Uichol Kim (2006) with Kuo-Shu Yang & Kwang-Kuo Hwang
Indigenous and Cultural Psychology: Understanding People in Context
Series Editor: Anthony Marsella, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
New York. NY: Springer Science+Business Media.
Please see here Reviews.

About this book:

It was once assumed that the bedrock concepts of psychology held true for all the world’s peoples. More recently, post-modern approaches to research have expanded on these Western models, building a psychology that takes into account the sociopolitical, historical, religious, ecological, and other indigenous factors that make every culture, as well as every person as agents of their own actions.

Indigenous and Cultural Psychology surveys psychological and behavioral phenomena in native context in various developing and developed countries, with particular focus on Asia. An international team of 28 experts clarifies culture-specific concepts (such as paternalism and the Japanese concept of amae), models integrative methods of study, and dispels typical misconceptions about the field and its goals. The results reflect culturally sound frames of reference while remaining rigorous, systematic, and verifiable. These approaches provide a basis for the discovery of true psychological universals.

Among the topics featured:

- Scientific and philosophical bases of indigenous psychology

- Comparisons of indigenous, cultural, and cross-cultural psychologies

- Socialization, parent-child relationship, and family

- The private and public self: concepts from East Asia, Europe, and the Americas

- Interpersonal relationships: concepts from East Asia, Europe,, and the U.S.

- Factors promoting educational achievement and organizational effectiveness in Asia

- The growth and indigenization of psychology in developing and developed countries

- Are any values, attitudes, beliefs and traits universal? Cross-national comparisons

- The potential for indigenous psychology to lead to a global psychology

With this book, the editors have captured a growing field at a crucial stage in its evolution. Indigenous and Cultural Psychology benefits students and researchers on two levels, offering groundbreaking findings on understudied concepts, and signaling future directions in universal knowledge.

Please see a short description of indigenous psychology by Uichol Kim (2006):

Indigenous psychology is defined as the scientific study of human behavior or mind that is native, that is not transported from other regions, and that is designed for its people. It advocates examining knowledge, skills and beliefs people have about themselves and studying them in their natural contexts. Theories, concepts and methods are developed to correspond with psychological phenomena. It advocates explicitly incorporating the content and context of research. The goal is to create a more rigorous, systematic and universal science that can be theoretically and empirically verified.

Ten characteristics of indigenous psychology can be identified. First, it emphasizes examining psychological phenomena in cultural context. Second, it is necessary for all cultural, native and ethnic groups. Third, it advocates use of multiple methods. Fourth, it advocates the integration of “insiders,” “outsiders” and multiple perspectives to obtain comprehensive and integrated understanding. Fifth, it acknowledges that people have a complex and sophisticated understanding of themselves and it is necessary to translate their practical and episodic understanding into analytical and knowledge. Sixth, although descriptive analysis is the starting point of research, its final goal is to discover psychological universals that can be theoretically and empirically verified. Eighth, it is a part of the cultural sciences tradition in which human agency, meaning and context are incorporated into the research design. Ninth, it advocates a linkage of humanities (which focus on human experience and creativity) with social sciences (which focus empirical analysis and verification). Tenth, two starting points of research in indigenous psychology can be identified: indigenization from without and indigenization from within.

Written for:
Cross-cultural psychologists, community psychologists

Dear Friends,

Collaboration Tools - Special Event

There are now a bewildering number of computer-based collaboration tools on the market. They typically provide audio and video, whiteboard, chat, document sharing etc. And they cost varying amounts of money to use.

As a public service, the Internet2 Commons is hosting a special event to showcase a number of these products, and make them available to you for FREE.

This collaboration tools extravaganza is called the COLLABORANZA !!

Anyone, anywhere may participate. You need not be connected to Internet2 to participate.
Of course, the performance you obtain is related to the speed of your computer and the speed of your Internet connection.

During the week of May 8-12, these tools are available for you:

- RADVision Click-to-Meet
- Microsoft Conference XP
- EVO
- inSORS (Access Grid)
- Marratech

These are the vendors that have chosen to be part of the Internet2 Commons Hosting Environment.

The times 10 AM to 5 PM EDT (GMT-4) each day. Hours might be extended.

On these days, all these vendors will make multiple formal presentations about their products, and they will provide expert help desk services to answer your questions. You will need to install and activate each one on your computer to try them out. The tools themselves will be used for the presentations and the help desks. Details and Instructions will be provided on the Internet2 Commons web site http://commons.internet2.edu

Participants will be entered into a lottery to win Prizes, which includes (so far) an IPOD Nano, donated by RADvision.

A concurrent H.323 videoconference will be running in order to test which of the products are truly capable of inter-operating through an H.323 bridge. You will be able to talk with those vendors who have H.323 capability, and with one another to compare notes. Connection instructions will be on the web page.

Lessons learned and evaluations will be gathered to help potential adopters of one tool or another with their decision-making and to help producers improve their products. Everybody wins!

See you there!

Bob Dixon
dixon.8 @ osu.edu

12. DRK-Kurs im Humanitären Völkerrecht
Berlin, 06. – 12. August 2006

Der Kurs richtet sich vorrangig an Jurastudenten höherer Semester, an Rechtsreferendare und andere junge Juristen, die ihre Kenntnisse im humanitären Völkerrecht vertiefen möchten. Unter entsprechenden Voraussetzungen sind auch Studierende und junge Absolventen anderer Fachbereiche herzlich willkommen. Da einzelne Kursteile in englischer Sprache stattfinden, sind gute Englischkenntnisse die Bedingung für eine Teilnahme. Im Anschluss an den Kurs besteht die Möglichkeit, aufgrund einer schriftlichen Arbeit ein von den Kursveranstaltern ausgestelltes Diplom zu erwerben. Der Kurs beinhaltet Vorlesungen und Gruppenarbeiten zu den grundsätzlichen und aktuellen Themenstellungen des humanitären Völkerrechts.

Der Kurs wird vom Deutschen Roten Kreuz, Generalsekretariat unter Mitwirkung des Instituts für Friedenssicherungsrecht und Humanitäres Völkerrecht der Ruhr-Universität Bochum veranstaltet und findet in Berlin statt. Die Teilnehmerzahl ist auf 25 begrenzt.
Die Teilnehmergebühr für den Kurs beinhaltet Dokumentationsmaterial, Unterbringung in Doppelzimmern sowie Verpflegung und beträgt € 300,00.

Bewerbungen mit Lichtbild, die Angaben zur Person – insbesondere Nachweise über erbrachte Studien- bzw. Examensleistungen – enthalten, richten Sie bitte bis 30. Mai 2006 an:
Ruhr-Universität Bochum, IFHV, Prof. Dr. Horst Fischer,
horst.fischer at rub.de
Geb. NA 02/33, 44 780 Bochum (Tel. 0234 / 32 27366)

6月例会
JUNE PROGRAM
2006年6月9日(金),　7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
June 9, 2006, Friday, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

ﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑ/PROGRAM:
屈辱を避けるには？インターカルチュアル　コミュニケーションからグローバル　インター－ヒューマン　コミュニケーションへ
Avoiding Humiliation - From Intercultural Communication to Global Inter-Human Communication

講師/PRESENTER:
Dr. Evelin Gerda Lindner, M.D., Ph.D. (Dr. med.), Ph.D. (Dr. psychol.)
Social Scientist　
------------------------------------
Founding Manager of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS,
http://www.humiliationstudies.org),
anchored at the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network, New York (egl2109@columbia.edu),　
affiliated with the University of Oslo, Department of Psychology (see http://folk.uio.no/evelinl/),　
Senior Lecturer, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Department of Psychology (see http://psyweb.svt.ntnu.no/ansatte/),
and affiliated with the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris

場所/PLACE:
麗澤大学東京研究センター(新宿アイランド・タワー4階)
Reitaku University Tokyo Kenkyu Center (Shinjuku i-Land Tower, 4th Floor)

言語/LANGUAGE:
英語 English

定例会費/FEE:
会員 1000円; 一般 2000円;
会員学生 無料; 一般学生 500円; 大学院学生 1000円
Members 1000 Yen; Non-members 2000 Yen;
Member Students Free;
Non-member Students 500 Yen; Non-member Graduate Student 1000 Yen

プログラム内容/PROGRAM DESCRIPTION：
近代の歴史や文化変容の中にみられるプライド、誇り、尊厳、屈辱、謙遜の概念について述べる。現在の世界情勢においては、「屈辱」を生み出すグローバリゼーションと人権という２つの力が歴史的接点を迎えようとしているが、屈辱によってもたらされる悪影響を避けるために、私たちが文化によるアイデンティティの構築やglobal inter-human communicationとどう取り組めばいいのかを考えていきたい。
Under certain circumstances, our understanding of culture can have humiliating effects. The notion of culture can be used in either a neutral, descriptive way, or prescriptively, such as, "Are you really part of our culture?" While the descriptive use of the concept of culture may be rather benign, applying it in a prescriptive way may have malign effects. Dr. Lindner believes that the field of intercultural communication has a responsibility to discuss these malign effects in order to avoid inadvertently heightening them. This is because intercultural communication that respects cultural difference blindly can do great harm.
Lindner will explain how she started her research on the concept of humiliation and its role in genocide, war, and violent conflict. Her initial research (1997-2001) took her to Rwanda and Somalia, where genocidal killings had taken place in 1994 and 1981.
She will explain her theory of humiliation and how the notions of pride, honor, dignity, humiliation, and humility are inscribed into current historic and cultural normative transitions. She believes that at the present historic juncture two new forces bring humiliation to the fore in unprecedented intensity. Globalization (or the coming-together of humankind) is the first force, which, in concert with the human rights revolution, the second force, increases the significance of the phenomenon of humiliation. She concludes with a discussion of how we may best approach identity building within the world's cultures and the two changing forces of globalization and human rights. She believes that we have to strongly inscribe global inter-human communication into international relations and intercultural communication in order to avoid possible destructive effects from humiliation.

講師/PRESENTER：
Evelin Gerda Lindner氏は様々な分野において活躍する著名な人道主義者であり、個人やコミュニティーにおける屈辱の影響に関する活動は平和研究に重要な功績を残してきている。Linder氏は世界的なネットワークをもつHuman Dignity and Humiliation Studiesの創設者であり、オスロ大学の関係者でもある。6月に著書を出版予定。

Dr. Evelin Gerda Lindner is a well-known, committed, and multidisciplinary advocate for humanity in a global society. Her work on the effects of humiliation on individuals and communities has made a significant contribution to the study of peace. The founder of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies global network, Dr. Lindner is affiliated with the University of Oslo. She will be publishing her latest book in June.

場所案内/How to get there?:
麗澤大学東京研究センター(新宿アイランド．タワー4階／新宿区西新宿 6-6-1)。アイランドタワーは、丸の内線西新宿駅と直接つながっています。JR新宿駅からは、徒歩10分です。低層階行のエレベーターに乗り、4階で降りて廊下を右へ進んでください。左側一番奥のドアが、麗澤大学東京研究センターの入り口です。
i-Land Tower can be accessed directly from Nishi-Shinjuku Station on the Marunouchi Line by following the underground path. From JR Shinjuku Station it is approximately a 10-minute walk. Once you get to the building, select an elevator that stops on the 4th floor. After you get off on the 4th floor, walk to the right until you get to the last door on your left.

SIETAR Japan: www.sietar-japan.org.

Top Business School Rankings in SSRN eLibrary

SSRN is pleased to announce a new service: Top Business Schools
Rankings based on downloads from SSRN's eLibrary. This list will be
updated at the beginning of each month and joins the Top Law School
Rankings, announced last year.

The Top Business School Rankings includes U.S. Business School and
International Business School Rankings along with an aggregate
Ranking of over 800 Business Schools from around the world.

The Top 20 U.S. and International Business Schools as measured by
downloads of their faculty's papers from SSRN over the last 12 months
are:

SSRN TOP 20 U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOLS (BETA)
1 Harvard Business School
2 University of Chicago - Graduate School of Business
3 University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
4 Yale School of Management
5 New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business
6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
7 Stephen M. Ross School of Business at University of Michigan
8 Columbia University - Columbia Business School
9 Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business
10 William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
11 Duke University - Fuqua School of Business
12 University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business
13 Stanford Graduate School of Business
14 University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business
15 Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management
16 Ohio State University - Fisher College of Business
17 Cornell University - Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
18 Indiana University Bloomington - Kelley School of Business
19 University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business
20 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - College of Business

To view the full list of U.S. Business Schools go to:
http://hq.ssrn.com/rankings/Ranking_Display.cfm?TMY_gID=2&TRN_gID=11

SSRN TOP 20 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOLS (BETA)
1 University of London - London Business School
2 Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management
3 Tilburg University - CentER and Faculty of Economics and Business
Administration
4 City University London - Sir John Cass Business School
5 IESE Business School - University of Navarra
6 University of British Columbia - Sauder School of Business
7 University of Zurich - Faculty of Business Administration
8 Hong Kong University of Science & Technology - School of Business
and Management
9 University of Toronto - Joseph L. Rotman School of Management
10 Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences
11 University of Amsterdam - Business School
12 Lancaster University - Management School
13 University of Reading - Business School
14 University of Maastricht (formerly University of Limburg) -
Faculty of Economics & Business Administration
15 University of Oxford - Said Business School
16 Chinese University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Business Administration
17 Middlesex University - Business School
18 Aarhus School of Business
19 McGill University - Faculty of Management
20 University of Cambridge - Judge Business School

To view the full list of International Business Schools go to:
http://hq.ssrn.com/rankings/Ranking_Display.cfm?TMY_gID=2&TRN_gID=12

To view the full list of all 800 plus Business Schools go to:
http://hq.ssrn.com/Rankings/Ranking_display.cfm?TRN_gID=4&TMY_gID=2

To access the full data table on our web site, you must register in
SSRN HQ (registration is free). If you are not registered, you will
be prompted to do so. You can also reach all of the Top Business
School Rankings from the Top Institutions Link on the SSRN Home page
at: http://ssrn.com

SSRN ranks over 800 business schools worldwide on 9 separate measures
including total lifetime downloads of their faculty's papers on SSRN,
total number of papers on SSRN, total number of authors, and
downloads per paper and per author. The Rankings can be resorted on
any of the measures by clicking on the column you want to sort by.
Clicking again on a column heading reverses the sort.

From any of the Top Business School Rankings you can link to time
series information on the measures and in some cases to data from
which the measures are calculated. These historical figures will be
added as we complete their calculation over the next two months. You
can link to a list of the authors affiliated with each institution on
SSRN and from there you have one-click access to each "author home
page" on SSRN, which lists all the author's other research on SSRN.

In the near future, SSRN will also create similar rankings in other
fields covered by SSRN.

Some cautions: We believe these rankings can be a useful source of
information about the productivity and influence of each school's
faculty (to the extent that faculty members post their research to
SSRN). At the same time, rankings based on number of downloads or
number of papers posted to SSRN have important biases and
limitations. We trust that our readers will use them carefully.

These rankings are a "beta" version. We welcome corrections to our
data and suggestions for changes in methodology. Please write to:
CommentsSuggestions@SSRN.com

Sincerely,

Michael C. Jensen
Chairman, Social Science Research Network
Director, Management Research Network

**Two New Books for Adlerian Educators and Therapists**
Vol. 11 & 12 of The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler

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

We are proud to announce the first English publication of two
remarkable works by Alfred Adler: "Individual Psychology in the
Schools," and "the General System of Individual Psychology."

"Individual Psychology in the Schools," in Vol. 11 of the CCWAA,
represents Adler's first attempt to introduce Individual Psychology
into the schools at the Pedagogical Institute in Vienna. Although he
primarily addressed more than six hundred teachers in his lectures
between 1924-1927, he also hoped to gain the cooperation of
psychiatrists, psychologists, and parents in the process of "improving
the lot of children, teachers, and families." During this period,
"anyone can learn anything" became his famous educational motto. To
order, go to http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/cwaa-v11.htm.

"The General System of Individual Psychology," in Vol. 12 of the
CCWAA, is an unpublished manuscript by Alfred Adler that was
discovered in the Library of Congress. The thirteen undated lectures,
identified as "chapters," form a complete series that Adler presented
in English, probably in New York City. Adler's terminology and style
suggests that the lectures were given later in his career, and
represent a summary of his matured theory of the personality, as well
as principles of prevention and treatment. To order, go to
http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/cwaa-v12.htm.

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

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

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

die berühmte Einleitung „Es war einmal...“ steht für mehr als phantastische und unglaubliche Geschichten: In Märchen offenbaren sich Weltbild, Wertvorstellungen und soziale Verhaltenskodizes einer Gesellschaft. Sie spiegeln symbolhaft die Wirklichkeit wider und sind dichterische Gleichnisse der Vergangenheit und der Gegenwart.

Märchen dienen nicht nur dazu, das Publikum zu verzaubern und in ferne Traumwelten zu entführen. Die traditionelle Erzählkunst ist gleichermaßen ein Medium der Diskussion, des Widerstands und vor allem ein politisches Instrument.

Im Rahmen des Projekts „Afrikanische Märchen erzählen Geschichte(n)“ wird der senegalesische Märchenerzähler Babacar Mbaye Ndaak vom 6. – 12. Mai in Berlin und Potsdam bei verschiedenen Veranstaltungen auftreten und mit seiner Erzählkunst afrikanische Lebenswelten vorstellen und deuten.

Für diese Zeit entwickelte AfricAvenir International e.V. in enger Kooperation mit der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung und den Freien-Kant-Schulen Berlin ein vielseitiges Märchenprogramm, welches neben musikalisch begleiteten Lesungen, eine Filmvorführung, ein Dialogforum sowie ein eigenständiges Schulprojekt und eine politische Konferenz zum Thema „Märchen und Menschrechte“ umfasst.

Die Veranstaltungsreihe wird präsentiert von AfricAvenir International e.V. und findet in Kooperation bzw. mit Unterstützung von folgenden Organisationen und Institutionen statt: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, die Privaten Kant-Schulen, der Internationale Club im Auswärtigen Amt, AWO, Einstein Forum, Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte, das Zuckermuseum, Herz- und Gefässzentrum Bad Bevensen, C. Bechstein und Werkstatt der Kulturen.

Afrikanische Märchen erzählen Geschichte(n)
Lesungen, Vortrag und politische Konferenz
Mit Babacar Mbaye Ndaak,
Präsident der Vereinigung senegalesischer Märchenerzähler
6. Mai – 12. Mai 2006

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

Programm

Leebon Ci Leer – Märchen im Licht des Mondes

06. Mai 2006 I 20.00 Uhr
Lesung, Auswärtiges Amt (bitte rechtzeitig anmelden)

Märchen vor politischer Kulisse: In Kooperation mit dem Auswärtigen Amt lädt AfricAvenir zu einem afrikanischen Märchenabend mit Babacar Mbaye Ndaak in den Internationalen Club.
Anmeldung bis zum 03.05.2006 bei a.helfrich@africavenir.org
Eintritt: 12 Euro / 8 Euro

Matinée der Klänge: Märchen aus Dakar treffen auf Musik aus Berlin

07. Mai 2006 I 11.00 Uhr
Lesung und Konzert, C.Bechstein Centrum, Stilwerk

Der senegalesische Märchenerzähler Babacar Mbaye Ndaak begegnet dem Berliner Pianisten Jacek Rabinski: Das Prinzip des erzählerischen Erfindens und Fabulierens setzt sich in musikalischen Improvisationen fort.
Eintritt: 12 Euro / 8 Euro

Märchen im Film : Sia – der Traum der Python (OmU)

07. Mai 2006 I 19.30 Uhr
Film, Werkstatt der Kulturen

Ein Film des Regisseurs Dani Kouyaté über die Ursachen, die in Afrika bis heute zu staatlichem Machtmissbrauch, zu Unterdrückung und Diktaturen geführt haben. Anschließend Diskussion mit Babacar Mbaye Ndaak und dem Politologen Dr. Ndiaga Gaye aus dem Senegal.
Eintritt: 5 Euro / 3 Euro

“Leeboon! Lipoon!” Die Rolle von Märchen in afrikanischen Gesellschaften

08. Mai 2006 I 19.00 Uhr
Vortrag, Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte

Welche Rolle spielen Märchen in den heutigen Gesellschaften Afrikas? Sind sie ein Vehikel für die angestrebte moralische Renaissance des Kontinents?
Eintritt frei

Kultur als Brücke: Märchen und Menschenrechte

11. Mai 2006 I 11 bis 18 Uhr
Konferenz, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Eine Konferenz zur afrikanischen Märchenerzählkultur: Ist es dieser erzählerischen Tradition mit ihren Mitteln von Bildern, Symbolen und Zeichen möglich, Menschenrechte weltweit zu verbreiten und zur Diskussion dieser Rechte beizutragen?
Informationen und Anmeldung bei forumberlin@fes.de

Leeboon Ci Leer – Märchen im Licht des Mondes

12. Mai 2006 I 19.00 Uhr
Lesung, Einstein-Forum Potsdam

Das Einstein-Forum Potsdam und AfricAvenir laden zu einer afrikanischen Märchenreise ein, um in afrikanische Lebenswelten und Wirklichkeiten einzutauchen und diese besser zu verstehen.
Eintritt 12 Euro / 8 Euro

-----------

Kontakt: Ann Kathrin Helfrich - 0172 3000 521
Web: http://www.africavenir.com/africavenir/berlin/literature/tales/index.php

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

Kommuneforlaget inviterer til debatt og boklansering 4. mai kl. 13:00
Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel 33. etg.

Det finnes ingen unnskyldning…
…som rettferdiggjør at funksjonshemmede i Norge daglig utsettes for diskriminering og krenkelser på alle samfunnsområdet. Den offisielle politikken er full deltakelse og likestilling på alle områder i samfunnet. Det betyr at vi har tatt innover oss en forståelse av at tiltak må gjennomføres på samfunnsnivå, for at funksjonshemmede skal kunne delta i samfunnet på lik linje med andre. Når vi har forstått det, hvilken unnskyldning har vi da?

Dette er diskriminering
Fokus må flyttes fra individets forutsetninger til samfunnets manglende evne og vilje til å mestre hele den variasjonsbredden vi som samfunnsborgere utgjør. Kvinnediskriminering og rasisme søker vi å bekjempe med alle midler, mens diskriminering av funksjonshemmede ikke engang aksepteres som diskriminering. Hvorfor har vi ikke, i et av verdens rikeste land, vilje til å gi alle innbyggerne fulle menneskerettigheter?

Møt opp og delta i denne viktige samfunnsdebatten!
Boken Med vitende og vilje – Om funksjonshemming, diskriminering og krenkelse er en brannfakkel, og målsettingen er å sette temaet på dagsordenen og å skape debatt. Forfattere og redaktører Ann Kristin Krokan og Toril Heglum presenterer boken. Etter presentasjonen er det er satt av god tid til spørsmål og debatt.

I debattpanelet deltar:
Per Fuggeli (professor i sosialmedisin, forfatter), Kim Friele (homoaktivist og forfatter),
Britta Nilsson og Eli Knøsen (Nasjonalt dokumentasjonssenter for personer med nedsatt funksjonsevne),
Berit Vegheim (daglig leder i Stopp Diskrimineringen),
Ella Gosh
(Likestillings- og diskrimineringsombudet) og Peter Waage (journalist).
Guro Fjellanger (tidl. Miljøvernminister) er ordstyrer.

Spørsmål vi ønsker å diskutere:
Hvor går veien videre? Hva kan vi som funksjonshemmede gjøre? Hva kan og bør samfunnet gjøre? Hva vil samfunnet gjøre? Hva kan vi lære av andres kamper? Hva slags tiltak bør settes inn, og hvor bør de settes inn?

Mer informasjon?

Kontakt: Kommuneforlaget v/Lise Gry Størholdt, tlf.: 24 13 28 05, mobil: 934 32 799

CENTRE DE COOPERATION FRANCO-NORVEGIENNE EN SCIENCES SOCIALES ET HUMAINES

Program 2006

(rev.24.04.2006)

Mai
22. - 24. mai: Estetikk og litteratur, politikk og historie. Forskerutdanningsseminar arrangert av professor Knut Ove Eliassen, NTNU.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

Juni
1. - 2. juni: Education and economic development. Internasjonalt, tverrfaglig seminar arrangert av professor Kristine Bruland, UiO/Senteret.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Kristine Bruland

8. -10. juni: Centre – Perifery. The avant-garde and the outskirts (The Nordic avant-garde network). Seminar arrangert av førsteamanuensis Per Bäckström, Institutt for kultur og litteratur, Universitetet i Tromsø.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

13. -17. juni: Sexuality, Death and the Feminine. Workshop arrangert av professor Vigdis Songe-Møller, Filosofisk institutt, UiB.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

September
21.-23.september: Patents in the past. Internasjonalt seminar støttet av The British Academy v/ professor Kristine Bruland, UiO/Senteret.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Kristine Bruland

Oktober
4. - 6. oktober: L’argument de la filiation aux fondements des sociétés européennes et méditerranéennes anciennes et actuelles. Internasjonal konferanse arrangert i samarbeid med Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Institutions et des Organisations Sociales (LAIOS), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) og Collège de France.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret : Per Buvik

12. - 14. oktober: Kunst- og kulturforskningens historiske dimensjon. Forskerutdanningsseminar for doktorander i kunst og kulturfag arrangert av professor Sissel Lie, NTNU.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

19.-20. oktober: Posthumanist figurations of the body/body politic. Internasjonalt, tverrfaglig seminar i samarbeid med Senter for kvinne- og kjønnsforskning ved UiB (SKOK).
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

26. - 28. oktober: Journées Wittgenstein, arrangert av professor Arild Utaker, Filosofisk institutt, Universitetet i Bergen, i samarbeid med Université Paris VIII (Saint-Denis).
Ansvarlig ved Senteret : Per Buvik

November
3. november: La philosophie du bovarysme. Internasjonalt tverrfaglig seminar i samarbeid med Centre de recherche sur la littérature française du XIXe siècle, Université Paris IV (Sorbonne).
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

7.-10. november: French Theory Revisited. Internasjonalt forskerutdanningsseminar i for doktorander og forskere estetiske fag, i samarbeid med UiO.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

30. november: Actualité d’Ibsen : le texte et la scène (I). Internasjonalt seminar arrangert i samarbeid med Det Kgl. Norske Utenriksdepartement, Den Kgl. Norske Ambassade i Paris, Université Paris IV (Sorbonne), Université Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle), Théâtre National de la Colline og Ibsensenteret (Oslo). Sted: Salle Liard, Sorbonne.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret og seminarets koordinator: Per Buvik

Desember
1. desember: Actualité d’Ibsen : le texte et la scène (II). Internasjonalt seminar arrangert i samarbeid med Det Kgl. Norske Utenriksdepartement, Den Kgl. Norske Ambassade i Paris, Université Paris IV (Sorbonne), Université Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle), Théâtre National de la Colline og Ibsensenteret (Oslo). Sted: Théâtre National de la Colline.
Ansvarlig ved Senteret og seminarets koordinator: Per Buvik

7. - 9. desember:
Phonologie du français contemporain. Internasjonalt seminar arrangert av Chantal Lyche, OFNEC (Caen), i samarbeid med Jacques Durand (Toulouse) og Bernard Laks (Paris).
Ansvarlig ved Senteret: Per Buvik

CENTRE DE COOPERATION FRANCO-NORVEGIENNE EN SCIENCES SOCIALES ET HUMAINES

Directeur
Per BUVIK
Responsable administratif Kirstin B. SKJELSTAD
E-mail: skjelsta@msh-paris.fr

Bourses du musée du quai Branly, Paris

Chers collègues,

Je vous prie de bien vouloir trouver ci-dessous pour diffusion le premier
appel d'offre du musée du quai Branly pour des Bourses doctorales et
post-doctorales.

Bourses d’études du musée du quai Branly

Le musée du quai Branly propose chaque année des bourses doctorales et
post-doctorales destinées à soutenir des doctorants et de jeunes docteurs
pour mener à bien des projets de recherche originaux et innovants en
histoire et en anthropologie des arts matériels et immatériels, sur l’étude
des collections extra-européennes et sur l’étude des institutions muséales.
Les disciplines concernées sont l’ethnologie, l’histoire de l’art, l’
archéologie, la sociologie de l’art, l’histoire coloniale, l’histoire
extra-européenne, etc.

Les bourses doctorales

Trois bourses doctorales sont destinées à soutenir des doctorants en fin de
thèse, en général à partir de la troisième année d’inscription.

Ces bourses sont attribuées pour une durée maximale de 12 mois non
reconductible. Les bourses, dont le montant mensuel est de 1470,81 euros
brut soit 1200 euros net, sont allouées après évaluation et sélection des
dossiers par le Comité d’évaluation scientifique du musée. Outre la qualité
scientifique du projet de thèse, ce comité prendra en compte pour l’
attribution de ces bourses le lien avec les thèmes de recherche développés
par le musée.

Les bourses post-doctorales

Le musée du quai Branly propose quatre bourses post-doctorales à de jeunes
scientifiques désirant travailler sur un projet individuel ou collectif
accueilli au musée du quai Branly.

Ces bourses, dont le montant mensuel est de 2042,79 euros brut soit 1666,66
euros net, sont attribuées après évaluation et sélection des dossiers par le
Comité d’évaluation scientifique du musée du quai Branly.
La bourse post-doctorale du musée du quai Branly est d’une durée maximale
de 12 mois et le cas échéant, elle peut être renouvelée une fois. Aucune
condition de nationalité et d’âge n’est exigée. Le candidat peut solliciter
cette bourse jusqu’à cinq ans après la soutenance de sa thèse.

Les demandes de bourses doctorales ou post-doctorales doivent être établies
suivant un formulaire à télécharger, chaque année, sur notre site Internet
www.quaibranly.fr, ou à demander au musée par écrit.

Date limite impérative de réception des dossiers au musée : le 15 juin 2006

* Musée du quai Branly- Département de la recherche et de l’enseignement
222, rue de l’Université- 75343 PARIS Cedex 07

********************************************************
Marcel SKROBEK
msk @ quaibranly.fr
Directeur adjoint
Département Recherche et Enseignement
* m u s é e d u q u a i B r a n l y
222 rue de l'Université - 75343 Paris cedex 07
Tel : 01.56.61.53.85 - Fax 01.56.61.71.42
*********************************************************

Student Peace Prize Awarded by the International Student Festival in Trondheim, Norway (ISFiT) 2007

Please take a few minutes to learn about the only Peace Prize in the
world to and from students.

The Student Peace Prize is to be awarded for the fifth time during the
International Student Festival in Trondheim, Norway (ISFiT) 2007. The prize is
awarded every second year on behalf of all Norwegian students, and is
the only peace prize in the world to and from students. In giving this
prize we wish to highlight the important role of students in the
struggle for peace, democracy and human rights. Students efforts are
widely underestimated, even though students often have the ability and
opportunity to think differently, and thus to create a more peaceful
world. Awarding the Peace Prize helps to get support and recognition
for idealist students who work for peace and basic rights. The Peace
Prize receives nominations from all over the world, and we make a
tremendous effort to learn about good candidates. The nominee must be a
student or a student organization who or which has made an outstanding
contribution to peace, democracy or human rights.

A committee consisting of students and prominent persons in Norwegian
politics and society chooses the winner of the Student Peace Prize
2007. The recipient receives an invitation to come to Norway to accept
the prize at the Peace Prize Ceremony during ISFiT 2007, and will also
travel throughout Norway to meet with important organizations and
decision makers.

Previous winners have met with the Norwegian Prime Minister, the
Minister of Development and the crown prince Haakon Magnus, to name a
few. The media is very attentive to the Peace Prize and its winners.
Receiving this prize is a unique opportunity to make contacts, increase
media awareness and spread knowledge about oneself and the situation in
one's home country.

For further information, see www.isfit.org/peaceprize

The Student Peace Prize is still a young institution, but grows by the
year. If you have knowledge of a worthy candidate, we hope to receive
your nomination.

Send nominations to
Mail: nomination@isfit.org
or
Web: www.isfit.org/peaceprize

Thank you for your attention.
Best regards
ISFiT 2007

Masters Degree in International Relations and European Studies –
Institute for Social and European Studies
ISES Foundation
14 Chernel St., 9730 Kőszeg, Hungary
Phone/fax: 00-36-94-563-055
Email: postmaster@ises-koszeg.t-online.hu

When: Academic year starts in Fall
ISES in collaboration with Budapest Corvinus University (the degree issuing institution) provides students with the opportunity to obtain theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of international relations, economics, political science, history and sociology. ISES provides a variety of programs and services during the academic year which will make your stay in Hungary a rewarding and enriching experience. You will be part of an international student body of approximately 30 students and have the opportunity to meet outstanding professors from around the world. Credits are transferable to most universities.

Curriculum highlights: Courses in English include: The Role of New Europe in the EU; Foreign Policy of the EU; International Economic Organizations and Institutions; Change in the Theory and Practice of International Relations, Changing European Values, Philosophy, Psychology and Power; Comparative Study of Communism, Fascism, and Fundamentalism; Global Governance and Global Civil Society; History of European Integration; Security, Peace and Democratization in the Balkans. These courses are conducted by internationally known scholars like Philippe Schmitter, Elemér Hankiss, Mitja Zagar, Ferenc Miszlivetz, András Blahó, Tamás Szentes, Atila Eralp, Tibor Palankai, among others. Application forms can be downloaded at: http://www.ises.hu/ma200607.html. Additional info about the duration of and tuition for the program can also be found on the ISES website.

Setting description: The program is based in the beautiful town of Kőszeg, in the western part of Hungary. Two semesters are required on campus for course work, plus a third semester elsewhere for the writing of the thesis. Students are accomodated in hostels and all necessary facilities (libraries, laundry, restaurants, swimming pool, track, etc.) are nearby. Research requirements are built into the program. Students can form groups to conduct research on a chosen topic. A total of 180 credits (includes the credit for the MA thesis) are required to complete the course. The area is famous for wine, gastronomy and wellness tourism. It also supports a variety of cultural activities in unspoiled natural surroundings. Students can reach Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava in 2-3 hours by car.

Program expenses: Tuition & materials, room & board, medical insurance, program-related field trips, travel to and from Kőszeg, application fee.

Where: Kőszeg, Hungary

SSRN's Economic Research Network is pleased to announce that the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) will now post their working papers
in SSRN's Government & Public Agency Research Paper Series.

IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research
available to a wide audience. About 240 Working Papers are released
each year, covering a wide range of topics of both a theoretical and
an analytical nature, including balance of payments, monetary and
fiscal issues, global liquidity, and national and international
economic developments.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

Subscriptions to this journal are free. You can subscribe to the
journal by clicking on the following link:

http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=international-monetary-fund

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link or to access our user headquarters at: http://hq.ssrn.com If you
have any questions please call 877-SSRNHelp (877.777.6435). Outside
of the United States, call 00+1+585+4428170.

SSRN's eLIBRARY
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User Headquarters at http://hq.ssrn.com

Avoiding Humiliation - From Intercultural Communication to Global Inter-Human Communication
June 9, 2006, Tokyo
Presenter: Evelin G. Lindner

Please read in the following announcement in the SIETAR Japan Newsletter, 2006 Spring, p. 27:

SIETAR Japan will welcome Dr Evelin Gerda Lindner, the Founding Manager of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies ( www.humiliationstudies.org) anchored at the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network, New York, and the recipient of the 2006 SBAP Award for Applied Psychology for her unique research and independent project management skills, as well as for her international presence as a well-known, committed, and multidisciplinary advocate for humanity in a global society. Her work on the effects of humiliation on individuals and communities has made a significant contribution to the study of peace. Dr Lindner is an inspiring speaker.

Details will be available at www.sietar-japan.org.

Introduction

Under certain circumstances, our understanding of culture can have humiliating effects. The notion of culture can be used in either a neutral, descriptive way, or prescriptively, such as, "Are you really part of our culture?" While the descriptive use of the concept of culture may be rather benign, applying it in a prescriptive way may have malign effects. Lindner believes that the field of intercultural communication has a responsibility to discuss these malign effects in order to avoid inadvertently heightening them. This is because intercultural communication that respects cultural difference blindly can do great harm.

Lindner will explain how she started her research on the concept of humiliation and its role in genocide, war, and violent conflict. Her initial research (1997-2001) took her to Rwanda and Somalia, where genocidal killings had taken place in 1994 and 1981.

She will furthermore explain her theory of humiliation and how the notions of pride, honor, dignity, humiliation, and humility are inscribed into current historic and cultural normative transitions. She believes that at the present historic juncture two new forces bring humiliation to the fore in unprecedented intensity. Globalization (or the coming-together of humankind) is the first force, which, in concert with the human rights revolution, the second force, increases the significance of the phenomenon of humiliation.

Lindner concludes with a discussion of how we may best approach identity building within the world's cultures and the two changing forces of globalization and human rights.

She believes that we have to strongly inscribe global inter-human communication into international relations and intercultural communication in order to avoid possible destructive effects from humiliation.

United Nations Capital Master Plan:

In Detail

Date: Thursday May 11, 2006

Time: 1:00-2:30 PM

Location: Church Center of the UN
777 UN Plaza, 2nd Floor
(44th and 1st Ave.)
New York, NY 10017

RSVP: Full contact information to:
Jessica Hartl, UNA-USA
202-462-3446
jhartl@unausa.org

Featured Speaker

Louis Frederick Reuter IV
Assistant Secretary General, Executive Director
Capital Master Plan, United Nations

Background

Over the last six years the United Nations has been working on a renovation plan for its New York headquarters. The current plan is expected to cost between $1.2 and 1.6 billion. Recently, the Administrative and Budgetary Committee (Fifth Committee) of the General Assembly authorized $100.5 million to finance the design and pre-construction phases, with the United States disassociating itself from the consensus on this resolution. With delays and debates over such issues as how to finance the renovations, the UN is facing many challenges in the months ahead, as it attempts to reach a final decision on a renovation strategy. In this dialogue with the NGO community, Mr. Reuter will discuss the latest plan for renovation; how the UN arrived at this decision; problems/challenges faced in the process; financing sources and how financing will be structured; efforts being made to ensure sustained access to the buildings and sessions by outside groups (e.g. NGOs); and other relevant issues.

GandhiServe Foundation Newsletter No. 11, April - June 2006

Dear Reader,

The recent visit of Indian prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to Germany
not only raised hope by industrialists in both countries for a closer
cooperation but was also a welcome opportunity to discuss possibilities for
a wider exposure of Indian productions on Mahatma Gandhi in the areas of
performing arts, films and exhibitions. It is hoped that some of the current
major productions on Gandhi will be shown outside India in the near future.
More: http://www.gandhiserve.org/pr_ms.html

>> Mahatma Gandhi News Digest

In the last issue we introduced the Mahatma Gandhi News Digest as a new
feature on our website, which replaced the section Gandhian News from around
the World in our GSF Newsletter. Now we turned those select news on Mahatma
Gandhi, peace and nonviolence into a weekly e-magazine that can be
subscribed by sending a blank email to newsletter@gandhimail.org, subject:
Subscribe Mahatma Gandhi News Digest
More: http://www.gandhiserve.org/news/news.html

>> Offer of the Week

On our website as well as in the Mahatma Gandhi News Digest e-magazine we
introduced an Offer of the Week. Each week a select item of our webstore is
offered with a considerable discount. Photographs, books, DVD's and other
items are made available upto 40% below the regular price. A good
opportunity for students, teachers and institutions to build up a Gandhi
archive gradually!
More: http://www.gandhiserve.org (center bottom)

May Peace Prevail on Earth!

Peter Rühe
Founder-Chairperson

- Please share this newsletter with likeminded people. Thank you!

- Read previous issues of the newsletter:
http://www.gandhiserve.org/newsletter/newsletter.html

- If you have a likeminded web site we would appreciate a reciprocal link
exchange.
Please list our site as "GandhiServe Foundation - Mahatma Gandhi Research
and Media Service,
http://www.gandhiserve.org/index.html", and let us know your URL.

- Make a donation to GandhiServe Foundation:
http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/donations.html Thank you!

- To subscribe the newsletter send a blank email with subject "Subscribe GSF
Newsletter"
to: newsletter@gandhimail.org

Impressum:
GandhiServe Foundation, Rathausstrasse 51a, 12105 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49.30.70206374 / 7054054, Fax: +49.30.70206373 / 7054054
E-mail: mail@gandhimail.org, http://www.gandhiserve.org

4th Annual National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work
"Partnering to Build a Better World"

Dear Friends,

The Interfaith Youth Core (www.ifyc.org) is pleased to invite you to our 4th Annual National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work, May 14 -16, 2006 at Northwestern University's Evanston Campus.
Register now at: http://www.ifyc.org/nciyw.php.

This year, we are inviting leaders from religious communities, service organizations, and colleges and universities across the country to Chicago for a weekend of "Partnering to Build a Better World".

The conference will focus on building partnerships between different communities involved in interfaith youth work and training individuals from those communities in the hands-on skills necessary for success. Through keynote addresses, practical workshops, and a "mock" interfaith youth service experience, participants of all levels of expertise can expect to gain new awareness, insight, and skills in the breadth and depth of the Interfaith Youth Movement. Additionally, all of the workshop sessions will be broken into five content categories, with workshops in each category geared toward the "how-to" of that specific area of interfaith youth work and presented by its leading experts.

Workshops content categories include:

- Core Methodology: Basic training on interfaith youth service work from an IFYC perspective.

- "Speed Faithing": Gain insight into the most effective ways to engage specific religious communities and build relationships with their youth focused leadership. In this workshop, you will meet faith groups who will present overviews of their community and the most effective ways to engage them in interfaith youth work. Presenting communities include:

Amate House
Hillel
Muslims Public Affairs Council
World Sikh Council – America Region
Young Jains of America

- Opportunities for Service: Learn about service organizations that would like to partner with your interfaith efforts, including:

- America's Second Harvest

Earth Day
Habitat for Humanity
Katrina Relief

- Project Sustainability: Receive training on how to deepen and sustain existing interfaith youth service work.

- Exemplary Sustainable Projects: These workshops will showcase interfaith youth programs that are highly effective, well developed and year-round. For organizers who want to move from sporadic programming to more sustainable models, these workshops will give you excellent examples to get you started. Showcased programs include:

- Suburban Education Project
Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia

Additional conference highlights include:

- Lynne Steuerle Schofield, who lost her mother on September 11, 2001, is Founder of Our Voices Together and will be present as a Guest Speaker. The mission of Our Voices Together is to use our collective voices and resources to support and encourage worthwhile international projects, foster goodwill, and promote understanding. In so doing, they honor those who lost their lives to terrorist acts.

- "Mock" interfaith youth service experience: Join us in making blankets for Chicago's homeless women in partnership with Sarah's Circle, a Chicago-based agency that offers daytime supportive services in a welcoming, safe refuge for women who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.

- Special dinner celebrating this year's National Days of Interfaith Youth Service (NDIYS), through which more than 4,000 worldwide youth collaborated on interfaith service projects.

- Molly Hoisington, a member of Interfaith Youth Core's Chicago Youth Council, will be present as a Guest Speaker. A student at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, Molly will speak about the positive effect of interfaith work on her academic experience as a high school student.

- Kalyani Menon, Professor of Peace Studies in the Religion Department at DePaul University in Chicago, will be present as a Guest Speaker. She will speak about the positive effect of interfaith work on the academic experience of college students.

Please review the attached registration package for more information, or visit us on the web at http://www.ifyc.org/nciyw.php.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In peace and partnership,

Dr. Eboo Patel, Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
April Kunze, Assistant Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
Terrance Wallace, Program Assistant, Interfaith Youth Core

Interfaith Youth Core http://www.ifyc.org

Diverse Youth Find Understanding Through Service
at National Days of Interfaith Youth Service

Chicago - April 25, 2006 - This past weekend, in over 30 communities worldwide, 4,000 young leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha'i, Jain and Sikh traditions came together to organize and participate in events of interfaith dialogue and cooperative service. They were taking part in the third annual National Days of Interfaith Youth Service, coordinated by the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC). IFYC is a Chicago-based international non-profit that seeks to build a movement, which encourages religious young people to strengthen their religious identities, foster interreligious understanding and serve the common good.

Accounts from sites around the world reveal that the weekend deeply affected these young people and their communities. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, nearly a hundred students served on seven different service sites. Nick Price, a key organizer for the project, explained, "We are all here because we are called by our faith traditions to help other people. That is the promise of religion - that there is no option to be selfish."

In New Orleans, young people gathered for interfaith dialogue and to help citizens vote in the first mayoral election since Hurricane Katrina. Adam Bronstone, of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, reflected, "For a city where the faiths get together, but not on a formal basis, this weekend was a really good start. And we're going to take advantage of this momentum."

At Emory University, where students put together relief supplies for victims of Hurricane Katrina, organizer Fareen Jiwani described the conclusions of their interfaith dialogue, "A natural disaster doesn't target different faiths - it targets an entire community. By doing this project, we were each able to identify with some of those we were serving, even as we were learning to communicate with those were different from us."

"The National Days of Interfaith Youth Service provided a wonderful opportunity for honest, sincere, intimate, heart-to-heart and appreciative sharing of ideas, dialogue and problem solving, all in an atmosphere of trust, friendship, love, enthusiasm and cooperative creativity," Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba explained of a 3-day project in Jos, Nigeria, where over 200 young people gathered for interfaith dialogue and to beautify the city.

The Chicago National Days of Interfaith Youth Service brought over 30 youth from eight different Chicago-area colleges and universities for an "Interfaith Immersion Weekend." IFYC created the weekend not only to lead youth in interfaith service and dialogue, but to train these students to become leaders themselves. The weekend included two projects that served Chicago's Somali-Bantu refugee population and a series of workshops that taught students everything from how to plan an effective interfaith service project to how to include different religious communities in interfaith work. Students developed immediate action plans for their campuses and personal visions for their leadership in the interfaith youth service movement.

IFYC looks forward to sharing stories about this exciting movement, and would be happy to arrange interviews with participants, organizers, funders and IFYC staff. For more information, please contact: Cassie Meyer, Resources & Communications Manager at cassie@ifyc.org or Erin Williams, Executive Assistant at erin@ifyc.org.

Interfaith Youth Core http://www.ifyc.org

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
April 25, 2006

**********

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim-Western relations.

*This service is also available in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia and French. You can subscribe by sending an email to cgnewspih@sfcg.org [cgnewspih@sfcg.orgcgnewspih@sfcg.org], specifying your choice of language.

*Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and articles may be reprinted by any news outlet or publication. Please acknowledge both the original source and the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

*For an archive of CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/).

**********

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. My Afghan fitness guru by David Montero
Christian Science Monitor correspondent David Montero describes how joining a gym in Islamabad, Pakistan became the highlight of his day thanks to his Afghan physical trainer. While Montero came back day-after-day to build muscle, his trainer Nesar struggled to build his English vocabulary. “Every good story comes at a price though,” admits Montero. “For this one, I have paid with weeks of excruciating pain, the humiliation of knowing my own weakness, and periodic dressings-down from Nesar when I missed workouts or cut out early…But it's been worth it, because in addition to getting stronger, I've formed a great bond with another foreigner in this city, and that makes it feel more like home.”
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 2006)

**********

ARTICLE 1
~Youth Views~
Women’s rights in the Middle East and Islam
Bushra Jawabri and Talajeh Livani

Washington, D.C. - "I am not a feminist - but why should women be lazy and weak?” responds Laleh Seddigh, an Iranian woman who has emerged as one of Iran’s champion race-car drivers, when asked about her unusual career. Seddigh is an example of a new generation of young, Middle Eastern women striving to achieve their goals despite social constraints in a male-dominated region.

Unfortunately, even bringing up the issue of gender equality in the Middle East is often seen as a misguided attempt to impose Western ideas on Middle Eastern countries. Often, those discussing it are accused of being “feminists”, “Westernised”, “not Muslim enough” or “not good Arabs”, and so on.

Still, in comparison with other regions, Middle Eastern women score high on factors such as health and education despite the lack of support for gender equality.

There are three main obstacles to the empowerment of women in the Middle East. First and foremost is the lack of economic opportunities in the region as a whole. With unemployment rates averaging 15-20% across the Middle East, the region's women find it difficult to be self-sufficient, and as a result, remain dependent on men to provide for them. Because of the lack of jobs in many countries, women are also discouraged from working because of a belief that this will lead to higher unemployment for men. Simple bias against women also contributes to their lack of employment. If an equally or better qualified woman competes with a man for a position, often the man will be hired because of a belief that men are simply more capable.

The second obstacle is the legal system in many Middle Eastern countries. Laws regarding marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance, nationality and others tend to reduce women’s legal power and rights. However, contrary to common belief, many of these laws are not derived from Islam, but from old, Middle Eastern traditions and social norms and imported European legal codes that have not been modified since the days of colonialism. For example, in most Middle Eastern countries, a man can get a divorce by simply saying “I divorce you” whereas a woman must meet certain conditions, such as showing proof of abuse. In contrast, Islam allows a woman to divorce her husband even if the reason is simply that she is no longer attracted to him, which means that women are technically as free to leave a marriage as men. Islam clearly stipulates capital punishment by stoning for rapists but in many countries, a rapist may escape punishment by marrying his victim despite this stipulation, which in principle covers “married” rapists also. National laws seem designed to induce a sense of helplessness and worthlessness in women.

The third obstacle is social constraints. Recently, there seems to be a trend for men in Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and even in the more conservative Gulf countries to pay lip service to women’s rights. Many men will be the first to tell you that women should have the right to vote, and to be politically and economically active. However, when it comes to women related to them, the old ways often remain the best. Women are rarely accepted as heads of households, even if they are financially supporting their husbands. Many men state publicly that women should be able to seek jobs -- as long as it is not their own wife, daughter, mother or sister.

Why are social constraints in general so effective? Because pride, reputation and honour mean everything in the majority of Middle Eastern societies. Islam is not the culprit, and general acceptance of the main principles of gender equality is widespread. Nonetheless, many men still believe that they are protecting the honour of their wives or relatives by not “letting” them work. And if they do, they set certain conditions, and may go so far as to check on who she is working with, why, where and whether or not society thinks their job is honourable.

“Honour” has more value in Middle Eastern culture than life itself. Honour is derived from ownership of land and the behaviour of one’s family. The latter, family honour, requires female purity and modesty, and therefore much effort is expended on protecting females from possible contamination or misbehaviour. Notably absent from this schema is the man himself – men are able to do dishonourable things, or marry below their station, without fear of damaging their reputations.

The idea that women have to be married by a certain age, a common obsession of mothers in the Middle East, is another tradition that often prevents women from pursuing careers. Because marriage, and not a successful career, is the measure of a woman’s success, mothers worry about their daughters reaching a certain age (usually the early twenties) without marrying because this makes them a subject of pity in the eyes of others.

Women themselves are the fourth and final barrier to women’s empowerment. Many women are not aware of their rights. Many also mistakenly ascribe certain old, Middle Eastern traditions from the jahiliya, or the “dark age” which preceded the arrival of the Prophet’s message, to Islam. If Middle Eastern women understood their rights and the origins of the patriarchal traditions binding them, they would know that nothing in Islam permits men to abuse, beat or control them.

What many people, not only those in the Middle East, are not aware of is that gender equality is not only a social justice issue but an economic one as well. Many studies have shown that countries with gender equality have less poverty, more outside investment, higher productivity and faster growth than countries where women’s right to work is constrained. If Middle Eastern countries are serious about development and wish to truly prosper, they will need to abandon the old traditions and invest in the forgotten half of their populations.

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* Bushra Mukbil Jawabri is a Palestinian, and grew up in a refugee camp. Talajeh Livani is an Iranian who was raised in Sweden. They both currently work as consultants to the World Bank in Washington, DC. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be found at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 25, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 2
Of caliphs and the caliphate: setting the record straight
Asma Afsaruddin

South Bend, Indiana - Many Muslims watch in horror these days as some of the terms they associate most positively with their religion are appropriated by extremists and then fed back to Western media with a negative spin. "Jihad" and "shari‘a" were the first victims. Now "caliphate" has met the same fate.

"Jihad" has traditionally referred to the effort made by pious Muslims to better themselves and the world around them through spiritual, mental, educational and physical -- including military -- means. But the extremists today use the term only in the military sense, against anyone they arbitrarily name as the enemy, including Muslims they disagree with. Similarly, "shari‘a", an Arabic word meaning "the Way", refers to broad moral and legal principles from which specific laws may be created through human interpretation.

Mainstream Muslims regard the shari‘a as a source of mercy and justice. A considerable number among them insist that, outside of matters of worship, much of it is subject to different interpretations in different times and circumstances. The shari‘a is not simply a collection of harsh punishments, such as stoning for adultery and amputation of hands for theft, nor does it necessarily dictate an inferior social status for women and religious minorities. Yet thanks to the extremists, jihad and shari‘a have entered the Western media primarily as terms which point to essentially violent, merciless and unchanging Islamic societies.

Now militants have tainted another cherished concept, the caliphate, something they hope to recreate in order to impose their bloody world order. Understandably, this has caused concern in many circles. President Bush recently raised the "spectre" of a revived caliphate, causing goose bumps to form on the collective national epidermis. Others have warned of the dire consequences of a universal community of Muslims united under a single leader, their caliph. This would inevitably lead to totalitarian rule and a holy war against the West, an event desired by mainstream Muslims, or so we are told.

For those who know anything about early Islamic history, these characterisations are alarmist and historically inaccurate. The caliphate for which most Muslims have a high regard is specifically that of the Rightly Guided caliphs. This is the name given to the first four men who ruled the community between 632-661 CE, after the death of the prophet Muhammad. As recorded in early texts, the time of the Rightly Guided caliphs represents certain cherished ideals.

For instance, these men who succeeded one another were not related by blood and came to power through some process of consultation. They admitted their accountability publicly, as did Abu Bakr, the first caliph, who asked the people to correct him if he should fall into error. They became fabled for their tolerance toward religious minorities and respect for the rights of women. Thus Umar, the second caliph, refused to pray in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem when invited to do so by the patriarch there because he was afraid that the site might later be wrongfully claimed by Muslims as a mosque.

According to the ninth century historian Tabari, Umar promised the Christians of Jerusalem that their churches, crosses, lives and possessions would be protected. Umar also appointed a woman to the influential post of market inspector for the city of Medina and entrusted his copy of the Qur’an, which was the basis for the final version, to a daughter and not to a son.

Many mainstream Muslims I know point to examples such as these when they wax poetic about the Rightly Guided caliphs.

But a very different Umar crops up later in history as a kind of intolerant twin to the above. In contrast to the caliph described by Tabari, this Umar forbade Christians from repairing their churches and imposed humiliating restrictions on the practice of their faith, according to the terms of a treaty called the Pact of Umar. Is this also the Umar invoked by certain Muslims today? Certainly, and particularly by extremist Muslims. He has been used to justify discriminatory attitudes toward non-Muslims at different points in history.

Interestingly, Umar's double does not make his appearance in any historical source before roughly the 11th century. The second, later Umar was clearly invented in more sectarian, troubled times. Quest for worldly power and social privilege sometimes trumped fair treatment and justice and became reflected in law. This has been the unhappy experience of most societies of the world in relation to women and minorities. In our own times, when a Christian West is perceived by many to be on a collision course with the world of Islam, the alternative Umar's harsh decrees have been marshalled to legitimise bigotry practiced by, and against, Muslims.

So should mainstream Muslims today want a return of the caliphate? They should - but of the first type as exemplified by the early, magnanimous Umar, and in a metaphorical sense. Muslims should indeed want a revival of many of the tolerant and compassionate values and practices associated with the Rightly Guided caliphs and their era. We forget how much of modern Western political and legal reform was predicated on a return to the past for a selective retrieval of ideals. It was an appeal to an idealised ancient Roman republic that brought about the establishment of representative government in the West after centuries of despotism that had been justified by some on religious grounds. More recently, it was the privileging of Biblical insistence on the dignity of human beings that focused attention on human rights in the West.

Many of the values and practices associated with the earliest Islamic caliphate could and can translate into democratic governance, equal rights for women and religious minorities and creation of civil societies today. They set powerful historical and legitimising precedents for genuine reform and revival in contemporary Islamic societies. Rather than causing goose bumps, a responsible and critical engagement with the past, including the caliphate, on the part of reform-minded, forward-looking Muslims should be cause for optimism.

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* Asma Afsaruddin is an Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Department of Classics at the University of Notre Dame. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be found at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: New America Media, March 22, 2006
Visit the website at www.newamericamedia.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Embers of Muhammad row smoulder in Denmark over TV host's headscarf
Slim Allagui

Copenhagen - Violent protests over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons have died down in the Muslim world but in Denmark, where the drawings were first printed, debate over the role of Islam has flared again, this time over a TV talk show host who wears a Muslim headscarf.

Asmaa Abdel Hamid, a 24-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin, is the co-host of an eight-part series on the public DR2 network on the fallout of the cartoons affair that led to violent reactions throughout the Muslim world.

Abdel Hamid's appearance on television - the first time that a female TV host has worn a headscarf in Denmark - has led to a flurry of negative reactions from viewers and feminist groups; evidence, say experts, that a wide gap still divides Danes and Muslims.

In this week's episode, Abdel Hamid, together with her atheist Danish co-host Adam Holm, grills a moderate Danish imam. Bright, frank and funny despite her austere looks, she engages in hard talk with her guest to get to the bottom of the crisis that has enveloped Denmark for two months.

"Our aim is to dissect the misunderstandings between Islam and the West in eight shows," she says after the broadcast of "Adam and Asmaa", wearing a sky-blue headscarf of the kind that she has worn since she was 14.

In her office, where a bouquet of flowers and a gift from one of her fans stand on a table, she welcomes this reporter. She refuses to shake his hand, placing her hand on her heart. "But don't think I'm a fanatic, I'm not," she insists with a warm smile.

Trained as a social worker and known as an ardent defender of Islam, Abdel Hamid's serene, almost angelic face is in sharp contrast to the angry reactions sparked by her television debut.

"The choice of Asmaa as co-host is an insult to Danish and Muslim women. She sends the message that an honourable woman can't go out unless she is covered up," blasts Vibeke Manniche, the head of the Women for Freedom association.

Manniche has started a petition to get the program taken off the air, insisting that DR2 "is a public service channel and it is important that its program hosts be objective and that its shows not be a meeting point for fanatic points of view".

Another group, the Iranian Women's Rights movement, has also urged viewers to voice their opposition to Abdel Hamid.

Denmark's minister for social affairs and gender equality, Eva Kjaer Hansen, has even jumped into the fray: "I want to remind DR that its employees should not serve as missionaries," she said recently.

DR2 defended its decision this week, saying, "headscarf-wearing women are part of Danish society and we need to accept this fact".

Abdel Hamid takes the criticism in stride but says that she is disappointed by it.

"I have a hard time understanding it, accepting that just because you wear a headscarf you are labelled a fundamentalist. That's too simplistic. I have no ties to fanatic circles," she insists.

She is a member of one of the Muslim organisations that sued Danish daily Jyllands-Posten for publishing the 12 cartoons, considered by Muslims to be blasphemous.

"I want to give a more nuanced image ... than that of Muslim women oppressed by the veil. You can still be strong and independent even with a piece of fabric on your head."

"I thought I would be supported when I accepted this job as host, which shows other Muslim women in Denmark that it is possible to actively participate in society," she says, adding: "Denmark is in many ways an Islamic society because it's a society that has a lot of what I believe in."

While she acknowledges that many "Muslim men in particular would rather see me at home than as the star of a television show", some of the reactions have been positive.

The movement Feminist Forum has been one of Abdel Hamid's supporters.

"Her hiring by DR strengthens ethnic and gender equality in Denmark and is a step in the right direction toward a more egalitarian representation in the media sphere," it said.

Tim Jensen, a religion expert at the University of Southern Denmark, says that the protests confirm that there is "still a wide lack of understanding between a good part of the Danish people and Muslims living in the country, which was brought to light by the cartoons row".

Yet, he stresses, Abdel Hamid's appearance on television "is an historic breakthrough because for the first time a Muslim woman, even one wearing a headscarf, is accepted as part of Danish society and she is not necessarily an extremist".

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* Slim Allagui is an Agence France Press journalist and photographer. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be found at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: Middle East Times, April 7, 2006
Visit the website at www.metimes.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
For Francis Fukuyama, there is life after the neocons
Peter Nolan

London - History may not repeat itself, but historians certainly replicate each other and few scholars have been talked about by their peers as much as Francis Fukuyama. The American social scientist became famous for writing in 1989 that the world had reached an ideological "end of history". First fascism and then communism had been defeated, as was dramatically proven a few months after his article appeared in the journal The National Interest, when the Berlin Wall fell. The great ideological struggles that convulsed the 20th century were over, Fukuyama argued, leaving liberal democracy as the sole credible model for organising society.

Although his optimistic message was later welcomed by both the Clinton Democrats and internationally minded Republicans, Fukuyama has long been counted among the neoconservative school of foreign policy. In the 1970s, Fukuyama and his mentor, Paul Wolfowitz, worked together on nuclear arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union. Under President Ronald Reagan, he worked on Palestinian autonomy negotiations following the Camp David Accords, and on Lebanon. Later, he followed Wolfowitz to teach at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. In 1998, along with Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, Fukuyama signed open letters calling for Saddam Hussein's overthrow, published by the Project for a New American Century.

More recently, however, Fukuyama changed direction, questioning the Bush administration's policies, in particular the invasion of Iraq. What ensued was a vitriolic debate with Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, a steadfast neocon, one battle in an all-out civil war in the American right. In a new book, "America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy", Fukuyama finalised the break: "Having long regarded myself as a neoconservative, I thought I shared a common worldview with many other neoconservatives - including friends and acquaintances who served in the administration of George W. Bush ... I have concluded that neoconservatism ... has evolved into something that I can no longer support."

Fukuyama now argues that the international community should have continued to contain Iraq. "There was a lot you could have done to keep Iraq bottled up without invading them," he told me recently in London. The Clinton administration's regime-change strategy was largely restricted to giving financial support to the Iraqi opposition. With a new impetus after September 11, 2001, Fukuyama noted, United Nations sanctions on Iraq would have been sustainable without embarking on another war.

In "America at the Crossroads", Fukuyama tries to reclaim some neocon principles. He maintains the neocon belief that dictatorships are dangerous to the world because of their totalitarian aspirations and behaviour, while democracies live in peace with each other. Fukuyama also writes scathingly about the UN: the left, he believes, overemphasises the international organisation's potential to do good, while he largely agrees with critics on the American right that the UN is often corrupt and has only rarely offered a solution to international security problems, with the Korean War and the 1991 invasion of Kuwait as exceptions, when America was in the driving seat at the Security Council.

Instead, Fukuyama offers, as an alternative, something he calls "realistic Wilsonianism", named for U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who sought to advance a more ideals-based foreign policy and was the main force behind the post-World War I League of Nations and the promotion of self-determination. Fukuyama describes U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "moving towards that position, because [the administration has] made democracy promotion a fairly important part of the foreign policy and they've been multilateral." British Prime Minister Tony Blair, he believes, understands this approach instinctively, as he pushes Bush into taking the Palestinians seriously and working multilaterally. Of Democrats in general, he says that their constituencies want more protectionism and "I don't particularly trust any of them."

Fukuyama's past dealings with the Middle East help nourish a variety of contrasting views on leading regional issues. "Lebanon," Fukuyama says, "is the one part of the Arab world where the scenario is working as the Bush administration had hoped. I always thought that it was very different, the Maronites in particular, from other Arab countries."

However, in the rest of the region, it's the Islamists who have gained the most from greater openness. Hamas' election victory, notes Fukuyama, was a setback in the short run, ending any chance for a peace process for a long period. However, he was sceptical about past policies, saying that relying on Fatah to build a Palestinian state and suppress Islamists when it had no legitimacy and was extremely corrupt was unrealistic. "We now have to hope for an evolution on the part of Hamas over time and I've no illusions that that will be a quick process or an automatic one."

On Turkey, Fukuyama has mixed feelings. "I always thought the Islamic world needed something equivalent to Christian Democracy," and to him Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party shows promise. However, Fukuyama also underlines that Turkey was now infected to some degree by the same paranoia prevalent in the rest of the Islamic world. With tensions rising in Europe with Muslim immigrant communities, he doubts that Turkish entry into the European Union would be possible.

On Saudi Arabia, Fukuyama expects little real change. America's partnership with Osama bin Laden's homeland has been troubled since September 11, and is under attack in both countries. Fukuyama says that American influence over the kingdom's domestic politics will probably be minimal. "I don't think that we can affect Saudi Arabia. It's such a bizarre society; I think that most of the usual rules don't apply there."

For Fukuyama, Osama bin Laden is a keen evangelist of the idea of a "clash of civilisations". In his view, it's not the "Madison Avenue selling of the United States that is the problem" with America's image in the Arab world. The problem is Washington's underlying policies - not taking the Palestinian issue more seriously and invading Iraq. From a former neocon, such strophes help explain why Fukuyama's split with his former comrades was so powerful.

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* Peter Nolan (Peter.Nolan@thefi.org) is an investment analyst based in London and is a director of the Freedom Institute, an Irish public policy research organisation. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be found at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: Daily Star, April 19, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
My Afghan fitness guru
David Montero

Islamabad - Many evenings, when I first moved to Islamabad, I used to walk the streets to pass the time. The city is beautiful at night, and it seemed a better idea than watching more MTV and soaps in the native Urdu.

Then I discovered Ultimate Gym, a fitness centre just down the street from my house. I was sucked in by the blaring techno music and the earnestness of its young patrons, whom I spied through a wall of windows, gallivanting on treadmills and furiously working half-dilapidated exercise machines.

Life has never been the same.

At first I wasn't serious about the exercise; I thought of it as merely something to do. Joining a gym wasn't something I'd have done back home, but in a foreign place it seemed nice to belong to something.

Then I met Nesar, an Afghan fitness trainer who works for the gym. Nesar is huge, with chiselled jowls any Tajik would be proud of. He looks like he walked off the set of "Rambo III", a mujahiden extra, and talks like it.

"In six year, I made beautiful body," he told me, flexing in the mirror.

The first day I walked in, he suggested I let him train me, giving me a cold look up and down. He inspected my shoulders, patting them sceptically, the way one appraises leather goods or fruit.

"In few months I can make good body for you," he said. Physical trainers, it seems, make the same promises everywhere. I wasn't sure he was right, but he seemed sincere and I had a feeling I'd just stumbled onto a good story.

Every good story comes at a price though. For this one, I have paid with weeks of excruciating pain, the humiliation of knowing my own weakness, and periodic dressings-down from Nesar when I missed workouts or cut out early. If I tell him I have to leave for an interview, he'll just shake his head.

"But I did a lot today," I'll say in defence, suddenly the guilty student. My justifications only prompt his laughter. "You think that's a lot?!" he'll guffaw, then point at my gut, a gesture more powerful and guilt-inducing than any of his words. His real revenge is piling on more weight the next day, yelling “Come on, big guy!" as I squirm.

Sometimes I feel like I'm paying him to do the exercises for me. Like when I'm doing sit-ups and he just pulls me up and down with one arm. He's pretty energetic. It's the music they pump at the gym. He likes 50 Cent and Shakira, and does a little dance when Michael Jackson comes on. Just don't play Indian music; it ruins his workout.

"Psychologically, I'm feeling very bad when Indian music comes on," he says.

For me, feeling bad comes more from the pain than the music. But it's been worth it, because in addition to getting stronger, I've formed a great bond with another foreigner in this city, and that makes it feel more like home.

Nesar and his family fled Kabul 14 years ago, after his aunt was killed by a missile in the civil war. They were among more than 3 million Afghan refugees who flooded into neighbouring Pakistan.

Today, nearly 2 million Afghans have returned to their country, but many, including Nesar's family, still feel safer here. Life in Pakistan has been tough, but bodybuilding has been something of a savoir for Nesar. After a life of turmoil and upheaval, joblessness and scrapping by, bodybuilding seems to give him a sense of calm and ease, even a sense of control.

"I spent a really hard time living in Asia," he told me one day over an orange soda, adding later, "Bodybuilding encourages me mentally."

He's convinced that many young Afghans are crazy about bodybuilding, and says they have Arnold Schwarzenegger's film "Commando" to thank for that. "This encouraged us a lot," he says.

Nowadays, with life settled into a routine, working with Nesar is one of the highlights of the day. He says bodybuilding inspired him to make a better life for himself, so he started taking free English lessons a few years ago. Speaking with me every day helps.

