Please read here Arie Kruglanski's work. He kindly made four of his texts available for us. See further down:

Kruglanski, Arie W., Raviv, Amiram, Bar-Tal, Daniel, Raviv, Alona, Sharvit, Keren, Ellis, Shmuel, Bar, Ruth, Pierro, Antonio, & Mannetti, Lucia (2005). Says who? : Epistemic Authority Effects in Social Judgment. In Zanna, Mark P. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 37. New York, NY: Academic Press, in press.

Abstract
This chapter features the concept of ascribed epistemic authority (Kruglanski, 1989) offered as a unique perspective on source effects in social judgment. In contrast to prior approaches that viewed the source of communication as external to the self, we assume that both the self and external sources may be assigned different degrees of epistemic authority in different domains, and that this determines how individuals process information, make decisions and undertake actions. The present framework traces the socio-developmental aspects of epistemic authority assignments, and considers individual differences in the distribution of authority assignments across sources. From this perspective, we claim a central role in human judgment to the information’s source, and the assessment of its epistemic authority is seen to constitute an essential preliminary phase in individuals’ approach to information.

Kosic, Ankica, Kruglanski, Arie W., Pierro, Antonio, and Mannetti, Lucia (2004). The Social Cognition of Immigrants' Acculturation: Effects of the Need for Closure and the Reference Group at Entry. In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 796-813.

Abstract
Three studies found support for the notion that immigrants’ acculturation to the host culture is interactively determined by these individuals’ need for cognitive closure (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996) and the “reference group” they forge upon their arrival in the new land. If such reference group is fashioned by close social relations with co-ethnics—the higher the immigrants’ need for closure the weaker their tendency to assimilate to the new culture, and the stronger their tendency to adhere to the culture of origin. By contrast, if the entry “reference group” is fashioned by close relations with members of the host country—the higher their need for closure the stronger their tendency to adapt to the new culture, and the weaker their tendency to maintain the culture of origin. These findings obtained consistently across three immigrant samples in Italy, one Croatian and the two Polish, and across multiple different measures of acculturation.

Erb, Hans-Peter, Kruglanski, Arie W., Chun, Woo Young, Pierro, Antonio, Mannetti, Lucia, and Spiegel, Scott (2003). Searching for Commonalities in Human Judgment: The Parametric Unimodel and its Dual Mode Alternatives. In Stroebe, Wolfgang and Hewstone, Miles (Eds.), European Review of Social Psychology, 14, pp. 1-49. 14 edition. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Abstract
We outline a uniform model of human judgment wherein individuals combine situational information with relevant background knowledge to form conclusions. Several judgmental parameters are identified whose specific intersections determine whether given situational information would affect judgments. Abstraction of features from surface manifestations and focus on underlying commonalities afford theoretical integration across judgmental domains and across processes previously assumed to qualitatively differ. The resulting “unimodel” is juxtaposed conceptually and empirically to popular dual-mode frameworks, and its implications are drawn for a general rethinking of human judgment phenomena.

Kruglanski, Arie W. and Golec, Agnieszka (2005). Individual motivations, the group process and organizational strategies in suicide terrorism. In Meyersson Milgrom, Eva M. (Ed.), Suicide Missions and the Market for Martyrs: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, forthcoming.

The very notion of "suicide terrorism" is strange and terrifying. It is far outside the range of what one would consider as normal human behavior, representing a conjunction of two very extreme events, far removed from civilized, socially sanctioned activities: (1) the deliberate (rather than accidental) and indiscriminate killing of noncombatants including women and children. (2) Taking one's own life in the process—militating against the basic human instinct of personal survival. In response, our first inclination might be to relegate "suicide terrorism" to the realm of psychopathology ; and this is precisely how it was regarded by top experts little more than a decade ago. Ariel Merari-- one of the world's supreme authorities on suicide terrorism, in a 1990 paper approvingly cited Weiss’s opinion that; "personality disintegration (is) the single most important factor in suicide". On that basis, Merari concluded that: "terrorism suicide, like any other suicide, is basically an individual rather than a group phenomenon: it is done by people who wish to die for personal reasons. The terrorist framework simply offers an excuse (rather than the real drive) and the legitimation for carrying it out in a violent way.” (Merari, 1990, p. 206). ...

The Common Ground News Service, CGNews-PiH, March 30, 2005

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you
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UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL ARTICLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR RE-PUBLICATION.

Common Ground News Service- Partners in Humanity

Article #1
Title: An effort to rebuild US-Arab relations
Author: James Zogby
Publication: Middle East Times
Date: March 16, 2005
Demonstrating that there really are some individuals in the West who
are listening to the voices in the Arab world, Zogby summarizes the
CSIS "Advisory Committee on US Policy in the Arab World" report, which
gives a sober assessment of the challenges faced by the US in the
region. Providing insightful and unique recommendations for U.S.
engagement and interaction with the Middle East this report goes
further than the usual "spin" by bravely addressing the real
perceptions and challenges facing the U.S. in this region.

Article #2
Title: Shifts in Muslim opinion possible
Author: Lee H. Hamilton
Publication: Christian Science Monitor
Date: March 21, 2005
"A poll commissioned by the nonprofit Terror Free Tomorrow found the
first substantial shift of public opinion in the Muslim world since the
beginning of the war on terrorism." On this note, Hamilton considers
what caused this shift away from support for terrorism in Indonesia and
what can be done to maintain and extend this trend.

Article #3
Title: Lebanon is the hotbed of a new, liberal Arab awakening.
Author: Massoud A. Derhally
Publication: The Daily Star
Date: March 22, 2005
In anticipation of the expected release of the third UNDP report on the
Arab world, which addresses the pervasive lack of good governance
throughout the region, Derhally considers whether the recent events in
Lebanon are really contributing to any sort of tangible change in UN
development indicators.

Article #4
Title: The Problem with the Dialogue of Civilizations
Author: Sarah Eltantawi
Publication: ~Common Ground Commissioned Article~
Date: December 10, 2004
The eleventh and final article in a series on Muslim Western relations,
Eltantawi's article considers the limits of dialogue that is based on
simplistic and binary notions of identity clashes. In doing so, she
suggests that dialogue has limited value when it avoids controversial
topics such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and fails to consider
complex and evolving identities such as " the American-born woman of
Arab decent...the Anglo-American convert to Islam...the African-American
Muslim...the Pakistani Christian...the agnostic Muslim living in Baghdad."

*********
Article #1
An effort to rebuild US-Arab relations
James Zogby
While the Bush administration and much of the US media paint a rosy
picture of US success in producing "Freedom on the March", from
Afghanistan to Egypt, a more thoughtful assessment of the real problems
facing the US-Arab relationship came last week from a distinguished
group of former US government officials.

The group, convened by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS), released a report, "From Conflict to
Cooperation: Writing a New Chapter in US-Arab Relations". The effort
was chaired by former US secretary of defense William Cohen and former
US ambassador to Morocco Edward Gabriel, and included a distinguished
bipartisan group of former US government officials, academics and
business professionals, all with substantial involvement in the Middle
East. There were three former assistant secretaries of state, a former
Republican national security advisor, a former undersecretary of
defense, as well as a number of US Ambassadors.

Instead of the "spin" used by the administration to describe current US-
Middle East relations, the CSIS "Advisory Committee on US Policy in the
Arab World" begins their report with a sober assessment of the
challenges faced by the US in the region.

"US-Arab relations are at their lowest point in generations. We are
facing unprecedented opposition in the region. The number of Arabs
coming to the United States to study, do business, visit or seek
medical care is plummeting. Fear, anger and frustration between Arabs
and Americans are creating a dangerous trust gap that is growing wider
every day.

Our commitment to reverse these trends is not driven by starry-eyed
idealism, but rather a clear-eyed assessment that broken Arab-US
relations are a serious threat to the long-term security and interests
of both sides."

Critical to reversing this downward trend, the CSIS report states that
the US must take measures to stabilize and leave Iraq and show "active
leadership in forging a comprehensive solution that creates a
democratic, secure, state of Palestine alongside the democratic,
secure, Jewish state of Israel".

But as important as resolving these two issues may be to improving US
standing in the Middle East, the report notes that much more than this
needs to be done.

Based on an evaluation of current US-Middle East initiatives and a
yearlong study tour that involved discussions with leaders, opinion
makers and citizens in nine Arab countries, the CSIS group recommended
a number of constructive programs to reshape US policy toward the
region. Some of these are worth noting.

The report recognizes that "political, economic and social reforms are
essential to long-term stability in the Arab World", but also
recognizes that, for the US to be helpful, administration efforts need
to be better informed and coordinated.

The first set of recommendations is, therefore, directed at this goal.
They propose the establishment of a Presidential Advisory Board on Arab
Growth and Development "to help determine and oversee the right package
of trade, aid, debt relief and other resources necessary to facilitate
long-term improvements in the region".

The report further proposes the establishment of country-by-country
interagency bilateral "task forces" that would include representatives
of relevant US agencies and representatives of the host Arab
governments. The purpose of these bilateral groupings would be
to "create common goals across a wide number of sectors, with future
levels of funding, trade and debt relief dependent on reaching those
benchmarks". While these ideas may seem simple, their importance cannot
be underestimated.

Because personal relationships between the Arab world and the US have
become strained in the post 9/11 era, the report recognizes this as a
serious problem, and, therefore, recommends efforts to dramatically
increase interaction between Americans and Arabs. The study proposes a
commission to remove roadblocks that impede Arab students from coming
to the US and calls for the establishment of an Arab Partnership
Foundation (APF), an independent publicly and privately funded
corporation to "foster education, entrepreneurship and reform among the
next generation of Arab leaders". Among its wide ranging
responsibilities, the APF would be charged with bringing 5,000 Arab
students to the US and would "forge relationships among a cross section
of Arabs and Americans", by organizing "reciprocal visits for
journalists, religious leaders, business leaders and others with common
interests".

In the end, what makes the entire CSIS effort so important is not the
high-level bipartisan composition of its drafters, or the fact that it
did not succumb to the administration's spin "that all is well" with
the US' Mideast policy. Rather, it is that such a prestigious group
developed such a far-reaching set of recommendations based on listening
to the needs articulated by Arab interlocutors.

By engaging in a year-long study, a nine nation listening tour and
recognizing the role that US policy has played in souring Arab
attitudes, the CSIS Advisory Committee has made an important
contribution to helping create a new climate where, as the report
concludes, "a relationship built on common goals and common ground has
the potential to improve the fate of us all".

**Dr. James J. Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute in
Washington, DC. Acknowledgement to Media Monitors Network
Source: Middle East Times
Visit the website at: www.metimes.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********
Article #2
Shifts in Muslim opinion possible
Lee H. Hamilton
(WASHINGTON) In Its final report, the 9/11 commission said that the
United States must prevail over a "radical ideological movement in the
Islamic world." Recent news from Indonesia, the world's most populous
Muslim nation, shows that this can indeed happen.

A poll commissioned by the nonprofit Terror Free Tomorrow found the
first substantial shift of public opinion in the Muslim world since the
beginning of the war on terrorism. More people in Indonesia now favor
American efforts against terrorism than oppose them. In a dramatic
turnaround, support for Osama bin Laden and terrorism has dropped
significantly, while favorable opinion of the US has increased.

The poll, conducted by a leading Indonesian pollster, showed that the
reason for this positive change was the American response to the
tsunami. Its implications are both broad and profound.

First, Al Qaeda and its allies have suffered a major blow. The support
base that empowers global terrorists has declined in the largest Muslim
country. Now, the United States must sustain its relief and
reconstruction efforts in Indonesia in order to prevent the support
base from rebuilding. President Bush should be applauded for proposing
more than $1 billion in critical assistance to Indonesia; Congress
should approve this request quickly.

Second, the poll shows that the size and strength of the global
terrorist support base can dramatically change in a short period of
time. Thus, we must consistently monitor public opinion to see whether
sympathy for anti-American terrorists is growing, shrinking, or
staying the same.

Indeed, the 9/11 commission recommended that the US set "standards for
performance" in the struggle against Islamic terrorism. And the
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires the
president to establish "benchmarks for measuring success" in winning
the "struggle of ideas in the Islamic world." Foreign public opinion
surveys, conducted regularly in every key country, will be essential to
measuring such success in an objective manner. Moreover, these polls
must be provided to the Congress and to the American people to
facilitate accountability. Congress should appropriate sufficient
resources for these surveys, and mandate that the State Department
publish the results in a timely manner.

Finally, and most important, the poll proves that US actions can make a
significant and immediate difference in eroding the support base for
global terrorists. This rebuts the claim that hatred of the United
States is based on some unalterable feature of either the United States
or the Muslim community. As such, we must immediately identify other
steps America can take in each country where global terrorists are
making headway.

We must fight the terrorists with guns and spies, but we must also
fight them with ideas, foreign aid, educational initiatives, open
markets, and vigorous public diplomacy. We must convey to the world's
Muslims that we - and not the terrorists - are on their side, just as
we have demonstrated thus far in the wake of the catastrophic Indian
Ocean tsunami.

This will not be easy, and it cannot succeed if we do not have
mechanisms to understand what the world thinks about us, and how people
are responding to our actions. We should pursue additional research to
provide the empirical data we need to make sound decisions. And we must
pursue a public diplomacy strategy that engages in a dialogue with the
Islamic world, so that we hear their concerns just as we express our
message.

Just as we focus on potentially seismic Middle East developments, we
must also be heartened that the influence of global terrorists is
waning in Indonesia. More hard work is needed to sustain and build on
this success, and to achieve similar results throughout the Muslim
world. The good news is that success is possible.

* Lee Hamilton was vice-chair of the 9/11 commission, and co-chair of
the National Commission on US-Indonesian Relations. He is also
president of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Website: www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
(c) Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights
reserved. Please contact Lawrenced@csps.com for copyright permission.

**********
Article #3
Lebanon is the hotbed of a new, liberal Arab awakening.
Massoud A. Derhally
When I came to Lebanon two weeks ago, I watched with awe, and at times
envy, as the Lebanese took to the streets striving to recapture the
freedom they were robbed of for so long. Their efforts represented to
me an epic struggle against the impotence of the Arab world and a
condemnation of the failings not only of the Lebanese leadership but
that of the Arab world in its entirety.

On my way to a demonstration commemorating the assassination of former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, I saw Egyptians enthusiastically making
their way to Martyrs' Square, where the opposition rallies have been
held, all too eager to participate in solidarity with the Lebanese
people, but also perhaps out of frustration with the status quo at
home.

The winds of change in Lebanon are not necessarily the result of Iraqis
and Palestinians going to the polls, or because of U.S. President
George W. Bush's manifesto of spreading freedom and democracy in the
region. All these variables, while certainly interlinked, are not the
overarching causes for the unfolding events.
Instead, change is in the air because of a thirst to live a democratic
life with dignity, to speak freely, and above all to repudiate the
ominous and abhorrent conditions Arabs have lived under since the fall
of the Ottoman Empire.

In a sense, what is taking place is a new "Arab awakening" that is
different from the one which George Antonius, the historian of Arab
nationalism, wrote about decades ago. He concluded that the Arab
nationalism that emerged from the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century
was influenced by the West. Today, however, the awakening is largely a
response to domestic woes and exigencies, and is sparked by a desire to
say enough is enough to bankrupt regimes.

Freedom in the Middle East has been assailed on several fronts. The
Arab world isn't merely fragile politically, but also economically and
socially. Economic growth in the region has stagnated since the 1980s.
Why is that? Because despite the presence of oil, the region has been
unable to tap adequately into the integrated world economy or attract
foreign direct investment. These are the conclusions of the Arab human
development reports published by the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), and of reports published by the World Economic Forum.

They show that poverty, gender inequality, extra-judicial killings,
arbitrary arrests, increasing unemployment, a deficiency in human
rights, religious extremism, lack of innovation and the implementation
of education curricula that encourage nothing but rote learning is what
the Arab world is all about today.

These documents, which should have galvanized Arab governments to do
more to empower their people, have, instead, largely been ignored.
There is still no conscious drive in the region toward pluralism or
establishing full-fledged democratic systems, where people can credibly
participate in governing themselves. Yes, Arab governments have
implemented bits and pieces of reform of late, but this has been
cosmetic and used to deflect criticism and avoid dealing with the real
issues. Bush is right when he speaks about the need for Arab leaders to
address fundamental deficiencies in their countries.

This month, the UNDP is expected to release its third report on the
Arab world, in which it addresses the pervasive lack of good governance
throughout the region. The dynamics on the ground are changing, but the
impotence that has pervaded the region for so long and continues to
hold development hostage can no longer be attributed to U.S. hegemony
or to Israel. Arab societies are in an evolving tug of war. That's why
what is happening in Lebanon is historic by all proportions. America is
right to encourage the emergence of a strong, democratic, free and
independent Lebanon. But it should leave it to the Lebanese people, who
have thus far exhibited more courage than any of their Arab brethren,
to decide their own future.

Lebanon is today the flowerbed of hope in the Arab world, and has been
and remains the only country in the region displaying the
characteristics of a democracy. If the courageous Lebanese people
succeed in their struggle for self-determination they will make it all
the harder for other autocratic regimes in the region to pursue the
continued subjugation of their own people. What the world is seeing in
Lebanon today is a rude Arab awakening - the coming of a new dawn.

**Massoud Derhally is a former correspondent of Agence France Presse
and is the business and diplomatic editor of a Dubai-based magazine.
The views expressed here are his own. He wrote this commentary for the
Daily Star.
Source: The 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 from the author for publication.

**********
Article #4
The Problem with the Dialogue of Civilizations
Sarah Eltantawi
One byproduct of the widespread "clash of civilizations" discourse
overtaking discussion of US-Islamic/Middle Eastern relations is the
idea that world citizens are either positioning themselves in agreement
with or in opposition to the notion of a colossal clash of values
between two distinct peoples. Peoples, here, are defined by religious
faith and predispositions of thought and attitude based on ethnicity
and geographical location. It is on the basis of this essentially
binary and simplistic understanding of identity that the conflict
between the "Muslim world" and the "West" is understood. It is also
along these lines that much well-meaning dialogue is based.

This model of engagement is inherently limited. For western Muslims
born and raised in the United States, for example, harsh binaries of
fixed identities do not resonate. For what is to be made of the
American-born woman of Arab decent? The Anglo-American convert to
Islam? The African-American Muslim? The Pakistani Christian? The
agnostic Muslim living in Baghdad? And so on.

Meta-narratives describing a clash between "the Muslims" and "the West"
have certainly been useful for pundits and politicians wishing, for
various reasons, to frame the very complex state of today's
international affairs in 30-second sound bytes which often replace the
West with the word "good" and the Muslim world with the word "evil."
But for those of us living with increasing discomfort in an
increasingly polarized world, it is becoming ever more imperative that
we move beyond these caricatures.

First, it's important for dialogue partners to understand the material
basis of this conflict.
Serious observers of the root causes that fuel recruits for Middle East-
based terrorism concur that the political problems are rooted largely
in 1) the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and 2) dictatorships in the
Muslim world, and the support that has been given to them now and in
the past by the United States. To state this another way, if these two
problems were solved, beginning with the first, there would be a
measurable reduction in rancor and violence between the two parties in
question. At the same time, terrorism is a terrifying, immoral
methodology whose horrors must also be fully understood.

Unfortunately, in the United States today, these first two points of
contention continue to be relegated to a "problems that can not be
named" status in public discourse, the open secret fueling much of this
conflict. The unnamable status of these conflicts has perpetuated
massive confusion and misinformation in the United States about the
grievances, concerns and worries of our interlocutors in the Middle
East.

Also underlying the problem is a profound misunderstanding between the
so-called Muslim world and the West at the level of culture. Here,
there seems to be two basic problems:

On the "western" side, what is needed is a realization that concepts
like freedom, justice, a decent standard of living, safety for
children, and a good life are not the exclusive domain or desire of the
West. For too long, many in the West have been deluding themselves
with absurdist notions that "Muslims," "Arabs," or those in the "Middle
East" are simply not interested in such lofty concepts or do not have
such basic human needs. This attitude is only possible through
dehumanizing the other, a perennial problem that must be addressed as a
prerequisite to conducting all other work.

Seizing on what they know is this bigoted strain in American culture,
neo-conservative pundits have been making the very argument I just made-
it's racist to assume Arabs don't want to be free -- to justify
aggressive military expeditions in the region. Hence, the sane middle
ground must be understood and supported - Arabs, Muslims, those in the
Middle East, like people around the world, want freedom - but, these
same people have their own histories and, therefore, their own
methodologies for attaining freedom. Arabs and Muslims need neither
arrogant dismissal of their concerns nor aggressive, unpopular military
adventures to address them, but support for indigenous solutions
emerging from within their own contexts.

On the "Muslim" or "Middle Eastern" side, instances of freedom in the
West, such as the struggle for women's rights, or the political freedom
found through American democracy, should not be discredited simply
because these advances have either been developed or are most widely
practiced in "the West." For too long, words like "gender equality"
or "democracy" have been blithely dismissed, simply because such
concepts have been developed and/or practiced in the West. This
attitude is the medieval equivalent of the West rejecting algebra
because it is "Arab." There are, of course, historical reasons for
such distrust - chief among them the legacy of colonialism, in which
foreign ideas were used to prove the native inferior, as a cover for
violence and economic exploitation. Yet the baby still can not be
thrown out with the bath water when it comes to the principles of
freedom and equality informing the movements themselves.

Dialogue is also only useful when both parties are truly committed to
listening to the problems and grievances of the other. After
listening, it then becomes important to exercise empathy - an emotion
that can only be called upon when there is an assumption of sameness
and common humanity among the parties. We must strive to develop
methodologies of engagement and utilize terms of reference that are non-
exclusive. Herein lies the problem with the dialogue of civilizations
alternative: it assumes that we can speak based on the same relatively
crude understandings of identity outlined by Huntington-strictly along
religious or ethnic lines. Importantly, however, this is not to say
that the solution is the opposite extreme, or exclusivist secularism,
in which no religious perspective is allowed.

A solution is dialogue based first on knowledge of facts of the
material problems of war, occupation, and terrorism that are fueling
this problem. Dialogues that avoid these issues have limited value, as
these material concerns are the basis of the conflict. Recognizing our
common humanity and concomitant basic needs and desires as human
beings, we must work on exercising empathy for the grievances of all
sides of the conflict. This methodology and understanding of people is
simultaneously more pragmatic and simpler than attempting a meta-
dialogue between generalized symbols of religion or culture -
called "civilization," in which people and their needs tend to get lost.

Source: Common Ground News
Visit the website at: www.sfcg.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication.

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Herbert C. Kelman Seminar, April 4, 2005
Message from Donna Hicks:

Greetings,
The Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution welcomes you to attend a panel discussion on Monday, April 4, 2005. The title of the panel is "A Report on the Madrid Conference on Terrorism, Democracy and Security." The speakers are Tim Phillips, Club of Madrid, Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice, JFK School of Government, and Theodore Piccone, Director, The Democracy Coalition Project.

The seminar will be held in the Bowie Vernon Room (second floor, room 228) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA from 4-6 PM.

We hope to see you there.
Donna Hicks
Chair
--
Donna Hicks
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Email: dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu
Web site: http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu

Gandhi Sites India Tour 2005,
message from Dr. Shall Sinha:

I am attaching herewith a Tentative Itinerary (below) for the Gandhi Sites India Tour 2005, starting from Canada on Dec. 23, 2005 and commencing the Tour from Mumbai, then traveling to Pune and Gujarat (Gandhi home State, including his birth place, schooling and first Ashram in India. From there we would go to Wardha, in central India where Gandhi stayed after the Salt March. Before reaching Delhi I am suggesting that we stop for a day in Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We can complete a quick tour in Delhi by Jan. 4, after which I am offering 4 Options namely,

(1) Those who are pressed with time may return immediately, reaching Canada by Thursday, Jan. 5,
(2) those who cannot afford more time but wish to attend the Jaipur Conference (see below) may attend the Conference and then fly back reaching Canada on Sunday, Jan. 8, (3) those who are not interested in the Conference but would also like to see the site of Jallianwala massacre can visit Amritsar and then return reaching Canada on Saturday, Jan. 7, and
(4) those who have some time-flexibility, may attend the Conference and then take a 4-day tour of Rajasthan, followed by a visit to Ameritsar and then reuturing to Canada by Saturday, Jan. 14.

I have tried to look into Train Schedules and have marked the departure and arrival times on the Itinerary. Some of these may change a bit. I am also inquiring about the availability and rates of some vehicles, as well as possible places of stay. Based on my current information, I have presented an approximate Cost Estimate. Please also note that the period from middle of December to approximately 6th of January is a high season for airfares (they increase by approximately $200. compared to the fares in the beginning of December. The cost estimates are based on a group of 12 persons.

On my web page I have posted a slideshow that includes most of what we would cover in the Tour. The size of that file is 1.3M and therefore may not be easy for everyone to download. I can work a photo gallery that would be much smaller in size. But it will take me a few days to do that. The address of the Slideshow is
www.ssinha.com/gandhisitestour/GandhiSitesIndiaTour2005.ppt . I have also posted a word document which provides some description of the relevance of most of the sites covered in the Tour. Its address is www.ssinha.com/gandhisitestour/GandhiSitesIndiaTour2005.doc .

Recently in London, I (and Pramila) had the special honor of spending one night in the same room in which Gandhi had stayed for 12 weeks in 1931, when he had come to attend the Second Round Table Conference. It was quite a sensational feeling. I have similar feelings whenever I visit the Birla House (New Delhi) and look at the imprints of Gandhi's last footsteps. I am hoping that after visiting the Gandhi Sites the Group members will experience a similar feeling, and that will definitely make a significant impact on their lives (in terms of their faith in Nonviolence and Peace).

The itinerary may undergo some refinement even after our arrival in India - depending upon the conditions and convenience. It will be up to the members to approve (ratify) it. I have tried to provide allowances for 'connecting times' and 'rest periods'. But my perspective is different from that of some other person. Since travel time in India is much longer than the same here (for the same distance), and since we would have to depend on the schedules of the trains etc., we would have to compromise between 'the extent of the sightseeing' and 'the rest periods'. For example, notice that I have included a Full Day Sightseeing of Delhi (which runs from 9 to 5) on Jan. 4, and then take the 6 p.m. train to reach Jaipur at 11:50 p.m. - so as to attend the Jaipur Conference Jan. 5- 7. If this appears to be too tight then we may replace the 'Full Day Delhi Sightseeing' by 'Half Day Delhi Sightseeing' and take an afternoon train to reach Jaipur early in the evening.

Together in Peace,
Shall
Dr. Shall Sinha
Professional Presenter of
Gandhi's Messages in Gandhi's Character
And the Researcher and Compiler of
Words of Wisdom from Mahatma Gandhi
Email: shall@ssinha.com
Website: www.ssinha.com
Tel. 780 486 1356

Search for Common Ground, Spring 2005 Newsletter:

Dear Friend,

AWARDS. On March 17th at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, we presented the 2005 Common Ground Awards to pay tribute to outstanding achievement in conflict transformation. It was an extraordinary evening. Muhammad Ali accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award, which had gone previously to Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu. Muhammad was hailed as both a peacemaker and as a man of courage in the face of serious illness. The crowd was especially moved by his interaction with two gang leaders from Prince George's County, Maryland, Hank Johnson and Dominic Taylor. "It was an unlikely meeting in an unlikely place, made possible by the most improbable of circumstances," reported the Washington Post. At great personal risk, Hank and Dominic had made peace between their rival crews, and for this they received our Community Peacebuilding Award. Muhammad had long been their idol, so they were thrilled, not only to be honored with him, but to present him with his Award. Indeed, they illustrate one of our main themes: namely that all the awardees - whether the Champ or gang chiefs or Cabinet members - are common grounders who work in different ways toward the same goal of bringing people together. Here is a list of the other winners:

- Film: John Boorman - for In My Country
A movie about the South African Truth and Reconciliation process, starring Juliette Binoche and Samuel L. Jackson
- Bipartisan Cooperation: Henry Cisneros & Jack Kemp
Former US Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development- for their shared vision of a national policy to promote home ownership in the United States
- International Peacekeeping: Ambassador John McDonald
For an inspiring, 40 year career as a Track I and Track II diplomat
- International Understanding: Seth Green of Americans for Informed Democracy & Nikki Stern of Families of September 11
For their collaboration on the Hope not Hate series of town meetings and satellite TV dialogues to build understanding between the United States and the Islamic world
Education: Adina Shapiro & Ghassan Abdullah
Co-directors of the Middle East Children's Association (MECA) - for their joint work to achieve tolerance and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians

ELECTIONS. As an organization, we practice societal conflict transformation. To this end, we are constantly looking for new ways to have an impact across entire countries. Until recent years, we had never been involved in election monitoring. Then in 2002, we created the Independent Radio Network in Sierra Leone, linking four local radio stations and using scores of young people as reporters and monitors. Many were ex-child soldiers. We re-armed them - with pads and cell phones - and sent them out to report results and to provide unprecedented transparency. Next, in the 2004 Sierra Leone local elections, we expanded this Network to nine radio stations and 178 monitors.

BURUNDI. In February, we drew on the lessons learned in Sierra Leone and expanded our monitoring to Burundi, where national elections were being held for the first time in 12 years. We formed a consortium, called Media Synergy, which included five radio stations, the national press agency, and our Studio Ijambo. We provided training to 65 multi-ethnic reporters who covered the elections on motorcycles and in rented cars. Altogether, they produced 16 half-hour news shows that were simulcast by the five stations and webcast to the Burundian diaspora around the world. (USAID provided funding for this radio election monitoring in both Burundi and Sierra Leone.)

MACEDONIA. In 1997, Eran Fraenkel, then our country director in Macedonia, proposed that we produce a children's TV series to promote ethnic understanding. I was not enthusiastic. I wanted to concentrate on adults. Eran, to his credit, persisted. He had a dream that TV drama could shift the consciousness of Macedonian kids. Funding was difficult to find, but finally we pieced together a consortium of the Dutch, Swedish, Swiss, UK, and US governments and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur and C.S. Mott Foundations. Working in partnership with Sesame Workshop for the first year and then doing it ourselves for the next four, we produced a huge hit that 91% of Macedonian children watched. It was named Nashe Maalo (Our Neighborhood).

EVALUATION. Last year, we stopped producing new episodes and commissioned independent evaluators to interview more than 1,200 Macedonian children about the series. Here is what they found:

- Nashe Maalo
has been accepted by members of all ethnic communities and has become part of children's everyday life, while being watched collectively within the family.
- Nashe Maalo was very important as a model for society generally, beyond the mere audience of children.
- Viewers understand the "Nashe Maalo logic" a more open attitude of inclusivity (embracing diversity), pioneered by the show. They see it as positive and as a possible model for thinking about and dealing with conflicts in daily life.

NASHE MAALO LIVES. Obviously, a single TV series, however popular, cannot overcome centuries of ethnic mistrust and hostility. Still, we did something that had never been done before: We created a national model of ethnic tolerance that most Macedonians now recognize as the ideal, even when they do not live up to it. And Nashe Maalo still resonates widely across the country. 20 TV stations are re-running it. The theme song, a former number-one music video, continues to get much play. There is a Nashe Maalo children's theater and a Nashe Maalo puppet theater. Every primary school in the country is receiving videotapes of the series and a Parent-Teacher Guide.

ANGOLA. In 1995, we opened our first radio production studio in Burundi. Subsequently, we launched similar studios in Liberia and Sierra Leone to produce shows that stress tolerance and reconciliation. This January in Angola, we opened our fourth studio, with UK and US funding. It is called Studio N'jango - an N'jango being a traditional place for dialogue. The first production is a magazine series for youth to be aired on both governmental and private radio. The studio also trains local journalists and civil society workers in producing responsible, non-inflammatory programs.

