the truth?
A soul of desire. Fading in doom.

Calling a number. Who's on the line?
9/11 - remember the time?

So who you're asking? When lips are sealed.
A man of wisdom, trying to heal.

If time's an illusion, so is the truth?
You're crying my tears. I'm bad. Who are you?

Am I gone? Where were you?

I am behind you, faithful and true.

Where there is love, I'll be there....

Walking to Emmaus by Fritz von Uhde
On the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

"What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Source: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A13-35&version=NIV

MJ Art - Michael Travel Into Light

click to enlarge
created from and inspired by
"HIStory - Live in Munich, 1997"
(recorded July 4 & 6th 1997, Munich, Olympic Stadium)

You Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone... SONY!

Music Company Signs $250 Million Album Deal With Jackson Estate

Read more on Wall Street Journal today:

Sony Places Big Bet on a Fallen 'King'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704588404575124023860735864.html

All I can say is that Janet's song lyrics come to my mind reading this...

Do you all remember his fight for getting his stuff promoted? INVINCIBLE was actually dropped from being promoted at all after one single:



Please also re-read Christopher Hamilton's great article from January of 2006 in that respect:

"Is It Because He's Black? What They Don't Want to know about Michael Jackson"
http://its-all-for-love.blogspot.com/2010/01/is-it-because-hes-black-what-they-dont.html

Destiny ~

This past week, there was a global outpouring of support for Michael Jackson, his family and all those who love him.

Michael deserves justice, as any human being does. In addition, Michael was ordained for a purpose higher than his critics and naysayers can bear to comprehend.

On Michael’s birthday in August, I had the pleasure of attending a retrospective, by a doctoral student, one that discussed how the Jacksons album “Destiny” was prophetic, in terms of Michael’s life and his eventual passing. If you have not listened, its highly recommended. Songs of special note include “Destiny,” “Push Me Away, ““The Things I do for You.”

The graduate student’s presentation was impressive. He returned to a local college recently during Black History Month festivities. Now, space is very hard to find for these kinds of presentations, especially on short notice. A place was secured on February 25, 2010, 8 months to the day of Michael’s passing.

If you observe the cover of “Destiny,” there are visual representations of this. Look at the letter Y. Its in the 7th position. The same "pecking order" (rather than birth order, as my friend @doublebeee wisely reminded me). The Y props up the long and heavy T, which imitates a cross to bear. In the picture, Michael is positioned closest to the letter Y. The red in the photograph, the rough waters represent his torment; however, the water also represents a cleansing of all of this once he reaches his Destiny.

We want justice for Michael and seeking it serves his higher purpose.

We commit to fighting until Michael’s VISION is recognized… a healed world… full of love and compassion.