Statement by Ms. Louise Arbour High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Open-Ended Working Group established by the Commission on Human Rights to consider options regarding the elaboration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Retrieved from http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/ECAE2629449C1EBCC1256F8C0035047D?opendocument

Second Session, Salle XVII, Palais des Nations, Friday 14 January 2005

Thank you madam Chairperson [Ms. Catarina Albuquerque, from Portugal],
Distinguished delegates,

Allow me first of all to thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you today. It was my intention to participate in the opening of your session but I had to be in New York on Monday, and I appreciate this opportunity to meet with you today.

One of the basic challenges faced by the UN human rights system is that of giving true meaning to the principle of the indivisibility and interrelatedness of all human rights. For various reasons, economic social and cultural rights have not always received the same amount of attention as civil and political ones. It is now time to change that. For these reasons, I consider the work in which you are engaged to be among the most important of current initiatives under consideration by the Commission on Human Rights. Your efforts to follow up on the political consensus that was forged at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, more than a decade ago, represent a major contribution to the fundamental role played by the Commission in setting standards and clarifying content of human rights.

Your Working Group is considering various options regarding the elaboration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. I know that both during your first session and earlier this week you have been involved in very enriching and complex discussions, including with outside experts. It is a particular pleasure for me to join you in your deliberations.

Of course, the final decisions on the way forward belong to States. But you have given me, as High Commissioner, a mandate to promote and protect the effective enjoyment by all of all human rights and to do so guided by the recognition that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. I hope you will thus allow me to highlight my own understanding of the crucial role that additional options for international procedures could play in providing States with guidance and advice as to how to implement more effectively the international bill of rights.

The importance of economic, social and cultural rights cannot be overstated. Poverty and exclusion lie behind many of the security threats that we continue to face both within and across borders and can thus place at risk the promotion and protection of all human rights. Even in the most prosperous economies, poverty and gross inequalities persist and many individuals and groups live under conditions that amount to a denial of economic, social, civil, political and cultural human rights. Social and economic inequalities affect access to public life and to justice. Globalisation has generated higher rates of economic growth, but too many of its benefits have been enjoyed unequally, within and across different societies. Such fundamental challenges to human security require action at home as well as international cooperation.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflects the principle of the equal status of all human rights. Although we have a tendency to make distinctions among fundamental human rights in terms of abstract 'categories' such as 'civil and political' and 'economic, social and cultural,' or 'first generation,' 'second generation,' etc., this approach lacks intellectual rigour. Such categorizations overshadow what is common to all human rights, and overemphasize irrelevant differences.

Of course, the methodology for protecting and promoting certain rights can differ, just as the capacity of States and the types of resources required to guarantee enjoyment of various rights differ. But the characteristics inherent in the nature and enforceability of human rights do not justify different levels of commitment to the enjoyment of all rights. To deny social, economic and cultural rights by reducing their meaning to that of mere aspirations would overlook not only the common historical origins of all human rights, but also their conceptual and functional connections.

As I stated during my time as a Supreme Court judge in Canada, few would dispute that an advanced modern welfare state has a positive moral obligation to protect the life, liberty and security of its citizens - one that requires implementing economic, social and cultural rights. The challenge, in the context of prosperous states, seems to come down to the perception that such moral obligation is of a mere political, rather than legal nature. For poorer States the difficulty seems based on the misperception that the legal obligations are obligations of result rather than obligations of means. Yet, the Covenant acknowledges that developing the progressive capacity of States to implement fully certain rights and to comply with some of the resulting obligations may require resources as well as political will - as it can require international assistance and cooperation.

Recognising the status of economic, social and cultural rights as justiciable entitlements is crucial to honouring the political, moral and legal commitments undertaken by States when the international bill of rights was adopted. Much of the reticence around the proposals concerning elaboration of a possible Optional Protocol to the Covenant turns around questions concerning the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights. Of course courts, international expert bodies and human rights instruments do not have all the answers to all the key social and political questions faced in society. But, just because such questions have a large political component does not mean that they are entirely beyond the scope of the judiciary.

Social, economic and cultural rights create binding obligations on States under a broad range of international human rights treaties, some with near universal ratification, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the regional level they have been recognised under the Inter-American, African and European regional human rights systems, where communication procedures are in place to address individual and group petitions. Many countries – in different regions – provide examples illustrating that it is possible for questions raised by individuals and groups to be examined by courts and expert bodies without undue interference in the policy setting roles of executive and legislative powers. The justiciability of these rights is increasingly finding its place in national constitutions.

All human rights must be given effect at the national level. This requires the creation and implementation of legislative as well as administrative and policy measures. Regarding enforcement, international law emphasizes judicial remedies for violations of human rights, though administrative remedies can also be acceptable if they are "timely, accessible, affordable and effective". Courts are playing an increasingly vital role in enforcing socio-economic rights, making clear the transition from need and charity to meaningful entitlement and binding obligation. In practice, effective judicial enforcement depends more on courts being granted the authority to hear claims, than on the inherent nature of the rights. Similarly, litigation and examination of individual and group petitions at international level can both help to develop understanding of the substantive content of international norms and lead to real change for individuals. The availability of remedies at the international level also provides a useful incentive to ensure the development of effective remedies at the national level.

From my own experience of working with courts and tribunals, I know how delicate the issue of separation of powers can be and how important it is to acknowledge the connections between legal and political processes without blurring the lines that must separate them. However, reviewing claims related to social, economic and cultural rights is not fundamentally different from the functions involved in the review of petitions concerning other rights. As for normal judicial review functions, the key is often in examining the 'reasonableness' of measures adopted by each State - given its specific resources and circumstances - by reference to objective criteria that are developed in accordance with standard judicial experience and with the accumulation of jurisprudence. A petition system at the international level can help provide guidance for the reasonable interpretation of universal norms in the provision of remedies at the domestic level. In many cases, it can also serve to establish if there is already the effective or appropriate implementation of existing laws and policies, rather than to determine the reasonableness of such laws and policies.

International and national level jurisprudence has also helped to clarify that social and economic rights are not merely vague ideals. Like civil and political rights, they may have cost implications. As detailed analysis and jurisprudence from different political, economic and legal systems show, it is a myth that economic, social and cultural rights are uniquely and consistently "expensive". In fact, all human rights norms require rationality and equity in resource allocation, as well as determined efforts to make progress within existing resource constraints.

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen

This is my short contribution to your deliberations.

Human rights are not a utopian ideal. They embody an international consensus on the minimum conditions for a life of dignity. Respect for human rights requires determination and cooperative efforts. It also requires legal frameworks at the national and international levels within which individuals and groups can claim their rights. Only that possibility will give human rights their full meaning for every member of every society - the marginalized and excluded as well as the powerful and influential.

WORLD REPORT ON THE CULTURE OF PEACE
International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World

Your organization is invited to contribute to the midterm report from civil society to the UN General Assembly for the International Decade. Information received from you by April 2005 will be included in the report sent to the UN Secretary-General in accordance with operative paragraph 10 of General Assembly Resolution A-58-11. It will then figure in the plenary session of the UN General Assembly devoted to the culture of peace in Fall, 2005.

This report provides a unique opportunity to assess the progress (or lack of progress) toward a culture of peace in the world today. The Fundación Cultura de Paz is proud to take part in preparation of the report, and invites you to enter your contribution on this website.

Your involvement will strengthen the global movement for a culture of peace. The questionnaire is designed in view of the Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, adopted by the UN General Assembly as Resolution A/53/243. In paragraphs 7-8, the Programme of Action encourages and calls for the strengthening of "partnerships between and among the various actors ... for a global movement for a culture of peace A culture of peace could be promoted through sharing of information among actors on their initiatives in this regard."

Please, visit http://decade-culture-of-peace.org for more information in English, French and Spanish.

Or by e-mail: decade@decade-culture-of-peace.org

Dear Friends,

The University of Notre Dame's annual Student Peace Conference will take
place on April 1-2, 2005. The conference is officially sponsored by the
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and is planned and directed
entirely by undergraduate students of the University. Students from
universities and colleges across the United States and abroad will participate.

In the spirit of hope for increased global cooperation and transnational
dialogue, the theme for this year's conference is "Crossing Boundaries in
the Name of Peace."

Hal Culbertson
Associate Director, Kroc Institute

2005 Annual Student Peace Conference
"Crossing Boundaries in the Name of Peace"
April 1-2, 2005

Call for Papers

The two-day conference will feature a variety of seminars, lectures,
artistic performances, exhibits, and a keynote speaker. We welcome
undergraduate and graduate peace visionaries of all majors to submit
proposals for presentations. We encourage presentations of peace in all
forms and from all disciplines and perspectives.

The Peace Conference Committee invites papers, panel proposals,
performances, audio-visual presentations, interactive sessions or workshops
that explore transnational and cross-cultural approaches to peace. These
presentations may involve completed research, research in-progress, or case
studies, especially those reflecting innovative practice. Each presenter
will have 10 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.

Submission themes could focus on, but are not limited to:
* Transnationalism and peace
* Peace in a post-9/11 society
* International law
* International, cross-cultural, or inter-religious dialogue
* The role of the mediator
* Effects of propaganda
* Technology and global politics
* Changing scholarly and popular conceptions of war and peace
* International organizations and non-governmental organizations
* Role of the media in war making and peacekeeping
* Strengths and weaknesses of existing peace movements
* Changing nature of warfare
* Women and/or children and peace
* Peace in contemporary literature
* Economics of peace

Submissions and/or questions may be made via email to Joseph Tan
( Submissions will be
acknowledged within 3 days. Notification of acceptance of proposals will
be sent as soon as the reviewing process is completed, not later than early
March 2005.

Each submission should include a separate title page, contact information,
and a brief 100 word summary of the presentation.

The tentative deadline for proposals is late February 2005.

************************************
Hal Culbertson, Associate Director
Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
112 Hesburgh Center for International Studies
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
(574) 631-8832 (phone)
(574) 631-6973 (fax)
Visit the Kroc Institute website at <http://kroc.nd.edu>

DIGNITY INTERNATIONAL: MONTHLY NEWSBULLETIN - January 2005

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
All the best for all in 2005!

Dignity News

* Third Linking & Learning Programme in ESCR

* Global Meets Local - Human Rights Day Celebrations in Alcochete

* New Board Meets Face to Face

* Budget Analysis Programme – selection finished

* World Social Forum – in full swing

Other News

* African Social Forum - Another Africa is possible

* World Forum on Agrarian Reform

* Campaign on the Global Response to the South East Asian Disaster

* Latest on the Optional Protocol Working Group

* 2004 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health

Publications

* Practical Guide to the WTO – 3D and Forum Asia new publication

* COHRE's Housing Rights Bulletin – latest edition

* Investing in Development: a New Report by Jeffrey Sach

Announcements

* The Third Chamber (Netherlands) Looks for New Members

* 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights

* Third Training Workshop for Minorities

Forthcoming Events – Highlights

* Housing Rights in Nicaragua – A Seminar

* Conference on Privatization and Human Rights

* Galway Summer Course on the ICC

DIGNITY NEWS

*** The Third Global Linking & Learning Programme on ESC Rights - took place from 2 to 10 of December 2004 in Alcochete, Portugal. Twenty-three participants with grassroots experience from around the world participated in the intensive ten-day programme organised y Dignity International in partnership with the International Human Rights Internship Program, Forum Asia, ESCR-Net and on this occasion with some assistance from the Global Learning Associates. The programme received financial support on NOVIB and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Encouraged by the participants good evaluation, the organisers will continue to strive for excellence in all aspects related to the programme.

This year, the programme ended on purpose on December 10 Human Rights Day, so that the local and the global could join hands and celebrate together. A report of the programme will soon be available on the website.

*** Global Meets Local - Alcochete celebrates Human Rights Day - For the first time in the town’s history, 10 December Human Rights day was officially celebrated in Alcochete. Dignity International joined hands with the Municipality of Alcochete to organise several activities with the involvement of the local community. There was a buzz of activity in the town square with the Human Rights Tent where the local community received further information and materials related to human rights and a Fair Trade Tent to learn about and purchase items produced under fair trade rules.

The celebrations ended with a cultural evening taking the local community and the participants of the global programme on a musical journey with “Fado” Portuguese traditional music and music from around the world.

“This truly was really a link between the local and the global” said one participant.

** The Magic of Human Rights – During the month of November, children from primary schools of Alcochete town worked in their classrooms to learn about human rights. Momentos Mágicos, a group of animators, kicked off these human rights activities with a puppet show written and designed to get children thinking about human rights. These activities culminated on the morning of December 10, with the “Magic of Human Rights” – an event where all children shared and celebrated Human Rights Day. This magic moment ended with the releasing of balloons for the children of Alcochete to share and work for human rights for all others around the world. Children with disabilities from CERCISIMBRA participated in all these activities.

We really started something in our local community! Surely this will continue. Very special thanks to all of you who helped us! A new resolution has now been put forward to the Alcochete town council to celebrate this day every year.

More information and photos will soon be available on our website.

*** New Board Meets Face to Face – The new board of Dignity International met for the first time on 11 December in Alcochete. The Board members are from Tanzania, Thailand, Bangkok, Netherlands and USA. The Board members were able to witness Dignity in action at the global and local levels. The Board engaged in substantive discussions on administrative and programme elements of the organisation and gave its strong backing to the work ahead “I am very happy with the meeting and the engagement of the Board members” said Ton Waarts, Dignity’s Chairman.

*** Linking & Learning Programme on Budget Analysis and Economic, Social and Cultural rights - this new programme, organised by International Human Rights Internship Programme (IHRIP); the International Budget Programme (IBP); the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net); Fundar – the Centre for Research and Analysis; and Dignity International, will take place from 11 to 19 March 2005 in Alcochete, Portugal.

The selection process in now finished. Over 200 applications were received, and twenty participants have been selected. The organisers hope that we will be able to put together programmes of this type again in the future. For further programme details, see http://www.escr-net.org/GeneralDocs/Budget_Call_4_apps.pdf

*** World Social Forum – The World Social Forum in Porto Alegre is now in full swing. Human Rights is the theme with the largest number of events. More than two thousand activities registered, this human rights terrain had 471 event registrations, from organizations from 45 countries.

Dignity delegation to the WSF consists of Ton Waarts (Chairman), Thomas Nzumbi (Tanzania), Simone Andrade (Brazil/Portgal).

Dignity’s activities at the WSF include the following:

* The Human Rights & Development Caucus, of which Dignity International is part, organised an Opening Conference, on 27 January under the theme of “Affirming life and dignity: enhancing justice and rights in a globalised world” and will also organize a Closing Conference, on January 30 – “Human Rights for Social Change”

* Globalisation & Human Rights - Together with the Inter Press Service (IPS) Dignity has produced a series of articles on the theme of globalization and human rights. The contributors include: Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Mary Robinson, former UNHCHR and former President of Ireland, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, Cândido Grzybowski - Director General of IBASE and founder of the WSF, Klaus Schwab President of the World Economic Forum, Walden Bello; Director of Focus on Global South, Jim Wolfensen, President of the World Bank.

Some of these articles can already be viewed at : http://www.ipsnews.net/weekly.asp All these articles will also appear in the Terra Viva Daily of the World Social Forum. For a comprehensive coverage of the WSF see http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/wsf2005/

* World Court on Economic Justice – An impressive body of international human rights law exists. Do we allow this to become a dead body of law or shall we try to breathe meaning and life back into human rights?

The World Court on Economic Justice is in essence a simulation exercise which will encourage us to dream and also to use such an exercise to illustrate the primacy of human rights over international trade and financial rules. A group of specialists from trade and human rights field will consider the proposal and work out the next steps. Further details on this are available from Dignity International.

OTHER NEWS

*** The Third African Social Forum (ASF) was held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 14 to 19 of December. This Forum was a space for discussion, reflection, mutual consolidation and democratic debate. It is important for Africa that this Forum continues to be the instrument of growth of African social movements and of vigilance in relation to the policies conceived and implemented on the continent. This year’s edition of the Forum had also in mind the need the year of 2007 when Africa will host the World Social Forum: “a popular Forum in 2004 would constitute an important condition for the successful organisation of the World Social Forum in Africa in 2007”. This third edition would make it possible to examine the stakes of such a perspective and bring out together the visions and objectives that could be pursued for 2007” (ASF website). Official website: http://www.africansocialforum.org/english/fsa2004.htm

*** The World Forum on Agrarian Reform (WFAR) took place in Valencia, Spain, from 5 to 8 December 2004. Under the theme of ‘A world without hunger: another agriculture, agrarian reform now!’ the Forum aimed at putting the land question as a priority to social movements all over the world, reinforcing the urgent need of Agrarian Reforms.

The final declaration - Agrarian Reform and Access to Natural Resources: a Peoples’ Demand - calls upon the whole society to recognise land as a common good and to fight against IFIs’ interferences in land policies. Agrarian reform is the necessary pre-condition to the implementation of the right to food, established in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 1, 2 and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Human Rights, as well as Articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter. With the Report’s words: “State-led, redistributive agrarian reform is a key building block of the peoples’ food sovereignty model and is a crucial measure for the realization of fundamental human rights such as the right to food, housing, work, environment, to participate in cultural life and to enjoy one’s own culture, and to participate in the conduct of public affairs. For these reasons governments and society alike must give human rights a central place in the development agenda”. WFAR’s homepage: http://www.fmra.org/index_uk.html Final report at: http://www.fmra.org/declaracion_finaluk.doc

*** Campaign on the Global Response to the South East Asian Disaster “What happened on 26 December 2004 was an unprecedented, global catastrophe. It requires an unprecedented, global response.” - Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Jakarta, Indonesia, 6 January 2005 http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=102&Body=tsunami&Body1 - For the Campaign on the Global Response to the South East Asian Disaster – see http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/2466.html (Choike’s up to date coverage of the disaster and its responses)

*** The Open-ended Working Group (WG) to consider options regarding the elaboration of an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights convened in Geneva, met from 10 to 21 of January.

In her address, Louise Arbour, High Commissioner of Human Rights, highlighted the equality of all human rights – “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflects the principle of the equal status of all human rights. Although we have a tendency to make distinctions among fundamental human rights in terms of abstract 'categories' such as 'civil and political' and 'economic, social and cultural,' or 'first generation,' 'second generation,' etc., this approach lacks intellectual rigour. Such categorizations overshadow what is common to all human rights, and overemphasize irrelevant differences”. She added that ‘recognising the status of economic, social and cultural rights as justiciable entitlements is crucial to honouring the political, moral and legal commitments undertaken by States when the international bill of rights was adopted’. More on the WG at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/escr/group.htm

Louise Arbour’s statement at: http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/ECAE2629449C1EBCC1256F8C0035047D?opendocument

*** The Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Paul Hunt, presented his 2004 report to the UN General Assembly. The report includes three chapters on health related Millennium Development Goals; the right to health for indigenous peoples; and the right to health, child survival and respective indicators. English version of the report available now online at: http://ods-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N04/543/38/PDF/N0454338.pdf?OpenElement

PUBLICATIONS

*** The Practical Guide to the WTO is a new publication from 3D and FORUM-ASIA. It is a concise and simply worded guide to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), from a human rights perspective. The Practical Guide contains pointers for individuals and groups concerned with human rights to respond to the threats trade and its rules can pose to the enjoyment of human rights. It describes human rights mechanisms that can be applied by people concerned to ensure that trade, trade rules or the domestic implementation of international trade rules are carried out in a way that does not have negative impacts on human rights. The Practical Guide also points out some simple actions that can be undertaken to ensure accountability of economic decision-makers. If you would like to order a copy of the Practical Guide, you can do so by contacting 3D or FORUM-ASIA. More information on the Guide is available at http://www.3dthree.org.