EVALUATION. As in Macedonia, our Angola activities recently went through an independent evaluation. Here are quotes from the key findings:
- In the words of one interviewee, SFCG is contributing to the "de-mining of people's minds," something critically important in the current situation in Angola.
- People who participate in SFCG activities not only change their perspective, they change their attitude and their behavior. This is due to SFCG's excellent methodology and its high staff quality.
- Response from stakeholder interviews shows two great areas of success. The first is SFCG's capacity to bring to the same table participants from all sectors of civil society, government, authorities, political parties, and traditional authorities, national and non-governmental organizations, within a constructive dialogue. The second is the increasing demand for the kind of training and dissemination activities that SFCG provides.

MIDDLE EAST: MEDIA. In recent years, we have carried out a wide range of media activities in the Middle East, including the following:
- We publish the Common Ground News Service in Arabic, Hebrew, and English (with funds from the Dutch, UK, and US governments and Rational Games, Inc.).
- We have just finished producing a multi-part TV documentary series for Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite networks that shows on the human level that peace is possible (funded by the European Commission and the Canadian, Dutch, Finnish, German, and Swedish governments, along with the Sagner Family Fund, Gordon McCormick, and Ravinder Singh).
- With MEND, a Palestinian NGO, we co-produced 52 radio soap opera episodes - and will produce 26 more - with themes of non-violence and conflict resolution (funded by the UK and US governments).
- With the Ma'an Network of Independent Palestinian Stations, we are co-producing a 33-part dramatic TV series (also with UK and US funding).
- With the Ma'an Network, we are co-producing a bi-weekly TV magazine series on human-interest subjects for broadcast across the Palestinian territories (funded by the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative).

MEDIA WORKING GROUP. Since 1994, we have convened Arab, Israeli, Iranian, and Turkish journalists to explore how regional media can help reduce violence. In December, the working group held its seventh meeting in The Hague (with funding from the Dutch government).

I am optimistic now. Something big has changed. We have to make peace the way porcupines make love: very slowly and very carefully. - Israeli TV newsman

We are journalists, not peacemakers, but I believe we can do something to achieve peace by how we do our journalism. - Head of Palestinian TV network

CONCRETE STEPS. The Working Group made the following recommendations, which are being implemented with support from our Jerusalem and Amman offices:

To convene regular meetings both in Jerusalem and internationally
To encourage print and electronic media to produce stories that humanize the conflict
To establish a fund for TV documentary production that promotes humanization
To publish through the Common Ground News Service a series of articles on Enlarging the Window of Opportunity and to commission future series on subjects such as The Costs of Violence and Mutual Cultural and Historical Understanding.

AL JAZEERA TRAINING. Al Jazeera is arguably the most influential broadcaster in the Arab world, so we were pleased to be able to sponsor a five-day training on common ground approaches to media at Al Jazeera headquarters in Qatar. The emphasis was on talk show production, and funding came from the US State Department. Participants were Al Jazeera's top news anchors, directors, and producers. "This is a new and exciting methodology and we hope it is taught to all of Al Jazeera's show hosts and producers," said one participant.

SIERRA LEONE: AWARD. In December, Marie Claire Magazine gave a Women of the World award to Emilia Taylor of our Talking Drum radio studio in Sierra Leone. When Emilia was nine, she was forced to become a child soldier. "They take you, they rape you and treat you like a slave," says Emilia. "But if you try to leave, they kill you." After five years, she could stand no more, and she fled with her son. In the last few years, she has returned to school and also become a reporter for our Golden Kids News. This thrice-weekly radio show discusses war, homelessness, and other issues affecting young people. "We create a forum for African children," she says, "to discuss their hopes and fears and to show other children that they can have a future."

THANK YOU. My colleagues and I feel privileged to be able to carry out our work. We are immensely grateful for the support we receive that makes this possible.

With best wishes,
John Marks
President

Search for Common Ground
1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.: (1-202) 265-4300
Fax: (1-202) 232-6718
E-mail: search@scfg.org
Web: www.sfcg.org

Search for Common Ground
Rue Belliard 205 bte 13
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: (32-2) 736-7262
Fax: (32-2) 732-3033
E-mail: brussels@sfcg.be
Web: www.sfcg.org

Western-Islamist talks counter confrontation trend
Informal meetings aim to reveal common ground on core values

By Rami G. Khouri
Daily Star staff
Friday, March 25, 2005

BEIRUT: While mutual threats and accusations define much of the public interaction between the United States and Hizbullah and Hamas, another kind of interaction under way was manifested most recently in a two-day meeting in Beirut this week.
Smaller groups of American and British experts, including retired former intelligence and other officials, are quietly meeting with Hizbullah, Hamas and other leading Middle Eastern Islamists to probe each other's perceptions, positions and goals. In the process, according to participants in the Beirut gathering, they may be identifying a tantalizing middle ground of democratic reform, where Islamists and the West seem to share core values. One day, they might move toward political processes to give those values life and meaning, judging by some sentiments expressed by participants at these novel meetings.

The informal meetings at a Beirut hotel, organized by the new London-based non-governmental organization Conflicts Forum, brought together a dozen American and British private citizens who remain well connected with government circles and a dozen leading representatives from Hamas, Hizbullah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan's Jamaa Islamiyya, along with a few individuals from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and other Muslim societies. Hamas participants include Moussa Abu Marzouq, Sami Khater and Osama Hamdan, and Hizbullah was represented primarily by Nawaf Mousawi, head of international relations for Hizbullah.

"We launched this effort in order to open communications among groups and societies that are not in touch with one another, aiming to try and shift prevailing Western perceptions on the Islamist movements and what they represent," Conflicts Forum director Alastair Crooke said in an interview here after the meetings.

His professional experience includes most recently a stint as assistant to the European Union's foreign policy chief, and many years with British intelligence agencies.

"Some Western governments can become prisoners of their own rhetoric and cannot break out of the cycle of hostility with Islamist groups, at a moment when many mainstream Islamists are actively involved in political activity, and are very legitimate and often leading groups in their own societies," he added.

The informal dialogue, according to Arab, American and British participants, focused on several broad themes: Muslims' fears of hegemonic American aims in the region, the centrality to other aspects of Islamic-Western relations of resolving the Palestine issue fairly, the importance of achieving truly open and democratic societies in the Arab-Islamic world and the urgency of achieving an honest meeting of minds on the nature and form of democracy in the Arab-Islamic region.

"While the Western participants were keen to find out about Hizbullah's ties to Iran and future policies toward Israel," a Saudi participant said in an interview, "the Islamists themselves seemed more interested in affirming their desire to participate fully in democratic societies in their countries - but on the condition that they could contest political power on an equal footing with others in society. They do not want to be excluded from the political process, as they are now in many countries."

A common theme throughout the discussion, according to participants, was the strategic challenge facing Islamist groups who are demonized by the U.S. and others in the West, but who are often lionized in their own societies and seek to engage in domestic democratic politics.

"The Islamists are very aware of the challenge they face in transforming themselves, now or in the future, from resistance or liberation organizations into political groups, especially Hamas in Palestine," Crooke said.

He added: "Many of us who know these societies think that Western powers are wrong to demonize and isolate Islamists based on misunderstanding their legitimate roles and status in their own societies. The issues of use of violence and accusations of terrorism must be addressed, of course, but front-loading the process by demanding that groups be disarmed before anything else can happen is likely to fail, as has happened in many other countries around the world."

Arab and Western participants repeatedly noted the Islamists' unambiguous emphasis on the importance of elections, constitutionalism, pluralism, democracy and reform in their societies. At the same time, these Islamist groups derive their legitimacy from their status as liberation and resistance groups that challenge American "hegemony," Israeli occupation and homegrown Arab or Asian corruption and abuse of power by local elites supported by the West.

Bridging this important gap is a challenge for Islamists and Western powers alike, but it is becoming increasingly contradictory in cases where Islamists come to power through democratic elections. In Palestine, Pakistan and Lebanon, for example, Islamist parties have won important elections at the local or national level, though they are often boycotted by Washington because of allegations that they engage in terror.

Graham Fuller, a retired Central Intelligence Agency Middle East analyst, and now a respected writer on Middle Eastern and Islamic issues and a participant in the Beirut meetings, noted that the American government and Islamist movements ironically both seem to be pushing for democratic reform in the Middle East, while Arab leaders who are friends of the U.S. seem to be the ones stalling the change.

"It would be an act of great will and self-confidence for the United States to stand by its principles and really push for open, inclusive democracies in this region," he said. "If Islamists legitimately emerge as the main beneficiaries of democratic systems, the priority should be to start integrating Islamists into Parliaments so that they get used to sharing and exercising power. Ultimately they will be held accountable by their own people."

He pointed to Turkey as an important example of the first Islamist government ever to be freely elected by its own citizens in a predominantly Muslim society. Their performance in power should be the criterion by which to judge Islamists in authority.

"In a truly democratic system, anyone in power will have to respond to public opinion pressures and citizens holding them accountable. New ruling parties always mature with time, when they have to make compromises and work with political and economic realities," he said. Conflicts Forum plans to follow up the Beirut meetings with others here and in Pakistan, allowing private citizens in the West and Islamist officials to exchange views and more accurately know each other's real positions and aims. This sort of exercise also identifies middle ground where their values overlap, and, consequently, where their interests might also coincide one day in terms of official policies.

"The mere fact that such meetings take place is important, because it keeps communication channels open between societies and groups that are not speaking with each other very much, at a time when there is widespread concern in both societies about the violent and confrontational direction in which actual events are moving," Crooke said.

"These are not negotiations," he emphasized, "but rather a process of people-to-people engagement. The participants do not come here to legitimize the other side, but to listen and talk, and perhaps anticipate that through better understanding there can result a change in mutual expectations."

Fuller similarly said that such encounters are important because they show where fruitful dialogue can occur among private citizens, so that one day governments might pick up the thread.

The Lebanese political analyst and director of political programs at Hizbullah's Al-Manar Television, Ibrahim Mousawi, who attended part of the meetings, said that the participating Islamists seemed to welcome the gathering as a breakthrough.

"Anything that brings the two sides together for face-to-face meetings is welcomed, because it lets people really know what the other side is thinking," he said.

He added that such encounters help overcome constraints stemming from the fact that Hizbullah, Hamas and other Islamist positions are heavily presented to the West through pro-Israeli eyes, which distort or ignore some of these groups' key positions.

Call for Presentations
International Multidisciplinary Conference

PEACE AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE

August 5th and 6th 2005
Chiang Mai University
Chiang Mai, Thailand

FREE FOR ALL PRESENTERS AND PARTICIPANTS.

Chiang Mai University invites educators, students, activists and
others interested in peace and global studies to submit presentation
proposals. We especially welcome presentations that include
innovative teaching/learning approaches developed on one or more of
the following general themes:

* Education
* Government/policy
* Peace/security
* Environment
* Health
* Global issues
* Gender
* Human rights
* Alternative Education
* Multicultural Issues
* Teaching/learning Issues
* International Relations
* Comparative Studies
* Ethnic Minorities

Session formats include, but are not limited to; panel discussions,
workshops, research presentations, slide/video shows, and poster
sessions. We encourage submissions which indicate progressive
presentations methods. Also, please be aware that all presentation
must be in English.

We propose some basic formats;
#1 Panels 2 hours in length, whereby one of the sub themes is used
with a 5-person moderated panel discussion. Each panelist will speak
briefly, allowing maximum time for interactive discussion.
#2 Concurrent Sessions 1 hour in length whereby individual or joint
presentations are encouraged.
#3 Poster Presentation The display will be left up for the duration
of the conference. The author will be asked to be present for at
least a few hours during the conference to answer questions.

To be considered for this meeting, please submit the following:
1. Name(s), postal address(es), telephone/fax number and email
addresses
2. Title of presentation (under 15 English words)
3. Summary of presentation (50 English words)
4. Presentation type - workshop, lecture with Q&A, demonstration,
panel, poster session or alternative
5. Preferred length of the session - part of a 5-person 2-hour panel,
1-hour concurrent session or a poster display
6. Preferred presentation day Friday August 5th or Saturday August
6th
7. Presentation needs - OHP, VCR, DVD, Computer and LCD projector
etc...

All submissions should be sent by e-mail to:
cmu_peace_conference@yahoo.com
We prefer that you send submissions as text in the body of the email or attachments in Microsoft Word.

Deadline for submissions: May 6th , 2005
Notification of Decisions: Will be notify by email by May 27th, 2005

Detailed conference information in English can be found on our
website:
http://www.soc.cmu.ac.th/~peace48/index.html

NOTE: This conference is primarily self-supporting. Therefore, we ask
that you submit a proposal only if you will be able to participate in
the conference. There is no registration and/or participation fee for
all attendees. However, expected participants must be able to cover
their own travel and lodging expenses. Estimated lodging is from Baht
400 ($10 USD) and up. Chiang Mai University will provide lunch and
coffee breaks during the conference. In cases of financial hardship,
the Peace as a Global Language conference may be able to provide very
limited financial support or accommodations to support select
presenters.

From The Canadian Culture Peace Program:

We are forwarding an invitation to civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to provide information to the United Nation's Secretary-General on the observance of the Decade and the activities undertaken to promote a culture of peace and non-violence. (see below)

Please kindly distribute this information to others you feel may want to provide input.

Renee Vaugeois
Canadian Culture of Peace - National Coordinator for Mid-Decade Report

As many of you may well know, 2005 marks the halfway mark for the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). A report to the General Assembly in November of 2005 will be presented by Secretary General Kofi Annan that will highlight progress towards creating a culture of peace, as well as the obstacles and opportunities in doing so. This report will seek to provide the General Assembly with a viewpoint of what civil society is doing around the globe to promote peace and how it can be improved/increased over the remainder of the decade and further on into the future. For particular details of this invitation to submit a civil society report to the UN, see UN General Assembly document A/55/47, particularly paragraphs 11 to 13:
11. [the United Nations General Assembly] Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session in 2005 a report on the observance of the Decade at its mid-point and on the implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action, taking into account the views of Member States and in consultation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other relevant bodies of the United Nations system;
12. Invites civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to provide information to the Secretary-General on the observance of the Decade and the activities undertaken to promote a culture of peace and non-violence;
13. Decides to devote one day of plenary meetings at its sixtieth session to consideration of the item, including a review of the progress made in the implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action, as well as the observance of the Decade at its mid-point, with the participation of all relevant actors, as appropriate;)
It is with this report in mind that I am writing in order to invite you to participate and contribute to this vital report from civil society and to make Canada’s participation and voice heard around the world. The information received from you (deadline of April 2005) will be included in the report to the UN Secretary General and will then figure into the plenary session of the UN General Assembly devoted to the culture of peace in Fall 2005. More detailed information on the Culture of Peace is provided following this email however input is critically needed from civil society involved in the promotion of peace and non-violence (direct and indirect) at the individual, family, community, national, regional and world levels via education; sustainable economic and social development; human rights; equality of gender; democracy; understanding, tolerance and solidarity; freedom and free flow of information; and international peace and security.

A user-friendly website database has been established for civil society organizations to go online and add their contribution. This is a unique opportunity to celebrate your contributions as well as to assess the progress (or lack thereof) toward a culture of peace in the world today. It also presents a genuine occasion to have your voice heard at the United Nations and around the world. The database will be available for viewing as well, which provides potential networking opportunities. The Fundación Cultura de Paz has taken the leadership role in preparing this report and has noted that following the presentation to the General Assembly, they will be potentially seeking out individuals for publications. Volumes will be created to make civil society’s efforts known as well as to highlight their progress and challenges.
Input from Civil Society for this report is essential; it will ensure that the international community is aware of activities relating to creating a culture of peace and it will also strengthen the global movement for a culture of peace. If you wish to enter information as the representative of an organization, please click here to go to a registration page for your organization. (http://decade-culture-of-peace.org/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=;act=Reg;CODE=00 )
For further information or require any assistance, please e-mail: cultureofpeacereport@yahoo.ca and we will assist in every way possible. Also, please feel free to circulate this notice widely as this is a big task to get all Canadian groups to provide input and become aware of the report! Information received by April 30, 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. For more information, please, visit: http://decade-culture-of-peace.org.

Warm Regards,
Renee Vaugeois
Canadian Culture of Peace Program
(for more information on this new network visit http://www.peace.ca/canadiancultureofpeaceprogram.htm - our own website is yet to be developed, but the history is in these pages!)

Home Phone: (780) 472-1135
Email: rjvarney@telus.net

As defined by the United Nations, the Culture of Peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13 : Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243, Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace). For peace and non-violence to prevail, we need to:
- foster a culture of peace through education by revising the educational curricula to promote qualitative values, attitudes and behaviours of a culture of peace, including peaceful conflict-resolution, dialogue, consensus-building and active non-violence. Such an educational approach should be geared also to:
- promote sustainable economic and social development by reducing economic and social inequalities, by eradicating poverty and by assuring sustainable food security , social justice, durable solutions to debt problems, empowerment of women, special measures for groups with special needs, environmental sustainability…
- promote respect for all human rights: human rights and a culture of peace are complementary: whenever war and violence dominate, there is no possibility to ensure human rights; at the same time, without human rights, in all their dimensions, there can be no culture of peace...
- ensure equality between women and men through full participation of women in economic, social and political decision-making, elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women, support and assistance to women in need,…
- foster democratic participation indispensable foundations for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security are democratic principles, practices and participation in all sectors of society, a transparent and accountable governance and administration, the combat against terrorism, organized crime, corruption, illicit drugs and money laundering…
- advance understanding, tolerance and solidarity to abolish war and violent conflicts we need to transcend and overcome enemy images with understanding, tolerance and solidarity among all peoples and cultures. Learning from our differences, through dialogue and the exchange of information, is an enriching process…
- support participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge: freedom of information and communication and the sharing of information and knowledge are indispensable for a culture of peace. However, measures need to be taken to address the issue of violence in the media, including new information and communication technologies…
- promote international peace and security: the gains in human security and disarmament in recent years, including nuclear weapons treaties and the treaty banning land mines, should encourage us to increase our efforts in negotiation of peaceful settlements, elimination of production and traffic of arms and weapons, humanitarian solutions in conflict situations, post-conflict initiatives…

LIFE SUPPORTING SYSTEMS: an ING-poem

by Francisco Gomes de Matos, applied peace linguist, Recife, Brazil

ART is life-enchanting
COMMUNITY is life-sharing
CULTURE is life-diversifying
EDUCATION is life-developing
FAITH is life-building
FOOD is life-supplying
FREEDOM is life-liberating
GOVERNMENT is life-managing
HUMAN RIGHTS is life-equalizing
KINDNESS is life-dignifying
LANGUAGE is life-communicating
LAW is life-protecting
LITERACY is life-assessing
LITERATURE is life-expanding
LOVE is life-creating
NATURE is life-energizing
PEACE is life-humanizing
PHILOSOPHY is life-probing
PSYCHOLOGY is life-becoming
RELIGION is life-serving
SCIENCE is life-transforming
TRAVEL is life-enriching
UNDERSTANDING is life-edifying
UNION is life-strengthening
WATER is life-sustaining
Long live life-supporting systems !

Please read the following article, presenting important new research on humiliation:

Jennifer S. Goldman, Peter T. Coleman

How Humiliation Fuels Intractable Conflict: The Effects of Emotional Roles on Recall and Reactions to Conflictual Encounters,

Work in progress, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2005.

Please read a new article by Adair Linn Nagata:

Communicating across differences: A domestic case. Rikkyo Intercultural Communication Review, (3) 41-52, 2005

GLOBAL TERROR. A DEBATE

8 April 2005

Aston University, Birmingham
Main Building, Room 204

Dear Colleague,

The Institute for the Study of Language and Society, Aston University and The Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Warwick are organising a debate on Global Terror, which will take place on the 8th April 2005 at Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom. The aim of this debate is to explore current media representations of terror and the role of translation in shaping news production in global news organisations.

Invited speakers include Dr. Ali Chokry (BBC Monitoring Service, Western European coverage), Dr. Ali Shahabi (BBC Monitoring Service, Arabic Coverage), and Mr. Hugh Miles (author of the recent book Al-Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World).

Please, find further down a programme of the event. For more information, write to Christina Schäffner (c.schaeffner@aston.ac.uk), or Alberto Orengo (a.orengo@warwick.ac.uk), or visit our webpage, where you can download a registration form (registration fee is £10 and includes lunch and coffee):
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ctccs/research/tgn/events/gt/

In addition, please find further down a call for papers for an international one-day conference on ‘Translating Terror: Globalisation and the New Planetary Wars’, which will take place on 11 November 2005 at the University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom. This conference is organised by the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies and The Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick.

These events are organised in the context of the AHRB funded project Translation in Global News, which investigates the role of translation in global media and promotes interdisciplinary research in this area. For more information on the project, please visit our website:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ctccs/research/tgn/

Programme 8 April 2005

10.30-11.00 Arrival and coffee

11.00-11.30 Welcome and introduction
Prof. Susan Bassnett

11.30-13.00 Reporting global terror: editorial and translation challenges
Speakers:
Dr. Ali Chokri, BBC Monitoring Service, Western European coverage
Dr. Ali Al Shahabi, BBC Monitoring Service, Arabic coverage
Mr. Hugh Miles, freelance journalist and writer
Chair: Prof. Susan Bassnett

13.00-14.00 Lunch

14.00-16.00 Open forum: general debate and short presentations
Chair: Dr. Christina Schäffner

TRANSLATING TERROR: GLOBALISATION AND THE NEW PLANETARY WARS

University of Warwick, UK
11th November 2005

CALL FOR PAPERS
A one day international conference organised by the Centre for Translation and Contemporary Cultural Studies and the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick, UK.

Uncertainty, insecurity and conflict are constitutive features of globalisation. 9/11 has been viewed as the symbolic unleashing of a new Age of Terror, in which traditional conceptions of national security are shattered and a new kind of global vulnerability emerges. This interdisciplinary conference aims to explore the relationship between globalisation and political violence, to analyse the way that terror has been represented through the global media and to highlight the importance of translation in shaping current discourses on terror.

Panels are organised around two main topics: globalisation and political violence, and language and translation in media discourses on terror.

Globalisation and political violence
The events of September 11 revealed that the conditions enabling global communication, instantaneous real-time news coverage and global financial markets are the same that make it possible for people to inflict novel and highly destructive forms of violence. They also demonstrated that as a set of discourses, practices and technologies, globalisation can as readily produce violence as peace and order.

The precise nature of the relationship between globalisation and violence, however, remains largely unstudied. While a great deal of attention has focused on the interface of states and markets, rather little has focused on the changing character and intensity of violence under conditions of globalisation. Hence, the necessity for projects which focus on the issue of political violence in relation to globalisation, and the need to study these issue in relation to multidisciplinary fields of politics, international relations, international political economy, economics, criminology, media studies, and social anthropology.

This panel reports the results of just such a project. In the summer of 2004, the CSGR and the Institute for the Study of Global Movements at Monash University held a workshop on the theme of globalisation and political violence. The panel will report the workshop’s findings and the soon to be published book that has emerged from the overall project. Themes covered in the project include: theorising the interrelationship between globalisation and violence; the global economy and conflict; globalisation and violence against refugees; anti-globalisation protests; the changing nature of terrorism and globalisation; globalisation and environmental destruction; globalisation and the depiction of violence in the media; globalisation, state failure and intervention; globalisation and legal responses to WMD proliferation; and globalisation and military force.

Papers are invited for the following panel:
Language and translation in media discourses on terror
Global battles are fought with images and words as well as with weapons, and the media have acquired an important role in providing narratives to audiences that can no longer be separated along traditional spatial lines. The global reach of media organisations such as CNN, BBC World and al-Jazeera has increased the visibility of translation, which is pivotal in the global circulation of messages and the construction of facts.

This panel focuses on the role of language and translation in the production of media discourses on terror, including the portrayal of global acts of terror, the representation of the US ‘war on terrorism’ and the worldwide diffusion and translation of the words and messages of figures like Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. It also seeks to address questions related to the role of translation in the constitution of a global public sphere and as a necessary means for cross-cultural dialogue in ‘thinking past terror’ (Buck-Morss). Critical contributions to any of these or other related issues from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives are welcomed.

Deadline for submitting abstracts: 31 May 2005
Notification of acceptance: 30 June 2005

Please note the following guidelines in submitting proposals for papers:
• Abstracts should be around 300 words.
• Abstracts should include author's name, affiliation and full contact details (email, telephone, fax, and postal address).
• Abstracts should be submitted electronically (in a Word format) to:
e.bielsa@warwick.ac.uk

Length of papers: 20 minutes. Papers will be considered for online publication in the Working Papers Series of the CSGR.

This event is organised as part of an ongoing research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board of the United Kingdom on Translation in Global News. For further information on the project please visit:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ctccs/research/tgn

For further information on the organising institutions:
CTCCS: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ctccs
CSGR: www.csgr.org

Organising Committee:
CTCCS: Dr. Esperança Bielsa
CSGR: Dr. Chris Hughes

Please see further down the Foreword of the new book edited by Stephanie Heuer, entitled
I Feel Like Nobody When …
I Feel Like Somebody When …

Foreword

There are only 50 sentences in this little book. Read them and recognize yourself. You could have written them. Anyone could. Chances are, you spoke them to yourself as a child. Chances are, they still apply. We never get used to the sting of being “nobodied.” At no age do we outgrow the desire to feel we’re somebody.

All that had to be done to elicit these nuggets of innocent wisdom was for a wise and caring teacher to write two short phrases on the board:

“I feel like a nobody when …”
“I feel like a somebody when … ”

In the fall of 2004, Stephanie Heuer did just that, and asked her students to complete them if they cared to. This poignant, uplifting book is the result. The words are all those of her second to fourth graders. Timeless and universal, they speak for millions of children everywhere.

Is showing others how they make us feel enough to persuade them to stop hurting us? Usually not. But it is a vital first step. As we realize that we are all hurt in the same ways, and that we are all made happy in the same ways, we do change.

Yes, education and institution-building are also required to translate the personal into the political. But knowing how others feel, and recognizing ourselves in them, is half the battle.

Ms. Heuer and her students have shown us what we must do to make our families and our schools places where human dignity is secure.

Now that we know, how can we not do this?

Robert W. Fuller
Berkeley, CA
January 2005
[Robert W. Fuller taught at Columbia University before becoming president of Oberlin College. He is the author of “Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank.”]

Quotes

Please see here a few of the quotes from Stephanie Heuer's book (please keep in mind this book is marketed to 2nd-4 graders, and was written by that age group):

I feel like nobody most of the time. My dad isn't here anymore.
I feel like somebody when my dad come back to visit. We get to play ball.

I feel like nobody when I am ignored.
I feel like somebody when I get a big hug.

I feel like nobody because I have no friends and people don't play with me.
I feel like somebody when my teacher calls on me when I raise my hand in class.

I feel like nobody when I am me.
I feel like somebody when I am you.

Please read this message from Paul Stokes:

March the 21st 2005

Dear Metaphorum members and friends:

We are very pleased to re-confirm that the next Metaphorum Conference, "Designing Governance" is happening in Dublin, May 5th/6th 2005.

We have already got enough expressions of interest from enough participants to go ahead with the event. For those who have expressed interest in attending, last date for submission of abstracts is April the 1st. Full papers to be submitted on the 30th April. Please send both abstracts and papers to Dr P. Stokes.

For those of you who are still considering joining us, all the information on the general program accommodation options and fees is available at the Metaphorum web page (www.metaphorum.org). Please contact Dr Paul Stokes for confirmation of attendance or for help with bookings or information on the Conference.

Even if the Conference is going to be focus on Governance, we'll be glad to accept contributions in related issues. Once more we want to progress previous conversations about using Stafford Beer’s work to improve governance and we are please to see distinct and creative thoughts and experiences.

In a few weeks, we'll publish a more detailed program, once we have final confirmations from most participants.

Looking forward to see you all there

A Espinosa/ P Stokes/ A Moscardini

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

CALL FOR ITEMS

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.

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

Dear World Movement Participants:

The next issue of DemocracyNews will go out on April 6, 2005. In order to make DemocracyNews as useful as possible, we ask you to send us any items related to democracy work that you think would be of interest to others.

The next deadline for submitting items is ** March 31** Please send items to: world@ned.org.

You are encouraged to submit items under any area of democracy work. We welcome items announcing publications, upcoming events, reports on research, new Web sites, and other information, and we are most interested in posting requests for partnerships between organizations on collaborative projects, brief descriptions of collaborative projects already underway or completed, and ideas for new initiatives in which others may be interested. We hope DemocracyNews will be a source not only for information about participants' activities, but also for new ideas about strategies to advance democracy.

Please share this message with your colleagues.

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

To subscribe send an email to subscribe-democracynews@lyris.ned.org.
If you do not have access to the Web and would like to access the materials mentioned above, please contact us by e-mail (world@ned.org) or fax (202-293-0755).

DemocracyNews is an electronic mailing list moderated by the National Endowment for Democracy as the Secretariat of the World Movement for Democracy. The material presented in DemocracyNews is intended for information purposes only.

Message from Rais Neza Boneza, Transcend Africa:

Dear Friends and Colleague

I am honoured to announce the publication of my new poetry collection dedicated to peace and love. "Black Esmeralds" log on to http://www.cyberwit.net/rais.htm I hope you will enjoy it. Aksanti!

Black Emeralds
Author: Rais Neza Boneza Binding: Hardback (pp:) ISBN: 81-8253-034-2 Availability: In Stock (Ships within 1 to 2 days) Publisher: Cyberwit.net Pub. Date: 2005 Condition: New
Description: Rais Neza Boneza born the 29.07.1979 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Currently, he lives in Exile in Norway. Artist, writer, poet and peace activist; Rais Boneza's book is a magnificent tribute to human dignity and solidarity. The author is able to keep a sense of hopefulness while conveying the inner turmoil experienced by a human in exile fleeing the horrors of war. Being in exile, he recalls his memory and dreams of hope, love and passion while yet the world still in torment. Most poems present a successful mixture of the universal and the particular, and as a result most readers will be able to identify with the main character as he goes through his search for freedom and wholeness. His writing has been published in different magazines worldwide. His publication include:
- Nomad a refugee poet, cookcommunication USA 2003
- Peace by Africans' peaceful means, proteapublishing USA 2004

Rais Neza Boneza
Nandi
I have reached my destination, and I continue to write. My quill seems to pour its ink onto the banks of the Tanganyika Lake. The sacred place to which - from the other side of the border - I confided my boredom and worries when I was younger. But always hence a long my way.

How have I arrived at the kraal of the oldest wisdom, Bashingatahe ?

These legendary characters armed with virtues, keepers of the tradition of tolerance; as I’ve been told – this is also a story, or yet another imagining. But I am as often inspired and consoled by the lake; we always went there together. We are from the lake, she and I.

She who freed me every morning from the prison of the subconscious that shrouded me whenever languid sleep appeared on the horizon. She writes too. She writes verses in the sand on the beach, or draws figures in the water on the lake. We are from the lake, she and I .

We are very close because we had the lakes in common, our nuptial bed. We are united, almost intimate, and love had never been so noble. She and I together in the lake that nourishes our desires, passion and freedom.

Nandi belongs to the lake, a beauty that surpassed that of the Muses. And in her eyes, as on the shores of the lake, I found my freedom.