"Today I learned, 'fortunately' and unfortunately,' " he said the other day. He thought for a second before uttering, "Fortunately I went to play tennis today." A smile. "Unfortunately it started raining." A frown. "Really, I like that one," he enthused.

I like to think the training is a workout for him as well. Once he asked me to make him a list of vocabulary words - advanced, journalistic things, he told me. So I wrote down some terms on a slip of paper - "Strategic relationship", "Escalating conflict", "Destabilising factor" - which he went over the next day while I worked out.

I was doing a "special" exercise he'd taught me, standing with knees bent, trying to curl a heavy dumbbell up and down. It's usually not so hard, because Nesar helps me - maybe a little too much.

This day, however, he barely seemed to notice I was there. All of his attention was focused on the list of words, which he clenched in his hands as tightly as I clenched the dumbbell in mine. My arm was shaking like agitated jello as I strained to lift the dumbbell, but Nesar intervened only half-heartedly, barely looking, giving my arm a little push from time to time. I was straining, but there was Nesar straining more, fumbling through "strategic".

When I learned I'd soon be going to Afghanistan, I asked Nesar for advice.

"Even the people serving food, how they're speaking, it will be very exciting for you." It reminded me that he'd once told me about how he saw a concert in Afghanistan and the stage collapsed. "Afghanistan is exciting country," he had said, a bright smile fanned across his lips.

Hopefully not too exciting.

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* David Montero is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be found at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. Reprint permission can be obtained by contacting lawrenced@csps.com

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Dear Friends!
Floyd Rudmin kindly draws our awareness to an article that shows us the Chinese perspective of recent events and how they might be understood as humiliating.
Thanks, dear Floyd!
Warmly!
Evelin

The US forgets its manners
By Todd Crowell

Greater China
Asia Times Online (www.atimes.com)
Apr 26, 2006

HUA HIN, Thailand - Considering how much time and effort was spent on the ceremonial details of Chinese President Hu Jintao's official visit to Washington last week, it is hard to understand how things could have gotten fouled up so badly.

It should be remembered that the visit started off as a deliberate putdown. The Chinese argued strenuously for a full state visit complete with a black-tie state dinner. They got an official state lunch and a welcome on the White House grounds. Things went downhill from there.

First the announcer described the national anthem being played in Hu's honor as that of the Republic of China, not the People's Republic of China (PRC).

In the middle of the ceremony a heckler from the Falungong, a quasi-Buddhist sect banned in China, was allowed to scream abuse at the Chinese president for at least a full minute, some say more than two minutes, before being evicted.

Toward the end of the ceremony, President George W Bush was photographed grabbing Hu's jacket sleeve to guide him in the right direction. Hu looked down on Bush with obvious distaste as if to say, "Keep your mangy hands off me."

At a news conference in the Oval Office, a bored-looking Vice President Dick Cheney was photographed slumped in a chair reading a book while the two presidents answered questions.

The official Chinese media may not have reported the heckler or some of the other boorish incidents. But pictures, videos and descriptions are all over the Internet, stoking anger even among those blogs outside the PRC that normally spend their time bashing the Chinese Communist Party.

"It is no exaggeration to say that the long-term consequences of Thursday's events for the US and people everywhere yearning for a lowering of international tensions would turn out to be both negative and significant," said the China Confidential blog.

This was Bush's Belgrade moment. There may be a few Chinese who do not believe that the United States deliberately bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May 1999. There might be a few Chinese who don't believe that the US deliberately sought to humiliate Hu.
...

Please read the entire article at http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HD26Ad01.html

Broadening the Horizon of Linguistic Politeness
Edited by Robin T. Lakoff and Sachiko Ide
University of California, Berkeley / Japan Women’s University
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 139
2005. xii, 342 pp.

This collection of 19 papers celebrates the coming of age of the field of politeness studies, now in its 30th year. It begins with an investigation of the meaning of politeness, especially linguistic politeness, and presents a short history of the field of linguistic politeness studies, showing how such studies go beyond the boundaries of conventional linguistic work, incorporating, as they do, non-language insights. The emphasis of the volume is on non-Western languages and the ways linguistic politeness is achieved with them. Many, if not most, studies have focused on Western languages, but the languages highlighted here show new and different aspects of the phenomena.

The purpose of linguistic politeness is to aid in successful communication throughout the world, and this volume offers a balance of geographical distribution not found elsewhere, including Japanese, Thai, and Chinese, as well as Greek, Swedish and Spanish. It covers such theoretical topics as face, wakimae, social levels, gender-related differences in language usage, directness and indirectness, and intercultural perspectives.

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

Table of contents

Acknowledgments ix
Foreword xi–xii

Introduction: Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness
Robin T. Lakoff and Sachiko Ide 1–20

Part I. General overviews: The plenary papers

Civility and its discontents: Or, getting in your face
Robin T. Lakoff 23–43

How and why honorifics can signify dignity and elegance: The indexicality and reflexivity of linguistic rituals
Sachiko Ide 45–64

Whither politeness
Bruce Fraser 65–83

Part II. The theoretical perspective

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu: Routine practice of the routine formula in Japanese
Makiko Takekuro 87–97

An argument for a frame-based approach to politeness: Evidence from the use of the imperative in Cypriot Greek
Marina Terkourafi 99–116

The significance of ‘face’ and politeness in social interaction as revealed through Thai ‘face’ idioms
Margaret Ukosakul 117–125

Part III. The descriptive perspective

Face threatening acts, primary face threatening acts, and the management of discourse: Australian English and speakers of Asian Englishes
Christopher J. Conlan 129–144

Politeness in Thai computer-mediated communication
Krisadawan Hongladarom and Soraj Hongladarom 145–162

Polite diminutives in Spanish: A matter of size?
Martha Mendoza 163–173

Indirectness as a politeness strategy of Thai speakers
Deeyu Srinarawat 175–193

Part IV. The comparative perspective

Japanese honorifics as a marker of sociocultural identity: A view from non-western perspectives
Megumi Yoshida and Chikako Sakurai 197–215

Directness as a source of misunderstanding: The case of requests and suggestions
Alexandra Kallia 217–234

Forms of address in Irish and Swedish
Anders Ahlqvist 235–244

Women, men and polite requests: English and Greek
Ekaterini Kouletaki 245–274

Privacy: An intercultural perspective
Mark Lê 275–282

Selection of linguistic forms for requests and offers: Comparison between English and Chinese

Masako Tsuzuki, Kazuhiro Takahashi, Cynthia Patschke and Qin Zhang 283–298

Part V. The historical perspective

Japanese pronouns of address: Their behavior and maintenance over time
Andrew Barke and Satoshi Uehara 301–313

An aspect of the origins and development of linguistic politeness in Thai
Wilaiwan Khanittanan 315–335

Index 337–342

african report: World Media Ghetto-ize African Nations

Rais Boneza, author from the DR Congo, is spearheading Transcend Africa Network to bring peace to regions of Africa, and advise world media regarding injustices there that are regularly ignored by world media.

In an Africa Report: World Media Ghetto-ize African Nations - No Strategic or Diplomatic Importance - Great Lakes Region, Sudan

In a series of articles based on Rais Boneza's recent survey for Transcend Africa Network, Boneza spotlights little-known political, social, and religious developments in various areas of Africa.

"Africa is economically a poor and marginalized continent. And since the end of the cold war it has no longer been of any strategic or diplomatic importance to the great powers." With this statement, Boneza leads into awareness of situations hidden from world view by world media organizations.

For example, Boneza reveals bitter truths about the Great Lakes Region: "Almost thirty conflicts have raged annually since the end of the cold war; many of them in Africa. The Great-lakes region of Africa is one of the volatile epicenters of violence and conflict. The complexities of the conflicts in that region have been found largely incomprehensible or of little interest to the international community until more than 4 million victims were lost in the conflict."

Visit www.Author-me.com and read this vital series and consider supporting Boneza and his Transcend Africa network via his email link in these articles. His stories will be released on a weekly basis.

Read Rais Boneza’s reports on Peace in Africa weekly on www.author-me.com and www.transcend.org

Author-me.com is a 7 year-old website serving international writers, many of whom are from Africa. Author-me helped Rais by publishing his book Nomad while he escaped refugee life and created Transcend Africa Network.

University of Wrocław
Institute of Pedagogy
tel/fax: +48 71 367 23 16
Institute of Psychology
tel/fax: +48 71 367 18 14
ul. Dawida 1, 50 – 527 Wrocław, Poland

Wrocław, 5th March 2006

The Initiating Committee of the 1st Symposium of Pedagogy and Psychology PhD Students would like to invite PhD students and all young scientists to a conference on “Human relations and nowadays challenges”, held March (15th-18th), 2007, at Wroclaw University, Poland.

The thought for organizing the 1st Symposium of Pedagogy and Psychology PhD Students arose within the idea of European integration. The focus is on information and knowledge sharing among PhD students of pedagogy and psychology from different countries. The main purpose of the symposium will be to exchange ideas, experiences and knowledge in the area of contemporary research in the field of psychology and pedagogy.

The Symposium language will be English (don’t be afraid if your English is not perfect) and it will be held for four days at Wroclaw University. The program will center around PhD student and guest speaker presentations. Apart from the lectures and arrangements, there will be organized many integrating meetings and attractions. During these hours the students from different countries will have the opportunity to get to know each other and exchange their ideas.

Who: PhD students and all young scientists
Where: University of Wrocław, Poland
When: 15-18. 03. 2007 – Symposium
15. 06. 2006 – deadline for registration
30. 06. 2006 – deadline for registration fee
10. 07. 2006 – deadline for sending manuscripts
Registration: You can find the registration form at: www.conference.dawid.uni.wroc.pl

Registration fee: Full registration fee 300 PLN 90 €
Partly registration fee 200 PLN 60 €
Accompanying person registration fee 150 PLN 45 €

You can find more information on 1st Symposium of Pedagogy and Psychology PhD Students at our website: www.conference.dawid.uni.wroc.pl.

We are looking forward to meeting YOU in Wroclaw from 15th until 18th March 2007.

Best regards,
The Committee of The 1st Symposium of Pedagogy and Psychology PhD Students

Please see here the International Institute for Peace Studies and Global Philosophy (IIPSGP) Newsletter, Summer 2006, by Thomas Daffern.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

im Rahmen der Filmreihe „African Perspectives“ laden AfricAvenir International, die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) und der South African Club Berlin am Sonntag, den 30. April, um 17.15 Uhr zur Filmvorführung von Odette Geldenhuys’ Dokumentarfilmen ‚Being Pavarotti’ und ‚Grietjie van Garies’ in das Berliner Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Nach der Vorführung besteht die Möglichkeit zur Diskussion mit Kofi Yakpo, Sprach- und Politikwissenschaftler.
Mehr Informationen unten oder unter: http://africavenir.com/news/2006/04/413/

Am Donnerstag, den 04. Mai 2006 um 19.00 Uhr lädt AfricAvenir im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe african reflections in das Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte zum Dialogforum mit Severino Elias Ngoenha. Das grundlegende Paradigma der afrikanischen Philosophie, so der Philosoph Ngoenha, sei das Streben nach Freiheit, ein Paradigma, das vor allem durch die Begegnung mit der abendländischen Welt seit dem 15. Jahrhundert geprägt sei.
Mehr Informationen unten oder unter: http://africavenir.com/news/2006/03/383/

-------------------------
Filmreihe: African Perspectives

Being Pavarotti
Regie: Odette Geldenhuys, Südafrika, 2004, 52 Min. OmEnglU

Grietjie van Garies
Regie: Odette Geldenhuys, Südafrika, 2004, 48 Min. OmEnglU

Am: Sonntag, den 30. April 2006
Beginn: 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41; 10178 Berlin)
Vorbestellung: 030/283 46 03 (Mo-Sa ab 14.30 Uhr/So ab 10.30 Uhr)
Eintritt: 5 Euro

„Being Pavarotti“ ist eine Dokumentation über Elton Nelson Nkenke Nkanunu, einem dreizehnjährigen Jungen aus dem Touristenort Hermanus, der sich u.a. mit Soloauftritten während Freiluftfestivals oder bei Gesprächen mit Vertretern des Stadtrats und bei Konzerten in der Stadt als Opernsänger übt. Trotz Verfolgung durch prügelnde Polizisten und dem alltäglichen Überlebenskampf, versucht Elton ein anerkannter Opernsänger zu werden. Eines Tages ergreift er die Chance, die sich ihm bietet: Stimmtraining bei einem professionellen Musiker.

„Grietjie van Garies“ erzählt die Geschichte der 78 jährigen Grietjie Adams, der „Mutter des Rap“. Ihre Lieder, die sie alle auf Afrikaans singt, handeln von Geschichten aus ihrem kleinen Heimatort im Namaqualand und dessen Einwohnern: von der Vertrautheit des Zusammenlebens, dem gegenseitigen Aufeinanderangewiesensein in den Jahren der Apartheid und der Kultur der Einheimischen. Mit ihren Liedern erzählt sie poetisch aus der Geschichte Südafrikas.

Regisseurin
Odette Geldenhuys wuchs in einer südafrikanischen Kleinstadt auf und studierte an der Universität Kapstadt. Sie arbeitete als Anwältin für Menschenrechte und Arbeitsrecht. Außerdem arbeitete sie für die Vereinten Nationen und den südafrikanischen Legal Aid Board. Sie vertrat die Interessen von LandarbeiterInnen, innerstädtischen MieterInnen und FabrikarbeiterInnen. Im Jahre 2002 entschied sie sich dafür, hauptberuflich als Filmemacherin zu arbeiten.

KurzinhalteDiskussionsgast
Kofi Yakpo wuchs in Accra, Ghana und Heidelberg, Deutschland auf. Mit anderen gründete er 1987 die legendäre Hip Hop Band Advanced Chemistry. Nach dem Studium der Linguistik, Politikwissenschaft und Ethnologie in Köln und Vanuatu, einem Managementstudium in Genf und einem Jurastudium in London arbeitet Kofi Yakpo mittlerweile bei FIAN (www.fian.org), einer internationalen Menschenrechtsorganisation.

African Perspectives ist eine monatlich stattfindende Filmreihe von AfricAvenir International, der Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) und dem South African Club Berlin in Kooperation mit dem Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe, in deren Rahmen aktuelle afrikanische Filme präsentiert werden.
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Stiftung Umverteilen, der Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit bei der Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Frauen und SAA (South African Airways).

Medienpartner: Radio Multikulti.

Ständig aktuelle Informationen auf:
www.africavenir.org
www.inisa.de
www.south-african-club-berlin.de

-------------------------
Dialogforum

Severino Elias Ngoenha: Freiheit als ökonomische Entwicklung

Donnerstag, 04. Mai 2006, 19.00 Uhr
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
(Greifswalder Str. 4, Berlin)
Eintritt frei
Der Vortrag ist auf Französisch und wird ins Deutsche übersetzt.

Das grundlegende Paradigma der afrikanischen Philosophie ist das Streben nach Freiheit, ein Paradigma, das vor allem durch die Begegnung mit der abendländischen Welt seit dem 15. Jahrhundert geprägt ist. Während die erste Phase des afrikanischen Strebens nach Freiheit vom Kampf gegen die Sklaverei geprägt war, ging es in der zweiten vor allem um die soziale Integration der ehemaligen Sklaven; in der dritten Phase stand der Kampf um politische Unabhängigkeit im Vordergrund; heute geht es dagegen um das Streben nach ökonomischer und sozialer Entwicklung. Dieses bildet den Rahmen, in dem afrikanische Philosophie entsteht.

In Kooperation mit dem BER (Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag), gefördert aus Mitteln des BMZ, mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Stiftung Umverteilen und der LEZ (Landeszentrale für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit bei der Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Frauen).

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

NOW AVAILABLE: Special Issue of the PEACE REVIEW on the
PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WAR

The Special Issue of the PEACE REVIEW (published by Taylor and Francis) is now available. Based on over 150 proposals received, eleven articles were accepted for publication. These essays represent the cutting edge of contemporary thought on the psychology of warfare. A LIMITED NUMBER OF COPIES OF THIS SPECIAL ISSUE NOW ARE AVAILABLE

For information on how to obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WAR, please CLICK HERE.

Articles included in this special issue are listed below. We also have provided below brief excerpts that convey the excitement of this special issue.

ARTICLES INCLUDE:

SACRIFICE, TRANSCENDENCE AND THE SOLDIER, Babak Rahimi, Assistant Professor of Iranian and Islamic Studies at the University of California at San Diego.

GROUP PSYCHOLOGY, SACRIFICE AND WAR, Norman Steinhart, M.D., Research Fellow at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto, Canada

WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS WILL TO SACRIFICE, Patrick Porter, Tutor in Modern History at the University of Oxford

MEMORIALIZATION AND THE SELLING OF WAR, Deborah D. Buffton, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse

THE MYTHOLOGY OF WAR, Dr. Andrew Robinson, Political theorist, University of Nottingham

THE MANIC ECSTASY OF WAR, Wendy C. Hamblet, Professor of Philosophy, Adelphi University, New York

HUMILIATION AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, Paul Saurette, Assistant Professor School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada

DOMINANCE AND SUBMISSION IN POSTMODERN WAR IMAGERY, Myra Mendible, Associate Professor of American Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University

GUILT AND SACRIFICE IN U.S. WARFARE, Carl Mirra, American Studies at SUNY College, Old Westbury

MALE GENDER INSTABILITY AND WAR, Jeannette Marie Mageo, Professor of Anthropology, Washington State University

COMBAT MOTIVATION, Johan M.G. van der Dennen, senior researcher on war and peace at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands

For information on how to obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WAR, please CLICK HERE.

For further information please contact Orion Anderson at (718) 393-1104 or send an email to oanderson@ideologiesofwar.com

EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLES:

Buffton: War is so closely connected with the identity of nations that participation in war is a necessary action to show one's devotion to the country; a society cannot consider itself "alive" if its citizens are not willing to die for it. Fighting and dying for one's country become the means through which a society is "resurrected." We see this message of war resurrecting society in war memorials. One of the most influential sculptors of war memorials in post World War I France created monuments in which we see a peasant woman at the grave of a soldier marked by a cross and a helmet, but sprouting from the grave come abundant sheaves of wheat. The message is that the blood of the dead soldiers brings forth new life to reinvigorate the country.

Saurette: Once we understand 9/11 as fundamentally humiliating - and not just threatening - the United States, we can make better sense of the elements of the global war on terror. A legal approach would never have been accepted by the administration, even if international laws were reliable and effective enough to pursue al-Qaeda. Why? Although courts promise to provide justice, they rarely explicitly deliver vengeance and counter-humiliation. Criminal prosecution may provide restitution, but it could not deliver the larger goal of counter-humiliating al-Qaeda and thus publicly re-establishing global respect for America.

Mendible: Humiliation is one of the techniques through which institutions and nations construct docile and disciplined bodies. Military institutions inscribe the value of discipline and control on the soldier's body and psyche. Phillip Caputo describes the demeaning aspects of his US marine training. The rigorous and often painful physical trials, the drill sergeant hollering insults, separated those worthy of the warrior's honor from the "unsats"-the ones that carried "the virus of weakness." In forging a marine corps-a military body defined by strength and hardness, the soldier extirpates any trace of the feminine. Discipline begins with self-abnegation; absolute surrender to the authority of the stern father figure who punishes and rewards.

Rahimi: The soldier's experience in believing that he is dying for something greater than himself, for something that will outlast his individual, perishable life in place of a greater, eternal vitality (embodied in the national or a religious identity) is crucial for the ideological justification of war.

For information on how to obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WAR, please CLICK HERE.

Steinhart: Willingness to offer up one's life to one's nation is perhaps even more essential in war than fear and hatred of the enemy. It is because everyone must contribute to the larger good that 'enemies' must be destroyed or at least subdued, for many of these 'enemies' do not appear to citizens as a threats in their daily lives or cause them harm directly.

Robinson: The people who engage in and support wars, or any other kind of social action, are motivated by a conception of the world, i.e. a set of conscious or unconscious beliefs and assumptions which make their course of action seem justified, necessary or desirable. Wars commence in the culture first of all and we kill each other in euphemisms and abstractions long before the first missiles have been launched'.

Hamblet: Wars confirm the values, virtues and meanings of one's own cultural group. Sacred symbols-flags, national anthems, tales of past heroes, fallen ancestors-are put to work in luring the best of the nation-its strong and courageous youths-to the extreme patriotism required to maintain order.

Mirra: In war, the good and bad selves are divided or split; the good is retained for the self and the bad is exported or projected on to others. Since the other subsumes these violent traits, it is seen as demonic and worthy of annihilation. Individuals or nation-states that cause others to suffer must somehow release themselves from the torment of guilt. The easiest way to circumvent guilt is to cast one's enemies as inhumane, wholly deserving of violent treatment.

van der Dennen: Despite the social legitimization of violence provided by military institutions, the repugnance and revulsion many soldiers feel toward killing is a recurring feature of the military literature. Marshall, as we have seen, claimed that army psychiatrists studying combat fatigue in the European theater had found that fear of killing, rather than fear of being killed, was the most common cause of battle failure in the individual.

For information on how to obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WAR, please CLICK HERE.

Coming this Summer Intersession 2006
Peace Education and Popular Culture
18-EDFN-683
6/12-6/16 9am-3pm
514 Teachers College at the University of Cincinnati

Highlights Include
• Edward James Olmos & Teatro Campesino
• Current research & developments in Hip Hop
• Resurgence of folk music
• Bob Dylan Renaissance
• Labor & peace films
• Video games

For More Information Contact…
Professor Marvin J. Berlowitz
513-556-3608
marvin.berlowitz@uc.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS

to a conference on
INFORMALIZING ECONOMIES AND NEW ORGANISING STRATEGIES IN AFRICA
Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden, 20-22 April 2007

Informal economies in Africa have been experiencing a rapid expansion in the last few decades. This trend is taking place in the context of neoliberal models of development, whereby international financial institutions advocate policies of privatization, economic liberalisation and deregulation. These policies have had far-reaching consequences. Growing numbers of redundant workers and declining regulated wage work opportunities have resulted in new floods of entrants into the informal economy. In this deregulating economic environment, existing firms increasingly make use of casual labour and/or rely on a myriad of small-scale informal operators, a trend that is exceedingly evident in urban areas. Self-employment and “unregulated” forms of employment are today widespread ways of earning a living. At the same time, informal economies have become both increasingly enmeshed in international commodity circuits and more exposed to global market forces. Unsurprisingly, the informal economy has become a sphere of accumulation for larger firms whereas conditions and incomes have often deteriorated for vulnerable groups that depend on the informal economy for survival. In addition to the influence of global forces, governments often have a negative, or at best ambivalent, attitude towards poor self-employed people. In many places they adopt restrictive and violent measures such as harassment and eviction. At the most, they regard these groups as ‘vote banks’, in a context of multi-party politics. Given these various economic and political pressures, it is not surprising that the informal economy is a highly politicised field.

The conference will focus on the collectively organised responses of popular groups to drastically changed conditions for earning a living in Africa. In particular, the aim is to concentrate on attempts to organise informal workers and to defend their interests. The term ‘informal workers’ is to be interpreted here in its widest sense, to include both casual labour and self-employed people. Some of the key issues to be debated are:

- What organising strategies are emerging around the interests of informal workers? Here, a range of different strategies will be explored. These include both collective initiatives emerging from within the informal economy and the responses of conventional workers’ organisations (i.e. trade unions) to the challenges posed by the extensive informalisation of the economy.
- What are the agendas of these civic groups and whom do they try to influence? What kind of relations do they entertain with the powerful actors that influence the conditions in which they live and work (such as international financial institutions, private companies, the national and local state)? What alternative practices and discourses, if any, are these civic groups promoting?
- What new alliances and constellations are emerging in this changing landscape of organised popular initiatives?
- Where is an oppositional politics taking place - at the local/national level and/or at the international level?

Papers that address the following themes are particularly welcome:

Associations emerging from within the informal economy.
Here, the aim is to explore those collective initiatives that go beyond a purely economic orientation and that attempt to defend the interests of informal workers in the public sphere. Indeed, there is a proliferation of associations and interest groups claiming to represent informal workers. This raises a number of questions. What are the origins of their leadership and what benefits do ‘members’ derive? What do these groups strive for and through what means? Who are their targets and who are their allies? Equally important is the internal distribution of power and resources within such groups as the leaderships of some associations mediate access to important livelihood resources and enjoy considerable authority. Issues of inclusion/exclusion and representation are of relevance here, as well as the eventual challenges by dissatisfied ‘members’ or marginalised people.

Organising across the formal-informal divide.
Job losses and extensive informalisation have forced some trade unions to revise their relations with informal workers and to devise new strategies that attempt to reach workers in the informal economy. What is the nature of this relationship in different places? What are the terms of cooperation, if any? How are the different (often seen as opposing) interests involved reconciled or negotiated? What accounts for successful experiments and failures?

Transnational organising.
Local groups of informal workers are increasingly coalescing into international networks. Thus African informal workers should be seen as global actors, rather than as passive victims of ‘globalisation’ processes. What are the possibilities and constraints facing these international networks? How do participating groups negotiate different interests, agendas and ideologies? What asymmetries are emerging within these networks? How well are the interests of local constituencies represented? How do international networks of informal workers and the international trade union movement relate to each other? And what difference does international organising make for popular influence at the local/national scale?

Gender dynamics.
What are the gender dynamics at work in the various organising strategies presented above? Women constitute a significant share of informal workers. Frequently, they are the main constituency of male-led groups mobilising people in the informal economy. Alternatively, women informal workers create their own groups, who eventually engage in relations with various other actors (such as the state, political parties, trade unions etc). Relations with trade unions and with other groups across borders are potentially fields of tension and struggle around gender differences. In what ways do women informal workers try to improve their positions and gain visibility, within and beyond their organisations? What are the trade-offs involved?

Organising around livelihood issues often cuts across other axes of affinity and difference that may be central for positions, relations and processes presented above. Authors are therefore encouraged to address relations based on age and religious or ethnic belonging whenever these are of relevance.

The conference hopes to explore geographical variations in the extent and traditions of organising, in the strategies adopted, in the nature of the evolving relations between trade unions and informal workers, and in the degree of participation in transnational movements. Longitudinal analyses could potentially bring insights into temporal variations.

The aim of the conference is to attract researchers from different disciplines as well as a number of civil society actors involved in organising of informal workers in Africa.

Papers and schedule
Abstracts (not more than 500 words) of papers to be presented must be sent by mail, e-mail or fax not later than 23 June 2006 to Ilda Lindell or Anna Eriksson-Trenter, using the contact details below. Abstracts must be written in English, French or Portuguese and include a title, the author’s name and institutional affiliation. Authors of accepted abstracts will be noti ed by airmail and e-mail by the end of August. Completed papers should be received no later than 28 February 2007.
The Nordic Africa Institute, possibly in cooperation with an international publishing house, will seek to publish a selection of revised papers.

Venue and financial arrangements
The conference will take place in Uppsala, Sweden. The organizers will provide free board and lodging for all paper presenters. No per diems will be paid. Participants are encouraged to finance their own travel costs but if unable to do so, they may apply to the Nordic Africa Institute for return airfare (economy fare) from their place of residence to Uppsala.

Contact details
Ilda Lourenço-Lindell
Research Fellow
The Nordic Africa Institute
P.O. Box 1703
SE-751 47 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel.: +46-18 56 22 02 (direct)
Fax: +46-18 56 22 90
E-Mail: Ilda.Lindell@nai.uu.se

Anna Eriksson-Trenter
Administrator
The Nordic Africa Institute
P.O. Box 1703
SE-751 47 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel.: +46-18 56 22 51 (direct)
Fax: +46-18 56 22 90
E-Mail: anna.eriksson-trenter@nai.uu.se

Dear Everyone,

I have just completed writing a book called Finding Forgiveness which will be published by McGraw-Hill in early September. McGraw-Hill has asked if I know of anyone teaching courses in peace studies, conflict resolution or counseling who may like to know more about the book. If you are teaching such a course or know of anyone teaching a course please send me the actual course title, the person teaching the course and contact information. My email address is erborris@cox.net . Below is a short description of the book.

Finding Forgiveness lays out the framework which underlies our thinking that inhibits us from being able to forgive. Then it shows the reader how to transform one’s thinking to not only be able to forgive but to be more compassionate and loving human beings. This book shows how an inner transformation can lead to societal change. Included in this book are inspiring stories of incredible individuals from the person who could be your next door neighbor to one of the holiest men in the world, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Each of the story tellers shares their struggles and eventual triumphs in being able to forgive.

Finding Forgiveness also grapples with the harder issues that societies and the world at large needs to think about if we want to survive as a human race. It asks us difficult questions such as can we forgive something as horrific as 9/11 and other terrorist attacks? Is it possible to use forgiveness as a process for global societal change? Can forgiveness unite us and heal our wounds so as one humanity we can move forward together in peace and prosperity?

Thank-you so much for your help.

Sincerely,
Dr. Eileen Borris
Past President – Division 48

Dear friends!

Yoav Peck kindly draws our attention to Stephen L. Carter and his writing on civility and dignity.

Yoav responds to Linda Hartling's reflections on respect:

"I am fascinated by the example you give about the Oneida tribe. (Where are they living now?) This is what we call Dignity. The coming to the other with dignity, regardless of stature or achievements. It is achievements, behavior, that can earn or un-earn the other’s Respect. But Dignity, prior to anything the other is or does, this is the active focus of our work. One brings dignity to one’s interaction with the other. Stephen Carter writes beautifully about this in his Civility book, by the way..."

Thanks a lot, dear Yoav!
Gratefully,
Evelin

Yale Law professor Stephen Carter in his book Civility says that our actions and sacrifice are a "signal of respect for our fellow citizens, marking them as full equals, both before the law and before God. Rules of civility are thus also rules of morality; it is morally proper to treat our fellow citizens with respect, and morally improper not to. Our crisis of civility, is part of a larger crisis of morality" (p. 11).

Carter, Stephen L. (1998). Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Please see here more quotes from Carter’s book, assembled by Yoav:

When I was growing up, a frequent admonition, at home and school alike, was, “Say the magic word!” This phrase, always spoken with enormous gentleness, was a reminder to preface a request with Please and to acknowledge a kindness with Thank you. If we failed to say the magic words, we did not receive whatever we were asking for, a discipline that helps a child learn quite quickly. There is no simpler piece of the civility puzzle, not only because the magic words are a part of our letter of introduction to the rest of the world, but also because using them is a symbol of respect for others.
(p. 59)

Civility… is the set of sacrifices we make for the sake of our common journey with others, and out of love and respect for the very idea that there are others. (p. 23)

Democracy demands dialogue, and dialogue flows from disagreement.
But we can, and maybe must, be relentlessly partisan without being uncivil.
Indeed, the more passionate our certainty that we are right, the more urgent our need to practice the art of civility otherwise, we make dialogue impossible, and the possibility of dialogue is the reason democracy values disagreement in the first place. (p. 24)

Civil dialogue requires us to sacrifice the opportunity to display our own
self-righteous anger, even when we have good reason to be angry.
It requires us to see God in those who would rather not see us at all. (p. 35)

….the question of how we should treat our fellow citizens is independent of the question of how we feel like treating them. (p. 35)

A big part of our incivility crisis stems from the sad fact that we do not know each other or even want to try; and, not knowing each other, we seem to think that how we treat each other does not matter. (p. 56)

Carter recalls moving into a new neighborhood and the greeting his family receives from the neighbors….
We were not waiting for them to love us. We were only waiting for them to greet us. …..we require civility precisely to mediate our relationship with those we do not love. (p. 71)

In writing about democratic “rights”, as opposed to norms of civil behavior, Carter offers the following example:
Suppose I purchase a house in a neighborhood where the very friendly people all loan each other tools and where everybody keeps beautiful gardens and neatly trimmed lawns. If I let my grass grow wild and allow the weeds to run rampant in my garden, I am not living up to the expectations of my neighbors. They probably cannot take legal action against me, but through implicit and perhaps explicit criticism, they would place upon me enormous pressure to conform to the neighborhood’s norm of lawn care. To say that I have a “right” to keep my garden as I like is only a distraction: if such a right exists, what my neighbors believe is that I should not exercise it. If I insist on exercising it anyway, I am demonstrating that I am not interested in membership under the community’s rules. (p. 81)

Dear friends!

Thanks a lot, dear Yoav!
Gratefully,
Evelin

IN MEMORIAM
Robert Tannenbaum
Professor of Anderson School of Management, Emeritus
Los Angeles
1915–2003
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/RobertTannenbaum.htm

Bob Tannenbaum, whose humanist vision profoundly affected the field of organizational development for more than 50 years, died March 15, 2003 – but you don’t have to believe that if you don’t want to. If you choose not to, you’ll have plenty of company. Why erase from your mind the presence of a man who constantly affirms you! Bob gave so much to so many and always from the heart. Others also wrote theories extolling the importance of recognizing feelings, valuing human spirit, and raising consciousness to realize one’s inner potential. But unique was Tannenbaum whose ideas were made more profound by his personal being. People who came in contact with him instantly recognized his teachings whether or not they read what he wrote or focused on his words. And his presence had a ripple effect well beyond those who experienced him first hand.

Eventually becoming a psychologist without portfolio, Bob began his university work with an A.A. degree from Santa Ana Junior College (1935). He then moved on to the University of Chicago where he received an A.B. degree in business administration (1937) and a M.B.A. in accounting (1938). Concurrently, he took his first teaching job as instructor in accounting at Oklahoma A & M College (1937-39). He returned to Chicago in 1939 to begin Ph.D. studies in industrial relations. In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy serving as an officer in the Pacific teaching radar. In 1946 Bob returned to Chicago to finish his doctorate (1948). Upon completion he was recruited by Neil Jacoby, a former University of Chicago professor who was dean of UCLA’s College of Business Administration, later called the Graduate School of Management, now The Anderson School, where he built, taught and served with distinction until 1977 when he took early retirement.

Bob’s first UCLA position was acting assistant professor and assistant research economist while his last, self-named, was professor of human systems development. Bootstrapping from deep-seated beliefs about the importance of personal consciousness and the capacities of people to grow themselves psychologically, with derivative payouts in interpersonal sensitivity, Tannenbaum’s work was a forerunner contributor to considerations of human capital as a corporate asset. From the 1950s through the 1970s, he was instrumental in establishing UCLA’s Graduate School of Management as a key center of thought and practice in the fields of organization development and leadership training. During this period he helped found the Western Training Lab, which promulgated a derivative of T-groups that became known as Sensitivity Training, and played an important role in the evolution of the NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Science, which spearheaded the drive to utilize group dynamics as an important pedagogy for promoting increased awareness of self and impact on others as essential to team play in the corporate environment.