*** The latest edition of COHRE's Housing Rights Bulletin Vol. 1 No. 4 is already available for download at COHRE's website. http://www.cohre.org/bulletins.htm

*** Investing in Development – A new report by Jeffrey Sach - the result of the 265 team headed by Jeffrey Sach outlining a practical plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals is now available. The report contains feasibility studies for improving the economies of many developing and transitional countries and calls for specific investments across a wide spectrum of problems, not for handouts or charity. It recommends that rich countries double their investments in poor countries to reach the MDGs of halving extreme poverty by 2015 and going eliminate it by 2025. Source: UN News Service Report at: http://unmp.forumone.com/

ANNOUNCEMENTS

*** The Third Chamber (Netherlands) is looking for new members in 2005 - The Third Chamber is a shadow-parliament in the Netherlands for 120 Dutch nationals and 30 representatives from developing countries. Members of The Third Chamber can put forward proposals to improve the Dutch policy concerning International Cooperation. The third Chamber is looking for international members who will function as advisors to the Dutch members.

People with an outspoken meaning about International Cooperation can apply to be a member of The Third Chamber. Please complete the registration form on the website www.thethirdchamber.org or email to info@thethirdchamber.org.

*** The 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will take place from 14 March to 22 April 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. The first information note for non-governmental organisations willing to participate in the Session is now already available together with the Provisional agenda of the first meeting of the Session.

NGOs that wish to submit written statements should do it before 11 February 2005. See: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/sessions/61/index.htm

*** The 38th Session of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is now taking place (10 to 28 January 2005) in Geneva, Switzerland. During the session, the Committee will consider the following State Reports: Albania, Austria, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Iran, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Sweden and Togo. More at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/crcs38.htm

*** Third Training Workshop for Minorities – for the third time, two joint training workshops for persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities are being organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in cooperation with the non-governmental organisation Minority Rights Group (MRG). The aim is to build up the capacity of civil society to promote and protect minority rights, by providing minority representatives with the opportunity to gaining knowledge on international human rights and minority rights in particular. Deadline for application – 31 January.
See: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/training.htm

FORTHCOMING EVENTS – HIGHLIGHTS

*** Right to Housing in Nicaragua - The protection and the promotion of the right to adequate housing in Nicaragua is a seminar organised by COHRE - Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, WCCN - Wisconsin Coordinator Counc and HABITAR - Centro de Estudios y Promoción para el Habitar. The seminar aims to help the current discussions going on in Nicaragua regarding the right to housing, since the national government is designing the policy to be implemented based on a loan provided by the Inter-American Development Bank. The seminar will focus on the right to adequate housing through the perspective of economic, social and cultural rights and the international and regional legal instruments addressing them, as well as the matters related to urban and rural housing, indigenous population, democratisation of the public policies aiming to guarantee access to adequate housing and land.

For further information: cohreamericas@cohre.org or habitar@ibw.com.ni or exdir@wccnica.org

*** The Maastricht Centre for Human Rights of Maastricht University is organising a one-day conference on Privatization and Human Rights, which will take place in Maastricht, Netherlands, on Friday 25 February 2005. The conference will consider privatization initiatives in areas such as drinking water, health services, social security, prisons and security services and their compatibility with international human rights standards. For further information see: http://www.rechten.unimaas.nl/humanrights

*** The Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway, will run a Summer Course on the International Criminal Court from 9 to 14 July 2005. This summer Course is widely acknowledged as one of the best programme of this kind. In a week of intensive lectures, students are provided with a detailed description of the establishment of the Court, its applicable law, its structures and its operations. For registration or further details, please visit: www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/summer_schools.html or email to: iccsummercourse@hotmail.com

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This is a monthly electronic news bulletin of “Dignity International: All Human Rights for All”. Dignity International does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to this news bulletin. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator.

If you are working in the area of human rights with a special attention to different aspects of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), we would love to hear from you. To contribute, email us at info@dignityinternational.org.

To subscribe send an e-mail to info@dignityinternational.org. If you do not wish to continue receiving this email service, then send an email to the same address with subject heading unsubscribe and you will be taken off our mailing list.

Newsletter from the Human Rights House Network, 1st January 2005

1 Burmese workers in Thailand are the forgotten tsunami victims
Thousands of Burmese migrant workers lived and worked in the coastal provinces struck by the tsunami. At least 2500 have been killed in only one of the Thai provinces, and 4000 are missing. - Many have gone into hiding. Burmese NGOs in Thailand try to help these forgotten victims, says Åse Sand at the Norwegian Burma Committee. The Norwegian Human Rights House supports this work.

2 HRH calls for justice in Grozny
The Human Rights House Foundation (HRH) calls for the Russian authorities to establish the fate and whereabouts of Zelimkhan Murdalov, who disappeared in 2001, and to investigate allegations that he was arbitrarily detained and tortured. The case will reopen in Grozny on Tuesday.

3 Banned author speaks out
British playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti has broken her silence to speak about the violent protests against her play Behzti, which caused outrage for its depiction of rape and murder in a Sikh temple. Index on Censorship reports.

4 Croatia: Democratic elections still with irregularities
The second round of the presidential elections, held on January 16th, was mainly conducted in a democratic atmosphere according to the electional law. However, irregularities with the voters lists and serious violations of electional silence were registered again.

5 Tunisia: - Human rights defenders constantly harassed
- The situation for human rights defenders in Tunisia is extremely difficult. They are being monitored around the clock and are constantly being harassed by the authorities, says Carl Morten Iversen, Secretary General of the Norwegian PEN, who returned from Tunisia yesterday.

6 Prize to Russian activists
The jury of the Olof Palme Prize has awarded three Russian human rights activists in 2004. The Prize will be given to the head of Helsinki Group in Moscow, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, the president of the Human Rights Institute, Sergei Kovalyov, and the reporter of the opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Anna Politkovskaya.

7 Belarus: Demonstrators wearing orange detained
18 opposition activists, mainly youths, were detained in Minsk on the evening of December 28 for participation in solidarity action with the democratic forces of Ukraine after their leader Viktor Yushchenko’s victory in Ukraine`s presidential election, reports Charter97`.
See also: Human rights seminar in Minsk 18-19 February

8 Uganda: Death row inmates put their own penalty on trial
This week, Uganda´s constitutional court began hearing an unprecedented legal challenge to capital punishment from the country´s more than 400 death row inmates.
- While this is surely important, I fear that Ugandan authorities may welcome this opportunity to draw attention away from far bigger human rights problems, especially in the north, says Niels Jacob Harbitz at the Human Rights House Foundation.
See also Death penalty protesters making gains in Africa

9 Iran: Summons against Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi withdrawn
Iran's judiciary has retreated from its threat to arrest the human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi. In a rare acknowledgement of mistake, a spokesman for the judiciary referred to the summons quite simply as an error.
See also: Shirin Ebadi's memoirs to be published in the US

10 Kenya: The "Discriminatory" Children's Act is challenged in Court
The discriminatory Children´s Act has been challenged in court and the hearing of the case is scheduled to begin in February 2005. According to Erica Neiglick at the CRADLE, children born out of wedlock get less support than children born by married parents, in respect to parental responsibilities.

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Dear World Movement Participants:

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Message from Peace Education Center of Teachers College, Columbia University:
IIPE 2005 - Rhodes, Greece. Applications now available

ANNOUNCING the international institute on peace education 2005
EXPLORING THE THEME OF: E=MC2
education = movement for constructive change
educating for peace through the arts
Rhodes, Greece – July 24 - 30, 2005
hosted by
femme-art-méditerranée (fam network)
at the university of the aegean
in association with the
peace education center, teachers college columbia university

The 2005 International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) will be hosted by the FAM Network (Femme-Art-Méditerranée, Women Artists of the Mediterranean) and the University of the Aegean, in Rhodes, Greece, and organized in association with the Peace Education Center of Teachers College, Columbia University. IIPE, founded in 1982 by the Peace Education Program of Teachers College, has been held annually in different parts of the world. It is a multicultural and cooperative learning opportunity in which participants learn from each other about substantive peace issues and interactive teaching approaches. The Institute is also an opportunity for networking and community building among those who educate and work for a culture of peace in the Mediterranean region and internationally. The program will consist of plenaries, workshops, reflection groups, and visits to community projects.

IIPE 2005 will focus on education as a movement for constructive social change. Arts methodologies and production processes will be used to examine nonviolent strategies to overcome the global web of violence and warfare. Participants are invited to grapple with urgent global concerns such as ethnic conflict, social disruption and displacement, ecological damage, censorship and repression, human rights abuses and breaches of international law. These will be explored through the lens of innovative arts approaches.

As in previous IIPE’s, this Institute will draw on the experiences and insights of diverse peace educators from all world regions helping us learn from each other's experiences and strategies. Cultural diplomacy, peace music, political and legislative theater, ecological art, documentary film as an educational tool, peace movement uses of new media technologies, and arts therapies for post-conflict trauma are some of the arts-action strategies for social transformation that will comprise the program.

For more information on the IIPE please visit us on the web at www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/iipe

registration / application information
(For complete registration details please see reverse)
Institute Fee: $650 USD
Registration fee covers all on-site costs including room, board, and local transportation.
Application forms are available by request via email at peace-ed@tc.edu
or on the web at www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/IIPE.

APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications forms for participation are available by request be sending an email to peace-ed@tc.edu. You can also visit our website to download a copy at www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/iipe.

Acceptance for participation in the IIPE is based upon the goal of the development and strengthening of peace education in the host region and contributing to a more global perspective on peace education among all participants. As much as we would like to accept everyone who applies, the number of applicants usually exceeds the places at each institute. The IIPE attempts to practice the principles of peace education by engaging all participants in our short term learning community in an experience of participatory learning in which all of us can learn from each-other. We have found that increasing our numbers diminishes the importance of this aspect of the institute, so we are unable to accept all applicants.

Among other criteria, first priority is given to those applicants coming from the surrounding host region including those from the Middle East and the Balkans. The IIPE attempts to explore themes and issues that are particularly relevant to the host region and works to build regional solidarity among peace educators. Thus, a minimum of 50% of the participants will come from this area. In selecting the remainder of the international participants we attempt to maintain a geographical balance and variety in experience and substantive expertise. All applicants should specifically demonstrate that they will apply their peace education learnings in their countries or local communities.

TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS
Teachers College students may register to attend the IIPE for academic credit under summer course ITSF 4800. As indicated above, there are many criteria considered in the selection process for participation so we recommend that you apply as early as possible.

REQUEST FOR SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT
Unfortunately the IIPE does not have a formal scholarship program. The institute traditionally operates on a self-sustaining basis in which all participants, including the organizers and presenters pay their own travel and participation fees or find their own funding. Each year numerous applicants request various amounts of scholarship support. Although we are generally fortunate to be able to find a limited amount of funding to provide fee waivers for a very few individuals, we are unable to fulfill the needs of the requests from many in areas most in need of peace education.

PLEASE HELP FUTURE EDUCATORS TO PARTICIPATE
We hope you might consider a contribution to the IIPE to fund scholarships for participants from currency poor and post conflict countries. Your generosity will help ensure that those potential participants in greatest need of training and solidarity will be able to attend the institute. We would be grateful for any amount you may be able to donate. All donations are tax deductible. To donate, please clip and return the following form to the address indicated.

The Common Ground News Service, January 4, 2005

CGNews-PiH
January 18, 2005

***********

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you
by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding
between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately
Muslim populations.

Please note: The views expressed in the articles and in CGNews-PiH are
those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.

**********

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL ARTICLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR RE-PUBLICATION.

Article #1
Title: Our differences simply do not matter
Author: M. Ali
Publication: The Jakarta Post
Date: January 9, 2005

"The destruction and death that came with the
tsunami was not discriminatory." In light of recent events, Ali
discusses what it means to be human and advocates preserving and
appreciating our common diversity.

Article #2
Title: Cure for US-Arab tensions: more student visas
Author: John Hughes
Publication: Christian Science Monitor
Date: January 12, 2005

In this article, Hughes considers how his Arab friends have made
significant contributions in his life and the lives of his family. As
such, he is concerned by recent cut-backs in student visas for students
in Arab countries, denying individuals in both parts of the world the
opportunity to grow through better understanding and interaction.

Article #3:
Title: Is the World Moving Apart or Coming Together?
Author: Hazem Saghiyeh
Publication: ~ Common Ground Commissioned Article ~
Date: November 12, 2004

The seventh in a series of articles commissioned by Search for Common
Ground in partnership with Al Hayat, Saghiyeh considers the
current "War on Terror" in light of other historical movements.

~~YOUTH VIEWS~~

Global Issues A New Look
Rafay Mohajir
November 20, 2004
Mohajir, an American high school student who spent two years in Saudi
Arabia, addresses U.S. perceptions of life in the Saudi Kingdom.

******

I remember the first time I returned to Houston, after spending the
last two years in Saudi Arabia. I was visiting with a few of my
friends, discussing with them what almost every seventeen-year-old-boy
normally talks about: cars, sports, and, well, I'll let you figure out
that last one. Then, one of my friends spotted the movie Lawrence of
Arabia in the DVD rack. He looked at me and stated, "boy, it must
really
suck to live in Saudi Arabia; I mean, with all those terrorists walking
around and everything, you must feel really unsafe." Startled by the
comment, I choked on my Pepsi. "Excuse me?" I said. Right then, one of
my other comrades felt it the opportune time to direct another
statement before I could rebut the first one. "Yeah, man, it must
really stink, having all those terrorists around while living in a tent
in the middle of a desert, without air conditioning." My insides
squirmed at my friend's remark. I wondered how anyone could be so
ignorant. Is this the image Americans get when they think of the Middle
East? Well, why wouldn't they, with all the hype going around through
the mass media about terrorist this, terrorist that, Al Qaeda, and
Osama Bin Laden in his cave? No wonder Americans have this image. The
Middle East through the American media has always been perceived as an
enormous, hot desert with primitive technology: a land where women
have no rights, where it is unsafe, even dangerous, and where terrorist
activities are always in the process of being planned. Many Americans
consider our country to be the best and that no other country can
compare to it. We trust that we have a reliable, objective media which
provides us with accurate information, but the reality is that Middle
Eastern countries are nothing like our media's portrayal of them. After
spending fifteen years of my life in the United States, my parents
received a phone call from Saudi Arabia with a job offer. My parents
jumped at the opportunity, and the next thing I knew, my bags were
packed and I was flying across the globe to a strange country I
knew nothing about, except for what I had seen on TV. I'll be honest, I
thought I was moving to a big desert wasteland until we landed and
arrived at my house (yes, my house, not my tent). My jaw dropped. It
had air conditioning and everything a typical modern American house
has. My compound, Aramco, was like a miniature USA. It had everything,
from rich, green grass, to beautiful schools, to golden hardwood
basketball courts. Of course, in Saudi Arabia there is going to be a
lot of desert, but nowhere else in the world can you find sand dunes as
big to go four wheeling on, and, just for the record, I haven't seen
any terrorists roaming the streets. I'm not saying the Middle East
doesn't have any terrorists, don't get me wrong, but it's not at all
what the media has portrayed it to be. I actually find it a safer place
to live than America. What's the justification behind my reasoning?
Well, first of all, the laws are really harsh for stealing, so if
someone robs a bank then they can pretty much say goodbye to their
hands; or, if you murder someone, then you say goodbye to your
life.

People here fear the law, therefore, the crime rate almost hits rock
bottom. In this part of the world, Americans are considered know-
nothing twits; they are portrayed as ignorant, not knowing anything
about the rest of the world, and, when something explodes or goes
wrong, blaming other countries and wondering why it happened. But, in
my opinion, you can't blame us: most Americans are too busy with their
own lives to care, and when they go home and switch on the news, they
see the faces of Arab terrorists, and get frightened by them, but they
do not understand bvthem. The media portrays Arabs as terrorists,
making them look like
evildoers, not showing the entire story. Americans tend to believe that
most Arabs are terrorists, which causes friction between Arab children
and other kids in schools, and harassment in airports for those of
Middle Eastern origin. We, as Americans, need to start wondering why
things happen, and how to improve things before they happen. I have
only lived in Saudi Arabia for three years now, and the things I have
encountered have changed my life dramatically. My political views and
the way I look at the world have changed incredibly. I consider my
moving to Saudi Arabia as a gift from God, because living here has let
me experience the world from a whole different perspective. I can name
fifty different countries on a map without even looking at it, and tell
you where they are. I get to try a variety of Arab cuisines, and if I
get tired of that, I'll go to my local McDonald's. Yes!! We also have a
McDonald's, along with numerous other American fast food chains. It has
given me the chance to engage with other cultures and strengthen my
knowledge of other countries. All this and a bag of chips, and just in
case anyone is still wondering: no, I don't ride a camel to school.

**This article was written for Common Ground News - Partners in
Humanity and is available to reprint.

*********

Article #1
Our differences simply do not matter
M. Ali

Sometimes, sadly, it takes terrible tragedies, great losses or awful
pain for us to stop in our often hectic lives and think about our place
in the world and the way we are headed. We are so busy with our daily
routines that we rarely stop to consider the gift of life and our great
fortune.

The tsunami that hit Asia on Dec. 26 is one of those huge incidents
that force us to consider what we can and must do; and the emphasis
here is very definitely on that little but so very important word "we".

We have a collective responsibility, and that sense of obligation
should influence and guide us all. For too long we have been focused on
the things that make us different and we have, regrettably, allowed
them to divide us. On days such as Dec. 26, 2004, differences simply do
not matter.

Vaclav Havel said in his book The Art of the Impossible, "Only people
with a sense of responsibility for the world and to the world are truly
responsible to and for themselves." In effect then by helping others we
help ourselves and this help is not based on any conditions -- we must
help all of our fellow human beings.

However, there are people who will still prefer to see our differences
as divisive. They would prefer not to associate with or be responsible
for people of different races, religions, ideologies or even nations.
But this is nonsense. The destruction and death that came with the
tsunami was not discriminatory. It swept away all regardless of human
categorizations.

Nature does not pick and choose who it will strike. Human life has no
categorization before nature; natural disasters, famine, disease and
poverty can strike us all. And yet we have the power to do so much to
limit the damage done by nature.

Much discussion in our modern world revolves around the concept of
globalization and whether it is a force for good or evil. Like so much
in human affairs it depends on what we humans make of it; how we choose
to use it.

Again the tragedy of Dec. 26 highlights this. The disaster happened and
the global community came together to offer aid and assistance. Because
of our globalized world the victims of nature will not be left alone to
suffer the continuing vagaries and randomness of nature. Help comes to
them from all around the world.

Certainly there will be those who say that the global community could
do more and could have done more before the disaster struck, but no
small amount of hindsight would be at work in such thinking.

Surely what can and should emerge from globalization is a dignified
appreciation of our diverse world and strategies for how we may be able
to serve and protect it. Globalization does not have to spread distrust
and prejudice only, but can help to achieve trust and justice for all.

We live in a world that is full of diversity -- from biological to
philosophical we have a great gift of diversity that should be valued
and kept safe. In our biological/physical world diversity is plainly
there before us to see and appreciate. Most people would see the need
to preserve biological diversity as it is priori needed.

But human diversity is also needed in all its forms. Diverse thoughts,
systems of belief and races are all highly valuable. They are all part
of the miracle of humanity and any loss should and must be painful.

Diversity is in a real sense God's gift to us. God created difference
and as we encounter difference we effectively encounter God. God may be
seen in the face of a stranger who we encounter and maybe help.

The very soul and beating heart of humanity is instilled in the blessed
differences we have. It is our differences that make us human beings
and it is our ability to learn about and respond to these differences
that can and should make us humane; allowing us to achieve a humane
society and a humane global community.

Each human life has an ultimate dignity regardless of the differences
that may be encountered in the affairs of humanity. Globalization
offers us both threats and opportunities, but the humane appreciation
and appreciation of difference can lead globalization toward positive
ends.

Globalization can be the method via which we promote the cause of
universal justice and human rights, and this includes the right to
dignity in life even when disaster strikes.

Sometimes we are united with the challenges of survival. Dec. 26 laid
such a challenge before so many thousands of people of Indonesia and
many other countries. But no matter what country people are in or from,
they all (we all) deserve the right to dignity.