- Nandi has fallen asleep, and I watch over her-

Rais Neza Boneza
Transcend Africa
Director T:AP Refugees Project

Additions to Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace web site March 19, 2005

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:

April 11, 2005 - The Peace Company is now offering a 6-week online course in the Fundamentals of Peacebuilding, beginning on April 11. This is an entryway for those of you who want to step into greater activity as that agent of change. It is suitable both for those just stepping onto the peace path and for those who want to deepen their existing efforts. The course covers the four basic Principles of Peace, the underlying core dynamics of what makes peace possible, and offers a wide variety of personal and group learning experiences that allow you to take these principles into action in your own unique way and individual situation. The course inc! ludes readings, exercises, online discussion, and teleconferencing opportunities (with limited slots for personal coaching as well), to advance your work as a peacebuilder. Click the link below for a full description of the course, and to register directly: Fundamentals of Peacebuilding Online Course http://www.thepeacecompany.com/store/prod_pli_FundamentalsOfPeacebuilding.php or contact Louise Diamond, www.ThePeaceCompany.com, 54 Maple Street, Bristol, VT 05443, 1.888.455.5355; email info@thepeacecompany.com

April 18 – 22, 2005 - Building Democracy, Participation and Peace by Peaceful Means: Strategies and Actions for Social Transformation and Nonviolent Struggle – Learning from and Building Local and Global Movements. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. www.transcend.org In the aftermath of Madrid, September 11th, the war on Afghanistan, the war on Iraq, and the wars of terrorism, non-violent transformations in Ukraine, Georgia and Bolivia, and people’s struggles for social justice, democracy, and human rights in their communities and world-wide, Building Democracy, Participation and Peace by Peaceful Means is a practical, concrete course exploring the dynamics and methods of nonviolent mobilisation and conflict transformation. Building Democracy, Participation and Peace by Peaceful Means is intended as a meeting point and in-depth, intensive training programme for those engaged in nonviolent movements and social struggles for people’s and community rights, democratisation, peace, and social justice, drawing upon the inspiration and lessons learned from people’s movements and struggles around the world over the past 50 years. From the People’s Power movement in the Philippines to the non-violent revolutions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and the overthrow of political apartheid in South Africa to the Living Democracy Movement in India, the Assembly of the Poor in Thailand, the Landless Movement in Brazil, struggles for democracy in Georgia and Ukraine, and the World Social Forum, Building Democracy will draw the lessons and experiences from the history of nonviolence in practice. Ideal for community workers and people working for human rights and struggling against violence in all its forms, Building Democracy will bring together social justice and human rights activists, social workers and organisers, and peace organisations and movements from around the world creating a space for sharing of experiences and training in skills and methods for practice – for local and global struggles – learning from the legacy of non-violent movements from all continents, and weaving together and strengthening a global network of committed social activists and non-violent practitioners. For more information or to register as a participant, please contact: Jasmina Francetic, Training Coordinator: jasmina@patrir.ro . For on-line registration, please visit: www.transcend.org

April 19 - 22, 2005 - Working with Open Space Technology is a four- day, highly experiential workshop that will take you on a deep learning journey. You will learn simple, practical and holistic ways to facilitate meetings using Open Space Technology, to work with the sponsor to achieve maximum benefit from the meetings and to prepare yourself to facilitate. Unity on the Mountain Retreat Center, 21 Rosedene Avenue, Hamilton, ON Canada. For more information: Michelle Cooper RN, MScN, Integral Visions Consulting Inc., 200 Crestview Avenue, Ancaster, Ontario L9G 1E2; 905-648-4633; mcooper@integralvisions.com ; http://www.integralvisions.com

May 5 - 6, 2005 - The Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution will be hosting a symposium on peacebuilding. The symposium's title is Searching for Peace: The Role of the Diaspora in Peacebuilding. The symposium has two geographic focuses, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region. The primary objective of the symposium is to bring the members of the Diaspora, academics, representatives of NGO's and other peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution professionals to discuss the challenges and identify tools that could energize peacebuilding in these two regions. The symposium will be held at Saint Paul University Campus in Ottawa. For further information about the symposium and on how to register please contact Digafie Debalke Phone # (613) 235-5800 E-mail Fax: (613) 235-5801 cicrcoms@ustpaul.ca ; web: www.cicr.icrc.ca

July 24 - 30, 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 – 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

July 29-31, 2005 - "WorldFuture 2005: Foresight, Innovation, and Strategy" will be held in Chicago. Sponsored by the World Future Society. Be sure to register before February 28 to save $150 off the on-site fee! All registrants will receive a complimentary copy of FORESIGHT, INNOVATION, AND STRATEGY, a volume of thought-provoking essays prepared especially for the conference. The volume will also be available for sale after the meeting. LEARN MORE: http://www.wfs.org/2005main.htm ; DOWNLOAD brochure: http://www.wfs.org/WorldFuture2005_January.pdf ; REGISTER NOW: https://www.wfs.org/2005regfrm.htm

September 12-30, 2005 - Certificate in Community-Based Conflict Transformation & Peacebuilding - Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Organised by the Coady International Institute, this 3-week certificate training programme intends to focus on approaches to community-based conflict transformation and peacebuilding. The goal is to enable participants to influence policies that support sustainable peace, justice, human and earth rights, and democratic governance in their societies...
http://www.comminit.com/events_calendar/2005-events/events-3325.html

September 25 to December 17, 2005 - INVITATION TO STUDY PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION at the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), Stadtschlaining, Austria Website www.aspr.ac.at, Email epu@epu.ac.at, Tel +43-3355-2498-515. TOPICS INCLUDE: Introduction to Peace Studies, Cross-Cultural Communication, Peaceful Conflict Transformation, Human Rights, Governance, Participation, the Global Economy, Peacebuilding and Development, Demilitarization, Nonviolence, Security, United Nations Reform, Mediation, Peace Education, Peace and the Media, Reconciliation after Violence, Peace and Deep Culture. If you have further questions, please contact Anita Flasch, EPU Secretary , Tel +43-3355-2498-515 (mornings).

September 28 - October 1, 2005 - Second Annual Conference on Conflict Resolution Education - What Works! Innovations in Conflict Resolution Education: Early Childhood to Higher Education, Columbus, Ohio USA will bring together college and university faculty, K-12 teachers and counselors, high school and college students, Conflict Resolution practitioners, parents, and community leaders. Under the guidance of experts in the field of Conflict Resolution Education, these educators, youth and community leaders will explore effective models for Conflict Resolution and learn proven techniques to reduce and manage conflict in the classroom, in peer groups, families, and community settings. What Works! will provide participants with the skills, techniques and resources needed to create safe and healthy learning environments in their educational setting and community. RCH, CEU, CHES, social work, and graduate credit will be offered. Keynote speakers and Workshops on: Bullying Prevention, Conflict Resolution in Community Settings, Truancy Mediation, Restorative Justice in Schools, Parent Training to Prevent Destructive Adolescent Behavior, Resolving Campus Disputes, Roots and Origins of Violence: Ohio Violence Prevention Process, Gang Prevention, Positive Discipline, Trauma Defusion, Relationship-Driven Classroom Management, >From Rage to Hope (Improving discipline and performance of under privileged youth.) Developing Leadership Skills in the Field of Conflict Resolution Education, Peer Mediation Training for High School students, And many more… For additional details and registration information, please check the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution’s Web site at www.disputeresolution.ohio.gov in early March or contact the Commission at 614-752-9595. Email: Jennifer.Batton@cdr.state.oh.us

June 26-30, 2006 INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (IPRA) 21st Bi-Annual World Conference, "Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace"-
University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Understand the opportunity and feasibility of Sustainable Peace Building, including the nature of deep-rooted conflict and its correlative violence, and seek to design the construction of such a peace. Join in an honest dialogue where sustainable peace building is an open process so all parties - including defense and strategic studies, business and social development, diverse cultures and faiths, youths and elders - all have a seat at the table. Participate in forums, plenaries and special events which relate peace and governance, peace and human security, human rights, and a healthy planet. Learn about research findings and educational practices relating to the arts, conflict resolution and peace building, ecology, gender and development, global political economy, indigenous peoples' rights, international human rights, non-violence, peace education, peace history, peace movements, security and disarmament, peace theories, forced migration, religion, youth and peace. Explore Calgary and celebrate Canada Day in the resplendent province of Alberta! For more information, please contact: Larry J. Fisk, PhD, Chair, Organizing Committee, IPRA 2006 Conference, E-mail: larry.fisk@shaw.ca ; Phone/fax: (403) 210-3184

Problem Identification Topics http://www.peace.ca/problem.htm :

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

“Repression is for a dictatorship what propaganda is for the democracy.” Noam Chomsky

A child dies of hunger every five seconds. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4078003.stm .

U.S. Throws Away Half Its Food http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20041024002637data_trunc_sys.shtml

Who's Who (World Level) http://www.peace.ca/whoswho.htm :

FIXING CAPITALI$M: The movie - Are you concerned about the current direction of capitalism? Do you believe that Business has the power or responsibility to make the world better? Fixing Capitalism is a documentary film, currently in development, about the movement to evolve the economy so that it bridges the gap between profit and sustainability - making the world a cleaner, healthier and safer place. The film proposes that in the next few years, as the environmental crisis hits full force, the cost of doing business will rise for everyone, except those who take the initiative and adapt their business to the NEW ECONOMY. The Film will be a production of The Fixing Capitalism Foundation and will be followed by a sequel formed in an open-source medium over the Internet. The Foundation will be based in Victoria, BC. Please check out the website (which is being re-done) and view the 5-minute introductory video: www.fixingcapitalism.ca . For more information: email info@fixingcapitalism.ca

World Unity & Peace Education Department (WUPED), City Montessori School (CMS*), 12 Station Road, Lucknow - 226001 INDIA; Tel: 0091-522-2637655 Cell: 0091-9415015042 Fax: 0091-522-2638008; E-mail: wuped@cmseducation.org Website: http://www.cmseducation.org/wuped/register.htm . "Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi. *CMS: striving for world unity & world peace since 1959, a Guinness record holder as the world's largest school (over 29,000 students) and is recipient of UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 2002

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

Useful sites regarding the plight of child soldiers:
http://www.child-soldiers.org/
http://www.endchildexploitation.org.uk
http://www.childsoldiers.org/home/
http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm
http://www.vachss.com/help_text/child_soldiers.html (good for research to media coverage)
http://www.amnestyusa.org/child_soldiers/index.do
http://www.essex.ac.uk/armedcon/ (Children and Armed Conflict Unit)
http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/pub/ (among other items, contains link to review of author Jerry Piasecki's humanitarian novel "Marie-in the Shadow of the Lion" which deals with children affected by war in Africa. It's a very moving account based on reality. I've read it to my pupils as part of the UN's Global Peace programme for schools.)
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/childsoldiers/whatsgoingon/

With thanks Michael Williams, Peace Educator, Honeysuckle Cottage, Nine Mile Burn, Penicuik, Scotland EH26 9LZ; rjmwilliams@hotmail.com

The Civics Channel is a non-profit, non-partisan organization supported by members, donors and volunteers. We are dedicated to research, teaching and learning in the areas of citizenship and society, politics, human rights and the justice system. http://www.civicschannel.com/indexc.php . CONTACT: Tony Goulem at The Civics Channel, Inc.; email agoulem@flemingc.on.ca , or call (705) 277-3402

Book review of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond, reviewed by Malcom Gladwell and published on December 29, 2004 by New Yorker magazine. http://www.energybulletin.net/newswire.php?id=3782 The lesson of “Collapse” is that societies, as often as not, aren’t murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death.

This website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/dictator/otpor/ownwords/sharp.html "Bringing down a Dictator" goes back to Gene Sharp with an interview "On the strategies and techniques of successful nonviolent opposition movements." Although Sharp's book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, was published some years ago and familiar to many in the peace business, it is timely. It is the foundation from which Serbian students and Otpor built its machinations to overthrow Milosevic---then The Ukraine, now Lebanon. The (PBS) site includes: Otpor's Origins, Nonviolent Power (from A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict, Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall). Review provided by Janet Hudgins.

"Resolving Conflict Creatively" video series is currently being used by over 800 schools and community groups worldwide. Video Librarian Magazine gave it three stars and said the following: "This series does an excellent job of demonstrating the effectiveness of negotiation and mediation in resolving conflict. . . The first two volumes would be very beneficial in an interpersonal communications curriculum for high school, college students, or out of school adult learners, while the final two-parter would probably be most helpful for those whose responsibilities lie in government, law enforcement and the juvenile justice system." These titles are also sold separately:

Resolving Conflict Creatively in the School Community "Negotiation" & "Mediation" (two half hour tapes) http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/rcc2.html

Resolving Conflict Creatively in the Multicultural Community "Inter-Cultural Mediation" (24 min.) http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/rcc3.html

Resolving Conflict Creatively between Victims & Youth Offenders " Diversion " & " Transformation " (two hours on two tapes) http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/rcc4.html

"Healing Circles", an effective tool in Anti-Bullying Programs, is now available as a separate video.

For more information, reviews, order forms and an independent evaluation survey please visit our website http://www.triune.ca or contact us: Triune Arts, 111 Wildwood Crescent, Toronto, Ontario M4L 2K9, Fax: 416.686.0468; E-mail: triune@sprint.ca

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

A Canadian non-governmental working group is putting together its efforts towards asking the federal government to establish a Federal Department of Peace. In view of number of studies being done on development and security funding envelopes at federal level and similar initiatives being explored in the USA, Germany, UK etc., time is ripe for a serious consideration of this proposal to be a focal point for peacebuilding in the government. For details on the proposed initiative, see below. The website address is: http://www.departmentofpeacecanada.com

Social intelligence new gauge of abilities, by Harvey Schachter (Friday, February 4, 2005 Globe and Mail, page C-1). “Emotional intelligence – essentially, the ability to recognize yours and others’ emotions – has become an increasingly popular measure for assessing workplace abilities. Now management consultant Karl Albrecht says it’s time to pay attention to another measure: social intelligence – your ability to deal with people. ‘Social intelligence can reduce conflict, create collaboration, replace bigotry and polarization with understanding, and mobilize people toward common goals. Indeed, it may be the most important ingredient in our survival as a species,’ he writes in Training magazine. The five key dimensions:

Situational radar: The ability to read situations, understand the social context that influences behaviour, and choose behavioural strategies most likely to succeed.
Presence: Also known as bearing, it’s the external sense of self others perceive. That includes confidence, self-respect and self-worth.
Authenticity: The opposite of being phony, it’s the sense that people are honest with themselves and others.
Clarity: The ability to express oneself clearly, use language effectively, explain concepts clearly, and persuade others with ideas.
Empathy: Beyond the usual appreciation for the experiences of others, empathy is the ability to create a sense of connectedness with others, to get them on your wavelength and invite them to move with and toward you, rather than away from and against you.
He notes that fans of emotional intelligence have long attempted to include interpersonal skills within its conceptual envelope on the premise that an individual’s interior experience forms the basis for his or her interaction. But he argues that’s only partly true and social intelligence should be a separate dimension of competence.”

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

“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” - Charles F. Kettering

“Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future.” Pema Chodron

E.F.Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful, was a great influence on many people’s thinking in England. Everything was giant, big is better, getting bigger and bigger. Leopold Kohr and E.F.Schumacher were the two great figures of the 60s and 70s who promoted the idea of human scale, of decentralized, local economies. Schumacher particularly combined the view of economic spiritual values when he wrote his essay called: " Buddhist Economics." Many people asked him, Mr. Schumacher, what does Buddhism have to do with economics? Schumacher jokingly said that economics without Buddhism is like sex without love. He was perhaps one of the only western economists with the background of Oxford and work with the government and establishment who dared to put those words together - Buddhism and economics.

“I believe very much in building forces. I would say that that is my theme. The art of politics is: to create forces to be able do in the future what we cannot do now. It has been said that an opportunist is someone who states that (s/he) does not have power and adapts. The revolutionary is the one who knows that (s/he) does not have power, but looks for ways to create the necessary conditions for it. Inventing, searching how to change the correlation of power. Those are two very distinct positions: one is conformist, opportunistic, the other, for me, is revolutionary, one that works to build the forces that will allow them to reach the objectives. Those who believe are more left because they launch more leftist speeches have been misled. I go even further: those who want to be radical should work to build the social and political forces that will allow them to be. We struggle creating. That is why I like the idea of distinguishing between the destructive left and the constructive one.” Marta Harnecker, political scientist born in Chile

The Alternate Media:

Dangerous Government Secrecy Oaths – (San Diego Union Tribune – December 2, 2004)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041202/news_lz4e2schwell.html
America now has an Unofficial Secrets Act. In an expansion of government secrecy, the Department of Homeland Security has begun swearing its employees to silence, criminalizing the disclosure of information to the public – even if it is not classified. What's an example of information that the public can't know? The law. Last month, while at the Boise, Idaho, airport, former Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth-Hage, R-Idaho, was pulled aside for a security pat-down. Hage asked what regulation authorized the screening. Local security director Julian Gonzalez said the regulation "is called 'sensitive security information.' She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else." You may also wish to read, "Interstate Travel: Constitutional Challenges to the Identification Requirement and Other Transportation Security Regulations," Congressional Research Service, November 4, 2004: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041202/news_lz4e2schwell.html

U.S. Has Zero Credibility Among Muslims – (Inter Press Service – November 19, 2004)
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26453
A high-level Pentagon panel has concluded that Bush administration policies in the Middle East, its fundamental failure to understand the Muslim world and a lack of imagination in using new communications technologies have failed to enlist the support of an increasingly hostile Islamic world.

The global warming danger threshold for the world is clearly marked for the first time in an international report. The bad news is, the world has nearly reached it already. The report, “Meeting The Climate Challenge” breaks new ground by putting a figure - for the first time in such a high-level document - on the danger point of global warming, that is, the temperature rise beyond which the world would be irretrievably committed to disastrous changes. http://www.rense.com/general62/count.htm

Global Warming: Scientists Reveal Timetable – (Independent – February 3, 2005) http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0203-04.htm
A detailed timetable of the destruction and distress that global warming is likely to cause the world has been unveiled. It pulls together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for given rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years. The resultant picture gives the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change is expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics.

Using Earth’s Atmosphere for Military Purpose – (India Daily – January 26, 2005) http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/01-24c-05.asp
Currently, there are dozens of nations operating more than 100 weather modification projects, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions all over the world, where the lack of sufficient water resources limits their ability to meet food, fibre, and energy demands. In addition there are unclassified military projects in America, Russia, China, Japan, Europe and India that plan to use weather and climate to defeat the enemy. One of these is the US HAARP project designed to "understand, simulate and control ionospheric processes that might alter the performance of communication and surveillance systems." The HAARP system intends to beam 3.6 Gigawatts of effective radiated power of high frequency radio energy into the ionosphere.

List Servers http://www.peace.ca/usergroup.htm :

A Canadian Culture of Peace Program resource raising email listserver has been set up to facilitate the raising of financial, human and information resources to build a Culture of Peace through peace education. There is an emerging consensus among Canadian peace educators and peacebuilders that the structures and processes which would enhance peace learning of the best possible quality at all levels are not currently available in Canada due to a lack of resources. We would hope to begin to fill that void through the creation of a Canadian Peace Education Foundation For A World Fit For Children ("CPEF"). Our vision is to contribute to the creation of a just and peaceful world by using education, training, information dissemination and research to handle conflicts non-violently and creatively. Our Task will be to help educate and train Canadians, and others, about peace, the creative transformation of conflicts, and skills for living together, to help significantly reduce the human costs of violence at home and abroad. CPEF will raise peacebuilding resources, on a large scale. For a more detailed description of our working vision, refer to the background information online at http://www.peace.ca/foundation.htm or contact stewartr@peace.ca . If anyone would like to participate in the Initiative, discussion and developments, then from the email account they wish to have on the listserve, send an empty letter to CCOPPresourceraising-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . Once sent, then Yahoo will send a welcome letter, and ask that you confirm that you wish to join the listserve. The confirmation is simply to hit the reply button and send the welcome letter right back to Yahoo. If you change your mind and decide not to join after all, then simply do not reply, or you can send an empty letter to CCOPPresourceraising-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com . For more information, visit the webpage at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCOPPresourceraising . If you have any problems, contact the list moderator Bob Stewart at stewartr@peace.ca . You can also read past correspondence on the CCOPPresourceraising web site, once registered. Join us on the email listserver for the next round of discussion on raising financial, human and information resources for building the Canadian Culture of Peace Program through peace education.

Curricula http://www.peace.ca/curricula.htm :

Peace and Social Justice: Pedagogy and Practice, the curricula notes for a course taught by Dr. Sue McGregor, Mount Saint Vincent University http://www.peace.ca/mcgregorpeacepedagogy.htm

See the following new reports posted on our web site:

Click here to listen to a Radio Interview January 2005: Issues Analysis – Canadian Military Funding, by Dennis Bevin, SAIT 103.5 with David Bercuson, University of Calgary Strategic Studies and Bob Stewart, Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace (Note - size of file download is approximately 3MB and takes one minute with high speed internet access)

Click here to listen to a Radio Interview January 2005: Interview of Bob Stewart (on Canadian Military Funding), Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace by Dennis Bevin, SAIT 103.5 (Note - size of file download is approximately 10MB and takes three minutes with high speed internet access)

Questions? contact Bob Stewart at stewartr@peace.ca

We are hosting the following major upcoming event:
Fourth Annual Peace Education Conference in Canada November 24 - 28, 2005 http://www.peace.ca/CanadianAgenda2005.htm at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Annan calls for deal by world leaders on poverty, security and human rights

20 March 2005 – In a new report released today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan put forward a comprehensive deal for tackling poverty, security threats and human rights abuses while overhauling the United Nations through a set of recommendations slated for action by national leaders when they gather to mark the world body's sixtieth anniversary later this year.

Taking its name from a phrase in the UN Charter the report, In Larger Freedom marks the culmination of a process Mr. Annan has initiated to realign the world body in this milestone year so that it can better respond to today's pressing challenges.

If acted on, the proposals – ranging from a nine-member increase in the Security Council's membership to the establishment of a new Human Rights Council – would mark the most dramatic change in the UN's functioning ever achieved at once.

The report, the full text of which can be accessed at www.un.org/largerfreedom, argues that this seismic shift is warranted by the interrelated imperatives at stake. “[W]e will not enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights,” Mr. Annan warns. “We can and must act together.”

The report's first main section, “Freedom from want,” deals with the deadly toll of poverty, which currently plagues more than a billion people in a world beset by growing inequality. “A single bite from a malaria-bearing mosquito is enough to end a child's life for want of a bed net or $1 treatment,” the Secretary-General points out. He adds that while this sad reality has long been viewed as an inescapable aspect of the human condition, that view is now “intellectually and morally indefensible.”

In order to achieve the far-reaching Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a set of anti-poverty targets agreed to by world leaders at a 2000 UN summit – he proposes that all developed States allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to official development assistance by no later than 2015, with significant increases by 2006.

Calling climate change “one of the greatest environmental and developmental challenges of the twenty-first century,” Mr. Annan notes that the Kyoto Protocol, a pact that contains binding targets for the emissions that cause climate change, only extends until 2012. He calls for developing a more inclusive framework beyond that date with broader participation by all major emitters and both developed and developing countries.

In the second main section, “Freedom from fear,” the Secretary-General endorses a report he commissioned by a high-level panel on threats, challenges and change. “I fully embrace the broad vision that the report articulates and its case for a more comprehensive concept of collective security: one that tackles new threats and old and that addresses the security concerns of all States.”

Specifically, he backs the panel's definition of terrorism – an issue so divisive agreement on it has long eluded the international community – stating unequivocally that “any action constitutes terrorism if it is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.”

This proposal has “clear moral force,” he says, urging world leaders to back it and conclude a comprehensive terrorism treaty during the next General Assembly session.

The report's other security proposals include a call for a fissile material cut-off treaty aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear proliferation, and the creation of a UN Peacebuilding Council to help countries emerging from conflict.

The report's third main section, “Freedom to live in dignity,” deals with human rights and democracy. The Secretary-General recommends replacing the current Commission on Human Rights with a standing Human Rights Council whose members are elected directly by the General Assembly and who “undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards.”

He also calls for the creation of a democracy fund to help countries in need and pledges to galvanize UN efforts in this field.

The last main section deals with strengthening the UN and sets out measures to improve its workings, including reforming the Security Council. Here again, Mr. Annan backs the high-level panel, which outlined two possible models for increasing the Council's membership in order to make it more representative and inclusive.

Model A provides for six new permanent seats, with no veto, and three new two-year term, non-permanent seats, divided among the major regional areas. Model B provides for no new permanent seats but creates a new category of eight four-year, renewable-term seats and one new two-year, non-permanent (and non-renewable) seat, divided among the major regional areas.

Although Security Council reform has been discussed at the UN for decades, the issue is so complex and politically sensitive that agreement has been impossible. Seeking to break the deadlock, Mr. Annan urges realistic action. “It would be preferable for Member States to take this vital decision by consensus,” he says, “but if they are unable to reach consensus this must not become an excuse for postponing action.”

The report also contains a number of proposals for improving the UN Secretariat. “Today's United Nations staff must be: (a) aligned with the new substantive challenges of the twenty-first century; (b) empowered to manage complex global operations; and (c) held accountable,” the Secretary-General declares.

In order to foster progress on this front, Mr. Annan requests that the General Assembly give him the authority and resources to offer a one-time buyout for UN personnel “so as to refresh and realign the staff to meet current needs.”

Urging countries to act on the deal offered in the report, he says it is both necessary and achievable. “What I have called for here is possible,” he says. “From pragmatic beginnings could emerge a visionary change of direction in our world.”

Please see here a posting from Howard N. Meyer
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Subject: What Now For The Peace Movement?

I was deeply disappointed to read Quinn's analysis. To use all that verbiage and not to mention International Law and the need for elevating citizen consciousness about it is disappointing,-- but not surprising since she is reflecting a similar deficiency in the peace movement that should be a target of "Peace Studies" to correct. I suggest that you send your supporters this message and the text of the attachment.

I do not fault Quinn personally: she fairly represents the ignorance, illiteracy and lack of a clue as to the missing element in all anti-war and anti-imperialist effort.

The World Court tried to educate us in the Nicaragua case twenty years ago. The message has been wasted. Latin American activists and educators should be foremost in trying to bring that message that war is illegal save in legitimate self defense North American's populace about the I C J and the debt we owe the American Peace Movement of a century ago, for its role in bringing to world consciousness the need to respect International Law and independent judicial action to eliminate the "scourge of war which....... has brought untold sorrow to mankind."

< that quote from the U N Charter should remind us that the U N itself has failed to heed the message that was supposedy to be given by the U N Decade of 1990-2000>

Howard N Meyer
author THE WORLD COURT IN ACTION.

----- Original Message -----
From: Ciuddes Educadoras América Latina
To: Ciudades Educadoras America Latina
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:30 AM
Subject: What Now For The Peace Movement?

For your information:
Educating Cities Latin America International Affaires Department Municipality of Rosario - Argentina
Professor Alicia Cabezudo, Director ce_americalat@rosario.gov.ar

What Now For The Peace Movement?
Amy Quinn
March 09, 2005
TomPaine.com

Polls in recent weeks show a full 59 percent of Americans are now in favor of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. But they're not acting on this view, in part because they worry about the potential for even greater chaos following a U.S. exit. The task for the peace movement--responsible for the huge public demonstrations against a war in Iraq in the days prior to March 19, 2003--is speaking to these concerns as it mobilizes untapped public sentiment against the occupation.

In the six months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, the United States erupted in a display of citizen dissent not seen since the Vietnam War era. Now, almost two years later, the majority of the American public view Iraq as a train wreck. Yet! public outrage about this war's seemingly endless tragedy has remained largely under the radar.

To turn up the volume and power of voices calling for an end to the U.S. war and occupation, the same organizations behind the massive rallies of 2003 and 2004 are planning a fresh strategy for engaging the public in constructive action on Iraq.

With the backdrop of an escalating war that's ravaging Iraq, destabilizing U.S. communities, and sowing seeds of resentment against the United States around the world, United for Peace and Justice--the nation's largest peace coalition--assembled 500 delegates over President's Day weekend in St. Louis to chart a roadmap for the next year to bolster and build the U.S. peace and justice movement. The assembly whittled dozens of proposals from member groups down to a powerful action plan to bolster the movement to end the war. A set of priorities emerged that maximizes the White House vulnerabilities generated by the Iraq War and sets a proactive agenda of alternatives to the Bush administration's belligerent policies.

Building A Plan

First, the assembly affirmed that we must broaden and deepen our base to catalyze public sentiment for bringing the troops home to reach a tipping point. According to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken after the Iraq elections, 59 percent of the public believes the United States should pull its troops out of Iraq in the next year. Yet the ranks of those actively demanding that the president produce an exit strategy from Iraq are slim. The peace movement must find fresh ways to stir untapped allies so that, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, our conscience leaves us "no other choice" but to act.

Second, we must support and amplify the pressure coming from within the ranks of the military. Military families and veterans hold the moral aut! hority to successfully communicate with the U.S. public the reality on the ground in Iraq and the disillusion soldiers are facing. Iraq War veterans and military families need help putting a human face on the 1,500 soldiers who have been sent to their graves and the thousands more who are suffering the physical and mental scars of war. It's also crucial to expose how the war has dangerously overextended the U.S. military, the National Guard and our military reserve units.

Third, we must seize on Bush's greatest vulnerability-- the war's astronomical cost, set to surpass $200 billion in the coming weeks. Bush's mounting deficit from reckless war spending is already squeezing out community programs that serve millions.

And fourth, we must expose the hypocrisy of Bush's war of liberation and present viable alternatives to promote genuine democracy and economic sovereignty in Iraq.

Back To Movement Roots

Found! ed in 2002, UFPJ is the glue that will continue to link 1,400 organizations together around these strategies to oppose Bush's Iraq War and its domestic consequences. Since its inception, this diverse and dynamic coalition has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people through global demonstrations like the "World Says No to War" actions on Feb. 15, 2003, national actions such as the high-profile protests during the Republican National Convention in August 2004, and hundreds of smaller-scale actions that sustained opposition to this war since 2003.

What's ahead for the peace movement? For our part, UFPJ seeks to expand our base through a sustained education campaign set to launch March 24, the 40th anniversary of the first Vietnam teach-in. Simultaneous teach-ins will kickoff the campaign in Washington D.C., California, and at the site of the first Vietnam teach- in in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our goal is to generate momentum and infrastructure for a long-term education movement that promotes fresh models for reaching beyond the choir to engage clergy, youth, immigrants and others about the real axis of evil--racism, poverty and war--set forth by Martin Luther King in 1967.

Most importantly, the teach-in campaign will speak to the large slice of the 59 percent of the public who thinks the troops should be brought home but are paralyzed with fear about the consequences for Iraq. Our task is to illustrate the facts--the longer the United States occupies Iraq, the more deadly and costly this war will be.

Coupled with the education campaign is a strategy to highlight the domestic consequence of war in our organizing. Missouri taxpayers, who hosted the UFPJ conference, for example, are on the verge of paying $1.1 billion more to fund the Iraq War once Congress passes Bush's requested $82 billion emergency Iraq supplemental funding package. Mis! souri's share of the impending budget bill could be directed, instead, to provide health care to more than 485,000 children in the state. With statistics like this in mind, the assembly backed a plan to partner with allies such as poverty groups, education advocates and health care coalitions who are leading fights to save vital programs that are getting burned by Bush's skyrocketing deficits and budget cuts. This initiative will link the mushrooming number of local fights to save essential public services and the $1.5 billion-a-week sinkhole of Iraq War funding.

Work On The Ground

UFPJ has set in motion a strategy to hold lawmakers' feet to the fire for their inertia on this failing war. The coalition is both asking Congress to cut the purse strings for military operations in Iraq and developing a nationally coordinated strategy to pressure Congress and other elected officials to bring the troops home immediately. Th! is multi-year Congressional pressure strategy--which will draw lessons from the Vietnam-er a campaign around the McGovern-Hatfield Amendment--seeks to expedite the war's end. The campaign is drawing its strength from grassroots organizing and will link street actions with other types of pressure, like direct advocacy, to make ending the war a practical priority for elected officials. With more than 1,400 local member groups from across the country representing hundreds of thousands of people, UFPJ is an untapped political powerhouse.

This muscle will also be channeled into a state-by- state campaign to halt the use and abuse of the U.S. National Guard in Iraq. Just one week after the conference, on March 1, a total of 49 Vermont towns led the charge by passing resolutions asking their state legislators and congressional delegation to investigate the use of the Vermont National Guard in Iraq. The town hall resolutions als! o called on the president and Congress to "take steps to withdraw American troops from Iraq." The campaign, spearheaded by Military Families Speak Out, will build on the Cities for Peace resolution model that led to 165 "No War" resolutions by the March 2003 invasion.