Bob Tannenbaum’s intellectual work described organizational systems not as machines with interchangeable human parts, but as living communities that can be designed to enable people to grow and learn while achieving business goals. His writings, as well as his teaching and consulting, reflected the value he placed on people, and his belief that, to a great extent, leadership effectiveness derives from awareness of one’s own basic assumptions about human nature and the testing out and revision of those assumptions.

No matter how you cut it, Bob’s seminal contributions always began with the ones he made interpersonally, with students, colleagues, and clients, and his everyday interactions with almost everyone he encountered. However, they also include his written words. His 1961 book, with Irving Weschler and Fred Massarik, Leadership and Organization, was significant in making the academic and practical argument for the use of group dynamics in developing leaders and teaching them how to operate effectively. His articles (with Warren Schmidt) “How to Choose a Leadership Pattern” (1958) and “Management of Differences” (1960) both set Harvard Business Review records for reprint requests and were reprinted in publications worldwide.

Bob’s charismatic impact created a demand that produced a second, post-UCLA, career – consulting and counseling executives and change agents on the use of self in facilitating organizational effectiveness. He was an active contributor to Pepperdine University’s Master’s Program in Organizational Development; he led workshops for the NTL Institute, counseled with top executives and their spouses at his home office in Carmel, and continued professional writing. Among his jewels is an oral autobiography produced by David Russell (1987) as part of the Oral History Program for the Humanistic Psychology Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara and an edited book of readings (with Newton Margulies and Fred Massarik) written by people associated with the Behavioral Science, then Human Systems, now Human Resources and Organizational Behavior group he founded at UCLA, titled Human Systems Development.

During his life Bob received many honors that he valued greatly but about which he seldom talked. They include an honorary doctorate from the Saybrook Institute, Fellow of the NTL Institute, Diplomate from the American Board of Professional Psychology, Distinguished Member of the OD Network and first recipient of the American Society for Training and Development’s (ASTD) Lifetime Achievement Award where his arm-chair talks were spiritual legend.

Born in Cripple Creek, Colorado to Henry and Nettie (Porges) Tannenbaum, Professor Tannenbaum and his sister (the late Emma Elconin) were raised in Southern California. He is survived by Edith (Lazaroff) Tannenbaum, his loving wife of 58 years; two daughters, Judith Tannenbaum and Deborah Ingebretsen; son-in-law Jim Ingebretsen; three grandchildren, Sara Press, Emma and Gus Ingebretsen; and grandson-in-law, Andrew Harkness. In addition, he is honored and loved by countless friends, colleagues and students.

Samuel Culbert

Call for Applications for Master in International Humanitarian Assistance

The NOHA Master‘s programme is a three semester interuniversity, multidisciplinar y postgraduate programme that provides high quality academic
education and professional competencies for personnel working or intending to work in the area of international humanitarian assistance.

After an intensive programme of 10 days in one of the partner universities, the students attend the first semester in their home university where they take five basic modules. The specialisation component takes place in the second semester which can be spent at another university of the network depending on the number of applications for the semester abroad. The third semester is dedicated to writing the master dissertation.

More information available at: http://www.ifhv.de/noha
Deadline for applications to the IFHV– Bochum: 30 April 2006

Dr. Markus Moke
Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV)
NA 02/33
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
44780 Bochum
Germany
Tel.: 0049 234 3228258
Fax: 0049 234 3214208
Markus.Moke@rub.de

The second semester at the Ruhr-University of Bochum is composed of six stations: “standards of humanitarian action”, “institution building”, “programming”, “project design”, “leadership” and “simulation”.

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
April 18, 2006

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. Bush's mixed signals by William Fisher
A regular contributor to the Middle East Times, William Fisher provides examples of how the Bush administration welcomes Arab Americans with one hand while pushing them away with the other. He then goes on to explain not only why the rest of America should care – Arab and Muslim Americans are Americans, they have families abroad who can help the administration to better understand the situation and build better bridges, they vote, “how our government acts toward these sizable minorities helps shape how the rest of us act”-- but also what the Bush administration can do to remedy the situation.
(Source: Middle East Times, April 6, 2006)

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ARTICLE 1
The silent majority can deliver
Claude Salhani

Washington, D.C. - When a Danish cartoonist conjured a handful of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad in an unflattering light, the Muslim world erupted in sometimes-violent protest, leaving a trail of dead bodies from the Middle East to the islands of Indonesia.

But when a Muslim convert was recently sentenced to die in Afghanistan for choosing a different path to his God, the majority of the Muslim world remained silent. There were no demonstrations in Karachi, Peshawar, Damascus or Beirut. There was only silence -- a noticeable silence that was, quite frankly, disappointing.

Missing from the debate were loud and unequivocal condemnations by the leaders of predominantly Muslim countries. But blaming the absence of good leadership has become an all-too-convenient proxy for indirectly condoning Muslim apathy toward many issues. One assumes that the majority of people remained silent for fear that they too would find themselves accused of heresy. But while self-preservation is everyone’s right, it is questionable whether we can, as a global community, disregard the wider implications of not putting the principle first at such a critical time on the world stage.

The Holy Qur’an teaches that “there is no compulsion in religion, for the right way is clear from the wrong way”, (2:256). Additionally, many Hadiths, or sayings, of the Prophet are clear about respecting “non-believers”:

“Whoever hurts a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state hurts me, and he who hurts me annoys God." (Bukhari)

"He who hurts a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state, I am his adversary, and I shall be his adversary on the Day of a Judgement." (Bukhari)

"Beware on the Day of Judgement; I shall myself be a complainant against him who wrongs a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state or lays on him a responsibility greater than he can bear or deprives him of anything that belongs to him." (Al-Mawardi)

Besides such direct evidence underscoring the absence of an Islamic foundation for punishing apostasy, it is not inappropriate to call upon the human conscience in this affair. Christians leaving their faith for Islam is something that happens every day, and usually without reaction; such conversions are particularly frequent in European and North American prisons.

This is not to overlook the fact that in Egypt, a Copt converting to Islam has caused the occasional uproar. Nor is it to say that religious fervour is uni-directional, for Christians have had their fair share of killing “non-believers”: the infamous phrase of the Vietnam War era, “Kill them all, let God sort them out”, originated with the Catholic popes during the Cathar Wars, when Pope Innocent III in 1210 unleashed "orders of fire and sword" against a group of Cathars, deemed heretics. Similarly, after papal forces besieged Beziers in southern France, about 450 defenders were apprehended. Many of them claimed to be Christians and good Catholics and did not want to die. Fearing that among them some may have been lying, the pope is reported to have passed on the order in Latin: "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset" or "Kill them all. God will know His own."

The point however is not to vie with one another in wicked deeds, but to honour the legacies of our great religions and moreover treat others as we wish to be treated. So when an Afghan man decides to exercise his fundamental right to choose how to worship his God who, incidentally, is the same God worshipped by his Muslim compatriots, the shari‘a courts in Afghanistan should have let him be. When they didn’t, the majority should have risen up to protect the true legacy of its faith while appealing to reason at the same time. From the perspective of Western leaders and human rights groups, the issue is one of basic individual liberties, of one’s right to elect how one lives one’s life, without interference from the state, church or mosque.

A country cannot claim it is free or just until its citizens enjoy individual liberties which include not only what language they speak, but how they choose to pray as well.

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* Claude Salhani is International Editor and a political analyst with United Press International in Washington. Comments may be sent to Claude@UPI.com.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 18, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
~YOUTH VIEWS~
Peace through Skype
Bill Glucroft

Boston, Massachusetts - Three years ago, Tariq Arif, then 23, was hopeful that the American invasion of Iraq would benefit him and his fellow Iraqis. Within three months, that optimism had vanished.

“When I had my first conversation with one of the soldiers, I was in my car, they asked me to pull over. I told him, ‘Hey, how are you? Can I know your name?’ And I was really disappointed when he told me: ‘Shut your [expletive] mouth and keep looking at the ground.’ I said to myself, ‘Is that a real American man?’”

Bassam Ali, 28, lives in Baghdad’s Dora neighbourhood. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture and urban design, and eagerly wants to earn a doctorate from an American institution.

“Before the American invasion,” Ali said, “we lacked for financial resources…now we lack for security. So which is better, I don’t know.”

These excerpts are from text and voice interviews obtained using Skype, a free Internet telephone service. In February, a colleague suggested I could easily contact Iraqis using this software, and during my recent spring break, I did just that.

This endeavour is simple yet profound, ambitious yet easy to accomplish. I call it “Peace through Skype” and it holds the potential to completely alter the way human beings communicate with, and understand, one another.

Terrorists have long been using technology to foment fear and anarchy. Al Qaeda has been particularly tech-savvy, organising attacks through a cheap global network consisting of chat rooms, online message boards and email.

The tragic irony is that these mechanisms were developed by the same democratic and free market societies that terrorists want to destroy. The question, then, is why aren’t these societies using these same tools to stop them? If people the world over take a page from the extremist playbook, we can counter messages of hate and violence with one of compassion and understanding.

Latif al Moula is a 45-year-old Baghdad pharmacist. His family survives on his monthly salary of $100. Al Moula still struggles with the realities of the war.

“Can you believe we don’t have electricity most of the day? Can the American people live in darkness all the time, every day? Do you know we are [an] oil country and we don’t have petrol for our cars? Is that called freedom?”

Dr. Nodi Nassrat, a 38-year-old Christian and mother of two, is conflicted about America’s continued presence.

“[Iraq’s] election is a big lie,” she said. “All of us know this. It is the fact we live. They [the United States] didn’t come to Iraq to leave. They came to stay for long [sic]. But we all believe that the U.S. army should not leave.”

Ali Hajde, 23, hails from the Kurdish city Khanaqeen. Upon graduating from high school he went right to working as a translator for American forces. The job endangers his life, but Hajde remains optimistic.

“Most of them [U.S. soldiers] treat me well and respect me…. It will get better, we hope so.”

The half-dozen Iraqis who responded to the message I sent requesting a dialogue are gracious, open-minded, well-educated and well-informed people. They are desperate to talk, to tell their story and help the world understand that “most Iraqi people are good and peaceful.”

These Iraqis do not hate America, and certainly not Americans. Conversely, they admire the United States for what it traditionally stands for and for all it has achieved. That is why they, and so many others in the world, are angry. The Bush administration’s arrogant adventurism – culminating in the flawed war in Iraq – has effaced a precious, widely held notion that America is a force for good.

With the Bush administration engaged in dangerous duels with the governments of Iran, North Korea, Syria and other “outposts of tyranny”, it is imperative that Americans engage in their own duels – duels of dialogue – with the people of these countries. The State Department’s billion-dollar public diplomacy program is appreciated, but it is not sufficient. Global communication begins with us.

What might happen if ordinary citizens around the world form relationships with each other founded on mutual respect? Those in democracies might demand the same expression of empathy from their elected leaders. Those in non-democratic states might be more empowered to push for reform. Those inclined to hate Americans and join terrorist organisations might think twice if they, or someone they knew, maintained personal contacts with ordinary Americans.

This isn’t rocket science. It’s just simple communication, and with Skype (www.skype.com) and similar platforms, it’s free and easy, so let’s get talking. A better world depends on it.

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* Bill Glucroft is a student of journalism at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
Source: The Berkeley Beacon,March 25th, 2006
Visit the website at http://www.berkeleybeacon.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Unfortunately, strangers on a train
Mona Eltahawy

New York - I was on the evening train from Washington to New York, happily reading a book, when I overheard a sliver of conversation that would make it impossible to concentrate and remind me just what an uphill struggle it could be to be a Muslim in America today. "And those cartoons! They get so angry about cartoons but planes flying into buildings? My God. Cartoons," said a woman.

"That's why the two people shouldn't mix," is what I thought I heard the man next to her reply.

I felt at once nauseous and invisible. I was sickened by the contempt for Muslims that was clear in the woman's words. In my own writing, I have criticised as exaggerated the reaction by some Muslims to the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. But I criticise as a Muslim who is proud to be identified as such.

And I felt invisible because it was obvious that these two Americans never for a second thought a Muslim could be there on the train with them. To them, Muslims were "over there" - somewhere primitive and far away, not on a train from Washington to New York just like them.

I tried to imagine what it would be like to ignore what I had heard. I tried to continue reading my book. On any other day it might have worked. But I had spent that day at the home of a friend and her family who were so absolutely and comfortably American and Muslim at the same time that it made even more absurd the notion of Muslims as "over there."

And I could not ignore the comment that weekend which I had spent at a
conference of the Egyptian American Alliance for Youth in Virginia. Egyptian Americans had flown to the conference from more than 10 states. Not everyone was a Muslim of course but those who were managed to embrace all their identities seamlessly, further highlighting the absurdity of the idea of a clash of civilisations. These young people were the reason there wouldn't be such a clash.

It was impossible to ignore the conversation of course.

And so I put my book away, pulled out two business cards from my bag, put a smile on my face and turned around to begin a conversation meant to remind my train companions that Muslims were "over here" too.

I reminded them of the many condemnations issued after September 11, 2001, and of the critical Muslim voices that did not always make it into the media they followed. But I also explained that Muslims were angry because something they held to be sacred had been insulted.

And to the man who seemed to think the two people should not mix, I explained neither Muslims nor Westerners were monoliths. I told him I was sure he would hate to be lumped in with the stereotype of whatever the West or America was supposed to be. I told my train companions that I have had mirror conversations in the Middle East in which I've tried to explain that there is another America besides the cheap stereotype.
Actually, we ended up having a good conversation that also touched on our views over what the United States should do about Iraq. Most importantly, by the time I turned around and resumed my reading, my train companions knew there was a Muslim sitting in front of them.

My train companions were sad examples of the growing proportion of Americans who expressed unfavourable views of Islam, as documented in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. A majority of Americans now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence and nearly half of Americans - 46 percent - have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the months after the September 11 attacks, The Washington Post reported.

According to the newspaper, experts said Americans' attitudes about Islam were fuelled in part by political statements and media reports focusing almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists. For example, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who were trying to block the Bush administration's attempt to hire a Dubai company to manage operations at six American ports resorted to the worst kind of anti-Arab stereotypes. For many Americans, Arabs and Muslims are interchangeable.

As for the media, you will invariably see more images of those Muslims angry at cartoons - angry, violent, and destructive - and of extremists whose views are obligingly black and white, than you will see Muslims who are able to present an argument that is both self-critical and nuanced.

But to practice self-criticism of my own here, some Muslims have been all too willing to fit the stereotype. If it is not apparent already, the fallout of the cartoon controversy has caused untold damage to the way Muslims are perceived around the world. It feels at times as if Muslims - particularly those of us who live in the West - are firefighters, constantly on call to put out the fires of radical disasters - usually caused by Muslims who don't live in the West.

I dread Fridays sometimes. For it is on those days that it seems the entire world's media decides to attend the most provocative of Friday prayers, listen to the sermon and then rush to report the latest radical proclamations of these particular imams, as if those imams speak for us all.

It is tiring and tedious to always have to be ready with a statement of condemnation. But being a Muslim is a full-time job. Especially in the West.

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* Mona Eltahawy (www.monaeltahawy.com (http://www.monaeltahawy.com/)) is a New York-based commentator. She wrote this commentary for The Daily Star.
Source: Daily Star, April 10, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Russia, sole winner of the Iran crisis
Yin Gang

Beijing - Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Hamas to visit Moscow last month, and suggested that Iran transfer its uranium enrichment program to Russian territory. Both proposals exasperated the United States and surprised the world.

In June 2005, the Organization of the Islamic Conference consented to Russian membership with observer status. OIC and Arab League observers were present at Chechnya's recent parliamentary elections, thereby expressing a degree of recognition of Russia's policy on Chechnya and undercutting western criticism.

But why is Putin extending an olive branch to the Islamic world?

Historically, the Muslim world's attitude toward Russia has always been lukewarm or even hostile. Ever since the Tsar's time, relations between Moscow and Muslim regions were characterised by rebellion and repression. This hostility peaked in Stalin's time, when Islamic influence was completely repressed. According to an official document from 1926, Islam was defined as anti-Soviet. Moscow also issued in that year a document entitled Prohibition of Any Form of Islamic Religious Education. Ten thousand mosques and 500 seminaries all over the country were shut down, all estates belonging to mosques were confiscated, and thousands of Islamic religious leaders were sent to concentration camps.

The absolute prohibition of Islam and repression against Muslims was never relaxed until World War II. Although the Soviet regime resumed a policy of religious freedom after the war, religious professionals were still under strict control and all mosques were managed by the government.

During the Cold War, Arab countries were allied with both camps. The Soviet Union's allies were those controlled by Egypt's and Syria's secular regimes. These Arab countries fought against Israel with Soviet military aid. The United States' allies were Arab monarchies that opposed not only Israel but also communism. The war of 1973 marked the decline of Soviet influence. Egypt became America's non-NATO ally and Syria sought U.S. help to realise an "honourable peace" with Israel.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan irritated the World of Islam. Nowadays it is generally recognised that jihad against infidels first appeared in Afghanistan, with Russia the target. The United States acted as a firm supporter of this jihad, disregarding the long-term consequences.

In this war, Islamic radicalism spread rapidly. After Michael Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, they not only destroyed the pro-Soviet regime there but also began to direct their aggression against the western infidels who had previously supported them. Ultimately, Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban theocracy. Jihad fighters from all over the Middle East congregated there. Across the border Islamic radicalism expanded. Afghanistan became Bin Laden's jihadi headquarters.

Meanwhile, Russia itself was facing severe pressure from the Islamic world. In ten out of 89 federal entities the main population is Muslim. According to official statistics, the Muslim population constitutes about five percent of the total; unofficial statistics put this figure at 15 percent, or over 23 million Muslims. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and institutionalisation of freedom of religion inspired religious enthusiasm and ethnic pride among Russian Muslims. Rebellious and terrorist activities emanating from Chechen-Ingush and North Ossetia have severely affected political stability and economic development in Russia, especially since the emergence of the extreme Islamic Truth Party in 1999. Moscow has to carefully consider the long-term consequences of developments among the Islamic population living in Russia.

It is not easy for Russia to build harmonious relations with the Islamic world. During the Balkan War in the 1990s, for example, Moscow was frequently accused by the OIC of supporting the Serbian anti-Muslim regime. A turning point for Russia was the sale of a high-powered nuclear reactor to Iran in 1995. This repaired relations between Russia and Iran and was followed by resumption of weapons exports to Syria, reflecting a Russian ambition to return to the Middle East.

Competing with the United States for the friendship of the Islamic world may become Putin's national policy for Russia. Russia is a convenient ally for Islam, which is under problematic pressure from the West to initiate democratic reform. The cooperation agenda between Russia and the OIC also includes anti-terrorism, meaning that Islamic radicals in Russia will face more pressure.

Putin is smart. Whether or not Hamas is ready to change its position, Russia can claim to have done its best to fulfil its international obligation. Whether the Iran crisis leads to sanctions or a war, Moscow benefits from the outcome, which one way or another will raise the price of oil, thereby bringing more money to Russia, the number two oil-producing country in the world. A war with Iran might affect the Straits of Hormuz, a very important channel for oil transportation, but Russia does not need the straits for its oil exports, which totalled 250 million tons last year, almost twice that of Iran. So Russia would be the only beneficiary of the continuation or escalation of the Iran crisis.

In contrast, China, Japan and South Korea, as major consumers of Gulf oil, would be the ones who pay the bill. In 2005, China paid out ten billion dollars due to higher oil prices for its 130 million tons of imports, while Russia earned 20 billion dollars more.

So in looking at the benefits of the Iran crisis, China and Russia are not on the same boat, even though the two countries ostensibly have similar policies.

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* Yin Gang is a research professor at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies, under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He also serves as deputy secretary general of the Chinese Association of Middle East Studies. He is the author of “Arab-Israeli Conflicts: Issues and Solutions” (2002) and “Saddam Hussein, A Man Destined to Stir the World” (1991).
Source: Bitterlemons-international.org, April 6, 2006
Visit the website at www.bitterlemons-international.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
Bush's mixed signals
William Fisher

Washington, D.C. - Last month the U.S. Muslim World Advisory Committee of the United States Institute of Peace sat down for a talk with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes. These are the kinds of meetings that Arab-American and other Muslim-American groups have been having throughout the country with US officials at various levels of government since soon after 9/11.

These meetings usually end with oh-so-diplomatic remarks about the "full and frank exchanges of views" and praiseworthy statements from each about each.

Yet, though Arab-American and other Muslim organisations are reluctant to discuss the issue for the record, they tell me privately that they are worried that the Bush administration is sending dangerously mixed signals precisely to those whose "hearts and minds" it claims to be trying to win.

Consider the following:

President Bush continues to assert that Arabs and other Muslims are valued and contributing members of American society. He denies that his Global War on Terrorism is a war against Islam. Secretary Rice and Ambassador Hughes spend substantial time with Arab-American and other Muslim advocacy groups, reasserting their "mission" to reach out to these communities.

The FBI, CIA, the Departments of Homeland Security, Defence, State and other U.S. government agencies spend millions to recruit members of these communities to apply for jobs, then deny them security clearances because they have relatives in the Middle East. Then Ms. Hughes takes off on another of her "listening tours" of the Middle East, promising to reach out to "Muslim Moms".

At the same time the FBI and the DHS continue to practice racial profiling and to harass and prosecute Arabs and other Muslims here at home. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces work with local law enforcement to snoop on Arab and Muslim communities and wiretap mosques. We tell the Arabs we don't want them running our ports. And legitimate Muslim charities can't raise a nickel without fear of being put on the government's "support for terrorists" list.

Which of these contradictory messages do you think resonates most loudly in the United States? Just take a look at the myriad polls that measure the degree of pervasive insecurity among these constituencies at home, and attitudes of other Americans toward these minorities. The common denominator is fear, one of the other. And fear breeds intolerance and even violence.

Why should we care what Arab and Muslim Americans think and what we, their neighbours, think of them? For one thing, they're Americans. They live here, among us. They are business and labour leaders, clergymen, sports figures, engineers and mathematicians and physicists, teachers, doctors and nurses, ordinary working citizens, even members of Congress.

Secondly, their ties to family and friends in other countries can provide us with important bridges to understanding. They might just be capable of helping Karen Hughes to explain U.S. policies to parts of the world that we desperately need on "our side". Or to better understand how the "other side" sees us.

Thirdly, Arab and Muslim Americans vote. And that, if nothing else, ought to capture the attention of our elected officials.

Finally, how our government acts toward these sizable minorities helps shape how the rest of us act. Jingoism has no good consequences, for anyone.

No one ever said that balancing these competing interests would be easy. Terrorists in our midst must be identified and prosecuted. So must so-called charities that illegally use their organisations as fronts for laundering material support for those who would harm us and our allies.

At the same time, there is zero evidence that Arab and Muslim Americans are anything but loyal to our country, and just as horrified as the rest of us by the attacks of 9/11. Thousands of these “hyphenated” Americans are now serving in the U.S. armed forces, many of them in Iraq and Afghanistan. And how many terror-related convictions resulted from the mass roundups of Arab and Muslim men in the weeks following 9/11? None.

Yet there appears to be no consistent effort anywhere in the upper reaches of the Bush administration to engage these communities or to explain or coordinate what must seem to them as grossly contradictory and conflicting efforts.

Which should make us wonder whether this is about ideology: the "clash of civilisations?" Or about creating smokescreens: blaming the media for not reporting all the "good news" from Iraq? Or about more of the unbelievably uncoordinated incompetence that gave us the Katrina disaster? Or about the political tone-deafness that resulted in Harriet Myers?

The short answer is "I don't know". Maybe a bit of all.

What I do know is that this is an issue on which George W. Bush has shown a somnambulistic failure of leadership. It is not enough for the president from time to time to tell Arab Americans and other Muslim minorities - and the rest us - that he values our citizenship. It is not enough for him intermittently to reassure Muslims - and attempt to assure the rest of us - that we are not at war with Islam.

At the very least, there needs to be high-level, visible and transparent interest in worrying about the mixed signals we're sending. It can't be left to Karen Hughes alone. There is only one person who can get this done: the president.

So, Mr. Bush, here are two modest but doable suggestions:

First, you should appoint a permanent high-level advisory body to keep the administration informed about what Arab and other Muslim Americans are thinking, feeling and doing about what they see as problems between their communities and government, and how other Americans see the same picture.

This body should advise you about perceptions and misperceptions and how to address both with honesty and clarity. It should include thoughtful representatives of these communities, clergy of all faiths, private sector representatives, members of both political parties, and senior members of the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Defence, Justice, and the FBI and CIA.

But without the machinery to act on its findings and recommendations, this will be just another of thousands of government advisory bodies. It needs teeth. Talented people who know how to do implementation.

So, Mr. President - notwithstanding that government is historically a notoriously flunked communicator - you are surrounded by some very smart people and could have some of the world's most adept professional communicators at your service instantly. These experts should convince you to take Arab American alienation very seriously and to mobilise whatever public and private sector resources you need to craft honest messages and make sure they get heard.

Without your leadership, these steps will be - and be seen to be - little more than cosmetics. Only you can make them important. You need to reach out in a powerful and consistent way to explain to Arab-Americans and other Muslims - and their neighbours, all the rest of us - the contributions made by these populations over many years.

Instead, your silence will only metastasise the uninformed and unreasoning Islamophobia that is rapidly become implanted in our national genetics. And, at the same time, you need to tell the Arab- and Muslim-Americans, and our population at large why it's important for law enforcement to do what it does to protect us (hopefully, while reigning in their over-zealousness to prosecute).

This dialogue is partly about policy, but it is equally about better coordination within government, about better public-private partnerships, to actually carry out a sustained program of thoughtful, grown-up, no-spin communication.

There's a lot you can do about that. As long as you think it's important. And as long as you're prepared to listen.

###

* William Fisher managed economic development projects in the Middle East for the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He is a regular contributor to the Middle East Times and can be contacted at www.billfisher.blogspot.com (http://www.billfisher.blogspot.com/)
Source: Middle East Times, April 6, 2006
Visit the website at www.metimes.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication

**********

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are balanced and solution-oriented to news outlets worldwide. With support from the Norwegian government and the United States Institute of Peace, this news service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international NGO working in the field of conflict transformation.

This news service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in June 2003.

~YOUTH VIEWS~

CGNews-PiH also regularly publishes the work of student leaders and journalists whose articles strengthen intercultural understanding and promote constructive perspectives and dialogue in their own communities. Student journalists and writers under the age of 27 are encouraged to write to cbinkley@sfcg.org for more information on contributing.
*The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors, not of CGNews-PiH or its affiliates.

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Editors

Emad Khalil (Amman)
Juliette Schmidt (Beirut)
Chris Binkley (Dakar)
Medhy Hidayat (Jakarta)
Elyte Baykun (Washington)
Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Emmanuelle Hazan (Washington)

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To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to cgnewspih@sfcg.org with “subscribe” or “unsubscribe” in the subject line, indicating your language of choice among English, French, Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia.

Concerned Philosophers for Peace:

The 2006 CPP newsletter is available in pdf format under downloads or newsletters. Newsletter articles will be posted as individual items in the near future.

Please address comments or suggestions to: gmosesx@prodigy.net

cheers,
Greg Moses

Call for Applications

The Women PeaceMakers program is an eight-week residency for women leaders who want to document, share, and build upon their unique peacemaking stories.

Selected peacemakers will receive roundtrip airfare, housing, and a small stipend to cover expenses for the eight-week residence (September 18 - November 11, 2006) at the University of San Diego in southern California.

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is pleased to announce the 2006 Women PeaceMakers Program is now accepting women peacemaker and peace writer applications for the Fall program. You will find all the program details and the down-loadable application at <http://peace.sandiego.edu/programs/women.html>.

The Women PeaceMakers Program invites four women who are on the frontlines of peacemaking and human rights activism to participate in an eight-week residency program to document their unique stories. The residency program will take place from September 18 - November 11, 2006.

Each peacemaker will:
(1) have assistance in documenting her development as a peacemaker and the work she is doing
(2) share her vision and work with new communities
(3) explore peace-building with other women on the frontlines of peacemaking
(4) take part in a two-day international conference focusing on women's impact on peacebuilding policies when they participate more equally with men in governmental, corporate, military and peacemaking decision-bodies
(5) have a beautiful setting for a needed respite

Women from anywhere in the world who have assumed the leadership role in peace and conflict resolution with an emphasis in human rights in their own society or our global community are invited to apply for this unique residency in San Diego. Peace Writers will help each peacemaker document her unique peacemaking experience.

Applications are available NOW on-line http://peace.sandiego.edu/.
Application deadline is June 2, 2006.

ATTENTION EXCELLENT WRITERS!

If you have experience as a writer and have worked with women please go to http://peace.sandiego.edu/programs/WPM/peace_writer.html to learn more about becoming a "Peace Writer." Peace writers work one-on-one with a woman peacemaker to document her story of peacemaking.

Please announce this program to your communities.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact Shelley Lyford at slyford@sandiego.edu or 1.619.260.7569.

LANGUAGES AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA (LEA)
Oslo, June 19-22, 2006

Registration is now OPEN!

This conference offers international and multidisciplinary perspectives on issues concerning languages and education
in Africa.

Conference themes include:

Language policy
Multilingualism
Literacy in African languages
Language as medium of instruction and as a subject
Teacher training
Educational materials
Lexicography and lexicology
Grammatical descriptions
Standardization
Sign language in an African context
Language mastery, learning and mediation

Welcome to Oslo !

Please register at http://www.pfi.uio.no/konferanse/LEA2006/

Please see:

Henriette S. Aasen, Uichol Kim, and Geir Helgesen (2001).

Seoul: Kyoyook Kwahaksa.

Please see:

Bergen: Fagbokforlaget

Janet M. Powers, Blossoms on the Olive Tree: Israeli and Palestinian Women Working for Peace. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006. Foreword by Betty Reardon; Introduction by Elise Boulding.

Comprising a mix of academic research, oral histories, and accounts of women’s lives in various locales, the work emphasizes commonalities between Israeli and Palestinian women who as political moderates seek an end to the Israeli occupation. The last chapter calls for bringing women to the peace table as required by UN Resolution 1325.

"It is hearing the stories of real people which brings alive the dryness of statistics and the coldness of official reports. The genius and skill of Janet Powers is to enable us to share in the experiences of women from Israel and Palestine, as they struggle with all the restrictions imposed on them by the political and religious systems within which they live. With clarity and sensitivity she lets these women speak, and the honesty with which their stories are recorded will challenge all of us, and the cliches behind which we often take refuge." Rev. Clarence Musgrave, St. Andrews Church of Scotland, Jerusalem

Janet M. Powers, Professor Emeritus
Interdisciplinary Studies & Women's Studies
Gettysburg College

DIGNITY INTERNATIONAL: MONTHLY NEWSBULLETIN - April 2006

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

Dignity News
* Dignity Launches Alumni Association
* Count Down to the New Website
* Equal in Rights Visits Dignity’s Secretariat

Other News
* NGO Joint Appeal to African Ministers on Urban Housing
* WSF - from Karachi to Kenya, passing through Greece and Brazil
* Displacement fears plague slum-dwellers
* Mexico Alternative Report on ESC Rights
* Water is a Human Right – Civil Society versus Governments
* FAO - Agrarian Reform for the Landless!
* The End of the HR Commission - Towards the HR Council: NGO Statement
* Latin-American Water Tribunal Censures Ecuadorian State
* IADB’s Annual Meeting Outcomes

Publications
Affordable Medicine Imperative for Poor Nations – Report to WTO

Announcements
* Urgent Action Appeal: India's Narmada Valley
* Vacancies at ESCR-Net
* COHRE’s Housing Rights Awards
* SUR Human Rights Journal: Call for Papers

Forthcoming Events – Highlights
* WB & IMF Spring Meetings

DIGNITY NEWS

*** Dignity Launches Alumni Association - Since 2003, Dignity International, in collaboration with a variety of partners, has been organising Global and Regional Learning Programmes on Human Rights. Approximately 150 multipliers from around the world have passed through these programmes with many of them returning to their base spreading the knowledge and skills learnt, back to their constituencies.

At the request of the programme graduates themselves, and to recapture the richness, diversity, capacity, friendship and energy of all these persons, Dignity International has launched an Alumni Association. The Alumni Association will aim to create a platform of interaction of people sharing common interests, common work as well as the common aspiration of living in a world where all human beings enjoy all Human Rights entrenched in the Universal declaration of Human Rights as well as to create a “Human Rights & Development market” - connecting demand & supply (help matching existing needs with available resources).

The Alumni members will enjoy access to "Meeting Point", a special part of the new Dignity International website where they can freely exchange information, post notices and continue discussion and collaboration. Long live solidarity and friendship!
For further information, please contact Simone Andrade at info@dignityinternational.org

*** Count Down to the New Website - The new Dignity International website is well underway. It is hoped that the new website will be user friendly, dynamic and will largely be able to manage itself. The special features will include: "Excluded Wisdom: Voices of Reality" a space dedicated to the voices and faces of the invisible in our society; "Calendar of Events" for NGO activists outlining the key events at local and global levels; a "Photo Gallery" to view online the photos of the Dignity International family and a "Resource Centre" on human rights in development containing a range of documents, audio/visual materials; and "Membership" to join the Dignity International family.
The current subscribers of the News bulletin will need to re-subscribe.

The team hopes to make the announcement by the next news bulletin. WATCH THIS SPACE!

*** Equal in Rights Visits Dignity’s Secretariat - Emma Sydenham, Coordinator of the newly established Dutch NGO Equal in Rights visited the Dignity office in Strasbourg, France. Equal in rights is an independent international resource centre operating as a project within the Netherlands institute of Human Rights (SIM). Equal in Rights was established in August 2005, in response to an identified gap in support, resources and know-how in understanding and implementing a human rights based attack on poverty.