The response to Dec. 26 shows us how we can come together. Perhaps it
is tragic that such an awful event has to happen to bring us together
but we can and must learn from it.

**M. Ali is a senior researcher at the Cunningham Research Center in
Manchester, UK.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Visit the website at: www.thejakartapost.com

**********

Article #2
Cure for US-Arab tensions: more student visas
John Hughes

SALT LAKE CITY - In my holiday mail, I got a Christmas card from one of
my former journalism students. It carried a photo of her gorgeous
children, the proud product of an American mother and an Arab father.
The parents weren't in the picture and I wondered whether it was
because the Dad, an American citizen, had served in his country's
military in a noble but sometimes discreet role that made it
inadvisable to publicize his face.

It set me to thinking about the ways my life, and our society, have
been enriched by other friends of Arab descent.

As I write, for instance, my 13-year-old son is shooting basketballs
with one of his closest friends, whose family happens to be from
Kuwait. Sometimes when we take the two of them on long trips, we need
to stop at certain times so my son's friend can get out his prayer rug
and kneel in the direction of Mecca. The father in this family was a
general in the Kuwaiti Air Force during the Gulf War. The mother and
children survived Iraqi occupation. Now they live in America, moving
easily between Arab and American cultures. An older son was quarterback
in his American high school. Older daughters are scholarship students,
attired in American dress, but scrupulously observing Islamic codes.

Another good friend was the director of communications for Sudan before
an oppressive government forced his departure. He is now a professor at
a prestigious American university. He has written sensitively about
Islam and its relationship to democracy, and about misunderstandings
between Islam and the West. He talks with wry humor about the old days
in Khartoum, when the rare visiting Western reporter, sometimes ill-
informed and on a quick in-and-out visit, would seek him out because it
was "take a Muslim to lunch" day.

Another academic friend of Egyptian origin and international stature
runs a Middle East study center that attracts prominent guest lecturers
from around the world to his American campus.

Such friends as these, who in their different ways are making
significant contributions to better understanding between Americans and
the Arab and Islamic world, are not always in agreement with every
aspect of American policy. But discourse with them is healthy and
civil. Their exposure to American culture, and American exposure to
theirs, is mutually beneficial.

We need much more of this. One problem inhibiting it is the US security
crackdown on visas, particularly for the thousands of international
students who have traditionally and eagerly enrolled at US
universities. The overall number of such students is down 2.4 percent
this year, with graduate students down 6 percent. In part, there is a
perception that America is less hospitable than before 9/11, but there
are horror stories of bureaucratic delays in processing visas, and even
the granting of reentry visas to students who have studied in the US
for years.

American families are generous and kindly to international visitors and
hundreds of thousands of them return to their countries with positive
memories of American lifestyles, ideas, and principles. As Secretary of
State Colin Powell once said: "I can think of no more valuable asset to
our country than the friendship of future world leaders who have been
educated here." Half the Jordanian cabinet, for example, was educated
in the US.

More vigilant screening since 9/11 of potential terrorists is desirable
and understandable. But as Harvard professor Joseph Nye wrote in The
New York Times, it would be tragic if "in an effort to exclude a
dangerous few, we are keeping out the helpful many."

In the past, a key part of US public diplomacy was the encouragement of
thousands of journalists, artists, budding politicians, teachers, and
opinion leaders to visit America for varying periods of time, to
observe it and its people firsthand. Students, especially if they
pursue graduate studies, spend five or six or more years living in
American communities and rarely return to their homelands unchanged by
that experience.

In the hidden training camps of Al Qaeda, and the angry madrassahs of
the extremist Islamic world, potential new terrorists are being given a
distorted and hate-filled picture of America and what it stands for.

That needs to be offset by the real picture. It is best communicated by
people-to-people contacts between human beings who have a real desire
to understand and appreciate each other. And we can build more enduring
relationships than "take a Muslim to lunch" day.

* John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, is editor and chief
operating officer of the Deseret Morning News.
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Website: www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
To request copyright permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com.

**********

Article #3
Is the World Moving Apart or Coming Together?
Hazem Saghiyeh

Two projects aimed at viewing the world as a unified entity appeared in
the twentieth century. American President Woodrow Wilson represented
one, by dragging the United States into the very heart of the world with
his obsession for a universe governed by all-inclusive laws and values.
The Russian leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin represented the other. He
strived toward one universality, through an international revolution led
by the proletariat that would end capitalism and imperialism.

A century later, the mission continues to be arduous. The American
project has encountered major setbacks, the most important of which may
have been the Cold War. It assumed its most vicious form in Indochina,
but no continent was safe from its repercussions. It left its impact on
the heart of America, as indicated by the emergence of McCarthyism and
the "military-industrial complex," and later, by the capture of the
Republican Party by the radical right, represented in the eighties by
Ronald Reagan.

The Soviet project, before its demise, gave birth to Stalinism and a
number of vicious totalitarian regimes, causing sufferings that could
fill volumes. Marxism lost its unified impetus and became widely used to
provide the ideological justification for anti-American traditionalists
and religious elements.

When the Cold War ended, the need for a facade for modernity, which
claims it builds nations, liberalization and development, crumbled, and
the only players left were religion and ethnicity. The responsibility of
the "super powers" was colossal, but the "third world" did not respond
effectively to the challenges arriving from the West, either. It is not
sufficient to say that colonialism bears responsibility, despite the
partial truth in such an evaluation; communist parties, though they were
very active in opposing imperialism, never made any popular progress
worth mentioning in the third world. Those communist parties who
achieved influence and assumed authority used nationalism and the
rhetoric of the peasantry as a tool to gain power, with no real
connections to western Marxism. The same is true regarding regimes that
supported the West during the Cold War: their
support was restricted to political and strategic dimensions, without
being attracted by the western way of life, the culture of
enlightenment or the true meaning of liberalism (and the West, in its
concentration on the Cold War, did not give much attention to this side
of the matter, either). "Non-European" societies did not produce any
worthwhile methods for adopting liberalism in politics and culture.
Dictatorial and totalitarian regimes succeeded, through the
confiscation of their societies and the atomisation of their groups and
individuals, in drying up social vigor.

Despite all this, some progress was made. Parties throughout the world
began to accept some international and comprehensive legal standards,
and modernist elites formed in all regions. Fascism, at least in its
Hitlerite version, became no longer an option in the West or anywhere
else. Meanwhile, Russia and Eastern and Central Europe veered towards
some shade of democracy.

But economic and cultural transformations are not, by themselves,
sufficient to empower modern elites, particularly in some third world
countries, where they continue to survive as enclaves, surrounded by an
ocean opposing modernity. These groups need much courage to proclaim
their identity and prepare to confront primordial and backward values
and relations that oppose enlightenment. For this, it is essential that
they attain encouragement from the West, which should do its part
through fairer economic policies, and by helping to sort out complicated
regional problems, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet there is
serious doubt as to whether the West will undertake this challenge. The
war on terrorism has started to obliterate almost everything else, and
grow at the expense of attention to issues of poverty, the environment,
development, disease, education and nations' independence and freedom.
The war between Russia and Chechnya is a recent strong example.

Add to this the growth of the more religious and reactionary elements in
the US, and the fact that the war on terrorism has weakened some
democratic rights, and you have a dangerous, self-propelled dynamic. In
addition to its devastating human and economic effects, what is
happening in Iraq and Palestine contributes to enlarging the gap and
intensifying the fever of animosity towards the US. There is also a real
danger that few recognize: the lessening of sensitivity regarding racism
and anti-Semitism. Some now oppose racism alone, and ignore
anti-Semitism, while others oppose anti-Semitism and ignore all other
forms of racism.

The third world and in particular the Arab world is forced to face to
the new realities brought on by the 9/11 tragedy, in addition to the
challenges of modernity in general. In some cases, this is causing
people to dig-in behind the barricades of ethnic or religious
identities. The loudest voice today is that of unity among brothers in
faith and ideology; it is loud enough to decrease the numbers of those
willing to condemn terrorism and suicide operations, if not actually
enlarge the circle of supporters. The space for tolerance becomes ever
more thin, and groups previously secular and leftist join ethnic and
religious forces, justifying their actions as "acts of opposition to
imperialism."

The Lebanon case is an example of retreat. That country, which was, at
the outset of the final chapter of the Cold War, a middle ground between
progress and underdevelopment, today is annexed by Syrian military
policy at the expense of its democratic evolution. After that country
produced both a parliament and the largest middle class in the region,
and nurtured a number of unionist, partisan and media freedoms, its
foremost function now is to produce "martyrs" and literature for
martyrdom and resistance.

Wars are factories of morbid thoughts, where "destinies" prosper as the
most wanted commodities. As soon as World War One ended, the ideas of
Spingler and the histories of Toynbee shone brightly. And as the Second
World War came to a close, the anthropology of Levi-Straus and the
existentialism of Sartre reigned supreme. The question today is whether
the ideas of the "neo-conservatives" and the ethnic and religious
fundamentalisms, old and new, are the offspring of the Cold War, or
whether the issue is more complicated and intricate.

What causes concern is that the distance separating ideas and policies
this time seems shorter than it was before. And if this is one of the
aftereffects of globalization and democratization, then the distance
between policies and prevailing death is, in itself, shorter than what
it was before.

Should we, then, be optimistic about the future of peoples coming
together because ideas and concepts have become more influential while
ideas are cosmic by definition, or should we be pessimistic for the
same reason, because local identities have captured the process of idea
generation?

Source: This article is part of a series of views, commissioned by
Search for Common Ground, that address the relationship between the
Islamic/Arabic world and the West. They are published in partnership
with the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and are available for
reprint.

**********

About CGNews-PiH
The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you
by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding
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Muslim populations. This service is one result of a set of working
meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan
bin Talal in June 2003.

Every two weeks, CGNews-PiH will distribute 2-5 news articles, op-eds,
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Editors:
Emad Khalil
Amman Editor

Oussama Safa
Rabat Editor

Juliette Schmidt
& Elyte Baykun
Washington Editors

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A new article, "Classical Adlerian Psychotherapy," by Henry T. Stein, Ph.D. and Martha E. Edwards, Ph.D. has recently been published as Chapter IV in the "Encyclopedia of Psychotherapy" (Elsevier Science). The article, including an overview of Adlerian theory and practice, a glossary of terms, and a case illustration, is available online at http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/encycl.html. It may also be accessed from Henry Stein's homepage at http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/.

The two-volume Encyclopedia, comprising 1,600 pages, contains 160
articles from 300 contributors, and covers the major psychotherapies
currently in practice, as well as the classical approaches that laid
the foundation for the various contemporary treatment approaches. In
addition, the Encyclopedia identifies the scientific studies conducted
on the efficacy of the therapies and reviews the theoretical basis of
each therapy. It may be purchased directly from Elsevier Science or
through Amazon books.

The inclusion of this article in the Encyclopedia is a testament to
the growing recognition of Classical Adlerian Psychology as the
leading force in the emerging renaissance of Alfred Adler's ideas. In
1998, "Classical Adlerian Theory and Practice," by Stein and Edwards,
was included a chapter in "Psychoanalytic Versions of the Human
Condition: Philosophies of Life and Their Impact on Practice," edited
by Paul Marcus and Alan Rosenberg, published by New York University
Press. Later this year, another article, "Alfred Adler's Individual
Psychology," by Stein and Edwards, will be published in "The Edinburgh
International Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis."

The Palestinian Elections: The Challenges Cannot be Wished Away
By Shibley Telhami
San Jose Mercury, Perspectives Section
Sunday, January 9, 2004

Ever since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, optimism about the prospects for a Palestinian-Israeli peace has been in the air.

For months, the Bush administration and the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon have pinned the blame for the violence and the stalemate on the late Palestinian leader. It seemed reasonable to assume that a new era has begun. The Palestinian presidential elections held today will most likely result in the election of Mahmoud Abbas -- known as Abu Mazen -- who is favored by both Israel and the United States, as well as most Arab leaders. But the reality is far more challenging.

The election campaign has revealed the problems facing Abbas: On the one hand, he needs the trust and support of his Palestinian constituency, which has always worried that he may be too compromising on core issues. On the other, he needs to have a good working relationship with the Israelis and the Bush administration as he stakes his reputation on his ability to revive serious negotiations.

This will not be an easy task, as the events of the past week demonstrate. In his attempt to energize his Fatah base and get out the vote, especially among Gaza refugees, he invoked the right of Palestinians to return to their original homes in Israel, which raised red flags for Israelis.

In his commitment to reject violence, he maintained the trust of many Israelis but lost the support of many Palestinians, half of whom want to maintain a militant option.

For now, these moves are mitigated by an assumption by most that these are strictly campaign positions. The judgment will undoubtedly be harsher after the elections.

Abbas' first task is to establish a sense of popular legitimacy. He started in an unenviable position. Regarded as weak and as Washington's man, Abbas was overshadowed by Arafat's legacy. Public-opinion polls showed him trailing a younger Palestinian leader serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli prison, Marwan Barghouti.

Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, had gained popularity in the Palestinian areas at the expense of the Palestine Liberation Organization's main faction, Fatah, which Abbas represents. In the end, neither Barghouti nor Hamas entered the elections, which meant no serious competitor for Abbas, who also had the backing of the PLO and the Fatah organizations behind him.

This is likely to assure Abu Mazen's victory, but also reduce its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Everyone wants free elections, but people want choices, real choices. Elections are held even under authoritarian regimes, but few people take the outcome as a true reflection of public will when the outcome of an election is entirely predictable. This may explain why a candidate like Mustafa Barghouti (a distant cousin of Marwan Barghouti), who has no organizational support behind him, has been polling over 20 percent of public support in pre-election polls.

Abbas will have to win public support after the elections if he is to be able to negotiate credibly with the Israelis.

For now, Abu Mazen's balancing act has been predicated on a vision of what drives Israeli and Palestinian attitudes most. His “red line” in his relationship with Israel has been to remain steadfast in his opposition to the use of violence against Israelis. This is his most central strategic decision toward Israel. This, he hopes, allows him to take tougher negotiating positions on issues such as the right of return and Jerusalem. That approach adds to his public support without seriously undermining his relationship with Israel.

In fact, during the failed Palestinian-Israeli negotiations at Camp David, Abu Mazen was in favor of firmer Palestinian negotiating positions than other members of the negotiating team. In his important relationship with the Bush administration, he hopes to gain continued support not only by his rejection of violence, but also by a projection of a commitment to serious reforms of the Palestinian authority, which the administration has made a central issue.

If he is seen to be responsive, the administration could claim political credit, which could turn into a U.S. stake in supporting Abbas.

If the mere rhetorical balancing act during the campaign was difficult to maintain without serious criticism, the implementation of these positions will be doubly difficult:

• Most important, can Abu Mazen enforce the “no violence” strategy, either through a deal with Hamas or by risking civil war in trying to disarm them?

• Can he do so early, as stipulated by the “road map” -- the peace plan calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state -- before he offers his public something tangible?

• Can he insist on the right of return as a negotiating strategy without losing Israeli public opinion?

• Can he implement real reform without losing the critical support of the institutions he needs to hold back Hamas?

Abu Mazen is not Yasser Arafat, and his limited popularity and assertiveness in the shadow of the late Palestinian leader cannot be used as a guide in assessing his likely behavior after his probable election. Here, the comparison between the hugely popular Arab-nationalist former president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and his successor, Anwar Sadat, comes to mind.

Before Nasser's death in 1970, Sadat was an unassuming loyal subordinate who was taken lightly by most analysts. Yet he moved swiftly to assert his power with dramatic military and political moves, ultimately leading to a remarkable peace treaty with Israel that changed the tide of politics in the Middle East. Abbas can certainly carve out his own legacy quickly and grow out of Arafat's shadow.

But the comparison between Sadat and Abbas has its limits. Sadat was a president of the most popular and powerful Arab country. Egypt had the power to wage war and its alliances were consequential around the world. Sadat's moves occurred during the Cold War, when the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East gave Egypt special leverage with the United States.

Even so, few analysts believe that Sadat could have embarked on his bold moves toward Israel had he not first acquired the legitimacy as a warrior by waging, together with Syria, the painful 1973 war to restore part of the Sinai.

In the end, Sadat still lost his life. Abu Mazen does not have the power of Egypt nor the leverage of the former Soviet Union. He still needs to earn the support of the Palestinian public to offer the kind of compromises that a peace agreement requires -- and he needs to do it while rejecting the use of violence as a method.

Abbas also remains highly dependent on the actions of others. Most of all, he will be dependent on the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the degree of diplomatic involvement of the Bush administration and the extent to which Arab leaders will lend their support.

For now, all are behaving as though there is a historic opportunity presented by the death of Arafat. In reality, it is hard to differentiate tactical short-term calculations from profound change in strategic outlook in assessing the current conciliatory approach of the parties.

For Sharon, there are many good reasons to cooperate with Abu Mazen in the short term, regardless of his broader strategic objectives. He is in the midst of implementing a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and would benefit from the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority, particularly if it can restrain Hamas and prevent it from taking over after Israeli withdrawal.

Sharon had said all along that he viewed Arafat as the main obstacle to peace, and needs to show that his passing brought new opportunities. And he knows that his key ally, President Bush, would like to see a little more quiet on the Israeli-Palestinian front as he tackles the pressing Iraqi situation, especially as the elections there draw near.

Bush, too, has an interest in the Palestinian elections, as the issue of democracy has become one of his central themes. Arab governments want to prevent Hamas from taking over, and the Egyptians in particular have an interest in an orderly Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which borders their territory.

But if these tactical interests are the primary reasons for optimism, the parties are setting themselves up for a risky disappointment.

Besides Abbas' own position, one critical factor more than any other will affect the prospect of peace: The extent to which Sharon will be responsive on the outline of a final settlement that the Palestinians can live with. Here, it is unlikely that any Palestinian leader can accept less than what Yasser Arafat rejected.

Sharon, by most accounts, seeks merely an interim arrangement without tackling all the final-status issues. It is unlikely that Abbas’ public can allow him to make the tough compromises without knowing what the end result will be. Certainly, implementing any agreement could take time and be based on sequential arrangements. But unless the basic outlines of the result are known at the outset, interim arrangements are perfect opportunities for those who want to disrupt the process.

Today, even with the Palestinian elections, there are many more people on both sides seeking disruption than there were four years ago.

SHIBLEY TELHAMI is Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of “The Stakes: America in the Middle East.” He wrote this article for Perspective.

Copyright San Jose Mercury 2005

American Apocalypse
by Robert Jay Lifton
The Nation
Posted December 4, 2003
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031222&s=lifton

The apocalyptic imagination has spawned a new kind of violence at the beginning of the twenty-first century. We can, in fact, speak of a worldwide epidemic of violence aimed at massive destruction in the service of various visions of purification and renewal. ...

Read the entire article on http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031222&s=lifton

Tom Hayden, former California state senator, will speak on gangs, answer questions, and sign copies of his new book: Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence, published by The New Press ISBN: 1565848764:

"Though never officially acknowledged, as many as 25,000 young people have died in America's gang wars since 1980. In cities across America, members of the Crips, Bloods, Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street, Latin Kings, Blackstone Rangers, and Gangster Disciples are like traumatized veterans with no way home. Yet some of these survivors have left gang-banging for peacemaking, and they have an important message to deliver: gang violence is preventable." Drawing on ten years as an activist and public official working to understand and prevent gang violence in Los Angeles, Street Wars is Tom Hayden's comprehensive indictment of the neoconservative politics of law and order that dominates current policy and suffocates inner-city youth. Weaving together cutting analysis with numerous firsthand stories from gang leaders, Hayden shows how the prison-industrial complex reinforces gang identity through humiliation and punishment, and reveals how globalization has created a force of unemployable men and women around the world who are defined as incorrigible, outside law and community.