This amazing victory in Vermont, which had been in the works for months, will inspire hearings in other state legislatures and city councils toward building the political will to pass resolutions to halt the use of National Guard in Iraq. While the short-term goal is to educate local lawmakers and the public about the unfair treatment of the National Guard, the campaign will also expose the overextension of military personnel and the de facto backdoor draft that funnels low-income youth to serve in disproportionately high numbers.

In the short term, UFPJ will continue to build on what it does best: mobilize. The coalition is supporting a mass protest rally n! ear Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., on March 19 to coincide with the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion. Military families and veterans' groups are leading the effort to organize a powerful action that honors the memories of more than 50 soldiers from that base who have been killed, while demanding that the president stop sending soldiers and civilians to their graves.

On the anniversary, dozens of groups, under the leadership of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance, will urge the American public to join a campaign of "civil resistance" to ratchet up the significance and types of actions undertaken to end the war--particularly nonviolent civil disobedience.

No Choice But Action

A challenge that remains for the peace movement includes finding new ways to deepen ties with our global peace and human rights counterparts, who are key to eroding the tepid international support for the U.S. occupation. More importantly, w! e need to build better links with emerging civil society leaders in Iraq and the region. Through these alliances the U.S. peace movement can better reflect Iraqi-designed alternatives to the U.S. occupation.

One hopeful sign that the movement is committed to addressing both hurdles was our decision in St. Louis to join dozens of other countries for the World Day of Mobilization Against War. UFPJ will organize a rally at the United Nations in New York City on Sept. 10, to coincide with a meeting of heads of 191 countries on the United Nation's 60th Anniversary. This anniversary provides an opportunity to engage our communities in support of building global institutions that have the power and moral authority to reject unilateral war and to promote fundamental human rights.

At Riverside Church in 1967, Martin Luther King opened his famous speech that linked poverty, racism and the
Vietnam War with, "I come to this house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice." The ultimate challenge the peace movement faces is to stir that same spirit in the American public on Iraq.

-------------------------------------------------------
Amy Quinn is the Peace Movement Links Coordinator for the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
She is a founding steering committee member of United for Peace and Justice.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/what_now_for_the_peace_movement.php

Message from: Howard N. Meyer
Subject: "Give Law a Chance" to assist peace efforts and studies.
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005

Seekers and students of peace and peace history, will read with interest a statement that was prepared for a conference at Ryerson University (Ottawa). [I had been invited to come to discuss the World Court in connection with a conference on "The Evolution of World Order."]

The statement was also distributed at a Peace Studies Conference conducted by a Teacher's College peace education group at the Riverside Church, New York City.

Statement on the Evolution of World Order
GIVE LAW A CHANCE

Some may remember the period of the Vietnam protests, when American activists -- and no doubt their brothers and sisters around the world -- chanted and carried banners saying "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE."

That was, of course, intended to be recalled by the title given to this brief statement. The phrase was not originated by this writer. It was used for the headline on the front page of the New York Times Sunday Book Review for August 25, 1990. The book under review was "On the Law of Nations" written by United States Senator Daniel P. Moynihan as the culminating effort in a mini-crusade he had been conducting in lectures, essays and other publications. That crusade began with the protest he and Senator Barry Goldwater lodged in 1984
asserting that the CIA action in mining the harbors of Nicaragua was illegal, a violation of international law. (The mining attack was part of the ongoing effort of the United States to change the regime of the government of Nicaragua.)

The fate of his effort was summarized by Moynihan in his book:
"In the annals of forgetfulness there is nothing quite to compare with the fading from the American mind of the idea of the law of nations. In the beginning this law was set forth as the foundation of our national existence."

The charge of "illegality" was sustained by the International Court of Justice, informally and usually referred to as the World Court.

The action of my government in "walking out" of the proceedings at the Court after Court rejected (14-1) U S objections to the Court hearing the case filed by Nicaragua (echoing the Moynihan/Goldwater demarche) inspired my taking on the effort of writing the book The World Court in Action.

The characterization of my country's invasion of Iraq as "illegal" by U N Secretary General Kofi Annan may be compared with the charge made by Moynihan and Goldwater twenty years ago. The hostile and/or indifferent response to the current accusation by my fellow-Americans creates a problem of conscience.

Peace activists and advocates and students should have been bringing this home to the nation. Their failure to do so is in large part due to ignorance that vindicates Moynihan's reference to the "annals of forgetfulness."

The Nicaragua case is discussed and explained in my book, THE WORLD COURT IN ACTION. This is not done in isolation but as part of the story of America's key role in creation of the Court and later relations with it.

All this is described in the history and story of the creation of the Court and its functioning, explained for the benefit of lay readers. I think it appropriate to call to the attention of Peace Studies scholars the words of one reviewer of the book who appreciatively noted "The subject of International Law is a missing dimension from peace history, the history of U S foreign relations and international relations generally. The World Court in action...makes a significant attempt to rectify this state of affairs."


For the benefit of a Canadian audience I think it fitting that I should tell of a chapter of U S/Canadian relations of a 160 years ago included in the book:

The case of The Caroline arose from an episode in the Mackenzie/Papineau insurrection, during which upstate New York was used as a base.

The highly relevant and instructive result of that case was a rule of international law agreed upon by Daniel Webster for the United States and the British (pre-dominion) Foreign Office. It was drafted by Webster. It defined when the use of military force in self-defense was legal: Only where the "necessity of that self-defense is instant, overwhelming and leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation is the use of force legitimate." These are words with which peace activists and peace students and peace historians should be familiar.

Howard N Meyer

Mid-Term Report to UN Secretary General on the Decade of A Culture of Peace in Canada, message by Bob Stewart:

Dear Members,
I have submitted our Report to the United Nations Secretary General pursuant to General Assembly Resolution A/RES/58/11 paragraph 12 http://www.peace.ca/UNa55r047.pdf (i.e. the Mid Term Report of the Decade of a Culture of Peace) (copy below) as Director of Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace.
Comments are very welcome.
I would urge everyone to submit their own reports. You can do so through The Fundación Cultura de Paz (i.e. David Adams and Federico Mayor’s NGO; ref. http://www.decade-culture-of-peace.org ), UNESCO (ref. http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/kits/survey/CPQ_en.pdf ), and/or to the U.N. Secretary General directly. We are submitting ours to all three.
Regards,
Bob Stewart
http://www.peace.ca
ANNUAL PEACE EDUCATION CONFERENCE IN CANADA http://www.peace.ca/CanadianAgenda2005.htm

"The world is dangerous not because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything." - Albert Einstein

WHAT FUTURE WILL YOU CREATE?

Making an Impact: Your gift to the Canadian Peace Education Foundation will do much to reduce the human cost of violence in our communities and world through education about peace and the future in classrooms. Your gift will have a critical impact on future generations. You will enable youngsters to widen their sights by exploring alternate paths to transforming conflicts and building a better world. Gifts of cash, securities, and planned gifts are welcome and may be sent to the Canadian Peace Education Foundation, Box 70, Okotoks, AB, Canada, T1S 1A4. For more information, visit the website at http://www.peace.ca/foundation.htm

THE UNITED NATIONS CULTURE OF PEACE AND NON-VIOLENCE PROGRAM IN CANADA: A Report to the United Nations Secretary General pursuant to General Assembly Resolution A/RES/58/11 paragraph 12 http://www.peace.ca/UNa55r047.pdf (i.e. the Mid Term Report of the Decade of a Culture of Peace)

Prepared by Robert Stewart, Director, Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace
March 14, 2005

“The General Assembly …

12. Invites civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to provide information to the Secretary-General on the observance of the Decade and the activities undertaken to promote a culture of peace and non-violence;”

Canada is not at peace. We may be relatively well off. Historically, Canada has been better than some, and not as good as others. But we are in a state of denial about our actions and contributions to war and violence, at home and abroad. We try to avoid conflict. However, to quote, “We may not be interested in war, but war is interested in us.”

The vast majority of Canadians have little or no knowledge of the Culture of Peace and Non-violence Program and Decade. The vast majority of politicians and officials in the Canadian Government have little or no knowledge of the Culture of Peace and Non-violence Program. Little, if any, new resources (financial, informational or human) have been provided to build a Culture of Peace and Non-violence. This is ample evidence that the Government of Canada has not rushed in to participate. Furthermore, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO does not see its role as one of leadership.

In short, despite what some may say, we are underachieving our potential to build a Culture of Peace and Non-violence in Canada, and in the world. A major reason for this lack of development is that there has been a lack of motivation and action. To those leaders who proclaim an interest in peace, the challenge as they say in the movies is, “Show me the money.” It is not there in any significant way. And so, it will be up to civil society to motivate our leaders to build a Culture of Peace. For those leaders who resist change, and have a vested interest maintaining the status quo, civil society must convey that the status quo is no longer acceptable. For those leaders who do not wish to lose their perceived ‘right’ to go to war, civil society must take away those pretenses. Canada and mankind can not wait any longer for our Governments to respond – people are suffering now, due to violence of all sorts, and the looming specters of nuclear holocaust, weapons of mass destruction, and environmental destruction is unacceptable and unjustifiable.

From our personal experience, we had difficulty getting the information that we needed to do something to contribute to a Culture of Peace. So we created our own: Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace, a virtual centre at http://www.peace.ca

Since incorporation in 1998, we have had over 1,000,000 visitors to the site,
We are currently averaging over 50,000 visitors per month, from around the world,
We are the best (most active) peace web site in Canada and one of the best in the world (in plain language, suitable for all readers),
We host National and several Provincial Peace Education Conferences annually,
We host several email listservers, to provide tools for communication, networking, dialogue and information dissemination.

The bottom line is that there is a lot of opportunity for improvement in building a Culture of Peace and Non-violence in Canada – a lot of opportunity for us all to make a difference.

A raison d'être for the Culture of Peace Program (identified by the U.N. program) is "to build peace in Canada by working to change behaviours, forge values, and incite the institutional transformations that are indispensable for eliminating the deep roots of violence, exclusion and conflict."

What we found in Canada was an information void, a leadership void, a resource void, and an educational void. Our civil society goal has been to help fill these gaps.

Our sense is that Canadians (inside and outside of government) want a Culture of Peace and Non-violence, however they do not know what they can practically do to develop on that path. Our civil society goal is to help raise this awareness and understanding. We have a Canadian Peace Education Strategy with a short-term goal to get peace education on the Canadian agenda, and a longer term goal to get peace education integrated into all curricula by the end of the decade.

You will be pleased to know that in November 2004 we have successfully completed 9 days of intensive peace conferencing at McMaster University in Hamilton, involving some excellent minds, and we are happy to tell you that our deliberations have given birth to a 'Canadian Culture of Peace Program' (“CCOPP”) - a new formal institution (Note 1) with the mission to advance a Culture of Peace and Non-violence, at home and abroad. We have a larger core group of people to carry on this important work, and a wonderful list of tasks to commence work on. We will also enlarge our community of support and engagement through inviting the participation of all Canadians, individuals and organizations, who wish to share our mission, and follow the values of the U.N. Culture of Peace Program. You can read about these developments, which form a part of this report, at the temporary web site at http://www.peace.ca/canadiancultureofpeaceprogram.htm .

To meet these important goals, Canadians have a lot on our Culture of Peace Agenda:
A significant item is the design paper for the CCOPP Stakeholder Web/Network concept (including CCOPP governance issues), which a smaller working group has been collaboratively developing over the past month (reference http://www.peace.ca/StakeholderWebDesign.doc ). A Stakeholder Web/Network/Organization, as it has been described at various times, is a network of stakeholders that scrutinizes and attempts to influence Canada’s behaviour with respect to peace and violence. The United Nations Culture of Peace Program tells us that we need to transform all institutions from a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace. Stakeholder webs are a powerful force for transformation. They actively investigate, evaluate, and seek to change the behaviors of institutions (such as corporations, governments, educational institutions, religious organizations, NGOs, etc.) to achieve better alignment with the values and interests of their participants – in this case, a Culture of Peace. Our role is one of catalyst and facilitator. The Internet gives us the tools to build the Culture of Peace Stakeholder Web. Discussion of this design will also help provide input for the (very important) Marketing Strategy (i.e. How to ‘Sell’ the Culture of Peace Program), and a Canadian Culture of Peace Program Handbook with a significant section on Leadership for Peace.

Significant discussion will also be required and planned with respect to:

a) The projected relationship with the Canadian government (including Department of Peace Initiatives),

b) Preparations for at least 3 annual national conferences (the Second Peace and Leadership Workshop, the Second Canadian Culture Of Peace Program Conference, the Fourth National Peace Education Conference), and provincial Peace Education Conferences,

c) Development of the Canadian Culture of Peace News Network,

d) Development of the new Peace and Governance Program at the University of Alberta, with a specialty in the Culture of Peace and Non-violence Program,

e) research on the needs and issues related to “Educating Peace Educators” (i.e. peace pedagogy to guide the establishment of a University program to teach teachers and other potential peace educators how to teach peace),

f) Preparation to initiate “crucial conversations” with leadership of key institutions in Canada to seek transformation as follows: government, business, media, religion, education. (We will need to refine our protocols to hold successful, difficult, crucial conversations.) We should also be preparing to initiate case studies conducting 7 Crucial Canadian Conversations to build better key relationships as follows:

1. the Canada/United States relationship,

2. the Canada/United Nations relationship,

3. the Anglophone/Francophone relationship in Canada,

4. the male/female relationship in Canada,

5. the aboriginal/non-aboriginal relationship in Canada,

6. the business/community relationship in Canada,

7. the military/foreign affairs/community relationship in Canada.

Our government is not yet doing this, and so we must. In the process, Canadians have developed some significant expertise in peacebuilding, peace education and leadership. We are pleased to offer these services to others.

In conclusion, Canadians must no longer take inaction and resource deprivation towards the Culture of Peace and Non-violence Program for granted. At Riverside Church in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. opened his famous speech that linked poverty, racism and the Vietnam War with, "I come to this house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice." The ultimate challenge for Canadians is to stir that same spirit throughout Canada and the world to build a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World. The challenge for our leaders will be to rise to the occasion – and we must help them see that.

Note 1 - " 'institution' ... tucked away among the many historical meanings is: "something that enlarges and liberates" ... An institution is a gathering of persons who have accepted a common purpose, and a common discipline to guide the pursuit of that purpose, to the end that each involved person reaches higher fulfillment as a person, through serving and being served by the common venture, than would be achieved alone or in a less committed relationship." Robert K. Greenleaf, in his book "Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness" (ref. http://www.peace.ca/servantleadership.htm )

Japanese Network of Museums for Peace, Newsletter December, 2004
Muse no. 12
http://ha1.seikyou.ne.jp/home/Shigeo.Nishimori/Muse12.htm

The Editorial Office: Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University
56-1 Kita-machi, Toji-in, Kita-ku,Kyoto City 603-8577Japan
Director: Ikuro Anzai. Curator: Masahiko Yamabe
Editor: Kazuyo Yamane
Illustrator: Erico Tosaki
Tel: +81-075-465-8151. Fax: +81-075-465-7899.
http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp (http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/

The following is news on peace museums in Japan and Asian countries. Mr. Masahiko Yamabe, the curator of Kyoto Museum for World Peace, wrote news on big peace museums while Kazuyo Yamane of Grassroots House wrote news on small peace museums and other news. We hope you will enjoy reading them.

The Conference of Japanese Network of Museums for Peace in Tokyo

There was the 4th conference of Japanese Network of Museums for Peace in Tokyo on November 27th and 28th. There were about forty participants and they visited the Center of the Tokyo Air Raids and War Damages and the 5th Lucky Dragon Display House.

Posters and programs of the next International Peace Museum Conference were sent from Gernika Peace Museum and they were gone quickly at the conference.

The topics and the speakers were as follows:
“Training peace makers” by Mr. Motonaga Futatsubashi in Saitama, “The present situation and the future of the Center of the Tokyo Air Raids and War Damages” by Mr. Keiichiro Kaji, “The 50th Anniversary of the 5th Lucky Dragon Display House” by Mr. Kazuya Yasuda, “Nagaoka War Damages Museum in Nigata” by Mr. Tsuyoshi Sakimura, “Women’s War/Peace Museum and Active Museum Movement” by Ms Mina Watanabe, “Visiting Peace Museum in Stadtschlaining” by Mr. Yasuo Kawabata, “Creating a peace museum in Yamanashi” by Mr. Masafumi Ando, “Young people who think of war memory and war responsibility” by Kim Yeongwhan of Grassroots House, “Activities of Friends of Peace Association at Kyoto Museum for World Peace” by Ms Hitomi Katayama, “Volunteer work for the 5th Lucky Dragon Display House” by Ms Yoshiko Ohata, “Museums exhibiting war: sociological comparison between peace museums and military museums” by Prof. Toshifumi Murakami, “War exhibition at military museum in Germany” by Prof. Morio Minami and “Education for action for peace” by Prof. Hideo Fujita.

The next conference will be held at Kyoto Museum for World Peace around December, 2005.
erico

Japanese Network News

Kitakami Peace Memorial Opened: Iwate
Kitakami Peace Memorial was opened on April 27 at Fujine Seikatsu Center. There are 7000 letters from soldiers to Minejiro Takahashi who was an elementary school teacher and published newsletter on hometown entitled “Shin yu”(True Friends). The letters were studied to find real images of soldiers in the modern time by curators of National History Folklore Museum, which led to the opening of the museum. There are some 400 exhibits such as guns, textbooks besides the letters.
c/o Fujine Seikatsu Center: 14-147-3 Fujine, Waga-cho, Kitakami City
Tel: 0197-73-5876

Sendai City History Folklore Museum: Miyagi

The exhibition of “War and People’s Life” was held from July 17 to August 29. A picture-story show of “Blue-eyed Dolls” was shown for children on July 24. A public lecture on war and people’s life was given at Citizens’ Center on August 21.
Tel: 022-295-3956

Pacific War History Museum: Iwate
Nobuteru Iwabuchi

The Honorable Tomoko Abe, a member of House of Representative- Japan is traveling in mid-December, 2004 to Papua Province, Republic of Indonesia with Mr. Iwabuchi of PACIFIC WAR History Museum- Iwate to verify the fact that many human remains, identified as Japanese soldiers having died about 60 years ago, are very easily found in cities of Jayapura and Biak, known to the Japanese as West New Guinea during the W.W.II period. The parliamentarian, also a medical doctor specializing in pediatrics, is at the same time inspecting medical facilities there with a view to suggesting to the Japanese authority any official development assistances from Japan to the region, where fierce battles amongst Japan and the U.S.A./Australia took place between 1943 and 1945. Dr. Tomoko Abe, upon return to Japan will directly report to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, taking the grand opportunity of 2005 being the 60th anniversary of the end of the last war, that something significant must be done to pay a biggest attention to the fact that there still are well over one million soldiers' human remains left, uncared for, behind at the former battle-fields all over the world. Where have the soldiers gone? They left Japan long time ago. Are they all dead?

The Management of PACIFIC WAR History Museum considers it important to keep continuing searches for the missing Japanese soldiers, dead or alive. We, the alive, are responsible to take good care of the war dead ,regardless of their nationalities, races or religions. The existence of the Yasukuni Shrine itself now is a grave crime to the worldly peace and war dead. Rest in Peace.
Tel: 0197-52-3000

The Auschwitz Peace Museum Japan: Fukushima

Auschwits Peace Museum was opened in April, 2003 in Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture. The background is that the exhibition on Auschwits was shown at various places in Japan and it was supported by citizens’ groups. The purpose of the museum is to promote education for peace and human rights by conveying cruelty of Auschwits.

There are two corners: one is Anne Frank and the other is Rescuers such as Chiune Sugihara who save Jewish people during World War II.
245 Miwadai Shirasaka Shirakawa, Fukushima 961-0835
Tel: 0248-28-2108
http://www.am-j.or.jp
muzeumau@maple.ocn.ne.jp
(Thanks to Mr. Eiji Azuma)

Yuki no Shita Peace Culture Museum: Fukui

Record of Downpour in Fukui was published by the museum. Reported are the result of heavy rain on July 18, efforts for the reconstruction, volunteers’ experiences as well as some 200 photos. The photos show not only devastated areas that were reported in media but also things that show people’s lives such as the closure of hospitals and shops and notices that show people’s gratitude to volunteers who helped them. Damages of monuments and cultural assets are also recorded. The price is 1000 yen.
Kanpow No.149 published on October 20.
Tel & fax: 0776-66-1564
http://kore.mitene.or.jp/-yukisita/yukisita@kore.mitene.or.jp [kore.mitene.or.jp/-yukisita/yukisita@kore.mitene.or.jp]

Saitama Peace Museum: Saitama

An exhibition of “Children and War: School and Play” was held from July 24 to September 12. An illustrated book was published. There was a workshop on plays in the old days on August 15.

Citizens exchanged opinions with people who experienced war.

There were film shows: “Shin-chan’s Tricyle” was shown on April 10, Chi-chan’s Kageokuri(a children’s play), a sad story of people who were killed in war, on June 12, “On a Paper Crane” on July 10 and “A Flower” on September 11.

A special films were shown: “Anne Frank’s Diary” on May 1, “Give me back this Child” on August 14 and “Black Rain” on October 9.

People visited war-related sites on October 2: aviation school in Hikawa.

There was a reading of poetry for peace on July 5.
Tel:0493-35-4111 Fax:0493-35-4112
http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/-pms

Maruki Art Museum: Higashi Matsuyama City of Saitama

Iri and Toshi Maruki’s art works were exhibited from May 18 to September 3.

Art works by Suma Maruki, Iri’s mother, were also exhibited from September 7 to November 26. Her works are simple and mysterious.
(Newsletter No. 79 published on April 22 and No. 80 published on July 23.)
Tel:0493-22-3266 Fax:0493-24-8371
http://www.aya.or.jp/-marukimsn

Warabi City History Folklore Museum: Saitama

An exhibition of “15-Year-War Memory: Saving Rice and Substitutes for Rice” was held from August 1 to 31. A related leaflet was published.
Tel: 048-432-2477

Kamifukuoka City History Folklore Museum: Saitama

There was an exhibition on weapon factories and war from August 14 to September 12. There were also lectures on history. Mr. Hideo Oshiba, a council member on Kamifukuoka city cultural assets, talked about the history of weapons factory in Kawagoe on August 22. Mr. Kiyoji Uchida and Fumio Takagi (director of the museum) talked about Musashi Unit that was stationed at an elementary school to protect the mainland of Japan and also their experiences of being sent to the front.
Tel:049-261-6065

Fussa City Local Museum: Tokyo

War Exhibition for Peace was held from June 26 to September 26. A lecture on “The Russo-Japanese War from a Soldier’s Viewpoint” was given by Professor Katsuhiro Arai of Senshu University on August 14. People visited a former transformer substation, which belonged to Hitachi and was air raided by U.S. bombers during World War II, in Higashi Yamato City on August 28.
Tel:0425-53-3111
Creating Women’s War/Peace Museum: our activities
Yuko Yoshida

It has been almost two years since Ms Yayori Matsui passed away in December, 2002. There are five basic ideas behind the movement of creating Women’s War/Peace Museum.

1) Focus on violence during World War II from the viewpoint of gender justice
2) To make clear Japan’s responsibility for her aggression of other countries
3) To make the museum the base for the activities for the peaceful future
4) To build the museum and run it as people’s movement which is not related to national authority.
5) To promote international solidarity

In order to realize these ideas, open lectures were given since April and we learned the history of war and peace museums. This program was very meaningful to share the movement to create our museum with other people.

We learned “active museum movement” from Ms Michiko Kajimura of Women’s Group in Berlin who gave a lecture titled “Germans who won’t forget the history of aggression: things that I began to see through living in Berlin” on April 3. It is “German people’s movement who create a memorial at the site of aggression so that citizens can be empowered by learning the history of Nazism, thinking and acting.” We were encouraged by Germans who made efforts to preserve their memory of aggression by Nazism.

Mr. Yoshihiko Kimizuka of Tokyo Gakugei University gave a lecture on museums that criticize war such as Life is Treasure Museum in Okinawa in contrast to a public war museum that does not try to deal with Japan’s aggression on June 24. Professor Morio Minami of Aichi Kyouiku University gave a lecture on war museums for war and war museums for peace on July 24. We realized the importance of our museum project because it was pointed out that it is not possible to exhibit the real history of war at national history museum. Mr. Yuji Ishida of Tokyo University gave a lecture on Germany’s attitude toward her aggression on August 31. We felt a gap between Germany and Japan because German government dealt with war responsibility while Japanese government didn’t.

Mr. Thomas Lutz of Topography of Terror Foundation gave a lecture on recording the history of aggression on October 9. Discussed were how war memory is preserved, how the past was “overcome”, the difficulty of understanding the history of aggression from gender viewpoint etc.

Thus the necessity of our museum and concrete images became clearer. Our museum should aim at recording Japan’s aggression in terms of sexual violence against women, preserving the records and exhibitimg them by joining German active museum movement.

Mina Watanabe became the secretary general of Foundation Committee from September.
TEL&FAX: 03-3369-6866
info@wfphr.org (../Muse/info@wfphr.org)
http://www.wfphr.org/

The 5th Lucky Dragon Display House: Tokyo

The exhibition on people in Marshall Islands was held from May 15 to June 27. The damages by hydrogen bomb tests and people’s voices were shown in photos.
(Newsletter No. 309 published on June 1.
Website: http://d5f.org (http://d5f.org/)
fukuryumaru@msa.biglobe.ne.jp
Tel: 03-3251-8494

Korea Museum: Tokyo

There was an exhibition called “Big earthquake in Kanto: how the massacre of Koreans were reported in newspaper from August 18 to October 3.

The museum moved from the 7th floor to the 9th floor and there is more space than before.
http://www.40net.jp/~kourai/
Tel & Fax: 03-5272-3510

Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center: Tokyo

Hanna was killed at Auschwitz in World War II. It was found that her brother, George, lived in Canada by Ms Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the center. George aged 76 visited Tokyo and Kochi and talked about Hanna to 2000 children. The website on Hanna was created.
http://www.hanassuitcase.ca/
Tel: 03-5363-4808
holocaust@tokyo.email.ne.jp
www.ne.jp/asahi/holocaust/tokyo

The Center of the TokyoAir Raids and War Damages: Tokyo

A corner on children and war was created on the 3rd floor. Children were evacuated during World War II and related-documents, photos and diaries are exhibited.

Some seventy people got together on May 5 commemorating the 3rd year of creating Children’s Statue for Peace near the entrance of the museum. Their wish for peace was carved on the back screen.
Tel: 03-5857-5631. Fax: 03-5683-3326
http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~sensai/

Kanagawa Plaza for Global Citizenship: Kanagawa

There was an exhibition of “Palestinian Refugees for Half a Century: Life supported by the United Nations” from June 29 to August 29.
(Global Citizens Report No. 19 published in July, 2004)
Tel:045-896-2121 Fax:045-896-2945
http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/osirase/plaza

Hiratsuka City Museum: Kanagawa

A book on U.S. air raids on Hiratsuka was published by Association of Recording U.S. Air Raids and War Damages on March 26. There are three volumes and this is the second one. It includes war damages and diaries of junior high school students who were forced to work during World War II.
Tel: 0463-33-5111 Fax:0463-31-3949

Sakuragaoka Museum: ToyokawaCity, Aichi

There were exhibitions on navy factory in Toyokawa and also on posters during World War II from July 17 to August 31.
Tel:0533-85-3775 Fax:0533-85-3776

Peace Museum Project in Matsushiro: Nagano Prefecture

Twenty-one people visited war-related sites on May 23 in Jouetsu. One of them is the remains of prisoners of war camp in Naoetsu. Some 300 Australian soldiers were put into a camp as prisoners of war in December, 1942, and they were forced to work to produce weapons. Sixty POWs died because of illness from March, 1943 to February, 1944. It was because of poor working conditions. It is said that there were 700 POWs including British, American and Dutch POWs when Japan was defeated.

15 officials at the camp were executed after the war. An Australian POW visited the place after the war and exchanges of both citizens started, which resulted in creating a peace memorial park and a museum. War-related sites and museums can be good to create peace.

Matsushiro Headquarter Peace Memorial was awarded 820,000 yen by Nagano City in order to promote guides of the underground shelter that had been made to protect the emperor’s family during World War II. The money will be used to publish 10,000 pamphlets on the shelter, three mobile phones for the guides, training guides and so forth.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/kibonoie/
Tel/Fax: 026-228-8415

Anjo City History Museum: Aichi

There was an exhibition on daily life during World War II and Meiji Air Base from July 17 to September 5. An illustrated book was published.

There was a lecture on war-related sites in Tokai area on July 24. People visited war-related sites such as Meiji Air Base on August 1. There were also lectures on war experiences by former soldiers and also a lecture on war toys in August.
Tel:0566-77-6655
Fax:0566-77-6600

Shizuoka Peace Center:Shizuoka

There was an exhibition on war and Shizuoka through Tanka poem from April 9 to July 11. Tanka poem played important roles in recording people’s life during World War II because it was difficult to use a camera. Chieo Nagakuraz’s poems were introduced.
(Newsletter No. 58published on May 15)
http://homepage2.nifty.com/shizuoka-heiwa
Tel & Fax: 054-247-9641

Asai-Town History Folklore Museum: Shiga

There was an exhibition commemorating the end of World War II in terms of soldiers’ war memory from July 24 to September 12.
Tel:077-554-2733
Fax:077-554-2755

Bronze Vessel Museum: Yasu City, Shiga

An exhibition on people’s life during World War II was held from July 3 to September 5. A leaflet was published.
Tel:077-554-2733 Fax:077-554-2755

Rittou History Folklore Museum: Shiga

An exhibition on the Russo-Japanese War was held from July 24 to September 5 including exhibits on children’s evacuation.

People also visited the sites of schools where children were evacuated during World War II.
Tel:077-554-2733 Fax:077-554-2755

Kyoto Museumfor World Peace: Kyoto

There was a special exhibition on Ainu culture from May 15 to June 13. Prof. Yugo Ono of Hokkaido University and Mutsumi Chisato gave a lecture on May 15. Mutsuko Nakamoto, the head of Association of Preserving Ainu Culture, and Reina, her grand-daughter, sang songs.

There was a photo exhibition on battlefields in the world from June 22 to July 22. Photo journalists, Naomi Toyota and Ryuichi Hirokawa gave a lecture on July 1 and October 14 respectively.

A Japanese film “KT” about the abduction of Kim Dae-jung and another comic film “Hotel Hibiscus” about a story of a family in Okinawa were screened respectively on July 3 and October 16 with a talk of the directors of the films and the peace museum.

Michael Moore’s film “Fahrenheit 9/11 was shown in July with some 500 participants, which was followed by a panel discussion by a famous critic and Professor Ikuro Anzai, the director of the museum.

World Press Photo Exhibition was held in October with about 8000 visitors.

Special Exhibition commemorating 50th Anniversary of the Sufferings due to US H-bomb Tests in Bikini Atolls was held from October 28 to November 23.

Ceremony for Renouncing War was held on December 8 with the participation of students and professors in which President of Ritsumeikan University expressed his determination to successfully renew the Kyoto Museum for World Peace attached to the university.

Prof. Anzai, the director, was appointed the Honorary Director of Nanjing International Peace Research Institute attached to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. He was also decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal for Culture and Information by the Government of Vietnam.

Tanba Manganese Memorial: Kyoto

There was the 3rd special exhibition on Korean people who were discriminated against and their movement against it from July 25 to August 29.
Tel:0771-54-0046 Fax:0771-54-0234

Mukou City Culture Museum: Kyoto

There has been an exhibition on life during World War II since 1995. Military uniforms, textbooks used during the war, letters related to the Russo-Japanese war were exhibited from August 14 to September 29.
Tel:075-931-1182 Fax:075-931-1121

Osaka International Peace Center: Osaka

A special exhibition on small arms and child soldiers was held from May 25 to July 21.