The discussions were cordial and constructive. A number of areas for collaboration were identified. Dignity would like to record our thanks to Emma for her visit to our office. For further information on Equalinrighs, please contact, Emma Sydenham, coordinator, at emma.sydenham@icco.nl

OTHER NEWS

*** NGO Joint Appeal to African Ministers on Urban Housing - The African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD) met on the days 3 and 4 of this month of April, in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss strategies for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relating to slums. In light of the ongoing and growing crisis in urban housing in Africa, Amnesty International (AI), the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and Hakijamii Trust called on the ministers to adopt concrete and human rights-based strategies to ensure that the poorest members of African cities can live in human dignity.

In Africa, the process of urbanisation is faster than in any other region of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 72 percent of the urban population live in slums while in North Africa the figure is 28 percent. In addition to appalling health conditions and lack of access to basic services such as water and sanitation, those living in slums and informal settlements are regularly exposed to forced evictions. The ministerial meeting in Nairobi appeared to be a good opportunity for African states to pronounce themselves as opposed to forced evictions, to develop strategies to tackle housing problems in a manner that respects human rights and to learn best practices from each other.
You can read the complete appeal at
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr320022006
Conference’s website http://www.amchud.org/

*** WSF - from Karachi to Kenya, passing through Greece and Brazil

KARACHI: Pakistani civil society gives its first step - The polycentric WSF 2006 in Karachi (Pakistan) took place from March 24 to 29. More than 30,000 people attended that forum and had a choice of assisting to approximately 300 self-organized activities.

Karachi WSF will be forever remembered – it is leaving a lasting taste of how civil society in Pakistan, together, took its first step into the world of social movements.

"Viva Karachi, viva Pakistan, viva Nairobi!" - Wahu Kaar, a member of WSF’s International Organising Committee, said, refusing to believe that there are any difference in this world other than between the rich and the poor.

The 2006 Polycentric WSF reached its end - it is now time to ask: what next? Whatever shape the WSF takes from here; it can and should definitively remain a hub for political thinking. While the WSF is no longer a yearly festival of political losers, neither is it anything else yet. A new creature is coming to being but is not yet born. Some believe the WSF should stay as it is: a place for exchanging ideas, and, why not, a festival, as International Council member Joel Suárez, from Cuba, told TerraViva in Caracas, or a global organised political force, as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called for in front of 20,000 cheering demonstrators in January.
http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/karachi/viewstory.asp?idnews=609
http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/karachi/images.asp
See some final evaluations of the polycentric WSF 2006 at
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/dinamic.php?pagina=balanco_fsm2006ing

KENYA WSF 2007: Dates Confirmed - The seventh edition of the WSF will take place from January 20 to 25 2007, in Nairobi, Kenya (Africa). The date was decided during the last WSF International Council (IC) meeting, which took place last March 20 to 22 exactly in Nairobi. At this meeting, among other issues, the methodology to be adopted as preparation to WSF next year’s edition was in discussion - it has been suggested to organise a consultation, following the example of what was made to prepare the WSF 2005, in Porto Alegre (Brazil), and the Americas polycentric WSF 2006, in Caracas (Venezuela). The International Council expansion was another item in the meeting agenda.
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/noticias_01.php?cd_news=2125&cd_language=2

BRAZIL - II Brazilian Social Forum - The II Brazilian Social Forum, also known as “April Forum”, will take place from April 20 to 23, 2006, in Recife (Pernambuco). Registration of activities is already closed, but individual participants can still register up to April 18. In order to know what will be happening, check the event’s website at www.fsb.org.br.

GREECE: 4th European Social Forum - The 4th European Social Forum will be taking place in Athens, Greece from the 4th to the 7th of May 2006. The European Social Forum is, alongside Genoa and Seattle, considered one of the major events of the movement against neoliberal globalisation and war, deregulation of labour and poverty, climate change and environmental destruction, violation of democratic rights and sexism, racism and the threat of the far right. Tens of thousands of activists participated in the first, second and third European Social Forums, which took place in Florence (2002), Paris (2003) and London (2004). This year, there are already more than 800 activities registered.
For further information, go to
http://athens.fse-esf.org/index_en?set_language=en

*** Displacement fears plague slum-dwellers, Ahmedabad, India, March 24 – After many starts and stops, work on the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project is going on in full swing. The project might beautify the city but it's not welcome by slum-dwellers living along the riverbank. They will not just lose their homes, but also their means of livelihood if displaced from the area.

“Most people living here are rickshaw-pullers, larriwallahs and dhobis. The dhobis wash clothes in the Sabarmati. So, they refuse to shift. The rickshaw-pullers work for traders in the Walled City. Even the larriwallahs sell their goods there. Shifting us to a far-off place will affect us badly as we will find little business there”, says Habibullah Sheikh, a slum-dweller.
The right to live is all we ask.
For the full article see, Ahmedabad Newsline
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=175120
Or contact Aruna Pandey, Department of Urban and Rural Community Development Tata Institute of Social Sciences at pandey.aruna@gmail.com

*** Mexico Alternative Report on ESC Rights – a broad coalition of civil society organisations in Mexico recently presented the Alternative Report on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights in Mexico, correspondent to the ten-year period of 1997 to 2006.

The Alternative Report is the result of three years of work and will be analysed at the next session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which will be taking place from 1 to 19 of May. At this session (its 36th), the ESCR Committee will consider the Periodic Reports of the following member States: Morocco, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Mexico and Canada.
Report available for download at
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/mexico-coalition.pdf (English version)
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/mexico-coalition_Sp.pdf (Spanish version)
More on the ESCR Committee and its next session at
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrs36.htm
For accreditations please contact Ms. Wan-Hea Lee, Secretary of the Committee on ESC Rights, by phone: 0041-22-917 91 54, fax: 0041-22-917 90 22, or e-mailing at wlee@ohchr.org

*** Water is a Human Right – Civil Society versus Governments

The World Water Forum’s (Mexico City, March 16 to 22), Final Ministerial Declaration recognises water as life’s guarantee – the official formula used not to recognise water as a human right. Although Ministers and Government representatives presented at the Forum, have declared water as a human right, such statement was taken out of the final declaration’s text - such statement could cause difficult juridical problems, at both national and international levels – government representatives argued.

Social activists severely criticised this positioning, arguing this is a clear indication of how rich countries and transnational corporations will never step back from their approach of water as profitable merchandise.
See http://www.ipsterraviva.net/LA/viewstory.asp?idnews=457

On the occasion of the Forum, and parallel to it, civil society movements gathered and prepared a declaration – Joint Declaration of Movements in Defence of Water. Adopted and signed by around 300 NGOs from 40 countries, this declaration states that water is a ‘common good’ and access to water is an essential and inalienable right.

One and a half billion people across the world lack drinking water and another two billion lack clean water generally. In 20 years' time, these numbers will have doubled. Agricultural and industrial pollution is degrading the quality of fresh water supplies everywhere.

Yet the biggest threat to universal access to clean water and adequate sanitation is not Mother Nature but corporate globalisation. Privatisation of water is being aggressively exported to the developing world under the rubric of poverty reduction and debt relief strategies, free trade and economic development.

In this context, civil society demands that access to drinking water be recognised as a universal human right as stated in the UN Committee on Economic, Social, Cultural Rights in 2002 during its 29th Session in Geneva (http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/comments.htm), as well as the exclusion of the WTO and of all international, multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements from water.
Read the Joint declaration at
www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/730.html

*** FAO - Agrarian Reform for the Landless! - On March 6th to 10th, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) together with the Brazilian government, hosted the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. ICARRD closed on March 10th with the adoption of a Final Declaration calling for all Governments to adopt rural development policies that promote agrarian reform to benefit the poor and most marginalised. The Conference affirmed that land and access to natural resources are the foundation of sustainable rural development and cultural and environmental viability.

The final declaration of the conference stresses the eminent role of agrarian reforms to combat hunger, to achieve sustainable development and to implement human rights. It states that agrarian reforms should promote economic, social and cultural rights, especially for women, marginalised and vulnerable groups. Especially in areas with strong social disparities, poverty and hunger, agrarian reforms should broaden and secure access to, and control over, land and other resources. States should have a crucial role in the implementation of agrarian reform.
Read the final Report at
http://www.icarrd.org/en/news_down/FinalDeclaration_En.doc

*** The end of the HR Commission - Towards the HR Council: NGO statement

On the 27 of March, the Commission on Human Rights concluded its 62nd and last session in a three hour meeting - it was the end of a 60 years-old human rights body. In the meeting, the debate focused on the soon election of the members that will form the newly created Human Rights Council. Next 9th of May, the General Assembly will elect, in New York, the 47 members of the up-coming first session of the Human Rights Council. The first meeting of the Council will take place on 19 June in Geneva. The list of candidate States, as well as their voluntary pledges for the protection and promotion of human rights and a note on election modalities, can be seen at http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/

The HRC Expanded Bureau decided that, at the meeting, there would only be space for one NGO statement. Several NGOs got together and presented a general statement, or non-statement, as they refused to accept the limitation of the single intervention allowed to the NGO sector during the final session of the Commission.

The statement argues “that during the 60 years of the Commission on Human Rights, non-governmental organisations have played, in the words of the UN General Assembly, an important role at the national, regional and international levels, in the promotion and protection of human rights. Unfortunately the arrangement made for their participation in the final session of the Commission through a single statement does not allow this important role to be reflected.

Non-governmental organisations are very diverse, reflecting the variety and multiplicity of human experiences. They have brought to the Commission the voices of the voiceless and of victims of violations throughout the world. That diversity and those voices cannot be encapsulated in a single statement. With disappointment and a sense of loss, we note that they are missing from the final session of the Commission.

We have decided therefore not to make a single non-governmental statement to assess the work of the Commission. We cannot accept that this is an appropriate way to proceed now.”
Read the complete statement at
http://www.ishr.ch/hrm/chr62/NGO/AdvocacyStatements/NGOJointWrittenStatement.pdf

*** Latin-American Water Tribunal censures Ecuadorian State – Last March 20, the Latin-American Water tribunal (LAWT) issued its verdict on a case presented before it by COORDENAGUA and FIAN International. The case aimed argued the violation of human rights as result of the construction and operation of the Multi-purpose dam project "Jaime Roldos Aguilera" and for the eventual construction of the project "Quevedo-Vinces" located within the Guayas river basin.

In the verdict, the members of the LAWT recommended to the Ecuadorian State to provide an integral indemnification to the communities affected by the construction of this project. The LAWT also recommended to the Ecuadorian State, in conformity with national and international legal norms, to recognize the availability, accessibility and quality of water as a human right and to create a propitious legal frame to implement a national strategy that allows to assure sufficient and salubrious water resources to present and future generations.
For additional information, you can contact Natalia Landívar of FIAN at landivar@fian.org or access the verdict at http://www.tragua.com/tla2.htm

*** IADB’s Annual Meeting Outcomes - The 47th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) was held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, during April 3 to 5 2006. As in the past, the Bank and the host country organised a series of seminars on topics of interest to participants. This year, the meeting concentrated a special interest to civil society and to several governments that sent their representatives into the Governors Assembly.

The Meeting concluded with a call for Latin America and the Caribbean to close the gap between the region’s improved economic performance during recent years and the persisting problems of poverty and inequality. During three days of sessions, the Bank’s 47 governors made presentations on the world’s development and economic policies and on how those are affecting the development of Latin American and Caribbean economies.
http://www.iadb.org/NEWS/articledetail.cfm?artid=2999&language=En
See http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/eventos/30.html and http://www.ipsterraviva.net/LA/viewstory.asp?idnews=472

PUBLICATIONS

*** Affordable Medicine Imperative for Poor Nations – Report to WTO - Over half of the people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia lack regular access to existing essential medicines because they cannot afford them, or because the health system in their country is too weak. The rising prices of medicines and the tragedy of millions of AIDS victims in poor countries, who cannot pay for the medicines they need to stabilise the disease, have aroused widespread concern and put on the agenda a debate on the generally high cost of these drugs and medicines.

On April 3rd, an independent high-level commission called for action to ensure developing country access to existing and new medicines and vaccines. This independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH) presented its report to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which recommends key actions needed to ensure that poor people in developing countries have access to existing and new products to diagnose, treat and prevent the diseases that affect them most. The report of the Commission - established by the World Health Assembly in 2003 - is the result of two years’ analysis of how governments, industry, scientists, international law and financing mechanisms can work best to overcome the challenges
Source CHOIKE (http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/72.html)
Report at
http://www.who.int/intellectualproperty/documents/thereport/en/index.html

ANNOUNCEMENTS

*** Urgent Action Appeal: India's Narmada Valley – a government decision of increasing the water level of an Indian dam - Sardar Sarovar Dam – will cause submergence, displacing over 35 000 families and violating the Indian Supreme Court’s judgment of the year 2000, which called for resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected to be completed before any increase in dam height.

As per official figures and statements, this increase in the dam height will affect 24,421 families in 177 villages of Madhya Pradesh. The fertile lands, houses and all properties, including schools, dispensaries and shops of these villages will be submerged if the height of the dam is raised, and the affected families will not have received their promised compensation and adequate resettlement.

The application and consequences of the Sardar Sarovar Project blatantly deny entitlements that are inherent to the human right to adequate housing, including security of tenure; access to public and environmental goods and services; suitability of location and cultural appropriateness of the rehabilitation sites; habitability; freedom from dispossession; damage and destruction; but also information; participation and capacity-building; resettlement; compensation; safe environment; and physical security. All these rights and entitlements are recognised in the international law and treaties to which India is a party.
See how you can act at http://www.hic-net.org/articles.asp?PID=477

*** Vacancies at ESCR-Net – the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a collaborative initiative of groups and individuals from around the world working together to secure economic and social justice through human rights, is at present seeking: a Director (who can consolidate the collaborative work and institutional development which has been achieved so far; provide strategic guidance, management and leadership to expand its capacity; and fundraise to provide the needed resources) and a Program Associate (to serve as one of two key program staff in the Secretariat providing support and coordination to ESCR-Net’s thematic working groups and initiatives, amongst other activities and functions). Deadline for applications - May 8th 2006.
All information available by email to info@escr-net.org or at
http://www.escr-net.org/EngGeneral/dispbreakingnews.asp?tbnid=21

*** COHRE’s Housing Rights Awards - each year COHRE (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions) presents its Housing Rights Awards. Awards will be granted in 3 categories: Violators (2 Awards), Protector (1 award) and Defender (1 award). Nominations for the 2006 Awards are now open, and can be made by any individual or group worldwide. Nominations should be sent to awards2006@cohre.org by 1 July 2006.
All information at www.cohre.org/awards/Call_for_Nominations.pdf

*** SUR Human Rights Journal: Call for Papers - SUR–International Journal on Human Rights welcomes contributions to be published in its coming issues. The Journal is published twice a year, distributed free of charge to approximately 3000 readers in over 100 countries. It is edited in English, Portuguese and Spanish. The journal is especially aimed at academics and activists dedicated to the study and the defense of human rights. Its main purpose is to divulge the viewpoints of the Global South, stressing their specificity, and facilitating the contact among its members, without ignoring the important contributions of the more developed countries. The journal is published by SUR Human Rights University Network (www.surnet.org).

The issues of the journal are (usually) not thematic, thus permitting the publication of articles dealing with human rights from multiple perspectives. Nevertheless, for the next issue priority will be given to articles dealing with one of the following topics: Innovative mechanisms to protect HR in countries with federative systems; Racism and the impact of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance; UN Reform: New Human Rights Council and the OHCHR;
Read completely the call for papers at
http://www.surjournal.org/eng/call.php

FORTHCOMING EVENTS – HIGHLIGHTS

*** WB & IMF Spring Meetings - Each Spring, the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the joint World Bank (WB) - International Monetary Fund (IMF) Development Committee hold meetings to discuss progress on the work of the Fund and Bank. The 2006 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the WB will be held over the weekend of April 22-23 at the Bank’s and Fund’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The WB Group and the IMF Civil Society Teams are, as in previous years, organising a series of policy dialogue sessions to bring together Bank and Fund staff, CSO representatives, government officials, and others, to discuss important issues being addressed during the 2006 Spring Meetings. All accredited CSO representatives are welcome to attend the sessions, which will be held at the Bank’s Main Complex Building during April 20 to 24.

CSOs wishing to attend the Program of CSO Dialogues MUST obtain formal accreditation.
Interested CSOs – information on accreditation at
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,contentMDK:20831171~pagePK:220503~piPK:220476~theSitePK:228717,00.html
Spring Meetings official website
http://www.imf.org/external/spring/2006/index.htm

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

If you are working in the area of human rights with a special attention to different aspects of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, we would love to hear from you. To contribute, email us at info@dignityinternational.org

We hope you can join us for these opportunities to connect...

1. RELATIONAL RENDEZVOUS at the WOMEN AND THERAPY CONFERENCE
Friday, April 28, 2006 - 5:30 PM
Boston

We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming "WOMEN IN
THERAPY" conference, co-sponsored by Harvard Medical School, April 28-29.
Following Friday’s presentations, you are invited to join us for an
informal gathering of JBMTI friends at 5:30 PM in Swans Cafe at the Boston
Park Plaza Hotel. If you can attend, please send your RSVP to:
jbmti@wellesley.edu.

For a brochure to register: For a brochure go to:
http://www.wellesley.edu/JBMTI/pdf/harvard.pdf

2. SUMMER ADVANCED TRAINING INSTITUTE - "Holding Hope on the Edge of Connection and Disconnection"
Wednesday - Sunday, June 21-25, 2006
Wellesley College

Join us for our 11th annual Institute exploring how relational practice
creates hope and possibility both in therapy and in communities. For more
information, please visit: http://www.wellesley.edu/JBMTI/sti.html

SUMMER INSTITUTE SCHOLARSHIPS: If you are a student or an clinician
working with under served populations, we invite you to apply for an Irene
Stiver Scholarship today. We have a limited number of scholarships
available. To apply, visit:
http://www.wellesley.edu/JBMTI/stiverscholarshipapp.html

3. ANNUAL RELATIONAL RESEARCH FORUM: "Relational-Cultural Research:
Translating Hope into Science"
Thursday & Friday, June 22-23, 2006
Wang Campus Center, Room 415, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

The Relational Research Forum features the work of researchers conducting
the latest qualitative and/or quantitative studies based on
Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT). For more information, please visit:
http://www.wellesley.edu/JBMTI/forum.html

We are looking forward to connecting with you soon!

Yours in connection,
Linda

Linda Hartling, PhD, Assoc. Director
Jean Baker Miller Training Institute
Web site: http://www.jbmti.org
e-mail: jbmti@wellesley.edu Phone: 781-283-3007
24-hr registration: 781-283-3800

Wellesley Centers for Women
www.wcwonline.org
Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481

Call for papers

Websites:
Updated call for papers, deadline extended to 31 May: http://www.ascleiden.nl/Pdf/CODESRIAConferenceElectronicPublishing-06.pdf
See also http://www.ascleiden.nl/GetPage.aspx?url=/events/event1142937906

BACKGROUND As part of a joint, collaborative effort that includes research, a joint research masters degree programme, publications and dissemination, CODESRIA and the ASC have launched a series of conferences on research, documentation, publishing and dissemination in the context of the ITCs revolution. The first conference on ‘Electronic publishing and dissemination’ was held in Dakar, in September 2004. Most papers fell within thematic areas such as the role of ICTs in the advancement of research, digitising content for academic outreach and social policy, access and visibility of African scholarship in the digital age and the role of digital libraries. In comparison with many other international conferences on electronic publishing, this conference was particularly interesting because it brought together researchers, publishers and librarians in the field of social science research on Africa. In this setting the conference raised many pertinent issues which need to be addressed.

CONFERENCE THEME The objective of the second conference on ‘Electronic publishing and dissemination’ is to build on the momentum achieved at the Dakar conference and to explore the use of digital technologies in scholarly communication on Africa, the effects on the North-South divide and the role of different stakeholders in exacerbating or countering the divide.

Introduction to the theme

Web publishing and its technical possibilities, as well as the open access movement that has accompanied it, have resulted in a number of tendencies with mixed implications for scholarly communication. Web publishing carries the potential to spread research results much faster across academic communities and beyond. It opens up new horizons for the advancement of free access to information and the availability of publications. At the same time digital technologies are put to use to enforce rights management, resulting in the publisher’s exclusive control over access to scholarship. With e-journal publishing the licensing model has replaced the buying model, keeping ownership and control of digital materials in the hands of publishers. Libraries find themselves frustrated in their role as safe keepers of science: how can they ensure optimal access and availability if they do not control the access systems? How can they preserve the records of science if license agreements do not permit libraries to hold archival copies? In reaction to this trend, research libraries have started to form consortia to negotiate licensing conditions and access terms with publishers. They are experimenting with the setting up of institutional repositories coupled with open access. As a result, huge commercial and public investments are competing to develop new solutions to old problems and to find new ways of communicating science in the digital age. It has been said that it is in the nature of any new technology to exacerbate the existing divide between rich and poor. In how far have the rapid changes taking place in the publishing industry exacerbated the relative deprivation suffered by researchers in the developing world? It has also been observed that Latin American and African academics in particular, rather than their North American and European counterparts, are embracing the new technology and its revolutionary opportunities for scholarly communication. This in turn gives rise to concerns regarding the equal participation in the free flow of information between North and South. If scholars in developing countries eagerly disseminate their work in the public domain whilst those in developed countries stay relatively reticent to do so, the established control mechanisms of academic publishing will remain in place and the free and uncontrolled dissemination of research results on the Web will become synonymous to unprofessional practice and bad quality output, exacerbating the imbalance in scholarly publishing between North and South. Looking at the heavily institutionalized scientific process in the North, with its age old traditions and vested interests, it is understandable that transformation and adaptation takes time. But it also raises questions. Is the print tradition a barrier or a pre-requisite for developing digital publishing models? Can Africa leap-frog into the digital age and by-pass the development stages of the print-based knowledge economy? An intriguing question concerns the role of scholars, publishers, libraries, academic institutions and development organisations from the North in devising schemes to counter the North-South divide. In how far are these measures geared towards long-term solutions? How far does solidarity with scholars in the South reach? Africanists, a research community with strong roots in the western scholarly tradition and close connections with the African scientific community, represent a particular case in point. Scholarly exchange with African colleagues is necessary to validate their research. What are the characteristics of these exchanges? Do they contribute to more equitable scholarly communications between North and South?

Practical issues versus theoretical/scientific reflection and research findings The conference hopes to attract papers from the different stakeholders in scholarly communication on Africa, giving a balanced view of the economic, social and moral dimensions of the issues at stake. It attempts to relate the research theme to practical issues of web publishing, scholarly communication, recording and accessing the results of science, bibliographic control and dissemination and invites case studies to provide in-depth analysis of specific issues by use of quantitative data. It encourages theoretical and scientific reflections on knowledge production, scientific information flows, the institutionalization of the scientific process, the impact of ICTs on scholarly communication and welcomes contributions that provide explanatory theoretical frameworks for the issues at stake.

LAUNCH The conference will mark the launch of the Connecting-Africa web portal, a digital platform for scholarly communication on Africa. It provides details of researchers on Africa affiliated to Dutch universities and titles of published research on Africa. Connecting-Africa offers a lightweight, extensible solution for the promotion of research and research networks at a global level. www.connecting-africa.net

Conference programme The three-day conference will bring together internationally respected scholars presenting cutting-edge insights from their current research. The programme will be divided in 6 sessions.

Speakers The conference will host three keynote lectures and will carefully select a maximum of 30 presentations and 6 session chairs. Funds will be made available to invited speakers from Africa who do not have the resources to cover their travel and accommodation.

Call for papers Those interested in contributing to this conference are requested to send a CV and an abstract of 250 words (describing the main points of their paper, its central argument and the type of research/methodology employed) to vanderwerf@ascleiden.nl

The deadline for the receipt of abstracts is April 30, 2006. The steering committee will decide on submissions by June 30, 2006 and will notify applicants after this date. Papers are due by August 15, 2006.

Participants The conference is open to participants on an invitational basis and is restricted to a maximum of 60 participants.

The invitees will represent the 3 target groups evenly: social science researchers on Africa, information professionals and publishers/editors. The conference will be bi-lingual (French and English translations) and at least 1/2 of the participants will come from Africa.

Conference Fee Invited participants will be asked to pay a conference fee of € 150. Consolidated Results : Conference Proceedings on the web

Steering Committee Prof. Leo J. de Haan (ASC) Dr. Ebrima Sall (CODESRIA) Dr. Mirjam de Bruijn (ASC) Dr. Francis B. Nyamnjoh (CODESRIA) Titia van der Werf (ASC) Abou Moussa Ndongo (CODESRIA).

Contact For further information please contact: Ms Titia van der Werf Afrika-Studiecentrum LEIDEN T. +31 (0)71 5273352 E. vanderwerf@ascleiden.nl

Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
April 11, 2006

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The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim-Western relations.

*This service is also available in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia and French. You can subscribe by sending an email to cgnewspih@sfcg.org [cgnewspih@sfcg.orgcgnewspih@sfcg.org], specifying your choice of language.

*Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and articles may be reprinted by any news outlet or publication. Please acknowledge both the original source and the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

*For an archive of CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/).

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. Forbidden romance blooms under cover of politeness by Jim Quilty
Jim Quilty, staff writer for the Daily Star, considers the recent film "Sabah" by Arab-Canadian writer-director Ruba Nadda in the broader context of other films that deal with the contradictory pulls of "assimilation" and "tradition" facing Muslims "living in non-Muslim societies". Although at times overly "saccharine and cute", Quilty finds that the movie captures the "pathological politeness" of its host country in the same way that many European films depict the personalities and characteristics of other countries where Muslim immigrants find themselves, struggling to define themselves in their new space.
(Source: Daily Star, March 30, 2006)

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ARTICLE 1
The door of ijtihad is open
Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

London - One of the criticisms levelled against Islam is that it is a religion frozen in time, one that has not embraced new paradigms of the modern world. In reality, Islam has always been a living, vibrant faith that adapts to new and changing circumstances.

Though some scholars have attempted to freeze the interpretation of Islam, most accept the view that Islamic Divine Law, or shari‘a, is subject to ongoing re-evaluation according to the principles of juristic reasoning, known as ijtihad. The purpose of this ongoing process of ijtihad is to adapt shari‘a to changing societal circumstances. Thus, most Islamic scholars say that "the door of ijtihad" remains open.

Ijtihad has a rich and controversial history that is worth examining in order to understand the issues surrounding it today. The concept of ijtihad emerged out of necessity in a highly eventful period when the Muslim community was expanding rapidly into new lands and cultures. With expansion, Islam’s ability to adapt to new environments was tested, and the community of believers saw the need to develop and formalise methods of adjusting Islamic regulations to various socio-cultural contexts. Brilliant scholars emerged to lead this effort. Each of these luminaries had a direct connection to the Prophet, his companions or their successors – a practice that guaranteed the authenticity of their understanding of this complex process of adaptation.

While the Qur’an and Hadith (traditions of the Prophet and his companions) were grounded in a fixed time, place, and socio-cultural milieu of seventh century Arabia, Islam’s message and the law it brought was for every time and place. So, scholars sought to penetrate the principles behind the thousands of rulings made in the time of the Prophet and his successors in order to build a system of precedent-based law that would provide a solid foundation for jurists in the future.

These principles include the consensus of scholars, analogy to prior rulings, pursuit of the greater good, the idea that a lesser harm is preferable to a greater harm, and the importance of pre-existing customs and practices. These principles stipulate that law can depend on precedence, not unlike the way contemporary American laws must conform to the precedent of existing law and court case history, or the way in which Jewish Kashrut law builds on the rulings of earlier scholars, which depend on analogy with situations addressed in the Torah or in the tradition of Moses and the Judaic prophets.

Over time, different scholars developed different schools of jurisprudence based on these principles, and after three centuries, there were more than 400 different schools with subtle variations of interpretation. Unfortunately, instead of benefiting from the diversity of opinions, adherents of one school sometimes became adversarial to other schools, insisting their own interpretation and methodology was the only correct one. This resulted in debate, conflict and finally open bloodshed between adherents of different schools – something their founders never intended.

In order to stop this confusion, fourteenth century Sunni Islamic scholars banned the creation of new schools. Then, the number of "acceptable" schools was whittled down to the four with the largest followings, each named after their founding scholars: Maliki, now found primarily in Africa; Hanafi, found in Central Asia, Turkey, the Balkans and the Indian sub-continent; Shafii, followed in the Middle East and Southeast Asia; and Hanbali, followed mainly in the Arabian Peninsula.

With the establishment of the four schools, the process of ijtihad was restricted, in order to prevent the factionalist strife that ensued with a proliferation of methods of interpreting Islamic law, but it was not eliminated. Rather, as time passed these schools refined their founders’ principles of deriving law and legal judgments. By the time they emerged as the four Sunni schools, each had established a complete methodology for legal questions in light of changing times, places, circumstances and social milieus.

An oft-cited example is that of Imam Shafii who, when first formulating the basic rulings of his school in Baghdad, took a relaxed approach to social interaction between men and women in public places. However, after moving to Cairo, he called for stricter rules of separation between genders. When asked why, he cited the cultural differences he observed between Egyptians and Iraqis which necessitated stricter regulations to prevent adultery.

A more recent example of this sort of reasoning is found in the legal ruling, issued by Shaykh Ali Jumaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, which permits Muslims living in non-Muslim lands to buy, sell and serve alcoholic drinks. This ruling came as a shock to many, but was based on solid Islamic juristic reasoning. While it appears to directly contradict the Qur’an and Hadith, it was based on an earlier ruling by Imam Abu Hanifa, whose school is by far the largest in the world. Imam Abu Hanifa argued that in a place where shari‘a is not observed, Muslims may circumvent the law in accordance with vital need. Thus, Shaykh Jumaa derived his ruling not from a newfound openness to alcohol in Islam, but from a principle enunciated early in Islam by Imam Abu Hanifa, founder of one of the four Sunni schools.

These examples demonstrate the living, vibrant nature of Islamic jurisprudence, as well as its ability to respond to new challenges and changing times. However, it must be stressed that this practice of juristic reasoning, or ijtihad, is strictly limited to those with the required legal and spiritual training and knowledge.

Jurisprudence requires not just knowledge and understanding of the sacred texts, but a deep comprehension of the circumstances around the issue being addressed and an intuitive spiritual wisdom that guides the jurist towards a decision that fulfils not just the letter of the law, but also the practical realities of a given time and place. The spiritual wisdom needed to derive well-rounded and valued rulings is not something that comes from excessive study or memorisation. Rather, it is an inner light that comes from sincere devotion to God and a spiritual connection to the source of guidance. That light is developed and maintained by means of rigorous exercises under the guidance of masters of spiritual training and enlightenment.

The history of Islam shows that ijtihad and juristic reasoning, conducted by competent and spiritually enlightened scholars, have enabled the social, cultural and intellectual adaptation of Islam to innumerable contexts. This living, vibrant heritage, that is open to change and adaptation, will continue to sustain the faith through many centuries to come.

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* Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani is a scholar and Sufi shaykh from Lebanon. He is a founding member and chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, an organisation that promotes the tolerance and moderation inherent in traditional Islam. This article is part of a series of views on the role of ijtihad in Muslim-Western relations, published jointly by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and United Press International (UPI).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 12, 2005
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Dr. Wafa Sultan’s Criticisms Miss the Mark
Nancy El-Gindy

Cairo - Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American psychiatrist, has attracted much media attention in recent days because of her brash criticism of Muslims. As a result of a recent Al-Jazeera interview, she has received world-wide attention because of her controversial views on Islam, which seem to echo the views of some in the Western world.

Sultan states that the "clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilisations". However, in the same breath she concludes that the supposed conflict between the Muslim and Western worlds is "a clash between civilisation and backwardness, between the civilised and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality". And the objects of her criticism are Muslims.

Contradictions and sweeping statements like these fill Dr. Sultan’s discourse. She is correct in arguing that violence and terrorism will not lead to solutions but to problems, but few mainstream Muslim scholars would argue that Islam condones violence. Thus, Dr. Sultan paints all Muslims with the same brush, ignoring the fact that the Qur’an is being misinterpreted, or misused, to promote violence by only a small minority.

"When the Muslims divided people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and made calls to fight ‘the others’ until they believe in what Muslims believe," Sultan claims, "they started this clash, and began this war." By using such rhetoric, Sultan is helping create the perception that more conflict exists than actually does. By doing so she is playing into the hands of extremists who would like very much for a real war to be fought between the Muslim and Western worlds. Furthermore, mainstream Muslims are not seeking to expand the reach of Islam through the use of force, and examples of contemporary forced conversions are few and far between.

Sultan also claims that "we have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people". She emphasises that Jews gained respect and freedom from discrimination not through "crying and yelling" or committing violence, but through their "knowledge" and "work". Yet, the history of the founding of the state of Israel is rife with terrorism – before, during and after World War II, the Zionist terrorist groups Irgun and Lehi ran a network of terrorists in Palestine and elsewhere who sought to force the British out of their League of Nations-granted mandate over Palestine.

Finally, Sultan proceeds to do the history of science a great disservice. "Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists", she states. She follows this by praising Christians and Jews for their rational secularism, arguing that Christians and Jews are not "people of the Book", the Muslim phrase for followers of the other Abrahamic faiths, but "people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking."

This, of course, flies in the face of the important, if much earlier contributions of Muslim scientists to modern science.

During the Dark Ages, when Christian Europe believed that scientifically provable assertions that contradicted the Bible were heretical, and even sentenced scientists to death as heretics, Muslims had already separated science from religion. If it hadn’t been for the scholarship of Muslims, even Aristotle and Plato’s works might not have been preserved for posterity.

Muslims were the inventors of algebra, pharmacology and optometry. Harvard's George Sarton, a renowned historian of science, states that "modern medicine is entirely an Islamic development." Johann Weger was among thousands of European physicians between the 15th and 17th centuries who learned medicine from the works of ar-Razi and Avicenna. In the 1lth century, al-Haytham made many of the same discoveries in optics that Newton made, only several centuries before.

Such sweeping generalisations as Sultan makes are simply wrong. Muslims are neither better nor worse than other groups. Blaming Islam for the mistakes and actions of a few is misguided. Indeed, most "Islamic" terrorists have political aims, not necessarily religious ones, although they support their actions with perverted readings of Muslim religious texts.

Despite her apparently good intentions – to force Muslims to reconsider their approach to the modern world and to combat prejudice among Muslims against those of other faiths, particularly Jews – her arguments and combative approach to these issues are strengthening divisions, and creating a perception that an insurmountable wall exists between Muslims and the West. Rather than creating more divisions, Sultan could have used her outspoken-ness to promote greater discussion, and to educate Muslims and non-Muslims about each other’s cultures and contributions to human progress, and to work toward defusing the real and destructive conflicts, such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the war in Iraq, which are the primary causes and venues for such divisions as do exist.