University of California Irvine
CHICANO/LATINO STUDIES AND CRIMINOLOGY, LAW AND SOCIETY
Sponsor:
STREET WARS: GANGS AND THE FUTURE OF VIOLENCE
Guest Speaker:
Tom Hayden
January 12, 2005
4:00-6:00 PM
Student Center – Emerald Bay – B

TEACHING PEACE-PROMOTING VOCABULARY: A NEW FRONTIER
by Francisco Gomes de Matos ((Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brasil))
Nº 8, PRIMAVERA 2002

Ever since proposing the concept of "communicative peace" in 1991 (article: Using English for communicative peace: a pedagogical checklist, published in BRAZ-TESOL Newsletter, September, p.4), I have been probing the issue of teaching a peace-enhancing-promoting vocabulary, especially to teenagers and adults. Recently, under the auspices of Associação Brasil-América (a Binational Center in Recife) I conducted a couple of workshop-like demonstrations for a diversified audience, aimed at sensitizing them to the need for learning how to organize and use English words for peace. One of the outcomes of such experience is another Checklist, this time intended to help TESOLers start systematizing what I call "a humanizing vocabulary". I should clarify that in conducting Workshops, I have been emphasizing "using peace-promoting words in context", that is, in situations suggested by the participants themselves as they interact irenically ("irenic" is an adjective meaning that has to do with peace) in small groups.

To start organizing your teaching of a peace-promoting vocabulary, challenge yourself to:

1) Define/characterize " friendly language", " friendly use of a language", "use of English for peace". On the first concept, see David Crystal and Hilary Crystal's Words on Words. Quotations about Language and Languages (Penguin, 2000). Their section on "friendly language" subsumes words of apology, comfort, gentleness, praise, and tact". On a pioneering lexicographic treatment of the friendly use of English, see W.R. Lee's A Study Dictionary of Social English, published by Pergamon Press, 1993. Among the "social situations" covered: agreeing, approving, hoping, liking, praising, sympathizing. That book is not as well-known (and used...) by teachers and teacher-educators as it should be.

2) Make a list of your (and your students') favorite verbs which can enhance peace. As a source, I recommend Stephen Glazier's Random House Word Menu, published by Random House, 1997 (2nd ed). That creative -- alas, no longer with us -- dictionary-maker provides useful lists dealing with "agreement, applause, approval, encouragement, exaltation, flattery, praise, recognition, respect".

3) Select "positivizers" (a word I coined to express adjectives characterizing positive features in human beings). Significantly, ESL textbooks have started to give some attention to the use of human-dignifying vocabulary. My choice of exemplary contribution in that respect is Donna Price-Machado´s Skills for Success. Working and studying in English. Cambridge University Press, 1998. That American colleague (married to a very talented Brazilian musician) has a Chapter on "Developing a positive attitude" and a section on 'Defining personal strengths', in which almost 100 adjectives are listed for "increasing your self-confidence". Examples: assertive, capable, cheerful, competent, cooperative, efficient, enthusiastic, flexible, hardworking, high-achieving, innovative, knowledgeable, polite, responsible, trustworthy.

4) Select inspiring statements/quotations to be discussed by groups and to be probed (through text production, for instance). Some examples (taken from Crystal and Crystal) are "Kind words are a honeycomb, sweet to the taste, wholesome to the body" (Proverbs 16:24; Jerusalem Bible), "the music that can deepest reach, and cure all ill, is cordial speech" (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860, The Conduct of Life), "Good words cost naught" (Portuguese proverb) "A gentle word will make the argument strong" (Welsh proverb).

5) Select key-concepts used in the literature on Peace and Conflict Studies (there are important traditions: Peace Education (over 40 years old), Peace Psychology, and the emerging area of Peace Linguistics. This year, the TESOL organization (U.S.-based) established its own committee on TESOLers for Social Responsibility, devoted to global issues, among which human rights, justice, and peace. Also visit the UNESCO-FIPLV LinguaPax site at: www.linguapax.org.

Among the relevant concepts found in the works of Conflict Resolution researchers are: cooperation (the verb "cooperate" is a must for peaceful relations between/among persons, communities, nations), mediation, negotiation ("constructive negotiation" is a strategic phrase for diplomats and other peace negotiators), reconciliation, trust (self-trust, trust in each other/one another, and institutional trust) and last, but not least, EMPATHY.

This ever-inspiring psychological concept reminds us that, as humanizing teachers of English, we should do our best to use (and help our students to do so, too) English for cross-cultural understanding, for cooperation, for sharing (as for instance, sharing the grief of the American people over the loss of so many precious lives in New York and Washington, D.C.)

6) Activate the powerful vocabulary-improving strategy of "paraphrasing", by teaching different ways of expressing peace-loving attitudes, emotions, and feelings.

7) Evaluate materials (for possible adoption) in terms of their "communicative-peace value". To what extent do current printed and/or on-line materials contribute to helping make peace prevail both in the hearts and actions of all human beings?

May this brief piece be a plea for you to think of yourself as a Peace Patriot, by learning to teach English constructively, and by motivating your students to the vital importance of using that language - and all other languages - in deeply humanizing ways.8) Consider "how our enabling individuals to speak English and pass TOEFL tests enhance world peace and harmony", to quote Claire Kramsch in her timely, inspiring chapter on Intercultural Communication, in the thorough volume The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, edited by Ronald Carter and David Nunan, CUP, 2001, p.206*.May communicative peace be with you and your students!Since there is not as yet a Dictionary of Peace and Related Terms, to have an idea of the conceptual-terminological wealth of that area I would suggest that interested readers take a look at the Index of three current, important books: Peacebuilding for adolescents, edited by Linda Forcey and Ian Harris (New York: Peter Lang, 1999), The Handbook of Conflict Resolution, edited by Morton Deutsch and Peter Coleman (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000) and Turbulent Peace. The Challenge of Managing International Conflict, edited by Chester Crocker, Fen Hampson, and Pamela Aall ( Washington, D.C., United Institute of Peace Press, 2001).

NOTA DEL EDITOR: Véase en este mismo número de GLOSAS DIDÁCTICAS el artículo del Dr. Gomes de Matos Direitos de aprendizes de línguas: uma lista para auto-avaliação pedagógica, así como la referencia de su último libro Comunicar para o bem.

Francisco Gomes de Matos (fcgm@cashnet.com.br)
(Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brasil)

Nº 8, PRIMAVERA 2002
PÁGINA PRINCIPAL

Message from Art for Refugees in Transition:

January, 2005
My dear friends,
Happy New Year!

2004 was a wonderful and eventful year for ART and its programs to help rebuild refugee communities through their indigenous arts.

Thailand
The year began with a return visit to northern Thailand where we evaluated and then helped to expand ART’s pilot program in two Burmese refugee camps in Mae Hong Son Province. Over 600 children and 50 adults participated in the intergenerational traditional arts program. The response was overwhelming and more teachers were recruited and trained in order to accommodate the additional children who were interested.

This summer, the program was handed over to the refugees and is now fully self sustaining. The refugees themselves are running the program, coordinating the classes, performances and festivals. They even built an additional structure in each camp to house the musical instruments and costumes. We could not have asked for a better outcome.

Colombia
In October, 2004, ART was approached by the Caring for Colombia Foundation, a New York based foundation that helps to fund and implement humanitarian programs in Colombia. ART traveled to Colombia in December to explore the feasibility of establishing our traditional arts programs for in-country refugees fleeing from Colombia’s drug and guerrilla wars. After two weeks of traveling around the country, we concluded that ART’s work was needed and welcomed at all of the locations we visited.

The highlight of our visit was Popayan, a small city in the mountains south of Cali. Popayan has a large community of internal refugees displaced by over 40 years of civil war that lives in the hills at the edges of the city. The community is spread across several shanty towns, with no running water and little, if any electricity.

Currently, there is a local NGO (Non Governmental Organization) working with the community – providing literacy programs for the children and adults. The NGO – Foundacion Infantil y Junevil del Cauca - has asked ART to partner with them to implement our traditional arts program in one of the displaced communities – Gran Conquista. The NGO has money in its budget for a project next year, is looking for a project to support, and would like ART to be that project! In addition, the University of Cauca (Popayan is located in the state of Cauca) has also asked to partner with ART. The University will assign students from its anthropology, music, ethnology, psychology and other departments to help ART institute and then administer the program; the students will earn academic credit for this work.

The Bogotá office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) expressed great interest in ART’s work as well. After several successful meetings with them, UNDP asked to partner with ART for the International Human Development Report they are preparing in partnership with the Colombia operations of UNESCO. The specifics of the partnership are now being worked out, but the fact that they are so interested in ART’s work is very positive. And finally, after meeting with the UNDP program officer for Conflict Prevention and Recovery, UNDP offered financial assistance to ART.

So, as you can see, it was an incredibly successful visit. We plan to return to Popayan in February to begin implementation.

Many thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement throughout this process. Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2005!

All the best,
Sara

Please visit our website: www.artforrefugees.org
(soon to be updated)

Art for Refugees in Transition
P.O. Box 456
New York, NY 10113-0456
e-mail: info@artforrefugees.org

World Movement for Democracy, Special Announcement, Assisting Tsunami Victims

(Scroll down to see the contents of the January Issue of DemocracyNews)

In the face of the tsunami tragedy, many democracy and human rights NGOs are providing aid and assistance to the victims. We have compiled a brief list of activities conducted by World Movement participating organizations. Any contributions to help these organizations in their effort to reach out to the tsunami victims are welcome. Contact information for further inquiries is provided below. If your organization is engaged in special activities as a result of the tsunami disaster, please write to world@ned.org and let us know. The information below and additional information we receive will be available on the World Movement Web site at www.wmd.org.

(1) Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union (FTZ-GSEU) and the Women's Centre (a labor NGO working with women workers in FTZs and garment factories) based in Sri Lanka have launched a program to provide a helping hand to their workers who have suffered from the tsunami disaster. The program will focus on building houses for the victims. The FTZ-GSEU has already consulted with experts on building houses, started collecting information on their worker's circumstances, and visited the Eastern and Southern provinces of Sri Lanka, which were affected by the disaster. According to the estimates, each house will cost about $1,346. The FTZ-GSEU, which during the initial stages will build 50 houses, has opened a bank account to raise money for the victims. Every member of the Union will contribute one day's salary during the month of January toward this fund.

*Anyone interested in making a contribution, should contact the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and General Services Employees Union at ftzunion@diamond.lanka.net or at + 94 - 11 4 617 711 (tel); +94 11 4 610 001 (tel); +94 777 281 477 (tel)

(2) People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) in Sri Lanka, working with other organizations, is conducting immediate humanitarian aid programs. PAFFREL volunteers have been delivering food and other supplies into the most affected areas of the country.

*To enquire how you can help PAFFREL's activities, contact PAFFREL directly at paffrel@sltnet.lk or paffrel@eureka.lk, or +94-777-377059(tel), +94-11-2824425(tel), +94-11-818675(tel)

(3) Two Thailand-based organizations, the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB) and the National Health and Education Committee (NHEC), are assisting Burmese migrant worker communities at Bab Bin beach near Ranong in southern Thailand and Tamala Village on Phuket Island, two of the most affected areas in Thailand. Many Burmese migrants in Thailand are ineligible for much of the official aid due to their tenuous legal standing. The United States Campaign for Burma (USCB), based in Washington, DC, is mobilizing assistance and collecting funds to support the efforts of the HREIB and the NHEC.

*To contribute, contact aungdin@uscampaignforburma.org or +1-202-223-0300; +1-202-246-7924; and +1-301-602-0077

******************************************************************

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

January 2005

POSTING NEWS:
We welcome items to include in DemocracyNews. Please send an email message to
world@ned.org with the item you would like to post in the body of the message.

CONTENTS
DEMOCRACY ALERTS/ APPEALS
1. Call for Action: Arbitrary Arrests and Torture of Adults and Three Children in Sudan
2. Call for Action: Bhutanese Refugee Rights to Travel Documents Violated

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
3. New Publication: STILLED LIVES-- PHOTGRAPHS FROM CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE
4. Indian Leaders Support Bhutan's Democratic Movement
5. Human Rights and Justice Group International Announces New Web Site and Seeks Partnership
6. Connecting Volunteers with NGOs in Developing Countries

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
7. Training Course: "Conflict Transformation and Multi-Cultural Youth Work"

HUMAN RIGHTS
8. Congolese Human Rights Organizations Protect the Environment
9. "Turn on the Candle"-- Internet Action in Memory of the Victims of the Chechen War
10. Asian Center for Human Rights Studies the Effects of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in India
11. Call for applications: Human Rights Advocates Program, Fall 2005

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARIY
12. World Forum for Democracy in Asia Holds its First Strategy Meeting
13. Cross-Border Networking Between Russia and Poland
14. The Role of Civil Society in the Forum for the Future
15. Briefing on UN Democracy Caucus

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

16. SEACEM Offers Training and Services to Southeast Asian NGOs
17. Conference: "ICTs and Civil Society"

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH
18. International Youth Leadership Event, Adelaide, South Australia, March 1-4, 2005

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION
19. Call for Collaboration: The Nigerian Branch of Global Network Good Governance (GNGG) Seeks Partners

WOMEN'S ISSUES
20. The Women's League of Burma (WLB) holds Third Congress
21. Maghreb Regional Learning Institute for Women's Leadership and Training of Trainers

22. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

________________________________________________________________________

DEMOCRACY ALERTS/ APPEALS

1. Call for Action: Arbitrary Arrests and Torture of Adults and Children in Sudan
The Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT, World Organization Against Torture) requests urgent intervention on behalf of 24 men and three children recently arrested and subjected to torture in Sudan. These men and children were arrested on December 16-17 and taken into military custody, where they were severely beaten and tortured. They were later charged for "waging war against state" and "espionage against the country." On December 24th, they were transferred to the Nyala prison where they remain in detention. The medical examination of the detainees confirmed that the men and children were subjected to torture. The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests that Sudanese authorities immediately release the detainees in the absence of legal charges consistent with international law standards. It also urges civil society worldwide to write to the authorities in Sudan requesting the release of the detainees, measures to guarantee their physical and psychological integrity, and thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of their arrest and torture.

To learn more and to take action go to: www.omct.org/base.cfm?page=article&num=5225&consol=close&kwrd=OMCT&grp=Appeal&cfid=1468692&cftoken=83304030

2. Call for Action: Bhutanese Refugee Rights to Travel Documents Violated
The Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD) issued an urgent appeal requesting that the international community intervene to protect the freedom of movement of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. Over 100,000 refugees that were forcibly evicted from Bhutan in 1991 have been living in the refugee camps in Nepal awaiting their return home. The 15 rounds of bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan have failed to repatriate the refugees. Meanwhile, refugees face increasing difficulties in the camps. Also, to obtain travel documents, they are required to follow extremely complicated procedures that frequently delay or prohibit their travel. Recently, the Secretary General of the PFHRD, Mr. Pradhan, a defender of refugee rights in international forums, was prevented from traveling abroad to an Asian regional conference, where he could bring the attention of the international community to the problems of the Bhutanese refugees. The PFHRD urges their colleagues to write letters expressing their concern about the violation of refugee rights.

For the full text of the appeal and sample letters, go to:
www.wmd.org/documents/jan05-BhutanRefugeesTravel.doc

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

3. New Publication: STILLED LIVES-- PHOTGRAPHS FROM CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE
This 150-page book is a photographic essay that tells the stories of 51 men and women who joined the Khmer Rouge revolution in the 1960s and early 1970s. During the four years of Khmer Rouge rule, 1975-1979, nearly two million people were executed, starved, or worked to death. However, the focus of this book is not on the victims. Through photographs and the recollections of perpetrators and their families, the book tells the story of those who brought this great tragedy on the Cambodian people. The book was published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

To request copies of the book, contact dccam@online.com.kh or info@monument-books.com

4. Indian Leaders Support Bhutan's Democratic Movement
Two Bhutanese organizations, Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD) and Druk National Congress (DNC), in collaboration with the Indo-Bhutan Friendship Society (IBFS), organized a three-day sit-in protest in New Delhi, India, on December 14-16, 2004. The protest was organized to draw the attention of the Indian government and society towards the struggle of the Bhutanese people for democracy, freedom, and return of the Bhutanese refugees. About 50 Bhutanese refugees from eastern Nepal camps participated in the sit-in program. A number of prominent Indian leaders addressed the program, extending their support and solidarity to the democratic struggle of the Bhutanese people and calling upon the Indian government to lend its support. In addition, a number of democracy activists and scholars from India and Bhutan who had gathered in New Delhi for a Convention on Democracy, Human Rights and the Bhutanese Refugee Problem, December 17, 2004, urged the King of Bhutan to respect the genuine demands of the Bhutanese people for democracy and requested that the Indian government extends its support to the peaceful struggle of the Bhutanese people and the dignified return of the Bhutanese refugees to their homes.

For more information, contact: skpfhrd@mos.com.np

5. Human Rights and Justice Group International Announces New Web Site and Seeks Partnership
The Human Rights and Justice Group International (HRJGI) based in Nigeria launched the second edition of its Web site. The HRJGI is an independent, nongovernmental and not-for-profit voluntary initiative that promotes knowledge, respect and observance of human rights, and encourages exchange of information and experiences. The HRJGI carries out human rights, governance, and community education programs, including workshops focused on expanding the use of the Internet by Nigerians. The HRJGI seeks partnership with relevant foundations and civil society organizations to execute its Community IT Literacy Education Project that aims to build the capacity of individuals and communities by deepening their computer knowledge and skills in order to bridge the digital divide.

Go to: www.justice.kabissa.org, or contact justice@justice.Kabissa.org

6. Connecting Volunteers with NGOs in Developing Countries
Human Strategies for Human Rights (HSHR) connects non-governmental, non-profit organizations with individuals seeking opportunities for volunteer work with such groups in developing countries. The HSHR is asking NGOs wishing to host volunteers to submit small proposals consisting of a brief background of the organization and its objectives and a job description outlining the volunteer's responsibilities and desired qualifications. The NGOs must be in a developing country, work on poverty alleviation or women's rights, and not be in a conflict zone. Volunteers interested in an opportunity to work with NGOs should submit their inquiries as well. The HSHR facilitates skills training and capacity building for grassroots organizations throughout the developing world.

For more information, contact: info@hshr.org
For information on HSHR, go to: www.hshr.org

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

7. Training Course: "Conflict Transformation and Multi-Cultural Youth Work"
The aim of this course, organized by the Council of Europe's Youth Directorate, is to enable participants to deal more effectively with issues of conflict and conflict transformation in a multi-cultural youth work context. The training course will specifically focus on analyzing conflicts, and discuss how they relate to specific youth work contexts, particularly those of a multi-cultural nature. The course is schedule for March 31- April 11, 2005, and will take place in Strasbourg, France. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2005.

Go to: www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/Youth/1._News/News/068_TCconflict.asp#TopOfPage

HUMAN RIGHTS

8. Congolese Human Rights Organizations Protect the Environment
La Concertation des Associations de Défense des Droits de l'Homme du Katanga (CADHOK - Dialogue of Associations of Human Rights Defense in Katanga) recently issued a press release to mobilize civil society action to pressure a local business to stop water pollution in the Katanga area in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On December 13, 2004, the DRC government made a decision to prohibit activities of a private business creating pollution in the area. CADHOK sees this decision as an encouraging sign that the government responded to the concerns of the population and human rights groups. However, CADHOK recently found out that despite the government's intervention, the polluting activities continued. Moreover, some human rights activists speaking out against this pollution received death threats by anonymous phone calls and electronic messages. CADHOK is a group of human rights organizations in the Katanga region, including World Movement participating organizations, ASADHO/KATANGA (Association Africaine de Défense des Droits de l'Homme/Katanga) and CDH (Centre des Droits de l'Homme et du Droit Humanitaire).