An exhibition on Sadako Sasaki was held from July 29 to August 11. An exhibition on the atomic bombing on Hiroshima was held from August 14 to September 12.

There was the exhibition of paintings by Vietnamese children and photos on the aftereffects of defoliant from September 21 to November 28. A symposium of “Vietnam and Japan: What we can do for building peace in Asia and the world” was organized on September 25.

Ms Haruko Moritaki, the head of Hiroshima Association for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, gave a lecture on Iraq war and depleted uranium on August 15.

In the seminar to think of peace in the 21st century, there was a lecture on child soldiers on June 19 and one on building peace in East Asia on September 4.

A Course of Peace Studies for Teachers was given in July. The content is US air raids on Osaka, how to convey significance of peace to children and how to report the present situation of the world.

There was a puppet show for children on July 21 and animated cartoons were shown from July 27 to 30.

A list of the names of 8608 victims of US air raids on Osaka is exhibited among 8658 victims except those who did not want to disclose their family names. There is a plan to create a peace monument by August 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

(Osaka International Peace Center No.32 published on September 30)
Tel:06-6947-7208 Fax:06-6943-6080
http://www.mydome.or.jp/peace

Suita City Peace Memorial: Osaka

There was a photo exhibition on ships that had been sunken in the Pacific Ocean during World War II from August 24 to September 5.

Films and animated cartoons were shown from May to October.
Tel:06-6387-2593

Sakai City Peace & Human Rights Museum: Osaka

A special exhibition of Asian children diary with drawing was held from November 5 to 14.
Tel: 072-270-8150 Fax: 072-270-8159

Minoh City Local Museum: Osaka

Materials that were used in daily life during World War II were exhibited from July 28 to August 22.
Tel:072-723-2235 Fax:072-724-9694

The Peace, Human Rights and ChildrenCenter: Osaka

Some 15000 people visited the museum including the number of visitors of the traveling exhibits on school textbooks since the museum was founded 8 years ago. There are 6000 textbooks including the ones used in China, Korea and Japan during World War II. More and more people contacted the museum because of school textbook issues.
Tel: 072-229-4736 Fax: 072-227-1453

Himeji Peace Museum: Hyogo

Anti-nuclear exhibition was held from July 19 to August 29. There was a peace concert on August 1 and children chorus attended it.

An exhibition on women during World War II started to be held on October and it will end in December 23.
Tel:0792-91-2525 Fax:0792-91-2526

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The exhibition on children who were forced to work during the war was held from July 16 to December 15.
(Peace Culture No.153 published on June 1)

The museum set up a committee for renewal project because the year 2005 will be its 50th anniversary. The committee consists of a number of specialists in different fields.

Tel:082-241-4004 Fax:082-542-7941
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/peacesite/
hpcf@pcf.city.hiroshima.jp

Takamatsu Civic Culture Center: Peace Museum: Kagawa Prefecture

There was an exhibition on US air raids on Takamatsu from June 29 to July 4.
Peace films were shown in May 29 and August 26.
(Newsletter No. 16 published in October)
Tel:087-833-7722 Fax:087-861-7981
http://www.city.takamatu.kagawa.jp/kyouiku/bunkabu/sbsenter/heiwa.htm.

Grassroots House: Kochi

Kim Yeonghwan

Various events of Peace Wave in Kochi were done from June 26 to August 29. The secretariat is at Grassroots House.

Ms Haruko Moritaki, the head of Hiroshima Association for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, gave a lecture on Iraq war and depleted uranium. The 26th exhibition on war and peace was held under the four themes: US air raids on Kochi, the invasion of Iraq and Palestine, Japan’s invasion of China and hydrogen bomb tests in Bikini Atolls.

It was 22nd time that one million paper cranes were folded and decorated downtown, Kochi city.

There were the 8th peace march in Kochi, a memorial for the victims of US air raids, 21st Anti-nuclear Peace Concert, the 10th Peace Theater, the 21st Peace Art Exhibition, the 5th Peace Rally for Children and so forth.

There was a symposium on history in East Asia and peace as the 10th citizens meeting in solidarity with Asian people. It was organized by college students and young people. Students from China, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia as well as Korean students living in Japan discussed war responsibility, history education and concepts of history.

Professor Eise Kurimoto of Osaka University gave a lecture on Sudan, which gave a chance to think of civil conflicts and peace in Africa.

There was a festival on Kou Makimura, anti-war poet on September 3, the anniversary of his death. There was a lecture on him by Mr. Mutsushi Ino, a poet and Makimura’s poems were read. His life was introduced on Korean TV in which Mr. Shigeo Nishimori talked about Makimura.

Mr. Park Il Sun, Korean environmental activist, visited Grassroots House for the 4th time and donated 100 books to Korean children living in Matsuyama.

There was a rally called “NO MORE WAR! 9·11Rally in Kochi” at Grassroots House. A documentary film of “Who are Terrorists?” was shown and there was a peace concert.

A peace action to call for the withdrawal of the US military and Japanese Self Defense Forces from Iraq is continued once a week downtown of Kochi City.

German Museum: Naruto City, Tokushima

A diary of a German prisoner of war is introduced in Newsletter No. published on June 20. It was written from 1914 to 1920. It says, “A temple in Marugame of Shikoku is very crowded, but we live here. The only chance to go out is to go to the dentist in Takamatsu. Naturally many prisoners of war wanted to go to the dentist…”
http://www.city.naruto.tokushima.jp/germanhouse.
doitukan@city.naruto.tokushima.jp
Tel: 088-689-0099

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

There was an exhibition of the dolls collected by a couple who lost their child named Yoko-chan by the atomic bombing from May 25 to August 31.
Tel:095-844-1231 Fax:095-846-5170

Oka Masaharu Memorial Nagasaki Peace Museum

The members of the museum visited Nanjing in August. Two female students in Nagasaki went to China to learn Japan’s aggression of Nanjing. One of them said that she’d like to become a teacher and tell children Japan’s aggression for the peaceful future.
(Newsletter No. 38 published in October)
Tel: 095-820-5600
http://www.d3.dion.ne.jp/~okakinenn
tomoneko@land.linkclub.or.jp

OkinawaPrefectural PeaceMemorialMuseum: Okinawa

There was a special exhibition on war-related articles from October 1 to December 19. They were donated by citizens.

An exhibition on children and Okinawa land battle was exhibited from June 3 to July 18. Tetsu Nakamura, a medical doctor voluntarily working in Afghanistan, was awarded Okinawa International Peace Prize and an exhibition on him was held from September 16 to October 11.
(Newsletter No. 7 published on July 23)
Tel:098-997-3844 Fax:098-997-3947
http://www.peace-musem.pref.okinawa.jp

Himeyuri Peace Memorial Museum

The museum was renewed and opened on April 13. The explanation of exhibits was written by people who experienced the war in Okinawa. Its purpose is not only to convey historical facts to the next generation but also to make the victims’ ideas and feelings reflected in the exhibits.
(Newsletter No. 33 published on May 30)
TEL 098-997-2100·2101
FAX 098-997-2102
http://www.himeyuri.or.jp/

Tsushima-maru Memorial: Okinawa

The memorial of Tsushima-maru was opened on August 22. Tsushima-maru was a ship used to carry people and children who would evacuate, but it was sunken by US submarine and 1418 people including 775 children were killed.
Tel&Fax:098-941-3515

The 8th National Symposium of Preserving War-Related Sites

-Secretariat of the National Network of Preserving War-Related Sites-

The symposium was held in Tateyama City of Chiba Prefecture from August 21 to 22. 450 people attended it and they visited war-related sites such as former Navy base before the symposium. The theme was “How to preserve war-related sites and use them for peace”.
(From the website of House of Hope)
http://homepage3.nifty.com/kibonoie/isikinituto.htm)

Publications
Thinking in Nagasaki by Shinji Takahash: Hokuju shuppan 2004

Hiroshima Peace Science 26 by Institute for Peace Science, Hiroshima University 2004. Included are papers such as “The Reduction of US-Russian Strategic Nuclear Weapons and the Issue of ‘Reserve’ Stockpiles: Reconsidering the Significance of the SORT” by Hiroshi Yamada.

* IPSHU(Institute for Peace Science, Hiroshima University) Research Report No. 31: Reconsidering Human Security published in February, 2003.

Peace Studies in the Time of Globalization by Peace Studies Association of Japan: Houritsu Bunka-sha, 2004 (4 volumes in Japanese)

Visual Book Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be Handed Down by Ikuro Anzai: Shin-Nihon Shuppan-sha. Five-volume books for children and young people full of photographs and testimonies of A-bomb survivors, published in commemoration of 60th anniversary of atomic bombing. (in Japanese)

War-Related Sites in Japan edited by National Network of Preserving War-Related Sites: Heibon-sha Shinsho 2004 ?1200

Germ War and Today: published 5 times a year

Tel & fax: 048-985-5082

* Website of the House of Sharing http://www.nanum.org/jap/index.html

* Iejima Newsletter

There are the words by Shoukou Awagon, the founder of Life is Treasure Peace Museum and “Father of Peace Movement in Okinawa” and visitors’ impressions of the museum.

Tel: 0980-49-3047 Fax: 0980-49-5834

A calendar on Shoukou Awagon and photos of people in Iejima was published by Eizou Bunka Kyoukai.
Tel: 045-981-0834. Fax: 045-981-0918
eizobunka@r5.dion.ne.jp

Videotapes on Okinawa and the Philippines etc are available at Eizou Bunka Kyoukai mentioned above.

* Let’s

There are articles on Chinese people who were forced to go to Japan to work during World War II, the violation of human rights in Palestine. (December, 2003) It is published by Resource Center on Japan’s War Responsibility (in Japanese)

Tel: 03-3366-8261
Fax: 03-3366-8262

* It is possible to get to know the Japanese Constitution in English in the following website of Hougakukan Institute of Constitution: http://www.jicl.jp/english/index.html

(Thanks to Hitoshi Okawa)
Tel: 03-5489-2153
Fax: 03-3780-0130

Japan Center for Asian Historical Records: National Archives of Japan (English, Chinese, Hangul and Japanese)http://www.jacar.go.jp/

“The Power of Protest” by Lawrence S. Wittner in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists July/August 2004

Obituary: Shigeo Nishimori of Grassroots House
Let’s become wind to carry peace in Memory of Shigeo Nishimori
Keiko Tamaki: Vice-director

Mr. Shigeo Nishimori, the director of Grassroots House, passed away on August 21. He has been working hard for peace though he suffered from hobnailed liver.

Some 400 people got together in memory of Mr. Nishimori from all over Japan and Korea on October 10. Messages were sent not only from Japan but also from China, England, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland etc.

His life for peace was introduced using slides, music and messages. His life was based on his ideas of respecting life. When he was a student at Hokaido University, he began his activities for peace. He became a teacher of biology and promoted peace education. He also promoted peace movement which is based on the community. One of the examples is making an exhibition on US air raids on Kochi where more than 400 people were killed during World War II.

He investigated the victims of the US air raids, collected related materials and made an exhibition. A peace monument was finally realized in July 2004.

Peace monument in Kochi City

Grassroots House was created in November, 1989 by Mr. Nishimori. It has exhibits related to war, peace, environment, peace culture etc. He organized a peace trip to China to investigate what Japanese army from Kochi did in China during World War II. The trip was organized six times from 1991 and 1998. Booklets on Japan’s aggression were published and used for peace education. He actively supported Chinese lawsuit against Japanese government for apology and compensation for terrible damages done during the war.

Thinking that the destruction of the environment is another type of war, he thought that it is important to think of the nature 1000 years later. On March 19, 1995, he organized people to plant trees at Constitution Forest that symbolizes Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution that renounces war.

He also studied pacifists, especially Kou Makimura, a revolutionary poet. Makimura’s poems were published in a book and his life was introduced in a Korean TV program in which Mr. Nishimori emphasized the importance of Kou Makimura.

Mr. Nihimori kept criticizing war in Afghanistan and Iraq by writing, talking with people and attending meetings though he was suffering from illness. But so many people were encouraged to promote activities for peace by him.

We wanted him to live much longer for peace and better world. Though he passed away, we feel that he still keeps an eye on us somewhere. He made a song called “Let’s become wind” and we’d like to blow new wind that carries peace.

International Symposium “Exchange of Experiences and Future Cooperation of Asian Peace Museums"

The symposium was held by Science Council of Japan (National Committee for Peace Research) and Kyoto Museum for World Peace on June 19th. There were 118 Participants. Ms. Lee Suhyo of the Republic of Korea talked about “A New Tide of Korean Peace Museum Campaign and the Possibility of Japan-Korea Cooperation”. Mr. Zhou Sheng Shan, Director of Nanjing Massacre Museum (China) talked about “China-Japan Difference in Recognition of Nanjing Massacre and Future Prospect for Resolution.” Mr. Nguyen Kha Lan, Director of War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), talked about “How to Hand Down the Memories of Vietnam War to the Posterity for Making Future Peace”. The exchange of experiences and opinions encouraged the participants to work for peace in cooperation with one another. The details will be published in the journal of Kyoto Museum for World Peace in March, 2005.

IPRA Conference in Hungary
Kazuyo Yamane

The International Peace Research Association held its conference in Sopron, Hungary from July 5 to 9. Some 250 people attended it from forty countries.

Professor Toshifumi Murakami presented a paper of “The Influence of Education on War: the Comparison between Peace Museums and Military Museums”.

Kazuyo Yamane presented a paper of “Peace Museums in Japan: the Present Situations and Challenges”. It seems that peace researchers began to think that peace museums are effective in promoting peace education.

Some peace researchers visited Peace Museum in Stadtschlaining. The exhibits on peace, environment, conflict resolution, pacifists, understanding different culture were very impressive.

The following photo is very interesting to understand different culture.

The girl with her tongue sticking out is from Tibet. There is a story to this: through this way of greeting, people would see the tongue; and if it were dark, there would be "bad words" resting on it; the brighter the tongue is, the better and brighter is the soul. (Thanks to Hanna Orthofer of Peace Museum in Stadtschlaining)

Earth Spheres

The following is from Mr. Gerald Elfendahl, the former director of History Museum of Bainbridge Island in the State of Washington, the USA. Earth balls may be good for peace museum shops.

During the 2000 millennium, many asked, "Who was the most important human being of the past 1,000 years or century? Nominations included the person whose automated cameras took the first photos of the Earth from space so that we could all see our home-- how we are all one.

Eric Morris makes replicas of Earth -- giant ones for Fairs and Olympic Games, small ones for general and diverse consumers. The replicas are photographically accurate. They are made from NASA satellite photos. They perfectly show oceans, continents, and islands with clouds and weather systems swirling about them. They are printed with special ink so cities glow in the dark same as seen at night from space!
Eric's new 16" diameter "Earth Ball" is mass produced to be affordable. Every classroom and child on Earth should have or see one. They are inflatable, easy to mail. Local schools -- students and teachers! -- are excited about them.

Eric's company custom-makes giant, photo-accurate Earth models three-feet and larger -- one over 20-feet in diameter. He made two 16-foot Earths for the Utah Winter Olympic Games.
Eric Morris, Director
ORBIS COMPANY
PO Box 1148, Eastsound, WA 98245 USA
Tel.: (360) 376-4320; FAX: (360) 376-6050
eric@earthball.com
www.earthball.com

Peace Art Project Cambodia

There was PAPC Exhibition at Java Gallery Phnom Penh from 29 September to 5 October 2004.
www.peaceartprojectcambodia.org
It exhibited a selection of sculptures and furniture made from decommissioned weapons parts by young Cambodian artists at Java Gallery Phnom Penh (www.javaarts.org) for a limited period.

This second PAPC exhibition at Java Gallery reflects the progression of the artists’ skills and influences since the first Elements exhibition in February 2004.

All work on display is available for purchase with the proceeds being divided equally between the artist and re-investment into the workshop.

PAPC is a non-profit organisation which aims to:
-Train young Cambodian artists in new skills and materials and provide them with sustainable, transferable employment skills
-Promote young Cambodian artists and their work nationally and globall
-Promote a weapon free society nationally and globally
Contactemail address: info@javaarts.org [info@javaarts.org]

Articles on Peace Museums in Japan

Revealing the hidden facts of war promotes peace
MaryAnn Hansen: Australia

I have recently completed my Masters Thesis on a topic that dealt with the way war history continues to effect the relationship between China and Japan. I had been studying China for some years but had only limited knowledge of Japanese war history other than those stories handed down by members of my family, what I had seen depicted in mostly American movies and the reporting in the news media. All of this information gave me a very bad image of Japan.

I was particularly struck, while traveling and living in China, not just by the very strong anti-Japanese sentiment, but by the fact that young people were often the most hostile. In Australia I have rarely encountered young people with negative feelings about Japan; on the contrary, many young people embrace and admire Japanese culture. So I was interested to learn why the situation in China hadn’t changed after so many years.

Even before I began my serious research I was aware of the controversies surrounding Japan’s attitude towards its war history. World media has regularly reported on the text book issue, politicians visit to Yasukuni Shrine and Japan’s unwillingness to apologize for its wartime actions. I found this situation most peculiar and made the same assumption as most other people who read these reports: that the ‘official’ Japanese view, was shared by most of its population.

I learned that in addition to museums dedicated to the suffering caused from atomic bombings, museums in Osaka and Kyoto gave a different account of the war than the Japanese government presents and although I could find nothing in the English language academic material about them, I discovered that there were many small peace museums throughout Japan. I decided that the only way that I could get a complete picture of Japanese attitudes towards war was to visit Japan myself.

From the time that Fujita Hideo very kindly served as my guide to the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall and the Center of the Tokyo Air Raids and War Damages until I was warmly welcomed in Kochi, my previous assumptions about Japan were challenged. After two weeks in Japan visiting ten different museums, speaking to many peace activists and listening to personal testimonies, I was more convinced than ever of the futility of war. The western world is aware of the catastrophes of the atomic bombs, but little is known of the devastation caused to Japanese cities by fire-bombings and I was deeply shocked at the extent of the suffering experienced. Nor is it widely known how dedicated many Japanese people are to the cause of peace.

In China, especially, Japan continues to maintain its reviled reputation. The Chinese public is constantly bombarded with negative reports about Japanese behaviour connected to Japan’s period of aggression against China. Critics have accused the Chinese government of manipulating these feelings among its citizens through educational policies and control of the media. Even the Chinese national anthem ‘March of the Volunteers’ is a war song, composed to honour those who went to Manchuria to fight a war of resistance against Japanese imperialism. Yet my findings were that a great deal of this negative feeling is spontaneous, most especially demonstrated by the way these feelings are expressed on the internet, a medium that the Chinese government has found impossible to dominate. Increased internet usage has coincided with a sharp increase in animosity directed towards Japan, with recent opinion polls reporting that less than 6 percent of Chinese view Japan as friendly or very friendly, while 43 percent said the opposite.

On my return to Australia I was determined to learn more about Japanese war history and enrolled in a post-graduate class at the University of Melbourne. The class upset me and I found it disturbing to do the required reading and to learn of details that I had previously only had a vague notion about. Most of all I found it upsetting to see that my classmates, most of whom were under thirty, with no direct experience of war, seem so unconcerned. They compared descriptions of battles in the Pacific to scenes that they had seen in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and appeared to have no concept that what we were studying was not a novel or a movie, but a tragedy that caused widespread death, suffering and destruction. About half way through the course, all that changed. The topic was ‘atrocities’ and I braced myself for the unpleasant research. The material presented by the lecturer was far from predictable, however, and focused exclusively on the atrocities committed by the allies. Most of the group learned for the first time of the acts of barbarity committed by Australian, British and American troops against their Japanese foes. They were more shocked than I will ever be able to describe and they became completely sober. Suddenly it was not ‘John Wayne’ saving the world from ‘evil’, but war itself that became evil. They learned that war corrupts humanity and defiles us all. The change in the class was palpable and by the end of the semester every student that had attended had become a pacifist. It is such a simple solution, and yet I had never completely understood before that our best hope for preventing wars in the future is to give a complete, ‘warts and all’ education to our youth about the true horrors of war. Whoever glorifies and romanticizes war and those who fought and died in it, be they Japanese, Chinese, Australian or American, do a dreadful disservice to future humanity.

The Case of Japanese Peace Museums
Lucetta Sanguinetti: Italy

It was an extraordinary travel experience that permitted me to have hands-on this unexpected and extreme reality, to make evident the singularity of which Japan alone is the bearer. About half of the peace museums on our planet rise from its narrow island territory. And this is not a few, because it concerns some 40 peace museums (including small and big ones) compared to approximately 80 existing around the globe. This fact in itself reveals a precise choice.

From that same Japan that marked, with the catastrophe of the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the end of the most atrocious of the world wars and the beginning of the nuclear age, the necessity “not to forget” had brought two museums in the bombed cities to life since 1955: the Nagasaki International Cultural Hall and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. In the 1990s both underwent a radical renewal that permitted them to take on a precise objective in a more significant way, that of becoming the catalyst of international actions in the struggle against the instrument-war. Meanwhile, from the 1980s on, numerous institutions that are recognized today as peace museums, have sprung up, both in many cities that had undergone destruction from conventional carpet bombing, and in many others that, not claiming a special wound to remember, intend to witness their commitment by working toward peace.

Japan therefore assumes a guiding role in the museum’s culture of peace and in peace politics on a worldwide level. Yes, politics, but not governmental ones, characterized notoriously by a rightwing Nipponese model, tending rather to block than to promote the new, positive orientations of the most recent peace museums. It’s more about transnational politics which become vehicles for the most committed university environments, the NGOs, the cooperative movement and, for some aspects, the transnational bodies of the United Nations… that, just in the most important Japanese peace museums, are seen to rise up and be supported several on a large scale international campaigns.

It also concerns focused local politics: on a civic level, the cities that are equipped with a peace museum have felt the need to educate people’s consciences toward increasingly intelligent choices in the direction of the respect for human rights, civil rights, nonviolence, disarmament, ethics economics and solidarity; in a word, toward peace. This has caused that one of the major activities of Japanese peace museums to be dedicated to peace education, with integrated programs for schools, university courses, seminars, forums and conferences. All this ferment generates a climate of attention to and research on peace themes that influence citizens’ choices, so much so that some towns take on the name “peace city”. They can put in place the means for a capillary sensitization that touches the younger generations in a special way, and that, through the school, can reach large sections of the population, so as to penetrate inside the family core.

The city is the unit of measure of the politics of the people: it is still a citizens’ campaign, that of Mayors for Peace, that unites the participating cities in the movement “Inter-City Solidarity, Program to Promote Solidarity of Cities towards the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons”. And the peace museums of Hiroshima and Nagasaki also become the municipal, not only international headquarters of the entire initiative.

In addition, there are two other significant elements that characterize the Japanese peace museums, the first of which, very strong, is the “Strategy of Reconciliation”, that not only brings the visitors to recognize Japan’s own responsibility in the “15 Years War” of invasion and domination of Asian nations, but involves them in operational programs of student cultural exchanges, and health interventions, in order to rebuild bridges of solidarity with the objective of healing the old wound of the offended peoples.

The second aspect, instead, still seemed weak, not completely understandable and not as enthralling as one could expect from innovative and courageous museums like the Japanese ones. Nevertheless it is present and is in a phase of elaboration and development, such that in the coming years it’s foreseen that it could become the backbone of peace museums: it’s the aspect that takes into consideration the theme specific of “peace actions” (the nonviolent struggles for liberation, opposition to wars, nonviolent intervention in areas of conflict, civil and human rights claims), of “peace initiatives” and of “history of peace movements”.

Also in the Japanese museums this is the most difficult element to document in a clear and visible way. And if some of these begin to insert this documentation into their museological programs, this remains accessible only to experts, to people that are already aware of the topic and are sensitive to it. Perhaps a real, scenographic project on a large scale is still missing from the whole process, that can be communicated to the public only with an adequate, museographic preparation. The effective exposition of reflection and analyses of the run which has already gone, supported by research and by scientific peace studies, is still not perhaps so visible, so that it can lead people to active and conscious choices of nonviolence.

There is however an element that Japanese peace museums communicate in a special way: the strength of the Memory that a "collective mourning’s elaboration" transforms into a worldwide event. If the atomic catastrophe marked history, touching the depth of the capacity for human beings to exterminate them, and if this happened for the first time to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then the upward thrust towards building peace cannot come from anywhere else than from this Earth, from its capacity to rise up from annihilation. The "hibakusha" and their children demonstrate here every day that they have learned to believe in a possible resurrection, that they have learned to transform a historical evil into a higher good.

The calculation cannot be exact because some museums still don’t have an internet site; others are listed as peace museums, but in reality are still only projects…

Duffy, Terence, The Peace Museums of Japan, in Museum International, Paris, N. 196 (1997), p. 49-54: “The Nagasaki International Cultural Hall, predecessor of the new NagasakiAtomicBombMuseum, was constructed in 1955 to exhibit articles and photographs illustrating the tragedy of the Atomic bombing. A fine account of the Hall’s history is given in the classic study, Nagasiki Speaks: A Record of the Atomic Bombing. In April 1996 a substantial new museum was opened with three main exhibits- the atomic bombing on Nagasaki; Japanese war-time policy; and from the nuclear arms race to Japan’s post-1945 peace movement”.

Hiroshima Peace Site, Guide of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum,
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/peacesite/English/Stage0/S0-5E.html; http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index_e2.html:

“In 1949, an A-bomb materials display room (called A-bomb Memorial Hall) was opened to the public in the Hiroshima Central Community Hall. The HiroshimaPeaceMemorialMuseumand an accompanying building, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall, were opened in PeaceMemorial Parkin 1955. A group of volunteers called the Association to Support the Collection of A-bomb Materials (now the A-bomb Materials Preservation Association) and many other Hiroshimaresidents were instrumental in gathering A-bomb artifacts. The two buildings have been renovated several times to improve the exhibit itself, to provide peace studies facilities for school field trips, and for other improvements. The present HiroshimaPeaceMemorialMuseumwas opened in 1994, unifying the two buildings (now called the East and West buildings). The EastBuildingtraces Hiroshima’s history, depicting conditions in Hiroshimajust before and after the bombing. The WestBuildinguses photographs and artifacts to convey the facts of the atomic bombing itself. Through its atomic bomb materials, Hiroshimaintends to continue appealing to the approximately 1 million people from Japanand abroad who visit every year for the abolition of nuclear weapons and realization of genuine and lasting world peace”.

High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR):
http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/hc/index.htm

United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR):
http://www.unidir.org/html/en/about.html

United Nations University (UNU): http://www.unu.edu/

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=3328&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): http://www.unicef.org/about/index.html

Among these I’d like to remember the campaign to ban nuclear weapons from the globe by 2020 (“Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons”), the one for the ban on depleted uranium weapons: DU (Depleted Uranium) Weapons banning, the one against nuclear testing, the one against preventative and punitive wars, promoted by the NGO (Mayors for Peace), just started by the

Peace Memorial Centre of Hiroshima: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english/index.html http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/peacesite/English/Stage3/3-2/3-2-10words/vol10e.html
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english/outlines/cityplan.html

It concerns lobbying in order to obtain government approval so that the survivors of the populations at that time deported to Japan, contaminated by the nuclear radiation from the atomic explosion, might receive the needed medical treatments for free in their own countries. Chinese and Korean people, by now old, mutilated or sick, can be taken care of, in this reconciliation effort of which the peace museums are promoters, so that they might be helped and covered by the Japanese national healthcare system, as act of reparative refund.
http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2315/kwak.html

Muse 14 in Japanese was published in November. Special thanks goes to Dr. Peter van den Dungen, Ms Antonia Young, Mr. Franz Deutsch, Gerals Elfendahl, Ms Jane Bunge Noffke and PAPC(Peace Art Project Cambodia) who kindly sent various news.

Comments & Criticizm

Your comments and criticizm of Muse, peace museums in Japan will be very welcome. Special thanks goes to Ms Lucetta Sanguinetti from Italy and Ms MaryAnn Hansen from Australia who visited peace museums in Japan and wrote an article for Muse.

Kazuyo Yamane
The editor of Muse
GRH@ma1.seikyou.ne.jp
http://ha1.seikyou.ne.jp/home/Shigeo.Nishimori

We Wish You a Happy New Year!!

Dear Friends and Colleagues

I am glad to inform about the first updating of our Website "New Culture of Peace from Harmony". The list from 26 new (for one month) publications on the site is placed in the end of "Contents". The News includes four publications on new, fourth - Portuguese language of the site and one publication on Esperanto. Other publications are submitted in Russian - 10 materials and in English - 11 materials. They are devoted to the most different aspects of social harmony: to harmonious reform of the armed system, revolutionary project in Melbourne, competition of youth works, egalitarian mothering, Indian culture, Brazilian civilization, children's pictures, various verses from Brasil, Argentina and Russia; creating technology education, Sociocybernetics, Sociolinguistics, Sociology of childhood, psychoanalysis of terrorism. I am grateful to all co-authors for their creative contribution to harmonious peace. The list of news is applied below.

Now on the site the works more than 40 authors, including children, from 10 countries of the world in four languages are placed. I ask each author kindly to tell the opinion on the site Forum that is important for prestige both your works and our site as a whole. Besides, please, do not forget to inform your friends and colleagues about your publications on the site.

With wish of creative successes in understanding and statement of harmonious peace,

Leo Semashko, Website Director

Dear Peace Educators,

The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame seeks candidates for the position of Director of Academic Programs. The announcement for the position is below, and is also available on our webpage at . We would appreciate it if you could circulate this announcement to any relevant lists or to potential candidates for the position.

Thank you.
Hal Culbertson
Associate Director, Kroc Institute

Director of Academic Programs
Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
University of Notre Dame

The Kroc Institute seeks a Director of Academic Programs to provide academic and administrative leadership to our graduate and undergraduate programs in peace studies. The Institute offers a 2-year M.A. in peace studies, which includes a six-month field experience at sites around the world, and an undergraduate minor and supplementary major in peace studies. In consultation with relevant faculty committees and administrators, the Director of Academic Programs will manage all aspects of these programs, including curriculum, international and domestic field experiences, recruitment, admissions, financial aid, and student advising. The Director will supervise staff, serve on faculty advisory committees for these programs, and represent the programs in various venues. Some travel to international field sites will be required.

Candidates must have completed a Ph.D. in a relevant field, and will ideally have expertise in inter-disciplinary curriculum development and peace studies, as well as international experience. Candidates should also have demonstrated excellence in leadership, communication, and teamwork. Although not a requirement of the position, the Kroc Institute will explore teaching opportunities with appropriate candidates. The Director of Academic Programs is a full-year, untenured administrative faculty position at the Kroc Institute.

Applicants should submit a CV, cover letter, and three letters of reference to:

Director of Academic Programs Search Committee
Scott Appleby, Chair
107 Hesburgh Center
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Applications will be reviewed beginning April 15 until the position is filled. The University of Notre Dame is a national Catholic research university and an AA/EO employer; minority and women candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.

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

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

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

CGNews-PiH
March 16, 2005

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Title: Germany within Europe's dialog with Islamic world - Part 1 of 2:
Author: Gunther Mulack
Publication: Jakarta Post
Date: March 2, 2005
Building on the good historical relationship between Germany and the
Islamic world, Mulack feels that more needs to be done; [w]e need to
intensify not only our dialog but also effective cooperation on all
levels including civil society. He then explains what this means
from the German perspective.

Article #2
Title: Misconception the Root of Our Problems, Says Saudi Businesswoman
Author: Raid Qusti
Publication: Arab News
Date: March 7, 2005
Ousti succinctly outlines Saudi businesswoman Nadia Bakhurjis
understanding of the root of the misconceptions betweens between the
sexes in Saudi Arabia. She provides a detailed outline of the steps
needed to change these views and suggests a role for various actors
ranging from the NGO-level, in helping to document and provide legal
assistance in cases of violence against women, to the government-
level, which she feels needs to develop a mechanism in which will
represent woman and children and allow them real participation.