Those in the West and Muslim world who seem inclined to call Sultan a hero for criticising and pointing out problems which are already well-known and understood would do better to look to those whose intentions are not to create divisions through unfounded criticism, but to resolve them through constructive actions.

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* Nancy El-Gindy is a student at the American University in Cairo and a former participant in the Soliya Arab-American online dialogue program.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 11, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
India's madrasas beacons of tolerance
IslamOnline

Calcutta - The Education Minister in India's state of West Bengal Kanti Biswas said Tuesday, April 4, that Islamic religious schools (madrasas) are promoting tolerance and communal harmony among different faiths in the multi-religious country. "People find it difficult to believe, but our madrasas ... are reflecting the modern aspirations and expectations of the community irrespective of religion", he told Reuters. "We had carefully planned the madrasas’ reforms to make young minds understand the values of religious tolerance and it is finally paying off."

Officials began reviewing Islamic schools in 1977, introducing history and social sciences beside the study of the Noble Qur'an. Geography, science and computing were also introduced into madrasas after 2002. There are also plans for foreign languages soon.

The reforms have been credited with bringing about a change in the social outlook of the state's various faiths, and have attracted both teachers and students from other religions to the madrasas. Now, nearly 25 percent of the 400,000 students who attend madrasas, and 15 percent of their 10,000 teachers are non-Muslims.

Hindus make up the majority of the 80 million population in West Bengal but a quarter of the populace is Muslims.

Role Model

Julita Oraon, a 14-year-old devout Christian, is one of the tens of thousands of non-Muslim students attending madrasas. "I like the subject very much and the fact that I am a Christian has never been a problem with my Muslim friends", she said.

Julita, who never misses Sunday mass, is posting higher marks in Arabic tests than her Muslim classmates at the Badaitari Ujiria Madrasah in Jalpaiguri district, about 500 km (300 miles) north of the state capital Calcutta.

Tapas Layek, the Hindu headmaster of a madrasa in south Calcutta, also has several co-religionists as colleagues. "We are loved and respected by our Muslim students who are also friendly with their Hindu classmates," he said.

Renowned Bengali filmmaker Mrinal Sen, a former jury member at the Cannes festival, said the state's experiment should be copied across the country. "I can't help but be amazed at the way some of these religious schools are working towards communal harmony," he said.

Clearing Misconceptions

Prominent figures have praised madrasas in the Indian state as a role model, helping to clear the old misconceptions about Indian Muslims. "The perception of the respective communities about different cultures and religions has helped residents of West Bengal to bridge the gulf of mistrust and come together," said Swapan Pramanik, a leading sociologist and vice-chancellor of Vidya Sagar University in Calcutta. "This has been a significant development in madrasas for the entire world to see."

He said madrasas have caused a change in the conservative outlook of both Muslims and Hindus toward each other. "The changes have rubbed off on parents and whole communities, who have been able to spread the message of harmony."

Ahmed Hasan Imran, the general secretary of the Muslim Council of Bengal, agreed.

"In the 1970s, the mistrust grew and Muslims were thought to be friends of Pakistan and mostly spies", he said. "But that perception gradually changed with the reforms in the madrasas as well as other education institutes."

Thousands died in communal violence that erupted after the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. Violence also erupted in the 1960s and 1970s following the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims and Hindus from what was then East Pakistan and became Bangladesh.

The madrasas' role has even been evident during communal tension over the past years.

In 1992, India was wracked by deadly communal riots after a Hindu mob destroyed a mosque in the northern holy city of Ayodhya. But in Bengal, students from madrasas, both Muslims and Hindus, led processions denouncing the demolition.

In the aftermath of the Gujarat anti-Muslim riots a decade later, Bengal's Hindus, Christians and Muslims were quick to meet to ensure passions were cooled. The state government offered riot victims the chance to come and settle in West Bengal.

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* This article appeared online at IslamOnline.
Source: IslamOnline, April 4, 2006
Visit the website at www.islamonline.net
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Iraqi women argue, but agree on their special role
Howard LaFranchi

New York - In a roomful of Iraqi and American women, brought together to explore how they can join to build a new Iraq, the discussions are stuck in recriminations, accusations and the past.

Were we worse off under Saddam Hussein or with the current splintering violence? Should American troops stay, or should they go? What is the place of women who left Iraq, while others endured, but have returned and want a piece of the power?

At times it's all shouts, dismissals, and walking out.

Then a voice of reason rises above the din. "I would like to stop talking about the dictatorial regime, or [how] the Americans made this and this mistake, and go forward," pleads Shahla Waliy, a young Iraqi woman in a colourful Kurdish veil. "Our country is bleeding."

This kind of intervention surfaces periodically during the two-day gathering, organised recently in New York by the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

While there is talk of practical solutions to Iraq's needs - of job banks for widows, programs to help orphans and street kids, and arts education in the dreary schools - the conversation is often heated, a single-room microcosm of the wrenching issues Iraqis face back home. Perhaps one of the most pressing needs, judging from this assemblage, is for reconciliation.

"I know from working with women in Rwanda, and Israelis and Palestinians, that a critical step in healing is letting go of the past," the program's convener, Dena Merriam, tells the group.

Other delegations of Iraqi women visited the United States since the fall of Mr. Hussein, but they have usually been more like-minded than not: members of a post- Hussein provisional government, for example, or teachers.

The Global Peace Initiative's "women's summit" was a first for bringing a cross section of Iraqi women to meet with American women. Organisers say it wasn't easy - first, because of visa issues. But difficulties also stemmed from the desire to include a broad spectrum of Iraqi women - with a result that reveals the divisions in a torn country.

"We need to end the occupation! We need to end the occupation!" shouts one Iraqi woman as she storms out of a discussion. Others take a different view. "We don't want America to withdraw now!" insists Zakia Hakki, a jurist and member of Iraq's National Assembly who returned from the United States after Hussein's ouster. "In that case they would come back to power, those Ba’athists, those murderers!"

At times, the divisions leave organisers wondering if Iraqis are ready for dialogue on putting their future first. It's the same doubt some U.S. officials in Baghdad express in view of the long deadlock among political factions over forming a new government. If Iraqi women are stuck in the same divisions, do they really have a special role in healing the country?

Despite their differences, the women say yes. For one thing, they recognise that they are still all treated as a secondary group, despite their majority status in the population and the skills learned while war took men away.

"We should remember that in reality we are still unrecognised", Judge Hakki says at one point. Even as this group meets, she adds, "the future of Iraq is being decided behind closed doors, among the leaders of political groups, and still there is not a single woman there".

The women at the summit hold different views, but they all tend to focus less on power and violence and more on the well-being of children. Below, four of these women explain their hopes for Iraq.

Pascale Warda
President, Assyrian Women's Union
Pascale Warda is a true believer in the necessity of political power for women. "If the Iraqi woman has the support of other women, then she will change the country, believe me," says Ms. Warda, who was a minister in the interim government under Allawi who now works to empower women.

So what does she make of the divisions so evident among the Iraqi women?

"It is important to see that it is not a division of religions, no - it is the past and the present, those who were OK with the time of Saddam Hussein and those who were not."

Like others, she insists the sectarian strife roiling Iraq today is fed by political leaders looking to advance their own power. "In Iraq we have no religious fanaticism, please say that," says the Chaldean Christian. "It is the politicians using the religious card to arrive at their own political gains."

That is where women come in, says Warda - who lived in France from 1981 to 1995, when she returned to the Kurdish north. In sufficient numbers, astute women - and not just puppets - can tip the balance to a government focused on the services that women and children need, she says. Warda herself was denied a seat in the new National Assembly by what she labels "political corruption". "Women don't so much work for their own power at whatever terrible cost", Warda says. "So if we can make women stronger in our politics, things will be better."

Rashad Zaydan
Physician
Rashad Zaydan holds that knowledge - not politics - is what will change the course for Iraqi women. Suspicious of politicians, male or female, Dr. Rashad says women need skills. That is why her Women and Knowledge Society focuses on teaching women practical tools like cooking, sewing, and computer skills.

"We teach widows more about cooking and sewing, so they can do things in their homes to make some money and keep their families alive", she says.

Rashad's organisation also serves the growing number of war orphans, either by helping them find family members to live with, or by opening orphanages in places like Fallujah, Abu Ghraib, and the Dora neighbourhood of Baghdad.

An opponent of U.S. military presence in Iraq, Rashad blames the Americans as much as anyone else for Iraq's slide into sectarianism: she says they raised sectarian profiles by forming post-Hussein governments on the basis of ethnic criteria rather than skills.

"They started to speak in that way. And it was the wrong way," she says, shaking a finger. "Whether the Americans knew it or not, they arranged for this."

But she sees a role for American assistance. Citing an American woman who sent three computers so her organisation could teach computer skills, Rashad says, "Imagine what more we could do if America's money was not for war but to assist and educate the Iraqi people?"

Lamia Jamal Talebani
Founder, Voice of Independent Women

Lamia Jamal Talebani left Iraq shortly after the Ba’athist coup of 1963, and she returned after the Ba’athist regime's fall. The health specialist and sculptor dismisses those who call for the U.S. military to leave Iraq: "They call it invasion, but no, we say that it is liberation."

Women have a specific role in Iraq, she says: first is to work with the youths "who are confused and lost" in the violence. For that reason, Ms Talebani founded the Voice of Independent Women Organization, which she says "works to empower women and youth".

Second, says Talebani, a cousin of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, women must be active in resisting the divisions that "benefit certain political forces" but hurt Iraqi women. "There are no sectarian divisions among ordinary women, ordinary people", she says. "It is all created by the political parties to get more power and higher positions in the new government."

U.S. officials are mistaken in focusing on political leaders holed up in Baghdad's Green Zone, "who claim to be our leaders but are not from the grassroots", she says.

But initiatives like the one in New York suggest Americans are beginning to envision a different relationship with Iraq, she says. When she returns to Baghdad, "I will tell the young women there that we are not alone, because I have seen the faces of the American women who are so much with us."

Shahla Waliy
Director of a non-profit development organisation

Shahla Waliy is fed up with war: she's in her early 30s, and she's already lived through three. But that does not mean she believes the answer for Iraq is for the foreign forces to leave. "Don't think that you just put out the American soldiers and everything will be right in Iraq. No, totally wrong", she says.

Expressing a calm wisdom for her young age, the Sunni Kurd says Iraqis and Americans must step back from the growing divisions between them and "come up with a new plan to rebuild Iraq".

Part of that should be insistence from the United States, particularly from American women, she says, that Iraqi women's rights not be subject to local application of shari‘a, or Islamic holy law, as provided for in the new constitution. "The radicals in government are hiding behind their religious identity", Ms. Waliy says, "but I do not want us to be Iran No. 2".

However, she is wary of the new election provision mandating that 25 percent of a party's candidates be women. "The parties simply choose weak women, and it destroys women's image in Iraq", she says. "They should be there for their talent."

Waliy, whose organisation helps Iraqis secure basic services, wants Americans to question the picture of an increasingly divided Iraq, and to understand that "ordinary Iraqis", and especially women, want no part of sectarian splits.

"I'm proud to be Kurdish and Sunni," Waliy says. "But let me tell you, I am Iraqi."

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* Howard LaFranchi is a staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
© Copyright The Christian Science Monitor. Reprint permission can be obtained by contacting lawrenced@csps.com

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ARTICLE 5
Forbidden romance blooms under cover of politeness
Jim Quilty

Beirut - It’s a warm summer day at a bus stop, a Canadian one. A lone, uncomfortable-looking woman in hijab is gazing with apparent envy as another (very much not in hijab) strides by, unfazed by the heat. At home, the first woman quickly peels off her sweaty headgear, breathing a sigh of relief.

Sweaty-summertime-hijab syndrome is a commonplace rarely addressed in films, particularly those set in the relatively frigid environs of Toronto. At its best, "Sabah", by Arab-Canadian writer-director Ruba Nadda, casts an informed eye upon the contradictions in a Muslim family living in a non-Muslim society. Jaundiced critics will be tempted to slate the 34-year-old director's depiction of the immigrant condition as saccharine and irredeemably cute. Anyone who's spent any time in Canada - that large, sparsely populated, pathologically polite country - will recognise in "Sabah" a vision that is true to the sensibilities of the host country.

The muhajjaba (veiled woman) we meet at the beginning of the film is the eponymous Sabah (Beirut-born Arsinee Khanjian, familiar to film buffs from her numerous roles in the work of auteur Atom Egoyan, himself credited as an executive producer of this film). The only unmarried daughter of a Syrian immigrant family, Sabah lives with her widowed mother. She's also turning 40 - a perilous place, as rumour has it. Sabah's family evokes a number of emigrant Arab archetypes. There's Majid (Jeff Seymour), the stern, traditional brother who patrols the moral borders of the family. Their sister, Shaheera (Roula Said), is raising a rebellious twenty-something daughter, Souhaire (Fadia Nadda). When Sabah asks her how she manages to date boys, Souhaire smiles: "I lie."

On her birthday Sabah is inspired to start swimming at a public pool. Such an idea would cause a family stink, being veiled and all. So, like many women struggling to reconcile their needs to the social pressure to conform, she lies. Things go terribly wrong for the status quo when Stephen (Shawn Doyle) walks into the pool and - before Sabah can flee - uses her towel. In the subsequent flurry of apologies (both are Canadian, remember), pheromones are exchanged. Stephen asks her out. She shows up for the date in hijab.

Despite that, and the fact that Sabah insists on keeping him at arm's length from her family, a halting romance ensues. There are sub-plots. Sabah's only confidante is her niece Souhaire, who - herself conspiring to evade an arranged marriage with another Arab Muslim - counsels dishonesty and teaches her aunt the fine points of the belly dance. Khanjian's portrayal of Sabah, and of her burgeoning relationship with Stephen, are the strongest elements in the film. There's a gawky chemistry between her and Doyle - she covers her hair, she explains, because "it's considered provocative. Not my hair. I mean hair generally".

There is something about "Sabah" that makes it quite unlike other movies of its ilk. Enough Arab-Muslim migrant films have been made now that it's as tempting to draw conclusions about the host countries as it is about the artists who make them. For reasons that no doubt preoccupy film students, movies about the migrant experience in francophone countries - from Mathieu Kassovitz' "La Haine" ("Hate", 1995), about a trio of pals from the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, to Ziad Doueri's "Lila dit ca" ("Lila Says", 2004), a coming-of-age film set in Marseille - tend to be rather morose.

Rare exceptions - Mahmoud Zemmouri's "100% Arabica" (1997), for instance, a rai comedy featuring Khaled and Cheb Mami - prove the rule. Depictions of the South Asian experience in the United Kingdom aren't very flattering either. Take Kenny Glenaan's "Yasmin" (2004), which could be the evil twin of "Sabah", set in northern England. The Turkish experience of Germany seems to be more equivocal, at least based on the work of Fatih Akin. In the romantic-comic road movie "Im Juli" ("In July", 2000), a German travels to Turkey in search of his dream girl. "Gegen die Wand" ("Head On", 2004) follows a parallel plot vector to "Im Juli", albeit with two Turkish-German characters, but it's so violently hard-edged it makes "Yasmin" look like an after-school special.

As you go further north in continental Europe, you're more likely to find comedy. Albert Ter Heerdt's "Shouf Shouf Habibi!" (2004) features a cast of Moroccan-Dutch characters that have much in common with those of "Sabah" and are undergoing the same contradictory pulls of "assimilation" and "tradition". Shot before the Theo van Gogh murder, it is replete with jokes at the expense of Moroccan and Dutch manhood. The prototype of the light-hearted migrant story, though, comes from Scandinavia. Josef Fares's "Jalla! Jalla!" (2000) folds all the elements of conflicting assimilation and tradition - Lebanese-Swedish boy with Swedish girlfriend must marry Lebanese-Swedish girl, as supervised by girl's domineering older brother - into a working class romantic comedy, even fabricating a happy ending. It's not the most realistic treatment, but "Jalla! Jalla!" breathes a draught of fresh air over an otherwise stifling scenario.

Fares's new film, "Zozo" (which opens in Beirut tonight), follows a young migrant from civil war Lebanon to Sweden, and attempts to combine both sides of the migration equation with equal measures of pathos and humour. Many of the plot, character, and thematic elements of these films overlap with those of "Sabah," but the tone and character of Nadda's film are quite distinct. It lacks the slapstick elements of the comedies while shying away from the irreconcilable differences probed by Kassovitz and Akin.

The defining difference, perhaps, is that "Sabah" is a North American film. For this reason, it more closely echoes that genre of romantic comedy exemplified by Joel Zwick's "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002) and, rather more closely, "Moonstruck" (1987), an Italian-American "oddball romance" by Norman Jewison (another Canadian). As in Jewison's movie, Nadda's plot takes Sabah's family about as close to fracturing as can be imagined.

Then there's a happy resolution. It turns out that Sabah's mother is entirely willing to consider Stephen as a son-in-law. The boyfriend Majid has found for Souhaire is actually a cool guy. Majid, it seems, is an idiot because he's been bearing such a heavy burden that he's been unable to share. Nadda herself has said that she worked to make Majid's position explicable because she wanted to avoid an over-simplified version of the immigrant story. She dislikes efforts to pigeonhole "Sabah" into comparisons with other films of its type. Highlighting its "Arab migrant archetypes", she says, forces "Sabah" into a role it was never meant to fill.

This film, she says, is about a woman realising that she can make choices. Is the result saccharine and irredeemably cute? By most measures, yes. The filmmaking isn't necessarily as good as the story is true. But "Sabah" faithfully replicates the pathological niceness of Canada as surely as Akin's work reflects the ambivalence of the German condition. If you want to see Khanjian in a film that gouges through the attenuated civility of the Canadian condition, pick up some Atom Egoyan.

Ruba Nadda's "Sabah" is now screening in movie theatres throughout greater Beirut.

###
* Jim Quilty is a Canadian staff writer for the Daily Star, based in Beirut.
Source: Daily Star, March 30, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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Dear Friends,
I spent last week in Hangzhou and we plan to meet there next year, please see www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/annualmeeting09.php.

China Hosts First Buddhism Forum
Buddhists from more than 30 countries are in China for the World Buddhist Forum - communist China's first international religious gathering.

Hundreds of monks and scholars are visiting the eastern city of Hangzhou, but Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has not been invited.

China regards the exiled Tibetan leader as a separatist.

It has made its choice of Panchen Lama - Tibet's second most important figure - the figurehead of the conference.

But according to Reuters news agency he appeared to be shunned by delegates.

Fellow Buddhists made no attempt to greet Gyaltsen Norbu during greeting ceremonies ahead of the conference on Wednesday, the agency reported.

Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4905140.stm.

Zim Must Learn Chinese

By Sifelani Tsiko
Harare

FOR a long time as Zimbabweans we had become accustomed to thinking that speaking and writing English was sufficient for all our needs.

This had also crippled us into believing that we could not learn any other language besides English. Early this year, talk about plans to introduce Chinese into the country's education system was met with resistance. I was also sceptical about learning Chinese, joining the bandwagon of people with a stunted view of the world. But travelling is seeing. When I was in Beijing recently, I realised the importance of learning a foreign language. I was mistaken to think that English as influential as it was, is spoken in every corner of the world. In Beijing, the Chinese speak in their native tongue. My failure to understand Chinese created barriers.

I couldn't enjoy the experience of being in China until I met a young Zimbabwean who was fluent in Chinese. Her language skills made a difference for me and made my stay in Beijing enjoyable. Linguists say a traveller who knows the language of the country not only has an easier time solving everyday problems associated with travel, but also has a more pleasant experience and greater understanding both of the people of a foreign country and their culture.

During my stay in Beijing, I realised that many business, political and educational leaders are belatedly realising that the whole world does not speak English. Whilst critics in Zimbabwe deride policies aimed at promoting the learning of Chinese, their Western counterparts -- the owners of the same English we boast about -- are busy opening up universities and other institutions to promote the learning of and understanding of Chinese culture.

Western universities are fighting for the Chinese educational market, to help prepare their own people as well as Chinese students for a role in a multilingual global society. Zimbabweans must be encouraged to learn Chinese, not by making it compulsory, but by communicating the benefits that go with it. Zimbabweans do not live in isolation.

They have to take their rightful place in this ever-changing interdependent w orld in which diverse cultural and linguistic groups converge. The Chinese prefer to converse, to do business and to negotiate in their native tongue. And by learning Chinese, Zimbabweans can develop the tools for dealing with various types of survival challenges, technical skills, interpersonal exchanges and to clinch better business deals with their counterparts.

It also leads to an expanded awareness of the need to conduct not only business, but also diplomatic relations in the language of the host country. Growing joint university programmes between Chinese and Western institutions combine global and local approaches to learning, something that if adopted here can help open up opportunities for young Zimbabweans who are increasingly becoming mobile. There is a growing desire among the young generation to travel abroad and learning Chinese can help them prepare for future opportunities.

Western countries are "looking East" in a big way as a result of increased activities in international business and the inflow of huge amounts of foreign capital into China. In the United States, there is a new foreign language policy that has now seen the Chinese language being taught at primary, high school and university level. It aims to prepare students to take up business opportunities in one of the world's fastest growing economies. The Americans now see sense in learning Chinese after years of mistrust and a stunted anti-communist world view.

Zimbabwe must also take up the challenge to promote joint university programmes between itself and China to prepare our young scholars for the future. Given the giant economic strides registered in China, there is no doubt that this giant Asian country will continue to play a prominent role in world affairs. This role demands that Zimbabweans be able to understand the language and culture of the Chinese to promote business and other bilateral relations. Learning a foreign language, of course, takes time and shoul d be started at an early stage.

And moves by Old Windsor Primary School to introduce Chinese are laudable and can open the doors for young Zimbabweans to the future. We should not discourage but interest students about learning Chinese in much the same way as we interest them to learn English, French, Afrikaans, Spanish and Portuguese. Learning foreign languages will also help to build our corps of foreign language translators and interpreters.

Other students can even open up language translation businesses in future. China is prepared to fund programmes that promote the learning of Chinese. Conversely, China is also benefiting from a small but growing army of Zimbabwean English language teachers who are going to China to teach English at a number of institutions in the giant Asian nation. These Zimbabweans are now mastering Chinese while at the same time using their skills to teach the English language to the Chinese. And, I believe every language Zimbabweans master will en hance their enjoyment and reduce their frustration and isolation as they travel around

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Copyright © 2006 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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Dear Friends!

China Supports Buddhism in Building Harmonious World
2006-04-13 00:29:47
Xinhua
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/811/2006/04/13/198@76750.htm

The Chinese government will go on supporting the role of Buddhism and other religions in the course of building a prosperous and harmonious world, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.

Meeting participants at the First World Buddhist Forum, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said, "Building a harmonious world requires the concerted efforts of the people of all nations and an active role played by various civilizations and religions."

The theme of the forum -- "A harmonious world begins in the mind" -- was very significant, said Jia, adding the forum would strengthen exchanges and cooperation between Buddhists worldwide.

The First World Buddhist Forum is being held in the scenic city of Hangzhou and nearby Zhoushan in the eastern Zhejiang Province from April 13 to 16.

More than 1,000 monks and religious experts from 33 countries and the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will attend.

The theme enunciates the call of Chinese President Hu Jintao for a harmonious society and a harmonious world, and coincides with "harmony", the creams of traditional Chinese culture.

Participants will focus on issues of Buddhism's unity and cooperation, social responsibilities and peaceful missions to spur efforts for a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious world.

Buddhism has been developing in China since its introduction from India more than 20 centuries ago. It is estimated there are approximately 100 million Buddhists in China.

"The Chinese government has fully implemented the policy of religious freedom," Jia said, noting that all religions were treated on an equal footing.

His words were echoed by Qi Xiaofei, vice-president of China's Religious Culture Communication Association, who pledged the government would continue to safeguard freedom in religious belief.

But the official, also deputy director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, acknowledged that Buddhism, with such a long history in China, is more closely related to Chinese traditions with a profound impact on Chinese culture.

"Chinese culture values the concept of harmony, which is quite similar to Buddhist doctrines. That's why Buddhism is more popular in China", he said, adding that it demanded the consensus and support of believers as well as public understanding and cooperation for the sake of holding an international religious conference.

"Everything hinges on the essential conditions. These things happen naturally if conditions are ripe," he said in response to a question on the possibility of holding international forums on other religions.

The forum, the first of its kind in China's 2000-year Buddhist history, is sponsored by the Buddhist Association of China and the China Religious Culture Communication Association.

The forum was first proposed in 2004 by eight disciples from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, a proposal that won ensuing support from Buddhist circles in 41 countries worldwide including Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Please read the entire article at http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/811/2006/04/13/198@76750.htm

‘Super-diversity’ in European Cities and Its Implications for Anthropological Research.

Keynote: Steven Vertovec (University of Oxford)

Anthropological studies on migrants in urban contexts have been characterised by a tension between two methodological strands: one approach has focused on migrant communities categorised on the grounds of region of origin, ethnicity and religion, while the other approach has focused on neighbourhoods, places and urban environments and the interaction between groups and individuals. The first approach is informed by a more 'traditional' anthropological focus on ethnic groups, and allows an in-depth ethnographic analysis of cultural and social practices of individuals with shared historical and cultural backgrounds. It has been prevalent in earlier studies of migration and the recent studies on transnationalism, but criticised for its tendency to essentialise groups and ignore overlapping networks. The second approach is influenced by longstanding interests in urban pluralism and allows to shed light on cross-cutting ties and negotiations of belonging in specific localities. However, it makes an in-depth analysis of migrants’ cultural and historical backgrounds difficult.

The proposed workshop aims to tackle the methodological, analytical and conceptual challenges that come with the possible tension between the two approaches. It invites papers based on research in ‘super-diverse’ urban contexts in Europe with people of non-migrant background, new and long established migrants, people of different regions of origin, ethnicity, religion, age, class, education and legal status. Of particular interest are papers which focus on localities of every-day encounter and social spaces, some of which are strongly shaped by translocal activities. Such spaces are for example religious groups, political, ethnic, and professional associations, ethnic businesses, community centres and youth clubs. Participants are invited to reflect on the challenges of research in super-diverse urban contexts in order to understand everyday diversity in European cities.

Please send your abstracts (max. 300 words) for papers (max. 20 min.) by the end of April to susanne.wessendorf@anthro.ox.ac.uk ; kristine.krause@anthro.ox.ac.uk

For further information on the conference see: http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa06/index.htm

ZENTRALASIEN: der autoritäre Weg - Schwerpunktthema im neuen "überblick" (www.der-ueberblick.de)

Die Hoffnungen auf Demokratie an der Seidenstraße sind zerplatzt.
Autoritäre Eliten herrschen in Zentralasien nach Gutdünken und eignen sich die Bodenschätze an.

Weitere Themen aus Argentinien, Brasilien, Bulgarien, Kanada, Venezuela, etwa Teersand statt Öl.

All das finden Sie in der neuen Ausgabe von "der überblick" (Euro 6,00 + Versandkosten).

www.der-ueberblick.de
(herausgegeben i.A. vom Evangelischen Entwicklungsdienst und von Brot für
die Welt).

Vergangene Schwerpunkte: Chinas Griff nach Afrika, Mediziner für den Norden,
AIDS und Gesellschaft, Pfingstkirchen, Entwicklungspolitik, Fisch und Welternährung,
Afrika, Umgang mit Tod und Trauer, Bildung, Migration, Tansania, Sklaverei heute, Energie, NGOs, Exil, Vorsorge, Grenzen, Mexiko, Aids, Gefängnisse, Maghreb.

Mit freundlicher Empfehlung
die Redaktion

Call for Papers

The Korean Association of Psychological and Social Issues will be holding an international conference on October 28-29, 2006. The theme of the conference is: Asia's Educational Miracle: Psychological, Social and Cultural Perspectives. The goal of this conference is to examine the factors that contribute to a high level of academic achievement, as well as the costs involved in the pressure to achieve. Its objectives can be summarized in the following way: 1) To examine the factors that contribute to educational attainment; 2) To examine the role that family, school, community, society and culture play in promoting high achievement; 3) To examine those adolescents who are not able to become high achievers and who suffer from psychological and social problems; who become either a bully or a victim of school violence; and those who engage in truancy, delinquency or drop out from the school system; 4) To examine diverse teaching methods, curriculum and a school environment that promotes curiosity and encourages creativity; 5) To encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and participation by addressing the above issues from psychological, social and cultural perspectives; 6) Although the theme of this conference focuses on Asia, we would like to explore various factors that facilitate or impede educational attainment globally; 7) To examine healthy human development throughout an individual's life span; 8) To go beyond the focus on adolescent achievement by focusing on life-span perspectives and addressing topics such as family and parent-child relationship, developmental trajectories, school system and community integrity, interpersonal and social relationships, career selection and achievement in organizational settings, and health and quality of life.

The conference will become a forum for establishing the Asian Association of Educational and Developmental Psychology, and to launch the Asian Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology. We will collaborate with the Korean Association of Psychological and Social Issues as well as the Asian Association of Social Psychology to explore the possibility of establishing a larger umbrella organization, tentatively named the Asian Association of Psychology. We hope to become a third force in psychology and become a counterpart to the American Psychological Association and the European Psychological Association.

The conference consists of keynote speakers and invited addresses, symposia, paper sessions, and poster sessions. Interested participants should submit a 150-word abstract, which includes title, author and institutional affiliation. For symposium submissions, please include a 100-word introduction, list of participants and abstracts of the participants. The deadline for submission is August 31, 2006. The conference will be held at Inha University, Incheon, South Korea. Incheon is the third largest city located on the coast of the Yellow Sea and is 40km from Seoul.

Registration fee (includes program, book of abstracts, two lunches, two dinners, cultural shows and beverages)
$150 Economically developed nations (per capita GNP over $10,000 US)
$100 Economically developing nations (per capita GNP less than $10,000 US) and students

Accommodation
$120 Five-star Ramada Songdo Hotel (located 10 minutes drive from Inha University by shuttle bus)
$60 Three-star hotel (near the university)
$50 Inha University Guest House

Tours: Tours will be arranged for interested participants before and after the conference and also for the spouse during the conference.

List of keynote and invited speakers:
Allan Bernardo, Philippines, Cultural dimensions of learning and educational performance; Gian Vittorio Caprara, Italy, Longitudinal analysis of achievement in Italy; Chi Yue Chiu, USA, Role of Multicultural Experiences in Creativity; Ruey-Ling Chu, Taiwan, Human relationship and achievement in Taiwan; Lutz Eckensberger, Germany, Moral development and action psychology; Ying-yi Hong, USA, Development of achievement motivation across cultures; Kwang-Kuo Hwang, Taiwan, Confucianism, relationalism, and achievement; Kenji Kamaguchi, Japan, Problems of adjustment to school in Japan; Kwok Leung, China, Understanding the cultural basis of achievement; Vivienne Lewis, Australia, Body image, learning and healthy social and psychological development in Australia; Jin Li, USA, How culture influences children's learning beliefs of Chinese, Chinese-American, and European-American children; Tsingsan Li, China, School and achievement in China; Chongdae Lin, China, Cognitive development, creativity, and academic achievement; Wen-Ying Lin, Taiwan, Analysis of academic achievement and cognitive development of adolescents in Taiwan; Luo Lu, Taiwan, Culture, self, stress management and subjective well-being; Ramesh Mishra, India, Education in India and challenges of traditional Sanskrit schools; Shahrenaz Mortazavi, Iran, Factors influencing educational attainment in Iran; Noriani Noor, Malaysia, Women and education in Malaysia; Cliff O¡¯Donnell, USA, Community integrity, delinquency and prevention; Gabriele Oettingen, USA, Goal-setting, self-regulation and achievement; Nansook Park, USA, Life satisfaction and character strengths in positive youth development; Rosnah Ridzwan, Educational attainment and counseling in Malaysia; Toshi Sasao, Japan, Creating a safe school environment in Japan; Tri Setiono, Indonesia, Child development and achievement in Indonesia; Ramadhar Singh, Singapore, A new value of social responsibility; Peter K. Smith, UK, The nature of school bullying and violence: Intervention and prevention; Shiori Sumiya, Japan, Adolescents, school adjustment and integrated learning; Romin Tafarodi, Canada, Self-concept and achievement across cultures; Ai-Girl Tan, Singapore, Cultivating creativity for the teachers; Junko Tanaka-Matsumi, Japan, Problems related to pressure to achieve in Japan; Susumu Yamaguchi, Japan; Concept of control, relationship and subjective well-being; Koyo Yamamori, Japan, Action research to foster self-regulated learning abilities for students; Tomoyuki Yasuda, Japan, The influence of cultural and community on adolescents and their achievement; Michelle Yik, China, Emotions and its effect on achievement; Michio Yoshida, Japan, The development of human relations program for teachers in Japan; Gang Zheng, China, Developmental trajectories of adolescents in China.

Contact person: Uichol Kim, Professor, College of Business Administration, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-dong Nam-gu, Incheon, 402-751, South Korea. Tel: 8232) 860-7815, 860-7816. FAX: 8232) 876-7815. E-mail: uicholk@chol.com; uicholk@yahoo.com; uicholk@inha.ac.kr.

Uichol Kim, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor
College of Business Administration
Inha University
253 Yonghyun-dong Nam-gu
Inchon, 402-751, Korea
Tel: 8232) 860-7815, 7816
FAX: 8232) 876-7815
E-mail: uicholk@chol.com; uicholk@inha.ac.kr

Mannal Radwan kindly forwarded this article to us:

Natasha Moore

In the Salmiya region, south of Kuwait City, women entered segregated voting stations this week to take part in council by-elections. The historic occasion marked the first opportunity for women to participate in the country’s political process after being granted full political rights last year. Two of the eight candidates were women.

Despite a light turnout, women interviewed by reporters were enthusiastic and hopeful that—with time—more women would exercise their new political rights. Indeed, Jinan Boushehri, one of the two female candidates, came second in the polls despite not being able to expose her face in advertising. Touted as a preview of the 2007 parliamentary election, women remained at a disadvantage in this political process. Still, they not only broke through traditional barriers, but also ensured that their voice was heard.