For more information, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jan05-cadhoc-EnvPollution

9. "Turn on the Candle"-- Internet Action in Memory of the Victims of the Chechen War
On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of the Chechen War and the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2004, dozens of organizations simultaneously replaced the main page of their Web site with an image of a burning candle on a black background. The candles remained lit for at least fifteen minutes. "Turn on the candle" was an expression of the grief over the deaths of 20,000-30,000 armed forces and around 75,000 civilians killed on both sides. It was also a protest against policies that lead to human suffering and death on a daily basis. Organizers of the action included the Internet portal sites Human Rights in Russia, Center for Peaceful Human Rights Actions, Anti-war Club, Center "Demos," and World Movement participating organization, Center for Development of Democracy and Human Rights. This action was supported by over a hundred Internet sites in Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Belarus, and Canada.

Go to: www.hro.org/memory

10. Asian Center for Human Rights Studies the Effects of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in India
On January 5, 2005, the Asian Center for Human Rights released its latest issue of the weekly ACHR REVIEW titled, "The AFSPA: Lawless law enforcement according to the law?" The report reviews a 175-page ACHR study on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that has been in effect in India since 1958. The study analyzes the illegality of the provisions of AFSPA and offers specific recommendations for change. As a result of building pressure from civil society groups, the Indian government set up a special committee to review the AFSPA in 2004. The ACHR' s analysis and recommendations on AFSPA were submitted to the committee on January 6, 2005. The ACHR weekly reviews provide detailed information and analysis on human rights, democracy, and governance issues. Each issue focuses on a specific theme or region that requires urgent attention or intervention.

Go to: www.achrweb.org/review.htm

11. Call for applications: Human Rights Advocates Program, Fall 2005
The Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, New York, is accepting applications for its annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP). The HRAP is designed to prepare human rights leaders from poor countries and communities in the US to participate in national and international policy debates on economic globalization by building their skills, knowledge, and contacts. This group includes teachers, lawyers, social workers, community organizers, and journalists, who work on human rights problems that result from or are part of the global economic system. The four-month New York-based intensive training program focuses on the following key areas: Labor Rights; Migration Health; Environmental Justice; and Corporate Social Responsibility, with an emphasis on cross-cutting and sectoral issues such as human rights in the extractive industries or agriculture. Activists working on the above areas from a gender perspective are encouraged to apply. The program will take place from late August to mid-December 2005. Applications are due by March 21, 2005.

Go to: www.columbia.edu/cu/humanrights/training/adv/hradv_pgm.htm

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARIY

12. World Forum for Democratization in Asia Holds its First Strategy Meeting
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy hosted the first strategy workshop of the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA). The workshop focused on "Assisting Democratization in Asia's Closed Societies," and took place on December 16-17, 2004, in Taipei, Taiwan. Democracy activists from Bhutan, Burma, China, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam took part in the workshop. Participants discussed the needs and possible strategies for democratization in their countries and the region. They also called for the release of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the release of prisoners of conscience in Asia. They urged concerned authorities to grant political prisoners access to health care and the opportunity to see their family members. Participants expressed concern over the harassment and detention of activists from Bhutan and North Korea who are refugees in Nepal and China, respectively. Two additional WFDA strategy development workshops will be held within the next 6 months and will result in a draft Program of Action, to be adopted at the inaugural WFDA Biennial Conference in 2005. The WFDA serves as a platform for the World Movement for Democracy's regional networking efforts.

For more information on the WFDA, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jan05-wfda.doc

For workshop agenda and press release, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jan05-wfdaStrategy1-pressRelease

13. Cross-Border Networking Between Russia and Poland
The Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation invites Russian NGO activists and practitioners to take part in a project on "Increasing Cross-Border Networking between Russia and Poland." The purpose of the project is to share the experiences and skills of the Polish NGOs with their Russian counterparts. Thirty Russian NGO representatives will participate in four two-week long study tours. They will be provided with an opportunity to learn about the daily operations of the Polish NGOs, including the legal framework of their activities, the supporting role of umbrella organizations, fundraising activities, cooperation with state and local authorities, the role of volunteers, and the role of media in informing the public about NGO activities. The program will be adjusted to the needs of its participants and Russian interpretation at the meetings and lectures will be provided. An independent Program Council will select the project participants.

For further information (in English and Russian) and an application form, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jan05-CrossBorder

To learn more about the Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation, go to: www.spczs.engo.pl/index_en.php

14. The Role of Civil Society in the Forum for the Future
On December 8-9, 2004, a number of Arab civil society groups and international organizations gathered in Rabat, Morocco for a conference that was held in parallel with the "Forum for the Future" meeting in Rabat. The "Form for the Future" was the first meeting within the framework of the Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative launched at the G8 summit meeting in June, 2004. The parallel NGO meeting was organized by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Morocco Organization for Human Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights, and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. The meeting aimed to generate dialogue with Arab governments and to produce recommendations for reform in the Arab world.

For more information on the meeting and to read the recommendations, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/Jan05-ForumForTheFuture-CivSocietyRole.doc

15. Briefing on UN Democracy Caucus
The Council for a Community of Democracies, the United Nations Association-USA, the Democracy Coalition Project, Freedom House, and the Transnational Radical Party co-sponsored a briefing on the United Nations Democracy Caucus at the UN headquarters in New York City on December 16, 2005. The briefing provided an opportunity for dialogue on the caucus and explored how the UN Democracy Caucus can coordinate common positions at the UN to advance the principles of democracy and human rights.

To view the summary of the discussion, go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jan05-DemCaucus-discSummary

To read the appeal to the UN Democracy Caucus, endorsed by NGOs participating in the briefing, go to: http://democracycaucus.net/html/home.html

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

16. SEACEM Offers Training and Services to Southeast Asian NGOs
The Southeast Asian Center for e-Media (SEACEM) assists Southeast Asian independent media and civil society organizations to utilize electronic media technologies in their work by providing training, consultation, and media solutions, as well as acting as a platform for regional cooperation. SEACEM offers a variety of services, including Web page and E-mail hosting (up to 100MB of server space is free) and a content management system, which allows for easy maintenance and updates of the Web sites. SEACEM also offers trainings on the Internet, Web-site maintenance and information management, fund raising, online campaigns, and more.

For more information go to: www.seacem.com/

17. Conference: "ICTs and Civil Society"
The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) will host its first annual "ICTs and Civil Society" conference on March 1-3, 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa. It will focus specifically on ICT challenges facing the civil society sector, highlighting and promoting practical benefits, opportunities and lessons learned to date. This event will provide an opportunity for both civil society Organizations (CSOs) that are ICT-enabled and organizations considering introducing ICT solutions to their work, to discuss critical issues of common concern and learn from one another's experiences. Aimed at senior staff, technical employees in the CSO sector, and individuals who work with these organizations, the conference will bring together a large number of South African CSOs to discuss ICT issues in plenary and break-away sessions. There will also be technology demonstrations, practical training sessions, and an ICT exhibition that will run concurrently with the conference.

Go to: http://sangonet.org.za/conference2005/

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH

18. International Youth Leadership Event, Adelaide, South Australia, March 1-4, 2005
The South Australian Government, in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is organizing an International Youth Leadership event, "Young People Taking a Lead in Social Change," to be held in Adelaide, South Australia, on March 1-4, 2005. "Young People Taking a Lead in Social Change" aims to challenge and inspire delegates to consider and debate issues relevant to their lives, including employment, environment, peace and conflict, diversity, and more. The event will encourage delegates to develop practical ideas and solutions for social change by bringing together a broad range of young people aged 18- 25 years from diverse backgrounds and perspectives who have been identified through a range of organizations.

For details, agenda, and contacts, go to: www.socialinclusion.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=35

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION

19. Call for Collaboration: The Nigerian Branch of the Global Network for Good Governance Searches for Partners
The Global Network for Good Governance (GNGG) is an independent research, information, and training organization that works to combat corruption and to foster participation and transparency in the public and private sectors. The recently established Nigerian branch of the network seeks partners to promote better governance in Nigeria.
GNGG Nigeria proposes to organize a nation-wide Government Information Dissemination Program that will distribute information on government development activities among rural communities, create a demand and awareness for good governance, facilitate people's access to government services, and promote public participation in development processes. GNGG Nigeria also proposes to hold a dialogue to enhance partnership among government, private, and social sectors; to contribute to development of a National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy; and to conduct an intervention research on the resource mobilization, utilization, and accountability in the HIV/AIDS Program in Nigeria.

For collaboration and further information, contact nggnigeria@yahoo.com
For more information on GNGG, go to: www.geocities.com/gngg2000

WOMEN'S ISSUES

20. The Women's League of Burma holds Third Congress
The Women's' League of Burma (WLB) held its Third Congress on December 7-10, 2004 near the Thai-Bruma border. During the meeting, participants reviewed the WLB programs and agreed upon the organization's policies and future work plans, amended its constitution, and shared ideas and suggestions on how to improve the implementation of programs. The Congress participants unanimously adopted the principle of establishing a democratic federal system in future Burma that would guarantee the protection of women's human rights and gender equality. WLB's Constitution Study Team was established to ensure the integration of gender perspectives in the drafting of a federal constitution. The Congress decided to prioritize the Advocacy Program, Peace Building Program, Capacity Building Program, and Women Against Violence Program for 2004-2006. WLB member organizations named their Presidium Board members who will make policies and decisions, and elected three secretariat members to oversee the programs for the 2004-2006 term.

For more information on the WLB, go to: www.womenofburma.org/index.html

21. Maghreb Regional Learning Institute for Women's Leadership and Training of Trainers
The Women's Learning Partnership (WLP), in cooperation with its Moroccan partner, Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), convened the Maghreb Regional Learning Institute for Women's Leadership and Training of Trainers on December 11-14, 2004 in Marrakech, Morocco. WLP Institutes are learning centers for empowering women to participate as leaders in the decision-making processes in all areas of social, political, and economic life. The goal of the Institute was to train women's rights activists in the Maghreb region to become better trainers and advocates for women's equal participation in civil society. Institute participants, which included 26 women's rights activists and leaders from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia, took part in facilitation, communications, and advocacy skills training. Among the topics discussed were how to communicate effectively to influence decision-makers and mobilize the public, and how to translate organizational visions into compelling messages that resonate with various groups and constituencies. The participants plan to apply WLP's leadership curriculum and the facilitation techniques learned during the Institute within their organizations and communities. They will also work together to build regional cooperation as well as strengthen national advocacy networks to advance women's rights. The WLP is serving as the secretariat of the World Movement's new International Women's Democracy Network.

Go to: www.learningpartnership.org

For Information about the International Women's Democracy Network go to: www.wmd.org/women/womensdemocracy.html

22. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

* Association Africaine de Défense des Droits de l'Homme/Katanga (ASADHO/KATANGA) -- asadho@hotmail.com
* Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies -- http://www.cihrs.org/HOME/Home.htm
* Center for Development of Democracy and Human Rights-- www.demokratia.ru
* Centre des Droits de l'Homme et du Droit Humanitaire (CDH) -- cdh@ic-lumbumbashi.cd
* Council for a Community of Democracies-- www.ccd21.org/
* Democracy Coalition Project - http://demcoalition.org/html/home.html
* Documentation Center of Cambodia -- http://welcome.to/dccam
* Freedom House -- www.freedomhouse.org/
* Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD) -- skpfhrd@mos.com.np
* Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation--www.spczs.engo.pl/index_en.php
* Taiwan Foundation for Democracy-- www.tfd.org.tw/tfdwbs/eng/index.jsp
* Transnational Radical Party- www.demdigest.net/
* Women's League of Burma (WLB)--www.womenofburma.org/index.html
* Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) -- www.learningpartnership.org
* World Forum for Democratization in Asia-- bo@taiwandemocracy.org.tw

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Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

Message from Virginia Swain:

The Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Programme

To Implement the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence
for the Children of the World (2001-2010)

The Peoples of this Planet have a Sacred Right to Peace.--General Assembly Resolution 39/11, November 12, 1984

Patron: Mr. Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative, Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, United Nations

The Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Programme

The Institute for Global Leadership offers the first of three levels of Certificate Years in Reconciliation Leadership™ to educate both emerging and existing leaders from all disciplines and cultures committed to a sustainable, intercultural, just and multiethnic approach for community, institutional, national and global challenges. The purpose is to activate the best of our humanity and reconcile the leadership crises of communities, institutions, nations and global entities for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) (www.global-leader.org). We welcome participants from all sectors to participate in the full programme or individual courses. Successful graduates of the three year training are eligible to be facilitators in a Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service™. Participant leaders may use the term Reconciliation Leader™ after successful completion of the three-year training.

The learning community convened is for seasoned leaders who are searching for a new way to lead others through challenges as well as welcoming for emerging leaders. Reconciliation Leadership™ helps people tap into their internal strengths to better promote peaceful resolutions to conflict and provides broad applications to family feuds, community and national disputes and global challenges. Participant leaders are trained in methods useful to professional and international peacemakers as well as anyone interested in creating a just, sustainable, multiethnic and intercultural community, institution or global entity.
Reconciliation Leadership™ is a distinct vocation, requiring reflection time first for new knowledge of one's own values, gifts and talents as a foundation upon which to face one’s limitations. This leadership arises from one’s integrity, special calling, skillbuilding in learned behaviors called competencies, and a philosophy of life to be at peace in oneself for a post-competitive society. Participant leaders’ gifts, intuitive knowing and practical experience are integrated with learned skills and competencies. The link is introduced between personal, interpersonal, group/systemic and global leadership competencies to ensure respect for human rights, peaceful settlement of disputes for greater ecological integrity, economic and social well being. As the participant leaders discover their own special calling and gifts as well as what her/his unique role is for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010), he/she will be introduced to the competencies of Reconciliation Leadership™ and what human beings can accomplish in this time of great challenge.

2005 Courses in Year One Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate PRogram

Module 1: The Practice of Reconciliation Leadership™ (1) March 4-6 (New England—call for other dates in New England) and February 18-20, August 12-14, September 9-11, October 1-16, November 19-21, December 9-11, United Nations, New York or individually with Ms. Swain. Reconciliation Leadership™ is a distinct vocation, requiring reflection time first for new knowledge of one's own values, gifts and talents to apply to the International Decade. Instructor: Virginia Swain, Director, Institute for Global Leadership

Module 2: Designing and Implementing Interventions for Community, Institutional and Global Change. April 18-22, 2005, United Nations. The Reconciliation Leader™ learns theoretical and practical skills to create peaceful, ethical, just, humane, culturally sensitive, and sustainable structures and frameworks. The course offers experiential learning as a way to integrate conceptual learning, engenders a cross-sectoral approach to intervening in crises, and elicits participants’ knowledge and wisdom in a final project. Instructors: Under Secretary-General A.K. Chowdhury (when available) and Virginia Swain.

Module 3: Work, Purpose, Place and Peace (March 11-13, 2005, Tiverton, RI) In understanding the work of a reconciler as a distinct vocation, it is important (to enable and encourage harmony and peace amongst those we seek to bring together from estrangement) that we ourselves comprehend at a profound level the distinct ways in which we are gifted as individuals. We must receive the full nature of our purpose through the ownership, appreciation and application of our core values, skills, talents and special calling. Instructors: Michael E. Collins and Barbara V. Wheeler

Module 4: The United Nations and the Harmonization of Nations: An Evolving Process Accelerated by the Tsunami Disaster? February 21-25 and August 15-19. The United Nations, New York. Article l.4 of the United Nations Charter calls for a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of the common ends of maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, and achieving international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character… A history of the harmonizing trends of the United Nations will be offered as well as how its strengths and weaknesses contribute and deter this body from its charter mandate in Article l.4. Whether or not the humanitarian effort to address the Tsunami disaster in Asia is accelerating the harmonization process will also be explored. Instructor: Virginia Swain (with guest speakers from the United Nations and civil society)

Module 5: Reconciliation of Polarities, May 20-22, Tiverton, RI. Interpersonal relationship skills will be learned through exercises that enable the participants to experience alternative methods of working with disparate views and belief systems leading to the development of a perspective which recognizes the essential value and inherent dignity of each human being. Instructors: Michael E. Collins and Barbara V. Wheeler

Module 6: Writing a personal mission statement for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) June 10-12, Tiverton, RI. These experiential modules offer a process and framework for emerging and existing leaders to become aware of core gifts and talents, begin to trust one’s inner voice, confirm vocational calling, learn to access one’s deepest hopes and visions and form a one-sentence mission statement. Mentor: Virginia Swain (and individual work with Ms. Swain)

Module 7: Cross Cultural and Multiethnic Aspects of Reconciliation Leadership™, July 22-24, United Nations, New York. . This module gives a broad introduction to culture and ethnicity. Respect of difference goes beyond gender, race and ethnicity from the perspective of Reconciliation Leadership™ to include our common humanity. Instructor: Virginia Swain

Module 8: Sustainability Aspects of Reconciliation Leadership™ August 5-7.
This module will offer participants an opportunity to establish a relationship with the earth as a beginning of a new depth of connection to one another. Instructor: Virginia Swain

Module 9: Anger and Conflict Management September 23-25. Tools and techniques of handling one’s own and another’s anger as a healthy response to conflict are offered in a safe environment. Instructors: Michael E. Collins, Virginia Swain and Barbara V. Wheeler.

Module 10: Re-visioning the Relationship of Man and Woman, Tiverton, RI. October 28-30. Instructors: Michael E.Collins and Barbara V. Wheeler.

Module 11: The Practice of Reconciliation Leadership™ II. November 11-13, United Nations. A case study methodology will be used to introduce participants to the principles and practice of Reconciliation Leadership™ as applied to a community, institutional, national and a global challenge. Instructor: Virginia Swain

Module 12: Integration Module. December 3-5. The final module will bring an integrative approach to conclude the first Certificate Year. Instructors: Michael E. Collins, Virginia Swain and Barbara V. Wheeler.

Mentoring Module (scheduled as needed throughout the program) 10 hours. This module offers individual processing to integrate the knowledge into practice throughout the programme year. Mentor: Virginia Swain.

The Basic Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Faculty
• Mr. Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Under Secretary-General and High Representative, Least Developed Countries, Small Island States and Landlocked Countries. Ambassador Chowdhury is the initiator at the United Nations of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). Mr. Chowdhury is also the Patron of the Programme.
• Michael E. Collins, MA, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Community Resource and Renewal Center, Tiverton, RI
• Virginia Swain, MA, CPHC, Founder and Director, The Institute for Global Leadership and President, The Center for Global Community and World Law. Founder of Reconciliation Leadership™ and the Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service™
• Barbara V. Wheeler, RN, MA, CPHC, Founder and Co-Director, Community Resource and Renewal Center, Tiverton, RI,

To learn more, click on Consultation and Training for Leaders Committed to a Just, Sustainable, Intercultural and Multiethnic Peace. To apply to the Certificate Program and for tuition information, call Virginia Swain, Director, The Institute for Global Leadership, Box 20044, Worcester, MA 01602 Tel: 508-753-4172, ext 3 Mobile: 508-245-6843; vswain@global-leader.org; www.global-leader.org.

© Institute for Global Leadership, 2004, all rights reserved.