Article #3
Title: Glorious 'catastrophe' in the Middle East
Author: David Ignatius
Publication: Daily Star
Date: March 04, 2005
We are now watching a glorious catastrophe take place in the Middle
East. The old system that had looked so stable is ripping apart, with
each beam pulling another down as it falls. Ignatius, suggesting
that at the root of this catastrophe is public anger, and that the
Arab public needs to play the lead role in determining their own
future. Against this backdrop, he advises America on how he feels it
can best be of help in the region.

Article #4
Title: Coordinated Action is Neded
Author: Samer Shehata
Publication: ~CGNews-PiH Commissioned Article ~
Date: November 28, 2004
In this article article, the 10th in a series on relations between the
Muslim/Arab world and the West, Shehata focuses on the means of
promoting a sense of common humanity, not only through exchanges and
education, but also through coordinated action between individuals and
organizations.

*********

Article #1
Germany within Europe's dialog with Islamic world - Part 1 of 2:
Gunther Mulack
Germany and the Islamic world have traditionally good relations, from
which both have richly benefited. Germany had scientific and economic
interests and sent traders, explorers, archeologists and scientists
but not soldiers. We never were a colonial power in the Muslim world.
German Orientalists have greatly contributed to the history of Islam,
Arab language research and philology, literature, science, archeology
and many other academic fields. This is history, but we are still very
active in most of these fields.

The task facing us now, in this globalized world of the 21st century,
is to explore how we can go forward together, how we can harness our
efforts so as to tackle effectively the challenges that lie ahead. We
must ask what can be done to expand our relations and seek solutions
to its problems. The answer is obvious: We need to intensify not only
our dialog but also effective cooperation on all levels including
civil society.

We must definitely do more to fight islamophobia and try to spread
correct knowledge about each other and the faith and culture of Islam.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the continuing acts of terrorism sent
shock waves reverberating around the whole world. The ongoing violence
in Iraq with all its negative repercussions will make the task not
easier but even more important.

The many terroristic attacks, often in the name of Islam or jihad
against Westerners after Sept. 11 have deeply shocked people in Europe
and created a new threat perception. Islam is once again being seen by
many people as a threat to the West or more precisely Western
societies and their values. In the Islamic World American policies are
being seen as a revival of the crusade and imperialism. The violence
in Palestine and in Iraq are being felt as an attack on the Muslim
Ummah.

People everywhere, including the overwhelming majority of Muslims,
were revolted by the callous waste of so many lives. Those tragic
events were a grim reminder that terrorism and extremist violence are
a very
real threat, to which we must respond with all appropriate means and
the utmost determination. The fight against international terrorism --
as represented by al-Qaeda and other movements -- is far from over and
likely indeed to continue for many years.

It was for us German that the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11
attacks had planned them while living in our country as apparently
normal students. Many people are now asking, as Bernard Lewis has put
it, what went wrong? We are still looking for the answers, we are
still trying to grasp the underlying reasons for such developments.
The search for the root causes which led to such extremist violence is
continuing -- among specialists as well as in the general public.

In December 2004 in Berlin for the first time a German Muslim Academy
was inaugurated which should be an excellent platform for serious
debates and discussions. It is now almost three years since the
establishment in the German Foreign Office, of a Task Force for the
Dialogue with the Islamic World. The key priority for all of us is to
develop dialog and cooperation with the Islamic world and to learn
more about the root causes for frustration, radicalism, violence and
ultimately terrorism. The gap of understanding is growing and mutual
trust is diminishing.

We have to do more to bridge the growing gap between the West and the
Islamic world. We have to analyze the root causes of the growing
hatred, violence and animosity between civilizations across the world.
Why is it that radical fundamentalist or Islamist groups are finding
ever more adherents especially among the frustrated youth of the
Islamic world? Why is it that the values of the Western world have
become tarnished in the eyes of many Muslims?

It goes without saying that fundamentalism is a phenomenon not
specific to the Islamic world. Historically it has it's roots in
American protestantism where it is still flourishing, and it is not
fundamentalism we are objecting but only its radical or extremists
political escalation.

And also we have to see that the radicalization of politics has been
caused by the monopolistic control of the political process and the
suppression of any opposition in most Muslim countries, at least in
the Arab world. Social injustice and weak economic performance, high
corruption also play a negative role. But also the influence of a
perceived injustice in international relations against Muslims is a
further negative factor.

There is no doubt that in the Islamic world especially people are
deeply troubled by the ongoing violence in the Palestinian
territories, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The many civilian casualties
of the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda as well as
the ongoing daily killings in Iraq have caused a further rift between
the West and the Islamic world. Both sides feel threatened and
victimized. The impact of pictures sent to all homes around the world through
satellite television is tremendous.

In the media negative images abound. The point is not whether the
impressions created by the coverage of CNN or Arab satellite TV
channels are correct, but that these impressions shape the outlook and
perceptions of millions -- even hundreds of millions -- of Muslims
around the world. For many Muslims, perhaps for a majority in fact,
the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and U.S. occupation
of Iraq are seen as proof that there is indeed a "clash of civilizations"
between Islam and the West. That is something, however, which from the
European point of view must be avoided. Yes, we are facing a clash of
politics. But not yet of civilizations.

The impression that the West applies double standards has deeply
embittered and disappointed many Arabs as well as Muslims around the
world. They ask whether human rights, for example, are something only
people in the West are entitled to; they ask whether the West invokes
human rights merely as a means to put pressure on other nations, not
to better people's lives.

The events in Iraq, the horrible pictures from Abu Ghraib prison have
deeply undermined trust which is, however, essential for successful
dialog. Without trust there can be no sincere dialog.

Our response and active reaction must be to create trust by listening
more carefully to our partners taking their points serious and
intensifying the contacts among civilizations at all levels. And we
have to call existing problems by their names. We do not want to
impose our view of the world and our philosophy on our partners.

The writer is the Commissioner of the German Government for the
Dialogue with the Islamic World.
Source: Jakarta Post
Visit the website at: www.jakartapost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.

**********

Article #2
Misconception the Root of Our Problems, Says Saudi Businesswoman
Raid Qusti
RIYADH Nadia Bakhurji is a Saudi businesswoman who was also the first
of her sex to nominate herself as a candidate in this years elections
to municipal councils. The nomination was later withdrawn after women
were officially banned from running for office and voting. Last month
at the Jeddah Economic Forum, she made some recommendations concerning
social progress as well as the expanded and more effective
participation of woman in Saudi society. Her presentation at the
forum, A Vision of Growth: Building People, Building Society
emphasized the importance of creating a parallel strategy in which
education and home culture provide positive role models for both males
and females and also promote gender equality from an early age.

Basically what I am saying is that the root of our problems is the
misconception about one other. Men here tend to look at women in a
certain way and women tend to look at men in a certain way. This is
the source of many of our problems. Some people ask: Why is there so
much distance between the sexes? Why so many barriers? It is all
because of this misconception.

She pointed out that Saudi Arabia needs to develop a mechanism in both
governmental and non-governmental organizations which will represent
woman and children and allow them real participation. At present, she
calls what women and children have virtual representation and she
explains, Women and children are represented virtually in this
country. It doesnt mean through the Internet; it means they are
represented by a man. A man represents them. We have to get rid of
that. Women should represent themselves.

The role of NGOs (non-government organizations) is that they represent
and advise people with similar problems. NGOs also are instrumental in
making known the concerns of a section of society and bringing those
concerns to the attention of policy makers. She cited many examples of
NGOs in the UK and the functions they perform in society. NGOs
provide the means for a normal person - who may have nothing to do
with politics - to make his voice heard and most importantly, listened
to. NGOs can make sure that changes do in fact occur. She spoke
specifically about NGOs using their legal powers to investigate
violence and discrimination against women. For example, if we in the
Kingdom had an NGO that dealt with violence against women, Ranias
case (the Saudi TV broadcaster who was tortured by her husband) would
have gone to that NGO and the NGO would have supported her. It would
have made sure she had proper legal representation in court and it
would have made sure she received a just settlement. And that her
husband would not get away with what he did. She continued to point
out the advantages of NGOs. If we had this entity that people could
go to, it could also advise government bodies. An NGO could bring up
the issue of women experiencing negative reactions in government
offices. NGOs could get input from people and then meet officials and
work out a solution. They could say, We have looked at the school
curriculum and feel it is promoting bias against women or that it is
restricting women. For example I totally disagree with the ban on
sports for women. There is no Islamic law that says women should not
be healthy and physically fit.

On the other hand, female students are told that practicing sports is
sinful. These are matters we need to address in an educated,
scientific, and religious way. And they need to be addressed with the
peoples welfare in mind. Until we can experience that kind of cross-
communication in the community, we will never move forward. If people
lack the chance to talk about what their children being taught, it is
a serious problem. At the same time, the government should develop
ways of involving unrepresented groups in the community - women,
children and young people.

Bakhurji listed five common womens issues:

1- Employment
2- Childcare: caring and personal assistance
3- Poverty and exclusion
4- Violence and safety
5- Influence and decision-making

She also mentioned ten steps which she feels Saudi Arabia should take
in order to move forward.

1 Educate
Enlighten society and make sure that the curriculum meets the demands
and requirements of the younger generation. Also make sure that the
curriculum is not biased and that it does not promote hatred or
intolerance.

2 Cultivate
Here I am talking about cultivating leaders and role models.
Encourage schools and all educational trainers to identify exceptional
students. There has to be more awareness on the part of teachers
thinking about Childrens futures: The children must be encouraged and
supported in doing things which they are good at.

3 Communicate
I believe there is too little communication between the sexes and
even between government departments. There is too little official
awareness of what women think, what they need, and how they, along
with men, could be productive in building society and the economy.

4 Demonstrate
Demonstrate by action and lead by example. When we talk, we talk a
lot. That is part of our culture but do we ever actually do anything?
A lot of Saudi women talk about equality and rights but how many of
them are willing to get together and do what Ive done? What Ive done
by coming forward as a Saudi female candidate for the elections is
demonstrating my words and putting them into action. I am setting an
example. Look at me now after that experience. I'm still alive.
Sometimes you have to make sacrifices.

5 Mediate
Mediating between polarized groups. ?I mean between the ultra-
conservative and the ultra-liberal. Everyone is in a different place
and these people cannot see eye-to-eye. For example, you say women
should not drive because of x, y, and z. I say that women should
drive because of a, ?b, and c. Let's sit around a table and
mediate. We need groups that will mediate between the polarized
elements.? She went on, "There are also other polarized groups in our
society. We are very complex - Hejazis, Najdis, Asiris, and others and
all of them with different ways of thinking and looking at life."

6 Collaborate
Lets learn from people who have already gone down this path. First
of all lets look at examples in the Middle East who are closer to our
culture, such as Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and others in terms of their
progress in civil society and education.

7 Negotiate
Lets face it. We do not know how to negotiate. We get heated and
emotional and we lose the point. I believe that negotiation should be
taught in school; we should learn how to debate. How can we defend our
values and beliefs without knowing the basics of negotiating? We must
have an educated point of view.

8 Cooperate
There has to be cooperation between the different groups and sectors
of society, between different ministries so they can produce helpful
mechanisms.

9 Legislate
To create laws and legislation that support society on all
levels. Currently we say that we implement Shariah law. That is fine.
But are we really implementing it? She cited the example of meeting
Iranian women professors and women members of the Iranian Parliament.
When she asked them if it was true that Iranian women were stifled,
the members of parliament were surprised. The women told me that a
woman in Iran has a chance in any profession. She said: Look, I ran
for Parliament as a woman and I won. At the same time, the women
noted, that Iran is a very religious society; they said, We follow
the Shariah down to its smallest detail. If your women followed
Shariah, you would get more respect and be more productive. It does
not hamper women.

She returned then to one of her favorite points. Did you know that
Iranian women went to the Olympics? With their hijabs they competed.
The Iranian women told me that women practice sports, riding and
basketball for example wearing hijab and loose clothes. I thought to
myself, if they can do it, why cant we? Why are we restricted? Islam
does not handicap a society, and definitely does not handicap women. I
think we need to look at our Islamic interpretations more closely and
clarify certain areas.

10 Tolerate
It is not in our culture to tolerate. We are very judgmental. This is
wrong. We need to educate people to be tolerant rather than
judgmental. Who do we think we are? Very early, we teach children that
if this person is Hejazi it means one thing, if Najdi something else.
Or that black means this, and white means that. Or for example, shes
a woman. Lets judge her. It does not matter what she says; shes just
a woman. All these judgments make you guilty instead of innocent. This
kind of narrow-mindedness which is programmed into is socially from an
early age needs to be changed. The only way we can move forward is to
get rid of this ignorance.

We are no better than anyone else. And God says in the Quran that the
best of us is the most righteous.

Her recommendations:

1- Establish a national council for women
2- Establish mechanism within civil society for dialogue with decision
makers
3- Establish local community centers for advice and counseling related
to social and family affairs
4- Provide training and guidance for young people
5- Encourage investment in community projects
6- Allocate seats to women in order to ensure their participation in
local municipality politics
7- Education, education, education.

Source: Arab News
Website: www.arabnews.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for publication.

**********

Article #3
Glorious 'catastrophe' in the Middle East
David Ignatius
There's an obscure branch of mathematics known as "catastrophe
theory," which looks at how a small perturbation in a previously
stable system can suddenly produce dramatic change. A classic example
of the theory is the way a bridge, after bearing immense weight for
many years, can suddenly collapse because of a new stress.

We are now watching a glorious catastrophe take place in the Middle
East. The old system that had looked so stable is ripping apart, with
each beam pulling another down as it falls. The sudden stress that
produced the catastrophe was the American invasion of Iraq two years
ago. But this Arab power structure has been rotting at the joints for
a generation. The real force that's bringing it down is public anger.

It's hard not to feel giddy watching the dominoes fall. In
Lebanon, "people power" forced the resignation Monday of Syria's
puppet government; in Egypt, the Pharaonic Hosni Mubarak agreed
Saturday to allow other candidates to challenge his presidency for
life; in Iraq, the momentum of January's election is still propelling
the nation forward, despite bickering politicians and brutal suicide
bombers.

But catastrophic change is dangerous, even when it's bringing down a
system people detest. This is not a time for American triumphalism, or
for gloating and lecturing to the Arabs. That kind of arrogance got us
into trouble in Iraq during the first year of occupation. It was only
when Iraqis began to take control of their own destinies that this
project began to go right. The same rule holds for Lebanon, Egypt and
the rest. America can help by keeping on the pressure, but it's their
revolution.

Here are some warning flags about challenges ahead. My list is drawn
from conversations this week with Arabs who are part of the new
revolution. They worry that Washington, in its current giddy mood, may
miss the danger signs.

The crucial issue for Lebanon is the role of Hizbullah. This Shiite
militia is the best-organized political force in the country, and it's
now at a crossroads. Hizbullah cannot remain the "A Team" of terrorism
and also help build a new democracy in Lebanon. An encouraging sign is
that the party's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, met quietly
Monday night in Beirut with Samir Franjieh, one of the leaders of the
pro-democracy opposition. They discussed a possible deal whereby
Hizbullah would agree to disarm its militia and join a new government,
so long as that government wasn't openly anti-Syrian and Hizbullah was
allowed to keep its "resistance" squads. That's a steep price, but
getting Hizbullah inside the tent of political change might be worth
it.

For Syria's leaders, the issue is survival. Until recently, Syrian
strategists had been telling me about their "sandwich strategy" for
squeezing America in Iraq between a Syrian-backed insurgency and
Iranian pressure. Now it's Damascus that's in the sandwich, and there
are signs that President Bashar Assad realizes his best hope for
survival lies with the United States. That's one of the benefits of
catastrophic change: In the ensuing chaos, each player has to worry he
will be sold out by its allies. Hizbullah must fear that Assad is
about to cut a deal with America; meanwhile, Assad must worry that
Nasrallah will make a deal first.

The biggest danger of all is Iran's bid to manipulate the new
government in Iraq. Already, there are signs of its influence. The
ambitious Ahmed Chalabi announced he was quitting the race for prime
minister last month, reportedly the day after he met with Iran's
ambassador to Baghdad, who apparently warned him to step back. That's
scary; so is the recent demand by the head of the Iranian-backed Badr
Brigade that he be given the post of interior minister. To check
Iran's influence in Baghdad, the United States must make clear
its "red lines." The chief American demand should be that the key
security portfolios of defense, interior and intelligence must remain
in friendly Iraqi hands.

An interesting idea for squeezing Iran comes from an Iraqi Sunni
leader named Mithal Alusi, who's visiting Washington this week. He
suggests inviting dissident Iranian Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali
Montazeri to the holy city of Najaf to explain his view that political
rule by mullahs is incompatible with Islam. That would make Tehran
think twice about meddling in Iraq.

There's no stopping the Middle East's glorious catastrophe now that
it has begun. We are careening around the curve of history, and it's
useful to remember a basic rule for navigating slippery roads. Once
you're in the curve, you can't hit the brakes. The only way for
America to keep this car on the road is to keep its foot on the
accelerator.

**Syndicated columnist David Ignatius is published regularly by the
Daily Star.
Source: The 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 from the author for
publication.

**********

Article #4
Coordinated Action is Needed
Samer Shehata
Dialogue and mutual understanding between the Arab and Muslim worlds
and the United States has never been more urgently needed. At a time
when international public opinion toward the United States and
American public opinion toward the Arab and Muslim worlds is at its
lowest, it is imperative that people worldwide work toward increasing
genuine understanding and mutual respect.

Organizations and citizens worldwide have been working to foster this
respect, but despite these grassroots efforts, both regions of the
world still harbor distorted views of the other. Recent studies by the
Pew Research Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) reveal that Americans increasingly hold negative attitudes
toward Muslims and Islam. In the summer of 2003, for example, the Pew
Research Center reported that increasing numbers of Americans believe
that Islam encourages violence. More recently, a poll conducted for
CAIR in June 2004 revealed that only 2% of Americans held positive
images of Islam, compared with 32% who held negative impressions of
the religion.

Public opinion research done in the last three years by different
organizations also indicates that the United States has never been
viewed more negatively by Arabs and Muslims -- not to mention the rest
of the word -- than it is today. In a poll conducted last summer by
Zogby International, for example, only 2% of Egyptians, 4% of Saudis,
and 11% of Moroccans said they held favorable views of the US. These
figures are down from already low figures in 2002 representing a
dramatic worsening of an already troubling situation. Muslims
worldwide find themselves trying to explain that the overwhelming
majority of Arabs and Muslims do not hate the United States,
American values or freedom but disagree with specific US government
policies toward the region.

There are numerous reasons for these distorted views, but despite
these reasons people in both regions need to recognize our common
humanity all that we share and not just what sets us apart. From
Tunis to Texas, fathers and mothers desire quality education for their
children, adequate health care, decent housing, good jobs, a better
future and, of course, security.

In order to recognize our common humanity we need more exchange,
interaction, and increased opportunities for Americans to learn about
Islam and travel to the Middle East. More cooperation is needed
between educational institutions in the Arab and Muslim world and the
US. Greater numbers of young people in the Arab world should be
allowed to study in the United States. Artists, intellectuals,
scientists, community leaders, and students should be moving across
borders at unprecedented levels in all directions in order to make
dialogue, engagement, mutual respect, and understanding a reality.
Sadly, because of the Bush administrations visa policies, exactly the
opposite is happening.

But even increased movement across borders is not enough. In this age
of globalization, coordinated action by people in the Arab and Muslim
world and the US is also urgently needed. Globalization means
increased interconnectedness. It entails deepened and accelerated
movement of information, capital, and people across the planet.
Globalization, however, should also mean that people in Cairo and
Chicago can act together for a common purpose, whether it is to
prevent Palestinian homes from being demolished (to condemn the
killing of civilians) or to push for greater respect for human rights
and political freedoms in the Arab world.

Non-governmental organizations in the Arab world, for example, should
not hesitate to cooperate with similar non-governmental organizations
in the US, Europe, and elsewhere in order to pressure Arab governments
to implement needed political reforms and uphold human rights. Let me
be clear: I am not calling on Arabs or Muslims to support the
initiatives of the Bush administration or the US government. But I am
suggesting that Arabs concerned with human rights and political
freedoms should engage with like-minded American and European non-
governmental organizations in order to further political freedoms in
the Arab world. Together we can and should expand the space of
political contestation, debate, and action in the Arab world,
something that will ultimately strengthen Arab society vis--vis
external powers.

Another example of multi-national citizen action includes the existing
movements in the US and Israel to pressure the Caterpillar Corporation
to stop selling armored bulldozers to the Israeli government, which
uses the equipment to illegally demolish Palestinian homes.
Individuals and non-governmental organizations in the Arab and Muslim
world should act together with their counterparts in the United States
and Israel to demand corporate social responsibility. Coordinated
action can also raise awareness about the counterproductive practice
of home demolition a practice that violates fundamental human rights
and does not facilitate the goal of achieving a just and lasting peace
between Palestinians and Israelis.

These are just two small examples of the types of coordinated action
between individuals and organizations in the Arab and Muslim world and
the United States that can make a difference. Working together will
ultimately generate greater understanding and awareness that people in
the Arab and Muslim world and United States share mutual concerns and
a common humanity.

Source: CGNews-PiH Commissioned Article
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained from the author for
publication.

**********

About CGNews-PiH
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Youth Views Editor

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International Green Network Newsletter #46
March 2005

CONTENTS

Events
1. IGN ECOSTUDY GROUP - FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2005
2. THE 8TH ANNUAL TOKYO WOMENFEST - MAR. 13
3. KIN WINE TASTING - MAR. 17
4. CHARITY BALLET EVENT ON MARCH 12, 2005
5. JAMBO MARCH EVENTS
6. JAMBO IN THE PHILIPPINES: CHANGES
7. HPAIR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CONFERENCE IN TOKYO
8. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH HIKES IN MARCH
9. SPECIAL WORKSHOP ON GENDER AND SEXUAL IDENTITY
10. PUBLIC SEMINARS AT TEACHERS COLLEGE

Activism
11. "STOP THE WAR" CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
12. PETITION TO STOP MILITARY ATTACKS ON IRAN
13. RAINFOREST ALERT!
14. REPORT ON CLIMATE CHANGE EVENT
15. KARUIZAWA MONKEYS

Networking
16. PGL IV - CALL FOR PAPERS
17. INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION
18. ALCAN PRIZE FOR SUSTAINABILITY
19. NEWS AND SPECIALS FROM TENGU NATURAL FOODS

News and Views
20. BOYCOTT TOSHIBA!
21. ENERGY U-TURN IN CHINA?
22. GREENPEACE DISRUPTS OIL TRADING
23. CANADA BACKS TERMINATOR SEEDS
24. YOU DON'T DESERVE BRAIN CANCER -- YOU DESERVE THE FACTS

About the International Green Network (omitted from printed version)
25. INFO ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL GREEN NETWORK
26. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL GREEN NETWORK ECOSTUDY GROUP
27. FAIR USE NOTICE

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Auroville the School of Human Unity…..
Zahid Shahab Ahmed (Pakistan)

It was indeed a matter of pleasure and honour for me to be part of UNESCO’s international conference ‘youth for human unity’ Auroville, India from 21st to 28th February 2005.

Insatiable nature of human genus always demands for the curiosity, to know, to learn and to explore. I heard hundreds of questions from the youth during the conference, especially regarding religion and spirituality. Youth is asking questions and searching for the answers, because they don’t want to take religion as granted. They want to move into the depths of realities.

I feel the need to motivate youth to explore the hidden realities in all of the religions on this planet they would surely find out lots of similarities. Essence of religions would surely help us in our search for new avenues for human unity.

German Psychiatrist says ‘often the purpose of religion is to protect people from directly experiencing the divine.’

I was also having many unshared questions in mind regarding religions therefore during the lunch time I had discussion with Mr. Anand Reddy. He said:

“One must have special spectacles to see the divine. One can’t do it without possessing knowledge and practicing it. For example, you can’t come to know that water is made up of two elements i.e. hydrogen and oxygen, without studying chemistry. Same in case with God and to see God you must learn spirituality through meditation.”

Spirituality is basically a journey for truth and usually we individually search for the truths. This journey should be collective by having hands in hands.

Social life is a part of spirituality therefore we can’t separate any part of our life from spirituality.

Mr. Mukesh Vatsa said in his remarks during the conference that spirituality couldn’t be expressed in the forms of words, as what is not present in a seed is present in a flower.

Human attitude plays very important role in life and to satisfy our own desires there is a need to have positive attitude towards life. I feel that journey towards positivism starts with self-exploration.

Further, there is no need to hate the present generations of any nation, because they have not initiated conflicts. I don’t want the present generations to be blamed of anything, which is now the part of the history. I don’t want this; I don’t want the upcoming generations to open eyes in the environment of conflicts and hatreds.

Root of many problems is hidden in the ego and desires. And at times our desires make human sufferings invisible to us, therefore we only think about our benefits. This has been found in the history of wars, where nations had fought for the sake of material benefits. At times it is really confusing why we are fighting for the piece of lands and not for the peace on land?

God is everywhere, talking to us and caring for us there is just a need to open our mind and ears to listen to God.

Being involved in the social sector as a researcher I always have found that we in our daily lives only search for the differences between human beings e.g. caste, religion, class, gender, nationality etc. I feel for human unity we must understand that we can peacefully live together, but for this our first step could be to eliminate the barriers of differences. Further, there is a need to realize that we can coexist in diversity and for this we should search for the similarities and neglect differences.

Human unity to me is the state of mind where you don’t consider the barriers of gender, caste, religion, ethnicity, class and nationality before hugging each other.

While discussing the challenges to the human unity during the conference sessions the youth emphasized a lot on the lack of seriousness and interest to resolve the conflicts. And it has been found in the case with most of the conflicts at our planet, where the policy makers and people in power are not taking into consideration the benefits of peace.

Also religious extremism was also highlighted by some of the youth leaders as a challenge to human unity. I also have observed the severe impacts of religious extremism on the youth in India and Pakistan, where our youths are puppets in the hands of religious extremists.

Whenever I interacted with my friends from India during the conference days most of the times I encountered following questions:
1. Does every Pakistani is having a weapon?
2. Is there in Pakistan most of the people are dying with hunger?

While replying to the questions I observed that how badly the media has affected the mindsets of the people on the both sides of the borders. There is a permanent invisible wall between the two nations for the last 57 years, which is not even allowing people to glance into the lives of people on the other side.

We are presently living in the villages and don’t know anything about the situations outside the boundaries of our own villages. This reminds me of English movie ‘village’.

When I was about to leave for India to attend conference in Auroville, some of my friends asked me not to go to India, especially not to travel in the train due to security reasons. But my practical experience helped me a lot to understand that we are all same and common people on the both sides of the border are suffering due the decisions of powerful people.

By living in Auroville for a week I found that if we the youth could live together for a week with harmony and love then why not forever. Therefore, youth could be seeds of peace for the better fruit in the future.

Auroville is really a place for learning and inspirations, and I have observed it during my short stay in Auroville. Here, I would like to share a moment when I observed enormous amount of energy in the eyes of 70 years old man. He was still having energy to work for human unity, for positive livelihoods and love that never ends. I think it is the impact of challenging lifestyle in Auroville. As the Auroville charter says:

Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress and a youth that never ages.

We the youth who have seen, observed and learned human unity while living in Auroville for a week are now Auroville seeds for human unity.

Realistically speaking with some of the intellectuals I come to the conclusions that a living example like Auroville is not possible in all parts of the world. Therefore, we must spread the message of human unity in our own countries. And our focus should also be on transforming the values so to adopt the Auroville charter.

May peace prevails on earth!

Zahid Shahab Ahmed (Pakistan)

Workshop July 23-24: Experiencing Classical Adlerian Psychotherapy

===================================================

The Saturday-Sunday workshop provides an opportunity to observe,
experience, practice, and receive feedback from peers and seasoned
professionals on Classical Adlerian therapeutic techniques.
Participants are encouraged to bring a personal or professional issue
to work on. The workshop is primarily for individuals who are
currently enrolled, or have participated in, our on-site or
distance-training programs. For registration information, visit
http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/sum05.htm. Register by April 1st
and save $30.00.

If you are not yet participating in our distance training program, you
may qualify for the summer workshop by starting course DT101-Basic
Theory by the end of this month. For registration details, visit
http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/dt101.htm or call Dr. Stein at (360)
647-570.

Optional: Individual Study/Analysis or Case Analysis Appointments
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Individual three-hour blocks of time will be available on the Friday
before, as well as the Monday and Tuesday after the workshop. These
private appointments may be used to initiate or continue a
study-analysis or case supervision, and need to be arranged directly
with me by e-mail at htstein@att.net or by phone at (360) 647-5670.

==============================================
Henry T. Stein, Ph.D., Director
Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco & Northwestern Washington
Distance Training in Classical Adlerian Psychotherapy
Web site: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hstein/
E-mail: HTStein@att.net
Tel: (360) 647-5670

RESTORATIVE PRACTICES eFORUM - March 3, 2005

===================================================

Greetings, eForum members, from day one of the IIRP's sixth
international conference: "Building a Global Alliance for Restorative
Practices and Family Empowerment, Part Three."
"United wills make a fortress." -Chinese proverb
Ted Wachtel, president of the IIRP, and Terry O'Connell, director of
Real Justice Australia, welcomed everyone to the conference and
introduced the first plenary speaker, Elizabeth O'Callaghan, principal
of Mary MacKillop Primary School, in South Penrith, New South Wales,
Australia.
In her presentation, "The Mackillop Model of Restorative Practice,"
O'Callaghan discussed how restorative practices have been implemented
at her Catholic primary school. It was crucial, she said, that the
restorative framework, including the concept of fair process and the
use of restorative questions, be introduced to all the stakeholders --
from school staff to parents and students -- in an explicit way, as
early as possible, and be embedded in the school culture as a whole.
Due to restorative practice, she said, the number of incidents
reported to administration has fallen in number and decreased in severity.
Link to full text:
http://www.safersanerschools.org/library/au05_ocallaghan.html
Download as a PDF file:
http://fp.enter.net/restorativepractices/au05_ocallaghan.pdf
Next, Dennis Sing-Wing Wong, associate professor at City University of
Hong Kong and chairman of the Centre for Restoration of Human
Relationships, Hong Kong, China, presented, "Restorative Justice for
Juveniles in Hong Kong: Reflections of a Practitioner."
Wong talked about how he became a restorative justice advocate, going
back to his own youth, spent "nearly at the edge of delinquency." He
then addressed the philosophical basis of restorative justice,
including its affinity with Chinese culture, which emphasizes
collective values and restoration of interpersonal harmony. His
discussion of his extensive experiences implementing restorative
justice with youth in Hong Kong covered his endeavors in social work,
education and the legal system and concluded with his hopes for the
future of the practice.
Link to full text:
http://www.realjustice.org/library/au05_wong.html
Download as a PDF file:
http://fp.enter.net/restorativepractices/au05_wong.pdf
For more information on this conference, please go to:
http://www.iirp.org/sydney05
******************************************************************
To join the Restorative Practices eForum go to:
http://www.iirp.org/Pages/eforum.html
******************************************************************

The Iraq War Has Only Set Back Middle East Reform
By Shibley Telhami

This article appeared on NPR.org “Taking Issue”
March 14, 2005

Recent debate about hopeful signs of change in the Middle East has blurred the role of the Iraq war in the region. It's true that U.S. advocacy of democracy cannot be ignored by regional governments and that some moves in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia are in part related to the new American posture. But the effect of the Iraq war itself has been mostly negative.

The war has made the region more repressive, not less, over the past two years. Moreover, had the United States employed its power and international support after the Afghan war to support reformers in the region and push for Arab-Israeli peace, the Middle Eastern reform would be much farther along. Our strategic actions in the Middle East have had more impact on the prospects for reform than our direct advocacy of democracy.

Few in the Middle East directly associate signs of real change with the United States, and they are justifiably skeptical about the chance of real change. Most remain suspicious that the future will parallel the past: Facing internal and external pressure in the late '80s, governments reacted by providing short-term relief to withstand this pressure, only to freeze and in some instances reverse the moves at the earliest opportunity.