Full gender equality remains elusive across the globe. Gender imbalance pervades every corner and spans economic, social and political considerations. The Middle East and North Africa evidence a greater divergence between men and women, and the recent political and social upheavals in the region give rise to concern that gains hard won will be dashed.

In the same way that gender equality can be seen with divergent accents, so too must Islam be viewed not as one amorphous culture but as a collection of unique and complex environments. Tensions between traditional and modern interpretations of Islam have intensified debate around gender equality.

While many Islamic countries uphold non-gendered citizenship rights within their constitutions, the fact that theocratic texts provide a base for much legislation opens potential for fundamentalist interpretations which hold women in a position of subservience. For instance, gains made by women in Iran, including equal inheritance, progressive family law, and positions in legislature and legal system were quickly revoked after the 1979 Islamic revolution. It took months for sharia law to affect marriage age—reduced from 18 to 9 years—remove female judges, disallow women the right to divorce, enforce the hijab and permit polygamy.

A recent Gallup poll provided insight on how Islamic countries perceive the topic of women’s political rights. When asked if women should be allowed to hold leadership positions in cabinet or councils, a majority in all but one of eight predominantly Islamic countries agreed. The strength of agreement varied significantly—between 54 per cent and 91 per cent—with moderate Lebanon and Turkey recording the most liberal responses. Saudi Arabia stood out as the only country in which a majority did not agree.

A deeper analysis of this data indicates an internal divergence. Less than half the male population of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt agreed with the statement, and in several countries the gap in agreement between men and women is significant. In Morocco, 74 per cent of respondents supported the notion, but the gender breakdown shows a 39-point difference between men and women. Indeed, it is the stronger opinion of women that pushes Morocco to a high level of support.

Saudi Arabia was the only country in which a majority of women did not agree—45 per cent—and interestingly, Iran the only nation in which women are less supportive of their sisters than men, with 74 per cent and 83 per cent respectively.

The situation calls for an approach in which religious principles are complemented within a legislative framework that upholds basic human rights. Western nations should foster this regard for human rights without walking, again, down a path of cultural imperialism.

Global awareness must focus not only on the balance between religion and government, but also on the impact of foreign policy on moderate and non-violent Islam. In a 2005 paper titled ‘Understanding Islamism’, the International Crisis Group commented that "while the West in general and the U.S. in particular ought to be modest about their ability to shape the debate among Islamists, they also should be aware of how their policies affect it."

There are many factors that contribute to gender inequality but basic human rights cannot be anything but universal. Categorizing groups as a principle of faith and a basis for oppression has no cultural justification. The challenge to religious authority—particularly amongst conservative populations—remains considerable. Tensions between tradition and modernity must be played out in an arena in which cultural relativism does not become an ally of freedom.

Spring Meeting – Human Dignity in Polyphony/ ESEC
Escola Superior de Educacao de Coimbra, Portugal
26 - 29 April, 2006

Program
26th
16:30 h:
Arrival and reception of participants
Reception Dinner

27th
9: 30 h:
- Opening – Our School
– Ana Filipa Mateus and Luciana Joana
- Musical moment - Students of Musical Education
- Conference – Contrabando de Almas e de Outros Mundos, by Inês Reis, with comments of María Angustias Ortiz Molina Auditorium

1st Pannel – Race, Racism and Anti-Racism...
Paula Meneses/ Nilda Gomes/ Marta Araújo (Centre for Social Studies – Fac. of Economics, Univ. of Coimbra)
Debate
Auditorium

15:00 h:
- Seminar – It is not enough to have reason. Pedagogies for Equality...
- Celina Santos, Sandra Silvestre, Sandra Frade (Action for Justice and Peace - Project AGITO and Project IGUALDADES)
- Poiesis... – Sense coming out of Art: Aesthetics on the advent of Human Dignity. Performances by students of Music and Visual Arts ESEC

28th
9:30 h:
2nd Pannel – To educate in Peace and Conviviality...
María Angustías Ortiz Molina/ María Luísa Reyes/ Almudena Ocaña Fernandez/ Rosa Salido Olivares (Univ. of Granada - Spain) António Gonzalez (Univ. of Almería - Spain)
Debate
Auditorium

11:30 h:
Conference – Kjell Skyllstad (Univ. of Oslo – Norway)

29th
15h30:
- Participative democracy – Community as an agent of a sustainable and empowering economy

Sofia Silva, Bruna Fernandes, Inês Rodrigues, Sandy Santos e Sandra Silvestre

17h30:
Social Market – Action for Justice and Peace
International Centre of Action for Justice and Peace - Granja do Ulmeiro

INTERVIEW WITH NOBEL LAUREATE JOSEPH STIGLITZ

"The War Is Bad for the Economy"
April 5, 2006
SPIEGEL Magazine

Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, 63, discusses the true $1 trillion cost of the Iraq conflict, its impact on the oil market and the questions of whether the West can afford to impose sanctions on Iran. ...

Please see the entire text at http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,409710,00.html

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Am Donnerstag, den 13.04.2006 um 19:00 Uhr laden AfricAvenir und abok zur ersten von drei szenischen Lesungen in die Werkstatt der Kulturen. Gelesen wird aus dem Werk des Nigerianischen Autors Femi Osofisan “Die Lobpreisung eines Grashüpfers”, indem es um politischen Aktivismus und staatliche Repression im Nigeria der 1970er Jahre geht.

Die Lobpreisung eines Grashüpfers
von Femi Osofisan
Donnerstag, 13.04.2006, 19.00 Uhr
Werkstatt der Kulturen, Saal
Wissmanstr. 32, 12049 Berlin (U7/U8 Hermannplatz)
Eintritt € 3.00
Vorbestellung: lesungen@africavenir.org

Synopsis:
Nigeria 1975. Drei alte Freunde, sind zum allwöchentlichen Literaturtreffen verabredet. Doch Claudius, erfolgreicher Geschäftsmann und Ima, regimekritische Professorin warten vergebens auf Estragon. Es steht zu befürchten, dass dieser am Vorabend wegen staatsfeindlicher Umtriebe bei einer Großrazzia verhaftet wurde. Die politische Aktivistin Ima stellt sich darauf ein ebenfalls abgeholt zu werden. Doch der Nachmittag verläuft ganz
anders.

Mit: Diana Greenwood, Lusako Karonga und Dorothée Reinoss
Leitung: Philippa Ebéné

Veranstalter: Abok und AfricAvenir Intrnational e.V.

Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Landeszentrale für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit bei der Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Frauen (LEZ) und der Afrikanischen Studentenunion (ASU).

www.africavenir.org
www.abok.info

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

*** CLASSICAL ADLERIAN WORKSHOP in NEW YORK CITY ***

Friday, May 12, 2006, 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m
Ackerman Institute for the Family
149 East 78th Street, New York City

Even the most experienced therapists find it challenging to grasp the
unstated and inchoate foundational premises that form what Bowlby
called "the internal working model" and what Adler called the "style
of life." Dr.'s Stein and Edwards will illustrate how to understand
the interior world of the client and how this interior world shapes
and is shaped by the interactions within the family using a Classical
Adlerian theoretical framework.

Tuition: $115.00 CE Credits: 5.5

For complete registration information and to print out a mail-in
registraiton form, go to http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/ackerman.htm.

To register by phone, please call the Ackerman Training Department at
212-879-4900, ext.111. Please have your credit card information ready.

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

Please see this very important article:

Summary

Peace psychology has a history that is both long and prominent. However, that fact is little known and little appreciated, even among contemporary peace-activist psychologists. This article presents 17 brief biographies of psychologists who are part of this important heritage: Pythagoras, Jeremy Bentham, Franz Brentano, William James, August Forel, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, James McKeen Cattell, Mary Whiton Calkins, Alexander Chamberlain, Alfred Adler, William McDougall, Edward Tolman, Gordon Allport, Gustav Ichheiser, Margaret Mead, and Charles Osgood.

Health Ethics, Equity and Human Dignity
by Mamdouh Gabr, Professor of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt
In UNESCO EOLSS

Summary

Ethics in health evolved through several phases during the last few decades; traditional ethics, bioethics, health policy ethics and ethics in relation to human rights. Equity which has to do with a fair distribution of benefits from health and social development is defined in various ways. There are two views on achieving equity, the solidarity approach and the individual right approach. The last can only be achieved in wealthy politically stable communities. A balance has to be established between the two approaches. With the promotion of human rights gaining momentum in recent years; there is a need to review ethical principles in health to ensure that human rights and dignity are fully respected. The health sector has the obligation of considering the ethical dimensions of the major determinants of health. These include the political system, economic situation, demographic changes, cultural diversity, role of women, global ecosystem sustainability, technological advances and the changing pattern of disease. As we start the third millennium, social mobilization in support of health ethics, equity and human dignity is a responsibility of the academic and advocacy groups involved in ethics and human rights. An ethical culture should be developed at the national level.

Institutionalization of health ethics is required. New, sensitive, reliable indicators and a vigilance system to monitor inequalities in health care, and abuse or neglect of human rights are to be developed. This can be achieved through innovative research and fostering international cooperation. It is hoped that the twenty-first century will be characterized by wisdom with which acquired knowledge will be applied with equity.

Please see the entire article at http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/GabrHealthEthics.pdf

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

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 18, 2006. 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 ** April 14** 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.

World Game Simulation to be held in Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University 11 am on Saturday, April 8th.
The Alfred Lerner Hall is at the corner of 114th Street and Broadway, NYC
on the Columbia University Campus.
The event is free. Those not affiliated with Columbia are welcome to attend, but you have to register with your names and email to cutr@columbia.edu.
RSVP at cutr@columbia.edu

Kindly find below the updated information for the day-long conference.

We will commence with Gordon McCord's presentation on the Millennium Development Goals.

Please visit http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/index_overview.htm
for more information on the MDGs.

So far, over 100 people have registered for the event and we hope that you
will encourage your friends to RSVP at cutr@columbia.edu.

The event is FREE and includes lunch.

If you are interested in co-sponsorship, kindly contact Liat Blum at lb2161@columbia.edu.

We look forward to seeing you on April 8 for what will surely be a fantastic
learning experience and interactive conference.

Thank you,
Brett Fieldston
Executive Director
Toward Reconciliation

Global Simulation Workshop
Presented by Toward Reconciliation
Saturday, April 8, 2006
Alfred Lerner Hall
FREE ADMISSION
Toward Reconciliation, Columbia's International Affairs Society, is inviting
all members of the Columbia University community to participate in our
World Game Simulation on April 8, 2006. This day-long workshop will provide
participants with a multi-faceted opportunity to engage issues of global
political and economic development.

(Editorial note - I checked with them, and all are welcome - they told me
that Columbia affiliation is NOT required - and they said they were
>delighted for the word to be spread widely, including on this listserv.)

The workshop will feature both an Earth Institute presentation on the
Millennium Development Goals and the innovative World Game Simulation,
which will allow participants "run the world" for the afternoon.

11 am "The Millennium Development Goals"
Presented by Gordon McCord of the Earth Institute
Auditorium, Alfred Lerner Hall

12 pm FREE Lunch for all participants
Lobby North, Alfred Lerner Hall

1 pm World Game Simulation
Auditorium, Alfred Lerner Hall

4 pm Discussion
Auditorium, Alfred Lerner Hall

The World Game Simulation

The World Game simulates the next 30 years of global economic development.
Players represent geopolitical regions, multinational conglomerates of
corporations and global organizations dedicated to special issues (health,
education, human rights and the environment). Empowered by tools and
techniques in the game, individuals define, understand, and solve regional
and global problems.

Teams trade resources both concrete and abstract: wealth, technology,
solutions, infrastructure, natural resources and more. Players try to "win
the game" by raising their wealth scores, and the facilitator and
multimedia help translate those game actions into real-world terms.

By the end of the workshop, simple game tokens come to stand for millions
of people and billions of dollars in the minds of the players; the simple act
of "winning" gives way to an enhanced understanding of interdependence.

Chips, Cards, Game Play

All teams begin the game with different amount of wealth, a combination of
cards and chips. Corporations and organizations sell their solution cards
to regions in exchange for the region's wealth (chips) and/or resources
(cards). Regions build up their infrastructures by filling their
development folders with the appropriate solution strategy cards from
corporations and organizations. If a region moves up an infrastructure
level during the game, its resource card value increases accordingly.

Throughout the game, players constantly make choices that reflect their own
values and goals. Some players may try to make fair deals and to build
good relationships to ensure future business from the other teams. Others might choose to sacrifice goodwill by maximizing short-term profit through
price-inflation. A player might emerge as a world leader by brokering
3-way or multi-team deals. Some corporate and organizational teams may end up pooling their resources and forming alliances that help each other gain
their respective objectives. Wealthy teams may become even more successful
by investing in low-development regions and waiting for these regions to
develop their infrastructure and their cards to increase in value.

Scenarios

China, representing a region rich in resources yet relatively poor in cash,
works with corporations and organizations to purchase solutions to its
problems, but often sells its resources below market value. Due to
contradicting trade actions, China does not reach its goal of advancing its
infrastructure and, by the end of the game, actually loses 5 wealth points.

The Global Foundation maintains a host of power and responsibilities, from
dispensing financial aid to selling solution strategies to companies and
NGOs. Halfway into the game, the facilitator tells the players that they
must raise an unspecified but large number of points to avert a future
global disaster. The Global Foundation swings into action to mobilize the
world's fundraising effort, persuading North America and several
corporations to match other team's donations 2-to-1. At the end of the
game, the facilitator announces that the world raised 204 points, 4 points
more than needed to avoid the disaster.

The Short History

In the late 1940's, the world was coping with the ravages of world war and
nationalism. Buckminster Fuller, the American inventor, educator, and
visionary, conceived a tool to help address these critical problems: the
World Game. Fuller's vision for the World Game grew out of his earlier
studies of war games at the U.S. Navy War College. He envisioned a "great
logistics game," like a war game, but he at first called his version a
"World Peace Game."

The o.s.Earth Global Simulation is a direct descendent of Buckminster
Fuller's "World Peace Game." Fuller's game was intended to be a tool that
could be used by people around the world to understand and develop
solutions to what he called the real enemies of humanity: hunger, illiteracy, lack of health care, environmental degradation, and "you or me" thinking. In a
Global Simulation, Fuller's original idea is enhanced with state of the art
multimedia, the inclusion of relevant current issues, and dynamic game
play. What results is a challenging and moving experience that participants
remember for a very long time.

Past Participants

American Express, AT&T, British Airways, Chase Manhattan Bank, Delta
Airlines, the DuPont Corporation, the Exxon Corporation, GE Aircraft
Engines, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, MasterCard
International, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, the Motorola Corporation, the Ben &
Jerry's Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the United Nations, the
U.S. State Department, the World Affairs Council, and the World Bank.

Kuwaiti Women Vote for First Time
Polling is taking place in a Kuwaiti council by-election in which women are allowed to vote for the first time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4874990.stm

Two women are also among eight candidates running for the seat in the Salmiya district, south of the capital.

The 28,000 eligible voters, 60% of whom are women, are voting in segregated polling booths, a condition demanded by Islamist and tribal MPs.

Women were granted equal political rights last year and will vote in full legislative polls in 2007.

Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4874990.stm

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
April 4, 2006

**********

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim-Western relations.

*This service is also available in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia and French. You can subscribe by sending an email to cgnewspih@sfcg.org, specifying your choice of language.

*Unless otherwise noted, copyright permission has been obtained and articles may be reprinted by any news outlet or publication. Please acknowledge both the original source and the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

*For an archive of CGNews articles and other information, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.

**********

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

5. The clash of civilisations is really one of emotions by Dominique Moisi
Dominique Moisi, a Founder and Senior Adviser at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) and Professor at the College of Europe, suggests that "rather than a "clash of civilisations" between Europe and the Muslim world, we might instead be faced with a clash between "the European culture of fear and the Muslim, particularly Arab, culture of humiliation." This divide, which Moisi feels is caused by a global environment in which "we all see how others feel and react, but without the minimal historical and cultural tools necessary to decipher those reactions", can only be transcended through "opening to the 'other'", which he worries that neither side is yet ready to do.
(Source: Daily Star, March 27, 2006)

**********

ARTICLE 1
Ijtihad and pluralism in South Africa
Tamara Sonn

Williamsburg, Virginia - One of the most challenging issues in contemporary Islam concerns the question of pluralism, particularly as it pertains to the rights of Muslim minorities. Islamic law was originally formulated to govern the lives of Muslim majorities, living under Islamic law. Today, however, as many as one third of the world's Muslims live as minorities under secular law.

Most Muslims living as minorities in the West know they can practice their religion freely in the private sphere. But what about the public sphere? Can Muslims bring their principles of justice and human dignity to bear in a public sphere? This question confronted Muslim minorities in Apartheid South Africa in important ways, and their ijtihad on the issue is very revealing.

Ijtihad is a methodology for accommodating changing circumstances while maintaining fidelity to Islam's eternal principles. It is a major theme of modern Islam because circumstances have changed so drastically over the past century or so. In Apartheid South Africa, Muslims used ijtihad to apply Islamic principles of justice and human rights to the national struggle against Apartheid.

Muslims are a tiny minority of the South African population - less than 2%. Because of their ethnic diversity and segregation from one another, it was difficult to make common cause with others opposed to Apartheid. Some Muslims joined secular resistance movements, but during the 1950s and 60s many young Muslims began to look to their religion for organisational and ideological bases of resistance. Several organisations were founded expressing discontent with the complacency and defeatism of Muslims who did not join in the resistance. In 1961, the "Call of Islam" movement was launched in the Cape, setting the tone for Islamic activism against injustice with the publication of its principles:

"For too long a time now have we been, together with our fellow-sufferers, subjugated, suffered humiliation of being regarded as inferior beings, deprived of our basic rights to Earn, to Learn and to Worship. We therefore call upon our Muslim Brethren and all brothers in our sufferings to unite under the banner of Truth, Justice and Equality to rid our beloved land of the forces of evil and tyranny."

Muslims had protested interference with their religious practice in earlier years, but this call for Islamic resistance was unique. It was not aimed against specific rulings, but against an entire system deemed essentially unjust. More significantly, it expressed solidarity with all victims of oppression, regardless of religious affiliation. Islamic resistance organisations from this time forward focused on asserting not only their rights as Muslims, but also the core Islamic value of social justice as a motivating force in the national struggle against racism. This, however, required rethinking - doing ijtihad - on traditional notions of religious solidarity.

Imam Abdullah Haron was a leading figure in this movement. Active in several Islamic resistance organisations, he also edited the Cape's Muslim News. When he was taken into detention by security forces in 1969 and killed after four months, Christian activist Bernard Wrankmore undertook a hunger strike demanding an inquiry into his death. After 67 days, the government showed no signs of relenting, and Wrankmore ceased his strike. Nevertheless, the solidarity of all those motivated by social justice -- regardless of communal affiliation -- was demonstrated.

In the 1970s, more Muslims were attracted to the liberation agenda. New organisations appeared, and although there were important ideological differences among them, they shared commitment to the struggle against social injustice and to articulating the struggle in religious terms. The work of Farid Esack, a major figure in this effort during the anti-Apartheid struggle, who continues to work on social justice issues, argues strongly for the universality of Islamic human rights. The basic teaching of the Qur'an, according to Esack, is personal accountability in the effort to establish justice, not the establishment of a specific group identity. He challenges the Muslim community, therefore, to rethink the designation of the terms "believer" and "non-believer", suggesting that the term "believer" can be used to refer to all those who commit themselves to the struggle for social justice. Muslims, he says, must "re-appropriate" these terms in the essentially Islamic "search for ... religious pluralism and for liberation." By doing so, they maintain their Islamic solidarity and, at the same time, legitimate working toward shared goals with the religious "other".

Of course, as in most religious communities, there are traditionalists who cling to religious exclusivism in Islam. There are also those who insist that ijtihad must be left to the officially recognised scholars of the major Islamic universities. Increasingly though, through the ijtihad of pluralism, Muslims like those in Apartheid South Africa are finding ways, based on motivations in their own legal tradition, to work with people of all beliefs in the search for justice and universal human rights.

###
* Tamara Sonn is Kenan Professor of Religion and Humanities at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
This article is part of a series of views on the role of ijtihad in Muslim-Western relations, published jointly by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and United Press International (UPI).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 4, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 2
~Youth Views ~
Politics of terrorism
Jennie Kim

Washington, D.C. - President George W. Bush has told us time and again that we do not negotiate with terrorists. Rarely do we consider the inverse: that it is the terrorists who refuse to negotiate with us. Admitting such a possibility would grant the terrorists agency, and thus, some measure of legitimacy as political actors, and in an arena where the word "terrorist" itself is laden with policy implications, even rhetorical power shifts matter.

Rather than launch into an abstract debate about the definition of terrorism, let us focus on the real-world consequences of its application, examining the politics that surround "those big words," as Joyce famously wrote, "which make us so unhappy."

The process of problem definition is inherently political because it cedes control. To define is to take a side; to identify is to make a judgment. Whoever has the power to define terrorism also defines the alternatives-and the means to achieve those alternatives.

The State Department's definition of terrorism-"premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience"-is not without its flaws. As Mark Burgess notes, "Such a state-centric reading is Western in outlook, and would probably be questioned by those non-state actors who consider themselves politically disenfranchised." Regardless, when the United States labels a group as terrorist, it effectively rules out negotiation as a policy option.

Not surprisingly, none of the State Department's 42 designated foreign terrorist organisations identify themselves as such. Most have adopted banners of national unity, resistance or religious purpose, but a group's professed motives and causes do not change their standing as a terrorist organisation. Indeed, in the mid-1980s, the United States categorised Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) as terrorists for forming an anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa.

As Michael Ignatieff writes in The Lesser Evil, groups which view their cause as legitimate can find a moral justification for terrorism-that is, violent attacks on civilian populations- by resorting to moral relativism. "The weak must have the right to fight dirty; otherwise the strong will always win," he explains. "If you oblige the weak to fight clean, injustice will always triumph." From this point of view, terrorism is only a step away from civil disobedience.

Distinguishing between terrorists and legitimate resistance groups remains notoriously difficult in the international arena. Witness the United Nations' ongoing effort to define the term without neglecting "the legitimate right of peoples under occupation to struggle for their independence and in defence of their right to self-determination."

Further complications arise for the United States when its designated foreign terrorist groups-such as the ANC in 1980s South Africa, Hizbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in the Palestinian Territories-come to be accepted as legitimate political actors by both their domestic constituents and international players.

Due to the scope of its victory and particular regional circumstances, Hamas's recent sweep of the Palestinian parliament is especially problematic for American policymakers. The United States has treated Hamas-formed as an armed Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987-as a terrorist organisation for over a decade. Hamas, however, considers itself an Islamic resistance movement; its members are commonly referred to in Arab news stories as freedom fighters and, occasionally, as martyrs.

These conflicting definitions represent more than a problem of semantics-they reflect decades of struggle, bloodshed and humiliation. History itself imbues these words with layers of sometimes conflicting meanings, and there is little reason to believe a resolution acceptable to all will be reached soon.

However, Hamas's absorption into parliament will force radical changes to their strategy, orientation and, likely, rhetoric. Serving for the first time in an official capacity, Hamas must be able to compromise, or else risk political and economic isolation. The Bush administration is right to question how Hamas will be able to govern when it refuses to recognise Israel, and states in its charter that "there is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad." But at the same time, Hamas's record of legitimate electoral victories presents a serious challenge to the West's perception of it as a terrorist group.

On the most basic level, the Palestinian Territories and the United States are both imperfect democracies, each enjoying legitimately-acquired power, but who are both now struggling to bridge the distance between their principles and their actions, their words and deeds. For power is actualised, in Hannah Arendt's perfectly chosen words, "only where word and deed have not parted company, where words are not empty and deeds not brutal, where words are not used to veil intentions but to disclose realities, and deeds are not used to violate and destroy but to establish relations and create new realities."

Neither Hamas nor the Bush administration has managed to amend the respective disconnects between their public philosophies and actual policies. Most Americans know Hamas as a terrorist organisation and cannot imagine according them legitimacy as international actors. Many in the Arab world see the United States as supremely hypocritical-a self-designated apostle of freedom which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis, a superpower that claims benevolence but condones torture.

The future of United States-Palestine relations depends on a number of variables, including Hamas's performance and parliament's relationship with President Abbas, Fatah's future role in the political arena, Hamas's position on using force against civilians, greater U.S. Middle East policy, and the outcome of Israeli elections. Hamas seems destined to remain on the State Department terrorist list for the foreseeable future, but with so many real-world challenges approaching, policymakers can no longer rely on abstractions that only obscure and constrain their choices. It would be all too easy for the United States and its European allies to allow Palestine to lapse into utter hopelessness and poverty by labelling it a terrorist state; it would be just as easy for Hamas to consolidate its hold on power by allowing them to do so, given that such a step would further enhance its legitimacy as the only true defender of the Palestinian people. Such a step would neither secure statehood for the Palestinians, nor enhance Israel's security, nor strengthen the legitimacy of the United States' push for democracy in the Middle East. Compromise and a return to negotiations that are more than opportunities for rhetoric is not only the best solution - it is now the only solution, and the only way forward.

###
* Jennie Kim (jenniek@gwu.edu) is a graduate student at the George Washington University.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 4, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 3
Peacemaking and hostage-taking: British Muslims and Christians unite
Lee Marsden

Norwich, England - The successful rescue of peace activists Norman Kember, James Loney and Harmet Singh Sooden has been welcomed and applauded throughout the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, much attention has been given in the media to the rescue itself, while the impact of Kember's incarceration on inter-faith cooperation -- around the peace and human rights issues Kember highlighted in choosing to work in Iraq -- has largely been ignored. However, in Britain, the fate of this 74-year old man has actually raised an important debate about the role of non-partisan peacemaking in war situations and has strengthened ties between Muslim, Christian and secular peacemakers first forged in opposition to the United States-led invasion of Iraq.

Kember went to Iraq as a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a non- missionary, peacemaking organisation committed to reducing violence and protecting human rights, because he wanted to do more than simply demonstrate against injustice and violence. CPT has been involved in Iraq since October 2002, documenting human rights abuses, assisting Iraqis to trace and gain access to family members in detention, and providing an alternative perspective on Iraq from outside the Green Zone. As a result of its work in Iraq and the Occupied Territories, CPT has earned the respect of Muslim organisations in the Middle East and in Britain. When Kember and his colleagues were taken hostage, British Muslims united with other peace and human rights campaigners in seeking to secure their release.

The campaign to free Kember and his colleagues involved a combination of family, friends, and peace and human rights activists across communities, faiths and nations. Although their appeals did not result directly in the release of the hostages, three of them remained alive long enough to be rescued. A fourth colleague, Tom Fox, was executed two weeks before the rescue. In the campaign, a sense of common purpose and mutual respect was established between activists of all faiths as they cooperated in appealing to the hostage-takers. Muslim Britons' actions complemented appeals from Kember's wife on Al Jazeera, advertisements in Iraqi papers and diplomatic efforts by the British Foreign Office. The Muslim Association of Britain issued statements calling for the release of the hostages, emphasising their role in helping the people of Iraq.

Anas Altikriti, an Iraqi-born member of the Muslim Association of Britain, went to Iraq to plead for the lives of the hostages. Dr Azzam Tamimi made an appeal on Christmas Eve, urging the release of the captives as a gesture of goodwill, declaring that "Norman Kember and his three friends were in Iraq as true friends of the Iraqi people." Other support came from Moazzam Begg, freed from Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Qatada, in detention in a British jail, both issuing televised appeals to the hostage-takers.

Muslims, Christians, those of other faiths and secular peacemakers united in regular peace-vigils held in Trafalgar Square, London and Chamberlain Square, Birmingham in a demonstration of solidarity and support for Kember and the others. This coming-together in common purpose proved a powerful demonstration to non-Muslim British audiences accustomed to stereotypical portrayals of Muslims as radicals more likely to favour the hostage-takers than the hostages. The presentation of British Muslims as peacemakers, united in seeking to save the life of this 74-year old Christian who wanted to help people in Iraq, serves as a powerful antidote to negative portrayals of Muslims following the London bombings of July 2005. Following Kember's rescue, veteran peace campaigner Bruce Kent summed up this new sense of unity in an interview for BBC news:

"What's specific to Norman's case is a new understanding between Muslims here in this country and the peace and human rights campaign here. We might have been separate in the past, but the Muslim community has been so helpful and so cooperative here, it needs as many thanks as anyone else."

Kember's four-month captivity has, in effect, highlighted the role of peacemaking in Iraq, inspiring Muslims, Christians and others to find common ground through his example in seeking to build bridges through peace and non-violence. The new spirit of cooperation is both welcome and sustainable as communities appreciate each other's unique contribution.

###
* Lee Marsden is an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Political, Social and International Studies at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 4, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 4
Conversion a thorny issue in Muslim world
Rachel Morarjee and Dan Murphy

Kabul and Cairo - Under pressure from the United States, the Vatican, and other Western leaders, Afghanistan's fledgling democracy Sunday sidestepped a politically charged case in which prosecutors had sought the death penalty for a Muslim man who converted to Christianity.

Rather than pass judgment on Abdul Rahman, an Afghan who converted while living abroad 16 years ago, the court declared him mentally unfit for trial Sunday. "He is a sick person," said Mohammed Eshaq Aloko, Afghanistan's deputy attorney general. Afghan officials said Mr. Rahman would be transferred to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The case has not only thrown a spotlight on the laws and practices of an Afghan government that the United States helped to install but is a reminder of the limits -- sometimes severely enforced -- placed on religious freedoms by many countries in the Muslim world.

While state executions for apostasy are rarely carried out, laws allowing them remain on the books in not only Afghanistan but in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan.

More generally, while countries like Egypt and Pakistan guarantee religious freedoms in their constitutions, they limit religious speech and local police frequently lean on people to recant if they seek to convert.

In recent years, religious tension between Muslims and Christians has soared in many countries, and states like Egypt and Pakistan frequently find themselves caught between extremists on both sides.

Last year for instance, Egyptian Christians and Muslims clashed over a girl the Christians claimed had been forced to convert to Islam. The Muslim side said the girl was a willing convert, and had married a Muslim.

In Pakistan, while apostasy cases are rare, vigilante attacks against alleged apostates and others thought to offend Islam are common. "There's not been a single case of apostasy in Pakistan in the last 10 to 15 years, at least not one that has attracted a lot of attention," says Najam Sethi, editor of the liberal Lahore-based newspaper, Daily Times.

But as much of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, takes a more negative view of America and its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been greater popular pressure on religious freedoms, with courts and governments usually reluctant to intervene.

In Pakistani villages, Muslims who convert to Christianity are occasionally killed by their own family members, to protect the family's honour. In major cities, Islamic militant groups have launched attacks against Christian churches for their supposed sympathy for

America. In Alexandria, Egypt, last October, three rioters died as they sought to attack a church for distributing DVDs of a play deemed offensive to Islam.

This context is what has made Rahman's case so difficult for the secular-leaning and pro-United States Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Afghanistan is in the eye of the storm, in terms of anti-Western feeling," say Mr. Sethi. "If the Supreme Court [had] upheld its decision, and then passed the buck on to Mr. Karzai to say, 'OK, it's up to you, you have the power of clemency,' then that puts Karzai in a bad spot as far as Islamists are concerned."

Sunday's pronouncement of Rahman by prosecutors and the judge as unfit would now seem to spare President Karzai this embarrassing quandary.

Ansarullah Mawlavezada, the judge who had been set to try Rahman's case, as well as other court officials, say that the case came to court after the family reported him for being a Christian. A lawsuit had been filed in a child-custody dispute, and his ex-wife alleged that he beat one of his two daughters while she was reading the Qur'an.

Rahman has said that he converted to Christianity when he was working for an aid agency in Pakistan 16 years ago.

Afghanistan is a deeply conservative country where 99 percent of the population is Muslim and an estimated 10,000 Christians can practice only in secret. Out on the street, many ordinary Afghans chimed in with the mullahs calling out at Friday prayers for Abdul Rahman to be put to death.

"The order of God is execution for this person and no one can change it. This person has denied God and the Qur'an and he should be punished in a way that will stop other Muslims from converting," said Sayed Saber, a 32-year-old in Kabul.

President George Bush, who called the case "deeply troubling," phoned Karzai last week to press for Rahman's release. Simultaneously, mujahideen who had been funded by the US in their fight against the Soviet Union, mobilised supporters across the country to press for execution. Karzai was caught in the middle. "It is a question of a tightrope for Karzai," said Paul Fishstein, the director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul.

The issue of religious freedoms is one in which, as in Afghanistan, modern laws are clashing with ancient traditions. Rahman's case illustrates a glaring contradiction between Afghanistan's constitution, which upholds the right to freedom of religion on one hand but enshrines the supremacy of shari'a law on the other.

Most mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence call for converts to be executed. Though the Qur'an promises only hellfire for apostates and also says "there should be no compunction in religion,'' Islamic jurists have typically argued that execution is mandated, citing stories of comments made by the prophet Muhammad.

"The prophet Muhammad said that anyone who rejects Islam for another religion should be executed," said Mr. Mawlavezada, the judge.

Though some liberal Islamic scholars disagree, pointing out that no such rule exists in the Qur'an, they have been largely silenced in Afghanistan. Afghan writer Ali Mohaqeq Nasab spent almost three months in jail last autumn for an article questioning the traditional call for execution.

What happens next for Rahman is uncertain, though it appears likely that the government will find a way to sweep the case under the rug.

Officials said they're likely to allow him to go abroad for medical treatment.

"If his family can afford to send him overseas for medical treatment then of course we would give him a passport," says Mr. Aloko, the deputy attorney general. In that case, he would be free to seek asylum elsewhere and avoid a return to his homeland and its legal system.

###
* Rachel Morarjee and Dan Murphy are correspondents for the Christian Science Monitor. David Montero in Karachi, Pakistan, and Scott Baldauf in Delhi contributed to this report.
Source: Christian Science Monitor, March 27, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
(c) Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor. Please contact lawrenced@csps.comfor reprint permission.

**********

ARTICLE 5
The clash of civilisations is really one of emotions
Dominique Moisi

Warsaw - Throughout the "war on terror", the notion of a "clash of civilisations" between Islam and the West has usually been dismissed as politically incorrect and intellectually wrongheaded. Instead, the most common interpretation has been that the world has entered a new era characterised by conflict "within" a particular civilisation, namely Islam, with fundamentalist Muslims as much at war against moderates from within their own religious community as against the West.