Angelika U. Reutter, Anne Rüffer
Peace Women: The eleven Women who received the Nobel Peace Prize
1905 - 2003, from Bertha von Suttner to Shirin Ebadi
Introduction by Micheline Calmy-Rey

256 Seiten, Hardcover, big size
Euro 32.60, CHF 48.00, £ 24.00, USD 48.00
ISBN 3-907625-20-X (easiest way to find it in the internetbookshops)
Available/Erhältlich: amazon.co.uk; amazon.com; amazon.ch; amazon.ca; amazon.at; amazon.de; barnes&noble; amazon.jp; libri.de; any bookshop or per E-mail by ruefferundrub@bluewin.ch

Angelika U. Reutter, Anne Rüffer
Frauen leben für den Frieden
Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerinnen
von Bertha von Suttner bis Shirin Ebadi
360 Seiten, Taschenbuch
CHF 18.10, Euro 9.90
ISBN-3-492-24209-X
Available/Erhältlich: amazon.ch; amazon.de; amazon.at; libri.de; any bookshop or per E-mail by ruefferundrub@bluewin.ch

Thank you very much!
Anne Rüffer
Rüffer&Rub
Sachbuchverlag
Konkordiastrasse 20
CH-8032 Zürich
Tel ++ 41 1 381 77 30
Fax ++ 41 1 381 77 54
ruefferundrub@bluewin.ch

On November 23, Peace Women was presented to the participants and international media at the Conference "Women defending Peace" in a discussion with Jody Williams (Nobel Peace Prize 1997). See details at: www.dcaf.ch/wdp

Dear Sir or Madam,

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D. Raja Ganesan Reviews Gerda Wever-Rabehl's book
INSIDE THE PARROT CAGE: Dialogues and Reflections on History, Trauma and Memory

iUniverse Inc., 2021. Pine Lake Road, Suite 100, Lincoln, NE 68512, U.S.A. Price US $.12-95

This book belongs to a new, emerging genre of writing both in content and format: content-wise it blends an exquisite literary sensibility with profound psychological insights into the unique psychodynamics of suffering and humiliation experienced by the Prisoners of War who belong to the belligerent nations. Because they have been vanquished their suffering is now meaningless; because they have been vanquished their suffering and humiliation are accorded no sympathy by the larger world around, not to speak of the victorious; and, because they have been vanquished they are obliged to swallow, bottle up and conceal for ever, in guilt and shame, their unforgettable bitter experiences even in their own home and community. It is different from books like Eric Kahler’s The Tower and the Abyss, Victor Frankl’s documentation of his experiences as a Prisoner of War under the Nazi regime: The world was willing to listen to the latter because they were the victims of belligerence –though not, perhaps, for the reason that they belonged to the side of the victorious. The world was willing to share their trauma and sympathise with their suffering. Thus there was scope for catharsis for the haunting and unbearable memories of their suffering and humiliation. This genre calls into question what Britzman has aptly described in her epilogue to the book as the ‘apathy of history’ to the suffering and humiliation of those who are willy nilly thrown into a war by the despotic regimes of the belligerent states, captured by the defending and ultimately victorious armies and tortured and humiliated and sought to be indoctrinated in some cases and who eventually manage to survive but find that the world is not willing to listen to them and history, as it has been unfortunately conceived hitherto, is not willing to give space to their travails. Such a partial view of history sows the seed for another war in the collective psyche of the vanquished. The suffering and humiliation of a generation, thus blacked out, make it easy for another despot to groom another generation for war. That war means suffering and humiliation for both the victorious and the vanquished is a strong and powerful reinforcement to the lesson of peace that must be learnt if mankind is to survive. While the massive volumes of documentation of the war experience, hitherto from the viewpoint of the victorious, help us to ‘learn about it’, they do not help us to ‘learn from it’. This is the message for education this book draws our attention to.

Format-wise, the book is in the form of a series of dialogues Jean, one who belongs to BeWell, a charitable organization that takes care of the poor and the destitute, has with Joachim, a seventy nine year old man, who had been thrown into the German army for the Second World War as a boy of seventeen and had been captured and tortured and humiliated by the Russians, and who managed to survive and reach Canada.

The factual historical details provide a thin but firm framework for the presentation. The descriptions of the landscapes have a literary power that brings home the climate of the scenes. The most valuable part of the story is, however, the presentation of insights into human nature in extreme situations that convinces how the oddities evinced in such ‘boundary’ situations are a part of its natural makeup. They recall some of the situations in Doestovsky’s novels. An example is the frequency of self-description of Joachim as ‘lucky’. Jean explores and exposes the ways in which the experiences as a Prisoner of War ruined forever Joachim’s capacity for love –for his wife and for his children and for humanity in general. Though Joachim survived the experienced he has not at all lived thereafter

The probing questions raised by Jean in the conversations are pertinent and penetrating and yet delicate, circumspect and inevitable from the perspective and for the purpose of the project. They reach for the ultimate ontological depths of Joachim.

The title’ Inside the Parrot Cage’ is metaphorical. It refers to a parrot cage Joachim entered and played with as a boy of two or three, which locked him in and crashed downwards.

The author had a three-fold aim: to seek a form congruent with the content, intimacy with tragic knowledge and seek some implications of this knowledge. Her success is most pronounced in the second one. It is a book that merits the attention of everyone interested in history as it should be treated, written and presented to the younger generation from a trans-human (to avoid the cliché ‘humanistic’) perspective, and in peace and in the man-made tragedy of war and the trauma of humiliation that follows it on a large scale inexorably on either side.

D.Raja Ganesan

Professor D.Raja Ganesan Ph.D
Former Professor and Head
Department of Education
University of Madras

Message from Howard Meyer on the International Court of Justice ("World Court")

It is a simple fact, albeit not very well known here, that in the aftermath of the decision in the Nicaragua case, the ICJ emerged from decades of neglect and has had a full calendar since 1987.

That change in the attitude of the world (minus U.S. administrations) has been widely credited for its having shown that "even a superpower is not above the law."

And that the Court's judgment in Nicaragua had some merit can be seen in the ill-remembered fact that the conduct of the U.S. had (prior to judicial review) been condemned as unlawful by Senators Goldwater and Moynihan.

Howard N Meyer

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations.

Please note: The views expressed in the articles and in CGNews-PiH are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.

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UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL ARTICLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR RE-PUBLICATION.

Article #1
Title: If and when Turkey Joins the European Union
Author: Elias H. Tuma
Publication: AMIN.org
Date: January 1, 2005
Writing on what has been a popular topic of late, Tuma tries to pull out the benefits and challenges that Turkey and the EU will each face as negotiations over Turkey's inclusion in the Union begin in 2005.

Article #2
Title: Arabic literature finds an audience in Europe
Author: Isabelle de Pommereau
Publication: Christian Science Monitor
Date: December 29, 2004
Until recently, Western authors have dominated the mainstream market in Western-Islamic literature. Pommereau looks at the burgeoning entrance of Arab writers in this space and their impact on the Western-Islamic understanding.

Article #3
Title: American Muslims push for role in policy planning
Author: Muqtedar Khan
Publication: Daily Star
Date: December 21, 2004
Ready to play "a very active role in helping improve the U.S. image and to counter the tide of extremism and anti-Americanism in the Muslim world," a group of American Muslim scholars, activists and community leaders recently met at the Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy to launch a new initiative - the American Muslim Group on Policy Planning (AMGPP). Khan describes how they hope to work with the U.S. government to shape policy.

Article #4:
Title: Encountering the "Other"
Author: Meena Sharify-Funk
Publication: ~ Search for Common Ground Commissioned Article ~
Date: October 31, 2004
The sixth in a series of articles commissioned by Search for Common Ground in partnership with Al Hayat, Sharify-Funk advocates a new dialogue based not an expectation of immediate rewards and conflict resolution, but instead on a desire for understanding and the development and identification of common interests and goals.

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Article #1
If and when Turkey Joins the European Union
Elias H. Tuma
The European Union (EU) has promised to begin negotiations with Turkey sometime in 2005 for admitting Turkey it the Union. By doing so the EU acknowledges that Turkey has taken important steps to qualify for membership. Turkey has reaffirmed its official position as a secular state, has abolished the death penalty, and has improved the status of women. Turkey has also been cognizant of the need to take steps to comply with the economic requirements of the EU, especially regarding budget deficit, current account, and trade regulations. The negotiations will presumably assess the degree of compliance with the EU terms that has been realized, and make recommendations for remaining steps to fully qualify. The negotiations will thus be a part of the process of admittance to the EU membership, which may take up to ten years, according to some observers. Even so, if and when Turkey gains admission, it will have achieved a breakthrough by elevating its status from a traditional developing country to a modern fairly developed country. It will also have undergone a revolutionary transformation in its state philosophy, institutions, and system of administration, all of which contribute to its new status.

When Turkey joins the EU it will gain many benefits. Some benefits are diplomatic, psychological, and nationalistic, and others are economic, technological, and qualitative. Not only will Turkey enjoy the open market of the EU, but also its labor force will be able to compete for opportunities within that larger market. However, to enjoy the benefits of the larger market, Turkey will have to raise the level of scientific and technical training of its labor force. It will also have to apply advanced technology in its production system to lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of the products and services it offers. In other words, it will have achieved the objective that has eluded its leaders for decades, namely being recognized as a developed country. The breakthrough will come with the commitment of Turkey's political and business leaders to a philosophy of development as the means to gain access to the EU membership. The commitment to such a philosophy will almost automatically lead to the building of institutions that facilitate development, including emphasis on science and technology, and rational decision making in the economy and the administration. This revolutionary transformation will be reflected in the daily life of the people.

Probably one of the most significant changes will be the higher cognition of the value of time. It will become important not to "waste" or use more time than necessary to perform any given function. Turkey and most of the Islamic and developing countries are often described as the "Inshallah (God Willing), Bukra (Tomorrow), Ma'alesh (Never mind)" or IBM societies whose motto is the following: You do things if God wills; you do them tomorrow rather than today; and if you do not do them at all, it does not matter. As a result, responsibility is put on God rather than on the doer; actions are postponed for convenience; and the failure to act goes unaccounted for. To join the EU Turkey will have to divorce itself from the IBM attitude and adopt the philosophy that time is scarce and therefore has value and must not be wasted. It will also become essential that the individual or the group is accountable for the use of time and the improvement of factor productivity. Achieving mem
bership in the EU will give Turkey another benefit that relates directly to productivity, namely a feeling of equality with advanced countries instead of the feeling of inferiority, which has permeated most Islamic, and developing countries. That feeling of inferiority, while vehemently denied, is reflected in the preference given to foreign products and foreign experts, and in hesitation to bid for projects that require advanced science and technology. This feeling of inferiority is often described as the "Khawaga Complex," or the foreign superiority complex. Kemal Ataturk initiated the movement to achieve Turkish equality with the European countries in the mid-1920s. Much has been achieved in the meantime, but the Khawaga Complex tends to persist, as reflected in government policies, educational institutions, and in the market place. Now Turkey can rid itself of that stigma, adopt the technology it needs, and improve its scientific and technological standards as needed. While Turkey describes itself as a secular state, it now will have the opportunity and the responsibility to separate the state from religion, not only in rhetoric, but also in action. Religion becomes a matter of personal conscience, belief, and behavior, rather than an affair of the state, educational institutions, or business management. The reaffirmation of secularism should lead to changes in the status of women towards equality with men. The liberation of women from the religious and traditional constraints imposed on them will release an immense stock of human capital, which would be a great asset to the economy and the family.

Probably the most important international effect of Turkey's membership in the EU is that Turkey will become a model for other Islamic and developing countries by showing the way out of underdevelopment. By joining the EU Turkey will show that Islam can be reconciled with modernity, with secular government, and with rational economic and administrative decision-making. Turkey will also show that advanced science and technology are not an exclusive property of the developed countries, but are accessible and achievable by the countries that are lagging behind.

However, the benefits of Turkey's membership in the EU will also accrue to other members of the Union. They will have an enlarged market. They will have smoother relations with their own Muslim minorities, and they will free themselves of the charge of discrimination against Muslim countries in their public and international policies. Furthermore, admitting Turkey to the EU may be another way of combating fanatic Islam that calls for war against the "Christian West".

Another benefit the EU members will gain is access to the Turkish labor market. Now it will no longer be necessary to accommodate illegal migrant workers. Turkish workers, at all levels, will be able to compete for jobs within the EU market, but without legal residence or citizenship. When they finish the job they go home. The benefits to either side will not be free of costs. Turkey will have to abandon old traditions, customs, and behavior patterns that relate to economic and international relations. It will have to transform its institutions in ways that may have negative effects on certain vested interests. Turkey will also have to face much stronger economies in the competitive market of the EU, which may cause short-run dislocations to realize long-term gains. On the other hand, the EU will have to compromise by admitting a country long considered an outsider in culture, religion, level of development, and ideology. Though Turkey will have made the required changes in all these areas, for the EU to make such a compromise will still be a radical move.

Yet, compromise is basic to building international relations, trading in as large a market as possible and maximizing benefits to the largest number of citizens in the interacting societies. Turkey's membership in the EU should be a boon to both parties, but only if they both work together to make the larger union a reality.
**Elias Tuma is professor emeritus of economics, University of California, Davis, CA.
Source: AMIN.org
Visit the website at: www.amin.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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Article #2
Arabic literature finds an audience in Europe
Isabelle de Pommereau
Arab authors were the guests of honor at the world's biggest book fair, in Frankfurt this fall.

FRANKFURT - Iraqi novelist Alia Mamdouh has a message for the West: "How can you expect me, an Iraqi, whose country is being subjected to destruction, to trust Westerners - Americans - and to accept that they're the only ones on Earth and in the universe to possess the truth, when they don't take a step toward my culture, my existence, my language?" she asked in an interview with the International Parliament of Writers, a support organization for persecuted scribes.

Ms. Mamdouh is trying to bridge that cultural divide. She was one of 200 Arab authors who presented works at the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall, the world's biggest annual publishing event.

Since then, she has been touring Europe to promote her newest novel, "Passion." Set in England, where four Iraqi exiles meet after the US invasion of Iraq, the book explores the relationship between a polygamous man and his second wife. It's just one of 50 Arabic novels translated into German this year.

Far from the geopolitical battlefields that have brought Islam and the West face to face since Sept. 11, 2001, Arabic literature, unexplored in Europe just a decade ago, is making significant inroads here - and is helping to break down long-held stereotypes.

While still relatively small, the number of Arabic works translated into German, French, and English has been rising. Previously confined to specialized publishing houses, Arabic literature is now reaching mainstream publishers. "For the first time in the history of German publishing, there is a public debate about what Arab literature is," says Peter Ripken, director of the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian, and Latin American literature, in Frankfurt.

Since 9/11, books that deal with Arabic and Islamic issues have abounded. But they are often written by European experts and present "a false image of the Arab world," says Hachem Moawiya, head of Avicenne in Paris, one of Europe's biggest bookstores devoted to Arab authors.

"There is not only very latent but also very manifest racism when it comes to Arab literature," says Mr. Ripken. "That's why it's so important to read books by Arabic authors, because they have a different perspective than the Arab 'experts' who explain the Arab world to us."

The heightened profile of Arabic literature comes against a backdrop of controversy following complaints by the Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish rights groups, that at least eight books at the fair contained blatant anti-Semitic messages. "A book fair must celebrate the values of tolerance and not allow itself to endorse a cult of racism and hatred," Shimon Samuel, the Center's director for international liaison wrote in a letter to the book fair's president, Volker Neuman, urging him to remove these books and examine the shelves of all exhibitors.

Frankfurt prosecutors reviewed the claims but said they didn't have enough information to open a formal investigation. Tom Forrer of Lenos, one of two main publishers of Arabic literature in the German-speaking world, stresses that the Arab authors translated into German shied away from political themes.

At a time when much of the world associates Arabic culture with oppression, terror, and contempt for women's rights, Arabic novels are tackling such universal themes as love, death, and women's issues. Many of the new writers are women. In "The Hatred," for instance, Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifa tells of the prohibited love between a Muslim and a Christian in a village near Jerusalem, presenting a woman's view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Mamdouh's most successful novel, "Mothballs," which is available in English, the plot focuses on a young girl's relationship with her father in 1950s Baghdad. Meanwhile, "Passion" tackles the issue of identity, exploring what it means to be an Iraqi.

Ripken, whose organization promotes little-known writers, says reading Arab authors should allay fears among many Europeans that Turkish accession to the European Union will mean that a river of Islam will flow through Europe. "Good Arab writing is against prejudices and clichés," he says. "Most of good fiction is critical fiction."

Mr. Neumann says he chose to showcase Arabic writing at the fair because it is still so rarely translated into English, German, or French. "The West and the Arab world are largely foreign to each other when it comes to literature, philosophy, or political debate," he says.

As she went from stand to stand at the book fair, Jordan's minister of state, Asma Khader, said she hoped that this budding interest in Arabic novels would "show the world the reality, the richness of our culture."

Source: Christian Science Monitor
Website: www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
To request copyright permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com.

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Article #3
American Muslims push for role in policy planning
Muqtedar Khan
A group of American Muslim scholars, activists and community leaders is determined to carve a role for American Muslims in policy making. They met after a conference titled "Bridging the Divide" which was hosted by
the U.S.-Islamic World Project at Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy on Dec. 13, 2004 and launched a new initiative - the American Muslim Group on Policy Planning (AMGPP).

The group will focus on directing American Muslim energies toward engagement with the policy community and the U.S. government. Its foundation is based on the premise that the American Muslim community is not only capable of providing valuable assistance to the U.S. in the "war on terror" but can also play a pivotal role in helping build bridges of confidence, trust and communication between the U.S. and the Muslim world. The AMGPP will work to bridge the three crucial gaps between the U.S. and the Muslim world, the U.S. policy making and American Muslims, and between American Muslim interests and their capacity. In all cases the initiative will seek to educate, inform and advise without actually indulging in advocacy.

The AMGPP is willing to play a very active role in helping improve the U.S. image and to counter the tide of extremism and anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. The group is eager to take a leadership role on issues of public diplomacy and outreach on behalf of the State Department and also act as a spokesperson for American policies, concerns and interests. However, in order to be able to play the role of an honest broker, the AMGPP must be convinced that the policies it is willing to defend and explain are deserving of defense. This can be accomplished only by the inclusion of American Muslims in the policy making process. American Muslims cannot explain or defend policies that they disagree with and most importantly have had no hand in making.

Toward this end, the AMGPP will focus on providing policy input to government officials through regular dialogue, conferences, meetings and briefings. It will also work at community capacity building and outreach. The U.S. Congress has made multiple allocations for various policy goals, such as the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), that seek reform and development in the Muslim world. The AMGPP will seek to link Muslim NGOs with public and private funding sources in order to promote American Muslim initiatives in the area of economic development and strengthening of civil society.

The Brookings conference itself touched upon many of the policy issues that the AMGPP could potentially inform. The conference was jointly convened by Dr. Peter Singer, co-director of the U.S.-Islamic World Project and myself, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. The speakers at the conference included Dr. Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, Adam Ereli, the deputy spokesperson of the State Department, Dr. Sulayman Nyang of Howard University, Farid Senzai of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, Salam al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Dr. Zahid Bukhari from Georgetown University and Hady Amr of Amr Group. Dr. Islam Siddiqui, a former undersecretary of agriculture, and to date the highest-ranking American Muslim government official, delivered the luncheon keynote address.

Conference attendees included prominent scholars such as Dr. John Esposito and Dr. Steve Cohen, prominent community leaders such as Dr. Yahya Basha, Muhammad Shakir and Dr. Maqbool Arshad, several officials from the State Department, the Pentagon and Senate staff. MSA President Hadia Mubarak, and Executive Director of the Progressive Muslim Union, Ahmed Nassef, also participated in this important event.

There were two key conclusions at the conference. One, the U.S. had lost its credibility in the Muslim world and desperately needed moderate Muslim support to restore its credibility. A State Department official explained the situation in these words: "We know things are terribly bad, we need help, and specially we need American Muslims to help de-demonize the U.S." The second conclusion was that Islam and Muslims are being demonized in the U.S., their civil rights situation was terrible and Muslims are routinely excluded from policy deliberations; so how can they help improve the U.S. image unless things improve on the domestic front? Those extremists in America who propagate hatred of Islam and Muslims must be treated as extremists, and the government must move forward to include Muslims in policy making. Muslim input is valuable both in the articulation as well as in execution of policy.

One of the questions constantly raised after Sept. 11, 2001 is: "Where are the moderate Muslims?" So far many of them have been working as individuals or as part of mainstream American Muslim organizations that are already overwhelmed with the challenge of rising Islamophobia in the U.S. Now with the constitution of the American Muslim Group for Policy Planning, moderate Muslims in America have a name and an address. They are here, they are now organized and willing to provide their input for policy making and their assistance in policy implementation. The ball is now in the government's court; hopefully they will respond and help build a partnership with American Muslims.