In a survey I conducted last year (with Zogby International) in six Arab countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates), the vast majority of Arabs did not believe that American policy in Iraq was motivated by the spread of democracy in the region. Even more troubling, most people believed the Middle East became less democratic after the Iraq war, and that Iraqis were worse off than they had been before the war.

Their perception was not merely driven by suspicion and denial. The modest promise of future change has been outweighed in most minds by a more repressive reality.

The vast majority of Arabs opposed the Iraq war with a passion that made their governments insecure. But faced with pressure from the United States, most governments in the region went along with that war, often actively cooperating politically and militarily with the U.S. In turn, the resulting domestic insecurity has led to repression to prevent destabilizing dissent.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's decision to allow more competitive presidential elections could lead to important change. But on the even of the Iraq war the government renewed emergency laws governing Egypt for three more years. This is the reality that people feel today.

In Saudi Arabia, there were hopeful but modest local elections. At the same time, the State Department released its human rights report, which concluded that "the record of human rights abuses and violations for Saudi Arabia, however, still far exceeds the advances."

In an environment where the king of Jordan was facing strong opposition and a populace whose number one most admired leader, according to my poll, was Saddam Hussein (even in captivity), the king had reason to be concerned.

The recent elections in Iraq may have been heartening to some, but most Arabs, who are largely Sunni Muslims, see in Iraq a state of anarchy and violence that they do not wish for themselves, and they detest the marginalization of Sunnis that they see. Iraq is not for now a model of inspiration to them.

There is a notion in our political discourse that this time around, the American advocacy of democracy is more serious in part because there is a prevalent belief after 9/11 that the absence of democracy is a primary reason for Middle East terrorism. Democracy is a worthy objective in its own right, but our current instrumental view of democracy could very easily reduce its future import in American priorities.

One can envision more than one possible -- maybe even probable -- scenario that can change the U.S. attitudes toward reform: rising tension with Iran that requires mobilizing allies; a collapse in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations; and another significant attack on American soil.

Expectations about profound democratic transformations in the region and about the U.S. role in driving change must be weighed against a disturbing historical record and current reality. The Iraq war has demonstrated what should have been known all along: The United States has the power the reshuffle the deck in the Middle East but not the power to guarantee where the cards will fall.


Shibley Telhami is Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is author of The Stakes: America in the Middle East.

Professor Leo Semashko kindly writes to HumanDHS:

Dear Evelin (if I may),

I am happy to get acquainted with such brilliant woman as you and your
remarkable organization Human DHS! You have such big Global Advisory Board
from all world except for Russia! I am very grateful to my Brazilian friend
Francisco for his courtesy. I very much like the purposes of your
organization: "we wish to work for and not against, namely for equal dignity
for all" and "breaking the cycle of humiliation". Our Website "A New Culture
of Peace from Harmony ", which was open on February 15 2005 (we are still
baby in comparison with you!) me and my colleagues, has mission to build a
harmonious peace in an information society. I think the lowest humiliations
for human are the wars, terrorism and poverty. Only new culture of
harmonious peace can prevent them. This culture is created on a priority of
children, parents and all caregivers. On our Website the works more than 40
authors (including children) from 10 countries of the world in four
languages are published. We, as well as you, wish work not against and for,
namely for harmonious peace, which is a top human dignity breaking the
eternal cycle of humiliation. Therefore, I think our organizations have ONE
GENERAL PURPOSE but go to it from the different sides. These different ways
do not exclude and supplement and strengthen each other. Therefore, from the
name all co-authors I have the moral right and all bases to offer you
cooperation and mutual help. I am ready to create on our Website for you new
page with the such approximately title: "Harmonious Peace: a Way toward
Equal Dignity and Beyond Humiliation". (You could offer other title.) Here
you could briefly on 5-10 pages tell about your organization its purposes
and work and to submit this page to April 10. (The next site updating is
planned on April 15). Publication yours materials and translation them on
the site languages will be honour for us. On the other hand, we shall be
happy, if you will publish on your site mission of our site (6-7 pages).
Such information interchange will be the first constructive step for
cooperation between our organizations. Our cooperation will be mutually
fruitful and effective both for the purposes of harmonious peace and equal
dignity and breaking of humiliation. These purposes are the two sides of one
medal. I hope you will be agree with me. We shall appreciate the publication
of this letter on your site as the invitation to cooperation.

With warm wishes of harmonious peace, which will stop humiliation and will
ratify equal dignity for all.

Leo

Leo Semashko
Ph.D., A/Professor, ISA member,
Director, Public Institute of Strategic Sphere (Tetrasociological) Studies,
7-4-42 Ho-Shi-Min Street, St. Petersburg, 194356, Russia.
Tel: 7-812-5133863.
E-mail: semashko4444@mail.admiral.ru
www.peacefromharmony.spb.ru

Message from Donna Hicks, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs:

Greetings,

The Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution welcomes you to attend the following seminars:
1. Thursday, March 10, 2005: Herbert C. Kelman, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, Harvard University, will give a talk entitled, "Arafat Revisited: An Assessment of His Role in the Search for a Two-State Solution." The talk is co-sponsored by the Middle East Seminar and will take place in M-11 (Mezzanine Level) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA from 4-6:00 pm.

2. Monday, March 14, 2005: Lucy Nusseibeh, Fellow, Women in Public Policy Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University will give a talk entitled, "Palestinian Non-Violence: The Road Ahead?" The talk will take place in the Bowie Vernon Room (Second Floor), Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA from 4-6:00 pm.

Hope to see you there!

Donna Hicks
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Email: dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu
Web site: http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu

Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology Division (Div. 48 of APA)

Annual Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award

http://www.peacepsych.org

Div. 48 is accepting nominations for its annual Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award which is open to both members and non members of Division 48 and to citizens of any country. The award is funded with royalties from the book "Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice," edited by Morton Deutsch, Ph.D., and Peter Coleman, Ph.D.. Nominations should include a curriculum vitae and a letter less than 300 words long, recognizing an individual who has made notable contributions to the integration of theory and practice in the field of conflict resolution. The award will be presented to a practitioner whose practice contributes to the development of theory or to a theorist or researcher who contributes to the development of practice. The prize is $1000 and the winner is invited to lecturer at the APA convention following the one when his/her award is announced. Last year's winner was Ronald James Fisher.

Send nominations via email to woolflm@webster.edu or APA Division 48 Awards Committee, c/o Dr. Linda M. Woolf, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Webster University, 470 East Lockwood, St. Louis, MO 63119.

The deadline for submissions is April 15.

Announcement Summer School
Education for Peace, Human Rights, and Justice
July 18 to July 30 2005 at Utrecht University, the Netherlands

The overall aim of the summer school is to offer an introduction and a contribution to education for peace, human rights and justice, as it is formulated by the UN Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) and elaborated in EURED, a European initiative for education for peace in Europe. In a framework of international and multi-disciplinary exchange students will be invited:

- to acquire knowledge about theories, fundamental concepts and practical experiences in this field;
- to practice skills in handling aggression and of coping with violence at different levels of society;
- to reflect about the relevance of these knowledge and skills and about opportunities to realize new knowledge and skills in his/her own situation.

The main focus of the course is on how science and education can best contribute towards the realisation of a culture of peace by overcoming violence. Special attention will be paid to the problem of violence as a phenomenon occurring at every level of our culture and society: in everyday life, institutionally organised, in the world of virtual reality, and in political context.

The Summer School will reach its aims through a mix of teaching and learning methods: gathering of information and knowledge, training skills for practical situations, reflection about the problems and their solution. In this way students will be equipped and challenged to offer a contribution tot the creation of a culture of peace in their own educational institute. The Summer School is a Dutch contribution to the UNESCO/EURED project.

Content

- Theoretical and practical background of the EURED project;
- Basic theories about peace, human rights, and justice, including their impact on education;
- The United Nations concept of a culture of peace and non-violence;
- Possibilities of dealing with the problem of violence
- International research and scientific background of the problem of conflict and violence;
- How to contribute to a culture of peace and non-violence through teaching and education;
- The contribution of Europe and European cultures to an international culture of peace, human rights, and justice.

Organisation:
Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Sciences

Target group:
Graduate students, young academics and teachers who are interested in the problem field

Number of participants:
30

Fee: € 1.000 including accommodation

Accommodation: arranged by the University

Place: Utrecht, the Netherlands

Period: July 18 to July 30

Deadline for application: April 30, 2005

Contact information: L.J.A.Vriens@fss.uu.nl

NEWSLETTER FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSE NETWORK

1 Dalai Lama: Growing restrictions for Tibetan people
The Tibetan people have faced suspicions and growing restrictions, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said yesterday at the 46th anniversary of the Tibetan People’s Uprising.
- The lack of true ethnic equality and harmony based on trust, and the absence of genuine stability in Tibet clearly shows that things are not well in Tibet, the Dalai Lama stated.

2 Russian activists fear increased terror after Maskhadov's death
Maskhadov’s death could lead to an escalation of the conflict in Chechnya and spread the military actions, said Liubov Vinogradova (picture) from the Russian Research Center for Human Rights in Moscow. The Soldiers Mothers´ Committee hopes to continue negotiations once a new Chechen leader appears.

3 International Women's Day: Internet dissidents under attack
Women who use the Internet to disseminate their ideas have found themselves caught up in some governments´ harsh attempts to control information exchange. To mark this year´s Women´s Day on 8 March, English PEN focused on cases of women under attack for using new information technology to challenge their governments.

4 Kenya: CLARION faults Witness Protection Bill
The proposed Witness Protection Bill, 2004, interferes with the globally recognised rights of an accused person, the Centre for Law and Research International (CLARION) warns. CLARION, one of the seven NGOs involved in the Human Rights House project in Nairobi, sounded the alarm last week, saying the Bill was in conflict with the recognised right to fair trial.

5 Ugandan NGOs against "life presidency"
About 90 non-government organisations have opposed a proposal in the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2005, to lift presidential term limits. - Lifting term limits is to ignore the very lessons we claim to have learnt, the National Coordinator of the Ugandan Human Rights Network, Martin Masiga, also co-ordinating the Uganda Human Rights House project, told journalists in Kampala last week.

6 North Korea human rights situation fact file
International attention towards the human rights situation in North Korea is on the rise. Urged by the European Union, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has appointed a Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation there. The US Congress has also unanimously passed the North Korean Human Rights Act. However, serious violations continue to occur. The Human Rights House Foundation will follow up North Korea during the UN Commission on Human Rights' 61st session in Geneva starting later this month.

7 Polish defender awarded by German Open Church
The German Evangelical Association Open Church has awarded the Amos Preis to Halina Bortnowska-Dabrowska, a member of the Helsinki Committee in Poland. She was awarded for her long-term struggle for democracy and freedom in Poland, commitment to the fight against racism and anti-semitism, as well as activities in support of the Polish-German reconciliation.

******************************************************************
Free of charge news and background service from the Human
Rights House Network, an international forum of cooperation between
independent human rights houses. It works to strengthen cooperation and
improve the security and capacity of the 70 human rights organizations in
the Network. The Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo is the
secretariat.

To subscribe, please send an email to:
newsletter-subscribe@humanrightshouse.org

More news and background on www.humanrightshouse.org

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Sent by:

Borghild Tønnessen-Krokan
Editor/Project Manager
The Human Rights House Foundation (HRH)
Address: Menneskerettighetshuset,
Tordenskioldsgate 6b, 0160 Oslo, Norway
Tel: (+47) 22 47 92 47, Direct: (+47) 22 47 92 44,
Fax: (+47) 22 47 92 01
Website: http://www.humanrightshouse.org,
http://www.menneskerettigheter.no

Message from Eric Van Grasdorff:

Anbei wieder einmal einige ausgewählte Filmtipps zum Thema Afrika und (ein wenig) darüber hinaus. Diese Auswahl erhebt in keinster Weise Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit. Sie stellt eine subjektive Auswahl dar.

Eric Van Grasdorff/AfricAvenir International e.V

------------------------------------------------

Montag, 07. März 2005, 21.00 Uhr: 3SAT

El Alamein

"Eine kleine Bahnstation hineingestellt in 100 Meilen von absolutem Nichts: Das ist El Alamein", sagte ein englischer Kriegsberichterstatter über diesen Ort in Ägypten. In der Wüste um El Alamein - zwischen Alexandria und der Grenze zu Libyen - wurde Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel im Spätherbst 1942 von den britischen Truppen unter B.L. Montgomery vernichtend geschlagen. El Alamein ist zu einem Synonym für das Ende des Deutschen Afrikakorps geworden.

------------------------------------

Mittwoch, 9. März 2005 um 22:45: ARTE

(VPS : 22.50; Wiederholungen: 15.03.2005 um 15:15)

Rachida

Spielfilm, Frankreich / Algerien 2002, ARTE F, Erstausstrahlung

Die junge Lehrerin Rachida lebt und unterrichtet in Algeriens Hauptstadt Algier. Eines Tages wird sie von Terroristen bedrängt, eine Bombe in ihrer Schule zu deponieren. Als sie sich widersetzt, wird sie niedergeschossen. Rachida überlebt und flieht gemeinsam mit ihrer Mutter vor dem Terror aufs Land. Doch auch dort gibt es kein Entkommen. [Mehr]

Mittwoch, 9. März 2005 um 00:30: ARTE

(VPS : 00.30; Wiederholungen: 11.03.2005 um 15:15)

KurzSchluss - Das Magazin

Magazin 2005, ARTE F, Erstausstrahlung

"Afrika-Spezial" zum Anlass des FESPACO mit mehreren Kurzfilmen. [Mehr]

------------------------------------

Samstag, 12. März 2005 um 20:40: ARTE

(VPS : 20.45; Wiederholungen: 13.03.2005 um 14:00; 21.03.2005 um 01:55)

Azalai - Karawane des weißen Goldes

Dokumentation, Frankreich 1996, ARTE F

Regie: Joel Calmettes

Azalai ist der Name der letzten großen Salzkarawane der Sahara. Mit 100 oder mehr Dromedaren zieht sie von Timbuktu gen Norden. Die Dokumentation begleitet eine dieser Reisen und gibt faszinierende Einblicke in eine Welt, die auch heute noch von mittelalterlichen Traditionen geprägt ist. [Mehr]

Samstag, 12. März 2005 um 01:05: ARTE

(VPS : 01.05)

Vom Leben der Kinder im 21. Jahrhundert

Dokumentarfilm, Frankreich 2000, ARTE F

Regie: Papisthione

In schonungsloser Direktheit zeigt der Film das Leben senegalesischer Straßenkinder in Dakar und offenbart dem Zuschauer die Gefühlswelt der Verzweifelten. [Mehr]

----------------------------------

Montag, 14. März 2005 um 19:00: ARTE

(VPS : 19.00; Wiederholungen: 21.03.2005 um 18:10)

Städte aus Lehm

Dokumentationsreihe, Deutschland / MALI / Jemen 2003, SWR, Erstausstrahlung

Regie: Thomas Wartmann

Ob in Westafrika, im südlichen Arabien oder im alten Persien - in den heißen Klimazonen der Erde hat der Mensch seit jeher mit Lehm gebaut. Die dreiteilige Dokumentationsreihe stellt die Städte Djenné, Shibam und Yazd vor, in denen das Wissen um die traditionellen handwerklichen Lehmbau-Techniken noch immer lebendig ist und von den alten Baumeistern an die nächste Generation weitergegeben wird. Da stark vom Zerfall bedroht, wurden die wichtigsten Lehm-Kunstwerke in diesen Städten auf die Liste des UNESCO-Weltkulturerbes gesetzt. Die erste Folge geht neben kulturhistorischen und architektonischen Besonderheiten auch auf die gesellschaftlichen Aspekte der alten, westafrikanischen Lehmmetropole Djenné ein. [Mehr]

-----------------------------------

Mittwoch, 16. März 2005 um 22:40: ARTE

(VPS : 22.40)

Bird

Spielfilm, USA 1988, ZDF

Regie: Clint Eastwood, Drehbuch: Joel Oliansky, Kamera: Jack N. Green, Musik: Irving Mills, Schnitt: Joel Cox, Produzent: Clint Eastwood, David Valdes

Forest Whitaker (Charlie "Bird" Parker), Diane Venora (Chan Parker), Michael Zelniker (Red Rodney), Samuel E. Wright (Dizzy Gillespie), Keith David (Buster Franklin), Michael McGuire (Brewster), Damon Whitaker (der junge "Bird")

Der Film beginnt, als Charlie Parker eigentlich schon am Ende ist: In Rückblenden erzählt er die bewegte Biografie eines Musikers, der in seinem kurzen, exzessiv-kreativen Leben eines der bedeutendsten Werke der Jazzmusik schuf. [Mehr]

---------------------------------

Freitag, 25. März 2005 um 23:45: ARTE

Das Ding von Konate (Le Truc de Konaté)

Kurzfilm, Burkina Faso / Frankreich 1996

Regie: Fanta Régina Nacro

Djénéba hat ein paar Tage in der Stadt verbracht und kehrt nun wieder in ihr Dorf zurück. Ihr Cousin Salif gibt ihr Geschenke für die Familie mit: Kola-Nüsse, bunte Kleider und Kondome. Im Dorf angekommen, verteilt Djénéba die Geschenke und verspricht ihrem Mann Konaté ein schönes Geschenk für die Nacht. Am Abend gibt sie ihm ein Kondom. Konaté ist außer sich vor Wut. Er will seine Gewohnheiten nicht ändern. Djénéba gibt nicht nach und verweigert sich ihm. Konaté sucht daraufhin seine Geliebte auf und muss feststellen, dass er impotent geworden ist. Er sucht Rat bei seinen Freunden, im Rat der Weisen unter dem Palaver-Baum, zuletzt beim Medizinmann des Dorfes. Dieser überbringt ihm eine Botschaft von den Geistern: Seine Männlichkeit kann Konaté nur wieder erlangen, wenn er den Baum findet, der diese "seltsame Frucht" - das Kondom - trägt. Konaté macht sich auf die Suche nach dem Zauberbaum. [Mehr]

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Außer der Reihe:

Montag, 21. März 2005 um 20:40: ARTE

(VPS : 20.45; Wiederholungen: 25.03.2005 um 00:45)

Sein und Haben

Dokumentarfilm, Frankreich 2002, ARTE F, Erstausstrahlung

Regie: Nicolas Philibert

Überall in Frankreich gibt es noch einige Schulen, die aus nur einer Klasse bestehen. Alle Kinder eines Dorfes, vom Kindergartenalter bis zum letzten Jahr der Grundschule, werden von einem Lehrer oder einer Lehrerin unterrichtet. Zwischen Isolation und Weltoffenheit teilen diese abgeschiedenen kleinen Gruppen den Alltag, im Guten wie im Schlechten. In einer dieser Schulen, irgendwo im Herzen der Auvergne, wurde dieser berühmte Film gedreht.

Montag, 21. März 2005 um 22:20: ARTE

(VPS : 22.25)

Kinder des Himmels

Spielfilm, Iran 1997, ARD

Regie: Majid Majidi, Kamera: Parviz Malekzaade, Musik: Keyvan Jahanshahi, Schnitt: Hassan Hassandoost

Auf dem Heimweg vom Schuster verliert der zehnjährige Ali die einzigen Schuhe seiner Schwester. Aus Angst vor den Eltern verheimlicht er den Verlust und leiht der Schwester sein eigenes Paar. Jeden Nachmittag müssen die beiden nun das verbleibende Paar Schuhe wechseln. Ali will seinen Fehler wieder gutmachen. Bei einem Kindermarathon hofft er auf den zweiten Preis: ein Paar Sportschuhe. Mit dem Mut der Verzweiflung geht Ali an den Start.

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AfricAvenir International e.V.
info@africavenir.org
http://www.africavenir.org

A message from Eric Van Grasdorff:

Am kommenden Sonntag, den 06. März 2005 laden die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA e.V.) und AfricAvenir International e.V. um 17.00 Uhr zu einer Film­vorführ­ung mit anschließender Diskussion in das Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Gezeigt wird der international mehrfach preisgekrönte Dokumentarfilm ‚Hillbrow Kids’, der den Straßenkindern selbst eine Stimme gibt, Sie als Menschen und nicht (nur) als Opfer darstellt. Im Anschluss an den Film bieten wir eine Diskussion mit den Regisseuren des Films, Jacqueline Görgen und Michael Hammon an.

Hillbrow Kids
Ein Dokumentarfilm von Jacqueline Görgen und Michael Hammon, 94 Minuten, Engl. mit dt. Untertiteln, Mit Straßenkindern aus Johannesburg (siehe auch: http://www.hillbrowkids.de/).

Auszeichnungen:
Golden Dhow Award - Best Documentary at Zanzibar International Film Festival 2000
Grand Premio Award of Ocic at Cinema Africano Milano 2000
Siver Dophin Award at International Film Festival Troia, Portugal 2000
Special Award at Southern African Film Festival Zimbabwe 2000
Nomination for German Camera Award 2000

Presse:
A gripping and powerful documentary about a group of street children … one of the most important films of South Africa… (Cape Times)
Infinitely compassionate and conceptually original… Hillbrow Kids is an eye opener… (New York Times)
Hillbrow Kids is the kind of documentary the world needs so much more… (mail & Guardian)

Am: Sonntag, den 06. März 2005
Zeit: 17.00 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, 10178 Berlin, Kino 3, Vorbestellung unter: 030 - 2 83 46 03 (MO-SA ab 14.30 Uhr/SO ab 10.30 Uhr)
Eintrittspreis: 5 Euro

Synopsis:
„Einst lebte eine Familie ... Mutter und Vater waren ganz normale Menschen, wie du und ich, aber aus irgendeinem Grunde waren ihre Kinder anders...“ erzählt eine alte Frau und beobachtet das Leben der Straßenkinder in Johannesburg. Sie muss feststellen, dass die alten Geschichten Südafrikas durch die Schicksale dieser Kinder modernisiert sind. Die Kinder sind anders als ihre Eltern, nicht mehr bereit zu ertragen, zu verzichten, zu verlieren. Allein, ganz auf sich selbst gestellt, kämpfen sie für die Erfüllung ihrer Wünsche. Und so arbeitet Vusi für sein Fahrrad, sucht Jane verzweifelt nach ihrem Kind, kämpft Silas gegen schlimme Zahnschmerzen, schaltet Bheki die Realität durch Überdosen an Glue aus. Und Shadrack? Shadrack hält gar nichts von der Regierung Südafrikas. Aber er glaubt an sich und an das große Glück.
Sie alle stammen aus den Townships, wo es die Regierung Mandelas noch längst nicht vermochte, die Spuren des vergangenen Apartheidregimes zu verwischen. Armut, Arbeitslosigkeit, zerrüttete Familienverhältnisse und Brutalität trieben sie auf und davon, um in einer Großstadt wie Johannesburgs ihr Glück zu suchen. Aber welches Glück?
Kinder, auf dem Weg, ihre Zukunft zu verlieren. Und so ruft die alte Frau Legenden Südafrikas in die Stadt hinein, in der Hoffnung, die Menschen mögen sich an ihre Traditionen erinnern.

Wir freuen uns auf einen weiteren interessanten Kinonachmittag mit Ihnen,

Rene Gradwohl Eric van Grasdorff
INISA e.V. AfricAvenir e.V.
renegradwohl@hotmail.com eric@africavenir.org

-----------------------------
Eric Van Grasdorff, Dipl.Pol.
eric@africavenir.org
http://www.africavenir.org

Liebe Freunde,
anbei leite ich Ihnen einen Veranstaltungshinweis der Adefra e.V. – Schwarze deutsche Frauen / Schwarze Frauen in Deutschland weiter. Rückfragen bitte direkt an Adefra!
Herzlichen Gruß,
Eric Van Grasdorff/AfricAvenir

-------------------------------

Am 20. März veranstaltet ADEFRA unter dem Motto "Rainbow Movies" einen Filmtag im Familiengarten. Zu sehen gibt es Filme für Groß und Klein (siehe angehängten Flyer). Für das leibliche Wohl wird mit Kaffee, Kuchen und mehr gesorgt.

Datum: Sonntag, 20.03.05 ab 10.30 Uhr
Ort: Familiengarten, Oranienstr. 34
10999 Berlin
Achtung: Rückfragen bitte nur per Mail (siehe Flyer)!
Feature für Kids So, 20. März 2005, 10.30 bis 15.00 Uhr:

WHALE RIDER
Regie: Nici Caro, Neuseeland 2002 Darsteller: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Cliff Curtis, Rawiri Paratene Spieldauer: 97 min, Deutsch, FSK: ab 6
Ein bewegender, neuseeländischer Film über den Kampf der 12 jährigen Pai gegen überkommene Traditionen und das Ringen um Liebe und Anerkennung. Das Mädchen, die ihren Großvater Koro über alles liebt, muss sich gegen diesen und eine tausendjährige Tradition auflehnen, um ihre Bestimmung zu erfüllen.

KIRIKU UND DIE ZAUBERIN
Regie: Michel Ocelot, Frankreich/ Belgien/ Luxemburg 1998 Darsteller: Kiriku, Zauberin Karaba Spieldauer: 74 min, Deutsch, FSK: 6, Zeichentrickfilm Ein betörend schöner Film, dessen Farben und Bilder sich auf die bildende Kunst des afrikanischen Kontinents beziehen. Ein Film über Liebe, Gerechtigkeit und Zivilcourage. Kiriku möchte sein Dorf von Karabas Hexerei befreien und herausfinden, warum diese Frau so böse ist.

SIRGA – DIE LÖWIN
nach dem Roman von René Guillot Regie: Patrick Grandperret, Frankreich 1996 Darsteller: Mathurin Sinze, Sophie-Veronique Toue Tagbe Souleyman Koly, Wère-Wére Liking, Salif Keita Spieldauer: 91 min, Deutsch, FSK: ab 6 Oulé, der afrikanische Königssohn und Sigra, die Tochter des Königs der Löwen, wachsen wie Geschwister auf. Oulé lernt an Sigras Seite die Geheimnisse der Tiere und der Wälder kennen. Sigra teilt das Strohlager ihres Spielkameraden. Doch eines Tages wird ihre Freundschaft auf eine harte Probe gestellt. Sirga die Löwin, ist eine einfühlsame Geschichte einer wunderbaren Freundschaft im Herzen Afrikas. Ein gelungener Film mit faszinierenden Aufnahmen.

Feature für Erwachsene So, 20. März 2005, 16.00 Uhr:

GIRLFIGHT - AUF EIGENE FAUST
Regie: Karyn Kusama, 2001 Darsteller: Michelle Rodriquez, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderon Spieldauer: 110 min, Deutsch Diana, 18 Jahre alte Schülerin aus Brooklyn ist taff, trotzig und schlägt zu. Ihr Leben scheinbar ohne Perspektive, verändert sich, als sie ihre Leidenschaft fürs Boxen entdeckt.

BELOVED
nach einem Roman von Toni Morrison Regie: Jonathan Demmed, USA 1998 Darsteller: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Clover Spieldauer: 165 min, Deutsch Auch 18 Jahre nach ihrer dramatischen Flucht findet die ehemalige Sklavin Sethe keinen Frieden. Der Geist ihres geliebten jüngsten Kindes, das auf dramatische Weise ums Leben kam, sucht sie und ihre Tochter Denver immer wieder heim. Als der einstige Leidensgenosse Paul in ihr Leben tritt, scheint der Weg offen für ein glücklicheres Leben. Doch die Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft wird jäh zerstört, als eine seltsame junge Frau bei Sethe auftaucht. Ihre Herkunft ist rätselhaft, ihr Auftreten gespenstisch und alles, was sie preisgibt, ist ihr Name: Menschenkind…

STRANGER INSIDE
Regie: Cheryl Dunye, Producer of Watermelon Woman, USA 2001 Darsteller: Yolanda Ross, Davenia Mc Fadden, Rain Phoenix Spieldauer: 96 min, English Treasure Lee, a young African American, has just been transferred to the Women´s State Prison. There, she schemes to meet the incarcerated mother who gave her up years ago. But when she connects with Brownie, a seasoned convict and “lifer”, Treasure finds the path to reconciliation both twisted and dangerous.

------------------------------

AfricAvenir International e.V.
info@africavenir.org
Web:
http://www.africavenir.org

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org
March 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. Cambodian Legislators Stripped of Immunity

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
2. Club of Madrid's International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security
3. Fellowships for Threatened Scholars
4. CIPE Joins Development Gateway Foundation
5. Leeds University Accepting Applications for Fellowship in Governance and Democracy
6. Democratic Development Study on Morocco
7. IDEA Launches New Web Site
8. New HLC Newsletter: Regional Cooperation in the Balkans Confronts the Past
9. Call for Submissions: 2005 Alcan Prize for Sustainability
10. Stanford Business School Offers New Program for Philanthropy Leaders

CIVIL SOCIETY STRENGTHENING
11. Civil Society Organizations Partnership Program Calls for Short Case Studies
12. CIVICUS Launches New Monthly Bulletin
13. Civil Society Collaborating to Build the Hemispheric Agenda: Participation in the Summits of the America through Online Discussion Forums

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
14. IIMC Accepts Applications for Asia, Middle East, and International Symposia for Students on Negations and Conflict Resolution
15. Call for Contributions: Midterm World Report on the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World
16. COPA Training Course on Peace Building and Conflict Transformation
17. Call for Applications: The Peace Building and Development Institute
18. New CrisisWatch Bulletin Released

DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
19. The King Baudouin International Development Prize Awarded to Ousmane Sy

ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR
20. CIPE Feature Articles: "Moving Beyond Dependence in Bosnia and Herzegovina" and "Supporting Public Participation in Egypt"

ELECTIONS
21. Ukraine After the Elections - A Collection of Research and Analyses

HUMAN RIGHTS
22. New Tactics Regional Training Workshop in Asia
23. UNHCHR Calls for Urgent Steps to Halt Atrocities in Darfur
24. Joint NGO Statement to OHCHR Calls for Stronger UN Machinery for Human Rights
25. Documentation Centers around the World Form an "Affinity Group"

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY
26. Statement Issued on Belarus
27. Workshop: OSCE Experiences in Promoting Democracy and Cooperative Security: An Inspiration for the Mediterranean Partners and Beyond?

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
28. The Southeast Asian Centre for E-media (SEACeM) Offers Assistance to WMD Participants
29. ItrainOnline Offers ICT Training
30. Report on the State of Freedom of Expression in Tunisia
31. Award in Recognition of Outstanding Achievement in Using ICT to Improve Quality of Life in Developing Countries

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION
32. Global Organization Against Corruption (GOPAC) Announces New Web site

WOMEN'S ISSUES
33. BAOBAB Issues Call for Women's Participation in Nigeria
34. Conference: "Leading to Change: Eliminating Violence Against Women in Muslim Societies"
35. International Women's Day Celebrated throughout the World

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DEMOCRACY ALERTS/APPEALS

1. Cambodian Legislators Stripped of Immunity
On February 3, the National Assembly voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of legislators Sam Rainsy, Cheam Channy, and Chea Poch. These leading opposition members of Cambodia's National Assembly now face prosecution for a number of outstanding charges. One member has already been detained. The International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy (IMPD) issued an alert strongly condemning the stripping of parliamentary immunity and urging the government of Cambodia to respect the right of the opposition parties to function freely. IMPD urges its members to write to Cambodian authorities and the media to push the government to respect the political freedom of opposition parties. The Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA) has also recently issued an alert condemning the arrest of the legislators.

To read the IMPD alert, go to: www.wmd.org/impd/main.html
To read the ARDA alert, go to: www.asiademocracy.org/content_view.php?section_id=2&content_id=348

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

2. Club of Madrid's International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security
The International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, that will take place in Madrid, from the March 8-11, 2005, will host more than 200 scholars and expert practitioners from around the world who specialize in terrorism and security. After working together for months, these group experts will submit the results of their investigations at the Summit to find a common framework of international action to fight terrorism and to reinforce democratic values and principles. The conclusions of the debates will be incorporated into the "Agenda of Madrid", that will consist of a series of guidelines and recommendations, which can be used as a guide for governments seeking a democratic response to terrorism.
For more information, go to: www.safe-democracy.org.