The strategic conclusion derived from such an analysis was clear, ambitious, and easily summarised: democratisation. If the absence of democracy in the Islamic world was the problem, then bringing democracy to the Greater Middle East would be the solution, and it was the historical duty of the United States, as the most powerful and moral nation, to bring about that necessary change. The status quo was untenable. Implementing democracy, with or without regime change, was the only alternative to chaos and the rise of fundamentalism.

Today, Iraq may be on the verge of civil war between Shiites and Sunnis. Iran under a new and more radical president is moving irresistibly towards possessing a nuclear capacity. A free electoral process brought Hamas to power in Palestine, and the unfortunate episode of the Danish newspaper cartoons illustrated the almost combustible nature of relations between Islam and the West.

All of these developments are paving the way to new interpretations. Rather than a "clash of civilisations", we might instead be faced by multiple layers of conflict, which interact with each other in ways that increase global instability.

Indeed, it appears that the world is witnessing a triple conflict. There is a clash within Islam which, if the violence in Iraq spreads to neighbouring countries, risks causing regional destabilisation. There is also a clash that is best described not as being between Islam and the West, but between the secularised world and a growing religious one. At an even deeper and atavistic level, there is an emotional clash between a culture of fear and a culture of humiliation.

It would be a gross oversimplification to speak, as some are doing, of a clash between civilisation and barbarism. In reality, we are confronted with a widening divide over the role of religion, which runs between the West (with theUnited States being a complicated exception) and much of the rest of the world (the most notable exception being China), but particularly the Islamic world.

The divide reflects how religion defines an individual's identity within a society. At a time when religion is becoming increasingly important elsewhere, we Europeans have largely forgotten our (violent and intolerant) religious past, and we have difficulty understanding the role that religion can play in other peoples' daily lives.

In some ways, "they" are our own buried past and, with a combination of ignorance, prejudice and, above all, fear, "we" are afraid that "they" could define our future. We live in a secular world, where free speech can easily turn into insensitive and irresponsible mockery, while others see religion as their supreme goal, if not their last hope. They have tried everything, from nationalism to regionalism, from communism to capitalism. Since everything has failed, why not give God a chance?

Globalisation may not have created these layers of conflicts, but it has accelerated them by making the differences more visible and palpable. In our globalised age, we have lost the privilege--and, paradoxically, the virtue-- of ignorance. We all see how others feel and react, but without the minimal historical and cultural tools necessary to decipher those reactions. Globalisation has paved the way to a world dominated by the dictatorship of emotions -- and of ignorance.

This clash of emotions is exacerbated in the case of Islam. In the Arab world, in particular, Islam is dominated by a culture of humiliation felt by the people and nations that consider themselves the main losers, the worst victims, of a new and unjust international system. From that standpoint, the Israel-Palestine conflict is exemplary. It has become an obsession.

It is not so much that Arabs and Muslims really care about the Palestinians. On the contrary, the Islamic world left the Palestinians without real support for decades. In reality, for them the conflict has come to symbolise the anachronistic perpetuation of an unfair colonial order, to represent their political malaise, and to embody the perceived impossibility of their being masters of their destiny.

In the eyes of the Arabs (and some other Muslims), Israel's strength and resilience is a direct consequence of their own weakness, divisions and corruption. The majority of Arabs may not support Al-Qaeda, but they do not oppose it with all their heart. Instead, there is the temptation to regard Osama bin Laden as a violent Robin Hood, whose actions, while impossible to condone officially, have helped to regain a sense of Arab pride and dignity.

Here, perhaps, is the real clash of civilisations: the emotional conflict between the European culture of fear and the Muslim, particularly Arab, culture of humiliation. It would be dangerous to underestimate the depth of so wide an emotional divide; recognising its existence is the first step toward overcoming it. But that will be difficult, for transcending the emotional clash of civilisations presupposes an opening to the "other" that neither side may yet be ready to undertake.

###
* Dominique Moisi, a Founder and Senior Adviser at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), is currently a Professor at the College of Europe in Natolin in Warsaw.
Source: Daily Star, March 27, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are balanced and solution-oriented to news outlets worldwide. With support from the Norwegian government and the United States Institute of Peace, this news service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international NGO working in the field of conflict transformation.

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Megaconference Jr. is a project designed to give students in elementary and secondary schools around the world the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and contribute to each other's learning in real time, using advanced multi-point video conferencing technology. Presenters will design and conduct videoconference-based presentation and activities focused on both academic and cultural issues. Participants will be able to address questions to presenters and to collaborate with geographically diverse peers in collaborative learning activities, thus building international cultural awareness.

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AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

AfricAvenir und Exchange&Dialogue freuen sich, Ihnen vier neue Publikationen von Prof. Kum' a Ndumbe III. zu präsentieren.

In 'Wettkampf um die Globalisierung Afrikas' und 'Afrika ist im Aufbruch, Afrika ist die Zukunft' finden sich historische und politische Analysen über die Beziehungen Afrikas zu Europa und zur Außenwelt, über Kolonialpolitik, Nationalsozialismus und Rassismus, über widersprüchliche Interessen der Geberländer in der Entwicklungspolitik, aber auch über Demokratie, 'good governance', Krisenprävention und über die neue krisenbeladene Weltordnung. Diese Reden, vorgetragen vor deutschen und österreichischen Institutionen, vor Akademikern und Politkern, im Bundestag und im österreichischen Parlament, sind nun endlich einer breiten Leserschaft zugänglich.

Mit seinen Theaterstücken 'Lumumba II.' und 'Kafra-Biatanga' möchte Kum' a Ndumbe III. ein Bewusstsein für die Gründe des Misslingens afrikanischer Unabhängigkeit schaffen und gleichzeitig das Bedürfnis der Afrikaner, sich von Unterdrückung zu befreien, als den einzigen Weg in eine eigenständige Zukunft bestätigen. Diese politischen Werke sind dem deutschen Dokumentartheater der 1960er und 1970er Jahre - Heinar Kipphardt, Peter Weiss, Hans Magnus Enzensberger - vergleichbar. Mit Figuren, die die dramatische Illusion durchbrechen und in Kontakt zu den Zuschauern treten, mit informativen Titeln und musikalischen Zwischenspielen erinnern die Stücke zudem formal an Brechts Episches Theater (siehe auch Sarah Lennox, "Das afrikanische Gesicht, das in deinem Raum spricht - Postkoloniale Autoren in Deutschland: Kum’a Ndumbe III und Uche Nduka". In: Text und Kritik, Sonderheft Herbst 2006).

Kum' a Ndumbe III.
Wettkampf um die Globalisierung Afrikas
An die Mitbürger der Einen Welt im anbrechenden 21. Jahrhundert – herausfordernde Reden zur Begegnung, Band I
ISBN 3-939313-05-X
978-3-939313-05-2
€ 24,75

Ein Wettkampf um Afrika findet wieder statt. Afrika soll in die Globalisierung einbezogen werden. Diese gesammelten Reden sind eine historische und politische Analyse über die Beziehungen Afrikas zu Europa und zu der Außenwelt, über Kolonialpolitik, Nationalsozialismus und Rassismus, über widersprüchliche Interessen der Geberländer in der Entwicklungspolitik, aber auch über Demokratie, good governance, Krisenprävention und über die neue krisenbeladene Weltordnung. Diese Reden wurden vor deutschen und österreichischen Institutionen gehalten, vor Akademikern und Politkern, auch im Bundestag und im österreichischen Parlament.

Bestellungen:
Verlag Exchange & Dialogue, Berlin
Email: exchange-dialogue@africavenir.org
Tel./Fax: (+ 49) 30-82708542, (+49)178-2868744, +(49) 179-9761100

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

Kum' a Ndumbe III.
Afrika ist im Aufbruch, Afrika ist die Zukunft
An die Mitbürger der Einen Welt im anbrechenden 21. Jahrhundert – herausfordernde Reden zur Begegnung, Band II
ISBN 3-939313-06-8
978-3-939313-06-9
€ 21,50

Mit „Dialog und Begegnung contra Kampf der Kulturen“ werden in diesem Buch deutliche Zeichen gesetzt. Interkulturalität und Kulturdialog, auch in der Begegnung zwischen deutschsprachigen und afrikanischen Kulturen stehen hier im Vordergrund. Dann der neue Aufbruch in Afrika, der in Europa fast unbemerkt stattfindet, weil überlagert von Krieg. Es geht hier um die Sicherung des eigenen Überlebens auch der Bürger in der nördlichen Hemisphäre, um ein erfüllteres Leben auf dieser Erde, und dafür bietet das sich der Welt langsam offenbarende Afrika eine ungeahnte Breite von Angeboten und Lösungsmöglichkeiten an.

Bestellungen:
Verlag Exchange & Dialogue, Berlin
Email: exchange-dialogue@africavenir.org
Tel./Fax: (+ 49) 30-82708542, (+49)178-2868744, +(49) 179-9761100

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Kum' a Ndumbe III.
Kafra-Biatanga – Tragödie Afrikas
Ein Stück in elf Szenen
ISBN 3-939313-02-5
978-3-939313-02-1
€ 11,15

Biafra in Nigeria, Katanga im Kongo früher, heute Irak im Mittleren Osten? Das Stück voll Ironie und Humor hinterfragt die internationale Politik und legt die Irreführung der öffentlichen Meinung bloß. Wie wird ein Krieg wie ein aus der politischen Fabrik hergestelltes Produkt ausgelöst? Wie manipuliert man seine eigene Bevölkerung, um Feindbilder tief in die Psyche hineinzusetzen und sogar Hilfsbereitschaft nach erledigtem Mord hervorzurufen? Kafra-Biatanga, ein 1970 verfasstes Stück über die Konstruktion der Kriege in afrikanischen Staaten, ist nur ein Beispiel, wie gegriffen aus der heutigen Aktualität internationaler Politik.

Bestellungen:
Verlag Exchange & Dialogue, Berlin
Email: exchange-dialogue@africavenir.org
Tel./Fax: (+ 49) 30-82708542, (+49)178-2868744, +(49) 179-9761100

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Kum' a Ndumbe III.
Lumumba II.
Ein Stück in neun Szenen
ISBN 3-939313-00-9
978-3-939313-00-7
€ 11,15

Lumumba, der von der Gefängniszelle im Präsidentenpalast des unabhängig gewordenen Landes landet, wird durch unglaubliche Geschäfte von den Herren Kommunisten und Kapitalisten mit List umworben, und jeder erwartet von ihm ein Exklusivgeschäft. Lumumba feiert mit einigen Offizieren einen gegen die alte korrupte Mannschaft geglückten Putsch. Aber das Sekretariat der Internationalen Korruption ruft an und lässt ausrichten: „Den Putsch können Sie schon behalten, aber Lumumba ist nicht der richtige Mann … Die Welt ist kein Theater. Erschießen!“ Dieses Theaterstück zeigt mit Humor, wie die Interaktion von Korruption, Sexualität, Geld und Politik ein eigenes Machtsystem in der Gesellschaft durchsetzen kann.

Bestellungen:
Verlag Exchange & Dialogue, Berlin
Email: exchange-dialogue@africavenir.org
Tel./Fax: (+ 49) 30-82708542, (+49)178-2868744, +(49) 179-9761100

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Zum Autor
Nach einer strengen traditionellen Erziehung als afrikanischer Thronfolger im Königshaus der Bele Bele in Douala/Kamerun wurde der Prinz 1961 zur Schule nach München geschickt, besuchte das Maria-Theresia Gymnasium, wo er 1967 mit dem Abitur abschloss. Er studierte dann an der Universität von Lyon in Frankreich Germanistik, Geschichte, Wirtschaft und Politik und bekam 1975 eine doppelte Doktorwürde in Geschichte und in Deutschlandstudien. Er ließ sich später an der Freien Universität in Berlin 1989 in Politikwissenschaft habilitieren. Als Hochschullehrer lehrte oder lehrt er an den Universitäten von Lyon II in Frankreich, an der katholischen Universität von Lyon, an der Freien Universität Berlin und an der Universität von Yaoundé II in Kamerun. In Douala gründete er 1993 die sehr aktive Stiftung AfricAvenir, eine Stiftung für die Renaissance Afrikas, für Entwicklung, Internationale Zusammenarbeit und Frieden. Nach der Streichung des Lehrstuhls „Politik Afrikas“ am Otto- Suhr-Institut an der FU-Berlin im Jahre 2001 gründeten seine ehemaligen Studenten „AfricAvenir International e.V.“ in der deutschen Hauptstadt. (www.africavenir.org).

Prinz, Universitätsprofessor und Schriftsteller Kum’a Ndumbe III veröffentlicht in Paris seit 1973 Theaterstücke, Erzählungen, Essays in Geschichte und Politik, schreibt Gedichte und Märchen in seiner Heimatsprache Duala, und Essays zu internationalen Beziehungen auf Englisch. Als langjähriger Präsident des Schriftstellerverband Kameruns und Vize-Präsident des Schriftstellerverbands zentralafrikanischer Staaten hat er an verschiedenen internationalen Schriftstellertreffen mitgewirkt. (UNESCO, Francophonie, Interlit, usw.). Nach zwei Veröffentlichungen in deutscher Sprache „Was wollte Hitler in Afrika? ..... (Iko-Verlag, Frankfurt, 1993) und „Was will Bonn in Afrika? Zur Afrikapolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland“ (Centaurus Verlag, Pfaffenweiler, 1992) stehen jetzt 11 original deutsch verfasste Bücher auf dem Programm des Verlags „Exchange & Dialogue“. Sechs davon werden auf der Leipziger Buchmesse vorgestellt.

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Zum Verlag Exchange & Dialogue

Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen der Stiftung AfricAvenir in Douala und dem neu gegründeten Verlag Exchange & Dialogue in Berlin im Jahr 2005 setzt sich zum Ziel, Autoren und Wissenschaftlern Gehör zu verschaffen, die den Aufbruch in Afrika erkannt haben, und diese Wiedergeburt oder Renaissance Afrikas für die zwischenmenschlichen und zwischenstaatlichen Beziehungen in Nord und Süd einsetzen. Europäer, Afrikaner und andere Menschen, die sich für einen wirklichen und gleichberechtigten Dialog entschieden haben, sollen im Verlagsprogramm zu Wort kommen. Die Zusammenarbeit Editions AfricAvenir/ Exchange & Dialogue soll aber auch afrikanischen Autoren, die auf Deutsch schreiben, ein Haus für ihr literarisches und wissenschaftliches Werk anbieten. Weitere Information über die Arbeit der Stiftung AfricAvenir und Exchange & Dialogue erhalten Sie unter: www.africavenir.org/exchange

Bestellungen:

Verlag Exchange & Dialogue, Berlin
Email: exchange-dialogue@africavenir.org
Tel./Fax: (+ 49) 30-82708542, (+49)178-2868744, +(49) 179-9761100

Exchange & Dialogue
Deutsche Bank AG
BLZ: 100 700 24
Konto: 954 512 001
BIC: DEUTDEDBBER; IBAN: DE67100700240954512001
Kennwort: Name + Titel

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

Dear Friends,
It would be greatly appreciated if you would inform interested associates, listservs, etc., about this upcoming, one-week
workshop, our fifth,

A Nuclear Workshop: "Hiroshima and Nagasaki for College Teachers"
June 26 - June 30, 2006. Workshop details at
http://titan.iwu.edu/~physics/Hiroshima.html

Here is a comment from a 2002 participant,
"...greatly appreciated the time and trouble you put into obtaining course materials. These are a tremendous boost in developing similar courses at our home institutions. In particular the book by Glasstone and your course notes were extremely useful. My main reason for taking this workshop was to obtain materials that might help me develop an interdisciplinary course for our university honors program. I found this workshop to be perfect, with its combination of physics, history, politics, economics, and world affairs."

He has since established his course, Honors 318: Issues of the Nuclear Age, http://physweb.mnstate.edu/Courses.htm and also there, a Hiroshima Peace Studies Tour.

It looks quite good.
Thank you for your consideration.
All best wishes,
Ray Wilson

Raymond G. Wilson, Ph.D.
Emeritus Associate Professor of Physics
TEL: 309-556-3176
FAX: 309-556-3864
rwilson@iwu.edu
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900

The International Society for Dialogical Science (ISDS) serves as a network of scholars -- both researchers and practitioners -- whose work focuses upon dialogue and the self. Members come from a diversity of disciplinary backgrounds including psychology, sociology and social anthropology, psychiatry, the humanities including literature, history, philosophy, theology, the arts, and others. Members live and work in more than a dozen countries. ISDS was formally constituted under Dutch law in June 2002 and was established at the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Dialogicalscience.org is the official web domain for ISDS.

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

International Journal for Dialogical Science (IJDS)

Call for Papers!

The ISDS has established a refereed, electronic journal, the International Journal for Dialogical Science (IJDS). Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring, 2006) will be published the first week of April..

Scholars and researchers are invited to review the IJDS web site to review the Editorial Statement and Call for Papers.

The ISDS invites authors to submit manuscripts for consideration for future issues of the journal. Please click on this link to review the guidelines for such submissions.

The official web address for the IJDS is www.dialogical.org.

Photos from the 3rd International Conference, Warsaw, 2004. Vincent Hevern (Le Moyne College) has posted online a site containing about 120 digital photographs from his trip to Warsaw in 2004 for the 3rd International Conference. In addition to pictures of sights in Historic Warsaw, there are images from the conference itself. If you were at the conference, you are invited to look over the pictures to remind yourself of the great time we all had. If you were not at the conference, you can get a glimpse of the excitement and wonderful exchange that the conference's attendees experienced during those days. And, you can see, too, what excellent hosts we found in the students and faculty of the Warsaw School of Social Psychology! (posted 5/12/05).

4th International Conference on the Dialogical Self. The date is now firm. The next conference will be held at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, during June 1-3, 2006. The conference website is posted and already contains information about the venue, organizing committee, accommodations, transportation options, and deadlines. The first dealine, submission of abstracts, is January 31, 2006. We look forward to seeing many old and new friends there. (03/07/05)

New Members of Executive Committee. Three new members have joined the Executive Committee of the International Society for Dialogical Science. They are:

Dr. Giancarlo Dimaggio, III Centro di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Roma, Italy

Prof. Ivana Markova, Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Scotland, UK

Prof. Piotr Oles, Institute of Psychology, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland

A listing of the full Executive Committee can be found at this link. (Posted 9/22/04)

"Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy" Published. Hubert J. M. Hermans (University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands) and Giancarlo Dimaggio (Terzo Centro di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Roma, Italy) have published their newly edited volume, "The Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy." It is available from Brunner-Routledge (New York, USA & East Sussex, UK) with a 2004 publication date. The 17 chapters of this volume begin with an introduction by the editors. The bulk of the text is divided into four parts: Part I on General Theory, Part II on Theory and Clinical Practice, Part III on Reconstructing Dialogical Processes in Severely Affected Patients, and Part IV on Methodological Issues in the Psychotherapeutic Process. Further details of this volume can be found at the Brunner-Routledge site for readers in the United States and elsewhere in the world. [Link to text at Amazon.com, Labyrinth Books (NYC)] (posted 9/5/04)

Special Issue on the Dialogical Self and Modern Mass Communication Media. A special issue of the journal, Identity: International Journal of Theory and Research, on the "Dialogical Self in a Global and Digital Age" will be published as the October, 2004 issue (Vol. 4, issue 4) of the journal. Guest edited by Hubert Hermans (University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands) who introduces the issue, five papers examine the dialogical self with a focus upon weblogs and the Internet, cyberspatial environments and interpersonal relations, construction of the self in textual short-messaging systems (SMS), identity and television, and the use of space in the construction of identity across 800 years of communication media ("from Dante to cyberspace"). Authors include Vincent Hevern (Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, USA), Maria Beatrice Ligorio and Annarita Celeste Pugliese (University of Bari, Italy), Michele Cortini, Giusseppe Mininni, and Amelia Manuti (University of Bari, Italy), Susanna Annesse (University of Bari, Italy), and Cor van Halen and Jacques Jannsen (University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands). (posted 1/29/04; updated 9/5/04)

Symposium on the Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy. At the 11th Biennial Conference of the North American Personal Construct Network -- CONSTRUCTIVISM 3-D: Diversity, Development, & Dialogue -- held at the University of Memphis in June, 2004, Dr. Giancarlo Dimaggio (Rome, Italy) chaired a symposium on the dialogical self in psychotherapy. He was joined by Paul Lysaker, John T. Lysaker, William Whelton, Giampaolo Salvatore, and Dario Catania. (posted 9/5/04)

Resources. A list of recent publications which examine the dialogical self as a primary or important focus has been posted to the Resources page. These complement the biobibliographical resources for Hubert J. M. Hermans that appears elsewhere online. Suggestions for additional entries should be sent to this site's editor, Vincent Hevern. The Resources list will be updated regularly. (posted 7/23/03).

Upcoming Conference
Fourth International Conference on the Dialogical Self
University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
June 1-3, 2006
http://www.dialogicalself2006.com/

The concept of dialogical self, taking advantage of the rich philosophical tradition concerning dialogue, represents a relatively new development in psychology. It is closely related to narrative psychology, constructivism, and cultural psychology. It has a broad scope ranging from literary sciences to brain research and from empirical psychology to psychotherapy practice. It brings together contributions from different fields of psychology, like personality, developmental, social, and clinical psychology. From these diverse areas of inquiry, dialogical self allows a common concept to be shared, which is the idea of the self as a society of minds, understood as a pluralistic and multivoiced system.

Central topics are self and identity, the construction and reconstruction of meanings, the relationships between culture and self, global culture and re-negotiations of identities, and the changing process of self-narratives in psychotherapy. The dialogical approach, therefore, is not only an object of study but also a platform for bringing together scientists and practitioners from divergent disciplines and sub-disciplines.

Please read more on http://www.dialogicalself2006.com/

A Plea from a Nobel Peace Prize Winner
The Human Right to a Nuclear Free World
By MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE
March 2006

I believe one of the most hopeful trends in the world today is the interconnectedness of the Human Family. Technology has made us interconnected, and trade and the movement of people have made us interdependent. Even in the last 10 years, the world has changed, and the next 20 years will bring changes that none of us can imagine. But we human beings can shape the world to a great extent. I am very hopeful for the future because I believe we are often capable of good choices, we are resilient even in the face of great disasters, and we are creative. The massive people's movement around the world should give us all hope. But governments must start listening and acting on what their people are saying, and particularly on such burning issues as nuclear weapons and war.

On nuclear weapons, I believe people of the world have chosen abolishment, but the governments are ignoring the wishes of their people. So, we have entered the second nuclear arms race, led by current US Administration and being followed by many other countries. If our governments don't, at this point in our history, take seriously their international obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to start decommissioning all nuclear weapons, there will be a serious proliferation within the next few years and we will truly be unable to abolish nuclear weapons. We will pass a frightful legacy to our children and grandchildren, a legacy of nuclear weapons and nuclear debt that will endanger them and their world. It is not only the next generation we will burden, but the cost of nuclear weapons in the past and today has robbed the materially poor of their rightful inheritance to be nurtured with basic rights of food, education and health care.

Governments are elected to take care of their citizens. But governments have not only a responsibility to nurture their own people; they have a responsibility to all of humanity. I believe this can best be done by all governments if, before taking serious policy decisions, they ask themselves, "Does this policy uphold domestic and international laws, and how will it benefit our nation's people and humanity as a whole?"

This question is particularly relevant to the current American Administration. The whole world is now being affected by American foreign policies and American culture. All around the world, American television is beamed into billions of homes, Americanizing many people's way of life. This recognition places enormous responsibility upon American government, media, corporations and people, to ask if what you are exporting is good for the world, or damaging it. What kind of ethical and moral values and example are you sending out to the world's people, particularly an impressionable and vulnerable younger generation? Is offering the example of increasing nuclearism, ongoing wars, and the ignoring of international treaties and laws really going to make the world a safer place for us all? Yes, terrorism is a threat and we all want human security, but meeting terror with terror is not an answer. I believe that such approaches to date have made the world a more dangerous place both for Americans and many people throughout the world, and especially our Arab brothers and sisters.

After the horror of the Second World War, the world community recognized the need for legislation to protect citizens. Since then many international laws have entered into force. In the past, America played an important role in setting up many laws that would protect human rights. In l945, America gave full support for the United Nations. It supported the drafting of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which affirmed the dignity of every human being. This Declaration has affected the policies of the United States and other countries all over the earth for more than half a century. The preamble to the UDHR states: "Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms" and it upholds "the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief, and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people."

Under the UDHR, every citizen on the planet has a right to be free from fear of nuclear weapons, and every citizen on the planet has a right to be free from poverty, which condemns so many to lack of health care, education, shelter and the very basic necessities that enable human beings to lead full and dignified lives.

I believe we all have a human right to a nuclear free world and, in proclaiming that right, we affirm that we have chosen to live together, as the human family and friends, and not to die together as fools in a nuclear holocaust.

Mairead Corrigan Maguire received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize and the 1991 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Distinguished Peace Leadership Award.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Sur ­International Journal on Human Rights welcomes contributions to be published in its coming issues. The Journal is published twice a year, distributed free of charge to approximately 3,000 readers in over 100 countries. It is edited in three languages: English, Portuguese and Spanish and can also be accessed through the internet at http://www.surjournal.org.

The journal is especially aimed at academics and activists dedicated to the study and the defense of human rights. Our main purpose is to divulge the viewpoints of the Global South, stressing their specificity, and facilitating the contact among its members, without ignoring the important contributions of the more developed countries. The journal is published by SUR HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSITY NETWORK (www.surnet.org).

The issues of the journal are not thematic, thus permitting the publication of articles dealing with human rights from multiple perspectives. For our next issue ­ No. 5 ­ however, we will prioritize articles which, preferentially ­ not exclusively ­ deal with the following topics:

Innovative mechanisms to protect HR in countries with federative systems
In cases of countries that have a federative system, the “union” or the “federal government” is responsible at the international level for human rights violations. Some countries have created mechanisms to prevent and solve at the national level potential cases that could be brought to the international arena. Ways to nationally implement decisions of international bodies are also in debate in many countries.

Sur invites authors to submit articles that provide for a deep analysis of these mechanisms. Comparative articles are especially welcomed.

Racism and the impact of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance (WCAR) ­ Durban
In September 2001, in the third World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), States adopted concrete commitments for ending racism. UNLIKE other World Conferences, Durban will not have an official UN global +5 event, although Chile and Brazil will organize a regional follow up Conference in July 2006. Sur invites academics, activists and specialists to submit articles that analyze the impact of the conference on the definition racial discrimination, continuing manifestations around the world, and the implementation of commitments adopted by the States at Durban.

UN Reform: New Human Rights Council and the OHCHR
Last March 15, the UN General Assembly approved the main characteristics of the new Human Rights Council. The new Council will develop the modalities of the new “universal periodic review” within a year of its first session. It will also review and rationalize the system of special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights in the same time period. Concomitantly, the OHCHR has gone through a deep reform and has decided to produce yearly a “Global Report” about human rights in the world. Sur invites authors to submit articles that identify new ways for governments and NGOs to influence the human rights organs and activities of the UN, such as by making proposals about the characteristics of this new global report, or to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the “old” Human Rights Commission.

These themes, as has been pointed out, are not exclusive ­ they are preferential.

Format
Contributions should be sent as electronic files in the MS Word format, to surjournal@surjournal.org containing:
-Between 7,000 and 10,000 words.
-Footnotes that are concise and objective. (Please find at the end of this text the rule for citation.
-Short biography of author with a maximum of 50 words.)
-Abstract with no more than 150 words, including keywords for the required bibliographical classification.
-Date when the paper was written.

Articles can be sent in at any time, though only submissions received before June 30, 2006, may be included in issue number 5. Articles received after that date will be considered for subsequent issues.

Ideally articles should be original and unpublished. Exceptionally, however, relevant contributions already published elsewhere may be accepted, provided the required authorizations are granted. Please inform if, where and when the paper has been published before.

The selection of articles and all other editorial matters are the exclusive responsibility of the Editorial Board made up of the following members:
Christof Heyns, Pretoria University, South Africa
Emílio Garcia Méndez, Universidade de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Fifi Benaboud, Centro Norte-Sul do Conselho da União Européia, Portugal
Fiona MacAulay, Bradford University, United Kingdom
Flavia Piovesan, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brasil
J. Paul Martin, Columbia University, USA
Kwame Karikari, Ghana University, Ghana
Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyed, Cairo University, Egypt
Richard Pierre Claude, Maryland University, USA
Roberto Garretón, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chile

Contributions will be evaluated by at least two members of the Editorial or Consultative Board and, whenever necessary, also by external specialists. Any suggested changes will be submitted to the authors and published only with their express authorization.

Since the journal is distributed free of charge, unfortunately we are unable to remunerate our contributors.

Dedicated Visionaries Keep Faith in World Governance
Article published Mar 19, 2006
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Albert B. Southwick
Please see http://wt.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060319/COLUMN21/603190637/-1/OPINION

Joseph Baratta and his wife, Virginia Swain, are true believers. They are convinced that sooner or later the peoples of the globe, for their own survival, must develop some system of governance that transcends the national state system of the past two centuries.

Let’s face it: Many of us who once joined the World Federalists and the United Nations Association and who cheered hopefully for the United Nations in the years following 1946, have fallen out of the ranks. We no longer have the same kind of hopes that we had then. We have become disillusioned as the United Nations has stumbled from one blunder to another.

The Oil for Peace fiasco was just the latest. The election of Libya as chairman of the human rights committee seemed a travesty. The vast bureaucracy on the East River with its thousands of employees exempt from all income taxes has become a symbol of expensive ineptitude.

And yet, despite the accusing headlines, that bureaucracy is engaged in many undertakings that the human race can ill do without: matters of health, education, nutrition, transportation, demography, justice and many others. U.N. peacekeeping has sometimes been ineffective, yet its efforts have highlighted the wracking problems on the globe. It has been an important clearing house for global information.

The U.N. is far from perfect, but it is indispensable. The current effort to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions is one prime example.

The Barattas have kept the faith. Ms. Swain, director of the Institute for Global Leadership, is described as “an organizational development consultant, mediator, ombudsman … mentor and facilitator.” She served in the Peace Corps and has since been involved in an impressive list of undertakings, most devoted to the “Peace Building Process of Reconciliation” at the U.N. It would be easy to dismiss her as a hopeless idealist far removed from reality, but history has plenty of examples of idealism that became reality.

Mr. Baratta, professor of World Civilization and History at Worcester State College, has long been interested in humanity’s attempts to globalize its government systems. His new book “The Politics of World Federation,” is a magisterial account of those efforts, particularly since Woodrow Wilson’s ill-fated attempt to get the United States Senate to approve U.S. membership in the League of Nations. The goal has always been to establish world peace under the rule of world law, but the practical organizational difficulties continue to override the idealism and worthy efforts that have been made.

The two volumes, priced at $140, will not be a best-seller, which is too bad. But they will be an important resource for researchers. Anyone hoping to comprehend the various efforts to achieve some modicum of world order will be impressed by Mr. Baratta’s prodigious researches.

He gives most attention to the 1940s and 1950s, when the prospects of a third world war seemed menacing and when the ideal of world government was engaging some of the best minds of that generation. He gives thumbnail sketches of many of the main activists — Clarence Streit, Eli Culbertson, Grenville Clark, Cord Meyer, Alan Cranston, Robert M. Hutchins, Albert Einstein, Bernard Baruch, Garry Davis, Henry Wallace, Tom Griessemer, Thomas Finletter, Louis B. Sohn and many others, both the prominent and the now forgotten.

He most admires Clarence Streit, the newspaperman who in 1938 came up with the idea of a Federal Union of the free peoples of the globe, and Grenville Clark, the New Hampshire lawyer who for decades campaigned for some form of limited world government and proposed plans to strengthen the United Nations.

The idea of world cooperation has made some steps, notably in Europe. The European Union, whatever its weaknesses, has achieved more than many skeptics thought possible 50 years ago. The idea of a Europe with a common currency would once have seemed preposterous, but that has been achieved along with much more, including laws that put restrictions on national fiscal practices. The chances of another war between Germany and France are nil. That is a notable accomplishment.

The high point in global political possibilities probably came in 1946 when the United States proposed the Baruch Plan for the control of nuclear weapons. It was in many respects an imaginative and far-reaching idea, but it would have effectively prevented the Soviet Union or any other country from developing their own nuclear weapons, and Joseph Stalin was too paranoid to accept such restrictions.

It was not long before the Cold War and the arms race began. By the late 1950s, American school children were being drilled in preparations for nuclear war by diving under their desks when the alarm bells rang.

Could all that have been avoided? Who knows? The end of the Cold War came with the collapse of the Soviet Union after 30 years of confrontation, some of it dangerous.

Mr. Baratta has written something more than a chronicle of world government efforts. He is not an impartial observer. His text has many references to lost opportunities, and initiatives born too late. He obviously feels that the big nations missed out on many chances to achieve agreements that would have strengthened the chances for peace in the world.

This leads him to a surprisingly favorable view of Henry Wallace, vice president from 1939 to 1941, who broke with President Harry Truman and ran for president in 1948 on a Progressive ticket favoring world government of some sort. His attacks on the Cold War policies of the Truman administration won the approval of the Kremlin, and many of his stoutest supporters were communists and left-wingers of various sorts.

That has left Mr. Wallace with a reputation as a communist dupe, but Mr. Baratta thinks of him as a man basically correct but ahead of his time. Not all will agree.

Fifty years ago, many people, including some in high places, thought that a nuclear war was inevitable. It hasn’t happened yet, and if it does it probably won’t be started by a major nation. The situation today is more complex, with terrorists playing a major role.

Would a strengthened United Nations be able to deal with the kind of problems — Ruanda, the Balkans, Liberia, al-Qaida, etc. — that the world faces today? It may be our only chance.

As Mr. Baratta notes: “The world now is faced by a massive crisis, symbolized by the threat of nuclear war, economic depression, ecological collapse, new pandemics, terrorists … and all the problems of the global problematique … . We hope this book will offer the pilots of the future some charts to steer by. World federation offers a positive vision of peace.”

This book also reminds us of how much the world needs visionaries.

Albert B. Southwick’s column appears regularly in the Sunday Telegram.

Copyright 2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.

2006 Morton Deutsch Awards Ceremony for Social Justice at Columbia University

Please see the details at http://www.iacm-conflict.org/news/20060321.html