**Dr. Muqtedar Khan is a non-resident fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is the author of "American Muslims" (2002) and "Jihad for Jerusalem" (2004). His website is www.ijtihad.org.
Source: Daily Star
Visit the website at: www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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Article #4
Encountering the "Other"
Meena Sharify-Funk
From both humanistic and practical standpoints, the current estrangement between Islam and the West is unsustainable. The events of September 11th and the subsequent American military campaigns have left Muslims and Westerners increasingly distrustful both of each other and of the more humanistic and life-affirming values within their traditions. At the same time, Westerners are finding that they cannot retain a fully "Western" way of life without peaceful relations with Muslims - insofar as the term "Western" is intended to evoke respect for free open societies, democracy, human dignity, and human rights. Democracy, after all, cannot be protected or projected through undemocratic means. Likewise, many Muslims are discovering that they cannot fully realize the potential of their faith tradition as long as they find themselves locked in antagonistic relations with a "Western Other." Such relations empower extremist factions that are willing to jeopardize the rich and diverse heritage of Islamic civilization in their pursuit of an elusive ideal of cultural purity.

Individuals on both sides of the cultural divide have much to gain from moving beyond preoccupation with tired images, symbols, and postures, and toward genuine openness to a new experience of the Other. Narrow attachment to preconceived images, inflexible doctrines, and fixed political positions prevents dialogue. Most important for both communities at this time is the need to move beyond reactionary impulses triggered by solipsistic discourse-- that is to say, self-serving and ethnocentric "either/or" value dichotomies that split the world into opposing camps.

In contrast, dialogue as a tool for transforming conflict implies seeking power with the Other rather than power over an alien culture. Ideally, such egalitarian cultural engagement should not merely be an elite endeavor, but rather a more broadly participatory process in which members of estranged cultures rediscover their respective traditions and motivations. Rather than focus primarily on the negative task of debunking stereotypes (as manifest in tendencies of Orientalism and Occidentalism), dialogue seeks to develop new, mutual understandings on a collaborative basis. Such active engagement through sustained dialogue can help us to discover shared meaning amidst fear, anger, insecurity, and incomprehension.

Dialogue across cultural boundaries makes it possible for members of communities that are in conflict to rediscover their own traditions. By seeking ways of understanding that accommodate present realities as well as external criticisms, practitioners of dialogue allow their traditions to speak to new contexts. In the process, they gain access to empathetic understanding of other cultural systems, and thereby begin a process of broadening and reconstituting the cultural foundations of their own identities. Though this need not mean sacrificing one's own original loyalties, at a minimum it does require more intercultural habits: experiencing other contexts into one's own identity.
Moving beyond reactionary attitudes and ethnocentric behavior requires that the West and Islamic world know one another. Retreating from the challenges of active engagement only serves to strengthen the position of fundamentalists in both communities. In the modern world, retreat to a cultural or political ghetto by any group - be it Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu - is not only a denial of the rich diversity of the contemporary experience, but also a rejection of responsibility for future generations. We need to develop processes of intercultural communication capable of generating respect for diversity within our own communities and outside of our own communities, trust in difference, and critical self-critique. Participants should not expect immediate rewards, a decisive end of conflict, or "definitive" understanding. Rather, they should seek to help each side understand how the other community reads its identity into the world, while encouraging both sides to work together in the discovery and creation of shared meanings and priorities. Dialogue of this nature would challenge Westerners and Muslims to better understand their own values and ideals as they learn to share them in new ways.

Because the present world affords no scope for authenticity in isolation or security through rigid boundaries, Muslims and Westerners need to experience themselves "in relationship" rather than "out of relationship." Fostering relations of peaceful dialogue in the present climate of mutual recrimination and renewed claims of inherent cultural superiority will not be an easy task. Dominant American and Middle Eastern narratives are remarkably similar in the ways they construct enemy images through selective appropriation of history. As products of ethnocentric behavior, such narratives make war appear natural. Peaceful dialogue, in contrast to war, is proactive and requires deliberate effort to move from the superficial to the relational, from morbidity to creativity, from defensiveness to openness, from a competitive focus on the negative to a cooperative affirmation of positive possibilities, and from the politics of fear and projection to the politics of hope. Positive dynamism requires full engagement of the Self with the Other, together with an awareness that "Islamic" and "Western" relations bear within themselves not just the burdens of past conflicts but also resources for peacemaking in the present.

**Meena Sharify-Funk is currently an Adjunct Faculty member at American University's School of International Service in Washington, DC where she co-teaches a course on Islam and democracy.
This article is part of a series of views on the relationship between the Islamic/Arabic world and the West, published in partnership with the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and is available for reprint.

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About CGNews-PiH
The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. This service is one result of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.

Every two weeks, CGNews-PiH will distribute 2-5 news articles, op-eds, features, and analyses that aid in developing and analyzing the current and future relationship of the West and Arab/Muslim world. Articles will be chosen based on accuracy, balance, and their ability to improve understanding and communication across borders and regions. They will also reflect the need for constructive dialogue around issues of global importance. Selections will be authored by local and international experts and leaders who will analyze and discuss a broad range of relevant issues. We invite you to submit any articles you feel are compatible with the goals of this news service.

We look forward to hearing from you, and welcome any questions, concerns, or comments you may have about this service. Please forward this message to colleagues and friends who may also wish to subscribe to the service. To subscribe, send an email to subscribe-cgnewspih@sfcg.org with subscribe in the subject line.

If you are a member of the media, please join us in promoting constructive dialogue to improve understanding and perceptions. Unless otherwise noted, all copyright permissions have been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication free of charge. If you choose to republish any of the articles, please acknowledge both the original source and CGNews, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org

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E-mail: cgnewspih@sfcg.org
Editors:
Emad Khalil
Amman Editor

Oussama Safa
Rabat Editor

Juliette Schmidt
& Elyte Baykun
Washington Editors

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New Book by Virginia Swain:

A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace

Booksigning , Friday, January 28, 2005 4:00-5:30 p.m. Booktalk 4:30 p.m. Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Longfellow Park. RSVP 508-245-6843

Another booksigning at the United Nations, Monday, February 21 at 4:30-6:00 p.m. United Nations.

“I am an ordinary woman with extraordinary experiences. My story begins when I felt a leading I couldn’t ignore. Because I have a certainty of what I am being led to do with my life, I understand how I can make a difference in the world.”
-- From the Introduction

I admire your courage and willingness to choose a path of healing. --Bernie Siegel, MD. Founder, Exceptional Cancer Patients and Author, Love, Medicine and Miracles and Prescriptions for Living.
We have much to learn from each other about how we have traveled - and sometimes travailed - through our life journeys. Virginia Swain’s story of her own development through time as a peacemaker and a compassionate human being will be inspiring and helpful to many. Her sense of calling is very strong and rightly guided. I have been very interested in how Virginia's innovative approach to leadership and peacebuilding in highly stressful conflicts has risen from her life journey. The Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Program and Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service™ are important contributions to the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World (2001-2010).
--Elise Boulding, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Dartmouth College; Former Secretary-General, International Peace Research Assn, Nominee, Nobel Peace Prize

Your life is certainly one to be shared—you have given so much to others through your many endeavors. Living one’s life purpose and using the gifts of the spirit is clearly exemplified in your very personal book. I admire your courage to be so very open about so many personal milestones.
-- Martha Hanley, Teacher, Worcester, MA

Virginia’s vocation is focused on helping children, adults and families flourish as they address life and career issues (www.gis.net/~vswain). She also founded and directs the Institute for Global Leadership to train emerging and existing leaders and institutions work for a sustainable peace (www.global-leader.org) through the Reconciliation Leadership™ Certificate Program. With Joseph Baratta, Ph.D., Virginia co-founded and is president of The Center for Global Community and World Law whose mission it is to provide think tank services to support the ideals of the United Nations Charter (www.centerglobalcommunitylaw.org). Books are available at www.global-leader.org, click on News. $35.50 (hard cover). Includes postage and sales tax for one book. To pick up a book, the cost is $29.95 (hard) for pick up. Mailing total: $34.00 (hard). For more information or for multiple copies, call 508-753-4172. Checks may be made out to the Virginia Swain and mailed to 32 Hill Top Circle Worcester, MA 01609.

Message from the Peace Education Center, Columbia University, Announcing IIPE 2005

The International Institute on Peace Education 2005
EXPLORING THE THEME OF:
E=MC2
Education = Movement for Constructive Change (educating for peace through the arts)
Rhodes, Greece – July 24 - 30, 2005
hosted by
Femme-Art-Méditerranée (Fam Network)
at the University of the Aegean
In association with the
Peace Education Center, Teachers College Columbia University

The 2005 International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) will be hosted by the FAM Network (Femme-Art-Méditerranée, Women Artists of the Mediterranean) and the University of the Aegean, in Rhodes, Greece, and organized in association with the Peace Education Center of Teachers College, Columbia University. IIPE, founded in 1982 by the Peace Education Program of Teachers College, has been held annually in different parts of the world. It is a multicultural and cooperative learning opportunity in which participants learn from each other about substantive peace issues and interactive teaching approaches. The Institute is also an opportunity for networking and community building among those who educate and work for a culture of peace in the Mediterranean region and internationally. The program will consist of plenaries, workshops, reflection groups, and visits to community projects.

IIPE 2005 will focus on education as a movement for constructive social change. Arts methodologies and production processes will be used to examine nonviolent strategies to overcome the global web of violence and warfare. Participants are invited to grapple with urgent global concerns such as ethnic conflict, social disruption and displacement, ecological damage, censorship and repression, human rights abuses and breaches of international law. These will be explored through the lens of innovative arts approaches.

As in previous IIPEs, this Institute will draw on the experiences and insights of diverse peace educators from all world regions helping us learn from each other's experiences and strategies. Cultural diplomacy, peace music, political and legislative theater, ecological art, documentary film as an educational tool, peace movement uses of new media technologies, and arts therapies for post-conflict trauma are some of the arts-action strategies for social transformation that will comprise the program.

For more information on the IIPE please visit us on the web at www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/iipe

REGISTRATION INFORMATION
(For complete registration details please see reverse)
Institute Fee: To be determined
(it is anticipated not to exceed $600 USD)
Registration fee covers all on-site costs including room, board, and local transportation.
Registration forms will be available in early January 2005. Application forms will be sent out upon request at that time.
To receive a registration form please contact the Peace Education Center at the address listed below.

Peace Education Center, Box 171
Teachers College Columbia University
New York, NY 10027 USA
peace-ed@tc.columbia.edu

APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications forms for participation will be available in early January 2005. Please contact us at peace-ed@tc.edu to receive an application form as soon as they are available. You can also visit our website in early January to download a copy at www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/iipe.

Acceptance for participation in the IIPE is based upon the goal of the development and strengthening of peace education in the host region and contributing to a more global perspective on peace education among all participants. As much as we would like to accept everyone who applies, the number of applicants usually exceeds the places at each institute. The IIPE attempts to practice the principles of peace education by engaging all participants in our short term learning community in an experience of participatory learning in which all of us can learn from each-other. We have found that increasing our numbers diminishes the importance of this aspect of the institute, so we are unable to accept all applicants.

Among other criteria, first priority is given to those applicants coming from the surrounding host region including those from the Middle East and the Balkans. The IIPE attempts to explore themes and issues that are particularly relevant to the host region and works to build regional solidarity among peace educators. Thus, a minimum of 50% of the participants will come from this area. In selecting the remainder of the international participants we attempt to maintain a geographical balance and variety in experience and substantive expertise. All applicants should specifically demonstrate that they will apply their peace education learnings in their countries or local communities.

TEACHERS COLLEGE STUDENTS
Teachers College students may register to attend the IIPE for academic credit under summer course ITSF 4800. As indicated above, there are many criteria considered in the selection process for participation so we recommend that you apply as early as possible.

REQUEST FOR SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT
Unfortunately the IIPE does not have a formal scholarship program. The institute traditionally operates on a self-sustaining basis in which all participants, including the organizers and presenters pay their own travel and participation fees or find their own funding. Each year numerous applicants request various amounts of scholarship support. Although we are generally fortunate to be able to find a limited amount of funding to provide fee waivers for a very few individuals, we are unable to fulfill the needs of the requests from many in areas most in need of peace education.

PLEASE HELP FUTURE EDUCATORS TO PARTICIPATE
We hope you might consider a contribution to the IIPE to fund scholarships for participants from currency poor and post conflict countries. Your generosity will help ensure that those potential participants in greatest need of training and solidarity will be able to attend the institute. We would be grateful for any amount you may be able to donate. All donations are tax deductible. To donate, please clip and return the following form to the address indicated.

IIPE 2005 Scholarship Fund
Mail to: Peace Education Center
Teachers College #171
Columbia University
525 West 120th Street
New York
NY 10027
(212) 678-8116
peace-ed@tc.edu

Message from the Peace Education Center at Columbia University in New York, December 12, 2004

Dear friends,
The following article from the Nation about the recent conservative uprising in the academic freedom debate is an important one for all of us to follow and reflect upon in our work. The article unfortunately misses a few important areas of analysis such as a reflection on how all education is political and with social purpose - nothing that we educate for, or about, is without values. The issue of indoctrination as argued by the conservatives (and challenged by the author) washes this over. Presenting balance in perspective may help curb this, and should be strongly recommended, but does not change the political or social purposes of the task.

What is completely missing from this debate is a discussion on the relevance of pedagogy – and as the process through which we humanly interact in education it is the most critical aspect in not only what is learned, but how it is learned (ie. determined and derived by the learner). This is the reason that both critical and inquiry based pedagogy has been at the core of peace education as it has been conceived and practiced by Betty Reardon and the staff of the Peace Education Center. It is also the distinguishing factor between the field of peace education and the approach of peace studies and peace research. Emphasizing the process of education (in and out of the classroom and throughout the lifespan - as Teachers College rightly declares) as much as the content is the greatest challenge we face in preparing future formal and non-formal educators to deal with and confront obstacles to peace.

This is what makes the peace education concentration at Teachers College (and a rare few similar programs and organizations around the world such as the new MA in Peace Education at the UN University for Peace in Costa Rica, the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education and the International Institute on Peace Education) so remarkably unique and important in the world – and it is the principle and catalyst around which we should continue to build and nurture the field of peace education within our universities and around the world.

I look at this “challenge to academic freedom” as an opportunity for both reflection on our practices and as potential for transforming them to step outside of what I see as an overly simplified debate. Pedagogy is the determining factor of the educational process, and the thread which brings us together in our learning community. I am so pleased to have met or known you in the past year(s) and would like to express my sincerest appreciation for your contributions to my teaching and learning – being a part of my pedagogical experiences and formation.

I hope you join me in reflecting on the importance of pedagogy in 2005.

Best wishes for peace in the New Year!

Tony
Tony Jenkins
Coordinator
Peace Education Center
Teachers College - Box 171
Columbia University
New York, New York 10027
tel: (212) 678-8116 fax: (212) 678-8237
web: www.tc.edu/PeaceEd

THE NATION
Conservatives Flip Academic Freedom Debate

Liberal professors are accused of attempting to indoctrinate students. But some teachers say pupils are trying to avoid new ideas.

By Justin Pope
Associated Press Writer
December 26, 2004

At the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sue over a reading assignment they say offends their Christian beliefs.

In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicizes student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty get hate mail and are pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college says a teacher received a death threat.

And at New York's Columbia University, a documentary alleging that teachers intimidate students who support Israel draws the attention of administrators.

The three episodes differ in important ways, but all touch on an issue of growing prominence on college campuses.

Traditionally, clashes over academic freedom pitted politicians or administrators against instructors who wanted to express their opinions and teach as they saw fit. But increasingly, students are invoking academic freedom, contending that biased professors violate their right to classes free from indoctrination.

In many ways, the trend echoes past campus conflicts - but turns them around. Once, it was liberal activists citing the importance of "diversity" in pressing their agendas for curriculum change. Now, conservatives have adopted much of the same language in calling for greater openness to their viewpoints.

Similarly, academic freedom guidelines have traditionally been cited to protect left-leaning students from punishment for disagreeing with teachers about such issues as U.S. neutrality before World War II and involvement in Vietnam. Now, those same guidelines are being invoked by conservative students who support the war in Iraq.

To many professors, there's a new and deeply troubling aspect to this latest chapter in the debate over academic freedom: students trying to dictate what they don't want to be taught.

"Even the most contentious or disaffected of students in the '60s or early '70s never really pressed this kind of issue," said Robert O'Neil, former University of Virginia president and director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

Those behind the trend call it an antidote to the liberal dominance of university faculties. But many educators, while agreeing that students should never feel bullied, worry that they just want to avoid exposure to ideas that challenge their core beliefs - an essential part of education.

Some also fear that teachers will shy away from sensitive topics or fend off criticism by "balancing" their syllabuses with opposing viewpoints, even if they represent inferior scholarship.

"Faculty retrench. They are less willing to discuss contemporary problems and I think everyone loses out," said Joe Losco, professor of political science at Ball State University in Indiana who has supported two colleagues targeted for alleged bias. "It puts a chill in the air."

Conservatives say a chill is in order.

A recent study by Santa Clara University researcher Daniel Klein estimated that among social science and humanities faculty nationwide, Democrats outnumber Republicans by at least seven to one; in some fields, it's as high as 30 to one. And in the last election, the two employers whose workers contributed the most to Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign were the University of California system and Harvard University.

Many teachers insist personal politics don't affect teaching.

But in a recent survey of students at 50 schools by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which argues that there is too little intellectual diversity on campus, 49% reported some professors frequently commented on politics in class even if it was outside the subject matter. Thirty-one percent said they believed that there were some courses in which they needed to agree with a professor's views to get a good grade.

Leading the movement is Students for Academic Freedom, with chapters on 135 campuses and close ties to David Horowitz, a onetime liberal campus activist turned conservative commentator. The group posts student complaints on its website about alleged episodes of grading bias and unbalanced, anti-American propaganda by professors - often in classes.

Instructors "need to make students aware of the spectrum of scholarly opinion," Horowitz said. "You can't get a good education if you're only getting half the story."

Conservatives contend that they are discouraged from expressing their views in class, and are even blackballed from graduate school slots and jobs.

"I feel like [faculty] are so disconnected from students that they do these things and they can just get away with them," said Kris Wampler, who recently identified himself as one of the students who sued the University of North Carolina. Now a junior, he objected when all incoming students were assigned to read a book about the Koran before they got to campus. "A lot of students feel like they're being discriminated against."

So far, his and other efforts are having mixed results. At UNC, the students lost their legal case, but the university no longer uses the word "required" in describing the reading program for incoming students (the plaintiffs' main objection).

In Colorado, conservatives withdrew a legislative proposal for an "academic bill of rights" backed by Horowitz, but only after state universities agreed to adopt its principles.

At Ball State, the provost sided with Prof. George Wolfe after a student published complaints about Wolfe's peace studies course, but the episode has attracted local attention. Horowitz and backers of the academic bill of rights plan to introduce it in the Indiana legislature – as well as in up to 20 other states.

At Columbia, anguished debate followed the screening of a film by an advocacy group called the David Project that alleges some faculty violate students' rights by using the classroom as a platform for anti-Israeli political propaganda. (One Israeli student claims that a professor taunted him by asking, "How many Palestinians did you kill?") Administrators responded this month by setting up a committee to investigate students' complaints.

In the wider debate, both sides cite the guidelines on academic freedom first set out in 1915 by the American Assn. of University Professors.

The objecting students emphasize the portion calling on teachers to "set forth justly Š the divergent opinions of other investigators." But many teachers note that the guidelines also say that instructors need not "hide [their] own opinions under a mountain of equivocal verbiage," and that their job is teaching students "to think for themselves."

Horowitz believes that the American Assn. of University Professors, which opposes his bill of rights, and liberals in general are now the establishment and have abandoned their commitment to real diversity and student rights.

But critics say Horowitz is pushing a political agenda, not an academic one.