3. Fellowships for Threatened Scholars
The Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund provides fellowships for scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. These fellowships permit scholars to find temporary refuge at universities and colleges anywhere in the world, enabling them to pursue their academic work and to share their knowledge with students, colleagues, and the community at large. When conditions improve, these scholars will return home to help rebuild universities and societies ravaged by fear, conflict and repression. Academics, researchers and independent scholars from any country, field, or discipline may qualify. Fellowships are awarded to institutions for the support of specific individuals, to be matched in most cases by the institution or third-party. The application deadline is April 1, 2005.
For more information and applications, go to: www.iie.org/srf/home

4. CIPE Joins the Development Gateway Foundation
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) recently became a cooperating partner with the Development Gateway Foundation and will contribute publications and other information resources to the Development Gateway's web-based portal of development knowledge. Development Gateway operates a global web portal of information and supports other information service enterprises around the world to advance development locally.
Go to: www.developmentgateway.org

5. Leeds University Accepting Applications for Fellowship in Governance and Democracy
Leeds University, UK, welcomes applications for an academic Research Fellowship in Governance and Democracy. The fellowship offers a fast-track route to permanent academic appointments for outstanding researchers in the early stages of their career. This fellowship position is available for applicants with post doctoral (or equivalent) experience and an established track record of research achievements.
Go to: www.leeds.ac.uk/hr/information/polisfellow.doc

6. Democratic Development Study on Morocco
Rights & Democracy (Montreal) and Espace Associatif (Rabat) announce the publication of their study on democratic development in Morocco. The study analyzes Morocco's history of democratic development and civil society mobilization. The research draws on three themes: gender relations and rights, the rule of law, and the development of democratic culture. By using grass-roots and participatory methodology, the study aims to assist Morocco's non-profit sector in better defining its objectives and strategies. The research was conducted by civil society actors and is relevant to all parties interested in Morocco as well as the Maghreb region.
To access the complete study in French and Arabic as well as a summary in English, go to: www.dd-rd.ca

7. IDEA Launches New Web Site
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), an intergovernmental organization with member states from all continents, has launched a new and improved Web site to mark its 10th anniversary. The Web site has been completely redesigned and now offers new features including information searches by topic or region, a new publications database, and a right hand menu displaying the highlights, related news, and publications for each topic.
Go to: www.idea.int

8. HLC Newsletter: Regional Cooperation in the Balkans Confronts the Past
The Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) recently published its latest newsletter that highlights new regional cooperation initiatives in the region. Three NGOs from Serbia-Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina formed coalition in 2004 to address the legacies of the conflicts that tore the former Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s. Along with HLC, the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center, the Zagreb-based Documenta - Center for Dealing with the Past, signed a Protocol on Regional Cooperation. The three NGOs have agreed to cooperate and coordinate their activities aimed at documenting and revealing the truth about the conflicts in the 1990s, ending impunity for past humanitarian law violations, and bringing justice to victims. The main activities of the Protocol include the creation of war crimes database, regional war crime trial monitoring, and the support of war crime victims at trials.
To read about the Protocol on Regional Cooperation in the latest HLC newsletter, go to:
www.hlc.org.yu/storage/docs/18afbf368fc1e82a949d2f3858824d7c.pdf

9. Call for Submissions: 2005 Alcan Prize for Sustainability
The Alcan prize recognizes the non-profit sector for its contributions to global sustainability, and underlines the belief that all sectors of society must work together to achieve sustainable development. All non-profit, non-governmental, and civil society organizations working to advance the goals of economic, environmental, and social sustainability are eligible to apply. The prize, which amounts to US $1 million, is awarded annually. The application deadline is March 31, 2005.
For information on eligibility and entry procedures, go to: www.alcanprizeforsustainability.com/2005/en/details/objectives.asp

10. Stanford Business School Offers New Program for Philanthropy Leaders
Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) is offering a new executive education course geared towards leaders of grant-making organizations. Led by Stanford's world-class faculty, the Executive Program in Philanthropy focuses on the strategy and management of grant-making institutions, with a special emphasis on vision, execution, governance, and collaboration. Ideal candidates are high-level philanthropy leaders, senior program officers, executive directors, presidents, CEOs, or active board members with desire to augment their skills in leadership, business strategy, and organizational vision. The six-day Executive Program in Philanthropy will run from July 31 through August 5, 2005. The application deadline is May 15.
For more information and the application, go to: www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/epp/

CIVIL SOCIETY STRENGTHENING

11. Civil Society Organizations Partnership Program Calls for Short Case Studies
As part of a new program, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is looking for short case studies on the topic of civil society organizations (CSOs) and their policy influence. The case studies should be simple stories that describe situations in which CSOs have engaged with policy processes, the nature of the impact they have had (if any), and the relative role of research in the process. Submissions from authors in developing countries will be prioritized. Proposals should be 500 words long, and the case studies should be no longer than 1500 words. ODI will provide US$1500 awards to successful case studies.
For more information, go to: www.odi.org.uk/RAPID/Projects/PPA0104/Index.html

12. CIVICUS Launches New Monthly Bulletin
The CIVICUS' Civil Society Watch (CSW) Team has launched a new Monthly Bulletin highlighting the latest updates for the CSW program. The CSW program aims to mobilize quick, principled, and effective responses to situations that threaten civil society's fundamental rights to express, associate, and organize collectively throughout the world. The CSW Monthly Bulletin will provide a forum for activists' voices and disseminate as widely as possible cases in which the existence of civil society is threatened worldwide. CIVICUS also publishes a weekly bulletin that keeps thousands of people, organizations, and programs informed of the many developments that are taking place in civil society organizations around the world.
To subscribe to the CSW bulletin and for more information, email: cswatch@civicus.org or go to: www.civilsocietywatch.org.
For more information about the CIVICUS weekly bulletin, go to: www.civicus.org or email: news@civicus.org.

13. Civil Society Collaborating to Build the Hemispheric Agenda: Participation in the Summits of the Americas through Online Discussion Forums
In order to support substantive civil society participation in the Summits of the Americas, Partners of the Americas, the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL), the Inter-American Democracy Network (IADN), and Corparacion PARTICIPA, in collaboration with other civil society organizations (CSOs) from across the hemisphere, have developed Online discussion forums that will focus on various themes. The eight themes will include: indigenous peoples, transparency and anti-corruption, sustainable development and the environment, peace building, citizen participation, education, democracy and political parties, and labor. Participation in the Online forums is open to CSOs from throughout the hemisphere. The forums will be conducted in Spanish, but English submissions will also be accepted. Weekly summaries of the discussion will be provided in Spanish and in English. The forums will take place in April and in May, 2005.
Go to: www.partners.net/what_we_do/civil_society/Summit%20forums%20overview.pdf or contact: foroscumbres@parnters.net

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

14. IIMC Accepts Applications for Asia, Middle East, and International Symposia for Students on Negotiations and Conflict Resolution
The Institute for International Mediations and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR), in partnership with Arcadia University and the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University, is conducting a series of month-long symposia for young adults that focus on negotiation and conflict resolution. Three of the symposia, the Asia Symposium, the Middle East Symposium, and the International Symposium, will be held between May and August, 2005. By interpreting current and past conflicts in their regions and worldwide through theory and practice in conflict resolution, international affairs, and international law, participants will develop practical skills in mediation and negotiation to confront conflicts constructively. Applications are currently being accepted for all three symposia. Application details can be found Online.
For information on the courses, costs, online application form, and other details, go to: www.iimcr.org

15. Call for Contributions: Midterm World Report on the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World
The International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World is accepting submissions from civil society organizations for its midterm report assessing the progress (or lack of progress) towards a culture of peace in the world today. Information received by April 2005 will be included in the report sent to the UN Secretary-General and presented at the General Assembly session devoted to the culture of peace. The Fundacion Cultura de Paz and United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY Peacebuilders)/African Network are preparing the report.
To submit contributions and for more information, go to: http://decade-culture-of-peace.org/

16. COPA Training Course on Peace Building and Conflict Transformation
Coalition For Peace in Africa (COPA), a membership organization composed of individuals and organizations within the African continent, is holding an intensive five-week capacity building training on Peace Building and Conflict Transformation for practitioners serving in the fields of human rights, relief and development, religious organizations, and personnel from other fields operating in or around conflict areas. The first training this year is scheduled to take place from May 30 to July 1, 2005 in Kampala, Uganda. Day to day proceedings of the training can be obtained from COPA offices upon request. The deadline for applications is April 28, 2005.
For more information and the application, go to: www.copafrica.org/conflict-trans.htm or email: copa@copafrica.org

17. Call for Applications: The Peace Building and Development Institute
The Peace Building and Development Institute at American University in Washington, DC, is now accepting applications for its Summer 2005 Professional Training Program. The Peace Building and Development Summer Institute provides knowledge, practical experience and skills for practitioners, teachers and students involved in conflict resolution, peace building, humanitarian assistance, and development. Participants from dozens of countries will explore innovative methods of promoting cultural diversity with respect to public policy, community and religion, and war and post-conflict environments, while expanding their knowledge and skills in a participatory and interactive learning environment. Three to four courses will be offered each week for three weeks and participants will have to choose one class each week. The deadline is April 29, 2005.
For more information, including application details, go to: www.american.edu/sis/peace/summer/

18. New CrisisWatch Bulletin Released
According to the new edition of CrisisWatch that was released on March 1, 2005, fourteen conflict situations around the world deteriorated in February 2005. CrisisWatch is a monthly bulletin that provides readers in the policy community, media, business and interested general public with a succinct regular update on the state of affairs in most significant situations of conflict or potential conflict around the world.
To read the report, go to: www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3302&l=1

DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

19. The King Baudouin International Development Prize Awarded to Ousmane Sy
The King Baudouin Foundation has awarded the 2004-2005 King Baudouin International Development Prize to Ousmane Sy from Mali. Ousmane Sy has been a pioneer in promoting governance in Mali through the decentralization of public management, which has been handed back to the populations, municipalities, and villages, through various processes of democratic participation. The prize, which amounts to 150,000 euros, will be awarded to Mr. Ousmane Sy on May 3, 2005, at the Royal Palace in Brussels.
Go to: www.kbs-frb.be/code/page.cfm?id_page=240&id_presse=593

ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR

20. CIPE Feature Articles: "Moving Beyond Dependence in Bosnia and Herzegovina" and "Supporting Public Participation in Egypt"
In February 2005, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) published two online articles as part of its Economy Reform Feature Service. The first, "Accepting Responsibility: Moving Beyond Political and Economic Dependence in Post Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina," written by Sanja Omanovic, argues that with a government structure dependent on the international community's approval and an economy dependent on donor assistance, a new acceptance of responsibility by local governments and business communities is necessary for a true recovery as Bosnia - Herzegovina looks towards European integration. The second, "Supporting Public Participation in Egypt," by Dr. Ahmed Abdel Halim, a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, argues that an improvement to the low public participation rates in Egypt will require fundamental adjustments to the legislative framework, new approaches to education and the media, an improved economic situation, and the establishment of transparency and accountability in Egypt's institutions.
To read these articles, go to: www.cipe.org/publications/fs/index_date.htm

ELECTIONS

21. Ukraine After the Elections - A Collection of Research and Analyses
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has made available a collection of articles and resources about the Ukraine elections. This collection provides information on events leading up to the 2004 elections and analyses on where Ukraine is now headed.
Go to: www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=16419

HUMAN RIGHTS

22. New Tactics Regional Training Workshop in Asia
The New Tactics in Human Rights Project, in partnership with Forum-Asia, is calling for applications for the Asia Regional Training Workshop, to be held August 5-11, 2005, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The meeting will engage innovative human rights practitioners from across the Asian region (South, Southeast and Northeast) in sharing and developing ideas, practices, knowledge, and skills to strengthen efforts in advancing human rights. The application deadline is April 4, 2005.
For more information and to apply, go to: www.newtactics.org or email: newtacticsevent@cvt.org

23. UNHCHR Calls for Urgent Steps to Halt Atrocities in Darfur
The most urgent need in Darfur is for concrete measures to end the current violence and restore security and dignity to its people, including taking the issue to the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour. During a briefing to the Security Council on the work of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, the High Commissioner said murder, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and forced displacement continue to be committed against the people of the western Sudanese region. Arbour argued that the ICC could be activated immediately. The Darfur Consortium, an umbrella group of more than forty mainly African civil society organizations, has also urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan to the ICC without further delay.
To read the full Press Release of the UNHCHR from February 17, go to: www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/NewsRoom?OpenFrameSet
For further details about the Darfur Consortium, go to: www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=27045

24. Joint NGO Statement to OHCHR Calls for Stronger UN Machinery for Human Rights
A number of human rights organizations, including Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), Franciscans International, Amnesty International, the Association for the Prevention of Torture, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation of ACAT, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, and the International Service for Human Rights, submitted a joint statement to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for discussion at its sixty-first session in Geneva on March 14 - April 22, 2005. The statement calls for the more effective functioning of human rights mechanisms and the adaptation and strengthening of the UN's machinery for human rights.
To read the statement, go to: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/105/35/PDF/G0510535.pdf?OpenElement

25. Documentation Centers around the World Form an "Affinity Group"
In collaboration with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is leading the formation of an "Affinity Group" of documentation centers from around the world -- the former Yugoslavia, Guatemala, Burma (headquartered in Thailand), Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Africa -- to share information and techniques and to work together to address the constraints shared by its members. The group will also regularly call in international experts to help think through solutions to various technical documentation problems. The first meeting of the Affinity Group, held in Phnom Penh this month, addressed the following topics: strategic issues in collecting documents, such as how to connect documentary materials and forensic evidence with the broader goals of accountability, truth-telling, and justice; technical issues in collecting, preserving and using documents; and case studies in documentation and planning for the future. The group plans to hold meetings three or four times per year.
Go to: http://welcome.to/dccam or contact: dccam@online.com.kh

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY

26. Statement Issued on Belarus
Belarusian civil society representatives who took part in the conference "A New Quest for Democracy" held in Bratislava on February 23, 2005, issued a statement on the state of democracy in Belarus. The statement indicates that according to sociological surveys, the majority of the citizens of Belarus oppose the politics of Alexander Lukashenka. It also asks for support from the European Union and the United States in the process of democratization, especially in development of independent mass media and a civil society culture in Belarus.
For more information, contact: Andrea@pontisfoundation.sk

27. Workshop: OSCE Experiences in Promoting Democracy and Cooperative Security: An Inspiration for the Mediterranean Partners and Beyond?
The Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS), the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), jointly organized a workshop on "OSCE Experiences in Promoting Democracy and Cooperative Security: An Inspiration for the Mediterranean Partners and Beyond?" in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 3-5, 2005. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen overall security and identify viable social structures and relations within the Mediterranean region. This workshop was the first in a series, and examined whether the experiences of the OSCE and its approach to security along three dimensions - politico-military, economic, and human - can serve as a model for other parts of the world, particularly the Mediterranean region.
Go to: www.tesev.org.tr/etkinlik/agit_3_5mart2005_c_paper.php and www.tesev.org.tr/etkinlik/agit_3_5mart2005_program.php

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

28. The Southeast Asian Centre for E-media (SEACeM) Offers Assistance to WMD Participants
The Southeast Asian Centre for E-media (SEACeM) offers its assistance to organizations participating in the World Movement for Democracy. SEACeM will offer following services: (1) Free web and email hosting; (2) Content Management System that provides for easy updating and maintenance of Web sites, (3) a system for registering of new members, renewing of memberships, and receiving of donations online; (4) an online advertising system that allows efficient banner management and provides statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising. World Movement participating organizations interested in receiving these or other ICT services should contact SEAcEM directly.
For more information, go to: www.seacem.com
To submit your requests, contact: prem@seacem.com

29. ItrainOnline Offers ICT Training
ItrainOnline is a joint initiative of seven organizations with expertise in computer and Internet training in the South. ItrainOnline responds to the need for a single source on the web containing a selection of the best and most relevant computer and Internet training resources for development and social change. The ItrainOnline initiative aims to assist civil society organizations and other development actors in developing countries to confront the challenges posed by new information and communications technologies (ICTs). In seeking to overcome skills gaps in development, ItrainOnline connects people and know-how with the needs of ICT learners and trainers. ItrainOnline provides training and "how-to" guides for development organizations and civil society groups and has resources in English, French, Spanish, Albanian, Bosnian, Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese, and Serbian.
Go to: www.itrainonline.org
30. Report on the State of Freedom of Expression in Tunisia
A 60-page report, "Tunisia: Freedom of Expression under Siege," has been published by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX), a group of 13 national, regional and international freedom of expression organizations. The report describes the conditions for participation in the World Summit on the Information Society that will be held in Tunis in November 2005. It expresses grave concern about the state of freedom of expression in Tunisia and recommends steps the Tunisian government should take to bring the country in line with international human rights standards.
To read the full report, go to: www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/64665/

31. Call for Nominations: Outstanding Achievement in Using ICT to Improve Quality of Life in Developing Countries Award
The Development Gateway Award will recognize the most exemplary contribution in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) for development during the last 10 years. The award highlights ICT's impact on social and economic development. The Development Gateway welcomes nominations for individuals or organizations (NGO, university program, research institute, and etc). The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2005.
Go to: www.developmentgateway.org/award

TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION

32. Global Organization Against Corruption (GOPAC) Announces New Web Site
The Global Organization Against Corruption (GOPAC) is an international network of parliamentarians dedicated to good governance and combating corruption. GOPAC's new Web site will be used as a resource for informing GOPAC's members of ongoing developments and as a tool for communicating with their partners around the world.
Go to: www.gopacnetwork.org

WOMEN'S ISSUES

33. BAOBAB Issues Call for Women's Participation in Nigeria
On February 14, 2005, BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights, based in Lagos, Nigeria, issued an urgent press release before the Nigeria Political Conference that opened on February 21, 2005, in Abudja. The press release called for review and adjustments to the lists of delegates to ensure full participation of women in the conference. The delegate selection process, which was dominated by nominations from the president and state governments, resulted in very few nominations of women. As a result, only 7 percent of over 400 delegates present at the conference on February 21st were women. BAOBAB and Nigerian women activists expressed concern over this exclusion of women from important political processes. The Nigerian Political conference will discuss pressing national issues, including the redistribution of oil wealth, federalism, and representation of women in the government over the next three months. Opposition groups that were dissatisfied with the process of delegate selection (which they found to be heavily biased toward the ruling party), narrow agenda, and hasty and poor organization have chosen to boycott the conference.
To read the BAOBAB press release, go to: www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B157%5D=x-157-126663
To read more about the Nigerian conference, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4283245.stm

34. Conference: "Leading to Change: Eliminating Violence Against Women in Muslim Societies"
The Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) organized a one-day International Symposium, "Leading to Change: Eliminating Violence Against Women in Muslim Societies" on March 1, 2005 in New York. The Symposium was held in conjunction with the forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the 10th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Symposium speakers addressed major challenges to eliminating violence against women and girls and discussed grassroots, national, and regional efforts focusing on prevention and awareness raising, as well as ongoing efforts to reform legislation on violence and women's human rights.
For the list of speakers and event details go to:
www.learningpartnership.org/events/2005/vawsymposium.phtml

35. International Women's Day Celebrated throughout the World
On March 8th, groups around the world commemorated the International Women's Day, which celebrates women's economic, social, cultural, and political achievements. The celebration is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women seeking to participate in society on an equal footing with men. A listing of global events commemorating the International Women's Day is available on a special Web site dedicated to this day.
Go to: www.internationalwomensday.com

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

* Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA - www.asiademocracy.org
* American Society for Kurds (ASK) - www.askurds.org
* BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights - www.baobabwomen.org/
* Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) - www.cipe.org
* CIVICUS - http://www.civicus.org
* Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) - http://welcome.to/dccam
* Forum-Asia - www.forumasia.org/
* Global Organization of Parliamentariand Against Corruption (GOPAC) - www.gopacnetwork.org
* Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) - www.hlc.org.yu/
* International Freedom of Expression Exchange - www.ifex.org/
* International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy (IMPD) - www.wmd.org/impd/main.html
* Partners of the Americas - www.partners.net/
* Rights & Democracy - http://www.dd-rd.ca/splash.html
* Southeast Asian Centre for E-media - www.seacem.com
* Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) - http://www.tesev.org.tr/eng/

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If you do not have access to the Web and would like to access the materials mentioned above, please contact us by e-mail(world@ned.org)or fax (202-293-0755).
DemocracyNews is an electronic mailing list moderated by the National Endowment for Democracy as the Secretariat of the World Movement for Democracy.
The material presented in DemocracyNews is intended for information purposes only.
The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

March 2005 Newsletter - African Review of Books

Cape Town will host an international book fair from 2006 in partnership with the Frankfurt Book Fair. This powerful partnership will have implications for the longer-established Zimbabwe International Book Fair which is having a difficult time due to the economic and political conditions of that country. We take a look at what Cape Town's fair will mean for Harare's.

Two prizes have been announced: The regional winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and South Africa's EU literary award. The first goes to Boy, from Mauritius, and the second to Ishtiyaq Shukri for The Silent Minaret.
Visit our News section for these articles. http://www.africanreviewofbooks.com/news.html

Latest Reviews
- A masterpiece of magicalism from Angola, The Genealogy Salesman by Jose Eduardo Agualusa;
- a collection of Isicamtho poetry, South Africa's language of the townships, but understandable to all;
- anthology of 'Post-Traumatic' stories from South Africa, including a range of exciting young writers;
- an essay by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka on the hedonistic pleasures of eating and drinking;
Go to http://www.africanreviewofbooks.com to see all this.

Latest on the Bookshelf
Remember that we survive only because you buy books through our shop. New in stock are a number of special offers including classics by Kwame Nkrumah and biographies of African leaders.

Africa Must Unite by Kwame Nkrumah £4.00
Class Struggle in Africa by Kwame Nkrumah £4.00
Kwame Nkrumah by June Milne £6.00 (hardback)
Eduardo Mondlane (a biography) £4.50
Rhodesia File by Kwame Nkrumah £4.00
Algerian Civil War 1990-1998 £5.50
Hair in African Art and Culture (hardback illustrated coffee-table book) £9.99
Controlling Anger (study of social control and male identity in post-colonial Uganda) £4.00
Revealing Prophets (Prophets and prophecies in East Africa) £4.00
Where Other Wavered by Sam Nujoma (autobiography) £7.50 (hardback)

Have a look at our special offers section for details on these books and others. Go to:
http://www.ekmpowershop.com/ekmps/shops/africanreview/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=199

Also in stock is The Men Do Not Eat Wings by SW Omamo, and a range of hundreds of other titles from throughout the continent, including many of the 100 Best, such as A History of the Yoruba and A House of Hunger. You can read extracts at:
http://www.africanreviewofbooks.com/100best/100bestauthor.html

Remember that you don't pay postage if you select surface mail, and we accept telephone orders +44 (0) 1722 421522.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of African Review of Books.

Message from Bridges of Encouragement:

February 19, 2005

Dear friends and colleagues

With this email, we are sending you the first issue of Peace Across the Atlantic, a monthly news-sheet about peace and human rights groups working in the United States, which is intended for activists outsidethe U.S. We are also sending you a promotional announcement, which we hope you will share with your members.
The goal of this publication is to inform people outside the United States about the extensive network of grassroots peace and human rights groups that are currently active in the United States, despite the conservative right-wing government. Many of these groups are actively organizing and campaigning, but they get very little international media coverage.
Peace Across the Atlantic will be distributed by email monthly, with different themes and current campaigns highlighted in each issue. It is currently available in English and in German, but we eventually hope to provide other language translations as well.
This new publication is part of our Bridges of Encouragement project to build stronger links between European and U.S. peace and human rights activists and to increase international support for grassroots activists in the U.S.
We hope you find this publication informative and interesting.
We would like to ask you to pleas! e share t! his issue and the promotional announcement with other groups, organizations, and networks that you work with. You can also send us your recommendations of other people to whom we should send it. We welcome your suggestions and ideas for further distribution.
If you individually, or as an organization, would like to receive Peace Across the Atlantic regularly, please fill out the form below and send it as a reply to this message.
Peace and good wishes,
Dorie and Eric

Dorie Wilsnack and Eric Bachman
Bridges of Encouragement
Milchstr 83, D-32120 Hiddenhausen, Germany
Tel: ++ 49-5221-689708, Fax: ++ 49-5221-689741
Email: transnationalbridges@gmx.net

This is a message from Howard Meyer to friends and colleagues who are concerned with peace activism, history and studies. It is inspired by a review of a book that tells about the early history of the War Resisters League (WRL).:

The review's closing paragraph invites some ideas that may be useful in teaching Peace. Calling the story of the War Resisters League "required reading," the reviewer concludes:

"Debates now rage over what strategy and tactics have and have not worked in the last three years, and observers ponder how to more effectively combat the current war machine. The example of the WRL offers valuable lessons ... better look to the WRL to see what has worked in the past and hope it can work again."

The following and the attachment "Give Law a Chance," are addressed to that closing paragraph.
While the writer was working on his book THE WORLD COURT IN ACTION he had a chat with a fellow NGO rep at the UN.

The War Resisters League was mentioned. Why, it was asked, did these noble resisters avoid, (as most of the peace movement also avoided) mention of the World Court and its rulings (especially in Nicaragua vs U.S.) that reject use of 'self-defense' as a cover-up for acts of aggression.

My colleague suggested: many in the WRL are sympathetic to the anarchist view of society. To rest an argument on such legal institutions as International Law and its Court would not be welcomed with enthusiasm. [he did not use the word 'anarchist' pejoratively.)

In the review of the book THE WORLD COURT IN ACTION by a scholar chosen by H-NET, its writer was moved by the contents to assert that International law is a 'missing dimension in peace studies."

The work of the Court, as presented in the book THE WORLD COURT IN ACTION
demonstrates as no general argument could, the reality, the very existence of the Law of Nations, a point that the U S populace in general and its media in particular, just do not understand. (we have long forgotten, as Senator Moynihan went about the country arguing in the '80s. that we ever had a commitment to International Law)

The people of the United States are, for the most part law-abiding and elections have been won or lost on the issue of guarding "Law and Order." Were they shown the evidence in a particular situation that their country is not in compliance with the Law of Nations and taught that law is important for national security, such a demonstration would be of immense importance to the cause of peace.

Without ignoring the value of the actions of the War Resisters League and the self-sacrifice of it members, it could be argued that bringing about respect for
International Law might be more valuable in combating the war party.
Knowledge of the effectiveness of the World Court in bringing about compliance with the law it administers and the importance of the U.S. Peace movement's contribution to the very creation of the Court (warmly appreciated by the rest of
the world) would help to win that respect.

Howard N Meyer

Dear Everyone,
This is the latest news from RING (Real Interaction With Neighbors Around the
World). I hope everyone who will be in Tokyo on March 19th and 20th will be
able to participate. This is quite an amazing activity ...
Jackie

!!! RING2005 IS COMING UP !!!

Real Interaction with Neighbors around the Globe
3/19 (Sat.), 3/20 (Sun.) 12x30pm x 6x00pm
@Waseda University, Ibuka Memorial Hall, International Conference Room

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Around the world with various people and cultures,
Numerous human emotions are flowing.
Joy, grief, hatred, love....
Now, young people get together in Tokyo.
RING2005 will be a microcosm of the world.

Why don't you take part, and experience the world?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

x Real Interaction with Neighbors around the Globe x

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

x Date x
3/19 (Sat.), 3/20 (Sun.) 12x30 - 18x00

x Place x
Waseda University, Ibuka Memorial Hall, International Conference Room
(Nishi-Waseda Campus) 1-20-14, Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku, Tokyo.

xAccessx
8 mins. walk from "Waseda" station, Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, Waseda Station
5 mins. walk from "Waseda" station, Toden Arakawa Line
Also, you can take a bus bound for "Waseda Shomen" from Takadanobaba
station on JR Yamanote Line as well as Seibu-Shinjuku Line, and get off
at the Nishi-Waseda stop.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Website: http://ring-project.net/
E-mail: ring_information@yahoo.co.jp

NEWSLETTER FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSE NETWORK

1 Azerbaijan: Journalist murdered
Elmar Huseynov, a prominent journalist and chief editor of the outspoken opposition journal MONITOR, was brutally killed at the entrance of his apartment on Wednesday. In a letter to President Aliyev , the Human Rights House Foundation (HRH) strongly condemns the murder and calls for an impartial investigation.

2 Sierra Leonean journalist faces new threats
Jailed Sierra Leonean journalist Paul Kamara has been moved to solitary confinement. Following reports that he has been threatened with violence by army officers, his wife has expressed fears for his life. Paul Kamara was nominated for the Index on Censorship / The Guardian - Hugo Young Award for Journalism this week.

3 Kurdish human rights defender released!
Remzi Kartal, the Kurdish politician and human rights defender that we wrote about in our last newsletter, has been released from custody in Germany with guarantees that he will not be extradited to Turkey.

4 Uganda: Constitutional bill goes public amidst mounting criticism
Last week, the parliamentary committee on legal affairs began the public hearings on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2005. Bowing to pressure from close to a hundred NGOs, the committee has agreed to hear their opinions. - This meeting takes place today, and may be decisive for the climate of communication between state and civil society on the Constitution issue for a long time to come, says HRH's Niels Jacob Harbitz.

5 Soldiers' Mothers met Chechen rebels
Four activists from the Union of Soldiers’ Mothers Committee met Chechen rebel Aslan Maskhadov’s envoy in London last Friday and discussed how to stop the war in Chechnya. - All member organisations of the Russian Research Center for Human Rights support the peace initiative, the Center's Director Liubov Vinogradova told HRH.

6 Norway earns big bucks on Total Oil's investments in Burma
While the Norwegian Prime Minister warns private investors against getting involved in Burma, the state-owned Norwegian Petroleum Fund has Total Oil as its biggest investment. Total Oil was outed in our last newsletter as one of the worst blind-eye silent collaborators to the Burmese regime's gross human rights violations. Aase Sand in the Norwegian Burma Committee says the Norwegian double standards display an unprincipled weakness.

7 Rebiya Kadeer cried with joy
Four months after being awarded the Rafto Memorial Prize, Rebiya Kadeer finally received the news last month. She cried with joy, her son Mustafa told the newspaper Bergens Tidende. 58 year old Kadeer is currently in prison. For years she has been fighting for the Uyghur minority’s basic rights in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

8 Mines to be removed in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has decided to support the removal of all mines in populated areas by 2009. The other minefields will be marked permanently . Today, the country is one of the world's most affected.

9 North Korea: "We have heard your cries and know your suffering"
Four members of the Human Rights House Network were in Seoul last month together with representatives from eleven countries to "affirm to the people of the world, especially to the people of the Democratic People´s Republic of North Korea, that they are entitled to the same freedoms, democratic values and human rights enjoyed by free people everywhere and enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", as the resolution reads.

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Free of charge news and background service from the Human
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independent human rights houses. It works to strengthen cooperation and
improve the security and capacity of the 70 human rights organizations in
the Network. The Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo is the
secretariat.

To subscribe, please send an email to:
newsletter-subscribe@humanrightshouse.org

More news and background on www.humanrightshouse.org

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Borghild Tønnessen-Krokan
Editor/Project Manager
The Human Rights House Foundation (HRH)
Address: Menneskerettighetshuset,
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Tel: (+47) 22 47 92 47, Direct: (+47) 22 47 92 44,
Fax: (+47) 22 47 92 01
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Attention university faculty members! You are invited to attend the 3rd Annual Teaching Nonproliferation Summer Institute

"Integrating Science and Politics into the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction"

from June 27 to July 2, 2005 at Washington and Lee University in Lexington Virginia.

Food, housing and $250 travel stipend provided. Open to University faculty from any discipline interested in teaching nonproliferation issues at the university level. No experience required! The institute exists to attract new faculty members to this important field. Visit the website for a list of speakers and application information.
http://wmd.wlu.edu