"It's often phrased in the language of academic freedom. That's what's so strange about it," said Ellen Schrecker, a Yeshiva University historian who has written about academic freedom during the McCarthy area. "What they're saying is, 'We want people to reflect our point of view.' "

Horowitz's critics also insist that his campaign is getting more attention than it deserves, riling conservative bloggers but attracting little alarm from most students. They insist that even most liberal professors give fair grades to conservative students who work hard and support their arguments.

Often, the facts of particular cases are disputed. At Ball State, senior Brett Mock published a detailed account accusing Wolfe of anti-Americanism in a peace studies class and of refusing to tolerate the view that the U.S. invasion of Iraq might have been justified. In a telephone interview, Wolfe vigorously disputed Mock's allegations. He provided copies of a letter of support from other students in the class, and from the provost saying that she had found nothing wrong with the course.

Horowitz, who has also criticized Ball State's program, had little sympathy when asked if Wolfe deserved to get hate e-mails from strangers.

"These people are such sissies," he said. "I get hate mail every single day. What can I do about it? It's called the Internet."

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace Web Site December 23, 2004

This 'newsletter' is being sent out as a new feature to provide regular updates to interested people about current additions to the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace web site.

Upcoming Events http://www.peace.ca/upcoming.htm :
January 22 & 23, 2005 Nonviolent Communication Workshop – Ottawa, Ont. with Rachelle Lamb, former president of the BC Network for Compassionate Communication. Nonviolent Communication is receiving recognition worldwide for its effectiveness as a powerful process for human dialogue that transforms even the most difficult interactions into productive experiences. NVC explores the root causes of violence in our society and provides practical tools to help people effectively resolve conflict in a variety of settings ranging from classrooms and boardrooms to war zones. For more information or to register, call 1-866-480-7122. To read Chapter 1 of Nonviolent Communication, visit www.bcncc.org.

Problem Identification Topics http://www.peace.ca/problem.htm :
New York's HIV experiment ** Vulnerable children in some of New York's poorest districts are being forced to take part in HIV drug trials. (without their knowledge or permission http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4038375.stm

American War Crimes - Washington Post editorial Dec 23/04 Thanks to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, thousands of pages of government documents released this month have confirmed some of the painful truths about the abuse of foreign detainees by the U.S. military and the CIA - truths the Bush administration implacably has refused to acknowledge. http://www.peace.ca/americanwarcrimes.htm

Uninspiring and Shocking Quotes http://www.peace.ca/uninspiringquotes.htm :

In 1995, in a moment of candor, then Ambassador to the U.N. Madeleine Albright declared, "the U.N. is a tool of American foreign policy."

"Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,' but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the longstanding, even increasing support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf States. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy. ... Nor can the most carefully crafted messages, themes, and words persuade when the messenger lacks credibility. ... The United States is also connected to what many Muslims consider "apostate" regimes, but it is difficult to escape what binds us, because the U.S. needs their "tactical support." (Read: oil; military bases; intelligence.)" Ray McGovern http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120604X.shtml

Gwynne Dyer captures war's essence when he contends that, by becoming soldiers, "Men agree to die when we tell them to."

"(What) it basically comes down to, is it my right to choose between what I think is right and what I think is wrong?" asks Pfc. Dan Felushko, 24. "And nobody should make me sign away my ability to choose between right and wrong." But Felushko had signed a contract to be with the U.S. Marine Corps. "It's a devil's contract if you look at it that way," he says.

"But you can't have an Army of free-thinkers," says CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley. "You wouldn't have an Army."

"I have to say that my image of my country always being the good guy, and always fighting for just causes, has been shattered." Brandon Hughey

"Canadian law has changed since the Vietnam era. Back then, an estimated 55,000 Americans deserted to Canada or dodged the draft. And in those days, Canada simply welcomed them. But today's American deserters... will need to convince a Canadian immigration board that they are refugees." CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley

Who's Who (World Level) http://www.peace.ca/whoswho.htm :
CitizenShift Free Range Multimedia for the 21st Century - Submit films/videos/articles etc. about the issues that matter to you most and use CitizenShift>> as a platform to have your voice heard! http://citizen.nfb.ca is a website for people with a social conscience and activists. It’s called CitizenShift>> and this website will house content made By The People, For The People. It’s not an exclusive place for N.F.B. productions, but rather a platform for individuals to get their message out. For example this month we have exclusive interviews with Avi Lewis, director of THE TAKE. Check it out at http://citizen.nfb.ca/onf/info?did=361 . Point your browser to CitizenShift, an NFB initiative that connects citizens for insightful, constructive online engagement with social issues. Explore this unique interactive web magazine, integrating video, audio, photos, text and other media contributed by Canadian individuals and communities. Site visitors are invited to discover the five different sections of the site: Reel Community contains short films made by active community members and emerging filmmakers. Rebels with a Cause offers behind-the-scenes interviews with filmmakers who use film as a tool for social change. Through the Lens offers a sneak preview of activist films in production. CitizenShift goes on the road with Miles from Nowhere, which contains blogs (online journals) from citizens and filmmakers abroad or in-transit providing an opportunity to exchange information and stories. Finally, Web Initiatives offers a showcase of web sites that tackle social issues and encourages site visitors to get involved. For more information: Kat Baulu - Outreach, CitizenShift >>, National Film Board of Canada, A-0120, tel: 514-283-1710, k.baulu@nfb.ca OR citizen@nfb.ca

Information Resources (World Level) http://www.peace.ca/info.htm :

Building Sustainable Peace (ISBN 0-88864-414-0)Softcover, Tom Keating, Editor, W. Andy Knight, Editor. Published: April 2004. As the world turns its attention to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq following recent conflicts in these countries, the issue of post-conflict peacebuilding takes centre stage. This collection presents a timely and original overview of the field of peace studies and offers fresh analytical tools which promote a critical reconceptualization of peace and conflict, while also making specific reference to peacebuilding strategies employed in recent international conflicts. See contents and info at http://www.unu.edu/unupress/new/ab-buildingspeace.html . Order at http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/order/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=508

Counter-Recruitment Resources - see http://www.syrculturalworkers.com/catalog/catalogIndex/CatCounterRecruitment.html

How to Build Community - see http://www.ci.falcon-heights.mn.us/nlhandbook/app/buildcomm.html ; buy the poster for $14.00 at http://www.syrculturalworkers.com/catalog/catalogIndex/CatBuildingCommunity.html

How to Build Global Community - see http://www.peace.ca/howtobuildglobalcommunity.htm

NGO-Government Dialogue on Surviving the Peace: Better Canadian Responses to Post-Conflict Transition Needs in Africa: In October 2004, representatives of Canadian NGOs and Canadian Government officials met in Ottawa to discuss how to more effectively address the post-conflict transition needs of countries. The dialogue was organized by the NGO, Development Workshop with support from the CPCC, IDRC, Oxfam Canada and the United Church of Canada. Presentations on case studies from 4 African countries in transition were made and FAC, CIDA and NGO perspectives were discussed. A summary report with recommendations has been prepared. To read the report, please see www.peacebuild.ca/dw/ This site also has other important documents pertaining to the workshop. The report can also be viewed at www.devworks.org (click on "new on site").

Peace Review is a quarterly, multidisciplinary, transnational journal of research and analysis, focusing on the current issues and controversies that underlie the promotion of a more peaceful world. Social progress requires, among other things, sustained intellectual work, which should be pragmatic as well as analytical. The task of the journal is to present the results of this research and thinking in short, accessible and substantive essays. Peace Review Home Page: http://www.usfca.edu/peacereview/index.htm ; Submission Guidelines for the Peace Review: http://www.usfca.edu/peacereview/guidelines.htm . Taylor and Francis (the publisher of PEACE REVIEW) provides a free, online sample copy that you may read and review. Please go the following website to register:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/onlinesamples.asp

Sierra Leone: Truth and Reconciliation Commission report reflects experiences of children, by UNICEF. SOURCE WEBSITE: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/TRCCF9SeptFINAL.pdf . SUMMARY & COMMENT: With UNICEF's help a version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's findings which children can understand has been produced. Children were involved in creating some drawings in the report and in framing its recommendations for peace-building. DETAIL: "We are the children of Sierra Leone. The war was targeted against us, our families and our communities. It was a brutal conflict, which we did nothing to cause, but we suffered terribly because of it. Every child in this country has a story to tell - a heartbreaking one. Unfortunately only a handful of these stories have been told and made known to the world. The memories continue to weigh on our minds and hearts. We, the children of Sierra Leone, witnessed the worst possible human ruthlessness and terror. Children of this country were forced to fight for a cause we could not understand. We were drugged and made to kill and destroy our brothers and sisters and our mothers and fathers. We were beaten, amputated and used as sex slaves. This was a wretched display of inhuman and immoral actions by those who were supposed to be protecting us. Our hands, which were meant to be used freely for play and schoolwork, were used instead, by force, to burn, kill and destroy. We do not believe this is the end of our story. Rather, it is the beginning. We, who survived the war, are determined to go forward. We will look to a new future and we ourselves will help build the road to peace." This is an extract from the first-ever version of a 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' report intended specifically to be accessible by children. The report details the violations which occurred during the ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone, in which children were deliberately and systematically targeted.
When the violence ended and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established, the children of Sierra Leone were asked to participate. With UNICEF's help a version of the Commission's findings which children could understand has been produced. Children were involved in all stages of the inquiry - from creating some of the drawings in the report to framing its recommendations for peace-building. Special care was taken to protect them, as victims and as witnesses.

Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada. The opening paragraph of this report ought to give every resident in Canada cause for pause and deep reflection. It reads: "Canadian officials have too long ignored the threat to Indigenous women in Canadian towns and cities. Many are missing, some have been murdered and Canadian authorities are not doing enough to stop the violence, says Amnesty International in a report, Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada". Below is the URL to that report: http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGAMR200042004

Proposals/Solutions http://www.peace.ca/proposal.htm :

Inspiring Quotes http://www.peace.ca/inspiringquotations.htm :

President Harry Truman said, "No one nation, no regional group, can, or should expect, any special privilege which harms any other nation." Referring to World War II, Truman observed, "Out of this conflict have come powerful military nations, now fully trained and equipped for war. But," he proclaimed, "they have no right to dominate the world."

"If the United States were to put as much military might into building and establishing peace after a conflict as it puts into winning wars quickly and efficiently, the age of terrorism would soon be at an end." military futurist Thomas Barnett of the U.S. Naval War College

"It is up to government, and all the other holders of a nation's wealth, to start addressing root causes and assuming a degree of moral responsibility ... that still eludes them today." Janice Kennedy (Calgary Herald Nov 7/04)

"I don't think that anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future, the future of the Cherokee people and of the Cherokee Nation." Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE

"One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car we drove or what kind of clothes we wore or what our blood quantum was . All that will matter is that we tried to make a difference" ..... unknown

"A man should rely on his own resources; the one who so trains himself is ready for any emergency." --Oral Tradition, OMAHA. Man is designed to function independently and to rely on the Creator for his resources. If we build our relationship with the Great Spirit, we are ready when emergencies occur.

Frequently Asked Questions http://www.peace.ca/faq.htm :

Ballistic Missile Defence?: I would like to take this opportunity to say that I personally believe rather than labelling the program "Missile Defence" (which is somewhat innocuous and many people can support 'Defence as a right and necessity), it should be labelled what it really is: a "U.S. Pre-emptive Nuclear Offence Capability in Space Program".

I imagine that it does not matter to the Bush Administration if the defence missiles can technically actually strike down an incoming missile (or at least that is not the main reason for the initiative). Claiming that it is not a true defence system, that it only supports the military-industrial complex, that it is a waste of money, that debris will fallout on Canada, and that it will never be technically feasible - while with much merit - misses the most sinister, real and threatening motivation behind the system:

We know that the Bush Doctrine claims the right to a "Pre-emptive" Strike when it is in their National Interest (while ironically our Justice Systems deny this to persons). We know that they want to dominate the globe when it is in their National Interest ("PNAC"). They are also (and have been) researching the use of "limited nuclear pre-emptive strikes", and we know they have a huge number of nuclear weapons. And we know that they lie and use misleading information as a military tool - so anything that George Bush and his colleagues say can not be trusted (and I am starting to wonder about Paul Martin and his colleagues). A "Pre-emptive Nuclear Offence Capability in Space" is very technically feasible right now, and would most certainly be used if the U.S. Administration thought it was in their National Interest (which of course can have a very low required threshold or criteria, and does not require a vote).

Even just calling this "the Weaponization of Space" is somewhat "sanitized". A "U.S. Pre-emptive Nuclear Offence Capability in Space" is more to the point, and hopefully clears up any confusion in public minds. And Canada should not help enable a "U.S. Pre-emptive Nuclear Offence Capability in Space" - we decided long ago not to use and/or support nuclear weapons (although we still do through NATO), and it could be used against us if it is in the U.S. National Interest (eg. if they want our oil, gas, water, etc.). We know they already have an Invasion Plan of Canada sitting on the shelf, should it be necessary in the U.S. National Interest.

Canada needs to build a new relationship with the United States, based on mutual respect rather than intimidation and other characteristics of a Culture of War and Violence. However, this will be near impossible if the U.S. continues its policy of lying to get what it wants. You can not deal with liars safely. Caveat emptor.

Regards,
Bob Stewart,
Director, Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace

See the following new reports posted on our web site:

REPORT OF THIRD ANNUAL CANADIAN PEACE EDUCATION CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: It has taken a bit of time to pull the information together, but it now gives me great pleasure to report to you. Our accomplishments at the conferences certainly exceeded my greatest expectations. You will be pleased to know that our deliberations have given birth to a 'Canadian Culture of Peace Program' - with the mission to advance a Culture of Peace and Non-violence, at home and abroad. You can read more about this in the Summary Statement linked below. On our web site at http://www.peace.ca/CanadianAgenda2004.htm , I am attaching the following Canadian Culture of Peace Program ("CCOPP") Reports for your information:
1. CCOPP Summary Statement (in HTML) (in Microsoft Word) http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPstatement2004.htm
2. CCOPP Initial Action Plan (in HTML) (in Microsoft Word) http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPaction2004.htm
3. CCOPP Leadership & Peace Workshop Report (Nov 15 - 17, 2004) (in HTML) (in Microsoft Word) http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPleadership2004.htm
4. CCOPP Organization Network (Draft) (in HTML) http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPorganization2004.htm
5. CCOPP Mobilizing Peace Resources (Nov 19, 2004) (in HTML) (in Microsoft Word) http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPresources2004.htm
6. CCOPP Open Space Technology Conference Report (Nov 22 - 23, 2004) (in HTML) (in Microsoft Word) http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPost2004.htm

and our amazing, 60 page Youth Day Report (Nov 18, 2004) (in pdf) - [we had 180 students doing an Open Space Technology conference, and they excelled] http://www.peace.ca/Youth%20Peace%20Conference%20-%20Nov18-04.pdf

A great "THANK YOU" to all the participants, peacebuilders and peace educators around the world. Without you, none of this would be possible.

SEASONS GREETING, BEST WISHES FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Questions? contact Bob Stewart at stewartr@peace.ca

Samir Sanad Basta sends ideas as to how to develop strong One-World symbols!

As regards the Asia disaster, yes, it is important to create a momentum to indicate how we are all interdependant and need one another. A "we are ONE movement" where it is pointed out that Moslems, Christians, Buddhists, Hindi's, Jews etc.., all lost their lives there but also helped one another. A symbol needs to be drawn, produced and circulated around the world like the smiley drawing.... Meetings can be organised in Universities & schools... The importance of Early Warning Systems can be linked to Early Warning Systems about people who want to make war & hurt, humiliate others...

Just some ideas. Over to you now..

Happy and Healthy 2005,
Samir

Dear Friends!

As response to my earlier posting (A New Year, 2005!), I received messages that showed that not everybody is aware that a tsunami warning system is sorely missing in the Indian Ocean and that developing precisely such a system is among the important tasks the world community ought to support, at least post-hoc, in order to give equal dignity to lives all around the globe, if not in the past, then in the future.

Japan and the entire Pacific ocean do have a warning system for tsunamis, since the 1960s. I have spent many months in Japan in 2004 and have followed the excellent 24/24 hours warning systems in place there. Earth quakes cannot be predicted, however, what can be predicted, are tsunamis that are caused by sea quakes.

In the case of the current catastrophe, it took one to two hours for the waves to reach the coast lines of Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka. This offered sufficient time for warnings. As far as I learned from the media, the stations in the Pacific Ocean did detect and measure the earth quake near Sumatra and thus knew about the coming waves. As far as I could gather, they indeed tried to warn the affected countries, however, there was no warning system in place there; nobody was available to receive their messages.

In sum, a warning system for tsunamis is not a dream, it works well since decades in the Pacific region, and it has to be built also in the region of the Indian Ocean.

Most warmly!
Evelin

Francisco Gomes de Matos sends a message of solidarity
(please see the message he responds to further down):

That's planetary responsibility, Evelin.
I endorse your warm words wholeHEARTedly.
May 2005 be a year of sharing humankind's sufferings and joys with dignity.

The media spoke of disaster, showing the event as demise, but what has the day after taught us to humanize?

Francisco Gomes de Matos,
Recife, Brazil

This is the message, Francisco is responding to:

Dear Friend!

Today is the first day of 2005.
Our Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies group/network and I would like to wish you a wonderful 2005.
However it is hard to wish us a "wonderful 2005" in the face of the Asia tsunami tragedy.

I often discuss how "big events" can change the mindsets of people. I have organized a "big event" with 20,000 people in 1993 in Hamburg, as a modest attempt to change people's mindsets, see www.humiliationstudies.org/intervention/events.php (please contribute with new ideas!!!) and www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin03.php.

Unfortunately, other "big events," such as 9/11, since they could be ascribed to "enemies," polarized the world and changed the mindset of a number of people in a rather destructive way with respect to world peace. In a global cycle of humiliation perceptions clash; one party's heroism is perceived by the other as humiliation.

However, the Asia quake, as terrible as it is, can hardly be ascribed to "enemies." Perhaps this is the only positive element in it? This catastrophe might become a symbol for the need to care for our world in joint responsibility? How come that wealthy people use these countries as cheap holiday destination, keeping them too poor for having and maintaining sound warning systems? The result is that the locals die, but also the tourists die...
So: this tragedy could perhaps be seen as a "big event" that reminds us all that we are living on one tiny planet, half of which can be affected by a single earthquake, and that we are in it altogether. We could perhaps "use" this catastrophe, to draw attention to our One-World reality!?

I send you and your families my warmest wishes, and hopefully 2005 will offer us all new opportunities!
Looking very much forward to hearing from you again!

Evelin

Dear Friend!

Today is the first day of 2005.
Our Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies group/network and I would like to wish you a wonderful 2005.
However it is hard to wish us a "wonderful 2005" in the face of the Asia tsunami tragedy.

I often discuss how "big events" can change the mindsets of people. I have organized a "big event" with 20,000 people in 1993 in Hamburg, as a modest attempt to change people's mindsets, see www.humiliationstudies.org/intervention/events.php (please contribute with new ideas!!!) and www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin03.php.

Unfortunately, other "big events," such as 9/11, since it could be ascribed to "enemies," polarized the world and changed the mindset of a number of people in a rather destructive way with respect to world peace. In a global cycle of humiliation perceptions clash; one party's heroism is perceived by the other as humiliation.

However, the Asia quake, as terrible as it is, can hardly be ascribed to "enemies." Perhaps this is the only positive element in it? This catastrophe might become a symbol for the need to care for our world in joint responsibility? How come that wealthy people use these countries as cheap holiday destination, keeping them too poor for having and maintaining sound warning systems? The result is that the locals die, but also the tourists die...
So: this tragedy could perhaps be seen as a "big event" that reminds us all that we are living on one tiny planet, half of which can be affected by a single earthquake, and that we are in it altogether. We could perhaps "use" this catastrophe, to draw attention to our One-World reality!?

I send you and your family my warmest wishes, and hopefully 2005 will offer us all new opportunities that can induce hope!

Evelin